Early

It’s early and as I sit at my desk with the window open overlooking our community pond the sun is shining, and yet as I take a moment to perhaps daydream, I start to see more and more of those little white puffy clouds (like sheep) begin to proceed across that great blue backdrop we call sky.

It’s now that I hear the lawn mower service, their distraction like clockwork every Tuesday morning, the steady hum or buzz of their equipment encroaching on my serenity, only to find another distraction as I hear the voice of my neighbor Christy, down on the lawn below.  Christy, a single mom, like myself, along with her five year old son Cameron as they play with their dog.  I then hear Cameron ring my doorbell (for fun) and then, I hear Christy scold him.  Aw, to be young again.  Nothing better to do but chase your dog and ring the neighbor’s doorbells, because surely they must be sleeping (especially at 8:30 in the morning when they’re on vacation;). If I had a dog, which someday I hope life and Time will once  again afford me  (for now, I’ll have to settle for my crazy parakeet) I think it might be fun to chase him or her, though ringing doorbells of my unsuspecting neighbors? at my age,  probably not such a good idea (though still, the idea is tempting).

But… up early this morning I got to thinking about how at the beginning of our lives (and I think seeing and hearing Cameron out playing on the lawn below reinforced this) life is so much more carefree and easy. Our whole lives spread out before us and filled with possibility. And then? We have to grow up, don’t we? and perhaps at times life doesn’t always turn out to be the picnic in the park we thought it’d be.  Life and all it’s demands has a way of pressing in. Whether it’s family, work, finances, something. It’s always something. And for me I think most of all, it’s Time.  Time, that pesky culprit.  If only we had the ability to stop it. But Time will halt for no one.  Better yet, to grab some rope and attempt to lasso it, tame it, so that instead of Time getting a handle on us we can at least try, try, to get a handle on it.

So… why am writing all of this?  Honestly, I just felt the need to write something, hoping that practice will make perfect, right? But tomorrow, tomorrow I’m turning thirty-nine (and how this happened I have no idea. Again, I think Time had something to do with it) but at least I’ll be spending it at Disney World so maybe, just maybe, for a day, I’ll get to feel like a kid again.  Honestly though, most of the time (inside) I already do anyway.  I mean, didn’t Jesus say something to the affect of, “unless you all become as little children, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven?”  I could google it, but I’m pretty sure He did.

Yes, to be like Cameron, or rather, to have the mindset of a child. And what is that?  Trusting, believing, carefree, simplicity.  Faith.  How many of us as adults really live like that?  God says… but do we believe Him?  For a child it is so, so easy.  God says… but oh, how many of us worry.  God says… but oh, how we don’t want to let go of anything.  God says… what?  How many things? And yet, how much easier life might be if we did and really could live like that, “with the mindset of a child,” trusting, believing, and God as our Heavenly Father who always, always is looking out for us.  Who always, always has our best interest at heart.  Who always, always loves us and sees us just like that, perhaps as we truly are;  His little children.  At least I like to think that’s how God sees us and from what I’ve read in His Word I think that’s a pretty good assessment. In His eyes we can chase puppies, ring doorbells and who knows what else, and does not God expect it? Maybe like the loving parent, He can look past all our imperfections, and sees only the cuteness, the fondness, that feeling where love wells up in your heart and where it came from? Well, only God can answer that question and yes, even sometimes He has to discipline us, but God as loving Father and us as His children…  it’s a good thing to dwell on, is it not?

Time.  It makes me think of a favorite line from a maybe not so favorite movie of mine, but I loved the line anyway and it’s always stuck with me.  “Pretend we’re starting out in life, instead of ending up.”  And what do I take from that?  That no matter what or where you’re at in life, whether it’s something you always wanted to do, become, a relationship you’ve been wanting to mend or, even your relationship with God, no matter what it is…  “it’s never too late to be early.”  God bless!

Something

Sometimes how rainclouds start to form on a horizon and seeing them in the distance you know that, “rain’s a comin’,” sometimes that’s how it is when you start to feel the Holy Spirit move and your first inclination is to think, “He’s up to something.” You may not know what exactly, but for some reason He keeps impressing on your heart, what? “A thought, an impression, a feeling?” Something, and so the best place to always start out with “something” is just… to pray about it.

Rejoice, you people of Jerusalem! Rejoice in the Lord your God! For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness. Once more the autumn rains will come, as well as the rains of spring. (Joel 2:23)

Unaware

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.” Heb 13:2

And as of late this scripture keeps coming to mind, maybe because God keeps putting it there, I don’t know, but I woke this morning thinking of it. Perhaps too because I always do as the holidays approach. “Tis the Season!” and yet, I wonder, how many of us feeling the crunch of the economy this year will stop to ponder the true meaning of Christmas? Maybe no longer able to buy, buy, buy, or think, think, think, “what shall I get for so-n-so this year, they already have everything anyway,” instead we’ll stop to think of the gift God gave us that first Christmas morn; His one and only Son.

Yes, to us, the poor, the destitute, the uncomely and the the unseen. God’s Word says, “our righteousness compared to His is as filthy rags,” and truly, that must be what we look like compared to Him. Yet God, in all of His beauty can see what we don’t see; us, when clothed in His Righteousness, what we can be.

When you really think about it, what a beautifully redemptive story. His Son; a ransom to replace our filthy rags. “Here,” He says as he drapes us in the finest of white raiment. “Let me place a crown of righteousness upon your head, and the best sandals upon your feet,” but first, only after He has washed them. “Now, come,” He says, “I have prepared a feast and you are to dine with Me!”

In Him, there is everything we could ever need. Everything. No shortage of supply, for God is not debt-ridden. His house is full of the finest things and the only things that can truly fill and satisfy our earthly hearts. Yes, if only we could see… how He sees. How God has the power to transform that which we might completely disregard as worthless or ugly. How the rock we toss away as only ordinary, He then picks up and polishes into a diamond.

“For some have entertained angels unaware,” and every Christmas season God brings this verse to mind. “Why?” you ask. Because one Christmas season there was a story behind it I’d like to share.

I think it was nearly fifteen years ago now, at least. We had gathered in a church basement in a small town in Oregon, a distant relative the pastor, and every Christmas day the congregation would put on a Christmas day feast. Everyone eating, conversing, children playing, including mine. Nothing out of the ordinary, that is, until a man walked in. Not just any man mind you, but to be honest, probably one of the filthiest, dirtiest men I think I have ever seen in all my life.

There we were, all of us in our Christmas Best and He? Rags and dirt and filth. I kid you not, His skin almost blackened as if He had just crawled out of a ditch somewhere or a coal mine, though, of any coal mines in Oregon I do not know. But it was surreal, startling to see such a contrast, and I will never forget it. Why? Because of how we all reacted, including myself; not one of us spoke to Him. He walked in on all of our merryment and yet, we, perhaps so out of tune with who God really is, did not know what do with Him. Just to out of the blue, too out of place.

Quietly the man made his way over to the kitchen where they prepared a plate for Him and then? He came and sat down but just a few feet away from me. The same table, the pastor sitting directly across from me. Still, no one spoke to Him. I kept thinking, “well, maybe the pastor will speak up.” But no, and yet, neither did I. The man, quietly eating when all of a sudden he looked up and for a brief moment I saw His eyes and they were striking. Probably the bluest eyes I think I have ever seen set against the filthiest skin. Even my daughter, being all of three at the time, as children do, “mommy, why is that man so dirty?” “Shh,” I tried to quiet her, sitting there, waiting, for someone, anyone, at least “Merry Christmas Sir! Is there anything else we can do for you?” I will never forget this experience. The man must have been there all of 10-15 minutes, yet still, no one spoke to Him and when He had finished eating, He simply got up, and left.

I remember watching Him as He left. Up the basement steps He went and then seeing through the tiny basement windows nothing more than His filthy boots as He trudged along the sidewalk, and then? He was gone. And to this day I remember the feeling that came over me then, and it was this, “I had failed,” and I knew that I had. I had waited for “someone else” but God, was waiting for me.

To do this day, as I recall the whole experience, I think, “funny, how the dirtiest, filthiest man I think I have ever seen in all my life, literally sitting but just a few feet away from me, did not even smell.” Yes, for some have entertained angels unaware.

This Holiday Season, may we all take full opportunity to not only be “Merry Christmas Wishers,” but also to be ,”Merry Christmas Do-gooders!” in reaching out to those less fortunate then ourselves.

Happy Holidays and God’s best!

A Bookstore, a Book, and Silver Crosses

So last week I went and stopped by our local Christian bookstore, not because I myself was necessarily looking for anything but mostly because, for the past month, my daughter has been wanting to find a cross necklace; “silver, not too big, and must be plain.” Obviously her tastes and mine are nothing alike because I’ve seen lots of cute silver cross necklaces that I would have been more than happy to hang around my neck while perusing through department stores. Personally I like filagree, dainty, and must be pretty. Ya, definitely not the same. But anyway, once again we’re on “the mission” and so “let’s look at the Christian bookstore,” she suggests. “Maybe they’ll have something.”

Sometimes when I go to the Christian bookstore I get overwhelmed. So many books, opinions, bibles, and stuff. Stuff to hang on our walls, or prop up on a nightstand, or… even hang around our necks. Sometimes it almost bothers me for some reason and I’m not really sure why. Maybe it reminds me too much of the world’s materialism. Like I said, I don’t know, it’s just a feeling I get when I enter through those pearly gates, oops, I mean pearly doors, and then aimlessly start to wander around. Maybe it’s a feeling like, “does anyone really need all this stuff?” And then I have to remind myself, “yes, there are times in all our lives that yes, we do.” We need the book that points us to God, or a message on a plaque to hang by our front door, or a cd and a song to remind us of… “remind us of what?” Of God, because the flesh all too easily can and will forget Him. Just read the story of Exodus and you’ll see what I mean.

But anyway, I quickly pass by the crosses, nothing that catches my eye or (trying to think like my daughter now) nothing that I think would appeal to her either. She’s then there by my side and points to one that’s silver, not too big, and yes, very very plain, “what about that one?” she says. I feign half enthusiastically, “it’s alright,” I shrug. Boy, that was a big mistake and I quickly try to patch it up with “I’m sorry. It’s just… not my style. But… it would look great on you.” Cheezy smile. Oh well. She’s moves on to look at other things and again I notice the plethora (isn’t that a cool word?) of stuff stuffed into this what seems, too tiny of a space.

I look around and I don’t even now where to begin, quickly reminding myself the whole reason for the visit was to find a cross for my daughter so, I don’t really need anything anyway. That is until a book down on a lower shelf for some reason grabs my attention. I pick it up, examining the cover and then it dawns on me, “OMG, I remember Michael English! I used to have his cd back in 19….” Well, never mind the year and for those of you who may not remember Michael English he was and still is a Christian Music Artist and apparently now too an author; the title of his book, “The Prodigal Comes Home.” I turn the book over, scanning the back cover and then for some reason, “I need to read this,” I tell myself and I pay the cashier.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love stories with happy endings? I do. I love stories about redemption and stories about how frogs turn into princes and about how the boy gets the girl, well, you get my drift, and I especially love stories about how God never gives up on us, no matter how far we may stray. If you like stories likes these too then Michael’s new book, “The Prodigal Comes Home” is the book for you because literally, his story has every element in it that I just listed above. His book made me cry and at the same realize how frail we are as human beings. How easy, even when someone appears to be at the top of their game it is to fall and how far a fall it is.

Anyway, all I can say is how glad I am that God brought this man through all that He did. Not only because his story had a happy ending but mostly because of how God is now using his story to point to Him. Michael English… God bless you!

Still looking for silver crosses even though I’ve already found the silver lining in every cloud.

Stones or Straw?

I am still in the throws of reading a lesson/sermons on 1st Corinthians entitled The Corinthian Crises and after having read one this morning I wanted to share it here. I think because just a few weeks ago I heard a similar sermon on the same topic where this verse becomes the central question:

“Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble — each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” (1 Cor 3:12-13)

“What sort of work each one has done…” And this makes me question as it should make all of us question, “Lord, what will I find when I stand before you? Did I build with and invest my time in the imperishable or did I squander my life for the sake of straw? Because… only one will remain and the other will not.”

You can listen to the sermon entitled “God’s Custom House” here and the study which I read this morning I will post below as I think both are extremely powerful reminders for us to walk in the pattern God has planned for our lives, investing in the eternal.

GOD’S BUILDERS

by Ray C. Stedman

Several weeks ago I was down in Austin, Texas, where I was privileged to dedicate a new building for the Grace Community Church there. It was an exciting time as we gathered to set this new building aside for God’s purposes, and yet I tried to seize the occasion to point out what they well knew, that a church is not a building, and buildings do not really represent the church as such.

A church is people, not buildings, and, though the building was beautiful, useful and necessary in the carrying out of the program that God has given their church, it was not what our Lord had in mind when he said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” {Matt 16:18 KJV}. Jesus, of course, meant the people, and the remarkable thing about the church is that it is a growing building, growing through the centuries, made up of people whom Peter calls “living stones” {1 Pet 2:5} who are built into this mighty temple of God.

The concepts of the church that you run into as you travel around the country are amazing. I was in Alabama some time ago and I saw a church with a big sign in front that said, “This church is the only authorized spokesman of Jesus Christ on earth.” Now you run into that “we are the people” mentality every now and then. Somehow {in} every generation somebody thinks, “We are the true church, we are the pure church, and everyone else is wrong.” Even whole denominations can get that mentality, but that, of course, is a violation of what the Scriptures tell us about the church. Why, just this last week I heard of a church in Ohio that had as its name out in front, “The Original Church of God, No. 2.”

A building, however, is a very good symbol for the church, and Scripture uses it this way. Our Lord is building his church which he started back in the first century when the foundations were laid. That building has been going on, stretching through the centuries ever since and now, perhaps, we are finishing off the roof. The building is almost complete, it seems to me, but it is one building, one church. Paul describes this now in this section in First Corinthians 3, Verse 10:

According to the commission of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. {1 Cor 3:10-11 RSV}

What a strange building the church is! It is not made of wood, or of stone, least of all of glass. It is made of people, and it consists of an invisible union among visible people, so in some sense the church is both visible and invisible. You can see the church because the people of God gather in one place, and yet you cannot see the church because it is made up of only that spiritually-wrought tie that binds us together in sharing the life of Christ. That constitutes the church. That union is manifest in three distinctive ways: First, we can refer to the church as the total union of all believers of all time, both on earth and in heaven, and there are references to that church in Scripture. Paul speaks of the church in that regard largely in Ephesians where you have the picture of the whole temple of God in which God dwells. Then, of course, there is the manifestation of that church as the local congregation. We are meeting here this morning as a congregation. Already another congregation, or part of this congregation, has met in these buildings at the 8:15 hour. We are parts of them; we belong together; we are all one congregation, and yet we meet at separate times and sometimes in separate places as well. In this sense, the church consists of any two or three Christians gathered in the name of the Lord. Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” {Matt 18:20}. It can include a home church, and yet it deserves and properly has the name of a church because it is a manifestation of this strange living union that our Lord is talking about. Every congregation is that kind of a church. Still further, as this letter makes clear, there is a sense in which every individual believer among us is a picture of that church. Paul will say in the sixth chapter of this letter, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?” {1 Cor 6:19a RSV}. “You are not your own; you were bought with a price,” {1 Cor 6:19c-20a RSV}. In that sense every individual one of us is a church, a dwelling place of God by the Spirit, so when Scripture speaks of the church it has all three of these in mind.

Now, in all or any of these manifestations the matter of first importance is the foundation. A church, or a building, is no good if the foundation is no good, and in this case the apostle is very clear to make sure that we understand who that foundation is. He does not leave it to debate; we do not have to argue about it; it is stated as plainly as it can be. Verse 11:

For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. {1 Cor 3:11 RSV}

His person, his life, his doctrines, his teachings, his resurrection, his ascension, his return by means of the Holy Spirit to make himself universally available among us, his coming return in person from heaven — all that is included as part of the foundation. The teachings concerning Jesus were given to us by the apostles, but they focus on the person of the Lord. Every church that departs from teaching about Christ and his work, his person and his resurrection, begins to slide away from the foundation and soon becomes tottery and wobbly. It becomes filled with many forms of weakness and failure and finally collapses and crumbles into nothing. Every individual who is not built upon that foundation will find his life crumbling and failing ultimately. So our Lord is to remain always present as the foundation of the church, the God and Lord of the universal church, the head of the local body manifesting his presence, his power and his guidance throughout that body and the Master and Savior of every individual heart which has come to know him. That is the foundation.

That foundation, of course, basically consists of the Scriptures. They are the foundation of the church. They were given to us by the apostles and as such they constitute the unshakeable foundation. That is why every church, either local or universal, or any individual who does not base his life upon the Scriptures soon begins to waver and wobble; they find inconsistencies and weaknesses. Today we hear the words “Jesus” and “Christ” used in many ways that are not reflected in the Scriptures, but the only foundation that God ever recognizes is the apostolic Christ, the one given to us, the Jesus who is reflected in the Scriptures. “No other foundation can any one lay,” Paul says. That is the foundation, and this is why we must keep Jesus central in all things.

Paul calls himself here “the wise master builder,” and the word for master builder, architectron is the word from which we get our word “architect.” But he really uses this word in a different sense than we use the word “architect” today. To us an architect is the man who thinks up the building. He conceptualizes it; he designs it; he sees it in his mind’s eye; he plans it, and programs it, and draws the designs for it. In that sense, of course, God is the architect of the church. The Lord Jesus said, “I will build my church,” {Matt 16:18}. He has conceived it; he has designed it; he has planned its structure; he has programmed its activities, and he continues to do so, so he is really the architect in that sense today.

The term I think we would use to describe what Paul speaks of here is “contractor.” Paul is a master contractor. He is skilled; he knows his business; he is filled with grace; he is helped by the power and the Spirit of God. As such he comes equipped to go to work and lay the foundation as he did in Corinth and everywhere else he went, preaching and teaching the doctrines of Christ.

I do not know what your vision of a preacher is today. Most of us think of a preacher as an individual who goes about with a dark suit on who has an unclear mind and speaks with a holy groan in everything he says. I have always disliked dark suits for that very reason. I find them a badge of the contemporary idea of what a preacher is. I think we would get much closer to it if we would think of a preacher as a man who wears a hard hat and a carpenter’s apron and has a saw and a hammer in his hand. He is building something. That was what Paul was doing — he was building. By the preaching and the teaching of the doctrines of Christ and enabling people to practice these he, together with the other apostles, lays the foundation of the Church.

Now the purpose of a foundation, as Paul makes clear, is to build something on. You do not lay foundations and then walk off and leave them. If you do, it is a sign you have run out of money; you are not able to finish what you have started, and God does not do that. As the apostles laid the foundations in giving us the Scriptures in the first century, they gave them that they might be built upon, and the church rises upon that foundation. As others are added to it, and as they grow and develop and become mature and strong in Christ, love and compassion, mercy, truth and grace begin to flow out of their lives instead of confusion, weakness, hostility and anger and all the things that were once there.

So the church begins to rise and take shape and form. But who builds upon the foundation? Paul says, “I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it.” Obviously he has in mind Apollos and Cephas and some of the other teachers whom he does not list by name in the church at Corinth. There probably were many there who were teaching and preaching the doctrines of Christ and thus building on the foundation of personal faith in Jesus Christ which the apostle had laid. But this would also apply to almost any Christian, because we are all working with each other. There is a sense in which we disciple one another. Nobody is the discipler and somebody else the “disciplee.” I have learned when I take on a young man to train or disciple that it is not very long before he will start discipling me as well. He will have insights and understanding in the Scripture that I need, and so we begin to build into one another’s life. The great question that Paul raises here is, “What are you doing to one another as you build into one another’s life? They have an affect on you; you have an impact upon them.” Everyone is faced with this great question here, “What is my impact? What am I building with? What kind of material am I putting into another person’s life?” Paul gives us the choices in Verse 12:

Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble — each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. {1 Cor 3:12-13 RSV}

Each one of us has an influence on somebody else in the body of Christ. It may be on our children, on our parents, on our friends, on our companions, on our wives, on our husbands. We are building upon the foundation which has been laid in their lives. “What are you building with?” That is the great question. There are two types of material:

One is permanent — gold, silver, costly stones. When it says “precious stones” I do not think Paul means jewels like rubies, diamonds, emeralds, etc. The word really refers to those large foundation stones carved out of granite or marble that could be put upon the foundation to raise the walls and complete the edifice. They were costly stones because they required a great deal of work in quarrying and shaping and fitting them into the place where they ought to be. That is what Paul has in mind. The thing that is characteristic about all of these materials is that they withstand the fire. Gold and silver and costly stones are permanent; they are abiding; they never fail; they do not slip off the foundation; they are in line with the nature of the foundation.

The other three, of course, are exactly the opposite. They are highly combustible material — wood and hay and straw (“stubble,” the King James Version calls it). And what is this? Well, this is something that is very temporary. Wood can make an impressive structure, but when it is beset by fire it does not last very long. Wind can blow it down, fire can burn it, attacks using metal implements against it can cut it and destroy it, so a wood building is not very enduring. These are symbols, but what do they refer to? What is the permanent material upon which we can build in each other’s lives as opposed to the perishable, the temporary, that soon passes away?

I do not think we have to debate that. It is what Paul has been talking about all through this whole section. The permanent is that secret and hidden wisdom of God which he said was, “decreed before the ages for our glorification” {1 Cor 2:7b RSV}, and is revealed only by the Spirit through the Scriptures. It is that whole realm of knowledge about ourselves, about God, about the world, about life, about history, those insights that only God has which are exactly the opposite of the world around, and, therefore, are enduring and permanent. If we build on each other’s lives on the basis of that philosophy, what we build will endure the test of the fire.

But on the other hand, the perishable is the “wisdom of the world” {cf, 1 Cor 2:6 KJV}, as Paul calls it, the wisdom of words, the speculations and traditions, the changing philosophies of men. Every person, as he begins to think about himself, sooner or later comes up with the same question, “Who am I?” Have you ever faced that? Of course you have. “Who am I? Why am I made this way, with this name and this color skin, and why have I appeared in history at this point? What is it all about? What am I supposed to do?” Young men are wrestling with this all the time. These are the fundamental, basic questions of life, and as people ask these questions, they begin to come up with answers. Someone says, “Well, I’m here to enjoy myself. The purpose of life is to have fun and live with gusto and pleasure and enjoy yourself.” Another says, “No, I’ve tried that but it doesn’t satisfy. I’ve been living like that and my life is empty and dreary and filled with misery. That isn’t the answer.” So someone comes up with another answer and they say, “Well, life consists then of hard work and achievement, how high you can get in life and how many people will acknowledge your prowess and your ability.” But someone else says, “No, I’ve tried that and that doesn’t work.”

Soon you get the speculations of men growing into the philosophies of life. One contradicts another, and then people begin to speculate upon the speculations, and one will say, “This one is wrong and that one is right.” But the other will say, “No, this one is right and that one is wrong,” and soon you hear all these conflicting voices and you say, “I don’t know what is right. I don’t know who is right,” and these become the shifting, impermanent, transitory, ephemeral philosophies of men. If you try to build your life on them, they will all disappear overnight. Nothing abides; nothing lasts.

But, if, on the other hand, you listen to the wisdom of God… What Paul has been saying to us all along is, “God hears all these questions that men are asking, and God is saying, in effect, “Look, if you will just shut up for a minute I’ll tell you who you are. I know who you are. I made you. I know what you’re for. I designed it. I know what you can do, and how you fit, and if you’ll listen I’ll tell you. You’ll not only find out who you are, you’ll find out who I am, and you’ll discover that you can’t find out who you are until you know who I am. I’m behind all things. I’ve brought all things into being and all things function within my will and purpose. All things will end in the objectives that I have set up. You can find yourself when you find me.” That is what God is talking about.

This morning we prayed about five families in our congregation whose marriages are threatened. Why are they threatened? Well, because they are all part of the conflicting philosophies of marriage that are abroad today. They have all partaken to one degree or another of the current changing ideas of the spirit of the age: “What is marriage? Well, it is a way of enjoying yourself with another person. It is designed for sexual satisfaction. It is having somebody meet your needs. Marriage is being in love and being happy together, and if you are not happy or you are not in love any more, then forget it and marry someone else.” That is why marriages are crumbling. They reveal what this very passage is telling us — that that is impermanent, it does not last, it crumbles and falls. It is improper material to build upon the foundation.

What lasts? God’s insights into marriage, God’s understanding of what two people becoming one flesh requires, how to go about it, and of how to lay hold of power and resources available that make you able to do even certain things you do not want to do. That is the secret and hidden wisdom of God. Without it marriages break up, churches fall apart, split and divide and individual lives grow cold, lonely, despairing, unhappy and miserable. As you read this you can see how clearly Paul properly describes that wisdom as “gold, silver and precious stones” that remain permanent, solid and sure.

What Paul is asking us is, “You who preach and teach in this church” (including me), “what is the source of your teaching? Are you understanding these great secrets of God revealed through the Spirit, and do you reflect them in your teaching of the doctrines of Christ? Are you understanding that man is not to be exalted and made much of and concern himself about status and titles, degrees and traditions and rituals, etc.? Has the word of the cross come to you, the word that cuts underneath all human attainment and sets it aside and causes you in fear and trembling to try to describe what God is ready to do in our midst, not how much we can impress others with what we are going to do for God?” That is the “word of wisdom.” That is the “gold, silver and precious stones.” This is what will endure and build up the church in a way that will last from age to age. Do you know what we really want?

I will tell you what I want. I want to find a way by which I can indulge in all the love and pleasure of the flesh, to give way to my temper and to my desires for acquisition of comfortable things, to enjoy life to the full with all its pleasures and still, at the same time, have the compassionate heart and the loving, joyful, peaceful, serene spirit that constitutes a Christian who is walking in the power of God. Isn’t that what you want? Sure you do. You do not need to look so pious. I know it is. But do you see what the apostle is saying? It is one or the other. If you are not building with gold, silver and precious stones into another person’s life, you are building with wood, hay and stubble. There are no other choices. There is nothing in between. It is one or the other — either the foolishness of man or the wisdom of God. That is why Paul says you must “take care” how you build in the church. What are you doing to others? Now, why? Well, Paul gives us as the motivation for this the fact that examination day is coming.

Next week is examination week in the schools here. Many of these young people here know it, and they are acting differently. They are saying, “No,” to some of the invitations to go to the beach, or to spend their time with their friends. They are getting out the books and digging into them, trying to find out what they should have been learning all year. Why? Because examination time is coming. It is going to be revealed soon what they know and what they do not know, and they are either going to face the joy of having passed with superlative honors or they are going to be sorry, ashamed and disgraced by having failed. That is what Paul says is true here, Verse 14:

If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. {1 Cor 3:14-15 RSV}

What do these mean? I can only touch upon them very briefly. Remember how, in Second Corinthians, Paul says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” {2 Cor 5:10}, and in John’s book of Revelation he describes the Lord before whom we appear? Remember what John says, “His eyes are like a flame of fire,” {Rev 1:14}. Those flaming, searching eyes are going to examine all our Christian lives, what they have been made of, what we are building with. Paul says in Second Corinthians, “Then we shall receive the things done in the body whether they be good or bad” {cf, 2 Cor 5:10} — the same two categories — whether they be built on the basis of the revelation of the mind and Spirit of God, gold, silver and precious stones, or whether they reflect the current philosophies of the spirit of the age around us.

What are we building with? One or the other. If it is good it will endure; it will stand the test, and we will be given a reward. What is the reward? Do you know what I think it is? There are a lot of guesses as to what this is because the Scriptures do not tell us flat out, but I think there are hints that indicate what it is. When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians he said, “Are you not our crown of rejoicing?” {1 Th 2:19 KJV}. I think the reward is simply joy, joy over having spent your life in a way that counts.

Did you ever watch a winning team at the end of a game? Do you notice what they do? Why, they go crazy! Grown men jump on each other’s backs; they pound one another, and hug one another, and even kiss one another. They jump up and down like little kids in a candy store. Why? They are filled with joy because the efforts they put forth produced results; it was satisfying to them. That was their reward. Did you ever watch the losing team? They slink off; there is no jumping around and slapping one another on the back. No. Sadness and gloom prevail; they are ashamed because all their efforts were to no avail. It was all wasted effort. Now, all of us shall have some of both in our lives. There is nobody who is a Christian who will not have some degree of gold, silver and precious stones because God guarantees it by having come into our lives as Christians. But there can also be a lot of wood, hay and stubble too, built upon the philosophy of the flesh instead of the Spirit. John says, “Let us so live that we shall not be ashamed before him at his coming,” {cf, 1Jn 2:28}.

What is your life going to count for? That is the question. Every one of us here is investing his life in something. You cannot live without making an investment. What is it in? Will it be permanent? Will it abide? Will it stand the test? In the great day when all the universe sees things the way they are, will you be filled with joy that your life was invested in what stood the test and contributed to the glory of the Lord himself? Or will you be ashamed that you wasted all these years making an impression on men and teaching and influencing others to do so, and it was all burned up in the fire — saved, but as though you had to run through the flames and lost everything besides? I know there are people who do not like this kind of preaching. They say we ought to all preach the grace of God, but the Scriptures teach us that we have some choice in this matter. Are our lives going to be lived on the basis of gold, silver and precious stones, growing out of that revelation of God by the Spirit, or are they going to reflect the empty, vain philosophies and speculations of the world around so that we live only for pleasure, fame and power instead of being an instrument of the living God? Martha Snell Nicholson has put it in this little poem with which I close:

When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ
And He shows me His plan for me,
The plan of my life as it might have been
Had He had His way, and I see

How I blocked Him here, and I checked Him there,
And I would not yield my will
Will there be grief in my Saviour’s eyes,
Grief, though He loves me still?

He would have me rich, and I stand there poor,
Stripped of all but His grace,
While memory runs like a hunted thing
Down the paths I cannot retrace.

Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break
With the tears that I cannot shed;
I shall cover my face with my empty hands,
I shall bow my uncrowned head…

Lord of the years that are left to me,
I give them to Thy hand;
Take me and break me, mould me to
The pattern Thou hast planned!

Prayer

Lord, we know that these words, sobering and searching as they are, have never been sent to us to condemn us, but to encourage us to chose the right and to invest ourselves in ways that will fulfill the promise that you have given us. They will help us to discover the wholeness of our life, heal the hurts of our relationships, and make us loving, compassionate, merciful, serene and joyful Christians who have found the answers to life in your Word. Help us to manifest this increasingly as we go on day by day, guided and guarded by your Spirit, in Jesus name, Amen.

Problems at Corinth

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1st Corinthians 13: 1-13)

One of my favorite passages of the Bible; 1st Corinthians 13 and yet I got to thinking about it quite seriously a couple of days ago, inquiring of God, “God, why did Paul feel the need to write about it in the first place? God, what was really going on at Corinth anyway?” Apparently something, something was going on at Corinth, something that prompted Paul to write a letter and pen this infamous “Love” chapter, and Paul wrote this specifically to the Christians at Corinth, but why? Could it be it was because they had forgotten what kind of love God had called them to have in the first place? A love that, “does not envy, that does not boast?” The kind of love that Christ had, “that it is not self-seeking, that it is not easily angered?” Yes, the kind of love that Christ had.

And I think on that a lot; the kind of love that Christ had. The kind of love the apostles had. The kind of love that martyrs have. A love that stands in the face of persecution, that doesn’t feel the need to defend itself. A love that says, “here take my cloak also.” The kind of love that prays for one’s enemy’s, that is self sacrificing. The kind of love that’s willing to die even, even as Christ died on a cross though He was innocent and not guilty. The kind of love that cried out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!” The kind of love that Paul saw in the eyes of Stephen as they stoned him to death, who said nothing but only looked to heaven. The kind of love that keeps no record of wrongs, but continues steadfast, always hoping, always praying even for those who persecute God’s Children. It is this kind of love that can only come from God and humanly is impossible but time and time again through the history of the Church has been found evident in the hearts of men and women who have given their all to God, allowing His Spirit to be poured through them and His love to be found as evidence that He does indeed live within them. This is the kind of love that Paul is writing about here and this is the kind of love that truly does and can only come from God. And so… what was the problem/problems of the Corinthians?

Obviously Corinth was having problems, not only falling short in their lack of Love but also in so many other areas concerning their walks with God and though they believed they were still within His good graces, Paul was writing them to tell them otherwise. Corinth, though it started off on the right foot was quickly headed in the wrong direction, and instead of being salt and light to the world around them, instead they were allowing the world’s ideas to infiltrate them, corrupting the Church to the point that one could no longer tell the difference.

Paul was writing them to remind them in the whole book of 1st Corinthians, “don’t you remember how it was when you first began? When you first believed? How you loved the Lord your God and put Him first in everything? But then… you started to listen to the wisdom of men and now? now you have hardened your hearts, no longer holding fast to what was first preached.” And the love that Paul speaks of in 1st Corinthians 13, the love that should be found in the heart of every Believer is no longer found at the church of Corinth.

And this, this is what I’ve been thinking on a lot lately; how easy, how easy it would be for any of us to fall into many of the same sins as the Corinthians, praying, “oh God, don’t ever let us get like the church of Corinth! Don’t ever let us stray that far from you! Don’t ever let us lose our salt and flavor, or harden our hearts that your love can not even dwell there anymore! Oh, Lord, don’t ever let us stray that far.” And it is and this must be a prayer of ours because I do believe it can be so easy, so easy for any of us to fall away, so easy to grow complacent, more concerned with being “pleasers of men” then “pleasers of God” forgetting our first love, and so our prayer must be, “oh God, never let me! Never let me!”

These last few days I have been reading a study on the book of 1st Corinthians and I would love for you to join me. It’s called The Corinthian Crises and I have found it to be incredibly insightful into why Paul wrote 1st Corinthians in the first place.

As we near Valentine’s Day may you find your heart reflecting His love more and more and may you experience all of His blessings, praying always even as David did:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

“Check!”

And as I look at the title now I suppose it could convey a number of different things really, but for this post I’m thinking about flying. Yes, flying, and I actually have a fear of flying (don’t ask me why) but I think I’m getting better about it. I figure if I’m going to go and be it in a plane, then I’m going to go no matter what so when it comes to flying I’ll just close my eyes (through the take off’s and landings) and let God do the rest. So ya, for this post it’s flying that I’m thinking of when I think of “check!”

You see, growing up my Dad was a pilot, not a commercial pilot but a private pilot. He had a private plane and so instead of taking road trips we would all jump into the airplane and fly to wherever it was we were going. Ya, you’d think with all of my experience that I would love to fly or at least not mind it, but no, I still, to this day dislike it.

I remember all the preparation that had to take place before we could take off: walk around the plane, inspect the flaps, rudder, wheels, turn the prop. If that all looked good then “jump inside!”

My brother and I were always in the backseat. We’d have our headsets on (with a mic) and so ya, I guess compared to driving it was pretty cool, plus, as we all know with flying you can cover a lot more distance in a lot less time.

But anyway, my Dad would turn some knobs, pull some levers, and I think there was an ignition key but now I don’t really remember, but before I knew it he would have the plane up and running and planes, or at least small ones buzz. It’s the propeller, and it feels like, oh I don’t know, like those little wooden planes that you wind up, the ones with the rubber band? and before you know it you’re about to be slingshoted.

But my Dad checks some more buttons, levers, the gauges across his instrument panel and if that all looks good we then taxi out to the runway, his communication with the tower occasionally breaking the eight track tape that’s currently playing over our headsets, (and ya, this is the 70′s so, we were probably listening to something my mom picked out like Olivia Newton John or Helen Reddy? I think it was Helen Reddy). Ya, music to fly by; “must be soothing.” But anyway, we taxi out to the runway, and before taking off we pause, because it’s here we always pause, and then my Dad pulls out “the list.” The “check” list and every time he does this, every time before we fly.

Down the list he reads. “Flaps?” he asks and then he turns the appropriate handle to make sure that it’s working and if so we then hear him call out “check!” Next on the list, “Rudder?” he asks and again he checks to see if it’s working and if so, again we hear over our headsets, “check!” Continuing on down the list until lastly he turns to look at all of us, “seatbelts?” he asks and everyone nods, “check!” Only until everything clears his list, the “check list” does he then proceed onto the runway, the engine running full force, the sound deafening and speeding forward, the propeller whirling, we take off. Yes, we’re airborn, yes, we’re flying!

I write this because I was thinking about this just this morning. Thinking about how everyday I need to have the same kind of spiritual check list before heading out into my day. Asking God to form in me His character and His ways of thinking. Asking Him to weed out of me anything that to Him is displeasing and most importantly, surrendering all that I am to Him that I would do nothing in my own strength.

So often God reminds me of this; that it has to be a daily thing. That daily we have to form our own spiritual check list because then and only then will we be able to fly with Him on the wings of His Holy Spirit!

CHECK THIS OUT!
To see what God is doing through men and women who want nothing more than to fly with Him! And while you’re there don’t forget to sign “The Guestbook” because on God’s plane there are always enough tickets!

When All Else Fails

It’s funny, sometimes I come to the keyboard and I think, “I just need to write something,” but what? I have no idea. Than a title pops into my head and I think to myself “I’ll write about that!” When All Else Fails.

Have you ever felt like that? You’ve gotten to a place where everything, and I mean everything has fallen away, or literally, it’s as though someone’s pulled the rug out from beneath you and what have you got left to hang onto? Well, what do you? What do you have left to hang onto?

I know for all of us, there will be times in our lives that we feel we have nothing left to hang onto. There is no one there to catch our fall or perhaps no one cares or even knows. No one notices when we hit the floor. No one that is except for one. There is one who knows, one who notices when it seems everything and everyone else has deserted us. And His name? His name is Jesus.

Does it feel as though you’re hanging by a precipice? Well if so, Jesus is there. “Take my hand,” He says. We look up, perhaps clinging to one scraggly branch, “take my hand,” He says again. “Can we trust Him?” we wonder. “Should we?” Perhaps some of us might even be blaming Him for the current state we’ve found ourselves in and then again we hear Him, “you can trust me.” He says, “take my hand. Take my hand.”

How many of us really take His hand? “Take my hand,” He says. Imagine it. The God of the Universe longs to help you. The God of the Universe knows when you have nothing left to hang onto, “take my hand” He says. “Take My hand.” And what if you do? What if you finally realize, “there is no one who will love me more. There is no one who can fix this. No one else who could possibly get me through this.” And what if you do? What if you throw everything at His feet and finally, forsaking all those little things you thought might save you, instead you say, “God, save me! Save me!” And so what if you do?

Looking up you see God’s hand outstretched to you and letting go of the very last thing you thought might save you you place your hand in His. “I won’t let go,” He says and pulling you up He sets you back on your feet and though still a mess and irregardless, “I love you,” He says, “I always have.”

If you’re hanging by a precipice take His hand, and He who died for all mankind, He alone will save you.

For if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:9-13).

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10).

Nothing But a Blip!

“A blip!” Your watching a radar screen and then you see it but only for a second and then it’s gone; “a blip!” Now imagine if you will that blip is what your life here on earth is like; “nothing but a blip” that lasts for no more than a second. But the radar screen what does it represent? Eternity.

Your life here on earth in comparison to where you will live out eternity is this; nothing but a blip. Watch it; a blip is pretty short lived isn’t it? No wonder Paul could say with all assurity even in the midst of suffering:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Do you like Paul have an eternal mentality? Are you looking at your life here on earth as but a moment in comparison to where you will spend your days eternally? The prophet Isaiah said:

“All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)

Are not our very lives but as a flower or the grass of the fields? Here today yet gone tomorrow? Nothing but a “blip! on a radar screen? But… how we live it, yes, how we live it will determine everything.

We must have the mindset of Paul; eternal thinking. But for our light affliction. Are you suffering? Are you struggling? But for our light affliction. Your life here is only temporary. You are only sorjourning to a final destination. Yes, how you live it will determine everything.

For you have been born again. Your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life they gave you will end in death. But this new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

If you have received Christ as your personal Savior, if you have been born again, then your new life has already begun.

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:2-3)

Yes, eternal thinking; “our life on earth is nothing but a blip!” Why then should we worry about it? Why then should we live only to please it; our flesh? It is nothing but a blip. Rather, should we not live our lives to glorify our Father in heaven? Run the race as if to win it? Pass every test our enemy, Satan throws at us? Then great will your reward be in Heaven (Luke 6:20-23). For then we will get to spend all of eternity with the only one who truly completes us; Jesus. Yes, Jesus.

All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And God, in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. It will be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead , even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.

These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day that Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy. Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1: 3-9)

“A blip! Nothing but a blip!” So pass the test and run to win!

“Good Grief!”

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Charlie Brown. I don’t know why. For one, maybe because it’s Christmas time, that, and it’s A Charlie Brown Christmas was one of my all time favorite holiday specials. One wonders though with the current state of things now, “do they still allow this to be shown on tv?” Afterall, the words “Merry Christmas, the nativity, and unto you a Savior is born!” are all mentioned during its airing.

Yes, what does Charlie Brown represent to me during this holiday season? And I think Linus says it best; Jesus is the true meaning of Christmas! Yes, Jesus. “For unto you a Savior is born!” A Savior. And I do just want to say that again, “a Savior.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11-14)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

A gift. And that’s exactly what Christmas is; a gift. That Christ came and died for us, in our place that we might live. “A Savior,” who if we call upon will reconcile us to God, transforming our sinful nature into His glorious righteousness. A gift, and to the world God has extended it. To every man, to every woman; this present. The question is; will you accept it? “Good grief!” it’s Christmas.