Missing the Most Important Thing

I wanted to share one of the daily readings I received from Ransomed
Heart Ministeries with you today.

April 22, 2010

Missing the Most Important Thing

We take folks through a discipleship program whereby they master any
number of Christian precepts and miss the most important thing of all,
the very thing for which we were created: intimacy with God. There
are, after all, those troubling words Jesus spoke to those who were
doing all the "right" things: "Then I will tell them plainly,
'I never knew you'" (Matt. 7:23). Knowing God. That's the point.

You might recall the old proverb: "Give a man a fish and you feed him
for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." The
same holds true here. Teach a man a rule and you help him solve a
problem; teach a man to walk with God and you help him solve the rest
of his life. Truth be told, you couldn't master enough principles to
see yourself safely through this Story. There are too many surprises,
ambiguities, exceptions to the rule. Things are hard at work—is it
time to make a move? What has God called you to do with your life?
Things are hard at home—is this just a phase your son is going
through, or should you be more concerned? You can't seem to shake
this depression—is it medical or something darker? What does the
future hold for you—and how should you respond?

Only by walking with God can we hope to find the path that leads to
life. That is what it means to be a disciple. After all—aren't we
"followers of Christ"? Then by all means, let's actually follow
him. Not ideas about him. Not just his principles. Him.

(Waking the Dead , 96–97)

Sent from my iPod

What is Holiness?

I am starting a four week this Sunday entitled The Utter Relief of  Holiness (the title is borrowed from John Eldredge). One of the first  tasks I had to do in putting together this series was to define what  holiness is. I think holiness is one of the good church words that we  use regularly, but are unsure of what it actually is. We might have a  faint idea, but if we are asked to define it we realize that we don't  really have a firm grasp what holiness really is.  That was the  problem I ran into as I pondered what I wanted to communicate.

I turned to the dictionaries for help (two English dictionaries and  two Bible dictionaries), but I found them to be of little value. Since  I was still struggling to define holiness I turned to my older brother  to see if he could help clarify my thoughts. Tom gave me the  definition of holiness that he has used and something clicked. The  definition that he uses is set apart from the ordinary. When I put  that definition on top of text I had decided to use, 1 Peter 1:13-25, the accuracy  of that definition was clearly seen.

So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.  For the Scriptures say, "You must be holy because I am holy."

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no  favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as "foreigners in the land." For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say,

"People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades.  But the word of the Lord remains forever."

 And that word is the Good News that was preached to you (NLT).

Did you notice how the things of God are contrasted with the things of this world? God’s people are to live as obedient children rather than living to satisfy our own desires.  Christians are to life as foreigners rather than to accept the traditions of the people of this world.  We are ransomed, not by silver and gold, but the precious blood of Christ Jesus.  To be holy is to be separated from the ordinary things of the world.

As God's holy people we are set apart from the ordinary way of living in this world.  We are set apart, not by ordinary things like silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Jesus.

Holiness comes down to being set apart, and we don't set ourselves apart from the world, but we are set apart by God. Therefore we don't become holy by our own effort, but we absolutely surrender to God and allow Him to use us for His purposes.

Great Friendships

One of the virtues that runs through J. R. R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings is the virtue of friendship.  It is obvious to anyone who has read the story that Tokien put a lot of value in the positive impact friendships can have in our lives.  One of the places this value is seen is during the selection process of people who will make up the fellowship.

‘But that will leave no place for us!’ cried Pippin in dismay. ‘We don’t want to be left behind. We want to go with Frodo.’

‘That is because you do not understand and cannot imagine what lies ahead,’ said Elrond.
‘Neither does Frodo,’ said Gandalf, unexpectedly supporting Pippin. ‘Nor do any of us see clearly. It is true that if these hobbits understood the danger, they would not dare go. But they would still wish to go, or wish that they dared, and be shamed and unhappy. I think, Elrond, that in this matter it would be well to trust rather to their friendship than to great wisdom. Even if you chose for us an elf-lord, such as Glorfindel, he could not storm the Dark Tower, nor open the road to the Fire by the power that is in him’ (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; p. 310 ; emphasis added)

I would suggest that the desire for good strong friendship is a desire each one of us possesses. We long to have people in our lives that we can count on through thick and thin. People who we know will be there for us no matter what happens. People who we can love, serve, and with whom we live life.

Let’s face it, this world has hardship and pain in store for us. I am willing to be that if we received right now the detailed accounting of the rest of our lives each and every one of us would be afraid to continue. Our future holds the death of loved ones, the slow decay of our bodies, money problems, relationship issues, and various other struggles. The future is a scary place.

We can come up with answers and theories for all these various problems on this side of our lives, before we go through those trials, but those theories mean little once we get there. C. S. Lewis wrote the book The Problem of Pain which gave a logical and thought out answer to why a loving God allows pain and suffering in this world. Those answers provided little comfort as he dealt with his wife’s death and authored A Grief Observed.

What will get us through the through the tough times that lie ahead is not just wisdom and truth, but also the love and encouragement found in friendships. In the dark times in our lives what we need most are not answers to questions but companionship. We need people willing to come alongside of us and offer a word of encouragement, to serve us in our needs, and to show us they love us when the loneliness threatens to overwhelm us.

This type of companionship is to be found in the church.  Consider what the Bible says about what our relationships with other Christians should look like:

Pay all your debts, except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying that! If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill all the requirements of God’s law (Romans 13:8; NLT).

Follow God’s example in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, because that sacrifice was like sweet perfume to him ( Ephesians 5:1-2; NLT).

Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25; NLT).

We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters. But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help—how can God’s love be in that person? (1 John 3:16-17; NLT)

God wants us to love each other.  So our church families should be refuges from the divisions, gossip, and hatred that plagues the world.  Yet, I believe that within this big picture we need a group of 5-10 fellow believers that we are intimately connected with, people we know have our backs. That is how we are going to make it through life.

God could have revealed to us all the secrets of the universe and given us all the wisdom we need to answer any question that came up as we live our lives. Instead God provide us with the church and from within the church He has provided us with friends. Great wisdom and knowledge are not the only provisions we need to get through this life, we also need great friendships.  I hope that you have a few.

Part of God's People

It feels good to belong. Few are the people who are comfortable living on their own in self-imposed seclusion. Most of us have a desire to be involved with other people. We start families, join clubs, and are active in a local church partly because of desire to be with other people, to be part of the group.

What we discover in the second chapter of 1 Peter is that as Christians we do belong to something. In verses 4-8 we discover that we are living stones which God is using to construct a spiritual building. In verses 9-12 Peter switches metaphors. Not only are we God’s building, but we are also God’s people.

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
“Once you were not a people; now you are the people of God. Once you received none of God’s mercy; now you have received his mercy.”

Dear brothers and sisters, you are foreigners and aliens here. So I warn you to keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls. Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God when he comes to judge the world ( 1 Peter 2:9-12; NLT).

One of the great concerns of life is the struggle to find a group to which we can belong. To belong requires the right clothes, the right income level, cheering for the right team, voting for the party, or a dozen of things which give us a common experience with other people.  One of God’s purposes for the Church is to give people a place to belong, it would be such a great act of love if we remembered that reality.

I want to remind you that God is in the process of saving, not just a person, but a people. When we give our lives to Jesus we become part of the people God has chosen in advance to save. That means we are God’s Chosen People!

Peter says we are also a Kingdom of Priests. The primary function of a priest is to act as a mediator between God and man. To be a priest means we have the privilege of standing in the gap between people and God in order to allow them to see God’s love through our lives. We offer them a word from God, we offer up prayers to God on their behalf, and we serve them in love to meet their needs. This means that we are conscious of the fact that we are God’s representatives on earth and that His works of love and mercy will often happen through our choice to serve people. To be part of God’s people means to be a priest.

Not only are we called to priests, but we are also called to be foreigners and aliens. While we experience acceptance from God as we become part of the Church, we also experience rejection by the world. Not only will the world reject us because of the way we live, but we will also begin to reject more and more of what the world has to offer. We will begin to recognize that what we truly desire is not what this current world has to offer, but rather the new world that God is creating for His people. The desire of a far distant country, the Promised Land and the Eternal Rest, will grow in our hearts.

This world may not be our home, but God still expects us to live in a way that will bring honor to Him. It is important to God that we live in such a way that people who reject God will honor Him when the right time comes. Our lives will be the testimony God’s love and grace so people will realize that they are without excuse.

For Christians who were face persecution and death because of what they believed these were encouraging words. It reminds them that even though the world had rejected them they were still God’s Chosen People.

I believe this is also a reminder that we need to take to heart. While this world can offer us many distractions, and though our hearts may begin to burn with desire for them, we need to remember that they are just temporary. This world is ultimately just the route we have to take to get to our ultimate destination, the new heaven and new earth that will be created when Christ Jesus appears again.

We are God’s Chosen People journeying through life together. What a wonderful group to be able to belong to!

Sunday Quote: A Life Possible with God

"A life of absolute surrender has its difficulties.  I do not deny that.  Yes, it has something for more than difficulties: it is a life that with men is absolutely impossible.  But by the grace of God, by the power of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, it is a life to which we are destined, and a life that is possible for us, praise God!  Let us believe that God will maintain it." ~ Andrew Murray, Humility and Absolute Surrender; p. 72)

I Am Powerless

One of the hardest truths to accept as we follow Jesus is how utterly dependent we are upon God.  It is one thing to know and teach this truth, but it is another to truly live it.  My experience has been one that trusted God to save me from the consequences of sin, but sought to rely on my power to escape the power of sin that had a hold of my life.  That is why what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:24 resonated with me so deeply; Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? (NLT).

As I read the chapter O Wretched Man that I Am! in Andrew Murray’s book Absolute Surrender a great truth began to take root in my heart.  Murray writes:


The new will is a permanent gift, and attribute of the new nature.  The power to do is not a permanent gift, but must be each moment received from the Holy Spirit.  It is the man who is conscious of his own impotence as a believer who will learn that by the Holy Spirit he can live a holy life (p. 122; Humility and Absolute Surrender).

While it is true that there is a Divine side and a human side of transformation, the reality is that even what God has left for us to do requires His power.  I can’t crucify my flesh on my own, I can’t love my enemies on my own, and I can’t be holy like God is holy on my own; I need God’s help.

One of the thoughts I had as I pondered Murray’s words was what we lost at the Fall.  You see, Adam and Eve couldn’t live out their design apart from their relationship to God.  They needed that relationship in order to truly be human.  I think we sometimes get the idea that we can get along fine by our own effort, and we only need God’s power when we really get into a jam.  Over and over again we try to change our lives by our own power and to try to work up the love, courage, and strength we need to do the work God has placed before us, and over and over again we fail.  We keep telling ourselves that if we only had more desire or a better plan, then we could accomplish what God wants from our lives, but we never seem to able to muster up what we need.  That is why we are miserable people, because we have new hearts that desire what is right, but our flesh is unable to to do it.

Even in an unfallen state you and I need God’s strength, power, and Spirit to assist us in doing what is right.  That is why the apostle Paul wrote:

Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him (Philippians 2:12-13; NLT).

Paul tells the Philippians that they are to work so that the fruit of salvation could be seen in their lives and that they were to obey God in what He asked them to do.  Yet, what does Paul say in verse 13?  It was God  is working in them that made all that possible.  They would not be able to live lives that pleased God without the reality of God working in their lives.

That brings us back to the Andrew Murray quote.  We can’t change our desires, that is something only God can do, and so the promise of Scripture is that God will give His people new hearts and in the process begin to change our desires.  Yet, the next part is something that we must do, and that is to respond to those new desires by doing what is right.  Too often, at least for me, we have thought this meant that we had to crucify our flesh, that we had to stop doing evil and start doing good, and we always ended up failing.  Which then caused us to feel guilty and unhappy, in other words we began to be miserable.  There has been a time in my life I was so miserable that I was ready to hang Christianity up, not because I thought it was false, but because I thought it was impossible.

It is impossible, but what is impossible for you and me is possible with God.  That is why when it comes to acting out our new nature and living out our new desires the first step isn’t action, but it is surrender.  It is offering our bodies as living sacrifices, which means that we get up on the cross, but we allow the Holy Spirit to pound the nails.  You and I need start each day asking God to fill us with His Spirit and to help us to be loving and courageous, because we cannot live holy lives otherwise. 

I guess what I am trying to say today is this: We cannot live holy lives [lives that love God and love people] until we daily surrender our lives to Him.  That means we have to let go of all of our pride and self-love and humbly give our lives to God.  This is not easy, but I bet that the more we do it the more will begin to look like Jesus, and that will help us to become the people God created us to be.

Sweeting Life

We all know that there is importance to everyday life.  One of the ways we know that life is important is because of the different emotions we feel as we experience different emotions.  Life is important so we throw a party to celebrate an anniversary.  Life is important so we attend the wedding of a close friend, and smile as she receives the kiss from her new husband.  Life is important so we spend hours making ourselves beautiful for prom. Life is important so we jump up and down when Paul Pierce hits a last second shot to beat the Miami Heat in the playoffs.  I hope you see my point.  There  is meaning in our everyday lives.
    
The problem is that we these special moments the central part of what our lives are about.  We tell ourselves that  is through these events that we are able to live the “good life.”  I want to tell you it is not possible.  These things are ultimately unable to give us the sustained joy, peace, and purpose our lives are to have, and in the end they themselves lose their meaning.  The “good life” cannot be discovered in moving from one event to another.
    
These moments are what I would call “life enhancers.”  They have the ability to help us forget the tragedies and struggles of life for awhile, but they can’t satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.  Using these “life enhancers” as the route to a meaningful life is impossible.  It is kin to trying to eat chocolate cream pie to have good health.  It can’t be done.  It may be enjoyable for a time, but sooner or later it will make us sick.
   
Jesus said;  “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep” (John 10:10-11; NLT).  Jesus makes the claim in this passage that he has come to give us a good life.  He is able to do that because he is the Good Shepherd.  A shepherd guides the sheep to where the sheep need to be, he protects the sheep in time of trouble, and he provides what the sheep need for life.  Jesus does all these things through His life, His death, His resurrection, and the gift of His Spirit.  We need to trust Him for life, a life that He described as “rich and satisfying”.
    
What does this require of us?  It requires that we stop trying to find life in the world.  If we think the good life is found in what the world values then we will see Jesus not as the Good Shepherd but as the Great Obstacle.  Because of the love He demonstrated for us on the cross we have to trust that He has our best interests at heart.

Which leads to the second requirement, we have to surrender our lives to Him.  Total surrender is more that just going through a religious ritual of confession, baptism, and church attendance.  It is giving ourselves over to God’s will and power so He can re-create us into the image His Son.

We don’t need to go to the extremes of isolating ourselves from the world, but we need to put the “life enhancers” in their place. Instead of trying to find the “good life” in the important and special moments of life turn to Jesus, who is your true life, so those special “life enhancers” can sweeten that life just a little.

Wisdom is Essential

I don’t care who you are sooner or later life becomes difficult.  For us living in the United States with all of our wealth and technology we experience the tragedies and trials of life, just as the people being oppressed in Third World countries experience the evil side of life.  Certainly they are not the same type of struggles, but they are all difficult.

One of the realities that Followers of Christ must confront is the reality that our faith doesn’t deliver us from these struggles, and at times we could say that our faith increases the difficult of life.  In other words Jesus is not the answer or the key to living a problem and hassle free life.  If that is what we expected when we put our faith in Christ Jesus then we will end up being disappointed.

That doesn’t mean that our hardships have no value.  One of the great promises of the Bible is that God is able to use the bad in this world for our good (Romans 8:28) and therefore we have no reason to despair when life begins to crumble around us.  We need to trust that the One who began to transform our lives will bring this work to completion (Philippians 1:6).  In order to have that type of trust that hopes in the midst of despair we need to remember what God has done for us in the past.

We also need to remember what God is doing in our lives.  Our heavenly Father wants to restore our hearts, souls, and lives to what He intended them to be.  In other words He wants to re-create us into people fit for Heaven.  Part of this process of re-creation requires the furnace of trials.  This is what James wrote concerning these trials; Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4; ESV). 

We are to find joy in the suffering because we know that God is using these trials for our good.  He is purifying our hearts by showing us that we cannot make it through life on our own, that we need to rely and trust Him for our life and our guidance.  God wants us to become perfect and complete, mature men and women who are able to serve Him in His Kingdom.  We can’t become servants until we lay aside our rights and surrender to authority of Christ Jesus.

Let’s face it, this isn’t easy to do.  We can know the doctrine and understand that through the trials of life God is growing us, but in the midst of the pain and struggle we still shake our fist towards Heaven and shout, “Why God are You doing this to me!?” That is why James didn’t finish his teaching with verse 4, because there is something that we need if God is to truly to redeem the hardships and pain of our lives.  That certain something is wisdom.  James goes on to write; If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him (James 1:5; ESV).

Wisdom is the essential component we need to grow into the people God created us to be.  The problem is that wisdom isn’t available at school or even from life experience and so we can’t get wisdom on our own and by our own efforts.  Wisdom comes from God.  We find wisdom in the Bible, but often we don’t understand it for what it is, and so we need to be taught the wisdom that we find on the pages of Scripture. 

How does that happen?  It happens through humility.  We have to get to the point in our lives when we realize that we don’t have what it takes to get through life, let alone to become mature in the process, so that we will turn to God for help.  Humility will drive us to our knees so we will cry out to God for wisdom, and the promise is that God will give us the wisdom that we need. 

Without wisdom we will discover the trials of life serve little value, and thus we will declare that life is meaningless and look for ways to numb ourselves from the pain that we experience.  Wisdom not only helps us see how God is working in our lives, but it also opens our eyes to what God is doing all around us, which will give us peace and joy in the crazy messed up world that we live in. 

We are not going to escape the troubles of life, but with God’s wisdom we will be able to make the most out of the trials we do experience.  God’s wisdom is essential for us to become truly human, the people God created us to be.

The Hope of Remembering

This morning as part of my daily Bible reading I read 2 Chronicles 14, 15, and 16 which summarized the reign of King Asa of Judah.  King Asa was one of the good kings. In chapter 14 we read that, Asa did what was pleasing and good in the sight of YHWH his God (v. 2; NLT).  He led a campaign to rid the country of pagan shrines and worship and he encouraged the people to follow the ways of YHWH, and as a result God gave the land peace.

There was a time when  Zerah from Ethiopia set out to attack Judah with an army of 1,000,000 men.  Asa led his army of 580,000 men against them, but he also called on God for help.  2 Chronicles 14:11 says: 

And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you” (ESV).

The text goes on to say; So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled (2 Chronicles 14:12; ESV).  Not only did Asa and Judah recognize God at work in the victory, but so did the surrounding nations, for they left Judah alone.

That is until King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and captured the city of Ramah.  In response King Asa doesn’t turn to YHWH, but he makes an alliance with King Ben-hadad of Aram.  When I read that I thought, “Why did he do that?  Did he forget how God had already given him a great victory?”  Reading further I realized I wasn’t the only one who asked those questions.  God sent the prophet Hanani to King Asa and Hanani told the King:

“Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars” (2 Chronicles 16:8, 9; ESV).

In response King Asa threw Hanani into prison and began to oppress his people.  For a king who started out with so much promise Asa ended his reign badly.  I think the main reason for this was due to the fact that Asa failed to remember.  He failed to remember God’s Law, which he urged the people to follow when he first become king.  When you forget the principles that make up the foundation of your life then you will experience your life caving in upon you.

Asa also failed to remember God’s mighty power.  God’s power delivered the King and Judah from the mighty army of the Ethiopians, but when Israel invades Asa forgets the previous victory given by the hand of YHWH and turns to an earthly ally.  Instead of experiencing a greater measure of God’s power, Asa experienced the difficulties and defeats of war.

Here is the application I want to make to our lives: we find hope for living by remembering what God has done for us.  It is so easy for me to focus on my present circumstances and forget about how God has worked in my life in the past.  When this happens I feel both hopeless and helpless, because there is nothing that I can do that will change my circumstances.

The moments I discover hope are those moments when I reflect on how God has worked in the past.  For me this begins with the resurrection of Christ Jesus.  Because of Jesus resurrection not only do we look forward to everlasting life with God, but we also can look forward to the restoration and transformation of all of creation.  The resurrection is the “first fruits” of what God is going to do with the Church and with the rest of creation.

The promise of resurrection is vital to our Christian hope, but I also need to remember how God has already come through for me.  It is one thing to continue to look forward, it is another thing to recognize God’s constant help throughout life.  In the Old Testament we read about the men and women of faith erect markers to serve as reminders of God working in their lives.  In the New Testament we discover that Jesus gave us the sacrament of Communion to serve as a reminder of His actions and of our commitment to Him.  Having traditions and markers to serve as reminders of God at work in our lives is essential.

I need to remember how God provided a job when I needed one.  I need to remember how God encouraged me through prayer, Scripture, and people when I needed encouragement.  I need to remember the lessons God has taught me along the way.  This is why I have a shelf in my study devoted to little trinkets, because each one reminds me of God working in my life.  This is why I keep a journal, so I can look back and be reminded of the truth God was teaching me.  These things remind me that I am not alone, that God hasn’t given up on me, and that there is every reason to hold on to hope.

If we don’t intentionally take time to remember what God has done in the past and in our lives we will forget God’s power, love, and grace during those times that we need it most.  Hope during the tough times of life comes through remembering the truth that God has come through in the past, and therefore there is every reason to expect Him to come through in the future.

A Work of Art

Take a moment and make a list of things you want to accomplish with your life.  Before you die what do you want to do?  How do you want your friends and family to remember you?  What is your passion and love?  How do you want your life defined?  Just jot down a note or two, it doesn’t have to be long.  What is your grand dream?
   
I want you to imagine that you are an artist.  I don’t care what type of an artist: a painter, a sculptor, a musician, an author.  You set out to create the work that will define your life.  You put hours of labor and love into the task of creating, sacrificing your free time and your money.  When difficulties arise with your creation, you patiently work out the problems.  Your creation becomes your passion, and you find both joy and frustration as you work on it.  Finally it is ready for the unveiling, and you have a big party for the unveiling. 
   
Your friends, family, and peers are all greatly impressed with your efforts.  Your work is met with critical acclaim, being proclaimed in the papers as a masterpiece.
    
Fast forward twenty years into the future.  One day you are walking the streets of a large city, and on the top of the dumpster is your grand masterpiece.  You look at it and shake your head, for you did not create it for the garbage dump.  You take your work, dust it off, and your begin your work to reclaim it.
  
For we are God’s masterpiece.  He created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things that he planned for us long ago (Ephesians 2:10, NLT).
   
Each and every one of us is a masterpiece.  There are a few differences between us and a work of art.  The first is that we are a work in progress.  At this very moment we are God’s masterpieces, but God is still creating us, making us better.  The second is that we can decide whether or not we want to be made anew.  A piece of clay, a canvas, a hunk of granite, or a piece of paper has no choice of what happens to it.  We have the ability to allow God to influence us, to mold us, to create us, or to tell Him to get away from us.  Third, the destiny of art is rather discouraging.   Sooner or later it will be trashed and destroyed.  Our destiny is so much better.  It is the promise of God that we will not be trashed!  He promises us an abundant life now and everlasting life in Heaven.
   
I want you to look at the list of things you want to accomplish with your life.  As great as some of those things are, God’s plans for you are even greater.  I don’t mean that you will experience more material blessings or even an easier life, but your life will be better.  The only way you will experience that better life is to let God influence your life.  God has to mold you, He has to create you in order for you to meet your destiny.

Living God's Best

We cannot see into the future. There is just no way to accurately predict what will happen in the future and if the plans we have worked so hard on will happen. Life is too unpredictable to be positive that the life we are working to create is actually the best life we could enjoy.

Relying on just what seems best to us does not mean we will enjoy the best life God has planned for us. The life God has planned for us has nothing to do with income and possessions, and everything to do with purpose and significance. We can give our lives away chasing after the "American Dream" and in the end look back on our lives and be disappointed. Regret occurs in our lives, not because we didn't buy the right things, but because we didn't pursue our purpose.

Here is the shocker: the best life is found on the most difficult path. We need to remember that Jesus did not die to make our lives comfortable and secure, rather Jesus died to make us truly alive! There is a huge difference between existing in the "good life" and living the "full life." Don't merely opt for what seems most advisable and desirable to you, but pursue what God offers, even if it takes you very far from home.

Proverbs 14:12 reads; There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death (NLT). In life we all have a path that seems to be right, that seems to be the path of good, but which only leads to regret and death. With our limited knowledge we can spend a life time trying to "live life to fullest" and in the process waste that life we wanted to cherish.

I think a good example of this is Ernest Hemingway. From the time of his boyhood in Oak Park, Illinois, to those teenage summers in northern Michigan, he went after everything that life offered. He became a reporter for the Kansas City Star, served as an ambulance driver in World War I, spent years in Europe, and was intimately involved in the Spanish civil way. In whatever Hemingway did sports, warfare, romance he went for all of it. And, of course he was brilliant. He was a man who did it all.

Carlos Baker wrote these words about Hemingway's final moments:

Sunday morning dawned bright and cloudless. Ernest awoke early as always. He put on the red Emperor's robe and padded softly down the carpeted stairway. The early sunlight lay in pools on the living room floor. He had noticed that the guns were locked up in the basement. But the keys, he well knew, were on the window ledge about the kitchen sink. He tiptoed down the basement stairs and unlocked the storage room. It smelled dank as a grave. He chose a double-barreled shotgun with a tight choke.; He had used it for years of pigeon shooting. He took some shells from one of the boxes in the storage room, closed and locked the door, and climbed the basement stairs. If he saw the bright day outside, it did not deter him. He crossed the living room to the front foyer, a shrinelike entryway, five feet by seven, wit oak-paneled walls and floor of linoleum tile, He slipped in two shells, lowered the gun butt carefully to the floor, leaned forward, pressed the twin barrels against his forehead just above the eyebrows and tripped both triggers (Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story).

Hemingway is an extreme example, not only in the way he ended his life, but also the gusto that he what he wanted. For all his effort to live life Hemingway seemed to have missed it. His life ended with depression and illness that made life seem not to be worth living any longer.

When we live our lives by doing what we think is best we end up missing the best God has planned for us. Instead of finding life we only discover death. Life is only found in listening to God and following Jesus Christ. One of my favorite verses is Acts 20:24. Here Luke is explaining about the Apostle Paul's decision to go to Jerusalem, even though all of Paul's friends and companions have told him not to go. They know that what waits Paul in Jerusalem is nothing but persecution and prison. Paul reminds the Ephesian Elders, who are with him, all that he has done and the mission God has given to him. Then Paul says; But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus‚the work of telling others the Good News about God's wonderful kindness and love (NLT). The value Paul found in life did not come for his ambitions and desires, but rather it was found in his relationship with God. It was this relationship which gave Paul's life meaning, the reason he had endured hardships in the past, and the reason he headed off to face persecution now. Paul lived his "life to the fullest," not doing what seemed best to him, but doing the work God had given him to do.

You can try to find the "good life" by doing what seems best to you, or you can find the "full life" by following Jesus. Those are your two options, but know before hand that only one leads to true life. Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me (John 14:6; NLT).

The Power of Story

"Tolkien, like C. S. Lewis, believed that through story the real world becomes a more magical place, full of meaning. We see its pattern and colour in a fresh way. The recovery of a true view of things applies both to individual things like hills and stones, and to the cosmic depths of space and time itself." ~ Colin Duriez; The J. R. R. Tolkien Handbook: A Concise Guide to His life, Writings, and World of Middle-Earth

The value of stories cannot be overlooked in our lives. Stories have the ability to help us see things clearly when the realities of life have blurred our vision. Stories can bypass our minds and find their mark in our hearts.

King David is an icon of faith. He is called a man after God's heart and is an ancestor of Jesus. Yet we know that David was far from perfect. He committed adultery and tried to cover his sin with murder. Here is a point that is often overlooked in this part of David's life. Uriah was a Hittite and one of David's thirty Mighty Men. He was loyal to David, and David stole his wife and had Uriah killed. Think about the treachery that David participated in an attempt to keep his name clean. When the deed was done David had no remorse.

A year passes, the baby conceived in the adulterous affair is born, and David continues with his life like nothing happened. Though I have begun to wonder if Bathsheba didn't begin to resent David for what he did. With Uriah she was the apple of his eye, loved cared for, and cherished and with David she became just another wife in his harem.

Then one day Nathan the Prophet shows up. "Hey, your Majesty," he says to King David. "I have this story to tell." David replies, "I would like to hear your story." Nathan tells the King a story about two men. One man is rich he has herds, flocks, and fields. The other man is poor and his family's one good possession was a little ewe lamb. One day the rich man has guests and the man sends his servants over to the poor man's house to take his one ewe lamb for the first.

David is angered by the story and says the rich man should not only be forced to pay the lamb, but he should be put to death as well. Nathan's reply is great, "You are that man." Through a story David was convicted of the sin he committed that laid aside for more than a year. For a year David went to the Temple, observed the Sabbath, and prayed but he never repented from his sin. He would not let truth enter his heart. Nathan's story entered the back door of David's heart and caught the King off guard. It was a story that got David seeing clearly again.

That is the power of story. Stories have the unique power to open us up to the spiritual realities of life. They can remind us of the joy of life, the romance that should exist between a husband and wife, the pleasures of friends and family, the beauty of God's creation, and the spiritual war that is continually fought all around us.

Ultimately the importance of story is seen it is ability to lead the reader, hearer, or watcher to the greatest Story of all. For both Tolkien and Lewis this Story was like all other fairy-tales and myths, but with one added feature: it was true. The Gospel is the story of God disguising himself as a man, living on earth, dying a cruel death, and being resurrected to new life. The greatest of all storytellers entered His creation in order to save it. When used correctly story has the power to lead people not only to the foot of the cross, but to an empty tomb and a Kingdom that is always increasing around the world.

To Become Truly Human

A couple of weeks ago I was on ChristianBook.com to order a book for Sunday School class.  While I was there I thought I might as well check out the bargain books to see if there was anything of interest.  As I browsed through the books I came across a book that is part of the Hendrickson Christian Classic Collection, actually it is two books in one: Humility and Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray.  I don’t know anything about Andrew Murray, but the reviews were positive and the book was only $7 so I decided to give it a try since I am trying to broaden my reading circle to include older books.

I received the book last Friday and began reading it on Sunday morning before worship.  This morning during my devotional time I read:

Men sometimes speak as if humility and meekness would rob us of what is noble and bold and manlike.  Oh, that this is the royal spirit that the Kingdom of Heaven is displayed, that is Godlike, to humble oneself, to become the servant of all!  This is the path to the gladness and the glory of Christ’s presence ever in us, his power ever resting on us (p. 20).

What hit me was the fact that I have often seen humility in exactly those terms, that to truly be humble would in some way rob people what what it truly means to be human.  To me to be human means that we are able to live out our God given rights and to make the choices that will govern our lives.  The problem is the focus of that type of thinking, the focus is on self.  Sure we can clothe our thinking in terms of love and service, but that doesn’t mean the choices we make are free from self-serving motives.

Let us stop for a moment and consider some very surprising words from the apostle Paul:

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:1-11; NLT).

For starters we notice that Paul expects Christians to be humble, to put other people before themselves.  This doesn’t come naturally to us, but it is choice that we must make.  In other words we discover that humility doesn’t originate in our feelings, but rather in our actions (which are always preceded by a choice).  We have to choose to take the humble course.

What we also see is that we are to have the same attitude of Christ Jesus, who was humble.  Here we run into one of the most amazing truths of Christianity: God is humble!  What other God, besides YHWH, the Creator of heaven and earth is humble?  His humility is seen in His willingness to be a Servant to His creation, and the greatest example of this is Christ Jesus.

Since one of Christ’s tasks is to restore us to true humanity it would then follow the path towards truly being human is the path of humility.  It is the path where we voluntary lay down our rights and pick up obedience.  If we cling too tightly to our rights and privileges and reject the example of Jesus then we will miss out on the life God wants us to live.

Verse 5 of Philippians 2 might be better translated, as the ESV does, as; Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.  I bring this up for two reasons.  First, I think it is easy to confuse attitude with feelings, and so we could get the impression that Paul is trying to tell us that we need to conjure up the feeling of humility in our lives.  The second reason is because I want to remind us what the good apostle wrote in the book of Romans; 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 12:2; ESV).  The way of the world is to insist on our equality and on our rights, and so we need to have our minds renewed.  We run into the reality that we cannot renew our minds.  There are certain actions we can take that will help in the process, but ultimately we are helpless to make this transformation.

If we are going to be humble then we have to realize that humility begins and it ends with God.  We have to throw ourselves on His mercy and ask for Him to renew our minds and to create in us humble hearts.  It is making the choice of release the control of our lives to God, and to trust Him with what we need.  This is in essence what humility is about. 

Andrew Murray wrote; “Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God, and allows him as God to do all” (p. 7; emphasis added).  Humility is not something that come naturally, nor is it something that we particularly desire, but when we recognize God for who He is what other option do we have?  True humanity is not found in holding on to our rights, but it is found in surrendering those rights to God and allowing Him to use our lives.

Desiring Love

You and I have the desire to be loved.  From Adam and Eve to the end of time every person who has ever lived has this one desire.   Not one of us wants to be alone, we all want to have relationships with other people.  The problem is that love relationships with other people will not meet the deeper desire of our heart and soul.  Even a marriage relationship, the most intimate of human relationships, cannot meet the deepest and most profound desire that we have.
   
Our desire to be loved will only be met in a love relationship with God.  It is for this relationship that God has created us, and we will never be fulfilled apart from that relationship.  We have a “God-shaped hole” in our lives that only God can fill. 
    
People, throughout history, have tried to fill this void with different things.  Power, sex, money, and drugs are all examples of things stuffed into peoples lives to help them feel complete.  How pathetic life is when it is lived without the One who created it!  There is nothing on this earth that will fulfill us like God can.   When your life feels empty there is only one place to look to find what you need, and that is God.
   
How do we know God loves us? Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God  wrote; “The cross, the death of Jesus Christ, and His resurrection are God’s final, total, and complete expression that He loves us.”  The facts of the crucifixion and the resurrection prove, not only that God exists, but that He loves us.  The One that has created us and who has power over death loves us!  I want you to take a moment and try to comprehend the meaning of that.  The most powerful Person in the universe loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for you!

The apostle Paul wrote; And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love.  Death can’t, and life can’t.  The angels can’t, and the demons can’t.  Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38, 39; NLT).
   
The Apostle Paul made it clear that God’s love for us is unconditional.  There is no person or experience that will separate us from God’s love.  The evidence that Paul gives is Jesus.  The sacrifice of Jesus is the evidence that God loves us.  God allowed Jesus to experience the pain and rejection of life.  He allowed Jesus to experience the pain of death and the burden of sin.  We can be confident, because of what Jesus went through, that God will turn around and reject us and withdraw His love from our lives.  God’s love is revealed in Jesus.
   
As I close this pondering I want to mention one more thing.  There is no experience or person that can separate us from God’s love, except one.  You can voluntarily separate yourself from God.  You can take yourself, by your obedience, to a place that God cannot bless you and reveal His love to you.  If you want to experience God’s love in your life you have to obey Him.  God will never force His love on anybody.  He does not need your love, but God does desire your love.

Sunday Quote: The Point of Christianity

"The need which the Christian faith answers is not so much that we are ignorant and need better information, but that we are lost and need someone to come and find us, stuck in quicksand waiting to be rescued, dying and in need of new life...Christianity is all about the belief that the living God, in fulfillment of his promises and as the climax of the story of Israel, has accomplished all this--the finding, the saving, the giving of new life--in Jesus.  He has done it.  With Jesus, God's rescue operation has been put into effect once and of all." ~ N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, p. 92

Living with Hope

Hope is something that is very powerful, it can help us keeping going on, when everything else tells us to give up. You listen to anyone who has been a prisoner of war or a hostage and the story is the same, what got them through was hope.  Hope that they would see their families again, hope that one day they would be free, hope of a better time.  The truth is, if we are going to stand firm in this life with all of its difficulties we have to have hope.  Today I want us to take a look at three men and the source of their unbelievable hope.

King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then he sent messages to the high officers, officials, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. So all these officials came and stood before the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Then a herald shouted out, “People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king’s command! When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments, bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue. Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”

So at the sound of the musical instruments, all the people, whatever their race or nation or language, bowed to the ground and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

But some of the astrologers went to the king and informed on the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “Long live the king! You issued a decree requiring all the people to bow down and worship the gold statue when they hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments. That decree also states that those who refuse to obey must be thrown into a blazing furnace. But there are some Jews—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—whom you have put in charge of the province of Babylon. They pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They refuse to serve your gods and do not worship the gold statue you have set up.”

Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought before him. When they were brought in, Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up” (Daniel 3:1-18, NLT).

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had every reason to bow down to that idol.  They were captives from Israel, their homeland destroyed, the temple of their God was torn down, and the holy and sacred objects of the Temple were stolen.  To some that would have been evidence that their God wasn’t worthy of their devotion and worship.
    
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had everything to lose by not to bowing down.  They had been given power and prestige.  They had risen above being mere slaves, they had become advisors to the king.  By not bowing down they were risking not only their positions but they were also risking their very lives.
   
In order for these three men to take such a stand of courage they had to have hope.  And their hope came from knowing God of Israel. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew God, and that gave them hope to stand before the King Nebuchadnezzar and say “No. We are not going to bow.”  They knew no matter what happened God was in control of their lives.
    
There are three realities in the lives of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego which helped them understand that God was in control.

1. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were obedient: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us” (Daniel 3:17a; NLT).  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow a knee to just any god.  They already had a God whom they served, and it was by His standards that they lived.  In Daniel 1 we discover that these three men, led by Daniel, decided not to defile themselves with the King Nebuchadnezzer’s food.  They wanted to keep the food standard which God had given them.  This idol that was now before them was also in direct violation of the standards the God had given them, and because God had proved Himself to them in the past they obeyed. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew God’s laws and they set out to obey it.  This faithful obedience made God’s promises real in their lives.

2. Shadrach. Meshach, and Abednego knew God’s power: “He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty” (Daniel 3:17b; NLT) These three men did not fear the power of King Nebuchadnezzar.  They realized that his power was nothing compared to the power of God.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saw a glimpse of God’s power when He gave Daniel the dream and the interpretation of that dream which King Nebuchadnezzar dreamt.  That was probably just one incident from their experience of obeying God that gave them reason to believe in God’s power. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trusted the fact that God had the power to save them.  Trusting in God’s power gave them hope.

3. Shadrach. Meshach, and Abednego were committed to God: “But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up” (Daniel 3:18; NLT).  To me this is one of the most amazing verses in the Bible.  Basically what these three men said was, “God has the power to save us, we know that to be true.  If He chooses not to save us from you, we will still serve Him.”  That is so different from how we tend to respond.  We cry out to God to rescue us or to reveal Himself to us, and if He doesn’t we question His goodness or even His existence.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were committed to God.  I wish I could give you a formula for their amazing commitment, but I cannot.  All we know is that they were so committed to God that they were willing to die for Him rather than break His commandments.  It was a commitment that could only come from having a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe.  This commitment gave them a real and powerful hope. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had a hope that allowed them to stand out rather than blend in with the crowd.  They knew God, they served Him, they knew His power, and they were totally committed to Him.  Their hope was a reflection of their lives.

These men knew God.  It was through this relationship that hope was made a reality in their lives.  When we have a relationship with God we can also stand tall during the trials of life.  Whether that trial is a fiery furnace or loneliness, it is our relationship with God, through our risen Savior, that brings hope to our lives. 

Peter wrote; Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,  who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5; ESV).

Religion isn't the Problem

I was listening to a Mark Driscoll sermon yesterday as I walked my dog Barkley.  Let me be clear from the outset that I like Driscoll and I do not intend for this to be an anti-Driscoll post, after all there are plenty of other bloggers who are willing to do that.  I like Driscoll for two reasons.  One reason is because it is clear from the passion he preaches with that he loves Jesus and has put in time studying.  I like guys with passion.  A second reason I like Driscoll is because of his Reformed background his sermons always makes me think.  Since I am on the other side of the theological spectrum I like that chance to hear from a different perspective, and it reminds me that when all is said and done that the differences are rather insignificant.

One of the things that he hammered on in the sermon I listened to yesterday (which was from January) was that religion kills.  I understand what he is saying, after all Jesus did have his sharpest words for those steeped in religion.  Yet, I don’t think that it is religion that is the problem.  It was God who instituted religion for the Israelites.  Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy relay to us the precise detail that God expected Israel to use in worship of Him.  Religion, at its very heart, is concerned with how we worship God.  Religion, like the Law, when used properly can lead us to life, but when abused brings death.  That is not to say that Religion or the Law saves, just that their purpose to is lead us to Christ Jesus, and thus to life.

The real issue isn’t Religion, especially one that conforms to God’s desires, but is selfishness.  Religion becomes a death sentence when we start making it about us and our “personal relationship” with God rather than the proper worship of the Creator.  The Religious leaders of first century Israel, the guys Jesus confronted, would create all these little laws to govern every aspect of society, and then they would find loopholes so they would be exempt.  They burden the people with law, but did nothing to ease that burden.  Religion kills, not because Religion is inherently evil, but because selfish men and women corrupt it for their  own benefit.

James, the half brother of Jesus and the leader of the church in Jerusalem, wrote:

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:26-27; ESV).

According to James the problem isn’t religion but it is our motivation.  A selfish person will “speak their mind” without concern about who they hurt or how it reflects on God.  A selfish person will hoard God’s blessings rather than being generous to those in need.  A selfish person will do what he wants to do, even if it leads to sin.

James tells us that there is a good type of religion, a religion that is pure, and that pure religion loves and serves the least of these in this world and it keeps us from being contaminated by the world.  It isn’t religion that kills, but it is selfishness that does job.  And that is why we need to daily stop and pray, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner,” for approaching God in humility is the first step in stripping ourselves of our selfishness.

Remembering What God has Done

“It’s hard enough to develop a personal relationship with an invisible God, one whose voice I never hear the way I hear a friend’s voice over the phone; it’s even harder to feel close to an unresponsive God.” -- Larry Crabb, Shattered Dreams

“How can I trust God when I can’t even see Him?”  That is a very good question.   After all it is easy to trust our friends and family because we see them and have conversations with them.  We get hugs from our parents, help from out siblings, and words of encouragement from our friends.  When was the last time you received any of this from God?  If God hugs us we don’t feel it, we can’t see God if reaches down to help us, and we don’t hear God speaking to us.  
   
Let’s face it, it can be very hard to trust God.  God is an invisible Spirit whom we cannot see.  That does not mean that He doesn’t know us and care about us.  What it means is that it is hard for us to measure exactly what God has been doing in our lives.  I wish  that I could give you a magical formula that will make trusting God happen, but I cannot.  Trusting God is something that we have to work on, and hopefully, over time, our trust in God becomes more and more secure.
  
I may not be able to give you a magic formula, but I can tell you how one man of faith increased his trust in God.  Actually, at the time this man of faith was just a boy, getting ready to take on the biggest challenge of his life.   

But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God." And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!"  (1 Samuel 17:34-37; ESV)

   
Young David was prepared to meet the giant Goliath, a battle tested fighting man.  Why did David have such trust in God? What made David believe that God would deliver him from the giant?  David recalled how God helped him defeat both lions and bears as he took care of sheep.  Since David could recall God helping him in the past, David was confident that God would help him with Goliath.
   
The same is true for us.  If we are going to trust God we have to remember the times God has helped us in the past.  As I sit here and write I can think of times that God has kept me safe during dangerous situations, how He has given me the words to say as I preached,  and how He has helped me see the solution to the problem I was facing.  When we come up on a “Goliath,” it is important think about how God has been there in the past.  When we do that, it will become easier to trust God, no matter what lays ahead of us

Sunday Quote: Bringing Life to Worship

"From the beginning it was clear that Christianity is something people do together.  Having said that, the earliest writers were also concerned that all members of the Body of Christ should be awake and active in personal faith; should know their own responsibilities and make real for themselves the privilege of worship.  That way, when the whole assembly gathers together, each will have his or her own joy and sorrow, insight and question, to bring." N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, p. 157

It Changes Everything

“He (Jesus) has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death.  Everything is different because He has done so.” -- C.S. Lewis, Miracles

 The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central truth in Christianity.  If Jesus did not rise from the dead then his claims to be God were utter nonsense.  It would not make any difference whether or not his moral teachings were good and inspirational because his whole life would have been a lie.
    
Jesus resurrection established, once and for all, that He is the only way to heaven.   Others can make a claim to show us the road to personal enlightenment or the road to utopia , but only Jesus proved that He had the Way to God.   In other words the Resurrection certifies Jesus’ claim to be “the way, the truth, and the life," and it means He was telling the truth when He said, “No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6; NLT).  


The apostle Paul wrote this about the resurrection:

Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before.  You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it -- unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me -- that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; NLT).

The Apostle Paul said that this truth is of first importance: that Jesus died for our sins and that He rose from the dead.  To the Apostle a person could not separate Jesus' death from His resurrection.  Jesus death is important, but it would be without meaning if He was not resurrected.  It is trusting God's power in both the the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus that saves us.  Everything about Christianity flows from Jesus’ death and resurrection.

It is for this reason that C. S.  Lewis can write that the resurrection of Jesus “changes everything.”  If we don't believe that Jesus rose from the dead there are a number of different ways we could live our lives, but once we place our faith in the God who raises the dead, that God seen through Christ Jesus,  then there is only one way for us to live, to follow Jesus.   To believe in the resurrection means that we will spend our lives working for the Kingdom to bring the message of God's love, forgiveness, and hope to the world. The resurrection changes everything because it changes our perspective on the world, it gives us hope that God will one day make everything right, and in the meantime we do what we can to see that God's will is done on earth as it is done in heaven.

The Foolishness of the Cross

Good Friday is the day that we remember the crucifixion of Christ Jesus.  It is good that we remember the reality that Jesus, in obedience to the Father, laid down His life for the sacrifice of sin.  My concern is that for us who have been around this message all of our lives that we don’t realize how foolish this is, the fact that out of death comes life or the fact that winning emerges from losing. Read the apostle Paul’s words:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. 

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25; ESV)

Notice the fact that Paul never says that the cross is anything but folly or foolishness.  Yes, we find power and transformation through the death and resurrection of Jesus, but I am not certain that we understand its significance.  While the cross fits into God’s plan to rescue creation from sin, decay, and death and therefore is the product of His wisdom, I am not sure that we are able to make total sense of it. I realize that systematic theologies have explained the cross in doctrines like justification, atonement, and sanctification, but I wonder unless we find the cross at least a little odd that we haven’t missed something.

While we may never grasp the full wisdom of God displayed in the cross we can still find healing in its purpose.  While we may wonder how the death of one man saves all those who believe in Him we can still put our faith in Him.  You see for us to take advantage of the gift of life, forgiveness, and mercy that is found in the death and resurrection of Jesus we don’t need to understand it in all of its complexities, but rather we need to trust the One at work through it all. 

The power of the Cross doesn’t lie in our understanding, but in God’s love and grace.  We may not understand the purpose of the cross, but we can trust the One at work through the Cross.  The point of Good Friday is not that we understand God’s ways, but that we trust God’s love.

Faithful in the Moment

In The Touch of the Master’s Hand Max Lucado wrote; “Regardless of what you don’t know about your future, one thing is certain: You are intended to contribute to the good plan of God, to tell others about the God who loves them and longs to bring them home.”

The future is a scary thing.  No matter how much we plan and prepare for it, the future is still outside of our control.  We could get hurt in a car accident and lose the use of our legs.  There is the possibility of cancer or another disease that will cut short our time one earth.  We can suffer through the death of our parents, our siblings, or our friends.  Our lives could be blown apart with us trying to gather the pieces, but unable to make things all right.
  
No matter how scary the future may be you can be confident in the knowledge that God has a plan for your life.  God did not create us so that we could live a peaceful 70 years.  That may sound nice, but God has something much better in store for us, but we need to be faithful to Him.
   
The bottom line is that God wants our lives spent in service to Him. The plan God has for each and every one of us is to tell and to show a lost, hurt, and dying world about His great love.  We are to get involved in the lives of people.  God wants us to give to the poor and reach out to the rich.  His desire is for us to invite the healthy and visit the sick.  The list could go on and on, but what God wants from us is to be His hands, His feet, and His mouth in this world.  No matter what your future may hold you are to align your life to God’s will.

Yet another thing we need to keep in mind is that we are not in this alone.  The apostle Paul wrote:

As God’s messenger, I give each of you this warning; Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body.  We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do.  And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others (Romans 12:3-5; NLT).

When the future hits and our lives become difficult we do not have to face life alone.  Yes, we are still to give our lives away in service to God, but with the help and the encouragement of other Christians.  The reason the future seems to be overwhelming and the reason we struggle with obeying God is because we think it is all up to us, but it is not.  You and I are part of a great body, a wonderful family, and in the Church we are to find the help and the support we need to make it through    

We may not have a whole lot of control over our lives, but we do know how we are to live our lives.  We are to use the talents and resources God has blessed us with to be a blessing to other people.  When that is our motivation then it doesn’t matter what comes our way we can be certain that God will get us to the place that He wants us to be.  In the end that place will be so much better than what all our planning and worrying could have created.  We need to be faithful to God in the moment and He will take care of the rest.