Saturday Links: Evotional, Lowery, Ransomed Heart

Here are some of the posts/articles I enjoyed this week:

The Founding Fathers - Mark Batterson, Evotional.com (a HT to Mike Andrews at theoquest who linked to this earlier)
A Teachable Professor Among Teachable Students - Robert Lowery
A Quart in my Tank - John Eldredge

Me Time or God Time?

Have you ever needed “me time”? The day has been long and hard, and now you want to take some time to relax and not think about things. You grab a beer, a bowl of ice cream, or cookies and milk and then sit down in front of the television. All you want is to unwind and to let go of the tension of the day.

John Eldredge talks about (in his book Walking with God and his audio teaching The Utter Relief of Holiness) how he developed a habit of coming home after a hard day and grabbing a beer, “just to take the edge off.” He goes on to talk about how he realized that is where he was turning to for comfort. “Never once,” he said, “did I think about turning to God for comfort.”

Last night I was feeling out of sorts, and so I walked into my study to grab book. The book I settled on was The World’s Last Night and Other Essays by C. S. Lewis. I was about half way through the second page when I had this thought, “Why not the Bible?” That is a good question. Why is my first instinct when I experience these times in my life is to grab a book about God rather than God’s Word? Why am I content to learn more about God rather than spending time with God?

Pardon me if I am speaking out of turn, but I think this is one of the reasons so many of us feel disconnected from God. It is no secret that life is busy, hectic, and filled with problem people and at the end of the day we are exhausted both emotionally and physically. All we want is a little me time. So we turn on the TV, we log on to Facebook, we grab a beer, we lose ourselves on the golf course, we open up the sports page, or read a good book (ladies what do you do?). Instead of turning to God we turn to ourselves for comfort.

The example of Jesus is so different. I know that comes as a shock to us, but nevertheless I think it needs to be pointed out. Matthew 14 and Mark 6 records one of the most difficult days of Jesus’ life. The day starts with the news of John the Baptizer’s death. Mark tells us that Jesus wanted to get away from the crowds and find a quiet place to rest, but the crowds wouldn’t let them. When He saw the crowds Jesus had compassion on them and He taught and healed. At the end of the day He miraculously provided food for the huge crowd with five loaves of bread and two fish.

I think we find a very important here a very important point: when we are moved by compassion we need to help, regardless of how tired we may be. There are times when we need to push on because people are depending on us. Parents, you know exactly what I am talking about. Your opportunities for rest are few and far between, but because raising your children is so important you do what needs to be done even when you are tired.

Returning to the story of Jesus, once everyone had left, Jesus sent his disciples away by boat, while he went way to pray. This is what Matthew tells us: Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…(Matthew 14:22, 23; ESV).

When given the opportunity Jesus arranges for time alone. This tells us that we need to be intentional in taking time off, we can’t expect it just to happen. Jesus sent His disciples away so He can be alone, but He doesn’t use this time as “me time”. Instead we are told He went to pray. Jesus went to connect with His Heavenly Father. He didn’t waste these few precious moments, instead He used them to get what He will needed: God. The reason Jesus could show compassion to the crowds was because He had a strong connection with God. The reason Jesus had a strong connection with God was because He used what little time He had to be alone to worship God.

When we are feeling out of sorts, when we are need of some comfort, or when we need to be re-energized I hope that we will turn to God instead of trying to carve out “me time”. Sure “me time” will give us momentary relief, but only time spent with God will give us the strength we need to accomplish His purpose for our lives. Jesus showed us the importance of having “God time” and if we are going to be like Jesus we need to follow that example.

Meaning is a Gift from God

“There is no other rational starting point for life than God. That is the axis upon which life turns. That is the source from which life begins. That is the reference from which all definitions arise.” ~ Ravi Zacharias; Cries of the Heart

To truly understand life and our purpose we have to begin with God. Since God is the Creator, He alone is able to answer the question of life's purpose. To seek the answer in anything or anyone else is meaningless. Unless we start with God, we will fail to see purpose in our lives.

God gives life its meaning. In Him we discover that there is a purpose to life and there is a reason for our existence. God gives hope to an otherwise meaningless existence. Think about it. If there is no God and we are just accidents of natural process then our lives would be meaningless. We would have no reason to live a moral life and no reason to try to make things better. If God did not exist then there is no standard of morality. What is right is determined by an individual. We would be ruled more by instinct than rational moral thought.

The book of Ecclesiastes details Solomon's search for meaning in life. He sought meaning in wisdom, work, justice, family, and pleasure. As he thought about these things he came to the conclusion they were all meaningless. In Ecclesiastes 2:17 he writes; So now I hate life because everything done here under the sun is so irrational. Everything is meaningless, like chasing the wind (NLT). Solomon experienced the greatest aspects of life, and in the end he saw them as meaningless. Nothing he did could provide the meaning for his life.

Solomon was very blessed by God, but he didn't obey God's law. He did his own thing a married women from other cultures who brought their religious beliefs to Jerusalem. Solomon's wives turned him away from God and to worship their gods. Living apart from God, Solomon discovered life was meaningless. No other god, no other philosophy, nothing under the sun could give meaning to life.

Through this process Solomon realized the need of God in his life. He discovered only God gives meaning to life. This is Solomon's conclusion; Here is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad (NLT). Solomon finally understood that unless we fear God and obey Him our lives will be meaningless. It isn't just a belief in God which gives meaning, for Solomon always had that, it is the fear and obedience of God which gives meaning to life.

Life will be meaningless if we live apart from God. Giving our lives away in obedience to our Creator gives our lives the meaning we so desperately need. We realize that our lives can have a significant impact on the people around us. It becomes obvious that life isn't about us, but it is about God, our Creator and Redeemer. Apart from God life will always be meaningless. Only the Creator knows the meaning of life.

Let God Take Care of the Rest

Sin is a constant thorn in our side. The deeper we grow in our relationship with God the more obvious our sin becomes. We begin to understand why God hates sin and why it destroys our relationship with Him. Even with this knowledge sin remains a continual problem for us.

I say this, not to excuse the sin in our lives, but to remind us of what repentance really is. Repentance means to change our allegiance. We are to defect from the ways of this world and commit to the ways of Jesus. I believe this is where many of us go wrong. We feel sorry for the sin in our lives, but we don’t want to give up the things of this world. This results in continued bondage to sin.

Writing to Christians in Ephesus the apostle Paul wrote:

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity (Ephesians 4:17-19; ESV).

I want us to pay attention to what Paul is writing to Christians. First, he tells them that they are not to walk (or to live) like the Gentiles (unbelievers) do. The Apostle expects followers of Christ to make an intentional decision to change their lives, which begins with their priorities. Second, Paul tells these Christians that the way that unbelievers live keeps them alienated from God and gives them a hard heart. What is the implication for Christians who continue to follow the ways of unbelievers? They too will be alienated from God and become hard hearted. If we are struggling with sin in our lives it could be that we have never truly repented and that we are still following the ways of the world.

Let’s continue with Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:


But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:20-24; ESV).

Again we find ourselves at the point of having to make a decision. The first decision Paul tells us to make is the decision to reject the way of the world. The second decision to to allow our minds to be renewed. This is the second mistake many of us make. We think we have to be the ones to renew our minds, and so we establish all these little rules and disciplines to try to change our thinking. Yet it doesn’t seem to work. We keep telling ourselves that we need to try a little harder or that we need to add more structure to our lives and become more discipline. In the end many of us become exhausted because it as hard as we try we just can’t seem to renew our minds.

This is the bolt of truth that hit me this weekend: I am not the one who does the renewing! I can’t do it! I am living life in the flesh which has been corrupted by sin, and try as I might I can’t break free. My life has constantly felt like taking one step forward and two steps back, and it is trying and discouraging.

Here is what we need to do in order to have our minds renewed and to receive God’s righteousness: surrender. Offer our lives to God everyday through prayer. Admit that we don’t have what takes, pour out our hearts desire to Him, and commit to following wherever He leads.

This is how Paul describes it in Romans:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:1-2; ESV).

In salvation there are things that God expects us to do (respond in faith, repent, surrender), but there are other things that only God can do. Perhaps it is time that we stop trying to do what only God can do and focus on what He expects from us.

The Courageous Christian #2

It is easy to live a life of fear. All around us there are reasons to be fearful. We can live in fear because of the economy or climate change. We can be afraid because of changing morals or which political party controls the government. We can live with the fear that our children will be influenced by the wrong people or that we will be hit by a bus when we step out on the street. If we allowed it to fear could paralyze our lives.

God does not want His people to be held back by fear. He wants us to live life, to engage the culture, and to stand up and fight for His Kingdom. In other words, God wants us to be different.

Remember what the apostle Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7? The Apostle wrote; “...for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline” (NRSV). God has given us the Holy Spirit so we wouldn’t be cowards, but would be heroes that make a difference for Him. We have courage when we trust God. Every Christian who has ever faced an unappealing task, has found their courage in God to do it.

That reality was true with the Apostles as well. I want us to focus on Acts 4:5-22 today. To give you background on what has happened. Peter and John went to the Temple to worship and preach. On their way into the temple they came across a man who had been lame for 40 years. He asked them for money, and Peter and John healed him. As the man ran and jumped, praising God, Peter and John spoke to the people. As they were speaking the Temple guards came to arrest them, for what they were saying was disturbing the religious leaders. Now it is the next day, and Peter and John have their day in court.

On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, By what power or by what name did you do this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old. (Acts 4:5-22; ESV)

In the next two installments we will look at two ingredients for Christian courage that we find in this passage, but right now I want us to understand a very important truth. We will be opposed, even when we do good things, when we go in the name of Jesus. I want us to remember this because it will be disheartening and we will want to give up, but we have to continue. Jesus never said it will be easy, and it is my belief that is through these tough circumstances, when we want to give up, that our faith is grown the most. That is why courage is so vital to our lives as followers of Christ.

Monday Sermon: Pause to Praise

This is the third sermon in the Pause series that I preached at the Storm Lake Church of Christ.

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