Posted by David on June 15, 1997 under Bulletin Articles
Strange times, these! We have a thousand questions about why God does what He does. We have no questions about what Satan does or why. We blame God for a multitude of things that God does not cause. We hold Satan blameless for a multitude of things he engineers.
We are angry at God for not stopping evil. We are never angry with Satan for causing evil. We question God’s motives and purposes. We never question Satan’s motives or purposes. God is good and does good, but we hold Him accountable for evil. Satan is evil and does evil, but we credit him with accomplishing good.
Satan is the master of deceit (John 8:44). His style is not that of a “bulldozer” that levels everything in his path. He programs people to serve as his bulldozers. He influences people to level anyone and anything who opposes his objectives.
Satan’s strength is in his incredible ability to deceive. Change a perspective. Altar a fact. Misinterpret a statement. Mock an attitude. Assign a motive. Mistranslate an intention. Attribute an evil reason. He uses deceit to redirect thoughts and emotions.
When he combines his deceit with our desires, he knows he will have all the power he needs. Look at Jesus’ temptations (Matthew 4:1-11). “Jesus, If you starve, will you accomplish God’s mission? Do you really trust God’s promise to take care of you? Since you came to be king of mankind, allow me to make you king of the earth.”
Just as Satan is the master of deceit, Jesus is the master of forgiveness. Satan cannot create an evil that Jesus cannot forgive. He cannot create a sinner that Jesus does not love. He cannot place anyone in such peril that Jesus cannot rescue.
Jesus wants to free you from deceit and rescue you from the slavery of perverted desires. Jesus loves and liberates, redeems and restores, and protects and preserves.
Two masters are at work. One is the master of deceit who brings destruction. One is the master of forgiveness who brings salvation. One deceives to destroy. One forgives to save. Which master do you permit to be at work in your life?
Posted by David on June 1, 1997 under Bulletin Articles
Ah-h-h-h! Sweet summer time is here! School is out! Daylight hours are much longer! Shivering has ended! The winter rat race is over–and we don’t have to hassle the kids about their homework assignments.
And immediately begins . . . the summer rat race. T-ball. Softball. Baseball. Soccer. Swimming lessons. Tennis. Youth camps. Fishing. Camping. Going to the lake for boating and skiing. Float trips. And that is just the kids’ activities! Throw in some golf, tennis, and fishing for Mom and Dad, and a family vacation. The result? By August 1 we are longing again for school and fall schedules to return.
In the summer time it is even harder to attend Bible study classes and worship assemblies. The long daylight hours of Wednesdays allow time to “slip up on us.” Summer activities make Wednesday nights an impossible hassle–more so than in school term when school work pushes.
Sunday morning class attendance suffers. Everyone is exhausted from overfilled Saturdays. The family cannot move fast enough to make it to Bible class. And Sunday afternoons are just too pretty to waste–you just can’t do anything and get back home in time to come to a 6 p.m. assembly.
This brings us face to face with two issues. First, why attend any Bible class? Because we are told it is a religious obligation? Or is it a matter of ritual or habit? Do we score “brownie points” with God if we place our breathing but disinterested bodies in a church building while we dream about the golf course or the lake?
No. If guilt is used to coerce members to bring mindless bodies to appointed assemblies, little is accomplished. God is not honored. The person is not benefitted when his/her inattentive body is in “the right place” at the “right time” to fulfill an obligation.
Then why attend? Our lives are challenged by evil every moment in every context. Marital stability, family relationships, work world, social realities, and our futures are determined by every day by real world decisions, conduct, priorities, and perspectives. The objective of Bible classes is to discover the divine guidance that equips and encourages us in everyday life in the real world.
The second issue? Bible classes must help us with “real life” as they apply God’s insights to our real world situations. We need encouragement and understanding. Bible classes exist to provide it.
Ah-h-h! It’s summer time! Will you make mind and body time for study and worship?
Posted by David on May 25, 1997 under Bulletin Articles
Last week Joyce and I had exceptional visits in California with her brother and sister-in-law and with our daughter and son-in-law. It was a week of rich joys and memorable blessings. Everything went exceptionally well–the visit could not have been smoother or more convenient. Each day had unplanned “special moments.”
The day of return began in the same manner–convenient, smooth. Then came the unexpected “beyond our control.” As we approached the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, it experienced a microburst. This severe, local thunderstorm and its dangerous sheer winds forced the airport to close. All air traffic was diverted to other airports for fuel.
The thunderstorm was one of those “beyond our control” matters. With falling domino effect, it set in motion over fourteen hours of “beyond our control” matters: an unscheduled trip to Oklahoma City for fuel (with long delay); the return to Dallas/Fort Worth with a mechanical malfunction that resulted in an “interesting” landing (another long delay); hundreds of people who had missed their flights; over four hours of standing in lines to change tickets, and two hours sleep on the terminal floor.
Joyce and I had absolutely no control over any of those matters. In fact, from the moment we boarded the plane in San Francisco, all such matters were quite literally in control of us.
When such occasions occur, a person can react in numerous ways to give “beyond control” matters even greater control: be angry; be verbally abusive; feel sorry for yourself; get upset at someone (anyone handy!) for ruining a wonderful moment; be outraged at the inconvenience; allow your “self-importance” to be indignant; protest life’s unfairness as “everything” conspires against you.
If we react to “beyond our control” matters in such ways, we surrender the only things that are always in our control. What possibly always can be in our control? Attitude, perspective, awareness of recent and immediate blessings, kindness, and consideration for others.
Posted by David on May 18, 1997 under Bulletin Articles
Have you read John 3 recently? We have studied Nicodemus’ conversation with Jesus many times. Often that study examines the incident under our spiritual microscope. We focus on the new birth and the Spirit. That certainly is a basic, valid concern in understanding that scripture. But it is easy to be so focused on the subject of the conversation that we never consider the situation. It also teaches us a basic lesson.
Personally, I regard Nicodemus a man of courage. He was a member of Israel’s highest court, the Jerusalem Sanhedrin. In theory, that court was formed from the seventy best scholars in Israel. They supposedly had Israel’s best minds and best educated perspectives. Their influential rulings bound devout Jews in all nations. Nicodemus was one of these seventy men.
This court declared Jesus to be dangerously controversial. Eventually this court sought and acquired Jesus’ execution. We know of only two men on that court who looked with favor on Jesus. Nicodemus was one of them.
Perhaps Nicodemus went to Jesus at night because Nicodemus’ peers found Jesus objectionable. Perhaps he went at night because Jesus’ popularity with the masses made a meaningful, private conversation impossible during the day. Whatever the reason, he went with genuine respect and appreciation of Jesus’ deeds. “God sent you. No one can perform your miracles unless God is with him.”
Capture the scene. This learned man acknowledged that Jesus came from God. Jesus replied to him in specifics, not parables. He was capable of having a “peer” conversation with Jesus. So Jesus stressed the importance of the new birth. Nicodemus was immediately confused. Jesus marveled. In essence, Jesus’ asked, “How can you know so much and understand so little?”
I sympathize with Nicodemus. Each time I better understand scripture, I ask myself the same question. I wonder if Jesus would not ask most of us the same question.
Posted by David on May 11, 1997 under Bulletin Articles
I feel incredibly blessed. These past experiences intensify my sense of blessing: living in a third world country; visiting eastern European countries; enduring stressful times; and helping those who think they have no hope find hope. I often think that I know how to appreciate my blessings.
Then facts and situations prove that my blessings blind me. I realize this world is evil, but never do I comprehend how evil it is. The April, 1997 edition of Family News published by Focus on the Family was chilling. In 1996 an estimated 160,000 people were killed for this offense: they believed in Jesus Christ. It is estimated that more people have died this century for believing in Jesus than died in the previous nineteen centuries combined. For example, in Sudan, where people first believed in Jesus in the 6th century, women are systematically raped, executions by crucifixion occur, and women and children are sold into slavery. Some are branded or mutilated to permanently “mark” them, some are tortured, and some starved. Why? They believe in Jesus.
Believing in Jesus can cost a person his or her well being, property, or life if he or she lives under an aggressive communist regime or a fundamentalist Islamic regime. Assembling is dangerous. Communicating with foreigners is dangerous.
We Americans feel like we are such a huge part of the world. We are in fact such a small part of it. Americans are just over five percent of earth’s population. For every American there are nineteen people of other nationalities. America’s problems are very real. But our problems do not compare to the problems of the poor, the struggling, and the oppressed in the rest of the world.
Honest awareness of the plight and suffering worldwide of those who believe in Jesus should motivate us to maximize our incredible opportunities. Even if we live long lives, we still have little time to allow God to work His purposes through us.
May we allow God to remove the blindness created by our blessings. Instead of living for the convenience of the presence, may we learn to live for eternal realities.
Posted by David on May 4, 1997 under Bulletin Articles
With joy and tears, we watch as our child is baptized into Christ. He or she is so young, so trusting, so sincere. He or she has talked with us. He or she revealed such sincerity, such earnestness, such determination in those conversations. He or she was so certain that “I understand and I believe,” and so urgent, so insistent about “what I have to do.” And in ways that our newly baptized child could not understand, we look at those bright eyes and wet hair with a very strange mixture of joy and concern.
Will that exact faith at that moment of baptism be the faith that confronts the struggles of her temptations when she is 16? Will that exact faith at the moment of baptism be the faith that helps him with his difficult moral choices when he is 16? Is it the identical faith that she will take into her marriage as a bride and newly wed? Is it the identical faith that will help him be a positive, effective spiritual leader in his young family after his first child is born? Is it the same faith that challenges career and business demands in the 30s, mid-life crises in the 40s, the demands of transition in the 50s, and the challenges of aging in the 60s?
No. As the person grows, faith must grow. Faith must not merely grow in quantity. Perhaps that is impossible. Perhaps one cannot believe any “more” than does that young person when he or she with simple, whole-hearted trust is baptized into Christ. Just as a person matures, faith matures. That maturing process changes the person. That maturing process also changes faith.
The person develops as he or she transitions through the many levels of maturity. Each level retains the basic qualities of the person, but the development produces dramatic changes. His or her faith also retains its basic qualities, but its maturing also produces dramatic changes.
For three weeks on Sunday evenings we have examined the identity and nature of faith. This week come consider how your faith develops as it matures through these stages: the absorbed faith; the environmental faith; the moralistic faith; the awakened faith; and the faith of relationship. The series is “How To Grow In Faith Grow.” The lesson is, “Growth: From Having Faith to Owning Faith.”
Posted by David on April 27, 1997 under Bulletin Articles
Paul told Galatian Christians that concern for fellow believers is to be deep and genuine. When we see a spiritual family member who has been defeated by evil, our first thought is “rescue” (Galatians 6:1). The spiritual seek to restore the fallen.
The rescuer accepts two personal responsibilities in a conscientious attempt to rescue. First, he or she accepts the responsibility to act in the spirit of gentleness. Second, he or she will consider thyself {yourself} (KJV, NKJV), look at yourself (RSV, NEB, NASV), watch yourself (NIV), keep an eye on yourself (TEV), or not forget that it could happen to you (JB).
As I function in Christ’s behalf, I always keep an eye on me. The “eye” does not examine me to verify my “rightness” and his or her “wrongness.” My “eye” examines my spirit. Gentleness is a genuine, natural expression of spirituality. The spirits of censor, judgment, condemnation, criticism, or indignation are not expressions of spirituality in rescue attempts.
Even in rescuing the fallen, the spiritual are concerned about their own hearts and attitudes. Effective rescue attempts extend kindness in compassion. They do not throw rocks at the defeated.
Posted by David on April 20, 1997 under Bulletin Articles
I never have known the words that were adequate to reveal my appreciation for the Bible. It opens my window to God’s mind. The words of human language are woefully inadequate to reveal the whole of God. Yet, God’s revelation of Himself through human language exceeds our intellectual power to comprehend.
Just as Solomon realized that the universe was inadequate to contain God (1 Kings 8:27), I am in awe of the fact that human language is incapable of revealing all of God. This is the marvel: God used human language to reveal His existence, His love for us, and His will and purposes for us. He made our relationship with Him possible.
As a much younger Bible student, I thought that the essence of Bible study was discovering facts. The Bible was a factual document, and sound Bible study discovered and assimilated the facts. I felt confident–facts are simple to master.
I grew and matured. I now thought that the essence of Bible study was answering questions. The Bible answered questions. Properly focused Bible study searched for the right questions and their right answers. I felt confident–every question has a simple, obvious answer (I thought).
I grew and matured. I next thought that the essence of Bible study was solving problems. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible addressed people problems. In good Bible study, you defined the problem, understood the problem, and allowed the Bible to address the problem. I felt confident. Facts and questions are simpler than problems, but (I was certain) any problem can be understood and addressed.
I grew and matured. I began understanding that the essence of Bible study is to learn how to live. God was and is concerned about the way we use life. I began seeing that God wants us to use life in particular ways. If our personal world is tragic, unjust, filled with suffering, defined by hardship, burdened with struggle, or provided advantage and opportunity, God wants us to use life His way. Regardless of the circumstances in our personal worlds, life has the same basic objectives.
Good Bible study constantly leads the person to new levels of understanding and insight about how to live. Bible study is the endless quest of learning how to use life. Learning how to use life is not simple. In fact, it is extremely complex. It involves using your understanding each day in every situation. Constant requirements are faith and an open mind. And the more I understand, the less I know. God’s mind continually awakens me to my spiritual immaturity.
Posted by David on April 13, 1997 under Bulletin Articles
Viewing our typical spiritual concerns, someone could conclude that we serve a God who is one dimensional in His concern. Someone could conclude that He has one primary concern. That concern alone is essential. While He regards many things as important, only this concern is the consuming concern.
Intellectually, we realize that God has many concerns. Emotionally, we feel that God has a “most important” concern. Therefore we conclude that if we identify and yield to that concern, God is pleased and we are secure.
To view divine concern as one dimensional is to view relationship as one dimensional. “I will be an exceptional husband if I make a lot of money. Making money is the most important concern in a successful marriage.” “I will be an exceptional wife if I prepare good meals. Excellent home cooking is the most important concern in a successful marriage.” “I will be an exceptional friend to ‘x’ if I will spend time with him (her). Time together is the most important concern in a successful friendship.”
Intellectually, we disagree with those views. Building a successful relationship is not a “one dimension” venture. Emotionally, we may agree. We may attempt to use money, or meal presentation, or scheduled time to create a successful relationship.
Talk to a wife married to a husband who thinks money is the key to relationship. Ask about the relationship. Talk to a husband married to a wife who thinks food is the key to relationship. Ask about the relationship. Ask a friend who has a friend that thinks habitual visits are the key to relationship. Ask about the relationship.
Ask God about His relationship with His child who has determined God’s “most important” concern. No relationship, certainly not a divine-human relationship, is successful because “one essential concern” is rigorously addressed. When commitment to the “essential concern” results in blind neglect of all other relationship concerns, the consequence is perfunctory association.
Jonah was convinced that if God loved Israel that God should not be concerned about a nation that was Israel’s enemy. God should hate what Jonah hated. God should reject what Jonah rejected. God was not one dimensional in His concerns. Jonah was. Neither is God one dimensional in His concerns today. Are we?
Posted by David on April 6, 1997 under Bulletin Articles
For days, in disbelief, we have looked, listened, and read to learn more about thirty-nine people who committed suicide. They sought a rendezvous with a spacecraft that would take them to heaven’s gate. In their desire to escape the emptiness of life, they joyfully anticipated liberation from sexism, sensuality, shallow relationships, and materialism. Quite simply, they had enough of life on earth and wanted life in heaven.
The components of their hope–Jesus, a spacecraft, and a comet–seem bizarre to us. Jesus was the assurance, the space craft the means, and the comet the divine sign. Their deep faith and certain confidence was evident in the joyful relief seen in their predeath video statements. The “bottom line” of their decision was not desperation, despair, or depression. It was weariness with the shallow focus of the “American dream.” It was the desire to be free and to be at peace in heaven.
We can regard their self-induced deaths as an insult to “serious” followers of Jesus. We can be indignant, even outraged, that their focus combined Jesus, a spacecraft, and a comet in an attempt to reach heaven.
If we react on that basis, we react without reflection. We do not blink at our conviction that Elijah rode to heaven in a chariot of fire, that a star led wise men to Jesus’ birth place, that Jesus’ mutilated body came to life, and that eleven men watched him float into the sky until he was hidden by the clouds. Those who reject the Bible regard a trip to heaven in a space craft “more reasonable.”
Those who reject the Bible see our commitment to worship, to Bible study, to generosity to the church, to self-denial, to Christian values, and to Christian codes of conduct as being equally bizarre. To them, traveling to heaven in a space craft is more “believable” than trusting a man who died 2000 years ago to take us to there.
Speaking for myself, the tragedy is not seen in their faith, their longing for heaven, or their desire to escape the emptiness of the “American dream.” To me, the tragedy is this: their faith in Jesus and desire for heaven were coupled to a space craft and a comet. They did not understand that Jesus’ resurrection provides purpose for life now as we live in the emptiness of today’s world–as well as the assurance of heaven.
To me, it is not a faith that resulted in suicide that speaks. To me, it is the emptiness and shallowness of the “American dream” that speaks. To me, it is the failure to understand how Jesus addressed the emptiness of present life that speaks.
