Preferred Placement

On September 9, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 12: 10

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.

Can you imagine a pastor standing up in front of the congregation and delivering this message today? It just doesn’t sound like a modern message to me. I wonder how well it would go over. Brotherly love isn’t something we discuss frequently and I don’t think I have heard many, if any, sermons on showing preference to one another. I am not being critical. I am just saying that this might not be the way we think and dialogue these days.

You know, this really is a tough scripture when you think about it. We live in the “Me” generation and are working on getting our own needs met. Then we move into getting all of our desires met above and beyond all that we can think or ask. That’s Bible, it’s scriptural so how do we reconcile this passage with all the teaching on God wanting to bless us supernaturally?

I think the reconciliation is in our “getting”. When our eyes are on others and we are putting their needs ahead of ours then we are in the will of God. We don’t strive in order to get. That is the key. We allow God to be the giver rather that for us to labor in the getting. But this goes way, way beyond money and things. This is about humility in human relationships. 

When you are in a body of believers who all subscribe to this philosophy it really can be heaven on earth. The difficulty comes when you are constantly forced to interact with those who are not only carnally minded but self-minded. They are always seeking to fill their own desires so the human inside of us feels compelled to push back some. These self-oriented people may make you feel like they will swallow you whole. Therefore, your internal man attempts to defend itself. Don’t we wish we just didn’t have to be around them. Their dialogue is always about what they want and they really don’t care what anyone else wants. I can appreciate that if you have some of those people in your life it can be very taxing. It may be too obvious if you send them today’s Word of the Day.

Here is what we have to do. We must begin to pray for them. Notice I didn’t say about them. Praying “about” people means we are praying our agenda. Praying for them allows God to apply His will. Clearly the love of God is not perfected in any of us yet. Their self-centeredness is the revelation of their heart that they have not received the love of God. They do not yet have a inward revelation of God’s love for them personally. They may intellectually know that God loves them but the tape in their head of their unworthiness is probably playing louder. It is our unworthiness, though, that makes the love of God so profound. Once we accept our unworthiness and reconcile ourselves to that truth then we are finally free to receive the unmerited love and favor of God. Then we humbly give to others and make preference for them with honor because we know at such a personal level how Yahweh and Jesus have done the same for us. This is called “loving the unlovely” and it is really hard because your natural person resurrects its ugly self. However, the more we can receive the truth about the love the Father has for us, the more we will be able to make others needs and wants a higher priority than ours. I don’t say it is easy but if we can all make a little shift in that direction, then all will be better and easier.

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God is Good

On September 8, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 12: 2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

This is a well-known verse; we spend a great deal of time and explanation on the concepts of transformation and renewal, as well we should. I wonder, however, if we ever pause and consider the last part of the verse, “that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Pondering this latter section brings to me two ideas.

First, believers often want to know what the will of God is. Well, here is a very good clue. When considering options we can always be assured that God’s will is in that which is good and acceptable and perfect. If any of those three characteristics are present then we may well be able to recognize God’s will in a situation. Always look for that which is good if you want to find God’s will.

Secondly, so often believers and others blame God when bad events happen in the world or in their lives but you see, bad things are not God’s will. We understand that now, don’t we? His will is that which is good, acceptable and perfect. Therefore, typhoons are not His will. Cancer is not His will. Everything which is bad is outside of the will of God. 

He made a perfect garden called Eden. That we would live in a perfect garden which had spread across the entire surface of the earth was His will. Unfortunately, we let sin and corruption into the world. Now we are faced with the ravages that corruption and decay have wrought on our planet. Sin was not God’s will. Humans had and have a will of their own. And there have been consequences to our acts as there ever will be. Whatever we sow into the earth is what the earth will produce. However, you can know what God’s will is and that will always be the thing which is perfect and whole. He wants for you perfect health and wholeness in your relationships. He wants good situations and blessing in your life. He is the God of good, acceptable and perfect. Anything less just isn’t God!

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Happy Labor Day

On September 7, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Colossians 3: 23 – 24

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

Happy Labor Day as we celebrate the rewards of joyous labor! What? That is not your perception of labor? Perhaps we all need a fresh approach to labor for by it we serve our Lord. It is a worthy thing for each of us to have something to which we can set our hands. We receive all of our blessing from the Lord without earning it but He certainly does bless all that we set our hands to. “The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand” (Deuteronomy 28: 12). 

Today’s verse reminds us to do our work heartily. What does that mean? I perceive it to mean that we should give our full effort to our labor and to do it with a good attitude knowing that our service is actually unto the Lord Jesus rather than to a boss or corporation. God has given us jobs and for that I believe we should be grateful and every day we should thank Him and apply ourselves as if Jesus were our personal supervisor for in truth he is. We should celebrate with a joyous heart because no matter what our job or occupation it is a means by which we can bless others. Even if you don’t particularly like your job if you really perceived Jesus as your supervisor wouldn’t that change the way you look at your job? Even the most awful job would, perhaps, be sufferable if Jesus was in it with us. And just think, maybe God has you there for some divine, Kingdom reason.

Rejoice and be happy for we have the means by which we can invest our labor. Make every day a work unto the Lord. I think that when we see ourselves offering a gift of our effort and work to the Lord, we will find joy and meaning in even the most mundane tasks. Make this “take Jesus to work” week and enjoy fruitful labor. Be blessed!

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Help, I’m Dying

On September 4, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 6: 4, 6

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life . . . knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him.

I wish to share with you today about healing. Now I realize that the verse I chose in order to discuss health and healing looks more like a discourse on dying. Ultimately that reflects the point I wish to make though. Healing is in death. If you want to walk in all of the enormous benefits of Jesus’ triumph, including perfect health, then you must die.

Galatians 2: 20 reads, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. This is generically spoken of as dying to self. We are to crucify ourselves, our flesh or worldly selves, and take on the life of Christ, joining with him in holy union so that he lives through us and we live in and through him. Ephesians 4: 22 and 24 give us an even more clear understanding: “In reference to you former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” 

Our old self was crucified with Christ and buried with him but we tend to continue wearing grave clothes instead of donning the robes of righteousness given to us by Christ Jesus. The renewed life is in doing as Paul teaches us in these passages; take off the old self and bury the carcass. Then put on Jesus in his fullness and glory. Jesus told us that in the new age, the age in which we are living, that he would live in us, he is the glory and righteousness within us. “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14: 20). This is the great revelation and triumph of the New Covenant. The Messiah has come, Emmanuel – God with us.

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you” (Romans 8: 11). You see, it is God within us which is health and healing to our bodies. The healing power of God is alive in us right now. We just need to live to that truth instead of living in the world and its decay. We shuck off the old self, don the new life in Christ and ask Jesus to fill every cell of our bodies.

If we are inviting Jesus and the Holy Spirit to indwell us then ask them to fill you to overflowing. I am reminded of the freshmen physics course where the professor fills a beaker with rocks and asks the students if it can hold any more. When they answer in the negative he pours in small gravel bits. Oh my, now is it full, can it hold any more? “No,” they proclaim. So the professor trickles in sand. “Okay, how about now?” “Certainly not!” From below the desk top the professor produces a beaker of water and begins to add water to the first beaker.” 

So, I would ask you, “Is the beaker now full?” I suggest that it is not. If the Holy Spirit was the water we could analyze that, as with each medium, the Holy Spirit is filling the negative space or the empty space. I posit, though, that after the water is added to the beaker that there is still room for the Holy Spirit to fit in that beaker. He goes in and fills the molecules and the space between the molecules and he fills the atoms and so on down to the smallest atomic particle. That is the vision I wish to share with you for your body. As you cast off your old self and put on the new self, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you down to the smallest atomic particle. Ask him to saturate every cell of your body with his presence. 

Every day see your old self dead and buried and envision your new life in Christ filled with all that he is. Let your life in Christ permeate you. In death is resurrection. In death is life. I know it is paradoxical but you can handle the paradox because you have the mind of Christ. When you die to self you can live to Christ and when Christ is your life then all of the power of the universe is not only with you but within you. You only have to die.

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Help!

On September 3, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 28: 20

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

I have a friend who is very mannerly and unimposing, so much so in fact that she doesn’t like to impose on God. You have to admire her consideration. However, Jesus says, “Hey, I am here with you anyway.” Therefore, we can involve him in the smallest issues of life as well as in the big things.

To tell you the truth, there is no such thing as a big problem or a little problem to God. They are all the same to Him. When you consider the creation of the universe, the earth and even our own bodies with all the delicate balance throughout them all you begin to realize that even our “big” problems are miniscule to Him. He can weigh a star in His hands so balancing your checkbook is no big deal to Him. Neither is finding your car keys.

The other perspective, the one that Jesus wants us to understand, is that he is with us every minute of every day. Whatever challenge you are having, Jesus is right in the middle of it with you. Since he is there anyway, wouldn’t it just be reasonable to let him help you with it? Imagine riding in a car with some friends when the car breaks down and you need to push it off of the road. Would you say to your friends, “I don’t want to trouble you with this. I will just push this heavy load all by myself.” 

Jesus’ idea of friendship is that you and he do everything together. He is there with you all of the time and there is nothing he wouldn’t do to help you. Not only that, but also he is well equipped to assist you in all matters. That was kind of the point of his ministry, to bring humanity and deity back in union. Besides, there is an easy way and a hard way to do everything. Why not choose the easy way letting Jesus aid you in everything?

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How Do I Know You?

On September 2, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 17: 3

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

You know, when I read this recently it gave me pause. We have a lot of ideas about what eternal life means. I think, though, that some of our ideas are more cultural or religious than they are scriptural. What I mean by that is that we have created a picture of eternal life as sitting around heaven or on a cloud somewhere. Jesus comes along and disrupts our thinking. Eternal life, he tells us, is not about what we do after we leave here. Eternal life in knowing God and knowing Jesus. So, the question we must ask ourselves is, “Do we know God, do we know Jesus?”

This perspective could change our evangelical approach too. Our goal no longer would be to get someone to say “the sinners’ prayer” so that they can punch their ticket to heaven and eternal life. Now our aim must be to introduce them to the person of Jesus and to lead them into knowing both he and the father. This approach would seem to mean that leading them into a relationship with the father and son is the key step. That means that discipleship takes on a new role as well as a first prayer. We must from the beginning teach that the key to eternal life is not a one-time prayer. It is the pursuit of the father and the son. We should teach that having accepted Jesus as one’s lord is the mere beginning. A life lived with Jesus and with the Father in close communion is what the father intended when He sent Jesus to earth. This is not burdensome. This is the delight of Christianity. It is an invitation to enter into a personal relationship with the creator of all.

This is pretty serious stuff. Saying the sinners’ prayer and then sitting on a pew for the rest of one’s life is not going to gain eternal life for any of us. Knowing Yahweh, the only true God and His son Jesus is the only path to attaining eternal life. That revelation may even shake up a few of us. Whom do we know that professes their Christianity, shrouds themselves with the religious trappings but in truth knows neither the father nor son? It is time for us to shake things up and encourage people to move forward in their relationship with the trinity. Otherwise, there may be a great multitude left behind.

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Mysteries

On September 1, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Daniel 2: 28

However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.

The truth of this verse is so well demonstrated in Daniel’s life. God gave King Nebuchadnezzar dreams which revealed mysteries. Daniel was in the position to give the King the interpretation of those dreams. Some of the mystery revealed by God through Daniel and through those dreams is being further unveiled in our time.

God has stored up all knowledge and wisdom for us. What is hidden is hidden for us. It is very much like a parent putting away something precious for safekeeping so that they may give it to their child at the appropriate time. Dad has storehouses of wisdom for us. It is His delight to shower upon us all of His good gifts including His wisdom, knowledge and the great mysteries of life. We can know His mind, His will and His intentions because He is not keeping secrets from us, He has stored them for us.

If we are to succeed in this world, if we are to live our dreams then we must receive God’s thoughts. If we already had the answers, we would already be where we want to be. So, we need to humble ourselves before Him and allow Him to reveal His brilliance to us rather than to try to forge alone with only our limited knowledge to guide us. Be encouraged because He longs to reveal every mystery to us whether that is the theory of relativity or what to cook for dinner. He is ever present and desires to walk hand in hand with each of us every day. 

Have a great day in the Lord learning the mysteries of the ages.

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