Next Steps

[1]

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.  We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.  And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.  These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.  In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.  Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.  2 Peter 1:3-7(NLT)

Just like babies climb even a small series of steps, babes in Christ must also ascend.  It isn’t easy to step-up, but growing up in Christ by responding to God’s promises is vital; it’s what makes us useful tools in God’s hands.  And, in the long view, growing-up is what fits our character.  It is natural for babies to stretch and discover how to roll-over.  They stand and wobble as toddlers, falling many times before learning to walk.  They crash and burn learning to ride a two-wheeler.  They venture into social circles at school and learn puppy love can hurt.  We grow, love, hate, learn, and repeat.  We are human.

As spiritual beings this cycle also is familiar.  Peter, the big fisherman, understood spiritual things better than most.  In today’s reading we see him painting the broad stroke first, that God has given us everything we need to grow up and live godly lives.  And then he re-covers the canvass with the detail strokes of how to approach the pattern of next-steps. 

This is where many believers stumble.  We get the erroneous idea that steps are always upward.  In the life of one who is learning, pointed at becoming a useful disciple/servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is never about stepping-upward; discipleship is all about dust.  In fact, the Greek word for servant is very connected to dust; it’s about one who bows low enough to be close to the ground – low enough to wash feet…just like the Master!

Many people get the idea that “faith” is the be-all, and end-all of the Christian life.  It is true that we walk by faith, but that is an entry-point, not a destination.  We begin with a faith-leap that says I will do things God’s way.  

That leads to a step-downward, (backward, if you will) to the moral excellence of eliminating those things which dishonor God, such as sexual sins, dishonesty, lack of respect, and so-on.  

We step down again, studying the Word of God to gain knowledge, so that the next step-down, of self-control, is informed and intelligent, actually doable and intentional. 

As we continue stepping-into the dust we are confronted with the world’s disapproval of our new life, and are forced to add patient endurance to our repertoire. 

And, suddenly, before we know it Godliness is beginning to emerge in our character, and we find ourselves steeped in affection for our brothers and sisters in Christ, which, at dirt/dust level begins to turn our attention to the rest of the human community; we find ourselves hurting for the rest of God’s created beings.  It’s the kind of hurt that only God’s kind of love understands.

For You Today

Next steps in the Christian life isn’t about standing tall; it’s all about getting down and dusty.  And if the world decides to lift you up, to put you on a cross – you’ll be in good company, disciple of your Master!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

When Tolerance Grows Up into Spiritual Maturity

[1]

Friday, December 15, 2017

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection.  But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.  No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing:  Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.  Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things.  If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.  But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.  Philippians 3:12-16^(NLT)

Paul takes the humble position of allowing for his own human fragility.  In one of his other letters (to the Corinthian church) Paul stated it clearly that when he let go of having to control everything – letting God do what God does – his weakness became the effective mighty power of God.[2]

Rather than trying to be “strong” in his own abilities, Paul desired to put the past behind and focus on what God was doing.  Henry Blackaby’s Bible study Experiencing God calls that mindset locating where God is working and cooperating with Him.  

The important point is that Paul understood, even in a wonderfully vibrant fellowship like the church at Philippi, there were going to be disagreements; that is inevitable with human beings!  What Paul wanted to stress was that even in the most controversial of differing opinions genuine spiritual maturity will not lose sight of the goal.

Tolerance has been an overly-accepted word in our vernacular the past several decades.  It hangs like a Behavior Storm Trooper over the entire culture.  We are expected to tolerate others’ viewpoints; in fact, we are expected to surpass tolerance to the degree that all people’s ideas and values are considered equally valid.  That may be high-sounding, but it is dangerous.  For instance, the person that holds an idea that thirty-five cents in his pocket is enough to buy a new car is going to have a huge problem when it comes to the Mercedes dealer allowing him to drive a $63,000 E-Class SUV off the lot for that price; not all ideas are equal!  There will be conflict…if not arrests!

Tolerance can also tip the scale toward arrogance.  Check into a discussion between a Christian conservative and a Christian progressive and you will not have to wait long before the accusations and tempers begin to fly.  The same holds true for liberal and conservative political discussions. 

What Paul suggests is spiritual maturity.  Hear it again from the apostle:

If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.  But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. 

Holding on to the progress already made is a matter of not losing your Christian cool!  It means being willing to be weak personally so that God’s Spirit can be strong in the middle of strengthening relationships.  It means in spite of a disagreement you’re willing to wait for God to make things clear.  A dear friend of mine made that point with me after he’d witnessed my prolonging a heated discussion with another believer.  He said:  You know, Russell, you don’t have to have an answer for everything!

This is the essence of spiritual maturity – when you refuse to take personal offense over a disagreement.  When someone wants to get in your face and turn up the volume, you can turn the other cheek and offer graciousness; if not, you disown the opportunity to build-up the person who disagrees with you. 

And if you’re simply (and arrogantly) tolerating someone’s ideas (because in your humble opinion he or she is an idiot) your attitude towards them can only bring deeper separation and fuel the angry fires of misunderstanding.

So, as Paul also said:

…but we are to hold to the truth with love in our hearts.  We are to grow up and be more like Christ.  He is the leader of the church.  Ephesians 4:15^(NLV)

For You Today

Growing-up into the likeness of Christ – keep that in focus!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] 1 Corinthians 12:10

Shrewd & Harmless

[i]

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.  So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.  But beware!  For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues.  You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers.  But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me.  When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say.  God will give you the right words at the right time.  For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.  Matthew 10:16-20^(NLT)

Jesus taught his disciples many things; in this teaching the main point could be missed entirely if connection is lost between the shrewd and harmless demeanor we are supposed to exhibit, and the reason why we are to be this way.

So let’s examine it for a moment.

Shrewdness is all about understanding your context, and then acting in the best interest of whom you represent.  For the Christ-follower, our context is that we are at odds with the world ^{(James 4:4).}  Considering the One we represent is Christ, shrewdness is a matter of knowing there is opposition to the things of Christ’s kingdom, and developing ability to discover how our actions will either enhance Christ or demean Him.

Harmlessness is readiness to engage the hostility the world will inflict, without regards to how it will affect our comfort or well-being; it means we are content to lay the outcome of such engagement squarely in God’s hands, and that God will use the confrontation of His good (our harmlessness) with the world’s violent evil.

Real time application:

I’m currently engaged in spiritual warfare over a health crisis.  I’m praying God may use what happens for the best Kingdom result.  And that may well depend on if I can manage to be shrewd and harmless. 

I have an appointment today with the throat doctor.  I don’t know if he is a believer or not.  The outcome of this thing could be quite benign…he might say:  take two throat lozenges and chill out; take the stress out of your life.  The other end of the spectrum could be that my vocal cords have a malignancy, involving removal of my voice box, or worse.  In that case the pulpit ministry of the past 40 years is at an end.

Now, I need to be shrewd and do the best I can to preserve whatever tools God gave me in this life, so I will listen intently to what the doctor says, while I invite the Great Physician to inform my mind from within.  But I need to be as harmless as possible also, understanding that my actions may be crucial to the faith of the doctor in front of me.  And those actions are either going to squander, or invest in, the opportunity God is creating with this situation to help my doctor know Him, and perhaps bring him to faith.

So…if you got to read this before 8:45am…that is the time for my appointment with the guy who’s going to stick that delightful tube-scope down my throat.  Here’s what I’m asking as your part in my prayer:  pray, if you will, not so much that I’ll be OK; pray that I’ll be shrewd and harmless, and will listen to the words God wants to put in my mouth, so I can be bold in the witness of Jesus Christ before a doctor and staff who may have need of a more eternal kind of healing.

For You Today

I invite you to pray – yup, right out loud, while you’ve still got a voice – this prayer of John Wesley’s…the kind of prayer for being shrewd and harmless…a tool in the hands of the Master carpenter:

I am no longer my own, but thine- put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.  Put me to doing, put me to suffering.  Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.  I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.  And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Thou art mine and I am thine.  SO BE IT

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

NOTES

---

[i] Title Image: Pixabay.com

Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD!  Praise the LORD from the heavens!  Praise him from the skies!  Praise him, all his angels!  Praise him, all the armies of heaven!  Praise him, sun and moon!  Praise him, all you twinkling stars!  Praise him, skies above!  Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!  Let every created thing give praise to the LORD, for he issued his command, and they came into being.  He set them in place forever and ever.  His decree will never be revoked.  Praise the LORD from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young men and young women, old men and children.  Let them all praise the name of the LORD.  For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven!  He has made his people strong, honoring his faithful ones— the people of Israel who are close to him.  Praise the LORD!           Psalms 148:1 - 14 (NLT)

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.  Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.  Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.  For as members of one body you are called to live in peace.  And always be thankful.  Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.  Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.  And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.    

Colossians 3:12 - 17 (NLT)

Do you like disaster movies?  Not my favorite!  Give me “Meet Me in St Louis” or “It’s a Wonderful Life” –There’s already too much reality on the daily news for me to be interested in end of the world scenarios. 

Have you ever wondered why there are so many of those “disaster movies” produced?  It’s because there is so much disaster and “shaking” of this world.  Frankly, underneath it all people are nervous and unsure of what’s going to happen to this old world; so much is uncertain.

Herbert O’Driscoll is a retired Anglican priest who served in Ireland.  In the 1970’s he watched the terrible earthquakes in Northern Italy.  Someone with a home movie camera captured an outdoor worship scene after the quake hit: 

On a hillside a rough altar of stones had been assembled and an elderly priest was about to elevate the chalice when an aftershock came.  The tremor rippled through the crowd until it reached the priest.  He staggered but succeeded in keeping the chalice aloft with one hand while supporting himself on the altar with his other hand. 

[O’Driscoll continued that he]…immediately identified with the scene.  I understood my priesthood as being in such a world, a world in which foundations were being shaken but where my task was to reach for and hang on to what remained solid and lasting….Why does God shake the earth?....God shakes the earth so that what cannot be shaken may remain….To serve in an age of earthquake is to be forced to decide what it is, for each one of us, that cannot be shaken.[1]

The cross of Christ is, for me, what cannot be shaken.  This cross represents the love of God, and the life Russell should lead.

For these few moments let’s focus on the solid, unshakeable ways we can praise the LORD with our lives.  The Psalmist told us why – that God is creator and sustainer of all there is, and therefore entirely worthy of our praise. 

Paul, in Colossians, tells us the how – living each day of our lives in a manner that is a worthy offering, a life in the character of Jesus Christ.  Paul shows us about 11 characteristics of a Christ-like life. 

It’s not exactly New Year’s resolution time, but let’s go over the list.

1.     Live With Compassion

Compassion is pretty straightforward; when somebody else is hurting, you do something!  It may only be a word, or it may mean sacrifice beyond what you ever could imagine – but compassionate people act!

2.     Live With Kindness

Kindness is a matter of seeing the weakness in another person and deciding against exploiting; rather deciding to help the other to overcome.  It is the picture of lifting someone out of the pit.

3.     Live With Humility 

Humility isn’t merely a lack of “tooting your own horn” or the opposite of pride.  It is more a matter of simply thinking of others before you consider your own needs or wants.  That’s rare today; very rare!

4.     Live With Meekness 

Meekness is not being soft-spoken or “wimpish”.  The Bible word suggests great power under control.  The image is like a huge stallion – 2,000 pounds of incredible strength, gently responding to the reins held by a ten year old girl.  Jesus was characterized as meek, but he had great strength.  His prayer from the cross could have been, “Father, wipe ‘em all out and get me off this planet!”  But Jesus’ meekness, his strength-under-control, was to instead say, “Father, forgive them.”

5.     Live With Patience 

Do you enjoy department store return lines?  How about traffic jams?  Do you have any patience left when you get cut-off on the interstate?

For thousands of years God sent his messengers of love, the prophets; one after the other they were murdered by the very ones God intended to save.  Finally God sent his own beloved Son – and we put him on a cross too.  That is patience!

6.     Live With Forgiveness

How are you at forgiving?  Do you make others come to you, groveling, before you’ll even consider it?  Do you say you forgive, and then keep bringing it up, rolling it around in conversation or just thinking about it until you unravel whatever forgiveness you might have given?  Have you not learned to forget to talk about another’s wrong towards you?

7.     Live in Harmony

Harmony is not when everybody learns to think and act alike; it is much harder to achieve harmony than uniformity.  It takes different notes to make a harmonious sound.  But, harmony IS your target.  So, are you committed to listening so you can understand others – so you can work together towards harmony?

8.     Live With Christ’s Peace Ruling in Your Heart

Paul said in his letter to the church at Philippi that worry shouldn’t rule over our lives, but our prayers and needs are to be lifted to God above.  When we leave our cares and needs with God, he sends the peace of Christ to guard our hearts.

9.     Live With Thankfulness

This should be the easiest of Paul’s list.  When you have a God who has promised an exchange, where we give Him our anxieties and tell Him our needs, and He gives us his peace and supplies our needs, what more does it take to be thankful?

10. Live Teaching Each Other Wisdom

Wisdom is not a matter of IQ or degrees earned from colleges.  Knowing God is the beginning and sum total of true wisdom.  When it comes to teaching each other Godly wisdom, we are like so many beggars sharing with each other where we found bread. 

A major problem these days is that too many spiritual beggars have decided not to look for bread any more.  Bible Study is, of course, the implication here. 

We get our Bible study in many ways – worship is introductory; holy conferencing with other believers takes learning spiritual wisdom to a deeper level (if the topic is scripture and serving, not ball game scores). 

But the deepest of all is personal Bible study, so that you learn to share God’s good ways with others.  Nobody learns like one preparing to teach!

11.  Live With a Song of Praise

There is enough about which you can complain these days.  The life of a believer who honors God in a worthy manner is a person whose lips are filled with praise.  Unfortunately there is no shortage of people who want to constantly dwell on the negative.  They can’t wait to tell you the latest bad news.  They feel compelled to the down side like a junkyard dog feels called to devour a mailman.

Christian – your life is in-Christ, not in the dump!  Pull up thy chin!

Amen, or “Oh Me”?

Does your life fall just a little short of all these wonderful characteristics?  Do you feel like you don’t hit on all those cylinders?  Perhaps you felt like you got a perfect score – ZERO out of 11!

Let’s go back to Herbert O’Driscoll.  It’s an earthquake kind of world.  Of all that which we do today, the cross of Christ is secure.  No matter what your score on Paul’s list, God loves you. 

You can count on that, praise the Lord!

---

[1] Herbert O’Driscoll, Christian Century, December 29, 2009, page 29.