There is a recurring sin in our church (and others I’m sure) that flies in the face of the command found in 1Peter 1:22 love one another deeply, from the heart.
I am speaking of the idea people get when they have decided that their church has become disposable and that they are deserving of one that will do a better job of meeting their needs.
What many choose to do once their church has become expendable like this, is to use the departure experience as a means of determining how loved or lovable they really are.
Some people decide to use church-members as guinea-pigs to see how long it takes for someone to realize they are missing and just what kind of affection they will demonstrate once they do realize. 2-3 weeks says I’m pretty important. 6-7 weeks says Nobody likes me, I think I’ll continue my search for a better church.
If you are contemplating this self-pitying, people-using experiment, there are a couple of questions you ought to ask yourself first…
1. Do you love theses people that you are deserting, deeply from the heart?
2. Is this how love treats people, abandoning them to see what kind of distress can be caused?
3. Is this how you generally treat relationships that matter to you?
4. Have you then, actually loved? (ever?)
5. If you have not loved, how is it then, that you expect a group of people who struggle with self-centeredness as much as you do, to come flocking to you in your absence?
6. If you have not loved by calling people that were absent, how is it then that you expect everyone else to excel where you have failed?
7. If you have not served, committed, how is it that you could ever expect anyone to notice you were gone?
8. And if you have loved, served, committed and left, how fearful do you think those you left behind are going to be? When your immaturity and inability to communicate with grown-up words comes to the fore, how willing do you think people are going to be to confront that quivering lower lip of yours?
In short: Who do you think you are?
In shorter: Please don’t treat the people of this church with such loveless contempt.
In shortest: Grow up!
Try rather, obeying. Try rather, loving and if you a have to leave, consider Paul’s example in church relationships.
Eph 1:16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Php 4:1 my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown… dear friends!
1Th 2:8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
1Th 2:17 brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you.
Love... one another... deeply... from the heart.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Eagerness Crosses the Line into Anxiety
Paul who wrote...
Php 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Also confessed in the same letter...
Php 2:28 Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.
If Paul fought for joy in this arena, we will too.
Php 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Also confessed in the same letter...
Php 2:28 Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.
If Paul fought for joy in this arena, we will too.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Fasting’s Effect on the Mind at Prayer
One of the functions of fasting is to flood the brain with messages from the body which say, “I have an idea, let’s eat.” And “Oh! Here’s another thought: How ’bout we eat now?” And then “I know… let’s eat something!” And on it goes.
The creative idea receptor in the brain gets so flooded with these messages (which are then willfully converted to spiritual desire for Christ) that it is in a sense, dulled to any other creativity. It can think of nothing better to solve it’s basic predicament and so, mental energy towards other dilemmas is diluted as well.
What fasting does then is to muffle the creative problem solving center of the brain ( or even crash it) and lull us into a sense of utter dependence. Prayer in this state of reliance flows much more easily and naturally. It is more comfortable to be on our knees (whether in mind or body or both) humbled before our provider-sustainer, begging him again and again for the things we need, the things we want, that only he can manage, only he can supply.
I challenge you if you have not fasted before, to try a 24-hour fast.
Eat breakfast and then have only water until the next breakfast meal.
Convert every hunger pang into a prayer of request to your creator-sustainer.
Wait on him. Pray with others who may have joined you in this fast and then …
Mt 6:17 But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.
18 Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
As individuals and as a church, we are in need of much favor from God right now.
Let me encourage you to do everything you can to pray well. Think about joining us at Bev’s on the 31st . Think about learning how to pray by praying with us, Sunday mornings at our drop-in prayer meeting from 9-9:45
The creative idea receptor in the brain gets so flooded with these messages (which are then willfully converted to spiritual desire for Christ) that it is in a sense, dulled to any other creativity. It can think of nothing better to solve it’s basic predicament and so, mental energy towards other dilemmas is diluted as well.
What fasting does then is to muffle the creative problem solving center of the brain ( or even crash it) and lull us into a sense of utter dependence. Prayer in this state of reliance flows much more easily and naturally. It is more comfortable to be on our knees (whether in mind or body or both) humbled before our provider-sustainer, begging him again and again for the things we need, the things we want, that only he can manage, only he can supply.
I challenge you if you have not fasted before, to try a 24-hour fast.
Eat breakfast and then have only water until the next breakfast meal.
Convert every hunger pang into a prayer of request to your creator-sustainer.
Wait on him. Pray with others who may have joined you in this fast and then …
Mt 6:17 But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.
18 Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
As individuals and as a church, we are in need of much favor from God right now.
Let me encourage you to do everything you can to pray well. Think about joining us at Bev’s on the 31st . Think about learning how to pray by praying with us, Sunday mornings at our drop-in prayer meeting from 9-9:45
Monday, March 23, 2009
WHAT GOD ALLOWS HIS PEOPLE TO SUFFER
...for His glory, by our joy.
Here are some verses to consider as we continue to ask the question this coming weekend,
“Is it possible that God would allow his church to go through the Great Tribulation?”
Joh 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that IN ME you may have peace.
In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
(This may or may not include the “Great Tribulation”, none the less God allows his people to suffer for him)
Joh 17:15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
(It is our souls, not necessarily our bodies, that God is concerned with)
Mt 23:34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
Hebrews 11:35 b (People who lived by faith) were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. 39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith,
Re 13:17 so that no-one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
Mark 13:19 because those will be days of distress unequalled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. 20 If the Lord had not cut short those days, no-one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.
Revelation 7:13 Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes— who are they, and where did they come from?" 14 I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.
Both Pre-Tribulation Rapture speculators (like Reg Sr.) and Post or Mid-Tribulation speculators like myself (Andy) believe that Holy-Spirit filled Christians will go through “The Great Tribulation”
The question is this: Will these people be members of the church or will the church have been caught up and these new saints scattered around the world, left to suffer persecution that the rest of us have been spared?
And if we can’t be certain of that answer, should we not be at least prepared to suffer along with the tribulation saints as one of them? Can we draw a distinctive line between church and tribulation-saints and if we think we can, what if we are wrong?
Consider the freedom of being prepared to die for Christ and know that it is only by the development of this component of faith that you are truly free to live for him.
Here are some verses to consider as we continue to ask the question this coming weekend,
“Is it possible that God would allow his church to go through the Great Tribulation?”
Joh 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that IN ME you may have peace.
In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
(This may or may not include the “Great Tribulation”, none the less God allows his people to suffer for him)
Joh 17:15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
(It is our souls, not necessarily our bodies, that God is concerned with)
Mt 23:34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
Hebrews 11:35 b (People who lived by faith) were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. 39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith,
Re 13:17 so that no-one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
Mark 13:19 because those will be days of distress unequalled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. 20 If the Lord had not cut short those days, no-one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.
Revelation 7:13 Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes— who are they, and where did they come from?" 14 I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.
Both Pre-Tribulation Rapture speculators (like Reg Sr.) and Post or Mid-Tribulation speculators like myself (Andy) believe that Holy-Spirit filled Christians will go through “The Great Tribulation”
The question is this: Will these people be members of the church or will the church have been caught up and these new saints scattered around the world, left to suffer persecution that the rest of us have been spared?
And if we can’t be certain of that answer, should we not be at least prepared to suffer along with the tribulation saints as one of them? Can we draw a distinctive line between church and tribulation-saints and if we think we can, what if we are wrong?
Consider the freedom of being prepared to die for Christ and know that it is only by the development of this component of faith that you are truly free to live for him.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Peter’s Recipe for Suffering With Jesus and For Jesus
1 Peter 5:1 I appeal as… a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed:
1 Peter 2:21 to this (suffering for doing good) you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
1 Peter 4:16 if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 1 Peter 4:12 Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
1 Peter 1:6 In this (living hope of soon-coming glorification) you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 1 Peter 2:19 for it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 1 Peter 2:20 If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
1Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed (rewarded by God’s pleasure in you and therefore happy together with God). "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." 1 Peter 3:17 It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
1 Peter 4:15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.
1 Peter 4:19 so then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. 1 Peter 5:9 Resist him, (the one who tempts you to be anxious so that he can destroy you with worry) standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
To sum up…
When you, a Christian, suffer, (whether persecution or illness or loss) fight against feeling shocked, afraid, anxious, ashamed, or singled out. (Our natural temptations)
In faith, fight for joy by fixing your mind on fellowship with Jesus in suffering making it your will / desire, because it seems to be his will for you.
Then decide to hope in glorification with Christ, a time when the desert-experience of this life is over and we enter our promised-land with him. Keep doing these right things, maintaining this right perspective even if it still hurts.
1 Peter 2:21 to this (suffering for doing good) you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
1 Peter 4:16 if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 1 Peter 4:12 Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
1 Peter 1:6 In this (living hope of soon-coming glorification) you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 1 Peter 2:19 for it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 1 Peter 2:20 If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
1Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed (rewarded by God’s pleasure in you and therefore happy together with God). "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." 1 Peter 3:17 It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
1 Peter 4:15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.
1 Peter 4:19 so then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. 1 Peter 5:9 Resist him, (the one who tempts you to be anxious so that he can destroy you with worry) standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
To sum up…
When you, a Christian, suffer, (whether persecution or illness or loss) fight against feeling shocked, afraid, anxious, ashamed, or singled out. (Our natural temptations)
In faith, fight for joy by fixing your mind on fellowship with Jesus in suffering making it your will / desire, because it seems to be his will for you.
Then decide to hope in glorification with Christ, a time when the desert-experience of this life is over and we enter our promised-land with him. Keep doing these right things, maintaining this right perspective even if it still hurts.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Anti-evangelism
Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
7b a time to be silent and a time to speak,
I have been begging, reasoning with, explaining to, warning, praying for, and loving my brother for 25 years to no avail. His heart is as hard as ever despite what he has seen in my life. Perhaps part of the problem is that I don’t know when to just shut up.
John 10:16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. THEY too WILL LISTEN to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
“They will listen!”, Those who are not his sheep, will not. What then do I do?
Mt 7:6 “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.
Mt 8:22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.”
Mt 10:14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.
1Peter 3:1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives,
A whole theology of anti-evangelism could be established. The question is simply this, will I ever trust God enough to just shut up and know that he is God? (Ps 46:10)
Not that I have to stop loving or praying, just stop talking and giving books and offering advice and quoting scripture waiting for this moment to come along…
1Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer TO EVERYONE WHO ASKS you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
Most books on evangelism do not tell us when to stop and trust and wait. Most apologetics books should come with this warning: There is a time to be silent!
7b a time to be silent and a time to speak,
I have been begging, reasoning with, explaining to, warning, praying for, and loving my brother for 25 years to no avail. His heart is as hard as ever despite what he has seen in my life. Perhaps part of the problem is that I don’t know when to just shut up.
John 10:16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. THEY too WILL LISTEN to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
“They will listen!”, Those who are not his sheep, will not. What then do I do?
Mt 7:6 “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.
Mt 8:22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.”
Mt 10:14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.
1Peter 3:1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives,
A whole theology of anti-evangelism could be established. The question is simply this, will I ever trust God enough to just shut up and know that he is God? (Ps 46:10)
Not that I have to stop loving or praying, just stop talking and giving books and offering advice and quoting scripture waiting for this moment to come along…
1Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer TO EVERYONE WHO ASKS you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
Most books on evangelism do not tell us when to stop and trust and wait. Most apologetics books should come with this warning: There is a time to be silent!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Divine Sovereignty & Human Free-Will
Reflections on Matthew 24:14
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Consider what is going on as you look out the window and notice that your bird feeder is getting low. You want to continue to enjoy the beauty of these creatures in your back yard so, with out much thought, you refill the feeder.
Looking hopefully out the window, you wait for return of the Cedar Waxwings and the Blue Jays and the Juncos, as they discover this new bounty that you have provided.
You enjoy the spectacle of color and see something of the mind of God in their beauty and variety and their differing natures. You like to feed the birds. You do it freely of your own volition and then you remember…
Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
And you think, “When I feed the birds, am I usurping God, replacing God, assisting God, supplementing what God is doing, or am I in fact, of my own free will, carrying out the sovereign plan of God?
Is God feeding the birds through me? Was this his plan? Is this how, at least in part, God sovereignly feeds his birds? Would they not have eaten as well today had it not been for me?
On a grander scale, consider the witness, the evidence you embody and communicate, even sometimes unwittingly, that testifies to the existence and nature of God.God displays his glory through your words and actions and attitudes. He planned it long ago as the vital means he would use to spread his gospel.
Your desire to serve him, to see people saved, is your own will, sovereignly employed by his plan, to make his fame spread and his grace to sinners known.
That God feeds the birds, needs to be clearly perceived while I am happily filling the feeder. What I must also come to see is that the gospel will be preached in the whole world.
And WE will joyfully pursue that goal, partnered with Him and it will be accomplished and then the end will come.God will sovereignly accomplish his will, in part, through our free will and effort. And in the end every people-group will have heard.
Revelation 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Consider what is going on as you look out the window and notice that your bird feeder is getting low. You want to continue to enjoy the beauty of these creatures in your back yard so, with out much thought, you refill the feeder.
Looking hopefully out the window, you wait for return of the Cedar Waxwings and the Blue Jays and the Juncos, as they discover this new bounty that you have provided.
You enjoy the spectacle of color and see something of the mind of God in their beauty and variety and their differing natures. You like to feed the birds. You do it freely of your own volition and then you remember…
Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
And you think, “When I feed the birds, am I usurping God, replacing God, assisting God, supplementing what God is doing, or am I in fact, of my own free will, carrying out the sovereign plan of God?
Is God feeding the birds through me? Was this his plan? Is this how, at least in part, God sovereignly feeds his birds? Would they not have eaten as well today had it not been for me?
On a grander scale, consider the witness, the evidence you embody and communicate, even sometimes unwittingly, that testifies to the existence and nature of God.God displays his glory through your words and actions and attitudes. He planned it long ago as the vital means he would use to spread his gospel.
Your desire to serve him, to see people saved, is your own will, sovereignly employed by his plan, to make his fame spread and his grace to sinners known.
That God feeds the birds, needs to be clearly perceived while I am happily filling the feeder. What I must also come to see is that the gospel will be preached in the whole world.
And WE will joyfully pursue that goal, partnered with Him and it will be accomplished and then the end will come.God will sovereignly accomplish his will, in part, through our free will and effort. And in the end every people-group will have heard.
Revelation 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)