Sermon: Hope Lives » Paul's Ponderings

Easter is the most important holiday on the Christian calendar because the resurrection of Jesus is the fundamental truth of Christianity. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then our faith means nothing.

On Easter Sunday I focused on the hope that we have as Christians. Hope is crucial to life because we are faced with trials, tribulations, and tragedies that rob us of life. In 1 Peter 1:3-5 the Apostle Peter described this hope as a “living hope.” It is living because it brings us life and it grows and matures.

This living hope is rooted in history (the resurrection of Jesus), is made of eternal things, and is protected for us by God. It is a hope that can’t be taken away from us and will sustain us through all that life throws at us.

Big Idea: Easter declares that hope lives! 

Challenge: Repent of your dead hopes: 1) Ask God to reveal the hopes you holding on to, 2) Declare that your supreme hope is in Jesus. 

Listen: Hope Lives 

Sermon: Hope Lives » Paul's Ponderings:

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Stay Alert

Life has a way of dulling our senses. With our responsibilities and commitments we often miss out on the wonder and majesty this world has to offer.

It is important for us to be responsible: to do the work that we were hired to do, to pay our bills, and to take care of our families. It is also important to open our eyes to the world around us and be reminded that as the Creator, God is present in all of it.

The danger of missing the joyous and beautiful aspects of life causes us to miss seeing God in the world. That is why many of us could be called Deists. Yes, we believe that God exists, but we don’t believe He is in this world or cares about what happens to our lives. This is one reason why we struggle with experiencing God as our loving Heavenly Father. We don’t truly believe that God is present.

On the flip side of this, when we allow life to dull our sense, we miss seeing the Enemy at work. Not only have made God distant from our reality, we have convinced ourselves that Satan doesn’t even exist. There might be some faceless evil out there that is responsible for everything from cancer to genocide, but there isn’t a personality directing it.

Finish reading at Paul's Ponderings: Stay Alert

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Striving to be Authentic

Authenticity is one of the core values of our society.  We want people and products to be real and not some cheap imitation.  For this reason authenticity should be highly valued.  On the flip side is if a person or product is naturally bad, useless, or harmful authenticity is not something to shoot for.  We have all witnessed people, in the name of authenticity, be cruel or demeaning.  These people will say things like, "I am just the type of person who tells it like it is." When authenticity leads us to be unloving then it is time to rise above simply being authentic to truly becoming the person God created us to be.  That is what true authenticity is all about.

While we might be deceived into believing that following certain primal instincts is what true authenticity looks like, the reality is that we cannot be truly authentic until we embrace the person God created us to be.  Only God, the Creator, can tell us what it means to be truly human.  In Jesus we discover what. It truly means to be an authentic human being.  The reason we are so often dissatisfied with the way the people live and act is because in the deepest part of our hearts we know they are not authentically human.  We are being deceived about who they really are.

I believe this is why the New Testament teaches us not to be a hypocrite.  It is hard for a person to put their trust in God after a self-proclaimed Christ follower has deceived or hurt them.  Please understand this: what we accept as true depends on our perceived trustworthiness of the source.  Why would a person accept the Good News of God's love and forgiveness when Christians are gossips and grudge holders?  If our lives do not bear the fruit of the Gospel then people will reject the Gospel, no matter how will we might present it.

In order to communicate the Gospel we need to do more than just claim to be a Christian, we must demonstrate that we are truly following Jesus. How we live is the most crucial evidence we can offer for truthfulness of the Gospel.  Remember what the apostle Peter wrote: 

Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ (1 Peter 3:15-16; NLT).  

When Jesus sits on the throne of our hearts the way we live will be different.  Living lives of hope, peace, and love in the midst of a life filled with tragedy, despair, and broken dreams will compel people to ask about the difference in our lives. To live like Jesus in this world will make us stand apart from everyone else.

How do we begin to live like Jesus?  In Romans 12:1-2 the apostle Paul gives us four steps to help us become authentically human:

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect (NLT).

The first step is that we must remember (I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you). God has graciously given us many blessings.  From the gift of life to the provisions we need to the blessing of salvation.  We need to be intentional and reflect on all the ways God has blessed our lives.  This will help develop an attitude of thanksgiving in our hearts which will overflow into the way we live.

The second step Paul gives is a requirement we must obey (give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable). If we are to be authentic human beings we need to understand what our Creator requires from us.  Paul here uses the illustration that we are to be living sacrifices to God.  In the Old Testament we discover  sacrifices offered to God were to be without blemish and the best portion of the flock or the harvest.  The sacrifice always came at great cost to the worshipper.  How does this apply to our lives?  We need to recognize that the life of faith is will be costly to us.  Being authentic in a world of fakes is not easy. We are no longer pursuing the agenda that the world gives to us, rather we surrender to the original purpose of our Designer.  In other words our lives are to be totally devoted to what God is doing. We give ourselves totally over to God's way of life.

The third step that Paul gives us is the reformation of our minds (Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think).  We are not transformed or reformed by our own efforts.  As we surrender our lives to God He will transform us.  This reformation is a reformation of heart and mind. It is a transformation that is noticed in the change of our attitudes, desires, and thoughts.  The more we surrender to God the more we are changed from the inside out.  Understand that for this reformation to really have an impact we have to use it to change the way we live.  Reformation is God's way of directing us to the things He wants us to do.  If God transforms our hearts and minds and we do not respond by changing the way we live then we are being poor stewards of His grace.  We will return to the old way of thinking and being directed by the old passions.  When we respond to God's reformation of hearts that is when we will become more authentically human.

The last step Paul provides is discovering the reason for our life transformation (Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect).  The reason we need to be transformed is so we can live out God's purpose for our lives.  The bottom line is that is the only way to truly be authentically human.  We need to live out the original purpose of the Designer to be authentic people.  

To be effective in our communication of the Gospel requires us to be authentic.  It is through authenticity that people see the true difference Jesus makes in our lives. People can know what we say is true because they see it in our lives.  This is why we need to strive to be authentic.

Bring in the Harvest, Show Compassion

The longer I follow Jesus the greater my sadness becomes for the world we live in. I am sadden because so many people are unaware that there is a better way to live their lives. Pain and sin dominate their lives and they don't even know that there is a problem. So many people in the world believe that this is just the way life is supposed to be and so they cope the best they know how with the life they have been dealt.

Jesus did not turn a blind eye to the needs of people:

Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields." (Matthew 9:35-38; NLT).

No matter how many advances in technology we make people continue to have needs.  These needs have changed little since the time of the New Testament. People still want their lives to have a purpose and to have meaning for their pain. The needs may be a little different, but people are still uncertain where to turn to for help. Casual sex, drug use, and pornography are just some indications that people are in search of some remedy to dull the pain of their hearts.

How should we as followers of Jesus respond to this reality?

It would seem to me that if we are truly interested in following Jesus' example then we first must develop compassion for the lost.  I think that we tend to judge rather than extend mercy.  Many people sin, not because they want to do evil, but because they are addicted to a certain way of life. Peter wrote; "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" (1 Peter 1:18; NLT).  People living in the world have inherited an empty way of living, and more than being told that they are sinners, they need to see that there is a better way to live.  They need to experience the abundant life Jesus promised His followers.  Rather than treating them as insolent rebels we need to see them as helpless victims of the evil one.

The second thing we must do in order to influence these people is to be active in their lives. In this passage we notice that Jesus took time to heal people of their sicknesses and to teach them God's truth. Quoting God's Law to people who don't accept God's authority does little good. If they don't recognize Him as having authority they certainly won't obey His Law. The way we bring God's truth into the lives of other people is through our relationship with them. We show them that we love them, and over the road of compassion God's truth travels smoothly.

Finally, if we are going to follow Jesus' example of influence we must pray for workers. We can only do so much and influence so many people. In John 17 Jesus prayed for those people, throughout the centuries, who would carry on His work. We too must pray for people to go before us and to come after us so the harvest is always looked after. Through our prayers we make sure that God's compassion and truth still influences people, even though we may not be directly responsible for it.

Donn Leach in What the Bible Says About Jesus wrote:

“Jesus knows that many are ready to repent if only some messenger bring the good news of the kingdom to them (Matt. 9:37, 38). But more messengers are needed. God can supply more messengers if His people will pray.” 

Prayer is one of the most important things we can do as we seek to influence the world and thus bring about change. People are not changed by our wise words or arguments but the power of God. The power of God is best seen in our love for other people.

The first step in all of this is having compassion for the people of the world, seeing them as Jesus saw them. Jesus not only saw people’s sin, but He also saw their need. He knew that their only hope was love and truth not judgment and law. As we seek to influence the world for Jesus we have to ask ourselves the question: What am I offering people? Truth and love or law and judgment?

Living in a Foreign Land

The follower of Jesus Christ is being guided through the dangerous wilderness of this world.  I wonder if we, as the Church, have missed this point.  Our sermons, lessons, and books deal with how we can have our best life now and how to live a life of purpose, but we seldom hear that we strangers in a strange land.  It seems to me that our teachings are designed help us blend into the world rather than empowering us to stand out.

An alien in a foreign land stands out because they are different.  They speak a different language (or at least with an accent), they dress differently, celebrate different holidays, and have different values.  Christians are to live like foreigners in a strange land.  Our goal isn't to learn the language and the customs of this world, but to adopt the customs of the Kingdom of Heaven. The apostle Peter wrote:

Dear friends, I warn you as "temporary residents and foreigners" to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. (1 Peter 2:11-12; NLT)

How does the apostle Peter want us to live?  As "temporary residents" and "foreigners"! We are displaced.  We are not at home!

I want you to catch this: when we live no differently than the world we are not part of God's Kingdom!  God isn’t interested in people who will merely confess Him and believe in Him.  The Bible tells us that everyone will bow a knee confess Jesus as Lord.  What God wants is a people who will live by faith.  People who will be motivated by a different set of desires.  People who live by a different set of standards.  People who love people no one else will love.  People who will not abandon the customs of their home country, but will teach those customs to others.  By living differently we proclaim to the world that there is a better way to live!

In his book The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus wrote:

From the moment we become citizens of the kingdom of God, we become aliens and strangers in a world that chooses to live absent of God.  From the first step taken to follow Jesus, we are out of step with the rest of the world.  Once your life is in sync with the story of God, you become out of sync with any story that attempts to ignore or eliminate God.  You are a stranger to them, an alien among them, a nomadic wanderer who, while refusing to be rooted in this life, seems to somehow enjoy this life most. (p. 93)

Are you walking out of step with the world?  My great concern is that we are not.  I know that many of us have an issue with the morality of the world, but our hopes and dreams are wrapped up in the very same things the world hopes and dreams for.  Our dreams and desires center around success, money, happiness, and love.  The list could go on, but the point is that while we are morally different from the world we are not spiritually different from them.  That my friends was one of the problems Jesus had with the Pharisees.  They looked good on the outside, but on the inside they were filled with dead men’s bones.  White washed tombs.  We need to quite fooling ourselves that to be different from the world is just about having the right moral standard.  Being different from the world primarily has to do with our desires, dreams, attitudes, and thoughts. It is about the direction of our lives and what we are willing to give our lives away to.

I am coming to believe that one of the ways we truly begin to live differently than the rest of the world is to begin to desire the New Creation God has promised His children.  A temporary resident doesn’t put down roots in the land he is living.  Instead he hopes and dreams for his home and thinks of the day when he will finally go home.  How can we think about settling for the things of this world when God is offering us so much more? How can we think about being like the citizens of the world when God is calling us to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven?  Since this world is not our home let us live like citizens of Heaven.

A Living Hope

Making the Truth Visible

William Barclay in The Daily Study Bible: The Letters to the Corinthians wrote; "No one can argue against the proof of a changed life.  It is our weakness that too often we have tried to talk men into Christianity instead of, in our own lives, showing them Christ" (p. 25).

I am sure that you have heard different versions of this thought before.  Brennan Manning is credited with saying “The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

The heart of what both these men are saying is that the way we live provides the evidence for the truth of what we say.  When we say we follow Jesus and tell others that they should follow Jesus, but there is no difference in the way we live, then why would people want to follow Jesus?  To say that Jesus gives us hope and life, but those things are not evident in the way we live we are proclaiming to the world that the promises of Jesus are hollow and empty.  It takes more than apologetics and evangelism techniques to make true followers of Jesus.  What is needed is a way of life that people can immediately tell is a better way to live.

Peter writes:

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame (1 Peter 3:14-16; ESV)

Peter says that when we suffer for righteousness sake and we still live with hope, because we have allowed Christ to be Lord in our lives, then that is going to be reflected to the people around us.  It will get people to talk, and they will ask, "Why do you have hope?"  The way we live will be attractive to them and they will wonder how they can have a life like ours.

Apologetics and evangelism are important, but for many people those things will fall on deaf ears if the truth we present is not seen in the way we live.  The way we live provides the necessary evidence that what we say is true.  Our actions make our spoken words come alive.

If we are going to make disciples then we are going to need more than talking points and evidences, we are going to a need a life that shines a light in the darkness.  We need to show people that what we say is true.

We Must Be Crazy

{1 Peter 4:1-5; ESV}

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Following Jesus isn’t the sane thing to do.  Granted I think there are good and sound reasons to be a Christian, but to really follow Jesus is such a radical thing to do that it makes us look crazy to the rest of the world.  It is crazy to give money when we are urged to spend to the point of being thousands of dollars in debt.  It is crazy to love the grumpy old neighbor when everyone else on the block just complains about him.  It is crazy to celebrate a funeral while the rest of the world mourns the lost of of a loved one.  It is crazy to give up time to volunteer when there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish what we need to get done.  It is crazy not to have sex before you get married when the world tells you that it is the natural thing to do.  To live a life that truly follows Jesus makes us crazy.

Erwin McManus wrote about this reality:

“When the Spirit of God envelops your soul, your spirit comes alive, and everything changes for you.  You are no longer the same.  And to those who cannot see the invisible, to those who refuse to believe it exists, the path you choose, the life you live, may lead them to conclude that you are not simply different but insane.  People who are fully alive look out of their minds to those who simply exist.” (The Barbarian Way, p. 69)

I think one of the problems the American Church suffers from is from the fact that we have made following Jesus reasonable.  Don’t get me wrong I am not saying that being a Christian means to shut off our minds and blindly accept what we are told to believe.  Remember faith in Jesus Christ begins with our decision to accept the reality, based on the evidence, of His life, death, and resurrection.  Yet, James tells us that if faith doesn’t start to affect the way we live then that faith is dead (James 2:17).  Living faith pushes us to make changes in the way we live and to do things we would neve have done before.

That is one of the points Peter is making in the passage above.  We used to live like the rest of the world, pursuing pleasure, but because we have linked our lives to Jesus, through faith, we now live differently.  No longer do we chase after the desires of the flesh, but we seek to obey the spirit.  The result of this change in behavior will be abuse from the world.

People who are guided by the passions and desires of this world think it is strange, they are astonished, that Followers of Jesus don’t join them in what they are doing.  Our lifestyle doesn’t make sense to them because they have come to believe that true life is found in the things of this world.  Even through their pursuit of pleasure and money have left them unsatisfied they keep telling themselves that happiness is just around the corner.  It is crazy to them that life can be found in giving our lives away.  They are not able to understand it.

Following Jesus is crazy because it goes against everything we have been told about what brings happiness to our lives.  Jesus tells us that life is found when we lose our life.  Jesus tells us that we are great when we are the least.  He says that being a servant is more rewarding that being a superstar.  He tells us that we are blessed when we are persecuted.  It is crazy to follow Jesus if that is what He is asking from us.

To follow Jesus isn’t about adding  Jesus to our lives it is about conforming our lives to the life of Jesus.  It won’t always make sense to us and people around us will think we are crazy, but it is the path God has established for living true life.  Are we crazy enough to follow it?

Momentum in Our Finances Part 4

(I am teaching three sessions at a local Christian Conference called Momentum on March 19.  The first session deals with our finances and using them for God's Kingdom.  I have broken the talk up into 5 different sections.  This is part number 4.)

To have momentum in our finances means to have the financial freedom to use our money for God's Kingdom.  In these tight and troubling economic times it is difficult to feel like we are able to do that.  Financial freedom begins with trusting God.  There are two thoughts connected with trusting God with our money.  The first thought is that we have been called to be stewards.  Too many of us see ourselves as consumers rather than stewards and so we don't live disciplined financial lives and we pile up debt.  Remember we are managing God's wealth.

The second thought is: We are called to be generous. Followers of Jesus Christ are not to hoard the gifts we receive from God, but we are to share those gifts with other people. As responsible stewards we are to direct God’s resources so they can benefit other people. This is what we see in Acts 2:

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. 

A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47; NLT)

These early Christians shared what they had with one another so the people who were in need would not be in want. The reason they lived this way was because they didn’t see what they owned as their personal property, rather it belonged to God. So the extra coat in the closest wasn’t their coat, but it was God’s coat, and they were responsible for making sure it was put to good use.

The concept of being generous is tied to our giving. One of the commands God has given to His stewards is to give. Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount said; “Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow” (Matthew 5:42; NLT). It isn’t up to us to ferret out the swindlers from the truly needy (though I do think wisdom needs to be involved in our giving, but it is better to error on the side of being duped), it is up to us to give to those in need. That doesn’t mean that we give the person exactly what they ask for, but rather what we can afford to give or what we think will best meet their need. Peter and John didn't have money to give to the crippled beggar (Acts 3:6), but through the Holy Spirit they had the ability to heal the man. So maybe it is buying groceries for the person rather than simply giving them money or giving a person a ride rather than allowing them to use your extra car. They might reject your help, but that is on them and not on your lack of generosity.

We also give to share in the work of the Church. We are not all called into the same level of ministry, and that is okay, because we are all part of one big body, and the body needs the talents, gifts, and resources of each member. It is proper then for people not called into paid ministry to provide for those who are. 1 Timothy 5:17-18 reads:

Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching.  For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!” (NLT)

It is not a bad thing to have a ministry staff that gets paid for their efforts. In fact it is a very beneficial thing because it provides for a division of labor. The person who is paid is freed to use their time teaching, preaching, studying, and praying. It is in this manner that we can become partners with those people doing the work of ministry. In Philippians 1:3-6 Paul writes:

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy,  for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.  And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (NLT)

The primary way the Philippians have partnered with Paul in his mission is through their financial support. They gave the fruit of the labors to Paul so Paul could spend his time preaching, teaching, and praying. So while we might not be gifted in these areas of service, we can make it possible for those who are to focus their lives in doing ministry.

So how much should we give? That is the question we want to know. There are many thoughts out there on this topic, and I will share mine. The standard for giving that runs through Scripture is generosity. The Law laid out that this generosity began with a tithe, 10% of the first fruits of a person’s labor, but there was other giving required according to the Law so the poor would be taken care of, the needs of the priests met, and sins atoned for. Remember a sacrifice was an additional expense families had to pay in order to worship God.

I think a good rule of thumb would be 10% of our income be given to our local church families for the purpose of supporting the ministries they have decided are important (local ministries and mission work), but that our are giving also includes supporting missions, ministries, and organizations that we think are important.

This concept of generosity is also tied to our hospitality. Peter writes; Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay (1 Peter 4:9; NLT). Paul writes; When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality (Romans 12:13; NLT). We need to open up our homes and set a table for people so they can share in the abundance that God has given to us.

 In God’s Kingdom our homes do not become our castles where we hide behind the walls from the rest of the world, instead they become places of rest and refuge for people traveling through the world. We should pray that our homes be a place of love, light, truth, and rest so that the people who visit us will be blessed by being there. We need to be willing to open our homes to other people, because we remember our houses are not ours but rather God’s property.

Why can we generous with what we have? Because we trust that God will provide for our needs. Paul writes to the Philippians:

At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.  And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:18-19; NLT)

God is able to provide for all of our needs through His glorious power. When we are generous we are able to experience that power at work in our lives providing for what we need.

Momentum in Our Finances Part 3

(I am teaching three sessions at a local Christian Conference called Momentum on March 19.  The first session deals with our finances and using them for God's Kingdom.  I have broken the talk up into 5 different sections.  This is part number 3.)

In these uncertain economic times, when prices get higher and our bank accounts get lower, it is important to trust God.  Only by trusting God can we experience momentum in our finances.  What do I mean by that?  When we trust God we discover the freedom to use our financial resources for the glory of God's Kingdom.  What does it look like to trust God with our finances?  Let me give you two thoughts.

The first thought is: We are called to be stewards. We are the recipients of a number of great blessings from God. Paul wrote:

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. (Romans 12:6-8; NLT)

The apostle Paul tells us that God has given each of us gifts and our responsibility is to use those gifts to the best of our ability. Peter has this same thought in 1 Peter 4:10-11:

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. (NLT)

In essence this is what stewardship is all about. Stewardship is the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care, and that is exactly what the two apostles tell us to do with the gifts that we are given, which includes our money.

The key to this is remembering that the things in our possession are ultimately not ours, but they are on loan from God, for everything is His. It is up to us to use what we have been given for His purposes. Now stop and consider for a moment what that means, not only for your money, but all your possessions. Yes, some of these things are necessary for life, but that doesn’t give us the freedom to be wasteful or sinful with what we have. The bottom line is that many of us struggle with our finances because we forget that we are just stewards of God’s resources.

That is why the #1 thing we must do when it comes to being good stewards of God’s financial resources is to live by a budget. What happens when we don’t live by a budget, and I know this from personal experience, is that our money slips through our fingers in small but non-essential purchases. A budget gives us the ability to direct our money to go where we want it to go, in a prayerful and thoughtful way, rather than letting it go through impulse or immediate gratification.

If we are going to be good stewards of God’s resources not only do we need to live by a budget, but we also need to avoid debt. The major contributor to our present economic crisis is debt. We are under the false impression that a healthy economy requires many consumers, and that even if people go into debt in order to consume it is a good thing because the money that will flow from the consumption will cause job creation.

One of the reasons we know this to be false is because a lifestyle of credit and debt is unsustainable. We cannot continue to spend tomorrow’s money today without having to face the consequences of those decisions. Debt is what happens when we see ourselves as consumers rather than stewards. As God’s people we are called to avoid debt. Consider this from Proverbs: The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender (Proverbs 22:7; ESV). In other words when we are in debt, when we have used money that was not in our possession, our time and money belongs to the person who lent us the money, and usually the privilege of borrowing comes with a fee (interest). How much of your monthly budget goes to pay-off past obligations that you are now responsible for?

Debt restricts how we can use the financial resources God sends our way. No wonder the apostle Paul wrote: Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law (Romans 13:8; NLT). Now we might want to justify ourselves and say that we need to have credit in our society, but that just isn’t the case. Yes, much of our society is now built on the assumption of people using credit, but we do not have to live that way. In fact, what God wants us to understand is that good stewards refuse to go into debt, let alone allow the debt/credit cycle be a way of life.

Just as an aside, since this reality isn't something we consider, is that credit also inflates prices.  In other words the easy availability of credit makes things more expensive then they need to be. The reason it does this is because easy credit creates artificial demand. That is in part what happened to the housing market, easy credit was extended to people which enabled more people to buy houses, which created what seemed to be this huge market for houses, so existing house prices skyrocketed in value and new homes were built to satisfy this apparent demand. The reality was that there wasn’t enough real money to support that demand, and thus you had the housing market bubble burst. The best thing to do is buy with your savings, which is the essence of free market capitalism.

God has given us the gift of wealth and we are to be good managers of that wealth. That means we are to use it for His purposes first and foremost and it also means that we should not be wasteful of it. Our money ultimately isn’t ours, but it is a loan from God. May we manage it well.

Being Salt and Light

{Matthew 5:13-16; NLT}

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."

Followers of Jesus are called to be "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world".  What did Jesus mean when he used these two metaphors? What did he hope that his listeners would take away?

We can spend time analyzing the uses of salt and light, not only in the ancient world, but also in our world in hopes of better understanding what Jesus said and how they can translate over to a Christian's life.  To be honest I think this text is pretty straight forward, and while doing some analytical work would be profitable, it isn't necessary.  You see in the end both salt and light are agents of change and influencers of their surroundings.

In other words, Jesus wants his disciples to be people of influence in this world.  We are to help people discover God's truth for their lives.  So how do we go about doing that?  I think in the United States we have tended to try to influence the world, to halt the moral decay, and to shine a light in the darkness by taking the "right" moral stands and by proclaiming the "truth".

If we stopped for a moment and reflected on how that methodology has worked the last 30 years we will notice that the Church has less influence now in our country then it ever has before.  We will notice that on the important issue of abortion, with all our talk about the preciousness of life, there are more abortions happening all the time.  The really sad reality is that many of these women come from a Christian background.

There is also the issue of marriage.  The Church has opposed gay marriage, and rightly so, and we have talked about the sanctity of marriage in the process.  Not only do we have more and more states making gay marriage legal, but we also have to contend with a high number of divorces.  One of the scandals of the evangelical church is that that Evangelicals lead the way in the numbers of divorce.  We can take the right stands and proclaim the right truth, but we lose creditability when it isn't lived out in our lives.

What this world really needs are not people who go on and on about morality or talk endlessly about sin and hell, but people who live in a radically different way.  The world needs to see that there is a better way to live life.  I like what the apostle Peter wrote; But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,​  a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9; NLT, emphasis added). We have been chosen and set apart for the purpose of showing the world the love and forgiveness of God.  The transforming power of God's grace should be seen in the way we live our lives.

The bottom line is this: In order to be salt and light we need to stand apart form the world.  We need to be different.  Too often we are compromising with world in the choices we make about life, and then we condemn them for living as the unredeemed people they are.  The problem is not them, but it is us.  If we are going to influence this world for Jesus then we need to change the way we live.  Only then can we truly become "salt of the earth" and "light of the world".

Introduction to the Restoration Ideal #5

Chapter 3 of Marshall Leggett’s book is the first of several short biographies of the men who were responsible for starting the Restoration Movement. The first biography is devoted Barton W. Stone, especially emphasizing his focus on using the name Christian to describe disciples of Christ. If you are interested in reading about Barton Stone’s life you can do so here.

This how Leggett finishes the chapter:

History credits Stone with being the one who restored the ancient name “Christian” to its proper place. He believed it was the name God had given to His people and the one around which they could unite. He pleaded for all believers to become Christians only (p. 32).

It is this issue that chapter 4 is devoted to, and therefore that is what the next post will be look at. Today I just want to focus on a tangent that I discovered in the chapter. This is what jumped out at me:

The census of 1800 showed that less than one out of twenty persons in Kentucky was a member of any church. This produced a spiritual and moral vacuum (p. 28).

The reason I found this interesting is the fact that we often think that we live in this time of great spiritual decline, and while that is true, the reality is that there have been times in the short history of the United States when the Church’s influence has been very minimal. In other words this should give us great hope because just as there have been revivals in the past we can experience revival once again.

For revival to happen what is required? What is required is for Christians, men and women who bear the name of Jesus, to truly follow Jesus in prayer, compassion, integrity, and proclaiming the truth. It is about truly being salt of the earth and the light of the world.

I want to leave you with this passage from 1 Peter:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation (1 Peter 2:9-12; ESV).

What Would Jesus Say to Me?

As I prepare to jump back into Marshall Leggett's book Introduction to the Restoration Ideal I want to remind us of a very important truth: we belong to God and what matters most in our lives is His will.

On page 19 Leggett writes:

Then something happened. The church began to lose its purity. The New Testament church penetrated the world, and it seemed that nothing could stop its momentum. No outside force, not even the power of Caesar, could blunt its progress. However, change began to evolve from within. Whereas the New Testament church had penetrated the world, its successors became penetrated by the world. It ceased to be the sect 'spoken against' (Acts 28:22) and became in vogue; not just in the world, but of the world. The church began to leave the plan Jesus had given.

I wonder what Jesus would say to us? If He sent us letters like the letter He sent to the Seven Churches of Revelation what would He write? I would bet that they would contain much of the same things. I think He would praise us for our willingness to stand up for right and wrong, but I think He would condemn us for leaving our first love. I believe He would be upset by the sexual immorality (from pornography to sexual abuse) that we have allowed to infiltrate our churches. I think Jesus would be upset at how much we have grown to be like the world rather than becoming like Him.

We can lose sight of what Jesus Christ has called us to do. Let's face it it is very easy to get distracted by politics, by technology, by church growth techniques, and by the latest Christian fad that the true mission of Jesus to make disciples of all nations can fall by the wayside.

When you couple distractions with an increasing uninterested public all of sudden we are trying to figure out how to keep the crowd rather than worshipping God, and we seek the advice of "experts" rather than seeking God's will.  What happens is that we begin to look increasingly like the rest of the world rather than the holy nation we were called to be.

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 he 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).

What God desires from us, more than a religion that is in vogue with the population and more than political agendas, are people who are wholly devoted to Him. People willing to live differently than the rest of the world, Churches willing to extend a helping hand to people, and Christians who give their passions, time, and money so that disciples are made of all nations.

I want to challenge you today to stop and take a look at your life and your church. Ask yourself, "What would Jesus say to me?" Take some time to pray asking God to show You His desire for your life and church. Consider if what you think is important is the same thing God knows is important.

The only way to be where God wants us to be, the only way we can remain pure, is to give ourselves to what God has commanded us to do. This requires us to understand what He has revealed about Himself in the Bible and trusting Him to show us where we need to be. We can be the People God wants us to be. It begins with out willingness to do things God's way rather than our way.

A Life that Shines

In his book The Rise of Christianity Rodney Stark wrote:

“Let me state my thesis: Central doctrines of Christianity prompted and sustained attractive, liberating, and effective social relations and organizations.

“I believe that it was the religion’s particular doctrines that permitted Christianity to be among the most sweeping and successful revitalization movements in history. And it was the way these doctrines took on actual flesh, the way they directed organizational actions and individual behavior, that led to the rise of Christianity” (p. 211).

The implication of what Stark says is that the best evidence for the Christian faith is the conduct of Christians. When the followers of Jesus Christ make the doctrines come alive by the way they live, then much of the talking of Christianity’s critics will be silenced. Peter wrote about this reality in 1 Peter; For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people (1 Peter 2:15; ESV).

The key here is that we are to live counter-cultural lives. The Church in the United States has been good at speaking against the culture, but we have not been very good at actually living differently. We can say that we oppose gay marriage, but we also have to consider what our marriages say about God’s ideal for marriage. Opposition to recreational drugs is a good thing since they destroy so many lives, but what are we doing to alleviate the pain that drives people to these addictions? Being lights in this dark world is not just about taking the right stands, but more importantly it is about doing the right things.

We are expected to be shine in the darkness, just as the apostle Paul expected the Christians in Philippi to stand out for good in their wicked culture:

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain (Philippians 2:14-16; ESV).

According to Paul we shine by the way we live. You and I will influence people more deeply by how we live than we will by what we say. That is why faithful living is such a powerful testimony of God’s work in the world.

Faithful living begins with what we believe. Paul says that we are to hold fast to the word of life. This requires that we keep God’s Word in front of us as much as possible. As Christ Followers we need to be intentional about daily reading the Bible. Yet we also need more than reading. We also need to be committed to studying the Bible. Study needs to take two forms in our lives. We need personal study as we study the Bible on our own through the help of books, podcasts, and different Bible Study methods. We also need group study. Learning in a community of faith, to be challenged and encouraged by the thoughts and reflections of other Christians is vitally important to our walk of faith. To Bible reading and Bible study we need to add meditation. Meditation is the act of reflecting, pondering, or thinking about a portion of Scripture. It is process that makes God’s truth a part of our lives, and thus becoming an influence in how we live.

To shine brightly requires that we don’t demand our rights. A life of faith is not about me first. Paul urged the Philippians to do all things without grumbling or questioning, because we are to live humble lives, putting others before ourselves. The way of the world looks to use other people for our own gain, which leaves a trail of wounded and broken people in our wake. While the world tells us to “look out for #1”; Paul tells us that the way of Jesus is the way of humility. In verses 5-11 of chapter Paul tells us that we are to follow the example of Jesus, the example of love and humility. Jesus came, not so He could use people for His advantage, but to serve people and save the world. By putting others first and helping those in need the follower of Jesus is set apart from the world.

We are to live blameless and innocent lives. That is the choice Paul is urging the Philippians, and by extension us, to make. The reality is that there are other choices that we can make. We can declare Christ as Savior and Lord and live like the world, but that wouldn’t make us lights because we are not standing in contrast to anything. We can declare Christ as Savior and live strange lives, like pulling out of society and living in a bomb shelter; that might make us odd, but it wouldn’t make us lights. We shine brightly in this world when we declare Christ as Lord and then align our lives to His will. It is the act of living according to Jesus’ will that sets us apart and makes us lights.

Living differently from the world isn’t going to happen by accident. Without making a decision to be different we will be pulled along by the current of our culture and end up being like everyone else. Therefore we need to make the choice to live differently from the world, not the choice to be strange, but the choice to follow the example of Christ in loving and humble service as we take the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness into the world. We are called to be the lights of the world. It is time to flip the switch and start shining.

Futile Living

As I was working on Leadership Camp (August 4-6 at Camp Nebowa) this morning I began to ponder this passage from 1 Peter:

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:17-21; ESV).

Peter tells us that the way the world is living is futile, and thus give life.  Take for example a show like American Idol, which clearly demonstrates the futility of trying to find life through being famous.  So many of the people who trying out for the show believe it is their only chance of “making it” and if they could then they could really have life.

Shows like the Bachelor shows us the futility of trying to find life in a relationship.  The problem is that world’s understanding of romantic love is flawed, for it is just a matured version of lust, because at its core is, “What can you do for me.”  People pursue romance in order to find validation, that they really are a man or that they really are beautiful.  In other words, people want to know that they are desired and accepted, and they hope to find this in a romantic relationship.  It is also the reason why so many relationships fall apart, because when validation no longer comes through the romantic relationship, it is time to find a new one.

The way of Christ is fundamentally different than the way of the world.  For the source of our life is not what we are able to accomplish or in what another person offers us, but it is found in Christ Jesus Himself.  In Him we find what being human is all about, in Him we discover that life comes from serving rather than being served and that our validation comes from what Christ has already done for us rather than what another person can offer us.

Here is the simple point that I want to make today: Christ offers us a new way to live.  The ways to live the world offers us: fame, power, romance, pleasure, fun, etc. are all futile.  Sooner or later they will leave us disappointed, but the way of the Christ will continue to lead us deeper and deeper into what life is really all about.  That doesn’t mean there will be no obstacles or disappointments along the way, but it does mean that we will discover a joy, a peace, and a purpose for life that we could find in no other place.  Thanks be to God who has delivered us from futile living and given us true life in Christ.

Dead to Life

I like what Erwin McManus wrote in his book Uprising:

God’s warning to man was that if he at of the forbidden fruit, he would surely die.  Adam and Eve did eat of the tree, but there was no apparent death at the moment.  I think we often assume God was speaking metaphorically.  Yet what we find throughout the Scriptures is that in the most important way we truly did die.  We are now dead in our trespasses and sins.  We are in a sense even dead to life.  We merely exist and think we are alive.  We have traded the authentic for the imitation.  Human history can be summarized as a desperate search for life (p. 5).

The evening news and the gossips shows continue to show this desperate search for life.  We constantly lie to ourselves by saying, “The missing part of my life is …”  That “is” could be a new relationship, a new job, a different hobby, a different address, more money, or more clothes and you are aware that this list could go on and on.  Most of us should have lived long enough to know that this is just a delusion.  There is nothing in these things that is truly life giving.

The apostle Peter wrote:

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:17-21; ESV).

In Christ, Peter tells us, we are saved from this empty and hollow existence that many people call life, through the work of Christ Jesus.  I think this passage also reminds us why the world doesn’t need our condemnation, but rather what they need is our love.  You see the people of the world really don’t know any better, and they are chasing life in the same ways that people have always chased after life, yet those ways are futile, and will never give us the life we long to have.

How do we experience this new life that we have been given in Christ Jesus? Peter went on to write; So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:1-3; ESV). Peter mentions two essential actions we must take.  First, we have to git rid of our evil behavior.  We cannot do this alone, but it is something that we must choose to do.  Second, we need to crave God’s truth.  We crave, not necessarily because we like it (hopefully that will come), but because we know it is essential for our lives.  These two actions go together, for we cannot rid our lives of evil without also knowing God’s will and knowing the way He desires us to live.

We live in a dead world among people who are dead to life because of sin.  It is time for us to bring life back to the world, and that begins with our choice to stop existing in this world and to start living the life God created us to live.  In other words it begins when we trust Jesus for life.

Illuminating Conduct

One of the ways the Church can be a light in this dark world is the way individual Christians treat one another. I am firmly convinced one of the reason the Church in the first century grew like it did was because of the unique love that existed between her members. The world is a tough place and loving relationships in which we can feel safe and secure are hard to find. The Church can be different because of the love we show to one another.

In chapters 2 and 3 of 1 Peter that apostle Peter outlines how a Christian is to live.  He begins with some corporate thoughts for the entire Church (2:1-17), moves to some words to slaves (2:18-25), then some advice to wives (3:1-6), and then a word to husbands (3:7).  To wrap up his thoughts on Christian behavior Peter writes:

 Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do, and he will bless you for it (1 Peter 3:8-9; NLT).

Peter wants followers of Christ Jesus, those men and women who make up the Church, to live different from the rest of the world.  Our lives are to be as different from the way the world lives as light is different from darkness.  The Church should be the light in the world.  In order to do this there are for actions we need to commit to doing.

First, Peter says that we need to be of one mind. This is not any easy thing to do because it seems like if there are 10 people there are 12 different opinions.  To “be of one mind” almost sounds like an impossible task. Bruce Oberst wrote; “Few of us always agree on how to carry out the thousand details of everyday life. But we should strive to have the same basic goals, purposes and motives, that provide the very foundations of Christianity” (Letters from Peter; pg. 81). This isn’t so much about doctrine (though that is vitally important and there are doctrines that we have to agree on) as it is about having the same purpose and working towards the same goal.  A successful football team is guided by the same goals of winning games and ultimately winning a championship. Though the different players may go about achieving these goals in different ways having the same goals provides a unity and vision which is essential to achieving success on the football field. The church needs to have a firm grasp of its goal. Generically that goal is to make disciples of all nations, but how local congregations and individual Christians accomplish that commission varies, but the unity of purpose should bring us together in one mind.

Second, Peter says we need to show sympathy to one another. None of us will live a leave of ease, which means that each one of us will eventually go through some tough times.  Not only are there hardships and tragedies to deal with, but there are also temptations and sins which plague our lives.  It is in this context of struggling that shows us the need for us to be sympathetic towards one another.  We can’t make it through this life on our own, and the Church is God’s agreement of that reality.  We need each other.  You need me for comfort, encouragement, and strength, and I need you for those same things.  We shouldn’t pass judgment on another persons weakness, rather we should extend our hand and do what we can do to help him out.

Third, Peter says we need to love one another. Here Peter reminds us that the church is like a family. We are to love and care for one another in a similar manner of what we would expect to happen in a family. To me this emphasizes the fact that we need to bear each other burdens, that we need to put up with those foibles that annoy us, and we need to sacrifice in order to help on another out. If we can depend on no one else we should, at least, always be able to depend on other Christians. In a selfish world the sacrificial love of Christians should provide people with a hope and draw them closer to God.

Fourth, Peter makes it clear that we are not to retaliate against those who have wronged us. To repay a wrong with a wrong is the way of the world. That means if we are going to be different then we have to make a different choice like turning the other cheek and praying for those who persecute us.  Not the easy way to live, but it is the way of Jesus.  We also need to remember that  when we love people, regardless of what they have done to us or said about us, we show the world that there is a different and better way to live. In this way we provide evidence that the way of God is not only different but superior to the way of the world. When we retaliate we darken the light of love and compassion that should characterize the church. We can only be lights if we are different from everyone else.

Peter tells us that we should live differently from the world, and that includes the way we treat other Christians. Living in this manner allows us to be lights in a dark world as we show them that there is a better way to live.

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.

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!

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).