A Thanksgiving Prayer

To: God; Jehovah… the One True God; the only God who is alive; my Creator; my Savior; my Judge; my Friend…

Thanksgiving is a week away.  It is time to offer thanks again.  Indeed, every day is a day to give thanks, yet this season brings into focus the appropriateness of intentional and vocal gratitude more than any other.

My appreciation is aimed heavenward.  Every good gift; every perfect gift comes from above… from You, Father!  Though You know very well the sincerity (and sadly also the insincerity) of my heart, I choose now to enumerate some of the blessings that you are responsible for and that I duly prize.

Life – both my physical and my eternal life… totally and completely a gift from Your hand.  Thanks!  My very existence proves Your patience, mercy, forgiveness and willingness to suffer long.

The Bible – Book of all books; perfect, beautiful, potent and alive.  How could I survive without it?  It is my favorite thing!

Your Spirit!  What a fellowship; what a joy divine!  What a teacher!  What a guide!  What a purifying presence He is!  Such comfort…

Your Son!  First in value, rightfully preeminent and infinitely wonderful!  How I long to see Him and to look upon His face!

My wife… the love of my life; my very best and closest friend; my companion!  And hot too!

My beautiful children - the joy of my life!  Thank You for granting me this stewardship… after all, they really are yours, not mine.  Thanks for sharing.

My parents… what an investment they have made in me.  I see so many who have no parents… and some other folk who would be better off without the ones that they do have… the realization of just how incredibly blessed beyond measure that I have truly been drives me to bow my head in humble and genuine gratitude.

My family… brothers, sisters, in-laws, nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts & cousins… so many that I have honestly simply lost track.  Thank You God that I am (most definitely) not alone… yes, thank You for a large and (relatively) good family.  :-)

My church & the church: thanks for Your holy children.  Many I know well; some not at all… but my life is deeply enriched by the fellowship that I have with the rest of Your kids; my spiritual siblings.  Thanks; and thanks again!

Your call… Lord, I can’t think of anything I would rather do than study & preach.  I still can’t believe that I get to call this calling an occupation; a career; a livelihood.  I’m infinitely grateful for this privilege.   

My country… be she ever so flawed, according to my heart America is still the best nation on this earth.  Ah, the invigorating air of freedom which (so far) I (& we) still enjoy… it is just about as valuable as life itself.  Though this is a prayer of gratitude, allow me to add this one request: please bless us with continued liberty here… and grant us the revival that it will take in order for this freedom to be preserved.

My time – I can’t think of a single point in history that I would go to in exchange for the era that I am in.  Such opportunity; such privilege; such blessings you have graciously poured out upon us.

My past – thanks that I can call it my PAST… good and bad; commendable and deplorable, you have shaped it all together to bring me to where I am.  My education, friends, experiences… You always superintend and guide me (somehow, even when I resist rebelliously), and again, I am grateful.

My possessions – You said that I should be content with just food and clothes… yet you have given me much more than that.  I’ve had the best food, and plenty of it.  I’ve have more clothes than I can even cycle through.  Houses, vehicles, toys & tools… all generous gifts from You.  Thanks!

My future… the resurrection and/or the rapture, (only You know which), rewards, the kingdom, heaven, eternity, You; these “things” eclipse all that I have mentioned thus far.  Though You have revealed it to me… or, to us,¹ that is… still, I can’t even begin to imagine what the future actually holds.  But, since you are the planner, I know it will be good; it will be the very best.  You do all things well!

Dear God, thank You for letting me know You.  You deserve all of the credit, honor, praise, glory, adoration and worship that all of creation could ever offer up to You… and much more.  And you deserve none of the criticism and doubt that you constantly tolerate.  I’m sorry that I don’t tell you these things often enough or passionately enough.  I know I have left many things out, so I claim Romans 8:26.²

God, You are amazing!  &… I love You!

Overstimulated

It’s just a theory.  It’s not even my theory.  But it surely seems valid to me. 

Overstimulation is a modern demon; a bane in our current culture.

We have found positive ways of expressing it.  For example: multitasking!  Multitasking is good, right?  Or is it?  Call it diligence or redeeming time or whatever… truth is many of us are so busy that we don’t even have time to evaluate how busy we are.

I’m guilty of this myself.  In fact, to emphasize my point (about us allowing too many things into our schedule), get this: I wrote this blog last Friday and am only now finding the time to post it!  Of course, I found time to do some other things of lesser priority, but still, let me make my point here.  J

Just about every day I mix my breakfast with my bath with my devotions with a constant flow of incoming text messages with occasional telephone calls and intermittent conversations with my wife… sometimes even with some good background music too.  Is that level of time redemption really necessary?  Better yet, is it beneficial?  Is it even possible to benefit from getting that many things done at once… or letting that many things overlap constantly.  I have to wonder…

Some people drive, talk on their cell phones, listen to the radio and eat all at once.  I know someone who tried listening to an audio version of the Bible (along with some gospel music too) while they also played a good video game.  That kind of attempt at getting-everything-done-at-once should make us chuckle, shouldn’t it?  Yet truly, think about it… the current mobility of many of the items on our task lists has made the combination possibilities staggeringly large.  I suppose that sometimes it could be good in a way, yet one has to wonder what might be lost in such a full schedule.  And, consider this angle: not only can we do so many things at once, there are just so many different things to do; such a diversity of stimulants.

When I was a teacher I had to recognize that I was competing with some pretty impressive options in my attempts to keep my pupils’ attention.  Though I am not very old yet, I still acknowledge that the changes (along these lines) even in my lifetime are colossal.  When I came home from school as a boy, I didn’t have hundreds of TV channels to choose from; I didn’t have a practically infinite amount of information available on the internet; I didn’t have instant access to all my friends by cell phone or text message; I didn’t have a Wii or PS3 or any of that.  That’s a pretty intense list of mind grabbing potentials that are now readily available to many.

Truly, the constant availability of stimulants is so diverse and potentially intense that my blog is rather insufficient in addressing the wide range of possibilities in my attempt at making my point.  The five senses (seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting and touching) can be tantalized in more ways in this modern age than perhaps ever before.  But is this beneficial or detrimental?  That’s the question.  Our attention span is becoming shorter and shorter.  Our memories are ill affected by the superfluity of our experiences.  Our minds are full… but of what?

Let’s see if we can bring some divine light into this meditation.

“…In the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be…. ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (II Timothy 3:1b, 2a & 7).  You have heard it before… it’s not quantity that matters, it’s quality.  Yet, in our society, quantity reigns supreme.  Super size it!  Value size it!  Make it larger!  Add some extra!  Pile it high!  More for less!  This will go faster!  This is bigger!  This will do more!  It’s just the way we think.  Meditation, contemplation, quietness, discipline, contentment, simplicity, patience and concentration seem to be increasingly rare. 

Now, admittedly, I like mixing every sauce that a restaurant offers in order to stimulate every taste bud in my mouth.  I love hot coffee, cold morning air and my warm water bed.  I read from nearly a dozen different sources almost every day.  I try to keep track of the lives of hundreds of people.  I appreciate diversity and intensity.  In my own opinion – I do live life to its fullest; burning the candle at both ends.  But, is that where IT’S at?  Maybe it’s not all evil, but maybe it ain’t the best way either.

Here is why I’m saying this.  The Bible says:

“Be still, and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10a). 

“…Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God” (Job 37:14).

“Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (Exodus 14:13).

“…study to be quiet…” (I Thessalonians 4:11b).

“Turn to your God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on your God continually” (Hosea 12:6).

I know we are supposed to redeem the time, but it can’t be just business, business, business… or pleasure, pleasure, pleasure… or whatever 24/7 bustle you prefer.  Surely fellowship and focus come into this formula somewhere.  Surely a measure of solitude and patience fit in a proper life-formula too.  But, well… personally, I’m still looking for those slots…

Have you ever heard a godly saint say that God had to put them flat on their back in order to get their attention?  Could we avoid such life stopping catastrophes if we would live by faith rather than by flesh?  Galatians 3:3 says, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”  Is effort and intensity sufficient?  Where is the holy pre-fall Sabbath?  Have we entered into His rest or not?  Do we even know how to wait on the Lord?

It’s probably as simple as the age old Mary/Martha contrast.  See Luke 10:40-42, “Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to Jesus, and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.’  And Jesus answered and said unto her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.’”  Busy doesn’t necessarily mean best…

Conclusions:  

1.       For the unbeliever, overstimulation could potentially dull the senses, distract the heart and (therefore) condemn the soul.

2.       For the believer, overstimulation can dupe us into leaving out the highest priorities of the Christian life and can simply exhaust our minds and bodies until we are no longer sensitive to the Spirit.

At least… that’s what I’m thinking at the moment…

 

"God Doesn’t Always Cheer for Alabama"

I know, that title sounds strange… unless you grew up in Alabama.  If you are familiar with how devoutly loyal Bama fans can be, perhaps this title is more of a surprising revelation than a needless reminder. 

Truly, I chose this way of expressing a deeper truth because of a friend’s comment that I read recently.  This particular sincere individual harmlessly mentioned that they were praying through the end of the Crimson Tide’s most recent struggle with the Tennessee Volunteers on the college football gridiron.  Admittedly, I am not faulting this devotee… in fact, I felt like praying about it too.  With four seconds left, it seemed like prayer was about all we had left.  But, from a more reasonable perspective, did the game really matter?  Does God care who wins the national championship (or, more importantly, the SEC championship)?

Let’s expand our horizons along these lines.  True: if we were to meet God in person today, would He be wearing a good ‘ol Bama baseball cap?  Consider these questions too: Does He speak English?  Does He cry hot tears out of a sense of patriotism when the Star Spangled Banner is played?  Is He a Baptist?  Is He Caucasian?  Does He have a necktie on?  Does He prefer Southern Gospel music over other styles of worship?

Hmmm…

Obviously what I have done is this: I have taken the norms that I am most comfortable with and projected them hypothetically upon an imagined view of God.  And, just as obviously… it is inappropriate.  While these common passions are fine, they are not transcendent.  These are human, cultural, geographical values which are basically meaningless from any eternal perspective.  I’m not ashamed to be a white, English speaking, tie wearing Baptist American from Tide country.  In all likelihood those traits and my affinity for them will remain valuable to me until my dying day, but they don’t even register on any scale of relevance when compared to the things that God values.

Q: Who does God always cheer? 

A: His Son!

Q; What language does He speak? 

A: All of them; (& He is the living WORD)!

Q: What nation does He love? 

A: Any nation that promotes righteousness, right?

Q: What denominational gatherings does He attend? 

A: Any gathering that is truly called in the name of His Son!

Q: What race of people does He prefer? 

A: The human race… that’s the only one there is anyway.  (Of course, He actually became a Jew… but did it to redeem the WHOLE WORLD).

Q: What does He wear? 

A: He’s a spirit, so this one is strange, but if it must be answered: He is robed in righteousness… and, for what it’s worth He said that our apparel isn’t significant (other than the fact that He admonishes us to keep it simple).

Q: What music does He love? 

A: He must surely appreciate music that honors Him, not music that honors the artist.  No doubt that He relishes music that glorifies righteousness, not music that glorifies unrighteousness… regardless of the genre.

Now, does these admissions mean that I need to shed my most familiar passions?  No.  In fact, He can easily use these values and traits (if sanctified) for His own glory.  He is the great condescender.  What these admissions do for me then is this: they remind me to examine my priorities and to focus my deepest feelings and highest energies directly at His great passions.

So, what are His passions; His values; His priorities?

God loves justice, mercy, truth & holiness.  The Father loves His Son.  The Son loves the souls of men.  The Spirit exalts His Word!  He is deeply interested in the perfecting of His children.  He is bent on establishing His kingdom.  He hates sin of every stripe: pride, selfishness, deceit, debauchery, indulgence, covetousness… the list goes on and on.  Anything, ANYTHING that separates us from Him is to be set aside.  He treasures fellowship with His creatures.  (More things could be named).

Rather than substituting our own list for His, perhaps we should simply place His lists over ours and respect most highly those sacred things which He respects. 

Hear me loudly… inasmuch as our values promote His – Hallelujah!  For example, I’m personally rather confident that the Biblical doctrines that spiritual Baptists have stood for historically very nearly reflect some of the most precious principles that God has set forth as preeminent.  Again, The Judeo-Christian values of our American heritage are also so dear that I would merit their preservation worth the blood of many patriots… so; I’m not trying to belittle important matters here.  I just want all of us to filter our thoughts through the mind of Christ.

Criticism welcome J

...I think.

And remember, God Doesn’t Always Cheer for Alabama... but I do :-)

 

I think I will try to claim this verse for myself in hopes of receiving mercy.  “Lord, I’m dumb.  Gimmie’ a break!”  I can easily qualify as simple, right? J 

Sent to the Difficult Crowd

Yesterday I read this from Ezekiel 3:4-9, “And God said unto Ezekiel, ‘Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.  For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words you can not understand.  Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have hearkened unto you.  But the house of Israel will not hearken unto you; for they will not hearken unto Me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.  Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.  As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.’”

Woah!  Did you catch that?  God told Ezekiel that if He had sent him to prophesy to the Gentiles, they would have been receptive.  That is, if… IF Ezekiel had preached to the ignorant heathen of his day, then they would have listened and would have humbly submitted.  But… BUT, God did not send Ezekiel to them. (Maybe He sent someone else to them, I don’t know.  The Bible doesn’t tell us). 

God did NOT send Bro. Zeke to the nations who would listen.  God sent Bro. Zeke to the Jews who wouldn’t listen.  God sent Ezekiel to the hardhearted folk.  God sent Ezekiel to the difficult crowd.  God sent Ezekiel to the impudent children; to the rebellious house.  God sent Ezekiel to his own people, despite the fact that He knew that they would continue to resist the truth.  God was aware of the negative outcome and yet He chose to proceed with the effort anyway.

By the way, the account in Ezekiel 3 is not the only case like this in the Scripture.

Please consider patiently the story recorded in Matthew 11:1 (edited for brevity)…

When Jesus had made an end of commanding His twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.  When John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto Him, “Are You He that should come, or do we look for another?”  Jesus answered and said unto them, “Go and show John again those things which you do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.”  And they departed…

And Jesus said, “Whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, ‘We have piped unto you, and you have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and you have not lamented.’  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a devil.’  The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.’  But wisdom is justified of her children.”

Then He began to upbraid (that is, reprimand) the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not: “Woe unto you, Chorazin! Woe unto you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.  And you, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.  But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes.  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Your sight.”

“All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.”

I hope you read that carefully.  This is incredibly intriguing.  Even though the people were resistant against the truth, Jesus did mighty works in places like Chorazin, Bethsaida and His hometown of Capernaum.  However, He didn’t do mighty works in Tyre and Sidon, even though (according to Him) they would have received the truth.  Go figure that?! 

Now, I’ve no interest in attempting to discern the “why” behind these two scenarios today.  Truly, the ways of God are interesting and infinitely valuable to study.  And admittedly, I do frequently dive into that bottomless pit in search of answers.  Instead though, today I want to simply draw encouragement from Ezekiel’s call.  Of course, Jesus of Nazareth was under a similar (though more intense) call Himself; but personally, I struggle to identify with His transcendent perfection.  I identify well with Bro. Ezekiel though because he was imperfect like me.  Like me, he sometimes found God’s expectations to be very difficult to stomach (read Ezekiel 4 for details).  I guess Jesus did too in the garden (you know, “Let this cup pass,” etc.), but I still find His example to be so highly elevated that I prefer to examine Ezekiel instead.

 Anyway, consider Ezekiel’s call and commission.  He was sent to proclaim the truth to a hard audience.  What can make an audience hard anyway?  Here are some causes: affluence, education, privilege, activity, familiarity with the message, and there are others…

Let’s be more detailed about these potential causes.  Affluence can make a people group complacent and disinterested.  Education can produce an attitude of cynicism that is impenetrable.  Privilege can harden hearts with such pride that the truth can’t find soil for its roots.  Entertainment can dull people’s senses until the truth looses its appeal.  The diversity and multiculturalism of a pluralistic society can desensitize people until they lose their appetite for absolute truth.  Abundant activity can rob the attention of a congregation.  The failures of past and present leaders can drive individuals to self-reliance and distrust of the man of God.  A thorough saturation of a church body with biblical knowledge may even lead to a familiarity which drains the members of their capacity to be impressed even by the revelations of God.  Past failures among the people might prohibit them from being motivated again.  I suppose the list might go on and on… yet, God has still called certain of His servants to preach to such assemblies.

Yesterday I heard an evangelist say (on a recording) that he had no desire to ever preach in a western culture again.  I do not fault this man for that statement.  After all, his call from God is primarily to third world cultures in Africa.  Such a perspective is to be expected from a man in his type of ministry.  However, the reason for his comment was not due to his call.  Instead it was very pragmatic (I still don’t fault him).  His reason had to do with receptivity.  The people he preaches to are poor, uneducated, underprivileged, oppressed and very open to the gospel.  When he hand’s out truth, the audiences are eager, hungry, interested and responsive.  That kind of experience in ministry would naturally intoxicate a spiritual man with joy and motivate him to continue on the road he is on.

What about us though?  What about me?  God has called me to preach His truth in (what I consider to be) a very comfortable setting and to a relatively cordial society.  However, the aisles of our church are not flooded.  The alters are not full.  Not many are being saved.  Our baptismal pool is seldom filled.  The townspeople aren’t beating down my door for spiritual help, (and they aren’t interested when I try beating on theirs).  The church’s numerical growth is slow.  We don’t exactly have a revival going on here.  In summation, we aren’t winning the battle for souls in Hurlock.

Now, maybe the problem is me.  Or, should I say, maybe the problem is US.  Then again, maybe the problem is the hardness of the hearts in our target population.  Or, perhaps it is a combination of all of those things.  I don’t know for sure.  I do know this much, I have knocked on most of the doors in this town and have found very little interest in God’s gospel truth.  Yet, if God’s commission to me (and to those of you who are here with me) is to proclaim His truth here in the USA, then regardless of whether other people elsewhere might be more receptive or not, we are supposed to preach.  In a way, their response is irrelevant.  We are called to obedience, not to success.  I know, we should never excuse ourselves by blaming the lost for our practical failures.  But, neither should we give up on our mission just because it seems to be difficult, or because a different mission might be more productive by human standards.

God sent Ezekiel to the rebellious house of Israel.  God sent His Son to insensitive Capernaum.  God has sent many of us to the satisfied and aloof field of America.  Surely it isn’t as bad here as it was there.  There ARE still people being saved in America.  The progress may be slow, but it is progress.  But, even if the process of rescuing souls grinds to a complete halt here… our call can still be valid.  Cheer up dear fellow-ministers of God’s grace.  We serve the Living God.  Whatever He commands us to do, we should do it with thanksgiving.  In fact, we should pray even as Jesus did in Matthew 11, “I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes.  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Your sight.”  The fact that God uses us to reveal truth is enough.  What a privilege!  What a thrill!  Maybe people like to hear it, and maybe they don’t.  That’s not our concern (not primarily at least).  Our responsibility is to be faithful, diligent and passionate in our obedience to herald the Word according to God’s command.  He said sow the seed.  The harvest is God’s business… sowing is ours.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not trying to sooth my conscience.   If you want my honest self-evaluating opinion; the main reason we aren’t seeing more Christian fruit can found by looking in the mirror, not by looking out the front window.  My biggest hurdles to successful evangelism are a lack of concern, a lack of holiness, a lack of discipline, a lack of effort and sadly misplaced priorities.  True, these stumbling blocks would hinder us in the fulfilling of the great commission in any environment.  Yet, I’m just saying, if this is where God has placed us, and if we ever do get our own house in order, and if we still find that the people we’re attempting to reach aren’t receptive, then these passages should encourage us to continue in the gospel ministry anyway… our audience’s attitude notwithstanding.  If God is pleased with us, well… that’s all that matters really.

 

   

Remembering 9/11

“On the sunny morning of September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists, working in teams of 4 or 5, hijacked four commercial jetliners and turned them toward targets chosen for destruction.  Two of the planes, loaded with fuel and passengers, were flown at full speed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in the financial district of New York City.  The buildings burst into flame and then collapsed, killing thousands.  A third terrorist crew smashed their plane into the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. military in Arlington, Virginia.  The hijackers of the fourth airliner apparently intended to hit another target in the Washington, D.C., area, but passengers on the plane realized what was happening and fought back.  This airplane crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania.”[1]  So reads the opening paragraph in an Encyclopedia article chronicling this horrible event that ruined so many things 8 years ago today. 

A small group of militant Muslim terrorists sent over 3000 people unexpectedly into eternity.  Our world was changed.  Wars are still being fought as a result of the events of that day.  Untold billions of dollars have been spent as a direct result of those events.  Fears still abound.  Freedoms have been forfeited.  Politicians still play Machiavellian games with the threat that this (or something worse)could happen again.  Due to unavoidable stereotyping many Arabs among us face constant looks of suspicion from many of their own neighbors (regardless of their actual religious, philosophical or patriotic loyalties).  The violence of that day made life on planet earth one degree uglier.

However, despite all of the emotions and passions that being reminded of that day still evokes in you and me, the destruction and trauma of that day in no way even measures a wiggle on the Richter scale of chaos and catastrophe when compared to the deluge of damnation that is yet in the future.  I'm not saying that 9/11 was no big deal.  It was.  I still remember where I was and who I was with on 9/11.  I remember the first words out of my mouth when I heard the news.  I remember the exact setting when I saw the second plane crash into the second tower of the World Trade Center.  It was surreal.   It was horrifying.  I wanted the day to begin again so that somehow those events could be changed and avoided.  But that day was mild and sanguine when placed beside the great and terrible day that is to come.

In Joel 2:30-31 the great and only living God said, “I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.”

Without taking the time to wade through all of the many eschatological texts describing the coming Tribulation upon this earth, let me say this… I’m so thankful that I’m going to miss that terror.  When God removes His glorious church and His gracious Spirit from the world in an instant at the rapture, this planet is going to be plunged into a 7 year period of demonic domination accompanied by an outpouring crescendo of violent justice.  The pseudo-savior (known to us as the son of perdition and Antichrist) will unleash his satanic wiles upon the nations.  Through a deceptive peace, through domineering politics, through dangerous spirituality and through blasphemous unity, he will open up the way for God’s furious anger against sin; a manifestation of His furor like nobody has ever seen or even imagined.  Economic, medical, psychological, religious and civil bedlam will literally bludgeon humanity into a frenzy of desperation that is utterly incomprehensible to my modern civilized mind... and to yours too, right? 

Many of us are so incredibly removed from any concept of this future reality.  The reality that God sees and attempts to reveal to us is conveniently smothered by our own affluence.  It is lost in our surrogate lifestyle (as we experience life through the mediums of our comfortable technological tools).  It is dulled by our self-inflicted segregation from deep poverty.  It is inaudible due to our own ability to disassociate ourselves emotionally from the superabundance of bad news that we constantly encounter.  The certainty of the coming trouble is hidden from us by the god of this world; the prince of the power of the air; Lucifer.  He has blinded the eyes of men until most of us live like we have no clue that morbid damnation is hovering just over the horizon.  We have been inoculated by painless stories of some strangers suffering somewhere else until prophecies about The Danger don’t even faze us anymore.  The threat of universal tribulation doesn’t even register. 

But, brother… it’s coming nonetheless. 

When the Son of God returns to put His human and divine feet upon this earth again, He will not be a meek sacrifice here to save the world from condemnation… no, He will be here as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, treading the winepress of the wrath of the Almighty.  The blood of His enemies will run deep.  Don’t ever forget the heart binding (yet eternally inspired) descriptions of God’s holy might (found in the Bible):

“Our God is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24 & Hebrews 12:29).

The “LORD God of heaven, [is] the great and terrible God…” (Nehemiah 1:5).

Oh, the “enlightened” man will deny these visions of our Creator in exchange for some neutered version, but God’s eternal justice remains unaffected by any fool’s rose-tinted meanderings in speculation.  Luke 20:17b-18 does indeed show us a softer side of the Divine nature.  The passage shows us a God who loves to forgive and is willing to forget.  But, it also points distinctly to the demise of anyone who fails to yield willingly to the loving Savior’s offer of salvation through His blood: “The Stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?  Whosoever shall fall upon that Stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever It shall fall, It will grind him to powder.”

In summary, Paul said it best, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men...” (II Corinthians 5:11a).  The prosperity gospel is not for the age of grace.  Feel-good Christianity can wait until the Millennium.  In the mean time, we had better get serious about the rescue effort.  There’s joy in serving Jesus, ‘tis true.  But there is also a profound gravity in it as well.  We must be ever mindful of the price that was paid on Calvary, the potential loss for a rejecting soul, the limited time that we have to evangelize and the certain fiery end for all unbelievers… 

Pretending that 9/11 x 10^10,000 isn’t coming (or that it won’t be as bad as the Bible predicts) doesn’t change the verity of its impending arrival one iota.  It just makes us less likely to help others prepare an escape. 

Jesus is coming again!  Twice!  He’s coming in a rendezvous in the clouds to deliver His children from the impending fury of the Father.  Then He’s coming again to the Mount of Olives to destroy His enemies and to set up His kingdom.  Only those of us who believe His Word and receive His spirit are safe.

Are you ready?  Are you safe?  Have you been born again?  Do you love the truth?  Is your confidence in Jesus Christ alone?  Do you have an invoice declaring that your sins have been forgiven?  Is your ticket to heaven valid?  Are you sure that you will ascend with the rest of the saints in a moment when the inviting shout from heaven is heard?

The cost of being left behind is infinite.  The events of September 11^th, 2001 don’t even begin to scratch the surface of what you will face if Jesus comes and you remain here without the rest of us.

“Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves” (II Corinthians 13:5a).

  

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What is a firmament?

Truth: I’m no scientist.  In fact, I didn’t take any science classes in college.  However, there are certain terms used in the Bible that have a distinctly scientific ring to them, so science has become both interesting and important to me in ministry.  One such term that drives me to science is the word “firmament.” 

We read in Genesis 1:6 that God created a firmament on that first Monday.  Taking that verse at face value it would make perfect sense even without a dictionary, without any scientific expertise and without any Hebrew lexicons.

Read it here: “God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’  And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.  And God called the firmament ‘Heaven.’  And the evening and the morning were the second day” – Genesis 1:6-9.

God called this firmament thingy-ma-dodger… “Heaven” – seems plain enough then, right?  If all we had to go on was our own observations of the physical universe and along with the various references to the material heaven(s) in the Scripture, I think we would arrive very much where God intended for us to be… that is, looking into the sky.

My common secular dictionary defines firmament as follows:

1.  sky: the sky, considered as an arch (literary) 

2.  where stars are: the world occupied by all the stars in a particular field such as the theater or sports

3.  originating ultimately from the Latin word, firmus: “firm, strong.”[1]

Strong defined it thusly: “an extended surface (maybe solid), an expanse, the vault of heaven supporting waters above.” And finally, the marginal alternative in several of my Bibles is the word “expansion” – so, I take all of this to mean the God caused there to be an opening or shall I say simply… some space above us.  This area is the firmament; heaven; the sky.

On a smaller scale, I imagine myself under the water in a deep swimming pool.  As I look up from the bottom of the pool I can see the surface of the water above me.  All of the water between my eyes and the visible surface of the pool above me would be a firmament of sorts; i.e., the area separating me (and the air in my lungs) from the air above the surface.  Of course it’s just the opposite in the case of the actual firmament.  The water is below and above separated by a mass of air.

Perhaps you have heard postulations concerning this water which was above the firmament back then as a result of God’s intervening division.  In Genesis 7:11 Moses recorded that “in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened…”  If the windows (floodgates) of heaven were opened at that time for the first time and the whole earth was covered with water as a result, then perhaps there was more water high in the atmosphere before Noah’s flood than there is now.  I’ve heard it called the canopy theory.  It sounds plausible.  Either way though, there is still water above and below today too.

Simply put, as everyone knows, H₂0 comes in three forms: solid ice, liquid water and gaseous vapor.  Indeed we find it in the ground, on the ground, in the air and on the air.  What then would the firmament be today except the space between us and the water filled clouds that float mysteriously above us.  It seems simple enough to say that on that second day of creation God brought into place the elements, molecules, and forces necessary so as to make this phenomenon (which we usually we take for granted) into existence.  I speculate that He either pronounced the chemical and physical principles necessary to get the desired effect or maybe He created substances which would behave in accordance with the desired effect that He had in mind (based on laws that He had already put into place).  Who knows?  None of us were there.  We have to take His account and make the best sense out of it that we can using the intellect and the Spirit that He has given to us.  Either way… however
He did it; He did it.

Surely we can agree that when we walk outside on a clear day there seems to be a particular depth and a perceivable distance connected with the blue expanse above us.  Maybe at night the black surface seems to draw somewhat closer to us (so that we feel as if we could “reach out and touch the stars,” as some say), but still, it too seems to have a particular depth to it despite the fact that our eyes may be looking into outer space at stars placed and unfathomably varied distances from us.  It seems to me that this is the effect that I’m flailing to describe is the exact product of that which God brought into existence on day two.  And, He did it for a reason. 

We read in Psalm 19:1-6, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handywork.  Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge.  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.  In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.  His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it…”  Nature declares the glory of our God.  We may fall far short of His glory (beauty), but He is in the business of revealing it to us again and thereby drawing us back into it and to Himself too.  Romans 1:19-20 reiterates this truth: “That which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse…”

“What good is all this to me?” you ask.  I know, this isn’t science class or Sunday School.  Indeed I’ve likely made some glaring errors in the technical details and analysis of the skimpy knowledge I have about the natural world.  All of this about the firmament may not seem to be so significant on the surface.  But friend, I tell you that there is no higher purpose for you and me than to pause and worship our Creator today.  What better thing to draw that worship from your heart and mine than by looking momentarily at the artwork of the infinitely almighty artist and architect of this universe.  Look now!  Meditate upon the God who caused that blue sky to set consistently outside your window.  Allow yourself to be momentarily mesmerized by the wisdom and kindness of our magnificent Creator as seen in His works.

Our God is an awesome God.  The firmament tells us so.

Wolves

Sometimes spiritual warfare seems more like a coliseum spectacle of slaughter – pitifully one sided.  The dangers are everywhere, yet we feel like we are stripped of any useful weaponry with which to defend ourselves.  Is this a colored analogy?  Am I just being pessimistic or melodramatic?  Before you answer, consider these two verses.  Jesus said:

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” - Matthew 10:16 &

“Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.” - Luke 10:3

Now, admittedly these words were addressed to Jews in both an immediate and a prophetic “Kingdom” context, yet that divine strategy reflects a common practice in God’s typical schemes… a strategy that surfaces readily in an evaluation of His design for His children in this age too; in other words, it’s for us.  We believers in today’s world have also been commissioned to a very hazardous task.  

Don’t skip over this next passage:

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.   If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you; for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified.” - First Peter 4:12-14

Who is to say “WHY” God has chosen reproach; pain and trials; danger and difficulty; hurt and oppression (instead of a more gentle route) to perfect His children, to reach the damned & to glorify Himself.  Most assuredly we know that if there had been a better way, He would have chosen that way.  Right?  Right!  God’s wisdom, power and goodness doesn’t leave any room for mistakes on His part; not even any space for the word “better” – no, no, 1000 times no.  He has done all things well.  He is always good.  He is the personification of every positive superlative in every way.  He is the best, the top, the only, the infinite, the highest, the first, the last, etc.  There is no improving on the ways of God.  Would you offer Him new council?  Can He learn from us?  Please!  Don’t EVEN go there.  It’s ridiculous… if not blasphemous.  Soooo…

Just assume.  Begin with the comfortable and comforting assumption that God does indeed have every detail of our lives in His mind… and that He is carefully maneuvering to bring the absolute most good possible out of our messes.  God can’t do a better job.  He is always doing HIS best… which is the absolute best possible work by any objective, eternal and transcendent standard.  Assume that.  Leave it alone.

Now, with that laid down firmly, let’s reflect on this “wolf” thing.  My kids are now in public school, and – there are wolves there.  Of course there are wolves in churches and in Christian schools too.  Only thing is, the varmints disguise themselves when they come to us.  When they are in their own lair they frequently make no effort whatsoever to hide their true nature (which, of course, can be to our advantage).  Now, don’t for one moment deny the reality that wolves are everywhere.  True, Jesus told His disciples in Luke & Matthew 10 that He was sending them out amid the wolves, yet “The Good Book” also warns against wolves that come to us:

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” - Matthew 7:15

“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” - Acts 20:29

Now , a wolf is selfish, runs with other wolves, is cruel and destructive and picks on the weak.  In short, a wolf is a bloodthirsty carnivore feeding devastatingly on the innocent sheep of the flock… to his own satisfaction and evil benefit.  So, why does God send us out intentionally among the wolves?  Why does He say, “Turn the other cheek”?  Why, “Be harmless as doves”?  Why fire, flood and violence upon the redeemed and not upon our enemies instead?  Surely we can discover a piece of the answer in the person, life and commandments of Christ?  Let’s think briefly in that general direction.

Jesus came into this earth in a material form in order to lay down His life.  On the outside, His biography appears to some observers to be one of misery, defeat, loneliness, poverty, obscurity, pain and death.  From a secular and earthy standpoint, He was no conqueror.  From a naturalist perspective, He was an enigma at best and a fabrication at worst – but in no way a conqueror.  But, from God’s eternal and lofty angle, it is easy to see that He was a perfect success.  He came to defeat death, hell and the grave.  He came to put sin behind the back of the Father, and that He did.  He came to bring many sons to righteousness.  He did that and is still doing just that.  His definition of success differs markedly from any human definition.  Thus we see that His weapons were invisible, His victory was metaphysical and His revelation of reality is delayed.  Everyone will see it eventually.  It would make sense then that the operations of His disciples (us) would resemble his own, right?  And so it is.

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 10:3 & 4, “Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds)…”  Again in Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints…”

Obviously we ARE to war a good warfare though we be lambs in holy armor battling imps with the darkest of intents.  But the method of conquest is unexpected by human intelligence.  Namely, we fight ourselves first.  We allow the Captain of our salvation to deal with our own heart, mind, will, attitudes, actions and words.  We surrender to Him first.  Then He begins to live His own life in us; a life of humility, truth, love, compassion, service, sacrifice and yes, boldness too… a strategy that (potentially) undercuts the ambition behind the most vile of Satan’s human soldiers.  The Spirit uses the meek spirit of Christ in us to literally dissuade the enemy from their cause and to get them to defect to God’s side.  It is conquest by redemption, not by annihilation. 

The Son of God will indeed stomp the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty (in due time) making an end of the incorrigible enemies of the cross – but, that will be His battle… not mine, not ours.  He is here is us now; in His church; in His body for the purpose of bringing forth fruit; souls.  Souls saved from sin, from death, from hell, from the world, from the curse, from damnation and destruction, from immorality and defeat, from misery, senseless fleshly pleasures and human pride.  Souls rescued from evil and delivered up to the higher plains of righteousness, godliness, life, heaven, eternal bliss, sincere worship, blessedness, construction, immortality, morality, victory, peace, purpose and yes, humility.  Our mission is to be God’s ambassadors of mercy, sharing the words of truth… words that literally have the power to conquer the sinner’s temporal thirst for amusement and entertainment; words that have the power to instill in the newborn saint a fresh new appetite – a hunger for the eternal joy that comes in intimately knowing the holy Son of God.

Put simply, we are in the business of delivering the potent seeds of spiritual transformation; seeds of the gospel that have the power to convert a wolf into a sheep.  Logically, there is no better way to plant those seeds than by venturing into the pack where the wolves are.  Is it frightening?  Honestly, of course it is.  Is it dangerous?  Could we become distracted and defeated?  Yes.  But the mission remains intact despite the grave risks.  Let us trust the Good Shepherd and lay our lives on the altar of His eternal purposes.  After all, we do not have to walk through this valley alone.  Wherever He sends us, well, He is already there and He will never no never no never leave us nor forsake us.

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” - Luke 12:32              

WELL GLORY!!!

 

Hard Questions

Recently I’ve encountered some tough questions.

There are certain kinds of inquiries that I find rather difficult to address.  It’s not philosophical stuff necessarily; not even deep.  The thing that makes certain questions hard to answer (for me) is the fact that the answers affect people.

If advice, council and opinions could be offered in a vacuum (affecting nobody), I could rush ahead with confidence: “This is the Bible verse for you.  Here is a reasonable answer.  (or) It’s been my experience that…”  See, there would be no hesitation.  But nothing occurs in a vacuum.  There are personalities, life stories, circumstances, loved ones, friends and futures – all that can be affected. 

Perhaps you have heard of the butterfly effect.  The idea behind the butterfly effect is that small variations in life today may produce very large variations in the future.  Or, to say it another way, “If anything matters, then everything matters.”  Now, I don’t want to go overboard with this idea.  After all, our God is ultimately in control.  He has the power to alter consequences to His on liking to such an extent that He is even capable of bringing a terrifically wonderful good out of the most horridly evil of cases (the cross, for example).

Yet truly, a small thing that may at the moment seem insignificant (to you and me) can actually have grave or glorious consequences eventually.  So, when a “HUMAN” problem is presented to me, I take it seriously.  If I could work within a world of abstracts and academics, I would feel no intimidation.  But, in a world of hearts and emotions; souls and eternities… sobriety reigns (or, at least it should).  There is no room for experimentation; for trial and error ministry.

Hence, the necessity of a genuine faith in The Sole Source of wisdom becomes apparent.  I can’t know everyone’s past.  I can’t understand everyone’s perspective.  I can’t predict anyone’s future.  Only God can do these things.  And, He does these things well; perfectly in fact! 

If I am on my own, I will make a mess every time.  But, if I am an actual tool of the Almighty – humbly sensitive to His leading – then (and only then) I can proceed with a certainty that help rather than hindrance is a real possibility.

Should I marry this person?  My husband is abusing me, what do I do?  My child is suffering from “problem x, y or z” – what do I do?  How can we reach this individual with the truth?  What strategy would work with this problem person?  Why didn’t God do this thing differently regarding so-and-so?  Who should teach this class?  …and the list goes on and on.  Tim Gelatt once told me (tongue-in-cheek), “The ministry would be great if it weren’t for people.”  Of course he went on to point out that people ARE our ministry.  “Where there are people there will be problems,” he went on to say.  I doubt he thought these things up on his own.  The observations are classic.  Still, since people are 1) created in the image of God & therefore 2) going to live eternally somewhere… our effects on one another become very significant.

The hardness of many questions centers on the importance of the person asking it and the value of the people that they have the power to influence.  Proverbs 25:11 reads, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”  But, how about a word that is out of place?  James taught that the little fires (simple words that we speak idly) kindle great flames of destruction. 

I am afraid…

Matthew 12:37, “By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.”  This verse makes me want to be intensely careful about how I answer folk…  When I (or you) get cocky and self-confident as teachers of good things, we had better get nervous too.  Our talents and abilities can be quickly polluted and turned for the cause of evil if we step away from sincere reliance upon the God who knows.  No degree, to title, no experience and no certification equips us sufficiently to handle the delicate matters of real humanity.  Human wisdom is not current and tailored like God’s wisdom is.  He alone sees and understands all things.  In other words, it is not my answers that people need, it is God’s answers that people need (initially anyway). 

And that brings me to a second step in my struggle: what if God doesn’t give us an answer? That’s fine.  Here’s why.  Ultimately it is not even the answers from God that will suffice us anyway; no, conversely, it is (more precisely) the God of the answers that will satiate our curiosity and quench our inquisitive spirits. 

Illustration: little Billy rides quietly in the back seat of the minivan as Dad drives his family toward their vacation destination.  Billy could make a million inquisitions (and he probably will).  Yet, in reality it is the loving and sure relationship with his Dad that comforts Billy about the outcome of the trip, not his Dad’s articulation of the details of the travel route or the glories of the destination.  Billy might ask.  Dad might answer (in some form).  But it is simply Dad’s “being Dad” that Billy needs, not just some driver answering all of Billy’s questions. 

Even so it is with us.  I need to learn this lesson well and remember it always.  People might be helped with good answers.  God might choose to give you and me the wisdom to advise others.  However, we should be primarily focused on pointing people to the person of Christ.  He is love, life, salvation, strength, comfort, wisdom and power personified.  What this world needs is not education, therapy, support, religion or doctrine… what everyone (saint and sinner alike) needs is our one and only Savior and Friend, Jesus.

Maybe the questions are hard.  But then again, maybe… just maybe God didn’t call us to answer all the questions in the first place.  Perhaps He just wants us to direct traffic into the straight and narrow road that leads to His feet.

Is this an oversimplification of life?  I don’t think so…

Answers are great when (and if) God gives them to us.  But, we must expect that those answers are not the end, they are the means to an end.  God is the end.  He isn’t going to give us all of the answers.  So, faith in His goodness and sufficiency must take over… not where revelation ends, but while revelation is still ongoing, so that when God does decide to be silent… our confidence in Him will not be shaken by that silence.

So… can I say it?  “I don’t know.  I just don’t know the answer.  Thankfully, I know SOMEONE who does know all of the answers, but I can’t guarantee that He is going to give us an answer.  And, honestly - I’m OK with that.” 

The Object Makes the Difference

The blue lights come on behind you… right away you start thinking of what you should say to the officer.  He will be at your automobile window momentarily, what will you say?  Will your answers to his questions bring mercy… or a ticket?  Honestly, to some extent the officer is going to judge you based upon the motive that he or she perceives in you.  That might show up in your attitude.  If you are belligerent, accusatory, defensive, deceptive, argumentative or disrespectful… my guess is that your efforts will be counterproductive.  However, if you will just be honest, humble, sincere, remorseful, apologetic and respectful, well maybe this minister of God in uniform will let you off with a warning. 

But hey, let’s step this scenario up a notch.  What if you are speeding along the highway and a good lawman therefore forces you to the side of the road.  In this case though (upon arriving at your window) he discovers that you have a passenger who has accidently severed their left hand from their body.  They are bleeding profusely.  You have tears running down your cheeks as you frantically ask the policeman to lead the way to the nearest hospital.  The object of this brisk commute will drastically change the actions of that officer toward you.  The object of your trip can be the key factor in defining the outcome of the traffic stop.  The object that caused you to break the speed limit helps the officer in his obligation to discern the morality of the item that was of an interest to him, namely, the excessive speed of your vehicle. 

Even so there are many words that we encounter in the Bible which we judge immediately.  We evaluate them and understand them to be intrinsically righteous or thoroughly evil.  Yet in many cases the object of the word determines its worth.  A word that is commonly perceived as “bad” may in some cases be very good, and vice versa.  I encountered one of these in my devotional reading today.  It got me to thinking about other words that also can be either very positive, or very negative – depending on the context.  The word was “abomination” – so let’s examine it first.

Proverbs 29:27 says, “An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.”  Something that is abominable is disgusting.  That is the primary definition.  Good men detest the actions of evil men, and evil men despise the actions of good men.  They disgust each other reciprocally.  It makes sense that this would be true.  But, in one case the disgust is wholesome and good, yet in the other it is an indication of a problem.  Being disgusted with something is not wrong, as long as the object of one’s aversion is despised by God too.  Homosexuality for example: the Bible describes God’s attitude toward that vice as one of hatred (along with pride, deceit and other abominations).  God hates it because it is evil.  It is damnable and destructive.  It is not natural, it is not acceptable, it is not tolerable; it is sin.  That disgusting lifestyle should be an abomination to every God-fearing person on the planet.  Its practice should bring an unbearable stigma upon the guilty individual in any society.  It is not a moral alternative; it is an immoral alteration of God’s designed plan.  We should hate it.  And, according to the verse I gave you in Proverbs 29, they can’t help but hate our righteous stand against them just as we despise their perversion.  It’s logical and inevitable.  We are right to be nauseated by such defilement; they are wrong to loathe the truth.  But neither side should be surprised by the opposite’s vehement opposition.  Oh, if only we Christians would be as disgusted by our own sins as we are (justifiably) disgusted at this one (& hey,  please don’t tell me if you’re not disgusted by it).

Word 2: “Covet.”  Well, this one is found in and known by the Decalogue.  “Thou shalt not covet!”  But, that is an incomplete rendering of the commandment.  You should not covet your neighbor’s wife, his house, his job, his Harley Davidson… anything that is rightfully his, and not yours.  It is not OK for me to covet anything that God has already granted to someone else.  I should simply rejoice in their possession as I see them enjoy it.  Now, obviously we would be wrong to covet anything that is forbidden by God; anything that is inherently evil.  Yet, if you look at First Corinthians 12:31, you find that we are also commanded to “covet earnestly the best gifts…”  See, the object of our craving determines whether the covetousness is wholesome or profane.  Indeed, covet that which is in God’s hand; yes, even those things that He alone has the power or the prerogative to distribute.  These things are holy, godly, good, glorious, honorable and pure.  These things please the Father.  I long for and covet those things which the Father would be pleased to see in my hand.  Jacob wrestled which God and coveted a blessing from Him.  He was rewarded with just exactly that.  Jacob became Israel and inherited the whole earth and heaven too.  He was blessed because he coveted that which God was happily willing to grant.  I covet evangelistic success.  Only God can give it.  I know He has it in His hand – will I claim it?

“Love” – that’s word # 3.  Is love a good thing?  That depends.  Love the Lord your God with all of your heart!  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  Again, the object is the crucial defining factor.  Set your affections on things above, not on the things of this earth.

Before I go on, let me show you why this matters.  I was witnessing to a lost person yesterday and he was puzzled by the temptations of Christ.  The humanity of Jesus demands human traits, right?  If the Bible presents Jesus getting angry, not knowing something or being late to an appointment, don’t these things indicate his fallibility?  This is a legitimate question from an unbeliever.  I had to point out that there are some things that our society deems as intrinsically wrong, which in actuality are not.  Anger is one of them.  So, “anger” (# 4) can be either bad or good, depending on who is angry and why they are angry (and depending on what they do while they are angry).  Anger is not just an emotion felt by fallen man.  It is an emotion that flows forth first from our holy God.  His anger is just.  It is right.  It is good.  It is perfect.  Should you and I get angry when we read in the newspaper that a convicted pedophile has moved into our town?  I would like to go on record with an affirming, “Yes, we should be upset!”  The object is the fundamental matter determining if any particular moment of indignation is appropriate or inappropriate.  Both good and bad men will be angry… and usually it will be aimed at each other.

Well, I’m sure you get my point.  Know your words and how they are used.  Let God define evil, not our fickle society nor our feeble minds.  There are many others words which represent things, attitudes and actions that can either be black or white, good or bad, wholesome or debauched.  See if you can figure them out on your own. 

·         Lust

·         Repent

·         Hate

·         Imagine

·         Tempt

·         Evil

·         Jealous

·         Faith

·         Weak

·         Pleasure

…and I’m sure there are many more.  Ask yourself, “What is the context?  What is the object?”  The ultimate object of every intention, action, communication, decision, direction and desire of our heart & life should be the glory and pleasure of the God of heaven.  As soon as the object becomes something or someone else, we have fallen.  “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).

God is our object.  Jehovah God… Father, Son and Spirit; the eternal, invisible, immortal God of the Bible; the One; the Only; the Creator of all things; the Judge of all men; the First Cause and the Last Word… God, and only God, is our object. 

Footnote: it is unadvisable to cut off appendages in order to garner sympathy from a patrolman in order to avoid traffic fines.  J

 

Of all the good things that we receive from God the Father, mercy must rank very near the top as one of the most prized gifts that He grants.  James 1:17 reads as follows, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”  Actually, His goodness is seen (in part) upon all men.  Jesus alluded to this in His discourse recorded in Matthew 5.  According to verse 45 He said, “Your Father which is in heaven… makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”  It’s His nature to share; to be good; to be generous; to be patient; yes, even to be nice when there is no reason to be nice (other than His intrinsic passion to do it).  Try listing His benefits.  Better yet, let me do it for us both:

1.       Mercy

2.       Grace

3.       Peace

4.       Comfort

5.       Forgiveness

6.       Salvation

7.       His Spirit

8.       Heaven

9.       Victory

10.   Truth

11.   Life

12.   Health

13.   Strength

14.   Food and Clothing

15.   A mind

16.   Options

17.   Friends

18.   Family

19.   Freedom

20.   Music

Obviously the list could go on and on.  I typed these twenty in this order (without editing) as they came to my mind.  God is truly good to us.  Amen?  Amen!  In fact, in response to God’s kindness, the sweet psalmist wrote in Psalm 68:19, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.”  He daily loads us with benefits!  Amen to that! 

Again, the Hebrew poet admonished himself in Psalm 103:2, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits…” Then he asked himself a astute question in Psalm 116:12, “What shall I render unto the LORD for all His benefits toward me?”  Obviously, we can never repay Him.  Despite that circumstance though, we truly owe Him everything that we do have and everything that we are.  Hmmm… what specifically should we be giving to Him in grateful worship (following naturally from what He constantly does for us)?  That list should be a long one as well, but I’ll leave it to you to produce…

Back to the topic at hand: the ancient worship leader Asaph said, “Truly God is good…” (Psalm 73:1a); to which we offer a hearty “Amen” …when we are thinking clearly.

When we meditate upon the reality of the great chasm between what we deserve from God and what we actually get from Him, our mind should rush naturally to His incredible mercy.  Ezra the ready scribe was one that realized how our God has punished us less than our sins call for.  Q: Why has He done this?  A: Because of His great mercy.  I’ll get to Ezra’s full statement later, but first let’s take an eclectic sampling of God’s revelations concerning His own mercifulness.

Ephesians 2:4, “God… is rich in mercy…”

Lamentations 3:22, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions do not fail.”

Exodus 20:5b & 6, “I the LORD Your God am a jealous God… showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

Psalm 100:5, “The LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting…”

Psalm 103:8, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.”

In Psalm 136, all 26 verses end with the exact same phrase, “His mercy endures forever.”

And, Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

These few selections barely scratch the surface of the slew of Bible verses that address this great concept.  What would human life be like if there was no such thing as mercy?  I shudder at the thought.  Thankfully, God is a wonderful source of mercy (the only source actually).  Mercy originates with Him as He volitionally waits and withholds the finality of ultimate justice.  Lucifer, the demons of the fall, Adam, Cain, Ahab, Judas, you and me – we have all received a later date in God’s holy court room than we deserve.  Why is that?  Because of God’s natural disposition towards pity.  Don’t get me wrong, we all know very well that mercy never destroys justice, but it does frequently delay justice or reapplies it to an alternative subject (in the case of the redemption of the human race – we get the mercy as Christ succumbed to the pain of justice for us).  Either way, justice is always sure in one form or another - eventually. 

A good question at this juncture is this: what is mercy exactly?  For sure, it’s not the kindness of God to someone who is innocent and who is facing no hardships.  Mercy is no more applicable to a (hypothetical) righteous man than enamel paint is applicable to the sound of a mockingbird.  It just doesn’t fit.  Since “MERCY” is properly and simply defined[1] as “forgiveness shown to an offender” – then if someone is a recipient of mercy, clearly there must have been some judgment that was impending.  Negative judgment is only justly aimed at those who are guilty of some infraction.  If one has done no wrong and is in no trouble, well then they can’t very well receive any mercy can they?  It’s a nonsensical application.  They might well receive rewards and awards, but not mercy.  This is one of the reasons old fashioned preachers used to say they had to “get people lost before they could try to get them saved.”  How can we reasonably preach mercy to someone who thinks they are entitled to God’s blessings and to eternal heavenly bliss?

If there is one thing that I know very well, it is that I need mercy.  My past, my present and doubtless my future earns me much deserved wrath from the thrice holy God of heaven.  Yet, instead of damnation He has promised that I will get plenty of mercy.  Whenever I lose sight of just how pleasantly unfair God is with me, I need to be coldcocked with one of those giant family Bibles.  I’m entitled to pain, misery and death – that’s it!  I’m not entitled to any pleasure, comfort, kindness or blessing.  Of course, Jesus is entitled to every imaginable good thing, and I benefit constantly and eternally on His account… because of His mercy; because I’ve been washed in His blood.

Righteous Lot (so called by God) was the first to receive mercy (by that title) in Genesis 19:19.  He took note of God’s zealous kindness saying, “Your servant has found grace in Your sight, and You have magnified Your mercy, which You have showed unto me in saving my life…”  Lot, though a child of God, had been vexed and polluted by sin – but still, God was merciful.  God delivered him even though he was very much unworthy of deliverance.  Now, before you grumble about God’s gentleness toward wicked Lot (so called by us), don’t forget that you and I are also just as unworthy of God’s compassion, pity, clemency, forgiveness, kindness, sympathy, understanding, leniency, benevolence, forbearance, blessing, relief, etc.

Consider this great passage which I referred to earlier: Ezra 9:13-14, “After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this; should we again break Your commandments… Would You not be angry with us till You had consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?”  Interpretation: What if we sin presumptuously after having already received God’s mercy?  Logically, the original condemnation should return with additional severity.  If we have experienced God’s sacrifice and now return again to our former criminalities, then we are doubly deserving of penalty.  God could rightfully deny us a third opportunity if we have squandered our second chance, and yet… experience and revelation tell us that when we have been accepted into God’s family through the blood of Christ, we have become heirs of the eternal mercies of the Almighty.  Let us never abuse our privileged position of security.  Mercy received should more grandly affect a positive change in us than any threat of negative consequences could ever possibly accomplish.   And, truly we find that this is the route of sanctification as described by God in Romans 2:4 where He asks rhetorically through Paul, “Do you despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering [toward others]; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”

We should never begrudge a full day’s “mercy wage” distributed to the sinners around us when those abundantly benevolent wages come from the hand of the One who has the prerogative to do anything He wants to do with all that He possesses.  In fact, we should be volunteers, willing gladly to help distribute God’s abundant mercy as far and as wide as is possible through the power of the Spirit.

Mercy!  Mercy!  Mercy!  Thank God for His loving mercy!  His mercy toward me… toward you… and toward the whole world…

 

---

You’re thinking, “Ohhhhhh!  Don’t say that!”  And, you know what?  You’re right.  I shouldn’t say that in most circumstances. 

In fact, I grew up with that phrase included on the list of forbidden verbal flourishes.  Likewise, it is taboo in my household as well (for the young‘ns as well as for me and Mom).  Its harshness just crosses a line somehow (IMHO).

Yet, we would do well (at least, I would do well) to give ourselves a hearty, “Shut your big fat mouth!” admonition every morning in the mirror.  We sometimes just say way too much.  Superfluous quantities tend to negatively affect quality in speech! 

The Bible has much to say on this topic.  Read on…

“In the multitude of words there wants not sin: but he that refrains his lips is wise” - Proverbs 10:19.  Words are like bullets.  The fewer times I shoot off at the lip, the more seldom I will hit unintended targets.  Simple laws of probability here; hmmm, common math says I should say less if I want to do less damage.

“Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise: and he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding” - Proverbs 17:28.  What’s the old saying?  “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear ignorant than to open your mouth wide and remove all doubt.”  Wooo!  That hits home…

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak…” - James 1:19.  Who is this counsel for?  Every man!  That’s a hard pill to swallow.  What about those of us who “make our living” with words.  Ah, it’s even more important for us.  Brevity, precision, homogeneity, purpose – these wholesome goals should harness verboseness and (what we called in college) snow.  There is no need for filler.  Get to the point; make the point and then move on to the next point (and yes, I’m listening to myself here).

I have a dear loved one who was once nicknamed “Radio” by a missionary/preacher.  He said, “She talks whether anyone’s listening or not.”  Unfortunately, I’ve been guilty many times myself of “talking just to hear myself rattle.”  Not prudent.

James was none too gentle in addressing the loose cannon that always stands ready behind the bars of our teeth.  He came down hard on us in James 3:5-8, “The tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles!  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.  For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

Solomon made one of the most perfect (and my personal favorite) observation along this line.  As an old man he wrote, “Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few” - Ecclesiastes 5:2.  That’s about as clearly as this advice can be given, eh? (i.e., we know so little, so why do we say so much!?)

So, in the spirit of today’s line of thought, here is a final word from the inspired Word: “By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” - Matthew 12:37.  Ouch!  I had better be more careful… and perhaps (in light of these verses) more brief.

(Finally!  For today at least, I succeeded in shutting up quickly).  ;-)

 

Yesterday I started reading a small book entitled One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven by Mark Cahill (http://www.markcahill.org/request.html).  Since I’ve only just begun reading the book, I must reserve any endorsement until later.  However, his basic thesis came out early and clearly and here it is: once you & I get to heaven, we will never again have an opportunity to share Christ with a lost soul.  I find this reality to be very sobering.  But, being stirred is worthless unless our actions and habits are changed to such a degree that we begin to more effectively buy up the opportunities that we have to proselytize. 

I’ve always considered myself to be the most unlikely salesman in the world.  Generally, I have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude.  Of course, it sounds nicer and more palatable as a ministry strategy: “Reach the reachable; teach the teachable.”  Yet, in action, it amounts to little more than passivism. 

Now, indeed, Christ laid the truth out and left people to do with it what they would.  In fact, at times He seemed to attempt to dissuade followers from committing to Him (I think He did this to weed out the insincere).  Still, He never missed an opportunity to lay out the truth and to exhort people to make a choice.  And, that is exactly what we are to be doing: plainly proclaiming the truth as constantly and clearly as we are spiritually able.

What tools are at our disposal? 

1.       We can give people literature.  Books and booklets that include the gospel should be freely distributed at every opportunity.  At people’s doors, checkout counters, fast-food windows, with tips, in public restrooms, tucked in to our monthly payment envelopes… a plethora of opportunities abound.  We should be creative and aware in this regard.

2.       We can invite people to our gospel preaching church as often as we strike up brief conversations with folk.  It fits fluidly into an exchange.  Even with total strangers, we can thread comfortably into the conversation where we go to church along with a cordial invitation for them to attend as well.  Certainly… friends, family members and neighbors should receive frequent invitations.

3.       We can participate in our local church’s visitation/evangelism outreach program.  Whether it is a door to door visiting schedule, home Bible studies, street preaching, specific house calls, a phoning strategy or whatever else; believers should be active in their local church’s evangelism program.

4.       We should be willing to wear our Christian testimony and love of Jesus on our sleeve.  Evidence of our relationship with Christ should naturally flow from our lips in every situation which we encounter.  Our sphere of influence should be our mission field.

5.       We can pray for more evangelists and missionaries.  I’m not talking about more full time ministers necessarily, but more divine calls.  Pray for God to burden and equip more of His children for this great work of rescuing lost sinners. 

6.       We can give of our own means to the individuals and organizations that we perceive God is blessing with Christian fruit. 

7.       We can bring the lost one’s that we know into contact with those who are obviously gifted with harvesting talents.

Now, just as importantly, we should also be aware of the topics that God has chosen to use in evangelizing.

1.       Our testimony.  We should simply tell people what God has done for us in saving our soul and changing our life.  Our own real life experiences with God are difficult for Satan to refute.  He will fight to discredit and deny our claims, but the sincere witness telling what he or she encountered in Christ is very potent spiritual material.

2.       Our Bible.  Mysteriously, God takes the eternal word which we share with others and cuts deep into their heart with it.  We may not see the result immediately, but His inspired revelations are never wasted.  Quote it, explain it, read it, share any part of it… God will bless His Holy Word.

3.       Our Savior.  Make much of Jesus.  His perfect life, His horrible death, His literal resurrection, His departure and promise to return again… all of these supernatural and seemingly surreal truths can be confirmed and affirmed by the Holy Ghost in the mind of even the hardest cynic if we will just talk about them.  Give the Spirit that material to work with.

4.       Our guilt.  Sin, death, pain, sickness, sorrow, hell… don’t hesitate to bring it up.  Just as we are quick to mention the weather, we should be quick to admit the reality of the horrid human condition.  Why would anyone come to the Savior if they don’t even realize that they need to be rescued?

In all of this, depend on the Holy Spirit of God to empower and direct you.  Sure, put on the armor of sincerity, maturity, sobriety, morality, compassion, effort, awareness and knowledge… but by all means, let’s go to battle.  We are not wrestling against visible enemies; we fight the good fight of faith against powerful and invisible foes: the hellish evils of the flesh, the world and devils too.  Lucifer’s objective is to foster in every man’s heart some measure of rebellion against the Almighty.  Our objective is to foster humility and faith in the hearts of men.  Never forget, there are only two kingdoms: the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light.  We war a good warfare promoting the light of Life. 

Let’s share the good news with gusto.  Not to just sooth our guilty consciences, but to truly honor the Savior, to contribute to God’s rescue of the damned and to share the glorious gift of forgiveness which we enjoy.  Remember, we who are now saints were also all once under the same condemnation.  

Let’s see some gospel fervor folk!  Let’s repent of our lackadaisical disengagement, our passive disinterest, our carnal unbelief, our immature cowardice, our convenient excuse-making, our lethargic ignorance, our sinful blindness and even our naive procrastination… may God forgive us and grant us His presence and power to go forth boldly preaching Jesus at every occasion.

Jesus still saves sinners today!  Hallelujah!  But they can’t trust in Jesus if someone... um, if you and I fail to introduce Him to them!

 

The Necessity of Trying Harder

In this faith life that we are living, it is obviously and absolutely imperative that we constantly depend upon our God and not upon ourselves.  After all, dependence upon Him is the very definition of “living by faith.”  Yet, when we are full of the Spirit, our dependence can sometimes closely resemble independence.  Our rest can look like work.  Our grace might appear to some to be genius; blessings may feel more like burdens.  What I’m saying is that from a certain angle, Christianity appears to me to be 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.  In fact, there are some verses in the Bible that are so incredibly practical that they could be elastically interpreted as borderline humanistic.

Here are a few of those verses:

“Endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” - Ephesians 4:3 

“If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men.” - Romans 12:18

 “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” - Luke 13:24

Now, there is no debating the fact that leaning on the everlasting arms – in everything – is a necessity.  He said, “Without Me you can’t do anything.”  John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”  There is, however, something to be said for this word “abide” (in John’s gospel).  One of the synonyms for the word abide is the word “endure.”  Logically and biblically, the straightforward decision to simply trust Christ as my Savior is naturally and necessarily followed by many subsequent and much more difficult decisions to continually obey Him.

I’m not sure where we believers dreamed up the idea that faith must not involve any actions.  Jesus never called even one disciple with the statement, “I will drag you!”  No, instead he said, “Follow Me!”  The resulting syllogism is a simple one: “Jesus said that if we would follow Him that He would make us into such-and-such… hence, no followee; no receivee!”  Follow?  Follow!  Doesn’t following, abiding, endeavoring, striving (and so on)… doesn’t all of these include both deciding and acting?  There is an effort to be exerted.  There is an involvement required.  There is energy to be burned.  Truly, faith doesn’t replace good works, no; but it certainly precedes, incites and qualifies good works.  Indeed, saved by faith, service by faith… but I convinced that both salvation and service in the Spirit (interior realities) will normally produce intense labor (exterior evidence). 

Think I’m off base?  Well, consider this verse: “Jesus gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” - Titus 2:14.  And Paul’s example of that, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you…” - 2 Corinthians 12:15a. 

(This sentence is long, but very important to my salient point – read carefully): when God says “stretch forth thy hand” that He might heal it and sanctify it for His own use, let us not piously rebuke Him by claiming that the choice to obey or the energy to lift the hand forth would somehow taint the glorious demonstration of His sufficient power and grace or that it could pollute the genuine expression of the invisible faith that we have been given.  Nay, let us simply obey.  (When combined with sincere humility) active obedience to God’s instruction is not only a permissible outgrowth of faith, it is the very visible motion of that faith itself.  No wonder Abel’s sacrifice was so important.  No surprise that Abraham’s offing was accepted.  And, God has similar works that He is attempting to accomplish through us.  When He gives us the energy, tools and opportunity to be a living sacrifice, we must staunchly avoid the temptation to expend those resources for our own self-gratification.  Equally, we must never slothfully bury our talent in the ground.

Question: are we endeavoring; striving; trying; pushing; pressing; exerting effort; exuding diligence?  While it is true that our fleshly “works” neither impress nor bless our Maker, it is also equally true that the great spiritual “WORK” to which He has called us (and in which He has empowered us) demands incredible commitment and literal sacrifice.

Honestly, when I fail in a moral or a ministerial area, I’m persuaded that it is generally because I simply wasn’t trying very hard to follow God’s leading.  Oh, the great and absent ingredient of spirituality – industry.  Is their a time for us to be still and quite in abject worship?  Of course!  But there are also times of task and of being about our Father’s business.  At one point Jesus commanded his followers saying, “…he that has no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one” - Luke 22:36b.  Why would faith in the Almighty require anyone to obtain a physical weapon… unless the Almighty commanded it of course?  At that point our philosophizations and contemplations quickly become moot. 

Perhaps we grow too exceedingly academic in our attempted definitions of biblical faith.  In the garden Eve was deceived, but Adam rebelliously doubted and disobeyed God – that’s the antithesis of faith… unbelief expressed through defiance.  Even so, repentance and a return to faith should be just as simply defined.  Do we take God at His Word and act accordingly?  Ah, we complain, “But, I can’t!”  Wrong!  You couldn’t!  But, you can.  You just aren’t trying.  Jesus enabled us when He entered our bodies as our parakletos.  Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”  Second Corinthians 2:14, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ…” First Corinthians 15:57, “Thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It’s not that I think that our trying produces anything at all.  I don’t for one moment imagine that it does.  However, our sincerity of faith (if we have it) will automatically drive us to effectual and fervent labors.  Our earnestness, humility and obedience frees the Spirit up to bless abundantly and to produce fruit.  “Quench not the Spirit.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:19.  Can you and I expect the Spirit to feed our weary souls if we’re too blasted lazy to turn off our TVs in order to spend vital hours laboring in prayer, studying in the Word and sharing the gospel.  Last time I checked we were saved “unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10).

Are you trying as hard as you can?  Am I?  Should I be asking God to do for me what He has clearly commanded me toward and empowered me in so that He might do it through me?

Is there a place in the kingdom for the free loader?  Well, sure, salvation is free!  But the opportunities that come with it make wise investment obligatory!  The love of Christ CONSTRAINS us! 

When I worked in secular jobs I had no respect for fellow employees who only worked hard at avoiding work; those who did just enough to get by and not a iota more.  How about in the Christian world of service for the King?  Is it OK for 90% of the church to let the other 10% to do 90% of the work?  I look around at the busiest believers who volunteer in the ministry of the local church and I shake my head.  I ask myself, “How do they find the time, strength or inspiration to do all of that?”  Yet, it is those ones that I see God blessing.  But the pew warmers… not so much.

We need more participators; fewer spectators!  Amen!?

Now, VBS ’09 is drawing to a close.  Some of the volunteers have expended themselves tirelessly to make sure everything came together.  For these servants of the Master, I’m intensely grateful.  I trust that their ministry has been a product of a genuine love for the Savior, for the truth, for souls and for the church.  Let not the diligent accuse the stragglers.  Let not the stragglers judge the diligent.  Galatians 6:4 & 9 deals with both perspectives, “Let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another… and let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  When you’ve worked your fingers to the bone, get yourself some much needed rest (and don’t feel guilty about doing it), yet, at the same time, never forget the counsel of Jesus in Luke 17:10, “…You, when you shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.’”

Well, I’ve made my point I think.  Here are a few good verses in closing that echo the same message:

Romans 13:11, “Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”

Ephesians 5:15, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Romans 12:11, “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord…”

Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you are going.”

John 9:4, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work.”

Proverbs 14:23, “In all labor there is profit…”

Well, with that… I’ll be taking a hiatus from blogging.  I’ll be back with you in about a month.  Bless you all!

 

Phases

Yesterday I stopped on the road to talk to a friend who I caught checking his mail.  I’m thinking, “I used to do that…”

Seriously, “I did check the mail in the past.”  When I was a child, going to mailbox was a big deal.  The first time I ever received mail with my own name on the envelope – WOW!  And, you know, I checked the mailbox many times a day when I was in college.  I remember checking it when I got home from work – when Tonya and I were in our first (and only) “own house” (even if it did and does actually belong to a bank).  I checked the post office box daily for the church and for myself when I moved to Maryland almost four years ago.  But, somewhere along the way I stopped checking the mail.  Tonya went to check the mail, and I didn’t.  I didn’t plan on quitting.  It just happened.  Now, I never check the mail.  She brings it to me presorted and usually opened (and, I like it this way).  I have entered a new phase.

Life is full of phases.  Back to my friend at the mailbox – our conversation drifted to a gentleman that he had recently visited in the hospital.  The man is now old, weak and frail.  He is shriveled up and (I got the impression) unresponsive.  Yet, Don (my friend at the mailbox) said that the fellow had spent his whole life as distinguished and devout military man.  Oh, but those days are long and forever gone…

Last night I had another confrontation with the reality of life’s phases.  Another friend of mine was describing how many people who are dying go through steps of losing interest in things that they have been very dedicated to all of their life… lifelong hobbies, habits, interests and even necessities can become totally irrelevant (now, I know what is happening to me – JUST KIDDING, take it easy :-).

You know, come to think of it… even Jesus had a life distinctly divided into geographical, occupational and directional phases.  Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth, Cana, Jerusalem, heaven; or… in Mary’s womb, infant, child, adolescent, adult, leader/teacher, savior, mediator, king (to come)… you get the point.

The Father who planned IT ALL also has seems bent toward utilizing phases.  He clearly divided the eras of history into distinct sections: (without getting to technical) innocence, conscience, government, promise, law, incarnation, grace, wrath, peace, eternity…

It’s no wonder God inspired His wisest follower ever to write these words:

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace…  He has made every thing beautiful in His time...” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 & 11)

My brief life has already seen many phases.  At this moment I would label those phases thusly: before I can remember, playing all the time, loving school, hating school, not fitting in, rebellion, driving, girls and sports, renewed interest in learning, knowing it all, knowing a little, knowing nothing, real love, real jobs, real bills, real kids, real devotion, real spirituality, a real call from God, great blessings, trials… each phase very different from the previous one.  One thing I have learned, no phase is even remotely close to what I anticipate.  One example: when I graduated from high school, I was honestly afraid that I wouldn’t make it in college (the old “not college material” thing); then when I got there, it wasn’t bad at all.  And, when I finished it seemed like I had been in a kind of paradise for 4 years.  Now, I realize that I had more free and discretionary time in college than I had ever had before or have ever had since.  It just wasn’t very similar to what I had expected. 

Well, what about tomorrow?  I don’t know?  I’m not even sure I care.  The only one who is there (in tomorrow already) is God.  What about having teenagers, having grandkids, old age, disease, change, losing what little mind I have, being alone and saying a final goodbye to friends and family… what about it?  I suspect that my expectations in these matters are equally misplaced and inadequate.  Oh, I know, at 34 I’m too young to be thinking these thoughts, but I am thinking them nonetheless.  I see young families growing up around me.  I see the definition of “young family” changing.  I see my volitional bald head (the one that is supposed to hide my actual and involuntary baldness).  I see my own daughter turning into a beautiful young lady (that I know will appeal to all the unworthy boys out there)…

Seasons change, the weather changes, people change; politics, philosophies, economies, styles, technologies… everything changes.  While I have a horrible memory overall, I can in fact be quite nostalgic at times.  However, I’m not so reflective that I foolishly wish for the past to become the future.  Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 7:10, “Don’t say, ‘What is the cause that the former days were better than these? For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.’”  He is saying that time has clouded our perception of past realities.  I once heard an elderly lady say that the “good old days” weren’t nearly so good as some people want to make them out to have been. 

Regardless, whether we like it or not… life is full of phases; phases that demand transitions, changes, adjustments.  Old things become obsolete and irrelevant; new things stretch our mind and heart, try our patience and test our level of tolerance.

This Sunday our church is experimenting with a possible new phase.  We are commencing (on a three month trial basis) an “early service” at 8:30 AM.  Two AM worship assemblies that will be basically the same… it’s not new for many people, but it is for us.  There are natural fears and excitements; suspicions and questions.  There is great potential in splitting the service; latent blessings from God… and yes, underlying damage from Satan himself.  But, we're trying it nonetheless… hoping for best, wondering how it will go.

In a world were so many things do indeed change, isn’t it wonderful to have a few things that don’t?

·         God’s Word never changes.

·         Our purpose for existing never changes.

·         Even the consistency in the laws of nature can be refreshing at times.

·         There are even a few people in my life that I have come to trust so deeply that it never crosses my mind that they would ever change (though I know in my mind that they really could). 

Ultimately though, the greatest concrete foundation that I have is my glorious and majestic God; THE ONE AND ONLY GOD.  God never changes.  He said so himself.  Malachi 3:6, “I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.”  He means His consistency to be a comfort to us.  The God of grace, mercy & love has guaranteed His presence and my sanctification… I hang my being thankfully upon His promise: “…God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise [including me] the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil…”  Aren’t you so glad that THAT will NEVER change?!  Faith will become sight, true!  In that sense, there is a transition and a phase in the future.  But, Hallelujah, the promise, the person and the prize – they are absolute.  Hallelujah!!!!  HALLELUJAH!!!!!!! 

I pray, “God (who doesn’t change), change me!  I know you have a new phase in mind for me.  I’m afraid, forgive me.  I’m willing though… at least, I want to be willing…”

 

Why does God get Angry?

Psalm 7:11b, ”God is angry with the wicked every day.”  Make no mistake about it – God’s wrath is not merely an anthropomorphism.  Let us never forget Who came first.  We are made in the image of God, not the other way around. 

Recently a Christian brother asked me a very legitimate question, “If God made us the way we are (and He could have made us differently), why does He get angry when we do what we shouldn’t do?”  My dear brother isn’t the first one to inquire about this, nor will he be the last.  The great man Job of ancient days said as much in the book bearing his name, “God, Your hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet You do destroy me…” (Job 10:8). 

Job felt (albeit erroneously) that he was suffering as a result of God’s anger against him.  While in Job’s case this wasn’t true (in fact he was suffering because God was so proud of him), in many instances it is precisely the case.  Example: Numbers 11:1, “When the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and His anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.”  Now, God made the Jews.  God chose the Jews.  God knew from the beginning that they were going to be miserable ingrates on that day.  So why get angry about something that You could have prevented Yourself?  As my friend put it, if one knows the precise result of combining certain chemicals together, why would one get upset when the expected outcome is produced by causing that actual combination to be mixed?

Did God make us so He would have someone to pick on?  Obviously not!  The cross proves that well enough!  The God who gave Himself to die for us has justly demonstrated His sincere love and compassion toward us; His care for humanity is not reasonably questionable.  So, what’s up with the anger thing?

We have a few options I suppose.  We can deny that He really get’s angry.  We can redefine anger.  Some deny that God is real.  Others deny that we are real.  We could run to the extremes of fatalism or deism.  Or, we can take a faith approach and remind ourselves of some Biblical facts that we as Christians are not willing to debate; presuppositions that are foundational to everything else we explore in the spiritual world of theology, hamartiology and anthropology. 

·         God is!

·         God has always been!

·         God is good, always!

·         God is a person!

·         God is absolutely autonomous!

·         God created us for His own enjoyment!

I, for one, am not willing to budge on any of these premises.  I’m not sure I could have an intelligent, coherent or civil discussion on other theological issues with any person who denies any of these things.  We could point out our differences I suppose, but this framework holds so much of my vocabulary and perspective that surrendering any point would be such a paradigm shift as to render me senseless.  So, if you disagree with those points, you might as well stop reading.  But, if those salient items are granted, then we can proceed cogently.  There are other relevant fundamentals that I could add, but I forebear.  I think these will serve us well enough.

Actually I think the question itself is flawed.  “If God made us the way we are…”  Stop right there!  Job said, “Your hands have made me and fashioned me together round about…”  But, is this true?  The wise man Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:29, “Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”  God did not make us “the way we are” – i.e. sinful.  He made everything good; and declared it to be so.  He didn’t make Adam or Eve with flaws.  He made them perfect, innocent, holy, blameless…  But… BUT… He did make us in His own image, after His own likeness.  Surely, surely we can assume that the autonomous, sovereign God; the Creator who does whatsoever He wants to do in accordance with His own transcendent purposes and prerogatives… surely He was big enough and powerful enough to endow the crowning creation (homo sapiens) with actual, not imagined, actual autonomy.  In other words, the choice that Adam made was actually his own choice.  Did God know that Adam would choose Eve, Satan and himself over his Maker?  Duh!  Of course God knew!  In fact, God had already outlined a plan for fixing the problem (Revelation 13:8).

Here is the thing.  If God could have made Adam differently, but didn’t…  then we MUST conclude that this was the very best plan God could contrive in accordance with His desired purpose of creating us for His own pleasure.  Could God get pleasure from the programmed love of automatons?  I think not!  So, God made us perfect… including the perfect and real ability to make up our own mind.  Now, when we sinned (in Adam), we lost (to a great extent) the ability to exercise our prerogative power.  We enslaved ourselves in an addiction to sinfulness; binding ourselves with a chain that only God’s grace is sufficiently able to break.

Still… if He saw it coming (if He knew how the formula would react), then why would He be actually upset when it comes to pass?

Well, I don’t know!  Do you?

Or, maybe we do… we just don’t realize it.  Let’s let the Bible speak here…

Genesis 1:3-4, “God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good…”

Genesis 2:19, “Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them…”

Genesis 6:5-8, “GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.  And the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repents Me that I have made them.  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”

Genesis 11:5, “The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.”

Genesis 18: 20-21, “The LORD said,’ Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.”

Genesis 32:24-25, “Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day.  And when He saw that He prevailed not against him, He touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with Him.”

I would love to expound on every one of these passages and many more, (neither my time, nor your patience will allow for that).  Consider just the first passage then: “God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good…”  Why does it say, “and God saw…”?  Is God in the business of discovering?  Learning?  Developing?  Expanding?  I would be hard pressed to make a case for that!  The immutable God of the Bible is changeless… in His essence, His attributes & His characteristics.  You and I can add nothing to His existence.  Yet, there it is still: “He saw!”  What is the purpose in God describing the occasion thusly… unless, UNLESS He is attempting to reveal something significant to us about His very nature.  The immeasurable significance of Genesis in presenting the person of the Godhead to us should be obvious.  So, what is He getting at?

Postulation: God relishes the experience; the event with all of its traits and characters. 

Had He ever made light before?  By revelation we can conclude that this was the first time light had ever existed in the chronology of eternity.  God made it; then He liked it!  Why do we (some of us, sometimes) think that because God is omniscient and eternal that He lacks emotion or chronological experiences?  Is it necessary for God to dwell outside of chronology in order for Him to be God?  Just because He knows something, does that mean it’s His fault; that He’s the instigator?  If there is Biblical doctrine to support such an idea, fine!  Bring it forward.  My soteriology will be unaffected either way.  But by jingo, if I can come into a more whole and worshipful view of my dear God though meditating upon this dilemma, then I full well intend to dwell here.  Leave me be!

Jeremiah 9:24 says, “‘Let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight,’ says the LORD.”  I’m on an honest and humble inquiry into the exercises of God.  It sure appears to me that God delight’s in the experiencing of a thing, not just the knowledge or understanding of it.  Herein lies an adequate answer to why and how our truly omniscient God could and does get angry when His creatures act up.

It might be something like a hypothetical genius cinematographer.  What if he was also the script writer, studio owner, the director, the lead actor, the acting coach, the producer, the artistic consultant… etc. (you get the point).  Perhaps in His artistic brilliance he could see the finished product clearly in His mind from the very beginning… yet, would it be strange if he sits and cries through the premiere showing of the finished film?  Of course not!  It actually makes even more sense since he vested so much time and energy into it; so much of himself.  Though he may have known precisely how it would turn out, still it wasn’t done until it was done.  Maybe it was as good as accomplished in his mind… but, it was still in his mind; even so with God, though happening on a much grander scale.

Truly, this helps me out with so may other things as well: prayer, election, prophecy, forgiveness, judgment, God’s love, His jealousy, the incarnation, the doctrine of the trinity…  so many illusive and enigmatic issues that come up in one’s journey of fellowship with the Almighty.

Do you not live life one experience at a time; one after the other; richly swallowing up moment after moment of pain and pleasure as time marches on?  Should not the God from whom we derive our life not be expected to exist in a similar (though sanctified) form on a much higher plane?  Does it bring God down to a lower level to ascribe to Him an attribute that He unashamedly uses to describe Himself? 

God saw the light, that it was good.  He had never “seen” it before.  So what?  He’s still God!

He looked at it; He beheld it for the first time ever; He considered this thing that He had made; He perceived its actual beauty; He regarded it with interest; He enjoyed the scene… He paid close attention in that moment to this particular thing – light!  Was He surprised?  I would assume not!  Was He interested?  Absolutely!  Was He focusing on one specific thing at that juncture and allowing His natural emotional tendencies to have sway?  Why not?  Does that make Him any less God-like?  It shouldn’t.

So, when I ignore Him, the occurrence is real and it is also injurious; doing damage to His heart.  My experience today is important to Him today because He goes through this day with me… orchestrating it to the infinitesimally minute detail… yes!  But, make no mistake, this day has never existed before and it never will again… even in the “life of God” . . .  I don’t want to make Him upset today, do You?

So, am I a heretic?

If I am, maybe Job was too:

Job chapter 10, “I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; show me why You contend with me… Is it good that You should despise the work of Your hands… Do you have eyes of flesh?  Or do You see as man sees? Your hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet you destroy me.  Remember, I beg You, that You have made me as the clay… If I sin, then You mark me, and You will not acquit me from mine iniquity… I am full of confusion; therefore You see my affliction; for it increases. You hunt me as a fierce lion: and again You show Yourself marvelous upon me.  You renew your witnesses against me, and increase Your indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.  Why then have You brought me forth out of the womb?”

No, no heresy… just finite humanity grasping at the glorious Infinite One on whom we have fixed our reciprocating affection.  Mm… I can’t wait to meet Him!

 

(I have a funeral Friday, so I’m writing one day early this week).

Unanswered Prayer

Why don’t we pray more?  More often; more sincerely, more passionately; more diligently; more effectively; more precisely in agreement with God’s perfect will?  

The great men and women of faith just seemed to somehow sense (at times) exactly what God wanted to do, and, they would cry out for it… becoming an on/off switch (as it were) to the releasing of God’s willing and abundant power & blessings.  Oh, I know there were times when great saints would pray, only to encounter delay (Daniel), denial (Elijah) and even rebuke (Moses).  God is God and we are men…  I would fully expect that even the best and most pious among us might naturally be periodically misguided by personal perspectives and prejudices; thereby falling short of grasping at the elevated plans and purposes of the Almighty.  Yet there are many instances found readily in Holy Writ where men spoke boldly and seemingly spontaneously calling for mighty acts of God which came immediately to pass.  Elijah stopped the rain, Elisha blinded the enemy & Jesus fed the multitude… all after simple and straightforward prayers.  There are many other examples too. 

What was the secret?  The same God who did the mighty and miraculous deeds of old is still alive and He is still the same God today.  Has he changed His program so much, or have we just lost whatever it is that frees Him up to exercise His presence in more evident and undeniable fashions than we typically encounter today.

I’m not calling for a new era of signs and wonders.  The Antichrist will be the next one to step onto the world stage with miracles to validate his power.  But, must we only point to the “minor” blessings of divine intervention as indications that our prayers are being answered.  I hate to be a skeptic, but the Bible says plainly that God sends His rain on both the just and the unjust.  It seems possible and likely that we take the general kindnesses of God and attribute them to our “mighty praying power” when in reality they are only crumbs scattered to all the birds, grateful or not.

What separates me and my prayers from the mountain moving faith described by Christ?  The worldly men who opposed the early church were unable to resist the words which were spoken by the children of God.  Do we have that measure of the Spirit upon our lives?  The first century church was clearly a praying body, hence the power.  What lack we?

Examine & evaluate these sincere statements:

1.       God hasn’t changed.  His power is unaffected by culture and time.

2.       We are sure of His existence and of His ability.

3.       There is a certainty concerning God’s instruction for us to pray – we must do it!

So, if I pray and see no result… what is the problem?  Doubt can be a big one.  We are exhorted not to doubt when we pray.  Well, I (for one) don’t doubt God’s existence or power, that’s for sure.  But my flesh does accuse Him concerning His wisdom and heart sometimes.  It’s wrong; it’s wicked to question these, but it is there nonetheless.  I know in my mind and gut that God is perfectly wise and immeasurably compassionate, however my prayers, attitudes and actions sometimes scream otherwise.

Now, here are some more typical and infamous prayer blockers:

1.       Sin.  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

2.       Selfishness.  If I pray to God as if He is my genie in a bottle, I’ll get nothing.

3.       Sluggishness.  If I pray casually, flippantly, intermittently; my insincerity offends God and inhibits his work.

Ok, that’s enough I suppose.  I could spend the rest of my life getting those three things in order.  But, I must add one more.  

4.       Spirituality.  If I am not led by the Spirit, then my prayer is a totally un-obligatory wish cast like a set of dice before the throne of grace.  “Maybe God will grant my petition like he did for Hezekiah… and maybe He won’t.”  Unfortunately, I think honestly that that’s about the way I’ve always viewed prayer anyway… crying out against some kind of ridiculous blend of fatalism and chance.  I’m ashamed!  What a heathen concept of what in reality is such a precious opportunity.

 Spirit led prayer is no optimistic gamble (or pessimistic).  Spirit led prayers are sure to be answered.  It’s not like wishing upon a star; it’s like working out a math equation.  Let me prove it from the Bible:

“This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (First John 5:14-15).

Brother (or sister)!  If The Spirit of Jesus Christ on the throne in my heart is crying out to the Father in heaven through my prayer life – then the answer will come.  God is one.  Unity!  Can the Holy Ghost lead us against the will of the Godhead of which He is a part?  I think not!

I am convinced that this Spiritual domination is what I primarily lack in my prayer life.  Silent skies belie my misguided prayers.  First John 4:1 says, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God…”  Who led the prophet in First Kings 22 & Second Chronicles 18?  It was a lying spirit.  How long would I have to sit silently before the throne of grace in sincere humility awaiting the clear direction of the Spirit of God… if I was only willing to only pray Spirit led prayers; only petitions that I knew without a doubt were exactly what God was directing me to pray.

What is the prayer “batting average” of a man of God supposed to be anyway? 

Ouch!