Thoughts From Philippians 1 - Part 2

  It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. Phil. 1:7-11

         Yesterday something amazing happened. I came into work at 5:50 PM, I normally start at 6, and the attending was waiting for me near the door and I heard her saying, "Where's my friend Jim?" When she saw me, she rushed me back to the delivery room where a patient had been pushing for a long time and couldn't get the baby out. When I entered the room, everyone looked and cheered because I can do forceps and no one else there was trained in them. I gowned up and picked the right forceps to use in her case, felt the position of the baby's head and was ready to go, when I was asked by the senior resident, "Can I do it?" He was supposed to leave an hour ago but stayed in hopes to have the experience. It's a training hospital so obviously I said yes and with my help and direction, he performed a great delivery. As I left the room the patient's mom and all the nurses thanked me continually and sang my praises for preventing a c-section, even though I didn't even get to do the delivery!

       What does this have to do with Philippians 1 you might ask? Paul is praying that the Philippians love would grow, their knowledge and discernment would grow, that their choices in life would always be the best ones, that their behavior would be blameless, that they would exhibit the fruit of the Spirit - why? - so that God would get the credit not them! You see, this young, phenomenal doctor who delivered this baby yesterday got no credit - I got it all. All he got was to sew up the lacerations, a thankless job. And this is the rub, if we in our Christian life are looking for praise and honor and recognition, as they say on The Bachelor, "You're in it for the wrong reasons."(which on that show means they went on The Bachelor to become famous not to find love) Our goal is to see to it that our "Chief" gets all the glory and we fade into obscurity.

         This whole account doesn't seem fair, does it? (And this is where all analogies to me and God stop and probably should have never started except to make a point) We ideally should love God so much that the fact that He is getting the praise instead of us should thrill us. The opportunity to make crowds cheer for Him, to laud Him, to lift Him up, to honor Him, worship Him, praise Him go along with the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said, "Let your light so shine among men that they may see your good deeds and" - what? -"glorify your Father who is in Heaven." They see our acts and look right past us to the One that is doing them through us.

       "He must increase and I must decrease." Are you on board with that? Are you in it for the right reasons?

Thoughts From Philippians 1 - Part 1

 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons,2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:1-6

              Someone once asked me, why do doctors work until they are so old? They have so much money, why don't they retire early and enjoy it? I think it's multifactorial, but I would guess that the major reason is that their identity is wrapped up and found in being a doctor. After all, we get a degree and our name is changed from Mr. or Mrs. to Dr. A lot of people call me "Doc" instead of Jim. It is weird to go somewhere where no one knows me, like a cruise for example, and I don't get treated special. Being a doctor, especially in a small town, gives you clout and respect and that's hard to give up. At least I thought it was.

       I closed my practice in the last 4 years and have been a travelling doctor to Memphis. Back home, without a practice, I really don't feel like a doctor nor get treated like one anymore and I'm surprised to say that I don't mind at all. I'm just content in my identity found in being a saint or "holy people" or a child of God. That's my identity and it's more than enough. God began a good work in me 65 years ago and He is continuing to work on me. I look back on myself half my life ago and I thought I was a refined piece of work by the Maker, and I see what an "ignoble" piece of pottery I was. God has been working on me for 65 years and will continue until the day that I die.

     Isn't that awesome to know that God loves you so much that He doesn't give up on you but wants the best for you and wants you to succeed. We think "succeed" and we think money, prestige, power, honor, or Dr. - God thinks "succeed" and He thinks a shiny pot that He looks at and sees His reflection. That's success! I'm grateful that God has allowed me to find my identity in Him. What is your identity found in?

Thoughts From 2Timothy 4 - Part 3

 Do your best to come to me quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. 12 I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.14 Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. 15 You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.19 Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. 21 Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers and sisters.22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.  2Tim. 4:9-22

            This is Paul's last recorded writing before he dies. We will all face our mortality at some point so for us to learn to face it like Paul would be a good thing.

       First of all, from the previous passage, he knew that he had a mission on Earth and he was confident that he had fulfilled it tirelessly. Paul says in Ephesians that we are His workmanship created for good works that God has ordained for us. Jesus told his parents when they were looking for Him at the age of twelve, "Didn't you know I would be about my Father's business?" I want to be able to say, at the end, "I've been about my Father's business."

       Part of that is reflecting on all the people that will be in Heaven someday because of your ministry. Paul lists them all and there were so many others - Crescens, Titus, Luke, Mark, Tychius, Carpas, Priscilla, Aquilla, Onesiphorus, Erastus, Trophimus, Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, and Claudia. Not only were they his family but he kept up with them and knew where each of them were. When I leave this planet, will people greet me and say, "I'm here because of you." I know I've prayed with a lot of people to receive Christ, but unlike Paul, I haven't kept up with them to my regret.

      With all the great things that God has done through my life, I remember the failures, hurts, defections even more vividly. I had a drawer full of thank you notes praising me as a doctor, but I can't remember any of them. I do remember the scathing notes written to me, however. I guess that's human nature to remember the one negative and forget the hundred positives. Paul remembers Demas and Andrew the Metal worker but unlike David who tells Solomon to deal with Joab and Shimei after his death, Paul doesn't worry about it and says, "God will take care of them", and as the writer of Hebrews would say, "It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." As I reflect on my life, there are people that have done me harm but rather than dwell on it, I just feel bad for them because they messed with God's kid and if you know anything about parents, you don't mess with their kids.

      Will I fear death when the time comes? I hope I can think like Paul who says that God has delivered him from every evil attack that could have killed him and will take him safely home. In other words, God delivered him from death so that he could die. For Paul, death was nothing to be feared but just a chance to receive his crowns and enter into Heaven.

     I witnessed my dad dying of cancer. In a lot of ways, I was proud of the way he wished he could leave this world and head into the presence of his Lord. He had great faith and loved Jesus more than anything and couldn't wait to enter into His kingdom and hear Him say, "Well done.". In some ways, I think he shut down too early though. I wasn't in his shoes so I can't judge but at times I wanted to talk to him about spiritual things, and he just wanted to focus on dying. He did this for at least three months. Paul says, bring my parchments because I have more to write. Paul was wanting to write epistles that would never be written until God took him home. I hope that I will be taken home in the middle of serving him and not "check out" early.

      Maybe this is morbid to think about dying but this passage from Paul confronts us with the reality. The wisest man ever said that it's better to go to a funeral than a party and I think he would agree with Paul that to occasionally think about our mortality is a good and necessary thing.

Thoughts From 2Timothy 4 - Part 2

 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2Tim. 4:6-8

       Throughout the Old Testament there were a number of feasts, sacrifices, and other occasions where liquids were poured out before or in honor to the Lord. When you consider the sacrifices, there were 5 in Leviticus, the trespass, sin, fellowship, meal, and lastly burnt offering which progressed in that order from mandatory to voluntary and each signified a deeper commitment to the Lord. In the latter ones like the grain or meal offering, the fruit of their labor would be surrendered to God and not only grain from the harvest but wine from the work in the vineyard would be poured out before the Lord in effect saying, "Everything I have, my very existence I owe to you." On the completion of a Nazarite vow, which was a totally optional vow of surrender and devotion to the Lord with rigorous demands on the body, wine would be poured out to honor the Lord.

       The instance that my mind immediately goes to, is when David remarks how he misses the sweet water from home and some of his brave men surprise him by risking their lives, going into enemy territory and bring him back a flask of water. He feels so unworthy to have his whims met by men who risked their lives in devotion and love for him, that he pours it out on the ground in sacrifice to the One who is truly worthy.

      Paul says in effect as his days on earth are nearing an end, that he is nothing but a glass of wine or water that symbolizes complete surrender to the Lord being poured out at His feet. He is like the servants in Luke 15 who after serving the master did not expect to sit down and have their needs ministered to but rather remarked, "let's keep on serving, we're only doing our duty." Paul says that he is that servant who has fulfilled his duty.

      I wonder if we could say that. Are you near completing your task of service to the Lord? Are you even serving? Do you know what your task even is? Are you going to hear Him say, "Well done my good and faithful servant, you have been faithful", or will He say, "Your brief time on Earth was a total waste of time". I want to hear Him say, "Well done"!

Thoughts From 2Timothy 4 - Part 1

 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 2Tim. 4:1-5

      How do you like your church? What are you looking for in a church? This passage gives some warnings to us on what to run from when you are looking for a church and most of it has to do with the pastor.

      First, he must preach the word. How much Bible is used? Do you leave thinking, "Wow, I really understand that passage of scripture a whole lot better."? or, "Wow, God really spoke to me through the word today," I've listened to a lot of messages that are filled with Spurgeon quotes, Tim Keller or C.S. Lewis quotes, cute stories to make a point, or even book reports, it seems, from 7 Habits of Effective people. The Bible is the word of God. Preach it. You usually can't go wrong with a Calvary Chapel as they, every week, work their way through the Bible cover to cover. I'd often ask my Dad after a church service, "How did you like the message"? His answer would often be, "Just preach the Word!!" I guess this is where he got that from.

     Second, does the message convict you of changes you need to make or is it just feel good, or good things are on their way to you vibes? Is it appealing to the fleshly desire of living a better life on this world or convicting you that you are too focused on this world? A good message is supposed to rebuke and correct and point you to Jesus and Heaven not yourself and this Earth. If your church is a "full gospel" church or displays pictures of the pastor and usually his wife decked out in wealth, or if your pastor drives a gaudy car, wears $300 tennis shoes, expensive clothing, and lives on an estate, these are warning signs to run. They are probably preaching positivity not rebuking and correcting.

    Lastly, is he preaching myths? What's that? I would say if he is teaching anything about the Bible that isn't true, that's a myth. The eternal priesthood of Peter is a myth. Purgatory is a myth. Vegetarianism and avoiding caffeine is a myth. Celestial marriage is a myth. Not celebrating holidays is a myth. Same sex relationships normalized is a myth. Wearing holy underwear or uniform clothing and head coverings is a myth. These are obvious myths. I, personally would run from what I would consider myths like covenant theology, amillennialism, Calvinism, egalitarianism, tongues and healing and prophecies, but that's just my personal understanding of scripture.

     I'm mainly focusing on the pastor here, as Paul is also, but if there is a congregation sitting there week after week, eating this stuff up, that's a body you probably don't have much in common with. Look for a better body of believers. Is the Bible front and center? Go there!

Thoughts From 2Timothy 3 - Part 4

  But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2Tim.3:14-17

         My 3rd son recently texted me wondering when I would be in town so I could be present when he baptizes his 3 oldest kids at church. This will be 6 of my 11 grandkids getting baptized. The remaining 5 are all under the age of 5 and I look forward to their personal public profession of faith, too. The other 3 that have been baptized are my oldest son's kids who were baptized at the beach by my second son. I don't take this family of faith lightly because all around me I see good families who love Jesus and have had unbelieving children. I look at this passage and see some aids in raising kids that will choose to follow Jesus.

        First in verse 14 Paul says to believe it because you know the people you learned it from. We were recently watching a drama on Apple TV where the teenage daughter decides not to go to college because that's what her mom did and her mom's life is so messed up that she doesn't want to follow in her mom's footsteps. So she moves in with her divorced dad who is just as messed up as her mom. As parents, we may raise our kids to believe the Bible but if they don't believe in us, why should they listen to anything we promote? My parents lived what they believed, I saw it, and recognized it to be real and sincere. I knew that it worked in their lives. I trust that my kids have seen us as anything but phonies.

     Second in verse 15 Paul says that they have known the scriptures since infancy. I grew up, and so did my kids, in an era of Sunday School. We systematically, not haphazardly, learned the Bible accounts both audibly and visually. We learned the entire Bible, Old Testament and New Testament. Plus, at home I learned growing up, and as parents, we taught the Bible around the dinner table or nighttime devotions. We would have Bible drill and Bible trivia competitions. We would start reading a passage in the Bible and see who would be the first to find it and start reading along. We would have rewards for Bible memorization. We would go around the table saying the books of the Bible, one at a time standing up and whoever failed to say the following book correctly had to sit down and was "out". I remember earning my way to camp by memorizing Colossians 3. The days of Sunday School are regrettably over in some modern churches but teaching the Bible at home from infancy isn't.

    Third in verse 16 Paul talks about training in righteousness. You can teach your kids the Bible but unless you teach them that it's applicable to life, it's just head knowledge. The WWJD phenomenon is and was great but somewhat baffling in that the concept to ask, "what would Jesus do in this situation", shouldn't have been an "Aha" moment. This is the point of all scripture training, learning and knowledge is that it effects the way we live out our daily life. We would watch shows on TV with our kids and discuss different choices people made, their consequences, and what choices they should have made from a Biblical worldview. We would read devotionals like "Sticky Situations" which would give you a scenario and then 4 choices of behavior in response and challenge the kids to pick a response and defend it. We would debrief with them on picking them up from school if they had any opportunities to represent Christ or as we would say, "Did you bear fruit today?"

     Lastly, verse 17 talks about this learning should lead us to every good work. Demonstrating a life of service, not self-absorption sitting on the couch watching TV all evening but rather getting out and serving others with our free time is vital in the raising of kids. I saw my parents constantly witnessing, holding home Bible studies, working at the church and hopefully my kids saw my wife feeding the homeless, serving at the rescue ministry, teaching Sunday School and myself leading the youth groups and serving medically both locally but around the world. We are saved for good works of service and if we don't model that we will raise "fat babies".

     All of these facets are essential, but I would have to say that points one and four are both about modeling a consistent Biblical life to our kids and is of utmost importance. Teaching knowledge and application are a close second and Timothy had the total environment of growth. Are you providing that for your kids?

Thoughts From 2Timothy 3 - Part 3

 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.  2Timothy 3:10-13

      Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 2Cor.11:24-27

       So, you want to be a leader in the Church? Timothy, knowing often firsthand the trauma Paul had gone through, was told that he too, because he is following Jesus would experience suffering. But Paul emphasizes something involved in following Jesus - living a Godly life. All of the epistles keep hammering this one thought that I keep going back to - we are saved to obey. We are saved to live a godly life. If you get saved and continue in sin (are you really saved?), you won't get persecuted. Why? For one reason, the devil doesn't fear you and you are already doing your part to show unbelievers that the gospel doesn't have power. Why should they persecute you when you are just like them?

     Does this mean if I don't open my mouth and just live a Godly life, I can get by without being persecuted? If I just mind my own business and don't tell people that they are sinning, will I be safe? I think if I stay quiet, I will be persecuted less. I think that's true. However, living an obedient life means I exclude myself from raucous parties, gossip sessions, drunkenness, debauchery, viewing parties of movies I don't want to watch, book clubs of books I don't want to read, and my absence in these comraderies of sin will expose me to persecution. The very fact that I'm not there, convicts people of sin.

      Billy Graham once golfed in a foursome with a famous golfer and when asked afterward what it was like to golf with Billy Graham, the golfer was incensed by Billy Graham preaching at him the whole 18 holes. Later, the golfer admitted that actually Billy Graham hadn't said a word. It appeared that the golfer was just convicted by a righteous presence. We need to radiate Christ and His righteousness in that way and yes, the world won't like it - but we aren't living for their approval anyway, are we?