Posted by David on October 16, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
We often say, “If I had lived in Jesus’ day, believing would have been easy! If I had opportunity to see what they saw, placing faith in Jesus as the Christ would have been easy!” You can decide for yourself, but speaking for me, I am glad I did not live then. I do not conclude it would have been easier to have faith in Jesus when he was alive.
“Why would you conclude that?” For several reasons, I hold that conclusion. (1) Many were ruled by incorrect motives. Read Matthew 13:10-16; Matthew 15:1-14; John 6:26-33; and John 9:35-39. I fear I might have been one who did not wish to understand, or who was inconsistent, or who focused on physical needs rather than the spiritual meaning, or who experienced the power but did not know who Jesus was. (2) There were only about 120 (Acts 1:15) who remained committed to Jesus immediately after Jesus’ death. Who am I to think I would be one of those? Jesus healed a lot more the 120 people! (3) What God sent Jesus to do was radically different than most Jewish people expected! Not even the prophets and the angels understood what God was doing. They were curious in the extreme about God’s actions (1 Peter 1:12). (4) Many Christians died in that first 100 years for no reason other than faith in Jesus Christ! Are we willing to give our blood to retain our faith in Jesus Christ? (Today’s Christians find differences in congregations to be insurmountable obstacles-what a comparison!) I am not so certain that I would embrace faith in the resurrected Jesus in their circumstances!
A faith that challenged always existed as the foundation that caused people to follow God. God obviously was working toward His solution to sin in Genesis 12:3 when He promised Abraham his descendants would bring a blessing to all nations. From the time of that promise to Jesus’ coming was approximately 2,000 years. When Jesus’ ministry began, neither Jesus nor his ministry was at all what the Jewish people anticipated. Not even the apostle Peter fully understood what God was doing long after Jesus’ resurrection-carefully read Acts 10:9-20, 29, 34-36. There has never been a time when it was easy to invest life in Jesus Christ through faith in God’s work through him.
Dare to trust in Jesus by being “one who has not seen,” but one who believes in God’s work in Jesus Christ. Never stop believing in what God did and continues to do in Jesus! Never trust yourself! Always trust in what God did in Jesus! Serve Jesus because you trust God. Dare to be who you are because you trust who Jesus is! Always view life as an investment because your life is an investment-whether you view it that way or not!
Posted by David on October 9, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
And we think today’s church has problems! Imagine seeking to combine into one fellowship people as diverse as a devout Jew who was converted to Jesus and a devout idol-worshipping Gentile converted to Jesus. Each person followed entirely different religious rules prior to conversion, had entirely different moral values, lived entirely different lifestyles, worshipped different gods, had different concepts of divinity, and often despised each other. Does that not sound like wonderful “church material”?
Even in matters held in common, they clashed. Both ate part of the sacrifices they offered as worship (read 1 Samuel 1:1-11). Both regarded that eating as an act of honoring the god (God) worshipped.
Irony: a Christian who understood could eat a pagan sacrifice in a pagan temple and not engage in worship. Why? (1) He knew the pagan god did not exist. (2) He knew that what one ate or drank in a sacrificial ceremony was without religious significance in purity matters. That was (is) correct! Yet, for the sake of someone who did not understand, he would refuse to do what he correctly understood to avoid offending the conscience of someone who incorrectly understood. In concern for a person for whom Christ died, the Christian would forego correct knowledge. A heavy spiritual concept!
Christians are (and have been) big on rules and regulations concerning “right” and “wrong” purity concerns. We tend to be more confrontational and less flexible than God is. God responds without concern to things that deeply concern us.
For example, as a personal test (not a “body/church” test) list your 5 favorite T.V. programs.
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Honestly tell yourself why you enjoy these programs. Then tell yourself how they help you pursue a closer relationship with God. In matters of personal purity, in all of life, can you see it is a personal situation involving an objective-far more than learning and keeping a set of “rules and regulations”?
Posted by David on October 2, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
The tongue is an amazing organ. Some of the things we find most enjoyable and beneficial in life are the result of the tongue’s acts. I love to eat. In fact, I enjoy it too much. I never consciously think about the contribution my tongue makes to my eating. Day after day, year after year, probably hundreds if not thousands of times daily, it darts in and out of danger. It keeps my unchewed food in place to be torn or crushed by my teeth, and much of the time it has less than a second to do its job. When I enjoy an especially tasty meal, I never say, “Good job, tongue! You kept that wonderful food right where it needed to be for me to enjoy every bite!”
I never think of my tongue until I bite it. Then, if I am not careful, I say to myself, “Stupid tongue! Why didn’t you get out of the way? Do you realize how much the rest of my body will be inconvenienced because you did not get out of the way?”
I never remember the tongue replying, “Sorry! I must confess I got in the way on purpose. I just felt like getting bit, suffering intense pain, and adding additional difficulty to my job.” Though it is difficult to remember, the tongue only does what it is told to do. It does not function independently. Jesus said, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.” (Matthew 12:34)
True, the tongue gets all of us in all kinds of trouble because it says what we think. However, the thought existed in us before we said it. If the idea was not in our hearts, the tongue would not have turned loose the “wrong” words.
The problem is deeper than learning to control what we say-though such control is worthy of great effort. The deeper problem is deciding what is allowed to be in the heart. The truth is that the tongue will not say what we do not think and feel. The combination of a heart dedicated to God and a tongue that is controlled is a wonderful combination!
Do you speak before you think about the way your words will affect others-maybe even those you love the most? It could be suggested that you “bite your tongue.” Perhaps it could be better suggested that you (a) examine your heart and (b) focus on ways you can give your emotions and thoughts more completely to God. Then when your heart overflows, the tongue is more likely to encourage than wound.
“God, help us be more like You. Then our mouths will be more likely to praise You than express our human frustrations. In Your ways, not our desires, is life. We seek life!”
Posted by David on September 25, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
For years, many have noted that Paul’s letter to the Galatians began differently than his letters to other congregations. Typically, no matter how bad a congregation’s problems, Paul began his letters with encouragement. For example, even though the Corinthian congregation had enormous problems, Paul encouraged them. Read 1 Corinthians 1:4-9.
But not to the congregations in Galatia! Why was Paul so upset with them?
No one had a deeper personal appreciation of what God did in Jesus Christ than did Paul. Prior to his conversion, we would have called Paul “a mean man.” His convictions were sincere, but they made him vicious. His convictions made him destructive, not helpful. He was merciless to Jewish men and women who believed in Jesus Christ. He protected the robes of those who killed Stephen, and he thought they did the proper thing by killing Stephen (Acts 7:58, 8:1). He dragged Christian men and women from their homes to imprison them (Acts 8:3). He used force in attempts to get Christian Jews to blaspheme (Acts 26:11). He even described himself as hostile (see Acts 26:9; Galatians 1:13-14; and 1 Timothy 1:13, 14).
Then he discovered his error concerning Jesus (Acts 9:1-9). The result: he became what he despised, was forgiven of murder and abuse of harmless Christians, and became a great missionary among gentiles (read again 1 Timothy 1:12-16).
Why? Why did God forgive Paul for such horrible acts? Among the reasons for such forgiveness is the reason Paul listed in 1 Timothy 1:16. He demonstrated that God’s mercy and forgiveness exceed any form of human failure if (a) a person sees his [or her] error, (b) turns against his [or her] error, and (c) redirects his [or her] behavior.
Then why was Paul so upset with the Galatian congregations? They did not realize what an incredible thing God did for them in Jesus’ death and resurrection! Jesus Christ is God’s good news! For congregations to act like there was a “good news from God” that rivaled what God did in Jesus was unthinkable!
Paul personally knew what God did in Jesus Christ. He did “the unthinkable” and later received forgiveness. He understood that the Galatian congregations existed because of what God did in Christ. He understood that those gentiles could be Christians because of God’s actions in Jesus. To say there was another gospel was unthinkable! Therefore, there was no encouragement because there was no appreciation of God’s acts in Jesus.
Do you appreciate what God did for you in Jesus? Does your behavior show it?
Posted by David on September 18, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
Monday morning as I shaved, I was thinking of this article. (Monday morning is when I typically write the bulletin article.) As I focused on the article, I sprayed shaving cream in my left hand. I am a right handed person. I am also a practical person. Obviously, I do a terrible job of focusing on two matters at the same time.
Fortunately, immediately I realized my mistake. Being practical, I said to myself, “There is no reason I cannot smear a little soap on my face with my left hand.” I am delighted my ears cannot talk and my mouth promised to say nothing! What a mess! I got more foam in my ears than on my jaws! I shaved my whiskers while they laughed-they did not even see the razor coming!
Why did my left hand find a simple task so difficult? My right hand does it daily. Training! I gave all the training from teen years until now to my right hand. So what my right hand does easily without thought, my left hand makes a terrible mess of even when I am deliberate, thoughtful, and concentrate.
So much that seems “to come natural” to a person is a matter of training, not a unique ability. People who conduct themselves righteously do not do so because they have some special ability. They were trained in righteous thought and behavior for a long time. Lengthy training makes their first impulse to think or to act in a righteous manner.
The same thing is true of ungodly thinking or behavior. The person has thought or behaved unrighteously for so long that the first impulse is to think or behave in an unrighteous manner.
So, what is the foundation of the way I think and behave? The key question is, “Who do I wish to be?” Once I decide it is worth the price to change who I am, I begin training. I train myself so my first reaction is to think righteously or behave righteously. I have never met a righteous person who did not consent to righteous training. Who you are is who you are willing to be. It, to you, is worth the price to train.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears the words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell-and great was its fall.” (Jesus’ words, Matthew 7:24-27, NASV)
Posted by David on September 11, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
Much has been said in many different contexts about a number of subjects concerning “the right of choice.” Among many of the rights of choice is the right to choose who we are. The choice to convert to Jesus Christ does not destroy choice or the necessity of choice. Choice does not end because a person chooses to follow Jesus Christ.
That is both wonderful and sobering. It is wonderful to understand that I can repent as a Christian at any time. No matter how much I slip as a Christian, no matter what a mess I make of my life, no matter what bad decisions I have made and followed, I can call a halt, repent (redirect), and-with God’s forgiveness and help-turn my life again to following Jesus Christ. It is extremely encouraging to know mistakes, bad decisions, and yielding to evil influences are not final! The option to return to God’s ways is mine! The same incredible forgiveness that made life in Jesus Christ possible still exists for me as a Christian when I make huge mistakes!
It is sobering to realize I can choose to reject God and all His gifts in Jesus Christ if that is my desire. I can choose to revert to anything I wish. That is the core of many temptations-to return to my fantasy of “how good it was when …” (I conveniently forget the struggles and consequences).
Following Jesus Christ never ceases to be a choice. It is a choice in how I see me-a temporary physical being who does not exist after death, or an eternal being who exists after physical death. It is a choice in the way I see life-life as a pursuit of the physical only because the physical only is reality, or life as an investment in what is “to be” because the eternal is as real as the physical. It is a choice in the way I see human existence-only as a matter of time, or as a combination of time and timelessness.
Not matter what I choose, it is a faith choice. I can have faith that the physical, the “here and now,” and that which I physically experience is all there is, or I can have faith in a reality that surpasses the physical, a reality that goes beyond the physical, a reality that goes beyond time. I can believe that life is the result of an accident, or that life is the result of a purposeful God. I can believe I am on my own, or I can believe that the living God wishes me to return to Him. It is my choice, and I will make that choice many times. Every time I am challenged, I will make that choice.
The question: what is your choice? How committed are you to your choice? Is your basic choice for the experiences of now or for God? Who you are very much depends on the choice you make! The direction of your life is determined by your choice!
Posted by David on September 4, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
For most of this week, we will see and hear of deeds of incredible kindness since (1) the hurricane Gustav did not make a direct hit on New Orleans, and (2) Gustav came ashore with much less destructive force than anticipated. (Do not tell those who suffered significant loss that Gustav was weak!) Had there been an enormous, widespread tragedy, we would see the tragedy. Instead, we will hear repeatedly about unusual, unexpected things done by people for unknown people. We rightly will rejoice in the human spirit that is moved to compassion in moments of great danger.
Ironically, the more people experience compassion, the more compassion is expected. With even more events calling for compassion, struggling people develop expectations. They begin to complain because the compassion shown is not compassionate enough. With additional events calling for compassion, struggling peoples’ complaints grow louder because compassion did not “prevent” the tragedy. Unreasonable expectations make kindness appear to be unkind.
The greatest kindness ever given to people was stated by Paul in the verses above. The enormity of that kindness is not understood until a human understands two things. A human (1) must grasp the enormity of his (or her) need and (2) must grasp that sin is the exact opposite of God. Sin embodies all the cruelty and injustice of hate. God embodies all the beauty and unselfish thoughtfulness of love. God allowed His son to become like His greatest enemy so that we humans might become God’s righteousness.
Any person can be God’s righteousness because of what Jesus did for us in his death. In Peter’s words in 1 Peter 2:24 (speaking of Jesus): “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
We humans are not righteous before God because we are good. We are righteous before God because we are forgiven. It is not (and never will be) what we have done for God, but what God did (and does) for us in Jesus Christ. Does that eliminate the need for obedience? No! It gives us more reason for being obedient to show appreciation for what God did for us in Jesus’ death!
The persons who do not understand complain because God does not meet their physical expectations, or they resent God for not preventing the tragedy we caused. The persons who understand are awed that God could make His enemies righteous.
Are you a Christian? Why? See God’s kindness for what it truly is! Appreciate what you see, and rejoice in divine compassion!
Posted by David on August 28, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
“Water Tank Hill” no longer has a water tank. The road that contained “Dead Man’s Curve” no longer exists. Subdivisions are now where pastures were. Fences that sectioned off places are gone. The place where Dad bought many of our family cars is no longer a car dealership. The high school of my graduation no longer exists. Joyce’s high school building is now being “gutted” to become another facility. The whole area was economically depressed when I grew up-now it is a resort and retirement area.
Things change. Have not things always changed in all centuries? Can you not hear elderly people saying as they looked at an area centuries ago, “I remember when …”
Perhaps it is not so much that “things change,” but that we change. We attended a reunion last weekend. I tried to match my memories of 50 years ago with the white-haired people I saw who did not fit the physical descriptions I recalled. As I looked, I wondered, “What do they see as they look at me?” Maybe the “changed things” are merely mileposts that verify that we passed this way once some time ago.
Transitions occur slowly in most instances. So do we transition slowly, slowly enough that we deceive ourselves. I look in the mirror every day, and I do not see that many changes. I see the image, and my mind says, “You have not changed that much!” (My mind lies to me about some things!) I can pretend I have not “changed that much” until I see things that have changed dramatically-only then am I forced to admit, “You have changed a lot, too!”
If we are honest with ourselves, we hunger deeply for something that does not change. The older you get, the more wonderful the desire is to know someone, to be somewhere that never changes. When you are young, change represents adventuresome opportunities. However, that also will change. As you get older, change represents frustrations. I appreciate the kids helping me with electronic gadgets, but the electronic gadgets themselves frustrate me just by existing.
Jesus Christ is the changeless one. The changeless One invites us to be part of an existence that knows no change and will never need to change. We will be suitable for that existence, and it will be suitable for us. In it there is stability and no frustration. Now that is a place worth seeing-and staying!
Posted by David on August 21, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
At times the conditions produced by our situations have a sobering, chilling effect on us. Like the believers at Pentecost (Acts 2:37), we realize we made horrible mistakes, we wish to flee our circumstances, but we have no idea of what to do. Or, like the young man above, we know what we have done, we know what we deserve, and we have no idea of the reception we should anticipate. In fear, we look for answers, or we decide to redirect our lives by heading in the correct direction.
Fearfully fleeing from the consequences of bad choices is a legitimate reason for redirecting our lives toward God. We can get ourselves into some horrible messes by doing what we consider to be wise. I have yet to meet an older person who does not shake his head in disbelief at the stupid things he did as a younger person! Is it not amazing to consider the stupid things we did then that we were convinced were wonderful things to do? Often we thought acts of rebellion against God were a good idea! When we realized what we did, it was gut-wrenching to realize how stupid we were!
At some point the Christian must stop running from hell in fear and start running toward God in appreciation. The epistles (written to individual Christians and congregations) contain many charges based on “this is what you were, this is who you are, and this is what God has done for you.” Consider Ephesians 2:1-10.
At some point the person must understand what God of Himself achieved in Jesus’ willing death and trusting resurrection. At some point the words forgiveness, sanctification, redemption, and righteousness in Christ through the working of God must become more than mere words. Consider amazing scriptures such as Romans 3:21-30, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, and 1 Peter 2:21-25.
When we begin to grasp the magnitude of God’s love for us, we begin running toward God which involves much more than running away from hell. We flee from hell by “not doing.” We run toward God by “being.” Running from hell over a long period of time typically results in a void. Running to God over a long period of time typically results in a fullness, a meaning, a joy, and a peace that places faith in God’s goodness, not the goodness of self. Are you running away from hell or toward God?
Posted by David on August 14, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
Anxiety is a strange human emotion. It focuses on the future-negatively. “What are we going to do when or if …?” The implication: “We will have no options.” How often have you had no options? Or, the dreaded feeling: “We will be boxed in with no choices.” How many times have you been “boxed in” and had “no choices”?
Anxiety is a strange emotion because it is self-induced. Who says there will be a “when” or an “if”? “I” do. Who says there will be “no options”? “I” do. Who says that “I” will be “boxed in” and have “no choices”? “I” do.
May I paraphrase Jesus’ statements in words we would use? “Is not existence about more than physical needs? Does not the reality of death limit physical needs? Godless people place 100% of their trust in the physical. They worry about the physical. Godly people understand the real dimension to life that is not physical. They see the folly of seeking only the physical. No matter what you do or decide, you will not eliminate tomorrow’s trouble. Focus your life on realities death cannot touch. It is only by taking care of now that you will be in a position to take care of tomorrow.”
Consider a myth and a couple of questions. Myth: there exists a lifestyle in which there are no anxieties. The person who wastes life on chasing that myth only succeeds in inflicting wounds on self. Questions: Who has avoided difficulty by wringing one’s hands in the panic of anxiety? What is the use of believing God exists if you are going to live like a godless person?
Trusting God involves the way a person looks at life. Perhaps that ranks in the top five ways that Christians fail our world. Christians cannot trust God while living like godless people. When people who are not Christians observe people who are Christians (1) floundering in the same problems (2) by dealing with them in the same ways and attitudes as people who do not trust God, they ask, “What is the use of being a Christian?”
Perhaps the greatest gift you can give to a world out of touch with God is Jesus’ way of looking at life. The “Jesus look” includes understanding that death is not the end of life. The physical is a bridge, not a destination. God is honored by seeing past the physical.
