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Let Us Do Good

The fire on a lit match casts no shadow.  If Christians are light, then why do we often rely exclusively on worldly means–signs, advertising, an attractive facility–to compete with the darkness to get noticed?  Jesus and the 1st century disciples didn’t have billboards or business cards.  And, while some of this is useful (Luke 16:8) for us, the greatest periods of growth in the Lord’s church came about by preaching truth and doing good (Galatians 6:7-10).

I. Acts 10:36-38.  Jesus reaped what He sowed.  While on this earth, He viewed every interaction as an opportunity to advance the gospel, so much so that He was known for going around and doing good.  Even when He spoke, He wasted no effort to show the world that God was among them (John 7:40-46).  So, our every word and deed ought to show the world Jesus (Colossians 3:17) to increase His kingdom.

II. Matthew 25:37-40.  Preaching truth and doing good is light in a world of darkness, and so different than any of the worldly efforts we could employ to get noticed.  And, because it is hard, we may grow weary.  Jesus promises to be with us (Matthew 28:18-20), so we are never alone.  If we persevere as a church and in our personal ministries to shine our light on a stand for all to see, we will be rewarded.

III. Ephesians 4:15-16.  So, we must view every interaction we have out in the world and with each other as an opportunity to show Jesus by preaching truth and doing good.  Rather than seeing the church as a refuge–God is instead (2 Samuel 22:2-3)–to escape the world, we must see it as a base to regroup (Acts 13:1-3) so we can serve.  Only by shining light can we compete with the darkness to overcome it and grow.

We must pray that God will give us opportunities to preach truth and do good and that we will see them.  Then we can serve as a church and develop personal ministries in every interaction and situation.

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Should Not Trouble

We want the community to obey the gospel and come into the church, but we don’t want the church to compromise truth and become the culture.  U.S. church attendance has fallen from over 70% around WWII to less than 47% today.  This means that the aging baby boomers (ages 60s through early 80s), who have lived through very challenging societal changes in their decades of life, are the ones filling our pews.  How can the church today hope to grow?

I. Acts 11:19-21.  Antioch saw changes in the church.  Exclusively Jewish in its traditions and knowledge until God opened the door to the gentiles, Jesus’ church was suddenly overwhelmed with believers who had obeyed the gospel but came from a denominational (pagan) and unchurched backgrounds.  Today’s faithful don’t fear opening our buildings to our communities without reason.  During the turbulent ’60s, divisive ’80s, and combative 2000s, the culture deviated from truth while the church held fast but became unrecognizable to each generation.  Sadly, a church that no longer looks like the community it is in soon dies.

II. Acts 15:6-20.  Leaders in Jerusalem told the Antioch church to extend the same grace to those from the outside coming in as God had already given to those who had been in the church.  It was God’s church, not theirs, and He was restoring His fallen tent.  Giving grace means WORK for us as we convert the fallen away, the denominationalists, and the unchurched, who are all products of the current culture we live in.  The easier ways of growth closed off to us, the church must return to the method that worked when it last looked like its communities.

III.  John 15:16-18.  While doing the difficult work of going into our communities and making disciples, we “should not trouble” those escaping the corruption of the world by keeping them from returning to it.  We can extend grace and love as Jesus loves without compromising truth.  If we do this, His church will be forever changed, yes, but it will thrive into the future.

 

 

 

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None of Self and All of Thee

In our relationship with God as in our earthly relationships, we would all insist that we love the other, but to what degree do we love?  The transition to love for God begins when we recognize ourselves in the first stanza of this song and obey the gospel:

O, the bitter pain and sorrow That a time could ever be,

When I proudly said to Jesus, “All of self, and none of Thee” …

[In brackets, I will tell the story of four Valentine’s Days or my spiritual journey: In our last semester of college while student teaching, my wife and I both obeyed the gospel on Sunday, February 14, 1993, just four months before we would graduate and be married, and thus we began our married life together as new Christians.]

I.  1 John 4:7-12.  Growing in our relationship with God, however, progresses from our second birth–just as a baby grows from his first birth or a marriage grows from a wedding.  Sadly, many Christians stagnate for years with a head knowledge of God and the gospel.  They can often cite book, chapter, and verse and can tell all about the love of God (Romans 5:6-8) without truly loving Him in return.  They are caught in the second stanza:

Yet He found me; I beheld Him Bleeding on th’ accursed tree,

And my wistful heart said faintly, “Some of self, and some of Thee” …

[On February 14, 1994, my wife gave me a study Bible to celebrate our first birthday in Christ.  I dove into knowing everything I could learn about it, God, and salvation, even completing a Bible degree.  While my wife was always a solid rock of faith–even through a cancer diagnosis of 2012 and a first brain tumor diagnosis of 2017, I used the gifts God gave me to teach and preach for the next three decades with a strong head love for Christ that went up and down through the years.]

II.  1 Peter 1:6-9.  In the Old Testament, God speaks about refining His people in the furnace of affliction.  In the New Testament, He speaks of using various trials to test the genuineness of our faith that hopefully leads to the salvation of our souls.  In most places today, the freedom to worship and general lack of persecution has made Christians complacent in our spiritual growth and content living with a low level of faith.  Struggles can stir us to a heart love for God as seen here:

Day by day His tender mercy Healing, helping, full and free,

Bro’t me lower while I whispered, “Less of self, and more of Thee” …

[The previous summer had my wife reacting to air quality, chemicals, surfaces, electricity, and wifi.  In desperation, she attended a naturopathic clinic in Kansas in January that showed a mold toxicity in her system.  I began mold remediation and reconstruction in the house to prepare it to sell while also cleansing, storing, trashing, or burning our possessions.  Living with a friend with similar issues, my wife met me for dinner on February 14, 2020, less than a month before her second diagnosis of brain tumors, where we spoke about our uncertain future.  Through radiation, a host of physical struggles, and months of hospice care, God gave us a last season together while He and I worked to break through my wall and I could grow in my heart love for Him.]

III.  James 4:7-10.  A total submission to God in a Christian’s head, heart, soul, and strength is required for him to truly love God and live (Luke 10:27-28).  This soul love can only come with a yielding of oneself to Him entirely and is beyond a head and heart love.  It comes through much prayer and perseverance.  When seeking of His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33) is added to fear of God and the keeping of His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13), submission can be achieved.  It is beyond the first four stages of grief after a great struggle or loss: denial, anger, bargaining, and depression.  It is found in acceptance and is spoken about in the last stanza of the title song:

Higher than the highest heavens, Deeper than the deepest sea,

Lord, Thy love at last has conquered, “None of self, and all of Thee” …

[I did not arrive here when my wife died in mid-December.  It was only in the past couple of weeks when I finally gave up in my fight against God, no longer struggling to make provision for the flesh (Romans 13:11-14), that I awoke to that soul love for God and Christ, my Savior.  Not that I no longer face temptations, but I am wearing the armor of God while fully submitting to Him and seeking for Him.  And so, this is the lesson I am preaching this Sunday, February 14, 2021, on the 28th anniversary of when my wife and I first professed our love for God, having first realized His great love for us.]

Which stanza of the song do you find your love for God?

 

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How Much of Faith?

How much of faith I’ve yet to learn!
The Arch is high, and progress, slow;
The Way is strait, hard headwinds blow
As I pass beneath its scaffold’d span.

What narrow lane I was called to brave!
But why complain? His love constrains —
His lessons draw from all my pains;
His patience is long, his will, to save.

What, then, must be my prayer to ascend,
But for faith to bear, and time to repent?
For haste to obey? To feel content?
Let all my will to his purpose bend.

Photo from the city’s official site.

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Look into my heart

Father, look into my heart. You know what’s there.
You know the corners that still hide the darkness.
Sweep in with your light to cleanse and purify.
Make me pure for full possession by your Spirit.
Take full control of my being, words, and actions.
Let Jesus lead in every step along the way.
May he grow before my eyes and in the world’s sight.
Enlarge the only true hope of eternal life.
Build up our holy faith as your chosen ones.
Strengthen our hands for faithful life and service.

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Leave None the Same

O Lord, our God, Defender and Shield,
Giver of growth and seed for the field,
Yours is the praise, the glory and power,
The weak and weary run to your tower.

Hear now, O God, our fervent prayer,
Confessing need, our hearts laid bare:
Come fill our souls, remove our shame,
Make firm our faith, leave none the same
While we for heaven’s home prepare;
In us, O Lord, glorify your Name.

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Time as Friend

Lord, let us see our time on earth as our friend,
With every thought and action geared to the end,
To learn, prepare, and grow in full desire,
For your most glorious presence in pure attire.

Lord, let us know that life is made of hours,
And moments, being present, with mental powers
In focus on our eternal purpose — earth
And heaven anew, with saints of spiritual birth.

Lord, let us find in Christ the only way
To you and all your hosts — for this we pray
And work and wait, as age and wisdom grow —
In hope, we think this passing time is slow.