the merge

A Tribute to a Friend

2015-01-14T20:38:00.001-05:00

Tom and Me in 2012

I haven't published on this blog for quite some time. I have considered shutting it down, maybe starting something else, or just doing away with it altogether. But this morning I received some upsetting news from a family I used to pastor in Missouri. The news caused me to want to process somethings in written form, so this blog is where I'm going to post it for now.

When I first moved to the small town in Missouri where I was going to plant my first church, I went with a lot of excitement and too much bravado. I was going to change the world by planting this church. Within the first few years I managed to build a church of about 20. The most people to ever attend the church was just over 30 on a Sunday morning. Needless to say I felt a great deal of failure.

But early on I received a phone call from someone in the community asking me to do a funeral for her mother. I met the family, who was leery of pastors, and performed the funeral. Something I did must have won some appreciation because they came to respect me.

One member of the family started attending the church, and brought her young niece along. A few months later, the little girl invited her father, Tom, to attend our Father's Day service with her. Tom became a regular attender.

Over the next few years he became more and more involved in what we were doing at the church. From the beginning we did a ton of compassionate and servant evangelism style outreach events. Tom fell in love with serving people.

To be honest, though, I wasn't sure where Tom was spiritually.

It has been more than 35 years since he had even set foot in a church. He had faced some difficult physical struggles. He was on kidney dialysis three times a week, and within two years of knowing him he had a kidney transplant.

So one evening I presented the Gospel to him using the old bridge drawing. When it came to the appropriate time, I asked him, "If you were to put yourself on this drawing, where would you be? Would be ready to cross the bridge and accept Jesus? Would you say you are in a relationship with Jesus?"

"I wouldn't even be on this piece of paper," Tom said. "I would be down the block!"

I was surprised. I would say that he had been following in the way of Christ since he got to the church. He had been following after Jesus harder than anyone I ever knew. I learned it was probably more baggage from his upbringing than anything thing else.

Tom explained, "I have been holding God a long way off for a long time, and He has been drawing me closer and closer. Before I started coming here and got to know you I wouldn't have even been in this state."

I told him I would be praying for him as he continued his journey. He asked if he could keep the piece of paper, and then explained. "Hanging on the wall in my garage is a blue pillow in an old plastic grocery bag. That is the pillow I used for years to rest my arm on during my dialysis. The first time I did dialysis my arm hurt so bad when I left because it sat on that hard wooden rest. So I got the pillow. When I got the kidney transplant, I hung that pillow on the wall so that every time I pull my truck into the garage I see the pillow and know what I have come through. Maybe one day, I will hang this picture up there with that pillow as a regular reminder that I have fully crossed over and started following Jesus."

Over the next few years, things didn't improve at the church. I struggled emotionally, physically, financially, every possible way you can think of. It beat me up. I finally resigned in 2006, and was pretty sure I was down planting, and maybe even done pastoring. God had other plans; though. He opened some doors for me to move back to Ohio and work toward planting what is now my current church.

On the evening we were packing the truck to move, Tom came over and worked like mad to make sure everything we had fit into the truck. When he finally had to take off, he asked me to take a quick ride with him. I had less than 12 hours to finish packing the rest of my house, get it loaded into the truck, and get on the road...but it was Tom...There was no way I could refuse him anything after the years and years of friendship he had given me.

I got in the truck, and he drove us to his house. He opened the garage door, and there, hanging on the wall was the blue pillow. Pinned to the front was the picture I had drawn for him 3 years earlier. He said, "I just wanted you to know that I'm all in!"

I struggled to keep from crying, and when I got back home had to find a private place away from everyone so I could cry.

Of all the memories I have of Tom...playing tennis with him in bibbed overalls and work boots...him getting a bouncy castle and a large Barbie cake for my wife's 29th birthday just to keep things fun...every birthday and family function he included me and my family in...of all those things, I remember him most for his determination to serve and love others. I felt like a failure because of that church plant. I was defeated and broken. Tom's encouragement enabled me to stick things out on so many occasions.

Right now Tom is struggling for life on a ventilator. Whatever ends up happening, I know Tom will be ok. He will either recover and keep fighting and serving and loving people...or He will go home and give Jesus a run for his money. I can only write a rambling blog post, but even this can't put into words how much I care for Tom and his family; how much he means to me.

On the journey of life, we get the privilege of meeting some people who impact our lives forever. Most of those people will never be famous. They will never do anything amazing enough to be written about in newspapers or books. They will just live the best life they know how to live and care for people along the way...that is Tom.

Overcoming Obstacles-Gideon-Inadequacy

2014-04-29T07:36:00.003-04:00

We are in a message series looking at Overcoming some of the major Obstacles we face in life. And we are looking at them through the lives of seem major Bible characters. Today we are looking the obstacle of inadequacy.

Actors and Leaders and people who have accomplished some great things come up with some great quotes about believing in yourself and having the perseverance to push through…

Maya Angelou says,

“You want me to do something…tell me I can’t do it!”

John Wooden said,

“Don’t let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do.”

The problem with quotes like this, for me, is they give the false sense these people never experienced moments of insecurity or doubt. They set up this idealized world where a person is always positive, forward facing, and never once think to themselves…I think I might be over my head on this one…

I like the honesty of Robert Hughes. He says,

“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize."

I think Hughes reminds us unless we have a healthy sense that we are in over our heads…we get a little carried away with ourselves….

This morning I’m going to let you in on a not-so-secret secret. Unless they are pompous, arrogant, self-deceiving jerks…everyone who has accomplished anything worth doing has struggled with feelings of insecurity and inadequacy. They are able to write these quotes because they are on the other side of their goal…the other side of their dream. And they have forgotten what it was like to live in the uncertainty of fulfilling a challenging dream.

I believe if your goal doesn’t scare you…it isn’t big enough.

And when we think about this in regards to our calling from God…if what God is calling you to do doesn’t scare you…it probably isn’t from God.

This doesn’t mean you are going to go out and pastor or plant a church…it doesn't mean you have to be called to be a missionary…it might, but God’s call comes with fear because it calls us out of our comfort zone…it calls us to do something we are not able or prepared to do.

Throughout the Bible God’s call scares the snot out everyone who received it. And not many more than Gideon. Today we are looking at a couple of chapters from the book of Judges, chapters 6 and 7. Let me give you a little background…

A Little Background

Throughout the book of Judges the Israelites, God’s chosen people, go through a cycle. It is a bit like the instructions on a shampoo bottles. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Except they aren’t getting clean.

It starts with the Israelites sinning and turning from God to worship other idols. God then allows another nation to come and oppress them as punishment for their sin. The people cry out to God for forgiveness and for Him to rescue them. God sends someone to lead them out of the oppression and back to God. Then after the leader dies the people start the process all over again.

In Judges 6 we are in the middle of another sin cycle.

Judge 6:1-6 says,

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

So Israel sins…the Lord hands them over to the Midianites…they realize the trouble they are in and cry out to the Lord… So God has to send a judge, a leader, someone to rescue them and He gets Gideon.

Judges 6:11 says

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.

I find God’s choices surprising. He doesn’t go looking for the man who is already plotting a rebellion against the Midianites. He isn’t looking for the man with a powerful presence, a man with wealth or standing or even respect in his community. When we look at Gideon we see none of these things.

In Judges 6:15, Gideon says,

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

Near the end of chapter 6 God tells Gideon to destroy the shrines and altars his people had made to the false gods…Gideon does it, but Judges 6:27 says

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

Gideon is hiding from the Midianites. He is hiding his actions from his family. Yet in Judges 6:12 when the angel of the Lord first meets Gideon it says…

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

Mighty hero!?!? He doesn’t sound like a mighty hero to me. But…

God sees things in us we can’t even see ourselves…

When God looked at a childless couple named Abraham and Sarah…he said, “I will make you the father of a great nation!”

When God looked at a puny shepherd boy named David…he said, “Here is a man after my own heart! He will be Israel’s greatest king!”

When he looked at a loud-mouthed, flip-flopper named Simon…he said, “You will be the leader of the church and I will call you a rock…You are Peter.”

When he looked at an angry, murdering Pharisee name Saul…he said, “You will be our greatest theologian and church planter. I will call you Paul!”

God sees things in us we can’t even see ourselves. So when God calls us…when he chooses us and asks us to take part in or start a ministry…he sees something we can’t even see ourselves.

We may look ourselves in the mirror and not see much that matters, but when God looks at us he says, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t some motivational speech.

Most of those speeches sound a bit like this to me…

One of the funniest commercials ever.

I’m not giving you a pep talk about your potential. I’m saying God sees things in us we can’t see ourselves, He calls those gifts and abilities out of us, and He challenges us to use them to make a difference for the Kingdom…

For some of us it might mean getting involved in a ministry. Do you want a good, general way to know when God is calling you to take part in a ministry? It is when you start a sentence with, “Do you know what we should do as a church…” or “You know what we need to do…”

Your idea may not be the right one, but when you see a need it means you have a heart for that area. You see a need for an area to step up. You see an area of ministry that is lacking. When that thought comes to mind, it might be God saying, “I want you to help in this area.”

For some of you it means you need to recognize God’s call in the skills you already have. God will often use the the areas we are already gifted in to make a difference. For me, I loved to teach and speak…for others they like to do the behind the scenes stuff. Others are great cooks and so they minister by cooking for the homeless or making meals for shut-ins and the sick. We have a great opportunity to do that this week. Rhonda Bade had surgery and we have a sign-up sheet for people to take her and her families some meals. Others have carpentry and construction skills and God can use those…I mean our contractors who built the walls of this church could have used someone with actual construction skills!

God looks deep inside us and sees things we might never see ourselves. And don’t get caught up in the excuse of, “There are better people than me!”

God works through ordinary people like you and me.

We have the tendency to overspiritualize and glorify those we read about in Scripture. Moses, David, Peter, Paul…they are seen as heroes and we romanticize them. They become these spiritual giants and we could NEVER be like them.

That was Gideon’s thought…He wasn’t one of THOSE guys.

But look at Judges 6:14,

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

There are two things happening here.

God has given us giftings and strengths He expects us to use…but it isn’t all about us.

Go with the strength you have…there is something in Gideon God wanted to use. He needed Gideon to step up and use those skills.

But God also says, “I am sending you!” When God sends us, when God calls us to get involved it is He who sends us and He will give us the strength to do it!

Judges 6:16

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

I will be with you!

God has placed something in each one of us. He has placed a dream, a call, a ministry…something meant to bring glory to the Kingdom…and He asks us to go in the strength we have…he asks us to trust that when obey his call on our lives that He will go with us.

This isn’t just about you. This isn’t just about me. We have a part to play…but it is about God using our willingness.

But do you know the great challenge that will come our way? The thing that will challenge our insecurities to the max?

The Greatest Challenge we will face to our insecurity will be God himself. Because He will regularly lead us into areas and challenges where we could never succeed on our own.

God did this over and over for Gideon. Judges 7 tells the story many of us know about Gideon. He gathers an army ready to go after the Midianites, but God says, “You have too many men!”

So Gideon says, “If you are afraid to fight, go home!” So 22,000 men leave. And 10,000 are left.

Not the direction I would want to God…but we’ll go with it.

10,000 men is still a respectable army.

But then God says, “You have too many men!”

By the time God is done….there are only 300 men left in Gideon’s army. 10,000 was cutting it close…the Midianites had a vast army! Possibly hundreds of thousands…far more than 300 men would be able to handle…

Do you know why God led Gideon to use so few men? Judges 7:2 says,

“The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’

God will call us to tasks that are too big for us to handle on our own. They will scare us to death! And he does this because HE is the one accomplishing this dream through us. It so big we have to depend on him to see it accomplished. We have to use His strength. We have to pray.

That old cliche “God never gives us more than we can handle…is nonsense. He gives us more than we can handle all time because the dream is bigger than us and only God can accomplish it.

Conclusion

As we move into our new space, we are entering a new stage of ministry at Crossroads Vineyard. When God called us to start the church it felt like a large, almost insurmountable task. Where were we going to meet? Who was going to help start it? How were we going to pay for it all?

Here we are 3 years later entering a new phase. We have our own space. But we also have a new challenge ahead of us. We are faced some similar questions, but also with some new ones.

We have the opportunity to make a difference here in the north side of Dayton; throughout Huber Heights, Riverside, Vandalia, Northridge, and Fairborn. God is calling us…he is leading us into a task that is far too big for us…a task where everyone of us is needed to make this happen. Our goal is to be a place where people are loved into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Where people are regularly taking that next step whether it be salvation, or a step into ministry, or a step into serving, or a step into deeper levels of discipleship. We want to be a place that serves and loves and cares for those who are hurting and broken.

In order to do this we have to regularly ask What is God be calling me to do so see this accomplished?

I know the difference God can make in a person’s life. I know the difference God can make in people’s lives through those who are following Him too. I want to see us become a place that follows God with all that we have…that follows him into those impossible dreams on a personal level and as a church…I want us to be a place and people who have dreams of the Kingdom that are so big they scare us to death…but we charge in because God says to go!

Overcoming Obstacles-Peter and Judas

2014-04-21T20:33:00.001-04:00

We are in a message series looking at some common obstacles that get in the way and keep us from being what God has called us to be. We are doing this by looking at the lives of some of the people the Bible’s.

One of the biggest obstacles you and I will face in our lives is How do we handle, how do we recover from failure? Whether our failure is the result of our sin, a mistakes, or it is just things not ending the way want…failure is not easy. But as Mythbusters says, “Failure is always an option!”

Failure is a part of life…we are not going to succeed at everything. In fact, some of our greatest lessons can be learned because we fail.

One writer simply says, “If you aren’t making mistakes, then you aren’t doing anything!”

To try, to push forward, to attempt something new, to accomplish a difficult goal…all will have failure along the way. And since failure is going to happen…we must be prepared for it when it does. We have to know how to handle it. We have o prepare ourselves psychologically.

One of my favorite quotes is from Theodore Roosevelt. He says, “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

During this time of year two men serve as prime examples of failure…Peter…he constantly stuck his foot in his mouth…said the wrong thing…pulled his sword and almost started a war… but those were nothing compared to what happened the night Jesus was arrested. Three times Peter denies even knowing the man whom he had followed and professed just a few hours earlier to defend to the death.

The other man hung in the shadows for most of Jesus’ ministry. His name is synonymous with traitor. For a few silver coins, the price of a slave sold at market, Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus into the hands of the authorities who will push for his execution.

Both these men’s stories intertwine in the pages of Matthew 26 and 27. Each failed deeply, but it is how they handled their failure that made all the difference in the outcome…

Let’s start with Judas…

Matthew 26:14-16,

“Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.”

Matthew 26:47-50,

“While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”
Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.

Matthew 27:1-5

Very early in the morning the leading priests and the elders of the people met again to lay plans for putting Jesus to death. Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.
When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”
“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.”
Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.

No one is sure why Judas did what he did. He wasn’t an honest person, as John tells us, he was the treasurer but helped himself to the money that was supposed to help the poor. But here in Mathew we see a man who is trying to force Jesus’ hand…he is looking to push Jesus into taking a stand, declaring war on the Roman Empire, call everyone to arms, and become the Kingly Messiah that would make Israel free from its oppressors.

But when Judas saw his plan backfire…he was overcome with grief. His purpose was not to see Jesus crucified…this was not what he wanted to happen…

The grief and pain of his failure and sin was overwhelming, and like so many even today, he saw suicide as his only escape. He couldn’t see a way out of the pain…It drove him to hopelessness…he couldn’t see forgiveness of any kind…what he had done was not unforgivable…His failure literally became fatal.

Peter’s failure was just as bad in many ways. I think that is why the writer of Matthew links the stories in these two chapters…Peter then Judas then Peter then Judas. They both fail the man they have been following and calling their teacher, and rabbi.

Matthew 26:69-75

Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.
But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”

Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Peter also knew he had failed. Just a few hours earlier, Jesus told him, ““This very night you will all fall away on account of me…” and Peter swore he would never turn on Jesus! “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”

And now…with the actual possibility that he too could be killed just for being with Jesus…Peter moves into self-protective mode. Deny, Deny, Deny…I don’t know this man. I don’t know Jesus!

Peter was known for sticking his foot in his mouth and making bold claims, but I wouldn’t have predicted this…

Just as a side note: one of things that helps me see the biblical account as having integrity is stuff like this…Peter goes on to be one of the key foundational leaders of the Early Church and they are more than willing to air the dirty laundry of his failure.

For some reason Peter held on…his story doesn’t end the way Judas’ story ends.

Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Gospel of John gives us this amazing story about Jesus and Peter…

John 21:15-19

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

So often on Easter Sunday morning Pastors give a long list of reasons as to why the resurrection is true…why it should be believed…And there are some great resources that do that…Lee Strobel…William Lane Craig…But this morning I don’t want us to focus on the proofs and evidence demonstrating that a resurrection took place. I want you to know that Peter’s end is possible for us because a resurrection did take place. Judas’ story could have ended the same way I believe…

The reason our failures and sin do not have to end the way Judas’ ended is because of the power of the resurrection. Our failure, our mistakes, our sins…can turn to hopelessness if we do not understand the power that Jesus’ resurrection offers us.

You know the cross itself looked like a failure. The failure of a man to bring change to the world. The failure of Jesus to be the Messiah everyone hoped he would be. A man put to death in the most brutal way the Roman Empire knew how. Jesus’ life and ministry ended with a crucifixion…with failure.

But that “failure” was turned to victory in the resurrection.

Ephesians 1:19-20 (NLT),

“I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”

It is easy for us to focus on our failure...to see all the ways we fall short, the ways we have sinned, the ways we have screwed up...but the resurrection reminds us that even death does not end in defeat. The worst possible thing that could happen to us is not the worst possible thing.

Even more is the resurrection is not just a reminder that we get to spend all this time with God after we die...the resurrection offers us power to live fully in today...here and now…it calls us and empowers us to make a difference in our world

When we look at this story of Peter and Jesus we discover

We are offered forgiveness.

No matter how bad the offense…no matter how bad the sin…so matter how far away from God we feel we are offered forgiveness. His love for us is beyond measure…So often we get this view of an angry God who doesn’t want to heal, but sends Jesus to the Cross to take our punishment. That is not the picture offered at all. Jesus reveals the heart of God and that is a heart of forgiveness.

Three times Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” Many believe that each one reflects the 3 acts of Peter’s denial, and in each one…Jesus is offering forgiveness!

I found this clip and knew I needed to show it…watch the power of forgiveness in action…

Our sin and failure is like a noose around our necks… a death sentence…but Jesus steps up and offers to remove the noose from our neck and give us this life-giving forgiveness.

And when Jesus offers us forgiveness

We are offered a future.

After Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” He then told Peter, “Feed my sheep.”

This isn’t a promise that we will never fail again…that from now on we will get everything right…No…Jesus says once we receive forgiveness he wants to give us meaning and purpose by giving us a responsibility.

For Peter it meant leading the Early Church. He became its first pastor.

When God forgives us He also calls us…he has a purpose…a responsibility for each and everyone of us. He knows we will falter and fail…there will be times when we have to resist sin and ask forgiveness for our sins, but Jesus says, “Follow me!”

That is what makes all the difference…the direction of our movement…Do we get up when we fall down? Do we keep following Jesus when we get back up?

When you fail do you lay there and wallow in how bad you performed? Do think about all the ways you SHOULD have done better? COULD have done better?

The offer of Forgiveness and a Future says it doesn’t matter what you should have done and could have done…from now on Follow Me!

Conclusion

I have failed at a lot of things in my life. I have made some bad mistakes. Some of my failures were caused by bad decisions. Others were the results of deliberate sins I committed. Some were just the fact that things did not turn out the way I wanted.

The resurrection reminds us that our failures…whether in spiritual lives or in any other area of life…our failures do not have to have the last word.

It is easy in our culture to ignore the spiritual side of our lives…but how bad it must be to get to the end of this whole thing and realize we have neglected…we have failed…to recognize the most important aspect of our existence.

Jesus’ resurrection tells us that not only can we be forgiven and have a relationship with God, but you and I have a calling and purpose in life that is bigger than just having a good job and a nice family.

Overcoming Obstacles-Jesus

2014-04-21T20:25:00.001-04:00

This morning we are starting a new message series called Overcoming Obstacles. We are going to be looking at some major Bible characters and the obstacles they overcame. Everyone of us faces obstacles throughout our lives…the challenge is to face them and overcome them. We learn through our own trial and error, but we can also learn by looking at the lives and examples of others.

This morning, being Palm Sunday and all, I thought I would start with Jesus. It might be hard for some of us to think of Jesus as having overcome any obstacle…he was God, wasn’t he? As God he should have been able to simply side step any challenges. But being fully human Jesus was subject to the same challenges and difficulties you and I face on a daily basis. The biggest of which was dealing with the expectations of others.

You and I face expectations all the time. We have expectations for ourselves and nearly every area of the world we enter has expectations for us…

There are expectations of law…it is expected that you won’t speed through a school zone…it is expected you won’t run red lights or drive away from an accident.

Your boss has expectations for you…that you will show up on time ready to work…that you will be honest about your hours…that you will work hard.

Your family has expectations that you provide for them…that you will love them.

When Bri was little, her pediatrician did all the standard weight and measurement things doctors are supposed to do. We were told Bri was normal weight and healthy, but she was above average in height and verbal skills. The doctor then warned us this could cause problem we needed to watch out for. Because she was taller and spoke more clearly teachers and other adults would automatically assume she was older and lay expectations on her she would be unable to fulfill because of her age and development.

Luckily Bri was just a brilliant child who never did anything wrong…

We all face expectations. But sometimes those expectations can become a burden…these are the expectations that no matter how hard you try…you just can’t live up to, and so they weight us down. And if you add in the weight of others failing to meet the expectations we have of them…we can enter this horrible cycle of disappointment that never seems to end.

And Jesus offers us some great insight into this area of expectation. See, Jesus failed to meet a lot of the expectations laid on him, and He failed to do so on purpose…

Jesus was not the Messiah people expected.

Today, Palm Sunday, really represents a day of broken expectations…

Mark 11:7-11 tells us

When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,“Hosanna!”“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the people are shouting and cheering, they are welcoming a prophet who just might be the expected Messiah…and yet by the end of the week…they turn him over to the occupying Roman government and hang him from a cross.

I used to ask, “What could cause them to make such a dramatic shift?” Now, I know…Jesus didn’t meet their expectations….and nothing brings out the worst in someone than when their expectation are not met.

The Jewish people expected a Messiah to ride in on a white horse, vindicate all their suffering, and lead them to overthrow their Roman rulers…Jesus, however, rides in on a donkey, talks about another Kingdom, heals and feeds and cares for the poor and the hurting…but does nothing about the Romans. He isn’t talking about overthrow…he talks about loving your neighbor…he talks about turning the other cheek…this isn’t the Messiah they expected, and when those expectations aren’t fulfilled they want to crucify him.

But they weren’t the only ones who felt betrayed by Jesus not fulfilling expectations…

Jesus was not the Messiah the Pharisees expected either.

If this man was going to be the Messiah, much less a prophet, the religious leaders of the day had some expectations. They expected him to conduct himself in a way that represented the Jewish faith well. They expected to be treated with respect. They expected him to socialize with the right kind of people. If you are a religious person you do certain things…and Jesus didn’t live up to their expectations.

Luke 15:1-2 says, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.””

Jesus was expected to hang around with certain kinds of people…and he hung around with tax collectors and sinners. They were appalled that he would eat with these men and women who willfully sinned against God!

The Pharisees knew their people had suffered much…been exiled…all because they had turned from God and committed sin. Now, this man who claimed to be a prophet and possibly even the Messiah was eating with the very people who caused God’s judgment to fall on them in the past.

In Matthew 12 Jesus has the audacity to heal a man…on the Sabbath!

Matthew 12:11-14 says,

“He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.”

Breaking the Sabbath was a serious offense. The OT Testament warns against those who break the sabbath…they even stoned a man for gathering wood for a fire. It is one of the 10 Commandments. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy!” And here Jesus is doing “work” on the sabbath.

Again…Jesus does not live up to the expectations they have for him because any real prophet would live according to the commandments!

But let’s make this a little more personal…

Jesus was not the Messiah His disciples expected.

All those following Jesus had their expectations of who Jesus would be, what he would do, and how things were going to go…and He failed to meet those expectations too…

In John 6:26-27, Jesus feeds more than 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 small fish. When the people realize Jesus has slipped away they go looking for him, and Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

They wanted him to be a miracle-worker! Best food program and medical offered by anyone! And Jesus refused to be the monkey dancing to their music…

It might be expected of the followers at large, but you would think those closest to him would be better informed and more understanding, but they weren’t.

John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus and announced his arrival, had failed expectations.

Matthew 11:2-3 says, “When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Some see this as depression brought on by his time in prison, and that may be part of it. But I think it was blown expectations. John, the fiery preacher who dressed like an OT prophet and called people to repent of their sins, expected Jesus to bring the pain to the sinners…and Jesus was offering grace and forgiveness. John was looking for something else.

Even members of the 12, felt it too. I believe the primary reason Judas betrayed Jesus is because Jesus was supposed to bring a Kingdom, destroy the Romans, and set up the disciples as His leaders…and Jesus wasn’t doing that. So Judas, a man always looking for an opportunity felt it. He betrayed Jesus and handed him over to be killed because Jesus wasn’t living up to his expectations.

Even after the resurrection and all they had seen…they still didn’t get it. Jesus is about to ascend into the heavenly realm and Acts 1:6 says, “Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

They had expectations and Jesus wasn’t meeting them.

There were all these expectations swirling around Jesus on a regular basis and He refused to succumb to them…

We too have expectations of Jesus…and he refuses to be held to some of those expectations.

Jesus failed to live up to the expectations…he refused to live up to those expectations because

Jesus knew who he was made to be…

At Jesus’ baptism it says, Matthew 3:16-17, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Jesus knew God had a purpose for him and that he was loved by God. There may have been times he didn’t feel that love or closeness, but Jesus trusted in God’s purpose and love for Him, and that enabled him to push through the expectations others tried to lay on him.

For us this holds true as well. Simply knowing God’s purpose for us and knowing He loves us can help us overcome an abundance of bad expectations. We are not looking to please other people…we are not looking to be meet their expectations.

God has a purpose for you and you are loved beyond anything another human being can offer. I believe God says the same thing over us as He said about Jesus…This is my child, whom I love; and I am well pleased!”

This doesn’t mean there aren’t times when we are hurt by the expectations of others. We have all lost friendships and been hurt by family members and others at our church and at our work because of a failure to live up to expectations…we have all been there and will face them over and over again in our lives.

The challenge is to recognize them as faulty expectations and live whole-heartedly for the one who really matters.

Everyday I make a choice will I live up to the expectations others have of me or the ones God has for me…I don’t always do this well. Everyday I make the choice to allow the expectation based love others have for me dictate my actions or recognize that God loves me without condition…there are expectations He has for me, but they are they expectations based on a deep understanding of who I am and an infinite love fro me.

Conclusion.

So often we live our lives trying to live up to the expectations of others…expecting others to live up to our expectations…and when people fail to live up to expectation then anger and frustration erupt.

We expect someone to act a certain way and they don’t so we get angry. They expect us to behave a certain way, and we don’t so they get angry.

We even get angry when we fail to live up to our own expectations for ourselves. On Wednesday I watched as several of the kids in my class played basketball at lunch. One kid, who doesn’t shoot well, kept expecting himself to make these long shots from behind the 3-point line…and when he didn’t make them he got more and more frustrated. I could see him getting angry with himself for missing them even though there was no reason for him to expect that because he has never been a good shooter and especially not from that far away.

It isn’t that we should do away with expectations though…just that we should have a healthy view of them.

Steve Jobs once said,

“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

I believe the same thing is true when we realize that God’s opinion is the one that matters…our identity is based in Him and not what others think…and our greatest sources of love comes from Him. When these are in order then we are able to appropriately manage the good and bad expectations of others and of ourself.

It isn’t the expectations that are the problem…we all have expectations…the problem is when those expectations make us feel like less, make us fell less loved…and they are not expectations we are equipped to meet or called to live up to.

This morning you might be struggling with the obstacle of expectation. Others have laid expectations on you and you cannot possibly meet…maybe you have laid some expectations on others and there is no way they could possibly meet them. And today you need freedom from those expectations…

Daniel 4

2013-10-01T22:58:00.002-04:00

We have been working our way through the book of Daniel. We have been looking through the lens of how we, as people of God, can influence the world around us and draw them closer to God. Just like the Israelites, we are called to be a missionary people. As Jesus told the disciples, Matthew 28:18-19, ““All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Our commission, like the disciples and the Israelites, is to reach the world around us with the love and forgiveness offered by Jesus Christ. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego give us great insight into how to reach our culture and make difference for the Kingdom of God. We see three young men who maintained their integrity, lived lives of holiness, refused to literally bow their beliefs to appease those around them, but were humble, respectful, and concerned about those around them...and in the process helped the ruler of the greatest empire of its time find God.It was their attitude and approach that led King Nebuchadnezzar to greater and greater recognition that Yahweh God was the Lord of All.

Let’s review for just a moment:
Chapter 1 starts out with Nebuchadnezzar destroying Yahweh’s capital city and ransacking His temple. He had no respect for this God because, in his eyes, Yahweh could not protect His own people or His own temple. But by the end of chapter 1, Nebuchadnezzar found these young men superior to everyone else, and they did that because they were obedient to their God. Not in a pushy or public way...just obedient. Daniel 1:19-20 says, “The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.” It starts with us doing our jobs, doing them well, and people liking us.

In Chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that troubles him, but wants to know his advisors and spiritual leaders are not just blowing smoke. So he wants them to both tell him the dream and interpret it. They can’t do it. So they remind Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 2:10-11, “There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among humans.”

So Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego pray, and God uses Daniel’s spiritual gifts to do something great! Daniel stands before Nebuchadnezzar and declares, Daniel 2:27-28, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.” By using the gifts and abilities and position God had given him, Daniel was able to help the King take one step closer to Yahweh.

Daniel 2:46-47 says, “Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”

Daniel 3 tells how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced certain death because they refused to bow before the idols placed before them. Because of their integrity and their trust that God would work everything out for His glory...even if He didn’t rescue them from the fire...Nebuchadnezzar took another step closer to Yahweh God.

In Daniel 3:28-29 Nebuchadnezzar says, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”

We see that Nebuchadnezzar has moved from a complete lack of knowledge to liking some of God’s servants...to acknowledge God’s reality...to praising Him...and now, in Chapter 4 his spiritual journey continues.

Nebuchadnezzar himself is writing this chapter of Daniel...the only non-Jewish male to write a anything included in the Bible...and he shares his testimony.

Read Daniel 4

Looking at these 4 chapters from Daniel it becomes very clear that

God’s uses us to reach others.
So often we want the church to reach the lost. We want others to speak up. We want others to take the initiative in spiritual discussions...but God wants us to do it. He places us in the position He does so we can make a difference for the Kingdom...so others can be drawn closer to Him because of their relationship with us.

Each step of the way God used Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to reach and influence those around them. Here, again, in Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar has a God-given dream that no one can interpret for him, and God uses Daniel. He has placed Daniel in this situation for a reason. Daniel would not have chosen this life. He would much rather have been safe and secure in Jerusalem, with his own people, and worshipping in the Yahweh’s temple...but he couldn’t be because God had placed him here in Nebuchadnezzar’s court. Because of that Nebuchadnezzar was taking one step after another closer to worshipping God.

Maybe you chose that neighborhood because of the nice house and good schools, but God places you there because He wants you to be an influence for the Kingdom of God. There are neighbors who need a relationship with Him, and He places us in our neighborhoods so He can speak into their lives through us.

Maybe you would choose a different family if you could, but God wants to use you to reach those closest to you and draw them closer to Him. For those of us who are parents, that starts with our spouse and our children. In Daniel 5 we will see that Nebuchadnezzar, though he drew closer to God himself, did not help his son Belshazzar draw closer to God. But we have parents, in-laws, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews who need to know God, and we have been placed where we are to help influence the Kingdom of God in their lives.

You accepted that job because they offered it to you and you needed the money. Or you made the change because it was in the best interest of your career trajectory. But God places you there so you can work hard, with integrity, and be a positive influence for the Kingdom of God. You have coworkers who need the power of God’s Kingdom in their lives...they are searching for God, and you are the one God has placed in their path.

One of the biggest hurdles that we have to overcome in our faith journey is that God want to use us...that we are His only plan for reaching this world. God promises to act and work...we have to be willing to step up and do our part. There are millions of people who are headed straight to hell, and it is given to us to be the messenger of God’s love and salvation to them.

We can’t change their hearts. We can’t force them to accept. God’s Holy Spirit will do the internal work, but we are to be the voice, the offer, the loving embrace and kind act that helps them move one step closer to God.

We reach them with our gifts
You know Billy Graham has an amazing gift of evangelism...I’m no Billy Graham.

Mother Theresa had an amazing gift of compassion and empathy...I’m no Mother Theresa.

And yet, just because I can’t be Billy Graham or Mother Theresa doesn’t mean I am excused from the act of evangelism or the act of compassion...it simply means that I must do what I can do. I am not called to be either of those two, and neither are you. We are called to use the gifts we have been given to do what we can do.

Daniel had the gift of interpreting dreams. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as far as we know, did not...and yet God used all of them to help change the spiritual life of King Nebuchadnezzar. Each one of us have talents, abilities, and spiritual gifts that God has given us so we can expand and influence for His Kingdom.

1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, 1 Peter 4 and Ephesians 4 all give us a glimpse into some of the spiritual gifts God gives us to expand and influence for His Kingdom. We all have one or more gifts. And we all have a responsibility to use them to further the Kingdom of God.

Richard, who visited with us last week, claims he doesn’t can’t do evangelism. But every one of his neighbors know they can come grab a soda out of the refrigerator in his garage and sit and talk for hours with him on the front porch...and eventually Richard brings up his faith.

You see our gifts are meant to be used to help others take their steps closer to God. That is why God gives them to us and expects us to use them and why he places us where he does.

We reach them with love
I want you to take a look at some pictures...this is how many are being “evangelized” in our world. And unfortunately for the you and I these are the people that become the representation of what it means to be a Christian and what it means to share our faith.

Their message is so different from what the Bible says Daniel did. They are sharing the truth about the judgment and wrath of God...which will take place...but they seem to enjoy it. They seem happy that those sinners will get what is coming to them, and this reveals their deepest problem...they don’t really love those they are trying to reach.

Have you ever had to give bad news or share some blunt truth with someone you love?

It hurts. It’s hard. You have to confront someone you love very much with the truth about how their actions are affecting them and other around them...that’s not easy.

Daniel listens to the King’s dream and knows this is a prediction of judgment on Nebuchadnezzar. Listen to what is says, Daniel 4:19, “Then Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its meaning alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries!”

Daniel had to confront the supreme ruler of the greatest empire of his time with a judgment from God. It was the truth. Nebuchadnezzar was being judged for his sins. But Daniel loved and cared for the Nebuchadnezzar. He didn’t look forward to the fulfillment of this prophecy...

And he had every right to look forward to it. Daniel saw his hometown destroyed. The temple of his God ransacked, pillaged, and desecrated. Family and friends slaughtered. He had been dragged off to a foreign land and made to serve the very king who did all of those evil things...and here he stands longing for this prophecy to apply to someone else...

I have to wrestle with that a bit. Don’t you? It has been in my thoughts for several days now, thinking about Daniel’s response to this King, his concern for this man despite all that he had done...and then comparing it to my response to others.

Daniel demonstrated compassion, kindness, and love to the man who had done so much wrong to him, his family, and his people...it should be so much easier for us to have this same approach to people in our culture whom we don’t even know...who have haven’t done anything wrong to us.

But then when you think of the family, friends, and neighbors whom we do have a relational connection with...those we do love...and yet we remain silent about our faith. We never invite them to step closer to God. We seem fine to let them find their own way. We sit by hoping that someone else will step us and say something...

And I don’t think it is because we don’t care...it is because we don’t want to be associated with the people in those pictures. But sometimes it is because it is difficult and uncomfortable to bridge that gap and bring up spiritual things.

Conclusion
I believe God places us where He does so we can influence others and lead them step-by-step closer to Him. That is our primary purpose in life, and we live in a city that desperately needs us to recognize our missionary calling in our families, neighborhoods and jobs. The need us to use the gifting God has given us, and do it with so much love that people can’t resist...and if they do...they at least recognize that they are loved beyond anything else.

Nebuchadnezzar ends the chapter by saying, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”

Just think of those around us who need this in their lives! Let’s pray and work like never before to see those in our community move step-by-step closer to God.

The lost sheep...my call to ministry...why I entered church planting.

Daniel 3

2013-10-01T22:55:00.001-04:00

Read Daniel 3

Just a few weeks after leaving Egypt, the Israelites were camped at the base of Mount Sinai. The thunder boomed and lightening flashed as the clouds swirled and shrouded the top of the mountain. Moses had fasted and prayed for 40 days in the presence of God, and was now ready to receive the 10 Words of Law handwritten by God on slabs of stone.

The Israelites were to be the people of God dedicated to worshiping God alone, and these 10 Laws were to guide them and give them all they needed to live in a hostile world.

The world around them was filled with various culture groups all with their own regional gods and idols of wood and stone. So it is now wonder that one of God’s words would prohibit his people from engaging in the idolatrous practices of the people around them.

Exodus 20:3-6, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

One of the primary themes running through the Bible is the tension between worshiping the True God and worshiping something else...something less.

The Apostle Paul understood the first sin of Adam and Eve as an act of idolatry (Rom 1:21–25), “...they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

But idolatry isn’t just about worshipping images of wood and stone. It isn’t simply refusing to bend our knees in worship to in a pagan temple. The root of all our sin is in fact a battle against idolatry.

Tim Keller writes “The Bible...does not consider idolatry to be one sin among many (and a rare sin found only among primitive people). Rather, all our failures to trust God wholly or to live rightly are at root idolatry—something we make more important than God.”1

We live in one of the biggest idol worshiping cultures that has ever existed! We are challenged daily to put something...anything at the center of our lives, and when something other than God gives us meaning and purpose and direction...we have succumbed to the call of idolatry.

Idolatry means we have taken something good and useful and beneficial and giving it all of our attention, worship, and service. Anything receiving our best time and attention and energy and resources...is our idol.

Just think of all the possible idols available for us worship:
Celebrity- Respecting, honoring, and learning from someone who has accomplished good things in their life is a good thing, but we have seen the throngs of people who worship at the feet of celebrity and status. The infatuation with every move our favorite celebrity takes...

Fame, Recognition and Personal Achievement- It is not wrong to be recognized for a life of hard work...for people seeing that you have done well in your chosen profession. But we have seen people who hunger for...live for receiving recognition...for being known. It is their idol

Wealth and Power and possessions are popular idols in our culture. Earning a wage for our work and taking care of our family is a good thing. Being in leadership is not a bad thing. Owning things is not in and of itself a sin...But when we stare longingly at the bigger house and want more stuff and love to have control over not just others but every facet of our lives...

Nationalism-Supporting our country and respecting our founding fathers is a good thing. But it becomes and idol when we allow the constitution to speak more boldly in our lives and dictate our actions over and above the Bible.

Science-It is not wrong to love science and the study of our world, but science has taken on an almost religious character moving from just observing and describing our world to infusing it philosophical and religious meaning based on those observations.

Even our children and our families can become idols.

A quick way to decide if you are looking at a possible idol in your life is to ask yourself, “If I were to lose this would it devastate me beyond my ability to cope?”

This is more than just making us sad or distraught or mournful or even hurting us deeply...We are human beings that face the psychological consequences of loss. No, this is basing all our existence and life on something good that is not God.

Another way to probe this issue is to ask, “What do I fear losing the most?” Because our deepest fears reveal what we most want to hold on to in life.

In this message series we have been looking at the book of Daniel, and specifically looking at how it helps us in our witness to the world around us. And how you and I deal with our own sins and idolatry says a lot to the world around us.

We desperately need to learn the lesson of Daniel 3 and see how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were able to stand up to idolatry at a time when their very life depended on it...With the rampant idolatry in our world...Here are some things we learn from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they faced down idolatry...

We build on prior practice

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were able to stand in the face of this idolatry because they refused to bend in Daniel 1. Many saw obedience to the dietary laws as just a small concession. The King would kill them if they didn’t listen and eat the food. But Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not see it as a small thing...it was simply a matter of obedience or disobedience.

For us to stand in the difficult times, we must learn to stand in the easy times. We must stand up in the small things. The moment we let up on our convictions...give just a little room...do something that makes us feel a little uneasy...we are setting a precedence for future failure.

Notice too they didn’t do this alone...

We depend on our friends.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what would happen if just one of them had been faced with this situation, but thankfully it doesn’t have to. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had each other, and that makes a world of difference when staring into the hungry eyes of temptation.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 reminds us, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

For too long we have hidden our sins from one another. Our desire to make it on our own or to protect ourselves means we have hidden our sins. So time after time we get in too deep and too far, and we are unable to escape without damage to our lives and to the cause of Christ.

Imagine if some of the pastors who have publicly fallen, very early on, had been able to tell one of their friends, “I struggle with pornography.” Or the Christian who committed adultery had been able to say to a trusted friend, “There is this person at work that I enjoy, more than I should, spending time with, and he is not my husband.” What if before succumbing to that temptation we were able to have friends come along side and help us withstand the storm of temptation as it batters at our walls?

But revealing those temptations are dangerous...so we hid them. We pretend they do not exist...so the unbelieving world just waits for us to fall prey to one more of our idols.

We need people around us who can help us stand.

And it is important that...

We remain consistent.

You can’t give up. Moral failure is moral failure even if it happens right at the end. In fact, it is even more sad if it happens right at the end because you had all this time, and rather than let that time strengthen us we allow the time to wear us down.

And don’t be fooled into thinking temptation will just come once. Temptation is a relentless pursuer. It will hunt you down, and chase after you attempting to wear you down.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow before the golden idol...then Nebuchadnezzar brought them into his presence to force them to bow down now. The temptation was amped up. It had to be fairly easier to resist when it was just the 3 of them standing among thousands...maybe no one would notice...but now they were standing there face-to-face with the King himself...the muscle head guards were flexing and holding the rope...the other magi and astrologers were snickering in the corner...the pyromaniac was stoking the fire higher and higher...

The temptation to cave had been substantially raised! And yet they remained consistent.

Even when the King became angry they held firm. Here is a secret...ok, it is not much of a secret...not everyone is going to like our stance when we resist temptation...when we buck the idols of our world...when we choose to live according to God’s principles rather than those of the world and culture around us. In fact, many who attend church and call themselves Christians will become offended when we take a stand for the Truth of the Gospel and living out the Jesus life.

We will stand out. We will be different. We will be noticed...but we will be a witness.

We trust God for the outcome.

I love how these 3 young men responded to Nebuchadnezzar. They said, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Their belief in God did not depend on his ability to save them. Whether or not God saved them...He was real, and He was the one, true God. The outcome does not determine the existence of God. God is real whether they survive or not.

Some times we like to challenge God.

God if you are real...then we give him the answer we desire him to give...the action we think He ought to perform.

But God is not our monkey dancing to prove anything to us. When we pray and treat God in this manner we make him nothing more than a genie in a bottle.

God moves and act in response to our prayer, but it is all in service to the Kingdom. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew God would act and move according to what was best overall...but whether or not they were delivered God was still God and they would still trust him.

There have been countless times in my life where I have prayed for a particular outcome. Challenged God to move the way I wanted Him to move...and He did not do it. At times I got angry...and at others I acted in a way that was honoring to God...I have done it all...but no matter what

When we take a stand...We see God shows up!

I don’t know how God will help you get through your temptations and beat back the idols in your life...but I know that when you stand up to them, resist them, and depend on others for support God shows up. In the midst of the fiery trials of our lives...Jesus will show up.

He doesn’t always do things the way we want...If I were one of these 3 young men, I would have wanted him to show up before I ever had to take a stand...send me on Babylonian Business trip away from there so I didn’t have to bow down...give me the flu on the day of...cause the King to have a change of mind...

He could even have shown up just after I took the stand...you know, soften the King’s heart or even better make it so no one sees or just ignores me. Or, if I wanted the miraculous, He could have caused a strong wind to blow out the fire...I would prefer all of that to Him waiting to dance with me inside the fiery furnace!

But sometimes that is when God shows up...when we are in the furnace. When we stand up to our culture’s idols and refuse to worship at their shrines...God shows up. It isn’t always easy. He often waits far too long for our comfort, but He does show up, and when He does show up...

We draw people closer to God.

In Daniel 1, Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t even close to acknowledging the existence of Yahweh God.
In Daniel 2, after Daniel interprets his dream, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges God. He says, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”

Now, in Daniel 3, Nebuchadnezzar takes another step closer. He says, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”

When we stand against the idols of our culture...it will make some people upset with us...even people who call themselves Christians and attend church...but when God shows up people’s hearts are changed...they are drawn closer to Him because we were willing to stand against our idols despite all pressure to cave.

Conclusion

Every day we are faced with the pressure to bow before the idols of our culture.

Our jobs will want us to work longer and harder. Our family will tempt us to place them on the pedestal. Our desire to get and have more stuff will come up over and over again. Our nation will ask for our complete allegiance over all others and disguise it as patriotism.

So we must continually challenge ourselves with this question... “Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight?”2

But when we stand up to the idols of our world, some will be angered, but some will see the power of the God we serve and be drawn closer to Him because we stood against the idols!

Daniel 2

2013-09-17T20:32:00.002-04:00

In the movies, as a person is dying or walking out the door, they say the most profound things. It’s as though they have this one shot left to say something so they say what they have always wanted or needed to say.

We have come to value a person’s last words. We cherish them. We hold on to them. Because we know they had this one last opportunity to say something, and this is what they said.

After the crucifixion and resurrection, right before He ascends into the heavenly realm, Jesus gathers the disciples on a hilltop and offers them these last, Matthew 28:18-19, ““All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

One of the last things Jesus says to His disciples, the last marching orders for them and for us, is “Go and make disciples.”

Israel was always meant to be a missionary organization. They were called to be the people of God so they could live in obedience to God. Out of that obedience, they would be a City on a Hill beckoning people to come and worship God. They were to remind people that God was still moving and active in our world, and was pursuing a relationship with them.

But they did not always live up to that. Instead of following God, they often abandoned their worship for idols. Rather than live according to God’s Law, they did whatever they pleased. Instead of reflecting God to the world, they simply mirrored every thing in the cultures around them.

While most failed miserably, there were some, throughout the story of the Old Testament, who lived out God’s call to follow Him and to draw people closer to Him.

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were some of those people. They lived according to God’s will, and by doing so were blessed by God to reach those around them. They believed God, trusted God, and because they refused to disobey him, they were able to make an impact on the Babylonian Empire.

We are working our way through the Book of Daniel because it offers us so much insight into how, as Christians, we can live out our faith AND make a difference for the Kingdom of God in our world....even when the culture around us wants nothing to do with the God we serve. Our world needs Christians like that...who live out their relationship with Jesus Christ in holiness of heart and life AND who make a difference for the Kingdom by drawing others to God.

Just like the people of Israel, we are called to be a missionary people. That means each and every one of us are tasked with helping those around draw closer to God. He places us in our families, our neighborhoods, our jobs, and our communities for a reason...to be a witness to others.

And the Book of Daniel gives us a lot of insight into what that means.

So let’s read Daniel 2:1-49 together...

Daniel 2:1, “Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep.”

People far from God are having experiences with God.
God is speaking to people around you who are outside the faith. The problem is they do not often understand them, where the come from, or even that they are from God.

Don is a mentor and friend of mine from teenage years. His job with the military has taken him back and forth from Dayton to New Mexico to Washington D.C. A few years ago he was telling me about the hot springs in New Mexico. He said he loved to hike out to the springs, and relax in the water. The water comes out of the hill at a scorching temperature, but people have created little pools along the way that allow the water to cool down so people can sit in them...like a natural hot tub.

As the people go out into nature, he says they will commune with nature, and people have the tendency to drop their clothes and sit around together and relax.

He said some of his best conversations about God and the faith have taken place with naked people in the hot springs of New Mexico. As they relax and drop their clothes they also seem to drop their guard. But then he said, “They have had experiences with God that they can’t explain or define, and often when they attempted to discuss them with Christian friends or family members they were told that God doesn’t speak to non-Christians. So they either have to deny the reality of their experience or deny the reality of God...so they more often than not deny God.”

Our passage today reminds us that people are having experiences with God all around us. Like Nebuchadnezzar, God is speaking to them...they just don’t understand it or where it is coming from.

And when there is an absence of a God-explanation...

They look for answers wherever they can find them.
Daniel 2:2, “So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed.”

Nebuchadnezzar went to the obvious places for his spiritual advice...he went to his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers. It was, to him, the obvious choice.

When those around us face spiritual questions and have these experiences with God they go to the places closest to them to find the answers. They go to Oprah Winfrey...to Dr. Phil...to Deepak Chopra. They go to the horoscopes. They go to science. They go to the places closest to them to find the answers because they do not have the words or the connection with God to get a handle on what they have experienced.

Unfortunately, in our world, neither Jesus nor his followers are the obvious places to look. Because of our own dysfunction and problems, the Church has been disregarded as a place to even look for truth. Like those my friend met, they reject God and the Church because they have been disregarded by God’s people. And part of our responsibility is to be good PR for the Kingdom...to help restore just a piece of that trust.

People are searching. They want and need God, but like Nebuchadnezzar they are searching in the wrong places for the answers. The search seems endless. New spiritualities and methods and more stuff...the search is endless for 2 reasons...

First, They want something real.
In Daniel 2:5-6 Nebuchadnezzar says, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble...”

When I first came into the Vineyard the idea of the Word of Knowledge was a bit new to me. For those you are unfamiliar with this idea...it is when God gives insight to someone, and they are to speak it to you. It is meant as encouragement. It is a way for us to listen to God so we can speak to others and confirm what He is saying in their lives. Sometimes, like Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well, it is a way for God to push a person into recognizing His power and leading them to Him.

So, I didn’t have a framework for dealing with this stuff. But here is what has worked for me. I am more willing to listen to these Words of Knowledge from two kinds of people...1. People who are close to me whom I trust explicitly. 2. People who don’t know me at all. There are a few more, but for me, these have become my safeguards. I have to trust you explicitly because I don’t want you using general knowledge about me to claim God has given you a Word for me. If you don’t know me, and the Word rings true...then you don’t know me and could not have used knowledge about me to shape what you think God might be saying.

I do this because I want to test, like God says for us to do, but also because I want it to be something that is really from God and not out of someone’s good intentions or bad intentions to manipulate me.

The people having spiritual experiences around us are looking for something real.

They want something and someone they can trust. For Nebuchadnezzar it was the test of not only explaining the meaning of the dream, but also actually telling him what the dream was!

People need and want Truth. The answers must not be off the cuff and made up. They don’t want our best opinion...they are looking for something real...from God. So when they see they are drawn to it.

Second, There is a limit to answers the world can give.
Daniel 2:10-11, “The astrologers answered the king, ‘There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among humans.’”

There are hints of truth in the various religions and spiritualities around us. They have some of the answers, but they do have Truth (capital T) as found in the real God and in Jesus Christ...so their answers are limited.

Nebuchadnezzar’s advisors knew their powers and insight had limits.

All the religions and spiritualities and methods we and others use to bring meaning to our lives...these have limits too. Even the Christian faith, when used only as a religion instead of genuine connection to God, has limits. So many have viewed Christianity as just another religion. They have gone to church on Sundays, taken part in small groups, studied the Bible, even prayed and sang the songs...but when done without a real relationship with Jesus Christ...these all fall short...they are just actions like any other religion or spiritual activity.

Our world is looking for something that is real, that is truthful, and that genuinely answers the questions and desires of their heart...so when they come looking..

We must speak up when given the opportunity!
God places you where he does so you can respond to the spiritual needs around you! He is waiting for you to use the opportunities you are given to interact with the people around you so He can change the world.

In Daniel 1, because Daniel and his friends were willing to live in obedience to God, God expanded their spiritual gifts and blessed them in roles in the Babylonian Empire.

Daniel 1:17, “To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.”

They proved faithful. They met the challenge, and because of this God was willing to give them more. God knew they would use these gifts faithfully to serve Him...and they did. Daniel heard of the King’s dilemma. His own head was on the chopping block as they say...and he stepped up to use the gifts God had given him.

What our world needs is Christians who are willing to step up. Christians who are willing to speak up when given the opportunity...use the spiritual gifts they have been given, but the opportunities are not always that obvious. Sometimes we get just a little bit.

A few weeks ago, I met a guy from Nepal, and I was able to start a conversation with him. As should be the case with our conversations, I asked questions and listened. I wanted to know more about him and where he came from. In the midst of that conversation, he mentioned how he viewed the world in a spiritual sense...and I simply followed with the conversation.

People around us, everyday, are looking to have spiritual conversations...we just have to be willing to go there with them. We just have to ask the right questions and be careful listeners...realizing that God wants to speak into the lives of people around us.

Daniel could have kept quiet, but he didn’t

He could also have spoken in the wrong way. When speaking with those outside the faith about their experiences...we must use humility, wisdom, and tact.

Daniel 2:14, “Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact.”

Our world is failing to hear the Good New of Jesus Christ because so many Christians are failing in the two areas where Daniel succeeded. They either fail to speak up like Daniel or they fail to speak with humility, wisdom, and tact.

If we want to change our world and have the opportunities to speak about God with others...we must speak up when given the opportunities and we must use humility, wisdom and tact.

This means we become good listeners. We really hear what the person is saying and not what we think they are saying. We don’t make assumptions.

It means we befriend people. Genuinely befriend and love them...no matter how sinful or far from God they are...because within that relationship we have the opportunity to speak honestly about our faith and about God...and they have the opportunity to see it lived out.

We respect their story and their perspective. We value them as people.

It means we don’t shout, we don’t condemn, we don’t beat people up with the Good News of Jesus. We speak honestly, but we use humility and tact when we do it.

But in this...

We must stay connected to God
Daniel 2:17-18, “Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.”

Only in connection with God do we know how and when to move and to speak. Only when we are hearing form God can we offer something real! We might speak too soon or too late...that is why Daniel and his friends went right to prayer.

God moves in response to our prayer to reach those around us. As we pray, God gives us spiritual opportunities to speak for Him.

We run the danger of doing and saying something stupid, of moving too soon or too late, of being a stumbling block rather than a help when do things without that connection to God.

When we do all of this...

We help people take their next step closer to God.
When we think of evangelism, we often think of helping someone say a sinner’s prayer. You know, it starts with, “If you were to die tonight do you know for certain you would go to heaven?” and ends with them weeping and confessing their sin!

But evangelism is far simpler than that...it is simply helping someone take the next step in their spiritual journey.

When given the opportunity to speak, Daniel, with humility, wisdom, and tact, spoke to the King. Daniel 2:26-27, “The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), ‘Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?’ Daniel replied, ‘No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.’”

By the end of their time together, Nebuchadnezzar had taken a couple steps closer to God...

Daniel 2:47, “The king said to Daniel, ‘Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.’”

Nebuchadnezzar makes this amazing statement about Daniel’s God, but in the next chapter he builds an idol of himself for people to worship. Some might think, “What a waste! Daniel accomplished nothing of eternal value!”

But if we go back to the beginning of Daniel 1, Yahweh God was not even on Nebuchadnezzar’s radar. Yahweh was a regional deity who offered Nebuchadnezzar a temple to pillage. He had no knowledge of Yaweh. No connection.

By the end of Daniel 1, Nebuchadnezzar liked Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That is a step forward.

So Nebuchadnezzar starts out knowing nothing of Yahweh even pillage His temple...then He starts to like and respect a couple of men who are committed to living God’s ways...and now...Nebuchadnezzar is making a recognition that Yahweh is a god worthy of worship...even more powerful than the gods of his region because his magi and advisor could not call on their gods and receive an answer, but Daniel could!

He isn’t fully won over, but he has taken many steps forward.

Our role, like Daniel, is to help people take their next step. That might be to help them make that commitment to following Christ as the leader of their life, but more often we get to help them take a step closer to God.

Some people simply need to see Christians in a positive light. That is their next step. They have bought into the common perception that Christians are hypocrites who argue over theological differences. So for them, we start by being nice. We love them. We become their friends, and don’t harp on ever wrong thing they do.

On Wednesday we went to Classic Pizza for our Crossroads Night Out. One young man came and hung out with us, and at the end he said, “I’m not a Christian, and haven’t had a good opinion of them. But you guys are trying to be real Christians. I like that!”

That is evangelism...helping someone take that next step.

Some people need a little more. They like you. Now they need to know there really is a God. So that is their next step.

Some need more knowledge about God. Some have all the knowledge they need...they just need to take the next step and start following Him.

Evangelism is simply being aware of the opportunities God gives us to help people take their next step closer to Him, and then being obedient to help them. That is what it means for us to be a missionary community for God. We look around at our families, our neighborhoods, our jobs, and our communities and we must take advantage of the God-given opportunities to help people take their next step.

Daniel 1

2013-09-17T20:30:00.000-04:00

Every morning we wake, we have breakfast, we take a shower...hopefully, and we enter the real world.

We go to work. We go to school. We go to the grocery store, the gas station, the bank, the library....and all “out there” in the real world.

And if you are a follower of Jesus, you realize that the beliefs, the patterns, the culture we live in is very different from what Jesus calls us to live out. When we walk out into the world our beliefs and our commitment to Christ are met in a couple ways. For som
e, they are interested and want to know more. Others meet us with indifference...the world just yawns and goes, “Ok, if you want to live that way. Go ahead!” or “That’s great that is works for you!” Sometimes we are met with confrontation. “I think you are stupid for living that way. I think you are wrong!” And sometimes the confrontation leads to actual persecution and attack...people have been fired from their jobs for their beliefs, others have been tortured and killed for their beliefs. In fact, there have been more people killed because of their belief in Jesus in the last 113 years since 1900 than the entire 1,900 years prior.

As we enter this world, Christians have responded in a variety of ways...some good...some not so good.

Some of us remain silent. We just keep our mouths shut. We don’t say anything because if they don’t know then we are fine.

Others compromise their beliefs. We say, “I’m a Christian!”, but then live no differently than the world around them. We lie when needed. We gossip just like everyone else. We base our beliefs on what everyone in our work or world or family environment says rather than wrestling with our beliefs through the Word of God.

Some of us fight back. We protest. We get vocal and aggressive with our faith. We see every disagreement as persecution. Every time someone gets annoyed at our approach we say, “Look! I’ve been persecuted!”

But none of these methods really seem to be working.

Over the past few years, the Christian faith has lost ground. Our compromise has caused people to say, “See, they don’t really believe what they say!” Our silence means people don’t even take notice. And our protests just push people father away from God.

Over the next month or so, we are going to be looking at the Book of Daniel. A few years ago, I was preaching through the Book of Daniel, and reached chapter 4 when it dawned on me...I had misunderstood the direction of this entire book. My sermons still applied, but there was a different direction I should have taken. I was working through it chapter by chapter, and when I came to chapter 4, I realized this was the story of how 4 young men, living out a very difficult commitment to God in a hostile environment, managed to see the transformation of a King and how those faithful to God were able to live and prosper in a Kingdom dead set against them and their God.

My hope is that as we study the Book of Daniel, we will realize our call to live out this commitment we have made to follow Christ in uncompromising and powerful ways...because we have been called to go into our homes, into our neighborhoods and communities...into our world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and see it transform the lives of those around us.

So let’s start off today by reading Daniel chapter 1.

Judah, because of their sin, was conquered by Babylon. For years the Prophets had called for them to reject their idolatry, to stop mistreating the poor and broken, to turn from their sinfulness and return to God...but they refused. So after years and years, God allows the Babylonian Empire to conquer and almost completely destroy Jerusalem.

Daniel 1 tells us that the best and brightest of Jerusalem were carried off to serve in the King’s court. The temple treasures were pillaged to use in the worship of the Babylonian idols. And Jerusalem was left in shambles.

For those hearing this story for the first time...they knew what all this meant. The shame of their disobedience. The felt rejection and abandonment of Yahweh. The pain of living in a land hostile to their beliefs.

So we have Daniel and 3 of his friends. If you know the story, you know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But this was simply the naming process. You see they were now owned by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. So Nebuchadnezzar renamed them after his gods Bel, Aku, and Nebo.

Daniel means "God is my Judge" and Belteshazzar means “Bel’s Prince”
Hananiah means "Yahweh is gracious" - Shadrach means “Command of Aku"
Mishael means "Who is like God?" - Meshach means “Who is like Aku?”
Azariah means "Yahweh has helped" - Abednego means “Servant of Nebo”

The King places these three young men in training. They are to learn the ways and culture of Babylon, and one day serve in the King’s court.

Just to give you a little side note...they are in training to basically become Magi. The same group of men who will one day come to worship at the feet of Jesus from the Nativity Story.

So the King orders them into this training and, as part of the training these young men are faced with a decision...How are they going to be faithful to God and His standards in the face of a King who has their very life in his hands?

Others, in this same situation, have adapted...or caved in. They felt the best way to deal with this was to not create waves...so they caved. They compromised. They failed to trust God in the face of everything.

But Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, give us a great pattern to follow as we go into our world. Because, as we said in the beginning, we live in a world that, in general, is opposed to our core beliefs...and yet these young men were able to remain true to God AND see the transformation of their world.

As we look at their response, we see

We decide to live God’s standards.

Daniel 1:8 says, “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine...”

The first problem these men faced involved the dietary laws of their faith. The King offered them the best of his kingdom which included the meat and wine from the worship of his temple. Animals were sacrificed and offered as worship to the false gods of Babylon, and then used as food in the King’s palace. Jewish dietary laws prohibited them from eating food offered to idols

Many Jews, in this exact same situation, decided to remain silent or compromise their beliefs in order to make it in this new situation. These were just dietary laws. It was nothing serious like bowing before idols or using the temple prostitutes. Besides, they didn’t want to rock the boat. They decided the best way to move forward in this world was to just go along. So they ate the food and adapted to what it meant to the way things are in Babylon.

But Daniel and his friends realized that if they compromised on one the commands of God it would get easier and easier to compromise on others.

In 1994, Michael J. Fox was in a movie called, Greedy. It is about millionaire Uncle Joe who knows his entire family puts up with him simply because they want the inheritance. So Uncle Joe torments them. During one of the family meetings one person steps to the front and says, “Uncle Joe is like the Devil! He challenges he draws a line in the sand an in front of you and dares you to cross it...so you do because it is only an inch. Then he draws another and another and another. Pretty soon you have gone so far and compromised so much you can’t even see where you started.”

For us it starts with small compromises...just an inch out. It really isn’t anything big. But one little concession after another leads to bigger and bigger concessions. By the time we realize it we have gone too far.

It is just one small small lie...It is just one little piece of gossip...just one sex scene...one time of unguarded anger...It is just one instance where we remain silent and go with the flow...

One compromise...by Chapter 3 of Daniel...everyone else had compromised to the point where they were bowing down to Nebuchadnezzar’s gold idol. And because of their commitment to obey in the small things...Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to stand even in the face of death.

If you want to stand on God’s principles it starts with your every day decisions. Our commitment to God’s ways are not won in the big confrontations until they are won each and every day in the small ways and small decisions we make.

So we have to make a decision to live according to God’s standards. Next

We trust that God is in control.

Daniel 1:9-10 says, “God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

One of the beliefs that crept into the minds some Jews of this time was that God had abandoned them. Why else would Yahweh allow the destruction of the Holy City Jerusalem and the ransacking and destruction of His temple by this pagan king! God had abandoned them, and left them there to die. He just didn’t care!

Another common belief was in the idea of regional deities. Yahweh was the god of Israel. But Bel, Aku and Nebo were the gods of Babylon. Many gave up on Yahweh because they believed the Babylonian gods were stronger...they had after all defeated Yahweh’s people. Or, they gave up because they were now in Babylon and Yahweh had no power over here in this foreign land.

Both lead to the same result...they no longer believed that God was in control. Our own willingness to compromise is often rooted in the fact we don’t really trust that God is on our side and will work out things for the good.

Our boss will make life more difficult if we don’t make those “adjustments”. We could lose our job, and we live in a rough economy. We have a family to support. We have no other prospect for a job...Do we really trust God to take care of us...or do we compromise.

Our friends are about to do something which makes us feel morally uncomfortable...or, if it doesn’t make us morally uncomfortable SHOULD make us morally uncomfortable because we know God’s commands...we might face rejection from our friends. We don’t want to lose them. Some of us don’t have all that many to start with!

What if we live sacrificially and give of our time and money and talents to God’s Kingdom the way He calls us to live...will he really take care of me? What if I actually decided to pay my tithe despite the fact that things are tight...make the necessary cuts to my spending, but also trust God to take care of things.

Daniel and these 3 young men trusted God to take care of them...they were even willing to put that trust to the test.

Daniel 1:11-14, “Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.”

It was God who was at risk now. So often we don’t even give God a chance to make good. We just assume he won’t do what we ask...maybe we know we aren’t going to like what He actually will do...so we make the decision for Him and expect Him to bless that.

But God regularly says, “Obey me and see if I will not take care of you!”

This leads to the final thing we see in these young men...

We live our beliefs with humility.
There is a difference between real persecution and simple rejection. American Christians LOVE to talk about persecution, but have rarely, really faced it. It is far more common for Christians to face rejection or maybe some push back or some disagreement, but many times it has more to do with their methods than their message.

But look at how Daniel and his friends approached the situation...

Daniel 1:8, “...he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.”

He asked. He didn’t demand. He didn’t whine and complain. He didn’t post on his Facebook page a link to the latest petition about how they weren’t allowing him to practice his faith. He asked. Then he offered the test with an interesting addition...

Let’s read Daniel 1:11-14 again, “Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.”

Daniel says, “Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” He gives this man the option to override his convictions if God doesn’t live up to the test.

Not only that, but Daniel and his friends continued to work hard. They did their part. They studied and learned...and they depended on God to do his part. So at the end of the 10 days Ashpenaz was able to see, “they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.”

How often have people demanded their rights so their boss was more put off by their attitude than by their desire to live according to God’s ways. Or they allowed the employee to have Sunday off, and realized they had poor work habits the rest of the week? How many times have people left a Christian’s friendship not because of their actual beliefs, but because of their presentation?

What if instead of demanding Sunday off or compromising and allowing them to make you work on your Sabbath...you said, “Give me a month, and see if I don’t work harder on the days I’m here. See if I am not a better employee for you the rest of the time.”

There is a big difference in the approach...in the method. One is demanding and demeaning...the other exudes the humility required of someone who follows Jesus.

We may still face rejection, indifference, confrontation, even persecution, but in our humble response and consistent living we can change the world around us.

1 Peter 3:13-17, “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

Conclusion
Because they remained committed to God’s standards and trusted God, He rewarded these men with talents and responsibility that no one else in the Kingdom of Babylon could match! And because they carried themselves with humility they would eventually see a King transformed!

Daniel 1:17-20 says, “To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”

God wants to change this world, and He wants to do it through you! He will start with you, then your family, then your neighborhood and community and then extend that to your world. But it takes us being willing to push forward, live according to God’s standards, trust that He will take care of things, and living it out with humble boldness.

The book of Daniel is a great reminder that God is working even when the culture around us is hostile to our message...when we are the minority for our beliefs...God is still at work to bring about His will and to transform those around us!

Grow- Keep In Step

2013-09-17T20:25:00.003-04:00

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23

Ralph Waldo Emerson is famous for saying "Life is a journey, not a destination." But he is not the originator of the idea. For centuries, religions of all kinds have described life and our spiritual growth as a journey...a long trip filled with adventure and set-backs. It requires courage, dedication, and commitment.

The Bible often talks of our relationship with God as a journey. All throughout it talks of people walking faithfully with God. God regularly encourages people to walk in obedience. The Psalms and Proverbs are filled with this idea of walking and staying in the right path. Jesus talked about the narrow and the wide path.

And our primary passage for today, and addendum at the end of the Fruit of the Spirit, talks about walking...and journey...

Galatians 5:25, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

We have been looking at the Fruit of the Spirit. It is important to remember that our growth in the Fruit of the Spirit, the growth of our character, is a journey. It is walking this stuff out every day of our lives in connection to the Holy Spirit.

You cannot muster enough energy to do this yourself. You cannot make yourself good. I found this quote on the internet and it speaks so much to what we are aiming at: “It's so much easier to do good than to be good.” — B. C. Forbes. Paul says this in several places, but none so clear as Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

So often we look at God’s call to a holy life. His call to live a life that produces these Fruit of the Spirit, and we say...there is no way! I have tried! I have tried to be patient with that person! I have tried to be loving with my co-worker! I have tried to be kind and generous. I have tried it all, and I just can’t do it...

You are right. You can’t do it. You need the power of the Holy Spirit at work in your life.

This doesn’t get you off the hook. There is still effort required on your part. Some have read Paul’s words and thought, Well if I can’t do what I want to do, I will just go with how things are. I was born this way! God is just going to have to do the work.

Character development and growth take time and effort on our part, but they are only effective as we keep in step with the Spirit.

The imagery here is of the Roman Army marching my...click, click, click...lockstep...every soldier’s heels hitting the stone streets at the same time. And Paul says, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

We live by the Spirit. We don’t live by the flesh, as Paul points out all the behaviors that leads to just a few verses earlier. We don’t live by our culture and what it claims is ultimate reality. We don’t live by our work, our family, our inner sense of things...These should not provide the guidance for our direction and purpose in life. We are called to live by the Spirit.

And as we live by the Spirit, our goal is to learn to keep in step with the spirit...allowing his work to transform us so we exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit...that is how we go from just doing good to actually being good!

I read this quote last week from Richard Foster, “Inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God’s work, not ours. The demand is for an inside job, and only God can work from the inside. We cannot attain or earn this righteousness of the kingdom of God. It is a grace that is given…”

So you have tried time and again to grow in your patience and you have failed.

You have tried to be more loving, but then they just push the right buttons and you find yourself acting in some very unloving ways or saying some very unloving things.

You try to have joy, but you just can’t shake the gloom. You can’t seem to find anything to be joyous about.

You want to be faithful, but you just keep failing...over and over and over again.

And Paul says that our answer is live by the Spirit and walk in step with the Spirit....learning to see where he is leading and then following Him.

So we do this by first

Building our spiritual muscles.
There is no way to know where the Spirit is leading, much less to follow, if we are not spending time in God’s presence.

I am as guilty as the next person...trying to discipline myself to do this...to carve time out of a busy schedule to hear the still small voice of God. We have to step away from the television, from the computer, from the book, even from our family and from work to carve out time to spend in God’s presence.

Throughout the centuries, Christians have developed what they call Spiritual Disciplines. Spending time with God isn’t just about reading the Bible and praying...those are definitely part of it. And praying isn’t just about you talking. Sometimes, and more often than we realize, prayer is about us learning to shut-up.

But there is a long list of disciplines that any Christian can use to spend time with God. Silence, solitude, fasting, worship, journaling, sabbath, prayer with all its different aspects, Bible reading and study, service...all of these are meant to build up our spiritual muscles so as we enter the world our spirits have developed the strength to face what will come our way. We also learn to sense the leading of the Holy Spirit so we are not searching for it in the midst of our struggle.

Just like working out physically...we don’t wait until we get to the marathon to run. We run miles and miles and miles over the months and year before the marathon so that when the time comes we can run with confidence.

Powerlifters lift heavy weights for years and years before they step out on the competition floor and attempt to lift the amount of weight they do.

If we want to show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control...we have to spend time putting in the effort to develop those muscles...and that starts in our time spent in God’s presence because it is there where we learn to walk in step with the Spirit.

But we also have to realize...

It takes time to grow.
Watching one episode of Dr. Phil will not undo years of watching Jerry Springer...so one prayer won’t undo years of living your own way. One Sunday morning isn’t going to undo a lifetime of bad habits.

You have allowed your anger to go unchecked for most of your life...it most likely will not stop overnight.

You have never thought about the fact that you say some pretty mean things about other people under your breath...it won’t end overnight.

You have not controlled the depressive thoughts and moods...it probably isn’t going to happen overnight.

You take any problem area where God needs to work in your life, and it probably will not be cured overnight...because God doesn’t work that way. God’s process of transformation is long, drawn-out, and usually filled with hard work because that is how real change happens. Significant and meaningful change takes time.

Health is not found in a fad diet or the latest pill or energy drink. It means eating less and moving more and making wise choices. Healthy relationship happen after years of integrity and being trustworthy and loyal.

Sometimes God will free people of things instantaneously. I have seen people who struggled for years to quite smoking, turn it over to God, lay their pack of cigarettes down, and never touch them again. I have seen people do that with drugs, alcohol, and all sorts of things...

But the deeper, and probably more damaging sins...those take time. Greed. Anger. Bitterness. A complaining spirit. Impatience. Faithlessness. A lack of integrity. Lack of generosity. These things...the sins that are more easily hidden or disguised take time...I mean we can see when you drink, smoke, and chew! We can hear you when you cuss out your neighbor! But we can’t always tell if you have a prideful heart. We can’t see the bitterness and seething anger within you...those sins are more dangerous to your spiritual lives, and take the longest to root out.

And it is so easy to get discouraged as you work through these character issues. You work for weeks and month and years...and then something happens you find yourself exhibiting some of the old habits. We keep coming back to this, but our spiritual growth is really about progress not perfection. Patience starts with you being patient with yourself.

Some people laugh at me because I keep a pretty detailed spreadsheet of my weight and workouts. If I don’t then when I’m in the midst of a bad workout and feel like quitting, I am tempted to think...this is getting me nowhere! But when I look back at the previous weeks and months...I see that I have grown. I am going farther or I am doing it faster or I am lifting more than before.

This is why the spiritual discipline of journaling is important for many Christians. You are recording your spiritual life and journey...the daily interactions and the failures in a journal...and then over time you are able to go back and read and see how you have grown.

Others will us a spiritual director to help them, much like a coach only for the spiritual life. And the spiritual director will give them challenges and talk and listen...and over time give them feedback about how they are progressing.

Whatever it takes to grow we must be willing to do...but we also have to understand it is going to take time. Don’t let yourself off the hook. Don’t excuse bad morality or character flaws that you are aware of with trite statements like, “I’m forgiven not perfect.” But also don’t beat yourself up when you falter after genuine attempts to grow.

God is a God of grace and mercy as well as justice and truth. He rejects those who use His grace and mercy as an excuse to do as they please... But He rewards those who pursue Him. He encourages those who are struggling and pushing through...because He understands that real progress takes time.

So you build the spiritual muscles. You understand the time this is going to take...You also

Learn to pay attention.

The Holy Spirit is always at work in your life, and it isn’t how you might think. Too often we look for God in the big signs and coincidences of life. We want to hear the voice or get the revelation from our Scripture reading...

But the Holy Spirit works on our character by sending us people to interact with...putting us in situations to challenge and test and grow us... He works in the everyday...the normal...the mundane things of our lives...

Let’s say God wants to grow you in being more loving...he is going to challenge you to work with someone who is hard to love. He will use the heated discussion you and your spouse are having.

He wants to grow your patience...you’re right...he will use the regular, everyday situations of life to help you improve your patience. Long lines at the BMV. Traffic accidents...He will use them all.

Romans 8:28 reminds us, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” There are going to be tests and challenges that God places directly in our path to help us grow. There are also going to be things that happen in our life that, while God doesn’t cause them, He certainly uses...He redeems...He grabs them out of the pile of horrible things that happen and uses them to grow and stretch us...so they are not just “another bad thing that happened to us...but they are transformed into something that can make us better.

Our goal is to pay attention to how God is working in your life. You will often see the same idea or concept come up over and over in your Scripture reading. The pastor will preach on it. Your friends will say something about it. A prayer ministry team member might pray it over you out of the blue. Someone might have a word of knowledge that connects to something.

We are not talking superstitious coincidence. We are talking about grand themes where God is pointing out things in our lives...sometimes even sin we need to stop...but something, someway He is at work...

And He will do it through the every day interactions and activities of your life.

So often we look for all the special spiritual things we have to add to our lives...the 3 hours of prayer...and 2 hours of Bible reading...and retreats...and special church services...and all kinds of things...God works through those things, but God is most active in the everyday things we are most likely to overlook

Conclusion

Jim Cymbala, in his book Fresh Power, writes, “While Christ’s work on the cross...was the only way to settle the problem of guilt, sin, and condemnation; the coming of the promised Holy Spirit was God’s way of changing human beings from the inside out. The law given to Moses had failed on this very point. It was in itself holy and just, but the problem was the sinful nature within people.

Now the Holy Spirit dwelling in the hearts of believers would conquer the age-old dilemma of ‘I want to be different but can’t. I know what’s wrong, but I keep doing it anyway.’ This empowerment by the Spirit would be the dynamic source throughout time for all who live and labor for Jesus Christ” (Pages 16-17).

To steal an illustration from a fellow pastor...

Living this out is a journey...we must learn to live...left foot...right foot.

I need to be more generous...left foot...get rid of some stuff....right foot...give some money away.

I need help with my finances...left foot...spend less...right foot...make more

I need to grow in my relationship with God...left foot...get up tomorrow morning and read and pray...right foot...live it out during the day...left foot...get up the next morning and read and pray...right foot live it out during the day.

One of my favorite movies is the Dead Poets Society.

Despite Mr. Keating calling his students to walk to the beat of their own drum...the reality is you will walk to the beat of someone’s drum...you will keep in step with some drummer in your world. You may keep in step with the culture around you. You may keep in step in with your friends, or family, or the expectations of others.

Or you will live by the Spirit and keep in step with Spirit.

Grow-Self-Control

2013-09-17T20:23:00.003-04:00

Ah...self-control...I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people say, “If only I had some self-control!” or “If only I were more disciplined!” What they want...what they need is self-control.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I said it!

A few years ago, Lori was trying out a technique to help here with her self-control with her anger. Whenever she got angry she started focusing on her breathing and counting to 10. Problem was...she is married to me! So she would start counting, and I would go, “14, 42, 36, Hike!” or just start counting with her only a beat or two off. A smart man would have left her alone and let her cool down...

The next two message may be the most important messages of this entire series. Without them our ability to produce the Fruit of the Spirit just falls apart. Self-control may be the most important of the Fruits...because without self-control none of the other qualities are possible.

Let’s walk through the list

Love- without self-control we can’t really demonstrate love. How many times has a relationship, built on love, been destroyed because of some one didn’t control their words? We cannot demonstrate love when say insensitive things to those whom we are to show love. We cannot demonstrate love when we lose control of our urges and cheat on our spouses. We need self-control.

Joy- Having joy means controlling the attitudes and thoughts that want to get us down. Depression is caused by many different things...chemical imbalances, medications, illnesses that take over our body...but so many times depression is simply a matter of thinking about the wrong things. We look at the dark side rather than good things in our lives. Joy mean controlling where we focus our attention...am I going to look at all the stuff I don’t have or learn to live joyously with the stuff I do have.

Peace- means controlling our urge to fight back. It means we control our desire to win at all costs...to be right...our desire to be heard.

Patience- means controlling our desire to be first or to not be inconvenienced or to have what we want when we want it.

Kindness- means controlling our desire to act out of our moods rather than react in response to a human being created in God’s Image. It means being aware of other people and treating as we would want to be treated.

Goodness- means controlling our desire to keep everything we get...

Faithfulness- means controlling our desire to quite...to give up...to do what we want.

Gentleness- means controlling our desire to swing either toward unrestrained anger or toward apathy and disengagement...to find the appropriate response

Without self-control...we simply cannot live out the Fruit of the Spirit. Each one requires us to control ourselves and what seems so natural because it is part of our broken, fallen nature inherited from Adam and Eve. If we are to make progress in the spiritual life, we must learn self-control.

We must learn to control our thoughts and attitudes.

We must learn to control our time and our schedules.

We must learn to control our actions.

But is it more than simply controlling ourselves. I would guess that many us tried that...tried harder to control ourselves.

You have struggled to control your appetites for years...and yet you face the bulging belly.

You have struggled to get your devotional life on track. It works for a while, you wake up or stay up and for a week or so...and then it starts to fade away.

You attempted to control yourself, but after awhile it just stops working.

The Dangers of Self-Control
There is a dark side to self-control.

Richard Foster writes,

“Our ordinary method of dealing with ingrained sin is to launch a frontal attack. We rely on our willpower and determination. Whatever may be the issue for us—anger, fear, bitterness, gluttony, pride, lust, substance abuse—we determine never to do it again; we pray against it, fight against it, set our will against it. But the struggle is all in vain, and we find ourselves once again morally bankrupt or, worse yet, so proud of our external righteousness that “whitened sepulchers” is a mild description of our condition.”

We believe with just a little bit more self-control we can control any problem we have, and when that fails to work we stop doing anything at all.

But here is the secret, Richard Foster writes, “When we despair of gaining inner transformation through human powers of will and determination, we are open to a wonderful new realization: inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God’s work, not ours. The demand is for an inside job, and only God can work from the inside. We cannot attain or earn this righteousness of the kingdom of God. It is a grace that is given…”

If we could manage our sinfulness and become better with self-control...we would have no need for God or his grace. For thousands of years the Jews attempted, through self-control and willpower, to live out the law, but, as Paul says earlier in Galatians 3:21, “For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.”

That is why Paul says in Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age...”

The grace of God has appeared...and it is that grace that teaches to say “No!” and to live the self-controlled, godly lives...

Our need is for true, inner transformation and that comes through the work of God. So that even our self-control is enlivened and bolstered by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us. Self-control is not me learning to control my “self". It is allowing my “self" to be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

So how does this all play out in practice...

Self-Control means Strategic Distraction

In the 1960’s Walter Mischel, the Stanford professor of psychology gave what is now known as the Marshmallow test. His team of researchers would place a marshmallow in front of a kid and tell them they could eat the marshmallow at any time, but if they waited until the researcher returned to eat the marshmallow they would be allowed to have two marshmallows.

Psychologists assumed the children’s ability to wait depended on how badly they wanted the marshmallow. But it became obvious that every child wanted the extra treat. Mischel’s conclusion, based on hundreds of hours of observation, was that the crucial skill was the “strategic allocation of attention.” Instead of getting obsessed with the marshmallow—the “hot stimulus”—the patient children distracted themselves by covering their eyes, pretending to play hide-and-seek underneath the desk, or singing songs from “Sesame Street.” Their desire wasn’t defeated—it was merely forgotten. “If you’re thinking about the marshmallow and how delicious it is, then you’re going to eat it,” Mischel says. “The key is to avoid thinking about it in the first place.”

The Bible puts it like this:

1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee from sexual immorality.”

1 Corinthians 10:14, “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.”

1 Timothy 6:10-11, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”

2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

Sometimes the best offense is a good defense! Sometimes it means getting out of the situation.It means, as Walter Mischel says, to “avoid thinking about it in the first place.” Flee...get yourself away from the temptation.

You must learn to flee...to distract yourself. Self-control is not staring down the enemy and winning...it is finding creative ways to take yourself out of the hot situation that causes all the problems. Walter Mischel goes on to say, “Once you realize that will power is just a matter of learning how to control your attention and thoughts, you can really begin to increase it.”

When I was about to graduate from Seminary, one of my professors gave us a quick but helpful talk. He had just read some statistics about internet pornography usage by pastors. He told us...if you can’t find a way to control...get a sledgehammer and bust up your computer. It may not cure inner problem, but it certainly means you won’t be using the internet as an easy access point to indulge.

Maybe you find yourself moving in an unhealthy direction with someone who is not your spouse. You flee that relationship. You stop opening their emails...deleting them immediately. You unfriend them on Facebook. You ignore their calls and delete their messages without listening to them. You find ways to get yourself away from the temptation.

Maybe your temptation is to overeat. Pay attention to what triggers it. Are you bored? Go find something to do away from the possibility of food. Are you depressed? Get professional help to treat your depression or call up a friend and go hang out with them.

Are you impatient? I have heard that slower, smoother music while driving makes you less aggressive...I may need to try that. Taking some deep breaths. Leaving a bit earlier so you are not in a rush.

Can’t control your temper? Try counting...just not around me.

Can’t control your spending? Cut your credit cards into tiny pieces. Stop looking at catalogues and shopping websites.

So often we try to stare down the problem...we think self-control means facing down the enemy. The best self-control means knowing when to get out, knowing how to distract yourself, and even, when possible, to not get into the tempting situation in the first place.

Self-Control means having a defined goal.

So often we fail to live God-pleasing lives because, really, it isn’t our goal to do so. We may say it is with our words, but our actions and, if we are honest, the deepest desires of our hearts do not reflect it.

We want the American dream...big house, 2.5 kids, a nice car, and a steady job with regular promotions.

We want comfort and health...no sickness and no set-backs.

There are a thousand different things in our lives that fight to be our ultimate goal.

But when you have a steady direction...a goal...a purpose...a desire to see something happen...that changes everything. Suddenly your ability to stay self-controlled is enhanced...like self-control on steroids!

Just think about it for a minute. Some of you are in customer service jobs. Do you remember the last time you wanted to verbally tell off one of your customers? They are on the phone, or, worse yet, standing across the counter from you...angry, upset, and yelling. You wanted to give them a piece of your mind...may even give them a solid right hook...

And you didn’t. You smiled. You spoke nicely. You calmly controlled your response.

Why didn’t you choke the life out of that belligerent jerk? Because you had a goal. You didn’t want to lose your job. Maybe it was a more positive goal...you understood they weren’t mad at you they were mad at the situation or the way the company had treated them and you would be mad if you were in their place...so your goal was to help them.

When we have a goal self-control is easier.

We want to fit into that nice dress for our 10, 20, 30, 40 year reunion...self-control is a bit easier.

We want to keep our jobs...a bit easier.

When the ultimate goal of our lives is to please God...to live a godly life that reflect Him to those around us...self-control becomes a bit easier.

Paul talks about his own push to be self-controlled in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

I strike my body and make it my slave...all in service of his ultimate goal.

What is the real goal you are aiming for? Is it to live out the Fruit of the Spirit? Is it to live a life that pleases God? If it is, then spiritual self-control, while not perfect, certainly gets a boost.

Finally...

Self-Control Requires Practice
In another research project, Walter Mischel, lead researcher on the Marshmallow test, “gave delay-of-gratification tasks to children from low-income families in the Bronx, he noticed that their ability to delay was below average, compared with that of children in [wealthier areas].

He says, “When you grow up poor, you might not practice delay as much,” he says. “And if you don’t practice then you’ll never figure out how to distract yourself. You won’t develop the best delay strategies, and those strategies won’t become second nature.”...the real challenge is turning those tricks into habits, and that requires years of diligent practice.”

So often we want to be spiritually healthy and have God-pleasing lives right off the bat...but quick-fix solutions is not how God does it. Spiritual transformation...moving from a self-centered, sinful human being to living out the Fruit of the Spirits...takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes practice.

The spiritual disciplines (Bible reading, prayer, fasting, worship, fellowship, silence, etc) are meant to form us into people who hear God's voice and do His will. They give us opportunities to practice

Fasting may be our most powerful and least used weapon in the modern church. In fasting we learn, we practice, denying ourselves what we really want when we want it. I want food...I’m fasting...I practice telling my body “No!” I am fasting from television or media or digital devices...I practice telling my inclinations, “No!”

So when the time comes for something much bigger...I have learned in the small things, through fasting, to tell myself, “No!” I have learned that I don’t need that to survive. I will live and can live quite happily without it. I have denied myself in the past of food, or caffeine, or sugar, or media, or any number of other things and I was fine.

We practice everyday by seeing each moment as an opportunity to grow...that time spent in a really long line is an opportunity for us to control our impatience...to practice breathing...and to wait. That person behind us in line is an opportunity to control our need to keep everything we have and be generous. That person who says something mean to us is an opportunity for us to practice love...kindness...to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Conclusion

Proverbs 25:28 reminds us, “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.”

The image here is life where the enemy can come and go as they please...take whatever goods they want...ravish the city...steal its children...use and abuse it.

When we lack self-control the Fruits of Spirit are an impossibility for us. It is the difference between a child clunking around or an unskilled person randomly hitting notes...and someone who, through years of practice, has mastered the ability to connect the notes into a song.

Guitar...have someone chunk across the guitar...this is what a life looks like that lacks self-control...

But when you allow the Holy Spirit to come in...when you practice the disciplines that build your self-control muscles...when you have a life that has learned the art of Holy Spirit empowered self-control...it sounds like this...[have someone play with skill].

Grow-Gentleness

2013-09-17T20:18:00.001-04:00

Let’s take a moment and read our passage together...we should be getting close to having it memorized...

Galatians 5:22-23.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Today we are looking at the character quality known as gentleness. Paul uses a Greek which can be translated as either Gentleness or Meekness. Our translators have gone with gentleness. In fact, in the New International Version of the Bible, there are only 4 instance of this word being translated as Meekness. The rest are translated as gentleness.

The most notable use is Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

I don’t know why the translators made the choice to translate most of the words as gentleness rather than meekness, but I think it might have something to do with the culture they are translating for...our culture. Though our understanding of gentleness isn’t much better.

One of the definitions assigned by Merriam Webster says those who are meek are “deficient in spirit and courage.” Some other dictionaries define it with these words: overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame; spineless or spiritless...they have some positive definitions, but we know the ones that come to mind when we hear the someone called meek.

We have in our culture a mental image of those who are gentle and meek...they are weak. We value self-reliance, strength, and independence. So we say things like, “Nice guys finish last!” and “No good deed goes unpunished!” “If you ain’t first you’re last!”

If you don’t believe me, next time you are hanging out with a bunch of guys, choose one of them and say, “You have such a gentle way about you!” and see how they all respond.

But the biblical definition lines up more with the best of our current definitions...with all of its positive attributes.

Biblical gentleness is power under control...It is the power of water being used to create electricity in a hydro-electric dam as opposed to a Tsunami wiping out entire villages.

It is using the venom of a poisonous snake being used to make the anti-venom to heal...as opposed to the raw injected venom that destroys.

The elephant's trunk in particular is an example of great power with precision control. The elephant trunk with more than 40,000 muscles is strong enough to rip branches from trees, yet sensitive enough to pick up a single blade of grass!

Gentleness...meekness is not weakness!

There are two ways meekness is exhibited in our lives. First it means being yielded, teachable, and responsive. Second it means being humble, gentle, and respectful. The first are to be yielded, teachable,and responsive in our relationship with God, and second, we are to be humble, gentle, and respectful in our relationships with others.

So let’s look at these two.

Gentleness is how we respond to God.

Our first response of gentleness is to be yielded, teachable, and responsive to God’s leading in our lives.

God uses many different ways to communicate with us. He speaks to us through impressions and urges from within. He uses dreams. Sometimes He speaks through what seems like an audible voice. He speaks through other people. He speaks through worship. But most importantly He speaks through His word, the Bible.

As Christians all the other ways and means of God speaking to us are evaluated in the light of Scripture. If we get an impression that we feel is from God, our response should be to test it against Scripture...to see if it is genuinely from God. We receive what we believe to be a word of knowledge or guidance to do something, but it just doesn’t seem to fit with Scripture and what we know about God...then we reject.

But the ultimate goal is to live a life yielded and responsive to God’s voice.

So our first step is to learn to hear the voice of God, and to hear God’s voice we have to be listening. This requires time and practice.

You and I live very busy lives, but in the midst of those busy lives we have to learn to hear God’s voice.

1 Kings 19 tells the story of Elijah trying to hear the voice of God. God tells him to go stand on the top of the mountain. “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”

We cannot hear God when we have so much stuff jammed into our lives.

We can’t hear God when every possible space is filled with noise...we enter the house and turn on the television...we get in the car and turn on the radio...we get up in the morning and check our newsfeed or check the weather or listen to the news. We fill so many moments of our lives with noise that we cannot hear God.

We do the same thing with our schedules. We rush from one function to another filling up every moment. We stay up late and jam our Saturday’s so full, and then wonder why Sundays are so tiring and we can’t worship.

And what it requires of us is cutting back and cutting down on all the noise and clutter. It means turning off the television and radio. It means saying no to one more thing on the schedule. It means making time alone in quiet with God a priority because we deeply need and want to hear the voice of God.

Once we take the necessary steps to hear God’s voice...then we must obey it.

Mark Twain is credited with saying, “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”

Why would someone say this? Because obedience is always the hardest part.

You see, when we turn off the television...when we take time to pray and worship and read God’s Word...He shows up, and that is the scary part. We learn of His expectations and what it means to obedient, and we become responsible for putting it into action.

The Apostle James understood this trouble. Writing to the church under his care, he says, James 1:21-24, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

Being gentle means we listen to God’s voice, and then live obediently to what we discover there. By extension then...

Gentleness is how we respond to others.

We live in yielded obedience to God’s will, and that enables us to be gentle in our response to others. We become humble, gentle, and respectful in our relationships.

Gentleness was a popular philosophical term for the classical Greek philosophers. They saw “gentleness” as the expected way to deal with others. They considered it the middle ground between a strong, excessive anger and the inability to be angry. Someone who exhibited gentleness was considered both strong and gentle.

For us as Jesus’ followers this is seen as strength prompted by love. Jesus was gentle with those around him who needed gentleness...the Samaritan woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, Zaccheus. And Colossians 3:12-15 Paul again uses gentleness as one of the characteristics that guides a Christian’s relationships with others. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Jesus’ motivation when dealing with people is first and foremost to help them grow closer to God...and his motivation for dealing with people through us is the same...to help them grow.

Why do we treat people with gentleness? Because our goal is not to make them feel less than...our goal is not to judge...our goal is not to make sure they know how far from God they are...our goal is to help them understand God’s love for them and to help re-establish a relationship with God. Our ultimate goal is to see them restored and saved not beaten down and beaten up.

Therefore,

Gentleness is expected in our dealings with unbelievers and those hostile toward us.

1 Peter 3:15-16, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

So you are talking with someone in the lunch room at work or at a coffee shop, and they says, “You say you are Christian and believe that all homosexuals are going to hell!”

That inner fight or flight mechanism pushes you go on the defensive, attack their beliefs, or find a way to get out of there...but then you remember this passage from 1 Peter, and instead of trying to change their worldview in the first 10 seconds, or attack the stupidity of their beliefs...you offer them gentleness. They may still speak maliciously about you, but if you have built up a reputation for gentleness and kindness...they will look the fool.

What they need is gentleness.

Gentleness is also expected in our dealings with those who have fallen into sin.

Galatians 6:1, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”

Someone close to you betrays you and commits a sin that just devastates you. Rather than rush to their defense or become one of their detractors...you recognize the sinfulness of what they have done, and you, or someone in spiritual leadership, goes to restore them GENTLY. With compassion and respect.

They may not accept the restoration. They may bad-mouth the process. They may slander you...but in gentleness...you find the balance between anger and apathy.

A few weeks ago, Bri was rearranging her bedroom when one of her Precious Moments fell of her cabinet and hit the edge of something on her floor. She burt from the room heartbroken over this ruined figurine.

For the next hour we collected all the small fragments from her carpet, and then using superglue we meticulously repaired this figurine piece by little piece.

That is the gentleness God expects from us as we deal with those who are broken from sin...he has carefully and gently repaired or is repairing the pieces of our sin broken lives, and He expects the same from us as take part in the sin repair of others.

Conclusion
So we live in this dual role...God is putting us back together, but also using us to put others back together.

So we live yielded, teachable, and responsive lives toward God and we live humble, gentle, and respectful lives toward others.

This means all the setbacks, the interruptions, the slanderous words, the mean treatment by others, the personal attacks...and in some area the physical attacks are seen as opportunities for God to work in our lives. That is meekness and gentleness in action, and we able to live up under it because we have taken the time to learn to walk in step with the Spirit.

This is not a submissive passivity that sits back and takes it...but a strength that sees God-opportunities in every situation.

That personal attack is an opportunity for you to learn and grow in your humility...because some of it is right.

Those slanderous words about your faith is an opportunity for you to suffer along with Jesus.

That guy who insults you is an opportunity for you to love your enemy as yourself.

The boss who simply hates you is an opportunity.

We are able to do this not because we are weak. Not because we like the abuse, but because we stop focusing on ourselves and start focusing on what God is doing in the everyday situations around us.

I like that old quote...Don’t mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance or my kindness for weakness...

That is the power under control that should define our gentle meekness as Christians...and, according to Matthew 5:5, will lead to inheriting the earth.

Grow- Faithfulness

2013-08-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

That right there is why I’m a dog a person! It’s not that I hate cats, but a cat would NEVER do that. A cat would be like, “Awesome! He finally got out of my house!”

Dogs are known for their loyalty and their faithful companionship.

They say, if you want to know true love...lock your wife and your dog in a car trunk for 1 hour. When you come back, see which one is still happy to see you...and not so they can kill you for locking them in the trunk!

This morning, as part of our Grow series, we are looking at the Spiritual Fruit of Faithfulness. We have been working our way through the Fruit of the Spirit. They are fruit in that they grow out of a healthy character of someone who is living in step with the Holy Spirit. They are of the Spirit, in that we need the power and presence of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives empowering the process of developing these fruit in our lives.

These do not just happen naturally. There are some people who are better at some of them than others, but as we tend the garden of our lives and character in the power of the Holy Spirit...these fruit will be seen. If we are 20 years down the road...we have been saved and sanctified...and we have large gaps missing from our fruit tree...there is a problem.

So let’s take a moment and read our passage together...we should be getting close to having it memorized...

Galatians 5:22-23.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

What does faithfulness mean?
The Bible uses several different words that we translate as “faith” or “faithfulness”. The primary word sounds like your cussing...pistis.

A large portion of the time, the Bible is pointing to a belief in or a trust in or an all in commitment to something...

There is an old illustration I have used a million times to describe this way of looking at faith. There is a difference between saying you believe a chair will hold you and trusting that the chair will hold you. Simply saying you believe a chair will hold you requires nothing from you and you can walk away. Much the way many people treat their belief in God or Jesus. I believe in God. I believe in Jesus. Neither of those two statements affects the way they live their lives at all!

But when the Bible talks about faith and believing in Jesus...it is talking about the other way of looking at the chair. In order to demonstrate that the chair will hold me...I sit down in the chair. I trust it to hold me. Biblical faith and belief in Jesus means we trust him.

This is more than intellectual acknowledgment of Jesus. Biblical faith is an all in commitment to Jesus that results in salvation and leads to the person doing and being like Jesus.

In the NT Faith is important because the entire message of the NT is a call for us to place our faith...to believe and trust...in the person of Jesus Christ and to trust that his sacrifice is what restores our relationship with God and brings us salvation. It is a call for us to have complete reliance.

It means we have to give up a belief that our good works save us or give us better standing with God. We have to give up a belief that you can go around Jesus to have a relationship with God. We have to give up a belief that just because we love someone and they were a good person...that automatically qualifies them to live in God’s Future Kingdom. The NT calls us to believe that our salvation is found in Jesus Christ, and only in Jesus Christ.

This leads to second way the Bible uses this word...we place our trust or faith in something or someone because this is someone who can be believed or trusted.

They are reliable. They are trustworthy.

Jewish Rabbi’s often spoke of faith as walking backward into the future...they are looking at how God has acted faithfully in the past, so they can place their faith in Him as they move into the future. This is why, as you read the Old Testament, you will find the writers telling and retelling and retelling about the Exodus, the 10 Plagues, Sinai, the manna and quail...they are looking at how God has acted faithfully over and over and over again. And because God acted that way in the past, you can trust His faithfulness as you move into your future.

This idea, by extension, falls on people who are called to be faithful. We are considered faithful when we have a pattern of being trustable. Paul says, those who walk in step with the Spirit and develop these Fruit of the Spirit will be people who are faithful. People who are reliable and trustworthy.

Why be faithful?
And there are some great Biblical promises for those who are faithful...

Genesis 5:21-24, in just a few short sentences, tells how God rewarded Enoch’s faithfulness...

“When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”

Faithfulness was God’s requirement of Abraham, Genesis 17:1-2 says,

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

When Moses was preparing for his death, he gathered the Israelites together, reread the Law God had given him, and then, Deuteronomy 28:1 says,

“If you fully [faithfully] obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.” The passage then goes on to give a long list of the ways God wanted to reward the Israelites...but they could not be faithful.

Moses’ life was one of faithfulness that had amazing benefits? I guess you would say, Genesis 12:6-8 says,

“When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord.”

We could look at verse after verse of the ways and benefits of God as he rewards those who are faithful. Those who follow Him fully. Those who develop the character deep within them to be trustworthy and reliable people whom God can use.

I think Jesus’ words in Luke 16:10-12 are the reason so many people and churches falter...Jesus says,

““Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

...He who is faithful in little...God wants to see faithfulness in the little that he has given us. He wants to see us be trustworthy when he gives us the small things.

He wants to see our attitudes towards others when they just aren’t living up to our expectations. Are we going to be faithful to the Biblical call to love our neighbors. How are we going to handle that situation where it would be easier to tell a little lie?

He wants to see how we handle our money?

He wants to see how we handle our time and talents for Him?

He wants to see if we can be trusted; if we are reliable!

What does it mean to be faithful in our everyday life?
Being Faithful means we are truthseekers!
Christians have been known to believe some of the stupidest things...even after it has been completely discredited.

In the early 1990’s Trinity Broadcast Network announced the discovery of Hell on a Russian drilling project. The Scientists were drilling into the earth and found extremely high temperatures, and when they lowered a specially made microphone into the hole they heard millions of human voices screaming out in agony!

TBN had gotten the story from an Evangelist. It had been and has been repeated millions upon millions of times from one Christian to another...all saying, “This has been proven!”

And it hasn’t. It was made up by a man to mock the gullibility of people in the church.

It isn’t just that story...

How about the recent Facebook story about the newly hired Pastor who entered his new church dressed as a homeless man. After he was announced, he made his big reveal...the story, while a good metaphor, is not real...and yet Christian after Christian shared the story not just saying, “Here is a story with a good meaning!” But sharing it as a true story.

Truthseeking is important. We have to be willing to see and accept truth where it may be found. The flipside of this is that we must be willing to call out falsehood when it is found.

So many in the church are willing to reject science when it actually demonstrates something to be true. We have to be careful that we don’t misrepresent the beliefs of others with whom we disagree. We have to tell true stories and passing them off as true when they have been proven to be completely false.

In order for people to believe us when we say, “I know the truth! It is Jesus!”...we have to be people who are trustworthy...people who they can rely on because we are faithful.

And connected to being truthseekers...

Being Faithful means we are truthtellers.
And we are painfully so...look at these passages of Scripture...

Three times in the book of Proverbs it says something like this...

Proverbs 11:1, “The Lord detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favor with him.”

He is reminding those who follow him that while business may be business...the one who decides to follow Him is still required to live in a trustworthy manner...even when it will cost them financially.

Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 5:33-37, “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

According to Jesus our lives should be lived with such integrity and trustworthiness that all we have to do is say, “Yes” or “No” and people will take it as written in stone.

We seek the truth and we tell the truth...at all costs and at all times.

So when you are at work and the phone rings. The person asks for your boss, and she whispers, “I’m not here!” You have to find a way to live with integrity.

When you wife asks how she looks in this particular dress...you have to find a way to live with integrity...and keep yourself alive.

Being Faithful means we are promisekeepers.
Psalm 15 starts by asking the question, “Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?” After giving a list of noble qualities, David says a righteous person is someone, “who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind...”

Keeping promises is difficult...that is why we make promises...so that when tough times comes people know they can count on us.

It is the old pinky-swear. Cross your heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in your eye.

It is swearing on a dead relative’s grave!

We make promises and want people to make promises because we want assurance they are going to keep their word when the going gets tough.

No where is this more clear than in the covenant of marriage. In sickness and in health. For richer and for poorer. Forsaking all others. Till death do us part. This is a promise to stay together not just when things are going well, but when they are going badlly. It is a promise to stick out the tough times. It is a promise to find ways to keep the love and connection going rather.

Many of us have been there in the bad times with our spouses. We know that marriage isn’t always fun and requires a commitment...a promise that we will stick it out...and many of us have been hurt because someone didn’t keep their commitment.

Sometimes, promises have to be broken because something outside of our control or beyond our ability to take care of happens...We promise to take our kids to the park and then called into work.

But in the big things we should people who trustworthy and reliable. It does not mean we avoid making promises...it means we strive with all our might to keep the promises we make. As people who live a life of Holy Spirit inspired faithfulness we have to be willing to keep our promises even when the going gets tough...

Being Faithful means we are heartguarders
The primary demonstration of faithfulness comes in our daily walk of obedience with Jesus Christ. Are we faithful to keep him as the central focal point of all our decisions and all our action? Does Jesus’ life and teaching take the lead in questions of morality?

Being faithful means that day in and day out we are seeking to live obediently to God and obediently to do what He has called us to do.

The weekend before I started classes at Nazarene Theological Seminary they had us come for an orientation retreat. We did all the normal informational stuff, but we also had a lot of teaching on developing and growing ourselves spiritually while attending seminary. It seems it is common to do God’s stuff but forget to be God’s person.

So they did these teachings, and one of the things they did was give us a laminated card with Proverbs 4:23 written on it... “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” I have carried that card in my wallet everyday since February 1, 1997 as a reminder that my call is to live a life of faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

You see in the end we are not judged by our bank accounts. We are not judged by our level of success. We are not judged by whether we made a lot of friends. We are judged by how well we guarded our hearts so we could live obediently to God.

Matthew 25:21 tells of God’s word to those who are welcomed into His presence, “‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’”

Conclusion
Mark Hatfield tells of touring Calcutta with Mother Teresa and visiting the so-called "House of Dying," where sick children are cared for in their last days, and the dispensary, where the poor line up by the hundreds to receive medical attention. Watching Mother Teresa minister to these people, feeding and nursing those left by others to die, Hatfield was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the suffering she and her co-workers face daily. "How can you bear the load without being crushed by it?" he asked. Mother Teresa replied, "My dear Senator, I am not called to be successful, I am called to be faithful."

Here is the promise of Galatians 5...that as we walk in step with the Holy Spirit...as we tend the garden of our lives...we will be and we will become faithful. God will develop us into people who are trustworthy.

Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” We will reap a harvest if we are faithful. Those who become weary...quite. Those who become weary stop being trustworthy...they give up. But when we push through the tough times...we reap the harvest God has for our lives.

Jesus was found to be faithful in the task God gave Him, not because he made to the end and it was all smooth sailing. He was faithful because in the Garden of Gethsemane he was willing to pray, “Not my will, but your will be done!” And because of Jesus’ faithfulness...we reap a harvest of salvation!

Getting to the end...finishing what God calls us to do is not going to be accomplished because the road is smooth and easy. We will get to the end of our spiritual growth...we will reap the harvest God has for us...because despite the bumps and bruises and hardships of life we have been truthseekers, truthtellers, promiskeepers, and heartguarders and we haven’t given up...and we have learned to pray repeatedly...Not my will be done, but your will be done!

Grow- Goodness

2013-08-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

We are in a message series titled Grow, and we are looking at the Fruit of the Spirit.

Let’s read our passage together...

Galatians 5:22-23.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Last week we looked at Kindness and this week we are looking at Goodness. The one question I had...and I wasn’t alone...What is the difference between Kindness and Goodness?

If you are being kind aren’t you also being good to someone? So what is the difference?

And it is important for us to know the difference because we talk a lot about kindness here at Crossroads. We go out one a regular basis and do “practical acts of kindness.” We serve our community. One pastor said, “I don’t want us to be just the best church in the community. I want us to be the best church FOR our community!” And so we do practical acts of Kindness to demonstrate God’s love and our love for others.

The word Paul uses here is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, known as the Septuagint, the New Testament, and writings about the Old and New Testament. It is not a word used anywhere outside of the Jewish or Christian faith.

When used in the Bible, Goodness means several different though connected things...
right moral behavior...someone who abides by God’s Law is considered good.
maturity/completeness for a purpose...In the Creation poem of Genesis 1, God declares what he has made to be good. It fits the purpose for which it was created. Much like using a hammer to drive in a nail rather than your shoe. The hammer is good for driving in nails.

The final way, and the primary way it is used here, is what we would call Abundant generosity...It is a willingness to go farther and further than expected...It means doing things that bring good into the world and doing them lavishly!

This is the difference between simply satisfying your hunger and eating at a Michelin Star Restaurant.This is going all out for your anniversary dinner and letting your wife biggie size it. Abundant Generosity

Goodness as used here by Paul means having an attitude that not only does acts of kindness, but does them above and beyond the expect and the norm. It means giving ourselves away for the benefit of others...using our time not as though it belongs to us, but giving it away generously to people in the name of the Kingdom. Using our talents. Using our finances and our stuff. It means that in every area of our lives generosity is so ingrained that we just ooze goodness!

Jesus says it this way in Matthew 5:40-42, “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

Goodness or Generosity starts in the heart of God...
So often our wrong theology about who God is or what God is like can get in the way of our spiritual growth. Very little hinders that more than when we have wrong views about God’s abundant generosity towards us.

Maybe you have prayed and God didn’t answer your prayer...but He did for that idiot over there!

You watch as other people receive blessing after blessing and think, “Why won’t God do that for me!?!”

Maybe you pray for something for a longtime...the salvation of a family member, a job, a reliable vehicle...someone else comes along and you pray for them and they get what you need.

We can be tempted to believe God has it out for us. It’s not that you don’t believe God is good...you just believe He is good for everyone else but you.

In Psalm 31, David is pouring out his troubles to God, and right in the middle he says, Psalm 31:19, “How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you.”

Goodness and Generosity start in the heart of God, and God’s desire is to lavish goodness upon us.

James 1:17-18, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

You see God’s Ultimate act of generosity and goodness towards us is His offer of salvation. Life can be physically horrible, financially in ruin, emotionally trouble, but those are not the sign of God’s goodness...our salvation...Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf...is the ultimate sign of God’s goodness.

Don’t get me wrong...God’s goodness includes our physical, financial, emotional well being. He is the God who promised to clothe and feed us better than the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

But the goodness begins with Him sacrificing everything for to rescue us from the destruction sin causes in our lives. Metaphors and illustrations can be be stretched too far, but look at it this way...Imagine a guy who is broke and hungry falls into a raging river...what do you do? Start throwing money and food at him as he floats by? No! You rescue him...then you give the stuff he needs.

God meets our needs, and the ultimate need each and every one of us has, at the deepest core of who we are...is a restored relationship with God. And when that happens...God's goodness in our life should result in overflowing generosity to others...in the way we love...in the way we forgive...in the way we care for others

God extends His Generosity through us...
2 Thessalonians 1:11, “With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.”

2 Peter 1:5 says, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge...”

I have come to believe that God works almost solely through people to accomplish His will. He does not interfere with bolts of lightening and grand signs written in the sky...He works through people like you and me. Even when He does the miraculous...he still works through men and women who are following Him.

You are in need financially. The collectors are calling. You are swamped. God works through people. He reminds us that the best way is to make sure we are on budget. We are working to spend less and make more. And when times come when additional resources are needed, God works through people...the prompt in the heart to write a check and send it to someone in need. The unforeseen return of some money from your mortgage escrow. The free food at the pantry. God works through other people.

You are struggling with a psychological need...God equips and prepares counselors and psychologists with knowledge of how things work up here...and they help us. God will also use people praying for us to heal us in those situations.

We have a physical issue. We have seen God use the miraculous to bring healing to our bodies...but He always brings it as those who follow Him step out and pray for those who need it...and as we allow them to pray for us! But God also gives us doctors and nurses...though it would truly miraculous if he could work out some cheaper rates.

God uses us. He uses people like you and me...people willing to live out of the abundant generosity God provides to help those around us. We can get caught up looking for what we think is the miraculous and completely miss out on being used by God to BE miraculous.

We just have to be willing to step up when given the opportunity...and that can be tough. because there are

Challenges to being Good and Generous people...

Embarrassment
One of the speakers at the conference said something simple and yet profound. He said, “Many of us are willing to die for Jesus; we just are willing to be embarrassed for Him.” It takes guts...a willingness to look like a fool sometimes when following Jesus.

When I stepped out and prayed for Jeff at the pool I risked embarrassment and found some...I am praying for a guy whom everyone else wants to just shut up and go away...his beers and grief were not necessarily a quiet combination. But he was hurting and needed prayer. So I prayed for him. And when it was over...me standing in just swim trunks and him standing in just a t-shirt and his boxer shorts, because he forgot his swim trunks, he reached across and hugged me and wept...I’m a guy. We don’t cry, we don’t hug, and we don’t do them all once standing half-naked around a pool of spectators.

But God was working, and it was worth the embarrassment to extend God’s love and mercy to this man.

Greed
While we may not live with the motto of “Greed is good!” We certainly are affected by a culture that says, “Look out for numero uno!” I have to get all that I can and keep all that I can and spend all that I can on ME and MINE!

The question we have to ask it this, Is Generosity or Scarcity the way the world works? Is there enough for everyone or is there just enough for me? For those of us pursuing a life that reflects Jesus we have to ask, “Is God a generous God who allows us to step into His generosity and be a conduit for His goodness to the world?”

It is so easy to get and grab and keep...and completely miss out on being a part of God’s generosity to the world. Because when we hold on to our money, to our time, to our resources as though they belong to us...we miss out on really living the good life!

Life Management
We all have bills and responsibilities, and we feel we can’t afford to be generous. We have family and job responsibilities that eat away our time. And because of the financial pressures, the time pressures, and the stress we live under...generosity is a struggle.

Weariness
Paul mentions this one in relationship to doing good and working with people. Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

...because when you give away your time, your money, and your talents in generous ways to other people...you will be taken advantage...you will be used...you will be mistreated...you will be misunderstood. You will work hard with little reward. You will be tempted to look at all the challenges and the hardships and take your eyes away from God. You will be tempted to think that YOU have to do everything!

And weariness will set in. You will become tired...ready to quite. You will be tempted to stop being a generous person because what does it say when you are generous and people take advantage of your kindness, or you work harder for fewer results, or you are berated because someone misunderstood you?

You will become weary...

Despite all these challenges...it is worth the struggle to become abundantly generous people!

So how do we do that?

Becoming people of Generosity

Detach from Things.
We detach from our stuff. Give away your stuff! Regularly make a habit of giving away your most prized possessions. Those things you just can’t live without. Maybe you give them away permanently or maybe you just fast from them for awhile...but what needs to happen is we must break their hold over us.

Be Generous
This feels a little like what happens when someone defines a word you don’t know by using the word you don’t know. If I trying to become generous then being generous seems more like the outcome than one of the steps.

But if you find ways to be more generous...you will become a more generous person.

Find ways to be generous everyday...

Give bigger tips to your servers than expected.
Carry around one of our care cards and buy people’s meals in the drive-thru lane behind you.
Give of your time even when you completely swamped.
Take time to listen when you would rather talk.
Step out and pray for someone even though it scares you to death.

You have received everything in your life as a gift from God...now use it to bring glory to His Kingdom! Find ways to go above and beyond the expected in every situation.

Conclusion
About 10 years ago, I was sitting in a conference with the Church of the Nazarene that changed my life and led me to where I am today. Steve Sjogren spoke at our District Assembly about the power of generosity and act of kindness.

He gave us a quote, “Small things done with great love will change the world.” It was the combination I was looking for in my approach to the Christian life. Radical generosity in practical, everyday ways.

Emperor Julian the Apostate 361, wanted to lead a revival of Roman Paganism and reestablish the old Roman gods. He barred Christians from public office and from positions of prestige. He closed major cathedrals. He couldn't overcome their charity. Roman paganism was only willing to care for those like themselves. Christians were willing to care for everyone!

Julian said, "Why do we not observe that it is their [the Christians'] benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead, and the pretended holiness of their lives that have done most to increase atheism [unbelief of the pagan gods]? For it is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galileans [Christians] support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us. Teach those of the Hellenic faith to contribute to public service of this sort."

Radical generosity set early Christians apart from everyone else, and drew people to follow Jesus...It will do the same thing today.

As we love generously, forgive generously, give of our time generously, give our money and our resources away in generous ways...we tell the world that we serve a generous God and we are living in a generous Kingdom!

Grow-Patience and Kindness

2013-08-07T15:35:00.000-04:00

I did not preach the messages on Patience and Kindness, but compiled some notes to help the two guys who were preaching in my stead. Here is what I sent them.

Patience: This is not necessarily about waiting in traffic or patience in a line of customers (and certainly not about patience in regards to waiting for something to load on our phone or whatever)...only if it will affect how we treat people. It is a call to long suffering...or having a long temper. It is translated as forbearance because it is about patience within relationship; bearing with others.

Because the root concept is love, our call to patience is in regards to people and how we deal with them. Giving people the benefit of the doubt. Patience with people in process. Patience with people who are suffering and in pain. Patience with those who struggle, those who sin and falter, those who can’t seem to get it right. Patience is the quality of being long-suffering toward those whose conduct may in fact be calculated to provoke anger.

It can also include patience with ourselves in the growing process. We are often hardest on ourselves and that affects how we treat and interact with others. So when we require patience with ourselves it is so we can be patient with others.

Kindness: This word is found only in Paul’s writing. It denotes God’s gracious attitude and action toward sinners which results in His patience toward us...aimed at his desire to bring salvation (which is the manifestation of his kindness). Our actions of kindness are aimed at putting feet to our love for them, and leading them to salvation.

Grow- Peace

2013-07-08T21:27:00.000-04:00

From my earliest of memories, probably like this for all boys, war and guns and fighting were a seemingly natural part of my life. Cowboys and Indians, Cops and Robbers, and War were regular games we played. The Duke Boys shooting explosive arrows, GI Joe fighting Cobra, and who could forget the A-Team beating up bad guys!

It was awesome...

But something happens when you grow up. The action movies and the crime dramas are understood to be fiction, but we eventually face the reality that war and death have human faces attached. We are no longer talking about a game where someone has multiple lives and will regenerate. We are not talking about play guns and mouthing machine gun fire...we are talking about real, live human beings.

Men and woman and children. Families. Some who go to work in the morning and never make it home because a bomb drops. Others die because the resources needed to live have been completely decimated.

In preparing for this message, I wanted to gain a better perspective on war and the damage it has caused. War is defined as an active conflict that has claimed more than 1,000 lives, and of the past 3,400 years, humans have been at peace for only 268 of them. There are currently 33 active wars in our world. Over 100 million people were killed in wars in the twentieth century.

In World War Two two-thirds of those killed were civilians; by the beginning of the 1990s civilian deaths approached 90 per cent of the total casualty rate with 3 out of 4 fatalities being women and children. In the wars of the last decade, more children are killed than soldiers.

These are just war statistics and do not include crime and violence statistics that would also remind us of our need for peace.

The Christian’s Dilemma
For us as Christians, living in America, we are faced with a dilemma. We are called to be people who seek after peace. Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” For over 300 years, from the time of the Apostle Paul until Constantine, the Church was against all military violence. Pacifist is what we would call it.

But with Constantine things changed. Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Pastors and church leaders were given high standing in civil government. Because of this the Christian faith made some changes. Liturgy were cleaned up to be respectable for all citizens. Membership policies were relaxed. And leaders soon learned to stay on the good side of the emperor meant not rocking the boat...so they offered more and more support and blessing of military action and troops.

We are heirs to those changes, and we live in one of the most militarized cultures in the world. Ever other dollar we pay in federal taxes goes toward current or past military costs. More is spent each year on war, weaponry, and military than the combined earnings of 50% of the world’s population.

Since the Vietnam War, speaking out and supporting peace, voicing a dissent against war, is often viewed as unAmerican and not supporting our troops. When polled, between 65 and 85 percent of the American public will support military action when it begins, and 77% of evangelical Christians supported of the war in Iraq.

So we live in this tension. We know what the Bible says about peace. We would love to have peace in our world...to see war and conflict end. But we also know there are some evil people out there willing to do horrible things, and the reality is sometimes someone need to stop them.

So we wrestle with what peace look like on a global scale. Christians differ greatly. There are some who are extreme pacifist and refuse any and all retaliation and military service. There are others who ascribe to the Just War Theory. And there are others who hold views no different from the world around us. People fall all over the spectrum continually balancing Jesus’ command to be peacemakers and the reality of the fallen world in which we live.

We all have a role to play in creating peace for our world, but most of us don’t deal with this aspect on a regular basis. So we vote. We get involved in the ministries and causes that support peace. We lift our voice to be heard to find peace and make war a last resort.

But even more practical, when it comes to peace, is our call to be peacemakers with our neighbors, our family, our church family, our co-workers. That is where we really learn what it means to be peacemakers. Most of us will never be directly involved with making peace on a national level. We will not sit in talks with world leaders trying to end a conflict. We will not have the opportunity to cast a vote that really stems the tide of a war.

But we will face down someone who intent on starting an argument with us. We will have that family member who seems to start a fight with us every chance they get because they know exactly which buttons to push. There will be that person in our church or small group who’s views just irritate us to the point of very much disliking them.

Our search for peace, our call to be peacemakers, will mostly be played out in our interpersonal relationships with those we come in contact with on a regular basis.

So

What is Peace?
We know what Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

But in our personal relationships we wrestle with that. Does being a peacemaker mean we just ignore it? Does it mean we just let that person getting away with it so we don’t make any waves? Does it mean we remain quiet while continue spouting off...because if we said something there would be an argument?

The Greek word for peace is Eireinei it is connected to the Hebrew word Shalom, which you have probably heard. The root of the word means totality or completeness. But there are additional nuances the Bible gives to the word. These nuances include fulfillment, completion, maturity, soundness, wholeness (both individual and communal), community, harmony, tranquility, security, well-being, welfare, friendship, agreement, success, and prosperity.

You see peace is so much more than just an absence of conflict. It is this all consuming, complete tranquility and security between us and God and between us and our fellow human beings. Peace is wholeness for both you and I on an individual level, and you and I as we live in community together.

Shalom became a standard greeting for Israelites because in wishing shalom to another person you were praying a blessing for God to bring wholeness to their physical, emotional, psychological, relational, and spiritual lives. This was more than just a standard greeting, it was a prayer for the person being greeting.

When most of us think of peace, we think of an absence of conflict. If war stops...there is peace. If gangs don’t shoot each other...there is peace. If one country no longer bombs another country...there is peace. We speak in terms of “keeping the peace.” Someone once asked, “Can’t we all just get along?”

And the answer is “No!” we can’t all just get along because the problem is much deeper than just removing the conflict. Biblical peace is deeper than that. It is shalom. It is not the absence of conflict. It is the the presence of justice. It is the presence of wholeness in people’s physical, emotional, psychological, relational, and spiritual lives.

I hate confrontation, and will do almost anything I can to avoid it. I begin to sweat, my heart beats faster, I get this nervous and unsettled feeling, and I get this strong desire to run away. But some things need to be dealt with; because when I avoid the confrontation I only postpone the problem, and most likely have made things worse. I think I am keeping peace because I am keeping down the conflict, but I am actually undermining true peace by removing tension so true peace can take place.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us of this when he said, "The Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice."

It isn’t those who are actively fighting against a cause that are the most dangerous. The most dangerous people are those who just want things to settle down and go away, and, in the name of peace, actually subvert true peace and make things worse.

So What does that mean for us? How do we, on a practical level, promote peace?

Romans 14:19, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”

Make every effort. This requires effort. It requires work, and will not come easily.

In fact, Romans 14 reminds us...

If we want Peace, we often have to give up our rights.
This may sound like a direct contradiction to what I just said about keeping quiet, wanting things to just settle down, and having a lack of tension rather than having peace.

But let’s be honest, How often do our personal wants and our rights get in the way of true peace? More often than not conflict arises not because we are seeking justice or defending truth, but because we simply want things our own way.

Romans 14 is a treatise on living in community with others and not demanding our own way...Listen to what Paul says...

Romans 14:1, “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.”

Romans 14:7-9, “For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

Romans 14:13, “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

Romans 14:15, “If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.

We do it because we Love those whom Jesus loves.

Romans 14:21, “ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.”

The Roman church was facing conflict between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians and who eats and drinks what and what days should be commemorated over others. They are fighting and judging and condemning each other. And Paul orders then to stop.

Paul reminds them these conflicts arise from non-eternal things, unimportant things. Things, that in the long run, don’t have any real significance. And if they are merely personal opinion, if they are questions of what a person should or should not drink, what days a person should honor...then peace is our responsibility.

Paul is willing to bring conflict in pursuit of justice, in pursuit of things that matter and have eternal consequences: defining the Gospel, helping people grow in the faith, etc. But when it comes to things of personal opinion, Paul says peace becomes our responsibility.

And so often we would rather be right than live in peace.

When I got married, someone pulled me aside and said, “There will come a time in your marriage when you and Lori will get in a big fight. Years later you won’t even remember what it was about because it isn’t all that important anyway. But in that moment you are making a decision to fight to be right or to be happy.”

So much conflict happens in our world not because we are fighting for justice or defending truth, but because we want things the way WE WANT things.

The Church and Christians have been notoriously bad at this. We see ourselves as having the Truth. Often, though, we have our understanding of the Truth combined with a lot of personal opinion, and we are often not disciplined enough to know the difference between what is Truth and what is our opinion.

Often, in order to find true peace, we have to give up our right to be right. We have to know what really matters and what is worth taking a stand for and bringing conflict.

This is not easy..

Peace Requires Love
We have harped on this over and over and over again throughout this series so I’m not going to spend much time here.

When we love God and we love others...it changes how we interact with them. We want peace. Love is the very foundation upon which peace is built and maintained. So when Jesus says, “Love your neighbor...” and “Love your enemies...” He is doing so because all the other Fruit of the Spirit is built on our ability to love. So when we love, we are seeking peace, we are being patient and kind. We work hard to maintain self-control.

Peace requires humility
Paul says in Ephesians 4:2-3, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

We are going to be looking at patience, kindness, goodness, and gentleness as part of the Fruit of the Spirit and our grow series. But humility means we understand what is important, and we understand our place in that.

When we are humble, we don’t have to have our way all the time. It doesn’t mean we are less than because we have given that need to be right...it means we are humble.

When we are humble we are willing to give up things that don’t matter for the things that really mater. In Philippians 2, Paul reminds us that Jesus led the way in this way of life. So we can give up up our right to express our opinion, our right to argue it out, our right to be right because we LOVE the other person and have a higher purpose in mind.

Humility is a necessary part of this peace.

Peace requires forgiveness
Matthew 18:21-22, “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

We have to be willing to both give forgiveness and ask for forgiveness. Jesus’ reply to Peter does not just mean allowing the person to hurt us over and over and we keep forgiving them. Often it is just one offense that keeps coming to our mind over and over, and every time we recall the pain of that offense...we have to forgive them all over again.

At it’s deepest level Peace requires forgiveness.

Peace requires we walk in step with the Holy Spirit
Galatians 5:21 says, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Peace is difficult...giving up our rights, loving neighbors and enemies, having humility in a world that seeks its own way, learning to forgive and seek forgiveness from those who have caused us pain...the only way to really accomplish this is to depend up Jesus and walk in step with the Holy Spirit.

I love this quote from Vatican II

“Earthly peace which arises from love of neighbor symbolizes and results from the peace of Christ which radiates from God the Father. For by the cross the incarnate Son, the prince of peace reconciled all men with God. By thus restoring all men to the unity of one people and one body, He slew hatred in His own flesh; and, after being lifted on high by His resurrection, He poured forth the spirit of love into the hearts of men.
For this reason, all Christians are urgently summoned to do in love what the truth requires, and to join with all true peacemakers in pleading for peace and bringing it about.”

Our ability to be peacemakers...to live the life that establishes and encourages peace...is based solely on our connection to Jesus Christ and our ability to live the Spirit-filled life. We need the power of Christ at work in our lives.

When we are faced with the co-worker who wants to argue...when we have that relative that is pushing all the right buttons...when someone provokes an argument by insulting us...that is when we need to Holy Spirit...when we need to pay attention to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit leading us and guiding us...showing us the way to peace.

It does not mean being a pushover. It does not mean we never stand up for anything. On the contrary...we learn to stand up for the things that matter.

In the Vineyard we talk about the concept of the already and the not yet; meaning that because of Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s work in our world God has offered us a taste of the Kingdom right now, in our everyday lives...but it isn’t complete. Things in our world are still broken and sinful...but one day...one day Jesus will return and set all things right. True peace and justice will reign.

So we work toward peace in our world. We start in our everyday relationships because as we seek peace here and now...we are helping build the Kingdom that will come when Jesus returns.

Grow- Love

2013-06-25T08:14:00.001-04:00

I love the movie Elf! Every year we watch it about 2-3 hundred times. Bri hates it...so when Lori and I want to spend some time without her we start an Elf Marathon! I think we have kept her from the room for a good week before.

Love, Love, Love...

We all have different thoughts that come to mind when we hear that word. Watch an episode of Jerry Springer to see how differently two people can interpret that word. “I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you!” “Yeah, well, I love you, but I’m not IN love with you!” Which isn’t really love it’s more lust and not the same thing.

We use the word “love” for everything from sexual intimacy to our favorite place to eat. We don’t have much choice because the English language doesn’t offer us any. We have exactly one word to represent all the varying degrees of emotion. So, I tell my family that I love them. I tell my wife I love her. I tell the guy at the coffee shop that I love the Mocha Latte. And you better believe I am not talking about the same kind of love. If I am, it makes the barista REALLY uncomfortable.

But for those who are Jesus followers, love is THE foundational word for our faith. The Apostle John, in 1 John 4:7-8, tells us the very nature of God is love and that our call is to love. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

When asked, “What is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.'” and “ 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Why would he say this? Because, “All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).

Over the next few weeks, we are looking at the Fruit of the Spirit, and what God wants to bring about in our lives because we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ and allowed the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.

It is important for us to remember two things: first, it is Fruit, and, second, it is of the Spirit. Fruit grows naturally on a healthy tree or vine. If we are following Jesus, and seeking to live the Spirit-filled life of a disciple, then these virtues will show up in our lives. This is not a pick and choose kind of thing. This is not a one person gets that fruit and another gets a different fruit like the gifts (plural) of the Spirit. This is singular “fruit” and that means these fruit will be seen in the lives of those who are living according to the Spirit.

We also recognize these fruits as being of the Spirit. This means we cannot MAKE them grow. We do the work of the gardener by tending our lives, but no gardner can MAKE the plant produce fruit. We also have some measure of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...because of the mark of God’s image on our lives, but we cannot live out the Fruits of the Spirit to the level God desires without the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

And if love is the core description of God’s nature, and since Jesus says that love is the core of our ethic as Christians living out the Gospel in our world, it no wonder the Apostle Paul place love at the beginning of his list of the Fruit of the Spirit. Love is so important that if we don’t get this right...we can’t get the others right.

One author, writing about love’s relationship to the rest of the Fruit of the Spirit, says, “It is ‘love’ which embraces and includes all the other ‘virtues’ which follow so that...this list may be regarded as a description of the concrete ways in which love is expressed.” (Interpretation Commentary, pp. 139-140)

Love is what it means for us to be led by the Spirit and to have our lives centered in Christ.

The Love God wants to grow is Self-Giving.
I find it interesting how often church people assume things...for instance, we assume that everyone knows the Bible stories or our favorite author or our favorite verses.

A few years ago Tim Tebow led the Denver Broncos to a surprising victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the AFC wildcard playoff game. During that game he wore eye blacks, the black smears beneath a football players eyes, that read John 3:16. By the next morning John 3:16 was the most Googled search term on the internet...because for most of the world...they don’t know this verse which is so many of us learned as children in Sunday School or from a parent or grandparent, and we assume everyone knows it...

People taught it to us, though, because this verse is foundational for understanding God’s love and what He wants to develop in our lives..

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...”

God so loved that he GAVE...The love the Holy Spirit wants to produce in our lives is a self-giving, self-sacrificing love...the Bible tells us that God gave and Jesus willingly laid down His life for us...a love that freely gives of itself for others, a love that does not think of itself first.

If you have ever loved you understand this...parents give up things all the time so their children enjoy life...we do this because we love them. We give up our time to take them places. We give up our money so they can do stuff. We give up our space so they can have a bedroom. We give up our privacy so they can walk into the bathroom at any given time. We give because we love.

We give in every relationship...that of a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend. Remember how you would give up your seat so the one you loved could sit down in the crowded restaurant waiting area? You gave up that last cookie so the one you love could have it?

When we love we give of things we could have so those we love can have instead...that is what love does. And self-giving, self-sacrifing love is the same kind of love God’s spirit will grow in us.

The Love God wants to grow is Unconditional

To love unconditionally means we love without conditions. It means we love someone for who and what they are and not what we want them to be. This sometimes goes against what seems natural to us. We love because it profits us or because we get something out of a certain relationship. We might even love because of how they make us look in front of others. It offers us something, so we love, or maybe rather than love, we should say we accept and treat them well. That person does what we think they ought to do...so we love them.

When I was in college, I went on a ministry trip to Washington DC. We had all brought dirty, ragged clothes because we were going to live on the streets for a day as a “homeless person.” On Friday night we dressed in our clothes and went to bed. Saturday morning, not allowed to shower, they dropped us off at various locations throughout the city. We wandered around looking for food and shelter. It was very cold, and there was two feet of snow on the ground.

When we returned to the hotel that night we expected to go straight to our rooms and shower. But our professor called a meeting. He decided to have six of us would go to church the next morning dressed in our homeless clothing. He put all our names in a hat, and I was relieved when my name was not selected. It was the prize I didn’t want to win because I got to shower.Unfortunately, one guy in our room was chosen. He was not allowed to shower or change out of his clothes.

The next morning people were trying not to sit by him on the van because he stunk so badly. You could almost see the fumes rise off his clothing.

As we approached the church, we realized it was a very wealthy church. The BMW’s Lexuss, Lexi? Cadillac’s, Jaguars you name it...filled the parking lot. There was a large chandelier hanging in the foyer. We assumed we had these people figured out they would probably ask our friend to leave the service. Most were dressed in clothing that I still can not afford, much less as a college student. It think the lady in front of me was wearing a coat that could have payed my tuition!

What was so amazing is despite his look and smell, those people welcomed him into their church as though he were a long time friend. They hugged him. We didn’t even want to ride in the same van with him much less hug him, and he was our friend!

Jesus demonstrated unconditional love every time he met someone...leprosy, blindness, poverty, the socially rejected...Jesus loved them right there; in that moment. Unconditional love means we love people no matter what they look like, smell like, or even how they act. We love them because God loves them. We love them because they are inherently valuable.

The Love God wants to grow is Vulnerable.
Love means opening ourselves to being hurt.

The love God desires is vulnerable and intimate. By intimate I do not mean what we see on television or romantic movies. By intimate I mean personal involvement. There is a connection, a cost to this love. When you and I are personally involved with someone we become vulnerable and open to being hurt.

There is high risk in loving the way God wants us to love. When we love sacrificially, unselfishly, unconditionally we open ourselves up for abuse, critic, and misunderstanding. To love the way God wants us to love is to open ourselves up for a lifetime of hurt. And we recoil from this thought. Who wants to be hurt on regular basis?

When we are hurt or feel vulnerable we say, “I will never let something like that happen to me again!” “I will never let another person hurt me that way again!” We do it to protect ourselves. It is a natural reaction to a painful situation, but we are really making things worse.

When we vow to “never let that happen again,” we are really building a wall around our heart that will deaden and eventually crush us to the experience of real love. This wall seals us off from the hurt, but it also seals us off from significant, loving relationships.

Jesus knew these feelings first hand, John 1:10-11 says, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

And God’s answer is to be vulnerable and love in spite of the pain we will inevitably experience in our relationships. It is personally and emotionally costly. He is not trying to minimize the hurt and pain we feel in such situations. Jesus fully understands the rejection and hurt, probably more so than we could ever understand. He was hated by the religious rulers. He was rejected by the people. He was left to die alone on the cross by those He called friends. He understands the pain of this love.

But even in the midst of the pain He loved, and we too are asked to love. Loving someone is always risky business, and this is what leads us to our final point because here is where the work of the Spirit really comes into play...

The Love God wants to grow is for the Unlovable
All of those wonderful thoughts about love being self-giving, unconditional, and vulnerable...God wants us to show that kind of love to people who are unlovable. This is where you know it must be the Holy Spirit at work in your life because our inclination is not to love the unlovable.

Matthew 5:43-48 says,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

It is easy, or at least easier, to love those who love us, treat us right, and say nice things about us. It is easier to have a self-giving, unconditional, vulnerable love with people we trust and, for the most part, won’t hurt us.

It is not an easy request for us to love everyone else...

The people who annoy us.

Those with whom we completely disagree.

The sinful, the poor, the hurting, the broken, those rejected by society...

The enemy who hurts us.

The power of the Spirit at work in our lives is demonstrated not in how we love those everyone finds easy to love. The power of the Spirit is demonstrated in our lives when we love the people whom it is acceptable to hate.

You have just been relationally hurt by your boyfriend or husband and every one of your friends is ready to hate him...and it feels ok to do that too.

You have a horrible boss...it is easy to stand around and hate on him in the lunch room or the bar after work.

That group of people over there have a bad reputation so we hate them because of their skin color, their preference of sexual partner, their sinful activity.

And I’m not saying it is easy. We have to work hard to tend that part of our spiritual garden. It takes a willful, determined decision on our part because loving those on the outside, loving those whom it is acceptable to hate is so very easy, and seems so natural.

As church, we tell people “Come as you are, you will be loved” because it doesn’t it matter what your background is...you will be loved! We will have people who are not “church broken.” They will wear things we would never wear, but we love them. We say it doesn’t matter what your life is like, and we will get people whose sins we would never think of committing. We tell people, Come as you are, you will be loved not because it is easy, but because it is what God calls us to do as a church and as individuals living out the Gospel in our world.

God meets a person where they, and not where we want them to be.

Conclusion
Imagine what could happen in our world if we would love this way. If we committed to doing everything possible to make this kind of love a part of our lives, and loving not just the lovable, but the unlovable as well! We would still experience pain and rejection, but over time more and more people would be drawn to God rather than pushed away from Him because of the Church.

Lives would be changed. People transformed, and God’s Kingdom expanded...Our call is to love not because it is easy, but because the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives growing our ability to love.

Grow- Introduction to the Fruit of the Spirit

2013-06-25T08:07:00.000-04:00

Today we are starting a new message series called Grow. We are looking at a passage of Scripture that many of us are familiar with and may have memorized. We call it the Fruit of the Spirit.

We don’t normally do this, but over the next few weeks, as we look at this passage, I would like us to read these 2 verses together. Hopefully you will have this small section of Scripture committed to memory before we are done. It is small enough that even those us who are getting a bit older and having trouble with our memories can get it.

Here we go...

Galatians 5:22-23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

This is slightly different, patience instead of forbearance, that is simply a difference of translations. Forbearance and patience are similar in definition.

Next week we are going to start breaking these couple of verses apart, and looking at each piece by itself and how it connects and how to put it to work in our lives, but for today, I wanted us to look at context. What is going on around this verse? Why is Paul writing this verse to the church members in Galatia? These are nice character qualities to have, but why do they need to know them? Without understanding the context of Galatians we cannot really understand what these verses mean. This is true for any Scripture passage.

To get to this answer we have to go back and look at this from the beginning...

In chapter 1, Paul starts off in a very common letter-writing way. He greets the people, and you think things are going well when all of a sudden, just 6 verses in, you read, Galatians 1:6-7, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

The Letter to the Galatians is written because there are some troublemakers in the Church.

And these troublemakers have a couple of issues:

They are attacking Paul’s apostleship-his right to preach the Gospel.
They are attacking Paul’s explanation of the Gospel.

These troublemakers seem to have good standing...They have come from Jerusalem, where, and everyone knows this, the real apostles work. They are leaders in that church. They are Jews. But what has the most impact, they are good Bible teachers.

One of the stories they are really good at sharing is the Story of Abraham and God’s Covenant with Abraham...especially what has become the Jewish distinctive of circumcision. They tell the Galatian Gentile Christians that they are to place their faith in Jesus, but they must also submit themselves to the Jewish tradition of circumcision in order for their salvation to be complete. Because of this they became known as Judaizers. People who taught that in order to be truly Christian you had to accept Jesus and you had to keep the Jewish Law.

This sets up a bit of a battle for Paul. When you read the rest of Galatians, you get the feeling that Paul is angry. These people have come into the churches he started, and are spreading an understanding of the Gospel that is completely false. Paul is not self-conscious. He doesn’t mind others coming in to preach in those churches, but he will not stand by and watch as these people undermine the true nature of the Gospel message.

Take a look at some of these verses:

Galatians 2:15-16, “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

Paul, the former Pharisee who killed others for straying away from the minutia of the Law, says, “A person is not justified by the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.”

Later in Galatians 3:23-25, Paul describes the Law as a Caretaker of children, “ Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.”

Just like a child will often be given a guardian until he is old enough to handle his inheritance, so the Law was given as a way to hopefully keep God’s followers out of trouble...out of sin. A simple reading of the Old Testament shows that it didn’t work for the majority, but it certainly kept a sizable group from going too far.

Paul is fighting for the heart of the Gospel
Paul isn’t just fighting over some doctrinal differences. He is fighting for the true nature of the Gospel. Paul knows that theology is absolutely important here...what they believe dictates their practice, and they are about to abandon the Gospel. A Gospel that is truly able to do what the Law could never do.

The Law was not able to make us truly right before God. Galatians 3:11-12, “Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”

Or take Galatians 5:2-4, “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.”

Here is the essential nature of what Paul is trying to get at...and it is as important for us today as it was the Galatians whom he wrote to almost 2,000 years ago...

It is all about Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Our salvation starts and ends with Jesus alone.

It is not Jesus plus something else that brings our salvation.

It is not Jesus and being a good person that brings our salvation.

It is not Jesus and getting every point of moral code correct that brings our salvation.

It is not Jesus and having the perfect theology that brings our salvation.

It is not Jesus and doing this or that religious activity in the right way.

It is faith in Jesus. Paul is interested in what it means to have salvation and then to grow in our Christlikeness. So for Paul is starts with faith in Jesus and then receiving and being led by the Holy Spirit who is given to us because of our faith in Jesus. This is how we are saved and our relationship with God is restored by faith in Jesus, and this is how we grow by being connected to the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul is amazed how quickly the Galatians have turned from what is such a freeing understanding of the faith. Maybe is just seemed too simple for them. We have an idiom in our culture that says, “It’s too good to be true!” We say that when something seems way too easy. You can lose 50 pounds without exercise or diet...just take this pill! You can be rich just by taking this class.

Maybe connecting with God seemed way too easy.

It still seems way too easy. So we add all kinds of stuff. That is why some churches are very legalistic....people can’t be trusted to do what is right, so we have to make up some rules for them to follow. Some churches, maybe started out right, but now they have added so much ritual and baggage that people get distracted from the main thing.

Often a lot of our own religious guilt comes from believing that simply trusting Jesus and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit is just way to easy...there has to be something else.

The Galatians heard Paul’s message of faith in Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and thought, “This is awesome!” But when the Judaizers came they thought, “I knew it was too good to be true!”

So when the Galatians turn from the simple power of the Gospel...Paul gets upset. First because they are not just differing on a small theological point...they cutting at the very heart of the Gospel message. And second, they are leading people astray that Paul loves. So Paul, understandably, is angry.

A pastor friend of mine never told his kids not to cuss. He always told them, “Save your strong language for strong emotions.” I think Paul would have agreed. Paul in his writing is bold and sometimes irreverent. Many people in today’s traditional churches would have a problem letting Paul speak in their churches, because Paul has some hardcore language and illustrations.

I want you to hear what Paul says to these people who have come to his churches and undermined the freedom of the Gospel by “requiring” circumcision...Galatians 5:10-12, “The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!”

If cutting the tip off will make them holy, just imagine how righteous they will be if they cut the whole thing off!

Strong language for strong emotions because what is at stake is not just some small theological difference...it is the very heart of the Gospel.

True Faith Leads to Fruit
Galatians 5:1 Paul writes, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” And Paul means that...Freedom from the works of the Law. One of the accusation must have been, if you free people from the Law...they will just do whatever they want.

Paul knew the law can’t actually make us good. It can make us obey. It can make us guilty when we break it. It can even lay out consequences for when we break the Law. But law cannot change our heart. It cannot transform our character. Something has to happen deep inside of us for actual change to happen. To have actual transformation of character, something must happen inside of us, and that is the work of the Spirit.

Paul knew that our faith in Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, if it was real...if we had really accepted it...would show up in how we treat others.

Galatians 5:13-14 says, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The Law was powerless to change us, but the Holy Spirit has the power to change our lives so we can truly live a life pleasing to God in relationship with those around us.

The Law couldn’t do that. No law can do that. We live in a nation of laws. We create law after law after law, and all we have to do is look at the newspaper to know that laws don’t make people good. Good people obey laws, but laws can never make a person good. It has to come from inside, and that requires a change of heart; a transformation of our character.

As we look at the Fruit of the Spirit over the next few weeks, we are really looking at what God wants to bring about in our lives because we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ and allowed the Holy Spirit to work.

It is important for us to remember that, first, it is Fruit, and, second, it is of the Spirit. If we understand the analogy, fruit naturally grows on a healthy tree or vine. If we are following Jesus, and seeking, through His Spirit, to live the life of a disciple, then fruit will grow. If we spend time watering and cultivating the soil of our lives, we will produce healthy fruit.

But we also recognize these fruits as being of the Spirit. This means we cannot bring them about ourselves. We can do the work of the gardener, but no gardner can MAKE the plant produce fruit. We also have some measure of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...because of the mark of God’s image on our lives, but we cannot live out the Fruits of the Spirit to the level God desires without the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

I would invite you this week to do a couple of things.

1. Read through the book of Galatians. If you can, read it all in one sitting and read it several times throughout the week. If you can’t do that, at least read a chapter a day. This will help us come at this passage with more understanding of the context of Paul’s writing.

2. Self-evaluate. How are you doing with each fruit of the Spirit? Spend time reflecting, ask God to help you grasp their meaning and to grow.

Blessed* How Dependable Are You?

2013-06-25T08:02:00.002-04:00

If you could have any super power which one would want?

Maybe you would like to fly like Superman?
Have the the cool gadgets like Batman?
Wolverine with the really cool spikes
Wonder Woman with the Lasso of Truth

No body wants anything Aquaman has to offer.

I alway thought being able to shoot webs from your wrists would come in really handy...especially as you got more accurate with aiming at the mouths of people you want to have keep a bit more quiet.

“Kids! Shut up!”

It would be awesome!

It is probably a good thing people, like me, don’t have super-powers because I’m sure that I’m not mature enough or responsible enough to use them wisely. I would get myself in trouble way too often.

In fact, one of the main tensions in almost every superhero movie is the internal struggle of the superhero...struggling with how to use the power he/she has without using it for their own gain or allowing it to corrupt them.

No movie demonstrates this better than Spiderman!

“With great power comes great responsibility!” What a great line, and what a great truth for all of us. Jesus says the same thing in Luke 12:48, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

This is our last message in the series called Blessed*. And I hope we are to the place where we recognize that we are extremely blessed people. God loves us and has lavished on us some amazing blessings; even if we are not financially well off. We have financial blessing, we have relational blessings, we have character blessing, and ultimately we have salvation as a blessing...but these blessings come with great responsibility.

This morning we are going to walk through a passage known as the Parable of the Talents to explore this idea that Our Blessing is a Responsibility a little deeper

Let’s break it down as we go through it...

Matthew 25:14-16,
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.”

This is the 2nd of 3 stories Jesus tells his disciples as He is preparing for his crucifixion. All 3 stories have a similar theme...those who are left waiting for the return have a responsibility while they wait. They are also written in the context of eschatology. That is a fancy word not just for the end times, but for where, ultimately, everything is headed and what will happen when Jesus returns.

Jesus talks a lot about eschatology, where this whole thing is headed, but talks very little about what it will actually look like. Of course you would think it the other way around if you read too many pop Christian books. Jesus wants his disciples to understand several things. 1. He is going away for awhile. 2. He will return. 3. While He is gone His disciples, and us, are to carry on the work He started. 4. When He returns He will complete the work He has started and we have been doing in His absence.

And it is in pursuit of doing what we have been left to do that we come to this passage.

In some of the older translations this is known as the Parable of the Talents because they use the word talent, a form of money, instead of “bags of gold” like this newer NIV translation. Through the years this has caused some misunderstanding. People saw the word talent and automatically jump to the idea of talents and abilities, but this parable is looking not just at our talents and abilities but at something deeper as well.

The master is going away and entrusts these three servants with something very valuable. A talent was worth about 20 years of the average laborer’s wages. So we are looking at 160 years worth of money. In 2009 the average income for a family in Huber Heights was around $50,000. In Riverside it was about $40,000. In Vandalia it was $47,000. Dayton was about $30,000. So this master has entrusted these three with somewhere between $7-8 million of his money!

So this is not just on our talents and abilities. The Master has entrusted something VERY valuable to his servants.

When we combine the value of what the Master entrusts to his servants in the story Jesus’ placement of this story in its eschatological context we see that Our Blessings...Everything God has given us...it of the ultimate value!

And...

We are caretakers of God’s property.
God has given us something of great value. Our blessings, our privileges as Americans, our talents, abilities, money, our very lives are all blessings from God that He has entrusted to us...

Our passage says the Master called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.

I felt drawn to that word...entrusted...we entrust or give over something to somebody expecting them to take care of what we have given them because it is valuable to us. We use that word to give emphasis to our expectation that they will treat what we have given them with extra care and attention...

I am entrusting my car to you...

I am entrusting my family to you...

I am entrusting my life to you...

This passage reminds us that all God has given us is His, it is valuable and it has been entrusted into our care. We are the caretakers God has left in charge of some pretty valuable things, and that carries with it some great responsibility.

Do you remember how you felt when someone really trusted you for the first time? I remember the weight of responsibility I felt when a guy in my church asked me to house sit while he and his family was on vacation. I wanted to make sure that everything went well. I took extra precautions to clean up after myself and make sure everything stayed in order.

God has given us all these blessings, entrusted them to our care, but ultimately they are His. Our finances, our talents, our abilities, our spiritual gifts, all of our resources...

But let’s be honest,

We all start from different places.
Matthew 25:15-18
To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

It is a reality that life isn’t fair. Each one of us are born with different stations in life. Some have a really good head start. Others...not so much. None of us are have the same spiritual gifting. Some of us have talent out the wazoo, and others of us are just lucky if we can put a complete sentence together.

And it is so easy to become jealous and envious of those around us who are extremely gifted. I look at people who are able to sing, play an instrument, preach amazing sermons, plant a church that grows to 2,000 people, compete on a competitive athletic team, and still have time for a book deal, travel, and an amazing family...and it is easy to think...wow! I’m such a loser compared to that!

Everyone of us starts at a different place, but this parable reminds us our starting point is irrelevant. God’s expectations are not based on where we start. His expectations are based on what we do with what we have.

Notice how our passage talks about the servants. It says servants 1 and 2 went at once and put his money to work. “At once” or in the Greek Euthus...that is Matthew’s code word for saying they went out obediently and did what was expected. Servant 1 who had 5 bags and Servant 2 who had 2 bags didn’t quibble over who had more bags and why...they simply went out and started using what they had to add value to the Master’s estate.

But Servant 3...he was a different story. Rather than attempt anything with the Master’s money he simply buries it and waits for the Master’s return. Burying valuables was a very common practice for protecting valuables in that day. But we see in this story the Master expected the servants to us what they had been given to the best of their ability to extend his estate, and this Servant succumb to fear.

There are many possible sources of fear...His Master is a good business man and he didn’t want to lose the money...He was afraid of failure...Maybe he was afraid of the consequences if he lost it...

It is so easy for us to let fear dominate our lives and keep us from gaining all that God has for us. You see this man believed he was simply returning exactly what he had been given...but later he is judged for having done nothing. At the very least he could have put it on deposit and earned some interest, but he didn’t even do that.

So often fear will keep us from using what God has given us to extend His Kingdom. We fear failure. We fear what might happen to our lives if we give ourselves away the way the Gospel asks us to do. We think if I can just get across the finish line...Just make it into heaven....

Each servant was given the money based on ability, but when the Master returned, he didn’t judge them on how much they made he

We are judged on faithfulness...
Matthew 25:19-30
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Notice what the master says when the first two servants are commended, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

He does not say you have been profitable...you are receiving this because you made me money...Neither does he say, “Look what you did compared to that servant!” There were no comparisons.God says you have been faithful in putting what I gave you to work. You faced the fears and struggles, and you overcame. You have been faithful.

When it comes to the third servant, the Master calls him wicked, lazy, and worthless...even though the servant is returning exactly what was given to him. The Master hasn’t technically lost the amount.

Inaction, a refusal to use the Blessings God has given us for God’s purpose, is called wicked and lazy...that’s harsh. But it is harsh because so much is on the line. There is so much is at stake.

God is looking for faithfulness. His call is to follow and use the gift and blessings He has given us to extend His Kingdom, and no excuse offered will be accepted.

Matthew 7:21-23 says, “21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Our excuses will not stand up under God’s scrutiny...

But I had so much to do...I was busy...

I was not as talented as that guy!

I had so many bills that I couldn’t help out.

God is looking for faithfulness.

When Servant 1 and 2 were rewarded two things happened:

They were given more! Faithfulness in a little brings more blessing! When we use what God has given us for God’s glory God gives us more, but when we refuse to use what He has given us we lose it.
They were invited into the Master’s Happiness. This was another way of saying, this wealthy now belongs to you as well. They were invited to be co-owners. Their work, which they originally saw as only belonging to the Master...now belonged to them as well, and they were allowed to reap its rewards. When we faithful use God’s blessings to extend His Kingdom...it become our Kingdom as well.

Conclusion
I am always impressed with people who overcome their fears and use what God has given them to step beyond their comfort zones and extend God’s Kingdom.

I remember how Carrie and Vanessa felt when they first sensed a leading to help extend our worship.

My wife, Lori, has always felt like her role was more helper and support and hospitality in the home, and yet every where we have been she has worked with kids and outreach and all the other stuff that goes along with being a pastor’s wife.

We see it all the time. The person too afraid to speak with someone about their faith, finally takes the first step, and they find strength and blessing and their ability to share their faith grows.

The person who says, I can’t give my finances are shot! Begins to make the hard choices and allow God to work in their finances and takes that step of faith.

The person who has the beginning of a prayer...steps out begins praying for others.

Everyone of us has been gifted by God to take part in His Kingdom the question is will you use it?

When we step out and trust our heavenly Father and use what He has given us to bring Him glory He will bless that and extend our giftings and talents and resources beyond anything we have ever imagined. Our call is to faithful responsibility with what we have been given!

Blessed* a Reflection on My Stepfather's Funeral

2013-06-22T10:17:00.000-04:00

We are currently in a series called Blessed*; looking at what it means to be Blessed* by God...we have seen how God’s blessing has less to do with money and everything to do with living a life of purpose and meaning and usefulness in God’s Kingdom. The more we give ourselves away, the more fulfilled we are. The more we spend ourselves in service of God’s Kingdom, the more blessing we receive.

I had one more message for this series that was supposed to end today, but things have changed a bit.

Some of you may know that this week my stepfather passed away. After years of struggling health he degenerated quickly, and finally passed away on Monday.

Being the pastor in the family, I was asked to do the funeral. Funerals are difficult enough when they are someone else’s family. They get a bit tougher when they carry all the baggage of being a family member...especially a family member who has strained relationships with every family member and person who knows him. Preparing for his funeral and thinking about his life, I came to the realization that I needed to add another message...if only just for myself...to address somethings I saw in his life in terms of blessing.

The heart of this started on Tuesday night. I sat around with the family, like I do with families for whom I’m doing a funeral. I ask a simple questions, “What are some good memories or funny stories about your loved one?” The goal is to help people think about the good times, get them remembering the good their loved one has left behind.

The problem with my stepfather...we could only come with about 5 stories we could tell. I called his younger brother, and he couldn’t think of any worth telling. My stepfather had lived his entire life with this anger and bitterness that even the good moments we could remember felt stained by his verbal and psychological abuse.

One of the thoughts that occurred to me was, “I hope people have a far easier time remembering the funny and the good memories about me when I die. I hope they quickly remember the love and friendship I showed, the acceptance, how much I appreciate them.” And through the week, I have thought about this in terms of our series on being Blessed*. I think the corrective to this is learning to be a blessing to others around me.

Paul Tournier, a Swiss psychiatrist and theologian, discovered a recurring problem in many of the people whom he saw in his practice. He called it “The Unblessed Child.” He found that many people did not feel blessed, accepted, or approved by their parents which spilled over in how they believed people around them felt. No matter how much they achieved, they never felt good enough.

As parents, a big part of our responsibility is helping our children feel blessed, accepted, approved by us. As followers of Christ, part of our responsibility in the world is helping those around us feel blessed, loved, and accepted by God! Everyone wants and needs a blessing. They want acceptance. They want to feel approval.

For years, because of my upbringing, no matter how much I do or accomplish I never feel like it is good enough. We live in a world of people who feel the exact same way...and then, as naturally happens, those feelings get transferred on to God.

My parents don’t accept me. I don’t feel good enough. No matter what I accomplish is not enough...and pretty soon we start saying, “I am always failing God! Why would he want someone like me!” and we find we can’t do enough to feel spiritually satisfied...like we have done enough.

In Genesis 27 there is a story about Esau and Jacob. They were twins, but they were nothing alike. Esau was big and hairy and outdoorsy. He was your man’s man. Fiery temper, independent...and his father Isaac loved him. Jacob was everything Esau was not. Mild mannered, thoughtful, conniving, a homebody...and his mother Rebecca loved him.

Near the end of his life, the Patriarch would call his children together and bless them. The oldest son received the best and biggest blessing of all. It was a cultural practice that many of us would chaff about, but it was their practice. Each of the others sons would get very little, and the daughters would get nothing.

When Isaac nearing death, he called Esau, and had him hunt and prepare some wild game stew, and then he would give Esau the blessing reserved for the first born. But upon hearing this, Rebecca and Jacob conspired to steal the blessing. They dressed Jacob up in hairy furs, they made the soup Isaac liked, and then Jacob pretended to be Esau. After some uncertain interaction, Isaac was convinced that it was Esau, and gave the blessing to Jacob.

Jacob had stolen the blessing from Esau.

Genesis 27:34-36 says, “When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!...Isn’t he rightly named Jacob [meaning deceiver]? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing! Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

We must use our imagination at this point to hear the pain...the rejection in Esau’s voice as he cries out, “Bless me—me too, my father!”

This is the cry of many in our generation, maybe even some of us...the cry for a blessing...to be loved and accepted. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can be the giver of the blessing that so many in our world need.

Let’s look at a couple of important aspect of blessing as seen here in the passage...

Blessings must be felt.
Genesis 27:21 says, “Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you...” The father would lay his hand on the head of the son being blessed.

Touch is very important. A team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign led by psychologist Michael Kraus studied the effects of physical contact between teammates during NBA games. You know the high-fives, chest bumps, smacks on the rear...stuff like that. They found that the more on-court touching there was early in the season, the more successful teams and individuals were by season's end. The article says, “The effect of touch was independent of salary or performance, eliminating the possibility that players touch more if they're more skilled or better compensated.” Kraus goes on to say, "touch strengthens relationships and is a marker of closeness," he says. "It increases cooperation but is also an indicator of how strong bonds are between people."

Jesus knew the importance of touch. He touched everyone; the sick, the lame, the lepers, the blind, the deaf, the prostitutes, the outcasts. People whom the rest of society rejected and turned away from; Jesus blessed them with touch.

In one powerful story, Jesus called for the children to come to him. “People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.” (Mark 10:13-16).

Jesus knew the power of touch in a person’s life.

There is a world of untouchables out there who need the touch of God...and He does that through us. And here, we are talking about a very literal touch. I know we live in a society that is rather touch-phobic, and I’m not saying was should go all touch-feely. But the power of touch to heal, to comfort, to bless people cannot be understated.

As we look to bless those around us...remember the important role that touch plays.

The second thing...

Blessings must be spoken.
There is an old story about a husband who never said, “I love you” to his wife. One day, fed up with it, the wife said, “How come you never say I love you to me?” He said, “I told you 40 years ago that I loved you, and if I ever change my mind I will let you know!”

In Genesis 27, we see the power of the blessing was found in the words spoken over someone..."Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit" (Proverbs 18:21).

There is that old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," and we all know it is a lie! Words have the power to inflict incredible pain. “I hate you!” screamed in anger from a child or loved on, even if it is not really meant, still causes pain. Our words cannot be taken back once they leave our lips.

But just as words have the power to destroy...they also have the power to heal. They can build up and empower. They can be a source of forgiveness, healing, and life.

How many of us have longed to hear the words, “I love you! You are important to me! I know you can do it!”? The people around us need to hear those words on a regular basis from us.They rarely hear words of affirmation and empowerment in their lives.

As Jesus’ followers we can make the biggest difference, give the biggest blessings, by speaking encouragement and love into people’s lives. Don’t wait until the last minute. Do it while you have the chance. Be known as an encourager who regularly sees the good, the importance in others and calls it out of them.

Start with your children and your family, and then spread out from there. Look for ways to say good things to those around you. Try to catch them doing something good and praise them for it.

Finally...

Blessing must value the person.
Look at what Isaac says to Jacob, Genesis 27:27-29,
“Ah, the smell of my son  is like the smell of a field  that the Lord has blessed.
May God give you heaven’s dew  and earth’s richness—  an abundance of grain and new wine.
May nations serve you  and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers,  and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed  and those who bless you be blessed.”

Isaac is using his words to call out the value in Jacob’s life.

The most important aspect of giving a blessing is that it gives value to the person being blessed. For some, it is easy to see their goodness, their value, their accomplishment, and give them the praise they deserve.

For others, it can be more difficult. We might have to dig. But calling out the value in a person’s life can change their destiny.

The Bible demonstrates this in how many times it changes a person’s name. Simon, who is anything but a rock, has his name changed to Peter. Jacob, the deceiver, has his name changed to Israel. Saul became Paul. Abram and Sarai became Abraham and Sarah.

We can turn someone’s life around by finding their value and calling it out in their lives. Simply looking for what sets them apart, and saying something as simple as, “You have a talent for...” or “I appreciate the way you do that...”

Conclusion
Even in the midst of this dysfunctional biblical family, we can see the power of blessing in the lives of people. They got it wrong. Jacob stole the blessing meant for his brother. Isaac was only going to give a good blessing to his oldest. Rebecca plotted against her husband. Esau wanted to kill his brother and, later in this passage, bring emotional pain to his parents. But even in this dysfunction, God is able to show us the power of the blessing in someone’s life, and how hard they will fight to be blessed...how much we need to be blessed.

You have probably seen this commercial, but I found it absolutely amazing, and it speaks to what the work lays before us as we get the privilege of speaking blessing into someone’s life...

We get to help people get beyond the lack of blessing they have been given.

Blessed* to Tell His Story

2013-06-21T10:14:00.000-04:00

Over the past few weeks, we have been talking about being Blessed*. Hopefully, by now, we fully understand that being Blessed* is not about the amount of money in our bank account or the fact that we have a car or home or that the ones we have are even all that nice. In fact, the more we want, the less we are able to recognize and receive blessings from God.

Today we are looking a little more deeply into something we touched on last week...That one of our greatest blessings, and one we are meant to share, is our faith.

Rebecca Pippert, author of Out of the Salt Shaker and into the World, writes, “Christian and non-Christians have something in common, we're both uptight about evangelism.” Whenever we think about evangelism...our minds automatically rush to the worst case scenario...

A few years ago, I was going to Panera on Brown Street when I saw a guy standing in the parking lot. He was wearing a white shirt and tie. I don’t know if it is some kind of dress code for the corner shouters, but they all seem to wear the same thing. He was waving his Bible around, preaching at people as they walked past, but really just being ignored for the most part. I really wanted to ask that guy how much of a difference he thought he was making.

I have watched this form of “reaching people for Jesus” do more damage than good. I watched a friend in college close her heart to hearing about Jesus because a corner preacher started wagging his Bible at us as we crossed the quad. No amount of not all of us are like that seemed to help. I saw people drive right on by, no one stopping to talk to him, as a guy stood a block down on Troy and Taylorsville preaching to the passing cars.

I believe more people are turned away from Jesus than are being drawn to Him when we see methods like this used. I also think they cause more of us who follow God and want to see people come into a relationship with Jesus a bit gun shy...we don’t want want to be lumped in with those people...

And that is so different from what we see in the Bible. There was something about Jesus and those who followed Him that drew people in. Rather than feel judged, condemned, and rejected, they felt loved and accepted. Rather than being shouted at they were allowed time for God to work in their lives. They recognized that something more...something different was being offered through Jesus.

Recently an article hit the Facebook and Twitter circuit concerned with a military ban on proselytizing. I watched as one of my friends got into a discussion with one of his atheist friends concerning the article. Knowing my friend, I think he was caught up in the discussion and, if he had taken time, he would have realized he had more in common with the atheist friend than with the author of the article.

In response to all the things floating around, the military released further explanation, and I think it gets at what we wrestle with too. They said, “It’s ok to evangelize, but it’s not ok to proselytize...discussing matters of faith and religious practice with a willing audience is allowed, but pushing religious beliefs on those who don’t want to hear it is a form of harassment...” That is the main difference for all of us; isn’t it?

I think we would all agree. We feel harassed when the someone of another faith wants to lecture us about religion at the front door and will not let us get back to our ball game...or someone at work goes on and on about how right their view is and how wrong our view is...As a pastor, I can’t tell you how many times people have attempted to convert me on airplanes, street corners, even on our own outreaches.

Proselytizing has given evangelism such a bad name that out of fear of being lumped in with them...many have stopped evangelizing.

Maybe, we just don’t feel cut out for it. We have this picture in our mind of what someone who evangelizes looks like...and we know we don’t fit.

Or we think we have to have all the answers...and we don’t have them...we don’t have all those Scriptures memorized...we just can’t do it...so we have clammed up.

And when we do, we keep ourselves from some of the greatest blessings God has to offer.

In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Pauls says, “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

We may not witness because of fear, or because we feel we don’t fit the mold, or because we don’t have it all together, but when we fail to witness...As Christians we know we should, but don’t...so we struggle with some guilt...or maybe we don’t because we have managed to block that out...But when we fail to tell others about Jesus we miss out on the biggest blessing God wants to give us!

Paul knew his limitations. He knew that sometimes he had to do what he didn’t want to do in order to be obedient to God’s will...He made himself a slave to everyone. He gave up some of his freedoms in order to win as many as possible because he knew that some would be saved, and that he would be sharing in the blessings of the Gospel!

This morning I want to take a look at a couple of unlikely evangelists. These are people who overcame their fears and reticence and give us a great example of what it means to take part in the blessing of evangelism.

The Samaritan Woman
The first one we are going to look at is the Samaritan Woman at the Well. Here is a lady who has a few strikes against her...She is a Samaritan woman...hated by the Jews...She is a woman...also placed lower on the status level...and she is considered a rather immoral woman in her day.

The Bible tells us that one day, she goes out to the well. It is the middle of the day. The perfect time to get water so that you avoid everyone else in town. They collected their water early in the morning or later in the evening to avoid the scorching sun. She wanted to be unseen and unnoticed...but Jesus was there.

In the midst of the discussion, Jesus begins a conversation with her that opens some spiritual doors in her life. He isn’t pushy. He isn’t abusive. In fact, he knows that she might run if he comes off as too forward. But eventually she comes to the realization that Jesus is the promised Messiah! He is the one everyone has been waiting for!

John 4:28-29 says, “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

One of the biggest techniques God wants us to use is the simple, “Come and see” approach! Come and check this out for yourself! Come take a look at what I have experienced!

She didn’t go back and start leaving Gospel Tracts all over town.

She didn’t go home and start a Bible study.

She didn’t start knocking on doors and working her way through the 4 Spiritual Laws.

No, she simply said, “Come and see.” And they came...Because of her simple approach. John 4:39 says, “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony...”

That is the simplest way we can approach people. We can invite them to simply come and see.

Did you know they’ve done studies that show four out of five people will come to church, if simply invited by close and trusted friends? Four out of five people. Who do you know that you could invite next weekend? Four out of five of your friends will come, if you simply invited them. Maybe not the first time. You might even have to bribe them with lunch afterward.

The Samaritan woman teaches us that sometimes, all you have to do is invite someone to observe what God is doing. And who knows what God might do in their lives.

The Blind Man
The second unlikely evangelist is a blind man.

Jesus is walking with his disciples and comes across a beggar who was born blind. Jesus performs a miracle by making using some dirt and spit to make a mud pack for his eyes, and having him wash it off in a town fountain called the Pool of Siloam.

After he regained his eyesight, some Pharisees and others standing around said, “We don’t believe it! There is no way Jesus could have done this!” After being questions and accused several times the blind man says in John 9:25, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

You sometimes, what we need to do is simply tell our story. This man didn’t have all the answers. He didn’t really understand what happened to him or even who did it. But he knew that before he met Jesus he was blind, and after he met Jesus he could see.

We all have a story to tell, and everyone of our stories can speak to someone.

Maybe you can say I was addicted, and then I met Jesus...

Maybe your marriage was in trouble, and you can say, we met Jesus and healed our marriage.

I was broken and hurting and Jesus healed my pain...

Maybe you have always been in the church, and you are tempted to think, “I don’t really have a good story...” Well go do something really bad and come back...no...your story is valuable...because so many people think, “I’m a good person. I haven’t really done anything all that bad.” What they need to hear is that following Jesus isn’t about good or bad...It is a realization that we are all separated from God and need His forgiveness.

Telling our story is really very simple...this is what my life was like...this is how Jesus has changed my life since I met him. I can’t answer every question, but I know this is what has happened in my life.

Can you put your story into words? If I asked you to share in just a minute or two what Jesus has done for you; could you? Do you look for simple ways and places to tell your story?

God has blessed us to share Christ. It’s as simple as sometimes saying, “Hey, come and see.” Other times, it’s as simple as saying, “Hey, here’s what Jesus did. Here’s my story.”

Dorcas/Tabitha
The third unlikely evangelist also has an unfortunate name in modern times...her name is Dorcas. Acts 9:36 tells us, “In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor.”

Do you see what she did...she was always doing good and helping the poor!

Culturally, Tabitha had a burden. She had a purpose. She saw the pain and suffering her culture caused widows. When a husband died, all the family wealth went to the first born son or, if there was no son, a male relative. Many times, woman was left with nothing on her own. In that culture, if a widow didn’t remarry or wasn’t taken in by relatives she was driven to a life of begging or prostitution.

When she died, the widows wept and begged Peter to pray for her and bring her to life. They showed him all the things she had made for them...and God brought her back to life.

There is an old saying that goes, “People care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Connected to this, I would say that people often don’t think Jesus cares for them because they don’t that we care for them.

We have the opportunity to give our lives away on a daily basis by serving and caring for those around us. Maybe it is the older neighbor who needs a little extra help around the house. A single mother down the road who needs to know that someone cares. We have the opportunity to invest in people who need help in practical ways.

And we are called to get involved in their lives...not just our own. Serving others gives us opportunities to speak into their lives about Jesus, and because you have loved on them, cared for them, and been a part of their lives...they listen. God will often place us in a position so we can meet a need around us.

I have seen so many people miss this opportunity because rather than meet the need placed in front of them...they will say, “Let me find a way to help you! I will get my church to help you.” And sometimes we need a few extra resources, but often God has placed them right in front of us so we can help...opening an opportunity to share Jesus with them.

Sometimes, it’s as simple as to say, “Come and check this out.” Other times, it’s, “Let me tell you my story.” Some, sometimes, it’s just “Let me just serve you and give my life away.”

Peter
Our final, unlikely evangelist, is Peter. Here is a guy who was a Ready, Fire, Aim! kind of guy! He was the kind of guy who would go overboard. He cut a guy’s ear off who was trying to arrest Jesus. He was aggressive, but in a not so good way. But God was able to use that.

Despite all the way He messed up, God was able to use him on Pentecost to witness for Jesus. He was the guest speaker God used to tell others about Jesus. And he got in their face.

He basically said, “You are sinners. You’re going to Hell. You need to turn. If you don’t turn now, you’re in big trouble.” He confronted them very directly and very boldly. What happened? Acts 2:38. Here’s part of his message. He said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Scripture says, “With many other words he warned them, and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ “ And as he confronted them, scripture says that three thousand of them were saved.

There will be times, when the Holy Spirit prompts you to step up and confront someone about their sin. This is never easy. It certainly isn’t fun.

If it seems like fun, then God is probably not calling you to do it. There are too many angry, unloving “Christians” willing to tell someone how they went wrong.

But there have been times when I have just had to say to someone...you are wrong...this area of your life is not in alignment with what God requires. We do it with love. We do it with the purpose of helping not hurting the spiritual life.

You might be with with someone, and just sense the Holy Spirit saying, “Now is the time! Ask them to start following Jesus!”

Maybe it is as simple as God prompting you to ask the question, “Where are you spiritually?”

Because of our fear of the street preachers we often shy away from actually pushing a little. But there must come a point where all of our good deeds, all of our story telling, all of our come and see has to tell them about their sin and Jesus’ desire to forgive it.

Some of us here may need to hear that this morning...our sin separates us from God and what we need is the forgiveness provided by Jesus Christ! Call on Him. Follow Him. Pursue Him. Give your life for Him. You will be blessed!

Conclusion
The secret is being open to how the Holy Spirit is working and moving and being willing to step up in obedience. As my friend Steve Bowen always says...it is looking for the God Space...those moments and times when God is working and being willing to take part in those. God places us near people and in situations and in our neighborhoods and in our jobs in our relationships to be the source of His presence and His witness.

This morning, I want us to begin praying on two different fronts.

I want us to pray for opportunities for us to witness on His behalf. Pray that God will give you opportunities to share the Gospel, even if in a small way, this week. Be willing to step out a little. Maybe start with a simple invitation for them to come to church and then lunch with you next week. But pray that God will give you the opportunity...and then be looking for it...and jump on it when you have the opportunity.

Begin praying for someone you know needs Jesus. So often we fail to actually pray for those who need Jesus. Barb was telling me of how she and a friend made a commitment to pray for her son. He was far from God and it looked as though there was no way to reach him...but they prayed, and prayed, and prayed...they prayed for several years, and now He is walking with God.

Right now what I want you to do is think about someone who doesn’t know Christ. Your mom, your dad, your son, your daughter, your brother, your sister, your friend, your old college roommate, the person you work with, the person you see at the gym, your neighbor, the person you see at Starbucks, and I want you to think of one or two or three or five or twenty people. And, I want you to write them down, and I want you to commit to pray for them. And I want you to ask God to use you. Take this time and, and make a list of those who God is showing you, and pray for them.

List of people who need God whom you can pray for their salvation.

Blessed* to Bless

2013-06-20T10:05:00.002-04:00

Last week’s message touched on the main theme of this week’s message...Last week we looked at how greed, lust, and a desire for more than enough can keep us from enjoying and even receiving the blessings of God.

When we allow greed to creep into our lives, we begin living life with a closed handed approach...we grab on and refuse to let go. This attitude becomes and idolatry that sets us upon a throne and makes us the primary focus. Just as a side note, this isn’t just reserved to one person being greedy to keep things to themselves...it can be someone who only looks out for their family, their friends, their nation or race to the neglect of others.

This attitude then infiltrates every area of our lives and ultimately keeps us from fulfilling one of God’s main purposes for us...to use our blessings to be a blessing

Every time the Bible talks about God giving us more than we need...it immediately connects it with His call to live open-handedly toward others. All God gives us is meant as an opportunity to extend that blessing to others...and receive more blessing in the process. His blessings are so deeply connected to our willingness to bless others, and that when we hold on to them we cannot fully enjoying the blessings of God.

In Matthew 10:7-8, Jesus sends the 12 disciples on a mission. He tells them, “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”

Freely you have received; freely give. This is a biblical principle established early on...

In Genesis 1:1-3, “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’”

Israel’s purpose was to be a people blessed by God and in that blessing to be a blessing to others. All that God gave them, all that God called them to do and be was for the purpose of blessing not just them, but everyone around them...

They failed...miserably!

Passages like Isaiah 58, is an example. We see a group of people who have separated their public lives from their “religious” lives. They fasted, prayed, sacrificed, and worshiped...and never once let it interfere with the rest of their lives.

They ask God, “‘Why have we fasted...and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’

God responds, “On the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.”

They are attempting to experience God’s presence and receive His blessing while doing all the right things in the technical sense, but not fulfilling the heart of what God had called them do.

Then God tells them, ““Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.”

The blessings they received from God were meant to be shared...and when they didn’t they found themselves outside of the will of God and living disobediently to His Word.

God also blesses us, but with the same call and mission...to be a blessing to others! And we get into trouble, just like Israel did, when refuse to be conduits for God’s blessings to others. I am convinced that millions of people ask, “Where is God in this situation? Where is God’s help?” And God has to say, “I sent them, but they haven’t come yet...”

This morning I want to take a quick look at some of the key ways and areas where God blesses us and calls us to spread to others...

We are to bless others with our spiritual gifts

Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12 offers us two lists of spiritual gifts. These gifts are given through the power of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of building up the Church...but it is so easy to get shy about our gifts...to allow low self-esteem...our fear of practicing them enough to get good at them...whatever...we allow it stand in the way of our using them to help others grow closer to God.

It isn’t just us, though, people in the early church struggle with using their gifts.

1 Peter 4:10-11, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.”

These gifts are not for us to feel good about ourselves. They are not so that we can value one gift over another and convince ourselves we don’t need the others. They are not to give us a spiritual high of some sort.

The spiritual gifts are given so we help grow the Body of Christ...and it is so easy for a church to become weak spiritually and missionally when people are afraid or refuse to use their spiritual gifts for the benefit of others. God blesses us with those gifts so we can bless others.

Every week we have people who use their gifts to help make this place a better place for us...we have people who use their gifts of prayer to help us overcome things in our lives. We have people who are gifted at running sound, people who use their physical strength and ability to get up and get here early to help us set up, people who have gifts of leadership...and do you know what? We haven’t even really tapped into all the gifts you have to offer!

Next...

We are to bless others with our material gifts

We have hit on this in other weeks, but I just want to remind us of a few verses we haven’t covered before...

1 Timothy 6:17-18, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”

Proverbs 28:27, “Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.”

I John 3:17-18, “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

We live in a day when people stand on street corners asking for money, we see commercials asking for us to donate for this or that cause. We could go broke giving to everything...the challenge is for us to meet the real needs right in front of us without becoming insensitive.

When someone in our small group faces a financial need, and they are open enough to bring it up, we should be willing to work to meet those needs.

When one of our neighbors faces a need, God has placed us there to help meet that need.

We can’t get involved in every need that comes up on television and the street corner, but we can get involved more than we do, and we are certainly meant to get involved with the need when God puts them right in front of us.

We are to bless others with our struggles and pain.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”

I have a friend at the Vineyard. Her name is Donna O’Malley, and she is a wonderful lady who has spent a long time without her husband due to a premature death. She expected to retire and spend her golden years with him, and it just didn’t happen that way. She mourned. She felt the pain. But after a while she felt like something else needed to happen.

She went to one of the pastors and made herself to meet with other women who lost their husbands. Now, she meets regularly with women who are struggling with their loss.

God doesn’t want us to wallow around in our pain. Sometimes we can’t get rid of it because we want to keep it to ourselves and not use it to be a blessing to others.

It’s easier to identify with someone once you’ve experienced what he or she is experiencing.

If you have ever been hungry, you know what it is like to live with hunger.
If you have ever had a broken-heart, you understand that pain.
If you have ever been rejected, you understand rejection.
If you have ever cried yourself to sleep, you know how to give empathy to those worn out from their tears.

The pain of our past is one of your biggest assets in ministering to others. God blesses us with comfort in our trials so that we can be a blessing to others in theirs.

We are to bless others with our witness.

The biggest blessing we receive from God is our salvation! A blessing that is not meant to be kept to ourself! We are going to spend more time on this next weekend, but it certainly must be brought up here. God’s call to bless others with the blessings we receive is ultimately about spreading word about what God has done

Check out how 2 Corinthians 2:14 says it, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”

I like that metaphor...to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere.

Unfortunately, people in the church have spread an aroma that stinks! They have used methods that beat up and guilt. What we preach and who we follow will not always be accepted or appreciated, but we should never become a stench because we act like jerks.

I think this is why God uses the word witness far more than any other word to describe how we tell others about Him. It isn’t meant to be silent and just let them see our actions, but neither is it meant to be a bully-pulpit where we beat them into submission with superior logic.

When we witness, just like in court, we simply tell others what Jesus has and is doing for us. If we are a follower of Jesus, we should be able to tell others what Jesus means to us, what he has done for our lives, and what he is doing right now in our lives. That is the call of being a witness...and God wants to use that blessing to bless others. Because we live in a world that desperately needs what Jesus offers...and they are living barren lives because they haven’t smelled the aroma

Conclusion

I want to end by reminding us about the verse from last week...

James 4:1-3, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

God will withhold his blessings because we ask with the wrong motives. We ask because we intend to use it only for ourselves. God will shut off His blessings because we become so wrapped up in our own life we no longer use His blessings to bless others. We use our spiritual gifts as a way to look better or gain power and advantage...or we don’t use them at all. We use our money solely to meet our own needs. We hold on to our struggles and pain. We refuse to tell others about what Jesus has done in our lives because of fear or whatever...

Blessed* with Enough

2013-05-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

In our current message series title Blessed* we have been looking at what the Bible means when it says that God wants to bless us, and we have also looked at some things that get in the way of our ability to fully receive God’s blessing.

This series was birthed out of a desire to understand what we mean by blessing. We throw that word around a lot. We get a raise, we get a new car, something rather fortunate happens to us, and we say, “I was blessed with...”

The problem arises when we look around the world at so many other people who are whole-heartedly seeking after God, and they have none of the comforts we would call blessings in the United States. Yet Christians everywhere would talk about being blessed by God. We must be careful in how we define and use the word “blessed.” We can make it seem like millions of people who suffer from war, famine, poverty, and sickness are not as loved or blessed by God simply because they were not born in America.

So I started digging, and I have come to the conclusion that it is not so much God’s goodness or blessing that is in question, but how we measure it that is causing all the problems. His blessing is so much deeper than our material possessions, though those are included.

The problem comes when enough is not enough...

Relevant Online recently ran an article titled, “The Socially Acceptable Sin.” It names gluttony as the church’s and America’s most acceptable sin. The author writes, “There’s one sin in particular that has pervaded our society and churches so silently we hardly give it a second thought, and that is the constant hunt for more over what is enough. Or, in an uglier terminology, what is known as gluttony. And gluttony has never been merely an addiction to food. If we look its original definition and context, gluttony hits closer to home than we’d like to admit...At its simplest, gluttony is the soul’s addiction to excess. It occurs when taste overrules hunger, when want outweighs need.”

Have you seen the AT&T Commercial where the guy interviews the children, and the one girl says, "I want more! I want more! I want more!" That commercial says it all...doesn’t it. It describes what could be the most overlooked sin of our culture and one of the biggest blocks to our ability to receive God’s blessing...the sin of never enough.

We want more...we want more...we want more...Every television, newspaper, and billboard ad is designed to encourage a desire for more than we have and more than we need. And we have obliged...

We live in a very wealthy country. Even our poor, globally, are better off. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the poverty line for an individual in United States was $10,830 in 2010, but our poverty line places them in the top 14% of income earners globally.

And no matter how little or how much we make we see a desire to get and consume more...

The U.S. represents 4.5% of global population and consumes 30% of the total GDP.

U.S. household consumer debt profile:
Average credit card debt: $15,204

One of the major contributors to the housing bust was when people who were not making as much as they should have been were given credit for home that cost way more than they could or should afford.

I am not a subscriber that all debt is bad...most of us would be uneducated, walking and homeless if we didn’t have some debt. Many business owners couldn’t operate if they didn’t carry some debt...but I think we would all agree that too often we have taken on debt and trouble in our lives because of our desire to get and have more. We wanted more than was necessary or adequate...and it got us into trouble...or is getting us in trouble.

But over and over again, the Bible reminds us...

Our desire for more causes us to miss the blessings of God.

So often we miss out on God’s blessings because we suffer from the sin of never enough when God is in the business of blessing us with enough.

As I studied for this message, I was struck by how often the Bible talks about God’s ability and desire to satisfy or to make us full. The problem often comes when what God provides does not satisfy because we are not content with enough...

Ecclesiastes 5:10, discussing money, says, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.”

You see that desire for more than what is necessary causes dissatisfaction with what God provides. When John D. Rockefeller was asked “how much would be enough?” he answered “just a little bit more.” At that time he personally controlled 2% of the wealth of America.

That author of Proverbs 27:20 says it like this, “Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes.”

Have you ever been window shopping? Maybe you were watching one of those Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous type of shows?

I have a bad habit of window shopping, and there are times when my desire for more creates such a dissatisfaction with what I have that I cannot enjoy the blessings God has already given me. What the desire for more creeps in it doesn’t matter how much good stuff is going on in our lives...it just isn’t enough.

That is what greed, lust, and gluttony do...they plant dissatisfaction in our lives, and what we already have is not enough. That car isn’t good enough...we need the new one. Our house isn’t good enough...we need that house. Our job isn’t good enough...we need another one. And more than likely...they were good enough...until we saw the better one...and the desire for more crept in and took root.

Another thing that happens is...

Our desire for more keeps us from being a blessing to others.

We are going to spend more time on this idea next week from a different angle, but listen to James 4:1-3,

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

“You do not have receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures...”

Every time the Bible talks about God giving us more than we need...it immediately connects it with God’s call for us to live open-handedly toward others. When God gives us more than we need it is meant as an opportunity to extend that blessing to others...and receive more blessing in the process.

God’s blessing is so deeply connected to our willingness to bless others, and when we allow our desire to have and consume and keep more than what satisfies and what is necessary we cannot fully enjoying the blessings of God. It causes us to hold on to what we have and not let it go, and we miss out on the extended blessing of giving.

But, you might say, I know a lot of stingy people who have plenty of money and want for nothing in this world...and seem to have a lot of blessings from God. You are right. They have a lot in the way of finances, but remember God’s blessing is more than just the number of dollars in our bank account.

God’s blessing is first found in a deep satisfaction with He has provided...with what is enough. And secondly, it is found in the blessing of giving generously from how God has blessed us.

When we learn to live within the bounds of enough, the Bible says that so many things are taken care of...

God’s ultimate goal is to satisfy.
The Bible often uses the word Saba to mean to satisfy or to fill up, and the Bible is full of examples of God’s desire to fill us up...to satisfy our deepest longings.

For many in the Bible it included food and shelter because they needed their basic needs met, but it meant so much more...

Isaiah 55:2 is a good example of this, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.”

Isaiah is talking about more than just food. He is talking about God’s desire to meet our deepest needs...those things that cause our hearts to ache and cause us to stay awake worrying at night. His desire is to satisfy.

John 10:10 says this, “The Thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy, but I have come that you may have life to the full!”

Psalm 145:16, “You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”

Psalm 107:9, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

These are the promises of God...that He will give us what we need. He will satisfy and fill us. God is in the business of giving us enough, and when the sin of gluttony, lust, and greed creep in...we lose the blessings of God because we begin thinking that enough is not enough.

Conclusion
To close, I want to give you a few starter steps for learning to live with enough...

Look at what you have not what you don’t have. Make the most of it. Learn to be content with what you own.

Don’t make comparisons. The minute you compare yourself to someone else or what someone else has...that is the minute greed and lust and gluttony all slip in. You find yourself comparing your worst to their best and feel insecure. You feel as though you are not enough.
Accept your imperfections. No one is perfect. No one has it all together. Accept them and work on them.

Blessed* with a Purpose

2013-05-20T11:15:00.001-04:00

I love to meet people who are passionate about what they are doing. It isn’t always their money-earning job, but it is something they do on a regular basis.

Amy Rees Anderson is an entrepreneur who recently wrote an article for Forbes.com. She tells how when speaking on leadership and business at a university she will often ask the students, “What career do you want to pursue,” or, “What business do you plan to begin?” After listening to their answers she will then ask, “Suppose I gave you a check for $10 million dollars today and told you that you could pursue any career path or start any business you wanted to, with no expectation that you would ever pay me back or generate a return on my investment – in fact, I couldn’t care less if the business never makes a dime. Now tell me what career you would pursue or what business would you want to begin.”

The answers, she says, are always different. The students choose the perceived safest way to steady income, and the area they are most passionate about does not provide that security or that income.

Marketing and business guru Seth Godin does something very similar. He first asks, “If you could do anything at all with your life and money wasn’t an issue, what would you do?” Then he asks, “Why aren’t you doing that now?”

Sometimes we are lucky enough for those two things to coincide...being able to do something we are passionate about and making enough money with our passion to support ourselves and our families.

Sometimes they don’t coincide. Einstein’s Miracle Year where he wrote four groundbreaking works including his most recognized Theory of Relativity took place while working as a file clerk for the Swiss Patent Office. He did physics as a side project. In fact, when he finally got a full-time academic position he simply worked out the implications of the work done in the boredom of the patent office.

Franz Kafka is regarded as on the most influential authors of the 20th Century who influenced the work of writers like Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. Throughout his life, his passionate pursuit of writing was squeezed into spare time left over after he working for an insurance company.

I would say that most people live in that realm...squeezing their passion into the spare moments of their lives; while a few people are lucky enough to make a living while pursuing their passion.

We are currently in a series called Blessed*. We have been looking at some of the unexpected ways of viewing God’s blessing in our lives. God’s blessing is not always what we expect! Who would ever consider that the point of our deepest need is the point where God’s largest blessings happen? It is not a common thing to hear that our biggest blessings come when we obediently and generously give.

We can also make the mistake of spiritualizing things to the point where we see our passions as something completely separate from God’s desire to bless us and those around us.

We might have a passion for art, and wonder how God could ever use such a passion for Him.
We might have a passion for business and leadership and never see them as possibilities of blessing.
We often have a love for something that leaves us asking how God could ever use it to bless us and those around.

But God gives us our passions as a way of blessing us with a purpose.

Moses
Moses is one of the greatest leaders known to Israel. When relaying their history Abraham, Moses, David and Elijah take primacy over all others. And of them, Moses is most associated with all that God wanted to do in the salvation of Israel and the giving of the Law.

They revered Moses. Years after his death someone wrote in Deuteronomy 34:10-12, “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”

To say that Moses is important to Jewish history, Jewish religious history, and to the heritage of our Christian faith can not be understated.

Most of us are aware of the story of Moses, the burning bush, and God’s call for him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. As a shepherd, Moses was out with the sheep when he saw a burning bush and went to explore. There is always something about guys and fire! When he got there, he saw that while the bush was on fire it was not being consumed by the flames. A voice, the voice of God, spoke to him out of the bush, and called him to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.

Most of us see this as the beginning of Moses’ call to do something for his people...to free them from slavery. But Moses’ passion for his people started way earlier than this.

In Exodus 2:11-12 it says,

“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”

Moses’ passion to free his people started as a young man. He had grown up in Pharaoh’s household, and watched as his people were beaten and abused. He wanted to do something, but we often make the same mistake Moses made.

Our Passions Require Patience
We can get our photographs in an hour; even less if we simply print them at home. We can use the express lane at Walmart for 20 items or less...and, if you are like me, you start counting the items in everyone else’s carts and fuming if they have more than 20! You can get up-to-the-minute stock quotes, sports score, and breaking news on your smartphone. We can get full meals in a matter of minutes at MOST drive thrus.

We live in an impatient society. We want what we want and we want it now! And that attitude can slip into our relationship with God.

Just because we have a desire to see something come about. Just because God gives us a passion to see something happen. Just because we have a gifting in a certain area doesn’t mean we have the go ahead to see it become a reality...when we think it should.

Moses had a desire to free his people. We know that God later commissions him to lead them out of slavery. But Moses got into trouble by trying to do things outside of God’s timing and outside of God’s methods.

Moses, in an attempt to fulfill this passion, takes a very common tactic still used in modern society...force. He killed an Egyptian.

Exodus 2:13-14 continues,

“The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?”

There is a wrong way to do the right thing. The ends do not justify the means.

So often we are guilty, in our impatience, of attempting to do what God has called us to do...but in our own strength and in our own way. Moses needed time to learn to lead not with force and fear, but with loving and firm guidance. His attempt to do things his way lead to wrong kind of outcome.

Exodus 2:14-15 says,

“Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian...”

When Moses attempted to do God’s will in his way...it lead to fear, shame, and rejection.

So often we attempt to do God’s will...we attempt to fulfill the passions God has placed within us...using means and methods that are not Gods.

Our Passions Require God’s Methods
When we attempt to fulfill God’s call using our own methods we wear ourselves out physically, emotionally, and spiritually by living outside the boundaries He sets for us. It happens all the time...we sense God leading to do something...but when things get busy we neglect to care for ourselves physically. We don’t care for our bodies with enough rest or exercise. We stop nurturing ourselves spiritually and distance ourselves from our time with God and His people. We stop feeding ourselves intellectually because we just don’t have time.

We find ourselves burned out and at wits end because our methods do not work

We find ourselves frustrated because our expectations are not being met.

Moses believed his show of force would be welcomed and accepted by the people...but they weren’t. Learning to use God’s method required an educational process. He had to learn HOW to lead the people with wisdom with the power of God. There was no better place than living the life of a shepherd in the household of a priest.

Exodus 2:16-21,

“Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

The Biblical ideal for leadership is rooted in the shepherd. Before Moses was given permission to lead and guide God’s people he had to LEARN to lead.

There is an educational, learning process to all our gifting. When I received the call to ministry I started making plans to attend college with thoughts of Seminary. Someone in the church said, “I don’t know why you need to get schooling! If God has called you that should be enough!”

That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard in the church.

Our passions often require a training and learning process. Spiritual gifts and passions are given in seed form...they need care, they need training, they need work. Just because God gives us a passion to see something does not mean it will happen automatically. It doesn’t mean you won’t need training because we are so tempted to do things our way and not God’s...even after the training...there were time when Moses needed to relearn that lesson.

When Moses submitted to the methods of God, only then was he able to see the miraculous. His way was force and violence and murder. God’s methods led to some amazingly miraculous things!

Exodus 2:23 sums the time of waiting, training, and preparation for Moses by saying, “During that long period...”

It was 40 years before God called to Moses from the Burning Bush and commissioned Moses to do what He felt a desire to do so many years before. 40 years!

Our Passions Require Commitment
When Moses finally submitted to the learning, growing, time-consuming process then and only then did He receive God’s call and commission to fulfill the desires he felt as a young man.

Be assured, God will call. God will commission us. God will ask us to use those passions and desires and dreams, and commit ourselves to see them through to the end...and that is the hard part!

We impatiently jump in too soon, but then we are often too quick to bail out.

We may not see the results we thought would come of that passion as soon as we would like. Things are tougher than we planned.

We may have expected to support ourselves using our passion, and we find ourselves working multiple jobs to support our passion instead.

There will be times when we feel there is no use to go on...

Doubt will creep in...

But just as God calls us to start...God calls us to finish. It took Moses 40 years of preparation before God allowed him to assume leadership of Israel, and it took another 40 plus years before Moses was able to lead them to the edge of the Promised Land.

The Israelites complained, whined, attempted a coup of Moses’ leadership, the rejected Him...it was a mess. But Moses hung in to see God fulfill His promises!

We too must hold on. We are called, but if we truly believe that God has placed the passion in our lives then it is our responsibility to submit to the time it takes to train and prepare, we are to be faithful to do it the way God has called us to it, and we are called to finish and see it to completion no matter what challenges we face. Because when we see it through to completion...that is when we see the ultimate blessing of God!

Blessed*- You Can't Outgive God

2013-05-13T09:35:00.004-04:00

We are in a new message series called Blessed* Thinking about that word and the concept of being blessed is something we use a lot, but think of very little. Yesterday was our Food for Huber Outreach and we gave food to more than 120 families in need. We spent time talking and praying with them, and I realized how often my prayers for them were prayers for God to bless them. Bless them with health, bless them financially, bless their relationships.

We use that word a lot in the church, like we do a lot of words, without thinking about what they mean. Today we are looking at a passage that talks about tithing and God blessing us in relationship to our tithing.

Money is a touchy subject. Most people feel the church always has its hand out asking for money, and in trying to create a church that emphasizes God’s grace, His patience, and allow people time we take a very laid back approach to our offering. I truly believe that forcing or guilting people into something may work for a short time, but does not build a healthy, spiritually robust person in the long run. Many of us suffer from the carry-over effect of spiritually abusive or legalistic church backgrounds.

When I was growing up, tithing and giving was never really taught about in a healthy way. Tithing was encouraged with a healthy dose of guilt during the time of offering that would go on and on until they felt like there was enough in the plate. I once suffered through 20 verses of an offeratory, the song played while they collect the offering, and then 20-30 verses of Just As I Am while they waited for someone to come to the altar.

Sometimes they would preach verses like today’s passage with the underlying message of “You are not doing enough!” They would emphasize the harsher sections of the passage...obviously guilt and shame and pressure were part of that.

I believe we need a message on tithing not because I want you to give more money to the church. We have some very generous people here, and God provides the resources for what He wants to accomplish. We need a message on tithing because understanding it is part of a healthy Christian walk.

I have seen how it works in my own life. It is as an act of worship. It is a response to all that God has given and done for us in my life. And when we give it opens us up as a person...I am more generous not just toward God and His church, but toward other people around me who are in need.

Today as we look at this passage, we are not breaking away from our commitment to the 2 Corinthians 9:7 passage where it says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” It isn’t honoring if it is done grudgingly or if it is compelled!

Our goal is to first and foremost help you become better followers of God...not better members of a church. I think part of following God is being part of a church and all that it entails...but first and foremost we are followers of God. So let’s look at our passage today, and see what we can learn...

Malachi 3:7-12,

“Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

The first part of this passage sounds very...mean...It sounds like God is VERY angry...and He is. He is talking to a group of people who proudly announce they are His followers, they act as they though they are on board with all He asks, and really they are only interested in appearing to follow Him. Despite only appearing to be obedient they wanted God to fulfill everything He promised to those who would faithfully obey Him.

Have you ever made a deal with your children, a bribe? If you will clean your room I will take you to get ice cream. After you have been parenting awhile you will use any ploy you can to get some things done. Your child goes into their room for 5-10 minutes, then returns and proudly announces, “My room is clean!”

We are not dumb. There is no way they cleaned up the remnants of the hurricane that hit their room. You walk in, and toys and clothes are stuffed under the bed. You open the closet door and need the help of a search and rescue dog to get out from under the avalanche...but the floor, the middle of the floor is clear...so in their mind the room is clean.

The people of Israel were pretending to be obedient, acting as though they had their act together, and were demanding that God take them for the promised ice cream...so needless to say, God’s tone is a bit stern in this passage.

We have to be careful when using this passage as a teaching passage to look at the principles of tithing that we don’t carry over that tone if it doesn’t fit the situation. We are looking to be better followers of God...to recognize something about tithing out of this passage...we are not looking to misrepresent ourselves to God as His faithful followers while hiding behind unfaithfulness. So we can draw some principles out of this passage without being guilty and receiving the tone of the original.

What we see in this passage is that in tithing...

We recognize God's ownership.
““But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you? In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.”

The Israelites were saying, “We are doing everything right, God! Why aren’t you blessing us?” And God’s response was a stern, “No, you are not doing everything right!”

God calls their refusal to tithe theft. Which brings up the question, “How is it theft?”

Psalm 24:1-2 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.”

You see everything in this world belongs to God, and it is on loan to us. When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden, he told them to care for creation...to tend it...the imagery is that of a steward or care-giver. Someone placed over something for the owner.

I remember the first time I was asked to housesit for someone...I was excited and scared to death all at the same time. I was going to be staying and living on my own with no adult supervision for the first time in my life, and yet I was at someone else’s house and didn’t want to mess that up. So I actually cleaned up after myself. Picked my clothes up off the floor. Put stuff away...unlike how I treated my first apartment.

I was taking care of someone else’s home. It wasn’t mine, but I was responsible for it.

God places us in charge of His stuff here on earth, and gives us the responsibility to care for it. He gives us talents and abilities. He gives us financial resources. He gives us a home, property, relationships...all things that have to be cared for...

What we have been given does not belong to us, ut belongs to Him. When God asks us to return a percentage to His house for Him to use in supporting His work He is simply asking us to relinquish resources that already belong to Him. Refusing to return what rightfully belongs to Him and pretending as though we have given it to Him, he calls theft.

I know those are some strong words, but we use similar metaphors all the time. I will often buy a bag of candy or something for Bri when we are out. I don’t want a whole bag. I just want a couple of bites. She is usually very good about things, but there have been times when I bought something and asked for a bite. She responded by saying, “No! This is mine!” And I have had to remind her that while it is in her possession, that I am the one who bought it.

When we tithe, we are simply acknowledging God as the rightful owner and ourselves as His caretakers. Remember God is speaking to people who claim to follow Him. He is not talking to people who are just beginning to seek after Him, or are not yet following Him. He is laying the weight of this metaphor on people who claim to be following him whole-heartedly, and are rejecting Him by lying and stealing from Him.

The second thing, it that through tithing...

We participate in God's mission.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.”

In those days, tithing was done mostly with grain, wine, livestock, and produce from the fields. This was not a monetary based society. So when the people brought their tithe into the church it was “food”. That food would then be distributed to those who had need, traded for other goods, etc. Gold and other articles were often given too. In the New Testament we see that money was more common so people gave that way.

But the idea behind this verse is that the giving of the people supports the work of God in the church. It was to be the place where priests and Levites led the worship of the people, taught them God’s ways, and helped them understand God’s Word. The tithe of the people supported God’s work.

Our tithes still support the work of God through His church...Over the past year we have served more than 10,000 people with God’s love. We have bought groceries, paid bills, done numerous acts of kindness, and much more in our community. All because of your faithfulness in giving.

Last year a couple of us got together and made a dream list of over 100 ministries that could be part of this church. I dream of being able to do so much more in our community...we are praying for a more permanent location...a place where we can have regular classes, a food pantry, ministry to help in many different situations...There is a lot that God wants to do through us, but the reality is that it requires money and it requires time and leadership.

When we look at all that needs done and the money involved, we often think in terms of giving up...we are giving up money we could use for something else. Instead, we should be thinking in terms of investment. We are not sacrificing anything...we are investing in what God wants to accomplish with the money, time, and talents he has freely given us!

People will be able to have food on their tables because we are investing in a church that is outward focused.

Marriages will be saved because we are building a place that reaches out to them and helps them survive the storms they face.

Children will have a safe place to learn and grow closer to God.

A few years back, my nephew started showing ability to play the piano. He took a couple of lesson through his school, and grew quickly in his ability...beyond just the normal taking lessons. He picked it up rather naturally. When my sister couldn’t afford lessons for him, a longtime family friend stepped in to pay for his lessons. She said, “I see this as an investment in his future that I won’t get to benefit from, but others will!”

What God has called us as a church to do here in this community we may never get to see the end result of it all, but we are making an investment that others will get to benefit from down the road!

The final thing is that through tithing...

We open the doors of God's blessing.
“Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.”

So often this passage is seen as a mean, or guilt driven, or something...When the bulk of this passage is a simple statement about God’s desire to bless His people when they obey! More than 50% of the passage is about God’s desire to do something great for His people, but their lack of obedience and open-handedness keeps Him from being able to bless them.

God wants to open the floodgates and pour out blessing on those who follow Him, but they have shut Him off!

One of the enduring principles of the spiritual life is that God never forces us to take something we are unwilling to take. Closely connected to this is the idea that by refusing to be generous and loving and forgiving we can actually shut ourselves off from receiving generosity, love, and forgiveness. So when it comes to this principle of tithing, when we hoard and assume ownership of something that is not rightly ours we shut ourselves off from the blessings God has for us.

If you do what you are called to do then God will do what only God can do.

Our obedience to God opens the doors to His blessings in our lives. As we mentioned last week, blessings are more than just financial, but they certainly include God’s care and provision for us in financial ways. I have seen God time and again provide for those who follow Him and live in obedience. It may not come in our timing and in the way we want it, but His blessings do come.

Sometimes it our financial needs are met with a better job we didn’t expect! Back in August, I was happily employed as a restaurant manager when the opportunity came for me to work at a school in Fairborn. Little did I know my time at the restaurant was coming to an end. God provided.

Sometimes our blessings come in the form of learning to make wiser choices. We stop spending beyond our budget.

Sometimes our blessings come because the emphasis and direction of our lives change and we are no longer going in this direction. We find fulfillment in another direction.

God brings blessings from some of the most unexpected places!

Conclusion
We serve a God who gives and gives and gives. He leads the way for us. No matter what we give, God gives more. He demonstrated the extent of His giving by giving His Son, Jesus Christ. The ultimate sacrifice of giving!

No matter what we give to God...monetary gifts, talents and abilities, time...we can’t outgive God!

Charles Spurgeon once said, “God has a way of giving by the cartloads to those who give away by shovelfuls.”

Blessed*- I Am Blessed!

2013-04-16T11:37:00.000-04:00

We are starting a new series today called Blessed with a little asterisk mark at the end. I saw this artwork at another church, and liked it so I decided to adapt it a bit and use it.

The idea of the asterisk at the end of the word Blessed is that being “blessed” is not always what we think it is. We all ask God to bless us, and he does bless us, but not always the way we think...or even want.

When you and I start thinking about what it means to be blessed...

we think of financial security...bills paid for, living comfortably, not paycheck to paycheck, savings in the bank for emergencies, some other for retirement...

we think of a comfortable home...Lori and I driving around looking at homes dreaming of a dream home that isn’t a cookie-cutter Huber Home.

we think of cars that run the way they should run...

we think of a nice house, nice neighborhood, and nice schools...

If someone has all of these things in their life we would say...they are blessed.

The reality is that we live in a fallen world, stained by sin, and not everyone gets to live this idyllic life...and yet, if the Bible is true, we can all live a truly blessed life. It will require us to redefine our understanding of being blessed...not in some ostrich-head-in-sand-denial sort of way, but by seeking to understand what the truly blessed life is about.

So over the next few weeks we are going to look at what it means to be blessed in biblical terms, hopefully realizing that we are truly a blessed people, and we are going to look at what some of the responsibilities are that come with being blessed. Because our blessings are not just for our benefit...they come with responsibility.

So let’s begin by looking at what can be the most confusing passage about blessing in the Bible...Matthew 5:1-12

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,  for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,  for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,  for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,  for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,  for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,  for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This is not the list I would put together if I were talking about blessed people!

Poor in Spirit, Mourning, meek, the hungry and thirsty, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted!

This doesn’t even sound like a list most of us would want to even be on!

Every culture has its people, behaviors, and states of being that let signify who the in-crowd really is...who the blessed ones are. In our culture the people on this list are not it. Wealth and fame, or something that looks like wealth and fame is what gives you standing. Our culture values success. It values disposable income. It values big toys. It values beauty and youth.

If we are not careful, those of us who follow Jesus adopt our cultures approach to blessing and attempt to make it our own...we read our ideas into passages like Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” We start thinking this about me on an individual level and God wants to prosper me and give me a hope and future! And we forget He is talking about His plans to bring about salvation and to restore the entire world to its original purpose.

For years I heard the Beatitudes preached as a spiritual to-do list. If you want to be blessed then you should become meek...hungry and thirsty for righteousness...pure in heart...peacemakers. But there are some pretty big interpretive jumps when we start talking about becoming poor in spirit...or mourning...

Rather than another list of things you have to become, Jesus is actually giving us a list of people who are valued by the Kingdom He is establishing. This annoyed the Pharisees of Jesus day because they only invited the wealthy, the powerful, and the influential to their dinners...We too want a list with all the good and nice and beautiful people, but Jesus says the ones he really wants to bless are the ones outside the normal realm of earthly blessings...

Being blessed is rooted in our biggest need.

In Genesis 12 God calls Abraham to leave his family and country and travel to a land God would give him and his descendants...then in verses 2-3 God says,

“I will make you into a great nation,  and I will bless you; I will make your name great,  and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you,  and whoever curses you I will curse;  and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

The problem was God’s blessing was promise required Abraham’s barren wife Sarah to have a child. Barren...she couldn’t have children. She wanted children...desperately wanted them...but couldn’t have a child. She couldn’t force that to happen. Certainly Abraham and Sarah were responsible to do their part...the nice dinner...the roses...the bottle of wine...but there was limit...they were only in control of so much.

Our blessings are rooted in our biggest need because we must recognize our dependence upon God! We can’t do this on our own.

The poor in spirit are dependent upon someone else to give them a Kingdom...the poor are not going to accomplish and conquer on their own. They have no authority. No standing...they have nothing.

Those who mourn are unable to comfort themselves...they need someone else to give them comfort. When someone who is mourning attempts to comfort themselves they become withdrawn and caught in a spiral of depression and sadness.

The merciful are dependent upon someone else to show them mercy. They open themselves up to abuse by others by being merciful...it requires someone else.

The list goes on and on...Our blessings are rooted in our biggest need because we must recognize our dependance on God to meet those needs.

We too often fail to see our blessing because we are trying to doGod’s part. We arrogantly believe we can do it all. God helps those who help themselves! Right? So we tire ourselves out...we get frustrated...we worry...we get depressed...and there is nothing we can do about that part.

That is the problem with worry as a parent. I worry about Brianna. What kind of friends she will make. Her walk home from school by herself most days. What kind of woman she will grow up to be...but my worry accomplishes nothing. I am responsible for my part....and the rest is not up to me,

Being blessed means we know what we can do, we do that, and we leave God to do what only God can do!

Being blessed means receiving what we need most.

There is an older country song by Garth Brooks titled Unanswered Prayers. In the song he tells how he and his wife ran into his high school sweetheart at a football game and how he remembered praying for God to make the relationship last.

Then Garth sings:

And as she walked away and I looked at my wife
Then and there I thanked the good Lord
For the gifts in my life
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.

You see...we are notoriously bad at knowing what we need. We think our problem is one thing, and our very knowledgeable heavenly Father say, “Nope. That’s not your problem...here is your problem.”

We have some financial struggles...so we start looking for a better job that pays more. In reality our financial struggles are not always a result of not making enough money...sometimes the blessing comes by learning to trust and depend on God rather than our ability to make more money. God has often supplied financially for His children from unexpected places and by helping available resources go further than they should.

It might be that our need is not more money, but to confess a greed or lusting after more that has crept into our lives and keeps us from appreciate what we have. We think we need more money because we have bought more than we need.

It might be that our deepest need is to spend what we do have more wisely. God isn’t going to give us more if we are not using what we have appropriately.

You want that relationship to work out...to find healing. The problem may not be with the other person. It may be a lack of forgiveness on your part. Maybe you are not seeing the wrong you are doing. Maybe God wants you to be gracious in the midst of the barrage they leverage at you. The problem may not be what you think it is...maybe the relationship needs to be severed.

So often our blessing comes as we recognize what our need really is...all the other stuff fades away and we gain perspective.

I found this clip a couple of years ago...it is hilarious, but challenging to our perspective...

Louis CK

Being blessed is about our attitude, not our situation.

Being blessed means knowing what we and are not in control of...knowing who is ultimately in control...and trusting that He is working to heal our deepest needs, and that should change our attitude.

Philippians 4:12-13, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Paul was able to look beyond the situation to see that God’s blessings were not simply about security and safety...he wrote from inside of a prison and was ultimately beheaded for the faith...so security and safety were not the standards Paul would use.

Being blessed starts with recognizing that no matter what our situation...we are blessed. The old cliche “There is always someone worse off than you.” Is meant to be a reminder that knowing we are blessed starts with our attitude. There is probably some poor sap for whom there really is no one worse off for him...But our blessing does not rest in the idea that someone is worse off than us. Our blessing rests in the promises and character of who God is.

Conclusion
This morning you may be struggling with something...a fear, a worry, a need that keeps getting in the way of you experiencing the blessings God has for you. Maybe its time you stopped trying to do God’s part for him...you have been working to make things work and it is just more stress and hardship than you can really take...It is time to let go.

Maybe you have been treating symptoms rather than the actual problem. We hate when our doctors do that, but we do it all the time. We would rather make more money than adjust our lust for more. It is time to let that go.

Maybe it is our attitude...we need confidence that God wants to bless us and take care of us...and our attitude or mindset gets in the way.