I wish I could have “captured” the discussion generated by this lesson. The most discussion was not about different opinions on “politics” but about “difficult” people in each day.
Hayward
5 Attitudes Toward Someone With Whom We Disagree
We live in a generally uncivil world (because we are fallen creatures) and we are in the midst of an uncivil season (Campaign 2012 or if you live in the south it is probably more about the 2012 football especially if we live in the state of Alabama.) Technologies, the proliferation of campaign spending, and the insidious, but effective tool of dishonest 30-second TV ads all add to a very uncivil culture. And Facebook, especially when it comes to football. This lesson is really about politics but I thought I would throw in the football “thing” at the beginning since negative “comments” are already popping up on Facebook!
Rick Warren, the Pastor of Saddleback Church decided against hosting a presidential debate due to the “nastiness” of the current campaigns. In his announcement, Warren said the campaign’s current climate, highlighted by “irresponsible personal attacks, mean-spirited slander, and flat-out dishonest attack ads,” is not what a civil forum aims to promote: respect between those with differences. He said he does not expect that climate of incivility to change before the election. "It would be hypocritical to pretend civility for one evening only to have the name-calling return the next day,” he said
For Christians, it can be difficult to know how to conduct ourselves in this “uncivil” season. On the one hand we want to stand boldly for truth, speaking out when appropriate. On the other, we're commanded by Scripture to conduct ourselves differently. So how do we do this? Here are five principles from the Scripture that helps us adopt grace-filled attitudes toward those with whom we firmly disagree:
1) Love Your Neighbor As Yourself (Mark 12:31). At the very least your political opponent, whether it's the President, someone in the other party, your opinionated relative, or the blogger who has it all wrong--that person is your neighbor. And we are to love our neighbors, not with a sort of grudging foot-dragging love, but "as yourself." In other words, you are to treat them with the same respect you would want to be treated. How does this play out in the public square? Well I think it means we argue principles without making it personal. It means we give them the benefit of the doubt. 1 Corinthians 13 says that one of the definitions of love is that it "4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In other words, we can oppose someone politically without thinking they are part of some evil scheme to make our lives miserable.
2) Love Your Enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). Viewing a political opponent as an "enemy" might be too strong, but let's just assume that for a moment, on the issues about which you care, he or she is your enemy. For instance, it could be honestly said that most liberals are adversaries of the pro-life position that most Christians hold. So how does Jesus' words to love them apply? Well, we’re supposed to love them with the fullest definition of love. We can oppose what they stand for without ridiculing the person or mocking them or their families. We can love our political adversaries by speaking only what we know to be true about them. It means we see any good and redeeming values in them and pray for them!
3) Honor the King (1 Peter 2:17). Peter wrote these words to a church about to endure four decades of brutal persecution at the hands of Roman oppressors. And yet Peter writes, "Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.”
If this seems difficult to do under leaders who might oppose biblical values, imagine how difficult it was for Christian citizens of Rome. But it's made easier with the middle words of that phrase, "Fear God." Romans 13 (If you have not read or remember reading this chapter, do so! It is very interesting.) reminds us that nobody is in power except those God anoints and puts in power. So, you can show proper respect to a political adversary because you acknowledge the sovereignty of God and you affirm that even your enemy was created in God's image. And therefore you can honor a political leader because in doing so you're honoring the God who put him or her there. The words, "respect" and "honor" give us a good idea of how we should make political arguments. We can forcefully oppose unjust, unwise, or unbiblical policies without resorting to name-calling, mockery, and slander. In doing this, Christians can set themselves apart. Think of men like Nehemiah, Daniel, and Joseph who served wicked monarchs and still always showed proper respect to the office.
4) Pray for Your Leaders (Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. 1 Timothy 2:2). There are not many specifics in the New Testament about Christian political activism. But we might look at Jesus's words “In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” in Matthew 5:16, His prayer in John 17 and Paul's appeal in Romans 10 for the necessity of Christians to help shape culture at all levels (including political and governmental). But the one very specific instruction regarding Christians and their leaders is the command to pray for them. We Christians seem to have it backward. We treat activism as a necessity and prayer for our leaders as an option. We should do both. We should pray and watch, pray and build, pray and act. But we must never diminish prayer. We must pray for our President, our Congress, our Governors, our statehouses, our mayors, our local leaders. Public service is a difficult calling. Max Lucado, pastor and author of MANY Christian books is gathering Christians to pray during this election season.
5) Speak with Grace (Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. Colossians 4:6). This verse should really convict us, because often our speech is not always marked by grace. Especially in election season. (And football season.) Especially when we’re all wound up with an opinion or idea about someone with whom we disagree. But followers of Jesus should be marked by grace. This means that what we post, what we say, what we discuss should be viewed through the window of grace. How is graceful speech different than ordinary speech? It flows from a heart humbled by God's forgiveness. It considers the human behind the argument. It tries not to divide, but to unite. It grounds every argument in the gospel story. Graceful speech doesn't post angry, half-truth, slanderous opinions on Facebook. Graceful speech doesn't support distorted 30 second TV ads. Graceful speech is open to new arguments, admits wrongs, and doesn't assume that it's right all the time.
Summary: This is not a complete or exhaustive list, just a few ideas about living out the gospel during political season and beyond. Christians can be both civil and engaged, full of grace and yet firm in support of truth.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Addicted to Love!
This week's lesson is from James Merritt, Sr. Pastor at Cross Pointe Church, Duluth, GA. This is a GREAT sermon so please try to watch it when you can. I have included a link to his sermons but the current sermon (which is also very good) is the one you see first. Just scroll down and you will see a calendar of his sermons. Click on August and select the sermon for August 28. Click on the picture of Dr.Merritt and that video will displayed above. Just scroll back up and click to start video. Here is the link:
http://www.touchinglives.org/multimedia/video-broadcasts/?no_cache=1
Dr. Merritt can be seen on TBN at 7:30 on Sunday mornings, unless TBN has a fund raiser.
If you have problems getting to sermon, please let me know.
http://www.touchinglives.org/multimedia/video-broadcasts/?no_cache=1
Dr. Merritt can be seen on TBN at 7:30 on Sunday mornings, unless TBN has a fund raiser.
If you have problems getting to sermon, please let me know.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
How to Live With God
How to Live With God
God made us to live with Him. In the Garden of Eden, the first human beings lived with God, enjoying the blessings of close relationships with Him. After they sinned and had to leave God’s presence, God still made a way for people to be with Him by trusting in Jesus Christ for their salvation from sin. Jesus came to Earth as Immanuel (which means “God with us”) so that people could live with God once more. Jesus himself said: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)
Christians now have the profound blessing of God living with them in the form of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that “If you love me, obey my commandments. … I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.” (John 14:15-16) Yet too often, we don’t approach God as if we are really living with Him. Instead, we live life over, under, from, or for God, missing out on the type of relationship He wants us to enjoy with Him.
Here’s how we can change the way we relate to God so we are truly living with Him:
Stop living under God. If we’re living under God, we’re relating to Him primarily as a sinner. We’re thinking of ourselves as a bad person who lives under the constant threat of God’s wrath and punishment. We work to figure out what God approves and disapproves of and then carefully live within those moral boundaries as much as we can. We hope to appease God through our morality, as well as by following rituals that we think may please Him. But there are no guarantees that God will rescue us from suffering if we do what God wants us to do, from living with integrity to supporting our church financially. Look what Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus: “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:8-10). Instead, God allows suffering to come into the lives of everyone both the righteous and the unrighteous in this fallen world (and God often uses suffering to accomplish good purposes in people’s lives). Sometimes this is very hard for us to understand. But Jesus told his followers that God “… gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.” (Matthew 5:45) Also, God is most concerned about our internal state (what’s going on in our soul) than He is about our external actions. Recognize that we can faithfully adhere to religious rules and perform religious rituals, and yet still be harboring sinful conditions such as hatred, greed, pride, lust, and deceit in our soul. We can’t connect to God by living under Him. But thankfully, Jesus welcomes everyone (even the worst sinners) to rely on Him (rather than religion) to connect with God. He wants to save us all if we will let Him. Jesus said “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” (Luke 19:10) And Paul added “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8)
Stop living over God. If we’re living over God, we’re relating to Him primarily as a manager. We’re thinking of ourselves as an autonomous being who tries to control our own life without God’s intervention. An atheist believes that they control their own fate entirely, but when life doesn’t turn out as they had planned, they become frustrated. Other people believe that their fate ultimately depends on how well they implement God’s principles and instructions, and when they do what’s right yet still experience suffering, they become frustrated. But no matter how hard we may try to make certain outcomes happen in our life, we’re ultimately not in control - God is. Trying to take God’s place in one’s life by either denying His existence or trying in one’s own power to “please” Him won’t lead us to the peace and joy that living with God will give us. Scripture tells us to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Stop living from God. If we’re living from God, we’re relating to Him primarily as a consumer. We’re thinking of ourselves as a discontent person who constantly deals with the pain of unmet desires and expects God to give us what we want, when we want it, or we doubt His love for us. We seek God’s blessings and try to convince God to fulfill our expectations, and become disappointed when life doesn’t turn out the way we’d hoped. We don’t care as much about God Himself as we do about what God can do for us. But God is not a divine butler, a cosmic therapist, or a holy vending machine. While it’s true that God wants to bless us, He wants to do so in the context of enjoying a close relationship with us. Also, God knows what’s truly best for us, so rather than trying to dictate what we think He should give us, we need to decide to trust Him to answer our prayers according to what’s best. We need to check our motives when we’re approaching God in prayer and make sure that we’re not too distracted by how much we want His blessings to pursue the biggest blessing of all: a closer relationship with God Himself. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)
Stop living just for God. If we’re living for God, we’re relating to Him primarily as a servant. While serving God is good, it becomes unhealthy if it overtakes the main way in which God intends for us to relate to Him as a beloved child who goes through life with Him, regardless of whether or not we’re able to accomplish something great for Him. We’re thinking of ourselves as a worker whose value as a person is tied to whether or not we’re able to accomplish God’s mission for us in life. If we don’t have the impact on the world that we believe we should have, we worry that we're a failure who doesn’t deserve God’s love and fear that our life is insignificant. But real success comes from connecting to God through a relationship with Him, and our life will be significant no matter what we do or don’t accomplish for God, because our significance comes from the simple facts that God made us and loves us. Although it’s important to work on whatever God’s mission calls us to fulfill, it’s more important to make our ultimate goal pursuing God Himself. When we make our top priority living with God in a close relationship, the details of serving Him will fall into place properly, and we’ll experience peace and joy as we serve Him. Paul tells us that he is “convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
Start living with God. When we focus on living with God, we relate to Him primarily as a beloved child. Then we can see God’s beauty, grasp His unconditional love, perceive His glory, and experience His goodness. We can strengthen our union with God by training ourselves to be aware of His constant presence with us and communing with Him in prayer often. Have faith that we’re always safe in God’s care, place our hope in God Himself rather than in our circumstances, and let God’s love inspire us to wonder, make new discoveries, and have joy that only He can give us.
In closing let’s look at what the Apostle John wrote about how much God loves those who have accepted his Son: “We know how much God loves us because we have felt His love and because we believe Him when He tells us that He loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living WITH God and God is living in him. And as we live WITH Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete; so we will not be embarrassed at the day of judgment, but can face him with confidence and joy, because He loves us and we love Him too.” (1 John 4:16-17)
God made us to live with Him. In the Garden of Eden, the first human beings lived with God, enjoying the blessings of close relationships with Him. After they sinned and had to leave God’s presence, God still made a way for people to be with Him by trusting in Jesus Christ for their salvation from sin. Jesus came to Earth as Immanuel (which means “God with us”) so that people could live with God once more. Jesus himself said: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)
Christians now have the profound blessing of God living with them in the form of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that “If you love me, obey my commandments. … I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.” (John 14:15-16) Yet too often, we don’t approach God as if we are really living with Him. Instead, we live life over, under, from, or for God, missing out on the type of relationship He wants us to enjoy with Him.
Here’s how we can change the way we relate to God so we are truly living with Him:
Stop living under God. If we’re living under God, we’re relating to Him primarily as a sinner. We’re thinking of ourselves as a bad person who lives under the constant threat of God’s wrath and punishment. We work to figure out what God approves and disapproves of and then carefully live within those moral boundaries as much as we can. We hope to appease God through our morality, as well as by following rituals that we think may please Him. But there are no guarantees that God will rescue us from suffering if we do what God wants us to do, from living with integrity to supporting our church financially. Look what Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus: “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:8-10). Instead, God allows suffering to come into the lives of everyone both the righteous and the unrighteous in this fallen world (and God often uses suffering to accomplish good purposes in people’s lives). Sometimes this is very hard for us to understand. But Jesus told his followers that God “… gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.” (Matthew 5:45) Also, God is most concerned about our internal state (what’s going on in our soul) than He is about our external actions. Recognize that we can faithfully adhere to religious rules and perform religious rituals, and yet still be harboring sinful conditions such as hatred, greed, pride, lust, and deceit in our soul. We can’t connect to God by living under Him. But thankfully, Jesus welcomes everyone (even the worst sinners) to rely on Him (rather than religion) to connect with God. He wants to save us all if we will let Him. Jesus said “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” (Luke 19:10) And Paul added “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8)
Stop living over God. If we’re living over God, we’re relating to Him primarily as a manager. We’re thinking of ourselves as an autonomous being who tries to control our own life without God’s intervention. An atheist believes that they control their own fate entirely, but when life doesn’t turn out as they had planned, they become frustrated. Other people believe that their fate ultimately depends on how well they implement God’s principles and instructions, and when they do what’s right yet still experience suffering, they become frustrated. But no matter how hard we may try to make certain outcomes happen in our life, we’re ultimately not in control - God is. Trying to take God’s place in one’s life by either denying His existence or trying in one’s own power to “please” Him won’t lead us to the peace and joy that living with God will give us. Scripture tells us to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Stop living from God. If we’re living from God, we’re relating to Him primarily as a consumer. We’re thinking of ourselves as a discontent person who constantly deals with the pain of unmet desires and expects God to give us what we want, when we want it, or we doubt His love for us. We seek God’s blessings and try to convince God to fulfill our expectations, and become disappointed when life doesn’t turn out the way we’d hoped. We don’t care as much about God Himself as we do about what God can do for us. But God is not a divine butler, a cosmic therapist, or a holy vending machine. While it’s true that God wants to bless us, He wants to do so in the context of enjoying a close relationship with us. Also, God knows what’s truly best for us, so rather than trying to dictate what we think He should give us, we need to decide to trust Him to answer our prayers according to what’s best. We need to check our motives when we’re approaching God in prayer and make sure that we’re not too distracted by how much we want His blessings to pursue the biggest blessing of all: a closer relationship with God Himself. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)
Stop living just for God. If we’re living for God, we’re relating to Him primarily as a servant. While serving God is good, it becomes unhealthy if it overtakes the main way in which God intends for us to relate to Him as a beloved child who goes through life with Him, regardless of whether or not we’re able to accomplish something great for Him. We’re thinking of ourselves as a worker whose value as a person is tied to whether or not we’re able to accomplish God’s mission for us in life. If we don’t have the impact on the world that we believe we should have, we worry that we're a failure who doesn’t deserve God’s love and fear that our life is insignificant. But real success comes from connecting to God through a relationship with Him, and our life will be significant no matter what we do or don’t accomplish for God, because our significance comes from the simple facts that God made us and loves us. Although it’s important to work on whatever God’s mission calls us to fulfill, it’s more important to make our ultimate goal pursuing God Himself. When we make our top priority living with God in a close relationship, the details of serving Him will fall into place properly, and we’ll experience peace and joy as we serve Him. Paul tells us that he is “convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
Start living with God. When we focus on living with God, we relate to Him primarily as a beloved child. Then we can see God’s beauty, grasp His unconditional love, perceive His glory, and experience His goodness. We can strengthen our union with God by training ourselves to be aware of His constant presence with us and communing with Him in prayer often. Have faith that we’re always safe in God’s care, place our hope in God Himself rather than in our circumstances, and let God’s love inspire us to wonder, make new discoveries, and have joy that only He can give us.
In closing let’s look at what the Apostle John wrote about how much God loves those who have accepted his Son: “We know how much God loves us because we have felt His love and because we believe Him when He tells us that He loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living WITH God and God is living in him. And as we live WITH Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete; so we will not be embarrassed at the day of judgment, but can face him with confidence and joy, because He loves us and we love Him too.” (1 John 4:16-17)
Sunday, August 19, 2012
…..the greatest of these is love.
…..the greatest of these is love.
(Lesson is based on the chapter “When We Surrender to the Holy Spirit” from book by Jim Cymbala “Spirit Rising”)
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!
This scripture goes on to say that other gifts will also become useless but that:
13 ….Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
The kind of love described in this scripture and in many other in the New Testament is not reserved for a few select believers or special men and women involved in ministry. It's what Paul calls a life that “will always honor and please the Lord" (Colossians 1:10), and it's God's purpose for every one of us. Now that his love has provided our salvation, how unworthy of Him are lives lived in selfishness, bickering, and prejudice. And after all of His mercy, how can we not love other people? Even when they disappoint us? Is that our experience with Jesus? Has he jumped down our throats when we failed? Has he put us on some losers' list because of our inconsis¬tencies and broken promises? No, his love endures and has proved greater than all our faults.
A life of love is also the only way to "please the Lord" (Colossians 1:10). Since God is an emotional being, he experiences joy and sadness just as we do. Our daily words and deeds can cause him displeasure or move him to rejoice over us with singing. What an amazing thought! Today you and I can please the God of the uni¬verse. Although he is beyond our comprehension, omnipotent, omni¬present, and omniscient, His heart can still be touched by our loving actions, even in commonplace activities. What else but love could please a God of love?
Love is always the bottom line. That's why the Bible declares: "For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love." (Galatians. 5:6). Even though the sign of God's covenant with Abra¬ham was the circumcision of all baby boys, a new day has dawned and a better covenant has been established. Circumcision, race, talent, money, fame, education, or anything else we highly treasure becomes irrelevant in comparison with love. Each of us individually and every Christian church has been ordained by God to reveal this love as the indisputable sign that we belong to Christ.
The following is directly from Jim Cymbal’s book:
A loving person, or better yet, a church full of loving people, has tremendous power to influence people for God. A few years ago, an older couple from a southern state visited our church. We had a mutual friend, and the couple came to my office after the service so we could be introduced. They both seemed a little emotional as we chatted, and soon I learned why.
"Pastor," the man said, "I want to tell you something before we leave. We go to a very conservative church, and the service we were just in was very different for us. But it was more than the loud sing¬ing, hands lifted, and the obvious emotion of your congregation. We understand that, and we were blessed by it all. But you see" ¬he paused, his voice cracking - "we've never worshiped with black people and Latinos before, never once in our lives." (Hayward’s Note: If you have ever read any of his other books or know anything about The Brooklyn Tabernacle Church, you know it probably has the most diverse congregation in the country.)Then he contin¬ued. "What's more, when you directed folks to greet one another, all kinds of men I've never met hugged me as if was their brother." Tears now filled his eyes. "I felt more love this morning from strangers than I've ever experienced in my home church for the past thirty years."
What a blessing! He never mentioned my sermon or how the choir sang. What touched his heart and opened his eyes was God's love flowing beyond all the fences that had been carefully (and reli¬giously) erected over the decades of his life. The love he experienced that day wasn't something that could be taught to a congregation. "Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other" (1 Thess. 4:9). God is the instructor and dean of students in the school of love. For us he makes the lesson amazingly clear: "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them" (1 John 4:16). There it is for all of us to ponder. Or as I like to say “to cogitate”!
Doctrinal discussions (not fights) have their place. But it's not our “denomination” that proves we live in God. It's only love. It often seems that the so¬ called culture wars that take place in the name of God and morality can often radiate more bitterness than love. That defeats the purpose of Jesus' message. "Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law." (Romans 13:10). Of course, we're not the first to need an attitude correction. When Paul wrote to the Corin¬thians about whether they could eat food that was sacrificed to idols, he started his answer by addressing the tone of the conversation. "Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. (1 Corinthians 8:1).
Nothing is accomplished when we fuss with others in an unloving way. The outside world looks in and says, "If that's the way Christians are, I don't want any part of it!" If we want Christianity to be attractive to unbelievers, we need to represent ourselves in a loving way. Jesus was a friend to sinners. It is love that drew people to him. They liked to hang out with him. How many unbelievers could say the same about us. "Whoever lives in love" - that's the final exam for each of us. May God help us to remember it always.
Perhaps the hardest question we need to address is, how did those believers in Colosse develop that strong love for all the saints? How did Paul get to the place of unselfishly caring for people like a nursing mother, willing to make any sacrifice, if necessary, for their spiritual welfare? Paul gives us the answer when he explains that another min¬ister told him "about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.” (Colossians 1:8) It wasn't an earth-based love that the saints in the city of Colosse were experiencing; it was the Holy Spirit's love replacing their human limitations and earthly tenden¬cies. It was supernatural love because it belonged to God - God, the Holy Spirit.
This is an important lesson for us. Most of us know that Christ is the perfect model of love. We know the message in 1 Corinthians 13 about the preeminence of love, and we know that God is love. But then we foolishly try harder, to love more, in our own strength. We make well-meaning deliberate attempts to overcome selfish hab¬its and our natural distaste for cranky, obnoxious people. But when we react unkindly and sense failure, we just go back to the drawing board, convinced that if we only try harder, or read more Scriptures, we'll somehow get better at loving others.
But Paul spoke of "love in the Spirit," which is something totally separate from human ability. Remember his teaching to the Gala¬tians: "The fruit of the Spirit is love" (Galatians. 5:22). Love is a fruit grow¬ing within us from a supernatural source. It's not our love, yet it is,
In conclusion: Thank God for His Unconditional Love.
Final note from Hayward: I highly recommend this book and any other by Jim Cymbala. Some others are: Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire; Fresh Faith and Fresh Power.
(Lesson is based on the chapter “When We Surrender to the Holy Spirit” from book by Jim Cymbala “Spirit Rising”)
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!
This scripture goes on to say that other gifts will also become useless but that:
13 ….Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
The kind of love described in this scripture and in many other in the New Testament is not reserved for a few select believers or special men and women involved in ministry. It's what Paul calls a life that “will always honor and please the Lord" (Colossians 1:10), and it's God's purpose for every one of us. Now that his love has provided our salvation, how unworthy of Him are lives lived in selfishness, bickering, and prejudice. And after all of His mercy, how can we not love other people? Even when they disappoint us? Is that our experience with Jesus? Has he jumped down our throats when we failed? Has he put us on some losers' list because of our inconsis¬tencies and broken promises? No, his love endures and has proved greater than all our faults.
A life of love is also the only way to "please the Lord" (Colossians 1:10). Since God is an emotional being, he experiences joy and sadness just as we do. Our daily words and deeds can cause him displeasure or move him to rejoice over us with singing. What an amazing thought! Today you and I can please the God of the uni¬verse. Although he is beyond our comprehension, omnipotent, omni¬present, and omniscient, His heart can still be touched by our loving actions, even in commonplace activities. What else but love could please a God of love?
Love is always the bottom line. That's why the Bible declares: "For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love." (Galatians. 5:6). Even though the sign of God's covenant with Abra¬ham was the circumcision of all baby boys, a new day has dawned and a better covenant has been established. Circumcision, race, talent, money, fame, education, or anything else we highly treasure becomes irrelevant in comparison with love. Each of us individually and every Christian church has been ordained by God to reveal this love as the indisputable sign that we belong to Christ.
The following is directly from Jim Cymbal’s book:
A loving person, or better yet, a church full of loving people, has tremendous power to influence people for God. A few years ago, an older couple from a southern state visited our church. We had a mutual friend, and the couple came to my office after the service so we could be introduced. They both seemed a little emotional as we chatted, and soon I learned why.
"Pastor," the man said, "I want to tell you something before we leave. We go to a very conservative church, and the service we were just in was very different for us. But it was more than the loud sing¬ing, hands lifted, and the obvious emotion of your congregation. We understand that, and we were blessed by it all. But you see" ¬he paused, his voice cracking - "we've never worshiped with black people and Latinos before, never once in our lives." (Hayward’s Note: If you have ever read any of his other books or know anything about The Brooklyn Tabernacle Church, you know it probably has the most diverse congregation in the country.)Then he contin¬ued. "What's more, when you directed folks to greet one another, all kinds of men I've never met hugged me as if was their brother." Tears now filled his eyes. "I felt more love this morning from strangers than I've ever experienced in my home church for the past thirty years."
What a blessing! He never mentioned my sermon or how the choir sang. What touched his heart and opened his eyes was God's love flowing beyond all the fences that had been carefully (and reli¬giously) erected over the decades of his life. The love he experienced that day wasn't something that could be taught to a congregation. "Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other" (1 Thess. 4:9). God is the instructor and dean of students in the school of love. For us he makes the lesson amazingly clear: "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them" (1 John 4:16). There it is for all of us to ponder. Or as I like to say “to cogitate”!
Doctrinal discussions (not fights) have their place. But it's not our “denomination” that proves we live in God. It's only love. It often seems that the so¬ called culture wars that take place in the name of God and morality can often radiate more bitterness than love. That defeats the purpose of Jesus' message. "Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law." (Romans 13:10). Of course, we're not the first to need an attitude correction. When Paul wrote to the Corin¬thians about whether they could eat food that was sacrificed to idols, he started his answer by addressing the tone of the conversation. "Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. (1 Corinthians 8:1).
Nothing is accomplished when we fuss with others in an unloving way. The outside world looks in and says, "If that's the way Christians are, I don't want any part of it!" If we want Christianity to be attractive to unbelievers, we need to represent ourselves in a loving way. Jesus was a friend to sinners. It is love that drew people to him. They liked to hang out with him. How many unbelievers could say the same about us. "Whoever lives in love" - that's the final exam for each of us. May God help us to remember it always.
Perhaps the hardest question we need to address is, how did those believers in Colosse develop that strong love for all the saints? How did Paul get to the place of unselfishly caring for people like a nursing mother, willing to make any sacrifice, if necessary, for their spiritual welfare? Paul gives us the answer when he explains that another min¬ister told him "about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.” (Colossians 1:8) It wasn't an earth-based love that the saints in the city of Colosse were experiencing; it was the Holy Spirit's love replacing their human limitations and earthly tenden¬cies. It was supernatural love because it belonged to God - God, the Holy Spirit.
This is an important lesson for us. Most of us know that Christ is the perfect model of love. We know the message in 1 Corinthians 13 about the preeminence of love, and we know that God is love. But then we foolishly try harder, to love more, in our own strength. We make well-meaning deliberate attempts to overcome selfish hab¬its and our natural distaste for cranky, obnoxious people. But when we react unkindly and sense failure, we just go back to the drawing board, convinced that if we only try harder, or read more Scriptures, we'll somehow get better at loving others.
But Paul spoke of "love in the Spirit," which is something totally separate from human ability. Remember his teaching to the Gala¬tians: "The fruit of the Spirit is love" (Galatians. 5:22). Love is a fruit grow¬ing within us from a supernatural source. It's not our love, yet it is,
In conclusion: Thank God for His Unconditional Love.
Final note from Hayward: I highly recommend this book and any other by Jim Cymbala. Some others are: Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire; Fresh Faith and Fresh Power.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
It’s All About FAITH!
It’s All About FAITH!
24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. 25 They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. 27 But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”
28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”
29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”
30 They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? 31 After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:24-33
There is an old story that goes like this: Far away in a lonely desert stands a water pump in the sand. You are a solitary traveler, and your canteen is empty and you come upon that pump. Tied to it is a hand written sign put there by someone earlier. The sign reads "I have buried a bottle of water to prime the pump. Don’t drink any of it."
"Pour in half of it to wet the leather seal. Wait, and then pour in the rest. Then pump. The well has never gone dry, but the pump must be primed to bring the water up. Have faith, believe. When you are through drawing water, fill the bottle and bury it in the sand for the next traveler.
Having come upon this pump in the desert with this sign and being out of water, what would we do Will we dig the water bottle from the sand and drink from it? Or will we believe and believing dare to pour that water, trust to put water into pump every drop of it down into the old trusty pump? Because we trust, we take a risk, both for ourselves and for the next person who will pass that way.
What will we do?
That story poses an interesting question for all of us. Do we believe and trust in that written message by the water pump, or do we only worry about our own thirst and drink from the water bottle knowing that the water will give us enough strength to go on? What would we do?
Now in the same way think about the words in the Bible. They are our words of salvation in the desert of life. They are our source of life, life for eternity. Do we believe in them, or will we try your own way?
Think about Jesus in the same way as the note in the desert and the words of the Bible, He is our salvation in the desert of life, our source of life, life for eternity. Do we believe what Jesus says is true for our life, or do we go our own way?
Our lesson this morning concerns faith. Someone in the crowd asked Jesus, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus answered them, "Believe in the one he has sent.”
Faith can be defined as an obedient attitude to the will of God. And Jesus says faith is the work a follower of his should be about, having an obedient attitude in the will of God. Trusting and believing that the promises God has made for us through Jesus Christ are true.
Sometimes you and I get our work all mixed up. We think our work is salvation and so we try our hardest to save ourselves instead of trusting in God and being obedient to his will. It is as if we drank that bottle of water beside the pump instead of using it to prime the pump. We would be trusting in our own selves, our own resources for living, instead of trusting and believing in God and his promises.
Jesus tells us in this passage that salvation is a gift that is Bread of Life.
In verse 27 Jesus says: "But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”
Notice especially these words, which the Son of man can give to you, give, as the dictionary defines that word, it says " To make a present of a gift, To place in the hands of so as Jesus is the Son of Man will give us food, or salvation.
It is a gift, a present, something that is handed over to us with no strings attached. Something that God through his Son wants us to have, salvation. Notice Jesus doesn’t say anything about us working for this gift, or earning this gift, or achieving this gift for ourselves, but Jesus says he will give it to us, it is ours, a free gift.
Salvation is a free gift from God. Sometimes we want to try to earn that gift of salvation. But, when can you and I do enough for God to say to us that we are ready for salvation?? When would we be ready for God to say come?
We can safely say that none of us would ever be ready enough for God. None of us would be pure enough for God through our own efforts. But through Christ, God makes us ready for him.
Listen again to the words of Jesus: "the Son of Man can give you”. God makes us ready for him. God is doing the work, God is doing the action, God is giving us salvation through the body and blood of Christ. It is God’s gift to the children that he loves.
Our work as Jesus says is to believe in him who he has sent . Our work is to have faith in Jesus Christ who will give us salvation.
We don’t need to worry about our salvation, we don’t need to try and obtain it for ourselves. Our work is to believe that this promise of salvation is true for us. It is God who is steering the ship of life, it is God who is in control of our salvation, it is God who will welcome us home to him when our time on this earth is ended. Jesus wants us to believe that our salvation is secure in the hands of God.
It is like a ship which was returning from an overseas voyage entering the St. Lawrence River. A heavy fog enveloped the ship on all side, completely concealing the shores and all objects from the view of the passengers. Much to their amazement, the ship continued at full speed. They became frightened and considered such speed as extremely reckless on the part of the captain.
Finally, one of the passengers expressed concerns to the mate, demanding that the ship be slowed down. The mate listened, then replied with a smile: ’’Oh, don’t be afraid, the passengers need not be uneasy in the least. The fog extends up only a short way above the water and the captain is at the masthead, and is up above the fog and it is he who is directing the vessel."
In the same kind of way, Jesus is asking us to believe and trust in God as the captain of our ship directing us above all the foggy situations of life that we cannot understand. God is directing our ship of life because as captain God loves us and wants us to have a life that is abundant with all of his blessings.
Faith receives the gifts that God offers us. Faith believes in the promises of God, faith accepts God’s work of salvation as a gift.
It is like this pen I am holding in my hand. Let us pretend this is God’s gift of salvation. God places it in our hearts. We can do several things with it. We can let it sit there, and ignore God’s gift for us, we can close our heart around it a little bit, or we can grab a hold of it for our salvation. Or we can reject God’s gift for us.
But notice the pen doesn’t fall. That is because God never takes his gift away. We may reject it, we may ignore it, we may only slightly embrace it, but God’s gift remains true for us.
God’s gift remains in our hearts, because God is a loving God and God wants all people to be saved. As it says in John. 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." God wants us to accept this gift of salvation, God wants us to be his children, God has worked hard at convincing us of his good intentions for us. He showed us those good intentions in the form of his Son. He let the world kill his Son so that he could show us his great love, by raising him up on the third day. God is a God of love and He wants us to trust in that love, to believe in that love, to live with that love while we walk our journey on this earth.
Jesus says, "Believe in the one he has sent.” Believe in Jesus and believe in God the Father who sent him.
Far away in a lonely desert stands a water pump in the sand. You are a solitary traveler, and your canteen is empty and you come upon that pump. Tied to it is a hand written sign put there by some pilgrim. The sign reads "I have buried a bottle of water to prime the pump. don’t drink any of it."
"Pour in half of it to wet the leather seal. Wait, and then pour in the rest. Then pump. The well has never gone dry, but the pump must be primed to bring the water up. Have faith, believe. When you are through drawing water, fill the bottle and bury it in the sand for the next traveler."
We are a traveler upon the planet earth. We come across a book, a book with 66 other books in it, as we read it we see that it can give us the assurance, the strength and the conviction to live life to the fullest. But it asks us to surrender ourselves to someone else, to trust in the gifts this person is willing to give to us. What will we do?? Surrender, or rely on ourselves?
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God...” Ephesians 2:8(NKJV)
Monday, August 6, 2012
Count Our Blessings
Count Our Blessings
Below is a “mini-message” that I sent out earlier but worth reading again and some haven’t seen it. It really got me to thinking about “blessings” and I felt led to do this lesson.
Weed Hunts from Max Lucado
God’s love sprouts around us like lilacs, but we go on weed hunts! How many flowers do we miss in the process? If you look long enough, you’ll find something to bellyache about. So quit looking!
Lift your eyes off the weeds. Collect your blessings. Catalog His kindnesses. Assemble your reasons for gratitude. “Always be joyful” is what Paul tells us in 1st Thessalonians 5:16-18 . “Pray continually and give thanks, whatever happens. This is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.”
Gratitude is always an option. Make it your default emotion and you’ll find yourself giving thanks for the problems of life. Who knows what you might record in your journal:
Mondays. Oh boy–my favorite! Final exams. I can hardly wait! “Impossible,” you say? How do you know?
How do you know until you give the day a chance? Thank God!
There is a legend about two angels. Two angels who were sent to earth to gather up the prayers of humans. One was to fill his basket with the petitions and requests of mankind. The other was to gather their prayers of thanksgiving. Sometime later they went back to the Father’s house. One had a basket heaped high and running over with the innumerable petitions and pleas of men. The other returned with a sad and heavy heart, because his basket was almost empty.
The thanks of men were rarely heard on earth, even though the angel had searched diligently. Do you think maybe this little story describes our society perfectly? This is a stark reminder to us not to forget our many blessings, to be grateful for what we do have and not to forget the thanksgiving side of our prayers.
It is amazing how people turn to God when they are in trouble, but when things are going well, God is conveniently forgotten. Instead of our continued negativity, ungratefulness and continued whining and complaining - if we truly examine our heart and circumstances, we will find that we have so much to be thankful for, so many blessings that they’re actually impossible to count.
We are all blessed to the extent that we should continually be counting our blessings, continually giving thanks – looking at the bright side of things, instead of continually finding fault with our circumstances and with our brothers and sisters. So it is the aim this morning for us to consider the need to count our blessings every day.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5
We are called to acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, in everything we do… not only when we’re in trouble. In all our ways, in everything we do… and if we really did that, we would find that we really have no reason to complain.
Instead, when we acknowledge the part that the Lord plays in our life, we will get on our knees and praise Him for His tender mercies, for the many, many blessings we have in our life. And we will find that shortly after that, our Peace and joy will be restored.
We need to be continually reminded to count our blessings, because it is so easy to fall back on self-pity and to count our woes.
Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. Psalm 103:1-2
And how easy it is for us to remember the woes and forget the benefits. To forget the blessings. Let’s look at how many we do forget.
Perhaps the greatest blessing of all is found in verse 3 of Psalm 103: “He forgives all my sins…”
What greater blessing is there than the forgiveness of our sins…? Without that blessing, that very great blessing, the forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Jesus, there would really be no point to life… for without it, we would all be doomed to eternal judgement.
Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me
When we are a thankful person, when we do count our blessings by praising the Lord, when we actually realize how blessed we really are, we will have a change of heart, a change of attitude… and our joy will be restored because of it.
And when we have joy and thankfulness in our heart, it’s almost impossible to harbor any bitterness. If we walk around with an attitude of Thanksgiving, of gratefulness, it’s very difficult to become angry or upset. It’s a mindset of thankfulness that gives us that great peace.
There is just something that takes place when thankfulness is a part of our lives. It’s called Grace. The grace that we have been given through our blessings allows us to be gracious to others.
The small things in life… there is just so much that we take for granted.
A pat on the back. A kind word. A loving word. A word of encouragement. A full moon. A hot bath. An empty parking space. A crackling fire. A great meal. A glorious sunset. Hot soup. A good night’s sleep. Eyes that can see! Ears that hear. Fingers that can touch…. Now we can go on all morning…
But we are told: Don’t forget. Stop worrying about missing the world’s grand rewards of fame, wealth and success. Rather focus on and enjoy its tiny delights. Because there are plenty for all of us.
The problem is, it takes grace, it takes love and compassion, it takes time to stop and notice. So often we get wrapped up in the troubles of our lives, that our complaining eventually becomes habit, a miserable part of our ungrateful existence.
It takes time, it takes an act of Grace to stop for a minute, to consider our priorities, to put things into perspective. The speed at which most of us live our lives is quite ridiculous… the hectic pace of life today quickly becomes an uncaring habit.
So this morning let us, to take the time, to stop, and smell the roses. Appreciate the good things.
Look around, consider our circumstances, the people and family around us… and if we can see them with eyes that see, that alone is one of life’s great blessings… the miracle of sight! Can you imagine being blind? Without ever being able to savor the beauty around us? What an amazing blessing… the little things that we take for granted.
So let us stop, pause and appreciate the things around us… the people in our life, the wondrous Creation… change our attitude… look on the bright side… count our blessings…. stop and smell the roses…!
Here’s an attitude for us. Matthew Henry, the famous Bible scholar, was once mugged and robbed of his wallet. He wrote these words in his diary.
"Let me be thankful first, because I have never been robbed before.
Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life.
Third, because although they took my money, it was not much.
And fourth, because it was I who was robbed, and not I who was the robber. There but for the grace of God, go I."
An attitude of thankfulness, of seeing the brighter side of life, despite our circumstance, which automatically brings joy.
When we are thankful our vision improves. Not our sight! But our vision. Not our eyes, but our outlook, our attitude. To be thankful will help us have an optimistic and hopeful outlook on life, something that is noticeably lacking amongst many of us.
We will begin to see the donut and not the hole,
We'll see the glass half full and not half empty.
We'll see the potential and the opportunity and not the problem.
The problem with many of us is that we don’t have the grace to see the glass half full. When we look at the glass, we see it half empty, but we also see that it’s dirty, it’s the wrong size, the wrong color and really not the one we wanted…
Optimist comes from Latin word "optimus" which means "best".
Pessimist from Latin word "pessimus" which means "worst". It’s our duty in the love of Christ to look for the best, not the worst.
Look for things to be thankful for and we will find plenty, and our joy will be full.
But to be thankful, to have an attitude of thanksgiving, we actually need to recognize what our blessings are. Sometimes we walk around in a state of oblivion, too wrapped up in our own self-centeredness to even recognize how truly blessed we really are… We Americans take so many things for granted.
So many things we take for granted. We need to Count our blessings. But we need to start by asking God to open our eyes to actually see our possessions in Christ. Begin by recognizing all that we have in Christ. This will change our entire perspective and enable us to praise and thank God for what we have.
Praise the LORD! How good to sing praises to our God! How delightful and how fitting! Psalm 147:1
Below is a “mini-message” that I sent out earlier but worth reading again and some haven’t seen it. It really got me to thinking about “blessings” and I felt led to do this lesson.
Weed Hunts from Max Lucado
God’s love sprouts around us like lilacs, but we go on weed hunts! How many flowers do we miss in the process? If you look long enough, you’ll find something to bellyache about. So quit looking!
Lift your eyes off the weeds. Collect your blessings. Catalog His kindnesses. Assemble your reasons for gratitude. “Always be joyful” is what Paul tells us in 1st Thessalonians 5:16-18 . “Pray continually and give thanks, whatever happens. This is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.”
Gratitude is always an option. Make it your default emotion and you’ll find yourself giving thanks for the problems of life. Who knows what you might record in your journal:
Mondays. Oh boy–my favorite! Final exams. I can hardly wait! “Impossible,” you say? How do you know?
How do you know until you give the day a chance? Thank God!
There is a legend about two angels. Two angels who were sent to earth to gather up the prayers of humans. One was to fill his basket with the petitions and requests of mankind. The other was to gather their prayers of thanksgiving. Sometime later they went back to the Father’s house. One had a basket heaped high and running over with the innumerable petitions and pleas of men. The other returned with a sad and heavy heart, because his basket was almost empty.
The thanks of men were rarely heard on earth, even though the angel had searched diligently. Do you think maybe this little story describes our society perfectly? This is a stark reminder to us not to forget our many blessings, to be grateful for what we do have and not to forget the thanksgiving side of our prayers.
It is amazing how people turn to God when they are in trouble, but when things are going well, God is conveniently forgotten. Instead of our continued negativity, ungratefulness and continued whining and complaining - if we truly examine our heart and circumstances, we will find that we have so much to be thankful for, so many blessings that they’re actually impossible to count.
We are all blessed to the extent that we should continually be counting our blessings, continually giving thanks – looking at the bright side of things, instead of continually finding fault with our circumstances and with our brothers and sisters. So it is the aim this morning for us to consider the need to count our blessings every day.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5
We are called to acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, in everything we do… not only when we’re in trouble. In all our ways, in everything we do… and if we really did that, we would find that we really have no reason to complain.
Instead, when we acknowledge the part that the Lord plays in our life, we will get on our knees and praise Him for His tender mercies, for the many, many blessings we have in our life. And we will find that shortly after that, our Peace and joy will be restored.
We need to be continually reminded to count our blessings, because it is so easy to fall back on self-pity and to count our woes.
Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. Psalm 103:1-2
And how easy it is for us to remember the woes and forget the benefits. To forget the blessings. Let’s look at how many we do forget.
Perhaps the greatest blessing of all is found in verse 3 of Psalm 103: “He forgives all my sins…”
What greater blessing is there than the forgiveness of our sins…? Without that blessing, that very great blessing, the forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Jesus, there would really be no point to life… for without it, we would all be doomed to eternal judgement.
Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me
When we are a thankful person, when we do count our blessings by praising the Lord, when we actually realize how blessed we really are, we will have a change of heart, a change of attitude… and our joy will be restored because of it.
And when we have joy and thankfulness in our heart, it’s almost impossible to harbor any bitterness. If we walk around with an attitude of Thanksgiving, of gratefulness, it’s very difficult to become angry or upset. It’s a mindset of thankfulness that gives us that great peace.
There is just something that takes place when thankfulness is a part of our lives. It’s called Grace. The grace that we have been given through our blessings allows us to be gracious to others.
The small things in life… there is just so much that we take for granted.
A pat on the back. A kind word. A loving word. A word of encouragement. A full moon. A hot bath. An empty parking space. A crackling fire. A great meal. A glorious sunset. Hot soup. A good night’s sleep. Eyes that can see! Ears that hear. Fingers that can touch…. Now we can go on all morning…
But we are told: Don’t forget. Stop worrying about missing the world’s grand rewards of fame, wealth and success. Rather focus on and enjoy its tiny delights. Because there are plenty for all of us.
The problem is, it takes grace, it takes love and compassion, it takes time to stop and notice. So often we get wrapped up in the troubles of our lives, that our complaining eventually becomes habit, a miserable part of our ungrateful existence.
It takes time, it takes an act of Grace to stop for a minute, to consider our priorities, to put things into perspective. The speed at which most of us live our lives is quite ridiculous… the hectic pace of life today quickly becomes an uncaring habit.
So this morning let us, to take the time, to stop, and smell the roses. Appreciate the good things.
Look around, consider our circumstances, the people and family around us… and if we can see them with eyes that see, that alone is one of life’s great blessings… the miracle of sight! Can you imagine being blind? Without ever being able to savor the beauty around us? What an amazing blessing… the little things that we take for granted.
So let us stop, pause and appreciate the things around us… the people in our life, the wondrous Creation… change our attitude… look on the bright side… count our blessings…. stop and smell the roses…!
Here’s an attitude for us. Matthew Henry, the famous Bible scholar, was once mugged and robbed of his wallet. He wrote these words in his diary.
"Let me be thankful first, because I have never been robbed before.
Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life.
Third, because although they took my money, it was not much.
And fourth, because it was I who was robbed, and not I who was the robber. There but for the grace of God, go I."
An attitude of thankfulness, of seeing the brighter side of life, despite our circumstance, which automatically brings joy.
When we are thankful our vision improves. Not our sight! But our vision. Not our eyes, but our outlook, our attitude. To be thankful will help us have an optimistic and hopeful outlook on life, something that is noticeably lacking amongst many of us.
We will begin to see the donut and not the hole,
We'll see the glass half full and not half empty.
We'll see the potential and the opportunity and not the problem.
The problem with many of us is that we don’t have the grace to see the glass half full. When we look at the glass, we see it half empty, but we also see that it’s dirty, it’s the wrong size, the wrong color and really not the one we wanted…
Optimist comes from Latin word "optimus" which means "best".
Pessimist from Latin word "pessimus" which means "worst". It’s our duty in the love of Christ to look for the best, not the worst.
Look for things to be thankful for and we will find plenty, and our joy will be full.
But to be thankful, to have an attitude of thanksgiving, we actually need to recognize what our blessings are. Sometimes we walk around in a state of oblivion, too wrapped up in our own self-centeredness to even recognize how truly blessed we really are… We Americans take so many things for granted.
So many things we take for granted. We need to Count our blessings. But we need to start by asking God to open our eyes to actually see our possessions in Christ. Begin by recognizing all that we have in Christ. This will change our entire perspective and enable us to praise and thank God for what we have.
Praise the LORD! How good to sing praises to our God! How delightful and how fitting! Psalm 147:1
Friday, August 3, 2012
Permission to Pursue What You Love
My note: Struggled with getting lesson I felt good about for today. Finally settled on this lesson. Thought it would probably relate more to youth on what "vocation" they should pursue. But, figured parents could use it to help advise their children. Our youth director was out of town and one of the WhoSoEvers, Raye, was going to lead the youth in SS. To my surprise, they showed up for our class. Seems youth director had locked the door to their room and nobody could find a spare key. Coincidence - I think not! Amazing when we just get out of HIS way, what will happen!
Permission to Pursue What You Love
There are two books out that that talk about an often neglected biblical principle. It is often called the principle of "vocation" or work. The first book is Work Matters by Pastor Tom Nelson (Christ Community Church, Leewood, Kansas). The second was The Cure for the Common Life by best-selling author and pastor, Max Lucado.
While both books are different -- Nelson fully fleshes out the “theology” of work while Lucado illustrates the uniqueness of every human being created in God's image -- they both arrive at an important conclusion: God has uniquely gifted, wired, called, and shaped every human being for a specific purpose on this earth, to glorify Him.
This may seem like something we always hear in church or a tired Christian cliché. But we often do not always comprehend two powerful ideas that come out of our uniqueness: work was ordained by God and is a form of worship and that God implants in us certain unique skills, passions, and gifts that make our lives unique.
We will expand on this concept today because it is very important for us to understand our purpose. Embracing God's unique design involves pushing back against a cultural lie about ourselves and a church lie about ourselves.
The Cultural Lie
On the one hand, you have the cultural expression that "you can be whatever you want to be, whatever you set your heart to do." This has been echoed in movies, books, motivational speeches and sometimes even from the pulpit. But we all know that this isn't really true. Supposed we really wanted to play on the pro golf circuit. Maybe play as well as Tiger Woods. We could play 18 holes everyday for years but would never make it. So we can't actually be whatever we want to be, can we?
The Church Lie
But the opposite of this cultural lie is a church lie. It's a pushback against the dreams that tell us to follow our hearts. It's the equal and opposite idea that because our hearts are so wicked, we can't trust them and therefore what we like to do, what we're good at doing, what we have a passion to do -- this can't possibly be what God wants us to be. This lie might go something like this: You can't be anything you want to be. In some ways, this may be more dangerous than the first lie in the sense that lots of Christian kids grow up forced into a mold set by parents or pastors or others. Every young boy must aspire to be a pastor or in "full-time" Christian service, otherwise he's not serving God. Every girl must aspire to be a pastor's wife or in some kind of acceptable full-time ministry or she is not serving the Lord. The guilt goes like this: How can you pursue a career in law or business or entertainment when across the world people are dying and going to hell?
And so you have a lot of people who feel they are supposed to ignore their gifts, their skills, their passions and they plunge into full-time ministry when they really have no aptitude for it. And as a result, not only do they suffer, but God's people suffer. You've taken a skilled person out of the environment where they might have had the most impact (law, business, medical field, carpenter, plumber, etc) and you've placed them, like a square peg in a round hole, in ministry where the people are suffering under the leadership of someone who wasn't supposed to be there in the first place.
The Biblical Third Way
So is there an alternative to the world's false "You can be what you want to be" fantasies and the church's "Don't dream, don't trust your passions and skills" consignment to certain acceptable callings? There is and it's to dive more fully into biblical principles of work. Here's a few important points we need to consider when it comes to calling:
Every kind of work is honorable to God. This is where Tom Nelson's book, Work Matters really shines. It shines because it pushes back against pastors and missionaries and so-called full-time ministry staff elevating their callings above that of lay people. The truth is that if we believe work in it’s self is good and worthy and honorable to God as a form of worship, then we should consider the skilled plumber or the top salesman or the doctor as worthy a ministry of the gospel as a pastor or missionary. The work lay people do from Monday to Friday is important, not simply so they can be a witness in the workplace or they can make more money so they can tithe, but because the work itself is important to God.
This concept is backed up by Paul in Colossians 3:23 where he writes “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” And again in Ephesians 6:7 where he tells the church at Ephesus to “Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people”.
God has uniquely wired every single person with specific skills and gifts. Max Lucado beautifully brings out the important message of Psalm 139, where David describes the intricate design behind every human soul. You are who you are because God made you this way. The things you are gifted at, passionate about, the things others see in you as strengths -- these are given to purposely by God. Why? For a purpose. To occupy a space in His plan for His glory. You wanting to be live someone else's life is actually against God. Someone forcing you into their mold is against God. The life God wants you to live is the life of Christ lived through you in a unique expression.
A True Believer Can Trust Their Hearts. Let's look at the teachings of the Scriptures concerning our hearts. Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
But something happened, right? We chose sin and sin has corrupted our hearts, thus Jeremiah 17:9 which describes the human heart as “the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.” But in Ezekiel 36:26 God says, “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”
And one of the most important scriptures that most of us have heard many times: “that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
So, if we are followers of Christ being transformed by His grace, we can listen to our hearts. What happens in salvation is this: God restores us (His masterpieces) from the corruption of sin. He implants in us a new heart, makes us a new person (born again). And as we die to ourselves, He reveals to us His original purpose for us. As you walk with the Lord, your calling will become clearer and clearer. But it's not because you are ignoring your gifts, your passions, your skills, but rather you are seeing them more clearly because the Holy Spirit is guiding us.
So, this means you can't be anything you "want to be" but you are free to be who you are supposed to be. What you die to in following Christ is not your skills and passions and gifts, but to the sin-soaked desires that were a distraction from God's original design of your life. You begin to enter, as Max Lucado calls it, your "sweet spot" where your gifts, your opportunities, and your impact all meet.
It is especially important for Christian young people as they survey their lives. High-school seniors and college freshman. They need to ask: What am I good at? What do I enjoy doing? Where do you think you can have the most impact in the world? What do others say you are good at?
They as well as all of us need to realize is that "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father" (James 1:17). God equipped us with gifts of skill, not for us to show off our skills but to reflect His glory.
Gifted plumbers shouldn't preach. Gifted preachers shouldn't plumb.
No, you can't be what you want to be. But you are freed by Jesus to be what He designed you to be. And it's a whole easier to figure out what that is when we reject both cultural and church myths.
Permission to Pursue What You Love
There are two books out that that talk about an often neglected biblical principle. It is often called the principle of "vocation" or work. The first book is Work Matters by Pastor Tom Nelson (Christ Community Church, Leewood, Kansas). The second was The Cure for the Common Life by best-selling author and pastor, Max Lucado.
While both books are different -- Nelson fully fleshes out the “theology” of work while Lucado illustrates the uniqueness of every human being created in God's image -- they both arrive at an important conclusion: God has uniquely gifted, wired, called, and shaped every human being for a specific purpose on this earth, to glorify Him.
This may seem like something we always hear in church or a tired Christian cliché. But we often do not always comprehend two powerful ideas that come out of our uniqueness: work was ordained by God and is a form of worship and that God implants in us certain unique skills, passions, and gifts that make our lives unique.
We will expand on this concept today because it is very important for us to understand our purpose. Embracing God's unique design involves pushing back against a cultural lie about ourselves and a church lie about ourselves.
The Cultural Lie
On the one hand, you have the cultural expression that "you can be whatever you want to be, whatever you set your heart to do." This has been echoed in movies, books, motivational speeches and sometimes even from the pulpit. But we all know that this isn't really true. Supposed we really wanted to play on the pro golf circuit. Maybe play as well as Tiger Woods. We could play 18 holes everyday for years but would never make it. So we can't actually be whatever we want to be, can we?
The Church Lie
But the opposite of this cultural lie is a church lie. It's a pushback against the dreams that tell us to follow our hearts. It's the equal and opposite idea that because our hearts are so wicked, we can't trust them and therefore what we like to do, what we're good at doing, what we have a passion to do -- this can't possibly be what God wants us to be. This lie might go something like this: You can't be anything you want to be. In some ways, this may be more dangerous than the first lie in the sense that lots of Christian kids grow up forced into a mold set by parents or pastors or others. Every young boy must aspire to be a pastor or in "full-time" Christian service, otherwise he's not serving God. Every girl must aspire to be a pastor's wife or in some kind of acceptable full-time ministry or she is not serving the Lord. The guilt goes like this: How can you pursue a career in law or business or entertainment when across the world people are dying and going to hell?
And so you have a lot of people who feel they are supposed to ignore their gifts, their skills, their passions and they plunge into full-time ministry when they really have no aptitude for it. And as a result, not only do they suffer, but God's people suffer. You've taken a skilled person out of the environment where they might have had the most impact (law, business, medical field, carpenter, plumber, etc) and you've placed them, like a square peg in a round hole, in ministry where the people are suffering under the leadership of someone who wasn't supposed to be there in the first place.
The Biblical Third Way
So is there an alternative to the world's false "You can be what you want to be" fantasies and the church's "Don't dream, don't trust your passions and skills" consignment to certain acceptable callings? There is and it's to dive more fully into biblical principles of work. Here's a few important points we need to consider when it comes to calling:
Every kind of work is honorable to God. This is where Tom Nelson's book, Work Matters really shines. It shines because it pushes back against pastors and missionaries and so-called full-time ministry staff elevating their callings above that of lay people. The truth is that if we believe work in it’s self is good and worthy and honorable to God as a form of worship, then we should consider the skilled plumber or the top salesman or the doctor as worthy a ministry of the gospel as a pastor or missionary. The work lay people do from Monday to Friday is important, not simply so they can be a witness in the workplace or they can make more money so they can tithe, but because the work itself is important to God.
This concept is backed up by Paul in Colossians 3:23 where he writes “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” And again in Ephesians 6:7 where he tells the church at Ephesus to “Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people”.
God has uniquely wired every single person with specific skills and gifts. Max Lucado beautifully brings out the important message of Psalm 139, where David describes the intricate design behind every human soul. You are who you are because God made you this way. The things you are gifted at, passionate about, the things others see in you as strengths -- these are given to purposely by God. Why? For a purpose. To occupy a space in His plan for His glory. You wanting to be live someone else's life is actually against God. Someone forcing you into their mold is against God. The life God wants you to live is the life of Christ lived through you in a unique expression.
A True Believer Can Trust Their Hearts. Let's look at the teachings of the Scriptures concerning our hearts. Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
But something happened, right? We chose sin and sin has corrupted our hearts, thus Jeremiah 17:9 which describes the human heart as “the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.” But in Ezekiel 36:26 God says, “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”
And one of the most important scriptures that most of us have heard many times: “that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
So, if we are followers of Christ being transformed by His grace, we can listen to our hearts. What happens in salvation is this: God restores us (His masterpieces) from the corruption of sin. He implants in us a new heart, makes us a new person (born again). And as we die to ourselves, He reveals to us His original purpose for us. As you walk with the Lord, your calling will become clearer and clearer. But it's not because you are ignoring your gifts, your passions, your skills, but rather you are seeing them more clearly because the Holy Spirit is guiding us.
So, this means you can't be anything you "want to be" but you are free to be who you are supposed to be. What you die to in following Christ is not your skills and passions and gifts, but to the sin-soaked desires that were a distraction from God's original design of your life. You begin to enter, as Max Lucado calls it, your "sweet spot" where your gifts, your opportunities, and your impact all meet.
It is especially important for Christian young people as they survey their lives. High-school seniors and college freshman. They need to ask: What am I good at? What do I enjoy doing? Where do you think you can have the most impact in the world? What do others say you are good at?
They as well as all of us need to realize is that "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father" (James 1:17). God equipped us with gifts of skill, not for us to show off our skills but to reflect His glory.
Gifted plumbers shouldn't preach. Gifted preachers shouldn't plumb.
No, you can't be what you want to be. But you are freed by Jesus to be what He designed you to be. And it's a whole easier to figure out what that is when we reject both cultural and church myths.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
