Hearing an excellent message at our recent District Conference by Jonathan Shively, director of Congregational Life Ministries for our denomination, got me thinking. His message was on Pentecost (the theme for our Conference), but it was his sharing of background that caused me to store some thoughts in my head even as I enjoyed the remainder of his message.
Jonathan reminded me (and us) that Pentecost (or the Feast of Weeks, as it was known to the Jews) was not only a celebration of harvest, but a time to remember the giving of the Law. What, then, would be the connection between the Law of Moses given on Mount Sinai and the gift of the Holy Spirit to God's church?
The promise of the coming New Covenant, found in Jeremiah 31:33 and following, gives us the first clue, when the prophet writes: "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." So the motivation to please God will now come from within.
Ezekiel weighs in on this in Chapter 36, verses 25-27. This is God speaking through His prophet. "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep My laws."
We each need a new heart, in order to truly obey God's Law. Why? The Bible says that we have a fundamental glitch in our system (we call it sin, the natural born instinct to reject God and all of His ways, and to seek to run our own lives). It's like a car being out of alignment. You can stay on the road if you grip the wheel, but the natural bent is to drift toward the ditch. Society exhorts us to drive straight and curb our endless struggles, but it's a losing battle - until we come to Christ. This is somewhat like getting a front-end alignment The pull toward the ditch is corrected from the inside. Sure, there will still be bumps and potholes that will try to jar us off the road. Temptations and challenges will always call us to be alert to steer a straight course - and we dare not fall asleep at the wheel. But the basic skew in the moral mechanism has been repaired. We have been born again and given a new heart. Indeed, we cannot obey God's laws from the heart until the heart is made new.
So when Jesus spoke that night to Nicodemus, He told him of the need for a new birth, an alignment, if you will. When Nicodemus missed the point and took Jesus literally (as so many did), Jesus said, "You are Israel's teacher and do not understand these things?" (John 3:10) And I believe that in the back of Jesus'mind were Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36. "Don't you understand, Nicodemus, that you need a new heart with God's law written on it, before you can truly love the Lord your God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength? And that's what I have come to give you, if you will receive the gift, bought through my blood that will be shed on the cross and validated by my resurrection that will follow."
Therefore, it was the most natural thing in the world for God to send the Holy Spirit during the Feast of the Celebration of the Law, because now the Spirit would write that Law on new hearts, which would be careful to and would desire to follow it. So how does this work?
One more car analogy. Some years ago, when I pastored in Indiana, PA, I had the privilege of hearing Juan Carlos Ortiz speak at the nearby Graystone Presbyterian Church. He gave an illustration that night which I still remember, using as his text - guess what? - Ezekiel 36.
He pointed out that under the hood of the car is a powerful engine. You can get into the driver's seat, buckle your seat belt, turn the ignition on and gun the engine - but you're still not going anywhere until you put the car into gear and put your foot on the gas pedal, at which point all the power under the hood becomes available to you to move forward.
Do you want to follow Christ? Do you want to please Him? Then decide to obey and step out in faith. When you do, all the resident power of the Holy Spirit within you will be available to help you to do what you want to do. Real freedom is not the freedom to do whatever we want. Real freedom is the freedom to do what we know pleases the Lord. We did not have that freedom until we received a new heart through the new birth. Now with our alignment repaired, we can put on the gas and trust the power of the Holy Spirit to propel us forward in our walk with Christ.
"He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him ...in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:19-19; 2:3). So let's drive on like this is true.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
Faithful with His Treasure
"This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed." (1 Corinthians 4:1)
In Luke 19, Jesus told a parable on the eve of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of the last week of his earthly life. The NIV calls it the Parable of the Minas; older versions call it the Parable of the Pounds.
Context is everything in Bible study and interpretation. The context here is that Jesus had just given the purpose statement of His life after the transformation of the tax collector, Zacchaeus: He had come to seek and to save the lost. That was not the purpose His disciples and many others had for Him. I am reminded of a comical statement I heard a while back regarding the work of pastors: God loves you, and everybody else has a wonderful plan for your life!
Everyone else was expecting Him to declare Himself King and drive the cursed Romans out of Israel and then bring in a new era for the nation. And now Passover was at hand, and they were only 17 miles from Jerusalem, where it would all take place. Now the disciples should have known better. Jesus had already declatred to them three times that He would be betrayed, mocked, tortured, and killed, only to rise again on the third day. But then, the twelve were never known for their mental and spiritual acumen on this issue.
And so Jesus told the parable. There are three specific groups He mentioned in the story, but that part of it is for another time. I want to focus here on the minas themselves. (A mina represented about three months' wages, a fairly healthy sum in those days.) What do they represent? The key to understanding this is to not confuse it with a similar parable He told the twelve later that week on the Mount of Olives. We know it as the Parable of the Talents, found in Matthew 25. There are a lot of things that overlap between these two stories, but there is at least one significant difference: in the latter parable, each person received different amounts to signify the different gifts we get from the Lord for service (Romans 12:6). But in Luke 19, each servant receives the same gift, and the same amount. Now both stories talk about faithfulness with what we have been given, but I still believe our Lord had a different point to make in each.
If the talents in Matthew 25 speak of our gifts and abilities, the minas speak of something else we have each been given. I checked out a number of commentators, pastors, and scholars, and for the most part, they agree, and I agree with them. The minas represent the gospel message itself. Christ, our treasure, has entrusted us with a treasure of His own - the story of who He is and what He has done for all who believe. Check out just a few texts:
"On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts." (1 Thessalonians 2:4)
"...the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me." (1 Timothy 1:11)
"Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge..." (1 Timothy 6:20)
"And the things you have heard me say in the prsence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will be qualified to teach others." (2 Timothy 2:2) (emphasis mine)
We have been entrusted with the gospel, and so we are stewards of it. Now of course, pastors and teachers have a special respinsibility in this area to proclaim it faithfully, passionately AND accurately. But in the parable, all the servants received minas. The gospel is a treasure that we ALL carry around in our jars of clay.
We may not have all the same degree of success, because the "earnings" are in God's hands. But we are all called to share it. The one servant who did not was severely chastised for his lack of risk, as he played it safe, and buried his mina. He didn't steal it, he simply didn't use it. That person will suffer loss of reward and, possibly, the loss of the privilege of service. So resist that temptation:
Hide it under a bushel? NO! I'm gonna let it shine.
Are we investing the truth of what He has done for us? Are we investing the truth of what He can do for others? Are we investing our resources? In Luke 16, Jesus concluded another parable with these words: "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." (Luke 16:9). Welcomed by whom? By the Lord, of course, but also by those who heard the gospel because of our generosity.
Are we investing our prayers? Prayer for our lost neighbors and loved ones and friends and co-workers and fellow students, prayer for those on the mission field, prayer for open doors and boldness to share, and more.
Are we investing our deeds of compassion and mercy that show His love and that may gain us a hearing?
And are we investing our words - the gospel story, our testimonies, our invitations to worship. Sooner or later, they have to hear it, because "...faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." (Romans 10:17)
No Christian is exempt from this responsibility. The parable has the king, in essence, say, "I am leaving for a time. While I am gone, take this treasure and invest it in the lives of those who are lost, the ones I have come to seek and to save. And when I return, there will be an accounting."
Let us regularly ask ourselves, Am I investing well with the treasure of the gospel that I have been given - the gospel that saved me and the gospel I have been given to share with those who do not yet know Him?
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him ... in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3) So let's invest like this is true.
In Luke 19, Jesus told a parable on the eve of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of the last week of his earthly life. The NIV calls it the Parable of the Minas; older versions call it the Parable of the Pounds.
Context is everything in Bible study and interpretation. The context here is that Jesus had just given the purpose statement of His life after the transformation of the tax collector, Zacchaeus: He had come to seek and to save the lost. That was not the purpose His disciples and many others had for Him. I am reminded of a comical statement I heard a while back regarding the work of pastors: God loves you, and everybody else has a wonderful plan for your life!
Everyone else was expecting Him to declare Himself King and drive the cursed Romans out of Israel and then bring in a new era for the nation. And now Passover was at hand, and they were only 17 miles from Jerusalem, where it would all take place. Now the disciples should have known better. Jesus had already declatred to them three times that He would be betrayed, mocked, tortured, and killed, only to rise again on the third day. But then, the twelve were never known for their mental and spiritual acumen on this issue.
And so Jesus told the parable. There are three specific groups He mentioned in the story, but that part of it is for another time. I want to focus here on the minas themselves. (A mina represented about three months' wages, a fairly healthy sum in those days.) What do they represent? The key to understanding this is to not confuse it with a similar parable He told the twelve later that week on the Mount of Olives. We know it as the Parable of the Talents, found in Matthew 25. There are a lot of things that overlap between these two stories, but there is at least one significant difference: in the latter parable, each person received different amounts to signify the different gifts we get from the Lord for service (Romans 12:6). But in Luke 19, each servant receives the same gift, and the same amount. Now both stories talk about faithfulness with what we have been given, but I still believe our Lord had a different point to make in each.
If the talents in Matthew 25 speak of our gifts and abilities, the minas speak of something else we have each been given. I checked out a number of commentators, pastors, and scholars, and for the most part, they agree, and I agree with them. The minas represent the gospel message itself. Christ, our treasure, has entrusted us with a treasure of His own - the story of who He is and what He has done for all who believe. Check out just a few texts:
"On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts." (1 Thessalonians 2:4)
"...the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me." (1 Timothy 1:11)
"Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge..." (1 Timothy 6:20)
"And the things you have heard me say in the prsence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will be qualified to teach others." (2 Timothy 2:2) (emphasis mine)
We have been entrusted with the gospel, and so we are stewards of it. Now of course, pastors and teachers have a special respinsibility in this area to proclaim it faithfully, passionately AND accurately. But in the parable, all the servants received minas. The gospel is a treasure that we ALL carry around in our jars of clay.
We may not have all the same degree of success, because the "earnings" are in God's hands. But we are all called to share it. The one servant who did not was severely chastised for his lack of risk, as he played it safe, and buried his mina. He didn't steal it, he simply didn't use it. That person will suffer loss of reward and, possibly, the loss of the privilege of service. So resist that temptation:
Hide it under a bushel? NO! I'm gonna let it shine.
Are we investing the truth of what He has done for us? Are we investing the truth of what He can do for others? Are we investing our resources? In Luke 16, Jesus concluded another parable with these words: "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." (Luke 16:9). Welcomed by whom? By the Lord, of course, but also by those who heard the gospel because of our generosity.
Are we investing our prayers? Prayer for our lost neighbors and loved ones and friends and co-workers and fellow students, prayer for those on the mission field, prayer for open doors and boldness to share, and more.
Are we investing our deeds of compassion and mercy that show His love and that may gain us a hearing?
And are we investing our words - the gospel story, our testimonies, our invitations to worship. Sooner or later, they have to hear it, because "...faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." (Romans 10:17)
No Christian is exempt from this responsibility. The parable has the king, in essence, say, "I am leaving for a time. While I am gone, take this treasure and invest it in the lives of those who are lost, the ones I have come to seek and to save. And when I return, there will be an accounting."
Let us regularly ask ourselves, Am I investing well with the treasure of the gospel that I have been given - the gospel that saved me and the gospel I have been given to share with those who do not yet know Him?
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him ... in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3) So let's invest like this is true.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
You Ask ME How I Know he Lives?
Three days until Easter. This has become my favorite time of year, even over Christmas, which, I guess, is as it should be. Christmas woud be meaningless without Easter. The resurrection of Christ is the central focus of our faith. Christianity stands or falls on whether or not Christ is alive.
And He is. But how do we know this? Ever since I was growing up, I have heard sung in the church every year the Easter hymn, "He Lives." It was a favorite of my mother's. I like it, too. However, I have become increasingly aware of one problem in the lyric. Not that it's wrong exactly, but it is incomplete. The last line of the refrain says, "You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart." Well, if you have given your life to Him, He does dwell there through His Holy Spirit. But that is not the final arbiter of whether ot not Jesus is alive.
The fact is, anyone can have warm feelings in their heart from time to time about Jesus. Christians and non-Christians both can be moved by a song, a verse of Scripture, a kind deed done in His name. But feelings are not the proof that He is risen. Neither is the empty tomb. (Gasp!)
What sets Christianity apart from any other faith is that it claims to have happened as a real space/time event carried out by a real flesh and blood man who just happened to also be God in the flesh. The Gospel writers, Luke especially, set the life of Christ in the context of history, during the reigns of actual historical rulers.
But the real kicker comes to us in the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3 and following: "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance." He is about to give us the gospel in a nutshell. And just a reminder: The gospel is NEWS. It's not something we do, or something we live (a popular expression these days). You don't live news. You declare it or hear it, and if you hear it, then eventually you either accept or reject it. Now here comes the Good News: "...that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures..." That is a fact. It happened on a particular day at a particular location (just outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem around AD 33), "...that He was buried..." (that is the proof that He died. They checked first, remember, and He was actually dead, which is why they pierced His side with a spear instead of breaking His legs as they did the thieves so they would die faster before Sabbath began. The blood and water that came out of His side was proof of death - so they buried Him). Next, ..."that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures"... (another fact) and here it comes, sports fans, the proof: "...and that He appeared..." See the pattern? Fact (died) Proof (buried) Fact (raised) Proof (appeared).
Paul goes on to say that He appeared to Peter, then to all the apostles, then to a crowd of over 500, then to his half brother, James, and finally to Paul himself a few years later. And he is careful to mention that many of these were still alive at the time of the writing of the Corinthian letter (at least 15 years later), and these were credible eyewitnesses.
Paul's entire argument about the resurrection in the remainder of the chapter is predicated on the fact that Christ appeared to eyewitnesses, all of whom were willing to die for what they had seen and believed. You don't die for something you know in your heart of hearts to be untrue. And you certainly don't die for a hallucination (one of the many silly attempts to deny the bodily resurrection of the Lord).
So does Christ live in my heart? Yes, as I hope He does in yours. But that's not how I know He lives. I know He lives because credible and courageous eyewitnesses said so and preached it throughout the whole known world and, in many cases, died martyrs' deaths for it. My faith is based on real historical fact and on time and space events.
Yes, I will continue to sing "He Lives!" But I will sing with even more conviction, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" and "Up From the Grave He Arose." and "Because He Lives, I Can Face Tomorrow." You ask me how I know He lives? I know because reliable people saw Him and touched Him and ate with Him, and then proclaimed Him and lived and died for Him - and their spiritual descendants still do. I am blessed to count myself among them. He is risen! He is risen indeed!
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him ... in Him are hidden all the treasures if wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3) So let's celebrate Easter like this was true - because it is.
And He is. But how do we know this? Ever since I was growing up, I have heard sung in the church every year the Easter hymn, "He Lives." It was a favorite of my mother's. I like it, too. However, I have become increasingly aware of one problem in the lyric. Not that it's wrong exactly, but it is incomplete. The last line of the refrain says, "You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart." Well, if you have given your life to Him, He does dwell there through His Holy Spirit. But that is not the final arbiter of whether ot not Jesus is alive.
The fact is, anyone can have warm feelings in their heart from time to time about Jesus. Christians and non-Christians both can be moved by a song, a verse of Scripture, a kind deed done in His name. But feelings are not the proof that He is risen. Neither is the empty tomb. (Gasp!)
What sets Christianity apart from any other faith is that it claims to have happened as a real space/time event carried out by a real flesh and blood man who just happened to also be God in the flesh. The Gospel writers, Luke especially, set the life of Christ in the context of history, during the reigns of actual historical rulers.
But the real kicker comes to us in the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3 and following: "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance." He is about to give us the gospel in a nutshell. And just a reminder: The gospel is NEWS. It's not something we do, or something we live (a popular expression these days). You don't live news. You declare it or hear it, and if you hear it, then eventually you either accept or reject it. Now here comes the Good News: "...that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures..." That is a fact. It happened on a particular day at a particular location (just outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem around AD 33), "...that He was buried..." (that is the proof that He died. They checked first, remember, and He was actually dead, which is why they pierced His side with a spear instead of breaking His legs as they did the thieves so they would die faster before Sabbath began. The blood and water that came out of His side was proof of death - so they buried Him). Next, ..."that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures"... (another fact) and here it comes, sports fans, the proof: "...and that He appeared..." See the pattern? Fact (died) Proof (buried) Fact (raised) Proof (appeared).
Paul goes on to say that He appeared to Peter, then to all the apostles, then to a crowd of over 500, then to his half brother, James, and finally to Paul himself a few years later. And he is careful to mention that many of these were still alive at the time of the writing of the Corinthian letter (at least 15 years later), and these were credible eyewitnesses.
Paul's entire argument about the resurrection in the remainder of the chapter is predicated on the fact that Christ appeared to eyewitnesses, all of whom were willing to die for what they had seen and believed. You don't die for something you know in your heart of hearts to be untrue. And you certainly don't die for a hallucination (one of the many silly attempts to deny the bodily resurrection of the Lord).
So does Christ live in my heart? Yes, as I hope He does in yours. But that's not how I know He lives. I know He lives because credible and courageous eyewitnesses said so and preached it throughout the whole known world and, in many cases, died martyrs' deaths for it. My faith is based on real historical fact and on time and space events.
Yes, I will continue to sing "He Lives!" But I will sing with even more conviction, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" and "Up From the Grave He Arose." and "Because He Lives, I Can Face Tomorrow." You ask me how I know He lives? I know because reliable people saw Him and touched Him and ate with Him, and then proclaimed Him and lived and died for Him - and their spiritual descendants still do. I am blessed to count myself among them. He is risen! He is risen indeed!
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him ... in Him are hidden all the treasures if wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3) So let's celebrate Easter like this was true - because it is.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
A "Holy Trinity" of Bible Texts
Over the years, I have been guided by three New Testament verses that I might call "a holy trinity" (not to be confused with THE Holy Trinity). Together, they form a basic theology of humility that should guide our living and our witness as believers in Jesus Christ. They are holy because they are set apart, they stand out as prime examples of what our continual posture ought to be as we live coram deo (in His presence).
First, in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, after Paul lays out plainly what the gospel is and how Jesus appeared to many following His resurrection, last of all to Paul, as to (literally) "an abortion," he writes these words under the Holy Spirit's inspiration: "For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." Paul said, "I am nothing without the grace of God. I deserve only punishment without it." The gospel is what changed it all, the fact that Christ died according to the Scriptures (fact) and was buried (proof), and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures (fact) and appeared to many (proof). The gospel is not something we live or do, it is news of something that has happened, something upon which we stake our very lives and destinies. God's grace gives me my gifts, my personality, produces the fruit of character within me, molds me through joy and pain and continually reminds me how loved I really am.
The second verse is found in 1 Corinthians 4:7: "For what makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" One danger of being a Christian in the United States is that we can get sucked into this "American" philosophy of "rugged individualism," the self-made man or woman, the one who pulled themselves up by their own bootsraps. I have heard this philosophy repeated in the church way too often over the years (not in those exact words, of course). Do we really think we earned what we have? I am reminded of Deuteronomy 8:10 and 17-18: "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land He has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God ..... You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth..." Yes, even your paycheck comes, ultimately, from the Lord's grace and not from your hard work, although without the work, there is no check. Do we thank God regularly for our blessings, no matter how great or small they may be - or do we reserve that for Thanksgiving Day once a year, when we give our "nod to God" before heading into the other room to watch football? I'm just sayin'.
Here's the third verse: Jesus was speaking to His disciples in the upper room hours before His sacrficial death, and He reminds them in John 15:5: "I am the Vine; you are the branches, If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." I guess we have a choice - to be like Samson, who went about as normal, but not knowing that the strength was gone from him, because it was in the LORD, not in his hair (Judges 16:20) or like David, who, in spite of his sling and five smooth stones, knew that his real strength was in the name of the LORD Almighty. (1 Samuel 17:45). Whose strength, whose energy, whose wisdom, whose love are we depending on today as we go about our tasks? Our own? That will be like an electric car - about 40 miles before it poops out. When we trust the Lord and obey His call and press forward, we will find that all of the capacity we need will be there - like a V-8 engine purring under the hood of our car - the car won't move until we shift into drive and press on the gas pedal (obey), but once we do, all that power under the hood is at our disposal to get us where we need to go. If we don't turn the engine on or let it sit idling, we won't be going anywhere.
So there it is, my "holy trinity" of verses to inform my daily life. Without Christ and His grace, I AM nothing; without Christ and His grace, I HAVE nothing; without Christ and his grace, I CAN DO nothing.
My story is simple. I grew up in the church, participated in its life from my earliest recollection: Sunday School, children's choir, youth choir, youth group, adult choir, etc. And I was relying pretty much on that. I was a "good" boy, not like so many of my friends who hung out on Saurday nights to see who could get drunk the fastest. I did not "smoke, drink, chew or go with girls who do!" But about a year out of high school, I came to the understanding, by seeing one or two former "bad boys" who had come to Jesus Christ and had been radically changed, that I needed to be saved from my own goodness, my own self-sufficiency, my own sense of accomplishment. And before long into my growth as a believer, I came upon these verses. They have been a steady guide over the years. Not that I have followed them perfectly, far from it, but they keep bringing me back, as needed, to the realization that my life, my hope, my strength are only in Christ. To Him be all the glory!
"And He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy, For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him ... in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3) So let's depend on Him like this was true.
First, in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, after Paul lays out plainly what the gospel is and how Jesus appeared to many following His resurrection, last of all to Paul, as to (literally) "an abortion," he writes these words under the Holy Spirit's inspiration: "For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." Paul said, "I am nothing without the grace of God. I deserve only punishment without it." The gospel is what changed it all, the fact that Christ died according to the Scriptures (fact) and was buried (proof), and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures (fact) and appeared to many (proof). The gospel is not something we live or do, it is news of something that has happened, something upon which we stake our very lives and destinies. God's grace gives me my gifts, my personality, produces the fruit of character within me, molds me through joy and pain and continually reminds me how loved I really am.
The second verse is found in 1 Corinthians 4:7: "For what makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" One danger of being a Christian in the United States is that we can get sucked into this "American" philosophy of "rugged individualism," the self-made man or woman, the one who pulled themselves up by their own bootsraps. I have heard this philosophy repeated in the church way too often over the years (not in those exact words, of course). Do we really think we earned what we have? I am reminded of Deuteronomy 8:10 and 17-18: "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land He has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God ..... You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth..." Yes, even your paycheck comes, ultimately, from the Lord's grace and not from your hard work, although without the work, there is no check. Do we thank God regularly for our blessings, no matter how great or small they may be - or do we reserve that for Thanksgiving Day once a year, when we give our "nod to God" before heading into the other room to watch football? I'm just sayin'.
Here's the third verse: Jesus was speaking to His disciples in the upper room hours before His sacrficial death, and He reminds them in John 15:5: "I am the Vine; you are the branches, If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." I guess we have a choice - to be like Samson, who went about as normal, but not knowing that the strength was gone from him, because it was in the LORD, not in his hair (Judges 16:20) or like David, who, in spite of his sling and five smooth stones, knew that his real strength was in the name of the LORD Almighty. (1 Samuel 17:45). Whose strength, whose energy, whose wisdom, whose love are we depending on today as we go about our tasks? Our own? That will be like an electric car - about 40 miles before it poops out. When we trust the Lord and obey His call and press forward, we will find that all of the capacity we need will be there - like a V-8 engine purring under the hood of our car - the car won't move until we shift into drive and press on the gas pedal (obey), but once we do, all that power under the hood is at our disposal to get us where we need to go. If we don't turn the engine on or let it sit idling, we won't be going anywhere.
So there it is, my "holy trinity" of verses to inform my daily life. Without Christ and His grace, I AM nothing; without Christ and His grace, I HAVE nothing; without Christ and his grace, I CAN DO nothing.
My story is simple. I grew up in the church, participated in its life from my earliest recollection: Sunday School, children's choir, youth choir, youth group, adult choir, etc. And I was relying pretty much on that. I was a "good" boy, not like so many of my friends who hung out on Saurday nights to see who could get drunk the fastest. I did not "smoke, drink, chew or go with girls who do!" But about a year out of high school, I came to the understanding, by seeing one or two former "bad boys" who had come to Jesus Christ and had been radically changed, that I needed to be saved from my own goodness, my own self-sufficiency, my own sense of accomplishment. And before long into my growth as a believer, I came upon these verses. They have been a steady guide over the years. Not that I have followed them perfectly, far from it, but they keep bringing me back, as needed, to the realization that my life, my hope, my strength are only in Christ. To Him be all the glory!
"And He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy, For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him ... in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3) So let's depend on Him like this was true.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Full of Grace and Truth
A dichotomy, according to dictionary.com, is "a division into two parts or kinds; a division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups." There are all kinds of dichotomies created in Christian thought; to name a few: God's sovereignty and our free will, the kingdom already and the kingdom not yet; God's grace and our responsibility, to name a few. There can be valid discussion and debate over these matters without breaking fellowship.
Sadly, today, some would have us believe we can have varying opinions on essentials of the Christian faith. Believe what you want about salvation, justification, the authority of Scripture, Christ's deity, virgin birth, bodily resurrection and personal return. Sorry. I believe that disagreement about these is out of bounds, and if carried to extremes, disagreement about these could bring about the breaking of fellowship, because those who would deny these things would be showing themselves to be not truly of the faith. But that is not the main point I wish to make in this post.
There is another man-made dichotomy that has crept into the church these days. Some Christians feel they can only express their faith by sheltering themselves from or by attacking the culture. Others feel they can be faithful by serving others, but that their moral life doesn't matter. They can follow whatever dictates the current culture espouses on moral issues. So we either isolate ourselves from the culture, or we imitate the culture. There is a third way - we are to penetrate and seek transformation in the culture, to be in the world but not of it. As a former pastor/mentor of mine used to say, "It's great for the boat to be in the water, that's where it belongs. But God help you if the water gets into the boat."
History shows that the early church was known for its compassionate love toward all, especially the least, AND for their high moral standards. It was not either/or but both that attracted new disciples and turned the Roman empire upside down. But more importantly, the New Testament is clear about these issues as well. Let me cite several key texts.
James 1:27 says that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." See the both/and emphasis? Yes, we care for the needy and marginalized. But we also do not let ourselves get sucked into the zeitgeist, the worldview of the prevailing culture.
Peter weighs in on the topic in 1 Peter 2:11-12. "Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us."
This is not new to the apostles. On the first matter, "the abstaining from sinful desires," Paul 's counsel is to run from these things as fast and as far as we can. But Jesus is even more graphic. He takes our sexual purity so seriously that He tells us not to even look at a woman lustfully, to cut off our hands or pluck out our eyes if they offend us. Now we know this is figurative, because He says clearly in Mark 7:21 that the source of our sin is the heart. But at the very least, He means that we are to "be careful little eyes what we see, little ears what we hear..." We watch our intake from television, movies, popular fiction and the internet.
On the second matter, Peter is obviously echoing Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount about being the light of the world (Matthew 5:16). The Greek word for "good" speaks speficially of compassionate, caring kind of works on behalf of others.
Paul's take is in a slightly longer passage from Colossians Chapter 3, where I am preaching for several weeks. First he talks about "putting to death" all sorts of sexual sins and dirty-mindedness, as well as sins of the tongue (verses 5-9). This is followed by a directive to "clothe" ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (verse 12). So our life is to be a balance of continually taking off the old graveclothes of worldly sins while, at the same time, continually cultivating virtues of compassion in our lives. This is called Christlikeness.
My point is that we do not get set the agenda. Too many in the church today are opting for the social ministries of kindness to the poor while advocating thr acceptance of sexual lifestyles and sinful habits which are declared out of bounds by Scripture. We simply do not have the freedom to do this and be true aliens and exiles in this world. If our citizenship is in heaven, it must be shown both by what we reject and leave behind and by what we show forth in ministry to the last, the lost, and the least. This is not a cafeteria, brothers and sisters, where we get to pick and choose. This is a family dinner where we are expected to eat everything on our plates.
Nothing else honors and treasures Christ to the degree that we ought. We are called to be both holy and compassionate in our living - just like Jesus. He was able to walk that fine line - which reminds me of a great song from a few years back by Christian artist Wayne Watson:
There's a fine line between taking bread with a lost man
And being consumed by his way while reaching out in love,
Temptation's right at your door, guard what you're thinkin' of;
It's a fine line. When I hide my eyes
From the darkest of life's insanity, from the worst of the world's profanity,
I've gotta be careful I don't miss someone in need of me,
It's a fine line.
...not talkin' about walkin' fences, not talkin' about compromise,
But living and breathing as pleasing in His eyes.
So where do I walk, where is my place,
The straight and the narrow, the road of grace;
Holdin' fast to You, walkin' at Your pace, walkin' on the fine line.
Jesus is our example, and Jesus is our power to live this way. He was "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). And in Him, we can be, too.
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him ... in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3). So let's walk like this is true.
Sadly, today, some would have us believe we can have varying opinions on essentials of the Christian faith. Believe what you want about salvation, justification, the authority of Scripture, Christ's deity, virgin birth, bodily resurrection and personal return. Sorry. I believe that disagreement about these is out of bounds, and if carried to extremes, disagreement about these could bring about the breaking of fellowship, because those who would deny these things would be showing themselves to be not truly of the faith. But that is not the main point I wish to make in this post.
There is another man-made dichotomy that has crept into the church these days. Some Christians feel they can only express their faith by sheltering themselves from or by attacking the culture. Others feel they can be faithful by serving others, but that their moral life doesn't matter. They can follow whatever dictates the current culture espouses on moral issues. So we either isolate ourselves from the culture, or we imitate the culture. There is a third way - we are to penetrate and seek transformation in the culture, to be in the world but not of it. As a former pastor/mentor of mine used to say, "It's great for the boat to be in the water, that's where it belongs. But God help you if the water gets into the boat."
History shows that the early church was known for its compassionate love toward all, especially the least, AND for their high moral standards. It was not either/or but both that attracted new disciples and turned the Roman empire upside down. But more importantly, the New Testament is clear about these issues as well. Let me cite several key texts.
James 1:27 says that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." See the both/and emphasis? Yes, we care for the needy and marginalized. But we also do not let ourselves get sucked into the zeitgeist, the worldview of the prevailing culture.
Peter weighs in on the topic in 1 Peter 2:11-12. "Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us."
This is not new to the apostles. On the first matter, "the abstaining from sinful desires," Paul 's counsel is to run from these things as fast and as far as we can. But Jesus is even more graphic. He takes our sexual purity so seriously that He tells us not to even look at a woman lustfully, to cut off our hands or pluck out our eyes if they offend us. Now we know this is figurative, because He says clearly in Mark 7:21 that the source of our sin is the heart. But at the very least, He means that we are to "be careful little eyes what we see, little ears what we hear..." We watch our intake from television, movies, popular fiction and the internet.
On the second matter, Peter is obviously echoing Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount about being the light of the world (Matthew 5:16). The Greek word for "good" speaks speficially of compassionate, caring kind of works on behalf of others.
Paul's take is in a slightly longer passage from Colossians Chapter 3, where I am preaching for several weeks. First he talks about "putting to death" all sorts of sexual sins and dirty-mindedness, as well as sins of the tongue (verses 5-9). This is followed by a directive to "clothe" ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (verse 12). So our life is to be a balance of continually taking off the old graveclothes of worldly sins while, at the same time, continually cultivating virtues of compassion in our lives. This is called Christlikeness.
My point is that we do not get set the agenda. Too many in the church today are opting for the social ministries of kindness to the poor while advocating thr acceptance of sexual lifestyles and sinful habits which are declared out of bounds by Scripture. We simply do not have the freedom to do this and be true aliens and exiles in this world. If our citizenship is in heaven, it must be shown both by what we reject and leave behind and by what we show forth in ministry to the last, the lost, and the least. This is not a cafeteria, brothers and sisters, where we get to pick and choose. This is a family dinner where we are expected to eat everything on our plates.
Nothing else honors and treasures Christ to the degree that we ought. We are called to be both holy and compassionate in our living - just like Jesus. He was able to walk that fine line - which reminds me of a great song from a few years back by Christian artist Wayne Watson:
There's a fine line between taking bread with a lost man
And being consumed by his way while reaching out in love,
Temptation's right at your door, guard what you're thinkin' of;
It's a fine line. When I hide my eyes
From the darkest of life's insanity, from the worst of the world's profanity,
I've gotta be careful I don't miss someone in need of me,
It's a fine line.
...not talkin' about walkin' fences, not talkin' about compromise,
But living and breathing as pleasing in His eyes.
So where do I walk, where is my place,
The straight and the narrow, the road of grace;
Holdin' fast to You, walkin' at Your pace, walkin' on the fine line.
Jesus is our example, and Jesus is our power to live this way. He was "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). And in Him, we can be, too.
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him ... in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3). So let's walk like this is true.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Prophet, Priest, and King
As we prepare the celebrate the birth of our Lord, I am reminded of a hymn (not a carol) that we sang recently at our worship service - Fanny Crosby's "Praise Him! Praise Him!" One line in that song says, "Praise Him, Praise Him, Prophet and Priest and King." Jesus was indeed the fulfillment of every one of these offices of redemptive history. I just wanted to take a moment and reflect on Jesus Christ in the fulness of His Messianic work.
For Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed (literally, the "smeared") One. Smeared with sacred oil, the oil of the Holy Spirit, to "proclaim good news to the poor ... to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-9, quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2, NIV). How did He fulfill this calling?
First, Jesus was and is the ultimate PROPHET. Now when most people say today that Jesus was a great prophet, that is no small thing. A prophet was one who heard and spoke the very message of God to His people. Prophets were anointed by God in the Old Testament to proclaim His Word. They did not give their personal opinions, but they prefaced what they said with, "Thus says the Lord..." They were not always appreciated at the time of their ministry, but they were given respect in hindsight. God had promised Moses, "I will raise up a Prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words into His mouth. He will tell them everything I command Him." (Deuteronomy 18:18, NIV). But what made Jesus the prophet stand out was that He was not just a first among equals, but was in a class by Himself, because He not only delivered the Word, he WAS the Word (John 1), living and incarnate. Remember, Jesus taught by saying, not, "You have heard it said..." but "I say unto you..." You don 't have to read much of what Jesus said about Himself, especially in John's Gospel, to understand this: As a prophet, Jesus declared, prophetically, that He was more than a prophet. In other words, as R. C. Sproul puts it, "the central message of the prophetic ministry of Jesus Christ - was Jesus Christ!"
Second, Jesus was and is the ultimate PRIEST. This is what the disciples didn't get until after Easter. They were very ready to accept Him as a prophet, right up there with Elijah or Jeremiah, and even to declare Him to be the Messiah. But when Jesus referred to the priestly ministry He would have to perform to fulfill His mission, Peter said, "Never!" and had to be rebuked by Jesus. Priests were literally anointed with oil for their office in the Old Testament. Now the difference between the work of the Prophet and the Priest was simple: The priest would speak to God on behalf of the people, and the prophet would speak to the people on behalf of God. The way the priest would speak for the people was to pray for them and to offer sacrifices for them, so that their relationship to God could be restored whenever it was broken. But again, Jesus stood out from the rest in His priestly ministry, because he not only offered the sacrifice for the people, He BECAME the sacrifice. You can see this in what we commonly refer to as the seven last words from the cross. In the first three statements, Jesus was acting as priest, as offerer and intercessor on behalf of others ("Father, forgive them..." "Woman, behold your son..." "Today you shall be with Me in paradise..."). But after 3 PM, when all became dark, and He bagan to bear our sin and God's wrath, His words became the words of the offering itself, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world ("My God, my God, why...?" "I thirst."... "It is finished!" ... "Father, into Your hands...") He offered the supreme sacrifice to God for us and He WAS the supreme sacrifice to God for us. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Finally, Jesus was and is the ultimate KING. Kings were also anointed for their role with the people of God. Jesus came, even in His humility, born of the line of David through Hs foster father, Joseph, and showed dominion over death, over demons, over disease, over nature itself, and over the souls of men and women. Now he lives and reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The shepherds and the Magi understood this and bowed before Him. He was given gold, a gift fit for a king. Simeon and Anna understood this. The thief on the cross got it, too, and asked for Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom. And one day, the promise of the book of Revelation will come true once and for all, the promise that we sing every year at this time: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah!" (Revelation 11:15, NIV)
This is why we treasure Him and worship Him and Hold Him as supreme. The Messiah had to be a prophet like Moses, He had to be of the line of David and the head of an everlasting kingdom, and He had to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Only one Person in history perfectly fulfilled this resume - the one we welcome again at this Christmas season. All glory goes to Him forever.
"And He is the Head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19; 2:3, NIV). So let us honor Him at Christmas like this is true.
For Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed (literally, the "smeared") One. Smeared with sacred oil, the oil of the Holy Spirit, to "proclaim good news to the poor ... to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-9, quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2, NIV). How did He fulfill this calling?
First, Jesus was and is the ultimate PROPHET. Now when most people say today that Jesus was a great prophet, that is no small thing. A prophet was one who heard and spoke the very message of God to His people. Prophets were anointed by God in the Old Testament to proclaim His Word. They did not give their personal opinions, but they prefaced what they said with, "Thus says the Lord..." They were not always appreciated at the time of their ministry, but they were given respect in hindsight. God had promised Moses, "I will raise up a Prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words into His mouth. He will tell them everything I command Him." (Deuteronomy 18:18, NIV). But what made Jesus the prophet stand out was that He was not just a first among equals, but was in a class by Himself, because He not only delivered the Word, he WAS the Word (John 1), living and incarnate. Remember, Jesus taught by saying, not, "You have heard it said..." but "I say unto you..." You don 't have to read much of what Jesus said about Himself, especially in John's Gospel, to understand this: As a prophet, Jesus declared, prophetically, that He was more than a prophet. In other words, as R. C. Sproul puts it, "the central message of the prophetic ministry of Jesus Christ - was Jesus Christ!"
Second, Jesus was and is the ultimate PRIEST. This is what the disciples didn't get until after Easter. They were very ready to accept Him as a prophet, right up there with Elijah or Jeremiah, and even to declare Him to be the Messiah. But when Jesus referred to the priestly ministry He would have to perform to fulfill His mission, Peter said, "Never!" and had to be rebuked by Jesus. Priests were literally anointed with oil for their office in the Old Testament. Now the difference between the work of the Prophet and the Priest was simple: The priest would speak to God on behalf of the people, and the prophet would speak to the people on behalf of God. The way the priest would speak for the people was to pray for them and to offer sacrifices for them, so that their relationship to God could be restored whenever it was broken. But again, Jesus stood out from the rest in His priestly ministry, because he not only offered the sacrifice for the people, He BECAME the sacrifice. You can see this in what we commonly refer to as the seven last words from the cross. In the first three statements, Jesus was acting as priest, as offerer and intercessor on behalf of others ("Father, forgive them..." "Woman, behold your son..." "Today you shall be with Me in paradise..."). But after 3 PM, when all became dark, and He bagan to bear our sin and God's wrath, His words became the words of the offering itself, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world ("My God, my God, why...?" "I thirst."... "It is finished!" ... "Father, into Your hands...") He offered the supreme sacrifice to God for us and He WAS the supreme sacrifice to God for us. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Finally, Jesus was and is the ultimate KING. Kings were also anointed for their role with the people of God. Jesus came, even in His humility, born of the line of David through Hs foster father, Joseph, and showed dominion over death, over demons, over disease, over nature itself, and over the souls of men and women. Now he lives and reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The shepherds and the Magi understood this and bowed before Him. He was given gold, a gift fit for a king. Simeon and Anna understood this. The thief on the cross got it, too, and asked for Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom. And one day, the promise of the book of Revelation will come true once and for all, the promise that we sing every year at this time: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah!" (Revelation 11:15, NIV)
This is why we treasure Him and worship Him and Hold Him as supreme. The Messiah had to be a prophet like Moses, He had to be of the line of David and the head of an everlasting kingdom, and He had to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Only one Person in history perfectly fulfilled this resume - the one we welcome again at this Christmas season. All glory goes to Him forever.
"And He is the Head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19; 2:3, NIV). So let us honor Him at Christmas like this is true.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
It Starts in the Mind
"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD
with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For the LORD is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.
(Psalm 100, NIV)
What are we called to do? Worship with a focus on God, not on ourselves. See how many times the name of the LORD (Yahweh, the great "I AM") or God shows up in this Psalm. It really is all about Him. In this narcissistic age we live in, we really need to hear this again and again.
And worship with exuberance. Look at the commands of verses 1,2 and 4: "Shout," "worship" (or serve) with gladness (not out of obligation); "come with joyful songs"; "give thanks", "praise", and (the second "praise" in verse 4, "bless" (literally, to bow, give homage). There is true overflowing joy combined with deep reverence and awe of God.
The same idea can be found in Psalm 95, where we are told twice to "come." (Latin, venite) Remember, "Venite adoramus - O come, let us adore Him." First the Psalmist says to come with singing, shouting, thanksgiving, extolling. Then further down he says to come bowing down and kneeling. Both of these are expressions of exuberance, and we do not need to pit them against one another.
This is obvious, and yet many Christians come to church with an apparent attitude of boredom. When the Willow Creek Church near Chicago was just starting out in the 80's, they surveyed whole neighborhoods to ask why people had stopped going to church The number one and two answers given were, "Church is boring," and "Church is irrelevant." So what's the problem?
I think the answer is found in Psalm 100, verses 3 and 5. Verse 3 begins with the command, "Know..." We do not know God as we should. We do not know that God is GREAT (verse 3). He is God, the only God. He made us, He is our Creator. We are not products of chance or evolution. We are not merely the product of our parents. Our genes do not determine who we are, God does. And then He redeemed us through Christ, so that "we are His people." He made us. He bought us. If we are believers in Jesus Christ, we are twice His. What an awesome God!
But wait, there's more! (I've always wanted to say that.) In verse 5, we are told that God is GOOD. He is good, He is loving, and He is faithful. And He will be these things forever. And we, as New Testament Christians, only need to look at Calvary to know how true this is. He died for us while we were yet sinners, and when we look to Him in faith as our Savior and our Substitute, He will keep his covenant with us, no matter what.
God is great. God is good. When we really know this, worship becomes the easiest, most natural thing in the world. No wonder Jesus, when asked what the greatest commandment was, quoted the Shema from Deuteronomy 6. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and all our strength (exuberant worship and service); but don't forget the last part - and with all our mind. We need to know God to worship Him - and knowing God starts with knowing about God. This is why Bible study and active listening to sermons is so vital - because theology leads to doxology, and orthodoxy is the only true way to orthopraxy (that is, right doctrine leads to right practice). Treasuring Christ, worshiping Him from the heart, really does begin in the mind - so crack open that Bible and ask Him to show Himself to you more and more. As He does, your response of worship will also grow more and more each day.
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him ... In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19; 2:3, NIV) So let's start worshiping like this is true.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Digging for Gold
"In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2:3) This verse is part of our theme verses for this blog. So how do you find these treasures? Jesus gave us a hint in John 15:7-8 - "If you remain in Me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." Remaining or abiding in Christ is key to answered prayer and to Christian maturity (fruit-bearing), so that people will know that we are learning from Him (discipleship). A major component of this abiding is the taking in of His Word. Since Jesus was steeped in the Old Testament Scriptures in His teaching and could show the twelve, after His resurrection, how He could be found in the entire Old Testament, and since later He tells the apostles that the Holy Spirit will remind them of everything He said as well (our New Testament), I believe He wants us to be saturated with the whole Bible. We will find all of the treasures of Christ, both in the types and shadows of the Old Testament as well as in the full and final revelation of the New Testament.
But here is where the paradox comes in. I, for one, do not buy this idea that the Bible is full of contradictions. People who say this simply do not take the time to research apparent contradictions in order to find that the law of contradiction is never violated in God's Word. However, Scripture IS full of paradox.
In this case, the paradox is shown in two passages. The first is in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. "However, as it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived - the things God has prepared for those who love Him' - these are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit."
Now it is always tempting to apply this quote from Isaiah 64 to heaven. But in context, Paul is not talking about heaven, but about truth. He is saying that the truth of Scripture cannot be figured out by either inductive or deductive reasoning, or logic. It can only be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit - like when Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Flesh and blood had not revealed that to him, but the Father. We can only know what God has for us to know if He chooses to reveal it to us - and He has. BUT...
The other side of the coin is in Proverbs 2:1-5: "My Son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding - indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."
Look at the energy and effort described here: Accepting (welcoming) it, storing it up (memorization); turning your ear and applying your heart (meditation); calling out and crying aloud (praying as we read and listen); searching and looking (hard, careful, diligent study, comparing Scripture with Scripture, checking context, watching the grammar, etc.). That's when we will understand and find the treasure. Yet verse 6 echoes 1 Corinthians 2. "For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding."
So there's the paradox. We can only find the treasures of Christ in His Word if God reveals them to us. But He will only reveal them to us if we are in an attitude of seeking and digging. Yet when we have sought and dug, we will, in the end, find it only because He reveals them to us. But He will not reveal them to the lazy and idle - only to the diligent.
So we dig and scratch and search, even as we abide and listen and pray. And then we will begin to see the treasure and put things together and see the wisdom of God's eternal plan. This is the only way we will be able to have the Bible shed light on our day-to-day living, with each day's joy and pain, and gradually move forward in maturity, becoming more like Him as we get closer to home.
The treasure is here, right before us. "X" has already marked the spot. We just have to start some serious digging and then humbly wait for him to show it to us, one gem at a time.
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19; 2:3, NIV) So let's start digging like this is true.
But here is where the paradox comes in. I, for one, do not buy this idea that the Bible is full of contradictions. People who say this simply do not take the time to research apparent contradictions in order to find that the law of contradiction is never violated in God's Word. However, Scripture IS full of paradox.
In this case, the paradox is shown in two passages. The first is in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. "However, as it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived - the things God has prepared for those who love Him' - these are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit."
Now it is always tempting to apply this quote from Isaiah 64 to heaven. But in context, Paul is not talking about heaven, but about truth. He is saying that the truth of Scripture cannot be figured out by either inductive or deductive reasoning, or logic. It can only be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit - like when Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Flesh and blood had not revealed that to him, but the Father. We can only know what God has for us to know if He chooses to reveal it to us - and He has. BUT...
The other side of the coin is in Proverbs 2:1-5: "My Son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding - indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."
Look at the energy and effort described here: Accepting (welcoming) it, storing it up (memorization); turning your ear and applying your heart (meditation); calling out and crying aloud (praying as we read and listen); searching and looking (hard, careful, diligent study, comparing Scripture with Scripture, checking context, watching the grammar, etc.). That's when we will understand and find the treasure. Yet verse 6 echoes 1 Corinthians 2. "For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding."
So there's the paradox. We can only find the treasures of Christ in His Word if God reveals them to us. But He will only reveal them to us if we are in an attitude of seeking and digging. Yet when we have sought and dug, we will, in the end, find it only because He reveals them to us. But He will not reveal them to the lazy and idle - only to the diligent.
So we dig and scratch and search, even as we abide and listen and pray. And then we will begin to see the treasure and put things together and see the wisdom of God's eternal plan. This is the only way we will be able to have the Bible shed light on our day-to-day living, with each day's joy and pain, and gradually move forward in maturity, becoming more like Him as we get closer to home.
The treasure is here, right before us. "X" has already marked the spot. We just have to start some serious digging and then humbly wait for him to show it to us, one gem at a time.
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19; 2:3, NIV) So let's start digging like this is true.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Never Forget
"Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:1-3, NIV) In the last few days, in the wake of the 10th Anniversary of 9-11, we have frequently heard and seen one short but potent phrase - "Never forget." Well, the Bible is also full of calls to remember. In the Old Testament, Israel was commanded always to remember her deliverance from slavery in Egypt. She was given a Feast to help her remember, the Feast of Passover (Exodus 12). The entire intricate layout of the Tabernacle and the sacrificial system was intended as visual aids to enable them to remember. The nation was also called to remember her crossing of the Jordan River into Canaan by placing twelve stones in the river, one for each tribe, after she had miraculously crossed in safety. These stones were to be a memorial so that she would never forget (Joshua 3-4). In 1 Samuel, after the Lord gave a great victory to an outnumbered Israel over their Philistine enemies, Samuel set up a stone and named it "Ebenezer," meaning "Thus far the Lord has helped us." It was to serve as a reminder.
But things did not change in the New Testament. Jesus gave us new symbols to remind us of our greater deliverance from sin through His death on the cross. The night before He died, He shared bread and wine with His disciples, saying, in essence, "This is my body, this is My blood, don't you dare forget it."
In the passage we began with, Paul wrote to remind the Corinthians of the gospel. Remember now, he was writing to Christians, not to pagans. He knew how quickly we can forget. He was amazed at how easily the Galatian churches allowed themselves to be duped by the Judaizers. He cautioned the Colossians about being taken in by "hollow and deceptive philosophies." some of which involved the worship of angels and strict adherance to special days. On more than one occasion, he wrote that he did not want the church to be ignorant about specific matters related to the faith, such as spiritual gifts, or the second coming of our Lord. To Timothy, Paul gave instructions to remind the people he served of the trustworthy sayings that deserve full acceptance, among them, that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Pretty basic stuff - but they had to be reminded regularly so that they would not forget.
The writer to the Hebrews picks up this theme when he quotes from Psalm 95, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts..." We all tend to be fickle at times in matters of faith. No one decides to reject the gospel's teachings in a moment. Rather, we drift - and we do so because we forget. Hence, the constant call to remember.
Peter also echoes this thought. "I will always remind you of these things, EVEN THOUGH YOU KNOW THEM and are firmly established in the truth you now have" (2 Peter 1:12, emphasis mine). The danger comes when some in the church, come to believe that since they know the truth, they no longer need to be reminded of it. Yes, Hebrews 6 tells us to move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ, but that does not negate the need to be reminded. In the first Lord of the Rings film, as the Hobbits start out on their journey, Sam, the faithful companion tells Frodo, as they step over a piece of ground, "I have never been this far away from the shire before. I cannot see my home." He says this with sadness and with some trepidation. They know they cannot go back until their mission is finished. But what sustains them through the perilous journey through all three films is their remembrance of the shire. We move toward new horizons, but we cannot ever forget home, where we began.
We must also let John weigh in on this. In 1 John 2:12-14, the Apostle says he is writing to three distinct groups - he calls them "dear children," "fathers," and "young men." In other words, he writes again about the basic truths of what it means to be "born of God" to Christians at every stage of growth and maturity. No one is exempt.
To think that we no longer need to be reminded of the basic truths of our faith, to think that we no longer need catechesis - ah, that is a dangerous place to be. To think that we no longer have need of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers - that is when we find ourselves again to be "infants, tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitul scheming" (Ephesians 4:11-14).
The gospel is where the power of God is. So we keep coming back to that. We fail to do that at our peril. If we ever lived in a day of theological and doctrinal shallowness, it's today. Christians so often want to be entertained, not fed. They say they cannot handle theology intellectually, they cannot remember all of the important things the Bible teaches. Yet, they can easily tell you the latest minute details from the world of politics, sports, entertainment, and the stock market.
It is easy for preachers and teachers to be discouraged. But we, too, must never forget. We must not forget the gospel, and we must not forget our primary calling - to "preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season: (i.e., when it is popular and when it is not) correct, rebuke, and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2). They may not want to hear it - but for their souls' sake, they must. It is the only way we and they will never forget.
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knwledge." (Colossians 1:18-19; 23, NIV) So let's remember like this is true.
But things did not change in the New Testament. Jesus gave us new symbols to remind us of our greater deliverance from sin through His death on the cross. The night before He died, He shared bread and wine with His disciples, saying, in essence, "This is my body, this is My blood, don't you dare forget it."
In the passage we began with, Paul wrote to remind the Corinthians of the gospel. Remember now, he was writing to Christians, not to pagans. He knew how quickly we can forget. He was amazed at how easily the Galatian churches allowed themselves to be duped by the Judaizers. He cautioned the Colossians about being taken in by "hollow and deceptive philosophies." some of which involved the worship of angels and strict adherance to special days. On more than one occasion, he wrote that he did not want the church to be ignorant about specific matters related to the faith, such as spiritual gifts, or the second coming of our Lord. To Timothy, Paul gave instructions to remind the people he served of the trustworthy sayings that deserve full acceptance, among them, that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Pretty basic stuff - but they had to be reminded regularly so that they would not forget.
The writer to the Hebrews picks up this theme when he quotes from Psalm 95, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts..." We all tend to be fickle at times in matters of faith. No one decides to reject the gospel's teachings in a moment. Rather, we drift - and we do so because we forget. Hence, the constant call to remember.
Peter also echoes this thought. "I will always remind you of these things, EVEN THOUGH YOU KNOW THEM and are firmly established in the truth you now have" (2 Peter 1:12, emphasis mine). The danger comes when some in the church, come to believe that since they know the truth, they no longer need to be reminded of it. Yes, Hebrews 6 tells us to move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ, but that does not negate the need to be reminded. In the first Lord of the Rings film, as the Hobbits start out on their journey, Sam, the faithful companion tells Frodo, as they step over a piece of ground, "I have never been this far away from the shire before. I cannot see my home." He says this with sadness and with some trepidation. They know they cannot go back until their mission is finished. But what sustains them through the perilous journey through all three films is their remembrance of the shire. We move toward new horizons, but we cannot ever forget home, where we began.
We must also let John weigh in on this. In 1 John 2:12-14, the Apostle says he is writing to three distinct groups - he calls them "dear children," "fathers," and "young men." In other words, he writes again about the basic truths of what it means to be "born of God" to Christians at every stage of growth and maturity. No one is exempt.
To think that we no longer need to be reminded of the basic truths of our faith, to think that we no longer need catechesis - ah, that is a dangerous place to be. To think that we no longer have need of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers - that is when we find ourselves again to be "infants, tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitul scheming" (Ephesians 4:11-14).
The gospel is where the power of God is. So we keep coming back to that. We fail to do that at our peril. If we ever lived in a day of theological and doctrinal shallowness, it's today. Christians so often want to be entertained, not fed. They say they cannot handle theology intellectually, they cannot remember all of the important things the Bible teaches. Yet, they can easily tell you the latest minute details from the world of politics, sports, entertainment, and the stock market.
It is easy for preachers and teachers to be discouraged. But we, too, must never forget. We must not forget the gospel, and we must not forget our primary calling - to "preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season: (i.e., when it is popular and when it is not) correct, rebuke, and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2). They may not want to hear it - but for their souls' sake, they must. It is the only way we and they will never forget.
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knwledge." (Colossians 1:18-19; 23, NIV) So let's remember like this is true.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Profit and Loss
"What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." (Philippians 3:8)
In Philippians 3, Paul speaks in terms of profit and loss. He is using a spiritual "ledger" if you will. This is a personal testimony about his discovery of the reality of the parables Jesus told in Matthew Chapter 13.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:44-46, NIV)
For Paul, nothing was worth keeping in order to gain the treasure. That included what the world would consider to be good things - his religion, his good upbringing, his morality, his faithfulness to the Torah of Moses, his zeal to be faithful to God. What could be wrong with those? He answers this question in verse 9: None of these things compared to having a righteousness that was not his own from the law, but the righteousness of Christ, which is by faith. This is what is so hard for so many to grasp - that God is absolutely unimpressed with our good deeds, our efforts to please Him that do not arise from faith in what He has already done.
This, along with the Incarnation of Christ, is what separates Christianity from every other religion of the world. Every one of them depends on pleasing God through human effort. That includes Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christian-like cults, as well as atheism and agnosticism, and even secularism. Press most Americans (including faithful church-goers), and they will say they believe in God, but they will also say that the way to heaven is by being good enough and hoping that their good works outweigh their bad ones when God puts them on the final scales.
Brothers and sisters, the symbol of our faith is not a set of scales! It is a cross! Ours is an alien righteousness. We would be utterly hopeless if righteousness were not granted to us through the substitution of Christ on our behalf. He who fulfilled the law to the letter was pronounced guilty, so that we who had no hope could be pronounced righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the treasure that Paul discovered on the road to Damascus. As a result, he bundled up all of his works, good and bad, and filed them in the "loss" column of his ledger. He only had one asset in his asset column - Christ - and it was more than enough.
An old Puritan saint named David Dickson once said in a sermon, "I have made a heap of all my bad works AND of all my good works, and I have fled them both to Christ" (emphasis mine). Until we flee ALL of our works, including our best ones, we have not yet fully discovered and appreciated the Treasure that is Jesus Christ, who accomplished the ultimate good work at Calvary on our behalf. Can we say, in our heart of hearts, with the hymn writer:
"Could my tears forever flow, could my zeal no languor know,
These for sin could not atone, Thou must save, and Thou alone,
In my hand no price I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling."
(Augustus Toplady, Rock of Ages, verse 2)
That's the only treasure worth keeping.
"And Christ is the head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19; 2:3, NIV) So let's total things up like this is true.
In Philippians 3, Paul speaks in terms of profit and loss. He is using a spiritual "ledger" if you will. This is a personal testimony about his discovery of the reality of the parables Jesus told in Matthew Chapter 13.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:44-46, NIV)
For Paul, nothing was worth keeping in order to gain the treasure. That included what the world would consider to be good things - his religion, his good upbringing, his morality, his faithfulness to the Torah of Moses, his zeal to be faithful to God. What could be wrong with those? He answers this question in verse 9: None of these things compared to having a righteousness that was not his own from the law, but the righteousness of Christ, which is by faith. This is what is so hard for so many to grasp - that God is absolutely unimpressed with our good deeds, our efforts to please Him that do not arise from faith in what He has already done.
This, along with the Incarnation of Christ, is what separates Christianity from every other religion of the world. Every one of them depends on pleasing God through human effort. That includes Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christian-like cults, as well as atheism and agnosticism, and even secularism. Press most Americans (including faithful church-goers), and they will say they believe in God, but they will also say that the way to heaven is by being good enough and hoping that their good works outweigh their bad ones when God puts them on the final scales.
Brothers and sisters, the symbol of our faith is not a set of scales! It is a cross! Ours is an alien righteousness. We would be utterly hopeless if righteousness were not granted to us through the substitution of Christ on our behalf. He who fulfilled the law to the letter was pronounced guilty, so that we who had no hope could be pronounced righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the treasure that Paul discovered on the road to Damascus. As a result, he bundled up all of his works, good and bad, and filed them in the "loss" column of his ledger. He only had one asset in his asset column - Christ - and it was more than enough.
An old Puritan saint named David Dickson once said in a sermon, "I have made a heap of all my bad works AND of all my good works, and I have fled them both to Christ" (emphasis mine). Until we flee ALL of our works, including our best ones, we have not yet fully discovered and appreciated the Treasure that is Jesus Christ, who accomplished the ultimate good work at Calvary on our behalf. Can we say, in our heart of hearts, with the hymn writer:
"Could my tears forever flow, could my zeal no languor know,
These for sin could not atone, Thou must save, and Thou alone,
In my hand no price I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling."
(Augustus Toplady, Rock of Ages, verse 2)
That's the only treasure worth keeping.
"And Christ is the head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19; 2:3, NIV) So let's total things up like this is true.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Satisfied
"I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of food, with singing lips my mouth will praise You. On my bed I remember You; I think of You through the watches of the night. Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings. I cling to You; Your right hand upholds me." (Psalm 63:5-8)
A good old hymn says:
"All my life long, I had panted for a drink from some cool spring
That I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within.
Feeding on the husks around me till my strength was almost gone,
Longed my soul for something better, only still to hunger on.
Poor I was, and sought for riches, something that would satisfy;
But the dust I gathered round me only mocked my soul's sad cry.
This is the right attitude to have. Hungering and thirsting leads to satisfaction. The wrong atttiude would be that of the Laodocean Church, as described by Jesus Himself: "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.'." (Revelation 3:17a, God's Word Translation) We can only receive blessings with empty hands.
I am not down on America like a lot of Christians seem to be today, who favor a more liberal side of politics. I believe there are many good values we have in this land that we should keep, But one American value we can do without is this idea of independence to an extreme, of self-sufficiency, of an appreciation of "pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps" (I really don't like that phrase at all). The Bible teaches just the opposite. We are totally dependent creatures. We do not get our next breath unless God deigns to give it to us. We would not even be Americans if God, in His grace, did not allow us to be born here or to become citizens here. I have a sort of "trinity" of verses that sum up my views on this matter. Here they are.
"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." (1 Corinthians 15;10, English Standard Version)
"Who says that you are any better than other people? What do you have that wasn't given to you? If you were given what you have, why are you bragging as if it weren't a gift?" (1 Corinthians 4:7, God's Word Translation)
"I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me." (John 15:5, Holman Christian Standard)
Did you catch the key phrases in those three verses? "By the grace of God I am what I am." "What do you have that wasn't given to you?" "You can do nothing without Me." Let's put it this way: Without Christ, I AM NOTHING. Without Christ, I HAVE NOTHING. Without Christ, I CAN DO NOTHING. The Good News is that in Christ, I find true satisfaction, because I discover that I am a new creature in Christ, a child of God, deeply loved, forgiven, freed from my guilt, a person with hope and deep joy. In Christ, I have everything I need, I am provided for, I have spiritual gifts to use for His service, I have a church family that loves me, I have His Word to guide me, I have access to His throne of grace, I have His indwelling Spirit for the daily living of this new life, and so much more. In Christ "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13), that is, I can be content whether I am prospering or wanting, I can sing in a prison, I can smile at suffering, I can aspire to true holiness and Christlikeness, I can love my enemies, I can keep my word, I can give with joy, and so much more.
The hymn writer got it, Here is the final verse and chorus of the song.
"Well of water, ever springing, Bread of Life, so rich and free;
Untold wealth that never faileth, My Redeemer is to me.
Hallelujah! I have found Him, Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfied my longings, thro' His blood I now am saved."
(Clara T. Williams, Ralph E. Hudson)
So what do we do to maintain this satisfaction? David tells us. We keep a continual attitude of praise (verse 5b); we meditate on Him at all times, and in particular, as we end each day (verse 6); we live in daily dependence on Him and cling to Him as our only help (verses 7-8) - because only in Him are we fulfilled human beings, only in Him do we have everything we truly need, and only in Him can we accomplish the things that really matter for eternity.
"And Christ is the head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV) So let's hunger and thirst for Him like this is true.
A good old hymn says:
"All my life long, I had panted for a drink from some cool spring
That I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within.
Feeding on the husks around me till my strength was almost gone,
Longed my soul for something better, only still to hunger on.
Poor I was, and sought for riches, something that would satisfy;
But the dust I gathered round me only mocked my soul's sad cry.
This is the right attitude to have. Hungering and thirsting leads to satisfaction. The wrong atttiude would be that of the Laodocean Church, as described by Jesus Himself: "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.'." (Revelation 3:17a, God's Word Translation) We can only receive blessings with empty hands.
I am not down on America like a lot of Christians seem to be today, who favor a more liberal side of politics. I believe there are many good values we have in this land that we should keep, But one American value we can do without is this idea of independence to an extreme, of self-sufficiency, of an appreciation of "pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps" (I really don't like that phrase at all). The Bible teaches just the opposite. We are totally dependent creatures. We do not get our next breath unless God deigns to give it to us. We would not even be Americans if God, in His grace, did not allow us to be born here or to become citizens here. I have a sort of "trinity" of verses that sum up my views on this matter. Here they are.
"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." (1 Corinthians 15;10, English Standard Version)
"Who says that you are any better than other people? What do you have that wasn't given to you? If you were given what you have, why are you bragging as if it weren't a gift?" (1 Corinthians 4:7, God's Word Translation)
"I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me." (John 15:5, Holman Christian Standard)
Did you catch the key phrases in those three verses? "By the grace of God I am what I am." "What do you have that wasn't given to you?" "You can do nothing without Me." Let's put it this way: Without Christ, I AM NOTHING. Without Christ, I HAVE NOTHING. Without Christ, I CAN DO NOTHING. The Good News is that in Christ, I find true satisfaction, because I discover that I am a new creature in Christ, a child of God, deeply loved, forgiven, freed from my guilt, a person with hope and deep joy. In Christ, I have everything I need, I am provided for, I have spiritual gifts to use for His service, I have a church family that loves me, I have His Word to guide me, I have access to His throne of grace, I have His indwelling Spirit for the daily living of this new life, and so much more. In Christ "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13), that is, I can be content whether I am prospering or wanting, I can sing in a prison, I can smile at suffering, I can aspire to true holiness and Christlikeness, I can love my enemies, I can keep my word, I can give with joy, and so much more.
The hymn writer got it, Here is the final verse and chorus of the song.
"Well of water, ever springing, Bread of Life, so rich and free;
Untold wealth that never faileth, My Redeemer is to me.
Hallelujah! I have found Him, Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfied my longings, thro' His blood I now am saved."
(Clara T. Williams, Ralph E. Hudson)
So what do we do to maintain this satisfaction? David tells us. We keep a continual attitude of praise (verse 5b); we meditate on Him at all times, and in particular, as we end each day (verse 6); we live in daily dependence on Him and cling to Him as our only help (verses 7-8) - because only in Him are we fulfilled human beings, only in Him do we have everything we truly need, and only in Him can we accomplish the things that really matter for eternity.
"And Christ is the head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV) So let's hunger and thirst for Him like this is true.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Better Than Life Itself
"Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands." (Psalm 63:3-4)
We open our service each week with a time of praise and worship, featuring mostly choruses and worship songs with an occasional hymn. We do sing other hymns later in the service. We are trying to add new songs and draw from newer sources, like Chris Tomlin, Michael W. Smith, Twila Paris, Paul Baloche, and Keith Getty, but we also have some "oldies." One Scripture song from the 70's that we do is "Thy Loving Kindness" (not sure why 70's Scripture songs were all writtren in King James, but...
"Thy loving kindness is better than life, Thy loving kindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise Thee, thus shall I bless Thee,
I will lift up my hands unto Thy name."
Now do we really think the words through on this? Of course, we can sing any Christian song, new or old, mindlessly. But let's give this one some thought, because it is taken right out of Psalm 63. Remember, David is singing about seeking and thirsting for the Lord. In the next verse we will look at, he will talk about being satisfied in Him. And, as we have seen, that satisfaction will lead to greater hunger and thirst for God. But to be satisfied in God while also increasing in hunger for God, we need to think through what it means to say that God's love for us in Christ is better than life itself.
To the early Christians, and martyrs throughout the ages, including those who will die for Christ around the world this very day, before I finish this post, the meaning is clear. Even if I am called to give up my life for the sake of the Gospel, I will treasure His love for me nonetheless. The Apostle Paul certainly understood this when he wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21, NIV). The God's Word translation puts it this way: "Christ means everything to me in this life, and when I die, I'll have even more."
But what about the rest of us, who are not in danger of death by persecution? How do we apply these words of David? We think of the words of our Lord in Mark 8:35: "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it." Surely, He is not talking only about physical death. He speaks even plainer in other places, calling us to put Him before our most prized possessions and our dearest human relationships.
To be very practical, let's say it this way:
Do we want God more than our family?
Do we want God more than our health?
Do we want God more than food?
Do we want God more than friendship?
Do we want God more than sexual relations?
Do we want God more than satisfaction with our job?
Do we want God more than personal ahievement?
Do we want God more than good books?
Do we want God more than computers?
Do we want God more than our homes?
Do we want God more than beautiful sunsets?
Do we want God more than autumn colors?
Do we want God more than heaven?
John Piper says that when David proclaims that the love of God is better than life, he is saying that the love of God is better than all the joys that life can bring. So let's not settle for the gifts without yearning for the Giver. Feeling convicted? Yeah, me, too.
"And Christ is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV) So let's lose ourselves for Him like this is true.
We open our service each week with a time of praise and worship, featuring mostly choruses and worship songs with an occasional hymn. We do sing other hymns later in the service. We are trying to add new songs and draw from newer sources, like Chris Tomlin, Michael W. Smith, Twila Paris, Paul Baloche, and Keith Getty, but we also have some "oldies." One Scripture song from the 70's that we do is "Thy Loving Kindness" (not sure why 70's Scripture songs were all writtren in King James, but...
"Thy loving kindness is better than life, Thy loving kindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise Thee, thus shall I bless Thee,
I will lift up my hands unto Thy name."
Now do we really think the words through on this? Of course, we can sing any Christian song, new or old, mindlessly. But let's give this one some thought, because it is taken right out of Psalm 63. Remember, David is singing about seeking and thirsting for the Lord. In the next verse we will look at, he will talk about being satisfied in Him. And, as we have seen, that satisfaction will lead to greater hunger and thirst for God. But to be satisfied in God while also increasing in hunger for God, we need to think through what it means to say that God's love for us in Christ is better than life itself.
To the early Christians, and martyrs throughout the ages, including those who will die for Christ around the world this very day, before I finish this post, the meaning is clear. Even if I am called to give up my life for the sake of the Gospel, I will treasure His love for me nonetheless. The Apostle Paul certainly understood this when he wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21, NIV). The God's Word translation puts it this way: "Christ means everything to me in this life, and when I die, I'll have even more."
But what about the rest of us, who are not in danger of death by persecution? How do we apply these words of David? We think of the words of our Lord in Mark 8:35: "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it." Surely, He is not talking only about physical death. He speaks even plainer in other places, calling us to put Him before our most prized possessions and our dearest human relationships.
To be very practical, let's say it this way:
Do we want God more than our family?
Do we want God more than our health?
Do we want God more than food?
Do we want God more than friendship?
Do we want God more than sexual relations?
Do we want God more than satisfaction with our job?
Do we want God more than personal ahievement?
Do we want God more than good books?
Do we want God more than computers?
Do we want God more than our homes?
Do we want God more than beautiful sunsets?
Do we want God more than autumn colors?
Do we want God more than heaven?
John Piper says that when David proclaims that the love of God is better than life, he is saying that the love of God is better than all the joys that life can bring. So let's not settle for the gifts without yearning for the Giver. Feeling convicted? Yeah, me, too.
"And Christ is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV) So let's lose ourselves for Him like this is true.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Where to Feed the Hunger
"You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek You; I thirst for You, my whole being longs for You, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and glory." (Psalm 63:1-2)
This entire Psalm is based on relationship. "You, God, are my God." We seek for what we already have, because the having increases the hunger and thirst for more. But one of our Brethren "saints," Anna Mow, used to say, "being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean that you get more of the Holy Spirit. It means that the Holy Spirit gets more of you." Coming to know God through Jesus Christ sparks the hunger within us. And the closer we get to Him, the more the hunger increases.
So how do we get closer? Well, there are the usual responses, such as Bible study, prayer, meditation, fasting, solitude, and all of those spiritual disciplines written about by authors such as Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Donald Witney, and John Ortberg, etal. But let's not forget one of the most important - worship. And here I mean public, corporate worship. Where did the hunger and thirst for God intensify? Verse 2 says, "I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory."
We live now in a day when researchers like George Barna seem to celebrate the fact that Christians are eschewing worship gatherings for church via the internet and live streaming. Christians are trying to find ways to "schedule" worship into their busy lifestyles. Some are even opting for the old pagan standby, "Sunday is the only day I can rest and spend time with my family." So the church has attempted to cater to these ones by adding Saturday night services or Sunday evenings only. Now I can see this for those who have inflexible work schedules but still want to be involved in worship - more power to them. But what about all of the ones who make choices for convenience? And now the internet? Seriously? So we can stay in our pajamas and get an hour of church on the computer, which will save us getting ready and driving time, which will give us more time for the New York Times?
I AM thankful to serve a church that often has members absent because they are serving somewhere - at church camps, in Haiti or Guatemala, on Disaster work trips, on short term mission trips aand work camps. Sure, they all take vacation time, too, as do I. but they don't take the summer off going boating or the winter going skiing (not that you could do that in South Florida...
Again, I must compare Christians in the comfortable, affluent West to brothers and sisters who will meet anywhere at anytime in order to praise God and hear His Word preached - whether it is underground in hiding, as in China, or in a non-air-conditioned tent with backless benches in Africa (Oh, and did I mention, 2-3 hour services?). I hear and read continual testimonies from American preachers and teachers who go to bless these folks and end up being the blessed ones because of the spiritual hunger they see. These dear Christians can't get enough. Ergo - they get more of the Lord because the Lord gets more of them, and the church in those places is growing like weeds, with life-changing power.
Oh, for that spirit to once again invade our churches here. But hey! The Steelers are on at 1:00, so let's get this thing moving along. (Sorry, but I do favor the black and gold!)
Isaiah's defining moment came when he "saw" the Lord high and lifted up in the temple (Isaiah 6:1). Job's moment of repentance came when he no longer just heard of the Lord, but saw Him. (Job 42:5)
When we resolve to regularly attend worship and to fully engage in it - to love the Lord, our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength - to sing with gusto, to pray with intensity, to be active listeners to the Word preached, to be joyful givers - then we will behold His power and His glory. The result? Greater hunger, that will bring us to offer more of ourselves to Him, which in turn, will give us greater hunger still.
"We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming." (Hebrews 10:25, God's Word Translation)
"And Christ is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV) So let's gather together for worship like this is true.
This entire Psalm is based on relationship. "You, God, are my God." We seek for what we already have, because the having increases the hunger and thirst for more. But one of our Brethren "saints," Anna Mow, used to say, "being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean that you get more of the Holy Spirit. It means that the Holy Spirit gets more of you." Coming to know God through Jesus Christ sparks the hunger within us. And the closer we get to Him, the more the hunger increases.
So how do we get closer? Well, there are the usual responses, such as Bible study, prayer, meditation, fasting, solitude, and all of those spiritual disciplines written about by authors such as Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Donald Witney, and John Ortberg, etal. But let's not forget one of the most important - worship. And here I mean public, corporate worship. Where did the hunger and thirst for God intensify? Verse 2 says, "I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory."
We live now in a day when researchers like George Barna seem to celebrate the fact that Christians are eschewing worship gatherings for church via the internet and live streaming. Christians are trying to find ways to "schedule" worship into their busy lifestyles. Some are even opting for the old pagan standby, "Sunday is the only day I can rest and spend time with my family." So the church has attempted to cater to these ones by adding Saturday night services or Sunday evenings only. Now I can see this for those who have inflexible work schedules but still want to be involved in worship - more power to them. But what about all of the ones who make choices for convenience? And now the internet? Seriously? So we can stay in our pajamas and get an hour of church on the computer, which will save us getting ready and driving time, which will give us more time for the New York Times?
I AM thankful to serve a church that often has members absent because they are serving somewhere - at church camps, in Haiti or Guatemala, on Disaster work trips, on short term mission trips aand work camps. Sure, they all take vacation time, too, as do I. but they don't take the summer off going boating or the winter going skiing (not that you could do that in South Florida...
Again, I must compare Christians in the comfortable, affluent West to brothers and sisters who will meet anywhere at anytime in order to praise God and hear His Word preached - whether it is underground in hiding, as in China, or in a non-air-conditioned tent with backless benches in Africa (Oh, and did I mention, 2-3 hour services?). I hear and read continual testimonies from American preachers and teachers who go to bless these folks and end up being the blessed ones because of the spiritual hunger they see. These dear Christians can't get enough. Ergo - they get more of the Lord because the Lord gets more of them, and the church in those places is growing like weeds, with life-changing power.
Oh, for that spirit to once again invade our churches here. But hey! The Steelers are on at 1:00, so let's get this thing moving along. (Sorry, but I do favor the black and gold!)
Isaiah's defining moment came when he "saw" the Lord high and lifted up in the temple (Isaiah 6:1). Job's moment of repentance came when he no longer just heard of the Lord, but saw Him. (Job 42:5)
When we resolve to regularly attend worship and to fully engage in it - to love the Lord, our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength - to sing with gusto, to pray with intensity, to be active listeners to the Word preached, to be joyful givers - then we will behold His power and His glory. The result? Greater hunger, that will bring us to offer more of ourselves to Him, which in turn, will give us greater hunger still.
"We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming." (Hebrews 10:25, God's Word Translation)
"And Christ is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV) So let's gather together for worship like this is true.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
How Thirsty Are You?
Psalm 63:1-2: "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek You: I thirst for You, my whole being longs for You in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory."
You will not be thirsty for God until you KNOW God. Only God can put that thirst in you, and only after He has done a miracle of regeneration in Your heart. David had a wonderful relationship with the Lord, one that he violated a few times, to be sure. Yet at the end of the day, God's verdict on the life of David was that he was (literally) "a man in pursuit of God's own heart." The hunger and thirst after God only will come after we "taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8). The irony of relationship with God through Christ is that the more we find satisfaction in Him, the more our hunger and thirst for Him grows. Bernard of Clairveaux put it this way in one of his hymns:
"We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread, and long to feast upon Thee still,
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead, and thirst our souls from Thee to fill."
(Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts)
This is why regular worship, meditation, prayer, Bible study and other disciplines are so vital.
Do you know that you can be thankful to God for your health, your family, your home, your job, and not be worshiping God at all? Until You are truly thankful to God just for who He is, your worship is superficial.
That may be a primary problem with the church here in North America these days. We have lost the art of simply treasuring God for being God. We have it so well here that we've come to expect His blessings. The danger is that, after a while, we can begin to demand His blessings. Many American Christians simply do not believe anymore that God can judge or punish America (even though He judged and punished His chosen people, Israel). We choose to follow the words of Irving Berlin over the Word of God.
Why is the church in the third world exploding while we continue to close churches every day in the U.S.? I believe it is because Asian Christians and African Christians and South American Christians who are under severe persecution have discovered that all they have is God - and all they need is God. If persecution is what it takes to wake us out of our spiritual sleep here, then I suppose we ought to be praying to God to send a persecution. A revival would be better, but at this point, I will take whatever God gives to renew His church here.
But one thing is for sure: We had better start getting hungry and thirsty. When Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled," the Greek words used for "hunger and thirst" are not terms that describe a hunger to be satisfied with a Snickers Bar, but rather, a hunger that we will die from if we do not eat and drink soon. The good news is, this kind of hunger and thirst WILL be satisfied. And remember this: to hunger and thirst for righteousness is to hunger and thirst for Christ, because He IS our righteousness. (1 Corinthians 1:30)
"And Christ is the Head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV). So let's hunger and thirst like this is true.
You will not be thirsty for God until you KNOW God. Only God can put that thirst in you, and only after He has done a miracle of regeneration in Your heart. David had a wonderful relationship with the Lord, one that he violated a few times, to be sure. Yet at the end of the day, God's verdict on the life of David was that he was (literally) "a man in pursuit of God's own heart." The hunger and thirst after God only will come after we "taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8). The irony of relationship with God through Christ is that the more we find satisfaction in Him, the more our hunger and thirst for Him grows. Bernard of Clairveaux put it this way in one of his hymns:
"We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread, and long to feast upon Thee still,
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead, and thirst our souls from Thee to fill."
(Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts)
This is why regular worship, meditation, prayer, Bible study and other disciplines are so vital.
Do you know that you can be thankful to God for your health, your family, your home, your job, and not be worshiping God at all? Until You are truly thankful to God just for who He is, your worship is superficial.
That may be a primary problem with the church here in North America these days. We have lost the art of simply treasuring God for being God. We have it so well here that we've come to expect His blessings. The danger is that, after a while, we can begin to demand His blessings. Many American Christians simply do not believe anymore that God can judge or punish America (even though He judged and punished His chosen people, Israel). We choose to follow the words of Irving Berlin over the Word of God.
Why is the church in the third world exploding while we continue to close churches every day in the U.S.? I believe it is because Asian Christians and African Christians and South American Christians who are under severe persecution have discovered that all they have is God - and all they need is God. If persecution is what it takes to wake us out of our spiritual sleep here, then I suppose we ought to be praying to God to send a persecution. A revival would be better, but at this point, I will take whatever God gives to renew His church here.
But one thing is for sure: We had better start getting hungry and thirsty. When Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled," the Greek words used for "hunger and thirst" are not terms that describe a hunger to be satisfied with a Snickers Bar, but rather, a hunger that we will die from if we do not eat and drink soon. The good news is, this kind of hunger and thirst WILL be satisfied. And remember this: to hunger and thirst for righteousness is to hunger and thirst for Christ, because He IS our righteousness. (1 Corinthians 1:30)
"And Christ is the Head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV). So let's hunger and thirst like this is true.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Nothing Less Than Our Best
My wife was reading her Bible the other night and came in to show me something from the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) which spoke of the attention to detail the Lord demanded in His worship. Every article of furniture in the Tabernacle, every curtain, every pole, every rod, every sacrifice was to be made and offered with the best quality fabrics and metals, with the highest quality of animals, and from totally devoted hearts. God considered it such a serious matter that He took the lives of Aaron's sons on the spot when they brought their own invented brand of incense to offer. After all, they had a better idea, or so they thought.
I got to thinking about that. In today's American church, we have two extremes. While I am certain there are many good churches in the middle where they should be, a lot of churches tend to drift to one extreme or the other. On the one hand, there are those who are so into quality that they almost become a performance. They are "slick" and polished with a human-made luster. The congregation becomes, for the most part, merely a group of spectators watching the high quality music and teaching from the "stage." (I remember when it was called a chancel).
But far more churches, in my view, drift to the other extreme, where "anything is good enough for God." They sing and read Scripture and lead in prayer without practice, without thought, without heart. Worship services are more "us-centered" than they are Christ-centered. We want to worship Him for what He can do for us, rather than just for who He is. Prayer, rather than exalting the glories and beauties of our Lord and presenting our greatest need before Him, turns into a "laundry list" of what we need. True reverence (to be distinguished from solemnity) is a thing of the past. We breeze into the service whenever we feel like it and then get impatient when it seems to be, in our minds, going a little long. Reminds me of the sarcasm of the prophet Amos in Amos 8:4 when he refers to worshipers saying, "When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?" In other words, "When does church let out so we can get back to real life?!"
If we are truly going to see Christ as our Treasure, surely this means that, for starters, we must change our attitudes about worship. God deserves our best. Being Brethren, I know we have a value of simple living, which is a good value, when it is not abused. But sadly, most of us will worship in a dump and say we live simply, while we would never apply those standards to our own homes. If I read the Bible correctly, I think God says, "Apply the value of simple living to your own lives and homes and cars, but when it comes to me, it should be your absolute best, without any skimping."
"And (Christ) is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In (Christ) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV), So let's worship like this is true.
I got to thinking about that. In today's American church, we have two extremes. While I am certain there are many good churches in the middle where they should be, a lot of churches tend to drift to one extreme or the other. On the one hand, there are those who are so into quality that they almost become a performance. They are "slick" and polished with a human-made luster. The congregation becomes, for the most part, merely a group of spectators watching the high quality music and teaching from the "stage." (I remember when it was called a chancel).
But far more churches, in my view, drift to the other extreme, where "anything is good enough for God." They sing and read Scripture and lead in prayer without practice, without thought, without heart. Worship services are more "us-centered" than they are Christ-centered. We want to worship Him for what He can do for us, rather than just for who He is. Prayer, rather than exalting the glories and beauties of our Lord and presenting our greatest need before Him, turns into a "laundry list" of what we need. True reverence (to be distinguished from solemnity) is a thing of the past. We breeze into the service whenever we feel like it and then get impatient when it seems to be, in our minds, going a little long. Reminds me of the sarcasm of the prophet Amos in Amos 8:4 when he refers to worshipers saying, "When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?" In other words, "When does church let out so we can get back to real life?!"
If we are truly going to see Christ as our Treasure, surely this means that, for starters, we must change our attitudes about worship. God deserves our best. Being Brethren, I know we have a value of simple living, which is a good value, when it is not abused. But sadly, most of us will worship in a dump and say we live simply, while we would never apply those standards to our own homes. If I read the Bible correctly, I think God says, "Apply the value of simple living to your own lives and homes and cars, but when it comes to me, it should be your absolute best, without any skimping."
"And (Christ) is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In (Christ) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV), So let's worship like this is true.
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