It's been a busy month, and in some ways I feel bad about my inactivity on this blog. But at the same time so much of my reading and study is going towards the masculine journey which is the subject of the new blog. When you add up the two of them the total is average of what I used to do on here. In the future when I am able to get back into a Church setting full time I'm hoping to be able to blog equally on both, but for now my heart is really in the place of the new one and it will get the majority of my time.
But sometimes something hits me from that blog that though along similar lines doesn't fit with where the post line is going. Such is the case with this one. On Man of God... I'm in chapter 10 of Wild at Heart which is titled "A Beauty to Rescue". It's an essential aspect of a man's life, because in some ways it's what his life has been created for and preparing for. To be clear, life is about more than marriage and finding the person you're supposed to spend your life with. But keep in mind that in a God centered marriage we have the chance to see the full image of God displayed to creation. Both haves of the image, the strong and powerful side brought by the man, and the beautiful, nurturing side brought by the woman, come together as one.
The masculine journey is about a man reclaiming his heart. It is about coming to know and reveal the image of God that he has been created in. And as he learns about and learns to use his strength, it is his calling to use that strength to rescue the beauty. The feminine heart has been assaulted by the Enemy in an attempt to keep the two halves from joining to together. A man must recover his strength if he is ever to going to rescue the beauty and join his half to hers.
As I read and wrote last night my mind went I came across a quote in the text that really hit me, "I wanted to look like the knight, but I didn't want to bleed like one." At that moment I thought of my wedding ring. I picked this one out because of the grooves cut into it, they reminded me of the stripes that Christ received before He was crucified. The point of the ring was to be a constant reminder that I am to love my wife as Christ loves the Church. Christ bled for the Church.
And as I realized this my mind went to Ephesians 5.25, the verse that is the reason for my ring, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her". This is the part of the letter that is mine to read. I had a professor in college who told me that it isn't his job to point out verse 22 to his wife and command her to follow it, it is his job to learn and live verse 25. That is my job as a husband. But in this post I'm going to talk about verse 22 as well, not to my wife, but to the women of the Church with the hope that we might begin to understand our roles and see our lives in the midst of the battle that we are in.
Men and women are clearly different. As soon as I said the world battle at the end of the last paragraph I bet I lost the attention of, or at least didn't hit the heart, of the women who read this. Men were made for the battlefield. We are naturally aggressive, dangerous, and love to test our strength, or at least we were created to be that way. And while our strength is for the service of God, part of that service is rescuing the princess. God said in Genesis 2, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." But ever since Genesis 3 the woman has been under attack, as has the man.
The Enemy works to take our the image of God we bear. That is his only objective. With men he goes after our strength. He works to emasculate us and, honestly, feminize us. If we become passive and spineless, God's strength ins't seen. And without our strength we cannot rescue the beauty, we cannot offer it to her, and we cannot use it to create new life. The strength of men has been given to them so that they may spend it serving others. And sometimes that means using it in life threatening situations. Sometimes that means being willing to give everything just so that others might be free.
Without our strength, the strength of God, it is impossible for a husband to love his wife as Christ loves the Church. It is impossible for a man to bleed like a knight if he doesn't have the strength to suit up and take on the dragon.
Women are different, they are gentle, nurturing, and beautiful, that is the part of the image of God they are created in. Now I am not saying that women are not powerful, and strong, just do something to any of my mother-in-laws children and you'll see how dangerous a woman can be. But the primary nature of a mother is to nurture and care for her children. She is the one they run to crying after they fall. She is the one that kisses the boo-boos, and comforts the hurt feelings. Not that dad's don't, there are times when he is compassionate and gentle, but over all dad is the protector, mom is the comforter.
And so we have this verse in Ephesians 5 that says, "Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord." It's a verse that I think many women don't like, today especially. When my wife and I were in Israel there was a girl in the class who never said it directly, but you could tell by the other things she said that the idea of submission wasn't in her plans. She had some issues with some of the shop owners because in the middle east men are superior to women, and this can be seen even in how they do business. A man can get a better deal haggling than a woman can. She didn't like this and I recall one night she said in class, "I'm as good as a man."
I believe that this is another tactic of the enemy. If he's trying to emasculate and feminize men, then he's probably working to effeminate and masculinize women. He does whatever he can to attack their beauty and purity to make them feel ugly and dirty. I think he uses anger and pride which makes the idea of submission insulting. And today we have a society made up of guys and girls in opposite roles.
Women lead and men submit. Because of this I think men can struggle to really love their wives. A submissive man can't rescue the beauty and a woman who is leading doesn't want, or even feel the need, to be rescued. Neither can play their part, and so the image of God is undisplayed.
So what is to be done? Honestly, I've just been typing and these sentences have been coming out. My initial thought was that a man bleeds as he is injured using his strength to rescue the beauty, and afterwards the woman tends to his injuries, nurturing him allowing him to delight in her beauty. Delight in, not use for his own pleasure there is a big difference. When a man uses a woman he violates her selfishly taking and giving nothing. But when he delights in her, they come together both willing, both vulnerable, and it is one of the most beautiful things in all of creation, and I'm not talking simply of sex. It is at this moment when the two halves come together as one that the full image of God is revealed and displayed to creation.
Men, we must love our wives as Christ loves the Church. We must recover our strength, and then use it to rescue her. Women, you must submit to your husband. Allow him to rescue you, and when he has, tend to his wounds. This is the way God intended for it to be. Because this is when the two complete halves can come together and reveal what He had in mind all along.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Is God the Father Humble?
That question was recently posted on Facebook by a guy I graduated high school with. Usually I just keep my mouth shut because things like this tend to get ugly, but I really couldn't resist getting into this one. It's an interesting thought, and probably one that really hasn't been thought about much. In nearly twenty-seven years this is the first time that question has ever been presented to me. And while I'm hearing and seeing what people who have the opposite opinion of me are saying, I don't think this is a characteristic we can attribute to God the Father.
The question was posted after a small group discussion on Philippians 2, the chapter which gives us what is perhaps the best explanation of both what Christ did, and how we should live and respond, in Scripture. Those who were saying that yes, the Father is humble point to the humility displayed in the life of Jesus, and how Jesus, who is God, reflects and displays the character and nature of the Father to the world. And while that is the case, I don't believe humility is an aspect of divinity.
Philippians 2.5-8 says, "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
We see that Jesus humbled Himself, and became a man, who was obedient to death on the cross. But for some Jesus' statement in John 10.30, "I and the Father are one" posses an issue if we say that the Father is not humble. For this let's look at what humility is. In the English dictionary humble is defined, "1. not proud or arrogant; modest 2. having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc. 3. low in rank, importance, status, quality, etc. 4. courteously respectful 5. low in height, level, etc."
"Not proud or arrogant; modest," read the end of Job and show me this about God the Father. It isn't a pride thing, but more a statement and declaration of His greatness. "Having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience," this could never be said of God. Psalms tells us that "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." God's very being demands worship, simply because of His holiness, and if we fail to praise Him the rocks will cry out (Luke 19). "Low in rank, importance, status, quality," The Ten Commandments tell us, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me." (Exodus 20.2-3). "Courteously respectful" He is loving but He is also holy and perfect and cannot overlook wrong doing or tolerate sin. "Low in height, level," God is above all, there is no one higher than Him. Simply based on an present day English definition we cannot say that the Father is humble. But we also must look at the original text so see what the Biblical author thought.
In Philippians 2, Paul uses the word tapeinao (ta-pie-na-oh) which means "to make low; bring low". It can refer to leveling something to a plain topographically, but in the case of Jesus means, "to bring into a humble condition, reduce to meaner circumstances: 1) to assign a lower rank or place to 2) to abase 3) to be ranked below others who are honored or rewarded 4) to humble or abase myself by humble living".
This is what we see in Jesus. He humbles Himself, He gives Himself a lower rank as a man, a peasant, a working class carpenter. He sets aside aspects of His divinity, immortality, omnipresence, glory, and possibly some omniscience, and walks the earth as a man. He is still God. He is still Holy, Righteous, perfect, all powerful, and possessing all command and authority, but He is also fully man, which demands certain aspects of divinity to be set aside. And so Jesus humbled Himself, and walked in humility through Israel.
We see Him as a man, totally dependent upon God. He is constantly in prayer, alone seeking the Father. He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner" (John 5.19b). As a man He is humble, a servant of God and man. But His humility comes to an end. Philippians 2.9-11, "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Jesus is restored to His place at the right hand of the Father. Every knee bows before Him and every tongue declares Him as Lord. His humility is at an end and He is now exalted on high. And so we come back to the question "Is God the Father Humble?" We clearly see that Jesus, while on earth, was the example of humility. And because Jesus while on earth showed us what God is like, there might be a natural tendency to attribute humility to God. But I think it is a characteristic that has now place in the Heavenly realm.
Humility is an attribute of a worshiper and a servant, thus why we see it in Jesus, the ultimate servant who showed us how to truly worship the Father. It is the response of creation towards it's Creator. But it is not something that God the Father possesses. He is the object of worship. Everything is done so that He may be glorified. All of creation declares His praise, and even with Jesus, every knee bows and every tongue confesses to the glory of God the Father.
I think the issue arises, partly, because humility is such an admirable human quality; it is only natural to attribute it to God the Father. We see it in Jesus because we see God living life as a man, showing how God would live life as a human. We see God as the servant of all, humbled and then highly exalted. We see how God desires for all of us to live life. "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others" (Philippians 2.3-4).
Humility exists as a human quality, but I don't believe God has any reason to be humble. He is to be worshiped, praised and glorified. Everything is to be done for His glory. Jesus the Son, humbled Himself in order to save us, and model for us how we are to live. And once the mission was accomplished He is restored to His place of honor, the place the Father always maintained. So I am willing to say that God the Father has no need for humility.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
The question was posted after a small group discussion on Philippians 2, the chapter which gives us what is perhaps the best explanation of both what Christ did, and how we should live and respond, in Scripture. Those who were saying that yes, the Father is humble point to the humility displayed in the life of Jesus, and how Jesus, who is God, reflects and displays the character and nature of the Father to the world. And while that is the case, I don't believe humility is an aspect of divinity.
Philippians 2.5-8 says, "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
We see that Jesus humbled Himself, and became a man, who was obedient to death on the cross. But for some Jesus' statement in John 10.30, "I and the Father are one" posses an issue if we say that the Father is not humble. For this let's look at what humility is. In the English dictionary humble is defined, "1. not proud or arrogant; modest 2. having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc. 3. low in rank, importance, status, quality, etc. 4. courteously respectful 5. low in height, level, etc."
"Not proud or arrogant; modest," read the end of Job and show me this about God the Father. It isn't a pride thing, but more a statement and declaration of His greatness. "Having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience," this could never be said of God. Psalms tells us that "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." God's very being demands worship, simply because of His holiness, and if we fail to praise Him the rocks will cry out (Luke 19). "Low in rank, importance, status, quality," The Ten Commandments tell us, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me." (Exodus 20.2-3). "Courteously respectful" He is loving but He is also holy and perfect and cannot overlook wrong doing or tolerate sin. "Low in height, level," God is above all, there is no one higher than Him. Simply based on an present day English definition we cannot say that the Father is humble. But we also must look at the original text so see what the Biblical author thought.
In Philippians 2, Paul uses the word tapeinao (ta-pie-na-oh) which means "to make low; bring low". It can refer to leveling something to a plain topographically, but in the case of Jesus means, "to bring into a humble condition, reduce to meaner circumstances: 1) to assign a lower rank or place to 2) to abase 3) to be ranked below others who are honored or rewarded 4) to humble or abase myself by humble living".
This is what we see in Jesus. He humbles Himself, He gives Himself a lower rank as a man, a peasant, a working class carpenter. He sets aside aspects of His divinity, immortality, omnipresence, glory, and possibly some omniscience, and walks the earth as a man. He is still God. He is still Holy, Righteous, perfect, all powerful, and possessing all command and authority, but He is also fully man, which demands certain aspects of divinity to be set aside. And so Jesus humbled Himself, and walked in humility through Israel.
We see Him as a man, totally dependent upon God. He is constantly in prayer, alone seeking the Father. He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner" (John 5.19b). As a man He is humble, a servant of God and man. But His humility comes to an end. Philippians 2.9-11, "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Jesus is restored to His place at the right hand of the Father. Every knee bows before Him and every tongue declares Him as Lord. His humility is at an end and He is now exalted on high. And so we come back to the question "Is God the Father Humble?" We clearly see that Jesus, while on earth, was the example of humility. And because Jesus while on earth showed us what God is like, there might be a natural tendency to attribute humility to God. But I think it is a characteristic that has now place in the Heavenly realm.
Humility is an attribute of a worshiper and a servant, thus why we see it in Jesus, the ultimate servant who showed us how to truly worship the Father. It is the response of creation towards it's Creator. But it is not something that God the Father possesses. He is the object of worship. Everything is done so that He may be glorified. All of creation declares His praise, and even with Jesus, every knee bows and every tongue confesses to the glory of God the Father.
I think the issue arises, partly, because humility is such an admirable human quality; it is only natural to attribute it to God the Father. We see it in Jesus because we see God living life as a man, showing how God would live life as a human. We see God as the servant of all, humbled and then highly exalted. We see how God desires for all of us to live life. "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others" (Philippians 2.3-4).
Humility exists as a human quality, but I don't believe God has any reason to be humble. He is to be worshiped, praised and glorified. Everything is to be done for His glory. Jesus the Son, humbled Himself in order to save us, and model for us how we are to live. And once the mission was accomplished He is restored to His place of honor, the place the Father always maintained. So I am willing to say that God the Father has no need for humility.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Return of Christ
I've heard a lot on this subject in recent years. I worked at a church were I heard the pastor say almost weekly, "Another sign of the soon return of Christ." I've read Facebook posts on it a lot from other pastors, and as many of us will all recall the recent prediction for May 21 and then October 21, 2011. But my most recent encounter with this idea has come from a job I didn't apply for.
I've been looking for a ministry position for almost a year now, and this past week I found a posting that was pretty much exactly what I have been searching for. But after doing some praying and researching of the Church I felt God leading away from it. But one of the biggest things that hit me was their state belief on the return of Christ.
The Bible tells us that no one knows the day or the hour except for the Father (Matthew 24.36). We are told that Jesus will return in the same way He went up to Heaven (Acts 1.11), and that He will come on the clouds and every eye will see Him (Revelation 1.7). Also we are told that it will be soon (Revelation 22.7) and it will be a time we do not expect (Luke 12.40). Note that these are not all of the Biblical references on this topic, simply a few that hit the major things we are told about it.
We are never told when it will happen, other than soon, and it has been soon for about 2,000 years. When the Holy Spirit came in Acts 2 it began the "Last Days". We have been living in them since the day of Pentecost. So yes, we are in the last days, and yes Jesus is returning soon, because it has been soon for the last 2,000ish years, and we are closer to it now than they were then. But that is the only thing we can say with any certainty.
And so it leads me to wonder why people make concrete statements about when Jesus is coming back? Who do we think we are to be able to say with certainty that Jesus will return on this day, or at this point in the future? Billy Graham once said, "Live everyday like Jesus will return today, but live everyday like we have to plan for the next thousand years." I shared that with the pastor mentioned above when he asked me my thoughts on the second coming, and he threw it back in my face saying, "That's just a man's opinion." Yes Billy Graham is just a man, but I think he makes a really good point.
We do not know when Jesus is coming back, all we know is that He is. And so we need to live life like that. We live ready, because Jesus could come back today. He could come back before I finish typing this sentence (obviously He didn't). But at the same time we need to live like He isn't coming back for a while. After all, it's been soon for almost 2,000 years.
I think when it comes to this subject people fall in one of two extremes. The first is those who emphasis the soon part. They are almost obsessed with it, and point to all of the bad stuff that is taking place in the world as evidence that Jesus is coming back any minute. What about the bad stuff that has happened before today? What about the Holocaust? What about the Crusades? What about the early century persecutions? What about the wiping out of the Native Americans, or the Aztecs? Bad things have been happening for thousands of years, but somehow what is happening now is worse than all of that in the eyes of this group.
And then there is the other side, the group that ignores all of this. They live as if they have all the time in the world (Talking about Christian's here). The second coming is something they blow off, possibly because of all the attention it gets from the other group, and things like the Left Behind series. This group, usually the younger generation because there have been times when I have thought this way, almost doesn't take it seriously. It's something that is going to happen some day, but not for a long time from now, certainly not until after we're dead. Let some future generation worry about it.
I think the answer, as with many things, lies in the middle. Living with the realization that every day that passes brings us one day closer, but that it still could be years away. We live ready for it, as the Bible says, "loving His appearing" (2 Timothy 4) but fighting the good fight, finishing the course, and keeping the faith (2 Timothy 4) in the event that it is still a long way off. We live sharing the Gospel in all that we say and do so that others see Christ in us, and we prepare the generation after us to do the same. We live every day like Jesus will return today, but at the same time live like He isn't coming back for a thousand years.
We do not know the day or the hour. It will happen suddenly and unannounced, like a thief in the night. The event will take place, and that is what matters. The when is not important, but what does matter is that it will happen. Jesus is coming back, how are you living?
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
I've been looking for a ministry position for almost a year now, and this past week I found a posting that was pretty much exactly what I have been searching for. But after doing some praying and researching of the Church I felt God leading away from it. But one of the biggest things that hit me was their state belief on the return of Christ.
The Bible tells us that no one knows the day or the hour except for the Father (Matthew 24.36). We are told that Jesus will return in the same way He went up to Heaven (Acts 1.11), and that He will come on the clouds and every eye will see Him (Revelation 1.7). Also we are told that it will be soon (Revelation 22.7) and it will be a time we do not expect (Luke 12.40). Note that these are not all of the Biblical references on this topic, simply a few that hit the major things we are told about it.
We are never told when it will happen, other than soon, and it has been soon for about 2,000 years. When the Holy Spirit came in Acts 2 it began the "Last Days". We have been living in them since the day of Pentecost. So yes, we are in the last days, and yes Jesus is returning soon, because it has been soon for the last 2,000ish years, and we are closer to it now than they were then. But that is the only thing we can say with any certainty.
And so it leads me to wonder why people make concrete statements about when Jesus is coming back? Who do we think we are to be able to say with certainty that Jesus will return on this day, or at this point in the future? Billy Graham once said, "Live everyday like Jesus will return today, but live everyday like we have to plan for the next thousand years." I shared that with the pastor mentioned above when he asked me my thoughts on the second coming, and he threw it back in my face saying, "That's just a man's opinion." Yes Billy Graham is just a man, but I think he makes a really good point.
We do not know when Jesus is coming back, all we know is that He is. And so we need to live life like that. We live ready, because Jesus could come back today. He could come back before I finish typing this sentence (obviously He didn't). But at the same time we need to live like He isn't coming back for a while. After all, it's been soon for almost 2,000 years.
I think when it comes to this subject people fall in one of two extremes. The first is those who emphasis the soon part. They are almost obsessed with it, and point to all of the bad stuff that is taking place in the world as evidence that Jesus is coming back any minute. What about the bad stuff that has happened before today? What about the Holocaust? What about the Crusades? What about the early century persecutions? What about the wiping out of the Native Americans, or the Aztecs? Bad things have been happening for thousands of years, but somehow what is happening now is worse than all of that in the eyes of this group.
And then there is the other side, the group that ignores all of this. They live as if they have all the time in the world (Talking about Christian's here). The second coming is something they blow off, possibly because of all the attention it gets from the other group, and things like the Left Behind series. This group, usually the younger generation because there have been times when I have thought this way, almost doesn't take it seriously. It's something that is going to happen some day, but not for a long time from now, certainly not until after we're dead. Let some future generation worry about it.
I think the answer, as with many things, lies in the middle. Living with the realization that every day that passes brings us one day closer, but that it still could be years away. We live ready for it, as the Bible says, "loving His appearing" (2 Timothy 4) but fighting the good fight, finishing the course, and keeping the faith (2 Timothy 4) in the event that it is still a long way off. We live sharing the Gospel in all that we say and do so that others see Christ in us, and we prepare the generation after us to do the same. We live every day like Jesus will return today, but at the same time live like He isn't coming back for a thousand years.
We do not know the day or the hour. It will happen suddenly and unannounced, like a thief in the night. The event will take place, and that is what matters. The when is not important, but what does matter is that it will happen. Jesus is coming back, how are you living?
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Saturday, May 11, 2013
The Prayer Room
This morning I was back reading through some of the notes I wrote on Facebook back in college before the blog. Today it was one called "Will you keep running?"
Back during the second half of my college career I got involved with a prayer group. We would meet Sunday nights in an on campus apartment for a few hours and seek God together. Once a year during J-term we would do weeks of 24/7 prayer in our on campus prayer room. People would sign up to take an hour at a time and for that hour go to the on campus prayer room and spend the time connecting with God, crying out to him for their own life, the campus, community, country and world. For weeks there was constant prayer being offered to God.
This is one of the things I miss most about college. That place of prayer, that place devoted to prayer. It was a room that freed you from distractions and helped you to focus on God and connect with Him in a variety of ways, art, writing, music. As I read the note I wrote a little over five years ago it hit me just how big of a part of my life that room was during my last two years of college. There was one week I spent more time in prayer than I did doing anything else, including sleep.
As I read what I had written and the comments people had made I began to remember just how incredible those moments were. There were times very early in the morning, that I would be there just in a time of worship to God. There is something about a place like that, a place that has been soaked with prayer, that almost makes it easy to talk to God. And that is what I miss most.
I don't have a place like that anymore. I haven't had it for a while, basically four years. It's not that I haven't prayed in that time, but at times it's been hard. There is something about a place that is devoted to prayer. There is something about going somewhere intentionally to communicate with God.
In Jerusalem, the Temple was that place. In January I began to grasp just how big this place was. It was one of those things that didn't hit me until round two when I got to walk under the streets along the length of the Western Wall. But that's not important. The point was not the size and grandeur of it all, but the fact that it was where God would meet the people.
2 Chronicles 7.12-16 shares of the account when the Temple was dedicated, and the words God spoke to Solomon, "Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, 'I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.'"
It is not saying that God only heard prayers offered in the Temple. You do not need to be in a sanctuary or prayer room for God to listen to you, but there is something to be said about having a place dedicated to prayer. In a house there are rooms dedicated to cooking and eating, to living and laundry, to sleep and recreation. What about prayer? In an office building there are rooms set aside for work, breaks, and meetings. What about prayer? Do we have specific places that we have set aside to meet with God?
In college we had a room set aside for prayer, and I miss that. I think the world needs more prayer rooms, and people committed to filling them with heartfelt cries to God and attentive ears to hear from Him.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Back during the second half of my college career I got involved with a prayer group. We would meet Sunday nights in an on campus apartment for a few hours and seek God together. Once a year during J-term we would do weeks of 24/7 prayer in our on campus prayer room. People would sign up to take an hour at a time and for that hour go to the on campus prayer room and spend the time connecting with God, crying out to him for their own life, the campus, community, country and world. For weeks there was constant prayer being offered to God.
This is one of the things I miss most about college. That place of prayer, that place devoted to prayer. It was a room that freed you from distractions and helped you to focus on God and connect with Him in a variety of ways, art, writing, music. As I read the note I wrote a little over five years ago it hit me just how big of a part of my life that room was during my last two years of college. There was one week I spent more time in prayer than I did doing anything else, including sleep.
As I read what I had written and the comments people had made I began to remember just how incredible those moments were. There were times very early in the morning, that I would be there just in a time of worship to God. There is something about a place like that, a place that has been soaked with prayer, that almost makes it easy to talk to God. And that is what I miss most.
I don't have a place like that anymore. I haven't had it for a while, basically four years. It's not that I haven't prayed in that time, but at times it's been hard. There is something about a place that is devoted to prayer. There is something about going somewhere intentionally to communicate with God.
In Jerusalem, the Temple was that place. In January I began to grasp just how big this place was. It was one of those things that didn't hit me until round two when I got to walk under the streets along the length of the Western Wall. But that's not important. The point was not the size and grandeur of it all, but the fact that it was where God would meet the people.
2 Chronicles 7.12-16 shares of the account when the Temple was dedicated, and the words God spoke to Solomon, "Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, 'I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.'"
It is not saying that God only heard prayers offered in the Temple. You do not need to be in a sanctuary or prayer room for God to listen to you, but there is something to be said about having a place dedicated to prayer. In a house there are rooms dedicated to cooking and eating, to living and laundry, to sleep and recreation. What about prayer? In an office building there are rooms set aside for work, breaks, and meetings. What about prayer? Do we have specific places that we have set aside to meet with God?
In college we had a room set aside for prayer, and I miss that. I think the world needs more prayer rooms, and people committed to filling them with heartfelt cries to God and attentive ears to hear from Him.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
I Am Not a Sinner Saved by Grace
A few years ago I really began to dive into the book of Philippians and found some incredible revelations about God's intention for His Church and those who make it up. I began a sermon series out of the book focused on genuine Christianity. Over the course of about a year I wrote three of the sermons.
Out of Philippians 3.1-14, "Religious or Relational?" Asking the question of what is the point of our faith? From Philippians 1.27-2.11, "Savior or Lord?" Focusing on who is Jesus to you, just a Savior or the Lord of your life? Then from Philippians 4.4-13, "Hand or Face?" Exploring what we seek from God, His blessings or Him?
In January of 2011 I had the chance to travel to Greece and Turkey, visiting the ruins of many of the cities where Paul visited and wrote letters to the Churches there. One of them was Philippi, and as part of the class I had to write an exegesis and sermon on part of the book. I choose a section I hadn't done much work with up to that point, and ended up with the closing message of the series out of Philippians 2.12-18, which focused on bringing it all together and showing what the life of a true follower of Christ, and a God focused Church really looks like.
The one difficulty with that sermon was I had to reference things in a sermon I hadn't written yet, and I still have not written. One of the things that has really stood out to me in chapter 1 of Philippians is the idea of being a Child of God, not simply a sinner who has been saved by grace. But along with this is the difficulty of pulling out the exact verses that capture this concept. And at the same time I haven't had the time, space, or drive to give this sermon the focus that it deserves and needs. But never the less it has been on my mind a lot.
Recently on my other blog I shared from Wild at Heart, how perhaps the biggest lie the Church has spread is that we are nothing more than sinners who have been saved by grace. I don't know how many times I've heard this line, sometimes I think it's from people trying to sound holy and humble, but each time I've heard it I'm like, "NO! You are missing the point. You are so much more than that."
If we are relational people who have surrendered to Jesus as Lord, and seek the face of God, then we are NOT sinners who have been saved by grace. We are so much more than that. We are children of God. I was a sinner, the grace of God saved me, and because of His grace, I am no longer a sinner and have become His child. I am not a sinner saved by grace, I am a child of God. And the same is true for you. You are not a sinner saved by grace, you are a child of God.
Think about what both statements really say. If your claim is that you are nothing more than a sinner saved by grace, what does that say about grace? What does it say about God? To me it says that grace is weak. That all grace can do is save. It doesn't say it can cleanse. It doesn't say it can transform. It doesn't say that God recreates or makes new. It says that in spite of grace, I'm still nothing more than a sinner.
Romans 6.5-7 says, "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin."
The title "sinner" is an identification. By saying "I'm just a sinner saved by grace" says I have not died to sin, I have not been resurrected with Christ. By saying "I'm just a sinner saved by grace" it says I am still a slave to sin because I am just a sinner. But we are more than that. Romans says that we have been united with Christ in His death and His resurrection. It tells us that our old self, our sinful self has been crucified so that our body of sin might be done away with. We are freed from sin, and therefore, no longer sinners.
Romans 8.14-17 tells us, "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."
We have received a spirit of adoption as sons. We cry out "Abba! Daddy!" We are children of God. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit says we are not sinners saved by grace, but children of God. And so why do we feel we can call our selves anything less then what we are? Is it an attempt at holy humility? Is it a failed realization of the power of God's grace in our lives? Or is it a cop out for when we fail to live up to Christlikeness?
Philippians 1.3-11, "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."
He who began a good work in you will perfect it. Children grow and learn, guided by their parents. God began this work, we have been adopted as His children, and He is at work to mold us into Christlikeness. We are partakers of grace in the fact that we have been saved from sin by God, but more than that we have been reborn and given new life as children of God. And as we grow we approve what is excellent so that we can be sincere and blameless, not sinners, but sincere and blameless Christ followers. And on top of all of this, we have been filled with the fruit of righteousness through Christ so that our lives may give glory and praise to God. Sin does none of that, and sinners are incapable of any of that. But children of God embody this because of His grace and the power and resurrection that it brings.
And so I am not a sinner saved by grace. I am a child of God. I have been crucified with Christ. I have died to sin and I have been raised to new life as God's son. Because of God's grace, I am no longer a sinner but His beloved child. My life is filled with the Spirit and empowered to live above sin, displaying the fruit of righteousness. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control are the characteristics opposite of sin (Galatians 5.16-24), and are not evident in the life of a sinner.
We are not saved to be sinners, but children. We are not filled with sinful desires because we have crucified them and been raise to a new life that is filled with the fruit of righteousness. Let's start claiming it, and let's start living like it. We are children of God.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Out of Philippians 3.1-14, "Religious or Relational?" Asking the question of what is the point of our faith? From Philippians 1.27-2.11, "Savior or Lord?" Focusing on who is Jesus to you, just a Savior or the Lord of your life? Then from Philippians 4.4-13, "Hand or Face?" Exploring what we seek from God, His blessings or Him?
In January of 2011 I had the chance to travel to Greece and Turkey, visiting the ruins of many of the cities where Paul visited and wrote letters to the Churches there. One of them was Philippi, and as part of the class I had to write an exegesis and sermon on part of the book. I choose a section I hadn't done much work with up to that point, and ended up with the closing message of the series out of Philippians 2.12-18, which focused on bringing it all together and showing what the life of a true follower of Christ, and a God focused Church really looks like.
The one difficulty with that sermon was I had to reference things in a sermon I hadn't written yet, and I still have not written. One of the things that has really stood out to me in chapter 1 of Philippians is the idea of being a Child of God, not simply a sinner who has been saved by grace. But along with this is the difficulty of pulling out the exact verses that capture this concept. And at the same time I haven't had the time, space, or drive to give this sermon the focus that it deserves and needs. But never the less it has been on my mind a lot.
Recently on my other blog I shared from Wild at Heart, how perhaps the biggest lie the Church has spread is that we are nothing more than sinners who have been saved by grace. I don't know how many times I've heard this line, sometimes I think it's from people trying to sound holy and humble, but each time I've heard it I'm like, "NO! You are missing the point. You are so much more than that."
If we are relational people who have surrendered to Jesus as Lord, and seek the face of God, then we are NOT sinners who have been saved by grace. We are so much more than that. We are children of God. I was a sinner, the grace of God saved me, and because of His grace, I am no longer a sinner and have become His child. I am not a sinner saved by grace, I am a child of God. And the same is true for you. You are not a sinner saved by grace, you are a child of God.
Think about what both statements really say. If your claim is that you are nothing more than a sinner saved by grace, what does that say about grace? What does it say about God? To me it says that grace is weak. That all grace can do is save. It doesn't say it can cleanse. It doesn't say it can transform. It doesn't say that God recreates or makes new. It says that in spite of grace, I'm still nothing more than a sinner.
Romans 6.5-7 says, "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin."
The title "sinner" is an identification. By saying "I'm just a sinner saved by grace" says I have not died to sin, I have not been resurrected with Christ. By saying "I'm just a sinner saved by grace" it says I am still a slave to sin because I am just a sinner. But we are more than that. Romans says that we have been united with Christ in His death and His resurrection. It tells us that our old self, our sinful self has been crucified so that our body of sin might be done away with. We are freed from sin, and therefore, no longer sinners.
Romans 8.14-17 tells us, "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."
We have received a spirit of adoption as sons. We cry out "Abba! Daddy!" We are children of God. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit says we are not sinners saved by grace, but children of God. And so why do we feel we can call our selves anything less then what we are? Is it an attempt at holy humility? Is it a failed realization of the power of God's grace in our lives? Or is it a cop out for when we fail to live up to Christlikeness?
Philippians 1.3-11, "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."
He who began a good work in you will perfect it. Children grow and learn, guided by their parents. God began this work, we have been adopted as His children, and He is at work to mold us into Christlikeness. We are partakers of grace in the fact that we have been saved from sin by God, but more than that we have been reborn and given new life as children of God. And as we grow we approve what is excellent so that we can be sincere and blameless, not sinners, but sincere and blameless Christ followers. And on top of all of this, we have been filled with the fruit of righteousness through Christ so that our lives may give glory and praise to God. Sin does none of that, and sinners are incapable of any of that. But children of God embody this because of His grace and the power and resurrection that it brings.
And so I am not a sinner saved by grace. I am a child of God. I have been crucified with Christ. I have died to sin and I have been raised to new life as God's son. Because of God's grace, I am no longer a sinner but His beloved child. My life is filled with the Spirit and empowered to live above sin, displaying the fruit of righteousness. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control are the characteristics opposite of sin (Galatians 5.16-24), and are not evident in the life of a sinner.
We are not saved to be sinners, but children. We are not filled with sinful desires because we have crucified them and been raise to a new life that is filled with the fruit of righteousness. Let's start claiming it, and let's start living like it. We are children of God.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
What Happened?
A few weeks ago Facebook did one of those updates, but unlike the previous ones, this one actually seemed to do some good. It actually made it easier to use. And with this change I found some things on Facebook that I had long forgotten about. Back in the day there was, and actually still is, an application called, "Notes" it's sort of like a blog on your Facebook. I stopped writing them and forgot about them when I started this blog.
Today something prompted me to go back and read through some of them. As I read memories of the events came back to me, things I had forgotten until now, but fortunately they were persevered in type. And as I read I started to ask myself "What happened?" So much of that doesn't sound like me now. So much of it points to a guy who had a closer and deeper relationship with God, a more utter dependence upon Him, and a lot more hope and faith that He would do incredible things.
I thought about the post I wrote a few days ago, and I'm just amazed at how negative and angry bits of it are. That guy back then would have never written that for the world to read. So what's changed in the last half decade? How, when I'm supposed to be growing closer to, and more like, Christ daily does that college student seem to be so much farther ahead than I am now?
If I'm honest, he was.
That guy was closer to God than I am right now. That guy couldn't put the Bible down. That guy knew both how to pray and how to hear from God. That guy knew how to worship. That guy KNEW God.
So what happened?
I think it began with a loss of community. Instead of having the constant support and friendship, he had to set out into the world on his own, literally alone. He got into the Church and started to see what it had become. He got distracted by things that He allowed to become more important, that filled up the time He spent with his closest Friend. It happened slowly, and he just sort of never fully recovered.
There were times when things seemed to get back to where they were. A powerful Sunday, a few days of retreat with brothers, but it wasn't the same, it wasn't permanent. Now he's trying to figure out who he is. Now he's trying to figure out how to love and lead a wife. Now he's trying to figure out what God wants from him, but he's sort of forgotten how to communicate with Him.
Writing this really isn't that embarrassing or humiliating, I'm kind of surprised. None of this is meant to point fingers at people or blame them for not being there. And none of this is trying to make excuses.
I had an intimacy with God that I desperately miss and want back. And the question is, am I willing to pay the price that I was back then? It's defiantly more of a battle now, life is so much simpler for a single college student, but it's also so much more crucial now. This battle must be fought and it must be won.
And so I guess I'm asking for your prayers. Pray for discipline to not be distracted by the worthless things that want to fill my time. Pray for community and fellowship for my wife and I. Pray for an intimacy with God that far surpasses what I once had.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Today something prompted me to go back and read through some of them. As I read memories of the events came back to me, things I had forgotten until now, but fortunately they were persevered in type. And as I read I started to ask myself "What happened?" So much of that doesn't sound like me now. So much of it points to a guy who had a closer and deeper relationship with God, a more utter dependence upon Him, and a lot more hope and faith that He would do incredible things.
I thought about the post I wrote a few days ago, and I'm just amazed at how negative and angry bits of it are. That guy back then would have never written that for the world to read. So what's changed in the last half decade? How, when I'm supposed to be growing closer to, and more like, Christ daily does that college student seem to be so much farther ahead than I am now?
If I'm honest, he was.
That guy was closer to God than I am right now. That guy couldn't put the Bible down. That guy knew both how to pray and how to hear from God. That guy knew how to worship. That guy KNEW God.
So what happened?
I think it began with a loss of community. Instead of having the constant support and friendship, he had to set out into the world on his own, literally alone. He got into the Church and started to see what it had become. He got distracted by things that He allowed to become more important, that filled up the time He spent with his closest Friend. It happened slowly, and he just sort of never fully recovered.
There were times when things seemed to get back to where they were. A powerful Sunday, a few days of retreat with brothers, but it wasn't the same, it wasn't permanent. Now he's trying to figure out who he is. Now he's trying to figure out how to love and lead a wife. Now he's trying to figure out what God wants from him, but he's sort of forgotten how to communicate with Him.
Writing this really isn't that embarrassing or humiliating, I'm kind of surprised. None of this is meant to point fingers at people or blame them for not being there. And none of this is trying to make excuses.
I had an intimacy with God that I desperately miss and want back. And the question is, am I willing to pay the price that I was back then? It's defiantly more of a battle now, life is so much simpler for a single college student, but it's also so much more crucial now. This battle must be fought and it must be won.
And so I guess I'm asking for your prayers. Pray for discipline to not be distracted by the worthless things that want to fill my time. Pray for community and fellowship for my wife and I. Pray for an intimacy with God that far surpasses what I once had.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Sunday, April 28, 2013
One of those random posts
I have a lot of different thoughts going through my mind right now, no one thing really dominate, and so this is one of those occasional posts where I just start writing on a variety of subjects, edit at the end so I don't say something that gets me in trouble, and see where we end up.
First the idea of burning bridges. It's been something I've thought about over the last few years, and a lot over the last few weeks. I'll be the first to admit that occasionally I'd love to burn a few with a lot more spite than I should, but I never do because I really do want to reflect Christ. For years my parents have told me not go burning bridges. To a point I understand that. If all you do is burn bridges it won't be long before you're standing alone on an island with no where to go. But sometimes the only way to move forward is to burn the bridge behind you so that you aren't dragged back across it.
Sometimes we aren't the ones who burn the bridge, others drive us to the other side by their absence or lack of involvement, or by breaking trust, and then they go back across to leave us alone permanently on the other side. And sometimes we make a decision to end a relationship. Right now I'm at the point where I contemplating a pretty significant change as a result of being driven across a bridge. Right now it's about weighing the pros and cons and deciding where does this change leave me.
I've thought about death some recently. Yesterday I heard a song that I wanted to have played at my funeral, and I wondered who would be there if it was tomorrow? I don't feel like I've made a very big impact in the lives of people I've known, and part of me doesn't feel like I'd be missed by many or that most people would notice or care (I'm not suicidal just to throw that out there).
Part of the death thought comes from the violent events of the last few months. It's only a matter of time until there is another public shooting, no law is going to stop that, and actually some of the laws they have tired to pass could make them worse by taking guns away from law abiding citizens who step up to stop shooters. As I've been places with my wife I do a lot more observing than I usually do. I try to be aware of what's going on and who's around me at all times. The other day I told her, "If we are ever somewhere and someone starts shooting this is what I want you to do..." Last night we were somewhere and I just asked her, "What do you do if you're here and someone starts shooting?" Just trying to build the memory so in the event that it happens she's ready.
Along with this comes the thinking of what it is like to die. The reality, and inevitability, of it has been on my mind, especially this morning. I've thought about what it will be like to be in the presence of God. I've thought some about Heaven, wondering what it will be like.
I've dealt with some anger and frustration over the last couple days. One day it was really cold in the morning, I had to leave at 5:15 am and my vehicle was frozen. The door handle snapped off when I tried to open it, and I saw yesterday that the passenger side door handle was cracked. It was just one of those little things that I didn't really need right now. I've watched another job slip away, going to someone whose had the opportunity to get experience in a large church setting, and it's just driven into me the fact that those who have had the opportunity to be successful continue to get the opportunities to be more successful, and the rest of us never get a chance. It's made me really sick of Church politics and it all being about who you know, which it really is, and I tend to be on the opposite end of that because I don't have any family that has been denominational leaders or pastors of huge churches.
I've wondered a lot recently if I'm done with ministry. No one is calling, even after listing that I'm willing to volunteer in the right setting. I don't want charity, I don't want to be handed something because of who I know. I want to earn it. I want to be given a chance that has the potential to go well and see what I'm made of, see what I am able to do, see if there really is anything to the potential that everyone has always told me I have. But I've really felt that that chance is something I'm never going to get. And it drives me nuts.
I'm so restless right now. I'm working a job that doesn't test me, that doesn't excite me, that doesn't have any eternal value right now, and that I really don't want anyone to know about because it's a bit humiliating (just realized that one this past week when a pastor friend randomly bumped into me at work). I've got years preparing for a calling that I'm not getting the opportunity to fulfill.
And in all of this I still want to praise God. I'm not trying to make myself sound super righteous, because I'm not, and I'm not trying to make myself sound super humble, which again, I'm not. But yesterday as I got to work a few minutes early I sat in my vehicle and pulled up the song "10,000 Reasons" on my phone. Those words, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name" hit me. That is what I want my response to be.
And as I listened to those words I read these in Psalm 6, "O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,nor chasten me in Your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed. And my soul is greatly dismayed; but You, O Lord—how long? Return, O Lord, rescue my soul; save me because of Your lovingkindness. For there is no mention of You in death; in Sheol who will give You thanks? I am weary with my sighing; every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief; it has become old because of all my adversaries. Depart from me, all you who do iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication, the Lord receives my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed; they shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed."
Verses 2 and 3 are really how I feel, and I'm just wondering, "God, how long?"
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
First the idea of burning bridges. It's been something I've thought about over the last few years, and a lot over the last few weeks. I'll be the first to admit that occasionally I'd love to burn a few with a lot more spite than I should, but I never do because I really do want to reflect Christ. For years my parents have told me not go burning bridges. To a point I understand that. If all you do is burn bridges it won't be long before you're standing alone on an island with no where to go. But sometimes the only way to move forward is to burn the bridge behind you so that you aren't dragged back across it.
Sometimes we aren't the ones who burn the bridge, others drive us to the other side by their absence or lack of involvement, or by breaking trust, and then they go back across to leave us alone permanently on the other side. And sometimes we make a decision to end a relationship. Right now I'm at the point where I contemplating a pretty significant change as a result of being driven across a bridge. Right now it's about weighing the pros and cons and deciding where does this change leave me.
I've thought about death some recently. Yesterday I heard a song that I wanted to have played at my funeral, and I wondered who would be there if it was tomorrow? I don't feel like I've made a very big impact in the lives of people I've known, and part of me doesn't feel like I'd be missed by many or that most people would notice or care (I'm not suicidal just to throw that out there).
Part of the death thought comes from the violent events of the last few months. It's only a matter of time until there is another public shooting, no law is going to stop that, and actually some of the laws they have tired to pass could make them worse by taking guns away from law abiding citizens who step up to stop shooters. As I've been places with my wife I do a lot more observing than I usually do. I try to be aware of what's going on and who's around me at all times. The other day I told her, "If we are ever somewhere and someone starts shooting this is what I want you to do..." Last night we were somewhere and I just asked her, "What do you do if you're here and someone starts shooting?" Just trying to build the memory so in the event that it happens she's ready.
Along with this comes the thinking of what it is like to die. The reality, and inevitability, of it has been on my mind, especially this morning. I've thought about what it will be like to be in the presence of God. I've thought some about Heaven, wondering what it will be like.
I've dealt with some anger and frustration over the last couple days. One day it was really cold in the morning, I had to leave at 5:15 am and my vehicle was frozen. The door handle snapped off when I tried to open it, and I saw yesterday that the passenger side door handle was cracked. It was just one of those little things that I didn't really need right now. I've watched another job slip away, going to someone whose had the opportunity to get experience in a large church setting, and it's just driven into me the fact that those who have had the opportunity to be successful continue to get the opportunities to be more successful, and the rest of us never get a chance. It's made me really sick of Church politics and it all being about who you know, which it really is, and I tend to be on the opposite end of that because I don't have any family that has been denominational leaders or pastors of huge churches.
I've wondered a lot recently if I'm done with ministry. No one is calling, even after listing that I'm willing to volunteer in the right setting. I don't want charity, I don't want to be handed something because of who I know. I want to earn it. I want to be given a chance that has the potential to go well and see what I'm made of, see what I am able to do, see if there really is anything to the potential that everyone has always told me I have. But I've really felt that that chance is something I'm never going to get. And it drives me nuts.
I'm so restless right now. I'm working a job that doesn't test me, that doesn't excite me, that doesn't have any eternal value right now, and that I really don't want anyone to know about because it's a bit humiliating (just realized that one this past week when a pastor friend randomly bumped into me at work). I've got years preparing for a calling that I'm not getting the opportunity to fulfill.
And in all of this I still want to praise God. I'm not trying to make myself sound super righteous, because I'm not, and I'm not trying to make myself sound super humble, which again, I'm not. But yesterday as I got to work a few minutes early I sat in my vehicle and pulled up the song "10,000 Reasons" on my phone. Those words, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name" hit me. That is what I want my response to be.
And as I listened to those words I read these in Psalm 6, "O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,nor chasten me in Your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed. And my soul is greatly dismayed; but You, O Lord—how long? Return, O Lord, rescue my soul; save me because of Your lovingkindness. For there is no mention of You in death; in Sheol who will give You thanks? I am weary with my sighing; every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief; it has become old because of all my adversaries. Depart from me, all you who do iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication, the Lord receives my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed; they shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed."
Verses 2 and 3 are really how I feel, and I'm just wondering, "God, how long?"
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Monday, April 22, 2013
Ephesians 3.20-21
I know I've mentioned this verse a lot recently (some of it in conversations), but I can't stop thinking about it.
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."
These two verses tell us some incredible things about God and about us. Recently this verse has been a huge source of hope for me. It tells me that God is working in me. God's power is at work in my life. He is using me to bring about His Kingdom. He is molding me into the image of His Son. And He is using me to help others see who He is and how to become like Christ.
That in itself is an incredible blessing. That in and of itself is more than enough. But that information is second in this verse. It begins with the statement that God, who is working in us, is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. Not simply what we ask and think, but far more. And not just far more, but far more abundantly.
That word, abundantly, means, "present in great quantity; more than adequate; oversufficient". In Greek the word is huper, and it means, "in behalf of, for the sake of; over, beyond, more than; more, beyond, over". God isn't able to just meet our needs, but to far exceed them in ways that go beyond what we would ever hope to imagine. And since He is at work in us already, God wants to do far more than we ask or think.
God wants to do great things in my life. God wants to do greater things than I could ever begin to think of in my life. And God is at work to bring them about. And He is doing the same thing in you. God wants to do far more abundantly beyond all that you ask or think. He wants to be oversufficeient. He wants to go over and beyond what you could ever ask Him for.
This thought just came to me. I had a friend who died of cancer almost six and a half years ago, (that's hard to believe it's been that long). So many people prayed for her healing. And God answered those prayers in a way that was greater than we had asked. He took her home, and healed her permanently. That was greater than anything we had asked for. Rather than giving her more time here, where countless illnesses and injuries could come, God took her to heaven, where she will never experience pain or sadness again.
Right now in life I'm focusing on these two verses. I have plans that have seemed perfect, but they haven't worked out. But I'm reminded that God has something far greater in mind. It might require some big changes, but it will be better than anything I could ever have imagined. That is the God I serve. He is God who doesn't do the minimum, but goes above and beyond. He doesn't hold back, but is incredibly generous. And so that leads to the question, why aren't things better?
Maybe you are imagining enough. Maybe you aren't asking. Maybe you're focused on the wrong thing or with the wrong motive. And maybe you're withholding praise.
This statement about God also comes with instructions to us. To God who is able to do far more abundantly than what we ask or hope for, "to Him be the glory". God must be glorified for what He has done, and more than that, simply for who He is. It isn't my job to make things happen. It isn't my job to complain when things don't work out. It is my job to glorify God, dream big, pray big, and watch Him work wonders beyond all of that. And for that I glorify Him all the more, and until it gets to that point, I glorify Him now.
God will do great things, and God will be glorified for the great things He does. Christianity is not about a God who does enough to get by. Look at salvation. There was a system in place that worked. For every sin a sacrifice had to be offered to pay for it. The Jews did it for thousands of years, and it was enough. But God went above and beyond. He became a man and offered Himself as the final sacrifice for all sin. That is how God works, that is who God is.
Glorify God, dream big, pray fervently, watch Him do incredible wonders.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."
These two verses tell us some incredible things about God and about us. Recently this verse has been a huge source of hope for me. It tells me that God is working in me. God's power is at work in my life. He is using me to bring about His Kingdom. He is molding me into the image of His Son. And He is using me to help others see who He is and how to become like Christ.
That in itself is an incredible blessing. That in and of itself is more than enough. But that information is second in this verse. It begins with the statement that God, who is working in us, is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. Not simply what we ask and think, but far more. And not just far more, but far more abundantly.
That word, abundantly, means, "present in great quantity; more than adequate; oversufficient". In Greek the word is huper, and it means, "in behalf of, for the sake of; over, beyond, more than; more, beyond, over". God isn't able to just meet our needs, but to far exceed them in ways that go beyond what we would ever hope to imagine. And since He is at work in us already, God wants to do far more than we ask or think.
God wants to do great things in my life. God wants to do greater things than I could ever begin to think of in my life. And God is at work to bring them about. And He is doing the same thing in you. God wants to do far more abundantly beyond all that you ask or think. He wants to be oversufficeient. He wants to go over and beyond what you could ever ask Him for.
This thought just came to me. I had a friend who died of cancer almost six and a half years ago, (that's hard to believe it's been that long). So many people prayed for her healing. And God answered those prayers in a way that was greater than we had asked. He took her home, and healed her permanently. That was greater than anything we had asked for. Rather than giving her more time here, where countless illnesses and injuries could come, God took her to heaven, where she will never experience pain or sadness again.
Right now in life I'm focusing on these two verses. I have plans that have seemed perfect, but they haven't worked out. But I'm reminded that God has something far greater in mind. It might require some big changes, but it will be better than anything I could ever have imagined. That is the God I serve. He is God who doesn't do the minimum, but goes above and beyond. He doesn't hold back, but is incredibly generous. And so that leads to the question, why aren't things better?
Maybe you are imagining enough. Maybe you aren't asking. Maybe you're focused on the wrong thing or with the wrong motive. And maybe you're withholding praise.
This statement about God also comes with instructions to us. To God who is able to do far more abundantly than what we ask or hope for, "to Him be the glory". God must be glorified for what He has done, and more than that, simply for who He is. It isn't my job to make things happen. It isn't my job to complain when things don't work out. It is my job to glorify God, dream big, pray big, and watch Him work wonders beyond all of that. And for that I glorify Him all the more, and until it gets to that point, I glorify Him now.
God will do great things, and God will be glorified for the great things He does. Christianity is not about a God who does enough to get by. Look at salvation. There was a system in place that worked. For every sin a sacrifice had to be offered to pay for it. The Jews did it for thousands of years, and it was enough. But God went above and beyond. He became a man and offered Himself as the final sacrifice for all sin. That is how God works, that is who God is.
Glorify God, dream big, pray fervently, watch Him do incredible wonders.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Friday, April 19, 2013
Ancient Social Custom
As part of the class I did for the Israel trip I had to read a book. I was smart and ended up re-taking the class I took for my undergrad on the trip four years ago, this time for master's credit. I had kept one of the books from the previous class and had the chance to re-read it this time. It's mentioned off to the right under my suggested reading.
Jesus and the Land by Charles Page, something about it had hit me on the first read through that I decided to keep it, and for some reason I also thought it was good enough to recommend that other people read. I had all of this in mind as I started it again, and at first I wondered what I had been thinking. There isn't much in the first chapters that hit me as significant or important. Until recently I didn't do much underlining in books, so I had nothing marked in it and had no way of knowing what had inspired me to keep it.
But then I got to the chapter on the Galilean ministry of Jesus, and one of the most thought provoking statements I've read hit me. "To be offered a drink and then to receive that drink of water was like a social contract in that this act of hospitality would require both the giver and the receiver to be friends for one year. There was also an implied social contract between people who ate together, requiring that they be friends for the rest of their lives."
This simple insight into the cultural protocol of the first century reveals a deeper meaning to so many statements and actions of the New Testament. There is the woman at the well in John 4, Judas at the last supper, and the first thought that hit me, Paul in Romans 12.20, "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." The knowledge of this ancient social custom casts all of this in a new light.
The woman at the well was a Samaritan woman of questionable character, and yet Jesus publicly talks with her, and asks her for a drink. He is offering her His friendship for one year by receiving the physical water, but then offers her living water, eternal friendship.
To Judas, His betrayer, Jesus shares His final meal before the cross. He and Judas share a moment when Jesus hands him a morsel (John 13), that came with the offer of lifelong friendship. Knowing what Judas was about to do, what he would leave to do as soon as the morsel was eaten, and yet friendship is the final thing Jesus offers to Judas as he leaves to betray Him to death.
And the words of Paul to the Roman Church, "if your enemy is hungry feed him, and if he is thirsty give him a drink" turn your enemy into your friend. Offer him lifelong friendship, offer him friendship for a year, and "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12.21).
Today if you visit Israel, as well as some other Middle Eastern countries, when you enter some hotels and businesses you will often be offered a beverage. In Israel I've been given juice, Egypt soda, Turkey tea and one carpet store owner bought our group lunch. I don't know that these signs of hospitality still carry the same meaning, but they might. As you enter a place to stay or do business the owner offers you his friendship.
Christianity is a about love. With this insight we again see that Jesus was teaching His followers and those He interacted with, what God is really like. We have been offered friendship with God. In the Church we celebrate the sacrament of Communion together. We eat the bread which symbolizes the broken body of Jesus, we drink the juice (in some cases wine) which represents His shed blood. We share a meal together, we commit to a lifelong friendship, and if this is the case why is there so much in the Church that isn't done among friends? That's all I'm going to say on that, at least for now.
The message of Christianity is the love of God. It is a message that turns enemies into friends. And as we see another aspect of the cultural world of the Bible, we see even more clearly who Jesus was, what He really said and taught, and more clearly of how to become like Him.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Jesus and the Land by Charles Page, something about it had hit me on the first read through that I decided to keep it, and for some reason I also thought it was good enough to recommend that other people read. I had all of this in mind as I started it again, and at first I wondered what I had been thinking. There isn't much in the first chapters that hit me as significant or important. Until recently I didn't do much underlining in books, so I had nothing marked in it and had no way of knowing what had inspired me to keep it.
But then I got to the chapter on the Galilean ministry of Jesus, and one of the most thought provoking statements I've read hit me. "To be offered a drink and then to receive that drink of water was like a social contract in that this act of hospitality would require both the giver and the receiver to be friends for one year. There was also an implied social contract between people who ate together, requiring that they be friends for the rest of their lives."
This simple insight into the cultural protocol of the first century reveals a deeper meaning to so many statements and actions of the New Testament. There is the woman at the well in John 4, Judas at the last supper, and the first thought that hit me, Paul in Romans 12.20, "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." The knowledge of this ancient social custom casts all of this in a new light.
The woman at the well was a Samaritan woman of questionable character, and yet Jesus publicly talks with her, and asks her for a drink. He is offering her His friendship for one year by receiving the physical water, but then offers her living water, eternal friendship.
To Judas, His betrayer, Jesus shares His final meal before the cross. He and Judas share a moment when Jesus hands him a morsel (John 13), that came with the offer of lifelong friendship. Knowing what Judas was about to do, what he would leave to do as soon as the morsel was eaten, and yet friendship is the final thing Jesus offers to Judas as he leaves to betray Him to death.
And the words of Paul to the Roman Church, "if your enemy is hungry feed him, and if he is thirsty give him a drink" turn your enemy into your friend. Offer him lifelong friendship, offer him friendship for a year, and "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12.21).
Today if you visit Israel, as well as some other Middle Eastern countries, when you enter some hotels and businesses you will often be offered a beverage. In Israel I've been given juice, Egypt soda, Turkey tea and one carpet store owner bought our group lunch. I don't know that these signs of hospitality still carry the same meaning, but they might. As you enter a place to stay or do business the owner offers you his friendship.
Christianity is a about love. With this insight we again see that Jesus was teaching His followers and those He interacted with, what God is really like. We have been offered friendship with God. In the Church we celebrate the sacrament of Communion together. We eat the bread which symbolizes the broken body of Jesus, we drink the juice (in some cases wine) which represents His shed blood. We share a meal together, we commit to a lifelong friendship, and if this is the case why is there so much in the Church that isn't done among friends? That's all I'm going to say on that, at least for now.
The message of Christianity is the love of God. It is a message that turns enemies into friends. And as we see another aspect of the cultural world of the Bible, we see even more clearly who Jesus was, what He really said and taught, and more clearly of how to become like Him.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
God Loves You, and So Do I
I never thought that writing two blogs would be as difficult as it is. Part of it might just be having no routine in life. Usually what I write about is the stuff I'm thinking and working through, which lately has been mostly stuff about becoming the man God made me to be, and I'm not going to write the same thing on two blogs. But I do want to keep this one consistent, and I am hoping for a change soon that will give life a little more structure.
A few days ago something came to my mind that I haven't thought about in years. My last semester of college I had to take one final, I guess gen ed course, called Senior Colloquium. Don't really remember much of the class aside from doing a sweet project that involved more time and energy than any other school assignment I had ever done (and we did all that work by choice, ironically in our final semester of school). But even the specifics of the project I don't fully remember.
But there is one thing from class I do remember quite clearly. Every day at the start of class the professor would stand up, get our attention, and share some devotional thought. At the end of that, every day without fail, he would say, "Has anyone told you today that you are loved? If not let me be the first. God loves you, and so do I." Each of his students has heard every day of class that they are loved.
I don't know what made me think of that, but it is the one thing I remember most clearly about him. And if you asked any of his students to tell you one thing about him I guarantee it would be the same thing. Every day he told me I was loved.
What if we all had someone like that? I am blessed with a wife who tells me everyday that she loves me, but when I was single, living on my own, I would go weeks without being told that. I don't know the last time I heard those words from anyone other than my wife to tell you the truth, and that isn't a complaint just a statement.
There are people out there who don't hear those words, who don't feel loved, or that they are lovable. A few weeks ago my wife came home from work upset, I could see she had been crying. She told me about a lady who worked at the store she's at, who had died suddenly over the weekend. My wife is the kindest person I have ever met, and she began to tell me about this lady. She worked as a custodian at the store, was a single mom with an autistic son. She used to come to work early just to be able to talk to my wife and not get in trouble with management. My wife was a friend to her.
The thing that really hit me was when my wife told me that one day she had told this lady that she looked really pretty with the way she had done her hair that day. She told my wife, "That's the first compliment anyone has ever given me." That hit me so hard. This lady had lived her whole life without being told she was beautiful. She had lived her whole life not knowing that she was loved, feeling unlovable and that she didn't matter.
And as I listened to my wife tell me about the last few months I was able to give her some comfort by showing her that because of her this woman's last months on earth were the best she had ever lived. For the first time someone had shown her love, some one had shown her that she was lovable.
We all meet people everyday who are like that lady. Most of them we don't know and will never see again. Some of them we have known for years but have never realized this side of their lives. Everyday my professor stood in front of students, many who would probably never see him again after the semester, but every day he told them that they were loved by him, but more importantly by God.
We can all be like my professor. We can all be like my wife. All of us have the ability to show love. You never know when you might be showing someone love for the first time in their life. You never know when you might be there loving someone at the end of theirs. So today, tell someone that they are loved. Show someone the love of God.
Has anyone told you that you are loved today? If not let me be the first. God loves you, and so do I.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
A few days ago something came to my mind that I haven't thought about in years. My last semester of college I had to take one final, I guess gen ed course, called Senior Colloquium. Don't really remember much of the class aside from doing a sweet project that involved more time and energy than any other school assignment I had ever done (and we did all that work by choice, ironically in our final semester of school). But even the specifics of the project I don't fully remember.
But there is one thing from class I do remember quite clearly. Every day at the start of class the professor would stand up, get our attention, and share some devotional thought. At the end of that, every day without fail, he would say, "Has anyone told you today that you are loved? If not let me be the first. God loves you, and so do I." Each of his students has heard every day of class that they are loved.
I don't know what made me think of that, but it is the one thing I remember most clearly about him. And if you asked any of his students to tell you one thing about him I guarantee it would be the same thing. Every day he told me I was loved.
What if we all had someone like that? I am blessed with a wife who tells me everyday that she loves me, but when I was single, living on my own, I would go weeks without being told that. I don't know the last time I heard those words from anyone other than my wife to tell you the truth, and that isn't a complaint just a statement.
There are people out there who don't hear those words, who don't feel loved, or that they are lovable. A few weeks ago my wife came home from work upset, I could see she had been crying. She told me about a lady who worked at the store she's at, who had died suddenly over the weekend. My wife is the kindest person I have ever met, and she began to tell me about this lady. She worked as a custodian at the store, was a single mom with an autistic son. She used to come to work early just to be able to talk to my wife and not get in trouble with management. My wife was a friend to her.
The thing that really hit me was when my wife told me that one day she had told this lady that she looked really pretty with the way she had done her hair that day. She told my wife, "That's the first compliment anyone has ever given me." That hit me so hard. This lady had lived her whole life without being told she was beautiful. She had lived her whole life not knowing that she was loved, feeling unlovable and that she didn't matter.
And as I listened to my wife tell me about the last few months I was able to give her some comfort by showing her that because of her this woman's last months on earth were the best she had ever lived. For the first time someone had shown her love, some one had shown her that she was lovable.
We all meet people everyday who are like that lady. Most of them we don't know and will never see again. Some of them we have known for years but have never realized this side of their lives. Everyday my professor stood in front of students, many who would probably never see him again after the semester, but every day he told them that they were loved by him, but more importantly by God.
We can all be like my professor. We can all be like my wife. All of us have the ability to show love. You never know when you might be showing someone love for the first time in their life. You never know when you might be there loving someone at the end of theirs. So today, tell someone that they are loved. Show someone the love of God.
Has anyone told you that you are loved today? If not let me be the first. God loves you, and so do I.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Confession
What I'm about to say is going to challenge a few hundred years of thinking and tradition. And so with that said, I am not stating this as final fact, more offering a thought based on the Bible. Sunday at Church the pastor reminded me that my job is to preach the Word, not tradition, but the Word. And so with that, let's look at this thought.
A few months ago a pastor friend posed a question on Facebook about the Bible saying we needed to confess our sins and ask God to forgive us from them in order to be saved. I didn't give it much thought at the time because it was something different than what I had been taught, and there was a lot of other stuff going on so I didn't dive into the Bible to look at it much. And then I forgot about it until a few weeks ago.
My wife and I were at a Jason Gray and Andrew Peterson concert, and as Andrew introduced one of his songs he shared his story of being saved by Jesus. His dad was a pastor and at the end of every service would ask if anyone wanted to enter into a relationship with Jesus. When a person would come froward He would lead them in a confession and then baptize them then and there. He shared about the time he went forward, was lead in confession. His dad lead him in a personalized form of Peter's words from Matthew 16.16, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
"I believe He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. My Lord and my Savior."
What if that is all it takes? In Romans 10.9-10 we are told, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
As I look at the Gospels, I don't see people coming to Jesus seeking forgiveness of sins. I see people coming to Him for healing, believing that He was sent from God, and Jesus declaring that their sins were forgiven and that their faith had healed them. I see people who believed, came to Him, and were given more than they asked for. Their faith in Jesus' power to heal brought them forgiveness of sin.
The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. Confess and believe. Acknowledge who Jesus is, and declare Him as the Lord and Savior of your life. According to the Bible this is all you have to do in order to be saved.
Now this does come with some stipulations, after making this confession you can't continue to live life as you did before. By declaring Jesus as your Lord, you have given Him ownership of your life, you have committed to live according to His standards. This declaration is a pledge of loyalty and allegiance. It is a declaration of surrender and submission.
"I believe He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. My Lord and my Savior." What if that statement is all that it takes? Does it change our thought process? How does it affect how perception of repentance? Does it change anything? Honestly, I think it simplifies a lot. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Declare Him as the Lord and ruler of your life. Acknowledge Him as the one who saves you.
I don't think God complicates something as crucial as Salvation. I believe it is as simple as a heart felt statement, "I believe He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. My Lord and my Savior."
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
A few months ago a pastor friend posed a question on Facebook about the Bible saying we needed to confess our sins and ask God to forgive us from them in order to be saved. I didn't give it much thought at the time because it was something different than what I had been taught, and there was a lot of other stuff going on so I didn't dive into the Bible to look at it much. And then I forgot about it until a few weeks ago.
My wife and I were at a Jason Gray and Andrew Peterson concert, and as Andrew introduced one of his songs he shared his story of being saved by Jesus. His dad was a pastor and at the end of every service would ask if anyone wanted to enter into a relationship with Jesus. When a person would come froward He would lead them in a confession and then baptize them then and there. He shared about the time he went forward, was lead in confession. His dad lead him in a personalized form of Peter's words from Matthew 16.16, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
"I believe He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. My Lord and my Savior."
What if that is all it takes? In Romans 10.9-10 we are told, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
As I look at the Gospels, I don't see people coming to Jesus seeking forgiveness of sins. I see people coming to Him for healing, believing that He was sent from God, and Jesus declaring that their sins were forgiven and that their faith had healed them. I see people who believed, came to Him, and were given more than they asked for. Their faith in Jesus' power to heal brought them forgiveness of sin.
The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. Confess and believe. Acknowledge who Jesus is, and declare Him as the Lord and Savior of your life. According to the Bible this is all you have to do in order to be saved.
Now this does come with some stipulations, after making this confession you can't continue to live life as you did before. By declaring Jesus as your Lord, you have given Him ownership of your life, you have committed to live according to His standards. This declaration is a pledge of loyalty and allegiance. It is a declaration of surrender and submission.
"I believe He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. My Lord and my Savior." What if that statement is all that it takes? Does it change our thought process? How does it affect how perception of repentance? Does it change anything? Honestly, I think it simplifies a lot. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Declare Him as the Lord and ruler of your life. Acknowledge Him as the one who saves you.
I don't think God complicates something as crucial as Salvation. I believe it is as simple as a heart felt statement, "I believe He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. My Lord and my Savior."
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Abandoned by God
That's how I've felt, in some ways for most of the past year. Dead end ministry with no help, attacks from those within the Church, stuck in a very undesirable place to wait, and all of this with the silence of God. I felt like God didn't care, because if He did He'd at least give me something to go on. Instead things went from worse to impossible to hopeless. And we felt alone. I'd watch my wife cry and know there was nothing I could do to fix it, and that's about the most worthless I've ever felt.
I shared with a pastor friend how I felt like my wife and I were Sam and Frodo struggling up Mount Doom alone, while everyone else was enjoying life in the Shire. We have been very much alone through most of this, and that's made it even harder. People we thought would be there for us have been no where in sight. Some people who have been there haven't been able to do anything. Some offered help that we weren't able to accept. And all of it had left us asking God "Why?".
During this time I have made the statement, "I hate my life" more than a few times. I'm a 26 year old who is living in his parent's basement with his wife and dog. For a long time I hadn't been able to find any job, even with a college degree. I got turned down at Toys-R-Us during Christmas. I looked at Navy Chaplaincy, Hospital Chaplaincy, Hospice Chaplaincy, not to mention just about every Church staff position remotely related to my areas of giftedness. Most of the time I didn't even get a reply, and the times I did where "Thank you for applying, unfortunately we've decided to pursue other candidates."
We were stuck in the last place I wanted to be, with no way to get out, and no one to walk this stretch of road with us. My parent's house hasn't been a place where God and I have connected in recent years. It really doesn't feel like home anymore, because it isn't. I'm a guest here, sometimes I feel more like a stranger if I'm honest. And I wondered a lot why God would send me here, of all places, during this time when I needed Him most. But I've come to see that this is exactly where I needed to be.
My wife and I have both felt a calling on our lives to work with young people. One of my strongest passions is leading boys into manhood, showing what a man of God is, and helping them to become one. My wife shares the same passion for girls. As she sees them no realize their beauty, feel the need to conform and change themselves in order to be beautiful in the world's eyes, her heart breaks for them. I'm not sure where God is leading us to serve in that capacity, but we've started now in the one way we can.
I've mentioned my new blog, "Man of God", and shortly after I started that I felt like my wife needed to do something similar. I mentioned it to her, and she said she had been thinking the same thing. It was a few weeks, and conversations with various other people, later that "the true marks of a woman" was created. There are links to both blogs at the bottom of the page.
As I have began this aspect of ministering to boys and men, God has started to reveal why we're here, why this is exactly where I needed to be. All men carry a wound that has been aimed to take out there strength. For years I have tried, and failed, to identify mine, because I've been protecting the people who have wounded me. Because of that the wound could never heal. And so God had to bring me back to this place, in a situations where I had no one else to turn to, in order to bring about healing.
Looking back, I now see that God never abandoned me. He simply had to get me to the place where I was willing to let Him work. Unfortunately for me I'm stubborn and it took losing a lot to get to this point. A few weeks ago my wife and I were at a concert featuring Jason Gray and Andrew Peterson. We heard a song that night that hit us both. Jason got up and began to introduce the song, and then we listened to him sing:
The hurt that broke your heart
And left you trembling in the dark
Feeling lost and alone
Will tell you hope’s a lie
But what if every tear you cry
Will seed the ground where joy will grow
And nothing is wasted
Nothing is wasted
In the hands of our Redeemer
Nothing is wasted
It’s from the deepest wounds
That beauty finds a place to bloom
And you will see before the end
That every broken piece is
Gathered in the heart of Jesus
And what’s lost will be found again
And nothing is wasted
Nothing is wasted
In the hands of our Redeemer
Nothing is wasted
From the ruins
From the ashes
Beauty will rise
From the wreckage
From the darkness
Glory will shine
Nothing is wasted in the hands of God. Everything that He does is done out of His love for us. You may be in a similar situation, let me assure you, God has not abandoned you. In college I took a class on Job and Psalms, about the only thing I remember is my professor saying, "God's silence does not equal God's absence." God does not abandon His people.
The future still has no real direction. We are still waiting and I am still restless for a Church job, but I have started to find contentment in knowing that I will only ever be what God allows me to be. And for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I can honestly say that I'm ok with that.
And at the same time I'm holding on to hope. Ephesians 3.20-21 says, "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." God will do more in my wife and I than we could ever ask or imagine. And because of that I have hope. And with that in mind I want to focus on the second part, "to Him be the glory". Matt Redman's "10,000 Reasons" has been on my mind, and that message:
The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
is what I want to be the declaration of my life. Whatever happens each day, I want to be singing His praise at the end of it. God is at work, nothing is wasted, God does not abandon His children. So may you be filled with hope, and may you give glory to God.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
I shared with a pastor friend how I felt like my wife and I were Sam and Frodo struggling up Mount Doom alone, while everyone else was enjoying life in the Shire. We have been very much alone through most of this, and that's made it even harder. People we thought would be there for us have been no where in sight. Some people who have been there haven't been able to do anything. Some offered help that we weren't able to accept. And all of it had left us asking God "Why?".
During this time I have made the statement, "I hate my life" more than a few times. I'm a 26 year old who is living in his parent's basement with his wife and dog. For a long time I hadn't been able to find any job, even with a college degree. I got turned down at Toys-R-Us during Christmas. I looked at Navy Chaplaincy, Hospital Chaplaincy, Hospice Chaplaincy, not to mention just about every Church staff position remotely related to my areas of giftedness. Most of the time I didn't even get a reply, and the times I did where "Thank you for applying, unfortunately we've decided to pursue other candidates."
We were stuck in the last place I wanted to be, with no way to get out, and no one to walk this stretch of road with us. My parent's house hasn't been a place where God and I have connected in recent years. It really doesn't feel like home anymore, because it isn't. I'm a guest here, sometimes I feel more like a stranger if I'm honest. And I wondered a lot why God would send me here, of all places, during this time when I needed Him most. But I've come to see that this is exactly where I needed to be.
My wife and I have both felt a calling on our lives to work with young people. One of my strongest passions is leading boys into manhood, showing what a man of God is, and helping them to become one. My wife shares the same passion for girls. As she sees them no realize their beauty, feel the need to conform and change themselves in order to be beautiful in the world's eyes, her heart breaks for them. I'm not sure where God is leading us to serve in that capacity, but we've started now in the one way we can.
I've mentioned my new blog, "Man of God", and shortly after I started that I felt like my wife needed to do something similar. I mentioned it to her, and she said she had been thinking the same thing. It was a few weeks, and conversations with various other people, later that "the true marks of a woman" was created. There are links to both blogs at the bottom of the page.
As I have began this aspect of ministering to boys and men, God has started to reveal why we're here, why this is exactly where I needed to be. All men carry a wound that has been aimed to take out there strength. For years I have tried, and failed, to identify mine, because I've been protecting the people who have wounded me. Because of that the wound could never heal. And so God had to bring me back to this place, in a situations where I had no one else to turn to, in order to bring about healing.
Looking back, I now see that God never abandoned me. He simply had to get me to the place where I was willing to let Him work. Unfortunately for me I'm stubborn and it took losing a lot to get to this point. A few weeks ago my wife and I were at a concert featuring Jason Gray and Andrew Peterson. We heard a song that night that hit us both. Jason got up and began to introduce the song, and then we listened to him sing:
The hurt that broke your heart
And left you trembling in the dark
Feeling lost and alone
Will tell you hope’s a lie
But what if every tear you cry
Will seed the ground where joy will grow
And nothing is wasted
Nothing is wasted
In the hands of our Redeemer
Nothing is wasted
It’s from the deepest wounds
That beauty finds a place to bloom
And you will see before the end
That every broken piece is
Gathered in the heart of Jesus
And what’s lost will be found again
And nothing is wasted
Nothing is wasted
In the hands of our Redeemer
Nothing is wasted
From the ruins
From the ashes
Beauty will rise
From the wreckage
From the darkness
Glory will shine
Nothing is wasted in the hands of God. Everything that He does is done out of His love for us. You may be in a similar situation, let me assure you, God has not abandoned you. In college I took a class on Job and Psalms, about the only thing I remember is my professor saying, "God's silence does not equal God's absence." God does not abandon His people.
The future still has no real direction. We are still waiting and I am still restless for a Church job, but I have started to find contentment in knowing that I will only ever be what God allows me to be. And for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I can honestly say that I'm ok with that.
And at the same time I'm holding on to hope. Ephesians 3.20-21 says, "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." God will do more in my wife and I than we could ever ask or imagine. And because of that I have hope. And with that in mind I want to focus on the second part, "to Him be the glory". Matt Redman's "10,000 Reasons" has been on my mind, and that message:
The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
is what I want to be the declaration of my life. Whatever happens each day, I want to be singing His praise at the end of it. God is at work, nothing is wasted, God does not abandon His children. So may you be filled with hope, and may you give glory to God.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The Bible on Church, 1 Timothy 3
"I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth." 1 Timothy 3.14-15
This is the final passage in the Bible where the word "Church" is used with instructions. This passage is one that I have written and taught on countless times before. And this section may be the most inclusive of all of the passages mentioned. I love this section of 1 Timothy because of its clarity and directness, and this is a fitting place to end this study.
Paul is writing here to Timothy, and chapter 3 of this first letter is focused on church leadership. Paul closes the section with the hope of coming to see him soon, but knowing his situation realized that journey could be delayed. So he has given these instructions so that one knows how to conduct himself, and then goes into some incredible instructions for the Church.
First we see that the Church of the living God, is the household of God. The Church is to be a family, not just a family, but God's family. Those who make it up are brothers and sisters because of Christ. God is the Father, the head of the family. He loves and disciplines; He comforts and corrects. God is the head of this family, He is the one who sets the standards and upholds them. God is the one who is given the praise and glory. He alone is worshiped.
The church of the living God uses a word in Greek that refers to a town assembly. In those days when town meetings were held an call would go out through the city inviting all members of the city to attend. The Church is a place where all are welcome. You do not have to be a believer, part of the family of God, to enter a Church service. And at the same time simply attending a Church service does not make you a member of the family of God. The Church is to be a place where all feel welcomed.
One of the things I hate about old Churches is how intimidating they are. I have been to some that I have been hesitant to enter. I don't think that is how Church should be. Yes, there is the sense that we are going there to worship God, which does mean humility and reverence, but the image I see here, and at Calvary, is God who comes and meets us in a way that welcomes us to Him.
Finally we have this phrase "the pillar and support of the truth." They may sound like the same thing, but to a first century reader they would have seen the difference instantly. A pillar was a display, it stood tall for all to see and was ornately decorated to stand out. The Church is to be a pillar of truth. It is to display truth for all to see, and the truth is to draw others to it.
A support is something that holds something up. It supports it and stands firmly beneath it. The Church is to uphold the truth. Not only do we display it but we live by it and hold up the standard of truth. It is something that we alone have, and it is something that we cannot afford to let fall. We must stand firmly upholding it and not backing down.
The world is to be drawn to the truth we display, because of the love we show as all are welcomed in. As we display the truth and support it people's lives are transformed by the Spirit of God, and they enter into His family as His sons and daughters. That is God's Church.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
This is the final passage in the Bible where the word "Church" is used with instructions. This passage is one that I have written and taught on countless times before. And this section may be the most inclusive of all of the passages mentioned. I love this section of 1 Timothy because of its clarity and directness, and this is a fitting place to end this study.
Paul is writing here to Timothy, and chapter 3 of this first letter is focused on church leadership. Paul closes the section with the hope of coming to see him soon, but knowing his situation realized that journey could be delayed. So he has given these instructions so that one knows how to conduct himself, and then goes into some incredible instructions for the Church.
First we see that the Church of the living God, is the household of God. The Church is to be a family, not just a family, but God's family. Those who make it up are brothers and sisters because of Christ. God is the Father, the head of the family. He loves and disciplines; He comforts and corrects. God is the head of this family, He is the one who sets the standards and upholds them. God is the one who is given the praise and glory. He alone is worshiped.
The church of the living God uses a word in Greek that refers to a town assembly. In those days when town meetings were held an call would go out through the city inviting all members of the city to attend. The Church is a place where all are welcome. You do not have to be a believer, part of the family of God, to enter a Church service. And at the same time simply attending a Church service does not make you a member of the family of God. The Church is to be a place where all feel welcomed.
One of the things I hate about old Churches is how intimidating they are. I have been to some that I have been hesitant to enter. I don't think that is how Church should be. Yes, there is the sense that we are going there to worship God, which does mean humility and reverence, but the image I see here, and at Calvary, is God who comes and meets us in a way that welcomes us to Him.
Finally we have this phrase "the pillar and support of the truth." They may sound like the same thing, but to a first century reader they would have seen the difference instantly. A pillar was a display, it stood tall for all to see and was ornately decorated to stand out. The Church is to be a pillar of truth. It is to display truth for all to see, and the truth is to draw others to it.
A support is something that holds something up. It supports it and stands firmly beneath it. The Church is to uphold the truth. Not only do we display it but we live by it and hold up the standard of truth. It is something that we alone have, and it is something that we cannot afford to let fall. We must stand firmly upholding it and not backing down.
The world is to be drawn to the truth we display, because of the love we show as all are welcomed in. As we display the truth and support it people's lives are transformed by the Spirit of God, and they enter into His family as His sons and daughters. That is God's Church.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
The Bible on Church, Colossians 1
"He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything." Colossians 1.18
"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions." Colossians 1.24
The Church is the body of Christ. Christ is the head, and verse 18 tells us that He is the beginning. The Church starts with Christ. He is the one who leads it, guides it, and instructs it. Christ is the standard that the Church is to follow. Christ is to be the focus of the Church, not Mary, but Christ.
In verse 24 Paul says, yet again, that he rejoices in his sufferings, doing his share on behalf of the body. Suffering is part of following Christ. We will suffer because Christ, the head suffered, and when the head suffers the whole body is affected. Paul rejoices, as we all should, because the suffering is done for Christ's sake, to make him more like Christ.
This thought just came to me, but when part of my body has been injured, I am constantly aware of it from that moment on. I had a wrestling accident about ten years ago where I had three of my teen broken. Every time I bite something I think about them. I have had other injuries (some self-inflicted stupidity ones) that have left scars I see daily. I wear glasses, something that wasn't a result of injury, but something that doesn't work as it should, and I am constantly aware of my poor vision.
When part of the body suffers the head is immediately aware of it. Nerves send messages to the brain to let it know that there is pain. The body of Christ works the same way. If you are part of the body of Christ, God knows your paid the moment it happens. The moment you feel pain, for any reason, God feels it with you. And the Church is to feel their pain as well. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, the chapter on Spiritual gifts, "And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it" (verse 26).
The Church is the body of Christ. All those who call are believers make up the body. Paul says we are individual members of it (1 Corinthians 12.27). Each member is essential, each member has a function that must be carried out. When one part suffers they whole body is to feel for them and support them. And when one part rejoices all are to rejoice with it. We are one body, with Christ unifying us and holding us all together.
We are the body of Christ, literally His hands and feet. So let us live as Christ leads. Let us look and be like Christ. We are His body, let's act like it.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions." Colossians 1.24
The Church is the body of Christ. Christ is the head, and verse 18 tells us that He is the beginning. The Church starts with Christ. He is the one who leads it, guides it, and instructs it. Christ is the standard that the Church is to follow. Christ is to be the focus of the Church, not Mary, but Christ.
In verse 24 Paul says, yet again, that he rejoices in his sufferings, doing his share on behalf of the body. Suffering is part of following Christ. We will suffer because Christ, the head suffered, and when the head suffers the whole body is affected. Paul rejoices, as we all should, because the suffering is done for Christ's sake, to make him more like Christ.
This thought just came to me, but when part of my body has been injured, I am constantly aware of it from that moment on. I had a wrestling accident about ten years ago where I had three of my teen broken. Every time I bite something I think about them. I have had other injuries (some self-inflicted stupidity ones) that have left scars I see daily. I wear glasses, something that wasn't a result of injury, but something that doesn't work as it should, and I am constantly aware of my poor vision.
When part of the body suffers the head is immediately aware of it. Nerves send messages to the brain to let it know that there is pain. The body of Christ works the same way. If you are part of the body of Christ, God knows your paid the moment it happens. The moment you feel pain, for any reason, God feels it with you. And the Church is to feel their pain as well. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, the chapter on Spiritual gifts, "And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it" (verse 26).
The Church is the body of Christ. All those who call are believers make up the body. Paul says we are individual members of it (1 Corinthians 12.27). Each member is essential, each member has a function that must be carried out. When one part suffers they whole body is to feel for them and support them. And when one part rejoices all are to rejoice with it. We are one body, with Christ unifying us and holding us all together.
We are the body of Christ, literally His hands and feet. So let us live as Christ leads. Let us look and be like Christ. We are His body, let's act like it.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Monday, April 1, 2013
The Bible on Church, Ephesians 5
As we pick back up with this study of the Bible on Church, current events may have a slight impact on this post simply due to the subject of the text. In my last post I talked about how posting different Bible verses doesn't help the discussion. In a society that has no real regard for God or His standards, the Bible is quickly thrown out when it comes to standards of holiness that infringe on our desires and lifestyles.
I am usually one who doesn't share my opinion unless it is asked for. I was very reluctant to start this blog three years ago for that very reason (I also didn't feel like I really had that much to say that was really worth saying, which is where the Blog name and URL came from). But for those who take the time and actually read these, it shows that you do care what I'm thinking and saying, and in a way you're asking for my opinion. All of that being said, I don't want to create more division, but I also am called to preach the truth in love. Not fully sure where this is going yet, so I don't know how much of a heads up this gives, but let's see where we end up.
Ephesians 5.22-31, is a passage that has been used in almost every wedding I have ever attended. It was used in my own and my mentor broke it down to two words, one for both my wife and I, to remember. My word was "cherish", and I believe her's was "honor" or something along those lines (I'm not positive because it wasn't mine to remember, but I know she could tell you). But more important than all of that is the idea that the Church is the bride of Christ.
The union that exists between a husband and wife is a mirror for the relationship that Christ desires with the Church, His bride. As a husband my job is to love, protect, and cherish my wife. I am captivated by her as she unveils her beauty. I am to lead her into a deeper relationship with Christ, and guide her in the paths of righteousness and holiness. It is my job to help her see who God is, a strong warrior who will fight for her, and who is captivated by her.
I am to love her as I love myself. That means I provide for her and take care of her. I build her up and encourage her, and again, I am captivated by her so that she can unveil her beauty. She is able to live to her fullest because I provide a foundation in God for her to stand upon. I am not God, nor am I taking His place in her life, but I am to help her see and be all that He created for her to be.
A wife is to honor her husband, and follow his leadership as he leads the family closer to Christ. Today, many women hate the idea of submission, of being led, and being guided. I have met so many, of different ages, that feel this way. This role of "being subject" as the test has it, is not saying to be a door mat that is walked all over. But it is saying to be subject to the Godly leadership of your husband, just as you would be to God. This can get complicated when the leadership isn't Godly, but I am not diving into that right now.
In a marriage relationship God has placed the man as the head, and it is the responsibility of the man to love his family as God does. It is the responsibility of the man to protect his family as God does. And it is the responsibility of the man to guide his family in righteous living.
And it is in this husband and wife marriage relationship that we see the relationship the Christ desires with the Church, His bride. Christ is the head, and He will love His Bride more passionately than anyone else ever could. He will protect her more fiercely than anyone else ever could. He will lead her into holiness, and cleanse her in order to present her righteous, in a way that nothing else ever could. And Christ will delight in her more than anyone else ever could. The Church is to submit to Christ, to honor Him, and follow Him. And the Church is to be one with Christ.
The primary purpose of marriage is not procreation, as has been the key argument in defense of traditional marriage. The primary purpose of marriage is the unity of two different people coming together as one, in a way the shows the relationship that Christ desires with each of us. Life giving power is a result of that union, just as the Church has new life because of Christ.
And in marriage a husband and wife are able to reflect the full character of God. I've said many times that men and women are different, that they bear different parts of the image of God. I am strong, and I have a warriors heart. I can stand up to opposition and I can defend what is right. My wife is gentle and kind. She is honestly the kindest person I have ever met. She has a heart for people that genuinely cares for them on a deep level. I'm rugged, she's sensitive (not in a negative way). We are different, and we bear different parts of the image of God.
When a man and woman come together and become one in marriage the two halves of the image of God come together again and are able to show what God is like to the world. You have the power of God and the nurturing side of God. You have His strength and His compassion. And it is only when the two halves come together that they can make a whole. And it is the full image of God that gives life.
In marriage we see the relationship that God desires with each of us. God desires to love me, comfort me, and nurture me in ways far greater than my wife ever could. And God desires to protect my wife and be captivated her in ways I could not ever do. God desires intimate unity with each of us. And to help us understand that He gave us marriage. To help us see who He is, and to see the relationship that He desires with each of us, God has given marriage to a man and a woman. That is what marriage is about.
I realize that sex happens outside of marriage, that children are born to unwed parents. This wasn't God's design either. The reason sex is for married people is to seal their unity, it is an intimacy that the two of the share with each other, and it is the thing that makes them one flesh. It is from this unity that children come from, and they are born to a mother and a father. They are born to a family unit that has both halves of the image of God together. This is why God gave sex to married couples, to create life, to be uniquely united together, and to delight in each other.
Anything outside of this violates God intentions. An extra marital affair breaks that unity of one flesh. Pre-marital fornication does the same thing. Both of these don't show God because it shows a limited unity, it is intimacy with no commitment. It is simply a search for pleasure. A homosexual relationship takes two of the same halves of God's image, and is unable to do what God created marriage to do. All of these violate God's design of marriage.
I'm not sure how to bring all of this back to the initial point of the Church as the Bride of Christ. This post has gone places I didn't expect it to go. God created us for intimate relationships with Him and each other, but the purpose of intimacy is to show the relationship that God desires with each of us. As a husband and wife marriage involves, love, commitment, honoring and cherishing, along with delight in each other, so God desires that with us. Love, commitment, honor, cherish, delight, these are His creations and part of the relationship He wants with each of us.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
I am usually one who doesn't share my opinion unless it is asked for. I was very reluctant to start this blog three years ago for that very reason (I also didn't feel like I really had that much to say that was really worth saying, which is where the Blog name and URL came from). But for those who take the time and actually read these, it shows that you do care what I'm thinking and saying, and in a way you're asking for my opinion. All of that being said, I don't want to create more division, but I also am called to preach the truth in love. Not fully sure where this is going yet, so I don't know how much of a heads up this gives, but let's see where we end up.
Ephesians 5.22-31, is a passage that has been used in almost every wedding I have ever attended. It was used in my own and my mentor broke it down to two words, one for both my wife and I, to remember. My word was "cherish", and I believe her's was "honor" or something along those lines (I'm not positive because it wasn't mine to remember, but I know she could tell you). But more important than all of that is the idea that the Church is the bride of Christ.
The union that exists between a husband and wife is a mirror for the relationship that Christ desires with the Church, His bride. As a husband my job is to love, protect, and cherish my wife. I am captivated by her as she unveils her beauty. I am to lead her into a deeper relationship with Christ, and guide her in the paths of righteousness and holiness. It is my job to help her see who God is, a strong warrior who will fight for her, and who is captivated by her.
I am to love her as I love myself. That means I provide for her and take care of her. I build her up and encourage her, and again, I am captivated by her so that she can unveil her beauty. She is able to live to her fullest because I provide a foundation in God for her to stand upon. I am not God, nor am I taking His place in her life, but I am to help her see and be all that He created for her to be.
A wife is to honor her husband, and follow his leadership as he leads the family closer to Christ. Today, many women hate the idea of submission, of being led, and being guided. I have met so many, of different ages, that feel this way. This role of "being subject" as the test has it, is not saying to be a door mat that is walked all over. But it is saying to be subject to the Godly leadership of your husband, just as you would be to God. This can get complicated when the leadership isn't Godly, but I am not diving into that right now.
In a marriage relationship God has placed the man as the head, and it is the responsibility of the man to love his family as God does. It is the responsibility of the man to protect his family as God does. And it is the responsibility of the man to guide his family in righteous living.
And it is in this husband and wife marriage relationship that we see the relationship the Christ desires with the Church, His bride. Christ is the head, and He will love His Bride more passionately than anyone else ever could. He will protect her more fiercely than anyone else ever could. He will lead her into holiness, and cleanse her in order to present her righteous, in a way that nothing else ever could. And Christ will delight in her more than anyone else ever could. The Church is to submit to Christ, to honor Him, and follow Him. And the Church is to be one with Christ.
The primary purpose of marriage is not procreation, as has been the key argument in defense of traditional marriage. The primary purpose of marriage is the unity of two different people coming together as one, in a way the shows the relationship that Christ desires with each of us. Life giving power is a result of that union, just as the Church has new life because of Christ.
And in marriage a husband and wife are able to reflect the full character of God. I've said many times that men and women are different, that they bear different parts of the image of God. I am strong, and I have a warriors heart. I can stand up to opposition and I can defend what is right. My wife is gentle and kind. She is honestly the kindest person I have ever met. She has a heart for people that genuinely cares for them on a deep level. I'm rugged, she's sensitive (not in a negative way). We are different, and we bear different parts of the image of God.
When a man and woman come together and become one in marriage the two halves of the image of God come together again and are able to show what God is like to the world. You have the power of God and the nurturing side of God. You have His strength and His compassion. And it is only when the two halves come together that they can make a whole. And it is the full image of God that gives life.
In marriage we see the relationship that God desires with each of us. God desires to love me, comfort me, and nurture me in ways far greater than my wife ever could. And God desires to protect my wife and be captivated her in ways I could not ever do. God desires intimate unity with each of us. And to help us understand that He gave us marriage. To help us see who He is, and to see the relationship that He desires with each of us, God has given marriage to a man and a woman. That is what marriage is about.
I realize that sex happens outside of marriage, that children are born to unwed parents. This wasn't God's design either. The reason sex is for married people is to seal their unity, it is an intimacy that the two of the share with each other, and it is the thing that makes them one flesh. It is from this unity that children come from, and they are born to a mother and a father. They are born to a family unit that has both halves of the image of God together. This is why God gave sex to married couples, to create life, to be uniquely united together, and to delight in each other.
Anything outside of this violates God intentions. An extra marital affair breaks that unity of one flesh. Pre-marital fornication does the same thing. Both of these don't show God because it shows a limited unity, it is intimacy with no commitment. It is simply a search for pleasure. A homosexual relationship takes two of the same halves of God's image, and is unable to do what God created marriage to do. All of these violate God's design of marriage.
I'm not sure how to bring all of this back to the initial point of the Church as the Bride of Christ. This post has gone places I didn't expect it to go. God created us for intimate relationships with Him and each other, but the purpose of intimacy is to show the relationship that God desires with each of us. As a husband and wife marriage involves, love, commitment, honoring and cherishing, along with delight in each other, so God desires that with us. Love, commitment, honor, cherish, delight, these are His creations and part of the relationship He wants with each of us.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Thursday, March 28, 2013
The Church's Response to Current Events
My plan for the last few days has been to keep my mouth shut. As I've seen pieces of news, Facebook picture changes, and listened to conversations I have not offered any opinion. But as I've listened I've felt a growing uneasiness and for the last few hours I have really had something on my heart. I'm still not sure what this is going to look like when it's done, but here we go.
What I have to say is to the Church. Nothing I can say will change the minds of politicians, or those who have a different opinion than I do. There are people who claim the same faith but think differently about the current gay marriage stance than I do. I've read different things over the last few days from both homosexual and heterosexual individuals. I've shared why I believe in traditional marriage in a private conversation with someone who has an opposing view. I've been surprised by some of the people I've seen promoting equality.
I'm not going to share why I believe what I believe, it won't change anyone's mind. And everyone who claims to be a Christian, neither will yours. What if instead of filling Facebook with pictures and Bible verses we focused all on doing something else? What if instead of adding to the noise, we became silent and took the conversation to another audience? What if we prayed?
What if every Christian decided to avoid Facebook tomorrow and invested all of that time in prayer? God has said, "and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
I'll be the first to admit that I have dropped the ball here. I haven't prayed for this as I should have been. But what if the people of God were to humble themselves by holding their tongues, and instead seek His face and pray? God has told us what will happen. He will hear our prayers, bring forgiveness and healing.
Right now the Church needs to pray. If you don't know where you stand on the issue then simply ask for God's will to be done. Maybe that's how all of us should pray regardless of our position. Let us unite in prayer and watch God bring forgiveness and healing.
Instead of adding to the fire, enlarging the division, and driving people away from the love of Christ, let us lift our voices in prayer to God. Who will join me?
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
What I have to say is to the Church. Nothing I can say will change the minds of politicians, or those who have a different opinion than I do. There are people who claim the same faith but think differently about the current gay marriage stance than I do. I've read different things over the last few days from both homosexual and heterosexual individuals. I've shared why I believe in traditional marriage in a private conversation with someone who has an opposing view. I've been surprised by some of the people I've seen promoting equality.
I'm not going to share why I believe what I believe, it won't change anyone's mind. And everyone who claims to be a Christian, neither will yours. What if instead of filling Facebook with pictures and Bible verses we focused all on doing something else? What if instead of adding to the noise, we became silent and took the conversation to another audience? What if we prayed?
What if every Christian decided to avoid Facebook tomorrow and invested all of that time in prayer? God has said, "and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
I'll be the first to admit that I have dropped the ball here. I haven't prayed for this as I should have been. But what if the people of God were to humble themselves by holding their tongues, and instead seek His face and pray? God has told us what will happen. He will hear our prayers, bring forgiveness and healing.
Right now the Church needs to pray. If you don't know where you stand on the issue then simply ask for God's will to be done. Maybe that's how all of us should pray regardless of our position. Let us unite in prayer and watch God bring forgiveness and healing.
Instead of adding to the fire, enlarging the division, and driving people away from the love of Christ, let us lift our voices in prayer to God. Who will join me?
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The Bible on Church, Ephesians 3
My last paper has been turned in for class, a stressful week is over, and I'm finally getting back to this blog.
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3.20-21
The message that we see here is one that comes as no surprise, the Church is to give glory to God. That is the ultimate purpose of the Church. If we look at Philippians 2.11 we see that giving glory to the Father is what Jesus does as every knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is Lord. The Church is to become like Christ, and that entails giving glory to the Father.
Why must God be given glory? Because He is worthy of it. We are told that He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think by His power that is working within us. We cannot begin to grasp the full power and greatness of God, our finite human minds cannot take it all in. Just the work He has done already is more praise worthy than we can offer, and He is able to do far more than than.
The events we remember this week, Good Friday and Easter, and the relationship they opened to us. The gift of life, both now and eternal. The beauty of creation. And what about how God has provided? Some have received healing, others have found comfort, and still others have found help. God is worthy of glory.
If the Church fails to give glory to God, then the Church fails at it's primary mission. If the Church does not give glory to God, then why does it even exist? If we fail to do this, we fail at everything because it is only in this one thing that everything else is accomplished.
And the more we glorify God, the more He will give us a reason to. The more praise we offer to Him the more praise worthy He will reveal Himself to be. The more grateful we are to Him for what He has done, the more generous He will be. This is not the prosperity Gospel. I am not proclaiming a message of "God will make all your problems go away if you follow Him." My wife and I are currently experiencing things we wish would just disappear, but they aren't. Following God has not solved all of our problems, but God has provided for our needs, and He will continue to provide in ways that are more abundant than we could ask or think.
So with this, don't limit God by what you ask Him for, and don't limit the praise you give Him for what He has already done. The Church's primary objective is to give glory to God.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3.20-21
The message that we see here is one that comes as no surprise, the Church is to give glory to God. That is the ultimate purpose of the Church. If we look at Philippians 2.11 we see that giving glory to the Father is what Jesus does as every knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is Lord. The Church is to become like Christ, and that entails giving glory to the Father.
Why must God be given glory? Because He is worthy of it. We are told that He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think by His power that is working within us. We cannot begin to grasp the full power and greatness of God, our finite human minds cannot take it all in. Just the work He has done already is more praise worthy than we can offer, and He is able to do far more than than.
The events we remember this week, Good Friday and Easter, and the relationship they opened to us. The gift of life, both now and eternal. The beauty of creation. And what about how God has provided? Some have received healing, others have found comfort, and still others have found help. God is worthy of glory.
If the Church fails to give glory to God, then the Church fails at it's primary mission. If the Church does not give glory to God, then why does it even exist? If we fail to do this, we fail at everything because it is only in this one thing that everything else is accomplished.
And the more we glorify God, the more He will give us a reason to. The more praise we offer to Him the more praise worthy He will reveal Himself to be. The more grateful we are to Him for what He has done, the more generous He will be. This is not the prosperity Gospel. I am not proclaiming a message of "God will make all your problems go away if you follow Him." My wife and I are currently experiencing things we wish would just disappear, but they aren't. Following God has not solved all of our problems, but God has provided for our needs, and He will continue to provide in ways that are more abundant than we could ask or think.
So with this, don't limit God by what you ask Him for, and don't limit the praise you give Him for what He has already done. The Church's primary objective is to give glory to God.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
The Bible on Church, 1 Corinthians 14
The heading for the second half of this chapter is "Instruction for the Church". But this chapter contains instructions about speaking in tongues, which I don't have any experience with, or much knowledge about (basically none outside of what the Bible says). There is also some instruction about the role of women in the Church, and if I'm honest I go back and forth of my thinking on that, so I'm not ready to put any thought out there yet on the issue. But in spite of all of that, there are still some things to pull out of this for the Church of today.
First those who make up the Church are to be mature in their thinking. Paul says in the previous chapter "When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things" (1 Corinthians 13.11). One of the biggest complaints I've heard about Christian's is that they are ignorant/uneducated. I've been a part of conversations between Christians and Atheists, and can you guess who makes more intelligent conversation? The most popular response that the Christian has is "Well this is what the Bible says, go read it." Everything comes back to that, there is no consideration of history or science, and there is no progress made.
I think part of it is that many Christian's don't know why they believe what they believe. And personally, at times I really do agree with the ignorant accusation that is made. Along with the ignorance comes close-mindedness and an unwillingness to listen. This is what Paul doesn't want to happen. As Christians we have to be educated. Our faith has to be rooted in something personal for us. As Christians we have to be willing to listen and discuss different opinions. And the thing is that when we know why we believe what we believe we don't have to be afraid to listen and discuss with someone who has a different opinion and belief than we do.
We need to be mature in our thinking, and infants in terms of evil. We are to be innocent as a new born baby. Not ignorant, but innocent. Those who make up the Church are to have nothing to do with evil. We are to be born again, and then live holy and righteous lives.
Second, the Church is to be a place of order, not chaos. This is where there is instruction about speaking in tongues and how it is to take place. This section ends with these words, "for God is not a God of confusion but of peace". The Church is not to be a chaotic confusing place. The Church is a place where people come to learn and worship God. In the Gospels Jesus drives people who are changing money and selling animals for sacrifice from the outer court of the Temple, in part, because it was interfering with the worship of the Gentiles who were there seeking God. If Church is chaotic with no order and full of confusion what happens to the person who comes seeking God for the first time?
Third, both items that I have addressed is so that the Church can be built up. In verse 26 it says, "Let all things be done for edification." Christians need to be mature in their thinking and infants in evil so that the Church can be built up. If we have no evil, (no hypocrisy) for people to bring up, they are left with holy and righteous Christlike followers of Jesus. If we are able to have an intelligent, well informed discussion, we can't be called ignorant and uneducated. And if there is order and structure in the Church, people who come seeking will be able to learn the truth about who God is.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
First those who make up the Church are to be mature in their thinking. Paul says in the previous chapter "When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things" (1 Corinthians 13.11). One of the biggest complaints I've heard about Christian's is that they are ignorant/uneducated. I've been a part of conversations between Christians and Atheists, and can you guess who makes more intelligent conversation? The most popular response that the Christian has is "Well this is what the Bible says, go read it." Everything comes back to that, there is no consideration of history or science, and there is no progress made.
I think part of it is that many Christian's don't know why they believe what they believe. And personally, at times I really do agree with the ignorant accusation that is made. Along with the ignorance comes close-mindedness and an unwillingness to listen. This is what Paul doesn't want to happen. As Christians we have to be educated. Our faith has to be rooted in something personal for us. As Christians we have to be willing to listen and discuss different opinions. And the thing is that when we know why we believe what we believe we don't have to be afraid to listen and discuss with someone who has a different opinion and belief than we do.
We need to be mature in our thinking, and infants in terms of evil. We are to be innocent as a new born baby. Not ignorant, but innocent. Those who make up the Church are to have nothing to do with evil. We are to be born again, and then live holy and righteous lives.
Second, the Church is to be a place of order, not chaos. This is where there is instruction about speaking in tongues and how it is to take place. This section ends with these words, "for God is not a God of confusion but of peace". The Church is not to be a chaotic confusing place. The Church is a place where people come to learn and worship God. In the Gospels Jesus drives people who are changing money and selling animals for sacrifice from the outer court of the Temple, in part, because it was interfering with the worship of the Gentiles who were there seeking God. If Church is chaotic with no order and full of confusion what happens to the person who comes seeking God for the first time?
Third, both items that I have addressed is so that the Church can be built up. In verse 26 it says, "Let all things be done for edification." Christians need to be mature in their thinking and infants in evil so that the Church can be built up. If we have no evil, (no hypocrisy) for people to bring up, they are left with holy and righteous Christlike followers of Jesus. If we are able to have an intelligent, well informed discussion, we can't be called ignorant and uneducated. And if there is order and structure in the Church, people who come seeking will be able to learn the truth about who God is.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Sunday, March 17, 2013
The Bible on Church, 1 Corinthians 12
It's been a hectic week. I'm trying to finish up the last few things for the class I did while in Israel. I found a temporary job at Home Depot in the garden department, which I'm loving and hating (hating because I'm getting a ton of ideas for a yard someday that I can't do anything about right now). I've been trying to work on my new blog, which has also suffered a little this past week. There has been some adjustments to the new schedule, and hopefully there are some big changes in the near future.
But this post has been on my mind all week, knowing I need to write it. This whole chapter is on Spiritual gifts, and their use in the Church. It's a topic that I've preached on trying to get people motivated to serve, but thus far hasn't been that effective. Everyone of us has at least one spiritual gift. Some have several and some have a few, some may only have one, but everyone has at least one. God doesn't put someone on earth with nothing to work with.
Each of us have different gifts, and each use our gifts, even if they are the same, differently. Because of that we need each other. This is why God never gives anyone all of them, if someone had them all they wouldn't need anyone else. Each gift is important and essential to the Church, and if someone decides not to use theirs the whole Church suffers. I won't say that the Kingdom is stalled, but it is effected.
When people refuse to use their gift, when they refuse to serve in their area of giftedness, they are denying their mission from God. When people hoard their gift to themselves they are refusing to take part in Kingdom work. This in an unfortunate act of disobedience. How many people haven't been reached because someone refused to use their gift?
I'm just kind of rambling, there is a lot that can be said about this topic and I'm just sort of letting my fingers fly over the key board. No one outlives their usefulness to God. No one uses up their spiritual gift. If you are still alive God still has a purpose for you. If you pour out your gift you will not run out, actually God may add additional gifts to you. In the Gospels Jesus told a parable about a man who went on a journey and entrusted his servants with various amounts of money. Those who used them increased what they had and the one who didn't gained nothing. In one account the one who doesn't use it has it taken from him and it is given to the one who has the most. " For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him" (Matthew 13.12).
You have a gift and it is essential to the work of the Kingdom. As long as you are breathing God has a purpose for you. The question is will you use what He has given you? Will you see the value in the gift, even if its just one, that He has given you and contribute it to the work of the Kingdom? Will you be part of the work of the Church and help the body be fully functional?
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
But this post has been on my mind all week, knowing I need to write it. This whole chapter is on Spiritual gifts, and their use in the Church. It's a topic that I've preached on trying to get people motivated to serve, but thus far hasn't been that effective. Everyone of us has at least one spiritual gift. Some have several and some have a few, some may only have one, but everyone has at least one. God doesn't put someone on earth with nothing to work with.
Each of us have different gifts, and each use our gifts, even if they are the same, differently. Because of that we need each other. This is why God never gives anyone all of them, if someone had them all they wouldn't need anyone else. Each gift is important and essential to the Church, and if someone decides not to use theirs the whole Church suffers. I won't say that the Kingdom is stalled, but it is effected.
When people refuse to use their gift, when they refuse to serve in their area of giftedness, they are denying their mission from God. When people hoard their gift to themselves they are refusing to take part in Kingdom work. This in an unfortunate act of disobedience. How many people haven't been reached because someone refused to use their gift?
I'm just kind of rambling, there is a lot that can be said about this topic and I'm just sort of letting my fingers fly over the key board. No one outlives their usefulness to God. No one uses up their spiritual gift. If you are still alive God still has a purpose for you. If you pour out your gift you will not run out, actually God may add additional gifts to you. In the Gospels Jesus told a parable about a man who went on a journey and entrusted his servants with various amounts of money. Those who used them increased what they had and the one who didn't gained nothing. In one account the one who doesn't use it has it taken from him and it is given to the one who has the most. " For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him" (Matthew 13.12).
You have a gift and it is essential to the work of the Kingdom. As long as you are breathing God has a purpose for you. The question is will you use what He has given you? Will you see the value in the gift, even if its just one, that He has given you and contribute it to the work of the Kingdom? Will you be part of the work of the Church and help the body be fully functional?
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
The Bible on Church, 1 Corinthians 5
As we move out of the book of Acts and into Paul's Epistles, the instructions get much more specific and in depth. Many of the Churches Paul wrote to were Churches He had been to and worked with. He had a personal relationship with the people of these churches. Because of this he was able to give more specific instructions and deal with more personal issues. And so with that let's look at Paul's instruction to the Church out of 1 Corinthians 5.
Verse 12 is where we find the word "church" in this chapter, but for this one we really have to look at the whole context of the chapter. The biggest thing to note with this chapter is that it is talking about dealing with sin in the life of someone who is part of the body of Christ. This isn't about condemning/judging the person who comes three times a year for Christmas, Easter, and for some special family event. This is about dealing with sinful behavior in the lives of Christians, pretty much to the situation Jesus mentions in Matthew 18.
Here Paul is addressing a sin of immorality that has taken place in the Corinthian church. But instead of dealing with the problem, it has been over looked, and the man in question has been allowed to continue both in sin and as an acting member of the church, even though his actions are publicly known. Paul says that the church must deal with this sin, they cannot ignore it. "Your boasting is not good. Do you knot know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened..." (1 Corinthians 5.6-7b).
Sin cannot be allowed to take place in the Church. When a member of the body of Christ, one who has proclaimed Christ as Lord and accepted Him as Savior, openly lives in violation to the standards of holiness set by God, that person must be dealt with. If sin, any sin, is given a foothold in the Church, it will work like a cancer through all of it. It will infect it, and kill it, and so it must be cut out. Again, this is exactly what Jesus said to do in Matthew 18, sin has no place among God's people, and it must be dealt with.
But again, this is in reference to those who are members of the Church, those who have decided to follow Jesus and live according to His standards. Paul says, "I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves" (1 Corinthians 5.9-13).
The expectations are different. Those in the Church are expected to know better, they are no longer ignorant. It is the job of the Church to teach Holiness and help those within the Church live holy lives. It is the job of the Church to reach out into the world with the love of Christ to bring others into it. And at the same time, the Church is to uphold Holiness. It must deal with sin in order to save the person who is sinning, to protect others in the Church, and to show the rest of the world that those within the Church are different.
Those who have become part of the Church, must live like it. This "organization" has its standards and rules, just like any other organization does. Ours are holiness and righteous living, not sinless perfection, but striving towards Christlikeness. Sin and immorality have no place in this pursuit, and are unacceptable for a member of the Church.
And Paul also says that we are not to judge those outside of the Church. We are not to condemn them or look down upon them. We aren't to hold them to our standards because they don't have the same standards, and constantly shoving them in their faces will not help. Instead we are to love them and reach out to them. We are to share with them the life, love, and fulfillment that is found in Christ. As they seek more about it we are to share and show what this life looks like. It is not our place to judge and convict them, that is the Spirit's job. And when someone enters the Church as a believer in Christ, we help them strive to become like Him, and lovingly hold them accountable to the standard of holiness.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Verse 12 is where we find the word "church" in this chapter, but for this one we really have to look at the whole context of the chapter. The biggest thing to note with this chapter is that it is talking about dealing with sin in the life of someone who is part of the body of Christ. This isn't about condemning/judging the person who comes three times a year for Christmas, Easter, and for some special family event. This is about dealing with sinful behavior in the lives of Christians, pretty much to the situation Jesus mentions in Matthew 18.
Here Paul is addressing a sin of immorality that has taken place in the Corinthian church. But instead of dealing with the problem, it has been over looked, and the man in question has been allowed to continue both in sin and as an acting member of the church, even though his actions are publicly known. Paul says that the church must deal with this sin, they cannot ignore it. "Your boasting is not good. Do you knot know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened..." (1 Corinthians 5.6-7b).
Sin cannot be allowed to take place in the Church. When a member of the body of Christ, one who has proclaimed Christ as Lord and accepted Him as Savior, openly lives in violation to the standards of holiness set by God, that person must be dealt with. If sin, any sin, is given a foothold in the Church, it will work like a cancer through all of it. It will infect it, and kill it, and so it must be cut out. Again, this is exactly what Jesus said to do in Matthew 18, sin has no place among God's people, and it must be dealt with.
But again, this is in reference to those who are members of the Church, those who have decided to follow Jesus and live according to His standards. Paul says, "I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves" (1 Corinthians 5.9-13).
The expectations are different. Those in the Church are expected to know better, they are no longer ignorant. It is the job of the Church to teach Holiness and help those within the Church live holy lives. It is the job of the Church to reach out into the world with the love of Christ to bring others into it. And at the same time, the Church is to uphold Holiness. It must deal with sin in order to save the person who is sinning, to protect others in the Church, and to show the rest of the world that those within the Church are different.
Those who have become part of the Church, must live like it. This "organization" has its standards and rules, just like any other organization does. Ours are holiness and righteous living, not sinless perfection, but striving towards Christlikeness. Sin and immorality have no place in this pursuit, and are unacceptable for a member of the Church.
And Paul also says that we are not to judge those outside of the Church. We are not to condemn them or look down upon them. We aren't to hold them to our standards because they don't have the same standards, and constantly shoving them in their faces will not help. Instead we are to love them and reach out to them. We are to share with them the life, love, and fulfillment that is found in Christ. As they seek more about it we are to share and show what this life looks like. It is not our place to judge and convict them, that is the Spirit's job. And when someone enters the Church as a believer in Christ, we help them strive to become like Him, and lovingly hold them accountable to the standard of holiness.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Sunday, March 3, 2013
The Bible on Church, Acts 20
"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." Acts 20.28
I almost skipped over this verse simply because at first it didn't seem to be saying anything new. It presents the same idea that the Church belongs to God that is seen in Matthew 16. But as I thought about it over the last few days this verse takes God's ownership to a new level. In Matthew Jesus says that He will build His Church. It gives the impression that He is building something new, which He is, but it stops there. He says it's His Church but here in Acts we are told why it is His.
He has purchased the Church with His own blood. Jesus died to secure ownership of His Church. This puts a whole new dynamic on those who make up the Church. This isn't something we enter into casually or half heartily because Jesus paid the steepest price possible. Entering the Church is a big deal, and I feel that over the last few decades we've watered it down to an emotional experience.
In Jerusalem on the south side of the Temple Mount there are the remains of the southern steps, the primary entry point into the Temple at the time Jesus walked the earth. The steps are built in a very unusual way, every other step is different. Some are short, and some are long, and they were intentionally built that way. Most stair cases are built so that each step is the same height and length, we get in a rhythm and just climb and descend them without thinking. I've heard that if one step is off, even by a couple of centimeters, from the rest you will stumble as you walk up or down them because that little difference throws off your rhythm.
The steps at the Temple were built that way on purpose, so that people couldn't casually enter the Temple when they went to worship, or casually leave when they had finished. It took time and a conscious effort, and that was the point. The worship of God is not to be done casually, but intentionally and resolutely. We shouldn't casually enter church on Sunday to worship, nor should we causally enter the Church as a believer in Christ.
Entering the Church as a member, not as part of a specific denomination, but as a believer in Christ, is a big deal. As I've been writing this the thought of marriage has hit me, the Church is referred to as the "Bride of Christ". At weddings I often hear something along the lines of, "The covenant of marriage that you are entering into is a life long commitment. Therefore it is not to undertaken casually or in-advisably." Marriage is a big deal, and a serous commitment. It isn't something you just wake up one day and decide to do. It takes time, a foundation, and a relationship for marriage to work. Why has becoming part of the bride of Christ been largely reduced to an emotional conversion?
Jesus said that we are to make disciples, not converts. We are to help people become followers of Christ with faith in Him to stand firm through every trial. A convert is in this for as long as this works. It's like the marriage ceremony that says, "We're together as long as our love lasts." But a disciple is in this til the end, "Til death do we part."
Entering the Church, shepherding the Church is serious job. We've seen how leadership isn't to be taken on quickly or rashly, but with prayer and fasting. Entering into the Church as a believer in Christ is an important decision. I want to make sure I am saying this right, it is a serious decision. Literally it is a decision of life or death. Entering a relationship with God means giving yourself fully to God, holding nothing back, and allowing Him to transform your life into Christlikeness. Christ paid the highest price for the Church, and to be part of it, we must pay an equally high price. But it is totally worth it. The benefits far out way the costs. It is the best decision I have ever made.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
I almost skipped over this verse simply because at first it didn't seem to be saying anything new. It presents the same idea that the Church belongs to God that is seen in Matthew 16. But as I thought about it over the last few days this verse takes God's ownership to a new level. In Matthew Jesus says that He will build His Church. It gives the impression that He is building something new, which He is, but it stops there. He says it's His Church but here in Acts we are told why it is His.
He has purchased the Church with His own blood. Jesus died to secure ownership of His Church. This puts a whole new dynamic on those who make up the Church. This isn't something we enter into casually or half heartily because Jesus paid the steepest price possible. Entering the Church is a big deal, and I feel that over the last few decades we've watered it down to an emotional experience.
In Jerusalem on the south side of the Temple Mount there are the remains of the southern steps, the primary entry point into the Temple at the time Jesus walked the earth. The steps are built in a very unusual way, every other step is different. Some are short, and some are long, and they were intentionally built that way. Most stair cases are built so that each step is the same height and length, we get in a rhythm and just climb and descend them without thinking. I've heard that if one step is off, even by a couple of centimeters, from the rest you will stumble as you walk up or down them because that little difference throws off your rhythm.
The steps at the Temple were built that way on purpose, so that people couldn't casually enter the Temple when they went to worship, or casually leave when they had finished. It took time and a conscious effort, and that was the point. The worship of God is not to be done casually, but intentionally and resolutely. We shouldn't casually enter church on Sunday to worship, nor should we causally enter the Church as a believer in Christ.
Entering the Church as a member, not as part of a specific denomination, but as a believer in Christ, is a big deal. As I've been writing this the thought of marriage has hit me, the Church is referred to as the "Bride of Christ". At weddings I often hear something along the lines of, "The covenant of marriage that you are entering into is a life long commitment. Therefore it is not to undertaken casually or in-advisably." Marriage is a big deal, and a serous commitment. It isn't something you just wake up one day and decide to do. It takes time, a foundation, and a relationship for marriage to work. Why has becoming part of the bride of Christ been largely reduced to an emotional conversion?
Jesus said that we are to make disciples, not converts. We are to help people become followers of Christ with faith in Him to stand firm through every trial. A convert is in this for as long as this works. It's like the marriage ceremony that says, "We're together as long as our love lasts." But a disciple is in this til the end, "Til death do we part."
Entering the Church, shepherding the Church is serious job. We've seen how leadership isn't to be taken on quickly or rashly, but with prayer and fasting. Entering into the Church as a believer in Christ is an important decision. I want to make sure I am saying this right, it is a serious decision. Literally it is a decision of life or death. Entering a relationship with God means giving yourself fully to God, holding nothing back, and allowing Him to transform your life into Christlikeness. Christ paid the highest price for the Church, and to be part of it, we must pay an equally high price. But it is totally worth it. The benefits far out way the costs. It is the best decision I have ever made.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
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