A New Year

 Each time that the calendar rolls over and an additional number is added to the running total, people seem to get somewhat sentimental.  I can in some ways appreciate that.  Each moment that passes we move toward something and for those without Christ there is not much that they are moving toward that is in any way good.  Each moment that passes we move away from something.  Sometimes we are glad to be moving forward and sometimes we wish we could stay.  So the passing of time is in a way not so much about addition, but about memory and hope.  

I wonder as we consider memory and hope if we have ours grounded in their proper source.  I also wonder if this is why the Scriptures give us commands like "do this in remembrance of me" and tells us that we can have hope in Christ Jesus.    The Bible constantly encourages us in our present to remember and to look forward, but the one constant in all of this is that we are not looking back or ahead based on our own experience but instead based on the revealed Word of God.

In this sense our memory is focused not on what we have accomplished, or what has occurred within our lifetime, but instead of the corporate memory shared by the body of Christ across the centuries.  We are to remember what has been done FOR US and IN US by Christ.  I believe that this will help inform our lives as we think back even on the past year - what if our focus was not what happened to us, but what Christ has done FOR US and IN US?

In this sense also our hope is shaped.  For we do not just remember what has come, but what is to come.  And in this we can hope in what will be accomplished THROUGH US.  What is God going to do to use us in the next year for His honor and glory.  And in these things there can be certainty and stability because God has promised that He will USE US for His purposes.  

So as this calendar year goes into the bygone and we look ahead at 2022, would you pray that God who has been FOR US and is IN US will work THROUGH Us and USE US for His glory?  Amen.

Christmas may not be what you think

 "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."  Matthew 1:21 (NASB)

I think that sometimes Christmas is this time of year when we get so bothered by all of the busyness that when we see a peaceful manger scene we stop.  And we think.  But we usually think about the wrong things.  We think about how serene it was (it wasn't).  We think about how life changing that moment was (for most people on earth at that time it wasn't).  And for all of our thinking we miss the main point - Jesus had to come because of our sins.  

It is hard to think about ourselves during Christmas time.  At least it is hard in the context of our own sins.  We often think about ourselves when it comes to what our bonus should be, or what presents we are going to get.  But when God thought of us, He thought enough to send His Son to die for us to save us from our sins.  Christ came to save us.  Which means we need saving.  Which means that it His death that we celebrate and his resurrection.  His advent is simply the avenue He chose in order to accomplish His purpose of salvation - the cross.  And so we should celebrate His coming.  But not because of how pretty it was, but instead because of how grotesque our sins are that God had to send His one and only Son to live as one of us in order to die for us.  

Christmas is coming.  But it may not be what you think it is.  It is a reminder that we should have died.  It is a reminder of how dark our hearts are.  And we need the Light of Life in order to conquer our own dark deadness.  Praise God for Christmas.

Give Thanks

 The words of the song go, "Give thanks, with a grateful heart. . . "  I have often wondered about this repetition.  I mean after all, can I give thanks with any other way?  Is there any way to give thanks without having true gratitude?  

As I think about thanksgiving, I note that the words to the song are not the words of Scripture.  Of course we are called to have an attitude of gratitude and we are called to give thanks.  But the grateful heart is always assumed.  It is not a requirement for true thanksgiving, it is assumed.  In fact, the motivation and reasons for true thanksgiving are always given to us in Scripture - the character and nature of our God.  "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. . . "  We give thanks because of the character and nature of our God.  This is what steadies us as believers.  We are not giving thanks because we feel good.  We are not giving thanks because we like what is happening to us all the time.  We are not giving thanks because our God is constantly meeting our felt needs.  No, we give thanks because of the character of God.  And God does not change.  My heart needs only be aligned to the truth of who God is!  Give thanks.

Losses and Gains

 Paul says in Philippians 3:7, "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ." (NASB)

As I was reflecting on this verse and the verses that follow it (which I strongly encourage you to read) I thought about all of the things that Paul counted in the previous verses as loss.  His religious birth, his obedience to the law, his energy and vigor in following God, his own righteousness.  He counted all of these things as loss.  It was as if they counted against him rather than for him.  What could make such glorious things count against him rather than for him?  Only Christ Jesus.  And when compared with the work of Jesus Christ, these things that formerly he boasted in now are removed and all that is left for boasting is Jesus.  

I wonder in our lives if we take too much credit and count too much these things that when compared to Christ do not matter.  Do we talk about how much we give to the church?  How much time, how much money, how much service we give to the church as if our time and money and service can even compare to the sacrifice that Christ would make.  Do we talk about our Christian upbringing as if we have something to brag about compared to those who did not have it?  Do we think that we are better than others by virtue of any form of comparison?  All of these things fail when it comes to the work of Christ.

As I think about it, part of the problem is my attachment to a whole list of earthly things and often I fail to see the grandeur of what Christ has accomplished because I am not looking for grandeur, I am hoarding things that I should be counting loss.  Don't hoard losses.  Claim Christ's gains!

Being Established

 "Now to Him who is able to establish you. . ." Romans 16:25

Paul ends his book to the Romans with praise to God who is able to establish you.  This is an interesting way to speak to the body of Christ.  The word itself means to make more firm.  Kind of the idea of taking root and being firmly decided about a course of action.  What is interesting to me are the things that God says he will use.  

1. The gospel

2. The preaching of Jesus Christ

3. The revelation of the mystery revealed

4. The commandment of the eternal God

These things are not the things we might first think of, but when we are assured of these things, we can have hope because they are certain, and therefore we can be firm in our assurance that God is working for us.  

An Old Prayer

 I found this prayer in John Piper's book When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy.  It is a prayer from Anselm.   I thought I would share it with you.

"I pray, O God, that I may know You and love You, so that I may rejoice in You.  And if I cannot do so fully in this life may I progress gradually until it comes to fullness.  Let the knowledge of You grow in me here, and there [in heaven] be made complete;  let Your love grow in me here and there be made complete, so that here my joy may be great in hope and there be complete in reality.  Lord, by Your Son You command, or rather, counsel us to ask and You promise that we shall receive so that our 'joy may be complete.'  I ask, Lord, as You counsel through our admirable counsellor.  May I receive what You promise through Your truth so that my 'joy may be complete.'"

What a prayer! 

School is Starting

 School is starting again.  I used to dread this time when I was a student.  It was never that I hated school, I actually really enjoyed it, I just liked the freedom that summer provided more.  I think that for a lot of students that is a down-side to schooling - the lack of freedom.  And perhaps this year more than other parents are increasingly aware of a genuine lack of freedom that is growing in our school systems beyond the general lack of freedom whereas school is less free than my choices in summer.

This attack on freedom is happening on a number of fronts.  I will not here talk about masks or responses to Covid as these issues (though related to freedom) as these fail to compare to the real issue - a philosophical movement (teaching that human freedom to be whomever the individual thinks they are) is attacking freedom.  Interesting it is that in a desire to teach the freedom of individuals is actually restricting freedom.  It is restricting free speech.  They tried to make it much harder to speak religiously in the context of a public school, but if the religious speech is agnostic or atheistic and humanistic philosophy it is not only allowed but being promoted by students and by teachers and by administrators.  It is restricting freedom of belief as some belief systems are marginalized because of a perceived marginalization of groups in the past.  It is restricting a balanced look at history and instead rewriting and redefining history through the lens of the value system of the present culture.  It is in these ways and many more, restrictive.  So with this kind of attack, how do we as Christians respond?

1. Biblically.  We respond by holding fast the the truth of God's Word.  

2. Prayerfully.  We ask God to do what only God can do - change hearts and minds.

3. Trustfully.  We trust that God is on the throne and will bring about His purposes.  The way that things seem does not mean that they are as bad as we might think they are.

4. In True Freedom.  Understanding that true freedom is not freedom as our world or our country has defined it.  True freedom is the freedom to love our enemy and do good to those who would harm us.  True freedom is the freedom to act like Christ when the world is acting like the world.  True freedom is found in Jesus and in Jesus alone.  And so we preach and teach and hold fast to the Source of true freedom.  We cling to Jesus.  

In case you need a reminder - pray for the students and teachers who go to our schools who cling to the true freedom they have in Christ.  The school is becoming a place of increasing attack on Christians.  So pray that they would have courage and be equipped with the armor of God to stand firm against the attacks of the devil.  

Song Lyrics for Worship

 Just a quick song to think about.  O Worship The King by Robert Grant

O worship the King, all glorious above, and gratefully sing His wonderful love; our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days, pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.

O tell of His might, O sing of His grace, whose Robe is the light, whose canopy space!  his chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form, and dark is His path on the wings of the storm.

Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?  It breathes in the air, it sines in the light, It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain, and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail, in Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail, Thy mercies how tender, how firm to teh end, Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.

The Mercies of God

 Paul writes in Romans 12:1, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God. . .".  I wonder sometimes if we take enough time to ponder the mercy of God.  I think that far too often I find myself thinking that I somehow deserve goodness from God, or that I, based on how good or bad I do, have earned favor with God.  Biblically we know this is not true, and yet we do not operate or truly believe that it is.  It is hard enough for us to understand grace - the unmerited favor of God, but I think sometimes we focus on grace at the expense of mercy.  If God were to truly give us what we deserve, we would be dead.  We would have nothing but our own selfish pride.  And we would be lost without hope.  And yet God showed mercy to us.  He did not give us that which we deserved.  He instead gave that which we deserved to another by his mercy and then applied the righteousness He had earned to our accounts by grace. What a glorious God.  

Every morning his mercies are new.  This means that every day I don't deserve to live but instead deserve to receive the full brunt of the wrath of God.  And yet because He poured that wrath out on Jesus I live and breath and rejoice in the goodness and mercy of God.  

The Word of God does not fail

In Romans 9, Paul says these words in verse 6, "But it is not as though the word of God has failed."  This is reminiscent of Isaiah when he said in Isaiah 55:11, "So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." (both quotes NASB)  But when Paul says it, he has a slightly different perspective as he is looking at things that look like it might be possible to believe that God's Word has failed.  

Sometimes in our lives we encounter situations and circumstances that we question whether or not God and His promises are real.  If you have been fortunate enough not to know anyone struggling with cancer, or depression or the loss of a close friend of family member, just wait a bit.  When these terrible things (among others) occur, we are driven to ask questions and some of those questions will inevitably be about the faithfulness of God to His promises.  When these times occur, it is important to remember that even when it seems like it might be true, the word of God has not failed.  It cannot fail.  

This means that in those dark moments what we need to do is to cling to a promise that even though it may seem like God and His word are somehow missing the mark, it is not Him who is in error, but our perspective.  And if something needs to change it may not be our circumstances but our response to them.  And if something seems and feels out of place perhaps we have misread and misunderstood the promises of God and maybe made too much of ourselves and not enough of our God.  It is interesting that many of God's chosen messengers go through these dark moments.  Moses did.  Elijah did.  Jeremiah did.  And the list goes on.  And yet the character and nature of our God remains unchanged and all of those who went through the darkness would testify to the glorious light of the One who proclaimed Himself to be the Light of the World.  

So struggle through the darkness with so many faithful men and women of old.  Struggle through and cling to Jesus.  Because God is faithful and His Word cannot fail.

Travel and the Mercy of God

 I recently went on vacation and did a lot of driving.  We drove to Indiana and Kentucky and Ohio and back to Michigan.   During all of these travels we encountered a hoard of cicadas, traffic back ups, close calls and a few moments of near panic!  As I was reflecting on all these things I was drawn to think about the mercy of God.  Every moment of our lives we are cared for and watched over by a God who loves us and cares for us.  This does not mean that He never allows us to experience any kind of hardship.  On the contrary, He often lets us go through difficulties of various kinds to develop us into His likeness.  But regardless of the complexity of the trial we face, His mercy is constant.  It was present in every mile we did not have hardship.  It was present while I was slamming on the brakes to stop quickly because of the guy in front of me who cut me off.  It was present while we were in traffic for 30 minutes because in the finite wisdom of man they took 4 lanes down to 2 over the Ohio river.  It was present in our arrivals and in our leaving.  It was present always and new every morning.  It was present in the sunshine miles, and in the miles driven in pouring rain.  No matter where we went and what we did His mercy was present with us.  

That is the thing about the mercy of God.  If we only think about it when things go well we might begin to think the mercy of God means things will only go well for us.  Since His mercy is ever present with us, we can hope that this light and momentary trial is producing something greater.  Praise God for His mercy.

Conversion

 I am currently reading Turning to God by David F Wells.  It is a good book on the nature and content of conversion - looking at it from the perspective of those that are "insiders" (i.e. people who have a pre-informed connection to the content and idea of turning to God) and "outsiders" (i.e. people who have a lot more change that needs to occur in order to come to God).  I wanted to share from this book a quote.  On page 151 he says, 

"Conversion has so often been understood as a narrow transaction that is religious but somehow not human, that does something in the soul but does not really involve the senses, one's laughter, one's will, where one wants to go, what one thinks about.  This is what sociologists have in mind by their talk of the sundering of the private from the public.  It is the twisting of faith that inevitably happens when people back into faith instead of building into it.  The Bible, after all, does not begin with John 3:16; it begins with Genesis so that we might first understand who God is, who we are, what his creation is like, why we are in it, and what the end of it will be.  To understand all of this and to be converted is to have what is needed to be a human who knows God; to have the gospel shorn of its biblical framework is to have a shard of religiousness that scarcely can penetrate all of the corners of one's humanity."

This is a great reminder that our goal is not a small change, but a total transformation to the likeness of Christ!

Mother's Day

 We do not give mom's enough credit in our lives.  Or at least, I should say that I have not.  I am 41 years old, going on 42 and I am about 90 percent confident that if it were not for my mother, I might not be here today.  I cannot count the number of times that she saved me from some certain doom with a warning about how dangerous what I was about to do was.  I cannot tell you the number of times I avoided certain behaviors and dangers simply because my mom loved me enough to tell me to avoid them.  She continues to be a fountain of wisdom and knowledge for me.  

I am married to a wonderful mom as well and it is a beautiful thing to see her do for my children what my mom did for me.  It gives me the wonderful hope that there is actually hope that my kids turn out ok, because it were left up to me I think that they would not be the well rounded children that they are. In many respects it is a travesty that we take the time only one day a year to celebrate our moms.  They deserve a lot more.  

So today, if you have a wife and/or a mom that you still have the privilege of talking with - take the time to tell them how much you love them!

Song Lyrics to Ponder

 We just got through the Easter season and I am so grateful for my praise team and the fact that they sang a song I have been wanting to sing for a while.  "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" has long been one of those songs that I love to hear and sing and get so few opportunities to do so.  I wanted to share the lyrics here for your consideration.

O sacred head now wounded
With grief and shame way down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns thine only crown,
How art thou pale with anguish,
With sore abuse and scorn.
How does that visage languish,
Which once was bright as morn.

What thou, my Lord, hast suffered
was all for sinners’ gain.
Mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
’Tis I deserve thy place.
Look on me with thy favor,
and grant to me thy grace.

What language shall i borrow
To thank thee dearest friend?
For this, thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end.
O make me thine forever,
And should i fainting be,
Lord, let me never, ever
Outlive my love to thee.

When thinking about these lyrics the one thing that I keep coming back to is the fact that Jesus took my place and died the death that I should have died due to my sin. Instead, He took the pain for me.  Take a moment today and say thank you!

Response to Oppression

 We had a missionary guest with us over the weekend and he spoke on our response to oppression out of Acts chapter 4.  I was so pleased to hear him speak and wanted to think on again his 4 main points that out line our response to oppression.  

1. Submission

2. Provokes a Response to the message

3. Realize God is working behind the scenes

4. Create an opportunity to share

As I think about these things I realize that the more that I look back on my life, the more I realize that the times of greatest growth have come from times of difficulty.  It seems to be that when things are easy we do not grow as individuals and we do not grow as a church body.  It seems that through difficulty and trial we develop the endurance that James and Paul talk about will be a response to trials.  And through enduring we develop Christ-like character by the power of the Spirit of God.  And so when we face oppression we ought to realize what is really happening instead of simply responding in fear or panic!

Not even 1?

 Have you ever considered the truth of Scripture that there is no one who is righteous, not even one?  I mean that seems really absolute, and you should never ever speak in absolutes, right?  I find it humorous how often I over estimate my own ability to be good.  When I am good, I expect something in return.  So if I surprise my wife by cleaning or doing something above and beyond, I expect that she will do something kind for me - like make me brownies - I have "earned" brownie points.  So here is the question- was my "good deed" altruistic or did I do it to earn favor.  

I think that fundamentally all of us have ulterior motives revealed by how we feel when people do not respond in the way we think they ought to.  We say things like, "a simple thank you would be nice."  Or we say, "I am so under-appreciated."  We want people to take notice when we do good things and ignore when we do bad things.  We all have this ingrained in our inner being - to do things and expect the "proper" response.  Which means we are not doing them just for the sake of being good.  

There is no one who does what is truly right.  No one whose motives are pure, and no one who can stand before God and say, hey, "I have earned something here."  Not one of us.  

This means that we are all equal.  We all have fallen short of the glory of God and it really does not matter if I fall short by one meter or ten, the fall is still the same so the measurement is inconsequential.  And yet we spend so much time measuring ourselves to other people who have fallen short rather than praising God for offering us the righteousness of the One who did not fall short - Jesus. 

So today, praise God for Jesus - who gives us the righteousness we did not and could not possess on our own!

How God says, "I Love You"

 As I mentioned in my last blog, there is a severe difference between how our world defines love and how the Scriptures define love.  And so I thought that this concept of love was worthy of a second look to consider how God shows His love for us.

"But God demonstrated His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinner, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8 (NASB)

There are a few things in this verse that I would note about love.  The first is that love is and can be one directional.  God loved something that did not love Him back.  In fact, the Scriptures indicate that this is a necessity - we love Him BECAUSE He loved us.  This kind of love is hard to apply - it is a supernatural love, but it is a love that we should aim for - to love others without expectation of love returned.  

Secondly, love must be demonstrated.  It is no good to "love" someone and not actually show this love.  God demonstrated His love and so must we.

Thirdly, biblical love is sacrificial love.  A love that gives itself for another.  Our love must mimic this love.  I must sacrifice for my wife, for my family, for my church.  Love is by our own nature selfish, but this is not true love.  Biblical love is unselfish and kind and ultimately sacrificial.

I think it is important to look at what the Bible says about love and pattern our love after what God says and does!

Love - the most misunderstood word in the English language?

 Valentine's Day is coming for those of you who celebrate those kinds of things.  Around February 14th each year, people celebrate their love for each other.  However this seems odd given that we have a divorce rate that some estimate to be around 40 - 50 percent.  The way that this is calculated is sometimes off, but think about this - which is more common - a 40 or 50th anniversary celebration or a divorce proceeding?  This is a bit startling. 

I remember back when I was young working through the conceptions then of what love was.  Today we see a progression of that movement to redefine love.  Let me explain what I mean and let me start with a biblical definition of love.

Love : the willingness to put someone else's needs before self.  There is a love for friends, family, spouses, but ultimately love is defined in God.  And God loved us without us being able to contribute to his needs.  This definition does not mean we do not love self - in fact we are to love others as we love ourselves.  The biblical understanding of love reminds us that we have a natural love of self that we need to overcome to serve.

Our culture takes this and turns it on its head.  We are to love self first.  In fact all other forms of love center on our need to love ourselves.  If we don't feel love, we need to end the relationship and find someone who makes our feelings better.  What is the impact when we center love on ourselves instead of in God and his definition?  I think I will only mention three things.  One - we become hyper focused on meeting our own needs instead of service.  Two - we self-justify our own bad actions and behaviors because we have an excuse based on our own needs not being met.  Three - we fail to realize accountability in love.

These three things cause immense problems for us when we are learning how to build relationships and impact not only marital love, but love in the body of Christ, and even love for the world around us.  May we as the Church of Jesus Christ keep focused on what true love is and how we are to imitate it.  

Old Songs for a New Year

 As I have been reflecting on my life and our churches' life and all that has gone on in the past year in our world, I have been thinking about that songs that I sang growing up and all of the meaning that they have.  As I thought about this I thought I would occasionally share one of these songs' lyrics as a way to encourage you and remind us all that our faith is a faith that endures through time and circumstance because the One in whom our faith is placed does not change.  

The Solid Rock (text: Edward Mote)

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name.

When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace;

In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood, support me in the whelming flood;

When all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found: 

Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.

Chorus: On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand.