Coming Up This Week on the Blog

One of the greatest obstacles to understanding and applying Scripture is taking those Scriptures out of their context and applying an unintended meaning to them.  Unfortunately, we Christians do that too often.  With this week’s posts I want to highlight a few of the more popular verses to take out of context, explain what their true meaning is, then suggest ways we can apply those verses accurately to our lives.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. – 2 Timothy 2:15

The Bible requires that we be “workers” who “handle” the word of truth “rightly.”  Understanding Scripture often requires intentional thought and insight.  The Bible is not a frivolous book; it is the revealed mind of God and as such deserves careful attention.   Just as mining for precious metals and costly jewels requires hard work, so also mining the truths of the Bible requires us to dig deeply into its meaning. The rewards of Bible mining, however, far more outweigh the results of natural mining.

The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. – Psalm 119:72

I hope these few blog posts this coming week will challenge your conventional thinking, if that conventional thinking is wrong.  I hope they spur you on to serious Bible study, and I hope they cause you to think twice before you accept anyone’s explanation and application of Scripture.

Come back this week, read, and feel free to interact.

How Much Are You Worth?

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Back in August 2007, a Laurens County Georgia sheriff’s deputy pulled to the right side of road and began to make a left U-turn. As he pulled back onto the road toward a 90 degree angle, a motorcyclist traveling in the same direction t-boned the sheriff’s cruiser at such a rate of speed that the impact flipped the car over on its side. The deputy was seriously injured and the motorcyclist was fatally injured.

The motorcyclist’s widow sued the county, the sheriff’s department, the sheriff, and the deputy for what she calls (notice I am quoting here) “the full value of the life of her husband.” What price tag could you put on a man’s life? Well, apparently he was worth a cool $1,000,000 to her.

I lost track of the case and I am not sure of its outcome. I have neither the desire nor responsibility to determine the merits of this case. What intrigues me is placing a monetary value on the life of a human being.

While not addressing the monetary value of one’s earthly existence, Jesus did rhetorically ask about the value of the human soul.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:25-26

Who’s to say how much one’s time here on earth is worth, but we can easily determine the value of the human soul. Jesus exchanged His life for our soul. That makes our soul the most valuable commodity known to man.

You are so valuable to God that He gave His Son’s life in exchange for you. Never believe the devil’s lie that you don’t matter or that you are insignificant. You are worth far more than a mil to God. Our lives have been redeemed, let’s rise above the common and ordinary and live as the priceless treasures that we are.

Challenge #3 – What Is the Church to Do with ME?

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The consumer mentality that drives our culture has seeped into the church as well.  In every facet of culture, we expect entitlement.  We have learned to assert our rights and to demand that we receive what we have coming to us…and more.  We expect others to give us more than we are willing to invest ourselves.

One of the first questions people ask as they consider joining a church is “how can the church meet my needs,” and one of the last statements disgruntled church people utter as they leave is “this church isn’t meeting my needs.”  We want music that suits, programs that entertain, preaching that tickles, and fellowship that affirms.  We want benefit without cost, blessing without effort, and gain without sacrifice.  We shop for church experience like shopping for a new car.  We search until we find one we think we will likes, then we dicker for membership at the lowest possible interest rate.

The problem with such a self-centered mindset is that it is not really the center.  Church isn’t about me, it’s about Jesus.  It’s HIS church.  Church is not about what I can get, but how I can invest and serve Him.

John 3:30 – He must increase, and I must decrease.

Matthew 16:18 (the words of Jesus) – …I will build MY church… (emphasis added)

Ephesians 3:21 – …to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Philippians 2:9-11 – Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Colossians 1:18 – …and He is the head of the body, the church.

In Matthew 25, Jesus told a parable of a man who went on a journey and entrusted portions of his possessions to his servants.  Two of his servants invested their master’s goods and gained him even more.  The master praised them and rewarded them for their investment.  The third servant played it safe and hid his master’s money, and the master chided the servant and punished him for his laziness and apathy.

Jesus has entrusted His most precious treasure to us – His Church.  He is not pleased when I hijack His precious possession and assert my preferences and wants.  He is not please with my desires to conform church to my image, but rather He is please with my determination to invest my time, resources, and efforts in His Church.

We will begin to experience the winds of revival when we die to ourselves and return Jesus to His rightful highest place in His Church.

Challenge #2 – What Do We Do With Worship?

I believe in the value of music in a believer’s life as I wrote in an earlier blog.  I strongly believe in the value of music in the corporate worship experience. I do believe, though, that we have made the music the central focus of worship.  How often have you heard people refer to the musical portion of the service as “worship” and the pastor’s part as “preaching,” as if the two are mutually exclusive? The so-called “worship wars” that have pervaded many churches indicate we have crossed an idolatrous line and have begun to worship worship.

My point is not to argue worship styles or to defend one style over another.  I like them all as long as they are done with energy, enthusiasm, and genuineness.  My point is we have made the wrong thing central to our worship.  The church is in a mess because PREACHING is no longer central in our worship experience.  I once heard the joke about a young child critiquing his first visit to “big church” by saying, “The music was good but the commercial (preaching) was too long.”

Here are my thoughts on what we need to do to recenter our worship around the Word of God preached.

  1. PREACHERS – stop slacking!  Spend the necessary time to deliver to your dear people a Bible centered message.  Quit stealing sermons from the internet, quit filling the time with cute sound bites, quit tickling ears, but proclaim the Word and apply it to life.  Make it interesting and make it meaningful, but by all means preach it!  That is the PRIMARY task to which God calls us.  (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
  2. PREACHERS – pray!  You cannot deliver a WORD from God if you don’t have a Word  FROM God.  A sermon is not a speech.  It can be erudite and alliterated; it can be humorously illustrated and cleverly applied; it may be entertaining, but it cannot accomplish with human instrumentation anything of Spiritual significance.  Bathe your message in prayer and preach with confidence that only comes from the anointing of God.
  3. CONGREGATIONS – come hungry!  Don’t come to church with your mind already made up about what you want to hear or not hear.  Expect that God knows what you need better than you do and come with an empty heart to hear what God has for you.
  4. CONGREGATIONS – free the preacher to preach.  I have been misquoted as saying that I am a preacher and not a pastor. That is wrong on at least three accounts.  First, I never said that nor do I believe that.  Second, you cannot be one without the other.  I cannot connect my people to the Word of God if I do not sympathize and move among my people.  I love them and because I love them I want for them what God wants for them.  Third, preaching is pastoring.  The term “pastor” sounds an awful lot like “pasture” which conjures up shepherding images.  The pastor’s primary task is to lay spiritual food before Jesus’ sheep.  Free the pastor up to give ample time to study and pray.  You will NOT be sorry you did.  (Acts 6:1-7)

When we return preaching to the place of prominence in our public worship – as God prescribes – we will be inching closer still to revival.

See also 1 Corinthians 1:21 and  Romans 10:14

Challenge #1 – What Is the Church to Do with the Bible?

One of the evidences that the 21st Century church is in trouble is our posture toward the Bible.  Not, our doctrinal statement about the Bible, but our use – or misuse/lack of use – of it.  Several symptoms point to the reality that we do not consider the Bible to be our authoritative guide.

    • We elevate our feelings and experiences over the clear teaching of Scripture.  Books and movies like Heaven Is For Real gain popularity even though many things in the book are contrary to the Biblical account of heaven.
    • We lack discernment of Biblical truth and buy into preaching that seems to “make sense” to us.  John Hagee’s recent book concerning Blood Moons lacks good Biblical scholarship, yet many treat its teachings as gospel truth.
    • We spend more time reading, teaching, and talking about books that address Biblical topics than reading, teaching, and talking about the Bible itself.
    • We establish church policies and practice based on worldly, political models rather than on Biblical ones.  We place unbiblical expectations on our leaders.
    • We make decisions based more on “I think,” “we want,” “we’ve always,” and “it would be nice,” than “the Bible says.”  In fact, all too often I have heard from believers, “I know the Bible says ____, but…”

The list could continue, but that is sufficient for now.  One 1st Century church was famous for being Bible-centered.  Acts 17:11 tells us that the church in Berea “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”  Everything they heard was first compared to what God had said in the Bible.

We need to remember the standard of God’s Word in the church today.  God’s Word is the all-sufficient source for teaching, reproof, instruction, and training in righteousness.  The Bible will equip us for “every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

When the Church decides to return to the Bible as the source for faith and practice, we will be inching closer to revival.  Such a return will not come easy, however.  Precious traditions will have to go.  The church will take Biblical stances that will be largely unpopular; not to those one the outside, but to church members.  The way we do things will have to change drastically to square up with God’s Word.

Yes, it will be difficult, but well worth it.  Without such a change, the future looks bleak.

This Week on the Blog Site

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I am a churchman, and I am not ashamed of it.  I believe in the local church.  I’ve been a member of one since I became a Christian as a boy and even if I weren’t a pastor, I would be a member of a local church.  I believe the local church is the plan of God for each believer’s protection, growth, and expression of service in the Kingdom of God.

The word church in the New Testament translates the Greek word ekklesia and refers to a group called out of another group for a purpose.  Many believe that it is sufficient that one is a believer and is part of the “universal Church.” Interestingly, however, ekklesia appears 115 times in the New Testament and 99 of those times it refers to a local collection of believers.  Also, one would be hard pressed to find the same accountability and opportunity outside of the local church.

My heart is broken, however, because I believe most 21st century churches are unhealthy and in dire trouble.  At a time when the world needs the church the most, the church is least prepared to be the salt and light in our communities Jesus intends us to be.  This weeks’ blogs will deal with what I believe to be the most critical challenges churches today face.  These challenges are not external –governmental harassment, public ill will, or dearth of opportunity.  Our issues are internal; we have become our own worst enemy.

I hope that you will come back each day this week and read the heart of a pastor who loves the local church and who loves the Lord of the Church.  I want to see the American Church revived and awakened to overtake the gates of hell as Jesus promised we could do.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. – Matthew 16:18

 

 

How to Be Poplar

flower from tree in yardThe picture to the left is a flower my wife cut from a tree at the edge of our yard.  My Facebook friends helped us identify it as a Tulip Poplar.  What make this particular flower so unique is that is comes from a tree that fell into our yard last year.  I pushed the tree back into the brush and figured it would eventually wither and die.  The tree produced a stunning display of blooms in spite of the fact is had fallen, been pushed aside, and was overgrown with brush.  The picture below shows the mess through which this tree bloomed.

The Tulip Poplar bloom reminded me of the Biblical admonition to remain steadfast in the DSC_0038midst of adverse and difficult life circumstances.

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart. – Hebrews 12:1-3

We find it easy to allow our circumstances to dictate our effort.  When the going gets tough, we get going…in the other direction.  Jesus provided the example we can follow by enduring shame, ridicule, betrayal, pain, and ultimately death for us. Jesus was willing to endure the immediate hardship because He knew the payoff of joy that was to come.

What circumstances and situations currently tempt you to quit trying?  Tell Jesus about them and ask Him to overcome through you so that you can bloom where He has planted you.  He knows what you’re going through and He has already overcome.

 

Pay Attention

Moses was going about the daily routine of herding his father-in-law’s sheep just as he had done for 40 years, when suddenly, one day, something peculiar caught his eye. He almost missed it, but he didn’t.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” – Exodus 3:1-3

What if Moses had not noticed this phenomenon? What if his profit margin had been foremost in his heart? What if, in boredom or frustration, he had been daydreaming of a better job? What if Moses had missed God?

What of us? How many times do we miss God because we are not looking for Him? What if that schedule “interruption” is actually God positioning us so He can use us in someone’s life? What if God is trying to come to us in a gentle breeze, a child’s laughter, or a “chance” encounter (if there were such a thing)?

Let me encourage you to look around you today and look for God to show up. There is an old saying, “The devil is in the details.” Although I loathe bogging down in details, I do not believe that saying is true. On the other hand, often God is in the details of our lives, lurking quietly hoping someone will notice Him and enjoy the blessings of His revelation for that day and time. Open your eyes; you don’t want to miss anything.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. – Ephesians 5:15-16

 

Spiritually Oblvious

Could I possibly be so busy IN the Lord’s work that I fail to see the Lord AT work around me?  Like the men who unknowingly carried on a conversation with the resurrected Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), could I go about my daily affairs oblivious to God at work right beside me?  Unfortunately, such is a distinct possibility and for many, a sad reality.

We can get easily so caught up in our physical existence that we fail to see things happening in the spiritual realm.  To “walk in the Spirit” as Paul instructs (Galatians 5:16, 25) is in great part to live in such a way that we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit resident within us, guiding us and revealing Christ as work around us.  We cannot heal our own spiritual blindness, but we can ask God to help us see through the lens of the Holy Spirit, to learn to be acutely aware of what is happening around us spiritually.

There is so much more to see than what we see on the surface.  Here is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite preachers:

If all you see is what you see, you will never see all that there is to be seen. – Tony Evans

May we by God’s grace and through the power of His Holy Spirit learn to walk in the Spirit so that we see Him at work around us always. May we see beyond the superficial physical events of our day.  The reality of the resurrection is not good for only one day of celebration a year, but for every day of our lives.  May we come to the same result as those men on the road to Emmaus:

And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. – Luke 24:31a

 

The Worst Saturday EVER

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The Bible doesn’t tell us much about the Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. The Gospel accounts tell us that Jesus’ friends hurriedly prepared Him for burial due to the soon approaching Sabbath.

We can imagine what they must have been feeling because we have all experienced the pain of loss and shattered dreams. It’s almost paralyzing isn’t it? After all, they had invested three years in Jesus (his family even longer). They anticipated He would overturn Roman rule and sit on the throne in Jerusalem as King and Deliverer. Instead of a throne, He now inhabited a tomb. Their future seemed to end with the load thud of a heavy stone rolling into place. That stone had an air of permanence and finality about it.

No pain hurts like the pain of unrealized expectations, especially when we stake our whole lives in those expectations and invest so much physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When things don’t turn out the way we had dreamed, life seems pointless. So what do we do when our dreams are dashed and our hopes are hijacked? Let me suggest doing what Jesus’ friends did.

… And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. – Luke 23:56

They kept doing what they knew to do. They observed the Sabbath. They rested and they worshipped. They remained faithful even when it seemed pointless. I am sure they were tempted to abandon all faith in God, because, after all, they thought God had led them to follow Jesus. They thought He was God’s plan.

When we obey what seems to be the voice of God and things don’t work out as they should, the temptation arises to quit trying. What’s the use? Life may have buried your hopes and rolled a big stone of what seems to be finality over your dreams, but there is a truth we need to remember always: things aren’t always what they seem.

Your dashed dreams and awry plans are not the final chapter. God is still at work. Rest in His providence and wisdom. Trust Him even if it doesn’t feel like it. Friday may have been a tragedy, and Saturday may seem empty, but hold on . . . Sunday’s on the way.