Posted by David on January 29, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
The other day I was throwing away an empty toothpaste tube. I had squeezed and squeezed the tube until it was impossible for me to get any more toothpaste out of it. Finally, no decision was left-throw the tube away, get another tube, and start over. After all, what is more useless than a crumpled, empty toothpaste tube that yields no more toothpaste?
I have gone through too many tubes of toothpaste to remember or count. I do not ever recall thinking about an empty tube of toothpaste before (I will confess I think some weird thoughts these days). However, some strange realizations immediately came to me when I threw that empty tube away: (1) The moment I take the cap off a new tube, I know in a little while all that will remain is an empty tube. (2) Toothpaste tubes have one function-to hold toothpaste. (I have never regretted throwing away an empty toothpaste tube by wondering if it could be used for something else.) (3) I best not waste the toothpaste inside because the time will come when there is no more. (4) Do not assume there always will be another tube, for there are places with no toothpaste and no access to toothpaste. Do not think you always will have toothpaste available or affordable.
(1) Physical life ends. Eat as we wish, exercise as we wish, follow all the healthy practices we can, and still our physical life ends. If you live long enough, the time will come when you cannot do what you easily did in the past. (2) Physical life has a primary purpose. Having fun is not it. Do we know the purpose of life? (3) It is our option to waste life. Life will be used as we choose. However, there will come a moment when no more is left to use, and we cannot recover what we have wasted. (4) It is easy to assume when we are young that we have an endless supply of physical life. It is easy to take physical life for granted. However, the moment will come when we know only “a few squeezes” remain. When physical life is gone, it is gone.
Cavity prevention is a wonderful thing. However, wasted toothpaste prevents nothing and serves no purpose.
Preventing evil in my life is a wonderful thing (to be appreciated but not to encourage arrogance). However, wasted life (selfish pursuits) prevents nothing and serves no purpose. It is devastating when we approach our last “squeeze” of physical life to realize we have wasted life, and to know there is no “do over” function.
Jesus once said (in a contrast to those who selfishly exploit others), “. . . I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Posted by David on January 15, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
Foundations are essential. Their importance cannot be exaggerated. They do more than determine the shape of the building. They determine the strength of the building. When the building is under stress, its foundation must be firm.
The longest sermon of Jesus is in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. It contrasts the Pharisees’ sayings (the popular Jewish conservatives) with Jesus’ insights (which are God’s insights). Jesus ended his sermon by declaring that people who heard and did what he shared were like a house with a solid foundation. The house was solid because its foundation was solid. The solid foundation rested on a rock. Because of the solid foundation, the house endured extraordinary stress. People endure extraordinary stress when their lives are founded on Jesus’ solid sayings. The difference between enduring and falling in periods of stress is our foundation.
The “rock” on which we can build our solid foundation in order to endure stress is this: faith in God’s accomplishments for us in Jesus Christ. Faith makes any act of obedience meaningful and effective. It is much more than trust in the act. The act can be baptism, benevolence, communion, or any other commanded act. Much more is involved than correct compliance with a commanded act.
What else is involved? Confidence in God’s accomplishments in Jesus Christ! Faithless obedience is powerless. Obedience founded on faith in Jesus Christ is powerful. Because of faith in Jesus, baptism removes sins. Because of faith in Jesus, a gesture of kindness becomes an act God remembers-eternally. Because of faith in Jesus, communion is an act of appreciation that goes far beyond bread and grape juice. Because of faith in Jesus, any obedient act becomes a “thank you” spoken in God’s ear. Because of faith in Jesus, obedient acts declare appreciation to the God of love.
Without faith in what God did and does in Jesus, obedient acts become attempts to manipulate God by seeking to put God in our debt. Humans must obey because we believe. Only because we believe do our acts of obedience become declarations of loving appreciation to the God who does so much for us in Jesus Christ.
When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Acts 14:27
Posted by David on January 8, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
God’s investment in people who see and respond to what He did in Jesus Christ exceeds comprehension! No matter how deeply we love our spouses, our children, our country, or our fondest relationships, we will never, never approach God’s selfless investment in us. We cannot fathom the depth of love God has for people!
The question: If we know God has this enormous love for us, how do we demonstrate our appreciation for His incredible love expressed by giving us Jesus Christ? Answer: we willingly are transformed.
How? We see what we were in sin. We see what we can be in Christ. We commit to being the person we can be in Christ. We adopt and imitate God’s values.
If we are deceived, we speak truth because we value people. We refuse to be ruled by anger. Instead of exploiting others by stealing, we help those in need. Our words encourage instead of discourage. We do not resist God’s influence in our lives. Instead of being ruled by the negative emotions of ill will, we are kind. God’s kindness shown in His tenderness and forgiveness in Jesus is our supreme example. As those who benefit from being in Christ, we are committed to “godlikeness” in character and integrity. That is not what we have to be; it is what we want to be!
Those who grasp God’s love in Jesus respond to God’s love in Jesus by committing to transformation. By being transformed we encourage others to be transformed.
Romans 12:1,2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Posted by David on January 1, 2009 under Bulletin Articles
What God did for us in Jesus’ death and resurrection defies our imagination! By making His son the Christ and enthroning him at His right hand, God secured the salvation of every person in Christ. God declared to Abraham what He would do through Abraham’s descendants, and He did it! We are saved because God sent Jesus to be the Christ.
God did for us what we could never do for ourselves! He provided us a salvation that is founded on Who He is, not what we are. He is absolutely just and righteous; we are sinners. All humans need God’s solution because all humans are sinners!
God founded our salvation on His character, not on our failure. He gave us Jesus the promised Messiah. He gave us Jesus’ atoning blood. The righteous God sacrificed His son that we might be saved from our sins.
In the one act of Jesus’ death God provided us salvation and proved He was just. For a human to accept this God-given salvation does not begin with some colossal acts to prove the person’s worthiness. There are no initiation rites! Salvation begins with confidence in what God did in Jesus. We trust the fact that God loves us enough to give us redemption and grace in Jesus Christ. We trust that God justifies the individual in Jesus Christ.
It is confidence in what God did in Jesus’ death that moves us to repent. It is trusting the gift of Jesus’ blood that produces our baptism. We understand that in Jesus’ crucifixion, God accepts Jesus’ innocence for our guiltiness as sinners. We are saved through Jesus’ atoning blood. We anticipate resurrection because Jesus was resurrected.
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and 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. 1 Peter 2:21-24
“Thank You, God, for all You did and continue to do for us in Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ exists to be our Lord and to defeat Your enemies. We exist to serve You. Lead us! Help us be Your people as we serve Your purposes and live by Your values.”
Posted by David on December 18, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
We need forgiveness! This forgiveness must not be a “one time” event but a continuing state. Stated simply, we cannot “be good” in the sense that God is good. We “goofed”! We repeatedly “goofed”! If God wiped our slates clean but once, we would sin again. None of us are even aware of all our sins! We sin “ignorantly” constantly!
Long ago it was commonly believed that God forgave once-at baptism. Once God forgave, He forgave no more. There arose the practices of (1) guessing when you would die and (2) postponing baptism until anticipated “death time.” Why? So the person might receive God’s forgiveness when he had little time to sin and did not wish to sin. The problems: (1) People delayed baptism too long by dying sooner than expected, (2) God was completely misunderstood, and (3) Sin was completely misunderstood. The result: people lived and died in anxiety, not the peace Jesus came to bring.
Obedience does not earn salvation. It says, “Thank you!” to God for what He did for us in Jesus Christ. No human act places God in debt. We cannot earn anything. We serve God wholeheartedly because we deeply appreciate what God did for all in Christ through Jesus’ death. The more we see our need for forgiveness, the more appreciative we are of God’s gift. The more we fail to see our sinfulness, the more arrogant we become.
We needed an enduring solution that worked. In Christ we find God’s enduring solution that works-regardless of who we are, what we did, and how much we need to grow.
Posted by David on December 11, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
Paul, in documenting the global need for God’s help, gave a composite view from written scripture (only what we call the Old Testament was in writing then) to declare “everyone needs God’s help.” In that way, some people then were like some people today. These people were certain they (1) understood God, (2) understood God’s teachings, (3) did nothing wrong, and (4) were primarily to teach-they did not need to know anything else. They had the “let me tell you what you need to do” mentality. They saw themselves as God’s “finished product,” God’s righteous people. They were certain they were spiritually okay. Their deeds made them okay! What they perceived as obedient acts was the foundation of their confidence, not their faith in God and what He did in Jesus.
In Paul’s composite statement of our problem, he used thoughts from Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; 5:9; 140:3; 10:7; 36:1; and Isaiah 59:7-8. Basically, scripture says, “People are evil. None of them are righteous!” What we want to do is to scream, “I am not evil! I do nothing wrong! Look at my acts, and it is obvious I am righteous!”
First, consider a statement made by this same Paul. It is found in 1 Corinthians 4:1-4 with emphasis on verse 4. Basically, Paul said, “I am God’s servant. What I do in God’s service is not made better or worse by your opinion of me. Even if I know nothing bad about me, that does not make me good. The only person whose opinion counts is the Lord.”
Second, have you considered all the EVIL God sees daily-all the hate, murders, acts of lust, adulteries, fornications, stealing, greed, injustices, exploitations, and indifference/unconcern He sees? Add to that He knows all the contributing motivations to every evil act. Do each of us realize that something we said, did, or shared contributed to another person’s evil in some way (even when we did our best)? That says nothing of the evil we commit without even being aware of the evil. That gives rise to an incredible question: “How can a God in whom there is not even the slightest speck of evil stand to look at a humanity that does not even know what complete purity looks like?”
There is no person, male or female, who is not in desperate need of God’s help. Not one human can stand on the foundation of his (her) acts or motives. None of us of ourselves are righteous! Every one of us would wither in the presence of God’s total righteousness. All of us can only plead for God’s help. We are a mess, and we need to know it! The failure to realize our personal “mess” is the height of arrogance before God! Without God’s intervention we are helpless. We are not the answer! God is!
Posted by David on December 4, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
The challenge can be stated simply: The challenge is to see this world and human life as God sees it. That challenge is easily stated, but done with extreme difficulty. Perhaps in that can be seen the enormous difference between Jesus and us-he could see life and this world as God sees it. Nothing changes a person’s life as profoundly as being able to look at the world and physical, human life as God does.
When I see my enemy as God sees my enemy, that changes the way I look at my enemies. When I see physical possessions as God sees the physical, that changes my motivation for work. When I see my spouse and children as God sees them, that changes the way I treat them. When I see friends as God sees them, it changes the way I treat friends. In fact, seeing the world and life as God sees them changes the way I look at people-in every relationship. The number one person I will look at differently if I see as God sees is … ME.
Why will I see ME differently? I discover in increasingly profound ways God’s purposes. My society (since childhood) taught me how to look at myself, at needs, at wants, at the future, at plans, and at my purposes. God teaches me something different.
The more I trust God (the more faith I place in God), the more I see and grasp His purposes. The more I see and grasp His purposes, the more I redefine my purpose. The more I redefine my purpose through God’s objectives, the more I understand that God’s objectives are permanent and my self-centered purposes are temporary. Physical death ends my self-centered purposes. Physical death has no impact on God’s purposes.
I am faced with an immediate but continuing decision: “Will I allow God’s permanent purposes to replace my temporary, self-centered purposes? Or, will I resist God’s purposes?” When I discover and accept God’s purposes, I really can live for something bigger than me. I can live for something more permanent than physical existence. I actually can live for something bigger than death-even when self-centered, physical existence of itself can never be bigger than death.
However, this can only be if I look through God’s eyes. Only by looking through God’s eyes can I see the power of resurrection. Through whose eyes do you see?
Posted by David on November 20, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
There is much we cannot picture. God cannot be pictured! The Bible says He is a definite being, but not like us. He is not physical. He is without physical limitations-cannot die (is eternal), does not age, is not subject to time, is sexless, is more intelligent than the most intelligent human, is more powerful than anything humans will ever invent using His resources, and knows and understands more than humans can know or understand. We were made in His image, not He in ours.
Yet, we usually think of God in terms of a glorified human. After all, the physical is what we know. Though Genesis 1 in brief terms introduces us to Him as the Creator, we are more likely to think of God in terms of what He made instead of what He is.
He examined all He created, and was pleased. His conclusion: it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). If it was “very good” to God, it would be beyond comprehension to us. There are several things I truly doubt any of us can imagine-“very good,” free from sin, ideal in the sense God would consider ideal, without flaw, cannot be improved, etc.
That is beyond my imagination! I cannot picture anything God would call good. I cannot think in terms of what God would consider ideal. I cannot even think in terms of a state of sinlessness. Can you imagine no evil anywhere in anything?
What do you think of when you think of restoration? A building? Think bigger! A name? Think bigger! Forms? Think bigger! Methods? Think bigger! Rules and regulations? Think bigger! Relationships? Think bigger!
The ultimate restoration is not about us! It is about God! God’s objective in our salvation is about more than forgiveness or human affairs. It is about restoring God to His rightful place over creation that existed when creation occurred. Christ came. Christ reigns right now. Christ will continue to reign until he defeats all that opposes God. The last thing Christ will defeat will be death. Then Christ will subject himself to God, and the ultimate restoration will occur. Just as in the creation event, God again will be the “all in all.” All rebellion will be defeated as God rules all He made.
The only question: are you to be defeated as God’s opponent, or do you exist and use your life to help restore God to His rightful place?
Posted by David on October 30, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
It seemed an impossible problem. Humanly, it was! It was only in Jesus’ cross that God solved what people could not.
For hundreds of years there was a significant division between the descendants of Abraham through Isaac (Israel, the Jewish people) and the gentiles (all peoples or nations not Israelite). God created a special relationship with Abraham’s descendants through Isaac. His intent: nurturing these people away from idolatry (the Egyptian experience) so they could lead idolatrous people to the living God (see Isaiah 49:6).
Oh, we humans! Israel never realized nor accepted her God-given mission! Instead, those people thought all God wanted was them. Thus, the people God designed to reach out to other nations decided God did not like other people. The more exclusive they became, the more they rejected other people. Others resented being rejected!
Thus the gap grew into a chasm that was so broad, deep, and dangerous that no human could bridge it. Then God built a wide, sturdy bridge across that chasm, adequate for every age. With that bridge (the cross of Christ) the chasm was tamed, the division ended, the barrier was broken, the dividing wall came tumbling down, and the peace produced by reconciliation became reality. Israelites could be in Jesus Christ, gentiles could be in Jesus Christ, and God’s purposes could be accomplished.
There was a time when I naively thought I could help our “gap.” Call our “gap” generational, sociological, theological, economic, cultural, or anything you wish, but obviously we again created the “gap.” Regardless of your “camp,” we all conclude “I am better than you-besides that, I am correct!” The end result is that we close God’s bridge, ignore His purpose, and attack those in Christ who disagree with “me.”
God challenges all of us: “See what I did in Jesus’ cross, understand My purpose, and pursue My purpose instead of changing it by substituting your anxiety.” Keep God’s bridge open! Take self out of God’s equation. What matters is being in Jesus Christ, not agreeing with what “I” champion. May Jesus Christ forever be bigger than any of us! May each person in Jesus Christ always know that! More than merely knowing it, may we show it! May “I” always help “you” come closer to God!
Posted by David on October 23, 2008 under Bulletin Articles
Matthew 12:7 – But if you had known what this means, ?I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
The first quote is from Hosea. The second is from Jesus referring to Hosea 6:6 in a discussion with some Pharisees about what they perceived to be a Sabbath violation.
I have been preaching, teaching, and offering guidance for over 50 years in several states and on more than one continent. I have seen righteousness from godly people who astounded many. I have also seen acts of ungodliness committed by people who were supposed to walk in God’s ways. Concern for God’s influence often was behind righteous acts. Self-justification and anxiety were often behind the other acts.
I have seen the generosity of the poor, and the sacrificial but quiet deeds of the well-to-do. I have witnessed astounding unselfishness. I have seen a congregation provide a car to a missionary with this rationale: “If this congregation can borrow for a building, it can borrow for a car.” I have witnessed acts of kindness and thoughtfulness that defied imagination. I have seen outpourings of concern to meet “unmeetable” needs.
I also have seen a couple move into a community and place membership in a congregation. Later, they declared their purpose for coming was to infiltrate the congregation and divide it. I have seen men in a business meeting double up their fists to exchange blows because they disagreed. I have seen a set of tires deliberately ruined by roofing nails because one Christian dared defy another Christian’s views. I have seen division intentionally created by gossip, rumors, and anonymous letters.
In the things I witnessed I have learned much. One is this: Most of us American Christians are slow learners. We can be adamant in our views to the point that we close our ears and listen only to self. “Agree with me and you are wonderful; disagree with me and you are terrible.”
Jesus’ use of Hosea 6:6 as a critical insight into God fascinates me. “Jesus, why quote Hosea? Why not some ?profound’ book like Genesis, or Exodus, or Deuteronomy, or the Psalms, or Isaiah, or Daniel? Why, of all things, quote Hosea in something so important?”
Why? Simple! Hosea provided those Pharisees an insight into God that they desperately needed! Hosea said what those Pharisees needed to hear!
We have to learn from the mistakes of others to see ourselves! Why? We never make mistakes! There is always a “good reason” for doing what we do, or perhaps a “good justification.” So, show me to myself by your flaws-then maybe I will learn. Too often, my best view of me comes when you stumble. Hopefully, that is when I learn the importance of compassion. How can an uncompassionate human stand before a compassionate God? None of us dare find out by a judgment experience!
