Posted by David on July 26, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
This Jesus-statement was made about God’s greatest command. The Jewish people were big into counting God’s commands and listing them in order of importance. The question probably was an attempt to drive a wedge between Jesus and his popularity with many.
Jesus said God’s greatest command was to love Him with all one’s being, and the second-similar to that-was to love others as you love yourself. Both of those are extremely challenging!
Love others as you love yourself? Is this an urging to selfishness? Is it an attempt to use selfishness as a measurement of love?
This statement is first found in Leviticus 19:18. It is repeated by Paul in Romans 13:9, 10 and Galatians 5:14, and by James in James 2:8. There seemed to be concern by some Jewish Christians that Christianity failed to keep God’s commands. They were used to structure-temple, rituals, lists of dos and don’ts, centuries-old traditions, the ancient stances of their elders declared in oral laws, the customs of forefathers, and Jewish ways. Christianity did not have a temple, rituals, lists of dos and don’ts, stances of the elders expressed in oral laws, customs of forefathers, or a Christian way of doing things. After all, early Christians met in homes, not in a temple; they did good as did Jesus; they loved God and people. Gentile and Jewish Christians often differed. Christianity seemed much too encompassing and tolerant to be anything like Jewish former interpretation of religion or view of God. Surely, if they were just Christian, they would miss something basic.
Paul said not so if they understood Jesus Christ. If Christians loved God with all their being, and demonstrated their love for God in their kindness to people, nothing God wants of us will be ignored. We will become the people God always wanted.
Read Leviticus 19:9-18. It was about the way they would show kindness to people. The person who belonged to Jesus Christ showed kindness to people. That began by being kind to Christians. Selfishness indulges self at others’ expense. Christianity serves others. Serve! Godliness is shown in godly service to others!
Posted by David on July 19, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
This is the concluding statement in an unusual New Testament paragraph. Jewish Christians and gentile Christians had a huge first-century disagreement. The dispute involved different cultures, different ways of doing religious things, different ways of honoring deity, and different religious preferences. Too see the clash, read Acts 15:1-21.
The evident clash is in the paragraph above the statement. Some Christians ate anything. Some Christians, for spiritual reasons, were conscientious vegetarians. Some felt no day had spiritual significance, and some observed special holy days. Practices at the opposite ends of the spiritual spectrum occurred in Rome’s congregations.
If you think this is foolish, be assured it was not foolish then! Consider the matter from the Jewish perspective. In Leviticus 11:1-47, the Jewish people from their origin as a nation (rather than an expanded family) understood there were things they could and could not eat. The Lord gave the instruction, and this was national practice for centuries. It was so ingrained in Jewish thinking that the apostle Peter was confused by his vision of the net (Acts 10:10-17, 29). The concept of animal sacrifice: the sacrifice’s giver ate part of the sacrifice to show oneness with the God honored (1 Samuel 1:1-5). If a Christian ate from a sacrifice given to an idolatrous god, what would be the meaning?
Paul said: (1) do not judge each other’s motive; (2) they both-even with opposite practices-were the Lord’s servants, and the Lord would make both stand; (3) these Christians did opposite things for the same motive; and (4) judging and contempt have no place among Christians.
Paul said, “In your decision of what you should do, you will answer for yourself when God questions you.” It will not be a matter of “Do you know what they said?” or “That person hurt my feelings!” or “That was the most unreasonable act I ever saw or heard.” It will not be a “Them-it is their fault!” issue. Before the God who knows exactly what we all thought, it will be a “What was in your heart?” issue. You will not be saved because you went to West-Ark, but because you served Jesus Christ. The Lord saves-people don’t. Aren’t you glad your salvation is not dependent on human judgment?
Posted by David on July 12, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
A collection of people are hard to lead. Why? All collections are composed of numerous groups. Even groups who are similar think and behave differently. In fact, it seems similar groups magnify their differences. Preferences become matters of correctness. The deeper the preferences, the more correct the preferences become. Thus, the more divergent the groups become. The end result: even similar people become unleadable.
Want a mess? Be a leader! A president, governor, corporate head, mayor, alderman, chairman, director-it matters not. There are always groups, and each group is certain it is correct. The joys of leading (they exist!) are not found in people’s preferences!
And we as a church think it is complex today? Early Christians did not agree on how many gods existed or how gods were honored. Ironically, the central issue was not the number of gods or how gods were honored. The beginning, the center, and the end of spirituality was this: Is your confidence placed in the resurrected Jesus Christ? Do you let who you are, what you do, and how you respect people be determined by Jesus Christ?
Christians could be wrong about the number of gods or how deity was honored, but they could not be wrong about Jesus’ identity. God may shake His head at our preferences. God never shakes His head at the person who shapes life and the use of life by Jesus Christ. Nether should we-whether we are young or old, conservative or progressive, educated or uneducated, rich or poor, experienced or inexperienced. The cotter pin that holds us together in our diversity is faith in the risen Jesus Christ. Lives given to Jesus Christ are worthy of respect-personal preferences aside! Do not shun Christians because of preferences! Our human preferences do not determine God’s focus!
Posted by David on July 5, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
The above is the last verse of 1 Corinthians 15. It concludes Paul’s long discussion of the importance of Jesus’ resurrection. In specific, Paul declared Jesus’ resurrection is important because His resurrection affirms our resurrection. The indication is this: Paul answered their question about the importance of accepting resurrection as a fact.
Paul affirmed belief in resurrection is at the core of placing faith in Jesus. He said if there is no resurrection, Christianity is a sham without integrity. If resurrection is not real, Christianity is based on a lie knowingly promoted by lying men.
The reason for Paul’s challenge in 1 Corinthians 15:58 to be steadfast is the reality of resurrection. Little is more devastating than reaching the end of life, realizing that you have wasted life, and realizing your life cannot be rescued.
Please note that hardship produced by placing faith in Jesus’ resurrection is NOT a modern problem! It is as old as Christianity! Anti-spiritual people always have said, “Dead is dead! Death is the total end of life! Anticipating resurrection is nothing more than foolishly hoping against reality!”
Working for the Lord is just that-work. It is demanding, often challenging work. It can be rightfully defined as toil-just plain hard work.
Note also that though it may be hard work, it is not vain work. It is never wasted effort. Why? Resurrection is real! We work for more than the church’s success, for more than defense of a position, or for more than a name, a mission, or a principle. What is more than all those? The resurrection is more than those!
It is resurrection (a) that gives a never ending reason to be steadfast and immovable when our world declares we are foolishness, and (b) that gives us reason to abound in the work our world calls wasted energy. Does your faith in Jesus’ resurrection make your work for the Lord worth the effort? Do you live in the confidence of your resurrection?
Posted by David on June 28, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
The above statement was written by Luke as Paul’s statement to King Agrippa. The Lord Jesus spoke to Paul when the resurrected Jesus appeared to Paul near Damascus. Note these things: (1) the unconverted Paul’s acts of persecution against Christians abused the Lord Jesus himself. (2) The infinitely Jewish Paul (Galatians 1:13, 14) was sent to the gentiles as a minister and witness. (3) The converted Paul’s objective to gentiles was fourfold: to open their eyes, to direct from Satan’s dominion to God’s, to extend to them forgiveness of sins, and to make them eligible for the divine inheritance.
How would this be accomplished? The gentiles would be sanctified by faith in Jesus as being the Christ that God sent. The foundation of their faith would be God’s work in Jesus. How would the gentiles, these idol-worshipping people, see the light? They placed their faith in God’s work in Jesus. How would these people leave Satan’s control and place themselves under God’s control? They placed their faith in God’s work in Jesus. How would they receive forgiveness of sins and the inheritance? They placed their faith in God’s work in Jesus.
The beginning point of holiness for these unholy idol-worshippers was to place faith in God’s accomplishments in Jesus. Faith does not come from obedience. Obedience comes from faith. Faith in Jesus gives obedience meaning and significance. The person who trusts Jesus obeys Jesus. Without faith in Jesus, acts are just acts. A person obeys because the person trusts God’s acts in Jesus. Why do you obey? Do you trust Jesus?
Posted by David on June 14, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
Numerous things are beyond my imagination. My life would change profoundly without Joyce (my wife), my children, or my extended family. I cannot imagine the change if my friends or this country disappeared! If the lifestyle and opportunities of many people I knew in other countries were mine, I would be dead. This is not all my unimaginable!
While many unimaginable circumstances exist for me, number one is forever the same. I cannot imagine living in a world untouched by Jesus Christ. Do you ever consider how radically our world would change if there was zero influence of Jesus on it?
If there was no Jesus influence, the unimaginable would be commonplace! The concepts of freedom, of rights, of morality, of justice, and of people exploitation would change-at the conceptual level, not merely the application level. Evil would become good, wrong would become right, and we would exist to be used and discarded.
“David, why would you think that?” Consider this in the context of our world: As God’s influence through Jesus decreases anywhere, the evil treatment of people increases. When good departs, there is no vacuum! Evil behavior quickly fills the hole!
Is the situation perfect? Far from it! Is Jesus’ influence exploited or abused? Certainly! Are many disillusioned by the behavior of some who claim to be Christians? Absolutely! Must the situation be improved? Surely!
The understandings of what God does through Jesus Christ, the commitment of faith in God, the abundant life, the trustworthiness of human promises, the God-given value of people, behavior transformation, and the proper measurements of life’s purpose are more valuable than most realize. Understanding Jesus changes people-for the better!
Will Christian influence exist without my commitment and support? It’s our choice!
Posted by David on June 7, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
When someone does the incredible for you, how do you say, “Thanks”? There is no way you can return the favor you received on the same level! In fact, anything you are able to do for your benefactor appears “down-right wimpy” in comparison. So what do you do?
First, you do not shirk expressing your gratitude because “you can not repay in kind.” Second, you do what you can do (not what you wish you could do). Third, you understand that your benefactor did what he (she) wanted to do for you. It is this heartfelt desire that made the needed gift the more precious! Fourth, you realize your response must come from your heart-not a sense of obligation. You declare gratitude because you feel gratitude!
Need at times teaches valuable lessons! Because a congregation is “big” (as compared to what?) does not mean it has endless resources, endless programs, or endless finances which enable it to do anything it wishes. Size merely increases need!
This week we were told that in actual spending (merely meeting commitments) we are running $3190 a week below budget. As a congregation, we handle finances responsibly-no one wastes! It will be 22 weeks before our fiscal commitments end. Multiply 22 times $3190, consider the picture, and realize that is only to “break even.”
What is the answer? Each realizes what God and Christ do for us. Each is humbly grateful. Each does what he or she can. That will be far more than enough! Perhaps need teaches some how to say, “Thank you!” to God and Christ.
Posted by David on May 24, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
On Monday of this week, Brian Perkins forwarded me a story sent to him by one of his Iraqi interpreters who served with him. My immediate thought was how much our world has shrunk since my family and I were in West Africa (1970-74). Then the best we could do was send an aerogram (an air mail letter of one sheet limited to a page and a quarter of writing). If someone in our group was going to the airport (80 miles away, over 4 hours of driving time one way), the letter would reach the USA in three weeks. If the recipient replied immediately, we could hear from the USA recipient in 6 weeks. There were two telephones in our population area of 50,000 people. However, we would not dare call-the connection (routed through Europe) broke too often.
Now with a hand-carried computer and an e-mail address, one can be in contact anywhere in the world (with color pictures and sound as well as dialogue) in a matter of seconds. What a change in much less than 50 years!
Things can be communicated so fast today that it is a challenge for most older people to cope, and a challenge for most young people to imagine how things were. That which is “current” is out-of-date in a finger’s snap. Most everything that “was” has been made ancient by what “is.” Often the challenge is to know what changed this week!
God does not change! The more we try to outdate His values, the bigger the mess we make of individual existence, human relationships, and the value of human life. For examples, depression constantly grows, commitment in marriage dwindles, and people are destructively used to satisfy someone’s sense of convenience. Perhaps the biggest shock of all is found in the fact that many people do not understand why such things happen.
James focused on three things: (1) God is the source of good; (2) God does not change (He does not need to change); and (3) God wants to bless us. Consider three questions: (1) Do you understand God will work with you to make life meaningful? (2) Do you understand God does not change His values? (3) Is your hope in God?
Posted by David on May 17, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
The occasion of the above reading involved a strong disagreement among Jewish Christians about the need for gentile converts to accept Jewish practices. Many Christian Jews thought that if a gentile converted first to Judaism, then the gentile was “qualified” to convert also to Jesus Christ. After all, most gentiles knew only idolatry, not the living God the Jewish people knew. Many gentiles had terrible concepts about divinity-the Jews thought they could destroy those terrible concepts and prepare gentiles for having the lives they should live.
Interestingly, the disagreement 2,000 years ago is very similar to our disagreement today: What is the foundation of salvation? Is the foundation our acts or God’s acts? The primary difference in their discussion and ours was (is) this: their discussion focused on background and our discussion usually focuses on the necessity of obedience.
Peter said to them and would say to us, “Your concerns miss the point!” Salvation is able to exist because of what God did in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Any human response to what God did is just that-a response, not a foundation. Faithless salvation does not exist: the person must place total confidence in what God did in Jesus’ death and resurrection. That is the foundation of salvation: the foundation of forgiveness, of sanctification, of redemption, of righteousness. That is God propitiating for our failures.
Every act of obedience is merely a response to what God did in Jesus. Obedience is a huge, believing, “thank you” to God that declares appreciation to God for what He did for us. Obedience is not a “question mark” or an unbelieving manipulation (“I did the right acts so You, God, have to save me!”) Human acts can never manipulate God!
“Thank you, God, for not making our salvation dependent on a human’s or group of humans’ approval. Our hope is in what You did for us, not in what we do.”
Posted by David on May 10, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
Paul’s situation for writing those words focused on Jew and gentile (any non-Jew from any nation) relationships. Paul’s point: any gentile placing trust in God through Christ was loved by God as much as any Jewish person placing trust in God through Christ. There are no superior and inferior Christians. The key is not “where you came from,” but “do you place your trust in what God did in Jesus Christ.” Faith in Christ is the key to salvation, not lineage. Superiority attitudes have no place in coming to God through Christ. All who trust God’s work in Christ are important.
In the salvation concept, Paul made these statements: Salvation is the direct result of God’s attitude toward people. Salvation exists because of God’s incredible kindness. It is God’s gift, not a human achievement. Salvation’s firm foundation rests on what God did in Jesus Christ. It is not the result of a human act or activity. Human acts are not salvation’s foundation. Always, it is God, not us.
People believe Jesus Christ is an act of God [not a fortunate happening], and respond to what God does in Jesus Christ. Why? They trust God’s work in Jesus. How? They become crafted by God. They are willing to be God-made in Christ. How do they show this? Believers spend their lives learning what God’s good works are, and doing those works. Why? (1) They believe God was at work in Jesus. (2) They are God’s craftsmanship. (3) Christians are God-designed to do God’s good works.
Recently I listened to godly people in Christ share heart views. Their concerns in Jesus Christ are genuine. Their dedication to doing God’s good work in Christ is heartfelt. They totally believe in Jesus. They agree a person must come to Christ. They agree the foundation of everything is confidence in God’s work in Christ. They agree on the importance and roles of repentance and baptism. They agree on transformation in Christ. They agree on passionate devotion to God’s good works. However, they often differ on how to implement passionate devotion to Christ.
We live in complex times in a complex world and a complex society. The result: complex lives, relationships, and needs. Only by God’s grace can salvation exist! Salvation is not founded on our agreement, but God’s kindness! Thank you, God!
