"Did God Really Say …?” - Key Questions in the Bible

 "Did God Really Say …?” - Key Questions in the Bible

Sunday, January 2, 2022

In a new, fast read-through of the Bible, I’m noting the key questions. I will do a series here on some of those.

The first “Key Question of the Bible” is not asked by God. It is not asked by man seeking for God. The first question in the Bible is asked by the devil (the serpent in the garden, identified clearly in Revelation 12:8 - “that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” It is a question that has been repeated over and over since that disastrous day in the Garden. It is still being asked today: “Did God Really Say … ?”

It would be convenient for us, wouldn’t it, if we could re-frame the words of God in ways that would fit well with our ways of thinking, shaped as they are by our sinful and selfish desires? We would like things to be a certain way, even though, in most cases, if we had it our way, we would actually function as a god, and the God of the Bible would be our servant. So we have a great need to go back to the Book over and over and see what it is that God has actually said.

Did God actually say, “You shall surely die?” Yes, He did. No question. We find it in Genesis 2. We find it in Romans 6:23 - “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Did God actually say that Jesus is the only way to heaven? Yes, He did. John 14:6 says “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

Did God actually say that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that sexual relations belong only within the marriage context? Yes, He did. Genesis 2:24 says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” And Hebrews 13:4 says: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

Some people say, “That doesn’t seem right to me.” It doesn’t matter. God said it. Some people say, “I like to think of God in this way.” Your own thinking doesn’t make it so. God, who cannot lie, has given us His Word, and we need to know what God has said. And, that’s why you are going to spend time reading it this year!

Moody Church

Moody Church

Sunday, December 19, 2021

It was our privilege to worship with the congregation at The Moody Church last Sunday in Chicago. It was named after D.L. Moody. From their website:

“Our story began with a man who wanted to share the joy of the gospel with the needy and humble. D.L. Moody started his ministry in Chicago in 1856. A shoe salesman by trade, he found the call of the God to be deafening in comparison to the riches of the world. Leaving behind a life of luxury, Moody established a Sunday school for poor children in an area of Chicago known as “Little Hell.” Filling the small space with more than 500 people each Sunday, his ministry quickly outgrew its facilities as more and more children and their families flocked to hear Moody’s powerful preaching. In 1864, Moody and his congregation opened the Illinois Street Church.”

That church building burned down during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Moody then involved himself in international and local evangelism, and the expansion of city ministry. He died in 1899.

It was when I attended a conference in this sanctuary many years ago, early in my time here in Milford, that I sensed the presence of God more clearly than any other time in my life. I don’t know the speaker, nor the message. But I clearly remember the experience. I don’t speak easily of such things, knowing that subjective experiences can be variously interpreted. But have you ever felt the weight of the hand of God pressing down upon you? Yes, a sense of His presence. But more than that. God’s hand, or maybe even God’s thumb, pressing so hard that you think it might leave God’s fingerprint. And that’s what I think God was doing, impressing, with something of the fear of the Lord, and something of my helplessness to argue with Him.

And so, this past Sunday, looking down from the balcony at the seat I had occupied all those years ago, I remembered, and felt again, something of the heavy hand of God. We sing, “O Love that will not Let me Go,” but there is also something else there - that God will not let us go - He’s got us; He owns us. We are His, and there is no where to run or hide. He’s got us, for our good, and for His glory.

Time, Times, and Half a Time

Time, Times, and Half a Time 

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Time is a funny thing. As I set the old church clock each Sunday morning, the time on my phone has already changed during those moments it takes me to move around the minute hand, time and again. That clock, donated to the church many years ago by the youth (hoping, no doubt, that it might have an affect on length of services) has ticked and tocked through many worships. Some of those youth have now doubtless passed on. 

The clock doesn’t control the time. It simply attempts to mark it (and not all that successfully - it’s forever slow). And one thing I notice about the old clock - it always moves forward, never back. Because once time has passed, it’s gone. There is no reclaiming lost time. Forever gone.

You can’t really “save” time. You can’t hoard it. You can’t “save it up.” I understand that there are all kinds of time-savers out there, but they merely attempt to speed up projects and processes so that you can use time for something else. You are not the master of time. In some senses, it masters you.

Paul speaks of “redeeming the time.” That is, we are to make good use of the time that God gives us. And time is just that: a gift. And that time that is given, we can spend, on ourselves, or on others; in the service of me, or in the service of God. “Redeeming the time” means that we use this gift in ways that matter; in ways that may have lasting benefits; even eternal benefits.

But “redeeming the time” does not mean that you can reclaim past time. It’s lost. It’s gone. You can only start now, as we see time as the playing field of Christ’s mission, not ours.

And then, time’s up. Our earthly lives will be over. We don’t know when, or how long. There is no way to bargain for more. God’s got it set in stone. And He hasn’t told us. We are not in charge of this, just like a whole lot of others things we’re not in charge of.

But the Lord who directed Paul to write “redeem the time” has done something else, something better. He has come to redeem people, to redeem you, so that, having believed in Him; having followed Him and served Him - when your time is up, He gives again. He doesn’t give you more time. He gives you eternity, a space where we are forever in His presence, and a kind of life where we are forever where we are supposed to be, never again late; never again lost.

December

 December

Sunday, December 5, 2021

What is December? Why, it’s the last month of the year. Yes, that, and so much more.

As the last month of the year, it is a time of reflection. These past months have a particular character to them. One magazine has titled 2021 the year of “endurance.” But your experience might use a different word, a harder one. 

I thought the year 2020 was a tough year. It was tough for businesses and families. It was tough for churches. And it has remained tough. December, 2020 did not bring about an end to the year’s difficulties and divisions. It continued this year, along with other things, dragging cancers from 2020 into 2021. 

December is the beginning of our winter. It signals that, after this month, there will be more winter, only more so. It will get colder; more snow. And we’ve got a long way to go. December may signal the end of the calendar year, but it does not signal the end of a season. And we find ourselves in seasons of unknown duration.

But December is also the month of Christmas. The whole of the month seems to be given over to celebration of this holi-day, now turned into something of a secular-day - not now quite so holy. But it is the month of preparation and gatherings and celebrations, if pestilence allows. There are gifts to buy and then to wrap. Invites and reservations are hard to come by.

And the music! December has its own music. Caroles and cantatas. Boy choirs and brass choirs. We gather to listen; to sing.

And December has its birthday - the birthday of the King. Yes, as alluded above, we’ve shoved aside the birthday boy for the sake of the party. But Jesus’ birth story is still repeated, and read, and dramatized, both in still life and in childhood plays. And yes, we pay nearly as much attention to the other characters of Christmas as we do to Jesus - Mary and Joseph; shepherds and wise men. But it is December, and it’s Jesus’ month. It belongs to Him, as does every other month of the year, though we may not be so aware. 

The magic of Christmas; the mystery of Christmas - is this little baby who is packed full of divinity, wrapped all around with humanity. This joyful month is met with a sobriety as we realize that He is sent to this world as a baby for the particular purpose that He might die for us. December! What a wonderful, perturbing month!

Songs of Thanksgiving

Songs of Thanksgiving

Sunday, November 28, 2021

I found a phrase in my Bible that caught my attention this week: songs of thanksgiving. It’s not surprising that my eyes and my mind would connect on that phrase this week. But the setting is somewhat surprising.

I found that phrase in Jeremiah 30: “‘From them will proceed thanksgiving, And the voice of those who celebrate; And I will multiply them and they will not be diminished; I will also honor them and they will not be insignificant.” (Jeremiah 30:19 NAS95)

The surprising thing is that this “song of thanksgiving” is not mentioned in a setting where people are of a mind to give thanks. They are selfish and idolatrous. Jeremiah has been prophesying that judgment is about to fall. But the people are not listening.

But Jeremiah, having established that judgment is in fact on the doorstep, is here prophesying that, after judgment, there will be restoration. The people will experience deliverance. They will be brought home. They will no longer be captives. They will have been disciplined, and their hurts will have been healed.

So yes, there will come a day when there will be “songs of thanksgiving,” many such songs, sung by all kinds of people as they experience the wonders of the “blessed hope” that we have as believers. That “song of thanksgiving” is being sung in heaven today by those who have gone before. And we know that, when we join them, it will be glorious.

But the text does not merely offer the hope of a future in which there will be “songs of thanksgiving.” Because God’s Word is true, by faith we take it to be true, even now, prospectively.. That is, we can sing “songs of thanksgiving” right now, even though there is much that pains us and concerns us - we sing “songs of thanksgiving” at the prospect of meeting Jesus, whether at His coming, or our going to Him. We sing, not just in the experience such blessedness, but at the prospect of this blessedness.

There is in this chapter a description of those in trouble: “Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor? Why has every face turned pale?” (Jer 30:6). This is real distress and trouble. And yet, in the midst of these things, if we will hear God’s Word and believe, we too can participate in the “songs of thanksgiving” of the people of God.

Should Pronouns referring to God and Jesus be Capitalized?

 Should Pronouns referring to God and Jesus be Capitalized?

Sunday, November 21, 2021

This is one of those “seeker-sensitive” posts. It seeks to answer a question that everyone is asking. Well, not so much. But it did come up in Sunday school last week.

The first task in writing this post is to distinguish the words “capital” and “capitol.” When in doubt, use “capital,” since “capitol” has a narrow usage: “A capitol is a building in which the legislative body of government meets.” The more common word, “capital,” can refer, confusingly, to the county or state seat of government (but not the building they meet in); and, it can refer to capital letters; oh, and it can refer to money, but we don’t talk about money.

Our Old Testament was written in Hebrew. Hebrew does not use capital letters - it’s all one case. Our New Testament was written in Greek, and our ancient Greek texts, the most exact copies of the originals, were also written in all small case. To make it even tougher, they inserted no punctuation, and no spaces in between words.

Our reading is so much easier today in our English Bibles for several reasons. First, it’s in English. That helps. But also, we have chapters and verses so we can find our way around. But that has been inserted by translators. It was not in the original texts. We have noted that some of the chapter and verse divisions are a little clumsy. But helpful. 

Likewise, capital letters have been inserted. According to our customs, the first letter of a sentence is capitalized, as are proper names. This is helpful for our understanding. 

But there is a difference in editing philosophy concerning the capitalization of pronouns (He, Him) with reference to the Father, Son, and Spirit. Some translations do. Some don’t.

I prefer the capitalizations. I think it shows respect. God is in a class far above all other personal references in the Bible. The devil is also “supernatural,” but I don’t capitalize “him.” No respect intended. Also, capitalized pronouns help the reader distinguish who is being to referred to, especially in sentences where there are multiple references using pronouns. I “edit” John Owen and usually capitalize the quotes in the bulletin. Maybe he capitalized, and editors removed. But this is not a test of faith. It’s a modern invention, and we can trust our Bibles, capitalized or not.

A Bigger Point Hiding behind a Smaller Gesture

A Bigger Point Hiding behind a Smaller Gesture

Sunday, November 14, 2021

During the public comment section of John’s funeral, two examples were offered of sincere gratitude for gestures of friendship and neighborliness. Knowing John’s testimony, he would not have wanted the recipients to miss the larger gift; to be blessed, but miss the Blessing.

By “small gesture,” I don’t mean insignificant. These were good things to do aside from other bigger, eternal concerns. But with John, the eternal concerns were never far removed, and so I assume that there was an ulterior motive in his acts of kindness: that these individuals might find Christ.

One gentleman spoke of not taking John up on an invitation to join the marching band, thirty plus years ago. There were both drummers, but back at that time, the young man did not desire to “join no marching band.” He wanted to play drums in a rock band, which he did. But now he realizes that he missed out on something different, maybe better.

But there’s a bigger invitation, to join in a journey with Jesus who is the Way to a restored relationship with God. I can’t know for sure if the conversation reached that level, but how many, on the Last Day, will regret not having responded to an invitation to trust Jesus, received years before, and ignored, perhaps because it was not perceived as cool enough.

John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

And a neighbor spoke of John donating clothes to him. There were about the same build. John had a liking of the “Dickey” brand of work clothes (I wonder why), and John knew that they would soon be of no use to him. The clothes donation is touching, coming from a neighbor who soon would be absent. But I’ve got to believe that John’s big point was not that his neighbor wear Dickey’s, but that he be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, apart from which we can never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Gal. 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

As we reach out with simple and small acts of goodness and kindness, let us not forget God’s desire that these people discover Christ. And may they not miss the bigger point.

Me and My Shadow

 Me and My Shadow

Sunday, November 07, 2021

There was a song sung many years ago called “Me and My Arrow” that seems like it should have been called “Me and My Arrow.” “Wherever we go, everyone knows, it's me and my (shadow).” And you’ve thought about it before. You cannot get rid of your shadow. It sticks to you, no matter how high you jump, or how fast you run.

Shadows don’t lie. They are an outline of your existence. Oh, they can be distorted, depending on the angle of the light behind you. They can make you appear bigger than life, or downright stumpy. But the fact of your existence is proclaimed by the reality of the shadow.

In other ways, we talk about a person’s “baggage.” It’s their moral shadow. It’s the consequences of actions and experiences that cannot be shaken or evaded. The word “baggage” is most often viewed as negative. But a person can also be known by their accomplishments. They also can be part of the shadow.

There are those who would like to reshape their identity. Many people talk about turning over a new leaf. I’ve known young people who decided to re-name themselves. They make some kind of “deep” change in who they are, but they often find that their most sincere intentions end up being superficial, and they are found to cast the exact same shadow as they did before, because they are, in fact, the same person. The same tendencies. The same desires. The same sins.

What does it take, then, to really change one’s shadow? I would suggest that it has less to do with how you project yourself, and it has more to do with the (L)ight that illumines you. Remember with me that the Bible talks about two sources of light. In Genesis, God commanded the light to shine, and it did! Right there on Day 1 of creation. But it wasn’t until Day 4 that the sun, moon and stars were created. How could there be light before the sun? At the end of the Bible, in Revelation, we find this: And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Rev. 21:23)

The world’s light is always going to bind you to your shortcomings and sins. It will not allow you to escape your shadow. But Jesus, the new and true Light of the world, casts a new light in which your sins are erased; the chains fall off. This, as we see Him for who He is and what He has done, and embrace the salvation He offers by faith.

Hellfire and Brimstone

 Hellfire and Brimstone

Sunday, October 31, 2021

The title, “Hellfire and Brimstone,” may be regarded by most as definitely not seeker-sensitive. But where did this teaching come from? And, where did it go?

I heard my share of judgment preaching as a child. Others have told me about being scared to death by such sermons. And, I’m not sure fear is the best reason to come to Christ. Love and wonder of who He is and what He has done are better. But fear was a factor for me, providing an urgency to come to Christ.

The phrase, “hellfire and brimstone,” probably comes primarily from the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: Gen. 19:24 “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.” Jesus Himself uses similar language: Mark 9:43 “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.”  And, not surprisingly, we find it in the final book of the Bible: Rev. 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

So the important point is: it’s in the Bible. It’s not just in the past. It is predicted regarding the future. My other point is this: Preachers today aren’t supposed to talk about it. “Hellfire and brimstone” preaching is said to be out-dated and out-of-bounds. 

But I have another observation: there are many preachers preaching today, espousing their own kind of “hellfire and brimstone,” and they are followed by many of the same people who don’t want their preachers in church to talk about it. What am I talking about? I’m talking about political preachers who talk at length about the end of the world, or, the world as we know it. These (mostly) guys sound more like preachers than preachers do. They boldly catechize (rudimentary teaching). They repeat the same things over and over. And they paint the contemporary situation in the most dire of terms. “If this guy or that woman gets elected, we are doomed.”

I’m not saying elections don’t matter. I’m just saying that the real end is more to be feared than the one that has been predicted time and again on TV and hasn’t happened, no matter who got elected. But somehow, one group of preachers captivates listeners with their bluster, and the other group of Bible preachers is told to be nice.

Submerged in Grace

 Submerged in Grace

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Last Sunday, we thought about “the transformed life” spoken of in Romans 12:2 and described in that chapter. Being immersed or submerged in grace is a part of that transformation. In my Bible reading, I came across a verse that aligns with the outline I used to talk about grace (listen to the message here). The points are, the grace of life; the grace of salvation; and the grace of service.

God speaks to Jeremiah, perhaps when he was just a young adult, and spoke to him about God’s involvement in his life, past, present and future: “Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”” (Jeremiah 1:4–5 NAS95). The highlighted phrases correspond, at least in measure, to the three graces mentioned.

Regarding the grace of life, Psalm 139 says the same thing with different words: 

Psa. 139:13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

We tend to think that we are in charge of our lives, but apart from God’s grace, we would have no life at all. There is the story of the young man in England who sued his parents for bringing him into the world without his permission. Along those lines, we could all line up to sue God, - or thank Him, as the case may be, - for the time and place and circumstances in which we were born, along with the many blessings that have attended our lives.

Secondly, God tells Jeremiah, “and before you were born, I consecrated you.” That is, God had ordained Jeremiah to walk in a particular role in association with God. Jeremiah would know God, and respond to God, and love God. Of course Jeremiah had a part in this, though not a-part from God’s grace.

And then God has something else in mind: “I have appointed you.” And He has appointed you and me as well. No, not as a prophet, but as a servant in a particular place and time with particular gifts and opportunities and responsibilities - to fulfill the will of God in ways that no one else would or could - made possible by the grace of God, those graces which cover our lives as the waters cover the sea.

The ‘Hezekiah’ Syndrome

 The ‘Hezekiah’ Syndrome

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Hezekiah, reigning during the later years of Judah’s existence before Babylonian captivity, was one of the good kings, mostly. We would do well to follow several of Hezzie’s actions, especially earlier in life. But later, after God’s staggering deliverance from the hoard of Assyrian soldiers camped just outside the walls of Jerusalem; and after God delivered him from imminent death, a death certified by the word of the prophet until God over-ruled - Hezekiah made a serious mistake. It betrays an even more sinful attitude.

The Babylonians came to visit. You know, just one of those nice, neighborly visits from 500 miles away. Hezekiah thought they wanted to be friends. Isaiah, the prophet, knew that they were checking out where he hid the good silverware.

Isaiah asked what the visit was about. Hezekiah told him how wonderful it was. They even brought him a gift, you know, for getting better from his illness. Isaiah responded with, not a warning, but a prophecy. They’re coming back, and it’s all going to be carried away to Babylon - the riches, the people. Your own sons will be slaves of the Babylonian king.

And then this, what I call the ‘Hezekiah’ Syndrome: “Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.’ For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my days.’” (Isaiah 39:8). 

It goes like this: people will suffer and die, but I’m going to be just fine. And we see that attitude in our own day. Many people died in the pandemic, but I’m fine, so no worries. Lots of people lost their jobs or were side-lined, but I actually came out ahead, so it’s good. Churches and ministries have closed, but if I can listen to a cheery sermon and have a good cup of coffee, we’re good. Millions of people around the world are dead in their sins and headed to a Christ-less eternity, but I’m saved, so nothing to worry about.

It’s a bad thing to have a selfish king, or a self-centered parent. Both are addressed in Isaiah’s prophecy. Nations and children will suffer and die, but ‘so what?’ so long as I am able to die in peace and comfort. And, we are kings - over our own lives, and we fall into the ‘Hezekiah’ syndrome when we live only for ourselves.

King Jesus did no such thing. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (Jn 10:11 ESV)

 “and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” (2 Corinthians 5:15 NAS95)

In the Flesh

 In the Flesh

Sunday, October 10, 2021

There’s a phrase I haven’t heard in a long time: “I saw him in the flesh.” Perhaps it is someone you haven’t seen for a long time, or that you didn’t expect to see. Maybe it was someone famous. The phrase means the you physically saw the person.

But the Bible talks about flesh in another way. It is an (un)spiritual principle of living independently from God. It’s the idea “I’ll do it my way,” and it started with Eve and has continued on through the generations. Now our physical flesh in the Bible is described as being weak and temporary. (Un)spiritual flesh, on the other hand, seeks to prove this wrong. It is anxious to assert itself, and to live as though there are no consequences.

So let’s describe this flesh-principle that we live with, even as we seek to learn to walk according to the Spirit. As I said, flesh wants to assert itself. It wants to accumulate for itself. This is the lust-function of flesh. You have what you have, but you want more. You see what your neighbor has, and you want his. This flesh takes over your desires and makes them to be bad things. Remember, the Spirit leads us to love, not lust. It leads us to give, not take. There is a radical difference.

Flesh over-compensates. Flesh leads the person who is insecure to over-compensate by being loud and arrogant. He is compelled to present himself as bigger and better than he actually is. Whereas the Spirit would produce humility and meekness, these are not found in the one who acts “according to the flesh.”

Flesh makes excuses and blames. It is never your fault. There is always a good reason for your failings; someone else’s screw-up. Even Flip’s old phrase, “the devil made me do it” can be used by this person. But it is the flesh excusing the flesh. In this sense, you can see how the flesh is self-justifying. And that’s a real problem. Because if the only true justification is by grace through faith in the Person and Work of Jesus, then the person “according to the flesh” remains unjustified before God, and dead-set against confession and repentance. 

The flesh lies and lies again. It lies to others. It lies to one’s own self. It can’t face the truth, that it is weak and temporary, and that its only hope is to be “crucified with Christ” so that Christ’s Spirit can now “guide you into all truth.”

Resilience

 Resilience

Sunday, October 3, 2021

“Resilience” is a word that can be found in almost every issue of “Psychology Today” for the last couple of years. It is not, however, found in my King James Bible, nor in NASB, or ESV.

I would have thought that resilience is just another word for some perfectly good Bible words, like endurance, or perseverance. Those Bible words speak of keeping on in the midst of difficulty. One’s faith persists in the face of opposition; one’s commitment remains true, though tested. Like Jesus, who is the same, yesterday, today, and forever; so is our faith, even as we mature and grow.

But resilience is not defined that way. Key features of current usage of this term are adaptability and flexibility. Is that something we missed when we thought about endurance or perseverance? That we were supposed to adapt and be flexible? When Paul faced persecution or prison, did he then adapt and flex? It seems that there is a key difference here. Paul endured. That is, he stayed the same, true to his faith and commitment, rather than adapt and flex.

Some might say that the person who refuses to be adaptable or flexible is simply stubborn. He is stuck in the mud and imprisoned by the past. I’m not trying to argue for stubbornness or being old-fashioned. But if today’s resilience has something to do with adapting and flexing so as to be fashionable and attractive to a culture that is in rebellion against God, as if by such methods we could win them over - I think that is wrong-headed, and worse, unBiblical.

I have always been intrigued by Jonathan Edwards own testimony concerning the Great Awakening that began with his ministry in Northampton. He said that he preached as he had always preached, when, in God’s timing, the Spirit was poured out on his congregation and the surrounding communities, and the “light shown in the darkness.” Many people who were unmoved by similar ministry in former days were now converted to Christ. Their lives were changed, and so were their towns. Why? Because Christians prayed and preachers preached and Christ was honored by individuals and families. How? Through the endurance and persistence of their faith. By persevering in the face of the ups and downs of life.

The world elevates old words in new ways, like resilience. What they may mean by them is often different from what the Bible teaches.

Creativity/Opportunity

 Creativity/Opportunity

Sunday, September 26, 2021

I think creativity is over-rated. Don’t misunderstand. I am glad for people who are innovative and use their imagination. I just think “creativity” is a poor term. It claims far too much.

As we have seen in our summer series over the last two summers, God is the Creator, and thus creativity really belongs to Him. He speaks, and it happens. And what happens is something that comes from His mind alone. The concept. The raw materials. The design and function and intention. It all comes from Him. 

For mere mortals, some of whom are (wrongly) called “creatives,” they have an idea, but it is probably not entirely their own. They use materials and mediums that they borrow from others. They are re-arranging old furniture and re-framing past ideas in different combinations. It’s not wrong for them to do so. Just don’t call it creativity.

Now that I’ve got that off my chest, Mark Sayers, to whom I referred last week, says that we also should re-frame not only our thinking in this time after the “pandemic pause,” but we should re-frame our creativity. But, since I don’t like his word, let’s say it this way: let’s re-frame our understanding of our opportunity. 

In our own setting, a lot of things are different than before the pandemic. Businesses are closed. Schools are in trouble. Our local church is smaller, and older. We are being tested by a saddening array of illness concerns in our congregation. Where is the opportunity? 

One of the opportunities that we’ve been compelled to discover is an increased attention to prayer. It’s not creativity on our part. God has a way of forcing us to our knees. Now I doubt that there are very many families moving to Milford who say they are searching for “a praying church.” But since we are not seeking to be market-driven, but rather, God-pleasing, is this an opportunity that God is pleased with, that we would devote ourselves to prayer? And so we try and stay connected and "on the same page” with “daily encouragement” emails that repeat and enumerate prayer requests, and now we meet on Wednesday evenings (as generations past have done) to pray for individuals and to pray for the church and for God’s mission in the world. 

Is this all? Is this the sum total of our opportunity? By no means. But it’s a good, God-pleasing start. 

Re-Framing

Re-Framing

For the past year and a half, I’ve been reading and listening to an Australian pastor, Mark Sayers. He has traveled and studied widely, and seems to have good understanding of our current cultural situation and also of the Bible. He has spent considerable time in the United States, and yet views it from the perspective of an outsider. He presented a series of talks of what we ought to “re-frame” in the wake of “ (or, midst of) the interruption of life and activity that we have experienced since March of 2020.

He suggested that we re-frame four things: our thinking; our creativity; our resilience; and our ministry models.Yes, he is addressing this to church leaders, but I think it has application for all of us, even as it applies to how we live our lives.

There have been things that have happened over the last months that were previously “un-thinkable.” The cessation of international travel and business trips. Schools being emptied. Prohibitions on seeing grandma at the retirement home. Or, a guy with horns on his head sitting in the speaker’s chair in the Capitol building. “Unthinkable” things happen all the time in individual lives, but we must know that God was and is not surprised by any of these things, and just because we find them hard to ponder does not mean that God is not involved, perhaps not causing these things, but using these things to shape our lives. So, we need to re-frame our thinking.

How do we do this? Well, we think the way we think because of what we listen to. That guy I mentioned (in our gathered worship) who told me I needed a drink (alcoholic), (he himself having had too much already) then went on to talk about people who had “sincerely held beliefs.” Well, where did he get his “sincerely held beliefs.” He got them from those to whom he listened. It can be family background, church, media, associates, etc. We are all that way. Don’t think you are different. But your “sincerely held beliefs” need to be fed by “sincerely sought-out sources” or information.

Leaked research from Facebook shows how they place information in front of your eyes based on what they think you want. It backs up what you already think. There’s nothing sincere about it. And Facebook is not alone. The whole marketing industry does this, and I believe that our news sources are no longer news sources but actually aggregators of attention, telling you what you already are disposed to agree with. So how does one re-frame one’s thinking in this kind of environment of information predators? 

If you don’t know what I’m going say next, then I haven’t been doing my job. 

Read your Bible. It’s not fast. It’s not easy. But over time, as you read and pause and think, your thinking will be re-framed by Someone who isn’t merely trying to glean data and increase market share. God isn’t like Facebook or major news outlets. He doesn’t need to be. He is our Maker, and as we have seen in Psalm 139, he already knows us inside and out, and He desires our growth into the image of His Son, able to resist being “children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;”(Ephesians 4:14 NAS95).

The Family Enterprise

 The Family Enterprise

Sunday, August 29, 2021

I talked with a gentleman recently who owns a small homebuilding business. He’s done it for years, and has the satisfaction of building many quality dwellings for people, of being his own boss, and working out-of-doors much of the time, and with his hands. But he’s 70 or so now, and everything is harder. He would like his son to take over the business, but the son’s bones and joints ache too, and he doesn’t want the headaches that go along with running a business. I’m not sure if my friend will be able to sell, or just close. It’s kind of sad.

This story is repeated over and over with family farms and businesses. The next generation doesn’t find the same joy in it as earlier generations did. Or, the corporate farms and big-box stores crowd out the market so that running a small operation is more difficult. Does this happen in the church as well?

Our Father in heaven is head of the family enterprise (grandly, and rightly called “the Kingdom of God”), and He is not about to retire. But, He has designed that His children should be involved in the family enterprise. They are to serve His interests, represent His mission, and glorify His name. They are to be active participants. But, like the son mentioned above, we can often find reasons or excuses for not taking part.

When it comes to this service, age or retirement is no excuse. You don’t need to climb tall ladders in God’s service. It’s much more the practical application of the fruit of the Spirit. Are you active in loving others? Are you spreading the joy the fills your heart? Are you an agent of peace, both in sharing how you have found peace with God, and making peace with others. Are you patient and gentle? Sure, there are practical applications that are difficult and demanding. Love goes along with sacrifice. Joy requires the discipline of not complaining. We have to say “no” to our flesh that we might live according to this Spirit who will help us be meaningfully and usefully involved in the family enterprise.

Pity the world that has no greater purpose in this world than accumulating more perishable items and once again trying to find something new in order to amuse oneself. But “pity” is not the right word to use of the one called to follow Christ, who shrugs off the family enterprise which was conceived before the foundation of the world were laid, and which will continue long after our sand castles are washed away.

Living in His Pleasure

 Living in His Pleasure

Sunday, August 29, 2021

I’ve been reading and thinking in Galatians, and was wondering about Paul’s questions: “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men?” (Galatians 1:10 NAS95). It’s as if this is an either/or. Either I can seek the favor of men, or I can seek the favor of God. But what if the answer to these questions is all “No”? I am not striving to please men, or God. I’m simply living in God’s pleasure. A later verse in this chapter says, “God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me”.. (15-16). It may be that Paul is more focused on living in God’s pleasure than worrying about whether he is pleasing God or not.

Now certainly the Bible says quite a bit about pleasing God: “One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.” (Ecclesiastes 7:26 NAS95); and “those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”(Romans 8:8 NAS95); and “so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects,”(Colossians 1:10 NAS95). But I wonder if we haven’t emphasized our role in pleasing God above the privilege of living in His pleasure. It may be that living in His pleasure is the best path to living and doing things that are pleasing to Him.

Certainly the Gospel emphasis of the New Testament emphasizes the grace of God over against the works of men. Now people who are saved by grace through faith see their lives producing fruit that is pleasing to God, but the foundation, the root of the fruit is not our efforts and designs, but rather God’s design and mission in Christ. 

If you are a child of God through faith in Christ, then when you woke up this morning, you were already living in His pleasure, waking up in His pleasure, swinging your feet out of bed in His pleasure. He is pleased with you in Christ. And that is no blind pleasure. He is not just pleased with Christ and then you in the aggregate. No, He is pleased with you particularly and personally, and His pleasure in You will shape all that happens to you today and forever. 

Now, in light of that, should we live for His pleasure? Sure. But “in His pleasure” precedes “for His pleasure.” There is no weight on your shoulders. Rather, there is a joyful energy in your heart, there by the Holy Spirit who pours out the love of God on us and in us. 

Rest - Just Ahead

 Rest - Just Ahead

Sunday, August 22, 2021

On the freeway, there are lots of signs. Green signs. Yellow signs. Orange signs (lots of orange signs). But the ones I like best are the blue ones. They may direct to a number of services, but my favorite is “Rest Area.” 

Sadly, I don’t stop much in rest areas these days. They have become known as places where panhandlers accost travelers with sad stories, to which the solution is always your money. Or, police have to make extra stops because of reported, perverse activities. Sinful humanity can take the park-iest of places and turn it into a wilderness. 

But for the road-weary traveller, just a place to pull in and take a break can be most helpful. Many people need a chance to walk the dog, or themselves. Truckers pull in and lean back or dive in the bunk for a nap or a night’s rest. Yes, rest. That’s what this place promises.

Jesus says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28) Let’s review how this rest works for the Christian.

First, there is rest from the futile effort to earn our salvation. It can’t be done, like climbing an infinite ladder. No, God reversed that action, so that He reached down to us to offer us the free gift of salvation in Christ. We can rest from pretending to be our own saviors.

Second, there is future rest, when we will be fully and finally delivered from the presence and power of sins in our lives, and from the sin of the world. We will be delivered from the affects of sin, such as pain, and discord. We will rest in righteousness, not only a personal righteousness through faith in Christ, but in a righteousness that is the rule and order of the knew cosmos.

But third, there is rest from our current situation; from the tensions that continually mark our lives. We battle moment by moment with the tension between flesh and Spirit. We are beset with temptations. We struggle to pray, and to know how to pray. We make judgements to do what is right, only to find that there was a better way. We are prone to discouragement. 

But, we can find rest and renewal. It comes from devotion and fellowship. It comes from the “deep breath” of the Spirit working to revive once again the weary soul. Rest - Just Ahead

Rights and Wrongs

 Rights and Wrongs

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2 NAS95)

Life is full of judgment calls. We make decisions all the time, often not knowing if what we choose is good, better or best; or, bad, worse, or worst-est. Many of these judgments fall between broad principles, leaving freedom to choose one way or the other. It’s not necessarily a difference of being righteous or sinful. But, with regard to some of these decisions, we will look back with thankfulness; with regard to others, with regret.

It is interesting to track the life stories of people who have chosen/judged well. Some have been frugal with their money and good at saving, giving the ability late in life to enjoy the freedom of traveling and ministering to others, at no cost to others. Some have taken care of their health so that they continue to be able to move about freely. Everyone knows that there are some, in this unpredictable world, who have saved well, and lost it all; or eaten well, and still been stricken with disease or injury. We make our decisions within small orbs of influence, knowing that we do not control the larger atmosphere around us. And those decisions often make a difference.

We know that for those who exercise good judgment, good results often follow, though not always. We also know that those who have a habit of making lousy decisions, – rarely, very rarely, do they escape the consequences. So we try and do well, even though others would no doubt have chosen otherwise.

Our decisions affect not only ourselves and our loved ones, but others as well. A pastor makes judgment calls concerning the care of the congregation, as well as initiatives and priorities. Some decisions are good. A few are right on. Others, we could wish it had been done differently. But certainly those decisions affect many people or groups of people in many different ways.

We must all be careful of our motives. Those who are more conservative (risk-averse) may be that way primarily to protect their comfort. That sets up for poor judgment calls. Others are much more anxious to be aggressive, but it may not be due to insight as much as a willingness to try something new at the expense of that which is old (or, those who are old). Our judgments are often compromised by our motives, and betray what we think is excellent reasoning.  And when will we know for sure which judgments are best? Perhaps not until Jesus comes again.

It’s Complicated

I’m reading a book about climate change, by a scientist. And his over-arching theme is: it’s complicated. We have societal ills, one of which is a growing number of persons with mental illness living on the streets. How do you fix it? Give them housing they can’t take care of; give them medications they don’t want to take; give them money to buy what? It’s complicated.

A few years back a mega-church chose to get involved in Africa, to solve some of the humanitarian problems and in so doing, to share the Gospel. But their fixes created more problems, because they didn’t understand the problems well to begin with. Why? Because it’s complicated. 

But the Gospel isn’t complicated. Oh, it’s involved. It involves a long story. But the story isn’t that complicated, and the gist of the Gospel, the Good News, is simple enough for a child to understand.

God does not ask us to build a ladder by which we can climb to His level (through doing good works, or learning the right verses). It would take a ladder tall enough to reach all the way to a holy heaven where God lives. There is no such ladder. If we try to get to God by climbing a “righteous” ladder, we will find in the end that the ladder is leaning against the wrong structure.

Instead, God lowered a ladder from heaven, on which Jesus came down to our level. He became like us, so that He could bear our sins, so that He could give us, freely (called “grace”) His righteousness. By faith, not in my own ladder-climbing skills, but in what Jesus has done for me, based on His faithfulness, not mine - I can receive salvation as a gift. It’s the reverse of what we would expect. But it’s not complicated.

Now, trying to live a good life in they world, and at the same time living for Jesus - well, that’s complicated. It’s like standing in two rowboats in the water, the left leg in one boat, the right let in the other. Someone’s going to get wet. Or, as Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters.” It’s complicated.

Or, trying to belong to a church where everybody wants to serve, but also always be happy. That’s complicated. Service takes sacrifice, and sacrifice is hard, like dying to self, and we find it difficult to die to self (like Jesus did for us), so, it’s complicated.

Sheryl Jo

When I made an entrance into this world (through no help on my part) my sister had already been pioneering a path for me for a year and a half. She was the first-born of my young parents, and so with Sheryl, there was a lot of “what do we do now?” questions. By the time I came along, it was more, “we’ve done this before.” 

Of the four children born to my parents (2 sisters after me), I don’t know if Sheryl was the prettiest (I don’t want to offend the others), but she certainly had the best smile. She was good with people, and easy to make friends with. She cared too much (in my opinion) with being popular, betraying, I think, an insecurity that didn’t really need to be there. 

Mom and Dad had all of us involved in music (a great gift to us, by the way). Sheryl and I sang duets occasionally in church. Our Sunday night services always made lots of time for special music, especially from the younger ones. I remember singing with her “A soldier in the army of the King of kings am I; He called me to His colors and for Him I’d live or die.” I don’t feel much like a soldier these days, nor do we tend to sing those kinds of songs. But Sheryl’s soldiering days are over. I don’t believe her mind remembers where she’s been, or where she’s going. 

Sheryl will turn 65 this week, on July 27. She won’t know it. At this “young” age, she has no idea how old she is. She’s got Alzheimer’s. She no longer walks, or talks. She does not feed herself. As I fed her lunch this past week, she did not respond to questions like, “do you want more?” or “would you like some pie?” She might open her mouth if you held the fork close, or just turn her face away. She can’t seem to focus on a picture on one’s mobile phone, but just looks off in the distance at nothing in particular. It’s as if she’s not there, though her body is. 

“To be absent from the body” is “to be present with the Lord,” Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:8. I wonder if it’s possible that Sheryl, in a sense, is already with Jesus. I don’t know. I do know that, though Sheryl’s diseased brain may not be able to hold thoughts of God, God holds on to her, this child of His and sister of mine. 

My visit with Sheryl was shorter than the drive. There was no conversation. Just me saying dumb things that came to mind, trying to jog a memory not there. But as I left, I hugged her, and received the best smile. A really nice gift.