Thoughts on 1 Peter - Day 2

                                   1 Peter 1:3-8
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy


      The first thing I see in this passage is "new birth". Being an Ob, I get to see this almost every day. What inexpressible joy! What great hopes for the future! Plus they get a birth certificate to document that this new life belongs to the parents and the baby gets a bracelet which alarms if anyone else tries to take it. Have you ever led someone to Christ or seen someone truly be born again? There is nothing more exciting in the Christian life to experience. This is why John says, "I have no greater joy than to see my children walking in the truth" and Paul says, "Be active in sharing your faith so that you may experience every good thing we have in Christ".

     Not only is it the most joyful experience to experience someone else's new birth but what joy to experience your own new birth. It is thrilling to see the obedience coming from the transformation of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit that Paul mentions earlier in the passage, i.e. I am no longer tempted by the same things or I am starting to think of others rather than myself. Then we have the joy also of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I remember the first time I had an encounter with Him. I was driving in my VW bug on the interstate from Indiana to Milwaukee to interview for Medical school. I was scared to death about the interviews, my future, my adequacy, etc. and I was talking audibly in the car to God. I was amazed to feel his presence, His comfort, His peace and I will never forget that. I long for that presence of the Lord. It isn't that He isn't always there with me, it is just that sometimes He is in the room so to speak and sometimes we are face to face. There is nothing sweeter than the joy of His presence and we get to experience that forever. And that is the last joy that Peter talks about here - the fact that because Jesus has defeated death we get to live forever in Heaven with Him. Therefore, whatever suffering we are going through here pales in the light of eternity. What's the worst that could happen - we could die - which is the best thing to happen because we finally experience the salvation of our souls, a new body, an inheritance that will never spoil or fade, and to be in the presence of Jesus!

      How do you know you have this? Have you by faith received the forgiveness of your sins through the cross of Christ? Are you experiencing the presence of Jesus in your life? Are your ways of behaving changing to conform with what is pleasing to God? Are you experiencing joy, peace, hope? Are you telling others about your faith? Lastly, when you suffer, are you trusting God or mad and rebelling against Him. Is suffering leading you to a longing for Heaven or a denial of Him. This once hotbed for Christ in Turkey now is 99% Muslim. Why? Suffering came and they chose this Earth over Heaven. Where do you stand?

     Lord, I want to experience the joy of Your presence on a regular basis. Help me to be desperate for that rather than the things of this Earth. Remind me my citizenship is in Heaven and bring someone into my path that I can share the good news with. Amen

    

Thoughts on 1Peter - Day 1

                                            1 Peter 1:1,2

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, ² who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

 

 

            1 Peter is addressed to believers in the modern day region of Turkey. So much of Church history took place in this area. Antioch, the first thriving church mentioned in Acts was in Turkey. Paul's mission trips went throughout this area and a certain degree of revival broke out. The churches in Revelation seem to be in Turkey or this general area. In fact, Turkey has the second most Biblical sites second only to Israel. The fascinating thing about this is that 2000 years later, Christianity is at best 1% of the population and Islam is anywhere from 91-99%. What happened?? Certainly we could say that Islam came to the area on the tip of a sword, yet Christianity seems to thrive under persecution. Look at the church in China. The government has tried to stomp it out, yet the Christians in China will soon outnumber all the Christians in the world put together.

     I'm pretty sure that people much more qualified than me could answer what happened to Christianity in this area but all I know is I don't want it to happen here! And what is the answer? My guess is just keep evangelizing; just keep discipling. Don't let the faith die out with you. Reproduce yourself and multiply yourself. Did you witness to anyone today? Did you help a brother or sister to grow today? Peter says, don't do this as you working to get it done. Do it in the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit which creates obedience to the commands of Christ as His power flowing out through us. What does that practically look like to me? Spending time with Him reading my Bible and praying in the morning and asking for Him to run my life, not me, and bringing people into my life whose hearts He has prepared to be open to spiritual things and then my eyes to be open to those people. That needs to be my daily prayer. That needs to be your daily prayer. Jesus said in Luke 18:8

" when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”  My answer is, "Yes, I am committed to seeing that happen" Are you?

     Lord, I have to admit that so often my mind is focused on getting through my day rather than using my day. Help me daily to see my day through your eyes not mine. Amen

Saving Private Ryan Meets Grace

                                   Saving Private Ryan Meets Grace

           

    If you didn't take the time to watch this video, let me give you the short version of it. Tom Hanks, the leader of a squad was sent to make sure private Ryan doesn't die. While accomplishing this, a number of men in the squadron die including Tom Hanks. His last words to Matt Damon/private Ryan are "Earn This". We pan to an older version of private Ryan, maybe 75 years old where he is standing in the cemetary with his wife, children, and grandchildren and he talks to the tomb of Hanks and says with a distraught, pensive face, "I hope I've earned this - I've tried to be a good person- Honey, have I been a good person?" and his wife assures him he has been a good person. His whole life, from his rescue on, has been influenced, and I would submit - traumatized by those dying words "earn this".

    " 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." Gal.5:1

       Christian freedom can be divided into two categories - conscience freedom and motivational freedom both of which go hand in hand. Conscience freedom or the lack of it is illustrated in this video. Private Ryan has no joy on his face as he reflects on his life wondering if he has been good enough. Christianity is the only religion that offers this kind of freedom because right up front it gives the answer to that question and the answer is an emphatic "no"!We aren't good enough. This is why the law was given, to show that we can never be good enough to reach God's standards. That would be a cruel burden for God to put on mankind except that He put that burden on His son, Jesus, who came to Earth and was good enough. He took all our shortcomings (sins) on Himself and paid the penalty for them on the cross so we can live a life of freedom standing boldly and confidently and with peace and joy in God's presence saying, "I am good enough through Christ's goodness on my behalf." That is grace.

      So conscience freedom is freedom from guilt of an imperfect performance. Motivational freedom is freedom from a drive to perform. Everything Private Ryan did from that time on was motivated by trying to earn the sacrificial death of Tom Hanks. Here is how most Christians including me, at least for the majority of my Christian life, live. We see Christ on the cross and His last words to us are "earn this"!

                           

 Our whole motivation to perform becomes our effort to try to somehow pay for the life He gave up for us. What a burden. But yet that is our default mode. If we are given something we want to pay for it. We want to earn it. Rewards, honors, promotions, monetary gifts, trophies are given because we work for them. So we go to Church three times a week, sing in the choir, work with the youth, go on mission trips, go on visitation, memorize scripture, go to Sunday School, Bible studies in hopes to "earn this" which number one, we can't, and number two, we don't have to - it's already been given.

        What if Tom Hank's parting words would have been different? What if we see those same words coming to us from the cross? Picture Jesus saying this ... "you're welcome"

     

  What would we say in response to those words, how would our life, how would our motivation be different? Rather than trying to somehow perform all our lives to "earn this", we would go through life saying "but I never said 'thank you'". All our life, all our good deeds would be saying "thank you" to the one who gave His life for us. We would live lives of thanksgiving. We would live lives joyfully honoring the One who gave His life for us, telling people "I am doing this in honor of, to say 'thank you' to Jesus. I live because He died." There is no bondage there - only freedom - freedom to serve, freedom to love, freedom to live life knowing that we don't owe anything, it's already been given to us. Receive it and spend the rest of your life saying "Thank You". That's grace.

Thoughts on Romans - Day 49

 Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.
²² I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.
²³ Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings.
Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.

²⁵ Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, ²⁶ but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— ²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

 

    Quick, quote Romans 16:24. Haha. Another discussion for another time.

   

     Have you ever gone through a situation and you had no idea why, but many years later, God was gracious enough to show you why it happened? I have had several episodes like this but I will tell you about two, one with an immediate answer and one with a delayed answer. First the delayed. My wife and I had to endure a malpractice trial back in '89 for 32 week twins that were in the same sack and wrapped their cords around each other and died. I was sued and my wife and I sat through a week of harsh interrogation in a court in Knoxville. My wife wasn't involved, obviously, but sat by my side through it all and took it as hard as I did. Fortunately, the jury deliberated 20 minutes and came out with a not guilty plea and we were exonerated - justified. The immediate benefit was the closeness I developed with God during that time, who really was my Comforter. The long term explanation, partially probably, for why God let this happen was seen 20 years later when I talked with a Christian Counselor who had become my friend and he told me a story of how he heard about me. He was counseling a young attorney who had just lost a major malpractice case and then told the counselor about this couple who were the defendents and how they had something that he didn't and through that whole episode , he had come to faith in Christ. How awesome, huh? Well worth a year of pain.

 

      The next episode was when I was a High School senior and flew from Indianapolis to Rhinelander Wisconsin to a Bible camp to see my  long distance girlfriend who was going to be at camp. My parents sent me "standby" because it was cheaper and unfortunately I spent 24 hours in OHare airport because for some reason all the flights from Chicago to Rhinelander were full. All I had was my clothes I had on, which I had spilled my Coke on, on the first leg of the journey, and my fishing pole which when I finally arrived in Rhinelander sans luggage, I shut the car door on the tip of the pole and broke it.. Here I was, a kid at camp with soiled clothes, no luggage, no pole, and a girlfriend who was acting weird around me. Right before the week was up, the airline stated they had found my luggage at a Jewish Girl's Camp and if I could stay a few more days they would get it for me. Because of this, I stayed on to be a counselor at a youth week and heard a missionary speak who God used to change my life. I didn't understand what God was doing but soon I did.

 

       This is the situation Paul is talking about. All the sacrifices, feasts, dietary laws, etc. given in the law were a mystery until Christ, the perfect sacrifice, the Passover Lamb, the one who takes us from unclean to clean came and made things clear. They suddenly made sense. This was a long term reveal like my court case. Then, why would the Messiah who was going to bring about the redemption of Israel, why would he die? This was a short term reveal. He died to take away our sins and rose to give us life. Mysteries revealed! And here Paul sits with his posse of Quartus, Tertius, Timothy, Lucias, Jason, Sosipitar, Gaius, and Erastus and they are reflecting on the wisdom of God. What a marvelous plan He has. How big is God and his ways so much higher than ours. Paul concludes the letter with these thoughts. It's kind of like he is saying, "I have told you everything you need to know and explained it as best as I can but it is so much bigger than this. Seek God for yourself. Don't just take my thoughts and make them yours but let God teach you through His Holy Spirit using my thoughts as a framework to know when you are heading off into left field "(I'm sure they didn't have a left field) "We will see you soon and compare notes and tell God stories. See you!"

 

      Lord, help me to develop this kind of friendship and fellowship not based on things of this world but on the wonder of how great you are and what you have done and are doing in us. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 48

                                             Romans 16:16-20

All the churches of Christ send greetings.

¹⁷ I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. ¹⁸ For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. ¹⁹ Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.

²⁰ The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.


         There is a 20 year old girl in our Bible Study that just got saved out of a really rough life. It is exciting to see because she actually is transformed as opposed to all the people on drugs in my office that I pray with and get "saved" then ask me for more "Roxys or Hydros". When I read Paul's letter to this church, I think of a church full of people like her. First of all, they have to be all new believers because the gospel is new. It recently happened. By definition everyone has to be new believers. There could be no one in the church like me - 60 years old and saved when I was 5. That can be a good thing. New believers like her are fired up. She took my wife and I upstairs to see her "war room" - a prayer closet with pictures of people and Bible verses. I don't have one of those. No wonder the early church was so vibrant and powerful. Unfortunately it can also be bad in that everyone is "naïve" (vs.18) . She doesn't know her Bible yet. I, as I teach Sunday School and cover like Gal. 4 where it talks about Sarah, Hagar, Isaac, Ishmael, and Abraham, I have to realize that she has probably never even heard of those people. She also would probably believe everything I say, too, which is a scary thought. And then I think of my human nature and I think, wouldn't it be awesome to have a following of about 30 people like her who think I know everything and are hanging on every word I say. What a feeling of power, importance, etc.(If you are a woman and reading this, you probably don't relate to that at all but the need for significance is deeply wired inside men. Thus, all the warnings to the early church are about men) I often wonder how these churches so quickly believed false doctrine and this is probably why - they were young innocent naïve believers who were seen as prey for men who needed to feel important.

       What is Paul's warning to this church? What would be my warning to this young girl? Get wisdom - be wise. How? The people who aren't so new in the faith need to take the young believers under their wings and teach them. They need to learn the Bible in a hurry so that when they hear wrong teaching, something won't give them peace about it. The goal of growth being eventually, hopefully soon, God will enable them to just trample these teachings of Satan.

       Lord, bring young believers into my path that I can disciple and also so their exuberance and zeal and passion can reignite my fire for You. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 47

                                              Romans 16:1-16
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. ² I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.

³ Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. ⁴ They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

⁵ Greet also the church that meets at their house.

Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

⁶ Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.

⁷ Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

⁸ Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.

⁹ Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.

¹⁰ Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.

Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

¹¹ Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.

Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

¹² Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.

Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

¹³ Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.

¹⁴ Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them.

¹⁵ Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s people who are with them.

¹⁶ Greet one another with a holy kiss.

         Paul has written this letter while in Corinth and has entrusted it to Phoebe to take to Rome. He is introducing her to the churches there and authenticating the letter by telling of her qualifications and identifying all the people he knows in the churches in Rome to validate that this isn't a counterfeit letter but indeed is from him and thus can be treated as God's word. Like a geneology which on the surface seems like something that can be skipped over, this passage can teach us a lot and I see 3 things I'd like to bring out.
 
         First, the diversity. We see slaves, royal families, gentiles, Jews, Asians, Italians, famous people, ex-prisoners, singles, married people, young, old, men, women all bonded together by one thing - their salvation by Jesus Christ. I was just on a cruise and asked someone what language they were speaking and they said Polish. Imagine them being on that cruise and as they were walking among 6000 people, they heard someone else speaking Polish. How exciting that would be. I'm sure they would go right up to that person and instantly become best friends even though back home if they met they probably would never become friends. Why? Because in a world of strangers, suddenly that one common bond of communicating, understanding each other becomes the only thing that matters. We as Christians have a common understanding and worldview that when we meet another Christian, it is so enjoyable, as citizens of the same "country" to communicate because they "get" us.

        Secondly, although he had not yet visited Rome, Paul names 24 individuals, 17 men and 7 women, along with unnamed households as a "roster" of choice Christians he knew and with whom he had worked. Could you do that? I attend a church of 2000 with 70 in the Sunday School class I teach and I'm not sure I could do that. How could he do that? I can think of two reasons. One, he probably prayed continuously for people by name. Am I laboring in prayer for the people in my Sunday School class? Am I praying through the pictorial church directory? (That is how easy it is today) Secondly, he labored with these people. They worked alongside each other for the sake of the gospel. We are lucky if we can get someone to go out with us for lunch after church much less going with us witnessing, visiting, serving. When you labor with someone you get to know them. Are we too involved with our lives and our family's lives that we are relatively unconcerned for others?

    Lastly, I noticed the strangest thing; none of these people did anything for the Lord. They didn't receive people, work for people, love people, etc. Wait a second, you might say. In this passage it says they did all that stuff. No, in this passage it doesn't say they did those things "for" the Lord. In this passage it says they did those things "in" the Lord and that's a big difference. Abraham and Sarah did something for the Lord and they had Ishmael. The sons of Sceva cast out demons for the Lord and got beat up. When we get saved we receive the Holy Spirit. He operates inside us and our works become through Christ or "in"Christ. They happen through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and we bear real fruit not fake fruit. God gets the glory not us. We accomplish things in Christ that are for His glory not ours.

    Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit today. May He increase and I decrease. May You get the glory  for anything accomplished in me. And may I have a genuine love and compassion for people today. Amen

 

Thoughts on Romans - Day 46

                      Romans 15:22-33

²² This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

²³ But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, ²⁴ I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. ²⁵ Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. ²⁶ For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. ²⁷ They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. ²⁸ So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. ²⁹ I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.
³⁰ I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. ³¹ Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, ³² so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. ³³ The God of peace be with you all. Amen.


      Are you a proud person? Am I? Was the early Church? Maybe, Yes, and No. I see three instances of how pride can show itself in this passage and maybe we can learn something by looking at those. First of all Paul previously talked about his personal desire in using his gifts was to boldly go where no man has gone before. He didn't want to build on another man's foundation. There are dangers in this attitude. I've known some proud men who have entered the ministry with that attitude - "I'm not going to pastor an existing church, I'm going to start my own". Many times this is done to make a name for themselves. Sometimes it may be that they don't feel called to straighten up someone else's mess, they want to start from scratch. Maybe they feel that they don't want to be under the authority that the established church was under. Maybe they just know the time is short and the whole world needs to hear. I think this is where Paul is coming from. Paul was so humble that he thought nothing of making a statement like, "if someone has already been there I don't want to go." He didn't consider this proud at all because his motives were pure. The gospels do say that when everyone has heard, the Lord will return. There is nothing wrong with wanting to speed His return.

      Secondly Paul basically says, "It's time to move on, everyone here has heard". This could sound like a proud statement saying "I have done such a good job that everyone here has heard and I'm done here", except that Paul knew he didn't do anything - it was Christ in Him. All the glory should go to God not Paul and he knew that so he could make statements like that. This takes away all pride in "our" accomplishments when we know we are nothing and He is everything. He gets all the glory for anything "I" have accomplished.

     Lastly, money and pride. Tim Keller calls money "self-esteem units". In this passage we see two thoughts that make me cringe because I am a proud person. First of all he basically asks them to pay for his travel to Spain in verse 24. I have a very hard time asking people for money. I feel like a beggar and I'm too proud to beg. Paul isn't. He knows that as believers all money belongs to God. He is just asking them to free up a little of God's money just as the churches in Asia minor did for the church in Jerusalem. He knows that if he had money he would give it away to the church in Rome if they needed it. Are you too proud to ask the church for help. Or, the second issue, are you too proud to receive help when it is given you. The Church in Jerusalem who were Jews were about to receive money from gentiles and he was concerned they would be too proud to receive it. When we realize that we are all equal in the eyes of God, accepting money from someone doesn't put us lower than them. We are all equal. Accept it thankfully as from God giving it to you through one of His earthly messengers.

        Lord, once again I need your help. I am so proud. Help me to see that without you I am nothing. That all men are equal at the foot of the cross. That everything I have or accomplish in life I owe it all to you. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 45

                                                    Romans 15:14-21
 I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. ¹⁵ Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
¹⁷ Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. ¹⁸ I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. ²⁰ It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. ²¹ Rather, as it is written:

“Those who were not told about him will see,
    and those who have not heard will understand"

 

        In Chapter 12 we talked about spiritual gifts and here in Chapter 15 we see Paul talking about his. I see three gifts at work in Paul's life - pastor and evangelist and Apostle. First of all - apostle. Where do I get that? I see that in the fact that he was able to do signs and wonders. Apostles were given supernatural abilities to confirm that Jesus was God.

 

"I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles." 2 Cor. 12:12

 

    Next gift is evangelism. Although we are all called to evangelize, Paul had great success preaching the gospel throughout his known world and people saw, heard, and understood salvation through Christ.

 

       Lastly he had the gift of a pastor. John says in 1John 2:27

 

 ^"As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you."

 

Paul addresses this in verse 14 as he acknowledges the truth of John's statement (which hadn't been written yet) and follows it up with "yet" in verse 15. Paul says that a pastor's job is to boldly remind people of what they know. It is like when you read something in scripture and you say, "I need to change that pattern of behavior". You give it a meager effort and then forget about it until the pastor says to you, "You better change that pattern of behavior"!, which carries a whole lot more impetus. This is all done to build on our foundation of faith so that we might be acceptable offerings to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit or as the rapper Christon Gray says, "A little less Cosby and a little more Huxtable".

 

        So, what is the practical application for us here? Number one, exercise your gift; use it and use it to the max. Look at Paul and emulate him. He so intently evangelized that he could say in Acts that everyone in the region had heard the gospel. He was exercising his pastoral gifts to such an extent that he wrote most of the New Testament as letters to these churches. Where would the church be 2000 years later if not for Paul's zeal. The Bible says that we, when we get saved, we are all given at least one spiritual gift.

Administration	Knowledge
Apostleship	Leadership
Discernment	Mercy
Evangelism	Miracles
Exhortation	Pastor/Shepherd
Faith	Prophecy
Giving	Serving/Ministering
Healing	Teaching
Interpretation of Tongues*	Tongues Wisdom

      This is a list that has been compiled. There are numerous ways to discover your gifts but once you do, you need to use them zealously in the power of the Spirit for the good of the body. Secondly, God made you unique. Paul, used these 3 gifts in a way that he would go to unreached people. He didn't want to build on another's foundation. Is that a model for all who have these gifts? No! But this was unique to Paul. God gives us freedom to express our gifts according to our make-up and desires. Don't feel like if you have a gift that there is a manual to follow on the proper way to use it. Follow your heart; follow your passions; be unique; enjoy!

 

      Lord, help me not to be lazy but to use the gift that you have given me out of love for my brothers and sisters. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 44

                                             Romans 15:13
 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.


        The English language does a disservice to the word hope. We say, "I hope so", "I hope to", "I hope the Brewers win today", etc. and we have no assurance that these things will happen - especially the last one. When Paul speaks of hope and the Bible speaks of hope, it means confident expectation. That is why, quite often when hope  is mentioned it is in the context of Heaven or the return of Christ. Both are certainties, we just don't know their timing as they relate to us but the confident expectation of our being a part of that gives us an over-arching joy and peace as we go through life.

       I recently read a book by Viktor Frankl called Man's Search for Meaning. He was a Jewish prisoner in the Nazi prison camp who happened to be a psychologist so he could analyze the mental affect the lack of hope has on humanity. He states that prisoners who gave up hope were the first to die. They died less from lack of food or medicine but rather a lack of something to live for. He tells a story of a prisoner who had a dream in February of 1945 that the war was going to end 3/30/45. He was convinced that God gave him that dream. He lived in confident expectation of that until 3/30 passed without the war ending. He suddenly on the 30th became ill, ran a high fever, and was dead on the 31st. To all outward appearances he had died of Typhus but everyone there knew that he had died from a lack of hope.

         Do we understand as Christians how good mentally/emotionally we have it compared to unbelievers. We have a confident expectation that even though we have tragedy, suffering, misfortunes in this life - we don't lose hope. We can have joy and peace in the midst of this. If we lose all our money we know that we have treasures in Heaven that can't be lost. If we experience death of a loved one who knows Jesus, we know that we will see them again. If we experience a deadly disease we know that even if we aren't healed we will get new bodies when we die that will live for all eternity. If people despise us our mistreat us we know that we have a God who thinks we are amazing.

        When I run into people that don't believe this I usually ask them what anti-depressants or nerve medicine they are on because most of the time they are on something. They have to be on something - they are living without hope. What is the defeated Christian life? It is living life with a lack of hope. It is focusing so much on this world that we have lost sight of our blessed hope. Come on Christians, don't live as those who have no hope. We should be different! The power of the Holy Spirit is inside you telling you this is true and enabling you to live with hope. Yield to Him. Pray that He would increase in our lives and we would decrease.

      Lord, help me today not to get distracted by the temporal but rather to focus on the eternal. Help me not to hope in the English sense but rather in the biblical sense. Increase my faith. May You increase in my life and may I decrease! Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 43

                                    Romans 15:7-12
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. ⁸ For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed ⁹ and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles;
    I will sing the praises of your name.”

¹⁰ Again, it says,

“Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”

¹¹ And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;
    let all the peoples extol him.”

¹² And again, Isaiah says,

“The Root of Jesse will spring up,
    one who will arise to rule over the nations;
    in him the Gentiles will hope.”

 

 

    I wonder what would be our oil and water in the church today like the 1st century Jews and Gentiles. Suddenly 2 different groups of people , who prior had nothing to do with each other, were told to not just coexist but embrace, love, fellowship with - basically become family with each other when the only thing they had in common was Christ.

  

    The obvious answer to how this relates to us today is race - blacks and whites worshipping together. We could probably exclude Hispanics because they are segregated by language but if that weren't the case, they would have a natural division also. I do believe that with the freedom of religion and the choices we have in America, believers don't have to assimilate culturally like they did in the early church. We have "black" churches and we have "white" churches available even in a small town like mine. Is this bad? In a sense yes because we don't get the privilege of learning about and loving people different than us. It hampers our spiritual growth and we miss out on the opportunity to demonstrate to the world that a relationship with Christ, transcends and ends races and racism. Yet, in a sense it is a good thing that there are so many believers and such religious freedom that we can gather together with people that share a common culture. For example, I have visited churches where people are your prototypical "hillbillies". The pastor yells, the people yell, and I'm thinking,"I will shout hallelujah if he says anything number 1 that I can understand and number 2 that is meaningful. And then they break out some kind of music with 4 square harmony or something like that and I hug everyone as I leave as brothers and sisters in the Lord but I am under my breath saying I can't wait to get back to my hipster praise and worship band where they wear scarfs in the winter up on stage even though the temperature indoors is 72 degrees. The same relative "out-of-placeness" can be said for African - Americans coming to my church or vice versa. My partner at work diagnoses the relative health or "spiritfilled-ness" of a church based on its diversity. I'm just not sure about that. I do think, however, that any chance we get to join hands with that church that is culturally different from ours on community projects or activism, etc. we should jump all over that to demonstrate to our brothers and sisters and to an on-looking world that we are one.

Thoughts on Romans - Day 42

                                                  Romans 15:1-6
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. ³ For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” ⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

       Everything in life comes down to this - "Glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ". That is why we exist.  Our biggest obstacle to this is found in verses 1 and 3 - pleasing ourselves. In context, this is what Chapter 14 was about - if you are doing things that are bothering other Christians, even if you have every right to and have the freedom to do those things, just stop doing them. Well, that's not fair, why don't they stop being so legalistic and in bondage? Stop being judgmental Paul would say. Let them grow at their own pace. And Paul says, stop insulting them because your insults are falling on Jesus. Jesus is so into glorifying the Father that He gave up His life and took all our sins, like our insulting people, on Himself. Certainly the least we can do is give up playing poker for example. Then Paul mentions the saints of old and how we are to follow their selfless example. I think of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. To be a prophet, they literally gave up any rights to calling their own shots. They said, here am I send me. They were imprisoned, martyred, starved, thrown in a well, beaten, walked around naked, hated, despised, seen as traitors and much more so that they would have the privilege of hearing from God and speaking His words. In fact, Jeremiah's scribe Baruch, at one point starts thinking of himself and is soundly rebuked by God. (Jer.45)

       Isa. 53:6 describes our condition in sin - we are following our own way. Paul describes Timothy in Phillipians 2:21 as one completely different from everyone else because he wasn't looking out for his own interests. Paul says of love in Ephesians 5:1,2

    Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us

     Andrew Murray defines love as "the deep desire to give oneself up for the beloved." Tim Kimmel defines love as "commitment of my will to your needs and best interests regardless of the cost.".

    Therefore, if we exist to glorify God, and the key to doing this is to Love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and to love our neighbor as ourselves - we have to focus on dying to self and praying to that end daily. Pay particular attention to things that are frustrating you, angering you, causing anxiety in you, or making you say, "that's not fair". If we leverage those feelings for good, they will point to areas in your life where you haven't died. They are areas where our pride is getting attacked and we are being offended. Step outside of the incident and embrace it for your/my death as Christ continues to be formed in us.

       Lord, this is a continuing theme - I must have issues with this in my life (obviously). Help me to see life through the big pictures and themes - death, love, glorifying - and not get caught up in the petty stuff. Amen