Tag: Lebanon Tennesse

More Mistakes, More Grace

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Old Testament, Sermon, Uncategorized1 Comment

 

 

1 SAMUEL #26. CHAPTER 27:1-12

David was not a great hero of the faith because he was particularly righteous. He became one of the Bible’s great ones because whenever he failed, he returned to the Lord seeking mercy, and went back to trusting God again.

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Many people have the misunderstanding that David only failed spiritually once in his life, in the matter with Bathsheba. If you have been following this sermon series, however, you will have noticed that in fact, David has already failed a number times in his life, both spiritually and in terms of achieving his goals. The picture we have of David is not a man who was almost perfect. Instead, he is a very flawed human being. But he was a person who was always willing to admit his mistakes, and he continually looked to the Lord (not to himself or to others) for forgiveness, help and encouragement.

Chapter twenty-seven records yet another time when David failed spiritually. The last time the Lord spoke to David about where he should be making his base, he said, through the prophet Gad, that David should stay in the land of Israel, in the territory of the Tribe of Judah (1 Samuel 22:5).

David did that for several years, but it was brutal. He and his men couldn’t live in a town for fear that Saul would catch them. If they stayed in a town, but escaped before Saul got to them, it was likely that Saul would punish the citizens of that place. So David and his men lived in caves and outdoors. They couldn’t farm to support themselves. There were six-hundred of them, so they couldn’t hunt or gather enough food either. They relied on friends and strangers to help them through their tough times. But often, the people alerted Saul to their location, and they found themselves running for their lives. They continued to barely survive, but it didn’t look (at least on the outside) like they were doing anything constructive.

At one point, it looked like David had convinced Saul to leave him alone, by sparing Saul’s life in the cave. But Saul eventually came back, and David was so surprised, he had to go see for himself. Last time we saw how David once again dramatically showed Saul that he meant him no harm. This caused Saul to leave again, but you can almost see the wheels turning in David’s head, as he realizes that Saul will never leave him alone for good. If sparing his life the first time would not convince Saul that David was a loyal subject, nothing could.

There is something else that the text mentions that we haven’t talked about yet. These men were young, but many of them, including David, had families (v.2). Living like they were, it must have been hard on their wives and children.

So David does something uncharacteristic – he makes a unilateral decision without consulting the Lord. The last thing he heard on the subject was that he should stay in the territory of Judah. Without asking God again, he takes his men and their families and goes to the territory of the Philistines. The Hebrew shows David’s thoughts to be something like this: “There is nothing good left for me. So I’ll go to the Philistines.”

Now, we should be careful stating absolutely that David was sinning here. The scripture doesn’t say one way or the other. But I think we can say that to do this without asking God was unusual for David, and it did not reflect the relationship of trust in the Lord that he normally had. In fact, it seems more like something that Saul would do, than David. At the very least, it looks like David made a decision that was based more on fear, hopelessness and weariness than on faith. We can also see that as a result, he put himself in a position where he had to be deceptive.

He went back to Achish, king of the Philistine city of Gath – the same place he went when he first fled from Saul (chapter 21). No doubt Achish has heard what David has been doing since he left last time, and he knows now that David is not insane. Even so, David might be a powerful ally. He is bringing six-hundred men who have been hardened by the wilderness and by some battles. He is technically the enemy of Saul, king of Israel. So Achish once again allows David to take refuge in his territory. He sees the potential in an alliance, and also the potential danger in picking a fight with David and his six-hundred hard men.

This time, however, David is a little wiser, and seeks to keep physical distance between himself and the king. He asks if he and his men can stay in some town out in the country, away from the capital, Gath. So Achish gave David the town of Ziklag to live in.

Four hundred years before, when Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan river, the entire land was given to the Israelites by God. They still had to enter in and take possession of the land by driving out the pagan tribes – but the Lord promised to be with them and help them do that. However, no tribe truly trusted God enough to fully possess what he had promised. So the town of Ziklag was supposed to belong to the tribe of Judah – but they had never actually taken possession of it, being too afraid to challenge the Philistines. Now, David – a man from the tribe of Judah – receives this little town as a gift, without any fight at all.

We could look at this and say, “Oh, I guess David did the right thing after all, because things began to work out for him.” But I don’t think so. Just a little more than a year after David went to the Philistines, David’s problem with Saul was solved, and he was free to live in any city in Israel. This would have happened whether or not he had gone to live in Philistine territory. So I don’t think the gift of Ziklag was God’s endorsement on David’s actions. Instead, I think it shows us how gracious God is. Even when David was afraid and more or less ran away, the Lord blessed him, and through him, blessed his people. The Lord did not allow David’s fear and lack of faith to hinder what He (God) wanted to do. Though David didn’t deserve it, God used him anyway. Though David didn’t deserve it, God allowed he and his men to have a time of relative rest and stability. God continues to work, no matter what happens. Our own failure will never stop him from being at work.

There is something else that strikes me. Right or wrong, now that David has done this, the Lord moves forward from here, and he leads David to do the same. Remember in chapter 15, earlier in Saul’s reign, the Lord told Saul to wipe out the tribe called the Amalekites? Saul only partly obeyed. He didn’t carry out the war the way the Lord asked. But now David begins a campaign of raids against the Amalekite clans. In each raid, he completely wiped out everyone he found. This was something that God wanted to happen. We don’t have time and space to re-hash all the discussion about Holy War, where we considered why God might want to do this. Go back to http://tinyurl.com/7zuaqcv to review this subject. The point here, is that David, even after he messed up, is back on track. He is letting the Lord accomplish his purposes through his (David’s) life. David and his men were warriors, with the hearts and desires that go along with that. So the Lord used them just as he made them. Even so, there is an obedience here. They weren’t fighting just anyone they could find. They were letting the Lord fight His battles through them, making war only when and where the Lord led them to.

Unfortunately, David had to engage is some deliberate deception at this point. King Achish wanted to know what he was up to. So David replied accurately, but deceptively. He said he was raiding in the southern territories of Judah and Israel. Technically, that was true. All that land was supposed to belong to Israel, including the places where David fought the Amalekites. But he certainly was not fighting other Israelites. Even so, he let Achish believe that he was making war on his own countrymen.

Now, we might say that David’s deception was part of the war between Israel and the Philistines, and therefore it is justified. After all, Achish was actually David’s enemy, though they were in a temporary truce. So it is almost like a spy lying to the enemy – it is an act of war, not a sin. I won’t say that interpretation is definitely wrong. And in the short term, David’s deception allowed him and his men to be at peace, and to advance God’s agenda.

Even so, David’s deception led to problems in the future – even as it had in the past. It put him in a very awkward position not too long after this. He had to be saved from that position by people and circumstances beyond his control. In fact, I suspect it was the Lord who saved him from the consequences of his own lies.

In the long run, true honesty is always the best policy. The fact that David put himself in a position where he basically had to lie, is one reason that I suspect that God did not lead him to go live among the Philistines. In addition, I am not sure why David and his men could not have raided the Amalekites from their base in the Wilderness of Judah, and thus gained much needed supplies and food.

Here are some things that I personally take away from this passage:

One thing that strikes me is how the Lord moves forward with us and with his plan, even when we take a wrong turn. We don’t go back to where we screwed up and do it over. Instead, the Lord mercifully picks us up where we are, gets us back on track. He didn’t make David go back to Judah and start over. Instead he adapted his plan, accounting for David’s mistake.

As we have seen before, the main goal in the life of faith is to trust God. If we do that, our behavior will naturally be pleasing to God. And even when we fail, if we return to a place of faith and trust, God is overwhelmingly gracious. Despite David’s failure, God gave him stability and rest, and through him, restored to Israel one of the towns that had been given them. Despite David’s failure, he continued to use him and bless him. I can trust that the Lord will deal with me in the same. I know I am not perfect – not in behavior, not even in how well I trust God. Because of Jesus, my failure is not the final word, not the most important factor. God’s grace is always a bigger factor than my failure. God has a way of turning failure into gracious victory and blessing. That takes a lot of pressure off me.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?

The Grace-Full Woman

On By Pastor TomIn Bible Teaching, Christianity, Old Testament, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Abigail is a true hero of faith, a woman, full of womanly grace and wisdom, who saved the day as only a woman could.

 

1 SAMUEL #24

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This is another one of those delightful incidents recorded in 1 Samuel. One of the reasons I love it is because once more, this is not a story that anyone near that time in history would make up. It shows up the champion David as an impulsive hothead, and the real hero of this incident is a woman.

As we know, David and his six hundred men were hiding out in wilderness areas. Saul had been shamed into leaving him alone, since David refused to kill him when he had the chance. Even so, David did not settle in a town or with others. Obviously, things with Saul were not completely resolved, and he did not want to endanger any town or family by living with them. Though David was living in wild areas, he and his men did have some contact with others. Shepherds took flocks into the wilderness to graze, sometimes for months at a time. When David and his men encountered them, they protected them and their flocks from wild animals and robbers.

It takes a lot of food to keep six hundred men on their feet, and it doesn’t seem likely that they could have hunted and gathered enough. It is almost certain that David’s men had to rely upon the generosity and kindness of others to keep them supplied. Even so, they never took what wasn’t theirs, but protected the property of those they encountered.

I like knowing this about David. Here was the man who would become the greatest king known to Israel, and not only is he in hiding, but he is barely holding on, dependent upon donations from kind friends and strangers. David wasn’t just a lucky guy who had everything fall into place for him. He spent a significant portion of time in real need, and he never would have made it without help. This is humbling, but the fact that David lived this way encourages me when I feel humbled by my own needs.

After they had been protecting the shepherds and flocks of a wealthy man named Nabal for some time, David sent messengers, asking if Nabal could help him. The messengers pointed out that not only had David never taken anything from him, but had protected his property from bandits and other dangers. At the time, Nabal was cashing in by selling fleeces from sheep that David had protected, and also slaughtering many sheep and feasting. It was a time of great plenty for Nabal, who had a small empire of flocks, herds and servants.

Now it says that Nabal was a harsh man, evil in his dealings. His response shows that this bad reputation was justified. Not only did he refuse to give anything to David, he deliberately and provocatively insulted him and his men. In short, he was a jerk.

David’s response was understandable. Even so, it was not righteous. He left 200 men to guard their hideout, and took 400 men to destroy all that Nabal owned, and to kill him. Nabal’s behavior was despicable. It’s easy to see why David flew into a rage. But that does not justify David’s intent to destroy the man.

At that point, we meet the heroine, Abigail. She is Nabal’s wife. Some of Nabal’s men come to her, and explain what has happened. She makes some immediate emergency decisions, and goes out to meet David with plenty of food and supplies for his men.

Now, some of you have heard me preach through New Testament passages that teach us about biblical roles for women and for men. I think of Abigail as an amazing example of a woman who was used by God as a woman – not as a man. This is how it might look sometimes as we engage in the gender dance the Lord has designed for us. Abigail is smarter than everyone around her at this point in time. She is wiser. For a while, she is the only one who is truly committed to doing what is righteous, and she had to deal with two men in leadership who both wanted to do wrong. But she approaches the situation with an amazing womanly grace and uniquely feminine strength.

She offers David gifts for himself and his men, which was the right thing to do. She also apologized for her husband. There is a play on words here. His name, Nabal, would have been pronounced “nu-bawl.” A Hebrew word for foolish or worthless is pronounced “nu-bawl-uh.” It’s a little like saying “Stu is just like his name: stupid.” (Deepest apologies to anyone named Stu who might be reading this).

Throughout the narrative it is clear that Abigail places herself in David’s hands, and under his authority. However, while she is clearly submissive, she is not subservient. She does not hold back from exhorting David to do what is right. She reminds him of God’s promises to him. She reminds him that he himself knew it was wrong to take things into his own hands by killing Saul. This is a similar situation. She encourages him to trust the Lord, not his own strength, and to trust the Lord’s promises to him. She points out gently that destroying Nabal is something he will probably regret later, and would be a shameful blemish on his record of trusting the Lord. She does it all with womanly grace and attractiveness.

There is no doubt that Abigail was in the right, while both David and her husband were wrong. Even so, there is no sense in this narrative that Abigail has somehow taken on the role of a man, or acted out of a sense of authority or leadership over either one of them. This is one example of what biblical submission can look like. You can see it is not subservience, or rolling over and accepting whatever men want to say or do. In her submission, her grace and wisdom were powerful and attractive. Abigail is a beautiful example of a woman who plays a significant role in God’s kingdom without violating what the Holy Spirit says elsewhere in scripture about gender roles.

And here is something significant: she really got David’s attention. I suspect that David, being in the foul mood he was in, would have reacted angrily to a man who came and told him he was being stupid and making a mistake. But Abigail, with her womanly grace, completely disarmed him. He repented, and freely confessed that she was right and he was wrong.

32 Then David said to Abigail, “Praise to the LORD God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! 33 Your discernment is blessed, and you are blessed. Today you kept me from participating in bloodshed and avenging myself by my own hand. (1Sam 25:32-33, HCSB)

They parted, but obviously, David never forgot the exchange. Abigail went home. She was in a tough place, because now that she had dealt with one angry man, she had to deal with another. We have to read between the lines, but everything I see here suggests that Abigail was trusting the Lord to work out that conversation also. The next morning she told her husband straight out, what she had done. He had a seizure from which he never recovered. The Lord took care of it for her.

When David heard Nabal was dead, presumably after the period of mourning, he asked Abigail to be his wife, and she consented. I think it is obvious that David was deeply impressed by her grace and wisdom.

Now, since it comes up at the end of this passage, I’ll comment briefly on polygamy (having multiple wives). David was married to Michal, Saul’s daughter, but after David fled, Saul married her off to someone else. So when David married Abigail, he was technically unmarried. However, he also married another woman during this same general period of time, Ahinoam.

The Bible does record many men, some of them heroes of the faith like David, having more than one wife. Sometimes, no comment is made upon whether this is a good thing or bad thing. However, the majority of the time, the Bible records that polygamy generally leads to bad results. Jacob had two wives, and the bible records that as a result, there was a huge amount of family strife. Samuel’s father had two wives, and the bible records that it led to family strife. Solomon had nine-hundred wives, and it destroyed his faith, and led the whole country astray. The result of David’s several wives was also ultimately strife between the half-brothers that were his sons. So it is true that the bible doesn’t specifically condemn polygamy – but it certainly doesn’t endorse it either. It happened, and the bible records things that really happened.

One final thought: Jesus clearly taught that marriage was originally intended by God to be between a single man and a single woman. The rest of the New Testament also affirms that in marriage, two are to become one. That idea doesn’t fit at all with polygamy.

So what do we do with all this? If you are a man considering having more than one wife, forget it. But seriously, what does the Lord say to us here?

I do think Abigail can be a great example for girls and women to aspire to. She had beauty, wisdom and courage and she used them all graciously as only a woman could.

For both men and women, perhaps you find yourself between a rock and a hard place like Abigail was. She didn’t waste time trying to figure it all out. She trusted the Lord, and did the first thing that needed to be done. In the end, the Lord took care of it all.

Maybe like me, you are encouraged by David’s humble life at this point. If God’s chosen instrument had to ask for help, it must be OK for us to also ask for help at times. True, it is humbling, but that isn’t usually a bad thing.

Perhaps like David, you might be tricked into responding to someone or some event with rage and anger and hasty action. Maybe the Lord is telling you to slow down and take a step back and ask him what true wisdom is in this situation.

As him now, what he wants to say to you

The Boy Who Listened

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Bible Teaching, Faith, Old Testament, Sermon, Uncategorized1 Comment

1 SAMUEL #2. 1 SAMUEL CHAPTERS 2 &3

samuelHEARS

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1 The boy Samuel served the LORD in Eli’s presence. In those days the word of the LORD was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.

Times were bad in Israel. There was an old man who was supposed to teach everyone about God, kind of like a pastor, except he was the pastor for the whole country. His name was Eli. Eli had two sons, named Hophni and Phineas. These two sons were grown men, and they were supposed to help their father Eli with the work of teaching people about God and leading them in worship. Instead, they made everyone do what they wanted them to. They took food from people who had saved money all year so they could bring the food to the place of worship and celebrate with God. When people complained, Hophni and Phineas told them that they were working for God, and so the people had to do what they said. They did even worse things than taking food.

Their father Eli did not stop them. He told them that what they did was wrong, but they didn’t stop doing it, and Eli didn’t do anything more about it. As we look at 1 Samuel chapters 1-3, it seems like Eli is not a bad man, but he was weak-willed and he did not do a good job raising his own children.

This wasn’t the only reason times were bad. The text says, “In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.” In other words, no one was paying attention to God, and so no one knew what he wanted to say or do. Jeremiah 29:13-14 says this:

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD (Jer 29:13-14, ESV)

Jesus put it this way:

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10, ESV)

So God says, if you look for him, you’ll find him, if you are looking with all your heart. If you want to hear what says, you will, if you really truly want to, and you listen to what he says in the Bible, and when he speaks in your heart. But in those days, no one was doing that.So it wasn’t because God was ignoring his people. People didn’t hear from God because they weren’t listening. They did not really truly want to know God better; they didn’t really want to know what he had to say to them.

But one person started to listen. It wasn’t Hophni and Phineas, the bad priests who were abusing their power and position. It wasn’t Eli, the old man who was supposed to lead the country in following God. It wasn’t a mighty warrior or a great scholar.

The one person who started to listen was a young boy. His name was Samuel. Last week we learned how his mother held on to her desire to have a son, abut also surrendered that desire to God. Because of that, after Samuel was born, when he was about three years old, she let God adopt him. Of course it was Eli, the old chief priest who took care of him and taught him at the house of God, but it was really as if Samuel was adopted by God. When Samuel started to listen to God, he was still only a young boy. Both the Hebrew Text and the Greek Old Testament (called the Septuagint) agree on this point. The Greek uses a word that means “young child.” The Hebrew uses a word that can mean any child younger than thirteen years old. But he is definitely not a grown up; not even a teenager. It isn’t any more specific than that. He could have been twelve years old, or he could have been six. But we know he was only a kid.

Many of us know the story. It is right there in 1 Samuel chapter 3. One night Samuel was sleeping and he heard a voice call him. He thought it was Eli, the old priest. Now Eli took care of Samuel, and made sure he was fed and washed, taken care of educated. But Samuel also took care of Eli, because Eli could not see very well. So Samuel thought it was Eli who called him. Maybe Eli need some help finding something or walking somewhere in the dark. Probably there were times when Eli did call him to come help for things like that.

So Samuel got up to see what Eli needed. Only Eli had not called him. He sent Samuel back to bed. A little while later, Samuel heard a voice calling his name again. He got up and ran to Eli once more. Once more Eli sent him back to bed.

Then it happened again. Eli had his problems, but he wasn’t an entirely bad person, and it seemed like when he was caring for Samuel, he avoided the mistakes he must have made with his own sons. Eli realized that it must be God speaking to Samuel. So he sent Samuel back again, but this time, he told Samuel to ask God to keep speaking, and to listen to what God says.

Now there is something interesting about this story. I think a lot of people feel that if God speaks to them, it is going to be easy to hear him and easy to know that it IS God who is giving them the message. But that wasn’t the case with Samuel. It really was God. He was even speaking in a voice that Samuel heard audibly. Even so, it took both Samuel and Eli several tries until they realized that God was at work.

Many times, I think we don’t hear God because we think it should be easy. We think, “if God wants to say something to me, well, he can.” But that isn’t really seeking God, like Jeremiah and Jesus talked about. And even with Samuel, it took some time and energy to discern that God was speaking. It is good to not assume that everything that comes into our heads came from God. But at the same time, it is good to take a little time and energy to evaluate unusual thoughts or experiences, in case the Lord does want to speak to us through them. We evaluate it first of all through comparing what we think we heard, with the Bible. If it came from God, it won’t contradict the bible. Of course there are some things that aren’t in the bible, like what job we should take or where we should go to school. We should pray about those things too, and ask for God to speak to us, and then listen. When we think we hear something, we should talk with other Christians about it, and pray about what we heard, asking God to confirm it or not.

In Samuel’s case, what he heard was very much like something that another man of God had heard a few years before: Eli and his sons were going to be judged. The sons would be judged for the evil they were doing. Eli would be judged for allowing that evil to continue. This wasn’t actually a very nice or comforting thing to hear from God.

This is where Eli did teach Samuel an important lesson. The next morning, Samuel didn’t want to tell Eli what God said, because it was all about Eli and his family, and it was bad news for them. But Eli told Samuel that when God speaks, it is important to tell others what he said – even if it may be hard for some of them to hear. This is still true today.

And even though it was hard for Eli and his grown sons to hear, it was actually a very encouraging message for the rest of the people. Eli’s sons were bad men, and no one was stopping them. It was a good thing for the people to hear that God himself was bringing their evil ways to an end. It meant that God cared about his people, and would not let someone treat them unjustly.

So what can we learn from all this? Are you like the people of Israel in those times? Could it be that you don’t hear from God and you don’t see him at work in your life because you really haven’t devoted much time or energy to seeking him? I don’t mean this to sound judgmental or condemning. I just mean that this passage shows us a connection between hearing God and seeking God. It shows that even when God is speaking to us, it takes some effort and focus to realize that, and to hear what he is saying. It isn’t like a lightning bolt spelling something out in letters in the sky. We need to devote our attention to it.

Here’s another thing. It doesn’t matter who you are, or how old you are – God can speak to you. Samuel was a young boy. He was not and adult. He did not have the respect of a grown up or experience to convince people that they ought to listen to him. But God spoke to him. He chose him, out of all the people in Israel, to listen to God and to tell others what God was saying. You may think, “I’m just a kid,” or “I’m not a preacher” or “I don’t know much about the bible.” But all those were true of Samuel also. God can use any of us. In fact, he wants to use each one of us, in different ways.

I mentioned last time that these were some of the darkest days in the history of Israel. But because of one young boy, all that was about to change. People were going to begin to hear God again. I pray that we can all be like the young boy Samuel.

YOUR IDENTITY IS DETERMINED BY YOUR BIRTH

On By Pastor TomIn Bible Teaching, Christianity, Faith, Jesus, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Living in Reverse Part 6: Born Again.

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We’ve been moving through this series about Living in Reverse. We’ve learned to put what God says after the “but…” – to agree with Him, and to let our dominant reality be determined by God’s Word and God’s actions. We’ve learned to draw life from the Spirit, not from our outward circumstances – not even the good ones. We’ve learned that when we are in Christ, our old self has been crucified, and we are dead to sin to the law. We’ve begun to learn how to fight the ongoing temptations that would try remove us from all these truths we’ve been talking about.

Some of you may have been trying to put some of this into practice recently. Maybe you’ve been facing temptation and saying, “I’m dead to sin, I don’t want to do that anymore,” but it hasn’t always worked for you. Maybe you’ve been trying to believe desperately, who you really are in Christ, but you still have doubts. And because you don’t fully believe, your actions still don’t look like someone who is dead to sin. If sin is still a struggle, I want to preach the good news to you again today. We’ve discussed why and how it can be problem. We’ve talked about how to fight it. But remember, we are dead to it. I want to start now, talking about our new life. We died to sin, but what are we alive to?

. Maybe you don’t need this today. If not, save this sermon for some time in the future when you do need it.

There is one other thing I think we ought to consider before we jump into the scriptures I want to share. And that is, spiritually speaking, we are often terribly confused about the place of our actions. We understand that our actions are of no value in getting salvation for ourselves. Salvation is a free a gift of God, and it cannot be earned through good deeds (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is appropriated through faith. In other words, we get it when we believe that we need it, and that God has really done this for us.

But now, after we are in Christ, we think our actions determine everything. We think our actions determine who we are. If we act sinful, we think we are fundamentally sinners. If we act righteous, we feel good about ourselves and think we are, by our own efforts, incorporating the righteousness of Christ into our lives. It is to people acting like this that Paul writes:

I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh? Did you suffer so much for nothing — if in fact it was for nothing? So then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? (Gal 3:2-5, HCSB)

You see, your actions do not determine who you are. Instead, your identity is determined by your birth. I was born in the United States of America. But when I was very young, my family went overseas to be missionaries. The majority of my childhood was spent in other countries.

By the time I was sixteen I did not sound like an American – I actually had an Australian accent. I didn’t really know American culture. My first few years in the US, I didn’t get most of the jokes and wise-cracks, because humor is one of the most culture-specific things there is. I didn’t dress in American fashion.

My memories were not of America. In fact my memories and experiences were in a place that was radically different in very fundamental ways from the United States. In short, America had very limited role in shaping my thoughts, actions, personality, memory or experience. I did not feel like an American at all.

For that reason, did I cease to be an American? Not at all. My citizenship was determined by the country I was born into – not by my feelings, not even by actions. The key was my birth.

Even though I didn’t feel American, I recognized that America offered me more opportunity than anywhere else in the world. I saw my citizenship here as a gift that I could use. I believed what my parents told me, that I was an American citizen. I believed my American passport was valid. So I came to America, in faith that my birth certificate and passport were valid. And now, because I believed that my birth determined my citizenship, I have received many benefits from being American.

Spiritually speaking we need to recognize that it our birth, not our actions, which determines our identity.

Remember, action follows belief. And Romans chapter ten tells us that the kind of belief we need for this comes from hearing the word of God. So I am going to dwell on some more truth from God’s Word today. If we have trusted in Jesus, the bible is very clear about our birth:

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:3-6)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1Pet 1:3, ESV)

Since you have been born again — not of perishable seed but of imperishable — through the living and enduring word of God. (1Pet 1:23, HCSB)

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him. (1John 5:1, HCSB)

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, (Eph 2:18-19, ESV)

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, (Phil 3:20, ESV)

We have been crucified with Christ. The old has gone. The new you has been born into a new life. We have born citizens of heaven, members of God’s household. Regardless of what we know about heaven, regardless of how we sometimes act like we are from someplace else, Heaven is the place of our citizenship. Our birth certificate proclaims it, our passport affirms it. All of the resources of heaven are ours.

Now, one of the problems, is that sometimes we don’t know our own birth rights. We are like princes and princess who have born to inherit a kingdom. But we were kidnapped as babies, and raised in poverty. Now, our Father, the king has found us and brought us back to the palace. But we don’t even know the rights and privileges and tasks that are ours as royal children. We don’t know the vast resources we have now to fulfill those things. In the same way, so often Christians don’t even know everything that is ours, in Christ Jesus. So Paul writes to the Ephesians:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength. (Eph 1:17-19, HCSB)

His prayer is that they (and all followers of Jesus) can know these things. He wants us to know our birthrights, now that we have been born again. So I am going to share with you, some of the riches that are yours and mine when we are in Christ. This is what it means to be born again as a citizen of heaven:

In Christ, we are holy, blameless, righteous and above reproach (Eph 5:4; 2 Cor 5:21; Col 3:12; 1 Cor 6;19).

He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Col 1:22-23)

The “if you continue” is clearly about continuing in faith and hope. It is not continue to “act righteous” but continue to hold fast to the faith that this is true, that Christ has done this for you. A wise pastor named Dan Stone wrote: “It is not your striving that releases Christ’s life through you. It is your trusting.” We are in Christ when we continue to trust Him and rest in Him day by day. And in Christ, we are holy and blameless.

In Christ, we are safe and free. I am free from condemnation. I am free from sin and death. I cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:1-2; also 8:31-39). God works for my good in all circumstances (Romans 8:28). I have been established, anointed and sealed by God. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). I can approach God with freedom, confidence and boldness (Eph 3;12; Hebrews 4:16). My real life is already hidden away with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1-4). I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me. (1 John 5:18).

In Christ, we are significant and important. I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine, and a channel of His life (John 15:5). I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16). I am God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 2:6). I am God’s workmanship; created by Him to do good works, which he has already prepared for me to do (Ephesians 2:10).

These are just a few of many verses and concepts that describe who we are when we are born into Christ and into citizenship in Heaven. This is the real you, the you that is more real more powerful than what you see in the flesh or feel in the soul. If you continue in faith (that is, if you continue to believe, to trust Jesus and trust that this is all true in Him) then this you will last forever, and ultimately will be expressed through a transformed soul and a new, eternal body.

You may still act or think like a foreigner, from time to time. But if you trust Jesus, you have born again as a citizen of heaven. All this is truly yours, even though your actions may not yet reflect it perfectly.

All this is leading toward an ultimate purpose: so that Jesus Christ can express His Life through you. Let me put a different way: The purpose of it here on earth is so that Jesus Christ can live your life. That is what we will explore next week.

YOU’RE DEAD MEAT!!

On By Pastor TomIn Bible Teaching, Christianity, Faith, Jesus, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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LIVING IN REVERSE PART 3.

This is actually the third part in a series called Living in Reverse, but due to a speaking engagement, a vacation and then an illness, it has been almost a month since the second part was posted. So I want to remind us of where we are. We began the series by looking at the life of Leah, and how she learned to make God’s love and God’s view of her more important than her life circumstances. We call this “Living after the But.” We need to understand that the final and most important factor in any situation, feeling, thought or circumstance, is what God says and does. Second, we looked at the life of Elijah, and how God showed him that true Life is not in our external circumstances – not even in how God may or may be changing them. True Life is found in the Spirit, and God designed it to flow through our spirits into our souls and then our behavior.

With all that in mind, we will move on. I want us to begin this time by considering how much our actions are affected by what we believe.

In the 1850s, people began to keep track of how fast a man could run one mile. The time-pieces back then were fully accurate enough to make across the board comparisons to modern times. For almost a hundred years, no one was able to run a mile faster than four minutes and several seconds. There was a general consensus that no human being could run a mile in less time than four minutes.

One of the fastest mile-runners in the world in the 1950s was Roger Bannister. On 2 May 1953, he made an attempt on the British record at Oxford. Bannister ran 4:03.6, shattering a previous record set in 1945. "This race made me realize that the four-minute mile was not out of reach," said Bannister. What I want to point out is that it was at this point that Bannister began to believe that he could run a mile in less than four minutes.

A year later, on May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile barrier, completing it in 3:59.4. I contend that he was able to do this simply because he believed he could. For a hundred years, no had run a mile in less than four minutes. Most people believed it couldn’t be done. Bannister believed, and a year later it became reality. Now, once Bannister proved a man could run a mile in less than four minutes, what do you think happened? Now everyone believed it could be done. Bannister’s record was broken less than two months after he set it. His record and subsequent faster records were broken five more times during the next decade. In a hundred years, no one had run a four minute mile. But once one man did it, and others believed it could be done, dozens began to do it. During the past sixty years, it is estimated that more than 850 people have run a sub four minute mile. Let me state it clearly: In the first hundred years, not a single person ran a sub-four minute mile. In the past sixty years since that record was first broken, almost nine-hundred people have done it.

Now you could probably make a case for nutrition and a more sports-oriented culture to explain some of this. But I personally believe that the biggest difference between the first hundred years of records, and the last sixty, is that now people believe it can be done.

Your belief affects how you act, what you attempt, and what you achieve. If you want to change the results you are getting, you must start by changing your belief. At the family camp where I recently spoke, another speaker observed that preachers have two basic options: to ask you to do something, or to ask you to believe something. I would add that we can also impart information and inspiration. This week, I will give you some information, but my main purpose is to encourage you to believe something that God says in the Bible. When you believe it, it may change your life. You may find that you are living with a perspective that you used to think was impossible.

This what I am asking you to believe: When you trust Jesus, you are dead to sin.

Many of us come out of a Lutheran background. The writers of the old “Green Hymnal” did not do us any favors when they had us say, week after week, for decades: “I am in bondage to sin.” Many us, Lutheran or not, have used the NIV bible translation for years. The NIV is generally a great translation, but they didn’t do us any favors when they translated the Greek word “sarx” as “sinful nature” when really what it means is “flesh.”

There is another problem. Our experience tells us that we are capable of sinning a lot, and sinning horribly. We get angry. We lie. We cheat. We are dishonest. We lust. We get drunk. When we combine the reality that we still sin, with the concept of bondage to sin and sinful nature, we have an entire generation – maybe two – of Christians who have grown up believing that even after we have come to Jesus, we are fundamentally sinful beings.

We recognize that the Bible actually says something that sounds different than this. And so we reconcile it by saying this: “I know I am redeemed by Jesus. But I also have this sinful nature living in me that I will have to fight with until I die.” But brothers and sisters, the story is different than that. Read carefully:

  • By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death.. (Rom 6:2-4 ESV)

  • We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin (Romans 6:6-7)

  • So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11)

  • Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God (Romans 7:4)

  • But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code (Romans 7:6)

  • Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

  • For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. (Gal 2:19-20, ESV)

  • If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations (Col 2:20, ESV)

  • The saying is trustworthy, for: ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If we have died with him, we will also live with him; ​​​ (2 Tim 2:11, ESV)

  • He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness (1 Pet 2:24, HCSB)

  • For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor 5:14-17, ESV)

Just a quick note. I have run into some folks who want to debate what part of us, exactly, was crucified with Christ. What died? I think this is a little bit beside the point. Paul says variously, “our old self” or “I” or “you.” He is not terribly specific or theological about it. I have my professional theological opinion, but let’s not get side tracked.

The point is, in Jesus Christ, you have died in such a way that the connection between you and sin is broken. Paul says we are dead to the law. Think about it. There are no laws for dead people. A dead person is beyond the law. Imagine you committed a horrible crime, and you were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Once you are dead, your sentence is over. They bury you in the prison graveyard, and you are done. Once you are dead, the law can require nothing more from you. Paul says “You are released from the law. You died to what held you captive.”

And we are dead to sin: “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” He says this in several places. Peter also says it.

The point then, is not really what part of us died. The point is that we need go forward, from this point, believing that in Jesus Christ, we have died to sin and to the law that keeps us on the hook for sins we commit. The connection between us and sin, us and the law is so thoroughly broken, it is like trying to get a dead person to keep serving a prison sentence. It’s over. There is no more connection.

You see, I spent years trying to make myself behave better. I thought my old self was still alive. I thought I still had some deep internal connection to sin. And so I kept trying to reform myself, and always failing Finally, I saw that God doesn’t try to reform the Tom. Instead, he killed him. In Jesus, the new Tom – at least the spirit of the new Tom – has already been raised. And there is no connection between that new Tom and sin. When I began to really believe that – that I am truly dead to sin – I began to sin less.

Do you believe that your old self is dead and buried with Christ through his death? Do you believe that you are dead to sin? Do believe that you are no longer enslaved to sin? Do you believe that the old has passed away and the new has come? Do you count yourself dead to sin but alive to Jesus?

I find that the biggest objection this idea is that it is not usually our daily experience. We feel like the old us is still there. We don’t feel like we are free from sin. We feel like the law still applies to us and holds us captive. We don’t feel new, and like we are living according the Spirit and not flesh.

Now is the time we must remember the first two messages in this series. If you never heard them or read them, stop reading this, and go back and get those first two messages. You see? Our experience is telling us one thing and God is telling us another. What should we put after the but? Our experience, or God’s word? God’s word, of course. We should say it something like this. “I know that in my flesh, there is still a struggle with sin – BUT God says I am dead to sin. I know I feel like I have sinful nature – BUT God says my old self was crucified with Christ.”

Then, remember Elijah. Where does real life come from – the flesh and the soul, or the spirit? The spirit, of course. What is eternal, and more powerful? The spirit. And where is is that the old self is dead and the new is come? The spirit. The spirit trumps flesh and soul.

Now, this is a deep concept. I will take next week to talk about the struggles with have with sin, and how that fits into it all.

But for now, I am calling you to believe what God says, and give it more power than your feelings and your experiences. I am calling you to draw life not from what is happening in soul and flesh, but in what God has done and is doing in your spirit.

You see, if you believe that you have a sinful nature, how are you going to act? You are going to sin, of course, because that is what someone with a sinful nature does. As I said at the beginning, what you believe ultimately determines how you will act. You cannot consistently or for very long, act in opposition to what you truly believe.

If you trust Jesus, at the most important place, in the heart of your being, you are not a sinner. I am not saying you never commit sins. But you are not a sinful nature. And the part of you that is holy and blameless and perfect will outlast the part of you that still struggles. The place in which you are dead to sin is more powerful, more enduring and more important than the place where you struggle. Life comes from the Lord, through place where you are already dead to sin.

We need to believe that when God says we died with Christ, we really did die.

I killed a snake one time. I blew it half with a shotgun. The snake was dead, there was absolutely no question about that. There was a the head, with a little piece of neck, and there was the body, completely separate. But the mouth kept opening and closing like it was trying to bite something. The body twisted and coiled and uncoiled for ten or fifteen minutes afterward.

All that twisting and coiling and movement looked like life – but it wasn’t life. It was merely the death throes. If I was a really dumb veterinarian, I could have wasted time and energy treating the dead snake that acted like it was alive. But there was no life there.

Our old person can sometimes act as if it is still alive. We still get the impulses and signals that seem to show that our old self is alive and well. But this is nothing but death throes. There is no life there. If we work to try and kill it again, or try and reform it, we are wasting time and energy in a futile exercise.

Paul says, “don’t gratify the flesh.” Our old body is rotting in the prison graveyard. We don’t have to follow the prison rules any more. We don’t have to try and make up for the laws we broke before. Satan is the one who comes to you and says: see all the twisting and turning and activity – you have a sinful nature and it is alive and well. But the Bible never says anywhere that our old self got un-crucified. It never suggests that the old nature got resurrected. It is is a lie of the devil. He’s trying to get you to live as if you are still alive, back in the prison of your sinful self.

Here’s the thing: he can’t put you back in prison. But if you don’t believe what God says – if you don’t put God’s word after the but – the devil and your flesh can trick you into living as if you were still in prison.

Now, I will talk next week more about this struggle with the devil and the flesh, and how it all fits together. But for this week I am calling you to faith. I am asking to believe that what God says is really true:

In Christ, you have already died. In Christ you are not sinful. You are not divided into good and evil. You are holy and blameless and without reproach.

Yes sin in your flesh is still writhing around in its death throes. But it is already dead. Pay it no mind. Instead fix your eyes on Jesus, put your focus on the unseen and eternal truth – you old self is dead and your true self is alive in perfection with Jesus.

Closing Potpourri

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, apostle paul, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Faith, Sermon, Uncategorized1 Comment

1 CORINTHIANS PART 29. 1 CORINTHIANS 16:1-24


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1 Corinthians chapter 16 is kind of a potpourri of closing thoughts, some of them apparently even kind of random. Even so, it is important for two reasons.

First, it is a window into the documentary heritage of the bible. There are certain groups of people who claim the bible was made up by people who wanted to control others through religion. They say the New Testament was gathered and edited by people with an agenda; that it was not inspired by God. Personally, if I was making something up, I’d leave 1Corinthians 16 out. It doesn’t look edited or shaped at all. In fact, it shows us what 1 Corinthians actually is: a letter, written by a real person to other real people. I believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the letter; I believe that the Holy Spirit has, and will continue to, use the words of this letter to teach God’s people and draw them closer to Jesus. In short, I believe that the ultimate source of the letter is the Spirit of God, and it remains supernaturally meaningful and powerful and authoritative. But that does not change the fact that the means the Holy Spirit used in this instance was one real historical person, writing a letter to other real historical, people.

Very shortly after they were written, the letters of the apostles, and their writings about the life of Jesus (which we call the gospels) were copied and shared with all the churches. Many, many copies of each of these documents were made within a short period of time. Within about two hundred years, these writings had all been gathered together into one group of documents which we call the New Testament. Each document in the New Testament had to have a clear historical connection to a known apostle, and each one had to be in wide use throughout virtually all churches in the known world at the time. Each one also existed in multiple copies, so the copies could be checked against each other for accuracy.

There are other pseudo-Christian documents that survive from the period. Generally, only a few local churches had these, and they cannot be traced back clearly to any apostle. There are very few copies of these, compared to early copies of New Testament writings. Those documents were not included in the New Testament. Every couple years, the National Geographic Society trots one of these out as if it were a major new discovery (bible scholars have known about them for almost a thousand years). They call them “The Lost Gospels” or do some sort of article or TV show about the missing books of the New Testament. This is nothing more than extremely poor scholarship sensationalized to gain readers and viewers, and possibly to push an anti-Christian agenda.

My point is, when we look at 1 Corinthians 16, we see the New Testament for what it is. It is very hard to read this chapter and maintain that it was made up a hundred years after the fact. This passage is far too haphazard and far too personal either to be made up, or to be left in by editors who had a religious agenda.

There is a second reason why I want to look at 1 Corinthians 16. Romans 15:4 says

For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.

When Paul wrote that, he was talking about the Old Testament, but it applies equally to the New Testament. The idea is that even in a chapter like 1 Corinthians 16, there are things that can instruct and encourage us. There are three things I want to pick out of this chapter with that in mind.

Verses one through four are about a collection that was being taken to help out the Christians in Jerusalem. We know that there was a famine that hit Palestine in the mid 40’s. Times were very different then, it may have taken years or even decades for the region to recover, and so other Christians were still trying to help out their brothers and sisters in that area. I want to pay particular attention to something Paul says: “Each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income.” The entire bible affirms the two principles contained here.

The first principle is that we should give some of our money and resources to God’s work. We learned in 1 Corinthians 9 that an essential part of this work is preaching and teaching His Word , and God intends some people to devote their full time to it. Other people need to give for that to happen (1 Corinthians 9:14). That principle is affirmed many times in the Old Testament as well. In addition, the New Testament encourages churches to provide material help to widows and orphans – that is people who had no options when it came to income. Finally, here we find the principle of helping other believers who are need due to circumstances beyond their control.

The second principle is that of proportional giving. Paul says to set aside an amount in keeping with income. In other words, a percentage. This is both important and useful. It is important, because it means that everyone can and should give. If you only make $100, you can’t afford to give $100. But you can afford $10. However, if you make $1000, you can afford $100.

Jesus affirmed this principle himself. In Mark 12:41-44 he observed a widow who gave two copper pennies. He compared her to others who were giving large amounts. He said:

“I assure you: This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she possessed — all she had to live on.”

In other words, he wasn’t that impressed by people who gave because they had extra. He was touched by proportional giving. Sometimes we wait and see what we have extra, and decide what we can afford to give after everything else is taken care of. My problem, when I do that, is that I never have extra. But when it comes to giving, the entire bible in many and various ways encourages us to give to God first, and to do it as a percentage of what we get. Paul knows this, and so he tells them to set aside money each week in proportion to their income.

The next thing I want to pick out these verses for our instruction and encouragement is that Paul takes time here to name several leaders. He lists Timothy, Apollos, Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus. He tells them to treat Timothy well, and help him. He says of them all:

…They have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. Submit to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.

…Give recognition to such men..

Remember how this letter began? Paul chastised them for following leaders instead of Jesus, and starting sects based upon the personalities of their leaders. Now, he tells them to recognize leaders, listen to them and give them respect. He doesn’t want them to form cliques around leaders, or to elevate them to cult-status. But he does want them to recognize that God has chosen certain people to teach and lead them, and he wants the Corinthians to be humble enough to learn from those people, and to contribute to the the disciple-making effort under their guidance.

I find two opposite extremes to be quite common among Christians. There are some who venerate leaders and elevate them far beyond what they should be. “Pastor John says this, so that’s the way it is.” I’ve seen people believe things that are unbiblical, simply because a charismatic leader told them it was true. That extreme is wrong. Our faith is in Jesus, not human leaders. But I’ve also seen Christians who have contempt for any kind of spiritual leadership. These people are not humble and teachable. They fail to recognize that some folks  are called to teach the bible and give spiritual guidance to God’s people. So in the first part of this letter, Paul warns them about the first extreme. Now he warns them about the second. There is a place for spiritual leaders. Those who are not called to that ought to be teachable enough to listen to and receive God’s help through those who are called to lead.

The last things I want to point out from this text come from verses 13-14. Paul gives them a rapid fire set of final thoughts: “Be watchful, stand firm in faith, act like men, be brave, act in love. When it says “act like men” I think what Paul really means is, “it is time to grow up in your faith.”

Remember how Paul began this letter. These Corinthians have all that they need – in Jesus Christ. In Jesus they are complete, they are wise, they are spiritually gifted, they have all things. The bulk of the letter, Paul spent pointing out how they were failing to live their lives out of who they are in Christ. Instead they were living out of their own flesh and their own efforts. So now Paul closes by saying, among other things: get steadfast about your faith – it’s time to give up these flesh-patterns and this self life. It’s time to grow up. Growing up means that they should be living out of the fullness that is in Jesus, not the emptiness and vain effort that comes from their flesh.

 it’s time to give up these flesh-patterns and this self life. It’s time to grow up. Growing up means that they should be living out of the fullness that is in Jesus, not the emptiness and vain effort that comes from their flesh.

That’s terrific advice for us too. For each one us, I bet there are areas for each one of us where we need to grow up. It’s time to stop living for ourselves; to stop pretending that life is about us. Instead, let’s grow up. Let’s be steadfast in our faith, be bold, be courageous and live out of who we are in Jesus.

Father’s Day 2011

On By Pastor TomIn Bible Teaching, Christianity, Faith, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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We are in the middle of a silent crisis. It is one that we have made ourselves.

Father Knows Best is an old TV show that ended in 1960. That year it was #6 in the Nielson ratings. As the title suggests, it centers around family life. In addition to children and a mother, the family also had a father, who was a positive force in the lives of the other family members. At one time most people felt that the show portrayed an idealized American family, one that they could relate to and try to imitate. In the last twenty years, almost every reference I’ve heard to the show has been sarcastic and negative.

Contrast that with almost any other sitcom in the past twenty years. We know how the plot goes nowadays. If there even IS a father, he’s an idiot. He is about as smart as Papa Bear from the Berenstain Bears. He is insensitive and clueless as a husband, uncaring and stupid as a father. I always imagine the writers meetings in Hollywood when they come up with these shows.

FIRST WRITER: “We need a character who is a complete and utter fool, a buffoon we can make fun of, and have the audience think, ‘what a goober.’”

SECOND WRITER: “OK, we’ll put in a dad.”

No one in Hollywood would ever dream of characterizing a woman the way fathers are routinely portrayed in TV and movies. I don’t know if art is imitating culture, or making it, but the fact is fathers don’t get the respect they used to. Even worse, many people believe they aren’t necessary any more. Even worse than that, many men have bought into it, believing that what they do as a dad doesn’t make much difference. Many more men know that it is important, but they don’t know really, how to be a good dad, because there are so few positive role models.

The truth is that there is probably no greater factor in determining a child’s physical and emotional welfare than a positive father. This past week I downloaded seven pages of statistical summary from the Fatherhood Initiative (www.fatherhood.org). This is was just a small sample, distilled for the media, of the social research that has been done on the role and effect of fathers in America. I have distilled it even farther, and just taken some of the high points. Some of these facts come from professional and academic research studies. In addition, much of the data that is summarized here came from official government statistics, like the US Census, and the Federal Department of Health and Human Services. My point is, this wasn’t made up by some conservative organization with an axe to grind. If anything, most the facts were discovered by organizations whom we would normally expect to be either indifferent to, or negative toward, fatherhood.

  • In 1960, only 11% of children lived in father absent homes

  • Today, 1 in three children live apart from their fathers

  • Children in father-absent homes are five times more likely to be poor

  • Infants without a father’s name on the birth certificate are 21/2 times more likely to die within the first year of life, than are those with a father listed at birth.

  • A study of juvenile offenders indicates that family structure significantly predicts delinquency

  • Multiple studies show that drug and alcohol abuse is far more likely among children who do not live with their father.

  • Children who grew up in father-absent homes are far more likely to spend time in prison during their lives. Children who never had a father in the home are the most likely to be incarcerated.

  • Statistics from INTERPOL, taken from 39 countries show that there is a strong correlation between single-parenthood and violent crime.

  • Being raised by a single mother increases the risk of teen pregnancy (and early sexual activity)

  • Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school

  • 10% of students in two-parent families have to repeat a grade at some point; 18% of students from single-mother homes repeat

  • Compared to their peers living in with both parents, children in single-parent homes have:

  •             An 77% greater risk of suffering from being physically abused
  •             An 165% greater risk of notable physical neglect
  •             A 74% greater risk of suffering from emotional neglect
  •             Overall, a 120% greater risk of being endangered by some type of child abuse

  • Obese children are more likely to live in father-absent homes than non-obese children

  • The closer a child is to his or her father, the less likely the child is to have friends who smoke, drink or do drugs.

  • Single mothers are twice as likely to experience depression as married mothers

  • Compared to married mothers, single mothers experience higher levels of stress, fewer contacts with family and friends, less involvement with church or social groups, and overall, less social support

  • Children who live with their fathers in the home typically have more daily time with both their fathers AND their mothers than do children in single parent homes

  • In 2006, the Federal Government spent 100 Billion Dollars in assistance for father-absent homes.

If these things don’t scare you, I don’t know what will. If this doesn’t convince you how important Dads are, nothing will. One third of our population is heading for disaster because dads are absent without leave.

So, what do we do about it?

I think we need to start where we are. If you are not a dad yourself, then start by encouraging and supporting the dads you know. I know I’ve never tried to do anything more important than to be a good father to my children. I also know that it is the most difficult thing I’ve ever attempted. And speaking candidly, there is nothing I’ve worked so hard at that I also have failed so frequently at. So give us a hand. Pray for us. If you see positives in our kids, let us know. Let us share our frustrations with you once awhile, without judging us. Don’t be afraid to interact with our kids and offer your own love, joy and wisdom with them at times.

Maybe you are married to a dad. We don’t say it much these days, because we might get called male chauvinists, but we deeply appreciate it when our wives show us respect both in private and especially in front of the children. If you want to shut down a dad and get him to stop being involved, then just criticize him in front of the kids. Maybe you always don’t agree with our approach to child-rearing. Who am I kidding? Of course you don’t always agree. But God intended children to be raised by both a mother AND a father – the statistics I shared earlier prove this, if nothing else. So, give dad the benefit of the doubt, and if you don’t like how he handled the situation, talk to him about it in private, not in front of the kids. Also, give your husband encouragement in his fathering at every opportunity. Tell him how much you appreciate his role in the lives of your kids. No one else gives him that encouragement. Seriously. Expect your kids to respect their father also, and when possible, enforce that attitude.

And what about you dads? I don’t care if you are an adoptive dad or step dad – you are a dad. Act like one. The first and most important thing a dad does is to stay. You saw the statistics I shared earlier. They are the results of dads bailing out on marriages and children. We’ve talked about divorce before at New Joy Fellowship. As always, I am speaking to you in your current situation. You won’t help matters by divorcing your second wife and leaving the kids you have with her to go back and re-marry your first wife. But if you are married now, then stay. If those statistics tell us anything, it is that you can’t be a real dad if you aren’t there. Man up. To be a good dad, a real dad, you have to be a husband to one woman for the rest of your life. When dads ignore that, we get the chaos that comes from fatherlessness.

Second, be involved with your kids on a daily basis. In 2009 The Fatherhood Initiative completed a national survey of the attitudes of mothers about fatherhood. There are two things I want to point out from that survey that may surprise you. The first is that mothers ranked work responsibilities as the biggest obstacle to good fathering. Sometimes we think work is our primary responsibility as a dad. That’s just not true. Of course we need to work and support our families. But something is very wrong when work regularly takes away from family time. So consider saying “no” to the overtime at times. Consider carefully the difference between how much you want to make and how much you need to make. While the kids are at home, maybe you have settle for a little less money in order to have more time with them. They won’t be there forever.

A second thing mothers said that was fascinating. Here’s a quote from the survey:

Mothers – even those that indicated that they were "not at all religious" – indicated that "churches or communities of faith" are the best places for fathers to learn about fatherhood.

It makes sense. After all, God reveals himself to us as a Father. Maybe he knows a little bit about it. As we dads of faith hang out together, we can encourage each other and learn from one another. We can share joys and frustrations. But even more than that, through the power of the Holy Spirit we can tap into the wisdom and strength of the best Father in the universe. And that, I think is the most important step for being a good dad. We need to admit we need help, and seek it from the Lord. When we do, I am certain he will answer.

State of the Church Address. Feb 2011.

On By Pastor TomIn Christianity, Faith, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment


Download State of the Church Address 2011

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus,

Usually sometime during the first few months of a new year, I like to offer a “State of the Church” message. With that in mind, I’d like to share what I think the Lord has been saying to me about New Joy Fellowship in 2011.

New Joy Fellowship is a different kind of church. We are unlike many, if not most, of the other churches in our area. Depending on your point of view, this could be either good or bad. I think, however, that at present, we are almost exactly the church that the Holy Spirit wants us to be.

Particularly in this area of the world and of the country, people view church as something to do. You do the Sunday morning service. You do Sunday School. You do programs for the church. Church represents a hub of activity and work. In addition, most church activities are “programmed” – which means that they happen because they are planned and pushed by a small leadership group, or maybe the pastor. There are some positives to this approach. Usually, with this system, there is accountability to make sure things are done, and done properly. At the end of a year it is easy to quantify what the church has accomplished, by listing the programs that were run, and the number of people who participated in them.

Obviously, this does not describe New Joy Fellowship.

There are negatives associated with the typical way of doing church. Because it is activity and program centered, it is easy to feel like you have done your good religious duty by attending or helping with a church program. It becomes something you do, rather than a relationship with Jesus that leads to loving relationships with others. It is easy to replace true interaction with God, and true love-in-action for fellow believers with simply putting time and effort into activities and programs. It becomes religion, rather than relationship.

In America, we have turned church into something you do. But real church is a community you belong to. Sure, a real church should “do stuff.” But that doing should flow out of a faith relationship with God, and love for fellow believers in the community.

As I reflect upon New Joy Fellowship, that is exactly what I see that we are. We are first of all, a community of believers. As we relate to each other, and to those we interact with at work and at home, we get involved in the mission of Jesus. We don’t have any programs for this. Even so, it happens. I tend to think of this as “real church.” Those of you who come to Sunday morning worship before the first song starts may have noticed our slogan, displayed on the wall every Sunday: Real Presence (walk with God); Real People (walk with others); Real Purpose (work in the Kingdom). That is God’s call for New Joy, and to a fair degree, we are living these things out in our church community.

Belonging to a church community like this is not as exciting as it sometimes is to “do” church the way so much of our culture does. We don’t get our name in the newspapers. There is not a lot of hype either about New Joy, or in our community.

But that does not mean that we are insignificant. God is still at work, in us and through us. 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 says this:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

New Joy is not powerful according to worldly standards. We are not strong or exciting. To be brutally honest, by the world’s standard of judging, we are not much at all. But praise God, those are just the kinds of people and churches that the Holy Spirit seems to delight in using. As Paul writes, the Lord loves using the little, weak, foolish and no-account things to accomplish his purposes in this world, and to shame the proud.

I had to put forth a bit of mental energy to consider how God has been using us, but when I did, I was thrilled. Last fall, I talked to our financial deacons. I wanted to make sure we were giving away 10% of what we take in as a church. They said we were close, but we weren’t giving away quite 10%. We gave that 9% or so away to missions organizations and other ministries that I know well enough to trust that it will be well used. However, the Deacons. pointed out that we also do a lot of things that aren’t “on our books” so to speak. What they meant is, we don’t have either programs or budget-line-items for much of what we actually do as a church. Instead, we walk with God and with each other, and through that the Lord motivates us for Kingdom purposes.

Lisa Fiehweg, one of our deaconesses, does a lot of her work as an attorney for children who need legal representation. Often this is because the adults in their lives have been terribly irresponsible, or even abusive. Lisa is part of our community. So it seems like at least once a year or more, we buy and gather things that these kids need. We don’t give to organization that takes care of needy children. We don’t have a program. But quite a few kids had a blessed Christmas only because Lisa is a part of our community, and we responded to the Lord’s prompting to give. A few years ago we did something similar through another Lisa, Lisa Decker.

We don’t have a “world vision program.” But Marcie has been connected to World Vision for many years. Because Marcie is part of our community over the years our little church has grown to sponsor a proportionately large number of overseas children through world vision. In the past few years we have radically changed the lives of dozens of families around the world by purchasing them cows, and helping them get fresh water.

Are you starting to see a theme here? We belong to God. We belong to each other. As we live out the truth of that together, we are working together for God’s purposes.

New Joy does not have a Middle-School evangelism program. But just a few days ago, I got a phone call from Tyler Garrels, one of our youth. He invited me to speak at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes function before his school started on Thursday. I went, and as I do from time to time, after I spoke I invited anyone who had not already done so, to give their lives and hearts to Jesus. Afterward, three people came up and told me that they did that for the very first time when I gave the invitation. Three people have a relationship with Jesus today because Tyler Garrels is part of our community, and more importantly, acted like part of our community. With a lot of time and energy and money, we might have been able to put together a middle-school evangelism event that brought the same result, but even then, I doubt it.

We all have a role to play in this community. Even the smallest, most insignificant-seeming role is vital. Tyler may not thought much of his role before. But if he wasn’t part of New Joy, and if he hadn’t invited me, those three kids probably still wouldn’t know Jesus today.

With all this mind, I think the Lord wants to say three things things to us as a church.

First, he wants to encourage us to stay in community with Him, and with one another. Hebrews 10:23-25 says this:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Some of us may be tempted to go find excitement elsewhere. We may be tempted to take a quick look at New Joy and say, “nothing much happening here.” But don’t judge the way the world does. The Lord is at work in New Joy. We need you here, because when we are all a part of the community, when we act like we belong to the Lord and to each other, then the Lord can and does work through us. It may not look like it does in other churches, but it is real, and it is happening. Stay the course. The life of faith is a marathon, not a sprint. Our Christian relationships and our church affiliation should reflect that.

Second, I do believe that the Lord wants us to be a community that is willing to grow by adding new members. There are people in Lebanon, Wilson County and Smith County who need to be a part of New Joy. I’m not talking about us becoming a mega-church. But some of our friends, neighbors and co-workers are supposed to be here. Pray for them. Invite them. Don’t give up on them.

Third, I think the Lord wants us to hear “Well done!” I think he is pleased with our attitude, and with our results. I believe with all my heart that if we had not been here these past five years, many people would be much worse off today. We are on track. Don’t lose heart. Be encouraged. Stay the course!

What is Communion? 1 Corinthians #18. 1 Cor 11:17-31

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Faith, Jesus, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Three weeks ago Paul’s comments about food sacrificed to idols taught us some things about what we call The Lord’s Supper, or Communion. We learned that to take the bread and wine in faith is to enter into community with Jesus, to fellowship with him in a special way. It is also a special kind of communion or fellowship with other believers who take the bread and wine with us.

1 Corinthians 11:17-33 is also about the Lord’s Supper. As we get into this today, you might be tempted to think “Pastor Tom has some kind of bee in his bonnet about Communion. He’s really pushing this right now.” But that’s not accurate. If were up to me, I would not preach about Communion again so soon. However, this is one of the reasons I think it is important to preach through books of the Bible, passage by passage. When we go through the bible this way, I am not the one setting the agenda. I’m not thinking of some topic we ought to cover. In the same way, I am not following some theological group’s preaching plan for the “church year.” Instead, the Holy Spirit sets the agenda through the text of the Bible each week. And so, once more on the menu this week is some teaching about Communion. In obedience to the Holy Spirit, we’ll look at it, and see what He has to say about it this time.

In order to fully understand this passage, I want to remind you of the historical context. All Christians for the first 300 years after Jesus met in small groups in homes. Sometimes they had the use of a public meeting place also, like a rented room, or a synagogue. In the case of the Corinthians, the Christians had been violently expelled from the synagogue, and it is virtually certain that they met in the homes of church members. In those days, houses were not usually very large, and few, if any of the Corinthians were noble and wealthy (see 1:26). People would come to the houses to eat, celebrate communion, and then talk about the bible and pray. Communion was celebrated as part of the meal, as it was in the last Passover that Jesus held with his disciples.

In Corinth, the few wealthiest people would be there first, because they would have the most flexibility in their time. The poorer laborers almost certainly had to work until dark, and so came later. It was even harder for the slaves, who obviously would have had difficulty gaining the liberty to go to a church meeting. Those who were financially better off were likely the ones who provided the bulk of the food. They had an opportunity to show wonderful Christian love by providing a meal that their poorer fellow-Christians couldn’t normally afford. But what actually happened was that they started eating right away, and by the time the poorer folks and the slaves arrived, there was precious little left. Paul notes that some of the early-comers were even drunk by the time the latest arrived!

We already learned from 1 Corinthians 10:14-31 that communion is special connection with Jesus and with each other. It is one way in which God touches us with his grace. This way of conducting their meal did not reflect the communion that they had with each other, nor the full depth of the connection they had with Jesus through the Lord’s Supper. In a sense, they had begun to treat communion as if it were some little ceremony tacked on to the end of the meal, almost like a fortune cookie.

In verses 23-26, Paul reminds them of the words of Jesus. These are the words I say every time we celebrate communion. If you have celebrated the Christian Passover with us, you understand the context and meaning of these words better than 90% of Christians living today. It is conjecture, but it is a very good guess that it was a special piece of bread, the afikomen – the “bread of life” which Jesus broke and over which he spoke these words. After all, in John 6:35 Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Through communion, Jesus is inviting us to feast our spirits on his life and presence.

Continue reading “What is Communion? 1 Corinthians #18. 1 Cor 11:17-31” →

1 Corinthians Part 1. 1:1-9. The Foundation

On By Pastor TomIn apostle paul, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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We are going to begin a new study this week. We will be looking in some detail at the first (surviving) letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians. As we do this, it will helpful to have a little cultural and historical background about the city of Corinth and the church there.

Corinth was situated on the narrow neck of land (isthmus) that joins the Peloponnese peninsula (say that five times fast!) to the rest of Greece. If you look at a map of Greece, the Peloponnese is the big mass that looks a bit like a four-fingered hand sticking south into the Mediterranean sea. One of the most famous cities on the Peloponnese is Sparta. From the ancient city of Corinth, at the narrowest isthmus of the peninsula, if you looked to the West and North you would see the gulf of Corinth; to the East and South is the Saronic gulf. The land between these two bodies of water is less than four miles wide at that point. The Romans tried to dig a canal there, but they found out it was solid rock. A canal was not successfully completed until 1893. Even so, in ancient times, ships would come in to both sides of the isthmus, and send their goods over the four miles of road to the opposite side, and thus save the time and risk of a much longer trip around the Peloponnese. The people at Corinth even developed a system for hauling smaller ships across the short stretch of land, completely loaded.

Because of the shipping advantages, and because anyone traveling to or from the Peloponnese had to pass through there, the city of Corinth became a major commercial center. It even has a modern day claim to fame in the realm of agriculture. A certain type of fruit flourished in the soil nearby, and even today we call it the “currant” a name which is derived from “Corinth.” Long before the time of Christ, Corinth was famous for its temple of Aphrodite – the Greek goddess of love. It is said that at one time more than 1,000 prostitutes worked for the temple. The Romans destroyed the city in 146 BC, and then re-built it about 100 years later. It quickly regained its status as a major trade center, and though the temple of Aphrodite did not return, Corinth was still a watchword for sexual immorality. In addition, the Corinthians hosted the Isthmian Games – much like the Olympic games, but held on different years. These games were immensely popular, and continued uninterrupted even after the Romans destroyed the city, and on after they rebuilt it.

Scholars estimate during the time of the New Testament the city of Corinth was home to about half a million people. So what Paul encountered in Corinth was this: a large city in which people of many different races and economic levels mixed; a place where you might make a fortune, or where you could find ways indulge your sensual desires; or where you might make a name for yourself as a famous athlete. It was a place to pursue your personal dreams and ambitions, and a culture in which pride was more evident than humility. It was not a place known for strong moral character. If I may be so bold, in some ways it was a little bit like America in the 21st century.

Paul arrived in Corinth a little the worse for wear. He’d been kicked out of three cities in a row (Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea). After that he’d been to Athens, where he wasn’t very successful at starting a church. Then he came to to Corinth. He met a Jewish couple – Priscilla and Aquila – who had been expelled from Rome along with most Jews there. They may have already been Christians – that part is not quite clear. Paul did his usual thing, preaching in the Jewish synagogue. As usual, a few Jews received the message, and then trouble started, and he began preaching to the Gentiles. But this time, Paul heard from the Lord in a dream. The Holy Spirit said to him:

Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.

So Paul ended up staying in Corinth peacefully for about eighteen months, and when he left, it was by his own choice, not because he was driven away. Priscilla and Aquila went with Paul when he left, and then they parted ways at Ephesus. The couple met another man of God, named Apollos. After giving Apollos some further instruction, they sent him to do more work with the church at Corinth.

At some point, Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians that was lost. Paul refers to this letter in 1 Corinthians 5:9. He apparently wrote another letter in between 1 and 2 Corinthians, which was also lost (there are references to it in 2 Corinthians). So, out of four letters from Paul to Corinth, we have two. This is not any cause for theological concern. The Holy Spirit preserved for us the writing that he wanted preserved.

Sometime after his first, “lost” letter, the Corinthian Christians sent a letter of their own to Paul, with some questions about various matters. At roughly the same time, some people from Corinth visited Paul – they may in fact, have personally delivered the letter. From the letter, and from the visitors, Paul learned some things about the Corinthian church that disturbed him. In response, he sat down and wrote the letter which we call 1 Corinthians.

The first three verses of the letter are a fairly typical greeting: virtually all of the letters in the New Testament have greetings that are similar to this. However, there are slight differences in the opening of each letter, and the differences here, taken together with verses 4-9, seem to have a purpose.

The fact is, Paul is going to write some things in this letter that are not very complimentary to the Corinthian Christians. He has to take them task for causing unnecessary divisions; for sexual immorality; for devaluing the word of God through Paul’s own ministry; for suing each other; for abusing spiritual gifts; for abusing the Lord’s supper; and for disorderly worship. Sadly, the Corinthians Christians have begun to compromise with their culture and they’ve screwed some things up in a big way.

Paul knows all this, and has it mind as he begins writing. But he has something else in mind also. That other thing on his mind is the great grace and love and power that are in Jesus Christ. Ultimately, the spiritual reality of the situation is not based upon the behavior of the Corinthians. It is based upon the character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.

Paul uses the name “Christ Jesus” or some variant of it nine times in the first nine verses. He makes additional references to Jesus (as “he” or “him”) three more times in the same verses. He reminds the Corinthians that he himself is called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by God. He tells them that they have been made holy, and are called to remain holy, only in Christ Jesus. He reminds them several times that Jesus Christ is their Lord. Their grace, their knowledge, their spirituality are all given to them by and through faith in Jesus Christ. They have been enriched in every way in Jesus. They lack nothing – in, and because of, Jesus Christ.

One of my greatest struggles as a parent has been to effectively convey this dual message: I love you no matter what. Nothing you do or don’t do could make me love you any more. Nothing you do or don’t do, could make me love you any less. And, at the same time, I want you to change your behavior.

This is kind of what Paul wants to convey. The Corinthians need to change their behavior. They are living in ways that are destructive to themselves and to others. They are becoming ineffective as witnesses for Jesus.

And yet, Paul wants to make sure they know that in and through Jesus Christ, they lack nothing. In Christ Jesus, they are complete. It is not about their performance – it is about God’s grace, love and power, given through Jesus Christ and received through faith. Yes, they need to address some things about how they are living their lives in the world. But in the spiritual realm, where their spirits are alive and connected with God through faith in Jesus, they have already been made perfect and complete. The task is to bring that power to bear on the way they live their lives. Paul closes this opening section like this:

He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.