Category Archives: Uncategorized

JOINED AT THE HEART. 012315

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What happens when you are really in a bind, you don’t know what to do, and there’s actually nowhere to go?  I guess the right answer is to do what you learned in church, to do what your momma and your daddy taught you about God.  But many questions are subject to interpretation.  There are a lot of gray areas.  In the meantime there’s a lot about what you believe, and who you can trust: God, the church, people who claim to be Christians, and those who really ACT like it.  Often there is nothing you can do except to lean on God, and hope to goodness that all that stuff you said you believed is really true.

So what do you really believe?  Well, I believe in leaning on God, trusting in Him.  Like Solomon said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding . . .”  (Proverbs 3:5-6) Like the story about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, where they said, right before they were thrown into the fiery furnace, “The God we serve will deliver us, . . . but even if He doesn’t, we’re not going to bow down and worship the image you made.” (Daniel 3:1-30)  Talk about leaning on Jesus.  Whoa!  To get to that level of trust in God, you have to spend a lot of time getting connected to Him, joined at the heart, so when the time comes you’ll be ready.

Happy? 012215

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In Matthew 5:11-12, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

How is that?  Blessed often is translated “happy”.  How can you be happy when people are reviling (insulting) you and persecuting you, and saying all kinds of lies about you because you trust in Jesus?  Rejoice! Whoop It Up! Because it is sooo neat that you love God and God loves you; and it really doesn’t matter what those other people think; certainly not when you compare it to what God thinks, and how great it is to have a close personal relationship with the One True God!  Hallelu-Jah!

As for the last part of this verse, that “your reward is great in heaven”; I like that.  But I keep wondering how it could be any better than this; knowing that it’s heaven to have the Spirit of the Living God right here in our own hearts, right now. I’m rejoicing because I have a close, personal relationship with God, just like the prophets.  It’s a sign of God’s loving care and your trust in Him when you can rejoice even when you’re being persecuted.

THE MORAL(S) OF THE STORY. 012115

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Back in the 60’s, America had a real struggle.  JFK, RFK and MLK all killed. Civil Rights. The Viet Nam War. Hippies. Marches. Shootings. I was there.  I experienced it.  Multiple layers of struggle, over and over.  Married pregnant.  Dropped out of college.  Got drafted. On orders for ‘Nam.  Child with birth defect.  Shame. Anger. Fear. Pain.  But God delivered us from it all.

What is the moral of this story?  There are several morals.  One is that though we often don’t understand what is happening or why, God really is working all things together for good to those who love Him. (Romans 8:28)  Another moral is that even though we do inexplicably stupid things that get us into worlds of trouble, God uses those specific events to teach us wonderful lessons and draw us closer to Him and to each other.

And what about the moral that some of us, maybe most of us, never really trust God, and call on Him for deliverance from all our self-imposed difficulties until we have nowhere else to go; how God loves us anyway, and comforts us, and protects us, and fixes our lives for years to come, and takes care of us “exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think, by His power that is at work within us;” (Ephesians 3:20); because we finally came back home, hat in hand, and trusted Him.

BIG vs little. 012015

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I Corinthians 1:27-31: God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;  .  .  and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no human should glory in His presence.  30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31  that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”

Mostly Jesus used the blind, the lame, the demon-possessed, and the lepers to bring glory to God.  He liked to tell stories like the Pharisee and the tax-collector, both praying, The Pharisee told God what a great guy he was, while the tax collector said, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”? Jesus said, “Who do you think was approved by God?”

God loves people who are humble.  He loves them so much that He willingly puts the ‘big guys’ to shame just to lift up the humble.  Like when Jesus said, “He who lifts himself will be humbled; but he who humbles himself will be lifted up.”

And the best part for us is, “Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—”.  that is: we receive all these things through Him, by His Spirit working within us.  And God is glorified because everybody standing around watching knows for sure that we couldn’t possibly have done (or become) all those things by ourselves.  Can’t be us, must be God!

Need Help? 011915

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God likes humble.  He likes to bless people who know they’re humble.  Like it says in Luke 5:31-32, “Jesus told the Pharisees, ‘The healthy people don’t need a doctor, but the sick.  I came not to call the righteous (those who think they’re good), but to call sinners (those who know they need help) to repentance.”  The humble know they need help, so they’re receptive.  The people who think they’re righteous don’t need God.  Just like it says about “It’s harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”  Why?  ‘Cause a rich man thinks he doesn’t need God.  He doesn’t need heaven.  He’s got money.  Why does he need God?

So it sounds to me like there’s going to be a bunch of formerly poor, uneducated, ignorant, but supremely happy people in heaven praising and giving all the glory to God for His mercy and grace.  All because they were humble.  Maybe they didn’t like it much when they were on the earth, but they knew God was going to deliver them from it.  Or maybe, because they were humble, they really surrendered to God and let Him take care of them, inside and out, and He let them enjoy heaven beginning while they were still here on the earth.  That’s what humble will do for you.  If you humble yourself before God,  He will lift you up!

God Chooses the Little People.011815

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I Corinthians 1:  26 For you see from your calling, brothers and sisters, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty,  .  .  are called. 27  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;  .  .  .  ”   Do you want to hear something funny?  Until the 3rd Century, that’s sometime after 200 A.D., the Church wouldn’t even let lawyers be members.  Probably because they were scared of them.  In fact until Constantine (the Great) became Emperor, and then converted to Christianity, very few of the wealthy, educated, high-born (royalty) people were members of the church.  Mostly Christianity was a ‘Way’ of the poor, the sick, the slaves, the servants, the criminals, and don’t forget the tax-collectors.  All of the hated people, the despised people, the strangers, the foreigners, the half-breeds, the prostitutes, the bastards and the lepers, even the blind, the lame, the orphans, the widows; all those who were rejected by the in-crowd.

This verse says that God has chosen those exact people to represent Him on this earth, just on purpose to let all the rich and powerful and smart and well-educated and royal people know that they weren’t such hot stuff after all.  Just to let them know that God is God, and for all their natural advantages, God is the real Source of life and power and authority over all, and that He bestows His blessings on whoever He wants to.

Does that mean He doesn’t love the rest of us?  Oh no.  He does love us just as much.  He just wants us to understand that money and stuff (possessions, education, status, etc) are not important.  What is in your heart is what is important.  Verse 31 of this same passage says, “that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”  Don’t glory in yourself, your money or your stuff.

GOD IS GOING TO LIFT YOU UP! 011715

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“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ . . [So] Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”  James 4: 6, 10

What does it mean when it says, “Lift you up”?  I used to think it meant “Lift you up in the eyes of the world, before other people.”  Make you look good, maybe even better than other people.  I must’ve missed the whole point.  Sometime back God told me that it means “Lift you up to Me.”  Since I came to my senses, that’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted anyway; to be close to God.  To get to spend every day with God.  To get to be there when God moves; in my life and in the lives of other people; to see God touch peoples’ hearts and see them changed forever.  Wow!

So the simple version of this verse is: if I will only recognize reality;  the reality of how little I am, and how big God is; the reality of how smart God is and how stupid I am; the reality of how weak I am and how strong God is; then God will give me grace, even MORE grace than he’s already given me; and He will lift me up to Himself, starting right now; not later; not when we all get to heaven; but RIGHT NOW!

 

Undeserved Favor (Grace).011615

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James 4: 6 and 10; “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘ God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’

Somebody said that grace is “undeserved favor”.  Sometime when I was pretty young, I figured out that “undeserved favor” means this: When you’re going through your life, and you do something that is really bad, something you know you weren’t supposed to do, something your momma has lectured you about over and over, something you are really ashamed of because you knew going in that it was wrong, and that you were going to have to pay if anybody found out; and you did it anyway. (On purpose, not accidentally)  And when you got caught, you were really sorry, and you were ready to admit it, and confess it, and accept the punishment, and pay the penalty.      And even though you’re willing to pay, and prepared to pay, God says, “This is your lucky day!  You don’t have to pay.  Even though you deserve all the punishment I could give you, You Don’t Have to Pay!”

Of course I guess you can’t tell your children this, for fear they’ll run off and do a bunch of very stupid stuff, and you’ll lose all control.  Question is, “Did you ever have any real control anyway, beyond trusting God?”  And wait!  What happened to the rule that (sooner or later) we all have to take responsibility for our own actions?  We can’t run around thinking God is going to save us every time we do something stupid.  And even though God DOES forgive us for our sins, the consequences of our actions are something we have to deal with every time, because that’s the way God designed the universe, to run according to rules, just like gravity.  Well that’s not what this verse says.  It sayS if we’ll humble ourselves, God will give us MORE grace, (undeserved favor).  And throughout the Bible it says, in a hundred different ways, that if we’ll just trust Him, He’ll take care of us.  (Seems to me like through Jesus, that’s the central theme of the Bible, and it is certainly the central theme of this message.)  So even though this is against all the rules, I still believe that God is God, and He can do whatever He wants, even help us when we don’t deserve it.  The God I serve is a God who really does deliver me from evil, even when I’ve done something really stupid.  That’s grace.  I like grace.

GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.011515

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In Proverbs 3:34, Solomon says, “The Lord mocks the mockers (scorns the scornful) but gives grace to the humble.”  Quoting that verse, James says in his letter, Chapter 4: verse 6; “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’   Quoting that same verse in Proverbs, Peter says in his First letter, Chapter 5: 5-6:  “God resists the proud,   .   .   . But gives more grace to the humble, .  .  .”  Three verses saying the same thing.  God must like people who are humble.

So what’s so great about humility?  If you’re humble then God gives you grace. What is grace again?  It is unmerited favor.  ‘Favor’ means that God (or whoever is giving the favor) is being nice to you.  ‘Unmerited’ means you didn’t do anything to get it.  James and Peter’s versions say, “[God] gives MORE grace to the humble.”  The only thing I can think of that I need besides grace, is MORE GRACE.

Pride is the flip-side of this coin, that “God resists the proud, mocks the mockers, scorns the scornful.”  For me that means I should avoid pride like the plague.  Even as a common expression,  I’m not proud to be an American.  I’m happy and thankful and humbled that God allowed me to be born here and get to live here.

I’d say humility is high on God’s list of positive attributes for us, and it should be equally high on ours.  We should follow Romans 12:3, “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,  .  .  .  (and verse 16) Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble;”  and in James 2, where it talks about not being partial to rich people over the poor.

So, since God is looking at our hearts, please remember to be humble. It’ll show.

 

Would You be My Disciple? 011415

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In Luke 9:23, Jesus says, “If anyone would be My disciple, let him 1] deny himself, and 2] take up his cross 3] daily, and 4] follow me.”

What does that mean?  Some say it means that each person has a special personal burden to bear in his life as he follows Jesus.  I’m satisfied that it means something qualitatively different from that.  What happened to Jesus when He ‘took up His cross’? He died.  In this verse Jesus calls us, you and me, to die to our sinful selves, daily, and follow Him.  That’s what ‘take up your cross’ means.  Are you ready?

In Galatians 2:20, Paul says: “I have been crucified with Christ; 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 [trust] of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”   What does this verse have to do with being humble?  Well, how much more humble can you get than being crucified?   This verse is all about surrendering, humbling your self, and letting Jesus live His life in you; so that His faith [trust], His love, and His humility come to dwell in you.

It’s like in Philippians 2:5-8, where Paul says, “Let this mind [this attitude] be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being found as a man, .  .  .  humbled Himself and became a servant [slave], .  .  .  and was obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”  The whole passage starts out with, “Let this mind [this attitude] be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”  What attitude? Humility, servanthood, obedience, self-denial; willingness to die to our sinful nature, daily (over and over), and follow our Lord.