Sermons

Loving Jesus

27 Feb , 2020  

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:1-11)

Misunderstanding Love

Steve was Christian and a powerful business owner. One day, while coming back from lunch, a panhandler asked him for a buck. Steve had a nudge from the Lord and so he took the man, Bill, to lunch. While Bill was eating, Steve called the office and cleared his calendar for the rest of the day. After lunch he took Bill to a spa where Bill got a bath and a shave and haircut. Next, he took him to a department store and bought him two suits, and some casual clothes, accessories and shoes. Then he rented an apartment for Bill. For two weeks he had him come into Steve’s company and work with Steve’s personnel to determine his skills and to polish his language. After that, he arranged for several interviews. Bill was hired at a living salary.

Steve went on vacation. A week or so after Steve returned, he saw Bill on the street. He greeted him in passing, but Bill ignored him. Steve stopped, turned back and caught up to him, “Bill, how are you?’ Bill just looked at Steve.

“Bill, Bill, I’m Steve. I’m the one who bought that suit. I’m the one who got you the apartment, and helped you get a job.”

Bill replied, “And what have you done for me recently?”

Sometimes, that is the way Christians treat our wonderful Savior. He has done so very much for them, but they begin to take all His bountiful gifts for granted, and then complain to Him about inconveniences in their lives.

Love From Jesus

Let’s look at Romans 5 to see what our loving Lord has done for us

  • Justified by faith – but that is not our faith, it has been the gift of God’s grace, Jesus faith impressed upon us
  • Peace with God – Jesus gives an unworldly, i.e., Heavenly peace
  • We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand – That faith comes from the unmerited favor of Jesus the Son of God, and that faith becomes resident in our hearts. Faith in God’s future grace enables us to stand in Jesus’ name against all the wiles of the devil. It also Gives us the courage to persevere through the hardest of times in this fallen world.
  • Rejoice in hope of the glory of God – It is with great joy that we anticipate our lives in Christ’s Presence with
    • Unmitigated joy
    • Peace that is eternal
    • Basking in the ever-flowing love of our Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
  • Hope that does not put us to shame – The hope that Jesus instills in our hearts has a sure and certain outcome. We, all believers, after we have served out our lives in the world have a sure and certain glorious future without an end in God’s Kingdom!
  • Christ died for the ungodly, i.e. us. We did and do not merit what Jesus has done for us.
    • Jesus gave up his throne and
    • Demeaned Himself to be squashed into a limited man, and then
    • Allowed men to torture and murder him.
    • Jesus surrendered His life to buy our lives back
  • In fact, we all are born enemies of God, BUT GOD (I love that phrase!), but God, Christ our Savior, reconciled us to God. Our warfare with God was caused by our seeking to carve out our own place. Now because of Jesus, the warfare is over. Because of Him, we have surrendered the tawdry, shaky place we carved out; and have been given a beautiful and secure place with our Father for eternity!
  • While we were still sinners, Christ died for us Our Savior did not wait until we cleaned ourselves up and became respectable. Our Father loved us and so Jesus came to us while we were still covered with the filth of sin.
  • We shall be saved by his life – Jesus allowed the Jews and Romans to murder Him, in so doing Jesus became the innocent victim, the Lamb of God. Because of his death we have life everlasting.
  • We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ – Because of all Jesus has done, we are free to take great joy in our relationship with the Father.

Proof of Jesus’ Love

Here are magnificent proofs of Jesus’ love for us. We have a majestic God Who is our Father, but He is not an absentee Father. No, no! He is a hugging-you-to-his-breast Father. He is a holding-you-in-His-lap Father. He is the Father that gets down on the floor with you and plays your games. The Father’s love is manifested in His Presence in your life.

The Apostle John recorded in the 15th, 16th and 17th Chapters of his Gospel the endearing terms Jesus expressed in describing God’s love for you.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.   (John 15:9-13)

Jesus’ Intimate Love for Us

We have seen the greatness of God’s love in the detail of what Jesus did for us. Now we will look at the intimacy of love Jesus has towards us.

Here are excerpts from John’s three chapters, 15, 16 & 17:

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.   (John 15:9)

You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.  (John 15:14-16)

… for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.   (John 16:27)

Jesus addressed His Father and ours,

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.   (John 17:15-24)

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  (John 15:9)

I shake my head in wonder at the impact of this truth. Jesus, our Lord loves us to the same degree that the Father loves Jesus. That is a love that is beyond all our understanding. We cannot conceive of that magnitude of love. Nevertheless, that is the magnitude of love that Almighty God loves us!

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.  (John 15:13)

The height of human love is the surrender of one’s life to save a friend. No greater gift can one give another. When we consider the worth of the life of the Son of God, his surrender of life for You and for me is a stupendously great gift. God prizes us so greatly that He surrendered His Son and Jesus honors us so dearly that He gave up His life for each one of us.

I have called you friends;   (John 15:15)

Jesus in love, elevates us from creatures. He elevates us from servants to friends. He treats us as equals, regardless of our humble state. We are His creations. We are like clay pots that a potter makes on a wheel. And yet the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, has elevated us to be His friends. Why? Because He loves us!

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…   (John 15:16)

We who are needy, if we were able to see the love that is in Jesus, we would frantically reach out for it. Instead, Jesus chose us before we were aware of Him, or His love. He loved us first! Our Lord cherishes us and wants us to be fruitful, knowing that for us a fruitful life is a far more fulfilling life. However, bearing fruit is not possible without the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence.

“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”   (John 17:15)

We are under assault by Satan. We are God’s magnificent creation and the enemy of our souls wants to ruin us. As soon as we accept Jesus, the Father could have taken us home to keep us safe from the depredations that the enemy brings into our lives. But the love of God has important work for us here. So, we remain under the enemy’s threat, but protected by the Love of the Father.

“And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”   (John 17:19)

Jesus loves us, but our sins separate us from God, preventing us from receiving His love; therefore, Jesus uses His sanctification to cover us. He cleanses us from sin by His blood. He gives us the Spirit of Truth to convince us of sin, so that we would be humble and open to receive the Spirit’s sanctifying work and the Love of God. 

Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word;  (John 17:20)

Behold the love of God for you! He knew 2,000 years ago that He would create you; therefore, He came to earth, chose to be crucified for you. He also called Peter, John, Paul and the others to testify to the Risen Lord in such ways that you in this day could know the One and only Savior. His love for you and me was planned well ahead of time!

“that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one”   (John 17:21)

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one in loving one another. They want their creation, mankind, to not only experience that unity of love with God, but also with one another. Jesus wants us to experience the unity of love that is in the Trinity. God’s love is a fountain that distributes bountifully to all who become lovers of God.

… loved them even as you loved me.  (John 17:23)

Can we stretch our conception around that truth? God, Almighty Father, the infinitely righteous One, not only loves us, who are insignificant, powerless, and unrighteous (His loving us at all is miraculous in itself), but the Father loves us to the enormous extent of His love for His only begotten Son.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am,   (John 17:24)

Jesus wants us to be with Him for eternity! Guests and family that we love, after a few days, we are ready to have them go home. Christ’s love is endless. He wants us, He eagerly desires us to be with Him in God’s Kingdom for eternity!

We are Invited to Love Jesus

My friends and my brothers and sisters let us love Jesus. Let us open our hearts to embrace His love for us. Let us set aside our inhibitions and tell Jesus how much we love Him. The Scriptures give a summary description of the love we should have for God:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

We are to love Him with all our being – body, soul and spirit. That requires all our conscious moments of attention on God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, expressing our love in thanksgiving and praise of His glory.

Brother Lawrence, a monk of the 17th century, chose to keep God in his consciousness all the time, every day, regardless of what he was doing. He disciplined himself and achieved living in the Presence of God. His book, Practice the Presence of God, is a Christian classic.

Receive Jesus’ Love

Oh, dear sisters and brothers, right here in this fellowship allow Jesus to come into your heart. It is not just a spiritual experience, let Jesus fill you with His love and your whole person will become enthralled with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Out of gratitude for all He has done, let your love for Jesus flow out of your heart and mouth and express how much you love him.

I will pray and those who are moved to express their love can in the pause that follows tell the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit of their love for Him.

Concluding Prayer

My loving Father, we have deep affection for You. Help us to express what we honestly feel toward You.

Jesus, we love you for your great love in sacrificing Your life that we might live with You for eternity.

Holy Spirit, You have come to dwell in our spirits. You are ripening the fruit of love in our hearts.

Pause

Gracious God lead us to spread Your love abroad, blessing all we meet. To the glory of Jesus our Savior and Lord. Amen.

, ,

Christ and Culture

Advent Study #4 – Love

22 Dec , 2019  

Scriptures of Love

 

Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: but because Jehovah loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, He is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and loving-kindness with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations   (Deuteronomy 7:6-9)

Comment

We believers have been grafted into the tree of God’s love. We are deeply privileged to have been elected to be children of God and heirs of His love.  dove-vector-clipart

 

But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered themselves together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him: Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?

And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets.   (Matthew 22:34-40)

Comment

Our Savior calls us to an extravagant outpouring of love. If we are to love God in this way, we must consider the totality of God’s love for us. Once we embrace the concept of the total love God has for us and our total love for God, we are called to embrace the concept of total love for others, emulating our loving Father, whether or not others deserve it; whether or not they respond in like love.  dove-vector-clipart

 

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.   (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Comment

When Christ dwells in our hearts, His love is in us. He then schools us by the Holy Spirit.

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you.  (John 16:13-14)

The Holy Spirit will teach us about the expanse of Christ’s love – all we can assimilate now in our materialistic framework, all that we can bear in our frail physical being.  dove-vector-clipart

 

I rejoice greatly that I have found certain of thy children walking in truth, even as we received commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, that ye should walk in it.  (2 John 1: 4-6)

Comment

His Commandments are summed up – “Love God, love others”. Augustine said, “love God and do as you please.” Out of love for God, all you do will please Him, because your love for Him does not allow you to displease Him by overt sinful acts. Thus, when a believer pleases God, it pleases the believer.  dove-vector-clipart

 

“And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. And if ye love them that love you, what thank have ye? for even sinners love those that love them. And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank have ye? for even sinners do the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much.

But love your enemies, and do them good, and lend, never despairing; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.

Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”  (Luke 6:32-36)

Comment

Love is fully exercised when we struggle to love the unlovely, the undeserving and the ungrateful; just like God loves us who are unlovely, undeserving and ungrateful.  dove-vector-clipart

 

A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.   (John 13:34-35)

Comment

To the Jews God gave Ten Commandments, whereas to believers Jesus gives just one,

“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.”  (John 15:12)

This, “as I have loved you”, is an extremely high threshold!  dove-vector-clipart

 

“And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.”  (2 John 5)

Comment

When the Holy Spirit repeats the same teaching in Scripture several times, He really wants us to learn, obey and exercise that principle – love one another!  dove-vector-clipart

 

Questions for Love

God refers to His covenant with His people as a “covenant of love”. How is this different from the New Covenant?

Answer: The covenant of love God speaks of in the Old Testament is God’s covenant or faithful promise to love the Children of Israel. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 God introduces the concept of a new covenant.

Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith Jehovah. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jehovah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.   (Read Jeremiah 31)

This is different in that God’s commandments are not external, but internalized. We obey, because we love Him. His love is not taught as an article of faith, but is experienced through the action of the Holy Spirit.

 

What happened to Israel when they broke the Old Covenant?

Answer: God punished them, often destroying the worst offenders, but God put even the faithful remnant through the chastisement.

Did God stop loving them?

Answer: No!

 

John 13:15 says that everyone will know His disciples, if we love one another. How does this work?

Answer: When Christ’s love permeates our lives, it cannot help but be noticed. Our loving words about and acts to our siblings in Christ demonstrate what is going on in our hearts.

 

In your experience, do you find it easier or harder to love non-Christians as you do other Christians?

Answer: Because there is spiritual connection it is easier to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. There is no spiritual barrier, which is formidable. Our compassion for Non-Christians is based on their great need for Christ or it is based on physical attraction. There is no spiritual component, since the unbeliever’s spirit has not been quickened by Jesus.

 

Reflection Question of Love:

Is it easy for you “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” for you?

Answer: It is beyond our capacity in this temporal and corruptible form to grasp Christ’s love. Even when we are in our imperishable bodies in the Presence of God, we will not be able to plumb the depth, nor measure the span, nor grasp the scope of God’s love.

Nevertheless, we currently have the capacity for much greater appreciation of God’s love than we experience, so our desire is to grow in that knowledge daily. Then when God calls us into His Presence, we will be joyfully surprised by the magnitude of God’s love for us!

 

, ,

Glad Tidings

New Year, New Opportunities for Love!

2 Jan , 2017  

GT—Volume 14 Issue 1
Glad Tidings 2017

Party! Party ! Party!

New Year’s Eve is the time for parties, whether we go to a large public party where one can get lost in the crowd and lose all inhibitions, or go to an intimate party with friends or family.

Seattle’s major celebration is held at the Space Needle. The city arranges for a fireworks display to be fired from the Needle. Fire bursting out all over it. Ladders of light-fire work their way up the Needle. The circular roof lends a crowning effect with colorful fountains and multicolored explosions.

We had watched the fireworks on TV a number of times, so several years ago, Ruth and I decided to see it in person. We bundled up. We arrived early and parked some distance away, to avoid the crush to escape after the show. Then we walked the long distance and picked out a site near the base of the Needle, but far enough back to see the full show. We were there long enough to get chilled and began to be anxious for the show to start so it would be over and we could get back into our car and warm up on the way home.

Seattle winters do not give us much snow. The snow we do get comes overnight and melts off (usually) during the day. Because of the Japanese Current our temperature is mild. Not too hot in the summer and not too cold in the winter. But we have a lot of rainy weather in the winter. The air at 42o makes a damp, chilling cold that seeps into your bones.

Fog Steals the Show

About 15 minutes before the fireworks were to go off, fog rolled in. Within 10 minutes the Space Needle was engulfed. We could barely discern it through the fog. At the stroke of midnight the fog lit up. The smoke of the fireworks thickened the opaqueness of the fog. We could not see the fireworks, but the fog glowed in alternate colors and pulsing glows. It was a bit of a bust.

When the fog stopped glowing we figured it was over and hustled back to our car to turn the heater on BLAST! – and then wend our way home through the traffic. We agreed through chattering teeth that the TV was a better option for future years.

Joyful New Year’s Eve

Perhaps the best New Year’s party we celebrated was ‘72/73’. We lived in Maine, so there the snow was deep and old by the end of December. January nights plumbed the depths of the teens below zero. We drove about 20 miles to a party in a community center with friends from all over southern Maine.

Ice coved branches in Holden Wednesday, Christams day. After several days of freezing rain in Maine tens of thousats of people were still out of power two days after the storm. Gabor Degre | BDN

Ice covered branches after several days of freezing rain in Maine.

The party began at 10 PM, with singing Christmas songs and a before midnight pot luck supper. Then more singing until just before midnight. And then we prayed in the New Year. We broke out in singing and dancing. The joy of the Lord filled our hearts and the love we shared was deep and rich. We prayed and sang and danced some more until after 2AM. As we were leaving, we discovered a freezing rain had come in. Everything was covered with a glaze of ice. Discretion likely would have made us wait until midday to leave, but nothing daunted, we hugged goodbye and amid prayers and blessings we all went our separate ways to skate home. We felt we were floating on angels’ wings as we negotiated the ice-slicked roads. It was a glorious celebration that is emblazoned (or should I say iced) on my memory.    dove-vector-clipart

Loving with Valor

Is discretion the better of valor? That depends upon what you are facing. Driving in heavy traffic, the answer is definitely, “yes”. When applying for a job, it depends upon the situation. But in matter of loving, valor is to be recommended.

hugging-is-healthy

Research shows a proper deep hug, where the hearts are pressing together, can benefit you in many ways.

Scientists tell us that for better general health we need many hugs each day. Most people go for days without hugs. Humans are relational. We have deep needs for the affirmations of others. Some of the best affirmations are hugs. With a hug, we communicate love.

One of the common factors in grief over the death of a parent, spouse or child is, “I didn’t say’ I love you’, before she or he died”. This teaches us that we should always express our love to those who are near and dear to us.

There are misanthropes who do not like to be made a fuss over. They just don’t love people. But they are few and far between. By far the vast majority of people miss genuine expressions of love.

Some people hold off because they are not comfortable in a personal relationship. It is likely that they, as much as anyone else, need that positive affirmation of love that such a personal connection communicates.Too often we misuse discretion and repress our inclinations to make a loving gesture or say a loving word. We fear we may be intruding on a person’s personal space. We fear that we may be misunderstood.

It is a devotion to the caring that leads to giving what they need.

Let’s make it clear. I am not talking about the erotic love which is lustful, nor about the friendly feeling toward acquaintances. I am discussing the deeper more generous love that one has for another, leading to caring deeply for their welfare. It is a devotion to the caring that leads to giving what they need.

The majority of us need someone, or perhaps several someones, who care when we are happy or sad; who are willing to go out of their way to be with us; who find time in their busy days to include a visit, a phone call or a letter.

Love is Inconvenient

Love is inconvenient. Love is demanding, but love is worth the discomfort. Our desires are often in conflict with our love. But because we love we set aside our plans and do for another.

hummingbird

“Love is a chain of love, as nature is a chain of life.” — Truman Capote

When we love, there may be a blowback. When I was in the Army at one point I was the Assistant Gunner on a 106mm Recoilless Rifle. It had an open breech, so the back blast was equal to the muzzle velocity. It could blow a wooden box set behind it to splinters. While this is an exaggeration, it illustrates the impact of love rejected.

Nevertheless, most times, when we express love, it warms our hearts, also. The more love we give the more we have to give. The more we give the better we feel. Love is often difficult to express, but when we do give love, we find out how easy and how rewarding it is to give.

When we love, there may be a blowback. When I was in the Army at one point I was the Assistant Gunner on a 106mm Recoilless Rifle. It had an open breech, so the back blast was equal to the muzzle velocity. It could blow a wooden box set behind it to splinters. While this is an exaggeration, it illustrates the impact of love rejected.    dove-vector-clipart

What About Joy?

Should we exercise discretion in our display of joy? People have differing temperaments. Some people are emotionally restrained, others wear their emotions on their sleeves. The setting overrules one’s natural proclivities. If the Seahawks had completed that shovel pass for a touchdown in the last few minutes of their second Super Bowl there is not a Seahawks’ fan in the world that would have exercised discretion; exuberance would have exploded. The stadium and homes all over would have been rocking on their foundations.

Our culture has embraced the concept that enthusiastic joy at sporting events is acceptable; whereas, public expressions of ecstatic joy are generally frowned upon. In David Wilkerson’s book, The Cross and the Switchblade, he tells of his grandfather coming to preach at his father’s church. The grandfather considered the church had grown too formal and stodgy. He had them open the windows and sing out their joy in the Lord. That was not enough. He had them march around in the church to let the neighbors and the Neighborhood hear their joy the Lord.

gt-nativity

Exuberant joy comes spontaneously when a child is born.

Exuberant joy comes spontaneously when a child is born. Everyone celebrates. Laughter and shouting are natural expressions of great Joy. The shepherds on that night were at first fearful, but with the assurance of the Angel, they began to listen to the Good News.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, watching their flock during the night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. Then the angel told them, “Stop being afraid! Listen! I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. Today your Savior, the Lord Messiah, was born in the City of David. And this will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a feeding trough.”

Suddenly, a multitude of the Heavenly Army appeared with the angel, praising God by saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to people who enjoy his favor!”

When the angels had left them and gone back to heaven, the shepherds told one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what has taken place that the Lord has told us about.” So they went quickly and found Mary and Joseph with the baby, who was lying in the feeding trough. When they saw this, they repeated what they had been told about this child. All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. However, Mary continued to treasure all these things in her heart and to ponder them. Then the shepherds returned to their flock, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.   (Luke 2:8-20)

The import of the news caused them to abandon their sheep and race to Bethlehem. There they saw a baby. Something about that baby caused them exceedingly great joy. They were so joyful that they went back laughing and singing, telling everyone the Good News that the Savior had been born.

We must remember it was night when the Angels appeared. It was even later when the shepherds went back to their flocks. In those villages, there was nothing to do but have supper and go to bed at nightfall. The only folk out at night were shepherds. I speculate that as they went through the village, the shepherds were making so much noise that people were leaning out windows and doors to discover why they were making so much commotion. Their joy spilled out all over that village.

God talks about joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy…   (1 Peter 1:8)

I’m for that! Let’s share our exuberance! Let the world know that there is joy in this life. Our society has, like the Wilkerson church, gone stodgy. The only joy we allow is in sporting events. Let’s communicate there are other reasons for outbursts of Joy.         dove-vector-clipart

Let There Be Peace On Earth

For over a century there has been nearly perpetual war waging somewhere in the world. This battered world and its people need peace. It is a precious commodity. In peace people are healthier. Economies are better off. Children grow up in security and become better adjusted adults.

Alfred Nobel, Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist., and was very interested in social and peace-related issues and held what were considered radical views in his era.

Because peace is so hard to obtain in this world Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) included a prize for peace along with those for science, medicine and literature. Global peace seems impossible to achieve, except for short periods of time in local areas.

Therefore, in this troublesome world there is another important type of peace sorely needed, which is achievable; peace at heart for individuals. When we can face the hardships and troubles that naturally occur in life with joy and love we can live in peace. Many people have found in the midst of life a place of peace. They have established an attitude that is realistic but not alarmist. They have come to a place where they have confidence in life. They go to bed in peace and wake up joyful at the prospects of a new day.

Some cynics will say they are Pollyanna’s or delusional. Either may be the case, but not necessarily. They are content with their lot in life. They are happy in their families. They are people who reach out to help others and gratefully receive help from others. Essentially, they live in a different world, because they have an entirely different outlook on the world they live in than many of their neighbors. They have experienced severe setbacks and disappointments, but they do not allow those real events to steal their peace. Their hearts are so full of positive things, there is no room for doubts, fears or worries.     dove-vector-clipart

The Fruit of the Spirit

fruit-with-tree

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.   Galatians 5:22-23

The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” and six more.

For our purposes, we will concentrate on the first three. These are characteristics that develop in the lives of Christian believers, who are living their lives in Christ.

Jesus gives believers the Holy Spirit to dwell in them. He is God’s guarantee that He will keep His promises. As one of the three Persons of the Trinity, He will guide our lives to please God, warn us when we are about to sin, and will convict us when we have sinned. The more we conform our lives to the template of Jesus’ life the better we will be able to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance. They are fruit. A tree does not have to strain to produce. Fruit are the natural outgrowth of the DNA of the tree, the nutrients available to its roots and the water the tree receives. In the same way, the Fruit of the Spirit are the natural outgrowth of a spiritually healthy Believer.

As we submit our wills to the Spirit’s work in our lives, He will transform our hearts to be more malleable to the influence of the will of God. This is reflected in the production of the Fruit. People can see how readily we follow he Spirit and conform to Christ by the Love Joy and Peace in our lives.         dove-vector-clipart

The Fruit of Love

When a people receive new life from Jesus, one of the first things most are aware of is love. There is a sharp awareness of the phenomenally great love of Jesus coursing through one’s life. As we learn more about the sacrifice Jesus willingly made to redeem us, we are filled with loving gratitude.

The love that is unbidden and fills the believer’s heart is so deep and fresh. We find we want to be in the Presence of Jesus, so we talk to Him often. As we talk, his love flows down to us engulfing us in His loving Fellowship.

Love communicates acceptance.

Amazing love for God who needs nothing and who can get nothing from us gives us life eternal, freedom from our sins and (wonders of wonders!) adopts us into His family. That is a love that communicates acceptance. It is a powerful force motivating believers to cling to Jesus.      dove-vector-clipart

The Fruit of Joy

When you are loved so extravagantly, the sense of well-being is expressed in joy.

Rejoice in the Lord always: again, I will say, Rejoice.    (Philippians 4:4)

The joy that God gives can be the multiplied exponentially. I mentioned the joy that filled us as we drove home on ice-covered streets. It was the overflow of being with Jesus and worshipping him reverently and enthusiastically.

There are many passages in Scripture that refer to the exuberant joy in worship.

And David danced before the Lord with all his might…    (2 Samuel 6:14a)

Shout into God with a voice of triumph, shout unto God with a voice of joy,   (Psalm 47:1)

…for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.”    (Ezra 3:13)

These are people who had no self-consciousness, because they were overwhelmed by God-consciousness. People who worship today have the same God-consciousness that overwhelms their inhibitions and displays exhilaration in Christ. They are showing off, but not for man, but for God.

A woman asked her priest, “Why do you shout when you praise? Do you think he is deaf? He responded, “no, and I do not think He is nervous, either.”    dove-vector-clipart

The Fruit of Peace

This Peace is not quietness or absence of conflict. It is an inner contentment of the spirit that comes from God. When we are born again, Jesus applies His blood to our sins, so that God no longer is offended by our sin, but He sees the righteousness of Christ. This transforms us from enemies of God and subject to His wrath, into sons and daughters of God who are accepted in the beloved; therefore, we have peace with God.

…an inner contentment of the spirit that comes from God.

lion-with-phrase

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. Psalm 28:7

Knowing that the Holy Spirit abides in our lives and that wherever we go we are in Christ, gives us such peace that we can go through life calmly above the strife.

For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.    (Romans 14:8)

We have assurance that we will always be loved. We have the joy of the Spirit that rings in our lives and we have the knowledge that we will live with God in blessing for eternity. Those truths, and more, make the situations of this life pale in importance. Our lives here are so short, and our love of our Lord will be so long, that the trouble of these lives cannot touch our peace.

God is our Ultimate Companion

That is the glorious truth: we are the Lord’s! That truth can take all the stress out of life. We not only have an eternally secure future in the blessings of the Almighty God, but we also have Him as our intimate companion sharing all the experiences of this life with us. We can lose everything in this life, but that is immaterial to our place with the Lord. He is the source of Love, the object of our Joy and the guarantor of our Peace. Glory to God in the highest and Peace to His people on earth!      dove-vector-clipart

Questions Demanding Answers

This is a recurring feature. I pose a question in one issue. You have the opportunity to send me answers. I publish the best ones in the next issue. Please cite Biblical authority, and keep you answer within 250 words.

QUESTION: Who were the Magi and why did they come to see the Baby Jesus?

ANSWER: Magi were a priest class of Median origin. Perhaps they came from Susa, a capital of the Parthian Empire ca.850 miles (ca. 6-weeks) east of Jerusalem.

They studied and experimented in many disciplines, philosophy, natural science, medicine. They were dream interpreters, soothsayers and diviners. They studied the celestial bodies and looked for signs that could influence human lives. They were a cross between Astronomers and Astrologers.

These Magi had studied the writings of many cultures. In Jewish writings, they discovered intimations of a great king who would rule the world. So, when a new star appeared, they sought to find what it portended. They settled on the arrival of the Jewish Messiah. Apparently, they did not have the writings of the Prophet Micah, so they went to Jerusalem to inquire where He would be born.

As for you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, even though you remain least among the clans[b] of Judah, nevertheless, the one who rules in Israel for me will emerge from you. His existence has been[c] from antiquity, even from eternity.   (Micah 5:2)

Over the centuries scholars have sought to determine what was the natural cause of the notable, long-lasting, but not permanent star. Two theories stand out, but each has its problems. One theory was that several of the planets came into conjunction, thus combining their respective lights to appear as one remarkably bright “star”. However, the time in conjunction would not be long enough for the Magi to discoverer it, do the research and then travel for a month and a half. The conjunction would break apart in a matter of days. By two weeks the planets would be so separate their lights would no longer be combined.

Another theory that has better credence is a supernova. Supernovae are exploding stars. Their light intensifies for two weeks to a month to a peak, then it diminishes for three to five months. A Nova could brighten the night as a “star” for 3 to 6 months. This would give the Magi all the time they needed to discover and travel from Susa to Bethlehem.

The problem comes in extra-Biblical history. Ancient cultures noted and recorded what the scholars interpret as supernovae. They can compare histories in concurrent cultures to date various supernovae. No record has yet been found of such a nova that lasted for 3-6 month. If it drew the Magi on such a journey it would have been a significant nova that the number of cultures extant at that time would have recorded it.

The explanation that the scholars will not accept is God. He created a phenomenon in the skies to announce the birth of the God/man, the only Son of God, whose name is “Jesus”, “Savior”.

QUESTION: If God is all knowing and God, He will do what is best. Why pray?

The Holy of Holies

Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.

My God and Father, My God and Savior, my God and empowerer; How magnificent are Your ways!

Father, before you laid the foundation of the world You chose to create man for You to love and to love You.

Jesus in the counsels of eternity You agreed to relinquish all the characteristics of Sovereignty and to become a servant, submissive to Your Father and submissive to the real needs of man. That is humility and heroics that are beyond conception.

Holy Spirit, You agreed to be the pawn in the game. You are the guarantor who has come to live in the hearts of all believers.

This Covenant of Grace is the greatest promise and bargain in History.

My part as beneficiary is zero. I am an heir who has done and can do nothing. Without earning it, You, Almighty God, bestow the cleansing of my sins, the righteousness of Christ and the Life everlasting!

I love You, Lord God. I have known Your unwavering love for me. I have lived in Your Presence. I have experienced Your unhesitating forgiveness. My heart is full of You and when I stop to consider all You have done for me, I am overwhelmed with love and gratitude for you.

I shake my head in wonder that You have done all this for me. I am worth nothing compared to You, the one true God and Only Son of God. I am flawed and broken, but You in grace and mercy reached out with Your pure hand and touch my uncleanness. You loved me when I was your enemy, when I was running the wrong way. You cared enough for me to stand in my path until I ran into You. You sent Your Holy Spirit to chase me down the years and days until He caught my unwilling heart that brought me face to face with the real Presence of Jesus.

When I am quiet before You like this, my love for You grows in my heart and flows out to You. I don’t care about the problems of life, because I am with You. The true perspective comes to the fore. It is my life in Christ that is vital. My life in the world is important, but it is transitory. It is but a sneeze, making a big noise and causing my body to convulse, but instantly over and soon forgotten.

Come, my LORD, take me to Your home and the place You have for me. I long the shed this skin of worldliness and be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, that pure, spotless and seamless garment of praise to You; worthy because Jesus generates it and the Holy Spirit makes it worthy.

All honor, glory, dominion, power and praise belong to You O, holy and majestic God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

May I join with all the Cherubim and Seraphim in crying, “Holy, holy, holy!”?

May I join with all the arch angels crying, ‘Worthy is the Lamb!’”?

May I join in with the Patriarchs and Apostles in casting all my achievements at Your feet?

         Hallelujah!                      Amen!

, , ,

Sermons

Listening to God, Acting for God

24 Jul , 2016  

 

Exodus 19:1-31:18

April 27, 2014

Moses Brings God’s Words to the Children of Israel

 You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt. You saw how I carried you on the wings of eagles and brought you to myself. Now obey me completely. Keep my covenant. If you do, then out of all of the nations you will be my special treasure. The whole earth is mine. But you will be a kingdom of priests to serve me. You will be my holy nation.’ That is what you must tell the Israelites.”

So Moses went back. He sent for the elders of the people. He explained to them everything the Lord had commanded him to say.

All of the people answered together. They said, “We will do everything the Lord has said.”

So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.  (Exodus 19:4-8)

 

And Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the ordinances: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which Jehovah hath spoken will we do.

And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the mount, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto Jehovah. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that Jehovah hath spoken will we do, and be obedient.

And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah hath made with you concerning all these words.  (Exodus 24:3-8)

 

 Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab along with all whom God had gifted with the ability to work skillfully with their hands. The men were eager to get started and engage in the work. They took from Moses all the offerings that the Israelites had brought for the work of constructing the Sanctuary. The people kept on bringing in their freewill offerings, morning after morning.

All the artisans who were at work making everything involved in constructing the Sanctuary came, one after another, to Moses, saying, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing this work that God has commanded us to do!”

So Moses sent out orders through the camp: “Men! Women! No more offerings for the building of the Sanctuary!   (Exodus 36:2-6)

Here are separate incidents where Moses brings God’s words to the Children of Israel. They hear and they vow to obey. They have Listened to God, and they swear to Act for God.

In the first incident (Exodus 19:4-8), they had seen God’s power and they swore on the basis of that. “Wow! He made the Pharaoh bow to His demands, and He destroyed the Egyptian army when they came after us. We better agree or we’re toast!”

“OK, God whatever you say, just don’t get angry with US.”

They agreed without knowing what was in store for them.

But this was lip service. They agreed with their lips, but they made no heart commitment. They did not own their vow. They heard God’s words, but did not take them to heart.

In the second instance (Exodus 24:3-8), Moses called all the people together. Then, in their hearing, Moses read all the Law required of them, including:

  1. The Ten Commandments
  2. Laws about treatment of servants—releasing a slave in the Sabbath year, slaves marrying and bearing children, how the slave can become a permanent slave, the Master marrying a slave,
  3. Laws about violence—killing another accidentally or on purpose, killing a slave, injury to a pregnant woman, an eye for and eye.
  4. Laws about responsibility—injury to another, injury caused by an ox, caused by leaving an open pit.
  5. Laws about theft and restoration—the practical penalty of a caught thief, the loss of entrusted goods, one’s fire destroys another’s property
  6. Laws about human relations—fornication, treatment of strangers, usury, speaking ill of the Deity of leaders, timely offerings of first fruits,
  7. Laws about judgments—not bearing false witness, joining a mob, returning stray animals to their owner, not discriminating for or against the poor, reject bribes, giving the land its Sabbath rest.

They have lived under YHWH’s guidance and provision for 3-5 months. This time, they clearly have the knowledge to make an informed commitment. The People of God own the Covenant and swear to obey.

This time, they have a full picture of the Covenant terms. They heard and understood God. Now the ball was in their court. They, as individuals and as a nation, had to act out what God spoke to them.

God had to deliver His Chosen people from the disaster

We all know the story. They blew hot and cold. One generation was zealous for the Law and for God. Two generations later, and several after that, they were indifferent and grew to be apostate. I have never stopped to count the number of times God had to deliver His Chosen people from the disaster they fell into through their apostasy.

What was the recurring pattern, what happened to the Children of Israel time after time? What does this say about God?

In 1 John 4:8 he says, “God is love.” Since God is love, where do we discover what that means?

God is Love, and Love is…

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

  1. love suffers long
  2. love is kind
  3. love does not envy another
  4. love does not boast
  5. love is not conceited
  6. love does not behave improperly
  7. loves does not strive for what is not its own
  8. love is not provoked
  9. love does not retaliate for evil done to it
  10. love does not rejoice in unrighteousness
  11. love rejoices in the truth
  12. love bears all things
  13. love believes all things—love hopes all things
  14. love endures all things—love never fails

Understanding what the love of God means

What is God telling us through the Beloved Apostle John?

We are God’s children and only the man who knows God hears our message; what we say means nothing to the man who is not himself a child of God. This gives us a ready means of distinguishing the true from the false.

To you whom I love I say, let us go on loving one another, for love comes from God. Every man who truly loves is God’s son and has some knowledge of him. But the man who does not love cannot know him at all, for God is love.

To us, the greatest demonstration of God’s love for us has been his sending his only Son into the world to give us life through him. We see real love, not in that fact that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to make personal atonement for our sins.  (1 John 4:6-11)

If God loved us as much as that, surely we, in our turn, should love each other!

God gave the Children of Israel His directions how they should live

God spoke to the Children of Israel, giving them his directions how they should live. God speaks to us today, giving us directions how to live.

He has spoken to us in:

  1. the words of the Disciples, who gave us the narratives of the life of Christ
  2. through the Epistles of the Apostle Paul
  3. through the Epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude
  4. most graphically through the death and Resurrection of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have listened to God speaking to us. We are listening today. We have completed and continue to complete the first half—we listen to God.

How do we act for God?

How do we complete the second half? How do we act for God?

You have heard it said many times before: we are the hands and feet and voice of our Lord God.

  • Vicki shows us how in keeping track of Mary, and encouraging her
  • Michael shows us how in volunteering to help Ruth in her home
  • Marion demonstrates how in her unstinting hospitality, week after week
  • Dan shows us how in cleaning  the church
  • Gene tells us how by his bringing appropriate little gifts to us

We all can look and point to acts of love we all make to one another. “Behold how they love one another!” is true of us.

Test of our love

What is not evident is how we act out what we have heard from God in the world. Our close Christian group is a secure microcosm under God’s love and entwined with the mutual love we all share. We reinforce one another, not only in our fellowship, but also in our relationships individually with our Loving Father.

The world at large, however, is not mutually reinforcing. There is a distinct absence of Godly love in our culture. Businesses know that the friendly, helpful approach leads to dollars, so they instruct their employees to smile. Nevertheless this is not real love.

Every day we encounter drivers who are ungracious, pushy, erratic, and offensive (it is our fervent prayer that we do not have with them close encounters of the 3rd kind).

We have had to deal with fellow employees, apparently bent on bringing us down. People, who are feeling stress, take it out on others. Bureaucrats who are serving their time for a paycheck couldn’t care less about the public’s problems or needs. The atmosphere in the world is a serious test of our love.

Live out love

To act for God is to live out love. Bless when we are cursed. When you see those without a smile, give them one of yours. Pray for them before, during and after each encounter. Leave them with a word of blessing, whether they like it or not.

To act for God in living love is to be patient and understanding, even when things are not going your way. Recognize that the person on the other end of the phone or behind the counter has not appeared the moment you encounter them. He or she has been putting up with all kinds of people before you arrived and is aware that she or he will have to after you leave. Make you encounter as pleasant as you can. In gratitude, drop a blessing into their lives.

When you cannot get through the bureaucratic labyrinth and your frustration level grows, begin praying and reacquire the peace that Jesus alone can give. Learn to respond instead of reacting. Our immediate human reaction is usually retaliatory and offensive. However, if we refer our situations and emotions to the Holy Spirit, He generates a Godly response. We thus allow our Guide and Counselor to speak love through us.

Love is an action

We have listened to the Old Testament summery of the Law many times.

Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

Perhaps more times we have heard Jesus summary of the Law.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.  (Luke 10:27)

Having listened to this, our act is to love God. Love is not just a squishy feeling in your stomach, which just might be the flu. Love is an action. You love God by:

  • Placing God first in your life—first before spouse, children, family, work recreation, and most importantly, before self
  • Being in close fellowship with His Son, your Savior
  • Speaking to Him daily
  • Studying His Word, written to you daily
  • Following His instructions
  • Being a good example of a Christ-filled life
  • Going into the world and witnessing to His love and blessings

This second half of our topic is the proof of the first. You will act for God if you have truly listened to God. We have a solid base from which to do the acts of love to those in the world, to our families and to our Lord. Go into all the world and make disciples, loving them into the Kingdom of God by presenting Christ to them through word and deed.

Prayer

Our Gracious Father, we recognize we are slow learners. You have taught us this lesson of love in Your Word and from sermons all our believing lives. We confess that even after we have heard your instruction to love, like the Children of Israel, we forget and act out our worldliness.

Thank you for being patient with us and teaching us again and again the truth that love wins. Grant us the wisdom to allow Your love to so pervade our lives that it flows out in acts of blessing and words of encouragement to those who are Yours and to those who are not yet.

Through Jesus Christ our Savior, we pray.      Amen

,

Glad Tidings

GT—Volume 13 Issue 7

9 Jul , 2016  

“I Want Patience, RIGHT NOW!”

Patient Child w Pigeons

Patience is both an aspect of love and a fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Therefore, it is a most godly virtue.

There I sat looking out of the 4th grade window. It revealed a sparkling blue May sky. It was open to allow the dulcet breeze to waft in. The weather was unusually warm and superb for the Puget Sound region. But there I was stuck in a classroom for two more weeks. I liked my teacher and learning, but I wanted to be out in the fields with Blackie. I wasn’t thinking of all the summer farm work that was ahead. I could only think of the longing to be free. I was impatient for school to be let out and I could enjoy the beautiful, warm out-of-doors. 

Had I been patient I might have thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful late May and early June weather.As it turned out that year, the day after school closed for the summer, the cold rainy Puget Sound weather set in for the rest of June. Work did not wait. Hoeing beans, gathering eggs, lopping heads off chickens and myriad farm chores buried my dreams of freedom in a cold, soggy reality.

Human nature is like that. We are pressing on into the future, too busy looking forward to smell the flowers along the way.

I suspect most people recognize the value of patience. Most people who do not have patience know they need to acquire that virtue, but they are too busy. It becomes a vicious cycle. One does not have patience, because of life’s demands. One knows life would go better it one had patience, but the business of life must not be slowed down enough to acquire it; and so life continues at an increasing pace and the longing for patience gets lost in the dust of one’s speeding into the future.

Drivers are often impatient with heavy traffic. So they change lanes to the one that seems to go faster, only to discover that the car that was behind them in the previous lane is passing them.

I have been traveling a street, and have had another driver speed by me, changing lanes furiously out of sight. A few blocks later, I have passed the furious one at a traffic light.   dove-vector-clipart

Time Waits For No Man

“Time and tide waits for no man.”  St. Marher, 1225

They say that as you grow older time speeds by at an increasing pace. The pre-teen feels it is an eternity until the day he or she has the 13th Birthday! The 18 year-old girl anxiously awaits the day when she will be 21 “forever”. It doesn’t work that way. Too soon after her 21st birthday, she longs to get back to that age. The 80 year-old looks at her husband of 58 years and wonders where nearly six decades have flown.

However, time is inflexible, but is very inclusive. Each person gets exactly the same allotment of minutes in each day. There are always, for each person, 1,440 minutes each day and 365 days each year. The question is how we use them. Profitably used, they can enhance not only one’s own life, but the lives of those connected. Used negatively, they can harm others and will eventually harm oneself. Even wasted time has personal and social consequences.

Time-management

There are always, for each person, 1,440 minutes each day and 365 days each year. The question is how we use them.

Time is a very interesting element of life. We live in an instant of time. Each moment is separate from the one just past and the one yet to come. We cannot touch either the past or the future. We can neither change the past nor the future. Our triumphs in the past gather dust and others forget them all too soon. The future may be predictable but is filled with the unpredictable. The best we can do is prepare for what we expect to come.

In my youth, I read a lot of science fiction. Many authors explored time travel. There was a common understanding that to go back in time to change (perhaps improve) some event in the past can have unexpectedly dire effects on one’s present. The hero in one book determined that atomic power was too dangerous. He used atomic power to go back in time to kill Alfred Einstein. He returned to his own present in his atomic-powered time machine. He was summarily executed for possessing atomic power.

Travel into the future has other hazards. How would someone from 200 years ago adjust to live in our modern civilization? It would be a change that might drive him out of his mind.

It is much better to be patient with the time we live in. Whatever needs improving must be done in the context of our present civilization.    dove-vector-clipart  

On Patience

From John Ploughman’s Journal, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, On Patience:

“Patience is better than wisdom: An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains. All men praise patience, but few enough practice it. It is a medicine that is good for all diseases:”

Speed Limit Whatever

My rationale was that it was fast enough to keep away from those who drove slowly and not as fast as the speedsters.

My driving habit was to drive 5-7 mph faster than the limit. My rationale was that it was fast enough to keep away from those who drove slowly and not as fast as the speedsters. It was within reason, so the police, were unlikely to notice and stop me for speeding.

I was driving at my normal speed one day, when the LORD said to me, “Scofflaw, scofflaw, scofflaw.” (the term for those who scoff at laws). He kept it up until I slowed to the speed limit. I set my cruise control and watched the other divers speed around me. Since that time, I have learned that God can still get you there on time, even when you start late.

All things come to him that waits” is an adage that teaches patience. When you are content to wait and receive in due time what you long for, it removes much of the stress out of life. Impatience leads to worry and worry leads to anxiety, which leads to heart failure. A healthy dose of patience each day can extend your life.

There is another truth: delayed gratification is an indication of maturity. Thus being able to wait patiently for what you desire or need gives you a freedom that impatient youth do not possess. Youthful eagerness to be out of school on a sunny day was foolishness. The world does not work that way. Later in life I had enough experience to know that scheduled times would come around when their time was right, and not before. Being impatient or anxious would not bring them sooner.

“An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains” Charles Spurgeon

What did the English Evangelist Charles Spurgeon mean when he said “An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains”? I have been in the situation where I was trying to accomplish something by a boring, tiresome and repetitious activity. I have said to myself, “There’s got to be a better way.” I then spent time attempting to find a “better way” only to discover the time I wasted could have been better spent patiently doing the repetitive action and finish the task. Sometimes it takes more wisdom to do it the “old fashioned way”, manually, then to try to improve by mechanism or electronics.

Rushing into things actually often delays accomplishment. Whereas, approaching a problem deliberately and with patience gives you a more complete understanding and therefore a better outcome. It is better to exercise patience than to frenetically try to think of another way.       dove-vector-clipart

The Value Of Waiting

chocolate puddingOur society has become an instant society. Instant pudding signaled the beginning. Instead of mixing ingredients, cooking them until they thickened and then decanting them into dishes to cool, cooking labs came up with thickening agents. One only has to mix the pudding powder with milk, then pour it out. As it stands, it thickens. This cuts the time significantly.

In my parent’s generation, the houses they bought were for cash. They saved for a number of years until; they had enough to buy a home. After WWII, the GI Bill and FHA were passed into law, opening up credit to millions of home buyers. My first experience with credit was Mobile Oil that issued books of punch cards that had numbers of gallons. As you turned them in you were billed for the amount.

Metal Charge Plate

First general credit purchases were with metal charge plates issued by department stores.

The first general credit purchases were with metal charge plates issued by department stores. The plate carried the purchaser’s name and address. The plate was placed in a stamper that duplicated the customer’s information in carbon copy on a charge slip.

Diner’s Club was one of the first credit cards. By 1950 Diner’s Club and Bank of America had caught on. Petroleum companies were among the first to issue credit cards.

Diner's Club Credit CardMy first cards were for gasoline. My Income was short and I built up so much debt that I could not pay the monthly balances (you could not roll balances over then). I disposed of the cards and had to write humbling letters to the three companies stating that I would be charging no more gas and be paying $10.00 a month until the balances were paid off. Only one company gave me grief.

This increasing ready cash on credit fueled instant gratification and undercut the virtue of patience. No longer was delayed gratification necessary. “Easy monthly payments” were the rule of the road. There is (in my opinion) a pernicious ad on a billboard in Seattle, “Let your home provide non stop adventures”. This really means you use your home equity loan to buy your fun now and do not worry about the reality of paying it off forever.

Thus the American culture, from individuals to the National Government, has been proclaiming the gospel of instant gratification and kicking the can of consequences down the road. “Live today, for tomorrow we die,” has become the underlying dirty secret that no one will talk about. The lack of patience to acquire what we want, will require us some day to pay the piper.

Patience is a virtue that causes us to wait for the acquisition of both needs and wants. There is a great deal of satisfaction in having finally acquired something that truly belongs to us and not the bank.   dove-vector-clipart

Patience Of Another Sort

The other side of patience is with other people. God created mankind to live in community. While there are hermits and recluses who live comfortably alone, they are the exception. Relationships all around us are from the instant “Your total is $89.25. Thank you, have a nice day,” to marriages of 60 years or longer.

God has created all people unique, both physically and attitudinal. Many are fun to associate with, some are pleasant, some are wishy-washy, and others are very hard to get along with.

It is easy to be patient with those who are fun and those who are pleasant. It takes more effort to be patient with the wishy-washy. And it takes long suffering patience to be in relationship with the acerbic personalities.

God teaches us that Love is patient.

“Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, ” 1 Corinthians 13:4 (Living Bible).

In older translations the Greek is μακροθυμέω, literally meaning “long-spirited”, thus “patient, long-suffering, forbearing”. This combined with kindness is one of the traits of love. This love is that which does not seek one’s own pleasure from another, but gives pleasure to another.

This love is that which does not seek one’s own pleasure from another, but gives pleasure to another.

Two Men with Confrontation

Not returning in kind, but absorbing the bitterness or anger with grace.

So, patience as a trait of love is to bear the acerbity of others with kindness. Not returning in kind, but absorbing the bitterness or anger with grace. A real life situation is one where a person in fury calls you foul names, but you respond by blessing them and praying for their peace. You readily confess your fault and seek their forgiveness. When you are not at fault, you do not assert your right, but patiently bear the brunt of the anger.

Patience comes as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the nine fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of patience is a variation of the same word in Greek as a trait of love. This is an indication that patience is not of human origin, but is a manifestation of God in the lives of people, whether they are believers of not. The image of God is impressed upon all mankind. Tragically for some it is so smothered that evil predominates. In contast, for most people, though they do not realize the source, God’s grace comes through all their worldliness and human desires to bless others.

Each of us have problems of personality. We tend not to see them in ourselves, but can readily see them in others. Some of us are hard to live with.

“Many people are born crying, live complaining and die dlsappointed; they chew the bitter pill, which they would not even know it was bitter if they had the sense to swallow it whole with a cup of patience.” Charles Spurgeon.

Quote Charles SpurgeonThat cup of patience can be administered by a loving friend who is willing to offer patience in exchange for ones tears, complaints and disappointments. People motivated by God can offer this ministry to the hurting world. God has called all people to be in relationship with one another. He has done that so the strong can help the weak; the loving can give to the unloved and the patient can bear with long-suffering the anger and bitterness of the hurting.     dove-vector-clipart

Patience Of A Godly Sort

John 3:16 is a verse of Scripture that most people in our culture know or at least is familiar to them. This signature verse packs a world of meaning, but it can be summed up in “God gave!”

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Romans 5:8

Another explication is in Romans 5:8. Here is the love of God made clear. Even when a person is unworthy of God’s love, even when a person is opposed to Him, God is patient with us. His love is not diminished.

 But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus Christ on Cross

In His love He made provision for each one. That provision is in the illogical, incomprehensible (but true) sacrifice of His only beloved Son to allow us to become able to be adopted into God’s family.

Far above anything we can expect, God’s patient love is present in our lives long past the time when we continue to reject Him. From the Beginning, He knew each person who would be finally open to the Holy Spirit. In His love He made provision for each one. That provision is in the illogical, incomprehensible (but true) sacrifice of His only beloved Son to allow us to become able to be adopted into God’s family.

Jesus, God’s Son in human flesh, wholly God and wholly man, became the sacrificial Lamb of God. In our culture, the concept of a blood sacrifice is strange and even repugnant. And yet, in God’s economy that is the way sin can be cleansed. An innocent victim must die and its blood applied to cover and wash away sin. This process makes the subject clean and worthy to enter into God’s family.

God is patient to await the right moment in each person’s life when that process of applying Christ’s blood to one’s life can occur. He is long-suffering with our rebellion, but he never, never, never gives up on a person. In concord with His Father’s love, Jesus went willingly to the cross and voluntarily bore each person’s sins on His infinite shoulders. When Jesus, the Christ, died, He carried our sin into the grave and left them there when He was resurrected.

He is long-suffering with our rebellion, but he never, never, NEVER gives up on a person.

Therefore, unbelievers have not only available to them for their choosing life eternal, but also the fruit of the Spirit. Love that is patient and kind is available to believers. It is our joy to offer that to the world. The people around us are in desperate need of what we have in Christ. We have the glorious responsibility to teach the wounded where to find healing. We have the high privilege of sacrificing our comfort to bring surcease into lives of the frenetic. We have the precious opportunity of sharing the inestimable and infinite love of God with unbelievers all around us.

God grant us that joy! Hallelujah   dove-vector-clipart

Questions Demanding Answers

This is a recurring feature. I pose a question in one issue. You have the opportunity to send me answers. I publish the best ones in the next issue. Please cite Biblical authority, and keep you answer within 250 words.

QUESTION: How can Jesus be both man and God at the same time?

ANSWER: The answer is simple: God ordained it. It is also infinitely complex, far beyond our understanding. God in His wisdom from before He created the world, knew that man would break fellowship with Him, sin and fall away from God. In the counsel of His wisdom and at just the right time the Son of God chose to set aside His glory and without surrendering any of His Godhead, was born fully human.

The infinite God became a finite man without diminishing Who He was as God and without being any less a man. The Son did this because He loves people so very much that He was willing to pay whatever price it took to redeem individual people.

His sacrifice of His own glory, His taking on the burden of all the sins of mankind, His willingness to subject himself to the humiliation of flogging and an horrific death, His willingness to experience His Father’s rejection of Him as sin-bearer, and finally suffer death—real cessation of life—were that price. Yes, the Son of God paid a high price for you and for me.

I cannot conceive of how God could fit into the minuscule frame of a man—physically, emotionally, mentally and into a soul. Yet it is true. This is beyond our ken, as many of the ways of God are. We look at the life of Jesus and we see simply a man was so utterly devoted to God He calls Him Father. However, that is a material perception. Yes, Jesus prayed often, perhaps continually to His Father. Still He and His father were (and are) one. God is a Trinity and inseparable.

There is another mind-boggling truth: As Jesus died on the cross, God died on the cross. He experienced real death, but God is greater than death. In so doing, God destroyed death as it encompassed the Lord Jesus Christ. He rose victorious over death as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

After His resurrection, when Jesus met with the Disciples and others, His celestial body was in material form they could handle. He could eat. Yet, the material world could not limit His body even though it was material (one of our great promises is that we, upon passing through death, the defeated enemy, will have bodies that Jesus demonstrated). Some people believe that the Son of God will always be in bodily form as He was in His resurrection appearances.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that Son of God was, is, and always will be the God/man. He identified so with His beloved creatures that He will always bear us in His image. God honors us over all creation by becoming human and bearing our image. This is a mystery that none of the angels of heaven will ever experience. Thus, mankind is truly the crown of God’s creation!

QUESTION: Who is Melchizedek and what does he have to do with Jesus?

The Holy of Holies

Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.

Holy Spirit, our God and One whom empowers, draw me into Christ. Cause me to yield to His control of my life. I need His cleansing of the sin in my life. I earnestly desire for Christ’s life to be manifested in my life. I cry with Paul, “For me to live is Christ.” I long for that to be true.

I confess the truth to You that “the world is too much with me.” Therefore, O Holy Spirit, I need You to empower my spirit to resist the inroads of sin. Help me control my eyes and my mind. Strengthen my spirit to use those sin-thoughts as promptings to praise the Lord and to immediately confess and surrender again and again until Christ is made manifest in my thoughts and imaginations of my heart.

My Jesus, my Savior, envelope me in Your robe of righteousness, that I may be a light of truth in this world. I recognize that I am not worthy, but You have chosen me. You are cleansing me. Build in my heart a sure foundation to contain your love. Make my heart a fit vessel that does not leak, but does overflow so that Your love that brims will spill over into the lives of those who You bring into my life.

Make me a light that shines as a beacon, drawing men and women to You. Make me into a window, transparent of self that reveals the character of the Savior—His love, His compassion, His patience, His grace.

Make me a light that shines as a beacon, drawing men and women to You. Make me into a window, transparent of self that reveals the character of the Savior—His love, His compassion, His patience, His grace. Use me, my Lord, to fulfill Your purposes in the lives of those You assign as my responsibility. Give me the resources to attract others to You. Give me the boldness to speak Your name, regardless of the cost. Give me the sensitivity to Your Spirit to hold my tongue and allow Your to work in their hearts to perform that glorious heart transplant—removing the stony heart and replacing it with a heart of flesh in love with You.

Father, my God, You have redeemed me from a Christ-less eternity. You sent Your son to save me from eternal destruction. I am acutely aware that before the Holy Spirit’s revelation of Jesus in a way I could not resist, I was hell-bent on the road to everlasting destruction. In Your infinite grace, You chose to adopt me into Your family. You, my loving Father, sent the Holy Spirit to draw me. You my gracious Creator, sent Your eternal Son to die for my sin, You, my empowering God, sent Your Spirit to arouse me to Who You are and alert me to the disaster my life was before You redeemed me.

All glory, majesty, dominion are Yours. All praise, honor, adoration belong to You, Almighty God.

Hallelujah to the One God in three Persons.

 Amen!

,

Glad Tidings

GT—Volume 13 Issue 2

2 Feb , 2016  

Let Us Examine What Real Love Is

Marriage proposal

Make me the happiest man on earth, and say you will marry me.

“Make me the happiest man on earth, and say you will marry me.” It sounds romantic. This or similar words often form a marriage proposal. Marriage is not in vogue as much as it was when Ruth and I married, over 50 years ago. Marriage then involved the concept of love bound in a permanent relationship. I have lamented in these pages on the awful change in wedding vows—to “so long as we both shall love.”

There is something wrong with these two quotations. Can you pick them out? They are both coming from a self-centered frame of mind. You must meet my needs or “I’m outta here!” The proposal puts the onus of the relationship on the other to do the “making happy” The “both love” vow bases the relationship upon romance and feeling. If the romance dies, POOF! goes the relationship.

The “happiest man” concept is romantic hyperbole. It is a goal that can rarely, if ever, be obtained. What does a woman have to do to make a man the happiest? In reality, it is not just being with him. It would require to continue to be the one who fulfilled his fantasies. Unhappily, because of human nature, that is a moving target. Our desires grow as we achieve the last one. Natural man is insatiable.

Let us examine what real love is:

It is the mother who has just brought her newborn home from the hospital, still exhausted from her ordeal, who gets up for a 2 AM feeding and tenderly holds her baby to her breast while she sings a lullaby.

It is the father who works two jobs to build up enough to send his child to college.

It is the sister who tells you there is a piece of spinach in your front teeth, just before your boyfriend arrives.

It is the soldier who is terribly afraid with bullets whizzing around, who goes out in the open to drag a comrade to safety.

Real love is regard for others. Sometimes it means going out of your way to do something for others. Jimmy was trying to earn money for a bike. He realized that through the winter he could shovel sidewalks and stairs for the neighbors. He spoke to all but Mrs. Jenkins. She was a widow with little money. Jimmy, without asking, included Mrs. Jenkin’s walk and stairs. He kept them clear of ice and snow all winter long.

For those I love I will sacrifice.

We know nothing of real love until we are called to sacrifice to maintain a relationship.

Sometimes real love requires a sacrifice. I was in a dead-end job. I knew I needed something to get me out. I heard about “Executive Interview Training”. As I applied, it sounded like just the right thing for me; but for me the price was out of sight. I applied to friends of mine who were not too well off, but both were employed. Without a second thought they loaned me the money. I learned much later, they had to dip into retirement funds.    dove-vector-clipart

What Went Wrong?

I was trained by my family and in school that politeness required you to place reference to yourself in second place, “Joan and I went to the store.” When my Dad heard someone say, “Me and Bill played catch,” he would ask, “Why are you calling Bill mean?”

They taught us to open doors for others. They taught us that when we went out in public we dressed in better clothes out of respect for others. They taught us not to spit or litter the public street for the same reason. Although many do not define consideration as an act of love, in fact it is love.

Heroic Generation

We had the “Heroic Generation”, those who weathered the Great Depression and then went to fight WWII. Something happened to their children. It became evident in the Korean War. Where fathers withstood German POW Camps and Japanese torture remaining faithful to America, their sons capitulated when captured. Many signed false confessions of “war crimes” perpetrated by the U.S. Government. Some actually curled up and died. Most did not struggle against their captors, as did their fathers.

As a result, the U.S. military had to institute and train troops in a “Code of Conduct”. They could no longer trust that young men came into the service with a moral foundation.

Lack of real love became evident in the 1960’s, when students no longer had respect for authority or property. They rioted on campuses across the nation. They occupied administrative offices, destroyed property and made foul, uncivilized messes.

They threw out codes of decency and participated in “free love” (a corruption of that time honored word). Their attitudes were but animal fornication.

They had no respect for themselves and no respect for others. Real love became absent. Self became all important. A sign of the times was Self Magazine. To quote the founding Editor, Phyllis Starr WilsonSelf will be a guide to the vitality we need, to do all the things we want to do.” So we had the rise of a culture of narcissism expressed in the “Me Generation”, otherwise known as “Baby Boomers”. Sex became “recreational”, i.e. no commitment and no consequences. “One night stands” replaced committed relationships. The open question of, “Do you kiss on the first date?” became,”Do you have sex on the first date?’ The answer comes back immediately, “Of course!”  dove-vector-clipart

When I was counseling couples with marital difficulties, an essential element was, “do both of them truly want to resolve their differences?” If it was only one of the partners, then it was very difficult to save the marriage. If neither wanted resolution, then any counseling, except how to divide the children, was a waste of time.

Can We Recapture Real Love?

Real Love BeginsI am realistic enough to recognize that a great majority of people are not interested in returning to real love as the standard of life. Our rate of abortions is a clear weather-vane for the climate lacking self-sacrificing love.

Nevertheless, real love exists. It has not been stamped out or bulldozed over. It exists in the same way truth exists. It is in the fabric of reality. Life is better when lived in real love and absolute truth. It may be counter-intuitive to understand that life is better if one gives love away, instead of seeking to grasp it for yourself. In this universe there is the Natural Law of Reciprocity. What we give away pays dividends in self worth and personal growth.

Back to that exhausted mother. Her sacrifice of the much-needed rest, builds in her soul the power of responsibility. Being responsible for the life of another makes her a bigger person. She grows in her soul. She is better able to see and serve the needs of others

The father, who sacrifices to send the son to college, receives the joy of seeing his son graduate and launch into a career that would have been unobtainable without the father’s sacrifice. The father and the son are both better men for that love.

Even the sister who embarrasses her sister by telling she did a poor job if brushing her teeth is better off for saving her sister of an even greater embarrassment.

Giving to others builds us up in our souls. Mother Theresa lived a life of giving to others. She has one of the greatest souls of the last century.

One person at a time exercising real love recapture its reality. It is a choice “thee or me”. That choice confronts us each day.

In the scope of things, saying, “you and me”, or “me and Bill,” is minor, but it is a significant marker of where your heart is. The respect you pay another person, whether they hear you or not, is a precious mark of real love. It reflects an attitude that places another person before you.    dove-vector-clipart

The Hallmark of Real Love

Most people have the ability to sympathize. It comes so naturally we do not give it a thought. This is the outreach of real love. Sympathy is a sense that another is in trouble. The desire to help is the outreach of real love. To actualize that urge to love, one must step into the impulse with action. If someone is crying in our presence, we must overcome our inhibitions and hold them.

Helping IllustrationReal love is other-centered. It recognizes a need in another person, unconsciously. It is a part of our better nature unless stifled. It is a tendency to offer what someone else needs. Each of us has a limited number of resources, so to share is to make some sacrifice. The costlier the sacrifice, the more there is a reluctance to dissipate our own resources. However, the greater the cost of sharing, the more love is required to offer the needed help. That self-sacrifice strengthens our desire to give and it builds up the soul.

There are numerous agencies from the Red Cross to World Vision to Feed the Children that are organized around the principle of real love. They have seen the needs of people all over the world and their love has determined to assist them in the basic necessities of life, food, sickness, water. They also open up opportunities for others to express their love by donating, providing the resources for the workers to distribute.

One cannot express generosity without real love. Real love engages the other person in seeking the best for them. Real love is evident when a friend risks a friendship with another to reveal a harmful personality trait that alienates other people from one’s friend.

Real love engages others on a personal level. It enters gently into another’ intimate zone and seeks to build another up. A business owner met a homeless man on the street. He bought him lunch and over lunch learned that he had ability, but not opportunity. He paid for a couple of weeks in a motel, bought him a complete set of clothes, including a suit and tie. He gave him a starting job in his company. The man by his ability moved up through the company into management and became an executive and contributing member of the owner’s company.

Real love is most clearly seen in the acceptance or help given to the undeserving. Because of the contrast, to the natural inclination of “birds of a feather flock together”, reaching out to one who is not “your kind” shows love.

Pat Dennis was a girl in high school. We had several classes to together. I liked Pat and we became friends. In looking back, I do not believe she had many. After high school, our lives took different paths. Much later, we met again. At that time, she had started a ministry to homeless and troubled women. Pat had two houses for getting them back on their feet. Pat gave her life to those women. She lived out the truth that real love comes at a price. Real love involves self-sacrifice.   dove-vector-clipart

The Origin Of Real Love

I have purposely not used the expression, “true love”. It has the implication of romantic love. Certainly when romantic love is real it reflects its reality in being self-sacrificing, “I will do everything in my power to make you the happiest person on earth.”

Real originates in the One and Almighty God. God is love. He loved mankind before He created us. He knows everything, so God knew that mankind, no matter how much He gave them would ignore Him and betray Him. And yet He still created us.

For us to have a relationship with the most righteous God, we have to be righteous, too. Unhappily, we could not be holy. God loved us enough to sacrifice His only Son to become the atonement for our sins.

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

The most precious thing in the world for each of us is our lives. Therefore, to lay them down to benefit another is a priceless gift. This indicates how precious is the gift of life and the sacrifice of life.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13).

The word in Greek for this love that was used here is αγαπέ (agape), which means, “a self-sacrificing love”. Scripture tells husbands to αγαπέ their wives. They love them self-sacrificially, because God give men the responsibility to nourish and cherish their wives.

Since God self-sacrificially gave His only Son to die for our sins, and since Jesus willingly and self-sacrificially went to the cross to die in our place, our response to that real, very real love should be to first, love God really with all that is within us; and finally, love others at the expense of ourselves.

God not only gave us a love gift of creation, but also the love gift of redemption. His love in these two priceless gifts is far more than anyone could expect. It would have been enough. He has not stopped giving to us out of His love. His provision of a bountiful world is a gift that keeps on giving. Every day He provides us with what we need for life and health and expansion of life.

Our first response to His love is to give all we have to Jesus in that self-sacrificing love. Essentially it mans surrendering to Him the control of our lives. We allow Him to “call the shots”, to guide us and correct us and teach us and change us.

Our second response is to offer the priceless gift to others. This real love is not a casual thing of being friendly and expressing appreciation or sympathy. Real love is proactive. It reaches out and touches lives deeply where they hurt and brings all our resources to bear on that hurt to effect a healing.

Real love for others sacrifices convenience, money, and time to build one another up; bringing us all to the unity of faith in the love of God.  dove-vector-clipart

Unity Of Faith In The Love Of God

This unity is a glorious ideal. When we have mutual love in believing fellowship we find a home wherever we are. However, this is a “unity of faith”. There are many people in our various circles of relationship who have no concept of either faith in God or of the quality of love that is found in Christ. Our relationship with them may be based on shared interests, common work, mutual friends. Perhaps we share a lot, but if we do not share the bond of God’s love, we are not truly sharing.

No Greater Love

At the cross I bow my knee where your blood was shed for me.

The real spiritual truth is that everyone without Christ is ultimately going to Hell. I know it is unpopular to say this so bluntly. I have lost readers by saying this in the past; nevertheless, as Francis Schaeffer says, “this is true truth”.

It is only in recognizing the terrible news that we can see that those friends are on a precipice. We may be the only ones who can warn them. Real love will take the risk of alienating friends, breaking fellowship with neighbors, losing contact with dear compatriots by sharing that unless they believe that Jesus is God and surrender their live to Him they are damned.

This is self-sacrificing love. Though they gain the whole world, it will be nothing, unless believers sacrifice to alert them to the danger of the road they are on. If a man sees a child, who sees no danger, but is about to be run down by a car, the world acknowledges when he hurls himself into danger to save the child. Thus believers seeing friends and acquaintances, or even strangers in danger of a Christ-less eternity are doing a priceless service to the one in such danger by sharing the bad news and the good news with them. It is not for us to judge whom to share with, but, in God’s love, hold out the truth to all by the Holy Spirit’s prompting.

Walking in the streets of downtown Seattle after I was first saved, I looked up at all the high-rise buildings. I realized that most of the people in them did not know the love of Jesus and His sacrifice for them. I wanted to rush into those buildings, go from office to office and shout the Gospel to all I met. That was not possible. Nor is it possible to speak the word of real love to everyone. But it is important, and perhaps necessary that we listen to the Holy Spirit and speak to each one He directs.

There is great mutual joy in sharing Christ. Jesus blesses the one who proclaims the truth of God’s real love, whether or not the listener receives it. But when it is received there is not only the shared love and joy of the pro-claimer and the receiver, but that joy is multiplied by the rejoicing of the angels in heaven for a sinner that has come home to Jesus. God, the Father blesses the believer who exercises real love.   dove-vector-clipart

Questions Demanding Answers

This is a recurring feature. I pose a question in one issue. You have the opportunity to send me answers. I publish the best ones in the next issue. Please cite Biblical authority, and keep you answer within 250 words.

QUESTION: What is Epiphany?

ANSWER:

Epiphany is an appearance or manifestation of God. Liturgical churches celebrate on January 6th remembering the arrival of the Magi, wise men from the east to discover the “King of the Jews.” (Matthew 2:2) They were looking for the Jewish Messiah (Christ in Greek). This was the first revelation of “Yashua (Hebrew for Jesus) to the Gentiles. — Rodney Degner, excerpted by editor

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

The reason churches still celebrate Epiphany after two millennia is that Jesus, born a Jew was worshipped by Jewish shepherds, but Herod the King of Jews wanted to kill him. Thus, the establishment Jews rejected Jesus and they eventually did kill him; whereas, the Gentile Magi honored the baby Jesus with open hearted worship, as well as, with rich gifts. Here was the beginning of God’s revelation of His truths to the Gentiles.

For two millennia before that, God (as far as Scripture reveals) spoke only to Abraham and his descendants, the progenitors of the Jews.

Except for a few proselytes, Jews held God as exclusively theirs. There are a few references in the Bible of His ministering to and through Gentiles. When Jews rejected Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel of Salvation in Christ, God sent him to broadcast His message of salvation among the Gentiles.

Therefore, Christians may appropriately celebrate the visit of the Gentile Magi to the baby Jesus, the Savior of the world.

QUESTION: Why doesn’t God give another chance to the people in Hell?

The Holy of Holies

Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.

My Father and my God, I come before You in love, because You first loved me. I bow in humility, because I am unworthy of Your love.

Lord Jesus, I am sincerely and deeply grateful that you have given me a place beside You and in my Father’s Presence. My place in Christ is secure because of what You have done for me.

Holy Spirit, Spirit of truth, teach my heart to long to minister truth and love to those who are caught up in the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil. You are the manifestation of Prevenient Grace. Prepare the way for me to witness to the glory that is in Christ. Spirit of God, open doors to the message of salvation and open hearts to embrace the loving and lovely Christ the Son of God.

Salvation is exclusively of and from Jesus the Christ. I am only Your messenger.

My God, you are my gift to share with those who need You. Give me the eye to see others’ needs and the heart to, if necessary, importune them with the message of salvation. Since I am but a messenger, teach me the ways to present the Good News so that all can hear. Give me the boldness to defy resistance and declare the truth of the universality of sin. Give me the tenderness to comfort wounded souls with the beauty of the Balm of Gilead, the love of Christ. Give me the willingness to stride confidently on thin ice proclaiming the truth, confident that if the ice breaks, You will deliver me.

You are an amazing God, Lord of the Universe. You stoop to raise up men and women filthy with sin and cleanse them in the Blood of Christ and then adopt them into your family!

 Hallelujah! For salvation! Hallelujah, for Christ’s righteousness imputed to us! Hallelujah for the privilege of proclaiming the glorious news! Amen

,

Prayers

God Makes Us Holy

9 Jan , 2015  

January 11, 2015

Let Us Hold Fast

We live in a world that is primarily secular and non-Christian. In our culture we are bombarded with messages that encourage us to engage in ungodly pursuits. Advertising not only urges us to buy excessively, but encourages us by appealing to our fleshly and sexual desires.

We are surrounded by temptations to think and speak in worldly ways. Even former profanity has become adopted in common usage. In our modern culture, to be holy before God and man is to be considered strange.

Yet that is exactly what God requires of us.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

So, as we pray this morning let us follow the guidance of Scripture

 let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: and having our body washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised: and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.” (Hebrews 10:22-25)

Please participate in this prayer

Our Father and our God, the news is filled with evidence of the fallen-ness of this world. We have this week seen the outbreak of evil. The enemy of our souls is active in our world causing terror, and bloodshed. Our Sovereign Lord, save Your People wherever they are in this world.

Pray for this Troubled World

Personal Prayer

God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Your Chosen People in Israel are threatened on every side. Deliver Your People from those who would wipe them out.

Pray for Peace in Jerusalem

Personal Prayer

Sovereign Lord, You are the God of all nations. Exert Your mighty power to redirect our leaders to godly ways and establishing of godly policies.

Pray for Our Nation and Its Leaders

Personal Prayer

 Lord God Holy Spirit, guide us into Christ’s truth. Strengthen our faith to withstand the onslaught of the world. Make us humble enough to open our hearts to embrace Your truth. Convince us of the idolatry in our hearts. Lead us to repent and return to walking with You in God’[s holy path.

Lord Jesus, you have placed Grace Fellowship Church in Maltby and on Paradise Road for a reason. Motivate us to fulfill Your purposes in this community.

Pray for Our Church

Personal Prayer

You have called us to holiness and made us into a nation or priests; therefore we come boldly before you, cleansed of our sin, made righteous in Christ. We come to intercede for those we care about.

Pray for our loved ones

Personal Prayer

Join with me now in offering the prayer that our Lord Jesus taught us, saying

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Christ and Culture

Marriage in the Culture vs. Marriage in Christ

23 Jun , 2014  

Gratia Christi, quod Sum, quod Vivo, quoque Laboro facit. 

“The grace of Christ makes what I am, what I live, what I do”

Love in the 60’s

Ruth and I began dating and because we liked one another, we became “steadies”. We fell in love in 1960, and began looking toward marriage as the consummation of our relationship. In those days, the vast majority of couples who dated seriously married. Couples just did not move in together! It meant social ostracism to do so. Pre-marital sex was rare. It was done furtively and kept a secret. We have come a long way, baby!

Love Generation

In the ‘70’s, couples began to question marriage. “It’s just a bit of paper. We love each other! We don’t need a piece of paper.” The arguments for marriage sounded pretty thin to the lusty youth of the after ‘60’s “Love Generation”, and the “Question Authority” crowd. The incidence of marriage has declined over the decades, while “living together” has skyrocketed.

It is certainly a lot easier to move out then to get a divorce. This of course has the consequence of at precipitous drop in commitment. Attendant is the increase of childless couples.

Family formation has taken a back seat to romance. As long as they both shall love, they stay together. Birth control (actually birth prevention techniques) has led to a significant reduction in the nation’s indigenous population. The self-centeredness and irresponsibility of the general population has increased. With no commitment to a marital partner and no responsibility to raise children life is pretty sweet. Right? Actually, the lack of permanent relationships creates a lonely population and some pretty depressing elder years.

Lack of Commitment

Not to forget marriage, the same lack of commitment and irresponsibility has infected marital couples and families. That lack of commitment has increased the divorce rate over the last half century from about 20% to over 50% today. Some think they are clever to change the wedding vows from “so long as we both shall live” (a lifetime commitment) to “so long as we both shall ‘LOVE’ ” (admitting that each is planning to bail out when things get tough).

Since the “honeymoon” may last a half dozen years, the family including children has likely grown from two to four or five. Divorce not only breaks the relationship between the man and the woman, but it also damages the children. They lose the important values stemming from integrity in family relationships. The breaking of the relationship erodes trust. How can one trust the faithfulness of others when someone intimately related in marriage breaks his or her vows and walks out? How can I trust myself in a relationship if I have not been able to stick it out in a previous relationship? The answer to both questions is that trust is the victim on both sides of a broken commitment.

Marriage Back in the News

Recently marriage has re-surged in popularity only because homosexuals want to cover their nakedness with the sham of marriage. They think if they codify in law the acknowledgement of their relationship, that will make them more acceptable to society. Probably that is less true than they expect. The people who accept their relationship will do so regardless of governmental sanction. The people who do not accept their relationship will not accept it regardless of governmental sanction.

This brief treatise perhaps gives an idea of the confusion and brokenness that cultural view of marriage brings. Now we turn to Christ’s view of marriage.

God’s Plan for Marriage

In the beginning God created man and woman. He did not create man and a variation of man. Throughout the animal world, the Almighty created two sexes. Both are necessary for procreation of life. That is only natural. He created the two sexes very similar, but also very different. Among mankind (which is what concerns us here), men and women are complementary. It was His plan from the beginning to bring man and woman into an exclusive life-long relationship.

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

This “one flesh” concept means that they become joined in a mutual, committed, interrelationship that is life-long. Only those who have lived in marriage under Christ for many decades can truly understand the “one flesh” concept. It is in fact the most healthy, blessed relationship among humans.

Healthy Families

Life-long commitment is the foundation of healthy families. As children are raised they begin to understand the differences and the needs of men and women by constantly living with mom and dad. They see them together working out hard times and enjoying bountiful times. The children grow up in security. They know that when mom or dad leaves she or he will always come back. The trust between the woman and man allows the failures of each to be met with understanding and forgiveness. Children see that breaches do not mean destruction of the relationship. Growing this environment, allows the children to develop a strong commitment to loyalty and honor (both sadly lacking in today’s culture).

When two people who love Jesus marry, they participate in a ceremony involving three persons. The couple makes vows in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They vow to love, honor and obey; to be faithful to one another; and to support one another in plenty and adversity. Since their vows are sanctioned by God, breaking them is an affront to God’s majesty. So when times get tough their vows before God lead each spouse to appeal to Him for the strength to honor them. When they pass through troubled waters they are stronger and even more blended into one flesh than before.

While statistics show the extremely positive results of a Christ-blessed marriage and children raised under it, they cannot come close to measuring the real bounty in the lives of each member of those families.

Christ in Marriage

If you are living together unmarried, ask Jesus into your relationship and commit to a marriage under His blessing.

If you are married but have not entered into it under Jesus’ blessing, find a believing Pastor and consecrate your selves and your marriage to Jesus and receive His blessings.

If you are married and have consecrated your selves and your marriage to Jesus, but are experiencing troubled waters, reach out for the hand of Christ and trust Him to lead you through.

If you are homosexuals and seeking acknowledgment of your relationship under the banner of marriage, recognize that God will not sanction your relationship. Turn away from your “identity” and turn to Jesus. He will transform your life and give you fulfillment in the sex He created you.

In all these cases, please pray with me this prayer:

Lord Jesus, I acknowledge you as the Lord of my life. You created me with unique characteristics. You gave me the capability to love. Let my first and foremost love be to You. Give me the will to be fully obedient to your will. Grant me the grace to fully submit to You.

As a result of my surrender to You, Give me a holy relationship with the opposite sex. Lead me into a life-long commitment to my spouse. Build into our relationship the mutual respect for the differences between man and woman. Give us hearts to submit to one another as unto the Lord. Give us love for one another that will overcome the hard times, weather the disappointments, and forgive the failures. Give us the openness to confess quickly our offenses against one another. And then as you give us stewardship over children, give is the wisdom to raise them up in the faith, nurture and strengths of Almighty God.

In Jesus’ name,  Amen.

Maranatha!                                     tb

,

Prayers

Advent: Third Sunday

30 Dec , 2013  

Advent—Love

December 22, 2013

“For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: but because Jehovah loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)

In 1917, Fredrick M. Lehman wrote,

“The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star, And reaches to the lowest hell
God’s love so sure shall still endure, All measureless and strong
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race – The saints and angels’ song.”

Because God’s love is infinite and eternal, He has given us the privilege to ask Him to bless the those things we care about. Since we have this honor and responsibility, this morning we will be praying for four things:

  • Our Nation
  • Our Church and our Pastor
  • Others in need
  • Ourselves and families

Please pray with me:
“Almighty God our Father, we love you. You have planted love in our hearts and you have nurtured it, so that love has grown in us.
Lord Jesus, there are many things we care deeply about and the love you give us expands to encompass them. Now as we pray hear our hearts and intercede for us before the Father.
Holy Spirit of truth, guide our prayers to express the desires of our Savior’s heart for saving the world.

Lord, you have blessed America far beyond the blessing of any other nation except, Israel. You built into the land vast resources and fruitfulness. You established our nation in freedom. You revealed Yourself to our forefathers and they established in this nation a godly government. Over the two centuries of America’s existence, our generosity has been unprecedented in history.
And yet in these latter days we have lost our first love. Since we are now turning our backs on You, we are in serious danger of losing Your blessing so that America ends up on the dust heap of history. Save us from our foolishness.”

Please pray for God’s intervention and His saving of America:

Prayer

“Thank you, Jesus for blessing us with Grace Fellowship Church. You love us. You called us out and brought us together in this special relationship with You and with one another. We are deeply grateful. Thank you.
We know we are not complete. We want to grow into the Body of Christ that You intend for us to become, so we are open to grow in our relationship with You and grow in numbers.
You have blessed us with an educated Pastor that loves us and is seeking to nurture us to see the purposes You have for us.
We ask that you strengthen his spirit and deepen his love for us, so he will have the resources to minister to Your glory and our benefit.”

Please pray for our church and our pastor:

Prayer

“We live in a fallen world, Father. We see that in the lives of those we care for. They struggle with their situations in the world. They struggle with afflictions in their bodies. The struggle to find employment, they struggle with finances.
Therefore, as You have laid the struggles of our loved ones on our hearts we now turn them over to You, with confidence in Your love to bring them through their struggles and into Your blessings.”

Please pray for the ones you love:

Prayer

“We need more of You Jesus. You love us and we love You. We acknowledge that too often we do not live in Your love. Manifest Your love in our lives to cure all our ills and bring us closer to You. Heal our diseases, Guide our prayers, strengthen our faith, and make us more like You, Lord.”

Please pray for yourselves:

Prayer

Join with me now in offering the prayer that our Lord Jesus taught us, saying…

The Lord’s Prayer

,