Freedom

 I am always fascinated when people talk about freedom.  When we think of freedom we think usually about choices.  And to be really free we think that we have to have multiple choices and be able to choose from any of them equally.  However this is rarely if ever the case.  Allow a brief demonstration.

Let us say for the purpose of this demonstration that you have before you a table to food as if you were at a potluck.  There are 50 crock pots full of food and you can choose from any of them.  But can you choose from them freely and equally.  Consider that you know you get heartburn and 10 of them are spicy dishes that will give you heartburn.  The introduction of consequence means that you could choose those 10, but there will be a price to pay and therefore the choice is not equal.  Now say you are allergic to milk and 10 of them have dairy in them.  There is now a consequence of eating those 10 as well.  And say there are 25 people who go before you and they together eat all of the food in another 10.  Suddenly your choices are very limited, even though there were 50 choices.  In this case, time has been your enemy and the fact that you did not go first (likely a choice you made) means your choices are now even more limited.  Then you realize that you do not have a spoon and 10 of them are soups.  You could still eat them but you would have to slurp loudly out of a bowl.  This leaves 10 non-heartburn, non-dairy, partially full crock pots of non-soup.  In this scenario are you no longer free?  Just because you have limited choices is your freedom somehow no longer free?

The reality is that all of the choices that we make begin bound by a series of constraints.  This is why I like the idea of responsibility rather than freedom.  We are responsible for our choices more than we are free in them.  I am responsible for my heartburn if I eat something spicy.  I am responsible for going 26th in line.  I am responsible before God in my every-day choices to do not just what I can, but what I should.  (morality is another limiting factor in freedom)  This is not ultimately a negative, but something that God has graciously granted for our good.

Summer

 It is officially summer.  It is the days of summer vacation, the days of freedom from school, the days of longer light and more things to do and more fun and . . ..  You get the idea.  I wanted to just give a little reminder because of the fact that we so often seem to focus on what time we get to us and what we can do on our vacation so that we can relax.  All of these things are good.  We need to relax.  We need to be able to restore ourselves.  But we are restoring ourselves for a purpose, and we must never forget the purpose - we are servants of God, called to glorify God in all we do.  Therefore ultimately, our vacations are for the glory of God.  Our trips to the beach are to the glory of God.  Our extra fun activities are to the glory of God.  Or at least they should be.  Which leaves us with the question - are you using your summer to the glory of God?

Between Mother's and Father's Day

 I find it an interesting time to be alive.  We are in between the two days when we celebrate moms and dads.  In our day and age we are redefining the basics about what each of these things are.  At its beginning the Bible describes God as having created humanity in His image as male and female.  Both are needed for the proper family.  The father is to father the child, and the mother is to mother the child.  Male and female - mother and father.  

Our culture has done and is doing its best to simply make mothering and fathering a matter of desire and non-biological relationship.  But this is not fitting with reality.  I have had many women be motherly on my behalf, but I only have one mother.  Many men have been fatherly but I only have one father.  When we confuse this, it becomes impossible to maintain a connection to reality.  

We need to return to understanding life not according to our own views or our culture's views, but instead by the unchanging words of our Maker.  Mother's are to be celebrated - especially those who mother according to God's design.  Father's are to be celebrated - especially those who father according to God's design.  And we can certainly be thankful for those who are motherly or fatherly toward us, but we must remember that they are not our mother.  Nor are they our father.  We must maintain the boundaries that God has set.  

To Him be the Glory.

Graduation

 My son is graduating.  From High School.  Which means he has already graduated from Jr. High.  He has already graduated from Elementary School.  He has already graduated from Kindergarten.  He plans to graduate from college.  All of these graduations and we think that they are somehow marking something. 

Certainly there is a sense in which the graduation is marking accomplishment.  But at its core it simply means that he is moving on to something else.  Graduation is not fundamentally focused on what has been behind, but instead on what is ahead.  The graduate is moving on to the next level, and will continue to do so until there is no level to advance to.  

I think this is in a sense a good way to look at life in general, and specifically the life of the Christian.  What if we looked at death not as the end of something that came prior but as the beginning of the next phase.  The final graduation if you will - the graduation to the final grade!  Just a thought - the metaphor breaks down of course, but I find myself looking at life more biblically when I understand that death is not the end, but the entry point into the glory of the final phase to which God has called me!

Spring Flowers

 As the adage goes, "April showers bring May flowers."  Its interesting how often things like this affect our view of the world and even of God.  For instance - the adage seems to indicate that there is a natural cause and effect.  It rains in April is the cause and the effect is that flowers bloom in May.  Therefore, there is no need for God in this pictures because one produces the other.  Unfortunately, the Bible does not agree with this naturalistic explanation for flower growth.  For instance, Zechariah 10:1 indicates that we are to ask the Lord for the spring rain because it is he who makes the clouds and he who gives the rain.  Luke 12:27-28 indicate that it is God who causes the flowers to grow, and clothes them with beauty.  So the cause behind the effect of flowers, and the cause behind the effect of rain is fundamentally the same - God.  And so it is no natural happening that occurs, but a gift of grace from the giver of all good gifts.  God causes the rain and God causes the grass to grow.  

In your life, do you attribute to God the glory that he is due or do you assign his works to simply natural phenomenon?  All glory be to God alone!

Is the Gospel of 1st importance?

 In 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 Paul writes, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that He appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve."  As I reflected on this, I thought of Paul's defense of the gospel and the resurrection in this chapter and found it interesting his use of the term "first importance."  

Is the gospel of first importance in your life?  Is it the thing that you talk about and pass on to those who will listen?  Would you be able to defend the core of the gospel by saying that you talk about what is of first importance.  I know that this is a hard question to ask and we all fall short of the standards that we and others may set for us.  It is not my intention here to simply create an unattainable standard.  I know that Paul talked about more things with this church than simply the core of the gospel - these verses come in chapter 15, not in chapter 1.  However, I cannot help but notice that all of Paul's writing center on the gospel.  Is our dialogue centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ?  Are our lives centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ?

I think that for all of us, myself included, there are many parts of our lives that are not gospel centered.  Do I see each activity I engage in as an opportunity for the gospel, or to refresh myself for the work of the gospel?  Do the things I do point me to God or away from Him.  I think it is fair to say that if the gospel is of first importance, it ought to have a preeminent place in what I think and say and do.  May God help me be more gospel-centered.

Repetition

 We have been working in our sermon series through the book of Jeremiah.  I am amazed at the repetition in this book.  Jeremiah is told by God to tell God's people essentially the same thing over and over and over again.  It is almost as if they are so hard headed God gives them the message at least 25-30 times and knows that they will not get it even after all of those times.

We have been working through a Bible Study in our Men's Group on the book of John and I notice the same thing there.  Jesus tells the disciples the same things numerous times and they just don't seem to get it.  

It would seem that this is a part of what it means to be human.  We are dense.  We are unwilling to listen - even when what we are listening to is clearly revealed truth.  We do not want to hear it once, and so we need to hear it over and over again.  

God is so very gracious to give us this repetition.  He does it in His Word many times.  Telling us the same things again and again so that by His grace and in His time we will grasp the truths that we so desperately need to hear!

Praise Him today for His willingness to repeat Himself!

The importance of living on mission

 Yesterday was the first of our two Missions Emphasis Sunday's.  Twice a year we as a church take a moment to remind ourselves of the need we have to live within the confines of the mission of God.  Often times we forget that those who are called by Christ are given a mission.  I was so thankful for Tim Blazer's reminder of who we were, and who we are in Christ, and that in Christ we are created as God's masterpiece - to do things that bring honor and glory to the name of Christ.  We are to do all that we do to the honor and glory of Christ.  

May God help us all to find each day our need to conform to what He would have us do - and then do it!

Its not in our control

 I have often been amazed how much I can delude myself into thinking that I am in control of things that I have absolutely zero control over.  I have made just a short list:

    I am not in control of how other people respond to me.

    I am not in control of what other people think and feel.

    I am not in control of what happens on any given day.

    I am not in control of what my circumstances are or will be.

    I am not in control of what trials God chooses to send my way.

    I am not in control of what blessings God chooses to send my way.

    I am not in control over the choices of others.

And the list could go on.  I find it is helpful to remind myself of these things because if I do not it might affect how I think and feel about any of these items.  But realistically I have no control over them and so I should not stress about avoiding, preventing or causing any of them.  But I do have some semblance of control over how I respond to these things.  In fact, God calls me to respond in particular ways to these events and I am responsible to follow His will for me as I engage this world - even if I do not have as much control as I think I do.

A brief comment on love

 This Friday is Valentine's Day.  I do not know if you celebrate this particular day, but it is a day when the thoughts of most people go to love.  I think that in some respects, no one ever grows out of the phase of life where we share little candy heart messages that are supposed to express our "feelings" toward each other.  At the end of the day the whole idea of love that our culture preaches to us is a message that begins and ends with the self.  I am supposed to love myself, make sure that those I love love me in return.  It is all about me and what makes me happy.  

This is not the biblical picture of what love is.  A biblical love is not self focused, but focused upward and outward.  First love is to be directed upward to God.  Then it is to be directed outward toward others.  And only when you do those things properly will you find true joy.  

So the challenge this time of year is to focus our loves rightly.  To direct our feelings into action upward and outward!

Strength and Weakness

 I think that one of the areas in which we reveal if we are following culture or the Word of God is the area of strength and weakness.  The world around us is designed to point us to building strength and minimizing weakness.  We are told that we are supposed to emphasize the strong points.  Like we are building our resume, every time we talk to someone we emphasize the things we are good at and minimize the struggles.  Interestingly, the Bible says the opposite.  It says that God's strength is manifested when we are weak.  It tells us that when we are weak, then we are strong.  It emphasizes that we are to deny self and die to self and instead build up others.  What an interesting contrast.  So the next time you are feeling particularly helpless, perhaps remember that God will get the glory when you acknowledge that you cannot do it apart from His help!

The importance of the authority of the Word of God

 I am convinced, with a greater degree of certainty each day, that we have lost in our practical lives the doctrine of Sola Scriptura.  We actually have lots of paths to understanding authority.  Most of us are more influenced far more by our own individualism than we are by the Word of God.  We live under the authority of our own understanding than we do under the fear of the Lord and listening to the Scriptures He has left for us.  We are far more interested in the authority of what our close friends and family say than we are in the authority of Scripture.  We are far more concerned their values and making sure we are not falling short than we are understanding the value that God places on various aspects of our lives.  We are far too connected to cultural values and understanding than we are to the Biblical account of things.  We worry too much about what our friends and neighbors will think and say.  We sometimes are fearful of losing chances to proclaim the Word of God to them and so we do not mention it at all so as not to put them off.  

The idea of the sufficiency of the Scriptures for the role of sole authority and practice has been left behind practically.  Most of us of course would never say that we follow what the Pope says, but instead we have replaced the Pope with self, and family, and culture.  These become our guiding factors instead of the Word of the Lord.  

I wonder what would happen if we lived under the authority of the Scriptures in an intentional way.  Would it impact how we use our time?   Would it change how we spend our money?  Would it adjust how we view other people?   Would it correct our poor behaviors?   And if it is not doing these things on a daily basis, perhaps we should consider that the Word of God is not our true authority and ask ourselves, "What is?"

A New Year

 It is a new year!  I think that we sometimes celebrate weird things in weird ways.  After all, we count birthdays up from 1 and the longer they go the less we want to see them.  However, after celebrating my birthday this year and being one year older, I celebrate the new year and do not associate it with age.  We celebrate the transition between December 31 and January 1 with a dropping ball and fireworks.  And yet the passing of January 1 into January 2 or any day thereafter is essentially a meaningless passing.  When the clock hits midnight we begin a new day and have all sorts of goals that many set for how they will do better in certain areas in the coming year.  Why not start that on December 31?  Why not earlier?  Why do we struggle to keep our resolutions beyond the 4th of 5th?  We celebrate weird things in weird ways. 

The Jews had a new year too.  They celebrated it because the celebration marked the greatest redemptive act in their history.  It was to be 14 days before Passover.  It was to mark the time of the leaving of Egypt because of the greatness of their God.  I wonder what would happen if we marked and celebrated our new years based on the work that God had done for us.  Now that would be something worth remembering and celebrating.  

So, what has God done for you?  What is it that God has worked in your life in the last year?   Mark time this year by what God is doing in your life.  Count the days from what God has done and anticipate what God will do!