Sadly, this week in an area near where we live, a man decided to go on a shooting spree and killed at least four people. At time of writing, there is still no clear revealed motive. It seems that in moments like these we find ourselves shocked at the evil in the world around us. May I suggest that our question should instead be, "Why does this not happen more often?"
We want to believe that people are basically good because we want to think that we are basically good. We want to think that people are generally loving and kind and think of others because we want this to be the truth. However when we examine the truth's of God's Word, we see a quite different picture.
"The heart is more deceitful than all else and is and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9, NASB)
". . . as it is written, 'There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, there is not even one.'" (Romans 3:10-12, NASB)
"Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." (Ephesians 2:3)
And I could go on. The Scriptures present the truth about us and about the world in which we live. Apart from Christ, we are terrible people. We are only restrained by the common grace of God and apart from that common grace, we would be much worse. But the Bible clearly teaches that people are not good. We need Jesus. We need Jesus badly. And our neighbors need Jesus. And our friends need Jesus.
When bad things happen around us, we need to realize our need for Jesus more than ever. We should give thanks for the grace of God that has saved us and pray that God would extend that grace to others around us. We need to pray that Jesus would return quickly and take care of this messed up world we live in. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Learning Lordship
"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. . . " Psalm 8:1 (NASB)
I must confess that when I have heard the term "lord" used in our society today, it is usually as either a curse word or the beginning of a prayer. After all, we live in modern times, far removed from the unpleasantness of the middle ages. We live in a time where equality is prized and inequality is something to we strive to banish. In such a time there is no place for peasants and serfs. No place for lords and rulers. And by all means, there is no place for servants.
In our culture today we are taught from a very early age that we are to serve no one but ourselves - that we alone decide what we ought to do. And so the culture of lordship is so very foreign to us. And yet, it is a concept that we as Christians must figure out, because Christ is presented as Lord so clearly in the Scriptures. And in Psalm 8 the psalmist willingly takes ownership of the fact that he belongs to the Lord. The Lord is our Lord. My Lord. Your Lord. Our Lord.
This means that we must determine what "Lord" means. And to do so, I think we need to look back to medieval times. Times when lords and ladies were real things and Lord meant a position of honor and rule. We must willingly acknowledge that when we call Christ "Lord" we are confessing that He has a place of rule over us. We are His servants. Beneath him. We are not equals with such a Lord, but He has the sole place of rule and authority in our lives. There is no choice that we have but to serve the needs of the one who rules over our lives and who is our Master.
What a foreign concept. We use the word so casually and without meaning. How often have we started a prayer with the word and then proceeded to tell our Master everything He is supposed to do for us? We sing the word but only if it is in a song that pleases us. And in reality we have replaced our Lord with a different kind of ruler-ship in which we find ourselves to be lord. We want to rule, we want to reign, and we have very little place in our lives for anyone or anything that would challenge the totalitarian rule that we exert over our own lives.
Which is why serving our Lord is such a critical concept in Scripture and something that we must learn. You and I do not belong to ourselves. We are here for the service of our Lord and King. And the sooner that we realize our place, the sooner we will be able to recognize the glory that God has chosen to give us as he gives us some measure of rule over the world in which we live. But this rule that we exert is always mediated by our service for Him.
And so we must learn what it means to be a peasant and in so doing serve the Savior. "O Lord, my Lord." - may this truly be our prayer.
I must confess that when I have heard the term "lord" used in our society today, it is usually as either a curse word or the beginning of a prayer. After all, we live in modern times, far removed from the unpleasantness of the middle ages. We live in a time where equality is prized and inequality is something to we strive to banish. In such a time there is no place for peasants and serfs. No place for lords and rulers. And by all means, there is no place for servants.
In our culture today we are taught from a very early age that we are to serve no one but ourselves - that we alone decide what we ought to do. And so the culture of lordship is so very foreign to us. And yet, it is a concept that we as Christians must figure out, because Christ is presented as Lord so clearly in the Scriptures. And in Psalm 8 the psalmist willingly takes ownership of the fact that he belongs to the Lord. The Lord is our Lord. My Lord. Your Lord. Our Lord.
This means that we must determine what "Lord" means. And to do so, I think we need to look back to medieval times. Times when lords and ladies were real things and Lord meant a position of honor and rule. We must willingly acknowledge that when we call Christ "Lord" we are confessing that He has a place of rule over us. We are His servants. Beneath him. We are not equals with such a Lord, but He has the sole place of rule and authority in our lives. There is no choice that we have but to serve the needs of the one who rules over our lives and who is our Master.
What a foreign concept. We use the word so casually and without meaning. How often have we started a prayer with the word and then proceeded to tell our Master everything He is supposed to do for us? We sing the word but only if it is in a song that pleases us. And in reality we have replaced our Lord with a different kind of ruler-ship in which we find ourselves to be lord. We want to rule, we want to reign, and we have very little place in our lives for anyone or anything that would challenge the totalitarian rule that we exert over our own lives.
Which is why serving our Lord is such a critical concept in Scripture and something that we must learn. You and I do not belong to ourselves. We are here for the service of our Lord and King. And the sooner that we realize our place, the sooner we will be able to recognize the glory that God has chosen to give us as he gives us some measure of rule over the world in which we live. But this rule that we exert is always mediated by our service for Him.
And so we must learn what it means to be a peasant and in so doing serve the Savior. "O Lord, my Lord." - may this truly be our prayer.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Success!
"The God of heaven will give us success. . ." Nehemiah 2:20 (NASB)
We live in a world that is measured in how successful a person becomes. We strive to achieve and to accomplish with the goal of moving up in the world. We even hear from so called Christian pastors that God wants to make us successful and they quote passages such as this one that I preached on this past Sunday. It is true that God promises us success. The difficulty comes however when you realize that our definition of success matters a great deal, and for most of us we have wrongly defined success.
Our culture tends to define success with a relatively simple equation.
We live in a world that is measured in how successful a person becomes. We strive to achieve and to accomplish with the goal of moving up in the world. We even hear from so called Christian pastors that God wants to make us successful and they quote passages such as this one that I preached on this past Sunday. It is true that God promises us success. The difficulty comes however when you realize that our definition of success matters a great deal, and for most of us we have wrongly defined success.
Our culture tends to define success with a relatively simple equation.
Success = Accomplishments and Results
And so success in business is accomplishing goals and achieving results for your company. Success in sports is by doing things better than all those around you. It is winning the race. It is defeating the competition. It is accomplishing the goals that you set for yourself or the goals that are set for you. Successfulness is about doing stuff that brings about a better result that what you had before you did something!
And we take that definition of success and apply it to the promises God makes. He promises to prosper and do what is best for us after all. He promises to make our way straight and to work out all things for our good. And we make the faulty assumption that the definitions God is using are the same as ours. But nothing could be further from the truth. God does not define our success by achievement or results. God does not evaluate us based on what we achieve or how well our projects work out. He does not compare us to our neighbor and determine who is worth more based on the cars we drive or the trophies on our shelves. And God does not promise us success as we have defined it. In fact, God has told us that our successfulness may involve some things that we do not particularly like. Romans 8 tells us that these include: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword and even death. And this wonderful list comes less than 10 verses after the promise that God is working out all things for our good.
God does not define success in the same way that we do. God instead defines our success by service. Romans 12:1-2 makes this clear. We are to offer our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. Success for the Christian is the sacrifice of self to serve. Success through service. In other words, so long as you are obedient to the Word of God, you are successful! And you cannot be more successful. So if you are obedient and you lose your job - success! If you are a servant and stay at the bottom of the corporate ladder - success! If you follow and God chooses to bless you with a promotion, understand that it is the obedience, and not the promotion that has made you successful. Faithfulness, not accomplishment, is the measure that God uses to define success.
So, how successful are you when measured by God's standard! God help us all to be truly successful as we obey and follow Him.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
A Little Bit of Fun
Sometimes I get so focused on my work and my reading and my responsibilities, that I forget that God placed us here on the earth to enjoy life! I have found a corrective in laughter.
When my son was just a few years old, we loved to sit around the table and I would tell "knock-knock" jokes. I did this of course because when your children are young they think that absolutely everything you say must be funny. So it went like this. . .
Me: Knock, Knock
My Son: Who's there?
Me: Pencil
My Son: Pencil who?
Me: Pennsylvania!
And this was met of course with uproarious laughter. I thought it was cool, and he was learning geography. It went like this for some time. I would tell a lame joke and my son would laugh hysterically. When my daughters were born, they of course joined the rip-roaring laughter and we (and by this I mean of course myself) had great times around the dinner table telling all sorts of really good knock-knock jokes.
There were of course some days that did not feel like "knock-knock" days. You know the kind - days when things did not go as expected and you felt as though you just wanted to go home, crawl into the covers and hope that tomorrow might be better. Days that you did not feel at all like laughing. Days when the responsibilities of life made you wish that you were six again and could just go outside and play. I think it was on one of those days.
We sat down to dinner and began to eat. My son spoke up and said, "Hey dad, wanna hear a knock-knock joke?" I may not have wanted to, but what do you say to your young son? "Sure son, go ahead."
My son: Knock, Knock
Me: Who's there?
My son: Peanut butter
Me: Peanut butter who (at this point, not really sure what to expect and sort of upset that I have not heard this one yet.)
My son: NUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At this point he is nearly on the floor laughing so hard. He clearly created this joke all on his own. He clearly was so proud of the punchline. And all I could do was laugh. And in that moment none of the stress of the day mattered anymore. Of course my daughters learned quickly, and for around a year or more it seemed like all we did was tell this knock-knock joke to each other. Even to this day we sometimes bring it out. And the louder you yell the punchline, the funnier it is.
Some days we just need to remember that a little nuttiness is perfectly ok. Some days we need to be a little less crunchy and allow ourselves to be smoothed over. We forget the child like innocence of Peter Pan. And thank you for indulging me in a little peanut butter humor. Remember to have a little bit of fun today. And thank the God who put laughter and joy into the human experience. May we thank Him and give Him praise!
When my son was just a few years old, we loved to sit around the table and I would tell "knock-knock" jokes. I did this of course because when your children are young they think that absolutely everything you say must be funny. So it went like this. . .
Me: Knock, Knock
My Son: Who's there?
Me: Pencil
My Son: Pencil who?
Me: Pennsylvania!
And this was met of course with uproarious laughter. I thought it was cool, and he was learning geography. It went like this for some time. I would tell a lame joke and my son would laugh hysterically. When my daughters were born, they of course joined the rip-roaring laughter and we (and by this I mean of course myself) had great times around the dinner table telling all sorts of really good knock-knock jokes.
There were of course some days that did not feel like "knock-knock" days. You know the kind - days when things did not go as expected and you felt as though you just wanted to go home, crawl into the covers and hope that tomorrow might be better. Days that you did not feel at all like laughing. Days when the responsibilities of life made you wish that you were six again and could just go outside and play. I think it was on one of those days.
We sat down to dinner and began to eat. My son spoke up and said, "Hey dad, wanna hear a knock-knock joke?" I may not have wanted to, but what do you say to your young son? "Sure son, go ahead."
My son: Knock, Knock
Me: Who's there?
My son: Peanut butter
Me: Peanut butter who (at this point, not really sure what to expect and sort of upset that I have not heard this one yet.)
My son: NUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At this point he is nearly on the floor laughing so hard. He clearly created this joke all on his own. He clearly was so proud of the punchline. And all I could do was laugh. And in that moment none of the stress of the day mattered anymore. Of course my daughters learned quickly, and for around a year or more it seemed like all we did was tell this knock-knock joke to each other. Even to this day we sometimes bring it out. And the louder you yell the punchline, the funnier it is.
Some days we just need to remember that a little nuttiness is perfectly ok. Some days we need to be a little less crunchy and allow ourselves to be smoothed over. We forget the child like innocence of Peter Pan. And thank you for indulging me in a little peanut butter humor. Remember to have a little bit of fun today. And thank the God who put laughter and joy into the human experience. May we thank Him and give Him praise!
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