Posted by David on January 3, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
Faith is a spiritual journey towards spiritual maturity, not an achieved destination. It is companion to the spiritual maturation process of the individual who commits self to Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:1-3). Though faith is constantly “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” each step of the journey, the nature of that assurance or conviction changes as the person matures in Christ.
May I suggest several maturing steps that frequently occur in the life of a person in Jesus Christ. In these steps faith grows as the person spiritually grows.
1. The person comes to the conviction that he/she (a) needs to be saved from sin and (b) God through Jesus Christ can save from the consequence of sin. This level of faith gladly commits to God and Christ through repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38). However, this is just the beginning.
2. The saved person grows to the conviction that he/she must show his/her gratitude for salvation by making self available to God’s purposes. The result: he/she serves God’s purposes in any way he/she is capable in the full confidence that God rewards (Hebrews 11:6). However, this is only a step, not a destination.
3. Increasingly, there is the awareness that serving His purposes is rightfully God’s expectation, not some special gift the saved person gives God (Ephesians 2:10; the examples of Hebrews 11:7-12). God promised, and people of faith responded by trusting His promise-by building an ark, going to a strange place, or having a child when conception was impossible. Still, this is but a step, not a faith destination.
4. Then the person grasps on a deeper level that salvation is the result of what God did in Jesus’ cross and resurrection, not the result of any personal sacrifice made or service performed. There is a new insight into the declaration, “It is about God, not about me” (Hebrews 11:39, 40). He/she marvels anew at people who trusted God’s promise without receiving the result of the promise. This, too, is merely a step, not a destination.
5. If all this makes you wonder about the nature of faith in God, ask an elderly, dying person who spent life living by faith, “How does faith express itself?” The answers may astound you.
Faith is not the product of human confidence in self or human confidence in “our” deeds. It is the expression of confidence in the God of mercy and grace who saves those who can never make themselves deserving.
Grow in God, and let your faith grow as you spiritually develop!
Posted by David on December 20, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
I wonder how the Paul of Acts 8:1-3 and 9:1, 2 dealt with being a Christian evangelist? How did he feel when he walked Jerusalem’s streets past the houses where he arrested people? How did he deal with past words of threats and murder? Even he was mystified by God’s grace that forgave his violence (1 Timothy 1:12-16)!
How did Paul deal with his past failure? How could he be so committed to a religious tradition of destruction and become an effective missionary among the hopeless? (1) He put his past in the past. (2) He forgave himself by trusting God’s forgiveness. (3) He committed himself to serving God’s purposes instead of his own fears.
All of us commonly refocus each January 1 as a new year begins. The New Year is fresh-a time for hopes and dreams. The old year is worn, threadbare. Though the old contained good, it also created opportunities for our flaws to tower over us as they controlled our lives’ direction. So, inwardly tired and troubled, we resolve to deal with our flaws as we are inspired to reach for productive new heights.
The following are some resolutions I hope we find worthy of consideration.
- I will seek to be more Christ-like in my mind, emotions, behavior, and consideration each day I am privileged to live.
- I will make serious efforts to understand God’s purposes and values instead of assuming my purposes and values are God’s.
- I will allow God to continue to “renew my mind” so my God will continue His transformation process in me.
- I will listen to understand before I speak.
- I will show the compassionate mercy I wish to receive.
- I will forgive as I wish God to forgive me.
- I will seek spiritual growth quietly, humbly as God’s servant by deliberately shunning arrogance.
- I will understand my credibility as Christ’s representative is enhanced by both my behavior and my words.
- I will dedicate myself to being a person of faith, and reflect faith in my character.
- I will put my faith in the Savior instead of the saved.
“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). Happy New Year! May God be glorified in us!
Posted by David on December 13, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
In warfare, there is a modern term often heard-collateral damage. My Webster’s New (though quite old) Collegiate Dictionary defines collateral as indirect or parallel (along with some other concepts). In warfare, collateral damage concerns innocent [civilian] people who suffer fatal or destructive wounds as a result of the actions of military forces. It is the common way to refer to civilians who are killed or maimed as the result of a military confrontation.
A man, woman, or child who dies or is maimed as a result of collateral damage is just as dead, suffers just as much pain, or causes just as much grief to his/her family as the man/woman in the military who dies or is maimed in the same hostile action. Dead is dead. Maimed is maimed. Pain is pain. Grief is grief. The end result: the grieving survivors have zero confidence in the nation whose personnel caused the collateral damage.
Christians need to give great care to avoid collateral damage. At times Christians become so emotional about their personal cause that they ignore the effect of their actions on the souls and spirits of others. How awful it would be to be surrounded in Judgment by a great cloud of witnesses who were the collateral damage of our words and deeds! How wonderful it would be in Judgment to be surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who came to or remained in Christ because our words and deeds prevented collateral damage!
With God, there is no collateral damage. His people are committed to a “no collateral damage” policy. Consider Matthew 5:43-48. Godless people know how to be nice to those who are nice to them. Godly people know how to be nice to enemies.
Christian Jews had a lot to tolerate in Christian gentiles, and vice versa. The uncleanness, food (sacrifices), and kept days to which Paul referred involved spiritual acts. Those two sets of Christians reached totally different conclusions about those acts. Paul did not say, “Decide a winner, decide a loser, and become identical.” He said that God’s kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, not winners and losers.
As we commit to a policy of no collateral damage, let’s invest as much in the salvation of others as God did. May our actions and words never negate Jesus’ death in their lives!
Posted by David on December 6, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
Jesus opened his longest recorded teaching (Matthew 5-7) with what most of us know as the Beatitudes. In my opinion, the theme of the entire lesson focuses on how a righteous person looks and acts. In my understanding, the Beatitudes are a composite view of a righteous person who looks to God to define what he/she is and how he/she acts. Jesus spoke of poverty of spirit, mourning, gentleness, hungering and thirsting to understand God’s ways, mercy, inner purity, making peace, and suffering. For many, these are not the attitudes of righteousness.
In my opinion, because we realized the enormous consequences of rejecting Jesus as God’s promised Messiah, we tried to make it as easy as possible to respond to Jesus. While there are many groups who used various concepts of grace to make it convenient to be Christians, we (the Churches of Christ) emphasized a lack of commitment. The commitment to service after baptism did not parallel the importance of being baptized. Thus baptism became the objective instead of the beginning.
We addressed two difficult problems: 1) sincere people who reach different conclusions, and 2) young children who understand basic facts but not long-term concepts (with a strong emphasis on “easy”). Thus, a lot of people became Christians, not because they were committed to a Savior, but because, “It is easy to be saved, and I do not want to go to Hell.” A personal observation: when serving God becomes demanding, many are not committed to the demands of being Jesus’ disciples. Thus, they often wonder, “Where is the ?easy’?”
Jesus did not teach being righteous was easy. He taught that with God’s mercy and kindness it was possible. He who emptied himself of equality with God the Father (Philippians 2:5-7), who endured rejection by people believing they understood God better than he did (Matthew 24), and who endured unjust trials and death on a cross, did not call people to a “convenient righteousness.” It is not easy or simple to recognize personal insufficiency, be gentle, be learning constantly, be merciful, be internally pure, make peace, or be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Though exhausting, it is possible.
Do not be a Christian because you expect it to be easy. Be a Christian because you are committed to a Savior. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary (Galatians 6:9). Do not get tired of doing good and being godly.
Posted by David on November 29, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
As we get older, life changes and takes on new qualities. Whatever you used in the past to measure the significance of your life becomes less meaningful, less important. You begin realizing that your life is coming to its close. All the medicine, all the surgery, all the technical advances in our physical world cannot keep physical life from ending.
In the past you acknowledged the things God did and does. He created, He can renew, and He sustains what He renews. He created-He made physical existence possible. He renews-He can make it possible for anyone to begin again in Christ. He sustains-with His grace and mercy, He can make anyone His continually.
It is only as you get older that you are filled with a new sense of awe at the incredible things God does. As we become increasingly powerless, we see from different perspectives the awesome things God does. The “beginning again” of anyone-privileged or not, educated or not, free or not-is truly remarkable. Regardless of what a mess you made of your past, regardless of how poor your focus was, regardless of how stupid your past choices were, in Jesus Christ you can begin again-incredible!
What God did and does in Christ is so “mind blowing” it is beyond our comprehension. In Christ’s death, God paid the full price of our renewal. In Christ’s resurrection, God assured us that He is more powerful than physical death, that the end of the physical is not “the end.” The fact the He can take that which was created in His image, trashed and marred beyond recognition, and create again men and women who can reflect Him is beyond our imagination. The fact that He can sustain them in all their human weakness really reveals what faith is all about. (Do you trust God to do what He promised to do?)
And what does He want from us? He wants us to become what He remade us to be. Why? So we can reflect Him. The objective is to see us and glorify God because God made us what we are. Read Matthew 9:1-8 and pay special attention to verse 8. Then read Matthew 5:16. Consider 2 Corinthians 9:13.
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Posted by David on November 15, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
To me, there is a significant degree of assurance to realize Christians of the first century often struggled with problems similar to ours. The Jews were quite geography-centered in their worship (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 13, 14; 16:16). The Temple was the holiest place of all places! They were quite ritualistic with priests, sacrifices, and correct procedures. They wore tassels on their clothes (Numbers 15:37-41) [as did Jesus-Matthew 9:20; 14:36; Mark 6:56; Luke 8:44]. They were careful about what they ate (Leviticus 11) and observed special days (Exodus 12:15-20). To Jewish Christians it was unthinkable that God would call those who did none of this His people!
To me it is obvious why the New Testament acknowledges the enormous dispute between Jewish Christians and gentile Christians. Jewish people and non-Jewish people were distinctively different in virtually every way.
The first four chapters of 1 Corinthians addressed (in various ways) the internal divisions in that congregation. These are the divisions noted in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. Their internal “quarrels” seemed to focus on the person responsible for their conversion-Paul, Apollos, Peter, or Christ.
Among his arguments against internal division is the one in the text. There was more at stake than their group and its perspective. God’s temple that houses His presence (read 2 Chronicles 7:11-16) is no longer a building at a place, but a people who belong to Him through a commitment to Jesus Christ (read 1 Peter 2: 5, 9, 10).
To those firmly committed to Jesus Christ, there is always something more significant than personal views and preferences. It is the understanding of God’s purpose clearly declared in Genesis 12:3c. God intended to bless everyone. He would not do it in a place, but in a people. He would do it in His people, devoted to His character, honoring His values, committed to His purpose.
Paul’s statement (above) is frightening. The KJV translation correctly notes the “you” Paul used is plural. Christians (plural-congregations) comprise God’s temple now-Jewish Christians, gentile Christians, agreeing Christians, disagreeing Christians, people from all backgrounds. They must not use differences to discredit God’s work and purpose. If a Christian does discredit God by harming what is now His temple, Paul said God would destroy that person (strong language for Paul) because God’s temple is holy.
To me, preserving unity is one of the more difficult tasks God gives us. Nothing about it is simple. We are not one because we are wonderful, or can justify our behavior, or God endorses our point of view, or because people agree with me, or because our culture endorses the best and most sensible way. We are one because we are in Jesus Christ.
May God’s purpose always be our purpose. We belong to Him, not ourselves.
Posted by David on November 8, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
Recently I had opportunity to drive across several wastelands, some of which were just plain deserts. Vegetation ranged from sparse (with small scrub bushes that occasionally dotted the landscape) to absent, with hills gutted by gullies with little to hold the soil.
Occasionally, I saw a ribbon of trees snaking along a low place in the landscape. When I saw that ribbon of trees, I knew there was water available-a small stream or a low river. In the dry areas, the problem was not the nutrients in the soil, but the absence of moisture. Strong trees would grow and produce their fruit if water were available.
In the southern regions of Palestine, the psalmist saw a similar situation. Some regions are extremely arid. In those areas, occasionally there will be a spring and a pool. Around that pool, there is incredible vegetation, including strong fruit-bearing trees with strong root systems.
In short, there is life in a lifeless landscape. Life exists because there is water. The contrast is incredible-no water, arid; water, life.
Once as Jesus was teaching, he said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ?From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water'” (John 7:37, 38).
Consider what Jesus said to the woman at the well near Sychar in John 4:10, 13, 14, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ?Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. … Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
Knowing and listening to Jesus is like providing a tree in the desert with water. Knowing Jesus will do more than change what you believe. It will change who you are.
In our American society, people need more than information. While they need information, they also need examples. The person who trusts in God must be like the tree in an arid region growing by the water source. The person who trusts God must be sustained by the living water, Jesus Christ. He or she obviously does not thirst. Instead, he or she is a well springing to eternal life in others.
In a society that mistakes pleasure, money, possessions, power, and influence for life, to have the courage to let Jesus quench the thirst for life is the difference between a scrub bush in an arid region and a tree by a water source. Have the courage to be God’s tree. Have the courage to let Jesus Christ be life to you and a well to others through you.
Posted by David on November 1, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
One of the results of being “strange” is looking at and listening to things a bit differently. I find that to be a powerful source of learning and self-evaluation. Often, the lives of others cause me to see things about myself I had rather not see or know.
Recently while we were taking a relaxation trip, we visited an impressive congregation in an extremely small town. It was a much larger congregation than one would expect to find in such a small town and sparsely populated terrain.
It was a very active congregation that was both community-focused and foreign mission-focused. Their contribution and their projects/programs were nothing less than astounding. Obviously, instead of feeling sorry for themselves (as many congregations do in their setting), they were actively involved in helping others and ministering to Christ’s family.
Significant in the congregation were a number of retired, much experienced elders and ministers. The level of talent and experience in that small congregation was truly impressive. Though they did not comprise the bulk of the congregation, they were active, prominent, and significant in the congregation’s work.
Such people form “living mirrors” who challenge us to examine ourselves. Time transforms us all in small, silent ways. I find those transformations are not obvious until we look at ourselves reflected in such “living mirrors.”
Perhaps this transformation is best understood with an illustration. It is the soul of the meaning of, “He/she seems so much younger than he/she actually is.” In a positive way, he or she does not act his or her age. He or she refuses to allow physical aging to change “who I am.”
To mature spiritually, two things are necessary: (1) Know who you want to be. (2) Know who you do not want to be. The two are not the same. You know who you want to be by looking at Jesus Christ and scripture. You know who you do not want to be by (a) backing off from yourself, (b) being honest with yourself, and (c) seeing yourself in your actions and attitudes. We must know both who we are and who we do not wish to be. Instead of justifying ourselves, we examine ourselves-and that is demanding!
From Paul I learn it is as important to be honest about who I am (absent God’s grace) as it is to have confidence in whom Christ Jesus made me (with God’s grace) to be.
Posted by David on October 25, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: ? (Romans 2:1-6)
For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written. (Romans 2:24)
In grief-filled fascination, I realize the American Restoration Movement began about 1800 as a unity movement. In time, the movement transitioned to a defensive movement. In less time it transitioned to an isolationist movement. Now it is fragmented. One large fragment seeks to understand God’s purposes with scripture as the source. Another large fragment identifies “the right to exist” with a desire to declare everyone’s error inside or outside the movement.
It is difficult to learn from others’ mistakes. Jesus said to a Jewish audience in Palestine, “Do not listen for the wrong reason. Listening to learn what is wrong with people you resent is the wrong reason. Listen to transform your lives. Life is full of moral and ethical floods. The real issue: ?Will your life stand after your floods come?’ Do not listen for others. Listen for yourself. Listen to act. Listen to change yourself rather than listening to discover what is wrong with others.”
Paul was upset with the Jewish people who thought they were experts in knowing others’ errors. He was concerned because these self-appointed judges were as ethically deficient as those they condemned. People who were supposed to be God’s people were a significant factor in idol worshippers not considering the living God seriously. Thus, one of God’s obstacles was the misimpression created by those who claimed to represent Him. Evidently, Paul often had to teach godless people about God by dismissing the example of those who declared “I am who I am because of God.”
Do you find Jesus’ and Paul’s declarations frightening? Why?
Posted by David on October 11, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints (Hebrews 6:10).
One of many things that amazes me about people is this: People who should find comfort in God are scared to death of Him, and people who should be scared to death of Him ignore Him altogether.
Consider the two statements above. The first, “God gave them over,” is repeated three times in Romans 1. Paul said people must not place confidence in wrong things. People easily placed confidence in “who they were” rather than “how they behaved.” People placed confidence in their heritage instead of their behavior-“I am a Jew,” or “I am a Roman.”
Paul said no matter “who you are,” heritage does not guarantee relationship with God. Many Romans resented the presence of “foreign gods” in Rome. They felt superior in their gods. They were confident that people who worshipped foreign gods worshipped things inferior to the Roman gods.
Paul declared Romans could not vindicate themselves just by saying, “We are Romans.” Comparing the Creator God to things that die or to things human in origin insult the Creator God.
To stress the seriousness of making God’s creation a god, Paul said God abandoned such people. People belonging to the living God behave like people who belong to the living God. The result of abandoning God, for a creature, is being abandoned by God.
However, in the second statement, the Hebrews statement, God does not abandon those in Christ who struggle. God remembers godly behavior, even if His child is in the midst of difficult times. The issue in Christ always is our rejecting God, not God rejecting us.
The godless person living a godless lifestyle will be abandoned to himself or herself. The struggling person in Christ will never be abandoned by God. In one situation there is divine wrath. In the other situation, there is comfort in the midst of struggle.
If you are in Christ, you will struggle. Never take your struggles as evidence you are no longer in Christ. Take them for what they are-the opposition of Satan. Then take great comfort in the fact that you are in Christ. Behave like a person who belongs to God. Let the way you act reflect the fact that you belong to God. Take comfort in His compassion for you. He who let His son die for you is not about to abandon you to His enemy. God’s wrath is for those who defy Him, not for those who belong to Him.
