When the Focus Is On Jesus, Things Happen!

Posted by David on March 9, 1997 under Bulletin Articles

A new congregation sprang into existence–seemingly from nowhere! It was this country’s first congregation, and it sprang to life almost spontaneously. Missionaries did not start it. It came into existence when some Christians arrived in the area looking for a place to live. Living in visible joy and faith, they introduced people to the crucified, resurrected Jesus.

This congregation was truly unique! Previously, Christ was not shared with people like these. This kind of people simply were not taught in other countries.

Before this congregation, all congregations began with a core group of converts who knew scripture and understood prophecies. Previously, each congregation had this core group the moment it began. From its beginning, it had a basic, sound understanding of godliness and morality.

But this new congregation began without that core group. Its converts previously worshipped idols. Therefore, their pre-conversion concept of morality was strikingly different. A scripture-based concept of godliness was new to them.

The first (and oldest) congregation was concerned. Since this new congregation began without their knowledge or oversight, they were not sure what had happened. Because they had not sent the teachers, they also were concerned about what was happening.

This “oldest of all congregations” decided it was wise to send a personal representative to evaluate the situation. When he arrived, the representative was thrilled! He saw that the hand of the Lord was with these people. He clearly saw the grace of God at work. With joy, he encouraged these new Christians to resolve to remain true to the Lord. Read about this congregation in Acts 11:19-30 and 13:1-3. They became an important missions base in the Roman empire.

When the focus is on Jesus, things happen!

In Here or Out There?

Posted by David on March 2, 1997 under Sermons

Grandma died three days ago. She was 94. The whole family gathered for the funeral. It was the first time since Grandpa died ten years ago that the whole family was in one place at one time.

The funeral is over. By mutual agreement, it was a celebration. A celebration was the only appropriate way to remember Grandma. She was a loving, kind, godly woman who used life well. She was a blessing to her family, to the church, to her neighbors, and to the community. The way she used her life to bless others earned her a reputation that anyone would be honored to have.

Until the last two weeks of her life she lived in the home that she and Grandpa built the year after they married. All their children grew up in that home. It was filled with a lifetime of furnishings and memories. It had a huge attic.

After the funeral, the whole family gathered at Grandma’s house. It just sort of happened that all the brothers and sisters and all the adult grandchildren found themselves together in the attic taking mental strolls down memory lane.

Sitting against a far wall in the attic was an old, old table. At first no one noticed it. Finally someone asked, “Does anyone remember that old table?” It looked awful, but it was sturdy and in good repair. As they examined it closely they could tell that it had been heavily varnished and several coats of paint had been placed on top of the varnish. Slowly, they began to remember. The oldest could remember when it was just varnished. Others began to recall when it was white, or yellow, or black.

Someone wondered if it was worth anything. Someone said perhaps they need to throw it out with all the rest of the junk. But the oldest brother decided he would take it and strip all the paint and varnish off to see what was underneath.

It took a lot of work, a lot of patience, and a long time, but finally he got to the wood. He could hardly believe what he found. It was handmade by an excellent craftsman. And it was made of such fine walnut that such wood is not even available today. The combination of craftsmanship and quality wood made it a magnificent piece of furniture that would grace the finest home with its elegance. It was worthy of any food that could be served on any occasion.

But this magnificent table would have been discarded as junk unless someone successfully removed the paint and varnish.

1. The church is like that table.
   1. To anyone who looks at in its present condition without bias and with honest eyes, it looks terrible.
      1. Because of its appearance, it is valued only by members of the family.
         1. The church is sturdy and well built, but it is ugly to all who do not love it.
         2. Those who love it value the church more for their past memories than for its present function.
         3. If those who love it were to say what they think in their hearts, they would admit that sometimes they wonder if the church is a junk piece.
      2. The majority of the people in a state or in the nation would not have it.
         1. When they look at it, they find it ugly and offensive.
         2. They do not see any need for it–it is just something that sits around and gets in the way.
      3. Those who love the church and value it are a minority.
         1. They look at it through different eyes.
         2. They see it “in a light” and with an affection that few others can.
      4. Most people think that they would not like to be served in any way at any time by the church.
         1. Just looking at it turns them off; the sight of it causes them to lose their appetites.
         2. It looks downright unsanitary to them.
            1. They see the fighting and arguing about concerns that make no sense to them.
            2. They see bickering, resentments, and ill will among members.
            3. They witness the obvious power struggles as people grasp for power and control.
            4. And they see and hear what they regard to be downright arrogance.
   2. The church has been varnished and painted so many times that it looks like something out of the past that is useless in the world today.
      1. When the people who have belonged to it for years talk about it, they often begin by saying, “I remember when . . .”
      2. It has been painted so many times that most people can’t tell what it really is.
         1. In the 1800s there was a lot of concern over the denominational concept of church, so it was varnished with undenominational varnish.
         2. In the 1900s issues were constantly arising, and with each new issue, it was painted again.
            1. Each debate over issues such as paid preachers, premillennialism, congregational cooperation, and worship issues resulted in it receiving a new coat of paint.
            2. Most recently it has been painted striped–white stripes were applied with conservative paint; gray stripes with progressive paint; and black stripes with liberal paint.
   3. The magnificence, the beauty, and the value of what God brought into existence will never be seen unless we carefully and lovingly strip away all the paint and the varnish.
      1. If we take the time, the patience, and do the necessary hard work to get all the way down to the original table, we will discover a magnificent piece of spiritual furniture hand-crafted by Jesus Christ.
         1. And it is the most unique piece of furniture that has ever existed–there has never, never been anything like it, and there never will be anything to equal it.
         2. This one of a kind, hand-crafted piece of furniture is not only made by the hands of Jesus Christ, but made from Jesus Christ!
         3. Jesus is both the craftsman and the spiritual material–that is why there will never be anything else like it.
      2. When we strip all the paint and varnish off and get down to Jesus Christ, this is what you see.
         1. You see acceptance of any person who accepts Christ no matter what his or her past is, no matter what he or she is or has been.
         2. You see love as it exists nowhere else.
         3. You see kindness as it exists no where else.
         4. You see compassion that surpasses all other expressions of compassion.
         5. You see mercy and forgiveness.
         6. You see joy, and hope, and gladness of heart, and purpose in living.
         7. And you see power, a most unusual power.
      3. Then and only then will the world see the magnificence and the value of the church.
   4. But how do we identify the paint and the varnish to be removed?
      1. We identify the paint and the varnish by allowing the scripture to advance our education instead of assuming we already know everything.
      2. We identify the paint and varnish by holding our basic concepts up to the full light of Jesus Christ.
      3. We identify the paint and the varnish by carefully going all the way back to Christ ‘s teachings.
2. Let’s begin that process tonight by asking the question, “Did Christ build the church to have an ‘in here’ focus or an ‘out there’ focus?”
   1. As we are studying in the Wednesday night auditorium class, before the church existed, Jesus gave those who would open his kingdom both an “in here” and “out there” focus.
      1. Christians as God’s family are basically committed to evangelism.
         1. We understand that we are to share our Savior and his good news with all people in all nations, and that most assuredly includes all people within our own nation.
         2. We are to go to all nations to make disciples who follow Jesus as Matthew 28:19 encourages us to do.
      2. Christians as God’s family are basically committed to nurturing.
         1. The basic purpose of each New Testament epistle was nurturing.
         2. The epistles were not evangelistic in design or intent.
         3. They were written to help nurture and mature Christians.
         4. We must be just as committed to teaching the baptized to “observe all things” that Jesus commanded as we are to evangelism–that is Jesus’ specific instruction in Matthew 28:20.
      3. I must confess that personally I fear that our discussions of evangelism and edification tend to be more theoretical than practical, more theological idealism than spiritual realism.
   2. Let’s ask the question in a way that reveals a layer of the varnish that has been painted on the church: Which does God love the most:
      1. The church, which is nothing more than those people who have accepted salvation in Jesus Christ?
      2. Or the ungodly world, those people who have not accepted salvation in Jesus Christ?
   3. The answer to that question reveals an important answer to many questions.
      1. For example, should the church have the “defend the fort” mentality or the “yeast in the world” mentality?
      2. What is the “defend the fort” mentality?
         1. This is the thought that Christ intended Christians as the church to isolate themselves from all ungodliness in every place and every form.
         2. We gather up the saved within the church, and we do all that we can to isolate ourselves from the “real world.”
         3. Christians protect the church and each other by creating their isolated community and confining all possible meaningful contact to each other.
         4. We are to be friends only with each other, we are to spend meaningful time only with each other, we listen only to each other, and as best we can we restrict life to Christian contacts.
         5. We keep the church “in here” and we keep the world “out there” and we search for ways to force the world “out there” to conform to our standards and principles whether they believe in Christ or not.
      3. What is the “yeast in the world” mentality?
         1. In Matthew 13:33 Jesus said:
            The kingdom of heaven is like leaven (yeast), which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened.
         2. The woman took a small amount of yeast and put it in a huge ball of dough, and in time the whole ball of dough rose.
         3. The yeast mentality says, “I cannot have a positive influence on people who do not know or have not accepted Christ by refusing to have any contact with them.”
         4. “Jesus has placed me on this earth as a Christian for me to have contact with unchristian society.”
         5. “They need to see Christ living in me.”
         6. “That is the only way they will understand the value of being a Christian.”
         7. “They need to see the kind of life and relationships built by belonging to Christ.”
         8. “They will never look at the church differently unless they are touched by the lives of those who live in Christ.”
         9. “Therefore, I will have meaningful fellowship with Christians, but I will also have meaningful interaction with people who do not even understand Christianity.”
      4. The “defending the fort” mentality has been very popular since the 1950s.
         1. We painted the church with a thick coat of that varnish.
         2. We made the varnish with a very special blend:
            1. “Evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33, King James translation)–what was our message to Christians?
            2. “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22, King James translation)–what was our message to Christians?
            3. A strong, reasoned teaching on never doing anything that would give anyone else a wrong idea.
            4. That made a thick, durable varnish, and we put a heavy coat of it on the church.
   4. Jesus said:
      1. We are to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).
         1. He said “we” are the light of the world–not our preacher, not our sermons, not our printed material, not our radio broadcast, not our television lessons, but “we.”
            1. All of those teaching approaches are desperately needed and very important–I have used and will use all of them.
            2. But our teaching is believable only if “we” are the light as “we” live in the darkness of the world.
         2. If we confine the light to inside the fort, how will the world ever see it?
         3. Jesus said we put the light up high like a city on a hill where all can see it.
         4. If we are not going to be light in the darkness, what is the point of being light?
      2. We are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13).
         1. Again, he said “we.”
         2. If we put all the salt in the fort, how will the salt preserve the rotting world?
         3. Again, the salt is not what we teach; it is what we are in our lives, our actions, our relationships.
   5. So we return to our original question: Does God love the church more than he loves the ungodly world?
      1. If we give our reaction answer, we say, “He loves the church more than the world.”
         1. “He loved the church enough to die for it” (Ephesians 5:25).
         2. “He loved the church enough to purchase it with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
         3. “He loved the church enough to call it his body on earth” (Ephesians 1:22, 23).
      2. But Jesus himself said:
         1. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son” (John 3:16).
         2. “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32).
         3. “Come unto me all you who are burdened and weary, and I will give your souls rest” (Matthew 11:28-30).
         4. There is not one single person in the ungodly world that he does not want as a part of his body (2 Peter 3:9).
      3. And what did Jesus himself do?
         1. He ate with tax collectors and sinners, and was criticized for it (Matthew 9:10,11).
         2. He forgave and encouraged the religious outcasts of his day.
         3. Among those he selected to be his special disciples were some pretty rough fellows.
         4. He even died between two thieves (Matthew 27:38).
         5. Jesus was light in the world; the light did not merely come from what he taught; it came from what he was, what he did, and how he interacted with the ungodly world.

Why did we apply the varnish of our fort mentality? Because we were and are afraid. For at least the last 40 years, the church’s mentality has been formed more from our fears than from our faith. Fear builds forts. Faith is yeast, and light, and salt.

Understanding: The Never-Ending Quest

Posted by David on under Sermons

It is fascinating and terrifying to live in the middle of the knowledge explosion. Because we are intimidated by all that we do not know, we often do not realize how much we have learned. This morning I can ask questions about common knowledge that I could not ask thirty-five years ago. Thirty-five years ago, no one could have understood the questions.

Want two examples? Question one: “What happened when the shuttle mission visited the Hubble telescope?” You understand I am asking about the space shuttle and its trip into space to work on the Hubble telescope that provides information about the stars. Had I asked that question thirty-five years ago, no one, including me, could have understood the question.

Question two: “Did a member of your family have a quadruple bypass?” You understand that question. First, I am asking if someone in your family had heart surgery. Second, I am asking if four exterior repairs were made on the heart to remove blockage. Thirty-five years ago that question did not make sense.

All of us understand that with each new decade, there is more to know and more to understand. To refuse to learn the new knowledge and gain better understandings creates severe handicaps.

Just as refusing to learn and understand new knowledge produces handicaps in everyday life, so will refusing to learn and understand new knowledge produce handicaps in our spiritual lives.

1. New knowledge and new understanding have always presented spiritual challenges to each age.
   1. I thank God that I was not a devout, godly Israelite living in Palestine when Jesus lived and taught!
      1. The Old Testament message of the Israelite prophets had been taught for generations in the Jewish synagogue.
         1. Those prophecies had been examined, analyzed, and interpreted.
         2. The meaning of those prophesies had been determined for a long time, and the majority of religious Israel accepted those explanations as being unquestionable truth.
      2. Then Jesus came.
         1. He came declaring that those prophecies were about him.
         2. He came bringing new knowledge, new understandings, new applications.
         3. He came teaching things that no one ever taught before.
         4. He came challenging those well-studied conclusions that devout Jews held.
         5. The greatest single barrier that prevented most of Israel from accepting Jesus was his new knowledge and understandings.
   2. In Matthew 13, Jesus taught lessons about the kingdom of heaven by using seven parables and explaining two of those parables.
      1. After teaching his disciples privately about the kingdom, Jesus made this statement:
         Therefore, every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old (Matthew 13:52).
         1. The scribe Jesus refers to is a person who made handwritten copies of Scripture.
         2. He became an expert in what was common religious knowledge.
         3. If he responded to Jesus’ presentation of the kingdom of heaven, he also acquired new knowledge and a new understanding.
         4. He could use the old and the new knowledge and understanding to open God’s treasures to others.
      2. Grasping Jesus’ new knowledge and understandings while he lived was extremely difficult.
         1. Not even his twelve special disciples really grasped his new knowledge and understanding.
         2. I find this statement significant in the Gospel of Luke–it is made on an occasion after Jesus’ resurrection when he appeared to the eleven:
            Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. . . (Luke 24:45)
            1. They knew the Scriptures.
            2. They just did not understand the references in Scripture to the Christ.
      3. Shortly after his resurrection, Jesus was walking with two disciples.
         1. They did not realize that this man walking with them was Jesus.
         2. Jesus’ death confused them because they hoped that he would be the person that God promised would deliver Israel. What they expected and what God intended were totally different.
         3. Earlier in the day they heard the report that Jesus was alive again, and that increased their confusion.
      4. This is what Jesus said to the two men:
         O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
         Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures. (Luke 24:25, 27)
         1. They had a lot to learn, a lot to understand that was new to them.
      5. It is clear that the first time Peter understood the full meaning of the prophet Joel’s statement in Joel 2:28-32 was when he explained it in Acts 2.
      6. It is also clear that not even the apostles received a complete understanding of God’s will at one single time.
         1. Peter had his mind opened to understand the Scriptures concerning Christ in Luke 24:45.
         2. Peter understood the full meaning of Joel 2:28-32 on the first day the gospel was preached in Acts 2.
         3. But some time after that, perhaps a year or more, the Lord sent a confused Peter to preach Jesus to some Gentiles.
         4. Only when Peter began to speak to them in Acts 10 did he finally understand a truth that was as old as God’s plans.
            I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right, is welcome to Him. (Acts 10:34, 35)
            1. That is the very first time Peter understood that truth.
         5. Late in life Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:14-16 that Paul wrote in the wisdom that God had given him, and that some of the things that Paul said were hard to understand and easy to distort. From that statement, I take it Peter was still growing in understanding.
      7. As I said, I give thanks to God that I was not a devout Jew in the first century–it would have been extremely difficult for me to accept the fact that I needed new knowledge and new understanding.
         1. Knowing yourself, do you think you would have quickly accepted the new knowledge and understanding?
         2. Or knowing yourself, do you think you would have fought the new knowledge and understanding?
2. I believe with all my being that the Bible is God’s inspired word, that it exists through God’s inspiration, and that it is the true authority of God and Christ.
   1. Because I believe that it is God’s inspired word, that it is God’s authority for us, that faith leads me to accept these understandings.
      1. I must never be afraid to learn and understand anything the Bible teaches.
         1. Since I will never possess perfect knowledge, I will always be learning.
         2. Since I will always be learning, I will always need to adjust my understanding.
      2. I must never use my reasoning to discard or ignore teachings that challenge my past conclusions.
         1. I must not ignore any “in context” Bible teaching.
         2. I must not decide that the principles it teaches are unimportant.
      3. I must constantly grow in my knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ.
         1. Peter wrote that God had granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:3).
         2. My understanding of Jesus Christ must be the foundation of all my spiritual knowledge and understanding.
   2. Someone asks, “Well, doesn’t that frighten you?”
      1. “If you learn something from the Bible that you never knew or understood before, doesn’t that frighten you?”
      2. “If you learn something from the Bible that brings you to a more correct understanding, doesn’t that frighten you?”
      3. “If you learn from the Bible that you need to accept and believe some things that you rejected in the past, doesn’t that frighten you?”
      4. No, it does not frighten me anymore.
         1. Sometimes it makes me nervous.
         2. Sometimes it begins a struggle between my conscience and my understanding.
         3. Sometimes it is hard.
         4. But it does not frighten me anymore.
      5. “Why? Why doesn’t it frighten you anymore?”
         1. Because my commitment as a Christian is to get as close to God and Christ as I can get–in my mind, my heart, my conscience, and my understanding.
         2. Everything I learn and understand just brings me that much closer to God, that much closer to Jesus.
         3. A correct understanding of Scripture will never lead me further away from God, Christ, the Spirit, or truth.
3. My grandfather on my mother’s side of the family was Granville Martin.
   1. He married a young lady a couple of years younger than himself when he was in his mid-teens.
      1. The first year Joyce and I were married they celebrated their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary.
      2. They lived to celebrate their seventy-second wedding anniversary.
      3. They had ten children, and my mother was next to the youngest.
      4. Before I reached my teens, there were five living generations in that family–we stopped having family reunions when we outgrew the park that we used in Nashville, Tennessee.
      5. All his work life he did hard, manual labor–he worked as a blacksmith then as a laborer in a brick yard for many years of his life.
      6. If I remember correctly, he had about a sixth grade education.
      7. He was a very generous, kind man.
   2. My childhood home was 120 miles from his home.
      1. That was long before interstate highways in Tennessee.
      2. There was a two-lane road coming out of the mountains that passed through every town and all the traffic lights.
      3. Since my Dad commuted 100 miles to work and back five days a week in the other direction, our visits to my grandparents were limited to a couple of times a year.
      4. In my earliest memories of him, he had snow white hair, and a lot of it.
   3. Granville Martin was a very devout, godly man.
      1. He was a diligent student of the Bible–I sincerely doubt that there were many days when he did not read and meditate.
         1. He studied from the King James translation.
         2. I seriously doubt that he would have studied from the Revised Standard translation which was published long before he died.
      2. He was a prayerful man.
         1. The day ended in his home with a family devotional, and if you were there you were a part of it.
         2. On the few occasions that I was there, he led the prayer.
         3. I can still see him getting down on his knees and leaning over his chair.
         4. For years he preached and taught on Sundays.
         5. He was a loved, respected elder in the Park Avenue congregation in Nashville, Tennessee for many, many years.
   4. When I was a sophomore at David Lipscomb College, the Park Avenue congregation asked me to teach their adult auditorium Bible class on Sundays for a semester–that was the class my grandfather attended.
      1. The class was studying 1 Corinthians.
      2. I remember well the Sunday I discussed 1 Corinthians 1:21–that in the wisdom of God it pleased God to choose the “foolishness of preaching” to save those who believe.
         1. The common explanation of this verse is that preaching was a foolish activity.
         2. I pointed out, as I had just learned, that proclamation was the common way to present and spread any message.
         3. The correct emphasis of this passage is that God chose the “foolishness of the thing preached,” the message about the crucifixion and resurrection, to save those who place their faith in the crucifixion and resurrection.
      3. I still remember my elderly, well-studied grandfather telling me after class that morning, “You may be right.”
   5. There are things that I understand from Scripture that my grandfather never had opportunity to know.
      1. Some of those things did not even exist to be known in his lifetime; we can know and understand more about the Bible today than was possible then.
      2. He never had the educational opportunities that I have had.
      3. He never had the learning environment that I have lived in all my life.
      4. Does that mean that my knowledge and understanding condemns him? No, it does not.
      5. Does my knowledge and understanding diminish his faith and godliness? No, it does not.
      6. Does the fact that I know and understand things he did not make me a better man than he was? Absolutely not!
   6. With his faith, education, and opportunity, he learned as much as he could, understood to the best of his ability, and became a devout man of excellent Christian character.
      1. If I am as committed to God as he was, I can do no less.
      2. Within my faith, education, and opportunity, I must learn as much as I can, understand to the best of my ability, and become a devout man of excellent Christian character.
      3. And if I do that, some day a son of mine will say the same thing about me: “Within David Chadwell’s faith and knowledge, he was true to his faith and understanding.”
         1. That will happen because each generation of Christians is growing in its understanding of the mind of God.
         2. That will happen because I already have a son who knows and understands things about Scripture that I will never know–because he has better knowledge, better education, and better opportunity to understand.

As Christians, we desperately need to learn to stop opposing Bible knowledge by creating a battle ground which we divide between right and wrong. We need to understand that much of the time we are making choices and decisions between good and better, not good and evil.

Don’t worship your religious heritage. Worship Jesus Christ. Don’t go to war over your conclusions. Lift up the crucified Jesus. Rightly divide the word of truth.

Greet One Another!

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

We deceive ourselves when we conclude that being God’s family is more difficult today than it was in the first century. We are deluded when we conclude that it was simple to be a congregation in Jesus’ Palestine or Paul’s Roman empire. When slaves and their owners were God’s family in a first century congregation, it must have been incredibly complicated! Can you imagine working in a slave-master relationship at home and a brother-brother relationship in God’s family? How awkward!

Devout Jews did not socially associate with non-Jews. They commonly had little or no respect for non-Jews who worshipped idols. “Can you believe those people! They call a carved piece of wood or stone ‘god’? How ignorant!” Then, suddenly, a converted Jew found himself brother to a converted idolater–only because they both were in Christ. How awkward!

Non-Jews commonly had little respect for Jews. The non-Jews experienced rejection and discrimination for generations. “Those prejudiced, arrogant people! My money is always good, but I never am! They have absolutely no respect for us! They hold us in contempt!” Then, suddenly, a converted idolater found himself brother to a converted Jew–only because they both were in Christ. How awkward!

Those are three obvious difficulties. They clearly illustrate the urgency of an admonition repeatedly made to Christians. To the Christians in cosmopolitan Rome: “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (Romans 16:16). Twice to the Christians in decadent, sensuous Corinth: “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (1 Corinthians 16:20 and 2 Corinthians 13:12). To the Christians in wealthy Thessalonica: “Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss” (1 Thessalonians 5:26). To the Christians scattered throughout five provinces of the Roman empire: “Greet one another with a kiss of peace” (1 Peter 5:14).

They were urged to recognize the fact that they were family. Being in Christ made them family. They were to greet each other as family, and they were to physically express their family bond. “Greet each other warmly, genuinely, and sincerely.”

Greeting each other warmly, genuinely, and sincerely is no less important today. Because we are in Christ, we are family. That is the reality of our relationship, not a theological technicality. God through Christ made us family. We must build living bonds in that family.

When Needs Connect to Power

Posted by David on February 23, 1997 under Sermons

Several years ago a man started a rural business in a tiny community. His tiny farming community was located 150 miles from any town of any size. So he began by stocking things in small amounts that he knew the people in his area needed–a little feed, a little fertilizer, a few basic farming supplies.

He was six foot four, weighed a lean but muscular 240 pounds, and was strong as an ox. When a truck arrived with his supplies, he moved everything by hand. He just picked it up and carried to where he wanted it.

His business grew. Since his was the most convenient place to get supplies, his orders grew bigger and bigger. For example, when he started, a thousand pounds of feed was a huge order. Now he was ordering feed by the tons. The same thing happened with all his supplies–volume really increased. He was still strong as an ox, but it was close to impossible to move all those supplies by hand.

One day a driver said, “I can’t believe you don’t have a forklift.” He didn’t know anything about a forklift. The driver explained, “A forklift would move all this stuff wherever you wanted it in a tenth of the time it is taking you now.”

So the man ordered a one-ton forklift by phone. When it was delivered, the person who delivered it assumed that the man knew how to use it. He showed him how to start it, how to run it, how to raise the lift, and how to place a load. He demonstrated with five sacks of feed.

The man who bought the lift was amazed and thrilled. He would manually place five one-hundred pound bags on the lift, drive the bags where he wanted them, manually stack them, and go get five more bags. And he was elated that he could do the job so much faster and easier.

One day the driver arrived with an especially large order of feed. He knew the man had bought the forklift, so he asked if he could use it to off load the feed. The man was dumbfounded as he watched the driver move this huge order, lifting pallet by pallet. He was astounded to realized that he had access to all that power and did not even know it was there.

Many of us in our prayer life are too much like the man hauling five hundred pounds of feed on a one-ton forklift. Each time we discover the power of prayer on a higher level, we are astounded when we realize that we had all that power available and did not even know it was there.

1. Before we consider the power of prayer, I want to make what I regard to be some important observations.
   1. Observation #1: Effective prayer is dependent on heart and attitude, not on procedure.
      1. If you have a four-year-old, an eight-year-old, and an eleven-year-old, you will listen to, understand, and respond to each one of them.
         1. They each will have different vocabularies, differing abilities to communicate, and different levels of thinking and awareness.
         2. But you are quite capable of listening to each one of them on his or her own level and with understanding responding to that child’s true needs.
         3. If you have more than one child in your family, every one of them is different, and–unless they are identical twins–they have totally different levels of communication and comprehension.
         4. Having children of different ages challenges our abilities to listen and understand, but rarely does it exceed our abilities.
      2. God is a better parent to His children than we ever dreamed of becoming.
         1. He understands what we are asking and what we need when we do not even understand ourselves.
         2. He understands what we are trying to say when we don’t even know how to say it.
      3. The key to effective prayer is a matter of heart and attitude.
         1. If the heart and attitude are right, God is touched.
         2. Procedures and technicalities are never the key to effective prayer.
      4. Jesus made that point eloquently in the parable about the prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14.
   2. Observation # 2: We must understand and hold a critical awareness about relationship if we are to pray effectively.
      1. God does not exist to be our servant; we exist to be God’s servant.
         1. God is our Father, not our servant.
         2. We must approach Him as a Father that we love and respect dearly.
         3. We must never approach Him as though it is His obligation to do as we instruct Him to do.
         4. He exalts the humble; he turns a deaf ear to the egotistical.
      2. We did not make God; God made us.
         1. God is not our creation.
         2. You and I are God’s creation.
         3. God does not depend on us–for anything; his purposes will come to pass with or without us.
         4. We are dependent on him–for everything; our true purposes cannot come to pass without him.
   3. Observation # 3: God commonly works in unexpected ways to do the unexpected.
      1. When God had the prostitute Rahab rescued from Jericho , he allowed her to be one of the ancestors through whom the Christ came; God was working in an unexpected way to do the unexpected.
      2. When God sent Jonah with a message for the cruel, vicious, idolatrous nation of Assyria, God was working in an unexpected way to do the unexpected.
      3. When Jesus worked through a Samaritan woman who had been divorced five times and was living with a man to whom she was not married, God was working in an unexpected way doing the unexpected.
      4. When Jesus when to the home of Zachaeus, a wealthy tax collector who was a social untouchable in the city of Jericho, God was working in an unexpected way doing the unexpected.
      5. When Jesus told the thief who was dying on a cross beside his cross that the thief would be with Jesus in paradise that day, God was working in an unexpected way doing the unexpected.
      6. God has never stopped working in unexpected ways doing the unexpected.
2. There are so many examples of the power God makes available to us through prayer that it is difficult to pick just a few. I want to call your attention to two.
   1. The first example I call to your attention is Hannah in 1 Samuel chapters one and two.
      1. Hannah’s husband was a polygamist; Hannah was one of two wives married to Elkanah.
      2. Elkanah was a devout Israelite.
         1. He was very conscientious in making a yearly trip to the tabernacle to offer sacrificial worship to God.
         2. He loved Hannah, was very kind to her, and was very generous to her.
      3. But Peninnah, Elkanah’s other wife, took the occasion of this annual trip to the tabernacle to torment Hannah.
         1. Peninnah had children–she had been blessed by God; she was fulfilling her role in Israel.
         2. Hannah had no children, so when the family made their annual trip to worship at the tabernacle, Peninnah made it an occasion to remind Hannah that she had not been blessed by God.
         3. She would provoke Hannah bitterly, deliberately irritating her because she had no children (1:6).
      4. One year she tormented Hannah so much that Hannah could do nothing but cry–she could not even eat.
         1. Elkanah lovingly tried to comfort her, but without success.
         2. Hannah privately went to the tabernacle in great distress and prayed to the Lord as she wept bitterly.
         3. In her prayer she made a vow: “If you will bless me with a son, Lord, I will give him back to you.”
         4. She prayed silently, but she moved her lips as she prayed.
         5. Eli, the high priest, saw her weeping and moving her lips and concluded she was drunk, and he chastised her for being drunk.
         6. She respectfully explained the she was oppressed in her spirit and that she was pouring out her soul before the Lord.
         7. Eli told her to go in peace and said, “May the Lord grant your petition.”
      5. In less than a year Hannah had a son.
      6. When her son, Samuel, was three years old she took him to the tabernacle and dedicated him to the Lord.
      7. He became one of the great prophets and great leaders of Israel in one of the most evil, troubled periods in Israel’s history.
      8. It happened because Hannah prayed to God.
   2. The second example I call to your attention is Jesus when he prayed the last night of his earthly life.
      1. At no time in Jesus’ life do you see the reality of his humanity as clearly as you do on the last night of his life.
      2. When he entered the garden to pray, Matthew tells us that he was grieved and distressed (Matthew 26:37).
         1. He told Peter, James, and John, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death” [I am as distressed as I would be if I were actually dying] (Matthew 26:38).
         2. He prayed three times, pleading with God to remove the necessity of his death.
         3. But he also yielded to the will of his Father.
      3. Mark describes Jesus’ mental state when he entered the garden to pray as being very distressed and troubled (Mark 14:33).
         1. Mark also records that Jesus told Peter, James, and John, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death” (Mark 14:34).
         2. Mark records Jesus saying in one of his prayers, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for you; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will but what you will” (Mark 14:36).
      4. Luke says of that evening, that “being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:44).
      5. You ask, “Where is the power in that prayer? He died. The death was not removed.”
         1. The power is seen in the way he surrendered to his captors and healed Malchus’ ear.
         2. The power is seen in his demeanor in the Jewish trials.
         3. The power is seen in the way he interacted with Pilate.
         4. The power is seen in the way he faced and endured death.
         5. The power is seen in the way he treated everyone while he was in the agony of one of the most painful forms of death ever invented.
         6. The power is seen in everything Jesus did after he prayed.
      6. God had the power to take the worst things that Satan could do and create an eternal Savior.
         1. He gave Jesus the strength to succeed in his sacrificial death.
         2. He raised Jesus from the dead.
         3. He made him Lord and Christ.
3. May I call two scriptures to your attention that affirm the enormous power that is available to us as children of God.
   1. In Romans 8, Paul was giving encouragement to the Christians in Rome who had endured and were enduring discouragement and suffering because they were Christians.
      1. The struggle was real.
      2. To me, Romans 8:31-39 is one of the most powerful and most encouraging scriptures ever written to Christians.
      3. In verses 31 and 32 Paul asks:
         If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will He not also with him freely give us all things?
      4. There is no power superior to God’s.
         1. Nothing can defeat Him.
         2. We belong to the winner who can not be conquered.
      5. How can we doubt that He will respond in any way necessary if He has already allowed His own son to die for us?
   2. The second statement was made to the Ephesian Christians in Ephesians 3:20-21:
      Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
      1. You cannot have a need or make a request that exceeds God’s power to be of help.
      2. He can do more than we can even imagine according to the power at work within us–right now.
      3. That is the power that keeps us in a saved condition, that forgives us, that sanctifies and purifies us, and that sustains our relationship with God.

There is no condition that Satan can create in your world or your life that God cannot work in. If God could take the crucifixion and create a Savior, God can take anything that happens in your life and produce your salvation.

Never conclude when terrible things happen in your life that God is not at work. He is not causing the terrible things, but he is working through those terrible things to advance your salvation. I have finally understood that when I am going through the most trying times of my life, God is doing His best and most powerful work. God’s power is most evident in my life when I am at my weakest.

The Power of Whole Person Love

Posted by David on under Sermons

The most powerful force in human life is love. Love will motivate people in ways that nothing else can. A husband who loves his wife will do things for her that he will do for no one else. Love will endure in ways that nothing else can. Nothing can equal the commitment of a loving mother to her child. Love will make sacrifices that nothing else will consider. Look at the sacrifices a loving spouse makes for his or her mate who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Love always hopes. Look at the loving parents who live in the hope that their addicted child will someday reach out for help.

Love advances every good thing into something that defies belief. Forgiveness is good. In any context, forgiveness functions in amazing ways. But the forgiveness that is rooted in love defies belief. Mercy is good. In any context, mercy functions in amazing ways. But the mercy that rises from love defies belief. Compassion is good. In any context, compassion functions in amazing ways. But the compassion that springs from love defies belief.

Answer this question. What is the most powerful form of love that exists? Of all forms of love, which one is the greatest? It is God Himself who revealed to us the most powerful form of love. The most powerful form of love that exists is “whole person” love.

1. God revealed “whole person” love by showing us His love for us.
   1. God loves us with His whole being–what an incredible understanding!
      1. Because God loves us:
         1. He chooses to show us mercy instead of giving us the wrath we deserve.
         2. He chooses to forgive us instead of punishing us for our failures and mistakes.
         3. He chooses to show us patience, giving us time to repent rather than demanding that we be immediately accountable for the evil we do.
         4. He chooses to treat us with kindness instead of justice.
         5. He chose to make sacrifices for us instead of being practical and cutting His losses.
      2. God can and does make these choices to our benefit because He loves us with His whole being.
   2. In our response to His love, God expects us to love Him with our “whole person.”
      1. That is God’s greatest desire.
         1. That is what God had always wanted–from the moment that he created Adam and Eve.
         2. That has always been the only acceptable response to God’s love.
         3. Heaven will be filled with people who love God with their whole person.
      2. Deuteronomy 6:4, 5 introduced Israel to this expectation.
         1. With God’s direction and through God’s instruction, Moses:
            1. Secured the release of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.
            2. Led Israel across the Red Sea to escape the Egyptian army.
            3. For forty years he led them in a hostile wilderness.
            4. Twice he led them to the border of the country God promised to give them.
         2. The last time he led them to that border he was a very old man, about 120 years old.
            1. The Old Testament book named Deuteronomy is Moses’ last instructions and directions to the nation before he dies.
            2. It is a review of God’s instructions and expectations.
            3. Listen to this statement:
               The Lord our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
      3. Hundreds of years later the New Testament Gospel of Luke (10:25-28) tells us that a lawyer approached Jesus asking, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
         1. That kind of lawyer was not the same occupation of the lawyers of today.
            1. He was an expert in Jewish law, in religious law, in what we call the law of Moses.
            2. His question was not a serious question–he asked Jesus a religious question designed to put Jesus to the test.
            3. He was the expert in religious law; Jesus was an uneducated teacher from the country.
         2. Jesus returned his question to him: “You are the expert; how do you read the law? What answer does the law give to your question?”
            1. Since the man was knowledgeable and regarded himself to be the expert, he answered without hesitation.
            2. This was his answer: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).
         3. Jesus responded: “You have given the correct answer; do this and you will live.”
      4. The Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 22:34-40) tells us that another lawyer approached Jesus during the last week of his life.
         1. This lawyer was a part of the group of Pharisees who were determined to discredit Jesus and turn the people against him.
            1. They had already plotted together to try to trap Jesus in something that he said (Matthew 22:15).
            2. Each attempt was very unsuccessful, so the lawyer asked a question that he hoped would trip Jesus.
            3. The question: “Teacher, of all the commandments from God recorded in the law that Moses gave us, which one of those commandments is the greatest commandment?”
            4. By greatest commandment, he meant which one commandment of all the commandments that God gave us is the most important.
         2. Jesus answered without hesitation:
            ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
         3. Then Jesus made this astounding statement: “On these two commandments depend the whole law and the Prophets.”
         4. These two commandments stand as the foundation of every commandment given by God given to Israel!
      5. During this same week, the last week of Jesus’ life, the Gospel of Mark (Mark 12:28-34) tells us that a scribe was listening to all the attempts to discredit Jesus.
         1. A scribe was a person who wrote; one of his most important jobs was to produce copies. Likely this scribe was one of the men who helped make copies of scripture.
            1. Since the printing press would not be invented for hundreds of years, all copies of scripture had to be hand copied.
            2. This man was likely one of the people who helped do that.
            3. The very exact, deliberate process of copying scripture would make him very knowledgeable about what scripture said.
         2. One day this scribe was listening as different groups were politely asking Jesus questions that were intended to make Jesus look foolish or stupid.
            1. He was impressed with Jesus’ answers, for Jesus never sounded foolish, uninformed, or stupid.
            2. He was impressed with the way Jesus handled the situation.
         3. So this scribe asks a serious question: “What is the most important commandment God has given us?”
         4. Jesus answered:
            The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. ‘ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
         5. Then Jesus said, “There is no other commandment greater than these.”
         6. The scribe agreed. In fact, the scribe declared that these two commandments were more important than the commandments to offer sacrificial worship to God.
         7. When Jesus heard the scribe answer so intelligently, he told the scribe, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
2. I want you to think with me for a minute.
   1. What can you do to give the greatest possible obedience to God?
      1. Of everything that is within human ability to do, what is the most important obedience you can give?
      2. What obedience does God see as being the most significant obedience we can give?
   2. We give the greatest possible obedience when we obey the greatest commands, or, we give the most important possible obedience when we obey the most important commands.
      1. When we love God with “whole person” love, we are rendering the greatest obedience possible.
      2. When we love God with “whole person” love, we will express that love in loving others as we love ourselves.
      3. There is no obedience we can offer that is more important than that obedience.
      4. I am not suggesting that because we obey these two commandments we can ignore any of God’s other instructions.
         1. But these two commands are the foundation for all obedience.
         2. If we obey all other commands but these two, we have nothing.
      5. Why? “Whole person” love is the most accurate reflection of God that we are capable of reflecting.
      6. The scribe understood that “whole person” love is more important than obeying worship commands.
         1. The scribe was not suggesting that worshipping God was unimportant; he was acknowledging that in the list of spiritual priorities, loving God is number one on the list.
         2. That sounds so strange to us that it sounds like it just could not be correct–we have been told many times through the years that worship is number one on the list of spiritual priorities.
         3. It is possible to do everything we are instructed to do in worship without loving God–we can cross every “t” and dot every “i” and do it without love.
         4. But it is impossible to love God with your “whole person” and not worship God.
         5. Worship coming from love is powerful; worship without love is without meaning.
         6. Jesus even said that “whole person” love for God and loving people as we love ourselves is the highway to heaven.
      7. Paul wrote in Romans 13:8,10:
         Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
         Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
3. I personally do not believe that it is possible to exaggerate the power and the importance of “whole person” love.
   1. Nothing is needed more desperately right now than for us to allow God to teach us how to love with the “whole person,” and then for us to love God with the “whole person.”
      1. When you see marriages that are truly successful, you are witnessing “whole person” love. You are witnessing a person love someone else as much as he or she loves self.
         1. In truly successful marriages there is communication, kindness, supportiveness, consideration, compassion, unselfishness, sacrifice, joy, respect, appreciation, consideration, mercy, and forgiveness.
         2. Those things exist only where there is “whole person” love.
      2. When you see exceptional, enduring friendships, you are witnessing whole person love. You are watching someone love another person as much as he or she loves self.
         1. In an exceptional friendship that endures there is trust, respect, appreciation, kindness, empathy, consideration, the keeping of confidences, joy, kindness, generosity, and supportiveness.
         2. Those things only exist where there is “whole person” love.
      3. When you see extraordinary parent-child relationships, you are witnessing “whole person” love. You are witnessing parents and children love the other as self is loved.
         1. In the parent you see nurturing, compassion, forgiveness, encouragement, communication, constructive discipline, support in trials, assistance in failure, compliments in success, reasonable expectations, and a constant attention to education in life and values.
         2. In the child you see honor, respect, confidence, dependence, awareness that affection and support are unconditional, and a never-failing confidence in the fact that the child is important and significant.
         3. Those things only exist where there is “whole person” love.
      4. When you see quality Christian relationships, you are witnessing “whole person” love. You are watching people who love others as much as they love themselves.
         1. There are Christian relationships in which the persons could not be closer if they had been born in the same family.
         2. The love they have for each other, the support they give others, the understanding they share, the bond that exists between heart, mind, and soul are so unusual that a person has few such relationships in life.
         3. That exists only where there is “whole person” love.
      5. When you see an exceptional congregation, you are witnessing “whole person” love. You are witnessing people who are committed to loving others as much as they love themselves.
         1. In such a congregation there is a spirit, an attitude, a state of heart and of mind that you can actually feel.
         2. It is so caring, so positive, so genuine, people want to be a part of that community of Christians.
         3. These people don’t just meet a couple or three times a week and go their separate ways–they love being together, talking, sharing, and laughing–and they love helping, encouraging, and lifting up.
         4. They as quickly cry together as they laugh together.
         5. They reach out to others–they are not a closed family but an open community.
         6. They are hungry to make strangers quickly feel welcome, to make newcomers feel a part, to lift up the spirits of the discouraged, to help bear burdens, and to encourage.
         7. They find joy in each other just as they find it in God.
         8. That exists only where there is “whole person” love.

Whole person love is the most powerful force on earth. It is the most powerful force on earth because it is the finest reflection of God on earth. It can be the most powerful, positive force in your life. If it is, it will change every relationship in your life.

I Want . . .

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

“I want to draw closer to God than I have ever been. I want Jesus to exercise greater influence in my life. I want God’s Spirit to live in my mind and heart. I want to have more friends and better relationships. I want to increase the joy and happiness in my salvation.”

Wonderful! All of that can begin with one simple step. It can begin to happen in just one hour a week. By scheduling an hour a week, you can begin improving your relationship with God, Christ, and God’s Spirit and you can make friends and build relationships. The result will be increased joy and happiness in your salvation.

“Great! That’s an incredible opportunity! What do I do?” Attend a Sunday morning Bible class. A variety of study opportunities are offered. Numerous needs will be addressed in the classes.

Our spiritual needs are not identical. Our spiritual concerns are not identical. Our life crises are not identical. We seek to offer quality Bible classes that target our diverse adult needs. Each class will pursue a better understanding of God’s message in His Word.

Do you want to be closer to God? Increase Jesus’ influence in your life? Give God’s Spirit a greater place in your mind and heart? Develop more friendships? Build quality relationships? Increase joy and happiness in your salvation? Be a part of a class! SEE YOU IN BIBLE CLASS!

God, I Can’t Hear You!

Posted by David on February 16, 1997 under Sermons

One of the more difficult realities all of us must deal with is the reality of failed expectations. In virtually every area of our lives we have expectations. Many of our expectations are very important to us. Our expectations are rooted in our hopes. Only when we are completely without hope do we have no expectations.

One of life’s common experiences is for our expectations to fail to materialize. Expectations can fail to materialize for many reasons. Sometimes we expect the impossible. Sometimes we expect too much. Sometimes we have no reason for our expectation. Sometimes our expectation is no more than a wish.

Our expectations are so important to us that every failed expectation causes pain. The mildest reaction we have to a failed expectation is disappointment. The most common reaction to a failed expectation is depression. Severe reactions to failed expectations are hopelessness and a loss of faith.

Failed expectations seriously damage relationships. They severely damage a friendship, a marriage, a parent-child relationship, and a relationship with God.

There is a major assault on our relationship with God when God does not meet our expectations. Perhaps prayer is the most common reason for our concluding that God has failed to meet our expectations. We are urged to pray. We are urged to pray in confidence. We are urged to trust God to hear and respond to our prayers. Because we pray, we expect. When what we expect does not occur, we may be disappointed, or we may be depressed, or we may lose faith because we lose hope. When we pray and our expectations crash, if God is responding, we can’t hear Him.

1. We are given many assurances that are based on our trusting God in prayer.
   1. Let’s look at some of the common assurances.
      1. Jesus made this statement in a sermon to his disciples in Matthew 7:7, 8:
         Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
      2. Jesus is speaking to his twelve disciples in Matthew 18.
         1. He is answering a question that they asked.
         2. He has just assured them that whatever they bound or loosed on earth would be bound or loosed in heaven.
         3. Then he said to them in verse 19:
            Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.
      3. In Matthew 21 Jesus is again having a conversation with his twelve disciples in verse 18.
         1. At Jesus’ word, a fig tree withered and died.
         2. The next day the twelve were amazed to see the tree withered and asked how the tree withered so quickly.
         3. Jesus explained that they had to have the faith that did not doubt.
         4. Then he assured the twelve in verse 22:
            And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.
      4. In John 14 Jesus gave his final words and instructions to the twelve disciples just hours before his betrayal and arrest.
         1. Much of what he said to them was offered as assurance and encouragement.
         2. In verse 13, he told them:
            And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
      5. Then there is the parable in Luke 18 beginning in verse 1 when Jesus encouraged his disciples to always pray, and not to lose heart. In verse 7 Jesus asks:
         Now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?
   2. The New Testament letters to congregations and to Christian individuals contain many statements about prayerfulness.
      1. The authors often declare their prayerfulness.
      2. Some of Paul’s letters contain prayers he offered for those people.
      3. Christians were urged to pray.
   3. It is important to understand each statement in context.
      1. I do not conclude that the promises that Jesus made specifically to his twelve disciples are made to all Christians.
      2. However, there is the undeniable assurance that God responds to our request.
         1. If we place our confidence in Christ and God, we pray in faith expecting an answer.
         2. When we think we do not receive an answer, our expectations are often shattered.
         3. Shattered expectations can severely damage our faith.
   4. How are we to look at those times when we cannot hear God’s answer?
      1. That is a very complex question.
      2. I want to examine just one part of the answer this evening by examining a Scripture concerning prayer that we commonly give too little attention.
2. Please take a Bible and turn with me to James 4:1-10.
   1. Follow me by looking at the passage as I discuss it.
      1. Verse one begins with two questions.
         1. What causes us (I presume, in context, Christians) to quarrel so much?
            1. Obviously, he is writing to some Christians who fight with each other.
            2. Obviously, the quarreling is not an evidence of their godliness.
         2. Do you not realize that the sources of our pleasures are the basis of our conflicts?
      2. Verse two:
         1. You have consuming desires but those desires are never fulfilled, never satisfied.
         2. Those unsatisfied desires motivate you to kill (destroy?) each other.
         3. He is talking about the fact that these Christians are spiritually destructive to each other.
            1. You envy what the other has, but you cannot acquire it.
            2. So you fight and quarrel because you cannot have it.
         4. The reason you don’t have it is because you don’t ask God for it (pray!).
         5. Anticipated response:
            1. “Is that the reason I don’t have it? If all I have to do to get it is pray, then I’ll ask for it.”
            2. “God, let me have it; give me what I want.”
      3. Verse three: When you ask for it, God does not give it to you because your motive is wrong.
         1. You want it for the wrong purpose.
         2. Your concern is your own pleasure.
         3. You are asking, wanting, because you want to invest in your pleasure.
      4. Verse 4 states God and the ungodliness of this existence represent absolute opposites.
         1. God and godlessness in this existence are as opposite as total darkness and brilliant, pure light.
         2. They are enemies of each other; they cannot coexist; one must dominate.
         3. Either the darkness will consume the light, or the light will consume the darkness.
         4. To belong to God and to flirt with the ungodliness of this existence is to commit spiritual adultery as a Christian.
         5. That is unfaithfulness of the highest magnitude.
         6. To be a friend to the ungodliness of this existence is within itself an act of hostility toward God.
         7. It is impossible to befriend both.
      5. Verse 5 is a difficult verse.
         1. I understand that it is also a difficult verse to translate.
         2. Perhaps he is saying that even though they are ungodly in their desires and are consumed by their hunger for pleasure, God still yearns for them to belong to Him.
      6. Verse 6 states that God’s goodness is great enough to care for this situation–as bad as their motives and desires are, the situation is not impossible.
         1. His limitless goodness that gave us Jesus on the cross is adequate.
         2. His limitless goodness that paid in full the redemption price for all sin is adequate.
      7. Verses 6 through 10 state six things they can do to have access to the goodness of God.
         1. They can turn loose of their pride (which is causing their quarrels and wars) and be humble with each other. God responds to the humble.
         2. They can be submissive to God.
            1. Who was in control?
            2. Since the issue was “my pleasures,” the person was.
            3. In his prayers and his life, he was primarily concerned about self, about “my joy,” about “what I want.”
            4. He was not primarily concerned about God or God’s desires.
         3. They can resist Satan in their personal lives.
            1. When Satan is resisted, he flees.
            2. Satan is a deceiver, a discourager, an illusionist, not a confrontational fighter.
            3. The problem is that most Christians want to resist Satan everywhere but within their own lives.
            4. We get fired up about fighting evil “out there”; but we often ignore the war against evil that should be going on “in here.”
         4. They can get as close to God as choice and decision permit.
            1. “If you choose to come as close as you can to God,
            2. “Then God will come even closer than that to you.”
         5. They could grieve over their quarreling, the destructive treatment of each other, their friendship with the ungodly existence, and their devotion to their own pleasures. “Stop finding your joy in the problem!”
         6. They could humble themselves before God Himself. “Let God do the exalting instead of you attempting to exalt yourself.”
      8. Their problems:
         1. Quarreling.
         2. Devoting themselves to their desires for pleasure.
         3. Destructive treatment of each other.
         4. Envy.
         5. Friendship with the ungodly existence.
      9. Their keys to accessing God’s goodness:
         1. Humility toward each other.
         2. Submissiveness before God.
         3. Resisting Satan in their lives.
         4. Closeness to God.
         5. Grief over their present condition.
         6. Humility before God.

Please notice that all this makes a powerful statement on prayer and failed expectations. They had two problems. The first: they simply did not pray. The second: when they prayed, they had ungodly desires and ungodly motives.

Discussing communication with God is a complex discussion. We dare not oversimplify it. James 4 addresses an assumption that we need to correct. Physical well-being and pleasurable desires are extremely important to us on this earth. Because they are so important to us, we assume that they are also one of God’s top priorities. We assume that our having what we want and enjoy in this life is one of God’s great concerns. We assume that God wants us to be happy on this earth (by our concept of happiness). We assume God places great importance on fulfilling our physical and material desires.

Those are incorrect assumptions. God seeks our happiness for eternity, not on earth. God’s desires and purposes for us far exceed our physical and material desires and ambitions. When our prayers focus primarily on our physical and material desires, we have a wrong focus and wrong motives.

What Are You Trying to Prove?

Posted by David on under Sermons

Four or five times a week I work out at a gym. John Glidewell graciously and patiently allows me to workout with him. This is not a new experience. I been involved in exercise programs for over 20 years.

Why? Why exercise all that time? Why go to a gym and get into a physical fitness program? Why pay someone to sweat and strain and get sore? Different people have different reasons–and there are many, many reasons. Let me note just three reasons.

Some people work out to compete or to prepare for some form of competition. If you work out at the gym to compete with other people who work out, you will always meet someone who is stronger, bigger, and better developed than you are.

Some people work out to feel better about themselves. They use exercise to build their self-esteem, self-image, or self-confidence. That has merit. But it also has risk. With age and time, we lose physical ability. If we completely invest our concept of self in our physical bodies, we face a major crisis when our bodies decline.

Some people work out for the sake of their health. They want to become and to be the healthiest that they can be.

I knew before I began to work out that I had no interest in competing with anyone. I surely am glad I realized that! Competing is not an option for me! Sometimes I struggle to lift the bar with no weight on it! But this is true: if I could lift ten pounds more than someone, that would not make me more significant than that person.

I also realized that I did not want to define my person with my body. With my body, that is also fortunate! My body is just the house I live in while I am on this earth. “Me” is the person who resides in that house. “Me” will continue to live after this body dies.

Physically, I wanted to be the healthiest person that I can become. I want to be the healthiest I can be because I want to use my life to its fullest. There are many things I yet want to do with my life, and a healthy body is critical to doing those things.

Making a long term commitment to working out is the commitment to becoming and being. That becoming and being is based on a number of discoveries. Each discovery opens a door to new possibilities.

In that there is an important parallel between the long term commitment to exercise and the long term commitment to being a Christian.

1. In the New Testament, the Christians who were the church at Colossae had difficulty understanding a basic truth about Christian existence. Paul talked to them about their misunderstanding in Colossians 3:5-11.
   1. They had a hard time understanding that their existence before they became Christians and their existence after they became Christians were contrasting existences.
   2. The person each of them was before becoming a Christian and the person each of them was after becoming a Christian were distinctly different persons.
      1. When they became Christians, they did not become members of a club, or a fraternity, or a social organization–it was not a membership thing, it was a becoming thing.
      2. Becoming a Christian was much more than changing habits or accepting responsibilities.
      3. As a Christian person, he or she actually became something that never existed before.
   3. Since they as persons had become something that never existed before, their behavior, their moral conduct, and their relationships should reflect this new existence.
      1. Since what they now were had not existed previously, a radical transition had occurred.
      2. That radical change should be evident :
         1. In the way they used their bodies.
         2. n the way they used their lives.
         3. In all their relationships.
   4. This new person who now existed should understand that he or she has a new reason for existing.
      1. Before this new person existed, the old person was concerned about the physical, about now, about sensual gratification, about possessing.
      2. In the old person, those concerns controlled their thinking, their desires, and their ambitions.
      3. Those things controlled their daily conduct and focused their daily lives.
      4. Those also were the things that made them God’s enemies and stirred God’s just anger.
   5. Paul said, “But Jesus taught us and showed us that life is not about the physical, the now, sensual gratification, or the hunger to possess.”
      1. “The person that you were before you became a Christian:
         1. Indulged sexual desires by being sexually active outside of marriage.
         2. Pursued the yearnings and desires of greed.
         3. And both of these are forms of idolatry–they controlled you, and you served them.”
      2. “If you believe and understand that being in Christ makes you a different person, then you will make these commitments:
         1. The commitment to end sexual indulgence.
         2. The commitment to kill greed within you.
         3. The commitment to destroy both of these idols in your life–you serve Christ, not the idols of sexual desire and greed.”
      3. “You will bring to an end all forms of abusive speech.”
      4. “You will stop lying to each other.”
      5. “These things characterized the old person you were.
         1. They do not reveal the new person you have become.
         2. They should have died in you when the old person you were died.”
   6. “Let your body, your behavior, and your daily life reveal the new person.”
      1. “This new person is in a constant state of renovation.
         1. Your mind, your understanding, your concepts are in a continual state of transition, in a constant state of reconstruction.
         2. How do you sustain this continual state of transition, this constant state of reconstruction? Not by the false teachings about Christ you heard, but by the correct knowledge of Christ.”
      2. “Jesus created us.
         1. He created me physically, because he was God’s agent of creation when God created people.
         2. He created me spiritually when he forgave me and brought me into spiritual existence as a child of God.
         3. As my accurate knowledge and understanding of Jesus grows, the renovation and reconstruction of my life progresses.”
      3. “Everyone in Christ, no matter who he or she is, no matter where he or she came from, from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high is in a continual state of renovation.”
2. Please allow me to call two important facts to your attention.
   1. Fact number one: Paul was writing to people who had been Christians for a while.
      1. Obviously, these Christians did not grasp the full meaning of their baptism.
      2. Their comprehension of what had happened in their lives at their baptism was incomplete.
      3. They did not understand God’s powerful act of placing them in Christ.
         1. God just a surely performed that spiritual, creative act as He performed the creative act that brought physical life in existence.
         2. They were new persons because of God’s act.
      4. Even though they did not fully comprehend what happened, even though they did not correctly understand what happened, it still happened.
      5. They needed to grow in their understanding of what happened because they needed to begin the process of renovating their lives.
      6. They needed to bring their physical lives into harmony with the new person God made them.
         1. That renovation would not proceed on the basis of the false information they had heard about Jesus Christ.
         2. It would proceed on the correct knowledge of Jesus Christ.
         3. Understanding the image of Jesus would produce the reconstruction of their lives.
   2. Fact number two: They needed a serious commitment to reflect the new person in their physical lives.
      1. God spiritually re-created them when they were baptized into Christ.
         1. He forgave them and breathed spiritual life into them.
         2. He purified them and clothed them in Christ.
      2. But they had not put on their new natures.
         1. This new “self” was not yet revealed in their behavior and relationships.
         2. In Colossians 3:12-17 Paul is very specific about the expressions of the new “self:”
            1. Compassion
            2. Kindness
            3. Humility
            4. Gentleness
            5. Forbearance toward others
            6. Forgiveness
            7. Love
            8. Peace
            9. Gratitude
         3. God gives us our new spiritual existence, but we must renovate our lives; we must allow these qualities to control our physical existence.
3. When we are baptized, we tend to view the Christian life as a very “doable” commitment.
   1. At first we think it is just a matter of deeds–replace bad habits and acts with good habits and acts.
   2. Then we learn it involves our thinking–so it requires some re-education.
   3. Then we learn it involves our emotions–so we need to change the way we feel, and transition begins to get complicated.
   4. Then we learn it involves our motives–so we must deal with why we do what we do, and that is more complicated.
   5. And then we begin to learn how entwined evil is within our deepest self.
      1. We realize that the facts we believe, the stands we take, and the doctrines we defend are actually spiritual kindergarten.
      2. We begin to wake up to the real “me” and we see how much reconstruction the real “me” needs.
      3. That is when we finally understand how totally dependent we are on the forgiveness, mercy, and love of God every day.
   6. Every time we reach a new level of understanding, we face a new challenge of putting on the new self, of making renovations in our lives.
   7. That is when we discover that being a Christian involves much more:
      1. Than belonging to Christ’s church.
      2. Than defending Christian principles.
      3. Than deciding a position to take on an issue.
      4. Than preserving our religious heritage.
      5. Certainly, each of these has a level of importance and significance.
   8. But we discover that there is something more important, more significant, that lies deep within the foundation of the new self.
      1. Being a Christian is a constant process of becoming; we are constantly growing toward the image of Jesus.
      2. We are constantly concerned about the renovation of our lives.
      3. We are always involved in the process of putting on the new self.

As Christians, you and I are not in competition. You are not measured by me, and I am not measured by you. No two Christians start renovating life at the same place. No two Christians need identical renovations. The process of renovation may not even look similar. The starting point for each of us does not matter. No matter where the staring point is for each of us, we all are involved in the same process–the process of putting on the new self.

Were you to ask me what I am trying to prove at the gym, I would tell you, “Nothing. I go because I am in the process of becoming, of being, not of trying to prove something.” Were you to ask me what I am trying to prove as a Christian, I would tell you, “Nothing. I am in the process of becoming, of being, not of trying to prove anything.”

Opportunity Knocks

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

Love trusts and nurtures. Fear is suspicious and defends. When love is wounded in a marriage, fear emerges. Trust is displaced by suspicion. Mutual nurturing is displaced by defensiveness.

Can the relationship heal? Certainly! Love can assume again its role of promoting trust and nurturing if fear and its suspicions die. If the couple is afraid to love, they will not risk being vulnerable. Recovery is questionable. If the couple has the courage to restore healthy love, recovery will occur.

Should the couple forget the experience? Should they wipe from memory the events and attitudes that wounded love and created fear? No. If memory is erased, the experience does not teach them. If the experience taught no constructive lessons, the mistakes are likely to be repeated.

Should those memories dominate their awareness? No. If love for each other does not dominate thoughts and emotions, the relationship will not heal or mature.

The same is true in a congregation. Love trusts and nurtures. Fear is suspicious and defends. When love is wounded, fear emerges. Trust is displaced with suspicion, and nurturing is displaced with defensiveness. Relationships heal if fear and suspicions are allowed to die. While constructive lessons must be learned from bad experiences, heartache and disappointment must not dominate thoughts and feelings. The congregation seeks more than healing. It seeks the success only growth and maturity produce.

Help fear and suspicion die. Help restore love’s trust and nurturing. Do not fear congregational vulnerability–God is in control. Nurture living relationships that reflect the life and hope found in being God’s family and Christ’s body.

Pray for others by name. Let them know that they are in your prayers. Help them form relationships. Be as warm, excited, and helpful as is our Father.