September 23, 2015

¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.  John 13:13 ESV

To have a master and to be mastered is not the same thing. To have a master means that there is one who knows me better than I know myself, one who is closer than a friend, one who fathoms the remotest abyss of my heart and satisfies it, one who has brought me into the secure sense that he has met and solved every perplexity and problem of my mind. To have a master is this and nothing less — “One is your Master, even Christ.”

Our Lord never enforces obedience; He does not take means to make me do what He wants. At certain times I wish God would master me and make me do the thing, but He will not; in other moods I wish He would leave me alone, but He does not.

“Ye call me Master and Lord” — but is He? Master and Lord have little place in our vocabulary, we prefer the words Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer. The only word to describe mastership in experience is love, and we know very little about love as God reveals it. This is proved by the way we use the word obey. In the Bible obedience is based on the relationship of equals, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not God’s servant, He was His Son. “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience….” If our idea is that we are being mastered, it is a proof that we have no master; if that is our attitude to Jesus, we are far away from the relationship He wants. He wants us in the relationship in which He is easily Master without our conscious knowledge of it, all we know is that we are His to obey.

Utmost- Chambers

As I was mulling over today's entry from Chambers, I was impressed with the thought of just how much restraint and forbearance God demonstrates to humanity.  Chambers writes, "He does not take means to make me do what He wants."  The level of restraint God exhibits is incredible. God allowed Hitler. God allowed the Inquisition. God allowed ISIS  God does not enforce obedience.  He allows evil, both large and small.

How great must be His wisdom, how unlimited his restraint, how unfathomable His plan to allow the Stalins and Pol Pots of the world.

It Ain't Rocket Science September 16, 2015

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.  James 3:13 ESV

The Trinity.  Six-days of creation.  Predestination.  There have been countless book written, seminary classes taught, and sermons preached on the loftier, heavy-weight questions concerning the Christian faith.  Things that perhaps only the truly elite thinkers even begin to fully understand.  

But what about James 3:13?  James asks "who is wise and understanding?"  He seems to be cautioning against a steady diet of studying the lofty.  Spending too much time on the philosophical peaks can cause us to forget that a large part of the Christian walk is simply exhibiting "good conduct" and having a spirit of meekness.  At this point we could stray down a bird path by discussing what the world considers good vs what is good in God's eyes, or debate Christian meekness vs Godly strength, but a simplier view of the Christian walk is sometimes needed.

While we may never have the answers to some questions this side of heaven (and in heaven we most likely won't care), for much of what our day holds we know what would please God.  Just be good.

I have heard countless parents admonish their children to, "Be good today." or "Have a good day." as they drop them off at school.  There is not a discussion to define good, or a 5-step program to "have a good day".  Even a 6-year old knows the basics of "being good" at school.  

Today let's be good.  Be kind.  Be meek.  Save the lofty for another time.  

Thankful for Light Bulbs September 12, 2015

A.C.T.S.  A prayer acronym.  Adoration-Confession-Thanksgiving-Supplication.

Thanksgiving.  Giving thanks.  Being thankful.  A state of thankfulness.  I find myself doing a pretty good job of thanking God for the big, the tangible, the spiritual.  Health.  Salvation.  A wonderful wife.  A solid job.  A growing church.  An idea about work!?

Thank God for an idea?  Why not. 

This  year at work we have been bombarded with a new program that has several components.  I have struggled with how to illustrate these various components in a graphic way to help not just myself, but everyone at school to see the interconnections of each piece.  I have been praying, wondering, struggling with how to develop such an idea picture.  This morning about 15 minutes before the alarm as I was starting to return from Slumberland, the graphic for which I had been searching appeared in my mind's eye.  Eureka!  The proverbial light bulb appeared in my mind's eye.  He deserved thanks for that.

He deserved thanks for:

A- Providing the idea by placing it there independently of anything else

OR

B- Allowing me to have accessed the various articles, ideas, and conversations over the past several months that gave me the background knowledge which finally coallesed into a final product.

Creation or evolution--doesn't matter to me.  Either way at the end of the day, it was God who brought me to that particular point in my thinking.  He provided me with the image I needed.

That idea needs to be on my thanksgiving list.  Was it peace in the Middle East?  Did a loved one survive a major medical scare?  No and no.  But it was a good gift from God.  So why not thank Him?

¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. . .  James 1:17 ESV

Let's not forget to thank God for ideas, sleep, good conversation, and all those little things that might not warrant a Facebook post but are still a good and perfect gift from Him.

September 9, 2015

Arguments and Pretensions September 8, 2015

⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV

When I first read today's verse, "arguments and pretensions" weren't immediately clear to me.  As I mulled it over, God revealed several arguments and pretensions in my own live that were set up against the knowledge of God.

I need/deserve 2 more snooze buttons this morning.  Uh-oh, now it's too late for prayer time before work.

Three hours on a Sunday morning devoted to the knowledge of God.  You've got to be kidding!  I work hard all week, and I need Sunday to relax and nap.

This television show is just an hour, and it is the season finale.  Guess I will have to study the Sunday School lesson after the show.  Show's over, but I need to get to bed early.

So on and so on.  Arguments and pretensions ad nauseam.  When I inserted "excuses and rationales" into Paul's epistle, all too many things became clear.  I allow many things in life to keep me from increasing my knowledge of God.  At the end of the day it is about choices we make.  Sure there will be those legitimate times when a Bible study has to be postponed or a quiet time delayed, but not with the consistency and frequency that has become habit in my life.

Time to do some demolishing. Some thought captive taking.

Because September 4, 2015

Last Sunday our small group lesson focused on becoming a church that was more accessible and more inviting to visitors and those not affiliated with another church.  Using people's names, smiling, etc.  The lesson presented several ways we can be a group of believers who make those outside of Ridgecrest's walls feel more comfortable.  A worthwhile lesson.  However the "why" was missing from the lesson.

As my mind has revisited the lesson this week, one word kept coming to the surface. . ."because".

Why do we want to be more inviting to the unchurched?  Is it because we want to fill our pews?  Gain more donors?  Have a larger base from which to recruit Sunday school teachers?  Overshadow our Catholic neighbors?  See more people find Christ as their Savior?  Help more people live a Christ-led life?  The "why" of any project, proposal, program must begin with a why.  Until that is answered, little else should be done.

The same should be said at the individual level.

Why should I spend more time in prayer?
Because. . .

Why should I spend more time in Bible reading?
Because. . .

Why should I attend worship services each week?
Because. . .

Perhaps the "why" is more important to me that most other people, but just to do to say I did, has never been much of a motivator to me.  Unless there is an identified  and articulated "why" I am hesitant and lukewarm about any project.

Take some time this week to make sure you have a why for your worship, your Bible study,  your devotional times.  Make sure your "becauses" are aligned with God's will and direction for your life.

Squish September 2, 2015

The Sacrament Of Sacrifice

³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  John 7:38 ESV

Jesus did not say — “he that believeth in Me shall realize the blessing of the fullness of God,” but — “he that believeth in Me out of him shall escape everything he receives.” Our Lord’s teaching is always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a man; His purpose is to make a man exactly like Himself, and the characteristic of the Son of God is self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain, but what He pours through us that counts. It is not that God makes us beautifully rounded grapes, but that He squeezes the sweetness out of us. Spiritually, we cannot measure our life by success, but only by what God pours through us, and we cannot measure that at all.

When Mary of Bethany broke the box of precious ointment and poured it on Jesus’ head, it was an act for which no one else saw any occasion; the disciples said it was a waste. But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said that wherever His gospel was preached “this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” Our Lord is carried beyond Himself with joy when He sees any of us doing what Mary did, not being set on this or that economy, but being abandoned to Him. God spilt the life of His Son that the world might be saved; are we prepared to spill out our lives for Him?
“He that believeth in Me out of him shall flow rivers of living water” — hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. It is time now to break the life, to cease craving for satisfaction, and to spill the thing out. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?

September 1, 2015

Destiny Of Holiness

“You shall be holy, for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16 ESV

Continually restate to yourself what the purpose of your life is. The destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness. Nowadays we have far too many affinities, we are dissipated with them; right, good, noble affinities which will yet have their fulfilment, but in the meantime God has to atrophy them. The one thing that matters is whether a man will accept the God Who will make him holy. At all costs a man must be rightly related to God.

Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe God can come into me and make me holy? If by your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it must reveal that I am unholy; but it also awakens an intense craving. God has one destined end for mankind, viz., holiness. His one aim is the production of saints. God is not an eternal blessing-machine for men; He did not come to save men out of pity: He came to save men because He had created them to be holy. The Atonement means that God can put me back into perfect union with Himself, without a shadow between, through the Death of Jesus Christ.

Never tolerate through sympathy with yourself or with others any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means unsullied walking with the feet, unsullied talking with the tongue, unsullied thinking with the mind — every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God. Holiness is not only what God gives me, but what I manifest that God has given me.

http://utmost.org/classic/destiny-of-holiness-classic/