Changing Your World: By Being a Disciple
Ephesians 4:1-16
(Shared with the people of Friendship Church, August 3, 2003)
Jimmy Carter was in a funk. He had just made his first bid to be elected governor of Georgia and had lost in the Democratic primary. He was depressed and turned to his sister, the evangelist Ruth Carter Stapleton for comfort. But at first, he derived very little comfort from Ruth’s words. In fact, at first she upset him a little bit. She basically told him, “Jimmy, you call yourself such a great follower of Jesus. But when I look at how you’re reacting to losing an election, I wonder. If you’re really following Jesus, you ought to be willing to give up anything that’s important to you, even being a success in politics.”
Carter felt defensive. He had calculated recently that with mission trips taken by his church from Georgia to New York City, he had spoken with and personally invited at least 700 people to follow Christ. That was a pretty good record, wasn’t it? Yet, as Ruth’s words sank in, he suddenly compared that number to the millions he had asked to vote for him to become governor. He realized that in his life, he gave his own desires and those of his family higher priority than he gave to Christ and His priorities for Jimmy Carter’s life. Later in their conversation, Ruth asked her brother a telling question: “Jimmy, if you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
Carter thought about that question and decided, “No, there wouldn’t be enough evidence to convict me of being a Christian.” He also told God something, “Lord, if you want me to get out of politics, out of business, whatever, I will. From here on, You will be the highest priority in my life.”
Many people are amazed by the life that Jimmy Carter has lived since leaving the White House in January, 1981. His work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center, fighting disease and promoting democracy, have earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. But Carter’s post-presidential accomplishments shouldn’t amaze us. The committed follower of Jesus, what the Bible calls a disciple, is a person Jesus Christ can use to change the world. That happens when believing men and women like you and me, grateful that God has put us first by going to a cross for us and rising for us, dare to put God first in our lives.
Our Bible lesson, from the New Testament book of Ephesians, encourages us “to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” No matter what our jobs or professions may be--Jimmy Carter’s happened to be politics, our calling as followers of Jesus Christ is always the same. In our own unique ways, we’re called to put Jesus Christ first.
People who live as Christians and don’t just call themselves Christians, can be used by God to do wonderful things. The reverse is also true. People who call themselves followers of Jesus but aren’t do incalculable damage to themselves and everyone they encounter. Erv Streng, who retired as pastor of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection about six years ago, once told me about the experience of his son-in-law as a youngster in a church. A man from the congregation had done thorough research and one Sunday morning, gave a stirring presentation on an overseas ministry in which laypeople from a congregation like theirs could go and serve the poor in the Name of Jesus. The boy who would become Erv’s son-in-law was excited and inspired by this presentation. So, he approached the man who had given it and said, “I’d like to help. I’d like to go.” The man looked at him and said basically, “Son, you go on home and enjoy yourself. It was just a talk.”
How many people in our world are turned off by Christ and the Church because those of us who call ourselves Jesus’ followers aren’t really following Him, we’re just talking?
We do a bang-up job of showing up each Sunday and putting some money into the plate.
We show up for every social function our church offers. We may even do a little volunteering.
But if we were tried for the crime of being Christians, there wouldn’t be enough evidence to convict us. On examination of our lives, it would be found that we’re every bit as two-faced, every bit as consumed with money, every bit as cynical, every bit as apathetic about the needs of others, and every bit as selfish as the non-Christian world.
And believe me, in saying these things, I point the finger at myself too. I am a sinner who falls far short of who I would like to be and far short of being the person God wants me to be.
Yet, our Bible lesson reminds us that God has not only called us to live as disciples, God has also equipped us to be disciples. Our lesson tells us that God grants gifts, special abilities, to every believer in Jesus. With them, we can point the world to Jesus. And when every Christian uses the gifts God gives in the right way, the world begins to change for the better.
A few years ago, I shared the true story from Decision magazine of a woman who had decided that God called her to share Christ with others and told her husband that meant she should be a missionary. Her husband wasn’t so sure of that. He urged her to try being a missionary in the neighborhood first and see where God led her from there. So, the woman thought about her gifts. Apparently, she was a pretty good baker. So, she started baking bread for all the new people who moved into her neighborhood. Over the years, this woman positively influenced many of her neighbors, some of whom came to faith in Christ. Willing to go wherever God sent her, this woman found that God had called and equipped her for mission right in her own neighborhood. Maybe he’s got the same thing in mind for you.
So, we’re called to live as Jesus’ disciples and we’re equipped to live as His disciples. But how do we figure out our own unique gifts as Christians? How do we grow up, finding the gifts God has granted us and becoming the maturely functioning children of God we were called and equipped to be? The same way we find out our other talents and abilities in life.
When my dad was a little boy, his dad had a service station. People would bring their cars into the station and his dad would work on the vehicles to make them run again. My dad found that interesting. In fact, when he was just four years old, dad somehow figured out how to get my grandfather’s tow truck started and rumbled down the road some distance before my grandfather was able to hop onto the running board and get his foot on the brake. Dad’s interest in things mechanical continued. He was a grease monkey from the time he was young and kept working on cars, taking on increasingly difficult jobs. When he was in the Air Force, they turned him into a jet mechanic. When he got out, he worked at some filling stations as a mechanic and later, worked as a buyer and manager for some auto parts stores. At four, dad wouldn’t have been ready to be an auto parts store manager; he wasn’t even ready to drive the tow truck. But through trial and error, daring to move onto the next level, dad grew up as a mechanic. The God Who calls and equips us followers of Jesus Christ, also calls us to do the same thing. He calls us, through trial and error, to grow up, to mature in our faith.
People who are growing up in their faith–and creating positive change in their own lives and in the lives of others around them–usually are committed to the healthy habits for living that we’ve talked about at Friendship. They’re committed to meeting and knowing Jesus Christ through the habits of Bible study, prayer, worship, service in Jesus’ Name, giving in Jesus’ Name, telling others about Jesus, and fellowship with other believers, like a person can enjoy when they’re part of small groups. They know that God loves them just as they are. They know that God isn’t standing over them with a checklist to make sure that they pursue these habits every day. But they do know that these habits become the places where God will meet them and help them to become everything God made them to be–people who are called by God, equipped by God, and given maturity by God so that, in the words of our Bible lesson, they can “grow up in every way” as followers of Jesus!
I see many people like that at Friendship. Just this past week, I had one conversation after another with Friendship people–from those enduring difficult crises to those who face the strenuous demands of everyday living. In one way or another, almost all of them told me that they wanted to live their lives with Christ as their highest priority. As long as being Christ’s disciples remains our highest priority–as long as we strive to live lives in which there is sufficient evidence to convict us of being Christians, I know that God will use Friendship to change our world for the better and this will be an exciting church for people to be called, equipped, and to mature as God’s people!
Monday, August 04, 2003
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
As those of you who read this site with any regularity know, I am constantly impressed with the daily e-mailed inspirations sent out by Pastor Glen VanderKloot of Faith Lutheran Church, Springfield, Illinois. Here is today's installment of OnLine with Faith:
*****************************************************
A Thought for the Day
When there is nothing left but God,
That is when you find out God is all you need.
Unknown
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Bible Verse
Psalm 46:1-2
God is our mighty fortress,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
And so, we won't be afraid!
Contemporary English Version
Prayer
Lord, help me to remember that no matter what you are with me
and you will give me all that I need. Amen
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
*****************************************************
A Thought for the Day
When there is nothing left but God,
That is when you find out God is all you need.
Unknown
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Bible Verse
Psalm 46:1-2
God is our mighty fortress,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
And so, we won't be afraid!
Contemporary English Version
Prayer
Lord, help me to remember that no matter what you are with me
and you will give me all that I need. Amen
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
FIRST THOUGHTS ON 'BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: AN AMERICAN LIFE':
Among the books I've read this summer is Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Isaacson, one-time editor at both Time magazine and CNN, has written an easily-read, yet scholarly account of Franklin's life.
Franklin, like so many prominent people from the past--and this seems especially true of our country's Founders--has become a cartoon caricature. Franklin is often portrayed as a breezy cad who dabbled in science and threw off one-liners.
But, as Isaacson's excellent book shows, Franklin was a complex man of considerable achievement in a variety of fields. I came away from Isaacson's book finding him, other than Thomas Jefferson, to be the least likable of the American founders. Yet, he was a remarkable person, a full-blown Enlightenment man who, having decided at age 42 that he had enough money, retired from his printing business and lived on modest means as a public servant--one who often gave away his public salary--for the next forty years.
In the coming days, I intend to write some thoughts that have crossed my mind as I've read Isaacson's wonderful book.
Franklin was by far the oldest delegate to the Constitutional Convention and a revered figure. If Franklin, from his lofty eminence, had one great contribution he made to the US Constitution, an incredible document, it was his constant call to his fellow delegates to compromise, to bend a little, to yield.
As Isaacson points out, democracy can sometimes appear less-than-heroic. Over the long haul, democracy neither respects or rewards the flame-throwing ideologue; democracy is nurtured by those of strong opinions being willing to meet the opposition halfway. Democracy doesn't require people of squishy principles, but it does require ones who are able to say, "I could be wrong and you could be right."
The US Constitution came about because able--and often principled--people compromised. Without that compromise, the United States of America, under the ineffectual Articles of Confederation, would have ceased to exist, each state becoming the likely target of conquest by European powers.
One-time presidential candidate Jack Kemp was fond of saying that the Constitution is a divinely-inspired document, on a par with the Bible. Such talk is a little silly, I think. As a Christian, I believe that the Bible is the unique and authoritative source and norm for life, faith, and practice and that God inspired every word. The Bible, unlike the Constitution, is not amendable. But I do think that God answered a lot of prayers when the delegates to the convention which produced it wrote our Constitution. If that's so, then God seems to have endorsed the notion that human beings should learn to compromise.
Near the end of Isaacson's account of Franklin's role in the writing of the Constitution, he writes:
"With the wisdom of a patient chess player and the practicality of a scientist, Franklin realized that they [the delegates to the convention] had succeeded not because they were self-assured, but because they were willing to concede that they might be fallible." (p.457)
How refreshing it would be if we could all concede that today!
I'm told that several years ago, historian Daniel Boorstin was asked what the biggest problem confronting America was. It was, he said, the "hyphenation" of America: the penchant for seeing ourselves as Something-Americans: Caucasian-Americans, African-Americans, and so on.
In a world that is getting smaller all the time, we need to lose the hyphens. Failing to remember the lessons of history, people hyphenate themselves and declare their superiority or implacable commitment to principles, tribes, races, nations, or isms. Partisan hyphenation often prevents governments from actually dealing with issues and problems. Racial and religious hyphenation cause people to kill each other.
We need to learn that it's possible to adhere to our beliefs and still acknowledge that we are capable of being wrong. No group is always right. No person is always right. Two foundational principles for me are these: God is perfect and I'm not God. (A corollary of that is: Thank God I'm not God!)
Isaacson points out that of the list of virtues the young Benjamin Franklin famously set out to pursue, he failed most spectacularly at mastering humility. Of course, none of us masters any virtue. According to the Bible, the most any of us can hope to become are recovering sinners; saints are nothing other than sinners who have been forgiven by a gracious God. When I was a boy, my grandmother saw my galloping ego and couldn't resist buying a sweatshirt that showed a little cartoon megalomaniac declaring, "I'm so nearly perfect, I can hardly stand it." Humility doesn't come to us naturally.
If though, we could ask God to help us act humble even when we don't feel humble, we might find ourselves saying--and really meaning--words that lubricate the machinery of friendships, marriages, governments, and nations. Words like...
"I might be wrong."
"Let's try it your way."
"Explain that to me again."
"I'm sorry."
Proverbs 13:10, in the Old Testament, says, "By insolence the heedless make strife, but wisdom is with those who take advice."
Humility is the engine by which relationships--between people, within societies, among nations--progress. I know of only one sure source for humility: the Savior Who humbly laid aside the advantages of Deity in order to become one of us, to die for us, and to rise to give all with faith in Him new life, Jesus the Christ (Philippians 2:5-11; John 3:16).
John Adams, who Franklin disdained and who, unlike Franklin, was a committed follower of Christ, said that the American experiment with constitutional government could only work if the nation were composed largely of people made virtuous by humbly following God. I believe that's still true. Democracies can only survive among people of goodwill, people who have flushed the hyphens, and who have come to depend on God, not themselves.
That doesn't mean the imposition of some Christian political program on unbelieving neighbors! Christian belief cannot be imposed and the imposition of Christian faith on others is antithetical to the teachings of the Bible. Besides, no political program could ever claim to be perfectly Christian: God is neither liberal or conservative, monarchist or democrat.
But it does mean that both the mission of those who follow Christ and the positive role we can play in our country are clear. We are called, in the words of my friend Steve Sjogren, to "love the world into relationship with Jesus Christ."
When people have a direct, intimate, personal relationship with the Savior of the world, they'll still make mistakes and hurt themselves and others, but they'll know where to go to make things right. When you follow the God Who loves you always, overlooks your flaws, forgives your sin, and commits Himself to be with you forever (Matthew 28:20), you have the ability to do what your pride or inferiority feelings might otherwise prevent you from doing: to compromise, to give in, to yield, to admit that you might be wrong.
Mr. Franklin, I think, was right up to a point. Humility and its concomitant, compromise, are essential ingredients for making our relationships work. But just as Franklin failed in conquering any of the virtues on his own, we will fail if we strive to live humbly based only on our resolves to be humble. We need God's help. Through Jesus Christ, that help is always available!
Among the books I've read this summer is Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Isaacson, one-time editor at both Time magazine and CNN, has written an easily-read, yet scholarly account of Franklin's life.
Franklin, like so many prominent people from the past--and this seems especially true of our country's Founders--has become a cartoon caricature. Franklin is often portrayed as a breezy cad who dabbled in science and threw off one-liners.
But, as Isaacson's excellent book shows, Franklin was a complex man of considerable achievement in a variety of fields. I came away from Isaacson's book finding him, other than Thomas Jefferson, to be the least likable of the American founders. Yet, he was a remarkable person, a full-blown Enlightenment man who, having decided at age 42 that he had enough money, retired from his printing business and lived on modest means as a public servant--one who often gave away his public salary--for the next forty years.
In the coming days, I intend to write some thoughts that have crossed my mind as I've read Isaacson's wonderful book.
Franklin was by far the oldest delegate to the Constitutional Convention and a revered figure. If Franklin, from his lofty eminence, had one great contribution he made to the US Constitution, an incredible document, it was his constant call to his fellow delegates to compromise, to bend a little, to yield.
As Isaacson points out, democracy can sometimes appear less-than-heroic. Over the long haul, democracy neither respects or rewards the flame-throwing ideologue; democracy is nurtured by those of strong opinions being willing to meet the opposition halfway. Democracy doesn't require people of squishy principles, but it does require ones who are able to say, "I could be wrong and you could be right."
The US Constitution came about because able--and often principled--people compromised. Without that compromise, the United States of America, under the ineffectual Articles of Confederation, would have ceased to exist, each state becoming the likely target of conquest by European powers.
One-time presidential candidate Jack Kemp was fond of saying that the Constitution is a divinely-inspired document, on a par with the Bible. Such talk is a little silly, I think. As a Christian, I believe that the Bible is the unique and authoritative source and norm for life, faith, and practice and that God inspired every word. The Bible, unlike the Constitution, is not amendable. But I do think that God answered a lot of prayers when the delegates to the convention which produced it wrote our Constitution. If that's so, then God seems to have endorsed the notion that human beings should learn to compromise.
Near the end of Isaacson's account of Franklin's role in the writing of the Constitution, he writes:
"With the wisdom of a patient chess player and the practicality of a scientist, Franklin realized that they [the delegates to the convention] had succeeded not because they were self-assured, but because they were willing to concede that they might be fallible." (p.457)
How refreshing it would be if we could all concede that today!
I'm told that several years ago, historian Daniel Boorstin was asked what the biggest problem confronting America was. It was, he said, the "hyphenation" of America: the penchant for seeing ourselves as Something-Americans: Caucasian-Americans, African-Americans, and so on.
In a world that is getting smaller all the time, we need to lose the hyphens. Failing to remember the lessons of history, people hyphenate themselves and declare their superiority or implacable commitment to principles, tribes, races, nations, or isms. Partisan hyphenation often prevents governments from actually dealing with issues and problems. Racial and religious hyphenation cause people to kill each other.
We need to learn that it's possible to adhere to our beliefs and still acknowledge that we are capable of being wrong. No group is always right. No person is always right. Two foundational principles for me are these: God is perfect and I'm not God. (A corollary of that is: Thank God I'm not God!)
Isaacson points out that of the list of virtues the young Benjamin Franklin famously set out to pursue, he failed most spectacularly at mastering humility. Of course, none of us masters any virtue. According to the Bible, the most any of us can hope to become are recovering sinners; saints are nothing other than sinners who have been forgiven by a gracious God. When I was a boy, my grandmother saw my galloping ego and couldn't resist buying a sweatshirt that showed a little cartoon megalomaniac declaring, "I'm so nearly perfect, I can hardly stand it." Humility doesn't come to us naturally.
If though, we could ask God to help us act humble even when we don't feel humble, we might find ourselves saying--and really meaning--words that lubricate the machinery of friendships, marriages, governments, and nations. Words like...
"I might be wrong."
"Let's try it your way."
"Explain that to me again."
"I'm sorry."
Proverbs 13:10, in the Old Testament, says, "By insolence the heedless make strife, but wisdom is with those who take advice."
Humility is the engine by which relationships--between people, within societies, among nations--progress. I know of only one sure source for humility: the Savior Who humbly laid aside the advantages of Deity in order to become one of us, to die for us, and to rise to give all with faith in Him new life, Jesus the Christ (Philippians 2:5-11; John 3:16).
John Adams, who Franklin disdained and who, unlike Franklin, was a committed follower of Christ, said that the American experiment with constitutional government could only work if the nation were composed largely of people made virtuous by humbly following God. I believe that's still true. Democracies can only survive among people of goodwill, people who have flushed the hyphens, and who have come to depend on God, not themselves.
That doesn't mean the imposition of some Christian political program on unbelieving neighbors! Christian belief cannot be imposed and the imposition of Christian faith on others is antithetical to the teachings of the Bible. Besides, no political program could ever claim to be perfectly Christian: God is neither liberal or conservative, monarchist or democrat.
But it does mean that both the mission of those who follow Christ and the positive role we can play in our country are clear. We are called, in the words of my friend Steve Sjogren, to "love the world into relationship with Jesus Christ."
When people have a direct, intimate, personal relationship with the Savior of the world, they'll still make mistakes and hurt themselves and others, but they'll know where to go to make things right. When you follow the God Who loves you always, overlooks your flaws, forgives your sin, and commits Himself to be with you forever (Matthew 28:20), you have the ability to do what your pride or inferiority feelings might otherwise prevent you from doing: to compromise, to give in, to yield, to admit that you might be wrong.
Mr. Franklin, I think, was right up to a point. Humility and its concomitant, compromise, are essential ingredients for making our relationships work. But just as Franklin failed in conquering any of the virtues on his own, we will fail if we strive to live humbly based only on our resolves to be humble. We need God's help. Through Jesus Christ, that help is always available!
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Monday, July 28, 2003
CORRECTION: In one of my recent 'Reflections on Proverbs,' I talked about actress-model Rene Russo's search for God. I inaccurately cited the March, 2003 issue of Reader's Digest as the source of her story. Actually, it appears in The Power Behind Positive Thinking: Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential by Eric Fellman, which I had been reviewing in anticipation of my message for Sunday, July 27.
Here's another great inspirational thought from my colleague, Pastor Glen VanderKloot from Faith Lutheran Church of Springfield, Illinois. If you'd like to receive his excellent daily e-mailed inspirations, OnLine with Faith, contact Glen at pastor@faithlutheran.com...
*****************************************************
A Thought for the Day
All earthly cities are vulnerable.
Men build them and men destroy them.
At the same time there is the City of God
which men did not build and cannot destroy
and is everlasting.
Augustine, 410 AD
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Bible Verse
Matthew 10:28
Don't be afraid of people. They can kill you,
but they cannot harm your soul. Instead,
you should fear God who can destroy both
your body and your soul in hell.
Contemporary English Version
Prayer
Lord, help me to value the City of God over
temporary cities of our world. Amen
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Here's another great inspirational thought from my colleague, Pastor Glen VanderKloot from Faith Lutheran Church of Springfield, Illinois. If you'd like to receive his excellent daily e-mailed inspirations, OnLine with Faith, contact Glen at pastor@faithlutheran.com...
*****************************************************
A Thought for the Day
All earthly cities are vulnerable.
Men build them and men destroy them.
At the same time there is the City of God
which men did not build and cannot destroy
and is everlasting.
Augustine, 410 AD
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Bible Verse
Matthew 10:28
Don't be afraid of people. They can kill you,
but they cannot harm your soul. Instead,
you should fear God who can destroy both
your body and your soul in hell.
Contemporary English Version
Prayer
Lord, help me to value the City of God over
temporary cities of our world. Amen
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Sunday, July 27, 2003
REFLECTIONS ON PROVERBS
[Wisdom picked up from the Old Testament book of wisdom, Proverbs]
Proverbs 9:8:
"A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise, when rebuked, will love you."
This raises the question of whether one should ever bother rebuking a scoffer, a person who belittles the idea of faith in God. Generally, I don't think that people of faith should rebuke the skeptical. The perfect model of this behavior is Jesus, the One Christians believe was God-Come-to-Earth. Jesus never grew angry, never rebuked, unbelieving people. He was always very patient with them. He embodied the truth that the New Testament preacher Paul points to when he says that the kindness of God leads people to repentance, to turning to God.
The only people Jesus ever upbraided were "good churchgoing people" who claimed to follow God but were full of hatred or indifference to God and people.
If we sense that God is "getting on our cases" sometimes, disutrbing us with guilt pangs in our consciences, it's good to remember what the Scripture repeatedly affirms: God only rebukes and disciplines those who are in relationship with Him. Hebrews 12:6 says, “...the Lord disciplines those whom He loves, and chastises every child whom He accepts.”
Sometimes, guilt is God's wake-up call to our hearts and minds, calling us to align parts of our lives where we may be rebelling against God back in line with Him and His will.
Occasionally, the guilt we feel is inappropriate. We may be shouldering more blame than we need to take.
Two things should be remembered:
(1) If you feel guilt, chances are you're spiritually healthier than many people. The only people certain of not being guilty for anything are people without consciences or contact with God.
(2) No matter what may make you feel guilty, you can talk it over with the God we meet in Jesus Christ, turn your life over to Him, be made new, and know that you have forgiveness and new life. Jesus died and rose to give these blessings to the whole guilty world! Second Corinthians 5:17 says:
"So if anyone is in Christ Jesus, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"
[Wisdom picked up from the Old Testament book of wisdom, Proverbs]
Proverbs 9:8:
"A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise, when rebuked, will love you."
This raises the question of whether one should ever bother rebuking a scoffer, a person who belittles the idea of faith in God. Generally, I don't think that people of faith should rebuke the skeptical. The perfect model of this behavior is Jesus, the One Christians believe was God-Come-to-Earth. Jesus never grew angry, never rebuked, unbelieving people. He was always very patient with them. He embodied the truth that the New Testament preacher Paul points to when he says that the kindness of God leads people to repentance, to turning to God.
The only people Jesus ever upbraided were "good churchgoing people" who claimed to follow God but were full of hatred or indifference to God and people.
If we sense that God is "getting on our cases" sometimes, disutrbing us with guilt pangs in our consciences, it's good to remember what the Scripture repeatedly affirms: God only rebukes and disciplines those who are in relationship with Him. Hebrews 12:6 says, “...the Lord disciplines those whom He loves, and chastises every child whom He accepts.”
Sometimes, guilt is God's wake-up call to our hearts and minds, calling us to align parts of our lives where we may be rebelling against God back in line with Him and His will.
Occasionally, the guilt we feel is inappropriate. We may be shouldering more blame than we need to take.
Two things should be remembered:
(1) If you feel guilt, chances are you're spiritually healthier than many people. The only people certain of not being guilty for anything are people without consciences or contact with God.
(2) No matter what may make you feel guilty, you can talk it over with the God we meet in Jesus Christ, turn your life over to Him, be made new, and know that you have forgiveness and new life. Jesus died and rose to give these blessings to the whole guilty world! Second Corinthians 5:17 says:
"So if anyone is in Christ Jesus, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"
Changing Your World: Through God's Abundance
John 6:1-13
(Shared with the people of Friendship Church, July 27, 2003)
She was a nun now in her retirement years. Truth be known, she had been an indifferent nun whose prime distinction was her mediocre performance. But, at a time of life when she might be expected to sit back and do nothing, this unremarkable woman was on fire with a crazy idea, one she was pitching to her superiors. “I have three pennies and a dream from God to build an orphanage,” she said. They gently chided her. “You can't build an orphanage with three pennies.” The woman smiled and said, “I know. But with God and three pennies I can do anything.” That day, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was given permission to start an orphanage with just three pennies and God...and it was enough!
When Mother Teresa passed away, the whole world mourned. Why? Because she knew that if she offered what little she had and what little she was to God, God would use it and her to share His abundant love and change the world.
You and I have a call from God: In the Name of the crucified and risen Jesus, we're to be agents for positive change in an often-negative world. We’ve been talking about the ways we can do that. Today, I want to talk about how God can change the world by sharing His abundance through us.
We see God sharing His abundance in an unlikely and miraculous way in our Bible lesson for this morning. It tells about one of the most famous incidents in the life and ministry of God-Come-to-Earth, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. Jesus and His followers are being mobbed by crowds wanting to be touched and healed by Him, taught by Him, served by Him. Jesus goes up to the top of a mountain and the whole mess of people follow Him.
Now, whenever Jesus goes to the top of a mountain, you know that He’s about to do some heavy-duty teaching. So, like a good inductive teacher, Jesus turns to one of His disciples, Philip, and asks, “Phil, where will we get the money to pay for the food needed to feed this mass of folks.” Today’s Bible lesson says that there were 5000 people there. The three other accounts we have of this incident, from the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, tell us that there were 5000 men there and probably lots of women and children too. Scholars agree that there were maybe 12-15,000 gathered on that mountain. So, imagine a Shoemaker- or Cintas Center full of people, hungry and hanging on Jesus’ every action and word. So, in response to Jesus’ question, Philip surveys the crowd. He pulls out his calculator and does some figuring. “A half-year’s salary wouldn’t cover the bill for feeding this army!” he tells Jesus.
After this discouraging report, Andrew, the earnest younger brother of Peter, scurries up to Jesus. He’s gone among the crowd and found that a little boy has five pieces of bread and two fish. But he tells Jesus, “Of course, that won’t even begin to feed all these people.”
Now John, the writer of our Bible lesson, makes it clear that Jesus knew what he was going to do all the time, but wanted to test the faith of His followers. So far, they have flunked the test. Although they have seen repeatedly what Jesus can do for those who trust Him, they just can’t imagine that He can solve this. They think that the hungry thousands are too big a problem for Him to handle. But it isn’t. No problem is too big for Jesus Christ and you and I should always remember that! The building in which we are worshiping this morning is testimony to that simple fact.
But Jesus isn’t impatient with His followers. He doesn’t stomp His feet, telling them how stupid they are. He doesn’t pout. He issues a simple command. “Tell the crowds to sit down,” He says.
After offering thanks to God the Father, Jesus takes the five loaves and the two fish offered by the little boy and turns it all into a feast for that huge group of people. There are even leftovers that are gathered into twelve baskets.
I wonder how that little boy felt. When he climbed that mountain after Jesus, he no doubt thought that he had just enough for a lunch and maybe a snack. This little guy may have been hungry. He may have felt skeptical when Jesus or one of His disciples asked him, “Would you be willing to share your food with everybody?” But when he gave the contents of his little bag to Jesus, Jesus was able to use it to bless thousands of people. He saw that with God and a little food, God could feed thousands!”
Now, there are is a huge lesson I draw from this incident. It’s this: God wants to use us to accomplish good things that would be impossible without Him. He wants to use us to share His abundant love with a spiritually-impoverished world.
David Graebel calls himself a “trucker who got a few good loads.” He’s chairman and CEO of Graebel Companies which manages all sorts of a moving and storage jobs throughout America. A few years ago, Graebel Moving was growing when, one day, it got its first million-dollar contract, a move to Dallas for a major company. To fulfill the contract, David Graebel bought six new trucks and hired additional help. The move was to happen on a Monday morning. The Thursday before that, Graebel got a telephone call. It was the president of the company that was to move to Dallas. “David,” he said, “you’ve been straight with us. I have to tell you that on Monday, we’re seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and there is no way we can honor our contract with you.”
Graebel felt that his world was crashing in around him. He could conceivably get rid of the equipment he had bought and let the people go he had hired for this job. But he knew that it would hurt his reputation and hurt a lot of people. “Finally,” he said, "I realized it was time to put my beliefs to the test. I came up with a plan to exercise some faith in my business..."
Graebel gathered his six regional sales managers and told them what an opportunity this setback had presented to them. They had new trucks, new equipment, more personnel. While at first they thought he had gone out of his mind, they eventually caught his enthusiasm and began generating ideas about what they could do.
Finally, they decided that on faith, with no prospect of repayment, they would make the million-dollar move. They figured it might help the bankrupt company and earn them goodwill in the business community and among their employeed. Graebel called the president of the company and asked: “Would it help you get back on your feet if we went ahead with the move and got your headquarters relocated to Dallas?”
The stunned company president said that it would help and that’s exactly what Graebel Movers did. The nearly-bankrupt company did get back on its feet and two years later, even though it wasn’t legally obligated to do so, paid Graebel Movers in full for the move they made as an act of daring faith! God wants to use us to accomplish good things that would be impossible without Him!
There’s a fable told about what happened in heaven after Jesus had died and risen from the dead. He speaks with the angel Gabriel. “Well now,” the angel says, “I had a lot of fun announcing your birth. But tell me, how did things go after that? Did you accomplish all that you set out to do?” “Yes,” Jesus is supposed to say, “I died and rose so that all who believe in Me will live with God forever.” “That’s great,” Gabriel says, “That will really change people’s lives.” The word angel, you know, means messenger. So, perhaps sensing a major new assignment for himself and all the angels in heaven, Gabriel asks Jesus, “How are you planning on spreading this good news in the world?” Jesus tells them, “I’ve given the message to people who believe in Me on earth. They’re going to spread the good news by their lives and their words.” Gabriel is flabbergasted. “But what if they mess up. People haven’t always been very reliable, Lord. Do you have a back-up plan?” “No,” Jesus says, “there is no other plan.”
You and I are Jesus’ plan for sharing His over-abundant love with a world that needs God’s love, forgiveness, hope, and power. There is no other plan. If Jesus believes in you and me that much, maybe we ought to believe in Him enough to, like the little boy with five loaves and two fish, offer the little we have and see what Jesus can make of it...and of us!
Last week, I issued a challenge, asking each of you to prayerfully consider where a large group from our congregation could go for a mission trip in about eighteen months’ time. It seems to have grabbed people’s hearts. Many folks have already made suggestions–Guatemala, Mexico, Jamaica, an Indian reservation in South Dakota. Let’s keep praying and make a decision about where we will go in about six months from now. And if you feel that you or our congregation are too small to dream such dreams, that’s okay. Remember the little boy. Remember Mother Teresa. We may be small. But the God we know in Jesus Christ is big enough to accomplish a world of good through people who follow Him!
[The true story about Mother Teresa comes from The Aladdin Factorby Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. The true story of David Graebel and Graebel Movers comes from The Power Behind Positive Thinking: Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential by Eric Fellman.]
John 6:1-13
(Shared with the people of Friendship Church, July 27, 2003)
She was a nun now in her retirement years. Truth be known, she had been an indifferent nun whose prime distinction was her mediocre performance. But, at a time of life when she might be expected to sit back and do nothing, this unremarkable woman was on fire with a crazy idea, one she was pitching to her superiors. “I have three pennies and a dream from God to build an orphanage,” she said. They gently chided her. “You can't build an orphanage with three pennies.” The woman smiled and said, “I know. But with God and three pennies I can do anything.” That day, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was given permission to start an orphanage with just three pennies and God...and it was enough!
When Mother Teresa passed away, the whole world mourned. Why? Because she knew that if she offered what little she had and what little she was to God, God would use it and her to share His abundant love and change the world.
You and I have a call from God: In the Name of the crucified and risen Jesus, we're to be agents for positive change in an often-negative world. We’ve been talking about the ways we can do that. Today, I want to talk about how God can change the world by sharing His abundance through us.
We see God sharing His abundance in an unlikely and miraculous way in our Bible lesson for this morning. It tells about one of the most famous incidents in the life and ministry of God-Come-to-Earth, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. Jesus and His followers are being mobbed by crowds wanting to be touched and healed by Him, taught by Him, served by Him. Jesus goes up to the top of a mountain and the whole mess of people follow Him.
Now, whenever Jesus goes to the top of a mountain, you know that He’s about to do some heavy-duty teaching. So, like a good inductive teacher, Jesus turns to one of His disciples, Philip, and asks, “Phil, where will we get the money to pay for the food needed to feed this mass of folks.” Today’s Bible lesson says that there were 5000 people there. The three other accounts we have of this incident, from the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, tell us that there were 5000 men there and probably lots of women and children too. Scholars agree that there were maybe 12-15,000 gathered on that mountain. So, imagine a Shoemaker- or Cintas Center full of people, hungry and hanging on Jesus’ every action and word. So, in response to Jesus’ question, Philip surveys the crowd. He pulls out his calculator and does some figuring. “A half-year’s salary wouldn’t cover the bill for feeding this army!” he tells Jesus.
After this discouraging report, Andrew, the earnest younger brother of Peter, scurries up to Jesus. He’s gone among the crowd and found that a little boy has five pieces of bread and two fish. But he tells Jesus, “Of course, that won’t even begin to feed all these people.”
Now John, the writer of our Bible lesson, makes it clear that Jesus knew what he was going to do all the time, but wanted to test the faith of His followers. So far, they have flunked the test. Although they have seen repeatedly what Jesus can do for those who trust Him, they just can’t imagine that He can solve this. They think that the hungry thousands are too big a problem for Him to handle. But it isn’t. No problem is too big for Jesus Christ and you and I should always remember that! The building in which we are worshiping this morning is testimony to that simple fact.
But Jesus isn’t impatient with His followers. He doesn’t stomp His feet, telling them how stupid they are. He doesn’t pout. He issues a simple command. “Tell the crowds to sit down,” He says.
After offering thanks to God the Father, Jesus takes the five loaves and the two fish offered by the little boy and turns it all into a feast for that huge group of people. There are even leftovers that are gathered into twelve baskets.
I wonder how that little boy felt. When he climbed that mountain after Jesus, he no doubt thought that he had just enough for a lunch and maybe a snack. This little guy may have been hungry. He may have felt skeptical when Jesus or one of His disciples asked him, “Would you be willing to share your food with everybody?” But when he gave the contents of his little bag to Jesus, Jesus was able to use it to bless thousands of people. He saw that with God and a little food, God could feed thousands!”
Now, there are is a huge lesson I draw from this incident. It’s this: God wants to use us to accomplish good things that would be impossible without Him. He wants to use us to share His abundant love with a spiritually-impoverished world.
David Graebel calls himself a “trucker who got a few good loads.” He’s chairman and CEO of Graebel Companies which manages all sorts of a moving and storage jobs throughout America. A few years ago, Graebel Moving was growing when, one day, it got its first million-dollar contract, a move to Dallas for a major company. To fulfill the contract, David Graebel bought six new trucks and hired additional help. The move was to happen on a Monday morning. The Thursday before that, Graebel got a telephone call. It was the president of the company that was to move to Dallas. “David,” he said, “you’ve been straight with us. I have to tell you that on Monday, we’re seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and there is no way we can honor our contract with you.”
Graebel felt that his world was crashing in around him. He could conceivably get rid of the equipment he had bought and let the people go he had hired for this job. But he knew that it would hurt his reputation and hurt a lot of people. “Finally,” he said, "I realized it was time to put my beliefs to the test. I came up with a plan to exercise some faith in my business..."
Graebel gathered his six regional sales managers and told them what an opportunity this setback had presented to them. They had new trucks, new equipment, more personnel. While at first they thought he had gone out of his mind, they eventually caught his enthusiasm and began generating ideas about what they could do.
Finally, they decided that on faith, with no prospect of repayment, they would make the million-dollar move. They figured it might help the bankrupt company and earn them goodwill in the business community and among their employeed. Graebel called the president of the company and asked: “Would it help you get back on your feet if we went ahead with the move and got your headquarters relocated to Dallas?”
The stunned company president said that it would help and that’s exactly what Graebel Movers did. The nearly-bankrupt company did get back on its feet and two years later, even though it wasn’t legally obligated to do so, paid Graebel Movers in full for the move they made as an act of daring faith! God wants to use us to accomplish good things that would be impossible without Him!
There’s a fable told about what happened in heaven after Jesus had died and risen from the dead. He speaks with the angel Gabriel. “Well now,” the angel says, “I had a lot of fun announcing your birth. But tell me, how did things go after that? Did you accomplish all that you set out to do?” “Yes,” Jesus is supposed to say, “I died and rose so that all who believe in Me will live with God forever.” “That’s great,” Gabriel says, “That will really change people’s lives.” The word angel, you know, means messenger. So, perhaps sensing a major new assignment for himself and all the angels in heaven, Gabriel asks Jesus, “How are you planning on spreading this good news in the world?” Jesus tells them, “I’ve given the message to people who believe in Me on earth. They’re going to spread the good news by their lives and their words.” Gabriel is flabbergasted. “But what if they mess up. People haven’t always been very reliable, Lord. Do you have a back-up plan?” “No,” Jesus says, “there is no other plan.”
You and I are Jesus’ plan for sharing His over-abundant love with a world that needs God’s love, forgiveness, hope, and power. There is no other plan. If Jesus believes in you and me that much, maybe we ought to believe in Him enough to, like the little boy with five loaves and two fish, offer the little we have and see what Jesus can make of it...and of us!
Last week, I issued a challenge, asking each of you to prayerfully consider where a large group from our congregation could go for a mission trip in about eighteen months’ time. It seems to have grabbed people’s hearts. Many folks have already made suggestions–Guatemala, Mexico, Jamaica, an Indian reservation in South Dakota. Let’s keep praying and make a decision about where we will go in about six months from now. And if you feel that you or our congregation are too small to dream such dreams, that’s okay. Remember the little boy. Remember Mother Teresa. We may be small. But the God we know in Jesus Christ is big enough to accomplish a world of good through people who follow Him!
[The true story about Mother Teresa comes from The Aladdin Factorby Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. The true story of David Graebel and Graebel Movers comes from The Power Behind Positive Thinking: Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential by Eric Fellman.]
Friday, July 25, 2003
REFLECTIONS ON THE PROVERBS
(Notes I've made to myself about passages from this awesome book of wisdom from God found in the Old Testament section of the Bible.)
Proverbs 7:1-3:
"My child, keep My words with you; keep My commandments and live, keep My teachings as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart."
Through the years, it hasn't been just the confessions of the Church that have taught me that the Bible is more than a book (or more accurately, a library of books). The Bible is God's Word. So often, when I take the time to peruse it and really pay heed to it, I find that it has a word that speaks directly to my circumstances. Sometimes, I like to read it. Sometimes I don't. But always, I sense in its pages that I'm coming in contact with God. On their latest CD, The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot has a song called, "On Fire." The chorus says: "I'm on fire when You're near me, I'm on fire when You speak." God commends the Bible to us because it really His Word to us, a love letter to His beloved: us.
"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work" (Second Timothy 3:16-17).
(Notes I've made to myself about passages from this awesome book of wisdom from God found in the Old Testament section of the Bible.)
Proverbs 7:1-3:
"My child, keep My words with you; keep My commandments and live, keep My teachings as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart."
Through the years, it hasn't been just the confessions of the Church that have taught me that the Bible is more than a book (or more accurately, a library of books). The Bible is God's Word. So often, when I take the time to peruse it and really pay heed to it, I find that it has a word that speaks directly to my circumstances. Sometimes, I like to read it. Sometimes I don't. But always, I sense in its pages that I'm coming in contact with God. On their latest CD, The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot has a song called, "On Fire." The chorus says: "I'm on fire when You're near me, I'm on fire when You speak." God commends the Bible to us because it really His Word to us, a love letter to His beloved: us.
"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work" (Second Timothy 3:16-17).
Confession
C.S. Lewis observed his grief and said
How like fear it is
I’m not afraid, but I am aggrieved
By the passing of my life
I grieve the loss of moments wasted
As time passes over me
Like shadows in a time-lapse film
Like ocean waves that violently,
insensibly,
and without malice,
swallow the hapless swimmer swept far from shore.
Redeem the time, the Scriptures scream
Seize this day!
Live and love with passion and holy confidence!
A part of me, deep-entombed, shouts, Amen!
But more often than I want I find
I am unconscious in the garden,
My spirit willing
My flesh asleep
Waiting
Waiting
To be awakened.
C.S. Lewis observed his grief and said
How like fear it is
I’m not afraid, but I am aggrieved
By the passing of my life
I grieve the loss of moments wasted
As time passes over me
Like shadows in a time-lapse film
Like ocean waves that violently,
insensibly,
and without malice,
swallow the hapless swimmer swept far from shore.
Redeem the time, the Scriptures scream
Seize this day!
Live and love with passion and holy confidence!
A part of me, deep-entombed, shouts, Amen!
But more often than I want I find
I am unconscious in the garden,
My spirit willing
My flesh asleep
Waiting
Waiting
To be awakened.
QUOTE FOR TODAY AND A BIBLE PASSAGE:
“One night while baby-sitting, a grandfather passed his granddaughter’s room and overheard her repeating the alphabet in an oddly reverent fashion. ‘What on earth are you up to?’ he asked. ‘I’m saying my prayers,’ explained the little girl. ‘But I can’t think of exactly the right words tonight, so I’m just saying all the letters. God will put them together for me, because He knows what I’m thinking.” (Canfield and Hansen, The Aladdin Factor, p.260)
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words." (Romans 8:26)
“One night while baby-sitting, a grandfather passed his granddaughter’s room and overheard her repeating the alphabet in an oddly reverent fashion. ‘What on earth are you up to?’ he asked. ‘I’m saying my prayers,’ explained the little girl. ‘But I can’t think of exactly the right words tonight, so I’m just saying all the letters. God will put them together for me, because He knows what I’m thinking.” (Canfield and Hansen, The Aladdin Factor, p.260)
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words." (Romans 8:26)
Thursday, July 24, 2003
REFLECTIONS ON PROVERBS
[Through the years, my study of this Old Testament book has yielded a gold mine of God's wisdom. Now, if only I would live in the insights provided here...]
Proverbs 6:16-19
This passage lists seven things God hates: (1) haughty eyes; (2) a lying tongue; (3) hands that shed innocent blood; (4) a heart that devises wicked plans; (5) feet that hurry to run to evil; (6) a lying witness who testifies falsely; (7) one who sows discord in a family.
In a sermon series he did several years ago, Pastor Gerald Mann of Riverbend Church in Austin, Texas spoke of how people experience God in their lives. He called these individuals "God-feeling people" and suggested that they experience God by exhibiting the positive attributes which, according to this passage, are the opposite of the seven things God hates.
Mann looked at these attributes through the prism of Hebrew thought. The eyes, for example, were regarded by the ancient Hebrews as the windows of the soul. A person's eyes, it would thought, would demonstrate whether they were arrogant or humble. Humility is an attribute that allows God entry into our hearts and souls. On this score, I'm reminded of the story Jesus once told of the two men who went to the temple in Jerusalem to pray. One was a religious man, proud of his religiosity. He says to God, "I'm so thankful I'm not like other people. I'm thankful that I do the right things and I'm not like other people...like this tax collector over here." The other man praying in the temple was a tax collector, member of a brood who in that time were known as corrupt extortionists. The tax collector's prayer was simple. He said, "Have mercy on me, God; I'm a sinner." Jesus concludes His story by saying that the tax collector left the temple justified--that is, forgiven and right with God; he, not the religious man, had the humility to see himself truly and of his need for God.
Do Mann's exercise yourself: Turn the things that God hates around and see how God is able to make Himself known to you when you seek to live with the sort of honest need of Him that the tax collector exhibited.
Proverbs 6:32:
"But he who commits adultery has no sense; he who does it destroys himself."
I absolutely agree with this. My observation of people who’ve gotten involved and stayed involved with adulterous relationships has been that they’re sort of out of their minds. They are so deluded that they can’t understand the pain they’re causing to their spouses and families and friends and to themselves. I've seen it time and time again.
[Through the years, my study of this Old Testament book has yielded a gold mine of God's wisdom. Now, if only I would live in the insights provided here...]
Proverbs 6:16-19
This passage lists seven things God hates: (1) haughty eyes; (2) a lying tongue; (3) hands that shed innocent blood; (4) a heart that devises wicked plans; (5) feet that hurry to run to evil; (6) a lying witness who testifies falsely; (7) one who sows discord in a family.
In a sermon series he did several years ago, Pastor Gerald Mann of Riverbend Church in Austin, Texas spoke of how people experience God in their lives. He called these individuals "God-feeling people" and suggested that they experience God by exhibiting the positive attributes which, according to this passage, are the opposite of the seven things God hates.
Mann looked at these attributes through the prism of Hebrew thought. The eyes, for example, were regarded by the ancient Hebrews as the windows of the soul. A person's eyes, it would thought, would demonstrate whether they were arrogant or humble. Humility is an attribute that allows God entry into our hearts and souls. On this score, I'm reminded of the story Jesus once told of the two men who went to the temple in Jerusalem to pray. One was a religious man, proud of his religiosity. He says to God, "I'm so thankful I'm not like other people. I'm thankful that I do the right things and I'm not like other people...like this tax collector over here." The other man praying in the temple was a tax collector, member of a brood who in that time were known as corrupt extortionists. The tax collector's prayer was simple. He said, "Have mercy on me, God; I'm a sinner." Jesus concludes His story by saying that the tax collector left the temple justified--that is, forgiven and right with God; he, not the religious man, had the humility to see himself truly and of his need for God.
Do Mann's exercise yourself: Turn the things that God hates around and see how God is able to make Himself known to you when you seek to live with the sort of honest need of Him that the tax collector exhibited.
Proverbs 6:32:
"But he who commits adultery has no sense; he who does it destroys himself."
I absolutely agree with this. My observation of people who’ve gotten involved and stayed involved with adulterous relationships has been that they’re sort of out of their minds. They are so deluded that they can’t understand the pain they’re causing to their spouses and families and friends and to themselves. I've seen it time and time again.
QUOTE FOR TODAY, with a Bible Passage:
“If a man could have half his wishes, he would double his troubles.” Benjamin Franklin (quoted in Canfield and Hansen, The Aladdin Factor, p.17)
Jesus says, "...strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)
“If a man could have half his wishes, he would double his troubles.” Benjamin Franklin (quoted in Canfield and Hansen, The Aladdin Factor, p.17)
Jesus says, "...strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
QUOTE FOR TODAY:
"Of course, being addicted to approval is not the same as having a healthy appreciation for praise. Affirmation and encouagement are good things...What a sad world it would be if artists were never applauded, if home runs were never cheered, if children received no expressions of wonder and amazement at their first steps, if authors received no encouraging notes or (worse yet) no royalties." (John Ortberg in The Life You've Always Wanted, p.164).
"Of course, being addicted to approval is not the same as having a healthy appreciation for praise. Affirmation and encouagement are good things...What a sad world it would be if artists were never applauded, if home runs were never cheered, if children received no expressions of wonder and amazement at their first steps, if authors received no encouraging notes or (worse yet) no royalties." (John Ortberg in The Life You've Always Wanted, p.164).
Here's an installment from Pastor Glen VanderKloot's OnLine with Faithfrom several weeks ago. It's a good one. If you'd like to receive Glen's daily inspirations, contact him via e-mail at pastor@faithlutheran.org.
*****************************************************
A Thought for the Day
Are kids influenced by what they see? The movie Finding Nemo has raked
in over $250 million at the box office. It has also been a source of
unexpected income for pet store owners across the country. That's
because children want their own orange and white clown fish which
average about $15 apiece. Since they are salt water fish, the
extras--filtration system, salt mix, water conditioner, etc.--can run a
parent an additional $300.
What do kids see in you and me?
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Bible Verse
1 Peter 5:3:
Set an example for them.
[Contemporary English Version]
Prayer
Lord, help me to set a positive example for others,
especially children to follow. Amen
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
*****************************************************
A Thought for the Day
Are kids influenced by what they see? The movie Finding Nemo has raked
in over $250 million at the box office. It has also been a source of
unexpected income for pet store owners across the country. That's
because children want their own orange and white clown fish which
average about $15 apiece. Since they are salt water fish, the
extras--filtration system, salt mix, water conditioner, etc.--can run a
parent an additional $300.
What do kids see in you and me?
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Bible Verse
1 Peter 5:3:
Set an example for them.
[Contemporary English Version]
Prayer
Lord, help me to set a positive example for others,
especially children to follow. Amen
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR FRIENDSHIP CHURCH FOLKS (but others can read them too):
1) I need three persons to act as a liaison committee between our congregation and Thrivent Financial Services for Lutherans. Thrivent, a not-for-profit financial services organization, pours millions of dollars each year into various church and community needs. By having this liaison group in place at Friendship, we gain access to the $1200.00 which Thrivent is making available to every Lutheran congregation every year. Let me know if you'd be willing to serve with this group.
(2) ATTENTION, MEN! You may remember that a few months ago, our friend Carl Hartman was with us, representing the "giving team" for the men's Christ Renews His Parish retreat at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. Carl extended an invitation to Friendship men to receive this fun and spiritually-recharging weekend. Carl phoned me on Monday to say that (a) The men's weekend has been changed to November 8-9, 2003, and Friendship men are still invited and (b) Any Friendship men who have previously attended a Christ Renews His Parish retreat weekend are invited to become members of the giving team for the November weekend. If you'd be interested, let me know. Having been on several giving teams myself, I can tell you that it's a great experience!
(3) The special congregational meeting happens immediately following this coming Sunday's worship celebration. We have three agenda items: (a) Passage of a new constitution; (b) Passage of the new bylaws; (c) Election of a new church council. The reason for the new constitution and bylaws, as you know, is to (a) streamline our decision-making process; (b) spread ownership for ministry to more members of the congregation, depending on task forces, committees, and committed volunteers; (c) provide for the proper oversight of property now that we have our own building; (d) provide for the proper oversight of our outreach efforts. The meeting should only take a few minutes. Please plan on attending.
(4) Congratulations to Kelsey McHenry. Today, he successfully completed requirements for a special "God and Me" commendation with the Cub Scouts. Tell Kelsey that you're proud of him when you see him on Sunday!
(5) Keep praying about where in the world God might want to send us on a mission trip in about eighteen months; ask God if you should go, too (several folks have indicated a desire to go); and ask God to provide us with the financial resources to do it. There's a world that needs the love of Jesus and He sends us to share it!
1) I need three persons to act as a liaison committee between our congregation and Thrivent Financial Services for Lutherans. Thrivent, a not-for-profit financial services organization, pours millions of dollars each year into various church and community needs. By having this liaison group in place at Friendship, we gain access to the $1200.00 which Thrivent is making available to every Lutheran congregation every year. Let me know if you'd be willing to serve with this group.
(2) ATTENTION, MEN! You may remember that a few months ago, our friend Carl Hartman was with us, representing the "giving team" for the men's Christ Renews His Parish retreat at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. Carl extended an invitation to Friendship men to receive this fun and spiritually-recharging weekend. Carl phoned me on Monday to say that (a) The men's weekend has been changed to November 8-9, 2003, and Friendship men are still invited and (b) Any Friendship men who have previously attended a Christ Renews His Parish retreat weekend are invited to become members of the giving team for the November weekend. If you'd be interested, let me know. Having been on several giving teams myself, I can tell you that it's a great experience!
(3) The special congregational meeting happens immediately following this coming Sunday's worship celebration. We have three agenda items: (a) Passage of a new constitution; (b) Passage of the new bylaws; (c) Election of a new church council. The reason for the new constitution and bylaws, as you know, is to (a) streamline our decision-making process; (b) spread ownership for ministry to more members of the congregation, depending on task forces, committees, and committed volunteers; (c) provide for the proper oversight of property now that we have our own building; (d) provide for the proper oversight of our outreach efforts. The meeting should only take a few minutes. Please plan on attending.
(4) Congratulations to Kelsey McHenry. Today, he successfully completed requirements for a special "God and Me" commendation with the Cub Scouts. Tell Kelsey that you're proud of him when you see him on Sunday!
(5) Keep praying about where in the world God might want to send us on a mission trip in about eighteen months; ask God if you should go, too (several folks have indicated a desire to go); and ask God to provide us with the financial resources to do it. There's a world that needs the love of Jesus and He sends us to share it!
Monday, July 21, 2003
TAKE A DIVE WITH S.C.U.B.A.
Children of preschool age through the fifth grade are invited to participate in Friendship Church's vacation Bible school, SCUBA, Super Cool Undersea Bible Adventure!
It happens August 4 through August 8, from 7:00 to 9:00 P.M. in Friendship's brand new building at 1300 White Oak Road.
Through a variety of fun learning experiences, children will learn to believe in God, obey God, trust in God, love God, and share God's love.
There is no registration fee for students coming to SCUBA at Friendship. The people of Friendship believe that the love of God, given to the world through Jesus Christ, is a free gift. SCUBA is therefore being offered to the community as a gift. However, parents wishing to make a contribution to help offset the congregation's expenses and to help enable the congregation to offer still more such opportunities to the community, they may do so.
To register your child for SCUBA, call the Friendship Church office at 752-5265 or you can e-mail the church at FriendCh@aol.com.
Children of preschool age through the fifth grade are invited to participate in Friendship Church's vacation Bible school, SCUBA, Super Cool Undersea Bible Adventure!
It happens August 4 through August 8, from 7:00 to 9:00 P.M. in Friendship's brand new building at 1300 White Oak Road.
Through a variety of fun learning experiences, children will learn to believe in God, obey God, trust in God, love God, and share God's love.
There is no registration fee for students coming to SCUBA at Friendship. The people of Friendship believe that the love of God, given to the world through Jesus Christ, is a free gift. SCUBA is therefore being offered to the community as a gift. However, parents wishing to make a contribution to help offset the congregation's expenses and to help enable the congregation to offer still more such opportunities to the community, they may do so.
To register your child for SCUBA, call the Friendship Church office at 752-5265 or you can e-mail the church at FriendCh@aol.com.
REFLECTIONS ON PROVERBS
[These are thoughts that have crossed my mind as I've read from this fantastic Old Testament book through the years.]
Proverbs 5:8:
[advice to a young man regarding the sexual advances of a woman of loose morals] "Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house."
This reflects advice--implied and overt--which fills the Scriptures: the best way to deal with temptation is to run from it. Fast!
It's what Joseph did when the wife of his slavemaster was insistent in trying to entice him into the sack. Although having been turned down by Joseph, she was able to convince her husband that she had been a victim of rape and thereby have Joseph imprisoned, Joseph never regretted doing things God's way. It was simply inconceivable to him that he would violate God's will or the sanctity of his master's marriage. Joseph ran away from temptation and so, even during long years of unjust imprisonment, enjoyed God's favor.
The New Testament says: "No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it" (First Corinthians 10:13).
To the person who is seeking to follow Jesus Christ, God sends definite signals--a thought, a remembered passage of Scripture, a friend's words, the fortuitous ringing of a telephone--that will help them to avoid temptations that could drag them down into the swamp of sin. We can ignore those signals and the more often we ignore them, the weaker our connection with God becomes. But God is willing to help us to run from what's wrong in order to run to a life filled with life, joy, peace, and fulfillment.
When we have run away from living God's way, we still have a fantastic promise. The New Testament book of First John says: "...if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" (First John 2:1-2).
Proverbs 6:6:
"Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise."
This is an awesome passage, one of my favorites. God wants us to be productive.
To each of us, God gives talents, abilities, and passions. From this raw material, he wants us to develop our lives and our habits and be the very best versions of ourselves that we can be.
Often, people learn that we become acceptable to God not because of anything we do, but because of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ and they think that means that we can simply sit back and put our lives on cruise control.
In fact, being freed from worrying about death frees the follower of Christ to really get on with the business of living--using the potential that God gives to every one of us and being all we were made by God to be. (I readily admit that I usually fail to fulfill my own personal potential, something I regularly come back to God to be forgiven for and helped with in overcoming.)
Work then, when done to love God and love neighbor and do something useful, isn't punishment, or drudgery, or something to be endured. It's a sacred privilege. Even when our work is done in such a spirit, there will be times of tedium and even of boredom. But God will revive our flagging spirits when we remember who we are and why we do the work we do.
An awesome passage of the New Testament says: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what He has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life" (Ephesians 2:8-10).
[These are thoughts that have crossed my mind as I've read from this fantastic Old Testament book through the years.]
Proverbs 5:8:
[advice to a young man regarding the sexual advances of a woman of loose morals] "Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house."
This reflects advice--implied and overt--which fills the Scriptures: the best way to deal with temptation is to run from it. Fast!
It's what Joseph did when the wife of his slavemaster was insistent in trying to entice him into the sack. Although having been turned down by Joseph, she was able to convince her husband that she had been a victim of rape and thereby have Joseph imprisoned, Joseph never regretted doing things God's way. It was simply inconceivable to him that he would violate God's will or the sanctity of his master's marriage. Joseph ran away from temptation and so, even during long years of unjust imprisonment, enjoyed God's favor.
The New Testament says: "No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it" (First Corinthians 10:13).
To the person who is seeking to follow Jesus Christ, God sends definite signals--a thought, a remembered passage of Scripture, a friend's words, the fortuitous ringing of a telephone--that will help them to avoid temptations that could drag them down into the swamp of sin. We can ignore those signals and the more often we ignore them, the weaker our connection with God becomes. But God is willing to help us to run from what's wrong in order to run to a life filled with life, joy, peace, and fulfillment.
When we have run away from living God's way, we still have a fantastic promise. The New Testament book of First John says: "...if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" (First John 2:1-2).
Proverbs 6:6:
"Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise."
This is an awesome passage, one of my favorites. God wants us to be productive.
To each of us, God gives talents, abilities, and passions. From this raw material, he wants us to develop our lives and our habits and be the very best versions of ourselves that we can be.
Often, people learn that we become acceptable to God not because of anything we do, but because of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ and they think that means that we can simply sit back and put our lives on cruise control.
In fact, being freed from worrying about death frees the follower of Christ to really get on with the business of living--using the potential that God gives to every one of us and being all we were made by God to be. (I readily admit that I usually fail to fulfill my own personal potential, something I regularly come back to God to be forgiven for and helped with in overcoming.)
Work then, when done to love God and love neighbor and do something useful, isn't punishment, or drudgery, or something to be endured. It's a sacred privilege. Even when our work is done in such a spirit, there will be times of tedium and even of boredom. But God will revive our flagging spirits when we remember who we are and why we do the work we do.
An awesome passage of the New Testament says: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what He has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life" (Ephesians 2:8-10).
A QUOTE FOR THE DAY:
"The best argument for Christianity is Christians; their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians--when they are sombre and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug..., when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths." (Sheldon Vanauken, quoted in the Joe Aldrich book, Life-Style Evangelism, p.21)
"The best argument for Christianity is Christians; their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians--when they are sombre and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug..., when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths." (Sheldon Vanauken, quoted in the Joe Aldrich book, Life-Style Evangelism, p.21)
Here's today's e-mailed inspiration from Pastor Glen VanderKloot and the people of Faith Lutheran Church of Springfield, Illinois. (To be added to the list of recipients of OnLine with Faith, contact Glen at pastor@faithlutheran.com.)
*****************************************************
A Thought for the Day
Faith is not believing in my own unshakable belief.
Faith is believing an unshakable God when everything
in me trembles and quakes.
~ Beth Moore ~
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Bible Verse
Hebrews 11:1
Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and
gives us proof of what we cannot see.
Contemporary English Version
Prayer
Lord, fill me with faith. Amen
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
*****************************************************
A Thought for the Day
Faith is not believing in my own unshakable belief.
Faith is believing an unshakable God when everything
in me trembles and quakes.
~ Beth Moore ~
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Bible Verse
Hebrews 11:1
Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and
gives us proof of what we cannot see.
Contemporary English Version
Prayer
Lord, fill me with faith. Amen
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Sunday, July 20, 2003
After today's worship celebration at Friendship Church during which I shared my challenge and hope that within the next eighteen months, a group of our members would undertake a mission trip to some spiritually or economically impoverished place, I had many interesting conversations.
One person told me, "Wherever we go, my bags are already packed. I want to go."
Another told me that just last Sunday, while visiting her mother's church in another state, she attended a presentation made by a group there who had just returned from a mission trip to Jamaica.
Another member said that a friend of his had just returned from such a trip to a reservation in South Dakota.
There seems to be a lot of excitement about the possibility of our sharing the love of Christ in this way...and that excites me as the pastor of this great congregation.
As the people of Friendship continue to be in prayer and conversation about this exciting possibility, I ask that friends of our congregation who read this web log join us in praying. I also urge you to consider "getting into the game" yourselves, looking into doing such a mission trip too!
God wants to use us to love this wonderful world into relationship with Jesus Christ! Nothing we can do in life is more important, exciting, or fun!
One person told me, "Wherever we go, my bags are already packed. I want to go."
Another told me that just last Sunday, while visiting her mother's church in another state, she attended a presentation made by a group there who had just returned from a mission trip to Jamaica.
Another member said that a friend of his had just returned from such a trip to a reservation in South Dakota.
There seems to be a lot of excitement about the possibility of our sharing the love of Christ in this way...and that excites me as the pastor of this great congregation.
As the people of Friendship continue to be in prayer and conversation about this exciting possibility, I ask that friends of our congregation who read this web log join us in praying. I also urge you to consider "getting into the game" yourselves, looking into doing such a mission trip too!
God wants to use us to love this wonderful world into relationship with Jesus Christ! Nothing we can do in life is more important, exciting, or fun!
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Changing Your World:
Through Compassion
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
[Shared with the people of Friendship Church, July 20, 2003)
Recently, I read some words spoken this past December at JFK Airport in New York City. They were said as the shoeboxes of Operation Christmas Child, packed with gifts for children in impoverished and war-ravaged countries (some of which were given by the people of Friendship) were being sent overseas. The speaker was a man who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and who is a deeply committed follower of Jesus Christ, the lead singer of the rock band U2, Bono. Listen to what he said:
"Two and a half million Africans are gonna die next year because they...can't get a hold of the drugs that we take for granted in Europe and America. That's not a cause, that's an emergency.
"These, these children that are going to receive these boxes on Christmas, this may be their last Christmas a lot of them and [it] makes me [feel] sick in the pit of my stomach. I think it's absolutely unacceptable. I don't think we should have it, I don't think our Father in heaven will have it, and there's a lot of people here from the church today, pastors: let me share with you a conviction: God is on His knees to the church on this one. God Almighty is on His knees... begging us to turn around the super tanker of indifference on this subject of, of AIDS.
"[AIDS] brings the best out of the church, like you see today in this response to these children [many of whom are] suffering with HIV, but if we're honest, it has also brought the worst out of the church; judgmentalism, a kind of sense that these people who have AIDS, "Well, they got it 'cause they deserve it." Well, from my studies of the scriptures, I don't see a hierarchy to sin. I don't see sexual immorality registering higher up on the list than...greed [which is a problem]...we suffer from in the West."
For me, those are convicting and convincing words and I believe that they reflect the heart of the God we know through Jesus Christ, the God I claim to follow. I feel that if you and I are going to change the world for the better, we simply must live with the same compassion that God has shown to us through Jesus Christ! Compassion was at the heart of everything Jesus did when He lived on this planet. He died and rose for us out of a compassionate desire to see our sins forgiven and to have us with Him forever.
Our Bible lesson for today finds Jesus with His twelve closest followers, disciples, who were also called apostles. That word apostle is interesting; it means sent one. In a way, all followers of Jesus are apostles: He gathers us to Himself to be loved and encouraged at a pep rally like this on Sunday mornings and then, He sends us into the world to pass His love on to others.
We see how that works in our lesson. The apostles have just returned from a mission trip in which they shared the love, forgiveness, healing, and hope that Jesus gives to those who follow Him. And they’re pumped, excited! Jesus invites them to come with Him to a quiet place where they can debrief, pray, and recharge their spiritual, emotional, and physical batteries. But everywhere they go, they encounter people in need. We’re told that Jesus looked on these people with compassion and He cared for their needs. In Jesus’ Name and with His power at the center of our lives, you and I need to do the same thing. To change our world and to change the world around us, we need to be compassionate.
But what exactly does it mean to be compassionate? First of all, I think it means getting outside ourselves and being sensitive to what life is like for other people. When we exhibit compassion, we notice the highs and the lows that happen in other people’s lives. Jesus had that perspective. He calls us to be as compassionate toward others as He has been toward us.
Years ago, Dave Hamilton and his friend Billy loved to go to the rugged riverbanks of the Pacific Northwest to fish. But Billy returned from a tour of duty in the Vietnam War with both legs amputated. That made it impossible for him to go to those remote spots where he and Dave had once fished. Dave felt compassion for his friend and for others in similar situations. He approached a group for which he did volunteer work and asked if they couldn’t create a campsite where disabled people could come to enjoy the outdoors. In 1992, a place called Friends Landing was opened. It includes fishing piers, boat launches, and tents and every bit of it is wheelchair accessible. Even the trails that go through the forest are paved. It all started when one man got outside himself to see things from somebody else’s perspective. You and I can be compassionate toward those in our lives by looking at life through their eyes: the neighbor who has just lost a loved one, the parent wrestling with a rebellious child, the kid everybody loves to hate. Extending compassion to someone else is simply enacting Jesus’ golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Being compassionate also means being interruptible. Jesus always had a mission, but He rarely had a deadline. Jesus has given us a mission—to share Him and His love. We can’t let our schedules or agendas get in the way of fulfilling it. Our hearts need to be open to helping others with their spiritual, emotional, physical, relational needs.
Several times a year, even though sometimes I would rather not do it, I volunteer to be the on-call chaplain for Clermont Mercy Hospital. I did it for another two weeks recently. One night last week, I had just gotten home after our small group and doing some work here at the building afterwards. Earlier, my daughter had called me to say, “Dad, I bought some ice cream for you so you can have it when you get here.” When I arrived, my son was all-smiles as he pointed to the TV set. There was a PBS documentary about one of my heroes, Martin Luther. Phil wanted to watch it with me. I went to the kitchen and scooped out a generous helping of ice cream with chocolate sauce and had just sat down to watch the show when the hospital beeper went off.
Oy! For half a second, I must confess, the thought crossed my mind, "Just ignore it. You’ve had a long day." But I called the hospital and learned that a woman had just died. Her family was asking for a pastor. So, I stuck the ice cream into the freezer and drove to the hospital. There, I spent time with several generations who survived this ninety-five year old woman who had died. The family, while waiting for their own pastor to show up, simply wanted a pastor with whom they could pray. We prayed several times together and in between, I learned that this woman—Hazel—had remained strong until just hours before she died.
Not only that, I found out that she was a person of remarkable faith who had followed Christ through her whole life. Just a few weeks before she died, another old woman approached Hazel’s granddaughter and said, “You know, I used to be an atheist. But when I saw the way your grandmother loved Jesus and other people, I just knew there had to be a God. She’s the reason I’m a Christian!” I felt incredibly blessed and inspired by my time with that family. I was glad that I responded to that beeper!
As you leave here today, I want to challenge you (and me) in three ways. First: I ask you to be open to the interruptions that come your way. Interruptions present us with opportunities to share God’s compassion. Let yourself be interruptible!
Second: Plan to be compassionate. Build it into your life. Start collecting those shoe boxes and the gifts you’ll tuck inside them for Operation Christmas Child once more this year. Check out the information on the lobby bulletin board about providing school supplies for kids in our community. Contact Carol Barrett and get involved with our outreach program. We need to build compassion into our lives, planning for it.
Third: Join me in praying about something I’ve been dreaming of and talking about for a long time. Sometime in the next eighteen months, I would like for a group of Friendship folks to go to some spiritually or economically impoverished country on a mission trip. It could be Mexico or Haiti or England or even somewhere in this country. It’s a big world that keeps getting smaller. Going to other places and offering the compassion of Jesus will enlarge our hearts and help others to see Jesus. Charity and compassion begin at home, it’s true; but they must never stop at home. God so loved the whole world that He sent His Son and you and I are called to love that same whole world. So, pray about it: ask God where He wants us to go on a mission trip in order to share and serve and love and be compassionate in His Name. Ask God if He might want you to go on this mission trip—to expand the horizons of your personal compassion. Ask God if He wants you to dare to do something so great that it cannot possibly work unless He is empowering you and inspiring you. Taking such a dare will deepen our faith!
But whether you feel led by God to take a mission trip or not, I believe that the God Who went to a cross and rose from the dead is on His knees today begging you and me to love the world as much as He loves us. He calls us to be compassionate. If we will share compassion as He begs us to do, our worlds—starting with us and moving out to those we touch—will be changed! And that will be a very good thing.
[The true story of Dave and Billy can be found in the July, 2003 issue of Guideposts.]
Through Compassion
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
[Shared with the people of Friendship Church, July 20, 2003)
Recently, I read some words spoken this past December at JFK Airport in New York City. They were said as the shoeboxes of Operation Christmas Child, packed with gifts for children in impoverished and war-ravaged countries (some of which were given by the people of Friendship) were being sent overseas. The speaker was a man who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and who is a deeply committed follower of Jesus Christ, the lead singer of the rock band U2, Bono. Listen to what he said:
"Two and a half million Africans are gonna die next year because they...can't get a hold of the drugs that we take for granted in Europe and America. That's not a cause, that's an emergency.
"These, these children that are going to receive these boxes on Christmas, this may be their last Christmas a lot of them and [it] makes me [feel] sick in the pit of my stomach. I think it's absolutely unacceptable. I don't think we should have it, I don't think our Father in heaven will have it, and there's a lot of people here from the church today, pastors: let me share with you a conviction: God is on His knees to the church on this one. God Almighty is on His knees... begging us to turn around the super tanker of indifference on this subject of, of AIDS.
"[AIDS] brings the best out of the church, like you see today in this response to these children [many of whom are] suffering with HIV, but if we're honest, it has also brought the worst out of the church; judgmentalism, a kind of sense that these people who have AIDS, "Well, they got it 'cause they deserve it." Well, from my studies of the scriptures, I don't see a hierarchy to sin. I don't see sexual immorality registering higher up on the list than...greed [which is a problem]...we suffer from in the West."
For me, those are convicting and convincing words and I believe that they reflect the heart of the God we know through Jesus Christ, the God I claim to follow. I feel that if you and I are going to change the world for the better, we simply must live with the same compassion that God has shown to us through Jesus Christ! Compassion was at the heart of everything Jesus did when He lived on this planet. He died and rose for us out of a compassionate desire to see our sins forgiven and to have us with Him forever.
Our Bible lesson for today finds Jesus with His twelve closest followers, disciples, who were also called apostles. That word apostle is interesting; it means sent one. In a way, all followers of Jesus are apostles: He gathers us to Himself to be loved and encouraged at a pep rally like this on Sunday mornings and then, He sends us into the world to pass His love on to others.
We see how that works in our lesson. The apostles have just returned from a mission trip in which they shared the love, forgiveness, healing, and hope that Jesus gives to those who follow Him. And they’re pumped, excited! Jesus invites them to come with Him to a quiet place where they can debrief, pray, and recharge their spiritual, emotional, and physical batteries. But everywhere they go, they encounter people in need. We’re told that Jesus looked on these people with compassion and He cared for their needs. In Jesus’ Name and with His power at the center of our lives, you and I need to do the same thing. To change our world and to change the world around us, we need to be compassionate.
But what exactly does it mean to be compassionate? First of all, I think it means getting outside ourselves and being sensitive to what life is like for other people. When we exhibit compassion, we notice the highs and the lows that happen in other people’s lives. Jesus had that perspective. He calls us to be as compassionate toward others as He has been toward us.
Years ago, Dave Hamilton and his friend Billy loved to go to the rugged riverbanks of the Pacific Northwest to fish. But Billy returned from a tour of duty in the Vietnam War with both legs amputated. That made it impossible for him to go to those remote spots where he and Dave had once fished. Dave felt compassion for his friend and for others in similar situations. He approached a group for which he did volunteer work and asked if they couldn’t create a campsite where disabled people could come to enjoy the outdoors. In 1992, a place called Friends Landing was opened. It includes fishing piers, boat launches, and tents and every bit of it is wheelchair accessible. Even the trails that go through the forest are paved. It all started when one man got outside himself to see things from somebody else’s perspective. You and I can be compassionate toward those in our lives by looking at life through their eyes: the neighbor who has just lost a loved one, the parent wrestling with a rebellious child, the kid everybody loves to hate. Extending compassion to someone else is simply enacting Jesus’ golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Being compassionate also means being interruptible. Jesus always had a mission, but He rarely had a deadline. Jesus has given us a mission—to share Him and His love. We can’t let our schedules or agendas get in the way of fulfilling it. Our hearts need to be open to helping others with their spiritual, emotional, physical, relational needs.
Several times a year, even though sometimes I would rather not do it, I volunteer to be the on-call chaplain for Clermont Mercy Hospital. I did it for another two weeks recently. One night last week, I had just gotten home after our small group and doing some work here at the building afterwards. Earlier, my daughter had called me to say, “Dad, I bought some ice cream for you so you can have it when you get here.” When I arrived, my son was all-smiles as he pointed to the TV set. There was a PBS documentary about one of my heroes, Martin Luther. Phil wanted to watch it with me. I went to the kitchen and scooped out a generous helping of ice cream with chocolate sauce and had just sat down to watch the show when the hospital beeper went off.
Oy! For half a second, I must confess, the thought crossed my mind, "Just ignore it. You’ve had a long day." But I called the hospital and learned that a woman had just died. Her family was asking for a pastor. So, I stuck the ice cream into the freezer and drove to the hospital. There, I spent time with several generations who survived this ninety-five year old woman who had died. The family, while waiting for their own pastor to show up, simply wanted a pastor with whom they could pray. We prayed several times together and in between, I learned that this woman—Hazel—had remained strong until just hours before she died.
Not only that, I found out that she was a person of remarkable faith who had followed Christ through her whole life. Just a few weeks before she died, another old woman approached Hazel’s granddaughter and said, “You know, I used to be an atheist. But when I saw the way your grandmother loved Jesus and other people, I just knew there had to be a God. She’s the reason I’m a Christian!” I felt incredibly blessed and inspired by my time with that family. I was glad that I responded to that beeper!
As you leave here today, I want to challenge you (and me) in three ways. First: I ask you to be open to the interruptions that come your way. Interruptions present us with opportunities to share God’s compassion. Let yourself be interruptible!
Second: Plan to be compassionate. Build it into your life. Start collecting those shoe boxes and the gifts you’ll tuck inside them for Operation Christmas Child once more this year. Check out the information on the lobby bulletin board about providing school supplies for kids in our community. Contact Carol Barrett and get involved with our outreach program. We need to build compassion into our lives, planning for it.
Third: Join me in praying about something I’ve been dreaming of and talking about for a long time. Sometime in the next eighteen months, I would like for a group of Friendship folks to go to some spiritually or economically impoverished country on a mission trip. It could be Mexico or Haiti or England or even somewhere in this country. It’s a big world that keeps getting smaller. Going to other places and offering the compassion of Jesus will enlarge our hearts and help others to see Jesus. Charity and compassion begin at home, it’s true; but they must never stop at home. God so loved the whole world that He sent His Son and you and I are called to love that same whole world. So, pray about it: ask God where He wants us to go on a mission trip in order to share and serve and love and be compassionate in His Name. Ask God if He might want you to go on this mission trip—to expand the horizons of your personal compassion. Ask God if He wants you to dare to do something so great that it cannot possibly work unless He is empowering you and inspiring you. Taking such a dare will deepen our faith!
But whether you feel led by God to take a mission trip or not, I believe that the God Who went to a cross and rose from the dead is on His knees today begging you and me to love the world as much as He loves us. He calls us to be compassionate. If we will share compassion as He begs us to do, our worlds—starting with us and moving out to those we touch—will be changed! And that will be a very good thing.
[The true story of Dave and Billy can be found in the July, 2003 issue of Guideposts.]
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
REFLECTIONS ON THE PROVERBS
(Comments on passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs that have jumped out at me in my studies through the years.)
Proverbs 4:23:
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
With our heart, as well as with our minds and with computers, garbage in, garbage out. The condition of our hearts will determine how we live. Jesus speaks of this in Luke 6:45:
“The good person out of the good treasures of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure, produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”
When we focus on God and on what is good, our hearts are strengthened and good things flow from us--no matter what the circumstances of our lives. In the New Testament, Paul says, "...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Philippians 4:8)
Proverbs 4:26-27:
"Keep straight the path of your feet, and all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil."
These verses are a good reminder for me. I know that I have unhealthy levels of uncertainty in my life precisely in those times when I have been lax and neglectful of my relationship with Christ and of the things that He shows me through prayer, Bible-reading, worship, and the advice of people more grown-up in their faith lives. These lines contain a promise that if we're steadfast, all our “ways will be sure,” one would surmise even when we feel unsteady and unsure of ourselves. We need to keep following Christ: He knows where we're going.
Proverbs 5:6:
"She does not keep straight to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it."
These words about the “loose woman” no doubt apply to any of us when we defiantly walk away from God, seeking our own path. The verse says, “her ways wander, and she does not know it.” I have learned that sin makes us delusional. Many times, when I do the things that I know are wrong I don't realize it at the moment because by wandering away from God, I've created some elaborate and personally convincing rationalization. When that happens to us, we think that we're in control when we’re most imprisoned: trapped and we don't even know it. By contrast, when we surrender to Christ, He frees us to become ourselves and we see things with greater clarity. (Chrck out: Proverbs 5:22-23)
(Comments on passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs that have jumped out at me in my studies through the years.)
Proverbs 4:23:
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
With our heart, as well as with our minds and with computers, garbage in, garbage out. The condition of our hearts will determine how we live. Jesus speaks of this in Luke 6:45:
“The good person out of the good treasures of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure, produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”
When we focus on God and on what is good, our hearts are strengthened and good things flow from us--no matter what the circumstances of our lives. In the New Testament, Paul says, "...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Philippians 4:8)
Proverbs 4:26-27:
"Keep straight the path of your feet, and all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil."
These verses are a good reminder for me. I know that I have unhealthy levels of uncertainty in my life precisely in those times when I have been lax and neglectful of my relationship with Christ and of the things that He shows me through prayer, Bible-reading, worship, and the advice of people more grown-up in their faith lives. These lines contain a promise that if we're steadfast, all our “ways will be sure,” one would surmise even when we feel unsteady and unsure of ourselves. We need to keep following Christ: He knows where we're going.
Proverbs 5:6:
"She does not keep straight to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it."
These words about the “loose woman” no doubt apply to any of us when we defiantly walk away from God, seeking our own path. The verse says, “her ways wander, and she does not know it.” I have learned that sin makes us delusional. Many times, when I do the things that I know are wrong I don't realize it at the moment because by wandering away from God, I've created some elaborate and personally convincing rationalization. When that happens to us, we think that we're in control when we’re most imprisoned: trapped and we don't even know it. By contrast, when we surrender to Christ, He frees us to become ourselves and we see things with greater clarity. (Chrck out: Proverbs 5:22-23)
QUOTE FOR TODAY...AND A BIBLE PASSAGE
"...a Christian is not a man [sic] who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble--because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out." [C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity]
"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." [First John 2:1b-2]
"...a Christian is not a man [sic] who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble--because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out." [C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity]
"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." [First John 2:1b-2]
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Changing Your World:
Through Amazing Grace
Ephesians 2:3-14
[Shared with the people of Friendship Church, July 13, 2003]
For several weeks now, we’ve been talking about changing our world. Today I want to talk with you about the one thing that is guaranteed to change the world in which we live: grace.
Our Bible lesson for this morning is all about grace. It tells us that out of an attitude of grace, God long, long ago planned to free us from our slavery to sin and death by sending Jesus into our world to die and rise for us. But what exactly is grace?
In his book, Grace Awakening, Chuck Swindoll has a way of explaining grace that really hammers its meaning home for me. He writes:
"...imagine you have a six year old son whom you love dearly. Tragically, one day you discover that your son was horribly murdered. After a lengthy search the investigators of the crime find the killer. You have a choice. If you use every means in your power to kill the murderer for his crime, that would be vengeance. If, however, you’re content to sit back and let the legal authorities take over and execute on him what is proper—a fair trial, a plea of guilty, capital punishment—that is justice. But if you should plead for a pardon of the murderer, forgive him completely, invite him into your home, and adopt him as your own son, that is grace."
The parent who chose the difficult course of giving up their right for vengeance or justice would, at the very least, change their own life and the life of the killer he or she set free. This is exactly what God does for us through Jesus Christ. We are, according to the Bible, sinners who deserve to be damned and separated from God eternally. But through Jesus, God extends grace to us. Through Christ, God gives us acceptance and forgiveness we don’t deserve. The New Testament says, “...while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The undeserved acceptance and forgiveness of grace changes our lives and the lives of those with whom we share it!
In the World War Two saga, Saving Private Ryan, a group of American soldiers give their lives in order to save the life of one private whose brothers have been killed in battle. Just before he dies from wounds sustained in saving Ryan, the crusty commander of the mission, played by Tom Hanks, tells Private Ryan to go and live a life worthy of the sacrifices that had been made for him.
It’s a weird thing. Before we receive grace, we have the crazy notion that if we do enough good things, maybe we’ll be acceptable to God. Some people, like Benjamin Franklin, I’m learning from the new biography of him written by Walter Isaacson, then set out to do as many good things as they possibly can.
Other people though, aware of their own faults, just give up, figuring that no matter what they do they’re going to hell anyway. They adopt a kind of “eat, drink, and be merry” attitude. But they’re rarely ever truly merry.
When grace enters people's lives though, they’re so grateful for the second chance they’ve been given, that they live differently. Like Private Ryan, they set out to live lives that display their gratitude for their undeserved gift.
The God of all creation left heaven and died for us and then rose for us. He did this to give us a second chance at life forever, God’s original plan for us. Grateful for such amazing grace, people who follow Jesus then live differently.
Jesus told a story or parable once about the final judgment of the world. He said that two different categories of people will stand before Him: the goats and the sheep. To the goats, Jesus will say, “You didn’t feed me when I was hungry, didn’t give me water when I was thirsty, didn’t clothe me when I was cold, didn’t welcome me when I was a stranger, and didn’t visit me when I was in prison. You’ve chosen hell. Go there now.”
To the sheep, Jesus will say, “You fed me, gave me water, clothed me, welcomed me, visited me. You’ve chosen God’s Kingdom—heaven. Go there now.” The goats will protest, “But, Lord, when did we ever fail to do these things for You?” Jesus will say, “When you failed to do all these good things for the least important people in your lives, you failed to do them for me.”
Many people look at this story from Jesus and say, “A-ha, you see, if you’re a nice enough person, God will bless you.” But when people say that, they completely misunderstand the story! You know that because of the reaction of the sheep to Jesus' words to them. They’re as incredulous about their good fortune as the goats are about their misfortune. The sheep say to Jesus, “Lord, when did we do all these good and wonderful things for You? We don’t remember them at all!” Jesus will tell them, “When you fed, clothed, visited, welcomed, and gave water to the most insignificant nobody, the people everybody else thought didn’t matter, you were really doing it for me."
Now the reason that the sheep—the believers in Jesus—won’t be conscious of the good things they’ve done is simple. They weren’t keeping score. They were just living their lives. Grateful for the new and everlasting life Jesus gave them, they just did what came naturally: they loved as God had loved them...they served as they had been served...forgave as they had been forgiven...gave as they had been given to. They loved and served unstintingly, without pre-conditions or expectation of repayment. Grace is amazing, isn’t it?
Author Keith Miller tells of how he once planned to commit adultery. He arranged to meet a woman at a hotel, out of state. But when he got to the hotel room and prepared to make a telephone call to the woman, his mind filled with passages of the Bible. But interestingly, the passages he remembered weren’t those dealing with adultery; they were those that talk about the love of God. God was telling Keith Miller that whatever happened that night, He would still love Keith like His son. Miller slammed the phone down. He felt as though he couldn’t go through with his plans because he was overwhelmed with God’s love for him. He tried two more times to pick up the phone and call the woman. But each time, the sense of God’s grace and love flooded his heart and Miller put the phone down. Finally, he called out, “It’s no use! God—I am hopelessly in love with you.”
In this life, there really is a war going on inside of us. It’s a war between those things we want to do at any given time because they may feel good or be convenient and on the other side, those things we know we should do because they’re right. Sometimes, even people like Keith Miller, committed followers of Christ, lose that war. They cave into temptation and sin.
But there is reason for hope! The greatest story of all time was Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. You know it well. A man, representing God, had two sons. The youngest begged his father to give him his inheritance right away. The dad consented and the boy took his newly-received wealth to go out into the world. He went to a faraway country. There, he wasted all his money and he spent it on prostitutes, booze, and idle living. Broke, hungry, and miserable, the boy takes a job with the local pig farmer and is in such a bad way, he looks at the pigs’ slop with envy. He decides to go back home, beg for his father’s forgiveness, and ask if he can get a job. When he returns, it turns out that dad has been waiting for him with desperate yearning ever since the boy left home. Before the son can apologize or beg, his dad has his arms wrapped around him and is ordering the servants to prepare to party down. “This son of mine was dead and he’s alive once more; he was lost and now he’s found!” Don’t you just know that boy lived his life differently from that moment forward? Grace would have changed him for certain!
Maybe you came here this morning thinking that you would do your religious duty by showing up. Or maybe you came here under pressure from someone else and thought this whole worship thing was meaningless. But I’m here to tell you that no matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been, no matter what mistakes you have made, God loves you! Our Bible lesson tells us that “long before He laid down earth’s foundations,” your heavenly Father had a plan. He planned on being a loving daddy who would welcome you into His loving arms. He planned on giving you undeserved grace. We can walk away from God and His grace. But for as long as we live on this planet, no matter what, we can still receive it. We can still receive Him. Whenever we do that, there’s a party in heaven...and our lives are changed forever.
[This series of messages is inpsired by one being presented by the pastors at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, Minnesota. The story of Keith Miller is found in John Maxwell's 'One Hour with God' devotional materials.]
Through Amazing Grace
Ephesians 2:3-14
[Shared with the people of Friendship Church, July 13, 2003]
For several weeks now, we’ve been talking about changing our world. Today I want to talk with you about the one thing that is guaranteed to change the world in which we live: grace.
Our Bible lesson for this morning is all about grace. It tells us that out of an attitude of grace, God long, long ago planned to free us from our slavery to sin and death by sending Jesus into our world to die and rise for us. But what exactly is grace?
In his book, Grace Awakening, Chuck Swindoll has a way of explaining grace that really hammers its meaning home for me. He writes:
"...imagine you have a six year old son whom you love dearly. Tragically, one day you discover that your son was horribly murdered. After a lengthy search the investigators of the crime find the killer. You have a choice. If you use every means in your power to kill the murderer for his crime, that would be vengeance. If, however, you’re content to sit back and let the legal authorities take over and execute on him what is proper—a fair trial, a plea of guilty, capital punishment—that is justice. But if you should plead for a pardon of the murderer, forgive him completely, invite him into your home, and adopt him as your own son, that is grace."
The parent who chose the difficult course of giving up their right for vengeance or justice would, at the very least, change their own life and the life of the killer he or she set free. This is exactly what God does for us through Jesus Christ. We are, according to the Bible, sinners who deserve to be damned and separated from God eternally. But through Jesus, God extends grace to us. Through Christ, God gives us acceptance and forgiveness we don’t deserve. The New Testament says, “...while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The undeserved acceptance and forgiveness of grace changes our lives and the lives of those with whom we share it!
In the World War Two saga, Saving Private Ryan, a group of American soldiers give their lives in order to save the life of one private whose brothers have been killed in battle. Just before he dies from wounds sustained in saving Ryan, the crusty commander of the mission, played by Tom Hanks, tells Private Ryan to go and live a life worthy of the sacrifices that had been made for him.
It’s a weird thing. Before we receive grace, we have the crazy notion that if we do enough good things, maybe we’ll be acceptable to God. Some people, like Benjamin Franklin, I’m learning from the new biography of him written by Walter Isaacson, then set out to do as many good things as they possibly can.
Other people though, aware of their own faults, just give up, figuring that no matter what they do they’re going to hell anyway. They adopt a kind of “eat, drink, and be merry” attitude. But they’re rarely ever truly merry.
When grace enters people's lives though, they’re so grateful for the second chance they’ve been given, that they live differently. Like Private Ryan, they set out to live lives that display their gratitude for their undeserved gift.
The God of all creation left heaven and died for us and then rose for us. He did this to give us a second chance at life forever, God’s original plan for us. Grateful for such amazing grace, people who follow Jesus then live differently.
Jesus told a story or parable once about the final judgment of the world. He said that two different categories of people will stand before Him: the goats and the sheep. To the goats, Jesus will say, “You didn’t feed me when I was hungry, didn’t give me water when I was thirsty, didn’t clothe me when I was cold, didn’t welcome me when I was a stranger, and didn’t visit me when I was in prison. You’ve chosen hell. Go there now.”
To the sheep, Jesus will say, “You fed me, gave me water, clothed me, welcomed me, visited me. You’ve chosen God’s Kingdom—heaven. Go there now.” The goats will protest, “But, Lord, when did we ever fail to do these things for You?” Jesus will say, “When you failed to do all these good things for the least important people in your lives, you failed to do them for me.”
Many people look at this story from Jesus and say, “A-ha, you see, if you’re a nice enough person, God will bless you.” But when people say that, they completely misunderstand the story! You know that because of the reaction of the sheep to Jesus' words to them. They’re as incredulous about their good fortune as the goats are about their misfortune. The sheep say to Jesus, “Lord, when did we do all these good and wonderful things for You? We don’t remember them at all!” Jesus will tell them, “When you fed, clothed, visited, welcomed, and gave water to the most insignificant nobody, the people everybody else thought didn’t matter, you were really doing it for me."
Now the reason that the sheep—the believers in Jesus—won’t be conscious of the good things they’ve done is simple. They weren’t keeping score. They were just living their lives. Grateful for the new and everlasting life Jesus gave them, they just did what came naturally: they loved as God had loved them...they served as they had been served...forgave as they had been forgiven...gave as they had been given to. They loved and served unstintingly, without pre-conditions or expectation of repayment. Grace is amazing, isn’t it?
Author Keith Miller tells of how he once planned to commit adultery. He arranged to meet a woman at a hotel, out of state. But when he got to the hotel room and prepared to make a telephone call to the woman, his mind filled with passages of the Bible. But interestingly, the passages he remembered weren’t those dealing with adultery; they were those that talk about the love of God. God was telling Keith Miller that whatever happened that night, He would still love Keith like His son. Miller slammed the phone down. He felt as though he couldn’t go through with his plans because he was overwhelmed with God’s love for him. He tried two more times to pick up the phone and call the woman. But each time, the sense of God’s grace and love flooded his heart and Miller put the phone down. Finally, he called out, “It’s no use! God—I am hopelessly in love with you.”
In this life, there really is a war going on inside of us. It’s a war between those things we want to do at any given time because they may feel good or be convenient and on the other side, those things we know we should do because they’re right. Sometimes, even people like Keith Miller, committed followers of Christ, lose that war. They cave into temptation and sin.
But there is reason for hope! The greatest story of all time was Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. You know it well. A man, representing God, had two sons. The youngest begged his father to give him his inheritance right away. The dad consented and the boy took his newly-received wealth to go out into the world. He went to a faraway country. There, he wasted all his money and he spent it on prostitutes, booze, and idle living. Broke, hungry, and miserable, the boy takes a job with the local pig farmer and is in such a bad way, he looks at the pigs’ slop with envy. He decides to go back home, beg for his father’s forgiveness, and ask if he can get a job. When he returns, it turns out that dad has been waiting for him with desperate yearning ever since the boy left home. Before the son can apologize or beg, his dad has his arms wrapped around him and is ordering the servants to prepare to party down. “This son of mine was dead and he’s alive once more; he was lost and now he’s found!” Don’t you just know that boy lived his life differently from that moment forward? Grace would have changed him for certain!
Maybe you came here this morning thinking that you would do your religious duty by showing up. Or maybe you came here under pressure from someone else and thought this whole worship thing was meaningless. But I’m here to tell you that no matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been, no matter what mistakes you have made, God loves you! Our Bible lesson tells us that “long before He laid down earth’s foundations,” your heavenly Father had a plan. He planned on being a loving daddy who would welcome you into His loving arms. He planned on giving you undeserved grace. We can walk away from God and His grace. But for as long as we live on this planet, no matter what, we can still receive it. We can still receive Him. Whenever we do that, there’s a party in heaven...and our lives are changed forever.
[This series of messages is inpsired by one being presented by the pastors at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, Minnesota. The story of Keith Miller is found in John Maxwell's 'One Hour with God' devotional materials.]
Congratulations to Pastor Kirsten Springmeyer, campus pastor for Lutheran Campus Ministry (LCM) at the University of Cincinnati, for being named Campus Pastor of the Year by the National Conference of Campus Pastors. Kirstin is a dynamic leader who has enhanced the visibility of LCM during her tenure there.
REFLECTIONS ON THE PROVERBS
(Comments on passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs that have jumped out at me in my studies through the years.)
Proverbs 3:26
"for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught."
This is the crux of things in Proverbs and in following Jesus, really. The Lord needs to be our confidence---not the opinions of others, not my income, not my college degrees, not anything but the Lord! And He has proven Himself worthy of this trust by dying on a cross for us and rising from the dead. Through these acts He proves both His devotion to us and His power to defeat everything that frightens or overwhelms us.
Proverbs 3:27-28:
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, 'Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it"--when you have it with you."
This passage seems to me to be about a lot more than financial indebtedness, although it certainly does encompass that. When it’s in our power to provide good to those to whom it is due, we should do so. Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan gives me an idea of those to whom good is due: everyone who is in any kind of need! Of course, I fail to measure up to this more than infrequently! Deuteronomy 15:1-11 gives an extensive set of regulations regarding the lending of money to one’s neighbor.
Proverbs 3:29
"Do not plan harm against your neighbor who lives trustingly beside you."
The intangible of trust is the glue that holds communities together. If our neighbors are unable to live beside us trustingly, their lives are harmed. This is why faith in Christ is imperative. Christ makes us new people (Second Corinthians 5:17) who live voluntarily under His Kingdom of Love. This makes it more possible for us to trust one another and to take the risk of being more trusting of others. After all, when you're living in the certainty of God's unfailing love and support, you don't worry so much if a neighbor occasionally shafts you. And sometimes, in our reckless trust of neighbor, the heart of a neighbor who might otherwise shaft us will be turned to God and to love. This is how Christ builds community.
(Comments on passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs that have jumped out at me in my studies through the years.)
Proverbs 3:26
"for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught."
This is the crux of things in Proverbs and in following Jesus, really. The Lord needs to be our confidence---not the opinions of others, not my income, not my college degrees, not anything but the Lord! And He has proven Himself worthy of this trust by dying on a cross for us and rising from the dead. Through these acts He proves both His devotion to us and His power to defeat everything that frightens or overwhelms us.
Proverbs 3:27-28:
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, 'Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it"--when you have it with you."
This passage seems to me to be about a lot more than financial indebtedness, although it certainly does encompass that. When it’s in our power to provide good to those to whom it is due, we should do so. Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan gives me an idea of those to whom good is due: everyone who is in any kind of need! Of course, I fail to measure up to this more than infrequently! Deuteronomy 15:1-11 gives an extensive set of regulations regarding the lending of money to one’s neighbor.
Proverbs 3:29
"Do not plan harm against your neighbor who lives trustingly beside you."
The intangible of trust is the glue that holds communities together. If our neighbors are unable to live beside us trustingly, their lives are harmed. This is why faith in Christ is imperative. Christ makes us new people (Second Corinthians 5:17) who live voluntarily under His Kingdom of Love. This makes it more possible for us to trust one another and to take the risk of being more trusting of others. After all, when you're living in the certainty of God's unfailing love and support, you don't worry so much if a neighbor occasionally shafts you. And sometimes, in our reckless trust of neighbor, the heart of a neighbor who might otherwise shaft us will be turned to God and to love. This is how Christ builds community.
Saturday, July 12, 2003
REFLECTIONS ON THE PROVERBS
(Comments on passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs that have jumped out at me in my studies through the years.)
Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
Relying on our own “wisdom” ends in disaster. I know! God is the reliable source for wisdom, insight, and guidance. That’s why we should precede our decisions with seasons of prayer, Bible study, and gathering good information and advice.
Proverbs 3:6: In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
God forgive me the many ways I have failed to acknowledge you in my life! I have caused myself untold trouble and wasted effort in my life by following crooked paths of my own design, rather than following the straight and narrow way laid out by God.
Proverbs 3:7: Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
This is a call to repentance! (Repentance means to turn away from rebellion against God and to turn to following God.) Being wise in [our] own eyes is certainly a prescription for disaster. God wants us to be confident, I think. But our confidence should reside in an awareness that the actions we’re undertaking in life are rooted in Him, not our own limited insights and wisdom. One of my major problems in life has to do with my trusting what I think, rather than what God wants! I become conceited regarding my ability to think, failing to remember that my ability to think comes from God. Galatians 5:26 says, "Let us not become conceited..."
(Comments on passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs that have jumped out at me in my studies through the years.)
Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
Relying on our own “wisdom” ends in disaster. I know! God is the reliable source for wisdom, insight, and guidance. That’s why we should precede our decisions with seasons of prayer, Bible study, and gathering good information and advice.
Proverbs 3:6: In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
God forgive me the many ways I have failed to acknowledge you in my life! I have caused myself untold trouble and wasted effort in my life by following crooked paths of my own design, rather than following the straight and narrow way laid out by God.
Proverbs 3:7: Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
This is a call to repentance! (Repentance means to turn away from rebellion against God and to turn to following God.) Being wise in [our] own eyes is certainly a prescription for disaster. God wants us to be confident, I think. But our confidence should reside in an awareness that the actions we’re undertaking in life are rooted in Him, not our own limited insights and wisdom. One of my major problems in life has to do with my trusting what I think, rather than what God wants! I become conceited regarding my ability to think, failing to remember that my ability to think comes from God. Galatians 5:26 says, "Let us not become conceited..."
QUOTE FOR TODAY...with A BIBLE PASSAGE
“The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day...I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me, and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.” (Charles Swindoll, quoted in Richard G. Capen, Jr., Finish Strong: Living Your Faith in the Secular World and Inspiring Others in the Process, p.121)
"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross.
"Therefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the Name that is above every name..." (Philippians 2:5-9)
Many things happen to us in life. But each of us can choose how we react to the things that happen to us. Jesus chose to give Himself, no matter what. Because He did, He won eternity for all who trust Him with their lives (John 3:16).
Anybody who dares to follow Jesus is freed from worrying about his or her place in the world. Followers of Jesus are guaranteed a place with God now and forever. So, we're empowered to flush self-centeredness, to embrace God-centeredness, and to love our neighbor.
The love of Jesus Christ at the center of our lives enables us to live life with different attitudes. And these new attitudes can enable us to change our worlds, one person at a time.
Among the books I'm reading these days is John Powell's Happiness is an Inside Job. In one section, Powell remembers a column by humorist Art Buchwald titled, "My Friend, the Cabbie, and New York City."
Buchwald's friend was intent on changing the world, starting with New York. He decided to have a different attitude toward those around him and to give people as much praise and affirmation as possible.
After a particularly harrowing cab ride in which this man and Buchwald were passengers, Buchwald's friend told the driver, "You are one of the best drivers I have ever seen. If you had one more coat of paint on your car, you would have hit several of those other cars. But you missed them, and I want to congratulate you."
At first, the cabbie thought that Buchwald's friend was crazy. But when the friend said he meant what he said, the driver broke into a smile that may have lasted the whole day.
Christians have a real advantage in undertaking a program for changing the world like Buchwald's friend: Jesus has already changed our worlds.
He changes us from enemies to friends of God.
He changes us from listless people to people with purpose for living.
He changes us from sinners without hope to forgiven sinners with an eternity of hope.
Jesus is our strong foundation and from that foundation we can freely choose new attitudes of love, affirmation, and praise for the world around us.
Do I always live with this new attitude? No, the old sinful me is still alive. But I feel like a voting public following a November election in which they threw the old rascals out. I know that the old Mark is on his way out. Christ has given me a new me (Second Corinthians 5:17).
That's the way it is for all followers of Jesus. Prayerfully, we ask God to help us live with the attitudes and values of our new and better selves. Every time we do so, evil takes another hit and the lives of those around us are made a little better.
Consciously adopting this attitude, leaning on God to help us be our better selves, also changes us. Last night, my wife, daughter, and I saw Michael W. Smith perform. He sang his song, "Live the Life" which contains the line: "Every act of love will set you free."
I believe that. We need to surrender our lives to Christ and then live lives of surrender, starting with taking on the attitudes of loving servants.
That's God's plan for changing the world, really, and it's fun being part of it!
“The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day...I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me, and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.” (Charles Swindoll, quoted in Richard G. Capen, Jr., Finish Strong: Living Your Faith in the Secular World and Inspiring Others in the Process, p.121)
"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross.
"Therefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the Name that is above every name..." (Philippians 2:5-9)
Many things happen to us in life. But each of us can choose how we react to the things that happen to us. Jesus chose to give Himself, no matter what. Because He did, He won eternity for all who trust Him with their lives (John 3:16).
Anybody who dares to follow Jesus is freed from worrying about his or her place in the world. Followers of Jesus are guaranteed a place with God now and forever. So, we're empowered to flush self-centeredness, to embrace God-centeredness, and to love our neighbor.
The love of Jesus Christ at the center of our lives enables us to live life with different attitudes. And these new attitudes can enable us to change our worlds, one person at a time.
Among the books I'm reading these days is John Powell's Happiness is an Inside Job. In one section, Powell remembers a column by humorist Art Buchwald titled, "My Friend, the Cabbie, and New York City."
Buchwald's friend was intent on changing the world, starting with New York. He decided to have a different attitude toward those around him and to give people as much praise and affirmation as possible.
After a particularly harrowing cab ride in which this man and Buchwald were passengers, Buchwald's friend told the driver, "You are one of the best drivers I have ever seen. If you had one more coat of paint on your car, you would have hit several of those other cars. But you missed them, and I want to congratulate you."
At first, the cabbie thought that Buchwald's friend was crazy. But when the friend said he meant what he said, the driver broke into a smile that may have lasted the whole day.
Christians have a real advantage in undertaking a program for changing the world like Buchwald's friend: Jesus has already changed our worlds.
He changes us from enemies to friends of God.
He changes us from listless people to people with purpose for living.
He changes us from sinners without hope to forgiven sinners with an eternity of hope.
Jesus is our strong foundation and from that foundation we can freely choose new attitudes of love, affirmation, and praise for the world around us.
Do I always live with this new attitude? No, the old sinful me is still alive. But I feel like a voting public following a November election in which they threw the old rascals out. I know that the old Mark is on his way out. Christ has given me a new me (Second Corinthians 5:17).
That's the way it is for all followers of Jesus. Prayerfully, we ask God to help us live with the attitudes and values of our new and better selves. Every time we do so, evil takes another hit and the lives of those around us are made a little better.
Consciously adopting this attitude, leaning on God to help us be our better selves, also changes us. Last night, my wife, daughter, and I saw Michael W. Smith perform. He sang his song, "Live the Life" which contains the line: "Every act of love will set you free."
I believe that. We need to surrender our lives to Christ and then live lives of surrender, starting with taking on the attitudes of loving servants.
That's God's plan for changing the world, really, and it's fun being part of it!
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
REFLECTIONS ON THE PROVERBS
(Comments on passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs that have jumped out at me in my studies through the years.)
Proverbs 1:32-33:
For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.
These two verses give the promise of wisdom: those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.
Proverbs 2:3:
...if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding [then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God, v.5]
Here, we’re exhorted to ask for wisdom and understanding. James picks up on this in the New Testament. “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, Who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.” (James 1:5) God wants to give us the wisdom to understand Him and ourselves and our niches in life. But God will not force anything upon us. He gives us the freedom to ask or to ignore Him.
Proverbs 2:6:
For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding...
God is the Author and Giver of wisdom. Receiving wisdom is intrinsically tied to the fear of the Lord (1:7).
Proverbs 3:1-2:
My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and abundant welfare they will give you.
In the hubbub of life, it is so easy for me to forget God and His wisdom for my life. James talks about this too. “For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act--they will be blessed in their doing.” (James 1:23-25) Pray, soak up God’s Word, live it, go back to praying again. Without the twin disciplines of time with God and living what God teaches us, we too easily fall prey to our own covetousness and the evil around us.
(Comments on passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs that have jumped out at me in my studies through the years.)
Proverbs 1:32-33:
For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.
These two verses give the promise of wisdom: those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.
Proverbs 2:3:
...if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding [then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God, v.5]
Here, we’re exhorted to ask for wisdom and understanding. James picks up on this in the New Testament. “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, Who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.” (James 1:5) God wants to give us the wisdom to understand Him and ourselves and our niches in life. But God will not force anything upon us. He gives us the freedom to ask or to ignore Him.
Proverbs 2:6:
For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding...
God is the Author and Giver of wisdom. Receiving wisdom is intrinsically tied to the fear of the Lord (1:7).
Proverbs 3:1-2:
My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and abundant welfare they will give you.
In the hubbub of life, it is so easy for me to forget God and His wisdom for my life. James talks about this too. “For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act--they will be blessed in their doing.” (James 1:23-25) Pray, soak up God’s Word, live it, go back to praying again. Without the twin disciplines of time with God and living what God teaches us, we too easily fall prey to our own covetousness and the evil around us.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I have been asked to tell you what Christians believe, and I am going to begin by telling you one thing that Christians do not need to believe. If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth. When I was an atheist I had to try to persuade myself that most of the human race have always been wrong about the question that mattered to them most; when I became a Christian I was able to take a more liberal view. But, of course, being a Christian does mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religions, Christianity is right and they are wrong. As in arithmetic--there is only one right answer to a sum, and all other answers are wrong; but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others." (C.S. Lewis in his classic, Mere Christianity)
"I have been asked to tell you what Christians believe, and I am going to begin by telling you one thing that Christians do not need to believe. If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth. When I was an atheist I had to try to persuade myself that most of the human race have always been wrong about the question that mattered to them most; when I became a Christian I was able to take a more liberal view. But, of course, being a Christian does mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religions, Christianity is right and they are wrong. As in arithmetic--there is only one right answer to a sum, and all other answers are wrong; but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others." (C.S. Lewis in his classic, Mere Christianity)
REFLECTIONS ON PROVERBS
Over the past several years, I've made a regular look at the Proverbs a part of my routine in life. These maxims, nuggets of wisdom given by God to the Old Testament King Solomon give all sorts of practical, uplifting guidance for the living of life. People like Billy Graham, world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson, church planter Steve Sjogren, and numerous leaders in business, politics, and the Arts have all made Proverbs an element of their daily lives. So, on a regular basis, I will present outstanding verses from the Proverbs here, along with my reflections on them. Here's the first installment...
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel.
For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young--Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. (Proverbs 1:1-6, New Revised Standard Version)
Proverbs 1:1-6 This constitutes a “mission statement” for the book of Proverbs. It’s ambitious. I think it’s interesting that in verse 5 it says, “Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill.” Nobody has ever fully “arrived.” There’s always more wisdom God can give to us.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
Proverbs 1:7 If the first six verses present the book’s mission statement, this verse gives its underlying premise. Awe, respect, reverence, fear for God is the beginning of true wisdom. Conceit, self-will, seeking “wisdom” for my own selfish purposes---all these things squeeze out God. We cannot be wise without a reverence for God, a recognition that God is God and we’re not.
Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. (Proverbs 1:19)
Proverbs 1:19 Covetousness in the end, kills the coveter--either physically or in some other way in this life and most certainly in the life to come. Coveting is a “foundational sin,” one that leads to other sin--stealing, idolatry, adultery, murder. The words of Proverbs 1:10 offer simple advice, My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent. Resist temptation. Flee temptation. Depend on God.
Over the past several years, I've made a regular look at the Proverbs a part of my routine in life. These maxims, nuggets of wisdom given by God to the Old Testament King Solomon give all sorts of practical, uplifting guidance for the living of life. People like Billy Graham, world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson, church planter Steve Sjogren, and numerous leaders in business, politics, and the Arts have all made Proverbs an element of their daily lives. So, on a regular basis, I will present outstanding verses from the Proverbs here, along with my reflections on them. Here's the first installment...
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel.
For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young--Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. (Proverbs 1:1-6, New Revised Standard Version)
Proverbs 1:1-6 This constitutes a “mission statement” for the book of Proverbs. It’s ambitious. I think it’s interesting that in verse 5 it says, “Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill.” Nobody has ever fully “arrived.” There’s always more wisdom God can give to us.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
Proverbs 1:7 If the first six verses present the book’s mission statement, this verse gives its underlying premise. Awe, respect, reverence, fear for God is the beginning of true wisdom. Conceit, self-will, seeking “wisdom” for my own selfish purposes---all these things squeeze out God. We cannot be wise without a reverence for God, a recognition that God is God and we’re not.
Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. (Proverbs 1:19)
Proverbs 1:19 Covetousness in the end, kills the coveter--either physically or in some other way in this life and most certainly in the life to come. Coveting is a “foundational sin,” one that leads to other sin--stealing, idolatry, adultery, murder. The words of Proverbs 1:10 offer simple advice, My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent. Resist temptation. Flee temptation. Depend on God.
Sunday, July 06, 2003
Changing Your World:
By Being a Witness
Mark 6:1-13 [continued]
Our Bible lesson for this morning finds Jesus sending His twelve closest followers out into the world to call people to turn to Him for life. Jesus does this at a very interesting juncture in His ministry. I suppose some might question His motivational methods. Right after the people of His hometown of Nazareth are so disbelieving that Jesus can’t get His message through to their hearts and because of their failure to trust Him, He’s unable to bring much healing to those in need, He calls His followers together. He tells them, “Okay, guys, it’s your turn. You get to be My witnesses.”
The disciples might have been as inclined to tune Jesus out as most contemporary Christ-followers are when the preacher reminds them that we’re all called to be witnesses. But Jesus bolstered the disciples’ confidence by giving them a strategy for witnessing. It’s a good strategy for you and me as well.
So, here’s Jesus’ five-part strategy for rescuing the dying people you and I encounter every day.
First: We need to make sure we have support. Jesus sent the disciples out in groups of two. Like police officers wading into challenging situations, when you make bold to share Christ, always have a buddy. As witnesses for Christ, at the very least, we need buddies who are supporting us in prayer. I want you to know that every day, I pray for you. I ask that God will help the people of our congregation to resist temptation and sin, to have our reputations protected, and to help us all be faithful in taking the opportunities we have to share Jesus with others.
Second: We need to remember that we go with Jesus’ authority to be His witnesses. Jesus told the disciples that they had His power over the unclean spirits of the world. Elsewhere, He says that we have that same authority and that as His followers, we have the capacity to accomplish the same deeds He accomplished while He was on the earth...and more! One of the songs our kids sang for us last Sunday reminds us, “we don’t need excuses” when we are God’s hands and feet! We have Jesus’ authority to be His witnesses. And you needn’t worry if you’re not an eloquent speaker. Saint Francis of Assisi was fond of saying, “Preach often and if necessary, use words.” When Jesus is at the center of our lives, He can use our whole lives to help others know Him.
Third: We need to depend on Jesus. Jesus told the disciples not to worry about taking a lot of props with them. One person walking faithfully with God can accomplish everything that God expects of them.
Fourth: Focus on one relationship at a time. I call this the no-flit rule. Jesus told the disciples that when they came to a new town, they were to go to one house and so long as those people welcomed them, to stick around. As it applies to us in our less peripatetic lifestyles, I think that means we’re not to give up on people. We’re to befriend them and pour the love of Jesus into their lives. Every one of us needs to be genuine friends to people who don’t know Christ and so long as they will have us in their lives, we’re to stay the course. We need to love them, support them, encourage them, and be there for them. If we can share Christ with one person and they come to faith, they in turn can pass Christ onto the next person. Jesus’ kingdom grows by just such simple addition and multiplication. We’re to befriend others and then introduce them to our best friend, Jesus. For many months now, I’ve been meeting regularly for Bible study with an unchurched man. I have no idea if it’s changing his life yet. But I am committed to continuing to meet with him. I owe that to Christ and to him.
Fifth: Don’t be discouraged when people reject your witness for Christ. It will happen. The first church office I had as a layperson was chairperson of the elders at our home congregation in Columbus. Part of my job was evangelism and the other part was rounding up the members who had quit coming to church. I decided that I would start visiting people, making appointments to see the lapsed church members and going door to door in the neighborhood near our home church’s building to invite them to worship with us. I had lots of doors shut in my face. And it wasn’t just the non-churchgoing folks who did that! Try to share Christ and you will get some people who reject you. Our Bible lesson shows us that even the folks in Jesus’ hometown turned their backs on Him! But like Jesus, we need to keep on keepin’ on. When people spurn us, Jesus says, we just shake off the dust and move on. There is a dying world in need of the only One Who can give it life: our best friend, Jesus! Good fishermen don’t worry about the ones who got away; they savor the ones they catch!
Babe Ruth once gave his strategy for success as a batter in baseball: “I keep swinging until I hit one.” As successful as Ruth was, he still missed getting on base about seven times out of every ten at bats. Our call as witnesses for Christ is to keep on making friends so that at least some of the time, we can connect the love and hope that only Jesus gives to people who need Him. Even if we sometimes fail at this central mission for our lives, we need to keep swinging. We need to be Christ’s witnesses. Nothing we can do with our lives is more important or more fulfilling!
By Being a Witness
Mark 6:1-13 [continued]
Our Bible lesson for this morning finds Jesus sending His twelve closest followers out into the world to call people to turn to Him for life. Jesus does this at a very interesting juncture in His ministry. I suppose some might question His motivational methods. Right after the people of His hometown of Nazareth are so disbelieving that Jesus can’t get His message through to their hearts and because of their failure to trust Him, He’s unable to bring much healing to those in need, He calls His followers together. He tells them, “Okay, guys, it’s your turn. You get to be My witnesses.”
The disciples might have been as inclined to tune Jesus out as most contemporary Christ-followers are when the preacher reminds them that we’re all called to be witnesses. But Jesus bolstered the disciples’ confidence by giving them a strategy for witnessing. It’s a good strategy for you and me as well.
So, here’s Jesus’ five-part strategy for rescuing the dying people you and I encounter every day.
First: We need to make sure we have support. Jesus sent the disciples out in groups of two. Like police officers wading into challenging situations, when you make bold to share Christ, always have a buddy. As witnesses for Christ, at the very least, we need buddies who are supporting us in prayer. I want you to know that every day, I pray for you. I ask that God will help the people of our congregation to resist temptation and sin, to have our reputations protected, and to help us all be faithful in taking the opportunities we have to share Jesus with others.
Second: We need to remember that we go with Jesus’ authority to be His witnesses. Jesus told the disciples that they had His power over the unclean spirits of the world. Elsewhere, He says that we have that same authority and that as His followers, we have the capacity to accomplish the same deeds He accomplished while He was on the earth...and more! One of the songs our kids sang for us last Sunday reminds us, “we don’t need excuses” when we are God’s hands and feet! We have Jesus’ authority to be His witnesses. And you needn’t worry if you’re not an eloquent speaker. Saint Francis of Assisi was fond of saying, “Preach often and if necessary, use words.” When Jesus is at the center of our lives, He can use our whole lives to help others know Him.
Third: We need to depend on Jesus. Jesus told the disciples not to worry about taking a lot of props with them. One person walking faithfully with God can accomplish everything that God expects of them.
Fourth: Focus on one relationship at a time. I call this the no-flit rule. Jesus told the disciples that when they came to a new town, they were to go to one house and so long as those people welcomed them, to stick around. As it applies to us in our less peripatetic lifestyles, I think that means we’re not to give up on people. We’re to befriend them and pour the love of Jesus into their lives. Every one of us needs to be genuine friends to people who don’t know Christ and so long as they will have us in their lives, we’re to stay the course. We need to love them, support them, encourage them, and be there for them. If we can share Christ with one person and they come to faith, they in turn can pass Christ onto the next person. Jesus’ kingdom grows by just such simple addition and multiplication. We’re to befriend others and then introduce them to our best friend, Jesus. For many months now, I’ve been meeting regularly for Bible study with an unchurched man. I have no idea if it’s changing his life yet. But I am committed to continuing to meet with him. I owe that to Christ and to him.
Fifth: Don’t be discouraged when people reject your witness for Christ. It will happen. The first church office I had as a layperson was chairperson of the elders at our home congregation in Columbus. Part of my job was evangelism and the other part was rounding up the members who had quit coming to church. I decided that I would start visiting people, making appointments to see the lapsed church members and going door to door in the neighborhood near our home church’s building to invite them to worship with us. I had lots of doors shut in my face. And it wasn’t just the non-churchgoing folks who did that! Try to share Christ and you will get some people who reject you. Our Bible lesson shows us that even the folks in Jesus’ hometown turned their backs on Him! But like Jesus, we need to keep on keepin’ on. When people spurn us, Jesus says, we just shake off the dust and move on. There is a dying world in need of the only One Who can give it life: our best friend, Jesus! Good fishermen don’t worry about the ones who got away; they savor the ones they catch!
Babe Ruth once gave his strategy for success as a batter in baseball: “I keep swinging until I hit one.” As successful as Ruth was, he still missed getting on base about seven times out of every ten at bats. Our call as witnesses for Christ is to keep on making friends so that at least some of the time, we can connect the love and hope that only Jesus gives to people who need Him. Even if we sometimes fail at this central mission for our lives, we need to keep swinging. We need to be Christ’s witnesses. Nothing we can do with our lives is more important or more fulfilling!
Changing Your World:
By Being a Witness
Mark 6:1-13
[Shared with the people of Friendship Church, July 6, 2003]
There’s a true story told of a Russian novelist whose hobby was catching and mounting butterflies. One day while out on an expedition, he spied a specie of butterfly not yet included in his collection. He caught it and came home to his wife, excited about his find. Then, as an afterthought, he mentioned that while out in the rough hills, he’d encountered a man who had fallen and was bleeding badly. “Did you help him?” the writer’s wife wondered. “No,” he said blankly, “I had to catch that butterfly.”
We hear stories like that and we shake our heads. We wonder how people can be so cruel and insensitive. Yet, when I examine my life with something approaching objectivity, I realize that I too can be cruel and insensitive. I sometimes wonder how often in my lifetime I’ve had the ability to give someone encouragement, hope, or life and have failed to do so. How many times have I been so hung up on my agenda that I have overlooked the people around me who have been laid low by life, who are dying in one way or another?
The Bible makes it clear that without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we human beings have no hope for this life or the next. Jesus came into this world to show the compassionate face of God to the whole human race. Although every person is born a slave of sin, Jesus can set us free. When we repent—that means to turn away from sin and turn toward Christ—we receive forgiveness for our sin. The wall that exists between us and the perfect God of the universe from the moment we’re born is torn down for us by Christ. When we trust Jesus as our only God and Savior, we become reconciled to God and we have life with Him forever.
And every person who has received the gifts of reconciliation with God and new life through Jesus Christ has a mission. We’re called to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. It’s okay to spend time catching butterflies, or playing football, or writing poetry, or selling software, or installing plumbing, fixing cars, raising children, reading the latest Harry Potter book, savoring a pizza, or any of the millions and millions of other things we might do in the course of our days. But we’re not ever to be so focused on those things that we neglect our highest goal as human beings and our greatest task as followers of Jesus Christ: to rescue people who will die unless they know Jesus too. We are to be witnesses for Jesus Christ.
I know...just the phrase “witnesses for Jesus Christ’ conjures up images of high pressure zealots going door to door with literature or of sidewalk preachers yelling at people to repent. But being a witness for Christ doesn’t have to be a negative thing. A man I know is a successful businessperson and a committed follower of Christ. A co-worker of his had always spurned Christ and the Church. But as this co-worker observed the purposefulness and the joy of his believing colleague and how he seemed to maintain his balance and his hope even when bad things happened, he was impressed. When the co-worker’s life hit a terrible snag, he approached my friend and asked why Christ made such a difference in his life. My friend was able to say that while of course, neither he or his life were perfect, it was Jesus Christ Who made all the difference in his world. Through that man’s witness, that co-worker came to faith in Christ and his life has changed dramatically for the better. Witnesses for Christ are the ones who turn aside from catching butterflies in order to bring life to a world that is dying without Jesus!
[more to come below...]
By Being a Witness
Mark 6:1-13
[Shared with the people of Friendship Church, July 6, 2003]
There’s a true story told of a Russian novelist whose hobby was catching and mounting butterflies. One day while out on an expedition, he spied a specie of butterfly not yet included in his collection. He caught it and came home to his wife, excited about his find. Then, as an afterthought, he mentioned that while out in the rough hills, he’d encountered a man who had fallen and was bleeding badly. “Did you help him?” the writer’s wife wondered. “No,” he said blankly, “I had to catch that butterfly.”
We hear stories like that and we shake our heads. We wonder how people can be so cruel and insensitive. Yet, when I examine my life with something approaching objectivity, I realize that I too can be cruel and insensitive. I sometimes wonder how often in my lifetime I’ve had the ability to give someone encouragement, hope, or life and have failed to do so. How many times have I been so hung up on my agenda that I have overlooked the people around me who have been laid low by life, who are dying in one way or another?
The Bible makes it clear that without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we human beings have no hope for this life or the next. Jesus came into this world to show the compassionate face of God to the whole human race. Although every person is born a slave of sin, Jesus can set us free. When we repent—that means to turn away from sin and turn toward Christ—we receive forgiveness for our sin. The wall that exists between us and the perfect God of the universe from the moment we’re born is torn down for us by Christ. When we trust Jesus as our only God and Savior, we become reconciled to God and we have life with Him forever.
And every person who has received the gifts of reconciliation with God and new life through Jesus Christ has a mission. We’re called to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. It’s okay to spend time catching butterflies, or playing football, or writing poetry, or selling software, or installing plumbing, fixing cars, raising children, reading the latest Harry Potter book, savoring a pizza, or any of the millions and millions of other things we might do in the course of our days. But we’re not ever to be so focused on those things that we neglect our highest goal as human beings and our greatest task as followers of Jesus Christ: to rescue people who will die unless they know Jesus too. We are to be witnesses for Jesus Christ.
I know...just the phrase “witnesses for Jesus Christ’ conjures up images of high pressure zealots going door to door with literature or of sidewalk preachers yelling at people to repent. But being a witness for Christ doesn’t have to be a negative thing. A man I know is a successful businessperson and a committed follower of Christ. A co-worker of his had always spurned Christ and the Church. But as this co-worker observed the purposefulness and the joy of his believing colleague and how he seemed to maintain his balance and his hope even when bad things happened, he was impressed. When the co-worker’s life hit a terrible snag, he approached my friend and asked why Christ made such a difference in his life. My friend was able to say that while of course, neither he or his life were perfect, it was Jesus Christ Who made all the difference in his world. Through that man’s witness, that co-worker came to faith in Christ and his life has changed dramatically for the better. Witnesses for Christ are the ones who turn aside from catching butterflies in order to bring life to a world that is dying without Jesus!
[more to come below...]
Saturday, July 05, 2003
ARE YOU WHO YOU WANT TO BE?...NEITHER AM I!
The latest CD release from Switchfoot, “The Beautiful Letdown” has a song in which lead singer Jon Foreman asks, “This is your life, are you who you want to be?”
Maybe it’s because I’m careening toward age fifty in November. Maybe it’s because my family and I are dealing with so many transitions in our lives right, but that question—”This is your life, are you who you want to be?”—smacked me in the forehead when I first heard it and made me ask, “Well, Mark, are you who you want to be?”
I have to say that the answer is Yes...and No.
Yes, I’m happy to be a husband to a patient, loving wife after nearly twenty-nine years of marriage. She’s had to endure my many faults and stupidities for us to achieve that landmark and I’m grateful.
Yes, I’m happy to be the father of two great kids of whom I am so proud.
Yes, I’m happy that God has given me useful work that I enjoy. I’m happy that the congregation I serve as pastor is doing well and that whenever people visit with us at Friendship, they say things like: “This is how religion is supposed to be.”
But no, I am not who I want to be. I get disgusted with myself. Although I know full well the truth of the bumper sticker author who wrote, “Christians aren’t perfect...just forgiven,” I find it vastly more difficult to forgive myself than God does. I can be embarrassingly selfish and incredibly inconsiderate of others, can say harsh things to my family, and in spite of how this little mea culpa may seem, I’m often quick to rationalize every wrong thing that I do.
My sense of disgust with myself extends to my achievements in life...or lack thereof. While I’ve experienced enough life to know that I don’t have the talent to be a modern day Leonardo da Vinci or Benjamin Franklin, boyhood fantasies I once entertained, I do sometimes stew over dying of “permanent potential.” I know that all of life is a gift from God and that most of the time, I am prone to squander it on selfish, pointless pursuits.
According to the wonderful book, “The Life You’ve Always Wanted” by John Ortberg, such thoughts can be dangerous unless we first take the step of putting ourselves in the hands of God. Failing that, self-critical thoughts will only lead us to self-loathing with no hope for healing or positive change. God doesn’t want that to happen to us!
When God came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, the heart of God was on full display. Through Jesus, we see that God isn’t an angry judge looking for opportunities to “vote us off the island.” God wants us to place ourselves—sins, infirmities, and everything—into His hands. When we do that, God commits Himself to patiently helping us learn to become who both God and we want us to be.
A man named Paul wrote a huge chunk of the New Testament. He wrestled with the reality of his own sins and inadequacies, even attempting various self-improvement regimens. But he writes in the New Testament book of Romans, chapter 7: “I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something terribly different.”
Are you who you want to be? This side of heaven, none of us will be all we want to be. But Christ is the way to becoming that person, starting today and perfected in the world to come. Thank God!
The latest CD release from Switchfoot, “The Beautiful Letdown” has a song in which lead singer Jon Foreman asks, “This is your life, are you who you want to be?”
Maybe it’s because I’m careening toward age fifty in November. Maybe it’s because my family and I are dealing with so many transitions in our lives right, but that question—”This is your life, are you who you want to be?”—smacked me in the forehead when I first heard it and made me ask, “Well, Mark, are you who you want to be?”
I have to say that the answer is Yes...and No.
Yes, I’m happy to be a husband to a patient, loving wife after nearly twenty-nine years of marriage. She’s had to endure my many faults and stupidities for us to achieve that landmark and I’m grateful.
Yes, I’m happy to be the father of two great kids of whom I am so proud.
Yes, I’m happy that God has given me useful work that I enjoy. I’m happy that the congregation I serve as pastor is doing well and that whenever people visit with us at Friendship, they say things like: “This is how religion is supposed to be.”
But no, I am not who I want to be. I get disgusted with myself. Although I know full well the truth of the bumper sticker author who wrote, “Christians aren’t perfect...just forgiven,” I find it vastly more difficult to forgive myself than God does. I can be embarrassingly selfish and incredibly inconsiderate of others, can say harsh things to my family, and in spite of how this little mea culpa may seem, I’m often quick to rationalize every wrong thing that I do.
My sense of disgust with myself extends to my achievements in life...or lack thereof. While I’ve experienced enough life to know that I don’t have the talent to be a modern day Leonardo da Vinci or Benjamin Franklin, boyhood fantasies I once entertained, I do sometimes stew over dying of “permanent potential.” I know that all of life is a gift from God and that most of the time, I am prone to squander it on selfish, pointless pursuits.
According to the wonderful book, “The Life You’ve Always Wanted” by John Ortberg, such thoughts can be dangerous unless we first take the step of putting ourselves in the hands of God. Failing that, self-critical thoughts will only lead us to self-loathing with no hope for healing or positive change. God doesn’t want that to happen to us!
When God came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, the heart of God was on full display. Through Jesus, we see that God isn’t an angry judge looking for opportunities to “vote us off the island.” God wants us to place ourselves—sins, infirmities, and everything—into His hands. When we do that, God commits Himself to patiently helping us learn to become who both God and we want us to be.
A man named Paul wrote a huge chunk of the New Testament. He wrestled with the reality of his own sins and inadequacies, even attempting various self-improvement regimens. But he writes in the New Testament book of Romans, chapter 7: “I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something terribly different.”
Are you who you want to be? This side of heaven, none of us will be all we want to be. But Christ is the way to becoming that person, starting today and perfected in the world to come. Thank God!
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
Allowing redundance to be driven into the ground, once again, I post this announcement. If you're in the Columbus area tonight, don't miss this special show to help a family in need...
COMEDY CONCERT TO BENEFIT ARSON ATTACK CHILD SURVIVORS
Reynoldsburg, OH - On June 16th a home was set on fire by arsonists. The family of Five (5) was sleeping. This attack took the life of a mother (Pamela Lee) of 3 children and her 8 year old daughter, Ti'ana Lee. The home was destroyed. Left behind to rebuild their lives are an aunt and the two young sons of Ms. Lee, Tremon and Marquis.
On July 2, 2003 a group of area comedians will be performing a benefit concert at Three Cups Coffeehouse 7524 East Main Street in Reynoldsburg to establish a trust fund in their names for future education, career or business dreams.
Performing at this benefit will be area comedians...
Dan Swartwout
Dawn Holley
Roxane Larimore
Kirk Crawford
and Marty Daniels
The show begins at 7:00 PM. A financial donation will be taken at the door.
Those not able to make it to the show can contact Sally Mowery at Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation by calling 614-422-3171 or emailing her at sally.mowery@chase.com.
COMEDY CONCERT TO BENEFIT ARSON ATTACK CHILD SURVIVORS
Reynoldsburg, OH - On June 16th a home was set on fire by arsonists. The family of Five (5) was sleeping. This attack took the life of a mother (Pamela Lee) of 3 children and her 8 year old daughter, Ti'ana Lee. The home was destroyed. Left behind to rebuild their lives are an aunt and the two young sons of Ms. Lee, Tremon and Marquis.
On July 2, 2003 a group of area comedians will be performing a benefit concert at Three Cups Coffeehouse 7524 East Main Street in Reynoldsburg to establish a trust fund in their names for future education, career or business dreams.
Performing at this benefit will be area comedians...
Dan Swartwout
Dawn Holley
Roxane Larimore
Kirk Crawford
and Marty Daniels
The show begins at 7:00 PM. A financial donation will be taken at the door.
Those not able to make it to the show can contact Sally Mowery at Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation by calling 614-422-3171 or emailing her at sally.mowery@chase.com.
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Being redundant for web surfers in the Columbus area...
COMEDY CONCERT TO BENEFIT ARSON ATTACK CHILD SURVIVORS
Reynoldsburg, OH - On June 16th a home was set on fire by arsonists. The family of Five (5) was sleeping. This attack took the life of a mother (Pamela Lee) of 3 children and her 8 year old daughter, Ti'ana Lee. The home was destroyed. Left behind to rebuild their lives are an aunt and the two young sons of Ms. Lee, Tremon and Marquis.
On July 2, 2003 a group of area comedians will be performing a benefit concert at Three Cups Coffeehouse 7524 East Main Street in Reynoldsburg to establish a trust fund in their names for future education, career or business dreams.
Performing at this benefit will be area comedians...
Dan Swartwout
Dawn Holley
Roxane Larimore
Kirk Crawford
and Marty Daniels
The show begins at 7:00 PM. A financial donation will be taken at the door.
Those not able to make it to the show can contact Sally Mowery at Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation by calling 614-422-3171 or emailing her at sally.mowery@chase.com.
COMEDY CONCERT TO BENEFIT ARSON ATTACK CHILD SURVIVORS
Reynoldsburg, OH - On June 16th a home was set on fire by arsonists. The family of Five (5) was sleeping. This attack took the life of a mother (Pamela Lee) of 3 children and her 8 year old daughter, Ti'ana Lee. The home was destroyed. Left behind to rebuild their lives are an aunt and the two young sons of Ms. Lee, Tremon and Marquis.
On July 2, 2003 a group of area comedians will be performing a benefit concert at Three Cups Coffeehouse 7524 East Main Street in Reynoldsburg to establish a trust fund in their names for future education, career or business dreams.
Performing at this benefit will be area comedians...
Dan Swartwout
Dawn Holley
Roxane Larimore
Kirk Crawford
and Marty Daniels
The show begins at 7:00 PM. A financial donation will be taken at the door.
Those not able to make it to the show can contact Sally Mowery at Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation by calling 614-422-3171 or emailing her at sally.mowery@chase.com.
Today's e-mailed inspiration from Pastor Glen VanderKloot is something I just have to share on my blog. If you'd like to receive Glen's daily e-mails, write him at pastor@faithlutheran.com.
****************************************************
A Thought for the Day
10 things God wants you to remember
I will strengthen you.
I will answer you.
I will provide for you.
I will be with you.
I will give you rest.
I will bless you.
I will not fail you.
I believe in you.
I am for you.
I love you.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Bible Verse
1 John 3:1 NIV
"How great is the Love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God!"
Prayer
Lord, help me to trust you and your love. Amen.
****************************************************
A Thought for the Day
10 things God wants you to remember
I will strengthen you.
I will answer you.
I will provide for you.
I will be with you.
I will give you rest.
I will bless you.
I will not fail you.
I believe in you.
I am for you.
I love you.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Bible Verse
1 John 3:1 NIV
"How great is the Love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God!"
Prayer
Lord, help me to trust you and your love. Amen.
Monday, June 30, 2003
"People of the Lie"
A woman used to delight my family and me with tales from her life, usually chronicling her encounters with ridiculous people. In all of her stories, she was the sensible heroine, the last intelligent life form on the planet, doing battle with people who were either stupid or mean or both.
Charmed by this woman's intelligence, we at first took in her doses of megalomania with good humor. We all tend to flatter ourselves. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," the Bible reminds us. My nearly half-century on this planet has shown me that that's certainly true of me: I do sin and fall far short not only of the way God wants me to live, but even of the way I would like to live. An awareness of my huge imperfections tends to make me charitable toward others' foibles.
But as we became more acquainted with this person, something alarming happened. Her stories and her opinions about others became more cutting, nastier. Her world began to be composed of her and of whoever happened to be kissing her ring at any given time. It was a world that shrank to small dimensions. Those she once embraced as dear friends were dismissed if they got in the way of her agenda.
She also attempted to enlist others in lying for her, coaching them to fib about her whereabouts and availability for those she once called her best friends. When people refused to lie for her, they were crossed off her list of friends.
In fact, it became obvious that lying was this woman's way of life. The seemingly innocent stories that had at first charmed us took on a more sinister air. As increasingly we caught her lying and scheming to lie, we couldn't help but wonder, "What other lies that we once accepted as the truth has she told us?" Or, "What lies might she have told about us?"
Those were jolting questions.
All our interactions with people--whether with the meat-cutter at the supermarket, the co-worker on the assembly line, the pharmacist filling our prescription, or the employee at the day care center--depend on trust. That's why Jesus said that we shouldn't have to go through elaborate rituals to assure that what we say is the truth. "Let your answer simply be yes or no," Jesus said.
I suppose that all of us have lied. Sometimes we may even lie to protect people from being hurt and there may be virtue in that. But as a way of life, deceit is destructive of friendships and of societies.
Psychotherapist M. Scott Peck wrote a best-selling book several years ago called People of the Lie. In it, he asserted that there are people--some of them warming seats in church buildings on Sunday mornings, some considered the pillars of society--who are given over completely to evil. They are like the people Jesus excoriated in John 8, children of the devil who, when they lie, are simply speaking according to their natures.
My family and I have learned from painful personal experience that such people exist and that when we encounter them, the best thing to do is to walk the other way.
Charmed by this woman's intelligence, we at first took in her doses of megalomania with good humor. We all tend to flatter ourselves. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," the Bible reminds us. My nearly half-century on this planet has shown me that that's certainly true of me: I do sin and fall far short not only of the way God wants me to live, but even of the way I would like to live. An awareness of my huge imperfections tends to make me charitable toward others' foibles.
But as we became more acquainted with this person, something alarming happened. Her stories and her opinions about others became more cutting, nastier. Her world began to be composed of her and of whoever happened to be kissing her ring at any given time. It was a world that shrank to small dimensions. Those she once embraced as dear friends were dismissed if they got in the way of her agenda.
She also attempted to enlist others in lying for her, coaching them to fib about her whereabouts and availability for those she once called her best friends. When people refused to lie for her, they were crossed off her list of friends.
In fact, it became obvious that lying was this woman's way of life. The seemingly innocent stories that had at first charmed us took on a more sinister air. As increasingly we caught her lying and scheming to lie, we couldn't help but wonder, "What other lies that we once accepted as the truth has she told us?" Or, "What lies might she have told about us?"
Those were jolting questions.
All our interactions with people--whether with the meat-cutter at the supermarket, the co-worker on the assembly line, the pharmacist filling our prescription, or the employee at the day care center--depend on trust. That's why Jesus said that we shouldn't have to go through elaborate rituals to assure that what we say is the truth. "Let your answer simply be yes or no," Jesus said.
I suppose that all of us have lied. Sometimes we may even lie to protect people from being hurt and there may be virtue in that. But as a way of life, deceit is destructive of friendships and of societies.
Psychotherapist M. Scott Peck wrote a best-selling book several years ago called People of the Lie. In it, he asserted that there are people--some of them warming seats in church buildings on Sunday mornings, some considered the pillars of society--who are given over completely to evil. They are like the people Jesus excoriated in John 8, children of the devil who, when they lie, are simply speaking according to their natures.
My family and I have learned from painful personal experience that such people exist and that when we encounter them, the best thing to do is to walk the other way.
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