Between Pinnacle & Pit - Part 5

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful!  But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.  Hebrews 12: 10-11

Note:  What follows are excerpts of the first sermon I preached, June 7, 1978

If you’ve worked with gold, or know something about gold, you know it begins as ore, dug right out of the earth – then it has to be washed.  When gold is in ore form, combined with all that dirt and other elements, it’s not useable.  When the gold is washed, separated from the other impurities, it’s still not fit for use; a gold nugget is no good; it’s only mostly pure, but still needing preparation for useability.  The final process is the fire; gold is melted-down to remove any other elements that might hamper its most productive state. 

That’s the way a lot of Christians are, we make a decision for Christ, and we’re only a raw possibility at that point.  We’re washed by the blood of Christ, much like the ore that’s been washed…quite pure, we are washed by the blood, and forgiven, but still not ready for His best use; not unless we yield to the fire.  The prophet Isaiah said:  Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.Isaiah 48:10 ^(KJV) 

Of course Isaiah wasn’t talking about the gold or silver you dig out of the ground.  He was talking about the gold of your life’s possibilities that have been yielded to the fire, refined, and molded into something ready to be used.  

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.  Job 23:10^(KJV).

Elizabeth and I have been praying for her mother and father.  This morning ⁽¹⁹⁷⁸⁾ my mother-in-law is in a hospital room in Port Richey.  She had two heart attacks this week, not just one.  She had one that put her in the hospital; she wouldn’t give up – she had another; that’s two strikes.  I will tell you something; we have been praying for her for a long time, for her salvation, and her husband’s.

Update to 1983.  Elizabeth’s Mom died this year.  After she was gone, we were going through her belongings and found the answer to our prayers.  It was her Bible, given to her by a visiting pastor.  On the flyleaf was written in her hand, and dated shortly before she died, this inscription:  “Sofie saved”! 

The Holy Spirit tugs at a heart…gently, ever so gently.  The Holy Spirit deals gently with us until we come to a point.  How hard the Holy Spirit tugs at your heart is up to you.  Repentance, turning from sin, is the only thing that interrupts the consequences of our sin from something drastic being done to get our attention.  When you have people praying for you, that you’ll turn to the LORD, but you keep turning away, you’re going to benefit from God’s chastisement.

We know what chastisement is, and we know why…it’s a purging, a cleansing.  Now, how do we benefit from it?  Paul’s letter to the Roman believers tells us:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  Romans 8:28^(KJV)

Our life is like the gold, dug out of the ground, raw possibility, but still needing the discipline of shaping for God’s good uses.  It needs to be yielded to the fire of God’s’ purifying character, making us fit for His purposes. 

For You Today

Chastisement, the move of God to discipline, teach, correct, and mature his children, comes in many forms:  experiencing problems, sickness, financial difficulties, and a myriad of other roads we walk.  One thing always common to chastisement is the experience gets our attention.  This is God’s blessed way of training his loved ones into a peaceful harvest of right living.

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these:                                                            

                                 Seeing and Following the Light… Part 1 and Part 2  and  Part 3        

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Between Pinnacle & Pit - Part 4

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful!  But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.  So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.  Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.  Hebrews 12: 10-11

We are continuing with our investigation of the gap between the pinnacle of genuine faith, and the pit of unbelief. 

Chastisement, or when God disciplines, is what God does to make us “fit for use”. That is the whole purpose of training, to become useful for God’s Kingdom.  The sermon[1] upon which this series of devotions is based, includes an illustration of God’s purpose to take our brokenness and use it for His glory, and puts into perspective those difficult times of testing and training we all experience:

He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.  John 15:2

A week, or so, ago (in 1978) the muffler fell off my car.  It’s that big Mercury, so you know it’s a long dude, and it’s heavy.  I got under the car trying to put that muffler back on for what seemed like an hour-and-a-half.  I was getting weary; I was on my back with arms in the air lifting that muffler for an hour-and-a-half, but I just could not get it right.  The pipe I tried to use to get the muffler back together was too long for the space.  It just wouldn’t fit. 

After trying so many times I was exhausted.  The point here is that I finally gave-in; I gave-up.  I prayed at that moment, out loud, under the car:  Lord, I give up.  I can’t get it done; you gotta do it.  You know me – I don’t have anything left.  I waited a few minutes for the LORD’s answer, and decided to try again.  I pushed it and the whole thing fell apart.  Now, a few years back the old Russell would’ve gotten angry, looked up and said:  Hey…why…what have YOU got against me?  But not this time.  I just said, OK…looks like you have some other plan here.  I crawled out from underneath the car.  I was picking up stuff to put in the trunk and walk home, but as I got to the back of the car, I noticed the muffler clamp on the back end was still attached.  I saw how impossible it would be to put the muffler back together. 

When I waited on the LORD, I saw the solution to the problem that was there all the time.  I backed off, gave it up, listened, and the LORD showed me the right way.  I had taken the wrong approach…I was doing it my way.  I waited until things came unglued before I prayed and trusted.

That’s the way of instruction.  A lot of times you don’t see the LORD’s instruction until retrospect…that time when you stop doing things your way,  look back, and it dawns on you, oh yeah! 

Imagine your life as a sweater being knitted.  God’s the knitter, and you decide to take the needles.  You make a mistake (don’t we always) but God’s not going to continue where you left off; He’s going to take out the error.  That’s called purging.

For You Today

The sweater or muffler in your life may be different than mine, but the principle holds…we can continue struggling with doing it our way…or we can learn early in the process to give-in, and give-up, to God’s teaching.

Tomorrow we’ll have the unveiling of God’s glory in this whole process.

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these:                                                                 

         Why Does Bad Stuff Happen to Good People? and Seeing and Following the Light - Part 1      

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] From a sermon, Chastisement, June 7, 1978, Russell Brownworth

Between Pinnacle & Pit - Part 2

Friday, August 19, 2022

Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?  If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.  Hebrews 12: 7b-8

We are continuing with our investigation of the gap between the pinnacle of genuine faith, and the pit of unbelief.  The issue is discipline, and it will drive you to one or the other.  Unbelief will receive discipline (from God), as well as faith.  Any “bad response” will drive you to the pit; God’s advice throughout this passage is to respond well to His correctives, and be lifted to the pinnacle of faith, a joyful relationship with your Creator.  So, the question is begged and on the table:

What is a Good Response?

In our text the writer poses the question:  What child isn’t disciplined?  This is a loaded question in contemporary culture’s parenting mode.  The lack of even the simplest forms of accountability when it comes to civil behavior, or manners, runs rampant in our land.  So is the result – a lack of respect for any kind of authority, and a nation’s character crumbling like the Towers on 9/11.

In fairness, you must consider the “WHY” behind parents not saying “no” to their children, backed-up by consequences.  It stems from a faulty evaluation of who we are at our base nature.  Parents imagine their children are “good”, and unacceptable behavior is merely a phase, which will give way to that inherrent goodness, like cream in a milk bottle, rising to the top. 

Scripture informs us[1] that our sin nature does not give way…it resists any inhibition whatsoever:

For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are. Your necks are as unbending as iron. Your heads are as hard as bronze.  

Isaiah 48:4

So, a child left uncorrected, unaccountable, doesn’t tire of his unacceptable behavior, changing into a fine human being – he keeps pushing the envelope until it breaks.  He abuses parents, peers, and those who get in his way, until God, or the penal system intervene.  Just like a garden that is left unattended, a lack of discipline will evolve into a rowdy mess of weeds, unproductive, unsightly, and totally unstable.  Humans in that category are tempermental, angry, selfish, sociopathic child-adults, unable to play nice with others.

A side-effect to all this is the child infecting the parents.  Many a parent, unwilling to say “no” to their child, has become frustrated that their hands-off routine didn’t work!  They get to that last straw of frustration and begin to abuse their child(ren), in a knee-jerk rebound from their failure.  What then replaces permissiveness is overbearing punishment, frustrating the child beyond any hope of accepting the parent’s intended good will.  The conclusion is that permissive parenting doesn’t work, because it is founded on a faulty premise:  good children left to their own choices make good choices.  How wrong, and how sad.

For You Today

True discipline always begins with love for the child.  Defined by He who IS LOVE, genuine discipline is always accountability-based, instructive, helping a child to learn to obey God’s authority, so he can grow into God’s loved and loving child:

For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Galatians 5:14

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these:  Punishment Island and Earth Day - Part 4      

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] The word “stubborn” appears 66 times, relative to human obstinacy – (see the list here)

Between Pinnacle & Pit

Thursday, August 18, 2022

And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?  He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you.  For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”  As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children.  Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?  If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.  Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?  For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how.  But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.  No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful!  But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.  So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.  Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.  Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.  Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God.  Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.  Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal.  You know that afterward, when he wanted his father’s blessing, he was rejected.  It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears.  Hebrews 12: 5-17

The first sermon I ever preached was from this text.  After more than 45 years of reflection I still hold it as one of the most important passages in Scripture…for people like me…hardheaded, expecting fairness as I see it, and often blindsided by my pride, as to what is good for me, and what I want…which are often at opposite ends of God’s list of the care and feeding of Russell.

Discipline is as much an art as duty.  The word has many shades of meaning, but mostly points to training which leads to a better purpose.  Solomon wrote:

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6

This one word, discipline stands between the pinnacle and the pit.  To accept God’s chastening when we are wrong is to turn to the light at the pinnacle.  To kick against the goads of His training is to court the abyss of darkness and death.  That’s not a pretty picture, but it is that much risk which accompanies the God-given blessing/responsibility of free will. 

For You Today

We will look at this passage in depth over the next several days.  For now, let’s start with the reason behind God’s discipline – He loves you!

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these:  After the Disaster and Strength to Go On      

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Punishment Island

[i]

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

The people are like the dead branches of a tree, broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots.  Israel is a foolish and stupid nation, for its people have turned away from God.  Therefore, the one who made them will show them no pity or mercy.  Yet the time will come when the Lord will gather them together like handpicked grain.  One by one he will gather them—from the Euphrates River in the east to the Brook of Egypt in the west.  In that day the great trumpet will sound.  Many who were dying in exile in Assyria and Egypt will return to Jerusalem to worship the Lord on his holy mountain.   Isaiah 27:11-13^(NLT)

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"Punishment Island" is a feature documentary about a tiny island in remote Uganda where women were abandoned for getting pregnant before marriage.[ii]  The premise of why this place exists is heartbreaking; not only are the women abandoned, but obviously so are their unborn children.  It is an ignorant and harsh punishment.

But can we lump all “punishment” into that category?  There are some forms of consequence that belong with aberrant behavior.  Murder is a prime example; there must be some consequence, otherwise the import of that victim’s life is blunted.  Theft robs both the victim of his property and the thief’s self-respect.  The need for recompense and turning things right-side-up is immutable.

I unearthed the notes I saved from my very first sermon ever preached.  It was for evening worship at a little Baptist Church on June 7, 1978. The title was “Chastisement”.  (I do have a copy of the audio, but hardly have the nerve to listen to it!) 

While most of the sermon was a cross between a topical Bible study and an apology for taking up people’s time, there was actually a little meat to be had for understanding one of the elephant-in-the-room questions:  WHY?  Why must we be held accountable for our actions and disciplined?

It’s certainly much easier to describe WHAT discipline looks like – a rule gets made, broken, and recompensed.  There is punishment, discipline.  That’s legalism.

But, WHY must it be this way?  Why can’t we just forget about it all?  That is a question that moves past the legalism of what must be done, and travels into the realm of WHY God does what only God does…LOVE!

The apostle Paul gives us the redemptive reason behind all God’s judging:

Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.   1 Corinthians 11:32^(NLT)

God’s purpose in chastising, disciplining, even punishing is to save us from ultimate condemnation – the death of our souls.

In a children’s time message this past week I showed the children my old house slippers, broken and worn-out.  And I showed them the rubber soles which could be recycled.  Even if the shoes were past useable for me, they were not past having a purpose.  And then we ended with this statement:

Remember in those times when you feel broken and used-up, you don’t have to stay that way; let God recycle you.

For You Today

Even when you feel like you’ve been abandoned to Punishment Island, God is right in the middle of your circumstances.  Keep praying; His hand may be heavy at the moment, but His love is still working.

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

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

[i] Title Image:  By Edirisa assumed (based on copyright claims)., via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] From the documentary website

After the Disaster

Got safety?

Almost daily we hear of incredible tragedies in the world.  The typhoon in the Philippines is the latest overwhelming news story.  Nothing like that has ever happened to me and my family.  For that I am extremely grateful, and a little saddened, that, having not experienced such loss, I cannot fully understand the depth of another person’s suffering.

Throughout Scripture God’s special people, the Jews, have experienced incredible hardship and persecution.  Much of their suffering was at God’s hand; captivities, conquered by evil despots, plagues, wanderings, persecution, holocaust! 

Whoa!  How could a loving father treat his children like that?  Well, Scripture is quick to point out two realities about God’s children and suffering:

 Obedience brings God’s favor

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires.   Psalms 37:4 (NLT)

Too many of us read the second part of that verse as if it stands alone; we want our heart’s desires.  But the full verse makes it clear that when the desires of your heart are in line with God’s heart, then there is no limit to what He will do for you.  Obedience comes first….otherwise, the second reality happens….

Disobedience brings God’s correction. 

Throughout the Scriptures God makes the case over and over again that a genuinely loving Father is one who corrects bad behavior:

Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the LORD your God disciplines you for your own good.    Deuteronomy 8:5 (NLT)

Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them.  Proverbs 13:24 (NLT)

For the LORD disciplines those he loves,and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”   As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?    Hebrews 12:6-7 (NLT)

I correct and punish everyone I love. So make up your minds to turn away from your sins.   Revelation 3:19 (CEV)

In Nehemiah’s prayer he acknowledged that even in the midst of harsh judgment, God’s people are not totally destroyed – and that because of God’s great mercy and grace.

Today

There is a saying I’ve come to appreciate – You’re either going through tough times, have just come through tough times, or, hold on… tough time’s a-coming.

Wherever you find yourself on that scale, it’s a more than profitable practice to praise God for His grace and mercy – you’re going to need both.

(Please note - this rehearsing of Israel's judgments in no way suggests the typhoon in the Philippines is God's judgment on that nation.  This devotion is intended to help us see judgment in light of our personal relationship with God, and our behavior before God, so that both may improve.  As ever, we pray for the relief of suffering in the Philippines and in all the world.)