Trust

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding."  Proverbs 3:5

Trust is a word that we sometimes throw out there without fully understanding what it means.  The original Hebrew is fairly accurate to our modern vernacular.  It simply means to be confident in something.  We are to be confident in the Lord with all of our hearts.  There are some things that we trust readily and do not even think about it.  We sit down in a chair without inspecting it because we trust that it will hold us.  We have a confidence based on experience and knowledge that the chair will hold us, even if we have had an experience of a chair crumbling under us, I have not yet met a person who require a full chair inspection before agreeing to sit in a chair that is offered to them. 

We use the word trust a lot.  "I'm trusting God to take care of it."  I have said it myself related to the sale of our house, I have said it related to our finances.  I have said it in church, I have said it to family.  I have said it an awful lot.  And yet, when the rubber meets the road, simply stating your trust in something does absolutely nothing.  You can talk about how much you trust the chair, but until you sit, your trust is not complete.  Most of the things I have said I trust God to care for I am still concerned about and still think about and worry about and even stress about.  Do I really trust?

And sadly, the verse does not end with trust.  The verse gives us a more complete definition of the confidence that God requires of us.  I am not even referring to the expression "with all your heart", but to the latter half of the verse.   "Do not lean on your own understanding."  This is astounding.  The confidence that I am to have in God is to actually counter my own understanding. 

I understand a lot of things (or at least I think I do).  God here tells me not to rely on the understanding of things that I have.  Instead I am to trust.  It seems that trust is therefore something that is to go beyond my understanding.  So it is more than sitting in a chair.  I trust the chair precisely because of my own understanding.  I understand the physics involved and the fact that due to the way the chair was constructed it is designed to hold weight by distributing it evenly to four focal points instead of one.  I understand my history with chairs and that they do not break easily, and I trust based on my understanding, and sadly, I believe that this is where most Christians falter.  We trust God based on our understanding.  We know what He has done in the past and what He is capable of.  We have an understanding of who God is, and our trust is challenged when God chooses to operate in a way that is different from our understanding of who He is and how He works. 

This is why Proverbs 3:5 is such a good verse.  The verse demands that I do not get complacent in my trust and only be confident in the things that my understanding allows, but demands instead that I am confident in the things that are beyond my understanding.  I am to trust when I do not understand.  I am to rely upon God even when I do not comprehend what He is doing and where He is taking me.  This is the type of trust exemplified in the Scriptures.  It is the trust of Abraham going to a place that he did not know but allowing God to lead.  It is the trust of Moses allowing God to work through his own insecurities.  It is the trust of David allowing God to use his mistakes.  It is the trust of Joshua walking around a wall instead of building siege ramps against it.  These things defy human understanding and logic.  And yet God calls them and us to trust.  You and I are to be confident that God knows what He is doing, even when we do not understand. 

As Anselm said, "Faith seeks understanding. I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand." 

God-Centered Prayers

When it comes to prayer, I think that sometimes we wish that there were some magic formula or "How-to" guidebook that would instruct us in our prayers.  I am grateful however that our prayers are heard by God regardless of what formula they follow and that Romans tells us that God even hears and understands the prayers that we are unable to pray thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit.  As I study the Scriptures, while there is no "how-to", there are certainly numerous examples of people praying, one of which I spoke on this morning in Nehemiah 1.  There are a few things that these prayers seem to have in common that I think that we can learn from.  These include the fact that these prayers seem to come from genuine hearts.  These include the fact that they are not limited to times of need or blessing, but can be raised to the throne of God at any time.  I would encourage you to look at some of these prayers.  They can be found throughout the Old and New Testament.  Jesus prays, Paul prays, Nehemiah prays, the prophets pray. . . people in the Bible pray.  And the one thing that seems to be most instructive to me at this time is the fact that in their recorded prayers the people of the Scripture pray prayers that are centered on God.  Nehemiah prays and spends most of his time in Nehemiah 1 praising God for who He is, and confessing his own sinfulness.  And then at the very end of the prayer he gives his request - that God would give him success as he approached the king.  He focused on God.

I know with certainty that my prayers are not as God-centered as was the prayer of Nehemiah.  In fact, other than the introduction ("Dear Heavenly Father, . . .") and the conclusion (". . .in Jesus name, Amen."), my prayers are suspiciously focused on me.  I focus on what I want.  I ask for what I think needs to be done.  I let God know how much I would appreciate all that He would do for me and for those close to me.  But, at the end of the day I have spoken more about me than about my God. 

Not all of this is bad.  God commands us to cast our cares and anxieties upon him.  He asks us to talk to Him.  I wonder however when I center so much on myself if I miss the blessing of the peace that comes from focusing on who God is.  And so, as a form of corrective, I try and think of all of my requests and the reasons that I take them to God in the first place. 

After all, I go to God with requests for healing because God is the perfect Healer.
I go to God with requests for provision because God is a God who provides.
I go to God asking for comfort because He is a God of all comfort.
I ask for peace because God is a God of peace.
For blessing because God blesses.
For salvation of the lost because God saves.
. . .
and the list goes on and on.

For each request that we have there is a corresponding quality of God that motivates us to go before Him in prayer. And in focusing my mind and heart on these qualities of God I have found that my prayers have become more centered on God.  I still ask that God would sell my house, but I pray that the God whose timing is perfect and who provision is constant would help my patience while He sells my house.  And when I am able to pray in this way I find that I am more centered on who God is and not simply what I want Him to do for me. 

Perhaps as you evaluate your prayers you find that they are centered on you.  May God help us to continually focus more and more on Him as we pray, that His glory might increase, and we might be used by His powerful hand to proclaim His wonder and majesty! 

The Importance of the Body

The body is important.  I am not for the purposes of this blog talking about our bodies that we move around in, and that we seem to be more concerned about for the first two weeks of January.  Instead I am talking about the body that we have as a church - the body of Christ. 

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 says, "For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether salves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit." (NASB)

I was reminded of this text at the beginning of 2016 as we had the privilege at our church of baptizing four people.  They were baptized into the body of Christ.  The passage goes on to talk about the importance of each individual member and how no one member can do it alone.  It is sometimes easy to think that the church has "important" members and "regular" members, but this is not the case.  The Pastor and Deacon's are not more important than the other members, they simply serve a difference function - a function that could not be accomplished without the help of many. 

May I illustrate this using the baptism itself as an example.  As the Pastor, I am the one who gets in the water, speaks and baptizes the candidates.  However, what you may not know is that this was the effort of multiple members.  I was not the one who filled the water and made sure it was warm, that was done by another who was taught by a third.  A fourth set up all of the carpet that was to keep us from slipping.  A fifth and sixth helped by assisting those who were preparing for baptism and making sure they came up in the proper order, kept safe, had changing rooms, etc.  Another assisted by attending the baptism classes with one of the candidates, and two helped by becoming Bible Study leaders to assist in following up after the baptism.  That morning, someone other than me came and turned on the lights, even more people assisted on the praise team to help set  the tone for the baptism and one set the order of service incorporating songs for the baptism, the sermon, and even communion.  The deacons (5 other men) helped to hear the testimonies of the candidates and approve them for membership into our church.  The candidates themselves helped by attending classes and inviting family and friends.  And the whole church functioned as a witness to the event and welcomed the four new members into our fellowship.  

What seems like a simple event - the immersion of four people, is really at its core a family function - the work of multiple members of the body of Christ for the glory of God.  What a privilege we have to work together to accomplish His glorious purpose.

May I challenge you that if you are not a member of a local church that you are missing a great deal as you are choosing not to participate fully with the body that you should be serving?  May I challenge you that if you do not attend church at all and instead think that your salvation is all about you and God that you are missing this truth of the Scriptures?  Or perhaps you are coming and are a member, but are not serving in an area that God has gifted you.  All of these are tragedies that miss the benefit of being a part of the body of Christ! 

Praise the Lord that we are by One Spirit baptized into the body of Christ.   And you will find no fuller expression of this glorious truth than looking at your local church.  The body is important.

PS - thank you to my local body of Christ with whom I get to serve joyfully.  I am privileged to serve our Savior with you.

The Uniqueness of our God

"You alone are the Lord.  You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before You."  Nehemiah 9:6

At White Lake Baptist Church we started the year on Sunday and have made this our theme verse for the year.  I love how the verse starts - "You alone are the Lord."  It was the subject of the first sermon of the year, on a day that was filled with joy due to the start of the new year and to the fact that we had the privilege of baptizing four young ladies into our membership!  It was indeed a good day.  The more that I dwelt upon the happenings of that day, the more I reflected on the text of Nehemiah 9:6, the more I was drawn into an appreciation for how truly awesome God is.

Have you ever considered the singular uniqueness of our God?  When Nehemiah records that He alone is Lord, he is stating that there is none like God - none who should compete for our worship, none who can compete for the position of Master and Ruler over our lives.  There is no one like our God.  There is no one or nothing on the face of the planet that can claim that it has no beginning  - but our God can.  There is no one or nothing else in all of creation that balances love and justice in such a glorious way as to send your own Son to fulfill the obligations of the Law for those who place their faith and trust in Christ.  There is no one or nothing else anywhere that will love you with the kind of unending love that God has given us in Christ.  There is no one or nothing else in all creation that makes the kinds of promises that God makes to us. 

Our God is unique!

He has no earthly rivals.  There is no other supposed deity who has demonstrated the consistency and constancy that our God has.  None other who has chosen to make himself known to us in the way that our God has.  None who has chosen to love us without demanding that we change our behavior before we come to him.  No, instead God tells us that we cannot change our behavior apart from His grace. That we can know Him because of His Word.  And that He can love us with consistency and constancy because of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Our God is unique!

But what is perhaps most interesting is that for Nehemiah, the uniqueness of our God is not sufficient.  It is not enough for him that we give intellectual assent to how great our God is.  It is not enough that we acknowledge God as being so awesome.  Nehemiah states instead, "You alone are the Lord."  The kind of uniqueness and awesomeness that our God possesses demands our attention and obedience.  His singularity calls us into submission.  For if God is as awesome as He truly is, then we recognize with a great deal of speed how "un-awesome" and "un-great" we are. 

May 2016 be for us a year filled with the blessing of God as we submit ourselves to His Lordship.  As we commit to acknowledging His grandeur and our insufficiency apart from His work in our lives.  As we obey may we experience the fullness of the joy and blessing that He has to offer.  And may we with Nehemiah say this year, "You alone are the Lord."

The Beginning in the End

This will be my last post of 2015.  Somehow in my human pride I imagine that this will cause tears and mourning for someone (probably my mom).  While there, in reality, will be no tears from the absence of another post (due to the fact that I will be on vacation!), there is often a sense that comes at the end of the year of retrospection and introspection that can sometimes cause sorrow as we look back and find ourselves disappointed with our accomplishments for the year.  After all, we made resolutions and goals that this was going to be the year that we _____________________ (fill in the blank) and as of December 22 ____________________ remains undone.  And yet in the sadness and disappointment is a glorious reminder of the gospel.

Jesus came to earth precisely because of our failures.  On a much larger scale we must understand that our sin required that Jesus came to be born to die.  My failures to accomplish what I set my mind to should remind me of my failures to accomplish what God designed me to, and in that failure breaking the very relationship that I have with God.  But the glorious birth of our Savior reminds us that there is a beginning in the end.  Yes, the year is ending, we will never have another 2015.  But, there is a glorious beginning we have because of Christ.  Eternity with God.  We get to live forever with God.  And my temporary life on earth is just the beginning of this eternal life. 

What this actually reveals to me is how shortsighted my goal formation actually is.  I will make goals and plans for a 2016 that I am not even sure how much of it I will be around for.  After all, Christ could return tomorrow.  Perhaps my goal formation should be a little more eternal - doing and planning to do the things that matter most.  Now please do not misunderstand what I am saying, I am not saying that every moment of 2016 should be spent in church or witnessing or passing out tracts to people.  If you did this you would fail your important God-given responsibilities as a husband, or a mother, or a daughter, or a son.   But what I am suggesting is that your "mundane" responsibilities should be focused on the beginning in the end.  When you go to work, do so with the mentality that Christ is returning and He asks you to do your work as unto Him.  (Colossians 3:17)  When you are at home realize that you playing with your children has eternal implications.  In point of fact, the return of Christ being imminent gives increased value and meaning to each activity that we do and makes them that much more valuable. 

And yes, for most of us, there are things that we could do differently.  We could put down the remote for a few minutes and read our Bibles.  We could set the computer mouse aside momentarily and stop looking at cute cat videos and spend some time in prayer.  But Christ coming to earth has given meaning to life here on earth.  And we should realize that the baby in the manger was Immanuel, which means, "God with us".  And that God will be with us for eternity.  This really is just the beginning in the end.  Or more precisely, the beginning of the joy that never ends.  And in this we are indeed reminded of the gospel. 

Thank you Jesus.  And Merry Christmas!

The Spirit of Christmas Future

Ebenezer Scrooge fell asleep and was awakened by three spirits in the classic Dickens' tale, A Christmas Carol.  When I think of this, I am reminded that the real story of Christmas has an impact on the past, the present and the future.  For the story, the impact of the future was still negotiable, and Scrooge asked if he could change.  For the real Christmas story however, the impact of the past is real, the impact on our present is real, and the impact on the future is just as real. 

We think of the past of Christmas often as we reflect on baby Jesus laying in a manger, surrounded by Joseph, Mary, likely a few animals (although this is simply assumed) and a few moments later the Shepherds arriving.  We think on the humility of this event and are often astounded.  Every time I drive by a nativity scene I am reminded of Christmas past - an event that really happened and shaped the course of history.

We also can find ourselves focusing on Christmas present.  Not the gifts and wrapping, although these often do consume much of our focus, but on the impact that Christ coming has in the here and now.  I have salvation because Christ was born, I have life because Christ was born, I have the Spirit of God and the Word of God all because Christ was born.  These are glorious truths both past and present, but they do not present the complete picture of the Christmas story.

This is why I think the book of Revelation contains the narrative of the birth of Christ.  In Revelation 12 we are reminded that "And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne." (Revelation 12:5, NASB)  This is a part of the larger context of the battle between God and Satan, between ultimate good and everything that opposes good.  The glory of this story is ultimately recorded for us in Revelation chapter 20 when this adversary of God, the opposition to God is finally defeated along with all of those who chose to side against God.  In other words, God wins.  And the Christmas story is a large part of the narrative of God winning.  It is because Christ conquers death that God wins.  It is because Christ conquers the grave that God wins.  It is because Christ conquers sin that God wins.  God chooses to use the birth of this baby in humble circumstances to be the means by which victory is ultimately won. 

But in our present it does not seem to be that God has won.  Children are murdered, women are assaulted, brother fights against brother, sister steals from sister, families are disintegrating, we face moral ills on every side and it does not seem that God has won.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem that became a song that captures the heart of this struggle well.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

This is one of the many joys of the Christmas story - it reminds us that our future is secure, right does prevail because our God lives and is still accomplishing His perfect plan for our world.  God has redeemed us in Christ, He has saved us from our sins, and He will save us finally and completely at some time designated in the future.  Until that day we cry out to the Savior born of a virgin, "Come quickly Lord Jesus."  Which is a cry to make the promised future our present.  And what a glorious gift it will be. 

The Importance of Truth

I have a pet peeve.  It may seem like a small thing, and perhaps it is - I know at least that most people probably do not take this as seriously as I do, but my peeve is with Christmas carols.  You read correctly - Christmas carols.  I am as joyous about the holidays as the next guy, but my difficulty comes when carols seem to be for some people a source of truth about the coming of the our Savior.  For instance, when Jesus was born, did he cry?  "Away in a Manger" tells us no, but if Jesus does not cry when he is born, he was not born human, for that first cry is what allows a newborn to draw breath.  How many wise men were there?  The Scriptures do not say, but the song does, and some long forgotten tradition does.  People remember what they sing. 

I am not fighting against sentiment.  Please do not misunderstand - I have no problem with singing these Christmas songs, even the ones that have things in them that may not be true.  I love watching my children sing these songs during Christmas plays and programs.  I even enjoy singing the songs, particularly while caroling and encouraging people who may not be able to get out.  I am NOT anti-carols.  I am however against every instance where people develop their understanding of anything apart from the authority of Scripture. 

There seems to me to be no better time to remind us of the importance of the Scriptures than the time when we celebrate the coming of the central figure of the Scriptures.  There is no tradition, no song, no historical understanding that should inform us above the Scriptures.   Truth is important, and Truth has been given to us in not only the person of Christ, but in every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God - which is the Bible.  What a privilege we have to be able to have such a glorious gift from God.  May we be careful not to squander it.  May we be urgently engaged in reading and studying it.  And may we be sure not to neglect it. 

So may I remind us all this Christmas time to be discerning about what we hear, and see, and think and understand.  May we run every single element of truth through the purifying filter of the Word of God and determine what is Truth and must be obediently followed and believed.  The rest we may need to reconsider our response to, and realize that songs, or the opinions of myself or other, are not gospel truth and pale in comparison to the Gospel Truth that we have - our Bibles.  Hold tightly to Truth.  Be willing to let the rest go!