Posted by David on May 29, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
I never met a person who enjoyed the experience of changing diapers. I met many who gladly changed diapers because they loved. On a cold night, my father-in-law told Joyce he had never seen it cold enough to make dishwater feel good. Yet, I saw my father-in-law wash dishes because he loved his ailing wife. Take your pick-ironing white shirts, canning, unstopping a commode, splitting a rick of gnarled hickory, digging a septic line, cleaning up vomit, dressing bad wounds, etc.-there are many tasks performed because of love that otherwise would be neglected. It is not love of the task! It is love of the person who benefits from the task!
Never think it is easy for God to forgive! Sin is everything God is not. Never think it was easy for God to surrender Jesus to death! Jesus was the only adult who never rebelled. Never decide it is easy for God to sustain fellowship with us when we continue to sin and need forgiveness. Were I to attribute human characteristics to God, I would see God heaving, gushing each time we make a mess. It is amazing God tolerates us!
Consider a fascinating question: Why does God put up with us? The simple answer: He loves us. Because He loves, He forgives. Because He loves, He endures. Because He loves, He tolerates the objectionable to bless the person.
I wonder when we-each of us-will “get it.” When will we understand it is not “correctness” that covers a multitude of sins, or “justification,” or “history.” It is love that covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). It is a fervent love for each other that responds to the messes we make.
Why? Because such love is characteristic of God-and enduring friendships, and enduring marriages, and quality parenting, and-above all-an enduring fellowship among those who have entered Christ. May I be spiritually mature enough to love the God who forgives you when I have difficulty loving you. Why? Because God in creation and Christ gave you that kind of worth. And-that same God forgives me.
“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35).
Posted by David on May 15, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
Jesus made this statement to the twelve just a few hours before he died. The “impossible” events that would occur the next few hours and the next few days would test the fabric of the disciples’ faith as had no other time or experience in Jesus’ ministry. There would be the confusing washing of the feet, the bewildering communion, Judas’ betrayal, fleeing disciples, Peter’s repeated denials, Jesus’ trials and crucifixion, reports of Jesus’ resurrection, and Jesus’ resurrection appearances to the disciples. In all this, a core truth held them together-the core truth of LOVE.
Nothing made sense until the disciples realized all that occurred expressed Jesus and God’s love. Being kind to a betrayer hurts! Fleeing hurts the deserted! Denial hurts! Death by crucifixion hurts! How can a resurrected person become an imposing, powerful political figure? What were the twelve to do with all that pain and confusion?
Until those men saw all those events as acts of love, nothing fell into place-not Jesus’ life and ministry, not their discipleship, not Jesus’ death, and not Jesus’ resurrection. After those men could see all the events as acts of Jesus and God’s love, everything fell into place. God’s love expressed through Jesus’ death made sense of pain and confusion.
May I suggest nothing basically has changed for the people (men or women) who accept discipleship by acknowledging Jesus as their teacher. Being people who choose to belong to God in a world filled with rebellious acts and personal indulgence is commonly confusing. Being people who follow Jesus in a world of death, betrayal, contempt for people, and disrespect for God is commonly painful. Declaring such a world “bewildering” is terribly close to understatement. So much happens that is mindless and confusing!
Until. Until when? Until we see God’s love. Then-and only then-do things fall into place. Notice the new commandment was not to love each other. The new commandment was to love each other as I have loved you. I do not love you because you deserve my love. I love you because I belong to Jesus. In Jesus God taught me how to love. God loved me far beyond any sense of devotion on my part, for beyond any loyalty on my part, far beyond any worthiness in me. It is God’s love for me that is the foundation of my love for you. Then-and only then-do things fall into place. Then-and only then-those who have not entered Christ will see that we are his disciples. Why? No one in this world loves like those who follow Jesus. The goal: to let Jesus teach me how to love. Why? So people can see an alternative way of life and death!
If I try to love you like God loved me, will you try to love me like God loves you? Have you read John 3:16 lately? “For God so loved the world …”
Posted by David on May 8, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
Recently I heard an interview with a reporter who for years went worldwide reporting. His task: find the unhappiest people in the unhappiest places and tell their stories.
Then he decided for a year to find places with reputations as the world’s happiest places. His objective: to discover (a) if there were happy places, and (b) what made them happy places. His discovery: (a) The world’s happiest places were climatically located in the harshest places. (b) They were happy places because people depended on each other. The people cared about each other.
You and I live in a troubled society and a troubled world. Many people do not know God, reject God, have mistaken ideas about God, or do not believe Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Many have never known love, never been loved, or never knew a loving environment. A lot of people have never been forgiven or do not know what forgiveness is. Many do not interact or behave as we do, or have our social concepts.
God has a message for these people. He says He cares, and He showed the depth of His concern in Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection. The issue is not “does God care?” but “do we as God’s people care?” When such people have contact with us as a congregation or as individuals, do they experience caring, do they feel concern? Do they want to be a part of us because we care?
Easy? No! Tiring? Yes! Why? There is so much demand, and so few resources. There is so much need, and so few to be concerned. There are so many forms of consequences to bad behavior and poor choices, and almost no “fixes.”
For years we could focus on doctrines, but no more. For years we made every question a matter of “simple right or wrong,” but no more. For years we pulled some favorite verses out of context and clubbed people with them, but no more. Why? People who need God the most care not about our view of doctrines, right or wrong, or verses (in context) until first they see we care about them, until first they see God’s joy in us.
When I was a boy there were housewarmings, unplanned pooling of Sunday lunches by several families, games in homes, and various forms of interaction that demonstrated caring. I have heard you speak of campouts, trips together, and lots of social interaction. The joy of being together was obvious, inclusive, and real.
This is not a call to return to the past. It is a call to make our caring obvious, inclusive, and real.
Posted by David on May 1, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
This incident occurred at the Jewish temple when Joseph and Mary took the infant Jesus for presentation. They were being good Jews. Such presentation was the correct thing to do with any Jewish child (see Leviticus 12:6-8). All firstborns were to belong to God (see Exodus 13:1, 2).
This entire incident strikes us as strange. First, there is Simeon. He is a very godly man with the Holy Spirit on him. He has been informed by God that he will not die until he has seen the “consolation of Israel.” His understanding of that godly purpose for Israel was simply weird. It involved a salvation for all peoples, a “light of revelation to the gentiles” (see Isaiah 49:6), and an infant less than two months old!
Second, he said the strangest things about the infant. The work of the child (as an adult) would result in “the fall and rise of many in Israel.” He would be a sword that pierced his parents. He would reveal the thoughts of many. For some he would be alienation from God-for some he would be the avenue to God. To some he would be enmity against God-to some he would be peace with God. To some he would be death-to some he would be life.
Spring is here! Is that wonderful, or is that horrible? Is Spring to you new life and hope for a warmer tomorrow, or is Spring allergies and the misery of pollination? Is it the rain that brings flowers, or the wind that brings leaky roofs? Is it the prosperity of a better lifestyle, or the destruction of a tornado? Is it the promise of fresh produce, or the devastation of a hailstorm?
Is it not fascinating that things that produce the blessing and hope of life to some also produce the certainty of misery or death to others? Is it not thought-provoking to realize that which has potential for good at the same time contains potential for harm?
Whether Jesus is a blessing or harm depends on the acceptance or rejection of the individual. Only you determine if Jesus is your means of rising or falling.
Posted by David on April 24, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
The most important issue in people’s lives in any age is being in Christ. Always, many do not want to be in Christ (John 3:19, 20). Christians cannot force people to enter Christ. (Salvation involves a person’s intellect and emotions as well as his/her physical body.)
The challenge is to encourage everyone to enter Christ who wants to enter Christ. Can it be certainly determined who does and does not wish to enter Christ? No. We assume a person wants to enter Christ until he/she declares otherwise, and even then we are careful not to limit future changes in his/her interest.
Paul’s approach was fascinating! He was exposed to situations that were extreme–idolatry, judgmental religion, and atheism. He always assumed interest in Christ existed. He always began where the person was. He was the flexible one. (He did not say, “When you think like I do, I will talk to you.”) Paul found something incredible in Christ. (Have you recently read Philippians 3:8-11?). And he wished to share (1) what he had found and (2) how it changed him. No matter what your past, what wickedness you committed, or who you were at the moment, Paul knew God in Christ had something wonderful for you-no one knew that better than did Paul (1 Timothy 1:12-16)! Paul did not give up on people because God did not give up on him! God’s grace in Christ was greater than Paul’s sinfulness!
The Christian Paul’s approach: (1) Focus on the blessings of being in Christ rather than the flaws of the person. (2) Be an example of change in Christ. To me, nothing demonstrates Paul’s changes as does 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12. The man who held the clothing of those who killed Stephen (Acts 7:58), who dragged Christian men and women from their homes (Acts 8:3), who tried physically to force Christians to blaspheme (Acts 26:9-11), and who was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians (Acts 9:1, 2), as a Christian evangelized gently, with affection and blameless behavior while exhorting, encouraging, and imploring.
We exist in a visual society. Do not focus on “the rules.” Focus on being. Live as an example. Attract to Jesus by behavior as well as message. As Paul said to a preacher, “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26).
Posted by David on April 17, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
For whom did Jesus die? For first-century Jewish people in their society? For gentiles then also? For those who lived for the next 2,000 years world-wide? For us now? For people in Fort Smith not in Christ? For those in our world who are not in Christ?
Ask the same questions from another perspective. Is Jesus a “world Savior” or an “us” Savior? Does he prefer my background and concepts? Since he was never American, never ate hamburgers and fries, never spoke or read English, never went to college, does he prefer another background? Does he have any background preference?
Hopefully, if we took a thin slice of the “midsection” of a congregation and placed it under a microscope to determine make-up and needs, we would find visitor needs, new convert needs, young Christian needs, growing Christian needs, and mature Christian needs. Hopefully, we would find a diversity of people with a diversity of backgrounds. Hopefully, we would find numerous people being stretched spiritually to meet a complex situation, and people in Christ using an understanding of God to meet that challenge. These Jesus-led, God-directed people of faith have the courage to walk righteously.
A practical question: What is the newly baptized person learning from me? How to “safely” gossip? How to be bitter and hold grudges? How to “get my way” correctly? How to exploit people? How to “be political” in the church? Generally speaking, how to “play the religious game” to achieve “my interests”?
Or, how to serve? How to sacrifice? How to encourage? How to be godly even if wronged? How to be committed to a Savior’s values? How to be God’s light in an evil world? How to trust in God in hard times? How to endure injustice (which God and Jesus did in Jesus’ cross) and yet remain spiritually true to God’s character?
Or am I a confusing mixture of both?
Nothing is more powerful than a godly example. Effectiveness in helping others spiritually depends on people holding themselves to a high level of accountability that exists because of a love commitment to God. It exists voluntarily, not by force. Mature congregations are filled with individuals who dare to be Christ-like examples. Spirituality is not a veneer finish only surface deep-it is intentional godliness!
Posted by David on April 10, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
The apostle to the gentiles who wrote this held the clothes of those who killed Stephen (Acts 7:58), confronted the apostle Peter face-to-face (Galatians 2:11), and sharply disagreed with his mentor, Barnabas (Acts 15:39). My point is not that Paul’s belief and actions were inconsistent. My point is that respect is difficult to maintain.
When Paul [Saul] held the clothing of those who killed Stephen, Paul was not a Christian-killing Stephen was “right” (Acts 8:1). When, as a Christian, he confronted Peter, Peter’s behavior was inconsistent with God’s revelation to Peter. When Paul and Barnabas disagreed sharply, they had an extreme difference of opinion about John Mark. In Romans 14, Paul wrote about the enormous gulf between Jewish and gentile Christians-a major problem in first-century congregations (see Acts 15:1-5).
Yet, the Christian who confronted could redirect. Years later as an imprisoned Paul neared death, he asked Timothy to bring Mark to him. Nearing death, he asked for the man who had been at the center of his controversy with his best friend and work companion!
Regarding the enormous controversy in the first congregations, this man who had been the “Jews’ Jew” (Galatians 1:14) understood God could save anyone (including gentiles) on the basis of faith that Jesus was the resurrected Christ. A Jew did not need to cease to be culturally a Jew to accept Jesus was God’s Christ. A gentile did not need to cease to be culturally a gentile to accept that the living God resurrected the dead Jesus to be the living Christ.
That was extremely difficult for Jews, including Jewish Christians, to accept! The teaching that gentiles could be saved without circumcision (Genesis 17:9-14) or the Jewish dietary restrictions (Leviticus 11) were just plain offensive to Jewish converts! They felt so strongly about this that they made the apostle Peter afraid of them (see Galatians 2:11-13). Paul understood when he wrote Romans 14 that God’s acts were not hostage to human logic, human desires, and human opinions. God could and would save Christians who, in God, did contrasting things. Why? God knows motives, the whys.
A healthy congregation is a growing organism composed of every level of spiritual maturity. Only with respect for each other can we become what God intended.
Posted by David on April 3, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
Healthy congregations understand that Jesus is the way people approach God (John 14:6; Hebrews 1:1, 2; 4:14-16). The Christians in such congregations understand one of God’s intents in Jesus (resurrected to be Lord and Christ) was to provide all people access to God. He is Lord because it was God’s intent that he conquer everything opposing God (1 Corinthians 15:25-28). God placed all divine authority in the resurrected Jesus (Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:20-23).
Jesus is the Christ by God’s intent. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:8, 16). (“Christ” is the Greek word for the Hebrew “Messiah.”) Jesus is the “anointed by God” to bring God’s gift to our physical world (Matthew 1:18-23; Luke 1:31-33; John 3:16; Romans 5:8). He gives us immediate access to God (Hebrews 6:19, 20; 10:19-21) by allowing us to go where no one before us went. The resurrected Jesus is seated (mission accomplished!) at God’s right hand (the place of prominence) to intercede for us (Romans 8:33, 34). As Christians, we have a quality of representation with God that is unequaled and cannot be surpassed (Hebrews 8:1, 2).
Our confidence is in a Savior–not an institution, not a building, not a person or group of persons (humans), not a prominent historical figure, not an apostle, nor in a human perspective. We trust the One who died for us, who was raised for us, who intercedes for us, and who (by God’s appointment) is the Lord given to lead us to God.
Healthy congregations listen to Jesus, learn from Jesus, follow Jesus, and let Jesus show them God’s purposes and intents. Instead of being defensive of human ideas and desires, we are willing to learn. Instead of concluding we know everything to be known about God’s will, we are open to God’s guidance in Jesus Christ. Instead of turning people away from God, we encourage those who seek God. We never stop seeking God’s wisdom placed in Jesus.
We call ourselves “Christians” because we want to be like Jesus. We shine as lights in a dark world to attract people to Jesus and to glorify God (Matthew 5:16). Such people make healthy congregations. Lives and behavior are determined by Jesus, not people.
Posted by David on March 27, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
God always has had a purpose. God made it clear He had a purpose in the Bible’s first book in Genesis 12:3. Paul confirmed that the divine promise to bless all families of the earth through Abraham’s descendants was a reference to God’s intention to send Jesus to be the Christ (Galatians 3:8, 16). In Romans 3:21-26, this same Paul declared how much God accomplished in Jesus’ sacrifice-righteousness, the power to save gentiles by faith, justification, grace, redemption, propitiation, a demonstration of God’s righteousness in pre-Jesus forbearance, and a declaration of God’s justice in mercy.
God has never bumbled along achieving good by accident. God is and always has been intentional. He intended to achieve in Jesus what He achieved. Long before Jesus’ birth, God intended for Jesus’ life and death to be the core (the centerpiece) of every good thing He did and would do for sinful humans.
Healthy congregations are filled with intentional people who surrender to an intentional God. These Christians are not accidental in the way they live their lives for Jesus Christ. They serve their Lord Jesus Christ with thought, planning, reason, and purpose. They understand one of God’s purposes is for Jesus to be their example!
A person has to be intentional to believe that good is stronger than evil (Romans 12:21), to pray for his/her enemies (Matthew 5:44), to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39), to understand God’s grace covers all our flaws (Ephesians 2:4-9), and to grasp that God rewards the righteous after physical death (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). Healthy congregations are the result of the members’ faith in God. These God-focused members understand physical life is an investment in the life that exists after physical death. Physical life is not about one’s earthly lifestyle, but about life with God-now and in Heaven! Poverty is no hindrance to God’s blessings! Poverty is not proof of God’s lack of concern!
To be a healthy congregation, it is not enough to believe God exists! It is only enough to believe God exists and has objectives! The healthy congregation allows God to declare His objectives as believers in God adopt His objectives rather than making our objectives God’s purposes. Our objective: to grasp all God’s purposes in Jesus Christ.
Posted by David on March 20, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
In a book (The Purse-Driven Life by comedienne Anita Renfroe) given to Joyce, Renfroe discussed growth as changing boxes. “If people’s expectations of us put us ?in a box,’ it seems to me that we spend a good deal of our time on earth just swapping boxes. We get some knowledge in one area of our life and realize we have been enslaved to an idea or expectation. We leave that mindset, only to find that we miss the structure the box afforded us, so we find another one to climb into. We say we don’t like them, but we keep climbing in” (pp. 44, 45).
Spiritual growth accurately can be compared to outgrowing boxes. While my graduate degree is in Bible, my college undergraduate degree is in chemistry (long story). I remember spending a lot of time learning a view of an atom, only later to be told the view must expand. That happened over and over as we moved to bigger boxes!
A time in life was when parents had the answers, then when a gifted Sunday school teacher had the answers, when a beloved preacher had the answers, when an insightful professor had the answers, or when a movement had the answers. Parents had some of the answers-as did Sunday school teachers, preachers, professors, movements, etc.
Why only some answers? As we grow, have new experiences, and age, we discover dimensions of questions that were unknown to us. You provide yourself insight. Was any spiritual question “the same” at age 15 as it was at age 8? Or at age 25 compared to age 15? Or at age 40 compared to age 25? Or at age 65 compared to age 40?
Do you realize how much you have grown? There was the “all black and white with no gray” age; the “black, white, and a little gray” age; the “black, white, and expanding gray” age; and the age when wisdom confessed “I don’t know”-which was completely unacceptable in the “all black and white” age. Pick your subject-child rearing, godly marriage, unity, love, forgiveness, holiness, Christian service-and watch scripture cause godly people to grow into the Lordship of Jesus Christ and God’s character and purposes. A 15-year-old will conclude things that cause a 40-year-old to shake his or her head because the 15-year-old has not even seen all the question.
A “think about” question: was God with you in your small box? When your growth demanded a bigger box, did God go with you? Was He in the bigger box ahead of you? Can you put God in a box, or is God bigger than all boxes? Do you understand that healthy congregations are made of people who do not fear spiritual growth? Never stagnate where you are! Never stop growing closer to God!
