Inside the Caim

Rules to Live By

2011-10-02T00:59:00.002-04:00

The editor of a small weekly newspaper in a town in the West was hard put to it one week for copy to fill his columns. So he had his compositor set up the Ten Commandments, and ran them without making any editorial comment. Three days after the paper was published he received a letter saying:

“Please cancel my subscription. You’re getting too personal.”¹

Today we're going “old school.” Yup, we're delving into the Ten Commandments – the core of Jewish law and one of the most recognized parts of the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible. The Decalogue, as the Commandments are collectively known, is one of the foundational tools with which many laws in modern countries have been based upon. Regardless of your position on the Separation of Church and State, it is a fact that the Ten Commandments have played a major influence in the creating and interpreting of law in the United States throughout her history.

And yet, as reinforced with my opening statement this morning, there's something about the Commandments that affect us more personally than any other law by which we (hopefully) abide. But why is that? What is so powerful about the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, that makes them so controversial in our society? Why is it that these laws unlike any other hit us where it hurts, even though they are so basic? My answer, and this is just personally, is that it's because they come from God directly and deep within all of us – whether we like it or not – have it ingrained within our very beings that we are supposed to abide by these rules. They are God's Rules to Live By.

More and more, law enforcement officials are coming around to the conclusion that the only way to reduce the crime rate in America is to make everything legal.

Moves in various parts of the country to decriminalize marijuana are illustrative of this approach. If adopted nationwide, proponents claim, decriminalization would produce a dramatic decline in the number of arrests for illegal pot possession.

There is also talk of employing the legalization technique to stamp out violations of laws against pornography, prostitution, gambling and assorted other vices.

One of the leading advocates of decriminalization is an organization called Less Lawlessness Through Less Law (LLLL).

“Hiring more policemen, imposing curfews, building new prisons, enlarging the judiciary—these measures only treat the symptoms of the crime wave,” Bargood Fie, a LLLL spokesman, told me.

“If we’re ever going to have a genuine improvement in the situation we’ve got to attack the root cause of crime—the laws.”²

It's very easy to say that the Laws of God are the problem as well. After all, if God didn't give us such a strong moral and ethical code to follow, it would be much easier for all of us to go on in our lives, right? Perhaps, but the reality is that in doing this, God condemns us all to eternal death. Because none of us can know the mind of God, we would be incapable of knowing what He expects of us if He didn't spell it out for us. Hence, the Ten Commandments came into effect. And in reality, these commandments were a part of a treaty – a deal, if you will, between God and the Hebrews. If the people would follow these commands, Yahweh would in turn protect and guide them to the land promised to their forefathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

But as Christians, we don't have to follow the Law, right? After all, didn't Jesus' death and resurrection change all of the rules? Well, yes and no. They're still God's rules to live by, and we're still expected to follow them. Jesus Himself said: “¹⁷Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. ¹⁸I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. ¹⁹So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.”³ So, according to Jesus, we're still supposed to follow the Law as given to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. We're still responsible for them, and we're still supposed to live by them. Christ's death and resurrection are the means by which we are extended grace because humans fall short of God's expectations – His sacrifice means our forgiveness and eternal reunion with God.

When the archaeologists were digging in the ruins of Nineveh they came upon a library of plaques containing the laws of the realm. One of the laws read in effect that anyone guilty of neglect would be held responsible for the result of his neglect. … If you fail to teach your child to obey, if you fail to teach him to respect the property rights of others, you and not he are responsible for the result of your neglect.⁴

Historically, the Law has been central in the faith and society of the Judeo-Christian way of life. And Biblically speaking, it should be. Too many try to use Christ and what He's done as a way of excusing themselves from the commands of God. We take our responsibilities for granted as we many times make our own moral and ethical codes instead of following those set-out for humanity by God. The Israelites knew how important it was for the Law to be learned and understood clearly from generation to generation. That's why we have the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6, which states: ⁶... you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. ⁷Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. ⁸Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. ⁹Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.⁵

And it was clear that if the next generation didn't know the rules that they should live by, the fault was not placed upon them, but by the generation who raised them.

Are you living by God's rules? Are you teaching them to the next generation so that they may follow? The reality is that the problems many of our children and young people face today are here because God's laws and decrees were not passed to them generationally as they should have been. And so now, the work that Christians faced as little as 30 years ago has changed exponentially. Missions and Evangelism are no longer things we do in far-off countries – they are needed right here in our community. We all have the responsibility to live by God's rules and to pass them down generationally – no matter how difficult it may seem. Christ came to fulfill the Law, but if we don't know the Law, we can't fully understand what Christ has done for all of us.

Are you following God's list of rules to live by, or merely writing them off as something not to be worried about in your life? Consider carefully the way in which your life is led, and be sure to write the Law of God on your hearts.

NOTES

1Tan, Paul Lee: “Ten Commandments Too Personal,” Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979

2Ibid., “Less Law for Less Lawlessness”

3Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Mt 5:17-19

4William Tait, “Nineveh's Parents Held Responsible,” Ibid.

5Ibid., Dt 6:6-9

Our God Provides

2011-09-18T08:05:00.003-04:00

Scripture: Exodus 16:2-15¹

²There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron.

³“If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. ⁵On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “By evening you will realize it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ⁷In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done that you should complain about us?” ⁸Then Moses added, “The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes, your complaints are against the Lord, not against us.”

⁹Then Moses said to Aaron, “Announce this to the entire community of Israel: ‘Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’ ” ¹⁰And as Aaron spoke to the whole community of Israel, they looked out toward the wilderness. There they could see the awesome glory of the Lord in the cloud.

¹¹Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹²“I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”

¹³That evening vast numbers of quail flew in and covered the camp. And the next morning the area around the camp was wet with dew. ¹⁴When the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground. ¹⁵The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it. “What is it?” they asked each other. They had no idea what it was.

Warren Wiersbe writes, “I have felt for a long time that one of the particular temptations of the maturing Christian is the danger of getting accustomed to his blessings. Like the world traveler who has been everywhere and seen everything, the maturing Christian is in danger of taking his blessings for granted and getting so accustomed to them that they fail to excite him as they once did.

Emerson said that if the stars came out only once a year, everybody would stay up all night to behold them. We have seen the stars so often that we don't bother to look at them anymore. We have grown accustomed to our blessings.

The Israelites in the wilderness got accustomed to their blessings, and God had to chasten the people (see Num. 11). God had fed the nation with heavenly manna each morning, and yet the people were getting tired of it. 'But now our whole being is dried up," they said, 'there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!" (v. 6).

Nothing but manna! They were experiencing a miracle of God's provision every morning; yet they were no longer excited about it. Nothing but manna!

One of the evidences that we have grown accustomed to our blessings is this spirit of criticism and complaining. Instead of thanking God for what we have, we complain about it and tell him we wish we had something else. You can be sure that if God did give us what we asked for, we would eventually complain about that. The person who has gotten accustomed to his blessing can never be satisfied.

Another evidence of this malady is the idea that others have a better situation than we do. The Israelites remembered their diet in Egypt and longed to return to the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. They were saying, 'The people in Egypt are so much better off than we are!" Obviously, they had forgotten the slavery they had endured in Egypt and the terrible bondage from which God had delivered them. Slavery is a high price to pay for a change in diet.²”

So often in life we seek the wrong things – constantly going after what's bigger and better than us. We become both envious and greedy as we see what's on the other side of the fence or as God gives us good provisions. Instead of being generous and sharing what we have, we hoard and make things worse.

Greed is a sin that causes people to do crazy things – things that most of us in our right mind would never do. And Greed is also a perfect example of how sin twists and contorts something wholesome and natural and turns it into something that consumes us to our very core. Instead of enjoying the fruits of our labors, Greed causes us to be consumed – desiring more and more until we reach extravagant levels far beyond any need we may have. And it is in this place that we become trapped – no longer are we satisfied with what we have. No – we want more and more and more.

Being greedy comes at a great cost. It harms our relationship with our friends and family. The material possessions that we seek become our only friends. They become our family. In truth, they also become our God. Being greedy, essentially, is almost like idol worship. We seek after material possessions so much that we are even willing to put them before God. And God says that this is a BIG no-no.

Envy is the sin that "looks with grudging hatred upon other men's gifts and good fortune, taking every opportunity to run them down or deprive them of their happiness" (in contrast to covetousness, the excessive desire to have things like money).³

Dante Alighieri wrote extensively on the subject of envy in the second part of his Divine Comedy entitled Purgatorio. In it, he highlights extensively what the sin is, and what the retribution for committing such a sin would be on the Mountain of Purgatory - namely that the Envious' penance would be to have their eyes sown shut with iron thread as they sit and weep bitterly recounting their envy of what others had in life.⁴

We've all heard the phrase “Beware the Green-Eyed Monster,” which usually refers to either Jealousy or Envy. The reasoning is that in Britain, the United States and other English-speaking cultures, envy is often associated with the color green, as in "green with envy". The phrase "green-eyed monster" refers to an individual whose current actions appear motivated by envy. This is based on a line from Shakespeare's Othello. Shakespeare mentions it also in The Merchant of Venice when Portia states: "How all the other passions fleet to air, as doubtful thoughts and rash embraced despair and shuddering fear and green-eyed jealousy!"⁵

Envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins because it directly violates one of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:17 reads:

“You must not want to take your neighbor’s house. You must not want his wife or his male or female slaves, or his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”⁶

In other words, we are not to be envious of what other people have. We are supposed to be thankful of what God gives to each of us. Envious feelings can be so strong that they cause us to do all sorts of hateful and malicious acts - all in the name of obtaining something that someone else has. It's a desire so strong that we might be willing to do anything to have what our friends and neighbors have been blessed with, and it can be relationships, property, friends, even money.

The hardest thing for us to do when confronted with Greed and Envy is to be content with what God has provided for us. And yet, just as God gave the Israelites what they needed in the wilderness – food, and water – He continues to provide what we need as well! The biggest thing to remember is that God will take care of our NEEDS, not necessarily our WANTS. But if we pray and ask God for help, He is sure to answer in some way, shape, or form.

What do you pray about when you come to the Lord? According to a poll on prayer for Newsweek (3/97), the following percentage said:^⁷

They ask for health or success for a child or family member when they pray – 82

They ask for strength to overcome a personal weakness – 75

They never ask for financial or career success – 36

God answers prayers – 87

God doesn't answer prayers – 51

They believe God does not play favorites in answering prayers – 82

God answers prayers for healing someone with an incurable disease – 79

Prayers for help in finding a job are answered – 73

They believe that when God doesn't answer their prayers, it means it wasn't God's will to answer – 54

They don't turn away from God when prayers go unanswered -- 82

Do you recognize God as your provider, or do you simply look for things that seem to be bigger and better than what He has given you? Are you satisfied, or complaining? God will provide, but we have to have the right attitude to see His provisions as our blessings.

NOTES

1Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Ex 16:2-15

2Warren Wiersbe, God Isn't In a Hurry, (Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI, 1994), 77-78.

3Wikipedia contributors, "Purgatorio," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Purgatorio&oldid=360175042 (accessed May 8, 2010).

4Ibid.

5Wikipedia contributors, "Envy," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Envy&oldid=360514226 (accessed May 8, 2010).

6The Everyday Bible : New Century Version (Nashville, TN.: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2005), Ex 20:17.

7Princeton Research Associates.

Living Like a Disciple

2011-08-27T22:25:00.002-04:00

How many of you have ever had a moment in your life where you've envied another person in some way, shape or form? Come on...admit it. All of us have wished we were someone else at one point or another. We wish we had another's looks, or brain, or charming personality – let alone another person's wealth, or “perfect” family. Now, how many of us, upon reading the Bible wish that we could be more like certain persons contained within? For some of us men, we might wish we were Moses, or Elijah, or John or Paul. Ladies might consider being Ruth, or Miriam, or Mary, or Dorcas. We might wish that God would give us a “burning bush” moment, or that we would be used in some powerful way to heal another person miraculously or even to drive-out evil spirits.

Well, there is one way that we can be more like the disciples (both men and women) and can live a life that is Spirit-led, passionate, and powerful: understanding and living the teachings of the Bible. This includes both the OLD and the NEW Testaments – something that many Christians seem to forget. And probably 90% (and, of course, this is a very rough, made-up percentage) of God's Story, as we may call it, is about Love. What are the two great commandments? Loving God first, and loving one another second. And THAT is what the Apostle Paul is challenging us to do today.

Loving other people really, really is a big task that God gives us, and it's a difficult one to complete, too. People are fallen, broken, and all-around nasty much of the time, and we often will do our best to avoid them at whatever the cost. And it's not like it's something we LEARN as we get older, necessarily, either. From our very onset into this world, sin penetrates us deeply, marring us from what God originally had designed us to be. We were designed out of love, and modeled after love, so it love that should define us.

Sadly, most in the world don't understand love in the way that God intends for it to be. We instead tend to look at love as being something romantic, something almost “fairy-tale” like, or as something more “lustful” and carnal – completely missing God's point of actually taking an active role in caring for and helping one another in this world.

In today's text, the apostle Paul said that by helping our enemies we heap 'coals of fire' on their heads. He certainly didn't mean that this is a good way to hurt them,to get even. He meant that by using kindness we might secure their repentance, thus showing our sincere desire for their eternal good.

A Christian lady owned two prize chickens that got out of their run and busied themselves in the garden of an ill-tempered neighbor. The man caught the hens, wrung their necks, and threw them back over the fence. Naturally, the woman was upset, but she didn't get angry and rush over and scream at him. Instead, she took the birds, dressed them out, and prepared two chicken pies. Then she delivered one of the freshly baked pies to the man who had killed her hens. She apologized for not being more careful about keeping her chickens in her own yard. Her children, expecting an angry scene, hid behind a bush to see the man's face and hear what he'd say. But he was speechless! That chicken pie and apology filled him with a burning sense of shame. But she wasn't trying to get even. Her motive in returning good for evil was to show her neighbor true Christian love, and maybe even bring about a change of heart.¹

Paul is essentially highlighting two different types of living: living like a disciple of Jesus Christ, and living like others in the world – disciples to the “ways of the world,” so to speak. Here is how they can be categorized:

LIVING LIKE A DISCIPLE	LIVING AS THE WORLD
Really loves others.	Pretends to love others.
Holds onto what is good according to God's standards.	Loves what is wrong according to God's standards.
Genuine affection.	Platitudes – to appease people.
Holds others in high esteem.	Disregards others and puts them down.
Works hard and serves God enthusiastically.	Does the minimum for God, or less. Is lazy.
Patience and Prayer.	Impatience – Seeks to do things him/herself instead of waiting for God.
Helps God's people & is hospitable.	Ignores others and is inhospitable toward them.
Bless those that cause you harm.	Curse those who cause you harm.
Enjoys “doing life” with others – regardless of the “highs” and “lows.”	Only spends time with others when it's convenient or beneficial to themselves.
Listens and respects others even if they disagree.	Thinks (s)he knows it all and refuses to take part in discussion.
Does his/her best to live at peace with others.	Takes revenge upon others and “stirs the pot” often.
Conquers evil by doing good.	Is conquered him/herself by evil and sin.

So the question that we all need to ask ourselves this morning is whether or not we are living as disciples, or if we are living as those ruled by the world. Paul lays-out these standards for us to consider, but they are only a few. Jesus has high standards for those who want to be His followers. Are we up to the challenge? Or will we simply remain as a part of the world?

NOTES

1HVL, “Prize Chickens,” Our Daily Bread, April 15. Available Online: http://www.crosswalk.com/church/sermon-illustration/?q=romans+12

The Silver Lining

2011-08-13T23:22:00.002-04:00

How many people have ever heard the phrase “every cloud has a silver lining?” I assume most everyone has, and if you've not encountered it before, now you have heard this idiom of the English language. Now, what does it mean?

Meaning

Every bad situation has some good aspect to it. This proverb is usually said as an encouragement to a person who is overcome by some difficulty and is unable to see any positive way forward.

Origin

John Milton coined the phrase 'silver lining' in Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634

I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were
To keep my life and honour unassailed.
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

'Clouds' and 'silver linings' were referred to often in literature from then onward, usually citing Milton and frequently referring to them as Milton's clouds. It isn't until the days of the uplifting language of Victori's England that we begin to hear the proverbial form that we are now familiar with - 'every cloud has a silver lining'. The first occurrence that is unequivocally expressing that notion comes in The Dublin Magazine, Volume 1, 1840, in a review of the novel Marian; or, a Young Maid's Fortunes, by Mrs S. Hall, which was published in 1840:

As Katty Macane has it, "there's a silver lining to every cloud that sails about the heavens if we could only see it."

'There's a silver lining to every cloud' was the form that the proverb was usually expressed in the Victorian era. The currently used 'every cloud has a silver lining' did appear, in another literary review, in 1849. The New monthly belle assemblée, Volume 31 include what purported to be a quotation from Mrs Hall's book - "Every cloud has a silver lining", but which didn't in fact appear in Marian, which merely reproduced Milton's original text.¹

Now, I don't know about you, but sometimes – okay many times (because I'm nowhere near an optimist most of the time) – that silver lining in my life seems awfully hard to find. I look and hope and wish, but sometimes it just seems like life is nothing more than one thing after another, and there aren't any breaks from it.

Enter Joseph's story. Here's a guy who endured a lot of bad things. While still just a boy, his brothers got jealous of him and sold him into slavery. He goes off with a caravan to a foreign country, Egypt, where he is placed in service to the jailer. The jailer's wife hits on him, and he is thrown in jail with a false accusation because he didn't yield to her advances. Clearly, a lot of very bad things happened to Joseph.

But Joseph's story continues: eventually, he rises to a position of great power because he interpreted the Pharaoh's dreams. Joseph saves Egypt from a great famine, and eventually is reunited with his family – which is where the Scripture passage leads us today. And it would appear that God took a bad situation and made a good one out of it. Not only was Joseph given a place of prestige in the ancient world, but because of his position, his brothers – the very ones who sold him off so many years before – were forgiven and were allowed to move to Egypt being spared from a horrible famine.

God is still in the business of turning potentially bad situations into good ones. Consider this story from the Associated Press:

He was scared, but the 12-year-old Boy Scout still knew what to do when he got lost during a Utah wilderness outing: He built a shelter made of tree branches and wood to get through a cold night and he covered himself in dirt to stay warm.

Jared Ropelato's lean-to — a crude structure the Boy Scout manual advises Scouts to build if they become lost — kept him warm enough so he could sleep after the overnight low in Utah's Ashley National Forest dipped to 31 degrees in the area, said Daggett County sheriff's spokeswoman Karen Peterson.

The boy was wearing only jeans and a shirt, and had no food or water, when he went missing around noon Friday. He had gotten lost while on his way by himself back to camp from a nearby lake, walking a total of eight or nine miles before searchers on ATVs found him Saturday morning some four miles from where he started, Peterson said.

"He did everything right last night," his mother, Dawn, said. "We said he was smart, and he's smart."

Peterson also praised the boy, saying that building the lean-to was "good thinking" and it saved him from the elements. He told the Deseret News of Salt Lake City that he had learned to build the structure last year at Scout camp.

"We're just so glad that this story has a happy ending," Peterson told The Associated Press.

Jared's mother told the Deseret News that her son's biggest scare came when he encountered a bull moose. He got cold during the night, but not too cold. He fell in a river Saturday morning, "but he's still dirty," she said.

Jared resumed walking Saturday morning before he was found at 8:40 a.m. in good health, ending a search effort that included about 200 people. "There were a lot of tears not only from family members, but from searchers as well," Peterson said. "Up to that point, Jared had been missing for 20 hours and 40 minutes."

Nicole Ropelato of Roy, a third cousin of Jared's, said the family was thankful for searchers and that the boy remembered the instruction about lean-tos. “At such a young age to be calm enough to think like that is something," she said. "That's incredible what he did. We're just elated that he was found in good condition. We were worried for him and very scared."

The boy earlier had been advised by a Scoutmaster to walk with another Scout from the lake back to camp, Peterson said. The Scoutmaster gave him the advice after finding him going in the wrong direction while returning to camp. "He never got a buddy before heading back to camp," Peterson said.

Asked if he would still go camping after his overnight ordeal, Jared simply said "yeah."²

Here is a lad who could have had any number of things befall him. Lost in the wilderness, he could have been killed by a wild animal, died of hypothermia, starved, or any other host of possibilities. But, God was watching out for him just as He did for Joseph, and as a result, there was a “silver lining” to the story – the boy came out of his predicament unscathed.

Not every cloud has a silver lining. But, our God is a God of grace and mercy, and the Scriptures show us that only He can turn the worst situations in life into the best.

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you [want to] swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

Always look on the bright side of life...³

The bright side is that if you've accepted Christ, you have a “silver lining” of hope in your life. God can – and WILL – turn the bad things of your life around if you let Him.

NOTES

1Available Online: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/every-cloud-has-a-silver-lining.html

2Martin Griffith (AP), “Boy Scout Found After Building Tree Branch Shelter,” Available Online: http://news.yahoo.com/boy-scout-found-building-tree-branch-shelter-231903921.html

3Eric Idle, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” 1979.

Wanting Too Much

2011-07-14T10:19:00.003-04:00

Have you ever met someone who wanted too much? I mean REALLY wanted too much. As in, wanting things just for the sake of having them - not even for a specific purpose. Just to say that (s)he OWNS something. Does it bother you?

Well, it should. That person could be suffering from and promoting the sin of GREED - one of the deadly ones. And why is it deadly? Because it consumes too much. Greed strips us of our ability to regulate and restrain ourselves and leaves us wanting more than is good or necessary for us. Often coupled with Pride, Greed forces us to go to great lengths to be better than others by consuming as many material possessions as possible and separating us from the community around us.

In mythology, we can remember the story of King Midas - whose desire it was to turn everything he touched into gold. His greed got the better of him, and as a result, it destroyed him. Everything he touched - including his food - became gold. And this story exists precisely to draw people away from their greedy habits and value the true riches of life. Greed is never satisfied - never satiated.

The Italian poet Dante Alighieri uses greed in a two-fold way. Initially, he encounters the greedy in the fourth circle of Hell. Interestingly, Dante lists two different kinds of greedy person: those that hoard their wealth, and those that spend it too frivolously. Based on that understanding, it would seem that Dante viewed possessions as something to be balanced. A person should have and protect material possessions to some extent, withholding the temptation to constantly spend. But at the same time, we should not be miserly persons that keep a small fortune and not ever use it to do good in this world. Indeed, those who are greedy, according to Dante, are doomed in Hell to battle with one another - jousting with huge weights attached to their chests, and constantly berating one another for either hoarding or spending too much.

However, Greed also has it's place in Dante's vision of Purgatory. Here, Greed is the fifth terrace of Purgatory (one of the highest three), and the greedy are punished by being forced to lay prostrate (face-down with arms outstretched) for however many years are necessary for penance. They never move, and they are not able to lift their heads to see anything other than the dirt that they lay upon. Whether agreeable or not, this is the punishment that Dante sees fit for those who constantly covet what others have, and feel that they are entitled to everything.

GREED: THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH.

Impact of the Word

2011-07-10T01:32:00.002-04:00

Today we explore one of the few parables that Jesus actually explains Himself in the Bible: that of the Sower and the Seed. As you've just heard and/or read, this is a story that places a farmer out scattering seed to plant his yearly crop. This was a lot different than the way crops are planted today. The ground was prepared by hand, and instead of having machines plant one's seed, a farmer had to go out and scatter seed across the ground – not necessarily paying attention to rows, etc. Granted, the crops that we typically raise for our livelihood are not native to the area, either – so instead of corn and soybeans, crops such as wheat, barley, millet, and flax were grown and harvested for use. So as these little seeds were scattered, they would fly all over the place, and generally would wind-up landing in a variety of locations.¹

As Jesus presents this parable, he shows the disciples four different illustrations, and illuminates them a little further. Understand, that Jesus intends for us to all be “seeds.” None of us have the privilege of being the “Sower” because that is God. Nor can we be the “soil” because that is intended to be the Word of God – Christ Himself. The only other universal illustrator in this parable, then, is the “seed” - which is anyone who has an encounter with the Word of God. This morning, I think it's important for us to consider our own lives, and in which of these categories we belong as we ask ourselves, “how much does the Word of God impact my life?”

The first that Jesus illustrates for us are those who fall along “the footpath” - those people who encounter the Word of God, but don't understand what they've encountered. They sit astounded, confused, and unsure of what they're supposed to do with what God has presented them with. They sit in a stupor, apathetically living their life with no spiritual ambition, no drive, and no growth. They're vulnerable in this state, because they are exposed to everything that this world and the next can throw at them, and they don't even know it. They simply don't comprehend their vulnerability nor the necessity of the life giving nourishment that can only come from good soil. And so, being in this most dangerous position of all, they are spotted and gobbled-up by the “bird” - the illustration that Jesus provides for the Evil One, also known as Satan. These are the ones in our society that “don't really care for religion,” or worse yet claim to be believers, “but don't really do the church thing.” Rather than being nourished and fed by the Word, they choose to be slothful in their spiritual life and open themselves up to be devoured by predators who constantly search for food to satisfy their never-ending hunger. If this is you this morning, you've got a lot to consider about your life and about your faith, because exposure to the world without nourishment from the Word of God, Jesus Christ, ultimately leads to death.

The second illustration provided by Christ is that of the “seed” that falls on what He calls “rocky soil.” Jesus describes these people as those who encounter the Living Word and initially respond with great joy and fervor. In other words, the “seed” sprouts quickly and grows exponentially. In a lot of ways, this illustration describes young Christians – those who have just accepted Christ as their Savior and are looking at the world through “rose-tinted” glasses. Everything in life is going to be great, and if you believe Joel Osteen or any other preachers of the Prosperity Gospel, believing in Jesus is going to magically fix every problem in your life instantaneously. And then, if and when that doesn't happen, it only happens because your faith isn't great enough. The problem with these “seeds” and their encounter with the Word is that the roots of their faith are unable to go deep into the nourishment of the “soil” to get the nutrients of the Word. Instead, the roots stay at the surface and the plant shrivels-up and dies. In the life of these people, the first problem encountered – the first time they may be made fun of for believing or they run across a contradiction within what the Word teaches and what they experience in life – causes their faith to whither and die. And what for a brief moment was a rapidly growing success in faith turns into a slow, sad death from malnourishment. And the most astonishing, and in my mind shaming example of this comes from the Mega Church movement. Boasting attendance reports of 16,000+ every weekend during their services and giving records that reach into the millions, do you want to know what the average “life span” of membership most people have associated with these churches can boast? Any guesses? A maximum of 2 – 3 years, on average. And why? Because these churches are designed to bring people in, give them the simple message of Christ, and make them believers. Initially they promote growth....but the “seeds” that are sown often times do not get the proper nourishment they need from these churches, and sadly within just a few months to a few years, they leave. Do you find yourself in “rocky soil” today? Are you being challenged and slowly feel that your faith in Christ is slipping away? The only way to fix that is to be uprooted before it's too late.

So to whom does Jesus turn next in this illustration? Those choked-out by thorns. These seeds are planted in the soil and receive good nourishment from their encounter with the “soil” – but then they die as the thorns and the weeds of life grow around them and choke life from them. These, I would argue, are those believers who become so busy with everyone and everything around them that they cease to make time to encounter Christ. These believers put work, school, family, friends, relationships – anything and everything before God. Instead of reading the Bible, these believers sit around on Facebook, watching TV, hanging out with any number of people, or putting too much time into their work. These are the believers that may have strong roots, but allow the things of life to choke their faith out of them. Rather than going to small groups or to Sunday School or Sunday Worship, they choose to sleep a little longer, to run errands, or to catch-up on what they feel they've missed-out on throughout the week prior. In short, these are the believers who have faith, but don't practice it as God wants. Prayer and time spent in Scripture is minimal. Fellowship with other believers at times is unheard of. Jesus is talking about those who put life before the Word. And they only way to save plants of this type is to get rid of the weeds and thorns that will kill them, allowing proper time for growth and the production of fruit.

After describing these other “seeds,” Christ finally turns to the ones that land on “good soil.” These are the ones that encounter and understand God's Word. They sink into the “soil” and become enriched with vitamins and nutrients necessary for growth. They not only sprout, but they grow to full maturity, and even produce a yield greater than expected! It is these believers that the Psalmnist writes about, saying “Your Word is a Lamp unto our feet and a Light for our path. It is like a treasure for the heart.” These are believers who, like the Psalmnist from the Call to Worship this morning, are determined to keep the Lord's decrees and obey Him fully. Their roots grow deep into the “soil” of God's Word, and the impact that it has on them is truly amazing. It produces life, and turns what was a seed into a thriving, living plant – strongly nourished and producing good and pleasing fruit for the Sower. Who are these believers? They are the ones that understand that “faith without works is dead.” They are the ones who understand that “love is patient, love is kind.” They are the ones who ingest the nourishment that can only come from Christ and fill every part of their life with it. The Word of God makes a deep and lasting impact in them, and as a result, they produce fruit which in-turn yields more seed for the Sower to plant in time for a new harvest. In our churches, these are the believers who serve without complaining, who give without ceasing, and who get on their knees daily to thank God for the life that they have been given. And if that describes you this morning, your faith will not go unrewarded. God has taken notice, and will use you to plant new “seeds” when His time is right.

So there we have it. Four different ways that seeds can encounter the Living Word of Jesus Christ. Four different reactions. The time has come for each and every one of us to consider this morning – and throughout our lives – just exactly which kind of “seed” we are. The good news is that we have the choice to be planted in “good soil,” if we choose to do so. And when we do, we will grow in ways that we can't even imagine. The bad news is that none of us know just how long we have to make that choice, and for some, life is over before true nourishment can take place. How is the Word impacting your life? Are you the one in four chance described by Christ as being able to live and produce fruit? Or is your spirit doomed to be snatched away by Satan, to wither under pressure, or to be choked-out by life as it entangles you. The choice, ultimately is up to you. Where are you at in your life, and what are you going to do about it?

NOTES

1Ralph Gower, The New Manners & Customs of Bible Times, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1987), 90.

The Godly Man

2011-06-22T10:10:00.002-04:00

To start the sermon, I'm going to ask all of the men - young and old - of the church to stand. Now, I've got three specific directions for all of you to follow. The first one is to hug your spouse or girlfriend if she is present here today. Go ahead and do that for me.

Next, if you have any children present here with you today who are NOT downstairs, please take a moment and give all of them a hug.

Finally, I would like all of you to hug at least three people in the congregation that you've had a heart-to-heart with or who has impacted your life - regardless of that person's age.

Now that we've completed that exercise and spread the love around in the Sanctuary this morning, you may all take your seats.

I'm convinced that the greatest blessings in a man's life are his spouse, his children, and those closest to him. Next to Christ, there are no greater gifts from God. As a father, no matter how frustrated I may be, the laugh and smiles of my children remind me of their blessing. As a husband, my day and my life are complete if I know that my wife feels loved and appreciated by me. And as a son, I take great joy when my mother and father hug me, tell me that I am loved, and encourage me by telling me how proud they are of me.

Friends are important, too. Without the love and support of my friends and extended family, there are times when I would feel lost or abandoned. But as a friend, son, husband, and father, I can give thanks to God for these blessings in my life - which is exactly what Paul tells me I should do.

Today's Scripture passage comes from Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus. It's a very popular passage - but for the wrong reason. For centuries, men have used this passage to dominate their spouses and women in general because of one teeny, tiny word - "submit." But, historically, they start reading at verse 22 - forgetting that Paul uses the word in the prior sentence, urging men and women to submit to one another mutually. Yes, Paul says that the wife should submit to the husband, but why? Well, that's what we're going to talk about today. It's time to set the record straight here - because, men, this passage is really about you. We're going to discuss what it means to be a godly man.

Agree with me or not, there are some things we need to consider about this passage - namely that Paul spends A LOT more time talking to and teaching the men than he does the women. So, ladies, make sure that the men take notes today because we get to explore what it means for a man to be godly in his relationships. Like it or not, men, this is all about us today.

So let's look at our spousal relationships. What does the Bible say about being a godly man? Well, it all starts with one word: "submit." According to verses twenty-three and twenty-four, men have the responsibility to lead the family by example in submission to Christ. But as we read further, there's another instance of submission - in our marriages, the man - to be godly- must submit himself lovingly to his wife.

This is a BIG THING. Paul writes that each man must love his wife as he loves himself and as Christ loves the church. So what does that mean for all you men out there? If you want the love and respect of your spouse, you have to lead by example: show her the love and respect you want to receive. "Submit" to her, and in turn, she will be more inclined to follow your example. So, it would seem, Paul is saying that the godly man leads his family in a loving example of submission to Christ and loving and respectful submission to his wife.

But there is another relationship to be mentioned here as well. How does the godly man relate to his children? Again, Paul talks about submission and leading by example. Yes, children are to obey - an act of submission, as the child must submit his/her will to follow the parents' command. But could it be that Paul encourages fathers to submit to their children? Well, not exactly.

Paul's words for fathers regarding this relationship is two-fold: First of all, don't treat your children in such a way as to anger them. Now, some Bibles use the word "exasperate" here, but that's just a big word that basically means "torment them until they get mad." How many of you guys out there - being honest - have done this? It would seem that every father finds a unique way of doing this - such as in this story:

No matter how cool a teenager's mom and dad might be, few teens get through high school without feeling their parents embarrassed them.

And one teen has his dad to thank for embarrassing him the entire school year — well, 170 days of it.

When the high school's bus routes changed this year, 16-year-old Rain Price soon found out he'd be going right past his house every single morning. Much to his chagrin, he also found out his dad would be standing outside, waving.

"When he did it the first day, I was in shock," Rain said. "It's my first day of my sophomore year."

The embarrassment was a thrill for his father.

The second day of school, there he was again, only this time Dale Price was wearing a San Diego Chargers helmet and jersey. Day three, it was an Anakin Skywalker helmet, and the next day, swim trunks and a snorkel mask.

Other kids started to take note.

"Most of them like it, and we roll down our windows and wave. It's fun," Rain said.

His dad admits it took a lot of effort to keep it up, but said it was "a way of letting him know that we really care about him, but do something a little different." He described it as "a father's way" of saying I love you.

It ended up being a daily tradition for him, with a new costume each and every day.

"No recycling costumes, that's the rule," Price said. "I managed to adhere to that, and for better or for worse … we have some interesting costumes."

Interesting, "or embarrassing," according to Rain. He doesn't plan on thanking his dad at all.

"I'm not going to reward him for this; his reward is seeing my embarrassment," Rain said.

The elder Price could be seen — rain or shine — on the front porch of their home nearly every day of the school year, donning spandex, pleather, feathers, wigs, flip flops, suits, boots and even fur. He wore well-known costumes such as that of Batgirl, the scarecrow from Wizard of Oz, Elvis, the Little Mermaid, Princess Leia, Nacho Libre, Santa Claus and more. He also exhibited generic options, wearing every available variation of Army fatigues and winter wear, as well as several dresses — including one for a white wedding day.

"You don't want to see your dad dressing up in a wedding dress, waving at you on the bus," Rain said.

And never did his dad use the same character more than once. Several props aided interpretation as well. Like the day he hauled a porcelain toilet onto the porch. One of the days he was sick, so a cardboard cut-out of a Lord of the Rings character stood outside in his place.

"I hope this lives with him for the rest of his life," Price said. "He can use it against his kids and tell them, 'If you think you are embarrassed by me, you should have seen your grandfather.'"

Out-of-town relatives heard about the antics, and the family started documenting every costume, every school day, online, at www.waveatthebus.blogspot.com.

It was mentioned on the radio and on TV, and the excitement from that was enough to keep him going. But Dale Price has decided one year is enough. Next year, he said, "I am going to sleep in, no alarm, not getting out of bed."

Perhaps that will give his son a chance to relax and enjoy the rest of his high school experience.¹

I can only imagine what that poor kid went through. I used to hate when my dad would do things that I found to be embarrassing, and it really frustrated me. Luckily, he never did anything like that. Thanks, Dad. But this father is merely honoring an era-old tradition, passed-down from father to son throughout generations. According to Paul, however, maybe we should rethink that tradition.

The second thing that Paul writes with regards to fathers is that we are to bring-up our kids with discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. Uh-oh. Here's where the word "submit" comes into play again. Only by submitting ourselves to Christ can we truly learn and understand discipline from God's perspective. Disciplining someone - in God's eyes - is to be an act of love, not anger or hatred. And instruction is best done through action - so if you want your kids to honor and respect you and your wife, not only are you to instruct them by example, but you are to lovingly discipline your children when they get out-of-line. As I see it, that's a pretty tall order.

Like I said, the true responsibility in this passage doesn't fall to our spouses and children, men. It falls on us. If you want to be the head of the household, that's fine - but it means that you have to be a godly man. And to be a godly man, you have to lead by example and humbly submit in your relationship with God and your relationships on earth.

NOTES

1Sam Penrod & Wendy Leonard, "Teen's Dad Spends School Year Waving at Bus, Embarrassing Son," Deseret News, Available Online: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705373877/Teens-dad-spends-school-year-waving-at-bus-embarrassing-son.html Accessed 13 June 2011.

To Be Made Complete

2011-06-05T07:54:00.001-04:00

How many people sitting here today would be happy to order a pizza, pay full price, and when the delivery person arrived or you went to pick it up, would be happy to open the box and find that you'd only received a portion of what you paid for – maybe a third, or even half of a pizza? How about at work? How many of you would feel complete if you put-in 40+ hours of work in your week and only got 70 percent of your pay? – after taxes, of course. No one? What if you hired a contractor to build an addition onto your home, and (s)he left the job unfinished, but yet took full payment for the job? Would that upset you in any way?

Of course it would. Any of these scenarios would drive most all of us up the wall. When we do something, or especially when we pay for something, we expect it to be as we want it in completion. And we should accept this as part of our nature being created in the image of God. Genesis, chapter 1 shows us that God deems things to be “good” after their completion. It only makes sense that we should do the same. Sure, we can enjoy the processes of development along the way, but in the end, our satisfaction lies on things being completed – especially if done in a proper manner.

God looks at us in much the same way. He doesn't like when we leave things unfinished in our lives – especially in our spiritual lives. So many of us make promises to God and then don't keep them. We begin the work to grow our relationship with God, and then just simply stop. We say we'll read our Bible, we'll pray, we'll be active within the church, and then life gets in the way. We put other things before God – work, sports, school, family, friendships, or anything else. We tell God “well get back to Him later,” and later never comes.

Enter the Apostle Paul. His words to the church of Ephesus ring into our hearts and minds as we hear his longing for those believers to “grow in wisdom and stature” in their relationship with and understanding of God. And this should be our constant prayer as well – that we would grow in our relationship with God first and foremost, because without that, we will never fully understand God's word nor its teachings. In the Scriptures, God consistently puts a lot of emphasis on having a relationship with Him. From the beginning, the emphasis has always been that God's creations should know their Creator. This is a very intimate and personal knowledge – likened to the knowledge we have of a spouse or a good friend. The ultimate question that any of us should ask ourselves is “how well do I know God?” Knowledge of a person requires taking time to be with them and sharing life together. Our desire should be to do the same with God.

Paul's prayer is for wisdom so that we can understand God, and that we would be filled with hope and made complete by Christ. And this can only happen through our dedication to a relationship with God. Without such a relationship, the words are meaningless. Without Christ in our heart, we cannot be complete.

The preaching of a witness has a spontaneity about it, an infectious warmth, a simple directness, a depth of reality, which are all due to an intimate knowledge of God. So we must hunger and thirst after Him. We must claim the promise of Jesus that He will manifest Himself to those who love Him and who prove their love by their obedience (John 14:21). We shall remember that the real preparation of a sermon is not the few hours which are specifically devoted to it, but the whole stream of the preacher's Christian experience thus far, of which the sermon is a distilled drop. As E. M. Bounds has put it, 'The man, the whole man, lies behind the sermon. Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon, because it takes twenty years to make a man.'¹

It's not words that make our relationship with God real. It's action. And if we don't have a relationship with God, we can't put the blame on anyone but ourselves. Oddly enough, God has a lot to say about this in the Old Testament book of Hosea, chapter 4, verses 4 and 6: “Don't point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! My people are being destroyed because they don't know me.” No matter how good or bad the sermons of a preacher may be, they won't mean anything until you have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Your entire mode of understanding changes with that one step. And there's nothing that Pastor Kelly or I could say or do to make that happen for you. If you want to understand God, you have to do the work to have a relationship with Him. Sadly, though, many place the blame on their ministers for the faults that they themselves initiate:

Good morning, madam. May I help you?

Yes, please, I'd like to buy a minister.

For yourself or your church?

Oh, for my church, of course. I'm already married.

Uh, yes. Did you have a particular model in mind?

I've got a description from the Candidate Committee right here. We want a man about 30, well educated, with some experience. Good preacher and teacher. Balanced personality. Serious, but with a sense of humor. Efficient, but not rigid. Good health. Able to identify with all age groups. And, if possible, sings tenor.

Sings tenor?

We're short of tenors in the choir.

I see. Well, that's quite a list. How much money did you want to spend?

The committee says $9,000. $9,500 tops.

Hmmm. Well, perhaps we'd better start in the bargain basement.

Tell me, how much is that model in the window?

You mean the one in the Pendleton plaid suit and the gray suede dune boots?

Yes, that one. He's a real dream.

That's our Princeton #467. Has a Ph.D. and AKC papers.

AKC?

American Koinonia Council. He sells for $16,000 plus house.

Wow! That's too rich for our blood. What about that model over there?

Ah, yes. An exceptional buy. Faith #502. He's a little older than 30, but has excellent experience. Aggressive. Good heart. Has a backing of sermons, two of which have been printed in Christian Leaders.

He's not too bad. Can you do something about his bald head? Mrs. Penner especially insists that our minister have some hair.

Madam, all our ministers come in a variety of hair styles.

I'll keep him in mind.

Now let me show you Olympia #222. Four years of varsity sports at Brass Ring College. Plays football, basketball, volleyball, and Ping-Pong. Comes complete with sports equipment.

What a physique! He must weigh 200 pounds!

Yes, indeed. You get a lot for your money with this one. And think what he can do for your young people.

Great. But how is he at preaching?

I must admit he's not St. Peter. But you can't expect good sermons and a church-wide athletic program too!

I suppose not. Still...

Let me show you our Fresno #801. Now here's a preacher. All his sermons are superb,well- researched, copious anecdotes, and they always have three points. And,he comes with a full set of the Religious Encyclopedia at no extra charge! You get the whole package for $8,300.

He's wearing awfully thick glasses.

For $220 more we put in contact lenses.

I don't know. He might study too much. We don't want a man who's in his office all the time.

Of course.

How about this minister over here?

Comes from a management background. Trained in business operations at Beatitude College. Adept with committees. Gets his work done by 11:30 every morning.

His tag says he's an IBM 400.

Madam, you have a discerning eye. Innovative Biblical Methods. This man will positively revitalize your church.

I'm not sure our church wants to be revitalized. Haven't you got something less revolutionary?

Well, would you like someone of the social worker type? We have this Ghetto #130.

The man with the beard? Good gracious, no. Mrs. Penner would never go for that.

How about our Empathy #41C? His forte is counseling. Very sympathetic. Patient. Good with people who have problems.

Everyone in our church has problems. But he might not get out and visit new people. We really need a man who does a lot of visitation. You see, all our people are very busy and...

Yes, yes, I understand. You want a minister who can do everything well.

That's it! Haven't you got somebody like that?

I'm thinking. In our back room we have a minister who was traded in last week. Excellent man, but he broke down after three years. If you don't mind a used model, we can sell him at a reduced price.

Well, we had hoped for someone brand-new. We just redecorated the sanctuary, and we wanted a new minister to go with it.

Of course. But with a little exterior work, and a fresh suit, this man will look like he just came out of the box. No one will ever know. Let me bring him out and you can look him over.

All right. Honestly, this minister shopping is exhausting. It's so hard to get your money's worth. Tell me, do you also give Green Stamps with the contract?

Uh,no. But if there's any dissatisfaction after six months we send a new congregation for the balance of the years. That usually takes care of most problems. ²

Human beings rarely want to accept fault for our actions. It doesn't matter how big or small the problem or the status of the person – we all struggle with taking the blame. God ultimately knows who and what are the root causes of most problems in our lives and in the life of the church, and He usually makes them clear to those who listen. If you want to be made complete, if you want the church to be made complete, then you have to be willing to accept fault for your deficiencies, confess them to God, and allow Christ to fill-in the cracks of life to make you complete. If you want the church as a body to be complete, then we have to stop pointing fingers at one another and realize that the ENTIRE body of the church has to work together, confess our sins and our faults, ask God for forgiveness, and let the Spirit lead us into an understanding of God's wants for our church and community. God will make us complete, but it's up to us to seek wholeness.

So where does this leave you as an individual, and us as a church? Sermons are meaningless words unless we have a relationship with God. Pastor Kelly and I can't build a relationship for you with the Almighty Father. Only you can do that. As a church, it's up to all of us to build our relationship with God in order for the church to move and act as He wants us to. So if you feel that the church is broken, rather than placing the blame on someone or something else, God wants you to pony-up and confess where you are at fault. God can do amazing things in the life of the church when we're willing to admit our own shortcomings and failures.

To be made complete – to be made whole in Christ – starts with us. If you see a problem, rather than complain and point fingers at others, be willing to fix it. Spiritual understanding and growth come from relationship – to God, and to one another. Paul's prayer needs to be our own: that we be filled with light and hope, that we gain spiritual wisdom and insight, and that we be made complete in Christ.

NOTES

1E. M. Bounds, Power through Prayer (London: Marshall Brothers), p. 11.

2From the book Don't Stand Up in the Canoe: A Fantasy from Life, Jean Shaw, Zondervan, Grand Rapids

Precious Stones

2011-05-21T23:14:00.002-04:00

How many people here have ever sat down and really looked at rocks? We step on them, around them, or over them in some way, shape, or form almost every single day. Whether it be poured as concrete, formed into brick or stone foundations and buildings, or even in our own driveway, we've all dealt with rocks in some form or another. But have any of us ever really taken the time to sit and really look at a rock.

None of us here are geologists to my knowledge, nor have any aspirations of becoming one. For some, rocks are a way of life, and the location and formation of rocks can tell a lot about the environment from which they've come.

But there are some very “special” stones that most of us are familiar with – precious stones. And especially we are familiar with those stones that correspond with the month of our birth. You know, stones like Peridot, Diamond, Ruby, Garnet, Emerald, Sapphire, Blue Topaz, etc. But according to Scripture, there are stones that are even more precious than the most valuable stones on the earth – and those stones are believers in Jesus Christ.

This epistle, or letter, is written by Peter, one of the “inner three” of Jesus' disciples, and the one who denied knowing Him the night before His Crucifixion. Jesus said of Peter that the church would be built upon him – and indeed it was, as Peter's faith never again wavered in Christ following His Resurrection and Ascension. And in this passage, we can see why.

Peter never found anything that compared to faith in Christ in his life. It was so precious to him that it was worth more than anything else he would see or encounter. Many believers have and continue to echo this sentiment – and they are those who have been nourished beyond “spiritual milk” - those who have gone beyond the basic teachings of the faith into a deeper relationship filled with a deeper meaning. But there are some who don't recognize the beauty and splendor of what is offered them.

There is an old legend of a swan and a crane. A beautiful swan alighted by the banks of the water in which a crane was wading about seeking snails. For a few moments the crane viewed the swan in stupid wonder and then inquired:

'Where do you come from?""

'I come from heaven!"" replied the swan.

'And where is heaven?"" asked the crane.

'Heaven!"" said the swan, 'Heaven! have you never heard of heaven?"" And the beautiful bird went on to describe the grandeur of the Eternal City. She told of streets of gold, and the gates and walls made of precious stones; of the river of life, pure as crystal, upon whose banks is the tree whose leaves shall be for the healing of the nations. In eloquent terms the swan sought to describe the hosts who live in the other world, but without arousing the slightest interest on the part of the crane.

Finally the crane asked: 'Are there any snails there?""

'Snails!"" repeated the swan; 'No! Of course there are not.""

'Then,"" said the crane, as it continued its search along the slimy banks of the pool, 'you can have your heaven. I want snails!""

This fable has a deep truth underlying it. How many a young person to whom God has granted the advantages of a Christian home, has turned his back upon it and searched for snails! How many a man will sacrifice his wife, his family, his all, for the snails of sin! How many a girl has deliberately turned from the love of parents and home to learn too late that heaven has been forfeited for snails!^¹

Some people don't recognize a good thing even when it's right in front of them. Still others chase after what they perceive to be the “precious jewels” of faith, only to find them to be cheap and sometimes worthless imitations. Believers seek Gods' truth – the richest gold than any of us could ever find – but instead grasp hold of pyrite, or Fool's Gold, in the form of false teachings and doctrines that contradict what the Scriptures have to say.

Take, for example, the events of this past weekend. For years, a man by the name of Harold Camping has encouraged “believers” to spend thousands of dollars helping to market a campaign based upon faulty theology and false prophecy. Listeners to his radio station – called “Family Radio” - have been encouraged to give wholeheartedly in support to his claim that yesterday, May 21, 2011, was the day of the Rapture. (For those who may not be familiar with that term, the “Rapture” is a theological concept based off of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 which talks about believers being reunited with Christ upon His return.² To go into it from there needs to be the topic of another study.) Following yesterday, the world would enter a period of complete chaos for the next five months, and would end in a giant fireball when the universe was destroyed on October 21, 2011. And the scary thing is, he predicted this ending happening once before – in September of 1994.

Now, had Camping been correct in his estimation – which most every reasonably minded Christian in the world rejected as nonsense – we would all have a very important question to ask ourselves here today: “why were we left behind?” And Camping's answer would have been simple: we're not “true believers” because God left the Church (universally speaking) in 1988. So anyone who has come to Christ in this or any other church in the last 23 years has been deceived according to this man.³

The worst and saddest part is that many, many people were deceived into giving up their life savings, their homes, vehicles, and numerous other possessions in order to finance this man's radio station. It is estimated that he has over 20,000 followers across the globe. And why do they follow this retired civil engineer and his teachings? Because they believe them to be true, and they don't know any better. They've never been taught the truth found in Scripture. And so these “precious stones” have been left raw, unprocessed, and unpolished while their “jeweler” has literally disappeared and his business has mysteriously vanished from the internet.⁴

What can be said of those who have lost everything? Do they deserve it, or do we feel pity for them? Perhaps both could be said. I believe that God can and does use whatever it takes to bring people to Him through Jesus Christ. And I believe that many, in their search for the true Gold found in Scripture and sound Christian teaching will turn to churches, pastors, and friends to figure out what went wrong. Thus the “pyrite” or false teaching will be traded for something of value – of great value as a matter of fact. Still others will toss away what things they may have come to understand and will cease to believe in God altogether. And, sadly, I don't think we can blame them for doing so.

Believers – the people who make up God's one, true church – are more valuable to Him than anything else. WE are God's precious jewels. We are worth being harvested in our raw state, polished, and cherished as the finest quality of treasures. And God will treat us that way if we choose to follow Him. Being “polished” by God means that the “rough edges” of our lives are sanded-down and worn-off. It means that we undergo a process to be purified. It means that we go from being more than just an ordinary stone – we become something of great value.

And on the flip-side of the coin, Jesus Christ, His teachings, and the Word of God (the Bible) are our “precious jewels” of the faith. We, too, must cherish them, protect them, and treat them as being extremely valuable if we are to have a relationship with God. People are lured into false teaching and follow false prophets because in their craving for spiritual nourishment, they feed on sour milk instead of what is sweet. And in the end, their spirits become ill, and they become malnourished in their faith.

Do you see yourself as a “precious stone” to God? Do you see Christ as a “precious stone” in your life? Or are you, instead, holding onto pyrite – Fool's Gold – thinking that it's the real deal?

NOTES

1Moody's Anecdotes, pp. 125-126 Available Online: http://www.crosswalk.com/church/sermon-illustration/?q=precious+stones

2Wikipedia contributors, "Rapture," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rapture&oldid=430287215 (accessed May 22, 2011).

3Wikipedia contributors, "Harold Camping," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harold_Camping&oldid=430297040 (accessed May 22, 2011).

4Available Online: http://www.christianpost.com/news/harold-campings-rapture-a-scam-50374/

Sin and Grace

2011-03-12T21:08:00.003-05:00

Today we're going to talk about two great concepts within Christianity, sin and grace, by looking through two persons found in the Scriptures: Adam, and Jesus. Allow me to give you a brief synopsis of Adam’s life from beginning to end. We begin with chapter 2 of Genesis and Adam’s formation. He was created in God’s image and formed from the dust of the ground. God picked-up a handful, made a man out of it, and breathed into it, thus creating the first life. He’s then given the task of naming all the animals God created and eventually is given a woman named Eve to be his wife.

Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden for a while, and everything is great. God has provided everything they need to live – food, water, shelter, companionship. Everything they could possibly need, they have. Then one day, Adam and Eve encounter a serpent. The serpent convinces them to eat forbidden fruit. Now, at this point, I’m going to ask you to look closely at the wording in the text…look at Genesis 3:6. She took some, and gave some to him. It doesn’t say that He took some later. He was right there with Eve when she ate it, and was convinced just as much as she was that he should eat, too.

Anyway, they eat of the fruit, and they get caught afterward. Adam makes the lame excuse that it was Eve’s fault, and Eve, in turn, blames the snake. So, all three of them get cursed by God. Now, He could have wiped them all out and started over again. But that’s not our God. He punished them, out of love, and sent them out of the Garden. Adam’s curse was that he now has to work to get food. The Bible also basically says that now Adam will die – causing many to wonder if it was God’s intention to allow Adam to live forever at one point.

Regardless, most of the time women feel that they get the raw end of the deal here. After all, any woman in here could confess that they’d likely much rather work in the fields than have to go through childbirth again. Eve’s pain was greatly increased – something that has made women want to curse her again, and again, and again. So Adam is forced out of the Garden and now has to work for what once God gave to him freely. He has a couple of boys, and one of them kills the other one. Then, the murderer is banished. So, basically, Adam is left in a situation that almost could rival Job’s – he’s lost his original home, he’s lost his original family, and overall has just had a pretty rough time due to his poor choice.

And let’s not forget about the fact that it was his disobedience that brought sin into the world. Thousands of years of sin’s presence on earth can all be attributed to this one man: Adam. So that’s it. The Bible says he lived over 900 years and had children, grandchildren, and went several generations down the line. Genesis says that Adam was created in God’s image – something that we claim as a part of our humanity even today. Mark Twain once said that “Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was, that they escaped teething.”¹

Indeed Adam did have a lot of advantages. He knew what it was like to live in paradise and to have God provide everything for you. He knew what it was like to experience perfect peace and harmony with God. He knew what it was like to have a loving relationship with his Creator. Adam truly did have a lot of advantages that have been much harder for the rest of us to obtain since the Fall. Russell Grigg states that “Adam was created a perfect man, in full possession of all human faculties, and with a God-consciousness which enabled him to have spiritual communion with God. Initially innocent, sinless, and holy, he was in a right relationship to God, to woman, to himself, and to the natural world around him.”²

But something happened. In Adam’s naïveté, he inadvertently disobeys a direct order from God and therefore brings sin into the world. And he does what any good human being would do – he tries to hide the sin, hide himself, and (when caught) tries to blame it on someone else. Given all the things he knows about God, he still tries to hide and excuse the fact that he did what God said he wasn’t supposed to.

No imagine yourself being in his shoes – confronted by God in the manner that he was. Would you tell the truth? Would you own-up to your mistake as Adam did? Knowing that the God who created you could just as soon say the word and you would be obliterated is standing in front of you and asking what you did, would you have the courage to be truthful? Honestly, most of us probably wouldn’t. And, just as in Adam’s case, it wouldn’t matter because God would already know what happened.

God’s reaction, quite frankly, is one that most people would find astonishing. In our broken, fallen world, we would expect God to be so upset at this disobedience that He would destroy Adam and Eve and would just make new humans to start over again. As Bill Cosby used to tell audiences he would say to his kids, “I brought you in this world, and I’ll take you out.” Cosby was joking, but God literally could do such a thing in the blink of an eye. But He doesn’t. Instead, He shows Adam mercy and compassion, and He creates clothing for Adam and Eve to hide their nakedness. And even though He’s upset with them, He continues to be with the family even after their exile from Eden.

I wonder if Adam ever sat and wondered “what have I done?” I wonder if he realized to the full extent which his disobedience would go? He did, after all, live over 900 years. He had a lot of time to think about it. I wonder how many times he talked to God about all of it? There are a lot of questions that Scripture seems to leave unanswered concerning Adam’s life. The lessons that we see presented in Scripture concerning Adam’s creation and subsequent curse are clear. Adam screwed up, and God showed mercy and love to him. It’s a good lesson to learn and to see for us even today, because it provides hope for us that if God would remain with Adam and his family, He’ll remain with us when we make mistakes, too.

Our Scripture passage for this morning comes from Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. In this particular passage, Paul is addressing the differences between Adam and Jesus. Basically, the text is using each man to represent opposing sides – Adam represents sin, and Christ represents redemption. This is not only appropriate, but it is truth given to us in John’s gospel as well. All of us recognize John 3:16, and could likely recite it this morning if asked. Could someone say that for me this morning? Thank you. But most of us don’t know what it says in the next couple of verses, so let me read them to you. John 3:17-18 are the verses where John recognizes Jesus’ purpose on earth. In them, John says: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.”

As human beings, we all relate to Adam. He was the first man on earth, and is the father of all humanity. If we could trace our ancestry back far enough, we would all eventually find that we all stopped with him. And if you don’t believe me, consider this:

In 2002, the Discovery Channel put out a documentary that traced mitochondrial DNA – a type of DNA found in the cells of our body that is passed-down from mother to child exclusively. While other parts of our DNA change as the cells become a human being, this type doesn’t. By tracing this DNA, scientists have discovered that every human being on the planet is related to one woman – whom they’ve given then name “Eve.” They’ve figured out that she lived in Africa and was forced to migrate – just as the multiple generations of her descendants have as well.³

The point is that all of us, whether we really believe it or not, really do relate to one woman and one man. The fact that science has proven it to be true is perhaps a little known fact, but it’s there. We are related to Adam in our humanity. And, as Paul states, we are also related to Adam in our disobedience to God.

Now, a lot of people like to speculate that perhaps if Adam had not disobeyed God, we all could be living with Adam and Eve in the paradise that was Eden even at this point in time. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know. What I do know is that regardless of what we may speculate, the fact is that Adam disobeyed God and as a result, sin entered the world. Last week, we learned two lessons from the story of Adam – one was that Adam screwed-up, just like all of us do on a regular basis. The other one – the one that relates to Jesus as well – is that no matter how bad we screw-up, God is willing to forgive us because He loves us and desires a relationship with us.

How does that last lesson relate to Jesus? Jesus is the means by which we are forgiven, and is the One who restores us to a position where we are capable of having that relationship with God that was broken by Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Without Jesus, God still loves us. That is true, also. But the problem is that sin taints us, and God cannot stand sin. So even though He loves us, He cannot allow Himself to relate to us in the way that He’d like because of the sin in our lives.

Adam was created in the image of God. Jesus is the image of God. Adam was a reflection of Jesus’ perfection as a human being. Adam, at creation, had no sin. Then he disobeyed God, and sin entered his life and the world. Jesus was also born with no sin. Jesus, however, remained sinless and perfect because He did not give-in to temptation and disobey God in the process. In His death, He conquered sin, and in His resurrection, He gave us life and hope. Through Adam, we are given life on earth. Through Christ, we are given life eternally.

Adam was close to God, but then was separated. Through Jesus, we who are separated from God because of sin can draw close to Him again. Are you catching the overarching theme here? Paul sums it up for us in verses 18 and 19 by saying that “Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.”

Do you claim righteousness in Christ this morning? Through Jesus, God has redeemed all of us. Through this God-Man – the Perfect Man – we have been restored in relationship with God today. But, even though (as Paul says) God gives this gift freely out of love and grace, we have to make the decision to claim it.

God has made the offer to join Him, and it is up to us to take it. You see, God has given us free will. And even though He is God and could easily make us come to Him and follow, He doesn’t want to rule over us as some tyrant. What He wants is to love us and to be in a loving relationship with us. But we have to want it, too. God pursues us, but it’s ultimately our decision.

Christ made the decision not to follow the temptations of the devil in the wilderness. He was tempted with food, with power, and with His own divinity. The devil wanted Jesus to use His power and authority as God to do cheap parlor tricks like turning a stone into bread, or to jump off of the temple and command angels to catch Him. Jesus didn’t fall for it, because He knew that God sent Him here for a bigger purpose – to restore His broken world.

Friends, we still live in a world that is broken. The tragedy in Japan this past week makes that fact a bold and blunt reality. The anger and sin that plagued Cain and caused him to murder filled that young man’s heart Monday morning. Christ came so that the sin that causes such violence and incomprehensible behavior would be eradicated. And Scripture promises us that one day it will be.

We spend a lot of time talking about sin. Jesus came to remove it from us and restore us to what God had in mind when He created Adam at the beginning of time. Through Christ we have the opportunity to experience God as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. But we have to make the decision to accept Jesus as God’s Gift of abounding grace and love.

And so there we have it – sin, and grace as shown through Adam, the first human, and Jesus, the perfect human. We are related physically to Adam as we walk this earth, and we can be related spiritually to Christ if we so choose. The ultimate question for all of us this morning is: “do you choose sin, or grace?”

NOTES

1 Available Online: http://www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/adam.htm

2 Russell Grigg, “First Adam-Last Adam: Both Are Vital to the Gospel…but Exactly How?,” Available Online: http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v21/i1/adam.asp

3 Available Online: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373595/

Being Authentic

2011-02-13T00:37:00.002-05:00

A rather pompous-looking deacon was endeavoring to impress upon a class of boys the importance of living the Christian life. "Why do people call me a Christian?" the man asked. After a moment's pause, one youngster said, "Maybe it's because they don't know you."¹

How many of us like to be called a “hypocrite?” Anyone? Does anyone just get a rush when someone says of you that you are “a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion – a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings?”² I know it's an uncomfortable word, and many of us may never have the experience of being called such an “ugly” word – though we may have used it in conjunction with talking about other people. And, so very often, whether we like it or not, it's a word that God uses when He talks to or about us.

Enter the prophet Isaiah. Here was a man who knew that he was unworthy to even be in the presence of God. At the beginning of this book – the book that bears his name – he has a dream in which he observes worship being done in God's heavenly throne room. And because he knew that he was impure, and announced so, God saved him and deemed him righteous by having an angel touch a hot coal to his lips, thus anointing him to serve as God's prophet and bring His message to the people. And he did just that...

Today's passage comes to us in the midst of God lamenting over the falseness of His chosen people. Corruption had run rampant by Isaiah's time, and God was speaking to that. The people were greedy, proud, and selfish in the way they lived their lives, and then they came before God in acts of pious worship. But the Lord saw through the smokescreen and called them out on the way they lived their lives. The worship and prayers of the Israelites were worthless in the eyes of God because they were not reflective of the people's actions. A more modern setting of Isaiah's words may come across to us something like this:

I knelt to pray when day was done,
And prayed, “O Lord bless every one,
Lift from every saddened heart the pain,
And let the sick be well again.”

And then I woke another day,
And carelessly went upon my way.
The whole day long I did not try
To wipe a tear from any eye.

I did not try to share the load
Of any brother on the road.
I did not even go to see
The sick man just next door to me.

Yet once again when day was done,
I prayed, “O Lord bless everyone.”
But as I prayed, unto my ear
There came a voice that whispered clear,

“Pause, hypocrite, before you pray,
Whom have you tried to bless today?
God’s sweetest blessings always go,
By hands which serve Him below.”

And then I hid my face and cried,
“Forgive me, God, for I have lied.
Let me but live another day,
And I will live the way I pray!”³

How many of us put our prayers into action? And, I mean doing something greater than just writing a check or putting money into a collection basket. How many of us are truly going forth from our worship experiences – be they personal experiences at home or group experiences within a church setting – and entering the world with the understanding that in order for our worship and prayer to mean something, we have to get out of the pews and go into the world, actually SERVING the Lord?! Isaiah's message rings just as true for us as it did the Israelites 2600 years ago – if you aren't LIVING your faith, then your worship in church and at home MEANS NOTHING.

What does God want from those who claim to love and worship Him? He wants us to be authentic. He wants us to mean what we say, and to say what we mean. To coin a phrase, God is saying to us, “Don't just sing it...BRING IT.” In other words, DO something besides throwing money at things and complaining when things aren't being done the way you think they should be. Be proactive and SERVE the Lord. Don't allow your church or your life to sound like this:

1. We sing “Sweet Hour of Prayer” and are content with 5–10 minutes a day.
2. We sing “Onward Christian Soldiers” and wait to be drafted into His service.
3. We sing “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” and don’t use the one we have.
4. We sing “There Shall be Showers of Blessing” but do not come when it rains.
5. We sing “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” and let the least little offense sever it.
6. We sing “Serve the Lord With Gladness” and gripe about all we have to do.
7. We sing “I Love to Tell the Story” and never mention it at all.
8. We sing “We’re Marching to Zion” but fail to march to worship or church school.
9. We sing “Cast Thy Burden on the Lord” and worry ourselves into a nervous breakdown.
10. We sing “The Whole Wide World for Jesus” and never invite our next-door neighbor.
11. We sing “O Day of Rest and Gladness” and wear ourselves out traveling, cutting grass or playing golf on Sunday.

12. We sing “Throw Out the Lifeline” and content ourselves with throwing out a fishing line.⁴

The question today is one of faith and action: is your worship and prayer life meaningless in the eyes of God? Are you backing-up what you say with how you live your life? If so, then wonderful. Isaiah's words in this instance are not for you. But many of us – most of us if we're honest – would say that at least some part of our lives are not living up to God's standard. Christ's blood covers our sins when we fall short, but we are not supposed to use that as an excuse to not live our faith in accordance with our worship and prayer life. Are you authentic, or a hypocrite?

SOURCES

1Available Online: http://www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/hypocrisy.htm

2“Hypocrite,” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Available Online: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypocrite, Accessed 12 February, 2011.

3Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers (Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).

4“Hymns and Heart,” Ibid.

"Blessed?!" What does THAT mean?!

2011-01-29T12:01:00.001-05:00

“Blessed” is one of those words in the Bible that don't always make a lot of sense to people, and yet it is used time and time again throughout the Scriptures. Some versions of Scripture translate “blessed” as “happy,” but I'm not convinced that this is the right way of looking at it. Generally, yes, being “blessed” does mean that one is “happy,” but such a feeling is a result of an action or word bestowed upon us. So what does it mean to be “blessed?”

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “blessed” means “bringing pleasure, contentment, or good fortune.”¹ This seems to be a somewhat accurate description as we think of the things that bless us in life. All of them – from the smallest to the greatest of blessings – instill within us feelings of joy, of peace, goodwill, and hope. So it would only seem fitting that Jesus would use the word “blessed” to introduce each of the Beatitudes – our Scripture passage for today.

The Beatitudes serve as the beginning to the Sermon on the Mount – considered by most to be the greatest sermon ever given, and not just because it was Jesus' message to the people. Covering a variety of subjects, the Sermon on the Mount spans two entire chapters of the Gospel of Matthew and serves as one of the major teaching elements in Jesus' ministry. Some scholars have even gone as far to say that the entirety of the Ten Commandments can be found within Jesus' words in the Sermon. But scaling back just a bit, it is important for us to take the time to examine the Beatitudes just a little bit today, because we need to understand WHO it is that Jesus is speaking about in these passages.

Jeff Cook states that “the Beatitudes are a picture of the voids created by sin being filled with the life of heaven.”² He goes on in his book to expand on this thought – stating that as sin as ripped through our world and caused major damage, Jesus presents to His followers the Beatitudes as a picture of what things are supposed to be like. He gives us imagery of paradise that mimics those images that we get of the Garden of Eden. And he expands the Beatitudes to help readers understand just WHO Jesus is talking about. Let me read them for you:³

“Blessed are the poor in spirit – those who know they lack what makes them alive and who look to others for help – for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn – those who have had that which they care for most stripped away – for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek – those who do not pursue power or authority but live gentile lives in my kingdom – for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – those who have no good thing inside themselves yet still long for something real – for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful – those who give even out of their want – for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart – those whose insides are dedicated to what actually matters – for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers – who work for the same ends I do – for they [too] will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness – who live the live of God in broken places, showcasing God's reign – for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Does that clarify it a little bit for you? It certainly makes light of some of those difficult folks that maybe we've never quite identified with before. Essentially, all of us (hopefully) can identify with one of these “persons” who are blessed according to Christ's list. Certainly we are all “poor in spirit,” because we are all in need of God's grace in our lives. So in essence, Jesus is talking to EVERYONE. All of us are blessed in some way, shape, or form – whether we realize it or not.

Nothing but manna! They were experiencing a miracle of God's provision every morning; yet they were no longer excited about it. Nothing but manna!

So what does it mean for us to experience blessing and to live a blessed life? Again, Jeff Cook gives us a suitable answer: “The blessed life is the one that seeks the good of others first, for the blessed life is one that is united with others.”⁵ In other words, if you truly want to know what it means to live a blessed life, you have to be willing to serve others before your own needs, and contribute to the life of the group. And if you're living your life for others, then you're living a life that mimics that of Jesus Himself.

To be blessed is to receive the grace of God, and to live our lives like that of Christ. What more could we want? And as we follow in Christ's footsteps, we will receive the blessings of God poured-out upon us. So what does it mean to be blessed? Ultimately, it means living within the will of God, and being guided by the Holy Spirit. And we have to be careful, because sometimes our blessings are easy to miss. How are you being blessed today?

SOURCES

1Available Online: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blessed Accessed 29 January 2011.

2Jeff Cook, Seven: The Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 26.

3Ibid, 26-28.

4Warren Wiersbe, God Isn't In a Hurry, (Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI, 1994), 77-78.

5Jeff Cook, Seven: The Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 58.

A Gracious Gift

2010-12-24T22:20:00.001-05:00

During the late 1800s English evangelist Henry Moorhouse made several trips to America to preach. On one of these occasions, he was taking a walk through a poor section of the city when he noticed a small boy coming out of a store with a pitcher of milk. Just then, the boy slipped and fell, breaking the pitcher and spilling the milk all over the sidewalk. Moorhouse rushed to the youngster's side and found him unhurt but terrified. 'My mamma'll whip me!" he cried. The preacher suggested that they try to put the pitcher back together, but the pieces of glass would not stay together. The boy kept crying. Finally Moorhouse picked up the youngster and carried him to a nearby store where the preacher purchased a new pitcher. Then he returned to the dairy store and had the pitcher washed and filled with milk. With that done, he carried both the boy and the pitcher home. Putting the youngster down on his front porch, Moorhouse handed him the pitcher and asked, 'Now will your mama whip you?"

A wide smile spread upon his tear-stained face, 'Aw, no sir, 'cause it's lot better pitcher than we had before."^¹

We come here tonight for a variety of reasons. Some of us are here because it has been ingrained within us that we should be in church at Christmas. Some are here to see friends and or family that we otherwise might miss. And, hopefully, all of us have come here this evening to experience God. The “magic” of Christmas is something that all of us are familiar with – and we should be, as it is broadcast to us across the airwaves and in the print ads that seem to be more “festive” and “upbeat” this time of year. In a commercial sense, this is the time of gift-giving. For those who communicate with “receiving gifts” as one of your love languages, this is the time of year when you may feel the most loved because so many are giving you items to remind you of how much they care.

But this time of gift-giving began with a great act of humility, grace, and love – things that, perhaps, are not present in our modern mindset. It began with the gift of a tiny baby – a king, in fact THE King, humbly being born inside a stable instead of a royal palace. And this gift was better than anything God, the Father, had given to humanity at any point in history since the Fall from Grace that occurred when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. It was a gift that would mean new life, new understanding, and a new status for believers with God.

Long ago, there ruled in Persia a wise and good king. He loved his people. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know about their hardships. Often he dressed in the clothes of a working man or a beggar, and went to the homes of the poor. No one whom he visited thought that he was their ruler. One time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left. Later he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying, 'I am your king!" The king thought the man would surely ask for some gift or favor, but he didn't. Instead he said, 'You left your palace and your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the course food I ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich gifts. To me you have given yourself!"

The King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave Himself to you and me. The Bible calls Him, 'the unspeakable gift!"^²

His was a gift of presence, and a gift of grace. Because Christ came and gave of Himself, we have the opportunity to be called “children of God.” Through Christ, we are adopted into God's family, and we are able to receive His blessings. Because Christ gave His life, we are able to live differently than those who do not know Him. Paul says that because of the gracious gift of God, we should live with wisdom and devotion to God as we go through our lives here on the earth anticipating Christ's Second Coming – a time of truly great celebration for all believers. And though we do not know the exact day nor time of Christ's arrival, we celebrate it with anticipation each year as we anticipate Christmas within the church – Advent being a time of looking forward while remembering back.

Once upon a time a person was touched by God, and God gave him a priceless gift. This gift was the capacity for love. He was grateful and humble, and he knew what an extraordinary thing had happened to him. He carried it like a jewel and he walked tall and with Purpose. From time to time he would show this gift to others, and they would smile and stroke his jewel. But it seemed that they'd also dirty it up a little. Now, this was no way to treat such a precious thing, so the person built a box to protect his jewel. And he decided to show it only to those who would treat it with respect and meet it with reverent love of their Own. Even that didn't work, for some tried to break into the box. So he built a bigger, stronger box,one that no one could get into,and the man felt good. At last he was protecting the jewel as it should be. Upon occasion, when he decided that someone had earned the right to see it, he'd show it proudly. But they sometimes refused, or kind of smudged it, or just glanced at it disinterestedly. Much time went by, and then only once in awhile would one pass by the man, the aging man; he would pat his box and say, 'I have the loveliest of jewels in here." Once or twice he opened the box and offered it saying, 'Look and see. I want you to." And the passerby would look and look, and look. And then he would back away from the old man, shaking his head.

The man died, and he went to God, and he said, 'You gave me a precious gift many years ago, and I've kept it safe, and it is as lovely as the day you gave it to me." And he opened the box and held it out to God. He glanced in it, and in it was a lizard,an ugly, laughing lizard. And God walked away from him.^³

God expects us to make the most out of this precious gift that He has bestowed upon the earth. For us, it means that Christmas should be a time when we consider whether or not our hearts are in the right place. God gave us Jesus Christ as the ultimate act of love, and He expects us to give to others and to Him in much the same way. God's gift was a blessing for us all – a gift of grace. How many of us can truly say that we are using God's gift every moment of every day? Are we making good use of our relationship with Christ, or are we simply allowing Christ to be someone that we celebrate when the family gets together for the holidays? There is more to Jesus than just Christmas and Easter – something that we all do well to remember.

God's gift of grace was given over 2000 years ago. Isn't it about time that we give God something back?

SOURCES

1Source Unkown, “The Free Gift,” Available Online: http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/illustrations/

2Source Unknown, “The Unspeakable Gift,” Available Online: http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/illustrations/

3Lois Cheney, God is no Fool, pp. 33-4

Precious Light

2010-11-28T08:09:00.002-05:00

Light has been important to human beings – and indeed all of creation – since the beginning of time. Light helps us to see, provides us warmth, and is a catalyst for chemical reactions within the bodies of living things. Plants cannot grow without light, and people need light to produce vitamin E within our skin – a nutrient necessary to keep our skin healthy. Light affects our moods and temperaments, with many commenting that they feel depressed or saddened on cloudy, overcast days where light is hampered. Truly, light is extremely important to our existence – and the existence of all living things. Perhaps that's why light was the first thing that God created. He knew how important it would be for everything else.

Light is also a very powerful symbol in the Bible. Good things are always seen “in the light” and evil is always seen as being “in the darkness.” It's a motif that we often use even when speaking about non-Biblical things. Even in secular references, such as Star Wars and the concept of the Force, there are “light” and “dark” sides of the Force – representing both good and evil. I could continue on and on with a variety of illustrations about how the concept of “light” and “dark” have affected us and are seen practically everywhere, but I think you get the idea. Light is a very precious and important thing to us – both physically and conceptually.

And it is this motif of light and darkness that Paul uses within his writings to the church at Rome. The letter to the Romans was most likely written about 55 or 56 AD (roughly 20 years after his own conversion), while Paul was staying in Corinth before heading to Jerusalem to teach and minister to believers there. It was written in preparation for a future ministry that Paul hoped to embark upon – namely ministry to the people of what is now known as Spain. Romans, in general, is a book written to encourage people to believe the Gospel message and to encourage believers to live according to Christ's standards. It is considered by many to be the greatest and most important of all of Paul's letters.¹ The passage for today specifically talks about right living in the preparation for Christ's immanent return – perhaps an odd thing to think about as we enter the season of Advent. Everything is supposed to be joyous, and for many, the topic of the “end times” is anything but joyous.

Eschatology – the study of the End Times – is a field of Christian Theology and study that focuses on what Jesus, the Apostles, and prophets in the Old Testament have to say about Jesus' return. This passage from Romans, as well as the Call to Worship from Matthew would be among the many passages studied from the Bible by those concerned with this field. But what it has to do with Advent is equally important. Advent is a time of celebrating Christ's birth, but it's also a time when believers are supposed to celebrate that their Savior will come again one day and will claim final victory over the forces of evil. Advent is symbolic at this time of year – as our days are short and the nights are long, we celebrate light coming into the world not once – but twice. Once to save us from sin, and again to conquer all of God's creation and eradicate sin from the planet.

Paul writes that believers need to be prepared for the Second Coming. And he even is nice enough to give some instruction on what that means. He says that we should live in the light and shun the darkness in our lives. Now how many people today, without seeing the rest of that passage, would be able to walk out of church hearing those words and do what Paul asks? Not a whole lot of us. So he expands upon it: live moral and upright lives; stay away from wild parties and getting drunk (or “buzzed” for that matter); living a lifestyle that is immoral according to God's standards as found in the Scriptures; fighting with one another; being jealous of one another; and, choosing to “whore around” the town, sleeping with every man, woman, child, or inanimate object that we can lay our hands upon. We're not even supposed to be thinking about these things! “We're supposed to be Christians,” writes Paul, “but we're not living according to Christ's standards.”

When Benjamin Franklin wished to interest the people of Philadelphia in street lighting, he didn't try to persuade them by just talking about it. He hung a beautiful lantern on a long bracket in front of his home. He kept the glass highly polished. Every evening at the approach of dusk, he carefully lit the wick. People saw the light from a distance and when they walked in its light, found that it helped them to avoid sharp stones on the pavement. Others placed light at their homes, and soon Philadelphia recognized the need for street lighting. As others learn of the peace and joy you have in your life in Christ, they will recognize their need for Him. Your witness through personal testimony may be just what someone is waiting for!^²

Light is a very valuable resource, and is a fitting symbol for those good things that God instills into all of us as believers. It should be considered precious to us, because it is this “light” - these things of God – that set us apart as God's children. But if we claim to love God and continue to live in sin and darkness (or wearing our sins like clothing as Paul says), we are not standing as the examples that God wants us to be, and we should question our beliefs, our lives, and our motives as we walk on this earth. Who are we really serving, and what kinds of decisions are we really making as we go through life?

Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. "Why," he exclaimed, "when I went a-courtin' I never carried one of them things. I always went in the dark." "Yes," the hired man said wryly," and look what you got!"³

We need to be mindful of the amount of “light” that we allow Christ to shine into our lives, lest we wind-up making poor decisions that are much more grave in their importance than those made by the farmer or the farm hand. Paul is right: time is running out. While none of us know the exact date and time that Christ will return, we are called as Christians to an understanding that it could happen at any moment – any time. It could be today, tomorrow, or even December 21, 2012. We don't know for sure – the Bible doesn't give us any clues. Not even Christ knows the exact details of when the Father will send Him back. But what we do know is that each day we are one step closer to that time, and that time is of the essence.

We have the choice as to whether we will live in the darkness or the light. Each of us must make that decision for himself / herself. If you haven't made the decision to follow Christ, to be baptized, and to draw yourself closer to Him – if you haven't consciously decided that you want to live in the Light of God, I urge you to make that decision today. It's not enough to call yourself a Christian by name. The Bible says that your faith must be shown externally – that the way you live your life should be a testimony of walking in the light of God. Are you in the light, or the darkness? Consider that today...

SOURCES

1Wikipedia contributors, "Epistle to the Romans," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Epistle_to_the_Romans&oldid=398411005 (accessed November 28, 2010).

2“Benjamin Franklin,” Source Unknown. Available Online: http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/illustrations/

3Source Unknown. Available Online: http://www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/light.htm

Moving Forward without Fear

2010-11-15T11:01:00.001-05:00

Who here doesn't like to look at a photo album? Anyone? A hit at family gatherings, church functions, and reunions of all types, people tend to gather around the albums looking fondly at times gone by and reminiscing about things that happened to so-and-so's children (What are they doing now?) and that embarrassing incident that occurred with what's-her-name (you know, the one with the braces that always wore her hair in a pony tail...).

Remembering the past can be good as it reminds us of our roots and traditions – helping us to form our identity as individuals and collectively as a group. And, often, the same practice of remembering extends for us into the life of the church – we remember when there were fifty kids in church every Sunday morning, when there were no empty seats left in the sanctuary, when there was a glorious choir that truly must have echoed the praises of heaven, and when there was an eagerness and willingness among the people to serve in whatever way was needed within the church and the community. Ah, those were the “good ole days,” indeed!

But, sometimes remembering the past can be a bad thing, too. Reminiscing turns ugly when the “good ole days” are longed-for so much that we cease to follow the leading of God's Holy Spirit because it's not the way things have always been – because things are different. Tradition can be wonderful – but it can also lead to a form of legalism when our traditions stand in the way of God. As a church, do we tend to look at the past more than the present or future? Perhaps. And, unfortunately, this is not a new problem – it's been going on for a very long time in the history of God's people and His story with them.

Enter the prophet Haggai. Here was a man that God used to send a clear message to the people about Who is really important in their lives and in the life of the church. His task was to rouse people into the rebuilding of the Temple after a period of lethargy and apathy about the project. God wanted the Temple rebuilt, and He wanted people to live in the here-and-now. Haggai has some pretty serious things to call people out on – everything from carrying a narcissistic or “me first” attitude about the church and worship, to our passage for today, which highlights the issue of spending too much time remembering the past instead of getting on with what God is doing in the here-and-now.

So let's look at this passage for a bit, shall we? According to the descriptions given in the passage itself, it is believed that this prophecy was given to the people on October 17, 520 BC – making this word from the Lord a little over 2530 years old! And guess what, folks? We're still having the same issues that the Jews were over 2500 years ago! We still like to look back and remember – even to the detriment of what God is doing in our midst! God invites us and encourages us to remember – but He also encourages us to take the necessary step forward into what He wants us to do now.

Change isn't always a bad thing. Change is a good thing when God makes the changes. And we can take courage in facing change and moving forward because He tells us in verses four and five that He'll still be with us even as He was in “the good ole days.” We have to recognize, however, that sometimes God has to “shake things up” a bit to awaken us to His presence and the movement of the Spirit. This can be, and usually is, extremely uncomfortable because God is challenging us to put one foot in front of the other follow in His footsteps – wherever they may go.

Part of moving forward is moving out of the familiar and into new things. This means that we have to either be willing to let some things go or at the very least modify how things are being done – be it musically, in the versions of Scripture used and taught from, in what type of Study Groups are formed within the church, programs going on – either new or revised, and anything else that goes on in the life of the church. If our church is to flourish and thrive, we should give a nod to how things have been done, but always should be watching for what God wants to do now and in the future.

Our willingness to move along with the Holy Spirit and remain in God's presence is a sign of spiritual growth – as individuals and as a church. As we mature in our Christian walk, our desire should be to be in God's presence everywhere that we go and in everything that we do. And as we individually grow in our spiritual life, the church benefits from our growth as well because we produce more fruit and desire to be more involved – taking ownership in the life of the church and accepting responsibility for what happens when believers gather here.

There's another element to this as well – the financial element. According to the Scripture passage, by following God's will, He will fill the Temple – His church and dwelling place on the earth – with His glory. And He says that the “gold and silver” which are His anyway will fill the temple with abundance. What does that mean for us? It means that with Spiritual growth, God will bless the church with financial growth as well. The future of the church is filled with bigger, better, and more glorious things if we are within God's presence and moving with God, making changes as He directs along the way. So how do we do this? How do we, as a church, grow spiritually and have the courage to step into the future and rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit instead of what we remember from the “good ole days?”

For the church to be in God's presence, it begins with the people. Often times when we hear the word “church,” we think of the structure – the beautifully ornamented building around us with the oak woodworking, the antique organ, and the priceless stained glass. But Biblically, the word “church” has a different meaning. Biblically-speaking, “church” is not a structure. Rather, it's the people gathered together with a common goal of experiencing God in worship and celebration. So for the church to be in God's presence, the people must be there first. It means that before the church can be ready to walk with God as a whole, all of us – each and every person here today – has to take inventory of himself/herself and what is going on in his/her heart. Instead of having hardened hearts, we have to allow Christ to lead us into the presence of God.

This means that we have to be intentional about focusing on God – and God only – when we come into His presence. We can't let other things become our central focus while gathered here. If we become more focused on what's wrong with the church than we are about God, then we are outside of God's presence and unable to let the Spirit lead. Thus, our personal problem becomes a church-wide problem because when one of us becomes out-of-focus with God, it doesn't take long for others to follow suit. One person's baggage becomes another's, and another's, and another's until finally, we are all out of hilt and the church – once following closely in the Spirit – comes to a stand-still. And when we come to such a place, to this stand-still, we do the same thing that the Jews in Haggai's time were guilty of: we look to the “glory days” and wonder where God is at now.

The good news in all of this is that Christ can free us from our doubts and fears about moving forward in the Spirit. But this can only happen when we do a couple of things: 1) we have to acknowledge that our attitude is sinful. We have to admit to ourselves and to God that He is not our central focus when we come before Him. This is extremely difficult because it means that we have to give-up our foolish pride and humbly take a position at the feet of God that acknowledges our fault. Suddenly we who are never wrong find us in the uncomfortable position of having to admit that we are guilty of sin. And once we've done that, then comes step 2: asking – no, begging – for Christ to show us mercy and forgive us of our sinful, harmful, foolish pride and arrogance. It's a painful step to give-up our control to someone else, but the only way that we can experience the peace of Christ and the freedom from our fears is to give ourselves over to Him and let Him clean-out the filth and grime that are within our souls.

John Calvin once said that “we are all made of mud, and this mud is not just on the hem of our gown, or on the sole of our boots, or in our shoes. We are full of it, we are nothing but mud and filth both inside and outside.” But in the power of Jesus' Name and by being washed in His blood, we can be made clean if we are willing to confess our imperfections and allow the Spirit to lead us – both as individuals, and as the church.

In Whom Is Your Faith?

2010-10-31T00:27:00.003-04:00

There are many times in life that things simply can't be explained. A devastating hurricane strikes and causes damage to a large city, forcing thousands to evacuate or face certain death. A terrible earthquake hits an impoverished nation and forces the people living there to deal with a life that is even harder than they ever thought they could endure. A loved one is seriously injured in an automobile accident. A friend develops cancer and dies within months, leaving behind a family who dearly loves him and will miss him. In these times, we face a myriad of choices, and often times we don't know who or what to have faith in. The government? Charity organizations? Perhaps our family and friends? The choices can be endless, and we get bombarded with messages that tell us that we should have faith in a variety of people and things for a variety of reasons.

In such times, we may find ourselves echoing the cries of the prophet Habakkuk, considered one of the “minor prophets” by scholars. He likely lived near the times of Jeremiah and Zephaniah, and possibly would have been a witness to the destruction of Jerusalem and the enslavement of the Jewish people to the Babylonians. He is considered unique among the prophets because he openly questions the wisdom of God in his writings.¹ In today's passage, we get a sense of that as we read Habakkuk's frustration at God's delayed answering of questions concerning the world around him.

The following letter was found in a baking-power can wired to the handle of an old pump that offered the only hope of drinking water on a very long and seldom-used trail across Nevada's Amargosa Desert: "This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer into it and it ought to last five years. But the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and cork end up. There's enough water in it to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first. Pour about one-fourth and let her soak to wet the leather. Then pour in the rest medium fast and pump like crazy. You'll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller. (signed) Desert Pete. P.S. Don't go drinking the water first. Prime the pump with it and you'll git all you can hold." ²

Yesterday I had the unfortunate tragedy of finding-out that a very dear friend of mine – a man who has known me since, well, birth, passed-away after battling colon cancer for only a couple of months. He leaves behind a wife, two daughters (one of whom is a special needs child), and an unborn son who is due to enter the world in about six months. And this isn't the first loss that his wife must experience as a few years ago, they lost their first child to SIDS. This marks yet another person who I am close to that has passed-away within the last two years, and to be quite honest, I'm pretty frustrated by it. All kinds of questions roll through my mind as I ponder God's wisdom in determining who must pass on into the next life and who remains here on the earth in service. Questions like “Why would God take someone so young?” “Why would God do this to his wife and children?” “Is this supposed to be some kind of punishment?” “What did he or his family do to deserve this?” “How will they ever go on without him?” My faith is shaken, and in these bad times, Satan does quite a number on the mind, the heart, and the soul.

In our society, many people use such opportunities to denounce their faith in God and turn away – choosing to follow another religious path, or perhaps to disregard their faith all together and simply cease to believe. We often feel in our grief that God is not present or that we have been abandoned. As the world closes-in and falls-down all around us, we simply find that it's easier to have faith in something more tangible – that we can see, hear, and touch – than it is to have faith in God. And yet, it's precisely in these moments that we are called to trust God more than ever. From that place of grief, we are asked quite simply to have faith that God knows what He's doing and has a reason for everything that happens in the world.

But it's hard to do. For many, faith instead is in a bottle of alcohol, a package of cigarettes, a bag of illegal drugs, a bottle of painkillers, a prostitute on the street corner, a shopping spree, or at the local buffet. Anything that we can use to fill the void left in our lives and provide us with comfort – or at the very least apathy – is something worth putting faith in. The problem, however, is that these things are only temporary. Instead of turning to Christ and letting His love fill those places of hurt within our hearts, we choose the quick fix. And, this misguided placement of our faith ultimately becomes a crutch that we turn to anytime life gets hard and we need a way out.

God's message to Habakkuk would call those who do such things prideful. Instead of seeking the Lord's help through the pain experienced in life, those who choose to “drown their sorrows” in other ways are trying to play God themselves and mend hearts that God designed and only He can heal completely.

September 11, 2001 was supposed to be a day like any other. We were supposed to get up in the morning, get ready for work or school, and go about our day in the typical fashion. And then, tragedy struck – something so horrible that it was beyond imagination. Hundreds lost their lives that day – innocent people that never saw it coming. There was no rhyme or reason to it. None of us to this day could even attempt to explain why God would allow something like that to happen. Feeling weak, vulnerable, and frightened, we were faced with a dilemma: to whom do we turn? Many chose to renew a faith in God in the days and weeks that followed. Others made the decision to deal with the problem in the way that they saw fit. The reality is that no one who experienced the chaos of that day would ever be the same again.

The comforting part of all of this is that God is with us in times of disaster – whether they affect many or just a few. Regardless of the tragedy, God offers us comfort in His presence if we choose to take it. We just have to come to Him in faith, and cry it out on His capable shoulders. Ultimately, the choice is ours. But, God's comfort is a promise to those who have faith. It may not come today, tomorrow, or even for several weeks following. But, just as God promised to Habakkuk, if we wait patiently, God's Holy Spirit will come upon us without delay, and we will have the Peace that Passes All Understanding enveloping us as God's love comes upon our hearts and the Spirit begins to heal our brokenness.

When faced with a crisis, the world offers us many things in which we can place our faith. They may help us for a while, but ultimately they leave behind a bigger void than we started with – a bigger hole in our hearts and souls. But if we put our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit fills that void in our life, and God begins to mend our broken hearts and ease our troubled minds. So what do we choose? To what do we turn in our times of need? Do we come to God or do we instead try to fix the problem ourselves and find our own means of filling the void – the emptiness, the sorrow, and the shame?

In Whom is your faith?

NOTES

1Wikipedia contributors, "Habakkuk," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Habakkuk&oldid=393595047 (accessed October 31, 2010).

2Keith Miller and Bruce Larson, The Edge of Adventure.

Good Teaching

2010-10-17T01:24:00.002-04:00

Good, sound teaching. It's something that all of us in this day and age want for ourselves, and for the generations that follow us. I don't know any parent or grandparent that wouldn't want those children related to them to get a good education – learning the basics of reading, writing, math, music, healthy living, and making good choices. Add to that religious education – learning the Word of God through quality programming for children, youth, and families and discovering what it means to be a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ. But the question that I have for you this morning is whether or not you would recognize good teaching from false teaching if you heard it? Let me give you two examples, and see which one you think would be good, sound Christian doctrine versus false teaching or heresy as it is called in religious terminology:

Jesus said, "I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty.

But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will change their ways."¹

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.²

If you guessed the first one, you would be correct. The first verse that I quoted for you comes from the Gospel of Thomas – a gnostic writing originating about 100 years or so after the death and resurrection of Christ. It comes from a skewed version of Christianity called Gnosticism, which believes (among other things) that Jesus was a human being upon whom the spirit of “Christ” came during baptism and left on the cross. It also believes that the God of the Old Testament is not the “real God,” but rather a very powerful and evil spirit that oversaw and convinced people to serve it and it's vengeful ways. The Gospel of Thomas gained a lot of fame in 199 when the movie Stigmata came out, and some of its teachings were highlighted there.

The second passage comes from John 1:10-13 as written in the New King James Version. The key difference between the two concerns Christ's relationship with humanity. In the gnostic gospels – and, yes, there are more than one – human beings are considered dirty and evil and are a prison for the true person – the soul – which is trapped within our bodies. Thus for us to be free and pure, our bodies must die so that our souls may be released. It fails to recognize Jesus as being both fully human and fully God and also fails to recognize that though fallen, human beings are still “good” creations in the eyes of God.

John's gospel presents things in a different light: Jesus came from heaven and dwelt in the world. The Word became flesh, but many in the world did not accept Him. Those that did, and continue to do so, are given the title “child of God,” and are adopted as sons and daughters into the Father's family.

The scary thing about such writings and teachings is that they do contain words and phrases that sound very similar to the Bibles that we read every day. It can be hard to distinguish sometimes what is a true teaching from a false one – what is good theology from bad theology. And because this isn't a new problem, we are given words of encouragement from the Apostle Paul to his friend and student, Timothy.

Paul is urging Timothy to remember what he's been taught and to stick to the Scriptures because they are to be used for testing alternative thoughts and helping us to make sense of what's going on around us. Scripture is to be used for teaching, for equipping, and for showing us where we're wrong – helping us to become better followers of God and more dedicated believers in Christ. In the church, the Scriptures should be the guiding light for all of our affairs – money matters, governance models, and even disciplinary action when and if needed. In short, if what we're being taught is not backed-up effectively by the Scriptures, then it probably isn't good teaching. And unfortunately, in the history of Christianity, this has been a battle existing from the very beginning.

In the fourth century A.D. Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, began to propagate the view that Jesus though the Son of God, could not be co-eternal with His Father and that He must be regarded as external to the divine essence and only a creature. Arius held that Christ was not true God. Our text calls Christ, “the Word,” making Him a Person in the Trinity. Arianism could be classified as the progenitor of modern Unitarianism.

In the fourth century, Apollinaris, bishop of Laodicea in Syria, wrote against Arianism and other heresies. Zealously wishing to maintain the true error of denying Christ’s full humanity, he declared that Christ had a human body but did not possess a human spirit. The complete true proper humanity of Jesus was thus denied.

In the fifth century, Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, taught that Christ was both God and man, but that the Godhead was one Person, the manhood another. Instead of a union of two natures with distinction, Nestorians taught that there were two persons.

In this same era lived Eutyches, a monk of Constantinople, who was a zealous foe of Nestorianism: yet he proposed another strange theory concerning the nature of our Lord. The Christological view of Eutyches was that the human nature of Christ is absorbed into the divine; yet Eutychianism holds firmly to one nature, the divine in Christ. This made the humanity of Christ a mere accident of the immovable divine substance.

The early church met these heretics with four adverbs which briefly and conveniently defined the two natures in Christ’s Person. They said that when “the Word was made flesh” the divine and the human natures were united “truly”, to oppose the Arians; “perfectly,” to oppose the Apollinarians; “undividedly,” to oppose the Nestorians; and “unmixedly,” to oppose the Eutychians.³

Bad teaching and bad theology continue to exist, and it's happening all across the country. Televangelists are busy preaching that we should send them money to be healed, people are being falsely oppressed or liberated due to misinterpretations of the Scriptures, and many, many others are roped-in to believing that being a Christian is some “magical formula” that will make you rich and all of your problems go away. Life will be much easier, and if it's not, then you simply don't have enough faith. More and more, younger generations are being taught that there are many paths on the mountain of faith and that all of them lead to God, and even worse yet, that Satan is not real, Hell is not real, and Evil is not real.

But if we look at God's Word – if we study what God has designed for us to read, study, and understand – we see a different picture. Divine healing comes from God – not from someone on the television, Scripture is clear on what it teaches about moral responsibility and conduct, and Jesus never said that being a Christian would make life easier – in fact, He said it would make things more difficult. And, the biggest lie of all is combated: Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and NO ONE comes to the Father except through Him.

Chapter four, verses 3 and 4 have come true for us in this day and age: the time has come when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They follow their own desires and look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They reject the truth and chase after myths. Now, more than ever, is the time for us to teach the truths found in Scripture and write them on our hearts and minds – passing them down from generation to generation in the church, the community, and the world. And the only way we can effectively do that is to band together and to let God teach us His wisdom through His word.

NOTES

1Gospel of Thomas, v. 28. Available Online: http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html

2Gospel of John, chapter 1, vv. 10-13. Available Online: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1&version=NKJV

3Thomas G. Lawrence, “Heresies In Early Church,” Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers, Paul Lee Tan, ed., (Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).

The Dark Valley

2010-10-03T08:28:00.002-04:00

We live in a fallen world. It's the reality that all of us must face if we are truly honest with ourselves. And a part of that reality is that bad things happen – sometimes because of things that we've done, and others because of sin that exists within the world. It has been that way ever since the beginning. When Adam and Eve brought sin into the world through their disobedience, problems abounded the likes of which the world has been groaning under for millennia. Faced with everything that goes on in our world and the bad things of our lives, many people find it easy to be discouraged, and once at that point, they simply graduate to deeper feelings of despair and hopelessness.

Our Scripture passage for today comes from the Book of Psalms – the hymnal of the Second Temple period. Psalms is a wonderful book because it allows us to experience and feel what authors were experiencing and feeling centuries ago. This Psalm follows the Jews from the Southern Kingdom of Judah as they are sent off to captivity in Babylon. Jerusalem had been sacked, and Solomon's Temple was destroyed. Many had been violently and brutally killed in war, and many others would die on the trip across the Middle East to what would now be called Iraq. The Israelites were mocked, were beaten, and as far as they were concerned, were betrayed by their God. Their arrogance and pride had led to their destruction, but even amidst everything going on around them, they clung to the hope that God would enact revenge upon the Babylonians for the mistreatment of His people.

Psalm 137 is a very painful look into the heart of one who experienced first-hand what was going on in the Jewish world almost 600 years before the birth of Christ. It's very hard to read and hear, but the emotions expressed within this passage are something that all of us can relate to – even if the situations of our lives are vastly different. We've all felt despair as a reaction to one thing or another: the loss of loved ones, the difficulty of living from paycheck to paycheck wondering which bills you can pay this month, the fear of not knowing what life is going to throw at us next. These feelings are very real, and in these times we, too, cry out for vindication.

Sometimes we as Christians need to stop along life's road and look back. Although it might have been winding and steep, we can see how God directed us by His faithfulness. Here's how F. E. Marsh described what the Christian can see when (s)he looks back: The deliverances the Lord has wrought (Deut. 5:15). The way He has led (Deut. 8:2) The blessings He has bestowed (Deut. 32:7-12). The victories He has won (Deut. 11:2-7). The encouragements He has given (Josh. 23:14).

When we face difficulties, we sometimes forget God's past faithfulness. We see only the detours and the dangerous path. But look back and you will also see the joy of victory, the challenge of the climb, and the presence of your traveling Companion who has promised never to leave you nor forsake you.¹

Why? Why me? Why my family? What is the meaning of this suffering?

These are familiar questions which are asked by Christians and non-Christians alike. No one is immune to suffering and adversity. 'People are born for trouble as readily as sparks fly up from a fire" (Job 5:7, NLT). There are the pressures of want, need, sorrow, persecution, unpopularity, and loneliness. Some suffer for what they have done; others suffer because of what people do to them. Many suffer because they are victims of circumstances which they cannot control.

Pain is distressing. There can be nights of agony when God seems so unfair and it seems that there is no possible help or answer. Temporary relief may seem adequate, but the real solution to suffering is not to isolate it in an attempt to do away with it, nor even to grit our teeth and endure it. The solution, rather, is to condition our attitudes so that we learn to triumph in and through suffering. When the Apostle Paul sought relief from his 'thorn in the flesh," God did not take it away, but reassured him with: 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT). In another encouragement to the Corinthians, he wrote, 'And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others." (2 Corinthians 9:8, NLT).

Billy Graham comments: 'Nowhere does the Bible teach that Christians are exempt from the tribulations and natural disasters that come upon the world. Scripture does teach that the Christian can face tribulation, crisis, calamity, and personal suffering with a supernatural power that is not available to the person outside of Christ."

The sufferer will be blessed if, in the midst of great agony and despair, he can look into the face of his Heavenly Father and, because of His eternal love and presence, be grateful [that He is with us even in those dark times.]²

Psalm 23 holds the key answer to all of this despair for us and the questions concerning God's presence in the midst of our troubles when it says “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.” (Ps. 23:4, NLT) In the midst of our troubles, it may be hard to notice God's presence, but He is always there beside us, helping us through the pain, the turmoil, and the strife. We don't have to go it alone if we have a loving relationship with God – and such a relationship is only possible if we allow Christ to be the Lord and Savior of our lives.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) reads: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Instead of praying for God's retribution, we should instead pray to God and accept His peace. Seeing God working in our lives is difficult when we are in the “dark valleys,” but He IS there, and He loves you. If we put our trust in Him, we can follow His light out of the darkness and can experience the peace of being in His presence.

NOTES

1“Christians Need to Look Back,” Source Unknown. Available Online: http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/illustrations/

2“Suffering and Adversity.” Ibid.

Righteous Prayer

2010-09-19T01:13:00.002-04:00

Many people have difficulties praying, and especially praying for others. We can ask for specific prayer requests, and we do, but sometimes even these things can be difficult to say. We're embarrassed to ask for prayers, and when we do, many of us still hold back. Or, when we are asked to pray for someone, not a single one of us would withhold and say “no,” but we secretly don't pray for that person because we don't know what to say. But even when it seems difficult, we can still uplift others in prayer – even for the simplest or most practical of things. Consider these prayers uplifted by children:

Dear God: Please send a new baby for Mommy. The new baby you sent last week cries too much. ~Debbie, 7

Dear God: Who did you make smarter? Boys or girls? My sister and I want to know. ~Jimmy, 6

Dear God: This is my prayer. Could you please give my brother some brains. So far he doesn't have any. ~Angela, 8

Dear God: I need a raise in my allowance. Could you have one of your angels tell my father. Thank you. ~David, 7

Dear God; I am saying my prayers for me and my brother, Billy, because Billy is six months old and he can't do anything but sleep and wet his diapers. ~Diane, 8^¹

And one little boy who had been sent to his room because he'd been bad eventually came out and told his mother, "I've been thinking about what I did and I said a prayer." "That's fine," she said, "if you ask God to make you good, He will help you." "Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me be good," replied the boy. "I asked Him to help you put up with me."^²

The most righteous prayers that we can offer to God are those uttered for other people. It may be hard, and it may seem (in some cases) to be pointless, but time and again the Bible instructs us that prayer for others are extremely important to the life of believers. And it's very clear that historically, Christians have considered this a valuable part to our faith? So what makes it so special? Well, consider the following passage as an example. It comes from Luke 18, and starts with verse 10:

“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Normally this story is used to talk about humility. After all, that was what Jesus intended as he gave the parables. We know that as we read the text before this story takes place. However, as we talk about prayer, we begin to look at the passage in a little bit of a different light. The pharisee’s prayer is very self-centered. He's very arrogant, and although he doesn't ask for anything at this particular instance, you can just about bet that any prayers he would utter when requesting from God would also be self-centered, even if praying for another person.

Then we have the tax collector: the humble character in the story. Again, we don't get to see much here with the tax collector's prayer, but his stance before God speaks volumes. Where the pharisee stood boldly and uttered his words to God, the tax collector humbly took a stance before God without ever lifting his eyes. Passionately, he grieves over his sin and begs for mercy. No, he doesn't pray for anyone, either. However, the way that he presents himself is key: his humble stance and his passionate prayer have made him righteous in the eyes of God. As Jesus ends the passage, he issues a warning that humility is key – but focusing on oneself winds-up ruining our relationship with God.

Paul echoes this sentiment in his letter to Timothy which urges his protege to pray for all people so that they would come to know Christ. He continues in the passage to explain why this is so important, and why it is so pleasing to God. Prayers are powerful things, and if we are praying for others' salvation, healing, strength, and so on, we are asking for God's blessings to be upon them and His favor to rest on them. God appreciates when we show others love in this way, because His Son showed us love in prayer as well. Look at John, chapter 17 sometime and read the prayer that Jesus had for believers. It's powerful stuff, and it's all said in love and support both of His disciples at the time and of any future disciples to come.

Robert E. Lee is quoted as saying, “Knowing that intercessory prayer is our mightiest weapon and the supreme call for all Christians today, I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to pray. Believing that prayer is the greatest contribution that our people can make in this critical hour, I humbly urge that we take time to pray--to really pray. Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight--all through the day. Let us all pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our pastors, our homes. Let us pray for our churches. Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word 'concern' out of our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice.”³

Praying for others is a wise thing for us to do and is a sign of righteousness for all of us. We should be more willing to pray for others than we are even for ourselves. I urge all of you to examine your prayer lives. Are you praying faithfully to God on a daily basis? And if so, upon whom are you focusing – yourself or others? The prayers of the righteous favor more than just the person whose lips they leave. For a challenge this week, I want you to pray for three people at least once during they day without mentioning yourself once. If you focus on three others within the church and community, and all of us would start doing that, eventually we would all be praying for one another, and would truly feel the blessings of God being poured-out into our community and into ourselves. Love others as God loves you, and lift up your prayers to God.

NOTES

1Available Online: http://www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/prayers_childrens.htm

2Our Daily Bread, June 15. Available Online: http://www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/prayer.htm

3Ibid.

The Cost of Discipleship

2010-09-04T14:47:00.002-04:00

“The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message" "Alter your course 10 degrees south." Promptly a return message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north."

The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am the captain!" Soon another message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am seaman third class Jones." Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear it would evoke: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am a battleship." Then the reply came "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am a lighthouse."

In the midst of our dark and foggy times, all sorts of voices are shouting orders into the night, telling us what to do, how to adjust our lives. Out of the darkness, one voice signals something quite opposite to the rest--something almost absurd. But the voice happens to be the Light of the World, and we ignore it at our our peril.”^¹

We're talking today about something very important for Christians to consider in their walk: the cost of discipleship. We don't often think about what it truly means to be one of Christ's disciples because in our modern mindset being a disciple of Christ means coming to church every Sunday – well, most Sundays – or, honestly, when we can make it – reading our Bibles as we feel the mood strike us, praying at meals sometimes or when we're in a crisis. THAT'S following Jesus – giving the appearance that we're doing all we can. Oh, and ensuring that we badmouth and gossip horribly about everything someone else does incorrectly according to OUR standards – that's central to being one of Jesus' disciples, too.

Taking a step back for a second, it doesn't take long for ANY of us who are students of God's Word on any level to grasp that while some of these things are nice, NONE of them are what Jesus would call being a disciple. The cost of true discipleship is far greater than making it to church when we can, memorizing a few verses here or there, putting our loose change in the offering plate, or attending a board meeting if it doesn't conflict with life. Being a true disciple of Christ comes at a much greater cost because it requires us to give up everything for Him and follow Him regardless of whatever or whoever may try to persuade us differently. In short, it requires total submission – one of the Disciplines of the Christian faith.

Richard Foster, author of the acclaimed Celebration of Discipline gives us a glimpse of what the Discipline of Submission is all about. He writes that submission is “the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way.”² The cost of true discipleship is being willing to give-up control. And, quite honestly, that's what all fears and phobias that exist in the world boil down to: a fear of losing control over ourselves and any situation that may befall us. True discipleship means being willing to give-up not only our material possessions, but also give-up other spiritual, emotional, and physical aspects of our lives on this earth. It may mean that we have to stop being friends with some people, give up certain habits, or forgo any false teachings that may come from other religions that are not honoring God through Jesus Christ. In essence, it's living a “cross-life” - taking up the Cross of Christ and following wherever He leads.

Foster tells us that “the cross-life is the life of voluntary submission. The cross-life is the life of freely-accepted servanthood...It is a posture obligatory upon all Christians: men as well as women, [parents] as well as children, masters as well as slaves. We are commanded to live a life of submission because Jesus lived a life of submission, not because we are in a particular place or station in life.”^³In other words, no matter who you are, where your from, or what your background in life, if you claim to be a Christian, you are claiming to be a follower and a disciple of Christ. And to do so means that you are willing to accept the cost associated with that affiliation – no matter how great. Jesus tells us that the cost of discipleship really is a big one, and we should be careful to weigh the cost before we enter into such a relationship with Him. It's a counter to all of those preachers and people out there who believe that following Jesus is some “magic spell” that fixes every problem in life. Following Jesus is costly, but anyone is welcome to take-up the task. Consider the disciples Jesus led in His ministry in this fictitious letter:

To: Jesus, Son of Joseph
Woodcrafter's Carpenter Shop
Nazareth 25922

From: Jordan Management Consultants

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.

As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance, much as an auditor will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation, and comes without any additional fee.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.

We wish you every success in your new venture.

Sincerely,

Jordan Management Consultants^⁴

With the list of personality and behavioral disorders that Jesus' followers had, there is no reason that any of us could have to not be willing to follow the Lord's lead in our world, today. In many ways, it was much harder to be a disciple in Jesus' time. But Jesus was walking among them. We don't have that luxury, although Jesus tells Thomas that we are blessed because we believe in Him without seeing Him face-to-face.

The true cost of discipleship – submission to Christ and His authority – is very great. Yes, Jesus is quoted here as talking about money, but the reason for that if you continue to read on is that the Pharisees LOVED their money. Jesus was speaking to them about something close to them that would have to be given up because it stood in the way of TRUE relationship and TRUE discipleship. Change money into something that we enjoy more than God, and you get the same message.

The cost of discipleship is a high one. Are you willing to pay it?

NOTES

1Paul Aiello, Jr. Available Online: http://www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/submission.htm

2Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998), 111.

3Ibid., 116-117.

4Tim Hansel, Eating Problems for Breakfast, Word Publishing, 1988, pp. 194-195.

We Are the Champions

2010-08-21T13:02:00.001-04:00

As Christians, we are in the presence of champions, and we likely don't even know it. For thousands of years people have lived and died for their faith in Jesus Christ – willing to suffer innumerable punishments and tortures because they believe that Jesus has something much better to offer them. Some of them receive God's gifts for their faith in this life, and others have to wait until they see Him face-to-face in the next life. Regardless, there must be something unique about faith in Christ that makes Christians so passionate – and their testimonies so powerful – even to this day throughout the world.

Who is Clint Courtney? If you're unsure, don't bother requesting the answer from Cooperstown, N.Y. Clint never came close to making it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In fact, it's very doubtful that his picture appeared on any bubble gum cards.

This guy wasn't a legend in his own time,not even in his own mind. He was only a memory maker for his family, and a few die-hard fans who were inspired by his tremendous fortitude. Clint played catcher for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1950s. During his career he earned the nickname of Scrap Iron, implying that he was hard, weathered, tough. Old Scrap broke no records,only bones. He had little power or speed on the base paths. As for grace and style, he made the easiest play look rather difficult. But armed with mitt and mask, Scrap Iron never flinched from any challenge. Batters often missed the ball and caught his shin. Their foul tips nipped his elbow. Runners fiercely plowed into him, spikes first, as he defended home plate.

Though often doubled over in agony, and flattened in a heap of dust, Clint Courtney never quit. Invariably, he'd slowly get up, shake off the dust, punch the pocket of his mitt once, twice, and nod to his pitcher to throw another one. The game would go on and Courtney with it,scarred, bruised, clutching his arm in pain, but determined to continue. He resembled a POW with tape, splints, braces, and other kinds of paraphernalia that wounded people wear. Some made fun of him,calling him a masochist. Insane. Others remember him as a true champion.¹

We don't know who wrote the book of Hebrews, although historically it was thought to have possibly been written by the Apostle Paul. The book's purpose is to discuss the Person of Jesus Christ and His role as the Mediator between God and humanity. It also presents Jesus as both God's Son and His High Priest – a unique perspective within the earliest writings of the Church and within the New Testament. ² Our lectionary passage from this letter focuses on the great faith of the Hebrew people in devotion to their God and how that pattern was continued into the early church as people were willing to suffer greatly in the name of Jesus Christ. It is a way of linking the two faiths together, which would have been vital for early converts from Judaism to the Christian faith.

In truth, all Christians should be willing to do the same thing that the early Christians were forced to do. In the United States, as well as other developed countries in the world, Christians tend to have it much easier than they did for about the first four hundred years of the faith. However, if you go to places in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, or even Southeast Asia, you'd find that it's a very different story. Everyday, Christians in these countries suffer and die for the Gospel message. But we oftentimes take our faith for granted because we don't have to act like champions – we merely have to be a part of the team. Let someone else do the hard work, right?

Wrong. Being a part of a championship team means that you have to be a team player. Even if you're never called-in to play, you still have a great responsibility to lift-up and encourage those who are on the front lines battling for victory. We know that in Christ, we are all champions because He has claimed victory over evil and death. Even though the battle continues on, ultimately those who are united with Christ by faith will be the victors. And this is a great cause for celebration! As the song by Queen so adequately puts it, “we are the champions of the world!” So what does that mean we who are on the sidelines should do if we're not being called into the front lines? Charles Durham writes:

One Saturday afternoon I watched the telecast of the world's light-weight boxing championship match. The boxers were a thirty-one-year-old Scotsman and a man from the United States who was six years younger. The Scot was the reigning champion, and the bout was being fought before a crowd of twenty thousand in Glasgow, Scotland. The champion had said before the match that he would rather die than be beaten before his own people; but the younger contender had never before been beaten in a professional contest.

Soon after the match began it became clear that the battle would be close. As I sat watching, I heard something unlike anything I had ever heard before. It was faint at first, but it seemed to be singing, singing at a boxing match! Gradually, it became louder; hundreds and hundreds of male voices singing a strange Scottish melody. I could hardly believe it. They were singing encouragement for their champion. As he fought for his crown, but even more for the respect of the Scottish people, they sang to encourage him.

I have not thought about that contest since without a lump rising in my throat; nor have I thought of it without thinking how like the Christian's battle it was, and how like the role of the church to sing encouragement for its members.³

If we're not on the front lines, we are supposed to be encouraging to those who are. And if someone gets injured in the battle, we have to be willing to step-up if asked and take the helm – contributing as God calls each of us to do. There is no “I” in team. It is only through mutual love and support of one another that we can continue to thrive as the early church once did. This requires prayer, financial contributing, time, effort, and most importantly, faith. In Christ, we are the champions. The question is, who's team do you play for?

NOTES

1Jon Johnston, Courage - You Can Stand Strong in the Face of Fear, (Rotterdam, Netherlands: SP Publications, 1990), 35-36 .

2Wikipedia contributors, "Epistle to the Hebrews," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Epistle_to_the_Hebrews&oldid=376245396 (accessed August 21, 2010).

3Charles Durham, Temptation, (Chicago: InterVarsity Press, 1982), 125 .

Watching & Waiting...Part Deux

2010-08-07T22:44:00.002-04:00

How many people have ever had the experience of having to watch paint dry? Is it a pleasurable experience? Anyone? Of course not. How about waiting in line at an amusement park? Is there anything better than standing in line on a scorching summer day for an hour and a half to get a thirty-three second ride on a roller coaster? We live in a world that hates to wait their turn, and somehow this is born in us. If you don't believe me, spend about twenty minutes with my kids and watch how they interact with one another when it concerns playing with certain toys or pining for someone's attention. From the earliest of ages, we are convinced that waiting is most certainly the pits. But, oddly enough, we spend more time in this life waiting for things than we do actually doing something. “The average American will spend: six months siting at stoplights; eight months opening junk mail; one year looking for misplaced objects; two years unsuccessfully returning phone calls; four years doing housework; five years waiting in line; and six years eating.”¹ That adds up to nineteen years and two months – or a little under 1/3 of the average human lifespan doing something that involves waiting on things to be done in some way or another.

The Gospel of Luke, from which today's Scripture passage comes, is believed to have been written for Gentiles who converted to Christianity. Luke's account misses some of the subtle nuances present in Matthew's gospel that would lend itself to Jewish converts. It is believed to have been written as the first part of a dual work, with the book of Acts following closely behind. In today's passage, Jesus talks about not worrying about what we have while we are here on earth because in Heaven, none of it will matter. Instead, He instructs us to spend our time doing the Lord's work – being ever watchful as we wait (sometimes impatiently) for His return to the earth.

I say “sometimes impatiently” because there are many out there who so eagerly await the Lord's return that I think they forget that Christ expects us to live on the earth and do His work. The focus should be more on doing what God wants us to do in this life, and less about Christ's return. Rest assured, the Second Coming is very important, and we should anticipate it – but not to such a degree as to miss out on the messages that God is trying to communicate to us while we are watching and waiting.

“Waiting to be interviewed for a job as a wireless operator, a group of applicants paid little attention to the sound of the dots and dashes which began coming over a loud speaker. Suddenly one of them rushed into the employer’s office. Soon he returned smiling. 'I got it!' he exclaimed. 'How did you get ahead of us?' they asked. 'You might have been considered if you hadn’t been so busy talking that you didn’t hear the manager’s coded message,' he replied. 'It said, 'The man I need must always be on the alert. The first one who interprets this and comes directly into my private office will be hired.' The lesson is clear: Too many Christians are not really tuned in, so they do not hear God’s directives.”²

We don't like to wait, but unfortunately, that seems to be what a lot of Christians do all their lives. They don't spread the Gospel message or do anything else to serve the Lord because they believe that their responsibilities are to sit in church, throw some money in the plate once in a while, sing a happy song, and not be bothersome. Those are all nice things, and for the most part, they are expected of us as Christians – but there's more to it than that. God doesn't want us to sit around on our duffs all day just waiting for the end of all things as we know them to happen. He gives us a command, and expects us to follow it until He gives us a new one. We are to work for the Lord as He requests, and if we aren't getting God's message, it could be because we're too busy tuning God out as we tirelessly wait for Christ's return.

Jesus' message in these passages is simple: you need to be about doing the Lord's work. If you're working so hard for earthly things like fame, fortune, or even good grades and social status, that you're losing sight of what's really important – doing the work of the Lord – then your priorities are wrong. If you're working for yourself, then you're serving the wrong person. And if you're doing the opposite – just sitting around with the excuse that “Jesus is coming, and I have to watch so that I'm ready,” then you're obviously missing the point as well.

Jesus IS coming back, and we don't know when it will be. It could be today, tomorrow, or one thousand years from now. But it WILL happen. We have to be diligent as we watch and wait for the Lord's return, but we have to do the Lord's work in the meantime. Jesus is coming. Are you ready?

NOTES

1Survey of 6000 people polled in 1988, U.S. News and World Report, Jan. 30, 1989, p. 81

2H.G. Bosch, “He Heard Dots and Dashes,” Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers, Paul Lee Tan, ed., (Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).

Blessings Restored

2010-07-24T23:23:00.002-04:00

As I'm sure most everyone in this room would agree, “blessings” are always fantastic. Whether they're large or small, a lot or a little, they always brighten our day and seem to make everything else that we experience in this life a little more tolerable. For some of us, blessings are a daily part of life, and for others, a blessing may not be a frequent occurrence.

The Book of Psalms highlights a wide variety of personal expressions of both faith and doubt as the ancient people of Israel expressed their emotions toward what was happening in the world around them. It has been said that the entire theology of the Old Testament can be summed-up by reading the Book of Psalms. Filled with beautiful poetry and vivid imagery, the psalms continue to captivate the minds and hearts of those who read them – helping us to identify what we experience in our lives with words that express our relationships with God.

“In the charming little booklet, “Expectation Corner,” Adam Slowman was led into the Lord’s treasure houses, and among other wonders there revealed to him was the “Delayed Blessings Office,” where God kept certain things prayed for until the time came to send them. It takes a long time for some petitioners to learn that delays are not denials. Ah, there are secrets of love and wisdom in the “Delayed Blessings Department” which are little dreamed of. Men would pluck their mercies green when the Lord would have them ripe. “Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you.”

God’s plans like lilies pure and white, unfold;
We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart;
Time will reveal the calyxes of gold.”¹

The background for the psalm of the day would be the exile of the Israelites into Babylon. Here we find a very troubled individual, but yet someone who is hopeful that the Lord would follow the pattern of restoring blessings to His people after their time of repentance. And indeed, if we listen to the Call to Worship from today, we know that the Lord would do that. Hosea married Gomer, a prostitute, because God told him to. But it would be years before she would be restored in her familial relationship with her husband. The same would be true with the Israelites in Babylon – it would be years before they would be allowed to return to their homeland.

J. C. Macaulay told of visiting the lovely Biltmore Estate near Asheville, North Carolina. He was accompanying a group of college students who was preparing for Christian service on the mission field. They were impressed as they viewed the fabulous treasures on display and the luxuriant surroundings.

As they returned to their summer conference grounds, however, they began singing with joy in their hearts:

“When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your blessings—money cannot buy
Your reward in Heaven nor your home on high.”

Macaulay thought to himself, how much richer are these young people who are investing their lives in the Lord’s service than the owners of the most treasure-laden castles of this world!²

God's blessings come in all shapes and sizes. Some are big and we can see them very quickly and easily. Others are very small, and if we're not careful, we may overlook them completely. If you've been gone for a while, there is a small blessing in returning to your own home – to your daily routine – and especially to your own bed. But we don't often think of such things as blessings – we just simply think of them as being “nice things” that we get to experience. Essentially, however, the definition of a “blessing” is a “good thing” or a “nice thing.” When put into such a perspective, it becomes much simpler to see things that we normally wouldn't consider as blessings in our lives.

Unfortunately, however, blessings don't always come when we want them, nor when we think we need them. Often times God bestows blessing upon us after a long, and sometimes difficult, waiting period. We may have to endure a lot of hardship before God's blessings are poured-out upon us. And, generally speaking, the hardship comes as a result of sin. In Israel and Judah's cases, the hardship came even to those who were righteous because of the sinful acts committed by the people of their respective nations. Many had to wait for the blessings of God to be poured-out upon them, and in Old Testament times, this included salvation in both physical and spiritual senses.

Perhaps you've been waiting a long time for God's blessings to be restored to you. If so, the first thing that you should consider is whether or not there is unconfessed sin in your life right now. Maybe you've not confessed your sins to God at all, or perhaps it's been a long time. You can't seem to catch a break and you don't know what's going on. Could it be that God is withholding His blessing from you? It's possible. The Bible shows numerous examples of people being stricken with curses or at the very least having their blessings withheld because of the way they lived their lives. Maybe God is trying to tell you something.

God wants to pour-out His blessings upon all of us. But He expects us to earn them. And the only way that we can get the blessing of God is to live our lives in a way that honors Him. And the first step towards doing this is to accept His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior and give our lives completely over to Him. He is to be our example of a life lived in God's favor, and if we strive to do so, we, too, can receive the fullest of God's blessings upon us. The road may be rough at times, and the ride a little bumpy, but in the end, the destination will be sweeter than any other blessing we could ever experience. As we are restored in Christ, so our blessings will be also.

NOTES

1Sunday School Times, “God's Delayed Blessings,” Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers, Paul Lee Tan, ed., (Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).

2Our Daily Bread, “Count Your Blessings,” Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers, Paul Lee Tan, ed., (Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).

Love Under Serious Threat

2010-07-13T14:42:00.003-04:00

Passion: the word sounds tantalizing and exciting as it rolls off the tongue. To most, the word is a very intense expression with a definition that almost is indescribable. To be passionate about something means that you love it so much that you might be willing to do anything – even die – for it. God has a passion for us, and He sent His Son to suffer because He loves us all so much. But passion, or intense love, can sometimes become warped and twisted; and, because of this, what once was a deep feeling of love suddenly can become something much darker and deadlier: LUST.

“Lust” is defined as “intense or unbridled sexual desire” or on a broader perspective, “an intense longing .”¹ Lust is, basically, love that has gotten out of control. It's one of the hardest of the Seven Deadly Sins to overcome because its pull is so seductive and attractive to the sensual part of our human nature that we don't want to let it go. Lust, in fact, has historically been such a powerful sin that the poet Dante Alighieri gives it two prominent places in his Divine Comedy – one in Hell (Inferno) and the other on the Mountain of Purgatory (Purgatorio).

In Hell, Lust is the second terrace encountered by the journeyman. It is at this level that the dammed are tortured by being blown about in a wild tempest – unable to grasp anyone or anything for stability. The storm that rages and the winds that blow represent the passion of the Deadly Sin, and the poor souls trapped within it must travel where the passionately strong winds take them – just as their desires and passions on earth controlled where they went and what they did. Some pretty famous figures are located on this terrace of Hell: Mark Anthony, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Achilles, Paris, and other figures from ancient and medieval history. It isn't, perhaps, the darkest of places in Hell, but it is torturous and gruesome for the souls trapped there as the lovers are forever ripped from each other's arms.²

As the journeyman (also named “Dante,” by the way) travels out of Hell and onto the Mountain of Purgatory, again, he is confronted by the Deadly Sin of Lust. It is actually the final terrace of punishment on the mountain before souls journey into the Garden of Eden located on the peak. And on this terrace, sinners are punished for their lustful desires as they walk through the intense heat of a burning wall of fire that engulfs all but the outermost edge of the steppe. The lustful are scorched with God's holy fire as they recount lustful stories from the Bible and from Ancient History such as Sodom and Gomorrah.³

The Beatitude opposing the Deadly Sin of Lust comes from Matthew 5:8, which reads “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.” The heart filled with lust is passionate for things that are not of God. Now, this doesn't mean that sex isn't something God intends to be good. Quite the contrary. However, God has a series of guidelines for sexual behavior. Anything outside of those is considered immoral in the eyes of God, and therefore makes one guilty of the Deadly Sin of Lust.

So how do we avoid Lust? It's actually not a very easy task. In our society, sex sells a lot of products and companies know what attracts us. We can't really escape it unless we choose to go live in a cave. But what we can do is take a proactive stance to not allow our minds and hearts to be corrupted by lustful desires. And that means avoiding things like pornography (in any form), songs or movies with sexually explicit scenes or lyrics, and avoid people who are promiscuous. The Book of Proverbs talks extensively about that last one. In short, if you don't want to be trapped within the Deadly Sin of Lust, you have to take the steps to avoid those things which will make it easier.

LUST: UNBRIDLED PASSION CAN BLOW A PERSON AWAY.

NOTES

1lust. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved July 13, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lust

2Wikipedia contributors, "Inferno (Dante)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Inferno_(Dante)&oldid=372983148 (accessed July 13, 2010).

3Wikipedia contributors, "Purgatorio," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Purgatorio&oldid=369718959 (accessed July 13, 2010).

Destruction or Forgiveness?

2010-07-10T22:23:00.002-04:00

In 1982, “ABC Evening News" reported on an unusual work of modern art, a chair affixed to a shotgun. It was to be viewed by sitting in the chair and looking directly into the gun barrel. The gun was loaded and set on a timer to fire at an undetermined moment within the next hundred years. The amazing thing was that people waited in lines to sit and stare into the shell's path! They all knew the gun could go off at point-blank range at any moment, but they were gambling that the fatal blast wouldn't happen during THEIR minute in the chair.

Yes, it was foolhardy, yet many people who wouldn't dream of sitting in that chair live a lifetime gambling that they can get away with sin. Foolishly they ignore the risk until the inevitable self-destruction.¹

Today we are faced with a choice: destruction or forgiveness? The two words in an earthly context are hardly related. “Destruction” is a word usually associated with physical things – buildings, cars, trees, etc. “Forgiveness” is a word usually associated with mental or emotional attachments – relationships. But in a spiritual sense, the two are very much related to one another. God historically has presented His people with one of two absolutes – to be forgiven and do things His way, or to be destroyed.

Today we are given two Scripture passages – each referencing one of the two choices that God offers to each of us in this life. The Call to Worship made reference to God's “plumb-line” and talks about measuring for destruction. For any who don't know, a “plumb-line” establishes a vertical reference point used in surveying.² It's a very important piece of equipment that can be used to establish borders. It's imagery in Amos is present as God is using His “plumb-line” to measure His people up according to the plans that He has created. Anything less than what He desires is fit for destruction and cannot be used. It's a very serious passage that brought a serious message to the people that heard it firsthand in Israel. Unfortunately, the people of the northern Kingdom didn't heed his warnings – nor those of the many other prophets sent there, I might add – and they were destroyed by Assyria.

The second passage – the one on which today's sermon is based – talks about the opposite of God's destruction: forgiveness. This is ultimately an act of mercy as God is willing to pardon any and all sin that we may have in our lives – so long as we are willing to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior and Lord. It's a choice that we alone can make – no one can do it for us. No matter how rough our lives may be, God is always willing to forgive any who come to the feet of the cross and lay their burdens down. Our sins are forgiven and we are established as children of the Almighty God Who created and loves us all – able to share in the inheritance given to all who would lovingly serve Him and call Him “Father.”

In the 14th century, Robert the Bruce of Scotland was leading his men in a battle to gain independence from England. Near the end of the conflict, the English wanted to capture the Bruce to keep him from the Scottish crown. So they put his own bloodhounds on his trail. When the bloodhounds got close, the Bruce could hear their baying. His attendant said, "We are done for. They are on your trail, and they will reveal your hiding place." The Bruce replied, "It's all right." Then he headed for a stream that flowed through the forest. He plunged in and waded upstream a short distance. When he came out on the other bank, he was in the depths of the forest. Within minutes, the hounds, tracing their master's steps, came to the bank. They went no farther. The English soldiers urged them on, but the trail was broken. The stream had carried the scent away. A short time later, the crown of Scotland rested on the head of Robert the Bruce. The memory of our sins, prodded on by Satan, can be like those baying dogs--but a stream flows, red with the blood of God's own Son. By grace through faith we are safe. No sin-hound can touch us. The trail is broken by the precious blood of Christ. "The purpose of the cross," someone observed, "is to repair the irreparable."³

You know, on the first Sunday of every month, we celebrate the Lord's Supper as we remember the sacrifice that Jesus paid so that all of us may be forgiven for our sins. God's divine action changed the rules, and in the death and resurrection of Christ, a new “plumb-line” was drawn. Christ became the vertical standard of measurement, and those who wish to avoid the Lord's destruction have to measure-up to that line. We must remember that it's an impossible task for us to undertake. Jesus was without sin, and to live-up to that line just simply can't be done under our own power. Only through the forgiveness that comes in knowing Christ can we hope to line-up with God's measurement and be spared.

Scores of people lost their lives. The world's mightiest army was forced to abandon a strategic base, property damage approached a billion dollars. All because the sleeping giant, Mount Pinatube in the Philippines, roared back to life after 600 years of quiet slumber.

When asked to account for the incredible destruction, caused by this volcano, a research scientist from the Philippine department of vulcanology observed, 'When a volcano is silent for many years, our people forget that it's a volcano and begin to treat it like a mountain.

Like Mount Pinatube, our sinful nature always has the potential to erupt, bringing great harm both to ourselves and to others. The biggest mistake we can make is to ignore the volcano and move back onto what seems like a dormant 'mountain."⁴

Is there sin in your life that needs forgiven? Have you confessed it and brought it before the Lord? Don't wait for tomorrow to do it – because there may not be a tomorrow. Don't ignore sin and pretend that it doesn't happen. Make the choice for forgiveness and avoid God's destruction. Make sure that you measure-up to the standard that God has placed in this world. And share this word with others – that Jesus is the only way to be forgiven and measure-up to God's standard. All other ways lead to His destruction.

Court cases sometimes are labeled: “Stevenson vs. The People” or “Jones vs. Texas”, and I sometimes wonder what great sin the person did to be “against” by so many persons. But at the Last Judgment, every case will be labeled “(I) vs. God!”⁵

NOTES

1Jeffrey D. King, “Chair Affixed to a Shotgun,” Available Online: http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/illustrations/

2Wikipedia contributors, "Plumb-bob," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plumb-bob&oldid=371397191 (accessed July 11, 2010).

3E. Lutzer, Putting Your Past Behind You, Here's Life, 1990, p.42.

4Stephen Schertzinger, Seattle, Washington, quoted in Leadership, Summer Quarter, p. 47 .

5Paul Lee Tan, “I vs. God,” Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers (Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).

Passing the Mantle

2010-06-27T01:45:00.002-04:00

One of the greats in the Old Testament is the prophet Elijah. For the last several weeks, his ministry in the Northern Kingdom of Israel has been talked about and outlined in several of the sermons and Scripture passages referenced both in the church and in the weekly readings from the Revised Common Lectionary. Elijah performed great miracles in the name and honor of Almighty God, and was personally attended to by His angels during times of distress and fatigue. But, Elijah's time of service had come to an end, and the tasks that God had assigned him had all been completed faithfully. It was now time for Elijah to depart and be rewarded – and it was time for his successor to carry out God's mission for the Kingdom of Israel.

This story comes to us from the book of 2 Kings in the Old Testament. Like the books of Samuel and Chronicles, it is actually one large book simply called “Kings” in the original Hebrew Bible. It begins with the end of Elijah's prophecy and ministry, and ends with the fall and destruction of both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah after the downward spirals of the leaders and the people as they chose serving false gods instead of serving the One True God. The book is one that details the history of the peoples of Israel and Judah and are an equivalent to a history or geography book used to study about people and cultures today.¹

Most of the time when we read or hear this passage, we focus on Elijah's being lifted-off by a whirlwind and carried to heaven in a chariot of fire. After all, it is a pretty dramatic thing to happen. Elijah is one of only two people in the Bible to never have died – with the other being Enoch as mentioned in Genesis 5:18-24. It was a pretty amazing and dramatic feat, and left quite an impression on Elijah's protege being left behind to witness it all. However, it was also a sign for the younger Elisha – that his request had been granted by Almighty God and that he was to serve as Elijah's successor by continuing to minister and speak out against the sin of the people.

Now, it didn't take long for Elisha to show the authority being bestowed upon him. Shortly after having the mantle of authority passed to him, he was called to the town of Jericho because the water was impure and was causing sickness and infertility. Elisha obtained some salt and threw it in the river – proclaiming that God had purified the water. From that time on, the water was fine. This first miracle was further evidence that the mantle had passed – Elisha was given the same authority as his mentor and friend. He was God's chosen prophet.

Now, there's one other miracle (of sorts) that I have to mention, and it's because it's one of my favorite stories as a pastor who is (admittedly) suffering from thinning hair and a receding hairline: Elisha and the bears. Again, this is a story that reinforces the authority that God had given to the prophet: Elisha was walking on the road between Jericho and Bethel when some boys came out and started making fun of him, calling him (among other things I'm sure) “baldy.” The taunts and jeers, I would imagine, were part of an adolescent and prepubescent need to find entertainment at the expense of another person. Most of the men sitting here today, and probably some of the women, can relate if we're honest about our teen and preteen years. The boys decide to make fun of God's chosen – taunting him with as many jeers as they could find. So, Elisha (having had enough) curses them in the name of God.

What happens next is truly one of the more gruesome events found in Scripture: two (2) bears come out of the woods and proceed to maim and dismember forty-two (42) of the boys causing at the very least a great deal of pain and suffering and quite possibly even causing death for some of them. If you don't believe me, look it up for yourselves. It's just a few verses down in 2 Kings 2:23-24. God protects those that He calls and is willing to defend them using any means He finds necessary. So for all you teens out there: don't mock your pastor, okay?

Believe it or not, this story is also here to prove again the point that God's anointing had fallen on Elisha and had been passed to him from Elijah. It wasn't Elijah's cloak that gave him authority, nor was it his name or status in society. It was Who he served that gave his successor authority – Elijah served the Lord, and the Lord saw fit to bestow upon Elijah's protege the same mantle of power and authority that he had given to Elijah.

You know – yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the Transformation Team meeting sponsored by American Baptist Churches of Ohio that was held at Trinity Baptist in Marion. We had one of the larger groups present at these events, which are being held at multiple locations across the state of Ohio. It was about two (2) hours long, and served to explain some of the problems that the Region now faces due to budget constraints and changes in giving and ministry patterns. Giving to our region has decreased by almost 50% as the region is currently receiving about $400,000 a year instead of the $800,000 that they received just ten (10) years ago. Such a decrease has caused the leadership of our region to discern – wisely, I might add – that we need to make changes. The ship has sustained some structural damage, and in order to remain afloat, we have to repair the hole before we capsize and drown.

So we got a chance to see a glimpse of what their plan may look like, and, without going into too much detail, it's going to involve a lot of restructuring that many people likely aren't going to be thrilled about. This will include the loss of at least one, and quite probably two (2) of our current four (4) area ministers – our connections as churches to the region at large. And part of the reason for this crisis situation that we face as a Region – and, to be honest, as a church when it inevitably trickles down – is because we don't understand the concept of having a mantle of responsibility.

You see, every single one of us here today carries with us a responsibility to the church and her affiliations. We as a church have chosen to be aligned with the American Baptist Churches of Ohio and the American Baptist Churches, USA. And most all of us are willing to be a part of those groups, but we may not understand the responsibilities that come along with our affiliation. Being a part of these groups means that we have to be accountable, and we aren't able to be accountable if we don't take the time or make an effort to know what's going on in our churches, associations, and our region. All too often we are willing to sit back and watch while things get done around us without ever knowing why it's happening. Yet if something doesn't go the way we think it should, we are the first to start complaining and criticizing. Instead of being a part of the solution, we instead choose to create further problems and complications.

The mantle of responsibility – whether we want it or not – has been passed to each and every person sitting here today, both young and old. Too many churches suffer because the older generations in our congregations pass-off the mantle of responsibility before they're supposed to – stating that “they've served their time, and now it's someone else's turn.” Hogwash, I say. Elijah didn't quit until God told him it was time – and when Elijah's time came, he was carried off into heaven. Moses led people for 40 years through the wilderness, and started that journey between the ages of 60 and 80 years old! God showed Moses the land His people would enter, and when he died, God Himself buried Moses. Age is not an excuse to quit serving – if anything, your years of experience make you fit not only for leadership and service, but for mentoring responsibilities so that when the time does come for you to pass the mantle to other generations, they know what they are responsible for. Think of some of our shut-ins. They face a host of illnesses and medical problems that keep them from joining us on Sunday mornings or at other events during the calendar year. And yet they know that they can still serve the Lord and His church – and they pray, everyday. And we should be thankful for that because quite honestly, our church, our association, and our region can use all the prayers we can get right now.

The mantle has been passed to all of us from those who have gone before us. Generations of people who have faithfully served the Lord through First Baptist Church have made a great impact in our community, in the Marion Baptist Association, and in the American Baptist Churches of Ohio. But, to be quite honest, we've grown lethargic. No one wants to hear it, and people get uncomfortable when someone calls attention to it. We are in danger of being like the churches of Laodicea or Sardis as mentioned in Revelation 3. One of them was lukewarm, and the other was dead! Is that the fate that we want for our church, our association, or our region?

Elijah's mantle of responsibility was placed upon Elisha as one generation of ministry passed to another. With it came power and authority from God Almighty – greater than anything that any earthly power could bestow upon him. In Christ, and with the blessing of those who have gone before us, we, too, have been given a great mantle of responsibility – to know what's going on, and to do something about it. To have a voice, and to be God's messengers and ministers within our community, our association, and our state. Will we take this mantle that has been given to us, and take it seriously? Or will we discard it, and with it, the blessings that can only come from God. The choice is ours to make. My hope and prayer is that we choose wisely...

NOTES

1Wikipedia contributors, "Books of Kings," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Books_of_Kings&oldid=369579907 (accessed June 27, 2010).

I am LEGION....

2010-06-12T19:25:00.002-04:00

One of the more interesting things about the Bible and what it has to offer is powerful stories concerning supernatural forces that constantly seem to be at work within our world – either for good, or evil, purposes. Most of the stories involve God in some way, shape, or form – be it in the form of the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. God consistently intervenes on behalf of His people and constantly is acting within His creation to inspire and challenge us to action.

Take for example the story in our Scripture passage for today – the story of Legion. Here we see the two great powers of spiritual warfare up against one another: God, in the person of Jesus Christ confronts Legion – a mysterious character that almost seems to come more from the SyFy Channel than from any point of reality. Legion is unique to the Bible because it is the compilation of several different evil spirits into one entity. And these collective spirits have given themselves a very unique name because “legion” means “a very large number; a large military force; or the principal unit of the Roman army composing 3000 to 6000 foot soldiers with cavalry.”¹ The last part of the definition is especially significant since the earliest readers of Luke's gospel would have been citizens of the Roman Empire. “Legion” was a formidable and frightening name – a name that symbolized dominance and raw power.

This story speaks volumes not only about Jesus' authority as the Son of God, but also His mercy. Let's take a look at both of these for just a moment. When we think of authority and power related to Christ, most of us are willing to say that He could do just about anything He wanted. But to people in His day – still figuring out who He was – the power to cast out demons was truly great, and helped to establish him (at the very least) as a great prophet of God. Think about this, though: if the name “Legion” is any indication as to the specific number of demons possessing the man, we're talking about thousands of demons possessing one man. That's a lot more power than required for just one demon. Legion was so powerful that he was able to cause the man to break anything that bound him – meaning stone, iron, wood, rope – anything. The man was so tormented that he no longer lived by the rules of society – choosing to live naked in a cemetery. Violent and strong, Legion caused the tormented man to live a life ostracized by his community. He lived alone, and was considered very dangerous, even by Gentile standards. Only Jesus had the power to overthrow Legion's hold on the unnamed man. And the scary thing was that Legion knew it and came to confront Jesus out of fear.

And it's at this point in the story that we get some very interesting questions. You see, Jesus had mercy on the demon collective known as “Legion.” They pleaded with Him to have mercy and not destroy them and instead send them into pigs. We have a couple of questions to answer, and I'll address them (in my humblest of opinions) in terms of difficulty. The first question is, why pigs? After a little research, this answer came clearly: to the Jews (remember, Jesus was Jewish) pigs were unclean animals. They weren't to be used for sacrifices, and their meat could not be consumed by Jewish people. Therefore, they were a fitting home for demons, who are also called “unclean spirits” in the Bible. Jesus allowed the pigs to be possessed because they were the only thing present that would be fit for demonic possession in Jewish society.

Now comes the hard question: why didn't Jesus just destroy the demons and rid the earth of their presence? Certainly He could have done so, and the demons knew it. Legion specifically requests of Jesus that He not throw them into the bottomless pit, which is a code name for Hell. In fact, Jesus' very presence was enough to torture the demons and throw the man into a fit. Other gospel writings in Mark and Matthew record that they didn't go easily, even when given a location that they may go. But the fact still remains that Jesus was merciful to the demons known as Legion and didn't destroy them. Why?

My humble theory – and I call it that because I recognize that I most certainly can be wrong – is that Jesus knew that the time had not yet come for the demon collective known as “Legion” to be destroyed. He could have done all of us a favor and rid the world of a few demons, but He knew that eventually their time of destruction would come. The Bible says that in the end times, following the great war known as Armageddon, God will be seated upon His throne and will judge everyone and everything. At that time, any and all who are not saved will be doomed to suffer eternal torment and death in the lake of fire with Satan and all of his minions – including the collective known as “Legion.” But since that time was not yet present as these events transpired, Jesus showed mercy and allowed the demons to live.

Ultimately the point of this account for Christians to consider is that Jesus is stronger than any demonic force – no matter how big or how small. God is, and always will be in control and can overpower any force or evil that we may ultimately encounter. However, the story of Legion poses a great many thoughts and questions for Christians to consider, such as: “Is demon possession really possible?” “What causes one to be possessed?” and especially “Can Christians be possessed?”

From a great chess player of Cincinnati, we learn that in the early part of the last century an artist who was also a great chess player painted a picture of a chess game. The players were a young man and Satan. The young man manipulated the white pieces; Satan the black pieces. The issue of the game was this: should the young man win, he was to be forever free from the power of evil; should the devil win, the young man was to be his slave forever. The artist evidently believed in the supreme power of evil, for his picture presented the devil as victor.

In the conception of the artist, the devil had just moved his queen and had announced a checkmate in four moves. The young man’s hand hovered over his rook; his face paled with amazement — there was no hope. The devil wins! He was to be a slave forever.

For years, this picture hung in a great art gallery. Chess players from all over the world viewed the picture. They acquiesced in the thought of the artist. The devil wins! After several years a chess doubter arose; he studied the picture and became convinced that there was but one chess player upon the earth who could give him assurance that the artist of this picture was right in his conception of the winner. The chess player was the aged Paul Morphy, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana. Morphy was a supreme master of chess in his day, an undefeated champion. A scheme was arranged through which Morphy was brought to Cincinnati to view the chess picture.

Morphy stood before the picture, five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes. He was all concentration; he lifted and lowered his hands as, in imagination, he made and eliminated moves. Suddenly, his hand paused, his eyes burned with the vision of an unthought-of combination. Suddenly, he shouted, “Young man, make that move. That’s the move!”

To the amazement of all, the old master, the supreme chess personality, has discovered a combination that the creating artist had not considered. The young man defeated the Devil.²

There is only one way that any of us can defeat the devil or any of his minions – by having a real and personal relationship with Christ. The same power that rid the unnamed man of Legion's dominating presence can wash sin out of our lives, too. Jesus alone can do that. No one or nothing else in this world can accomplish for you what Christ has done. No one has paid the price He has – and no one ever could.

The story of Legion is all too real. Those who choose not to follow God and live in a manner that is Christ-like – whether they call themselves “Christian” or not – can fall into the same trap that the unnamed man faced. We have to be willing to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and live by Christ's example, following the Word of God as our guide through this life.

“I am Legion, for we are many.” It sounds scary, but it doesn't have to be scary for any of us if we truly believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ. Once He is in our heart and at the center of our lives, nothing can defeat Him.

NOTES

1legion. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved June 12, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legion

2Paul Lee Tan, “Chess Game with Satan,” Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers (Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).

sighs Do I have to do it right now?!

2010-06-08T08:41:00.001-04:00

When most of us hear the word “sloth” with think of one of two things: either the cute, furry creature that lives in the rainforest slowly moving in the trees, or the character “Sid” from the movie Ice Age. Most of us have never heard the term applied to anything else, but after reading today's entry, my hope is that all readers will walk away and find that Sloth is more than something cute and fuzzy – it's one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

But what is it? Truthfully, the Deadly Sin of Sloth is one of the most difficult for people to define. A modern translation that most all would understand would be to say “laziness.” But, that's not wholly accurate, because it's more than just being a chronic procrastinator. Technically, as far as the Deadly Sins are concerned, the definition of “sloth” is “spiritual apathy and inactivity”.¹ In other words, it means not living out your faith and doing something with it.

Jesus had something to say about churches and people who spiritually apathetic. His term for them was “lukewarm,” and he talks to the Apostle John about it in a vision given in the book of Revelation. Here's what Jesus has to say (Revelation 3:14-22, New Living Translation)

¹⁴“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen — the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation:

¹⁵“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! ¹⁶But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! ¹⁷You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. ¹⁸So I advise you to buy gold from me — gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. ¹⁹I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

²⁰“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. ²¹Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.

²²“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”

The last thing that Christ wants from any of us is to be lazy with our faith. We're supposed to be passionate about loving God and should be putting Christ before anything else in our lives. Yet many of us still put God off until we feel that we absolutely need Him. We don't do anything to show others that we are Christians – we don't worship and fellowship with other believers (unless it's on Christmas or Easter, of course), we don't serve the churches we do attend, and most of us don't support our churches as we are supposed to according to the Scriptures (see Leviticus 27:30-33, Deuteronomy 14:22-29, and 2 Corinthians 9:7).

Now, I want to be clear about something: I'm not advocating for works-based righteousness. In other words, I'm not saying that it's what you do that will get you into Heaven. I believe that can only happen through belief and faith in Christ alone. However, that being said, I firmly believe that we, as Christians, are supposed to be doing something with our faith. The Book of James records the following (James 2:14-26, New Living Translation):

¹⁴What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

¹⁷So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

¹⁸Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

¹⁹You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. ²⁰How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

²¹Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. ²³And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. ²⁴So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.

²⁵Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. ²⁶Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.

Martin Luther, the renegade monk who spawned the Protestant movement that gave birth to the Lutheran church, hated this passage of Scripture because of his belief in faith alone (sola fide). James, however, is arguing that it is our faith that saves us, but it should also be encouraging us to do good works for others. The problem with the Deadly Sin of Sloth is that those guilty of committing it – or living it, worse yet – are in very dangerous positions within their spiritual lives. Spiritual apathy can lead to spiritual death – and that means that we no longer care about God anymore. It also means that we're dooming ourselves to eternal separation from God in Hell.

The poet Dante doesn't discuss this sin a whole lot in Inferno, the first part of The Divine Comedy, but he does devote a terrace on the mountain of Purgatory to the sin. Remember that in Purgatory, sins were purged from the faithful, and all of the sins had to do with love – be it misdirected, insufficient, or just simply not acted upon. On the Terrace of the Slothful (Terrace 4) we find those guilty of deficient love being punished. Since they had failed in life to act in pursuit of love, here they are engaged in ceaseless activity. The examples of sloth and of zeal, its opposite virtue, are called out by these souls as they run around the terrace.² The Slothful are forced to run at a somewhat rapid and fairly steady pace, until their time of penance has ended – for some, it could be hundreds of years. Imagine running non-stop for such a length of time. No thank you.

Because Sloth is related to sadness, Matthew 5:4 is cited as being the Beatitude for the Slothful: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” The Slothful mourn because their own apathy has caused a distance between them and God – and it's a distance that can be overcome by simply becoming active with their faith once again. Yet they are comforted by the Lord even in times of sadness – and that truly is an indication both of the Lord's patience, and His mercy.

So what do you do if you're guilty of the Deadly Sin of Sloth? Get off the couch, get out into the world, and do something for your God!

SLOTH: DO I HAVE TO DO IT NOW? MY SHOW IS ON...

NOTES

1sloth. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved June 8, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sloth

2Wikipedia contributors, "Purgatorio," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Purgatorio&oldid=366753535 (accessed June 8, 2010).

The Spirit of Wisdom

2010-05-29T23:37:00.002-04:00

The book of Proverbs is probably one of the most studied of Old Testament books. Practical insight into the world – both ancient and modern – can be had for any that truly desire to look for it. For the past several months – in fact, almost a year – this powerful book has been the focus of our Wednesday evening Bible Study.

The majority of the book contains a lot of statements that encourage wise thinking, acting, behaving, and living with one another. Virtually any subject that one can think of are introduced in this book and have at least one statement attributed to it. There are a few characters in the book as well – namely God, the teacher, the “son” or children who are the teacher's pupils, the virtuous woman, and then the character called “Wisdom.” Most interesting of all is that “wisdom” is characterized as being a woman – something very unique for a patriarchal, or man-led, society.

The Scripture passage today focuses on the character of “Wisdom” a bit more as she implores the people of the city to come to her and be blessed. She stands openly in the street and cries out to the people that she can give them knowledge and she can give them blessings from God. It's a very vivid and relate-able depiction of the message God is trying to give to people: wisdom is attainable to those who would persue it.

There's a story about a proud young man who came to Socrates asking for knowledge. He walked up to the muscular philosopher and said, "O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge."

Socrates recognized a pompous numbskull when he saw one. He led the young man through the streets, to the sea, and chest deep into water. Then he asked, "What do you want?"

"Knowledge, O wise Socrates," said the young man with a smile.

Socrates put his strong hands on the man's shoulders and pushed him under. Thirty seconds later Socrates let him up. "What do you want?" he asked again.

"Wisdom," the young man sputtered, "O great and wise Socrates."

Socrates crunched him under again. Thirty seconds passed, thirty-five. Forty. Socrates let him up. The man was gasping. "What do you want, young man?"

Between heavy, heaving breaths the fellow wheezed, "Knowledge, O wise and wonderful..."

Socrates jammed him under again Forty seconds passed. Fifty. "What do you want?"

"Air!" the young man screeched. "I need air!"

"When you want knowledge as you have just wanted air, then you will have knowledge."¹

Wisdom stands and calls out to all of us – and she gives us a great resume in the second part of the chapter: she was formed before anything else, was present at creation, rejoiced in the Lord with the first human beings, and continued to inspire and thrive even to the point of Solomon's writings. It's very plain to see that Wisdom exists on a level much deeper than just what stuff gets recorded and stored in our brains. Wise living is adapting principles to our lives and living within the right spirit – the Spirit of God. And living within God's Spirit means taking the time to sow virtue into our life and the lives of others – things like courage, wisdom, self-control, justice, faith, hope, and love. All of these virtues, and many others, are important to living with a Christ-like mentality. It's tapping-in to the wisdom that has been a part of God's plan for eternity.

Robert Fulghum wrote in the KANSAS CITY TIMES, 'Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

'These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody . . . When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. '

This writer has captured part of what Jesus meant when he said, 'Unless you become like little children, you won't enter the kingdom of heaven." - Hugh Duncan²

Some of the wisest people on earth are little children. They have an insight that many adults would dream of obtaining in their lives. And why? Because a child understands things in the simplest of concepts. Too often we try to make things more difficult than need-be. It happens all the time in our jobs, in our schools, and even in our relationships. Sometimes the wisest choice is to simplify things – to enter into God's Spirit of Wisdom and learn what we should do to simply be active and vital in our life here on earth. It means learning to listen, learning to share, and learning that there may be more than one viable solution to the problem. We have to be as children – learning for the purposes of growth.

Wisdom stands on the corner and shouts to all of us – beckoning us to come and learn from her. If we hear the voice of wisdom and take heed, we allow ourselves to be blessed with understanding and knowledge; we allow ourselves to be open to the guidance of the Spirit; and most importantly, we allow ourselves to truly experience life according to God's will.

NOTES

1M. Littleton, Moody Monthly, June 1989, p. 29.

2Source Unknown. Not Learned in Graduate School. Available Online: http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/illustrations/

Dies Irae, Dies Illa

2010-05-18T08:14:00.003-04:00

Mozart's Requiem is probably one of the hardest pieces that I have ever sang in my life. The music is all over the place, but when all of the melodies and harmonies are put together, it truly is a marvel to behold - let alone take part in. One of the most exciting pieces from the score is the Dies Irae - a fast paced, riveting piece of music that really gets the blood pumping. Believe it or not, you've probably heard the piece before. It's very popular for use in fight scenes in the movies. One of the more recent movies (that I can think of) utilizing this piece is X2: X-men United. In the beginning of the movie, when the character “Nightcrawler” fights his way through the White House in an attempt to assassinate the President, the Dies Irae is playing in the background. (Check it out sometime. It really works well!)

The words to the Dies Irae are as follows (with translation in Italics next to it):

Dies Irae, dies illa (Day of Wrath, that day
Solvet saeclum in favilla will disolve the earth in ashes
Teste David cum Sybilla. as David and the Sybil bear witness.)

Quantus tremor es futurus (What dread there will be
Quando judex est venturus when the Judge shall come
Cuncta stricte discussurus. to judge all things strictly.)

So why all the classical music stuff? Well, it really seemed to fit with what I'm talking about today: WRATH. Granted, God's wrath is different than the Deadly Sin of the hour, but for some reason, the song just resonated in my head this morning as I thought about this subject.

What, exactly, is “wrath”? The dictionary defines it as “strong vengeful anger or indignation.”¹ Basically, “wrath” is a word from Middle English that means “anger.” So anytime you see the word, you can replace it with “anger” and be okay. There are all kinds of places in the Bible where it talks about anger being a bad thing. But is it possible for there to be a difference in being angry and committing the Deadly Sin of Wrath?

Personally, I believe there is. Anger is an emotion - it's a part of who we are. It's a part of God's temperament, and we are created in His image. So, it can't always be a bad thing. But there does come a point when anger becomes more than just an emotion that we experience. We, in our anger, can hold grudges for days, months, and even years against people. And THAT is where it starts to look more and more like a sin. God doesn't intend for us to remain angry with anyone for very long. In fact, He put laws in place saying that His people are not supposed to worship Him until their disputes and anger had been put right amongst themselves. As Christians, we are told that we are not to take communion because our hearts cannot be right with God until we have released the anger we hold toward another.

Wrath seems to be more than just “anger.” It's a long-standing anger that is very indignant and extremely vengeful. It's anger that is so strong and so powerful that it consumes us. Anger of this type can motivate a person to do all sorts of destructive things - even to kill other living things, be they plant, animal, or human. It is so strong that we can't let it go, and we won't let it go. This type of anger can raise your blood pressure, your stress level, and cause all sorts of other health problems. And - this type of anger usually gets focused toward God as well.

The poet Dante Alighieri deals with the subject of wrath in two locations, as he did with the Gluttons. In Inferno, the wrathful souls find themselves fighting one another eternally on the marshy shores of the River Styx, located on the fifth level of Hell. A very dark, gruesome, and violent place, the poet and his companion find themselves being confronted by angry spirits who live without any other feeling but their anger for all time.²

The next time we encounter such a sin, it is on the Mountain of Purgatory. In Dante's Purgatorio, the souls of the Wrathful who have been saved are purged of their sins by walking around in a blinding, choking cloud of thick smoke. Burning their eyes, the smoke symbolizes the blinding power of seething anger. As the poet continues to journey through the smoke, he is blessed to hear the Agnus Dei - a prayer for mercy and peace. A condensed version of the prayer reads:³

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis... dona nobis pacem.
(Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us... grant us peace.)

The virtue opposite that of wrath would seem to be obvious: Peace. The wrathful are always at war with another person. Hence peace being the opposite virtue. The Scripture passage used in reference to this is Matthew 5:9 (NLT), God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. The blessing that those who sow peace and harmony have is that they are called children of God - in other words, God claims those who are peaceful as His own.

Does this mean that God doesn't claim the Wrathful? I think it depends. If you're asking whether God disowns us when we're angry, I would have to say “no.” But if you're asking whether or not God disowns us for having a long, deeply-rooted anger that controls us and causes us to commit other sins, I would be willing to answer a “yes.” Why? Because the wrathful are acting outside of God's Spirit, which brings peace. It's also likely to happen because the Wrathful have the tendency to be the ones that blaspheme God - the only sin (according to the Scriptures) that is unpardonable by God. Blaspheming God means, essentially, holding up your middle finger to God, saying “I don't need you anymore. Up yours!,” and moving on with life according to your own accord with no desire to ever let God back into your life. A truly wrathful person can, will, and has done that. And, unfortunately for them, they wind-up facing God's wrath for the rest of eternity.

Take a good, long look at yourselves. Is there a deeply-rooted anger that seethes within you? Has someone or something wronged you to cause such feelings? When you discover these answers, you need to be willing to calmly confront those involved (if able) and resolve the issue. Get your anger under control - before it's too late....

WRATH: I TOLD YOU NOT TO MAKE ME ANGRY...

NOTES

1wrath. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved May 18, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wrath

2Wikipedia contributors, "Inferno (Dante)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Inferno_(Dante)&oldid=360175223 (accessed May 18, 2010).

3Wikipedia contributors, "Purgatorio," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Purgatorio&oldid=361777066 (accessed May 18, 2010).

United with God

2010-05-15T16:19:00.002-04:00

Nearly four hundred years ago the English poet-clergyman John Donne wrote: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”¹

We live in an age where it is believed that individuality is better than unity. The self is more important than anyone else. Millions of dollars have been made on self-help books and programs - all in the name of being a better person and a stronger individual. We don't often take the time to build community in our neighborhoods, our towns, or our churches. Unity among ourselves is something almost unheard of anymore. We'd rather be at odds with anyone and everyone over any disagreement that comes our way. Simple things such as the color of the carpet or the location of items, and complex ideals such as political parties and theological interpretations continually break us apart. But is this really what Jesus wanted for His disciples?

Today's Scripture passage from the Gospel of John comes from a long prayer that Jesus gives throughout most of the chapter. He prays a number of things for His disciples - both those present with Him, and any future ones to come. And it is in these specific verses for today that we see a prayer for unity among one another. It's a very powerful prayer and it is a very clear message that all of us should pay heed to as we go through life together.

Mark Twain used to say he put a dog and a cat in a cage together as an experiment, to see if they could get along. They did, so he put in a bird, pig and goat. They, too, got along fine after a few adjustments. Then he put in a Baptist, Presbyterian, and Catholic; soon there was not a living thing left.²

We laugh and we joke about some things, but the truth of the matter is that we often times don't experience unity within our own church family. We are united by a common link - belief in Jesus Christ. How we choose to express that belief may vary. Some of us here may have been raised as Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, and, of course, Baptists. All of us have our own spin on things, but we are supposed to be united - united with one another, and united with God. And the only way we can be united is to find the commonalities of our faith and use them as building blocks towards loving one another.

In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn't. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus.

"These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they're nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold."

"Which channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can't you guys get organized like that?"³

Linus and Lucy's little tiff brings-up a very valid point: there is strength in numbers, but you have to organize those numbers in order to be effective at anything. Organization occurs around an ideal or a principle and requires all parties to work toward a common goal. Our goal as Christians should be the spreading of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ throughout our community, our country, and our world. This means learning to find commonalities with one another and, in turn, agreeing to do less looking for the ways in which we are different.

During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious groups to unite so that he could control them. Among the Brethren assemblies, half complied and half refused. Those who went along with the order had a much easier time. Those who did not, faced harsh persecution. In almost every family of those who resisted, someone died in a concentration camp.

When the war was over, feelings of bitterness ran deep between the groups and there was much tension. Finally they decided that the situation had to be healed. Leaders from each group met at a quiet retreat. For several days, each person spent time in prayer, examining his own heart in the light of Christ's commands. Then they came together.

Francis Schaeffer, who told of the incident, asked a friend who was there, 'What did you do then?" 'We were just one," he replied. As they confessed their hostility and bitterness to God and yielded to His control, the Holy Spirit created a spirit of unity among them. Love filled their hearts and dissolved their hatred.

When love prevails among believers, especially in times of strong disagreement, it presents to the world an indisputable mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ.⁴

This is the love that Jesus talks about in verse 23. The love of God as seen in Christ is the same love that the Holy Spirit will give to all of us if we are willing to accept it. It is a love that knows no bounds and cannot be tarnished by anyone or anything. It's a love that should define us as Christians and should unify us beyond any other differences we may face. And it's a love that should continually unify us with God - our Creator, and our Father.

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.⁵

Our primary focus in life as believers should be Christ above any and everything else. When we start to focus on things other than Christ - especially when we come together for worship, we lose our unity with God and with one another. The color of the carpet, the type of music played and sung, the degree and level of technology used - none of these are as important as Jesus Christ. If you're harboring resentment or anger toward another person, you're holding onto things that are causing disunity. If you're so closed-minded that you refuse to listen to another person's point of view, you're causing disunity. The list goes on, and on, and on.

The one thing that Satan wants in the church and in the world is disunity. Why? Because he knows that if believers would gather together and be united in Christ - united with God - there would be nothing in this earth that could stop His will and His work from being done.

Consider yourselves today. Are you an agent of unity or of disunity within the church and the world?

NOTES

1Paul Lee Tan, “No Man Is an Island,” Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers (Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).

2Phillip Yancey, What's So Amazing About Grace, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), p. 33

3Charles Schultz. Available Online: http://www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/unity.htm

4“Spirit of Unity,” Our Daily Bread, Oct. 4, 1992. Available Online: http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/illustrations/

5A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, Ibid.

A Fat Person Behemothed Their Way....

2010-05-11T15:41:00.002-04:00

Anyone who remembers the TV sitcom Married, with Children probably got a small chuckle at the title of this blog entry. The main character in the show, Al Bundy, worked at a women's shoe store in Chicago and was constantly plagued by patrons who were, shall we say, plus-sized. Just to give you a couple of examples of Al's dislike, here are a couple of quotations for you:

“A woman came into the shoe store who was so fat, she had three smaller women orbiting around her.”
“A fat woman came into the store today and asked for something she could fit into...I suggested Oklahoma.”

Vulgar and rude, but oddly enough, they do make a bold statement about the sin of the hour: Gluttony. This is one of those sins that hits a little below the belt for me, personally, because I struggle with eating - especially eating when I'm stressed out.

Let's be honest for a second. I love food. I like to cook it, and I like to eat it. As a result of this love affair, I now have to pay. I have a variety of health problems and pretty much all of them can be linked to food. Like the character shown in the picture above (played by Terry Jones in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life), the Deadly Sin of Gluttony is a very dangerous reality for me.

What exactly is “gluttony”? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “excess in eating and drinking,”¹ which basically means that you eat or drink more than you need to for nourishment purposes. This brings up a lot of questions because all of us are guilty at one time or another of having that extra slice of pizza, piece of cake, or just simply going for the “large size” of our combo meal. And then there are the buffets....

I'll be the first to admit that I have a problem when it comes to food. Sometimes I just don't know when to stop. And when that happens, I eat way more than I should - usually resulting in a stomach ache that lasts for hours and the desire never to eat again. And, I know I'm not alone in my actions. The truth is, for a society that praises people for being thin, Americans especially are guilty of falling into the trap of the Sin of Gluttony. We REALLY love our food.

So what's the deal? Does this mean we can NEVER indulge a little bit and sample that succulent pork roast or drool as we hover over an ice cream maker in anticipation? Technically, no. We can have a little bit now and then and no one is the wiser. It's when we start to put food and drink in the place of God that it becomes a problem. How can a person do that? Very simply put, the same way that an alcoholic solves the world's problems by drowning them out. Instead of turning to God in times of stress and despair, we turn to food. We eat when we're happy, when we're sad, when we're angry, depressed, or any other emotion that we can conjure up in our minds and hearts.

I can't end this post without talking a little bit about Dante's take on this sin, because it's one that he is especially graphic about. The poet gives this Deadly Sin a special place both in Inferno and in Purgatorio. In the former, we see the punishment that gluttons must face in hell: Cerberus guards the gluttons, forced to lie in a vile slush produced by ceaseless foul, icy rain.² Cerberus, for those who don't know, is a creature from Greek mythology. He was a three-headed hound who guarded the gates of Hades. He was tamed by Herakles and ridden out of Hell as one of his twelve feats. As for the vile slush? Some translations depict this as being a rain of human excrement as it falls, with the gluttonous forced to wallow in it.

In Purgatorio, the purging of the sin seems equally as harsh. The gluttons are starved in the presence of trees whose fruit is forever out of reach³ as they walk around on their terrace. Due to their excitement on earth to live lives of excess, they are starved on the Mountain of Purgatory to purge the sin from their souls. Sounds pleasant, doesn't it? Of course it does...

But there is hope, and a virtue to counteract this Deadly Sin: Temperance. The dictionary definition for “temperance” says that it means “habitual moderation in the indulgence of the appetites or passions.”⁴ In other words, it means having self-control. Easier said than done, but it is possible. In order to escape the grip of Gluttony, we have to be willing to give God control over us and allow Him to help us out of the mire. It's a slow process, but it can be done. According to the Scriptures, “God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6, NLT). The Beatitude of Temperance teaches us that our hunger and thirst should be for justice - not for food and drink.

If you are a person who suffers from a food addiction, are a compulsive eater/over-eater, or are suffering from other food-related diseases such as Anorexia or Bulimia, there is help and hope for you. Not only is God here for you, but He has provided wonderful resources to help you overcome your illness. For more information, I would encourage you to look into Overeaters Anonymous, a 12-step program designed for people who are compulsive eaters.

GLUTTONY: WHEN A WAFER THIN MINT IS TOO MUCH...

NOTES

1gluttony. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved May 12, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gluttony

2Wikipedia contributors, "Inferno (Dante)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Inferno_(Dante)&oldid=360175223 (accessed May 13, 2010).

3Wikipedia contributors, "Purgatorio," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Purgatorio&oldid=361777066 (accessed May 13, 2010).

4temperance. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved May 12, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temperance

Inside the Caim

Rules to Live By

Our God Provides

Living Like a Disciple

The Silver Lining

Meaning

Origin

Wanting Too Much

Impact of the Word

The Godly Man

To Be Made Complete

Precious Stones

Sin and Grace

Being Authentic

"Blessed?!" What does THAT mean?!

A Gracious Gift

Precious Light

Moving Forward without Fear

In Whom Is Your Faith?

Good Teaching

The Dark Valley

Righteous Prayer

The Cost of Discipleship

We Are the Champions

Watching & Waiting...Part Deux

Blessings Restored

Love Under Serious Threat

Destruction or Forgiveness?

Passing the Mantle

I am LEGION....

*sighs* Do I have to do it right now?!

The Spirit of Wisdom

Dies Irae, Dies Illa

United with God

A Fat Person Behemothed Their Way....

sighs Do I have to do it right now?!