December 16, 2007 - "Trial and Tribulation"
Scripture:
(James 5:7 NIV) Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.
(James 5:8 NIV) You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near.
(James 5:9 NIV) Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
(James 5:10 NIV) Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
(James 5:11 NIV) As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Up, In and Out
Let’s play a game of “Guess Who?” Hold your answer to the end. When he was 7 years old, his family was forced out of their home on a legal technicality, and he had to work to help support them. At 9, his mother died. At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to Law School, but his education wasn’t good enough. At 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store. At 26, his business partner died, leaving him a huge debt that took years to repay. At 28, after dating a girl for 4 years, he asked her to marry him and she said “No.” At 37, on his third try, he was elected to Congress, but 2 years later he failed to get re-elected. At 41, his 4 year-old son died. At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost. At 51, he was elected President of the United States. Who was he? Abraham Lincoln, a man that many consider the greatest leader our country has ever had.
Perhaps President Lincoln was so great because God grew him by trial and tribulation. You are probably aware that Abraham Lincoln was a deeply religious man.
Many of us are old enough to know that sooner or later, we will have our fair share of trial and tribulations. Turn to someone and nod “yes;” we will all sooner or later have our fair share of trial and tribulation - maybe even an ocean full [like Abe Lincoln]. Sometimes, you might wish that you were all alone on a deserted island. Don’t give up, because,
Number 1, the Lord is near (verses 7 and 8)!
James is dealing specifically with trial and tribulation caused by others. The rich unbelievers were taking advantage of the poor believers – to the point that the rich unbelievers were with-holding wages from the poor unbelievers. The rich unbelievers were falsely accusing the poor believers, taking them to court, and even causing their deaths. James uses a particular Greek word for the verb “be patient.” It caries the idea of self-restraint that does not get even for a wrong that has been done. He was encouraging the poor believers to hang in there and not return evil for evil. He was inspiring them to go the extra mile – even in the face of mistreatment.
How could they endure? James was letting them know that Jesus is near. Jesus himself said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” He walks with us everywhere we go – no matter what we go through.
Think back to when you first realized that you believed in Jesus Christ as God’s Son and as your Savior (some of you may just have always known as a product of growing up in the church). We are today, closer than we have ever been, as far as it comes to meeting Jesus. We don’t know when we will leave this world, but indeed, we are closer to that time now than when we first believed. We will meet Jesus when we pass, if we have Christ in our hearts.
I think that we have lost the idea of Christ’s soon return. Perhaps it is because that there have been centuries and centuries since these words were written. Some say, “Oh, we go on, just like we always have, with no 2nd coming in sight.” Many Bible scholar’s believe that we are in the final chapter of the end times. This may indeed be the time when these scripture passages are fully understood and fully fulfilled!
There is an element of waiting involved. It gives us a chance to exercise self-restrain and thus grow. Dr. Randy Carlson, an expert in marriage and family counseling, says that children who learn to wait have less problems being impulsive when they get older. The same is true for adults. Our waiting is our heavenly parent’s way of teaching us not to be impulsive – too quick to try other ways instead of His ways.
Not only should we not give up, we should also not give in to grumbling. James instructs the believers to be patient toward both outsiders who oppress them and insiders who irritate them. Did you get that? Be patient with outsiders who oppress and insiders who irritate!
Grumbling here is an under your breath sign or groan. It is a murmur that grows and becomes more commonplace. It is complaining without end. Instead of remaining resentful, we are to practice the biblical steps of confrontation. What are they? Number one: go to the person in love. If that is unsuccessful, then number two: take a fellow believer with you and go in love. If that is unsuccessful, then, number three: take the concern to a mature accountability group to support you and to pray for you. And if that fails, then number four: treat the person like a sinner. What is that? You love them and pray for them all the more – even if they choose to carry the grudge or have nothing to do with you. If you choose to talk about them behind their backs, or choose to hold a grudge, or choose to get even, then God will use the same standards that we judge when it comes to our judgment. In other words, if we practice leniency, God will be lenient. If we are unforgiving and hard-nosed, God will take the same approach with us on judgment day.
Have you ever thought what God will ask you on judgment day? Here is something that I came across several years ago: Ten things God will not ask you on judgment day!
1. God won’t ask what kind of car you drove; He’ll ask you how many people you drove who didn’t have transportation.
2. God won’t ask the square footage of your house; He’ll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.
3. God won’t ask about the clothes you had in your closet; He’ll ask how many you helped to clothe.
4. God won’t ask what your highest salary was; He’ll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.
5. God won’t ask what your job title was; He’ll ask if you performed your job to the best of your ability.
6. God won’t ask how many friends you had; He’ll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.
7. God won’t ask in what neighborhood you lived; He’ll ask how you treated your neighbors.
8. God won’t ask about the color of your skin; He’ll ask about the content of your character.
9. God won’t ask how many Bible passages you memorized: He’ll ask if you applied the Bible to your living.
10. God won’t ask why it took you so long to seek salvation; He will lovingly take you to your mansion if heaven.
Let’s not forget what really matters – for eternity’s sake!
Don’t give up. Don’t give in. And last, don’t give out. Why? Because it could always be worse, and even those who have had it worse have made it. Consider Job. James did. Job lost his employees, then he lost his business, then he lost his kids, and then he lost his health. In the end, Job received back twice as much as he lost. It may not be that we will see such a return in numbers in this life, but we will receive a spiritual abundance and more than we can imagine in the life to come!
Helen Keller, having gone blind and deaf, said, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”
Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Don’t give out. God will make all things right. God will even the score. In the meantime, God is with us! That is what Immanuel means. Take notice of that and let God fill all of your moments with himself.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
December 9, 2007 -- "Hospitality"
Scripture: Romans 15:4-13
15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.
15:5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,
15:6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
15:8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
15:9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name";
15:10 and again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people"; 15:11 and again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him";
15:12 and again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope."
15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
One Voice
First Service Introduction:
[Mr. Goldblatt," announced little Joey, "there's somethin' I can't figger out." "What's that Joey?" asked Goldblatt.
"Well accordin' to the Bible, the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, right?"
"Right."
"An' the Children of Israel beat up the Phillistines, right?"
"Er--right."
"An' the Children of Israel built the Temple, right?"
"Again you're right."
"An' the Children of Israel fought the 'gyptians, an' the Children of Israel fought the Romans, an' the Children of Israel wuz always doin' somethin' important, right?"
"All that is right, too," agreed Goldblatt. "So what's your question?"
"What I wanna know is this," demanded Joey. "What wuz all the grown-ups doin?"
In this closing section of his letter to the Roman Church, Paul turned his attention to the children of Israel and the Old Testament.]
Second Service Introduction:
[A collector of rare books ran into an acquaintance who told him he had just thrown away an old Bible that he found in a dusty, old box. He happened to mention that Guten-somebody-or-other had printed it.
"Not Gutenberg?" gasped the collector.
"Yes, that was it!"
"Are you crazy? You've thrown away one of the first books ever printed. A copy recently sold at auction for half a million dollars!"
"Oh, I don't think this book would have been worth anything close to that much," replied the man. "It was scribbled all over in the margins by some guy named Martin Luther."
The Bible is valuable for more than the translation or the person who wrote in it. The Bible is the very word of God, and here, in this closing section of his letter to the church in Rome, Paul points to the Bible of his day - the Old Testament.]
Paul quotes 3 passages from the Old Testament right here in chapter 15 of Romans. One of the strongest proofs for the truth about Christianity is that there are over 300 references to the person of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, all of which are fulfilled and recorded in the New Testament. Prophecies that were made no less than 400 years before their fulfillment! That is absolutely incredible. We don’t have to wonder or doubt the legitimacy of Christianity. Right here we have concrete proof about our faith.
Let me also say that we need to appreciate both Old and New Testament. Again, the Bible of Paul’s day was the Old Testament. The New Testament writers, inspired by God, connected the two testaments. They validated the Old Testament by their constant referral to it. And they gave us the rest of the salvation story as God wished it to be written. I will say that the total Bible, both Old and New Testaments, will help to make us total Christians!
The great evangelist Charles Haddison Spurgeion said, “I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two. Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation; a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is poor faith at best. It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good for much.
John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress, testified, "Read the Bible, and read it again, and do not despair of help to understand something of the will and mind of God, though you think they are fast locked up from you. Neither trouble yourself, though you may not have commentaries and expositions; pray and read, and read and pray; for a little from God is better than a great deal from man." (Daily Bread, August 12, 1992.)
Next, Paul points to the Savior. He encourages the Romans and us to live in harmony with one another under the headship – the leadership – of Christ. Let us not forget that our primary act in worship is to glorify God. People do that in different ways. I am so pleased that we have two services here. Some folks prefer to glorify the God with a band and upbeat music. Some prefer to glorify God more quietly and traditionally. Both are valid. Both are important. Any church that wishes to grow must provide both opportunities. And we are going to provide a third opportunity in the fairly near future. We will be exploring a third service in the evening.
The goal of worship, whether it is first service, or second service or a third service is to glorify God. When we can lay aside our differences (whether personality or doctrine or practice or even hurt) and worship out of love for God, we create one voice and bring a tremendous glory to God. Visitors will see it. We will see it. And we will be blessed for it.
I first noticed the great American landscape photographer Ansel Adams in a doctor’s office in Parkersburg. In his early years, Ansel studied piano and showed some talent. At one party, however, as Adams played Chopin's F Major Nocturne he recalled that "In some strange way my right had started off in F-sharp major while my left had behaved well in F-major. I could not bring them together. I went through the entire nocturne with the hands separated by a half-step."
The next day a fellow guest gave Adams a no-nonsense review of his performance: "You never missed a wrong note!" (Daily Walk, May 14, 1992.)
We never miss a wrong note when we fail to dwell in the harmony of the spirit of Christ.
Last, Paul points to the Church. We welcome one another as a sign of our one voice – our spiritual harmony. We also welcome because Christ has welcomed us. His very death was an invitation to eternal life. We must RSVP! When we do, he welcomes us into eternal life with the universes biggest choir – a countless chorus of angels.
Because Christ welcomes us so lavishly, we must welcome others into our fold here. This hospitality that Christ shows must be showed among us. This is why hospitality ministry is so important. We must express hospitality in such a way that no one else receives guests better. The church should be the best welcoming agent on the planet. I have been welcomed better at funeral homes than I have at some churches! We are getting on the ball here. We are endeavoring to roll out the red carpet: greeting, beverages, smiling faces; these are all just a beginning. We want to create an atmosphere of welcome. We want folks to know how important they are to us. I know, some of you, like me, were not raised with the freedom to have a cup of coffee in the sanctuary. Guess what? New and growing churches have whole coffee shops with everything from tea to coffee to cappuccinos in their churches!
My first church experience as pastor was a good one, but not without struggle. I got a call one day from the D.S. asking me why we did not want kids at church. He told me that he received a phone call from a visitor who was confronted at the door and asked why she had come. She had her two children with her. Evidently, my parishioner told her that we didn’t have many kids here and that she would be happier somewhere else. I never did discover who at the church did the deed. The message was sent loud and clear: “You are not welcome.”
Arnold Glasow once said, “Some folks make you feel at home. Others make you wish you were.” Let’s never send a message that we wish someone didn’t come. Sometimes that means that you and I need to break out of our groups and never let a stranger or a regular leave unnoticed. WalMart, in its early days, used to practice the 10 foot rule. If you come within 10 feet of me, I will ask you if you need anything. Let’s go one step better than WalMart. Let’s cut it to 5 feet!
At the end of this passage, Paul makes up a bit for getting on the Jews in the congregation. Remember last week I mentioned how he can down pretty hard on the Jews because they were enforcing their customs upon their non-Jewish brothers and sisters in the church. Paul let them have it. Here, he gives them their due. Paul affirms the place of the Jews in salvation history. He tells the church that it was God who chose to use the Jews as a vehicle for his salvation plan. Paul makes it clear that Jesus became part of the circumcised – the Jewish community – in order to fulfill the promises of the patriarchs – the Jewish ancestors – so that even the gentiles could be included amongst those who believe. It was all part of the plan. You know, the next time that we thing negatively of a Jew or the Jewish people, let us remember that it was God’s pleasure to choose them in order to choose us!!!
Let’s put an end to all prejudism, because all races are God’s doing. At the foot of the cross, we are all equal!
Scripture: Romans 15:4-13
15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.
15:5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,
15:6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
15:8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
15:9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name";
15:10 and again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people"; 15:11 and again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him";
15:12 and again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope."
15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
One Voice
First Service Introduction:
[Mr. Goldblatt," announced little Joey, "there's somethin' I can't figger out." "What's that Joey?" asked Goldblatt.
"Well accordin' to the Bible, the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, right?"
"Right."
"An' the Children of Israel beat up the Phillistines, right?"
"Er--right."
"An' the Children of Israel built the Temple, right?"
"Again you're right."
"An' the Children of Israel fought the 'gyptians, an' the Children of Israel fought the Romans, an' the Children of Israel wuz always doin' somethin' important, right?"
"All that is right, too," agreed Goldblatt. "So what's your question?"
"What I wanna know is this," demanded Joey. "What wuz all the grown-ups doin?"
In this closing section of his letter to the Roman Church, Paul turned his attention to the children of Israel and the Old Testament.]
Second Service Introduction:
[A collector of rare books ran into an acquaintance who told him he had just thrown away an old Bible that he found in a dusty, old box. He happened to mention that Guten-somebody-or-other had printed it.
"Not Gutenberg?" gasped the collector.
"Yes, that was it!"
"Are you crazy? You've thrown away one of the first books ever printed. A copy recently sold at auction for half a million dollars!"
"Oh, I don't think this book would have been worth anything close to that much," replied the man. "It was scribbled all over in the margins by some guy named Martin Luther."
The Bible is valuable for more than the translation or the person who wrote in it. The Bible is the very word of God, and here, in this closing section of his letter to the church in Rome, Paul points to the Bible of his day - the Old Testament.]
Paul quotes 3 passages from the Old Testament right here in chapter 15 of Romans. One of the strongest proofs for the truth about Christianity is that there are over 300 references to the person of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, all of which are fulfilled and recorded in the New Testament. Prophecies that were made no less than 400 years before their fulfillment! That is absolutely incredible. We don’t have to wonder or doubt the legitimacy of Christianity. Right here we have concrete proof about our faith.
Let me also say that we need to appreciate both Old and New Testament. Again, the Bible of Paul’s day was the Old Testament. The New Testament writers, inspired by God, connected the two testaments. They validated the Old Testament by their constant referral to it. And they gave us the rest of the salvation story as God wished it to be written. I will say that the total Bible, both Old and New Testaments, will help to make us total Christians!
The great evangelist Charles Haddison Spurgeion said, “I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two. Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation; a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is poor faith at best. It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good for much.
John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress, testified, "Read the Bible, and read it again, and do not despair of help to understand something of the will and mind of God, though you think they are fast locked up from you. Neither trouble yourself, though you may not have commentaries and expositions; pray and read, and read and pray; for a little from God is better than a great deal from man." (Daily Bread, August 12, 1992.)
Next, Paul points to the Savior. He encourages the Romans and us to live in harmony with one another under the headship – the leadership – of Christ. Let us not forget that our primary act in worship is to glorify God. People do that in different ways. I am so pleased that we have two services here. Some folks prefer to glorify the God with a band and upbeat music. Some prefer to glorify God more quietly and traditionally. Both are valid. Both are important. Any church that wishes to grow must provide both opportunities. And we are going to provide a third opportunity in the fairly near future. We will be exploring a third service in the evening.
The goal of worship, whether it is first service, or second service or a third service is to glorify God. When we can lay aside our differences (whether personality or doctrine or practice or even hurt) and worship out of love for God, we create one voice and bring a tremendous glory to God. Visitors will see it. We will see it. And we will be blessed for it.
I first noticed the great American landscape photographer Ansel Adams in a doctor’s office in Parkersburg. In his early years, Ansel studied piano and showed some talent. At one party, however, as Adams played Chopin's F Major Nocturne he recalled that "In some strange way my right had started off in F-sharp major while my left had behaved well in F-major. I could not bring them together. I went through the entire nocturne with the hands separated by a half-step."
The next day a fellow guest gave Adams a no-nonsense review of his performance: "You never missed a wrong note!" (Daily Walk, May 14, 1992.)
We never miss a wrong note when we fail to dwell in the harmony of the spirit of Christ.
Last, Paul points to the Church. We welcome one another as a sign of our one voice – our spiritual harmony. We also welcome because Christ has welcomed us. His very death was an invitation to eternal life. We must RSVP! When we do, he welcomes us into eternal life with the universes biggest choir – a countless chorus of angels.
Because Christ welcomes us so lavishly, we must welcome others into our fold here. This hospitality that Christ shows must be showed among us. This is why hospitality ministry is so important. We must express hospitality in such a way that no one else receives guests better. The church should be the best welcoming agent on the planet. I have been welcomed better at funeral homes than I have at some churches! We are getting on the ball here. We are endeavoring to roll out the red carpet: greeting, beverages, smiling faces; these are all just a beginning. We want to create an atmosphere of welcome. We want folks to know how important they are to us. I know, some of you, like me, were not raised with the freedom to have a cup of coffee in the sanctuary. Guess what? New and growing churches have whole coffee shops with everything from tea to coffee to cappuccinos in their churches!
My first church experience as pastor was a good one, but not without struggle. I got a call one day from the D.S. asking me why we did not want kids at church. He told me that he received a phone call from a visitor who was confronted at the door and asked why she had come. She had her two children with her. Evidently, my parishioner told her that we didn’t have many kids here and that she would be happier somewhere else. I never did discover who at the church did the deed. The message was sent loud and clear: “You are not welcome.”
Arnold Glasow once said, “Some folks make you feel at home. Others make you wish you were.” Let’s never send a message that we wish someone didn’t come. Sometimes that means that you and I need to break out of our groups and never let a stranger or a regular leave unnoticed. WalMart, in its early days, used to practice the 10 foot rule. If you come within 10 feet of me, I will ask you if you need anything. Let’s go one step better than WalMart. Let’s cut it to 5 feet!
At the end of this passage, Paul makes up a bit for getting on the Jews in the congregation. Remember last week I mentioned how he can down pretty hard on the Jews because they were enforcing their customs upon their non-Jewish brothers and sisters in the church. Paul let them have it. Here, he gives them their due. Paul affirms the place of the Jews in salvation history. He tells the church that it was God who chose to use the Jews as a vehicle for his salvation plan. Paul makes it clear that Jesus became part of the circumcised – the Jewish community – in order to fulfill the promises of the patriarchs – the Jewish ancestors – so that even the gentiles could be included amongst those who believe. It was all part of the plan. You know, the next time that we thing negatively of a Jew or the Jewish people, let us remember that it was God’s pleasure to choose them in order to choose us!!!
Let’s put an end to all prejudism, because all races are God’s doing. At the foot of the cross, we are all equal!
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
December 2, 2007
"Are You In The Red?"
Theme: The only debt we should owe anyone is the debt of love; love fulfills all of God’s requirements; love your neighbor as yourself; don’t forget that we are closer than ever to meeting Jesus!
Scripture:
(Rom 13:8 NRSV) Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
(Rom 13:9 NRSV) The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
(Rom 13:10 NRSV) Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
(Rom 13:11 NRSV) Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;
(Rom 13:12 NRSV) the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;
(Rom 13:13 NRSV) let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.
(Rom 13:14 NRSV) Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
First service introduction:
(We had a lovely wedding yesterday. Megan Donnellan married Jeffrey Nuzzalow. They lit a unity candle in the service, as many couples do now days. They asked whether or not they should extinguish the two candles that they used to light the unity candle. Most couples inquire about this. I explain that they can either extinguish them or leave them lit to represent their own unique personalities. It is always interesting to see if couples leave them lit or extinguish them. I heard about a wedding where the bride and groom put their individual candles back into the candleholders with their flames still burning. Then the bride, with a gleam in her eye, bent over and blew out his candle. The congregation burst into laughter.
The church in Rome that Paul wrote to was a wedding of sorts – the wedding of two very different cultures – Jewish and Gentile (non-jewish) people. It was indeed an inter-racial group. The Jews were imposing their will upon their non-jewish brothers and sisters. They insisted that the 613 rules of the Jewish faith should still be kept even after they were saved by Christ! It was a marriage on the rocks.]
Second service introduction:
[We had a lovely wedding yesterday. Megan Donnellan married Jeffrey Nuzzalow. It was a nice celebration of young love. There is something special about weddings: two becoming one, commitment, sacred vows. Sometimes the holiness of it really overwhelms me. Somehow, by God’s power, I regain my composure.
There is a funny little story called the seven stages of the married cold –the husband’s reaction to his wife’s colds during seven years of marriage. It goes like this:
First year: “Sugar dumpling, I’m really worried about my baby girl. You’ve got a bad sniffle and there’s no telling about these things with all the strep going around. I’m putting you in the hospital this afternoon for a general checkup and good rest. I know the food’s lousy, but I’ll be bringing your meals from the expensive restaurant downtown. I’ve already got it all arranged with the head nurse.
Second year: “Listen, darling, I don’t like the sound of that cough and I’ve called Doc. Miller to rush over here. Now you go to bed like a good girl, just for Poppa.”
Third year: “Maybe you better lie down honey. Nothing like a little rest when you feel lousy. I’ll bring you something. Have we got any canned soup?”
Fourth year: “Now look, dear, be sensible. After you’ve fed the kids and got the dishes done and the floor finished, you better lie down.”
Fifth year: “Why don’t you take a couple of aspirin?”
Sixth year: “I wish you’d just gargle or something instead of sitting around barking like a seal all evening.”
Seventh year: “For Pete’s sake, stop sneezing! Are you trying to give me pneumonia?” (Hewett)
There is a lot of truth to this little story. We start off in wedded bliss, but something happens along the way. Sometimes, we take way too much for granted, don’t we? We must learn to honor one another even after the honeymoon is over.
We have lost the concept of honor in our culture, and it shows! The Orientals have a great way to honor one another – they bow. We could take a clue from that, stop, and just say to our beloved or to our kids, “Wow, I can’t believe that you’re my spouse (or my child)! Gee, I am so glad that you are here!” Try that sometime, and after they get over the shock, it will be appreciated – if you are genuine. Honor one another.
The church in Rome that Paul wrote to was a wedding of sorts – the wedding of two very different cultures – Jewish and Gentile (non-jewish) people. It was indeed an inter-racial group. The Jews were imposing their will upon their non-jewish brothers and sisters. They insisted that the 613 rules of the Jewish faith should still be kept even after they were saved by Christ! It was a marriage on the rocks.]
Paul wrote to tell his friends that the only debt that should be owed is the debt of love. When it comes to loving, we should always be in the red. Besides, he made it clear that the debt of the Jewish law was impossible was a burden too great. That was one reason that Christ came, to fulfill the law in himself and to become the way to everlasting life. To go back into the sacrificial system would be a huge step backwards. It would trample on the grace of God. It would demean the cross! Paul’s claim is that salvation is by grace through faith – not of works! The only law to be followed is the law of love!
Ted Stallard undoubtedly qualifies as the one of "the least." Turned off by school. Very sloppy in appearance. Expressionless. Unattractive. Even his teacher, Miss Thompson, enjoyed bearing down her red pen -- as she placed Xs beside his many wrong answers. If only she had studied his records more carefully. They read:
1st grade: Ted shows promise with his work and attitude, but (has) poor home situation.
2nd grade: Ted could do better. Mother seriously ill. Receives little help from home.
3rd grade: Ted is good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year.
4th grade: Ted is very slow, but well-behaved. His father shows no interest whatsoever.
Christmas arrived. The children piled elaborately wrapped gifts on their teacher's desk. Ted brought one too. It was wrapped in brown paper and held together with Scotch Tape. Miss Thompson opened each gift, as the children crowded around to watch. Out of Ted's package fell a gaudy rhinestone bracelet, with half of the stones missing, and a bottle of cheap perfume. The children began to snicker. But she silenced them by splashing some of the perfume on her wrist, and letting them smell it. She put the bracelet on too.
At day's end, after the other children had left, Ted came by the teacher's desk and said, "Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother. And the bracelet looks real pretty on you. I'm glad you like my presents." He left. Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her and to change her attitude.
The next day, the children were greeted by a reformed teacher -- one committed to loving each of them. Especially the slow ones. Especially Ted. Surprisingly -- or maybe, not surprisingly, Ted began to show great improvement. He actually caught up with most of the students and even passed a few.
Time came and went. Miss Thompson heard nothing from Ted for a long time. Then, one day, she received this note:
Dear Miss Thompson:
I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class.
Love, Ted
Four years later, another note arrived:
Dear Miss Thompson:
They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it.
Love, Ted
And four years later:
Dear Miss Thompson:
As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year.
Miss Thompson attended that wedding, and sat where Ted's mother would have sat. The compassion she had shown that young man entitled her to that privilege.
Let's have some real courage, and start giving to "one of the least." Sometimes I get the impression that we are a bit divided here – we have an “us” versus “them” mentality. We must remember that at the foot of the cross, we are all on level ground. Now, don’t get me wrong; we are doing great things, but we still have some work to do!
Our efforts to reach the least, the last, and the lost may produce a Ted Stallard. Even if that doesn't happen, we will have been faithful to the One who has always treated us -- as unworthy as we are -- like very special people. (Jon Johnston, Courage - You Can Stand Strong in the Face of Fear, 1990, SP Publications, pp. 111-113.)
One last thing, remember that love is not a feeling. It is a choice. God chose to love us when he sent his Son that first Advent. God continues to love us, even when we don’t deserve it. Let us keep that in mind as we relate to others. Now, let us prepare for Holy Communion; in communion we meet the lover of our souls!
"Are You In The Red?"
Theme: The only debt we should owe anyone is the debt of love; love fulfills all of God’s requirements; love your neighbor as yourself; don’t forget that we are closer than ever to meeting Jesus!
Scripture:
(Rom 13:8 NRSV) Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
(Rom 13:9 NRSV) The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
(Rom 13:10 NRSV) Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
(Rom 13:11 NRSV) Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;
(Rom 13:12 NRSV) the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;
(Rom 13:13 NRSV) let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.
(Rom 13:14 NRSV) Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
First service introduction:
(We had a lovely wedding yesterday. Megan Donnellan married Jeffrey Nuzzalow. They lit a unity candle in the service, as many couples do now days. They asked whether or not they should extinguish the two candles that they used to light the unity candle. Most couples inquire about this. I explain that they can either extinguish them or leave them lit to represent their own unique personalities. It is always interesting to see if couples leave them lit or extinguish them. I heard about a wedding where the bride and groom put their individual candles back into the candleholders with their flames still burning. Then the bride, with a gleam in her eye, bent over and blew out his candle. The congregation burst into laughter.
The church in Rome that Paul wrote to was a wedding of sorts – the wedding of two very different cultures – Jewish and Gentile (non-jewish) people. It was indeed an inter-racial group. The Jews were imposing their will upon their non-jewish brothers and sisters. They insisted that the 613 rules of the Jewish faith should still be kept even after they were saved by Christ! It was a marriage on the rocks.]
Second service introduction:
[We had a lovely wedding yesterday. Megan Donnellan married Jeffrey Nuzzalow. It was a nice celebration of young love. There is something special about weddings: two becoming one, commitment, sacred vows. Sometimes the holiness of it really overwhelms me. Somehow, by God’s power, I regain my composure.
There is a funny little story called the seven stages of the married cold –the husband’s reaction to his wife’s colds during seven years of marriage. It goes like this:
First year: “Sugar dumpling, I’m really worried about my baby girl. You’ve got a bad sniffle and there’s no telling about these things with all the strep going around. I’m putting you in the hospital this afternoon for a general checkup and good rest. I know the food’s lousy, but I’ll be bringing your meals from the expensive restaurant downtown. I’ve already got it all arranged with the head nurse.
Second year: “Listen, darling, I don’t like the sound of that cough and I’ve called Doc. Miller to rush over here. Now you go to bed like a good girl, just for Poppa.”
Third year: “Maybe you better lie down honey. Nothing like a little rest when you feel lousy. I’ll bring you something. Have we got any canned soup?”
Fourth year: “Now look, dear, be sensible. After you’ve fed the kids and got the dishes done and the floor finished, you better lie down.”
Fifth year: “Why don’t you take a couple of aspirin?”
Sixth year: “I wish you’d just gargle or something instead of sitting around barking like a seal all evening.”
Seventh year: “For Pete’s sake, stop sneezing! Are you trying to give me pneumonia?” (Hewett)
There is a lot of truth to this little story. We start off in wedded bliss, but something happens along the way. Sometimes, we take way too much for granted, don’t we? We must learn to honor one another even after the honeymoon is over.
We have lost the concept of honor in our culture, and it shows! The Orientals have a great way to honor one another – they bow. We could take a clue from that, stop, and just say to our beloved or to our kids, “Wow, I can’t believe that you’re my spouse (or my child)! Gee, I am so glad that you are here!” Try that sometime, and after they get over the shock, it will be appreciated – if you are genuine. Honor one another.
The church in Rome that Paul wrote to was a wedding of sorts – the wedding of two very different cultures – Jewish and Gentile (non-jewish) people. It was indeed an inter-racial group. The Jews were imposing their will upon their non-jewish brothers and sisters. They insisted that the 613 rules of the Jewish faith should still be kept even after they were saved by Christ! It was a marriage on the rocks.]
Paul wrote to tell his friends that the only debt that should be owed is the debt of love. When it comes to loving, we should always be in the red. Besides, he made it clear that the debt of the Jewish law was impossible was a burden too great. That was one reason that Christ came, to fulfill the law in himself and to become the way to everlasting life. To go back into the sacrificial system would be a huge step backwards. It would trample on the grace of God. It would demean the cross! Paul’s claim is that salvation is by grace through faith – not of works! The only law to be followed is the law of love!
Ted Stallard undoubtedly qualifies as the one of "the least." Turned off by school. Very sloppy in appearance. Expressionless. Unattractive. Even his teacher, Miss Thompson, enjoyed bearing down her red pen -- as she placed Xs beside his many wrong answers. If only she had studied his records more carefully. They read:
1st grade: Ted shows promise with his work and attitude, but (has) poor home situation.
2nd grade: Ted could do better. Mother seriously ill. Receives little help from home.
3rd grade: Ted is good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year.
4th grade: Ted is very slow, but well-behaved. His father shows no interest whatsoever.
Christmas arrived. The children piled elaborately wrapped gifts on their teacher's desk. Ted brought one too. It was wrapped in brown paper and held together with Scotch Tape. Miss Thompson opened each gift, as the children crowded around to watch. Out of Ted's package fell a gaudy rhinestone bracelet, with half of the stones missing, and a bottle of cheap perfume. The children began to snicker. But she silenced them by splashing some of the perfume on her wrist, and letting them smell it. She put the bracelet on too.
At day's end, after the other children had left, Ted came by the teacher's desk and said, "Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother. And the bracelet looks real pretty on you. I'm glad you like my presents." He left. Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her and to change her attitude.
The next day, the children were greeted by a reformed teacher -- one committed to loving each of them. Especially the slow ones. Especially Ted. Surprisingly -- or maybe, not surprisingly, Ted began to show great improvement. He actually caught up with most of the students and even passed a few.
Time came and went. Miss Thompson heard nothing from Ted for a long time. Then, one day, she received this note:
Dear Miss Thompson:
I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class.
Love, Ted
Four years later, another note arrived:
Dear Miss Thompson:
They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it.
Love, Ted
And four years later:
Dear Miss Thompson:
As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year.
Miss Thompson attended that wedding, and sat where Ted's mother would have sat. The compassion she had shown that young man entitled her to that privilege.
Let's have some real courage, and start giving to "one of the least." Sometimes I get the impression that we are a bit divided here – we have an “us” versus “them” mentality. We must remember that at the foot of the cross, we are all on level ground. Now, don’t get me wrong; we are doing great things, but we still have some work to do!
Our efforts to reach the least, the last, and the lost may produce a Ted Stallard. Even if that doesn't happen, we will have been faithful to the One who has always treated us -- as unworthy as we are -- like very special people. (Jon Johnston, Courage - You Can Stand Strong in the Face of Fear, 1990, SP Publications, pp. 111-113.)
One last thing, remember that love is not a feeling. It is a choice. God chose to love us when he sent his Son that first Advent. God continues to love us, even when we don’t deserve it. Let us keep that in mind as we relate to others. Now, let us prepare for Holy Communion; in communion we meet the lover of our souls!
Monday, November 26, 2007
November 25, 2007 Stewardship
Last Sunday after Pentecost (Christ the King)
Colossians 1:11-20
1:11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully
1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
1:13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,
1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
1:16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him.
1:17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
1:18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
1:20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
First Place
First Service Introduction:
[He was not too well-educated and his manner was somewhat crude and rough, but he became a Christian and was on fire for the Lord. He constantly pestered his pastor to help him be of some genuine service to his church. In desperation, the pastor gave him a list of ten people, saying, “These are members who seldom attend services; some are prominent men of the city. Contact them any way you can and try to get them to be more faithful. Use the church stationary to write letters if you want, but get them back in church.” He accepted the challenge with enthusiasm. About three weeks later, a letter arrived from a prominent physician whose name was on the list: Please find enclosed a one thousand dollar check to make up for my missed offerings. I’m sorry for missing worship so much, but be assured I am going to be present every Sunday from now on and will not by choice miss services again. Sincerely, M.B. Jones, MD. P.S. Would you kindly tell your secretary that there is only one “t” in dirty and no “c” in skunk”? (James S. Hewett)
Sometimes, when it comes to stewardship Sundays, people feel as guilty as a dirty skunk, or perhaps the pastor is viewed as a dirty skunk because of his or her tactics to get people to give.]
Second Service Introduction:
[A man called the church and asked to speak to the Head Hog at the Trough. The secretary said, “Who?” The man replied, “I want to speak to the Head Hog at the Trough!” Sure now that she had heard correctly, the secretary said, “Sir, if you mean our pastor, you will have to treat him with more respect – and ask for ‘The Reverend’ or ‘Pastor.’ But certainly, you cannot refer to him as the Head Hog at the Trough!” At this, the man came back, “Oh, I see. Well, I have ten thousand dollars I was thinking about donating to the Building Fund.” Secretary: “Hold the line; I think the Big Pig just walked in the door.” (James S. Hewett)
It is interesting what one will do for money, isn’t it. Even churches can fall prey to compromise or to using unfair tactics.]
I read about a pastor who announced one Sunday that he had made a new offering box for the weekly collection of the tithes and offerings. He claimed that it was designed to encourage people to become better stewards of their money. “This new box,” he explained, “has some interesting features. When you drop in a check or paper money in large amounts, the box makes no sound at all. Put a quarter in and it rings like a bell. A dime blows a whistle, and a penny fires a shot. When you put in nothing, the box takes your picture. (James S. Hewett)
Now, I’m not too keen on this method, because giving should never be forced. The Bible says, “Each person should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).” Giving should flow from a grateful heart that understands that blessing is a result of God’s abundant giving.
Giving should also be proportionate to one’s ability to give. If you are not able to give much, or have no income at all, then God understands that. And whether you are able to give little or much, give from a grateful heart, a heart that is thankful for God’s provisions.
The picture-taking box does illustrate one point. If you are able to give and give nothing, that, my friends, is a spiritual problem. If you are able to tithe, to give 10% of your income, and you do not, that, too, is a spiritual problem. Give in a way that truly represents your ability to give.
It happened one time after a pastor had make an appeal in church for a great and worthy cause, that a certain woman, a member of the church, came to him and handed him a check for $50, asking at the same time if her gift was satisfactory. The pastor immediately replied, “If it represents you.”
There was a moment of soul-searching thought and she asked to have the check returned to her. She left with it and a day or two later she returned handing the pastor a check for $5,000 and again came the same question, “Is my gift satisfactory?” The pastor gave the same answer as before, “If it represents you.” As before, a truth seemed to be driving deeply. After a few moments of hesitation she took back the check and left. Later in the week she came again with a check. That time it was for $50,000. As she placed it in the pastor’s hand, she said, “After earnest, prayerful thought, I have come to the conclusion that this gift does represent me and I am happy to give it. (John Lavender)
I do not know if this check represented a tithe. The Old Testament teaches that the tithe, 10%, of one’s income is the standard of giving.
There was a knock on the door of the hut occupied by a missionary in Africa. Answering, the missionary found one of the native boys holding a large fish in his hands. The boy said, Reverend, you taught us what tithing is, so here – I’ve brought you my tithe.” As the missionary gratefully took the fish, he questioned the young lad, “If this is your tithe, where are the other nine fish?” At this, the boy beamed and said, “Oh, they’re still in the river. I’m going back to catch them now.” (James S. Hewett)
This is faith! God always rewards such a faith. Try it and see! I have tithed my income for some time now. I believe that God has blessed me greatly because of that faithful commitment. If you tithe, you know what I am talking about.
The New Testament does not name a specific amount that one should give, but it does talk regularly about sacrificial giving, sometimes giving one’s all.
Financial giving is just one aspect of stewardship. Perhaps this would be a good time to define stewardship. Stewardship is the understanding that God is the owner of all things, and that we are simply the stewards of all that we have. What is a steward? Probably the best word for steward is “manager.” We are not the owners of our things, our talents, our money or even our family. We are managers of these things – of all that God owns.
I like what John Wesley had to say about stewardship:
When the Possessor of heaven and earth brought you into being and placed you in this world, He placed you here not as an owner but as a steward – as such He entrusted you for a season with goods of various kinds – but the sole property of these still rests in Him, nor can ever be alienated from Him. As you are not your own but His, such is likewise all you enjoy.
This coincides so nicely with Paul’s statement in Colossians that we share in the inheritance of the saints made possible by God the Father. We manage that inheritance now, and through Christ’s great sacrifice, we will inherit all things when we reach our home in heaven.
One Sunday morning the pastor encouraged his congregation to consider the potential of the church. He told them, “With God’s help we can see the day when this church will go from crawling to walking.” The people were a spirited bunch and responded, “Let the church walk, Preacher, let the church walk.”
He continued, “And when the church begins to walk, next the church can begin to run.” And the people responded, “Let the church run, preacher, let the church run.”
The pastor continued, “And finally the church can move from running to flying. Oh, the church can fly! But of course, that’s going to take lots of money, lots of time, lots of talent and lots of gifts for that to happen!”
The congregation grew quiet, and from the back, some mumbled, “Le the church crawl, preacher, let the church crawl.” (James S. Hewett)
The church does crawl without a good understanding of stewardship. But the church that practices good stewardship – a people putting the Son in first place and wisely managing the abundance of the Father – such a church will fly. I guarantee it!!!
Last Sunday after Pentecost (Christ the King)
Colossians 1:11-20
1:11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully
1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
1:13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,
1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
1:16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him.
1:17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
1:18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
1:20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
First Place
First Service Introduction:
[He was not too well-educated and his manner was somewhat crude and rough, but he became a Christian and was on fire for the Lord. He constantly pestered his pastor to help him be of some genuine service to his church. In desperation, the pastor gave him a list of ten people, saying, “These are members who seldom attend services; some are prominent men of the city. Contact them any way you can and try to get them to be more faithful. Use the church stationary to write letters if you want, but get them back in church.” He accepted the challenge with enthusiasm. About three weeks later, a letter arrived from a prominent physician whose name was on the list: Please find enclosed a one thousand dollar check to make up for my missed offerings. I’m sorry for missing worship so much, but be assured I am going to be present every Sunday from now on and will not by choice miss services again. Sincerely, M.B. Jones, MD. P.S. Would you kindly tell your secretary that there is only one “t” in dirty and no “c” in skunk”? (James S. Hewett)
Sometimes, when it comes to stewardship Sundays, people feel as guilty as a dirty skunk, or perhaps the pastor is viewed as a dirty skunk because of his or her tactics to get people to give.]
Second Service Introduction:
[A man called the church and asked to speak to the Head Hog at the Trough. The secretary said, “Who?” The man replied, “I want to speak to the Head Hog at the Trough!” Sure now that she had heard correctly, the secretary said, “Sir, if you mean our pastor, you will have to treat him with more respect – and ask for ‘The Reverend’ or ‘Pastor.’ But certainly, you cannot refer to him as the Head Hog at the Trough!” At this, the man came back, “Oh, I see. Well, I have ten thousand dollars I was thinking about donating to the Building Fund.” Secretary: “Hold the line; I think the Big Pig just walked in the door.” (James S. Hewett)
It is interesting what one will do for money, isn’t it. Even churches can fall prey to compromise or to using unfair tactics.]
I read about a pastor who announced one Sunday that he had made a new offering box for the weekly collection of the tithes and offerings. He claimed that it was designed to encourage people to become better stewards of their money. “This new box,” he explained, “has some interesting features. When you drop in a check or paper money in large amounts, the box makes no sound at all. Put a quarter in and it rings like a bell. A dime blows a whistle, and a penny fires a shot. When you put in nothing, the box takes your picture. (James S. Hewett)
Now, I’m not too keen on this method, because giving should never be forced. The Bible says, “Each person should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).” Giving should flow from a grateful heart that understands that blessing is a result of God’s abundant giving.
Giving should also be proportionate to one’s ability to give. If you are not able to give much, or have no income at all, then God understands that. And whether you are able to give little or much, give from a grateful heart, a heart that is thankful for God’s provisions.
The picture-taking box does illustrate one point. If you are able to give and give nothing, that, my friends, is a spiritual problem. If you are able to tithe, to give 10% of your income, and you do not, that, too, is a spiritual problem. Give in a way that truly represents your ability to give.
It happened one time after a pastor had make an appeal in church for a great and worthy cause, that a certain woman, a member of the church, came to him and handed him a check for $50, asking at the same time if her gift was satisfactory. The pastor immediately replied, “If it represents you.”
There was a moment of soul-searching thought and she asked to have the check returned to her. She left with it and a day or two later she returned handing the pastor a check for $5,000 and again came the same question, “Is my gift satisfactory?” The pastor gave the same answer as before, “If it represents you.” As before, a truth seemed to be driving deeply. After a few moments of hesitation she took back the check and left. Later in the week she came again with a check. That time it was for $50,000. As she placed it in the pastor’s hand, she said, “After earnest, prayerful thought, I have come to the conclusion that this gift does represent me and I am happy to give it. (John Lavender)
I do not know if this check represented a tithe. The Old Testament teaches that the tithe, 10%, of one’s income is the standard of giving.
There was a knock on the door of the hut occupied by a missionary in Africa. Answering, the missionary found one of the native boys holding a large fish in his hands. The boy said, Reverend, you taught us what tithing is, so here – I’ve brought you my tithe.” As the missionary gratefully took the fish, he questioned the young lad, “If this is your tithe, where are the other nine fish?” At this, the boy beamed and said, “Oh, they’re still in the river. I’m going back to catch them now.” (James S. Hewett)
This is faith! God always rewards such a faith. Try it and see! I have tithed my income for some time now. I believe that God has blessed me greatly because of that faithful commitment. If you tithe, you know what I am talking about.
The New Testament does not name a specific amount that one should give, but it does talk regularly about sacrificial giving, sometimes giving one’s all.
Financial giving is just one aspect of stewardship. Perhaps this would be a good time to define stewardship. Stewardship is the understanding that God is the owner of all things, and that we are simply the stewards of all that we have. What is a steward? Probably the best word for steward is “manager.” We are not the owners of our things, our talents, our money or even our family. We are managers of these things – of all that God owns.
I like what John Wesley had to say about stewardship:
When the Possessor of heaven and earth brought you into being and placed you in this world, He placed you here not as an owner but as a steward – as such He entrusted you for a season with goods of various kinds – but the sole property of these still rests in Him, nor can ever be alienated from Him. As you are not your own but His, such is likewise all you enjoy.
This coincides so nicely with Paul’s statement in Colossians that we share in the inheritance of the saints made possible by God the Father. We manage that inheritance now, and through Christ’s great sacrifice, we will inherit all things when we reach our home in heaven.
One Sunday morning the pastor encouraged his congregation to consider the potential of the church. He told them, “With God’s help we can see the day when this church will go from crawling to walking.” The people were a spirited bunch and responded, “Let the church walk, Preacher, let the church walk.”
He continued, “And when the church begins to walk, next the church can begin to run.” And the people responded, “Let the church run, preacher, let the church run.”
The pastor continued, “And finally the church can move from running to flying. Oh, the church can fly! But of course, that’s going to take lots of money, lots of time, lots of talent and lots of gifts for that to happen!”
The congregation grew quiet, and from the back, some mumbled, “Le the church crawl, preacher, let the church crawl.” (James S. Hewett)
The church does crawl without a good understanding of stewardship. But the church that practices good stewardship – a people putting the Son in first place and wisely managing the abundance of the Father – such a church will fly. I guarantee it!!!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
November 18, 2007 "Daily Grind"
(2 Th 3:6 NRSV) Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us.
(2 Th 3:7 NRSV) For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you,
(2 Th 3:8 NRSV) and we did not eat anyone's bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you.
(2 Th 3:9 NRSV) This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate.
(2 Th 3:10 NRSV) For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.
(2 Th 3:11 NRSV) For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.
(2 Th 3:12 NRSV) Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
(2 Th 3:13 NRSV) Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.
Susie's husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months. Things looked grim, but she was by his bedside every single day. One day as he slipped back into consciousness, he motioned for her to come close to him. She pulled the chair close to the bed and leaned her ear close to be able to hear him.
"You know" he whispered, his eyes filling with tears, "you have been with me through all the bad times. When I got fired, you stuck right beside me. When my business went under, there you were. When we lost the house, you were there. When I got shot, you stuck with me. When my health started failing, you were still by my side. "And you know what?"
"What, dear?" she asked gently, smiling to herself.
"I think you're bad luck."
Now, I don’t believe in luck, but this Joke was just too good to pass up! I believe that everything happens for a reason, a reason totally unassociated with luck. Some of us might feel like we have nothing but bad luck, especially when it comes to career choice and work environment. As a matter of a fact, one survey found that the average number of jobs an American worker has held by age 40 is 8 (Charis Conn (Ed.), What Counts: The Complete Harper's Index.)
Bad luck is not behind the dissatisfaction. One researcher estimates that 50 to 80% of Americans are in a job that does not match their abilities. Perhaps that is the reason that the average worker will have a complete career change not just once but 2 or even 3 times before they retire (Cynthia Spence in Homemade, May, 1989.)
I am sure that you have seen the bumper-sticker "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go." For a large amount of folks, this is the best reason they can muster for going to the job each day. My counsel to those who have not yet entered the workforce or are young enough or financially able to make a change: do what you love doing, regardless of the pay. I will tell you that no amount of money is worth an unfulfilling job.
What if we don’t have any other skills that would enable a career change? What if we can’t afford to take a cut in pay to find a fulfilling job? What do we do if we are stuck?
Paul gives us the key to change from the daily grind to glory. This applies to all of us – regardless of our job satisfaction – regardless of whether or not we work outside the home: "Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God” (First Corinthians 10:31).
Well-known preacher Harry Ironside shared the following story:
When I was a boy, I felt it was both a duty and a privilege to help my widowed mother make ends meet by finding employment in vacation time, on Saturdays and other times when I did not have to be in school. For quite a while I worked for a Scottish shoemaker, or "cobbler," as he preferred to be called, an Orkney man, named Dan Mackay. He was a forthright Christian and his little shop was a real testimony for Christ in the neighborhood. The walls were literally covered with Bible texts and pictures, generally taken from old-fashioned Scripture Sheet Almanacs, so that look where one would, he found the Word of God staring him in the face. There were John 3:16 and John 5:24, Romans 10:9, and many more.
On the little counter in front of the bench on which the owner of the shop sat, was a Bible, generally open, and a pile of gospel tracts. No package went out of that shop without a printed message wrapped inside. And whenever opportunity offered, the customers were spoken to kindly and tactfully about the importance of being born again and the blessedness of knowing that the soul is saved through faith in Christ. Many came back to ask for more literature or to inquire more particularly as to how they might find peace with God, with the blessed results that men and women were saved, frequently right in the shoe shop.
It was my chief responsibility to pound leather for shoe soles. A piece of cowhide would be cut to suite, then soaked in water. I had a flat piece of iron over my knees and, with a flat-headed hammer, I pounded these soles until they were hard and dry. It seemed an endless operation to me, and I wearied of it many times.
What made my task worse was the fact that, a block away, there was another shop that I passed going and coming to or from my home, and in it sat a jolly, godless cobbler who gathered the boys of the neighborhood about him and regaled them with lewd tales that made him dreaded by respectable parents as a menace to the community. Yet, somehow, he seemed to thrive and that perhaps to a greater extent than my employer, Mackay. As I looked in his window, I often noticed that he never pounded the soles at all, but took them from the water, nailed them on, damp as they were, and with the water splashing from them as he drove each nail in.
One day I ventured inside, something I had been warned never to do. Timidly, I said, "I notice you put the soles on while still wet. Are they just as good as if they were pounded?" He gave me a wicked leer as he answered, "They come back all the quicker this way, my boy!"
"Feeling I had learned something, I related the instance to my boss and suggested that I was perhaps wasting time in drying out the leather so carefully. Mr. Mackay stopped his work and opened his Bible to the passage that reads, "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of god."
"Harry," he said, "I do not cobble shoes just for the four bits and six bits (50c or 75c) that I get from my customers. I am doing this for the glory of God. I expect to see every shoe I have ever repaired in a big pile at the judgment seat of Christ, and I do not want the Lord to say to me in that day, 'Dan, this was a poor job. You did not do your best here.' I want Him to be able to say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'"
Then he went on to explain that just as some men are called to preach, so he was called to fix shoes, and that only as he did this well would his testimony count for God. It was a lesson I have never been able to forget. Often when I have been tempted to carelessness, and to slipshod effort, I have thought of dear, devoted Dan Mackay, and it has stirred me up to seek to do all as for Him who died to redeem me. (H. A. Ironside, Illustrations of Bible Truth, Moody Press, 1945, pp. 37-39.)
You work not for your boss, for your company, or for the profit margin; you work for Christ! This speaks not only to work environment; it speaks also to idleness.
What is that famous saying about idleness? Isn’t it “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop”? Why is that? Because when we intentionally pass up involvement, we make ourselves available for the problems that idleness brings: sloth, gossip, and waste of the gift called life. We were put on earth for a monumental reason: to grow into Christ-likeness and to help others do the same. Idleness is the greatest misuse of that intended purpose.
Last week I preached on heaven. Planet earth is the training ground for heaven. If we can’t be happy with the notion of Christian growth here – growth which entails worship, bible study and service - how will we ever be happy with heaven? Church is the number one avenue for putting your abilities and gifts to work. To do anything less is to miss out on God’s intention for your life. Paul was so adamant about it that he said that if a person doesn’t work, he or she should not be fed! Someone once said, “God gives the birds their food, but He doesn't throw it into their nests.” Work is essential to our livelihood both physically and mentally.
Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher, tells about the Roman aqueduct at Segovia, in his native Spain. It was built in 109 A.D. For eighteen hundred years, it carried cool water from the mountains to the hot and thirsty city. Nearly sixty generations of people drank from its flow.
Then came another generation, a recent one, who said, "This aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children, as a museum piece. We shall relieve it of its centuries-long labor." They did; they laid modern iron pipes. They gave the ancient bricks and mortar a reverent rest. And the aqueduct began to fall apart. The sun beating on the dry mortar caused it to crumble. The bricks and stone sagged and threatened to fall. What ages of service could not destroy idleness disintegrated. (Resource, Sept./ Oct., 1992, p. 4.)
Not working when you can (please understand that there are valid reasons some can not work, due to physical or mental challenges) gives us too much time on our hands, which leads to poor use of time.
There used to be a sign in Sistersville, our last appointment, on the way out of town that read “Sistersville: Small but Busy.” Things have changed over the years; it is not a town that is busy as it used to be. Someone one day added to the sign: “Sistersville: Small but Busybodies!” Of course, the sign was removed. I think that someone who was hurt added to the sign. If you are from a small town or still live in one, you know how everyone knows or thinks they know everyone else’s business. This person was probably hurt by gossip, which is an outgrowth of having nothing better to do.
Work is essential to not only our physical and mental health, it is essential to our spiritual health. And, it makes a difference in the spiritual walks of others.
Paul wanted Christians to show the beauty of their faith in Christ by how they work. He even showed them in Thessalonica. He worked in their midst as a tent-maker, showing them the beauty of his faith as he worked for Christ.
The first governor-general of Australia was a man by the name of Lord Hopetoun. One of his most cherished possessions was a 300 year old ledger he had inherited from John Hope, one of his ancestors. Hope had owned a business in Edinburgh, where he first used this old ledger. When Lord Hopetoun received it, he noticed that it had inscribed on its front page this prayer, "O Lord, keep me and this book honest!" (Source Unknown.)
How common is employee dishonesty? According to one recent survey: Falsifying time sheets was admitted by 5.8% of workers. Stealing merchandise was admitted by 6.6%. Among people working in retail stores, 57% said they abused their employee-discount privileges. (Dr. John Clark, in Homemade, Nov, 1985.)
Time theft--deliberate waste and abuse of company time--costs the U.S. economy over $120 billion a year (Creative Management, in Homemade, May, 1985.)
In one survey of workers across the USA, nearly 85% said that they could work harder on the job. More than half claimed they could double their effectiveness "if (they) wanted to." (Managing the Equity Factor, R Huseman, J Hatfield, 1989.)
People are watching us to see if we go along with the status quo! Christians must not be status quo people. Jesus wasn’t, nor should we. We must work hard at being a cut above. Paul said, “…do not be weary in doing what is right.” Right might not always be the most popular or the most profit; but as we work for Christ, our actions have eternal consequences, whether we sweep the floors or compose symphonies!
So, like Harry, expect to see all that you have done piled before Him. And, as He surveys that scene, may we hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant; enter into your Father’s eternal rest!” Amen.
(2 Th 3:6 NRSV) Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us.
(2 Th 3:7 NRSV) For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you,
(2 Th 3:8 NRSV) and we did not eat anyone's bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you.
(2 Th 3:9 NRSV) This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate.
(2 Th 3:10 NRSV) For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.
(2 Th 3:11 NRSV) For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.
(2 Th 3:12 NRSV) Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
(2 Th 3:13 NRSV) Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.
Susie's husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months. Things looked grim, but she was by his bedside every single day. One day as he slipped back into consciousness, he motioned for her to come close to him. She pulled the chair close to the bed and leaned her ear close to be able to hear him.
"You know" he whispered, his eyes filling with tears, "you have been with me through all the bad times. When I got fired, you stuck right beside me. When my business went under, there you were. When we lost the house, you were there. When I got shot, you stuck with me. When my health started failing, you were still by my side. "And you know what?"
"What, dear?" she asked gently, smiling to herself.
"I think you're bad luck."
Now, I don’t believe in luck, but this Joke was just too good to pass up! I believe that everything happens for a reason, a reason totally unassociated with luck. Some of us might feel like we have nothing but bad luck, especially when it comes to career choice and work environment. As a matter of a fact, one survey found that the average number of jobs an American worker has held by age 40 is 8 (Charis Conn (Ed.), What Counts: The Complete Harper's Index.)
Bad luck is not behind the dissatisfaction. One researcher estimates that 50 to 80% of Americans are in a job that does not match their abilities. Perhaps that is the reason that the average worker will have a complete career change not just once but 2 or even 3 times before they retire (Cynthia Spence in Homemade, May, 1989.)
I am sure that you have seen the bumper-sticker "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go." For a large amount of folks, this is the best reason they can muster for going to the job each day. My counsel to those who have not yet entered the workforce or are young enough or financially able to make a change: do what you love doing, regardless of the pay. I will tell you that no amount of money is worth an unfulfilling job.
What if we don’t have any other skills that would enable a career change? What if we can’t afford to take a cut in pay to find a fulfilling job? What do we do if we are stuck?
Paul gives us the key to change from the daily grind to glory. This applies to all of us – regardless of our job satisfaction – regardless of whether or not we work outside the home: "Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God” (First Corinthians 10:31).
Well-known preacher Harry Ironside shared the following story:
When I was a boy, I felt it was both a duty and a privilege to help my widowed mother make ends meet by finding employment in vacation time, on Saturdays and other times when I did not have to be in school. For quite a while I worked for a Scottish shoemaker, or "cobbler," as he preferred to be called, an Orkney man, named Dan Mackay. He was a forthright Christian and his little shop was a real testimony for Christ in the neighborhood. The walls were literally covered with Bible texts and pictures, generally taken from old-fashioned Scripture Sheet Almanacs, so that look where one would, he found the Word of God staring him in the face. There were John 3:16 and John 5:24, Romans 10:9, and many more.
On the little counter in front of the bench on which the owner of the shop sat, was a Bible, generally open, and a pile of gospel tracts. No package went out of that shop without a printed message wrapped inside. And whenever opportunity offered, the customers were spoken to kindly and tactfully about the importance of being born again and the blessedness of knowing that the soul is saved through faith in Christ. Many came back to ask for more literature or to inquire more particularly as to how they might find peace with God, with the blessed results that men and women were saved, frequently right in the shoe shop.
It was my chief responsibility to pound leather for shoe soles. A piece of cowhide would be cut to suite, then soaked in water. I had a flat piece of iron over my knees and, with a flat-headed hammer, I pounded these soles until they were hard and dry. It seemed an endless operation to me, and I wearied of it many times.
What made my task worse was the fact that, a block away, there was another shop that I passed going and coming to or from my home, and in it sat a jolly, godless cobbler who gathered the boys of the neighborhood about him and regaled them with lewd tales that made him dreaded by respectable parents as a menace to the community. Yet, somehow, he seemed to thrive and that perhaps to a greater extent than my employer, Mackay. As I looked in his window, I often noticed that he never pounded the soles at all, but took them from the water, nailed them on, damp as they were, and with the water splashing from them as he drove each nail in.
One day I ventured inside, something I had been warned never to do. Timidly, I said, "I notice you put the soles on while still wet. Are they just as good as if they were pounded?" He gave me a wicked leer as he answered, "They come back all the quicker this way, my boy!"
"Feeling I had learned something, I related the instance to my boss and suggested that I was perhaps wasting time in drying out the leather so carefully. Mr. Mackay stopped his work and opened his Bible to the passage that reads, "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of god."
"Harry," he said, "I do not cobble shoes just for the four bits and six bits (50c or 75c) that I get from my customers. I am doing this for the glory of God. I expect to see every shoe I have ever repaired in a big pile at the judgment seat of Christ, and I do not want the Lord to say to me in that day, 'Dan, this was a poor job. You did not do your best here.' I want Him to be able to say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'"
Then he went on to explain that just as some men are called to preach, so he was called to fix shoes, and that only as he did this well would his testimony count for God. It was a lesson I have never been able to forget. Often when I have been tempted to carelessness, and to slipshod effort, I have thought of dear, devoted Dan Mackay, and it has stirred me up to seek to do all as for Him who died to redeem me. (H. A. Ironside, Illustrations of Bible Truth, Moody Press, 1945, pp. 37-39.)
You work not for your boss, for your company, or for the profit margin; you work for Christ! This speaks not only to work environment; it speaks also to idleness.
What is that famous saying about idleness? Isn’t it “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop”? Why is that? Because when we intentionally pass up involvement, we make ourselves available for the problems that idleness brings: sloth, gossip, and waste of the gift called life. We were put on earth for a monumental reason: to grow into Christ-likeness and to help others do the same. Idleness is the greatest misuse of that intended purpose.
Last week I preached on heaven. Planet earth is the training ground for heaven. If we can’t be happy with the notion of Christian growth here – growth which entails worship, bible study and service - how will we ever be happy with heaven? Church is the number one avenue for putting your abilities and gifts to work. To do anything less is to miss out on God’s intention for your life. Paul was so adamant about it that he said that if a person doesn’t work, he or she should not be fed! Someone once said, “God gives the birds their food, but He doesn't throw it into their nests.” Work is essential to our livelihood both physically and mentally.
Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher, tells about the Roman aqueduct at Segovia, in his native Spain. It was built in 109 A.D. For eighteen hundred years, it carried cool water from the mountains to the hot and thirsty city. Nearly sixty generations of people drank from its flow.
Then came another generation, a recent one, who said, "This aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children, as a museum piece. We shall relieve it of its centuries-long labor." They did; they laid modern iron pipes. They gave the ancient bricks and mortar a reverent rest. And the aqueduct began to fall apart. The sun beating on the dry mortar caused it to crumble. The bricks and stone sagged and threatened to fall. What ages of service could not destroy idleness disintegrated. (Resource, Sept./ Oct., 1992, p. 4.)
Not working when you can (please understand that there are valid reasons some can not work, due to physical or mental challenges) gives us too much time on our hands, which leads to poor use of time.
There used to be a sign in Sistersville, our last appointment, on the way out of town that read “Sistersville: Small but Busy.” Things have changed over the years; it is not a town that is busy as it used to be. Someone one day added to the sign: “Sistersville: Small but Busybodies!” Of course, the sign was removed. I think that someone who was hurt added to the sign. If you are from a small town or still live in one, you know how everyone knows or thinks they know everyone else’s business. This person was probably hurt by gossip, which is an outgrowth of having nothing better to do.
Work is essential to not only our physical and mental health, it is essential to our spiritual health. And, it makes a difference in the spiritual walks of others.
Paul wanted Christians to show the beauty of their faith in Christ by how they work. He even showed them in Thessalonica. He worked in their midst as a tent-maker, showing them the beauty of his faith as he worked for Christ.
The first governor-general of Australia was a man by the name of Lord Hopetoun. One of his most cherished possessions was a 300 year old ledger he had inherited from John Hope, one of his ancestors. Hope had owned a business in Edinburgh, where he first used this old ledger. When Lord Hopetoun received it, he noticed that it had inscribed on its front page this prayer, "O Lord, keep me and this book honest!" (Source Unknown.)
How common is employee dishonesty? According to one recent survey: Falsifying time sheets was admitted by 5.8% of workers. Stealing merchandise was admitted by 6.6%. Among people working in retail stores, 57% said they abused their employee-discount privileges. (Dr. John Clark, in Homemade, Nov, 1985.)
Time theft--deliberate waste and abuse of company time--costs the U.S. economy over $120 billion a year (Creative Management, in Homemade, May, 1985.)
In one survey of workers across the USA, nearly 85% said that they could work harder on the job. More than half claimed they could double their effectiveness "if (they) wanted to." (Managing the Equity Factor, R Huseman, J Hatfield, 1989.)
People are watching us to see if we go along with the status quo! Christians must not be status quo people. Jesus wasn’t, nor should we. We must work hard at being a cut above. Paul said, “…do not be weary in doing what is right.” Right might not always be the most popular or the most profit; but as we work for Christ, our actions have eternal consequences, whether we sweep the floors or compose symphonies!
So, like Harry, expect to see all that you have done piled before Him. And, as He surveys that scene, may we hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant; enter into your Father’s eternal rest!” Amen.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
November 11, 2007 "Heaven"
[Opening for 1st Service:
A little girl was taking an evening walk with her father. Wonderingly, she looked up at the stars and exclaimed; "Oh, Daddy, if the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what must the right side be!" (Charles L. Allen in Home Fires.)
Today we are going to hear about heaven.]
[Opening for 2nd Service:
Following a campaign speech, a young man rushed up to Senator Everett Dirksen and said, "Senator, I wouldn't vote for you if you were St. Peter!" Dirksen eyed the young man for a moment, then said: "Son, if I were St. Peter, you couldn't vote for me, because you wouldn't be in my district." (Source Unknown.)
Where is St. Peter’s district? It is heaven! Today, we are going to hear about heaven!]
The Sadducees were a political group of people who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. They were considered somewhat religious because of their ties to the temple, but they did not believe in heaven. Can you imagine someone confronting you with the very strong notion that there is no heaven? Jesus was thus confronted. They even crafted a wild scenario to frustrate him and to belittle him for believing in heaven. How would you respond to such an attempt to belittle your faith? Would you walk away, would you yell, would you even know how to defend yourself?
Jesus did what we all can do. He countered with the word of God. He stated that there is a resurrection, and quoted Exodus 3:6 as fact! Nothing more needed to be said! No arguing, no yelling, no shame! Jesus settled the notion of heaven right then and there. Thank you, Jesus!
Richard Baxter, a writer who had a tremendous influence on the founders of the Methodist and United Brethren movements, stated:
My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim,
But it's enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with him.
J. I. Packer, a great theologian whose words I studied in seminary, wrote this about heaven: “…where the redeemed will find all their heart's desire: joy with their Lord, joy with his people, and joy in the ending of all frustration and distress and in the supply of all wants. What was said to the child -- "If you want sweets and hamsters in heaven, they'll be there" -- was not an evasion but a witness to the truth that in heaven no felt needs or longings go unsatisfied. What our wants will actually be, however, we hardly know, except the first and foremost: we shall want to be "always...with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17).
What shall we do in heaven? Not lounge around but worship, work, think, and communicate, enjoying activity, beauty, people, and God. First and foremost, however, we shall see and love Jesus, our Savior, Master, and Friend. (James Packer, Your Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986.)
Let’s see what the Bible has to say about heaven. The born-again believer:
will be with Jesus; Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross: “Today you shall be with me in paradise” (Luke 24:43).
will have complete knowledge; speaking of heaven, Paul wrote, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully” (I Cor. 13:12).
will be active; Paul wrote, “Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of life” (I Cor. 6:3).
will be free of hurt and agony; John wrote, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev. 21:4).
will be surrounded by unbelievable beauty; Speaking of the new Jerusalem, John wrote: “The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass…The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Rev. 21:21 and 23).
Heaven will be belonging like we have never belonged before. Heaven will be never needing to give or receive an apology. Heaven will never have even a whisper of tragedy. Heaven will be knowing everyone – even those we have never met. Heaven is being in love. Heaven is an endless sunset. Heaven is surprise – our mouths will most of the time be hanging wide open. And when we can speak, it will be to say, “I had no idea!” And, we will be surprised by who is there, and who is not there!
In an article title, "Are We Ready for Heaven?" Maurice R. Irwin points out that only 34 percent of the American people who call themselves Christians attend church at least once a week. He says, "We sing, 'When all my labors and trials are o'er, and I am safe on that beautiful shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore will through the ages be glory for me.' However, unless our attitudes toward the Lord and our appreciation of Him change greatly, heaven may be more of a shock than a glory." Daily Bread, July 31, 1992.
The opposite of heaven is hell. Jesus taught it was a literal place. It is a place where God removes His presence. I have had someone say to me, “If I don’t make it to heaven, I will just have a big party in hell.” My response is this: with God’s absence in hell, there will be no godlike quality there. There will be no friendships, no parties, no fun, no hope, no joy. The only way to avoid hell is to choose heaven by choosing Christ.
There is nothing that can satisfy the soul like a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! You can fill the void of this life with drugs, alcohol, and possessions, but they will never satisfy. Even people can not satisfy us fully. Only Christ can fill the void.
Just yesterday I did something that I have never done before. I ordered tickets to a Christian concert online. I bought the tickets and printed them right then and there. They are setting on my table. Christ is the ticket to heaven. That ticket can never be lost or damaged. Make sure that you have your ticket today.
C. S. Lewis shared, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world” (Mere Christianity, New York, Macmillan, 1960, p. 119.)
And if you are truly heaven-bound, then these words of C.S. Lewis are equally true:
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. (Mere Christianity.)
If we are a people filled with the hope of heaven, then everything will look different! And we will not be a people who compose the sidelines. We will be in the game – working, ministering, in church and beyond! For we will know, beyond any doubt, that our greatest pursuit is to bring others along with us!
Before Communion:
A widely respected man known as "Uncle Johnson" died in Michigan at the incredible age of 120. Perhaps his advanced years could be credited in part to the cheerful outlook that characterized his life. One day while at work in his garden, he was singing songs of praise to God. His pastor, who was passing by, looked over the fence and called, "Uncle Johnson, you seem very happy today." "Yes, I was just thinking," said the old man. "Thinking about what?" questioned his pastor. "Oh, I was just thinking that if the crumbs of joy that fall from the Master's table in this world are so good, what will the great loaf in glory be like! I tell you, sir, there will be enough for everyone and some to spare up there." Source Unknown
[Opening for 1st Service:
A little girl was taking an evening walk with her father. Wonderingly, she looked up at the stars and exclaimed; "Oh, Daddy, if the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what must the right side be!" (Charles L. Allen in Home Fires.)
Today we are going to hear about heaven.]
[Opening for 2nd Service:
Following a campaign speech, a young man rushed up to Senator Everett Dirksen and said, "Senator, I wouldn't vote for you if you were St. Peter!" Dirksen eyed the young man for a moment, then said: "Son, if I were St. Peter, you couldn't vote for me, because you wouldn't be in my district." (Source Unknown.)
Where is St. Peter’s district? It is heaven! Today, we are going to hear about heaven!]
The Sadducees were a political group of people who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. They were considered somewhat religious because of their ties to the temple, but they did not believe in heaven. Can you imagine someone confronting you with the very strong notion that there is no heaven? Jesus was thus confronted. They even crafted a wild scenario to frustrate him and to belittle him for believing in heaven. How would you respond to such an attempt to belittle your faith? Would you walk away, would you yell, would you even know how to defend yourself?
Jesus did what we all can do. He countered with the word of God. He stated that there is a resurrection, and quoted Exodus 3:6 as fact! Nothing more needed to be said! No arguing, no yelling, no shame! Jesus settled the notion of heaven right then and there. Thank you, Jesus!
Richard Baxter, a writer who had a tremendous influence on the founders of the Methodist and United Brethren movements, stated:
My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim,
But it's enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with him.
J. I. Packer, a great theologian whose words I studied in seminary, wrote this about heaven: “…where the redeemed will find all their heart's desire: joy with their Lord, joy with his people, and joy in the ending of all frustration and distress and in the supply of all wants. What was said to the child -- "If you want sweets and hamsters in heaven, they'll be there" -- was not an evasion but a witness to the truth that in heaven no felt needs or longings go unsatisfied. What our wants will actually be, however, we hardly know, except the first and foremost: we shall want to be "always...with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17).
What shall we do in heaven? Not lounge around but worship, work, think, and communicate, enjoying activity, beauty, people, and God. First and foremost, however, we shall see and love Jesus, our Savior, Master, and Friend. (James Packer, Your Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986.)
Let’s see what the Bible has to say about heaven. The born-again believer:
will be with Jesus; Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross: “Today you shall be with me in paradise” (Luke 24:43).
will have complete knowledge; speaking of heaven, Paul wrote, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully” (I Cor. 13:12).
will be active; Paul wrote, “Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of life” (I Cor. 6:3).
will be free of hurt and agony; John wrote, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev. 21:4).
will be surrounded by unbelievable beauty; Speaking of the new Jerusalem, John wrote: “The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass…The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Rev. 21:21 and 23).
Heaven will be belonging like we have never belonged before. Heaven will be never needing to give or receive an apology. Heaven will never have even a whisper of tragedy. Heaven will be knowing everyone – even those we have never met. Heaven is being in love. Heaven is an endless sunset. Heaven is surprise – our mouths will most of the time be hanging wide open. And when we can speak, it will be to say, “I had no idea!” And, we will be surprised by who is there, and who is not there!
In an article title, "Are We Ready for Heaven?" Maurice R. Irwin points out that only 34 percent of the American people who call themselves Christians attend church at least once a week. He says, "We sing, 'When all my labors and trials are o'er, and I am safe on that beautiful shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore will through the ages be glory for me.' However, unless our attitudes toward the Lord and our appreciation of Him change greatly, heaven may be more of a shock than a glory." Daily Bread, July 31, 1992.
The opposite of heaven is hell. Jesus taught it was a literal place. It is a place where God removes His presence. I have had someone say to me, “If I don’t make it to heaven, I will just have a big party in hell.” My response is this: with God’s absence in hell, there will be no godlike quality there. There will be no friendships, no parties, no fun, no hope, no joy. The only way to avoid hell is to choose heaven by choosing Christ.
There is nothing that can satisfy the soul like a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! You can fill the void of this life with drugs, alcohol, and possessions, but they will never satisfy. Even people can not satisfy us fully. Only Christ can fill the void.
Just yesterday I did something that I have never done before. I ordered tickets to a Christian concert online. I bought the tickets and printed them right then and there. They are setting on my table. Christ is the ticket to heaven. That ticket can never be lost or damaged. Make sure that you have your ticket today.
C. S. Lewis shared, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world” (Mere Christianity, New York, Macmillan, 1960, p. 119.)
And if you are truly heaven-bound, then these words of C.S. Lewis are equally true:
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. (Mere Christianity.)
If we are a people filled with the hope of heaven, then everything will look different! And we will not be a people who compose the sidelines. We will be in the game – working, ministering, in church and beyond! For we will know, beyond any doubt, that our greatest pursuit is to bring others along with us!
Before Communion:
A widely respected man known as "Uncle Johnson" died in Michigan at the incredible age of 120. Perhaps his advanced years could be credited in part to the cheerful outlook that characterized his life. One day while at work in his garden, he was singing songs of praise to God. His pastor, who was passing by, looked over the fence and called, "Uncle Johnson, you seem very happy today." "Yes, I was just thinking," said the old man. "Thinking about what?" questioned his pastor. "Oh, I was just thinking that if the crumbs of joy that fall from the Master's table in this world are so good, what will the great loaf in glory be like! I tell you, sir, there will be enough for everyone and some to spare up there." Source Unknown
Monday, November 05, 2007
November 4, 2007 "Suffering" WHY?
(First Service opening story:)
A bishop called a gathering of all the ministers in his area for a one-day consultation and retreat. The man assigned for the opening devotions that day called in sick at the last minute. The bishop sought out a young man who had recently graduated from seminary and had just been ordained. The bishop explained what had happened, and then he asked this young clergyman to lead the morning devotions.
“Oh bishop,” he exclaimed, “I couldn’t do that. I have nothing prepared. I would not know what to say.”
The bishop handed the young man his own Bible. “Here, take my Bible and spend a few moments of quiet time somewhere doing your preparation. Then, just trust the Lord. Just trust the Lord.”
The young man knew he could not refuse the bishop a second time. He reluctantly took the Bible and began to leaf through the pages. He could not find a proper text, but he did find a number of pages in the Bible with notes on them. One piece of paper intrigued him. As he looked it over, he decided that it would provide a good outline for a morning devotional for the group.
The young clergyman presented the devotion with exceptional poise and grace. When he was finished, the bishop came running over to him. Expecting some kind of gracious response, instead he heard the bishop exclaim, “Young man! What do you think you are doing? You just used my notes for today’s closing worship service. Now what will I do for a message later on?”
The younger man looked at his bishop and counseled, “Just trust the Lord, Bishop. Just trust the Lord” (Devotions to Leave You Smiling, p. 34).
Is it hard to trust in the Lord? It’s not too hard when things are going great, right? But what about when things aren’t going great? That is a different
story.
(Second service opening story:)
When Mike Kollin was a linebacker for the Dolphins, his former coach at Auburn asked him to do some recruiting for him. Mike said, “Sure coach. What kind of player are you looking for?”
The coach said, “Well, Mike, you know there’s that fellow, you knock him down, he just stays down?” Mike replied, “We don’t want him, do we coach?”
“No, that’s right. Then there’s that fellow, you know him down and he gets up, but you knock him down again and he stays down.” Mike replied, “We don’t want him either, do we coach?”
Coach said, “No, but Mike, there’s the fellow, you knock him down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up.
Mike said, “That’s the guy we want, isn’t it coach?”
The coach answered, “No, we don’t want him either. I want you to find that guy who’s knocking everybody down. That’s the guy we want!” (Illustrations Unlimited, p. 466).
It is one thing to get knocked down in a football game. What about when life knocks you down? What if life knocks you down again and again?
Someone once said, “I thought that I had a handle on life, then the handle fell off.” Another person compared life to “…a chicken trying to lay an egg on an escalator: as soon as she settles in, the bottom drops out.”
John Fishcer in his article The Fine Print writes:
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10 NLT)
These verses are what I call the fine print of the Christian life. When you sign up, you sign up for this, but unfortunately, not too many people read that far into the contract, and not enough leaders point it out. So when bad things start happening to us, we think something went wrong with our faith. Not necessarily. In fact, it’s an honor to think that your faith is worthy of being tested.
It’s a reverse spiritual principle that nonetheless is true: We get beaten down so that Christ might rise in us. It’s the whole idea God has of avoiding confusion. See, he doesn’t want people confusing human power and achievement with his power and what he is achieving in and through our lives. If all Christians were super-Christians, people would be impressed with them. As it is, God wants people to be surprised at us, not so much impressed – surprised that we can keep on believing, given what has happened to us. Surprised at us – impressed with God. That’s the way it should go.
It’s important to know this so that the things that happen don’t throw us into a tailspin. Paul wrote in the passage above that troubles, confusions, knock-downs, and drag-outs are all to be expected in a life of faith, and they are not just something to suck it up and endure, they are what will actually release the power of God in our lives. We encounter death-like experiences so that Christ’s life-like nature may clearly be seen in us, despite what is happening.
Let me try and say this again. This is not just endurance training through tough times. This is God’s strategy for ministry through us. There is no other way for it to be done. His strategy is his power and strength through our weakness – his life through our death. This doesn’t just happen to some Christians; it happens to us all if we desire to be effective in our faith.
So don’t forget the fine print today, and allow the troubles you face to springboard you into finding God’s purposes even in this. He had this planned all along. It’s even in the contract!
The Bible says, “Everyone who wants to be like Christ will suffer! At the Nicene Council, an important church meeting in the 4th century A.D., of the 318 delegates attending, fewer than 12 had not lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg lamed by torture for their Christian faith. (Vance Havner.)
It would be safe to say that tragedies are part of the norm of life. There is little doubt that the righteous have trouble, too. Maybe the question we have about this is not so much “Why?” but perhaps it is, “Why is it sometimes so severe?” Shouldn’t there be some fringe benefits to belonging to God? Shouldn’t we be protected from the worse of life if we have claimed to be his? I’ll try to answer this today.
David Watson serves as a great example of a good person going through a bad time. He was a minister in England. He died of cancer before these words of his were published.
"It's sometimes only through suffering that we begin to listen to God. Our natural pride and self-confidence have to be stripped painfully away and we become aware, perhaps for the first time, of our own personal needs.
"During the ministry of Jesus on earth, a tower fell in Siloam and killed 18 innocent people. 'Why did God allow it' was the immediate questions pressed by those around Him. Jesus replied, not by answering the question of suffering nor by giving a satisfactory solution to this particular tragedy. Instead, He came back to the practical challenge of God's Word: 'I tell you...unless you repent you will all likewise perish.' It may sound a little bleak, but Jesus was far more concerned with a person's eternal well-being than merely satisfying an intellectual curiosity. Here He was dealing not with the question of 'Why?' but with the question 'What?' 'What is God saying in this calamity?'"
Watson concludes, "Through the unexpected diagnosis of cancer I was forced to consider carefully my priorities in life and to make some necessary adjustments. I still do not know why God allowed it, nor does it bother me. But, I am beginning to hear what God is saying, and this has been enormously helpful to me." (Morning Glory, January 21, 1994.)
Christ did not come to do away with suffering; He did not come to explain it; He came to fill it with His presence. And he himself was not exempt from suffering. The very son of God went to the cross – suffering the worst kind of personal tragedy. If anyone had fringe benefits, it would have been Christ. If anyone deserved that special divine protection, it would have been Christ. God does not draw such a distinction. God has a plan. Sometimes that plan requires major trials. Christ’s suffering was terrible, but it was a suffering with purpose. He died in our place, taking our sins to the cross and making a way for us to get to heaven. All we must do is ask Christ to come into our hearts.
There is a grand purpose in the suffering of every born-again person. What purposes, you may ask? How about these purposes:
1. Suffering can promote our spiritual maturity (Ps 105:16ff)
2. Suffering proves our integrity (1 Pt 3:15)
3. Suffering produce a sense of dependence
4. Suffering prepares our hearts for ministry (more empathetic)
These are just a few. Here are some more silver linings; suffering:
1. Produces character and hope
2. Shows the power of Christ
3. Shows the glory of God
4. Shows what faith can do
5. Teaches dependence on God
6. Enables us to comfort those in trouble
7. Shows the proof of faith
8. Allows us to suffer for the cause of Christ
9. Keeps down pride
10. Suffering can come because of another's sin
11. Suffering can come because we are part of a fallen race
12. Because we reap what we sow
13. Because of the sovereignty of God
14. Because our enemy wants us to suffer
15. For reasons known only to God
Suffering teaches us patience. These words were found penned on the wall of a prison cell in Europe: "I believe in love even when I don't feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent." (Billy Graham, Till Armageddon.)
This is all saints Sunday. Those who died with Christ in their hearts can testify today that all the struggle in this life is worth what they have received! Maybe we can hear their cheers – even if but a whisper – come on, keep going, you are almost home!
Someone asked C.S. Lewis, "Why do the righteous suffer?" "Why not?" he replied. "They're the only ones who can take it."
Helen Keller once wrote: "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”
Frank and Billie Wilcox were living in Pakistan many years ago. Their six-month-old baby died. An old Punjabi who heard of their grief came to comfort them. "A tragedy like this is similar to being plunged into boiling water," he explained. "If you are an egg, your affliction will make you hard-boiled and unresponsive. If you are a potato, you will emerge soft and pliable, resilient and adaptable." It may sound funny to God, but there have been times when I have prayed, "O Lord, let me be a potato." (Guideposts Magazine)
O Lord, let us be potatoes.
(First Service opening story:)
A bishop called a gathering of all the ministers in his area for a one-day consultation and retreat. The man assigned for the opening devotions that day called in sick at the last minute. The bishop sought out a young man who had recently graduated from seminary and had just been ordained. The bishop explained what had happened, and then he asked this young clergyman to lead the morning devotions.
“Oh bishop,” he exclaimed, “I couldn’t do that. I have nothing prepared. I would not know what to say.”
The bishop handed the young man his own Bible. “Here, take my Bible and spend a few moments of quiet time somewhere doing your preparation. Then, just trust the Lord. Just trust the Lord.”
The young man knew he could not refuse the bishop a second time. He reluctantly took the Bible and began to leaf through the pages. He could not find a proper text, but he did find a number of pages in the Bible with notes on them. One piece of paper intrigued him. As he looked it over, he decided that it would provide a good outline for a morning devotional for the group.
The young clergyman presented the devotion with exceptional poise and grace. When he was finished, the bishop came running over to him. Expecting some kind of gracious response, instead he heard the bishop exclaim, “Young man! What do you think you are doing? You just used my notes for today’s closing worship service. Now what will I do for a message later on?”
The younger man looked at his bishop and counseled, “Just trust the Lord, Bishop. Just trust the Lord” (Devotions to Leave You Smiling, p. 34).
Is it hard to trust in the Lord? It’s not too hard when things are going great, right? But what about when things aren’t going great? That is a different
story.
(Second service opening story:)
When Mike Kollin was a linebacker for the Dolphins, his former coach at Auburn asked him to do some recruiting for him. Mike said, “Sure coach. What kind of player are you looking for?”
The coach said, “Well, Mike, you know there’s that fellow, you knock him down, he just stays down?” Mike replied, “We don’t want him, do we coach?”
“No, that’s right. Then there’s that fellow, you know him down and he gets up, but you knock him down again and he stays down.” Mike replied, “We don’t want him either, do we coach?”
Coach said, “No, but Mike, there’s the fellow, you knock him down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up.
Mike said, “That’s the guy we want, isn’t it coach?”
The coach answered, “No, we don’t want him either. I want you to find that guy who’s knocking everybody down. That’s the guy we want!” (Illustrations Unlimited, p. 466).
It is one thing to get knocked down in a football game. What about when life knocks you down? What if life knocks you down again and again?
Someone once said, “I thought that I had a handle on life, then the handle fell off.” Another person compared life to “…a chicken trying to lay an egg on an escalator: as soon as she settles in, the bottom drops out.”
John Fishcer in his article The Fine Print writes:
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10 NLT)
These verses are what I call the fine print of the Christian life. When you sign up, you sign up for this, but unfortunately, not too many people read that far into the contract, and not enough leaders point it out. So when bad things start happening to us, we think something went wrong with our faith. Not necessarily. In fact, it’s an honor to think that your faith is worthy of being tested.
It’s a reverse spiritual principle that nonetheless is true: We get beaten down so that Christ might rise in us. It’s the whole idea God has of avoiding confusion. See, he doesn’t want people confusing human power and achievement with his power and what he is achieving in and through our lives. If all Christians were super-Christians, people would be impressed with them. As it is, God wants people to be surprised at us, not so much impressed – surprised that we can keep on believing, given what has happened to us. Surprised at us – impressed with God. That’s the way it should go.
It’s important to know this so that the things that happen don’t throw us into a tailspin. Paul wrote in the passage above that troubles, confusions, knock-downs, and drag-outs are all to be expected in a life of faith, and they are not just something to suck it up and endure, they are what will actually release the power of God in our lives. We encounter death-like experiences so that Christ’s life-like nature may clearly be seen in us, despite what is happening.
Let me try and say this again. This is not just endurance training through tough times. This is God’s strategy for ministry through us. There is no other way for it to be done. His strategy is his power and strength through our weakness – his life through our death. This doesn’t just happen to some Christians; it happens to us all if we desire to be effective in our faith.
So don’t forget the fine print today, and allow the troubles you face to springboard you into finding God’s purposes even in this. He had this planned all along. It’s even in the contract!
The Bible says, “Everyone who wants to be like Christ will suffer! At the Nicene Council, an important church meeting in the 4th century A.D., of the 318 delegates attending, fewer than 12 had not lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg lamed by torture for their Christian faith. (Vance Havner.)
It would be safe to say that tragedies are part of the norm of life. There is little doubt that the righteous have trouble, too. Maybe the question we have about this is not so much “Why?” but perhaps it is, “Why is it sometimes so severe?” Shouldn’t there be some fringe benefits to belonging to God? Shouldn’t we be protected from the worse of life if we have claimed to be his? I’ll try to answer this today.
David Watson serves as a great example of a good person going through a bad time. He was a minister in England. He died of cancer before these words of his were published.
"It's sometimes only through suffering that we begin to listen to God. Our natural pride and self-confidence have to be stripped painfully away and we become aware, perhaps for the first time, of our own personal needs.
"During the ministry of Jesus on earth, a tower fell in Siloam and killed 18 innocent people. 'Why did God allow it' was the immediate questions pressed by those around Him. Jesus replied, not by answering the question of suffering nor by giving a satisfactory solution to this particular tragedy. Instead, He came back to the practical challenge of God's Word: 'I tell you...unless you repent you will all likewise perish.' It may sound a little bleak, but Jesus was far more concerned with a person's eternal well-being than merely satisfying an intellectual curiosity. Here He was dealing not with the question of 'Why?' but with the question 'What?' 'What is God saying in this calamity?'"
Watson concludes, "Through the unexpected diagnosis of cancer I was forced to consider carefully my priorities in life and to make some necessary adjustments. I still do not know why God allowed it, nor does it bother me. But, I am beginning to hear what God is saying, and this has been enormously helpful to me." (Morning Glory, January 21, 1994.)
Christ did not come to do away with suffering; He did not come to explain it; He came to fill it with His presence. And he himself was not exempt from suffering. The very son of God went to the cross – suffering the worst kind of personal tragedy. If anyone had fringe benefits, it would have been Christ. If anyone deserved that special divine protection, it would have been Christ. God does not draw such a distinction. God has a plan. Sometimes that plan requires major trials. Christ’s suffering was terrible, but it was a suffering with purpose. He died in our place, taking our sins to the cross and making a way for us to get to heaven. All we must do is ask Christ to come into our hearts.
There is a grand purpose in the suffering of every born-again person. What purposes, you may ask? How about these purposes:
1. Suffering can promote our spiritual maturity (Ps 105:16ff)
2. Suffering proves our integrity (1 Pt 3:15)
3. Suffering produce a sense of dependence
4. Suffering prepares our hearts for ministry (more empathetic)
These are just a few. Here are some more silver linings; suffering:
1. Produces character and hope
2. Shows the power of Christ
3. Shows the glory of God
4. Shows what faith can do
5. Teaches dependence on God
6. Enables us to comfort those in trouble
7. Shows the proof of faith
8. Allows us to suffer for the cause of Christ
9. Keeps down pride
10. Suffering can come because of another's sin
11. Suffering can come because we are part of a fallen race
12. Because we reap what we sow
13. Because of the sovereignty of God
14. Because our enemy wants us to suffer
15. For reasons known only to God
Suffering teaches us patience. These words were found penned on the wall of a prison cell in Europe: "I believe in love even when I don't feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent." (Billy Graham, Till Armageddon.)
This is all saints Sunday. Those who died with Christ in their hearts can testify today that all the struggle in this life is worth what they have received! Maybe we can hear their cheers – even if but a whisper – come on, keep going, you are almost home!
Someone asked C.S. Lewis, "Why do the righteous suffer?" "Why not?" he replied. "They're the only ones who can take it."
Helen Keller once wrote: "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”
Frank and Billie Wilcox were living in Pakistan many years ago. Their six-month-old baby died. An old Punjabi who heard of their grief came to comfort them. "A tragedy like this is similar to being plunged into boiling water," he explained. "If you are an egg, your affliction will make you hard-boiled and unresponsive. If you are a potato, you will emerge soft and pliable, resilient and adaptable." It may sound funny to God, but there have been times when I have prayed, "O Lord, let me be a potato." (Guideposts Magazine)
O Lord, let us be potatoes.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
October 28, 2007 "Humility"
A GOOD MAN LOST AND A BAD MAN SAVED
(Luke 18:9 NRSV) He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:
(Luke 18:10 NRSV) "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
(Luke 18:11 NRSV) The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
(Luke 18:12 NRSV) I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.'
(Luke 18:13 NRSV) But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
(Luke 18:14 NRSV) I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."
Here is an interesting poem that I found in my files this past week. It is called, “Being Sure.”
In an airport one night
With several long hours
Before her flight.
She hunted for a book
In an airport shop,
Bought a bag of cookies
And found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book
But happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her,
As bold as could be,
Grabbed a cookie or two
From the bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore
To avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies
And watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief
Diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated
As the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice,
I would blacken his eye."
With each cookie she took,
He took one too,
When only one was left,
She wondered what he would do.
With a smile on his face,
And a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie
And broke it in half.
He offered her half,
As he ate the other,
She snatched it from him
And thought....ooh, brother!
This guy had some nerve
And he's also rude,
Why he didn't even show
Any gratitude!
She had never known
When she had been so galled,
And sighed with relief
When her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings
And headed to the gate,
Refusing to look back
At the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane,
And sank in her seat,
Then she sought her book,
Which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage,
She gasped with surprise,
There was her bag of cookies,
In front of her eyes.
If mine are here,
She moaned in despair,
The others were his,
And he tried to share.
Too late to apologize,
She realized with grief,
That she was the rude one,
The ingrate, the thief!
How many times have we absolutely known that something was a certain way,
only to discover later that what we believed to be true....was not? We call such things misperceptions.
Here was a well-meaning Pharisee who thought that he was good enough. He avoided the things he should and did even beyond what was expected. His problem? He was full of himself, which left no room for mercy or compassion for another. His religion, then, was a failure, for it was a religion that excluded instead of included. He was a good man lost. He was self-reliant. He didn’t need a savior.
Then there was the bad man saved! How, you might ask? Because he saw himself for who he was – a sinner! He was not full of self. He was utterly reliant on God to forgive him and to restore him. He needed a savior. He was truly humble!
There are 5 things that you and I must exhibit in order to be truly humble.
Ground yourself in God’s love
Let me share something with you from the book that the Ladies’ Bible Study is reading. It is Max Lucado’s 3:16. Susan read part of Chapter 4 to me this past week. In that chapter you will find the story of George Matheson:
George Matheson learned to depend on his [God’s] love. He was only a teenager when doctors told him he was going blind. Not to be denied, he pursued his studies, graduating from the University of Glasgow in 1861 at the age of nineteen. By the time he finished graduate seminary studies, he was sightless.
His fiancée returned his engagement ring with a note: “I can not see my way clear to go through life bound by the chains of marriage to a blind man.”
Matheson never married. He adapted to his sightless world but never recovered from his broken heart. He became a powerful and poetic pastor, led a full and inspiring life. Yet occasionally the pain of his unrequited affection flared up, as it did decades later at his sister’s wedding. The ceremony brought back memories of the love he had lost. In response, he turned to the unending love of God for comfort and penned these words on June 6, 1882:
O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be. (Lucado, pp. 35-36).
You will find the complete text of this hymn on page # 480 in our hymnal. George was a man who understood God’s love, even in the midst of a painful rejection, he relied on the God who loved him without condition. That same God loves you and I the same way. We can’t win God’s love. We can’t lose God’s love. We can resist it, but God still loves! We must immerse ourselves in such a love.
Admit your mistakes
We are all sinners. We continue to sin after we become believers. We are not perfect, but we are perfecting! Admit your mistakes, identify with them to the point that you dare not judge another, because, when you point a finger, you’ve got 3 pointing back at you! This helps us to keep an open mind and an open heart.
Remember, "Always Keep An Open Mind And An Open Heart, Because - You Just Never Know - You might be eating someone else's cookies!”
Learn from your mistakes
Admitting your mistakes is the start, but not the end. If you admit them but never do anything about them, then you are what the Bible calls a “Fool.” A fool never learns from his or her mistakes. A wise person does learn from his or her mistakes. Proverbs 16:21 says, “The wise of heart is called perceptive. Verse 22 continues: “…folly is the punishment of fools…”
Mistakes show us our continuing need of a savior. Mistakes show us what needs perfecting. Mistakes help keep us humble. Remember our marquee: “Be humble or stumble.”
Boast of the things of God – not the things of self!
The Pharisee was stuck on himself. How much better to be unstuck on self and stuck on the power of God. Really, God is the only one worthy of praise. It is God that enables us to have, do or be anything!
Finally serve with dignity – not out of fear
Serve, Baby, serve. That should be our motto. But serve out of love for a God so great, not our of fear of punishment or fear of failure. Serve with dignity.
John Fischer writes for “The Purpose Driven Life” daily devotionals, which can be accessed online (purposdrivenlife.com/devotionals; you can sign up to receive one everyday, free, by email). Back in February, he wrote the following article named “Someone Else’s Problems.”
Evangelicals often put being saved and going to heaven in the same sentence, as if heaven were the only goal of our salvation. But the truth is, we are saved to serve. Heaven is important, but heaven can wait. God saves us because he has a job for us to do in his Kingdom here on earth. If heaven is the whole point of our salvation, then what do we do while we wait? Change the channel on our Christian entertainment?
It’s amazing how many of our own problems dissipate when we begin caring about other people’s problems instead of focusing on our own. We’ve picked up some very bad habits from our culture. We have a tendency to be preoccupied with our own needs and constantly trying to fulfill them. Advertising plays into this self-indulgence, promising that one more product will be the thing that will finally satisfy us. The truth of the matter is: Getting will never come close to the satisfaction that giving affords.
Think of someone you know who is truly happy and I venture to guess you will find that someone busy serving others. If, in fact, our troubles will never go away (and I don’t believe they ever will in this life), then to focus on them and try to solve them is going to be nothing but a broken record. Make one problem go away, and watch another one crop up immediately. To give ourselves to the task of attending to the problems of those around us may not make our own problems go away, but it will make them less of a drag. Focusing on our own problems can lead to anxiety, frustration, and even depression. Focusing on other people’s problems leads to usefulness and a greater sense of health.
So today, when we are tempted to look in, to our own needs, let’s look out, instead, to the needs of those around us and see if our own needs diminish by comparison. Who knows, we may even forget about ourselves in the process.
Jesus hung on a cross and thought of those who were putting him there, and even pleaded their case before his Father, because he knew they didn’t realize the full impact of what they were doing. Can you imagine having even a fleeting thought about someone else if you were in that much pain yourself? But that’s just the thing about Jesus: He was always thinking of someone else.
Jesus came to serve. He did it by thinking of you and me. He served with dignity, even when he hung on the cross in the most undignified manner of torture. That is true humility. Only a humble man could do that. That is the power of humility grounded in God’s love. And we have access to that same love through Christ – available to the best of us and to the worse of us! Praise be to God.
A GOOD MAN LOST AND A BAD MAN SAVED
(Luke 18:9 NRSV) He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:
(Luke 18:10 NRSV) "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
(Luke 18:11 NRSV) The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
(Luke 18:12 NRSV) I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.'
(Luke 18:13 NRSV) But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
(Luke 18:14 NRSV) I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."
Here is an interesting poem that I found in my files this past week. It is called, “Being Sure.”
In an airport one night
With several long hours
Before her flight.
She hunted for a book
In an airport shop,
Bought a bag of cookies
And found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book
But happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her,
As bold as could be,
Grabbed a cookie or two
From the bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore
To avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies
And watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief
Diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated
As the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice,
I would blacken his eye."
With each cookie she took,
He took one too,
When only one was left,
She wondered what he would do.
With a smile on his face,
And a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie
And broke it in half.
He offered her half,
As he ate the other,
She snatched it from him
And thought....ooh, brother!
This guy had some nerve
And he's also rude,
Why he didn't even show
Any gratitude!
She had never known
When she had been so galled,
And sighed with relief
When her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings
And headed to the gate,
Refusing to look back
At the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane,
And sank in her seat,
Then she sought her book,
Which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage,
She gasped with surprise,
There was her bag of cookies,
In front of her eyes.
If mine are here,
She moaned in despair,
The others were his,
And he tried to share.
Too late to apologize,
She realized with grief,
That she was the rude one,
The ingrate, the thief!
How many times have we absolutely known that something was a certain way,
only to discover later that what we believed to be true....was not? We call such things misperceptions.
Here was a well-meaning Pharisee who thought that he was good enough. He avoided the things he should and did even beyond what was expected. His problem? He was full of himself, which left no room for mercy or compassion for another. His religion, then, was a failure, for it was a religion that excluded instead of included. He was a good man lost. He was self-reliant. He didn’t need a savior.
Then there was the bad man saved! How, you might ask? Because he saw himself for who he was – a sinner! He was not full of self. He was utterly reliant on God to forgive him and to restore him. He needed a savior. He was truly humble!
There are 5 things that you and I must exhibit in order to be truly humble.
Ground yourself in God’s love
Let me share something with you from the book that the Ladies’ Bible Study is reading. It is Max Lucado’s 3:16. Susan read part of Chapter 4 to me this past week. In that chapter you will find the story of George Matheson:
George Matheson learned to depend on his [God’s] love. He was only a teenager when doctors told him he was going blind. Not to be denied, he pursued his studies, graduating from the University of Glasgow in 1861 at the age of nineteen. By the time he finished graduate seminary studies, he was sightless.
His fiancée returned his engagement ring with a note: “I can not see my way clear to go through life bound by the chains of marriage to a blind man.”
Matheson never married. He adapted to his sightless world but never recovered from his broken heart. He became a powerful and poetic pastor, led a full and inspiring life. Yet occasionally the pain of his unrequited affection flared up, as it did decades later at his sister’s wedding. The ceremony brought back memories of the love he had lost. In response, he turned to the unending love of God for comfort and penned these words on June 6, 1882:
O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be. (Lucado, pp. 35-36).
You will find the complete text of this hymn on page # 480 in our hymnal. George was a man who understood God’s love, even in the midst of a painful rejection, he relied on the God who loved him without condition. That same God loves you and I the same way. We can’t win God’s love. We can’t lose God’s love. We can resist it, but God still loves! We must immerse ourselves in such a love.
Admit your mistakes
We are all sinners. We continue to sin after we become believers. We are not perfect, but we are perfecting! Admit your mistakes, identify with them to the point that you dare not judge another, because, when you point a finger, you’ve got 3 pointing back at you! This helps us to keep an open mind and an open heart.
Remember, "Always Keep An Open Mind And An Open Heart, Because - You Just Never Know - You might be eating someone else's cookies!”
Learn from your mistakes
Admitting your mistakes is the start, but not the end. If you admit them but never do anything about them, then you are what the Bible calls a “Fool.” A fool never learns from his or her mistakes. A wise person does learn from his or her mistakes. Proverbs 16:21 says, “The wise of heart is called perceptive. Verse 22 continues: “…folly is the punishment of fools…”
Mistakes show us our continuing need of a savior. Mistakes show us what needs perfecting. Mistakes help keep us humble. Remember our marquee: “Be humble or stumble.”
Boast of the things of God – not the things of self!
The Pharisee was stuck on himself. How much better to be unstuck on self and stuck on the power of God. Really, God is the only one worthy of praise. It is God that enables us to have, do or be anything!
Finally serve with dignity – not out of fear
Serve, Baby, serve. That should be our motto. But serve out of love for a God so great, not our of fear of punishment or fear of failure. Serve with dignity.
John Fischer writes for “The Purpose Driven Life” daily devotionals, which can be accessed online (purposdrivenlife.com/devotionals; you can sign up to receive one everyday, free, by email). Back in February, he wrote the following article named “Someone Else’s Problems.”
Evangelicals often put being saved and going to heaven in the same sentence, as if heaven were the only goal of our salvation. But the truth is, we are saved to serve. Heaven is important, but heaven can wait. God saves us because he has a job for us to do in his Kingdom here on earth. If heaven is the whole point of our salvation, then what do we do while we wait? Change the channel on our Christian entertainment?
It’s amazing how many of our own problems dissipate when we begin caring about other people’s problems instead of focusing on our own. We’ve picked up some very bad habits from our culture. We have a tendency to be preoccupied with our own needs and constantly trying to fulfill them. Advertising plays into this self-indulgence, promising that one more product will be the thing that will finally satisfy us. The truth of the matter is: Getting will never come close to the satisfaction that giving affords.
Think of someone you know who is truly happy and I venture to guess you will find that someone busy serving others. If, in fact, our troubles will never go away (and I don’t believe they ever will in this life), then to focus on them and try to solve them is going to be nothing but a broken record. Make one problem go away, and watch another one crop up immediately. To give ourselves to the task of attending to the problems of those around us may not make our own problems go away, but it will make them less of a drag. Focusing on our own problems can lead to anxiety, frustration, and even depression. Focusing on other people’s problems leads to usefulness and a greater sense of health.
So today, when we are tempted to look in, to our own needs, let’s look out, instead, to the needs of those around us and see if our own needs diminish by comparison. Who knows, we may even forget about ourselves in the process.
Jesus hung on a cross and thought of those who were putting him there, and even pleaded their case before his Father, because he knew they didn’t realize the full impact of what they were doing. Can you imagine having even a fleeting thought about someone else if you were in that much pain yourself? But that’s just the thing about Jesus: He was always thinking of someone else.
Jesus came to serve. He did it by thinking of you and me. He served with dignity, even when he hung on the cross in the most undignified manner of torture. That is true humility. Only a humble man could do that. That is the power of humility grounded in God’s love. And we have access to that same love through Christ – available to the best of us and to the worse of us! Praise be to God.
Monday, October 15, 2007
October 14, 2007 - "Thankfulness"
Scripture: Luke 17:11-19
"While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
When He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they were going, they were cleansed.
Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine--where are they? "Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?"
And He said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has made you well."
A golden anniversary party was thrown for an elderly couple. The husband was moved by the occasion and wanted to tell his wife just how he felt about her. She was very hard of hearing, however, and often misunderstood what he said. With many family members and friends gathered around, he toasted her: “My dear wife, after fifty years I’ve found you tried and true!” Everyone smiled approval, but his wife said, “Eh?” He repeated louder, “AFTER FIFTY YEARS OF MARRIAGE, I’VE FOUND YOU TRIED AND TRUE!” His wife shot back, “Well, let me tell you something – after fifty years of marriage, I’m tired of you, too!”
Speaking of older age, I have come across a top ten list about older age. Here are the top ten ways to know that you are getting old:
10 – You get winded playing chess.
9 – Everything hurts, and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work.
8 – The gleam in your eyes is from the sun hitting your bifocals.
7 – Your little black book contains only names ending with M.D.
6 – You finally reach the top of the ladder, only to find it leaning against the wrong wall.
5 – Your favorite part of the newspaper is “25 Years Ago.”
4 – Your knee buckles and your belt won’t.
3 – You start burning the midnight oil at 9:00 p.m.
2 – You sink your teeth in a steak and they stay there.
1 – "drum roll please" – Your back goes out more than you do!
Now that is a top ten list that is hard to forget. There is a lot of truth to that one. Jesus encountered a top ten list of his own, one day. It was a top ten list of the most sick people. These particular ten people had the very same disease – leprosy!
Leprosy, the most dreaded disease of the day. As a matter of a fact, it was so feared, both because of the symptoms it caused as well as the ritual uncleanness associated with it, that people who had it had to yell, “Unclean, Unclean” when others were getting too close. They were not allowed to mingle with the populace. They were quarantined and they were isolated. They were left out. They no longer belonged to society. They lived together in leper colonies in the middle of nowhere. They were located, in this instance, between Galilee and Samaria – no man’s land.
Can you think of some diseases today in which people are ostracized? Could you imagine what it would be like for them if they had to advertise their situation, even yelling it out before they got too close: “Aids. Aids.” Or, “Typhoid. Typhoid”? Well, then you could begin to imagine how bad it was for the leper.
To make matters worse, their disease was extremely debilitating. A leper lost the sense of touch wherever it occurred on the body. The disease destroyed the bodies nervous system ending in death.
How then, could it be, that only one leper came a leaping? Jesus marveled, “Were there not 10, and only 1 returned? And at that, a Samaritan?” The Samaritans were not liked by the Jews. But when it came down to showing gratitude, the Jews did not, but the Samaritan did. The Jews should have known better. The Samaritan could have made a case not to return, as he well knew how the Jews felt. But his restoration was more important than age old prejudices. His life was given back to him. He saw the work of God. He was beside himself with joy. He could not wait to find Jesus!!!
What is it about people that they would not bother to say “thanks” for such great a thing?
Well, I have another top ten list to share with you today. It is one of my own doing - the top ten reasons, I think, people fail to give thanks to God:
10 – Many don’t care about giving thanks (because of apathy or too much a bother)
9 – Many don’t know how to give thanks. (haven’t been taught)
8 – Some don’t think they have anything to be thankful for. (common among those who are most negative)
I like what Matthew Henry, the famous Bible Commentator, wrote about being robbed. He found several reasons to be thankful:
“Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, although they took everything I had, it was not much; and fourth, it was I who was robbed and not someone else.”
Attitudes can be changed with a little practice. Matthew Henry practiced looking for the good in the midst of bad.
7 – Some believe that giving thanks doesn’t do any good. (tried it before, didn’t seem to make things better)
It may not change circumstances, but giving thanks does change people – if practiced regularly.
6 – Some believe they deserve God’s blessings, so why give thanks?
I can see this being the stance of the 9 who did not return. They were the Jews, the chosen ones, who felt they deserved it just because of who they were. This is an “I’m entitled” mentality. It is also a “better than thou attitude” which is very condescending.
5 – Some say, “I didn’t get what I really wanted, so why say thanks?"
This is selfishness for sure. This also assumes that we know what we need better than God does.
4 – Some deny the miraculous or rationalize a miracle as something else. (skeptical about the divine – true gratitude must first admit that “God Is.”)
3 – Some believe that if they give God thanks then they will be obligated to do something for God in return (God doesn’t bless in order to get something from us. It is simply God’s nature to give, period. God wants us to serve Him, but not out of obligation. God wants us to serve Him out of love)
2 – Some believe that they do not deserve God’s blessings, so it would do no good to give thanks (this comes from guilt - believing that one is not good enough. Remember, it is God who makes us “good enough” based on what Christ has done. That is why we must invite Christ into our hearts. Christ had done the work and we get to benefit if we believe)
1 – Many are just too busy. (too many distractions, too much stuff in the way)
Maybe this was the condition of the nine who did not come back. Maybe they had to get to their families, or get their jobs back, or pay on their loans, or get to the stadium to redeem their season tickets to the chariot races. You see what I mean? In every age, time is an issue. Just taking the time to say thanks is the key here. Pause - a comma during the day. It can be before a meal, in the car, on the bus, in the checkout line, before bed, or as we rise. We should plan to use our pauses better than we do. And we should plan to take charge of our schedules so that we can honor a wonderful lord!
Jesus’ last words to the one leaping leper were, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." The last three words “made you well” carry a deeper meaning in the Greek. They carry the idea of salvation. In effect, Jesus was saying, “…your faith has saved you.”
The nine who did not return did not have the privilege of hearing these words. I can’t help but wonder if gratitude is not a link in the chain of salvation. You can’t give thanks for something that you do not have or do not know about. The one leaping leper knew he met the Lord God. His life was forever changed. His thanksgiving was a proof of receiving this salvation. His faith finalized his healing – even the very healing of his soul!
Scripture: Luke 17:11-19
"While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
When He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they were going, they were cleansed.
Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine--where are they? "Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?"
And He said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has made you well."
A golden anniversary party was thrown for an elderly couple. The husband was moved by the occasion and wanted to tell his wife just how he felt about her. She was very hard of hearing, however, and often misunderstood what he said. With many family members and friends gathered around, he toasted her: “My dear wife, after fifty years I’ve found you tried and true!” Everyone smiled approval, but his wife said, “Eh?” He repeated louder, “AFTER FIFTY YEARS OF MARRIAGE, I’VE FOUND YOU TRIED AND TRUE!” His wife shot back, “Well, let me tell you something – after fifty years of marriage, I’m tired of you, too!”
Speaking of older age, I have come across a top ten list about older age. Here are the top ten ways to know that you are getting old:
10 – You get winded playing chess.
9 – Everything hurts, and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work.
8 – The gleam in your eyes is from the sun hitting your bifocals.
7 – Your little black book contains only names ending with M.D.
6 – You finally reach the top of the ladder, only to find it leaning against the wrong wall.
5 – Your favorite part of the newspaper is “25 Years Ago.”
4 – Your knee buckles and your belt won’t.
3 – You start burning the midnight oil at 9:00 p.m.
2 – You sink your teeth in a steak and they stay there.
1 – "drum roll please" – Your back goes out more than you do!
Now that is a top ten list that is hard to forget. There is a lot of truth to that one. Jesus encountered a top ten list of his own, one day. It was a top ten list of the most sick people. These particular ten people had the very same disease – leprosy!
Leprosy, the most dreaded disease of the day. As a matter of a fact, it was so feared, both because of the symptoms it caused as well as the ritual uncleanness associated with it, that people who had it had to yell, “Unclean, Unclean” when others were getting too close. They were not allowed to mingle with the populace. They were quarantined and they were isolated. They were left out. They no longer belonged to society. They lived together in leper colonies in the middle of nowhere. They were located, in this instance, between Galilee and Samaria – no man’s land.
Can you think of some diseases today in which people are ostracized? Could you imagine what it would be like for them if they had to advertise their situation, even yelling it out before they got too close: “Aids. Aids.” Or, “Typhoid. Typhoid”? Well, then you could begin to imagine how bad it was for the leper.
To make matters worse, their disease was extremely debilitating. A leper lost the sense of touch wherever it occurred on the body. The disease destroyed the bodies nervous system ending in death.
How then, could it be, that only one leper came a leaping? Jesus marveled, “Were there not 10, and only 1 returned? And at that, a Samaritan?” The Samaritans were not liked by the Jews. But when it came down to showing gratitude, the Jews did not, but the Samaritan did. The Jews should have known better. The Samaritan could have made a case not to return, as he well knew how the Jews felt. But his restoration was more important than age old prejudices. His life was given back to him. He saw the work of God. He was beside himself with joy. He could not wait to find Jesus!!!
What is it about people that they would not bother to say “thanks” for such great a thing?
Well, I have another top ten list to share with you today. It is one of my own doing - the top ten reasons, I think, people fail to give thanks to God:
10 – Many don’t care about giving thanks (because of apathy or too much a bother)
9 – Many don’t know how to give thanks. (haven’t been taught)
8 – Some don’t think they have anything to be thankful for. (common among those who are most negative)
I like what Matthew Henry, the famous Bible Commentator, wrote about being robbed. He found several reasons to be thankful:
“Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, although they took everything I had, it was not much; and fourth, it was I who was robbed and not someone else.”
Attitudes can be changed with a little practice. Matthew Henry practiced looking for the good in the midst of bad.
7 – Some believe that giving thanks doesn’t do any good. (tried it before, didn’t seem to make things better)
It may not change circumstances, but giving thanks does change people – if practiced regularly.
6 – Some believe they deserve God’s blessings, so why give thanks?
I can see this being the stance of the 9 who did not return. They were the Jews, the chosen ones, who felt they deserved it just because of who they were. This is an “I’m entitled” mentality. It is also a “better than thou attitude” which is very condescending.
5 – Some say, “I didn’t get what I really wanted, so why say thanks?"
This is selfishness for sure. This also assumes that we know what we need better than God does.
4 – Some deny the miraculous or rationalize a miracle as something else. (skeptical about the divine – true gratitude must first admit that “God Is.”)
3 – Some believe that if they give God thanks then they will be obligated to do something for God in return (God doesn’t bless in order to get something from us. It is simply God’s nature to give, period. God wants us to serve Him, but not out of obligation. God wants us to serve Him out of love)
2 – Some believe that they do not deserve God’s blessings, so it would do no good to give thanks (this comes from guilt - believing that one is not good enough. Remember, it is God who makes us “good enough” based on what Christ has done. That is why we must invite Christ into our hearts. Christ had done the work and we get to benefit if we believe)
1 – Many are just too busy. (too many distractions, too much stuff in the way)
Maybe this was the condition of the nine who did not come back. Maybe they had to get to their families, or get their jobs back, or pay on their loans, or get to the stadium to redeem their season tickets to the chariot races. You see what I mean? In every age, time is an issue. Just taking the time to say thanks is the key here. Pause - a comma during the day. It can be before a meal, in the car, on the bus, in the checkout line, before bed, or as we rise. We should plan to use our pauses better than we do. And we should plan to take charge of our schedules so that we can honor a wonderful lord!
Jesus’ last words to the one leaping leper were, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." The last three words “made you well” carry a deeper meaning in the Greek. They carry the idea of salvation. In effect, Jesus was saying, “…your faith has saved you.”
The nine who did not return did not have the privilege of hearing these words. I can’t help but wonder if gratitude is not a link in the chain of salvation. You can’t give thanks for something that you do not have or do not know about. The one leaping leper knew he met the Lord God. His life was forever changed. His thanksgiving was a proof of receiving this salvation. His faith finalized his healing – even the very healing of his soul!
Sunday, October 07, 2007
October 7, 2007
Faith
[First Service: Video Clip from "Hook." Initially, only one child believes that Robin Williams' character is Peter Pan. As his little friend looks him over, he discovers that there is something inside of Peter that identifies him as Peter Pan. He himself had forgotten - even buried - his former life as Peter Pan. He needed a refresher course in faith; so do we.]
[Second Service: begin with following illustration] A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. The following conversation ensued:
"Is anyone up there?"
"I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?"
"Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can't hang on much longer."
"That's all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch."
A moment of pause, then: "Is anyone else up there?" (Bits & Pieces, June 24, 1993, p. 3.)
Have you ever felt like that? Not too happy with God's answer to your request? Anyone else up there? The issue in this cute illustration is faith. That is what I am going to preach about today. The sermon title is "Mustard Seeds and Mulberry Trees. Hopefully the connection between the two will make since in a minute.
Scripture: Luke 17:5 - 6 NRSV
"The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!'
The Lord replied, 'If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you."
The apostles make a valid request. It is one that I think most of us have made: "God, Give me more faith!"
Jesus' reply to the apostles is a surprising one. He effectively says, "You don't need much. Just a little."
Jesus uses a mustard seed as an example of how much faith one would need - a mustard seed - one of the smallest of seeds. If you were not specifically looking for a mustard seed, you would miss it.
The Mulberry tree was probably an aspen tree or a type of poplar tree. It would have looked a lot like a weeping willow and was about the same size.
Jesus was saying, "You just need a little bit of faith to see big results." Faith the size of a mustard seed faith could move a pretty broad tree like a mulberry tree.
As a kid I used to think that if I had enough faith I could literally move a tree. When I tried to exercise such a faith and could not move a tree I felt like I did not have enough faith. As I have put a bit of age on myself, I have come to see that faith in Christ puts us into the plain where, with God, all things are possible. The key is, once we believe in Christ, to develop the faith that we have. A little faith will open doors to great things.
One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."
Key # 1 to developing mustard seed size faith and beyond: understand that faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen by God; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known by God.
Ron Butterfield once taught a class of mentally impaired teenagers. Looking at his students' capabilities rather than their limitations, Ron got them to play chess, restore furniture and repair electrical appliances. Most important, he taught them to believe in themselves. Young Bobby soon proved how well he had learned that last lesson. One day he brought in a broken toaster to repair. He carried the toaster tucked under one arm, and a half-loaf of bread under the other. (Edna Butterfield)
Key #2 to developing mustard seed size faith and beyond: if you believe in it, then live like it!
One of my favorite devotional writers is Oswald Chambers. He is probably known best for his book My Utmost for His Highest. Here is what he says about faith: "Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace." (Oswald Chambers in Run Today's Race.)
George Mueller echoes the same thing: "God delights to increase the faith of His children...I say, and say it deliberately--trials, difficulties and sometimes defeat, are the very food of faith...We should take them out of His hands as evidences of His love and care for us in developing more and more that faith which He is seeking to strengthen in us."
Key #3 to developing mustard seed size faith and beyond: trials and tribulations are faith builders. They test the quality of our faith, and they grow our faith when seen from the light of God's overall plan. God is not out to get us. Got is out to grow us. Without trial, there is no way to gage or to grow our faith. If everything were hunky dory, faith would not even be necessary. The fire of trial is meant to refine, causing us to depend even more on God. In such a dependence, we can grow intimate and more trusting. If we choose to be bitter and angry, then we will find ourselves opposed to God's plan of growth. We then begin to short-circuit the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
If we could only hang in there a little longer in trial, trusting God for the outcome, how our faith would grow - from mustard seed size - to mulberry tree - and beyond!
Holy Communion helps to develop our faith. The act itself is full of faith, for faith is the belief in that which we can not see. We do not see Christ, yet Christ is present in Holy Communion in a real and wonderful way. Let us partake together.
Faith
[First Service: Video Clip from "Hook." Initially, only one child believes that Robin Williams' character is Peter Pan. As his little friend looks him over, he discovers that there is something inside of Peter that identifies him as Peter Pan. He himself had forgotten - even buried - his former life as Peter Pan. He needed a refresher course in faith; so do we.]
[Second Service: begin with following illustration] A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. The following conversation ensued:
"Is anyone up there?"
"I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?"
"Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can't hang on much longer."
"That's all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch."
A moment of pause, then: "Is anyone else up there?" (Bits & Pieces, June 24, 1993, p. 3.)
Have you ever felt like that? Not too happy with God's answer to your request? Anyone else up there? The issue in this cute illustration is faith. That is what I am going to preach about today. The sermon title is "Mustard Seeds and Mulberry Trees. Hopefully the connection between the two will make since in a minute.
Scripture: Luke 17:5 - 6 NRSV
"The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!'
The Lord replied, 'If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you."
The apostles make a valid request. It is one that I think most of us have made: "God, Give me more faith!"
Jesus' reply to the apostles is a surprising one. He effectively says, "You don't need much. Just a little."
Jesus uses a mustard seed as an example of how much faith one would need - a mustard seed - one of the smallest of seeds. If you were not specifically looking for a mustard seed, you would miss it.
The Mulberry tree was probably an aspen tree or a type of poplar tree. It would have looked a lot like a weeping willow and was about the same size.
Jesus was saying, "You just need a little bit of faith to see big results." Faith the size of a mustard seed faith could move a pretty broad tree like a mulberry tree.
As a kid I used to think that if I had enough faith I could literally move a tree. When I tried to exercise such a faith and could not move a tree I felt like I did not have enough faith. As I have put a bit of age on myself, I have come to see that faith in Christ puts us into the plain where, with God, all things are possible. The key is, once we believe in Christ, to develop the faith that we have. A little faith will open doors to great things.
One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."
Key # 1 to developing mustard seed size faith and beyond: understand that faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen by God; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known by God.
Ron Butterfield once taught a class of mentally impaired teenagers. Looking at his students' capabilities rather than their limitations, Ron got them to play chess, restore furniture and repair electrical appliances. Most important, he taught them to believe in themselves. Young Bobby soon proved how well he had learned that last lesson. One day he brought in a broken toaster to repair. He carried the toaster tucked under one arm, and a half-loaf of bread under the other. (Edna Butterfield)
Key #2 to developing mustard seed size faith and beyond: if you believe in it, then live like it!
One of my favorite devotional writers is Oswald Chambers. He is probably known best for his book My Utmost for His Highest. Here is what he says about faith: "Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace." (Oswald Chambers in Run Today's Race.)
George Mueller echoes the same thing: "God delights to increase the faith of His children...I say, and say it deliberately--trials, difficulties and sometimes defeat, are the very food of faith...We should take them out of His hands as evidences of His love and care for us in developing more and more that faith which He is seeking to strengthen in us."
Key #3 to developing mustard seed size faith and beyond: trials and tribulations are faith builders. They test the quality of our faith, and they grow our faith when seen from the light of God's overall plan. God is not out to get us. Got is out to grow us. Without trial, there is no way to gage or to grow our faith. If everything were hunky dory, faith would not even be necessary. The fire of trial is meant to refine, causing us to depend even more on God. In such a dependence, we can grow intimate and more trusting. If we choose to be bitter and angry, then we will find ourselves opposed to God's plan of growth. We then begin to short-circuit the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
If we could only hang in there a little longer in trial, trusting God for the outcome, how our faith would grow - from mustard seed size - to mulberry tree - and beyond!
Holy Communion helps to develop our faith. The act itself is full of faith, for faith is the belief in that which we can not see. We do not see Christ, yet Christ is present in Holy Communion in a real and wonderful way. Let us partake together.
Friday, October 05, 2007
September 30, 2007
"CONTENTMENT or The Life that Really is Life "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Timothy 6: 1 - 19 NRSV
"Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time--he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life."
Before movie companies were careful about Swahili translations--assuming no one in the U.S. would understand--a director needed an African messenger who was to gasp out a sentence to the big chief, collapsing as he delivered his message, since he had run for days with his vital news. A local Englishman who spoke Swahili was asked to write an urgent-sounding sentence in the language. He did, tongue in cheek. An American actor played the part beautifully. All went well until the movie was shown in Nairobi (where everyone spoke Swahili, of course). The drama of the moment was reduced to high comedy. What the messenger actually said as he threw himself, exhausted, before the chief was, "I do not think I am getting paid enough money for this part." - (B. and J. Leslie-Melville, Elephant Have Right of Way. )
How many of us often feel this way. I don't get paid enough for all this work, all these headaches, all these responsibilities. How do we find contentment?
An interesting poll took place in the 90s reversing data gathered at the beginning of the 80s during the Reagan era. In polls at the onset of the Reagan era, 2 of every 3 respondents said they expected to be better off than their parents. Almost three fourth of the 1,000 people who answered a Roper poll for Shearson Lehman Brothers say the American Dream is "harder to attain" than a generation ago. And 60 percent say achieving the dream requires more financial risk than it did for their parents. The poll also finds that some of the values held most dear during the 1980s -- like wealth, power and fame -- are those that Americans are now most likely to deem "unimportant." The most important elements of today's American Dream center on family and friends. But money remains something to dream about. For Americans with household incomes under $25,000, it would take $54,000 a year to fulfill the American dream. Those who make $100,000 plus crave an average of $192,000. In other words, the American Dream usually lies nearly twice the distance away. - (Amy Bernstein, U.S. News & World Report, July 27, 1992, p. 11.)
The American dream is not the answer. Money, possessions, fame, power - they don't bring lasting contentment.
In the fifth century, a man named Arenius determined to live a holy life. So he abandoned the conforms of Egyptian society to follow an austere lifestyle in the desert. Yet whenever he visited the great city of Alexandria, he spent time wandering through its bazaars. Asked why, he explained that his heart rejoiced at the sight of all the things he didn't need. Those of us who live in a society flooded with goods and gadgets need to ponder the example of that desert dweller. A typical supermarket in the United States in 1976 stocked 9,000 articles; today it carries 30,000. How many of them are absolutely essential? How many superfluous? - (Our Daily Bread, May 26, 1994.)
So, do we give up our jobs or schooling and go to the desert? Maybe join a convent or monastery to find contentment, holding all things in common? Not necessarily. There is value in the monastic life, but that is impractical for most of us.
Paul gives us the answer in the first two verses of our passage! You have to have a wedding! You have to wed together personal salvation and spiritual growth! That is what godliness and contentment combined look like. Too many stop at the belief - Not too many give themselves to God's drawing board!
So, what does a growing person look like? [Allow congregation to answer] A growing person will be doing four things: attending corporate worship, pray on a regular basis, study the Bible regularly and serve God in some way. I would go as far as to say that if you show me a discontented person, I will show you someone who is not growing spiritually.
Second, we have got to think about our end more than we tend to. I began to contemplate my end while in the hospital. What a sobering thing to do.
Show picture of a hearse hauling a U-Haul.
Even though this is impossible, many of us live like we can take it with us. You can't get much further from the truth if you believe you can. So why do so many of us put such a focus on our things here instead of our heavenly life? Perhaps we have missed Jesus teaching: store up treasures for yourself in heaven, where moth and rust can not corrupt. The only way to improve our heavenly reward is to not get so caught up in our earthly rewards. And there is no way to have contentment with godliness unless you enhance your relationship with Christ while you have time to do it. If you love someone, you want to be with them and to nurture the relationship. A growing spiritual life requires the same. You have to spend time with him - in his word, in worship, in prayer and in service. There is no other way to do it.
Paul wrote that he was content in any situation: (Phil 4:11 - 13 NIV)
“…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
Jesus was the very source and focus no matter what Paul faced - plenty or want. If your job stinks, focus on working for Christ, not your boss. If your car is on its last leg, focus on Christ: if you need a car to live, he will supply. If you can't stand your teacher, be a student as if you were a student of Christ. These things change the focus and bring contentment.
At last, don't forget what you do have: “I had no shoes and complained until I met a man who had no feet.”
Now, understand that I am not saying that improving your circumstances is not important. James Mackintosh put it well: “Be content with what you have, never with what you are.” Self-improvement is a great thing, but only as it relates to fulfilling God's call in your life.
I'll close with this poem written by a person who greatly influenced the lives of John Wesley, Phillip Otterbein and Martin Boehm - John Bunyan.
He that is down needs fear no fall;
He that is low, no pride;
He that is humble, ever shall Have God to be his guide.
I am content with what I have,
Little be it, or much;
And, Lord, contentment still I crave,
Because Thou savest such. - (John Bunyan, quoted in Anthology of Jesus.)
Contentment is the life that is really life!
Brian
Rev. Brian Seders
"CONTENTMENT or The Life that Really is Life "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Timothy 6: 1 - 19 NRSV
"Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time--he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life."
Before movie companies were careful about Swahili translations--assuming no one in the U.S. would understand--a director needed an African messenger who was to gasp out a sentence to the big chief, collapsing as he delivered his message, since he had run for days with his vital news. A local Englishman who spoke Swahili was asked to write an urgent-sounding sentence in the language. He did, tongue in cheek. An American actor played the part beautifully. All went well until the movie was shown in Nairobi (where everyone spoke Swahili, of course). The drama of the moment was reduced to high comedy. What the messenger actually said as he threw himself, exhausted, before the chief was, "I do not think I am getting paid enough money for this part." - (B. and J. Leslie-Melville, Elephant Have Right of Way. )
How many of us often feel this way. I don't get paid enough for all this work, all these headaches, all these responsibilities. How do we find contentment?
An interesting poll took place in the 90s reversing data gathered at the beginning of the 80s during the Reagan era. In polls at the onset of the Reagan era, 2 of every 3 respondents said they expected to be better off than their parents. Almost three fourth of the 1,000 people who answered a Roper poll for Shearson Lehman Brothers say the American Dream is "harder to attain" than a generation ago. And 60 percent say achieving the dream requires more financial risk than it did for their parents. The poll also finds that some of the values held most dear during the 1980s -- like wealth, power and fame -- are those that Americans are now most likely to deem "unimportant." The most important elements of today's American Dream center on family and friends. But money remains something to dream about. For Americans with household incomes under $25,000, it would take $54,000 a year to fulfill the American dream. Those who make $100,000 plus crave an average of $192,000. In other words, the American Dream usually lies nearly twice the distance away. - (Amy Bernstein, U.S. News & World Report, July 27, 1992, p. 11.)
The American dream is not the answer. Money, possessions, fame, power - they don't bring lasting contentment.
In the fifth century, a man named Arenius determined to live a holy life. So he abandoned the conforms of Egyptian society to follow an austere lifestyle in the desert. Yet whenever he visited the great city of Alexandria, he spent time wandering through its bazaars. Asked why, he explained that his heart rejoiced at the sight of all the things he didn't need. Those of us who live in a society flooded with goods and gadgets need to ponder the example of that desert dweller. A typical supermarket in the United States in 1976 stocked 9,000 articles; today it carries 30,000. How many of them are absolutely essential? How many superfluous? - (Our Daily Bread, May 26, 1994.)
So, do we give up our jobs or schooling and go to the desert? Maybe join a convent or monastery to find contentment, holding all things in common? Not necessarily. There is value in the monastic life, but that is impractical for most of us.
Paul gives us the answer in the first two verses of our passage! You have to have a wedding! You have to wed together personal salvation and spiritual growth! That is what godliness and contentment combined look like. Too many stop at the belief - Not too many give themselves to God's drawing board!
So, what does a growing person look like? [Allow congregation to answer] A growing person will be doing four things: attending corporate worship, pray on a regular basis, study the Bible regularly and serve God in some way. I would go as far as to say that if you show me a discontented person, I will show you someone who is not growing spiritually.
Second, we have got to think about our end more than we tend to. I began to contemplate my end while in the hospital. What a sobering thing to do.
Show picture of a hearse hauling a U-Haul.
Even though this is impossible, many of us live like we can take it with us. You can't get much further from the truth if you believe you can. So why do so many of us put such a focus on our things here instead of our heavenly life? Perhaps we have missed Jesus teaching: store up treasures for yourself in heaven, where moth and rust can not corrupt. The only way to improve our heavenly reward is to not get so caught up in our earthly rewards. And there is no way to have contentment with godliness unless you enhance your relationship with Christ while you have time to do it. If you love someone, you want to be with them and to nurture the relationship. A growing spiritual life requires the same. You have to spend time with him - in his word, in worship, in prayer and in service. There is no other way to do it.
Paul wrote that he was content in any situation: (Phil 4:11 - 13 NIV)
“…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
Jesus was the very source and focus no matter what Paul faced - plenty or want. If your job stinks, focus on working for Christ, not your boss. If your car is on its last leg, focus on Christ: if you need a car to live, he will supply. If you can't stand your teacher, be a student as if you were a student of Christ. These things change the focus and bring contentment.
At last, don't forget what you do have: “I had no shoes and complained until I met a man who had no feet.”
Now, understand that I am not saying that improving your circumstances is not important. James Mackintosh put it well: “Be content with what you have, never with what you are.” Self-improvement is a great thing, but only as it relates to fulfilling God's call in your life.
I'll close with this poem written by a person who greatly influenced the lives of John Wesley, Phillip Otterbein and Martin Boehm - John Bunyan.
He that is down needs fear no fall;
He that is low, no pride;
He that is humble, ever shall Have God to be his guide.
I am content with what I have,
Little be it, or much;
And, Lord, contentment still I crave,
Because Thou savest such. - (John Bunyan, quoted in Anthology of Jesus.)
Contentment is the life that is really life!
Brian
Rev. Brian Seders
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