The log that fell off the fire

 

I lit a fire in our fireplace earlier this week. It’s a nice touch for a relaxing evening. To get it going, I placed small pieces of kindling on the bottom, and then arranged wood in a neat array. It burned nicely.  One of the pieces rolled off the pile and in a few moments the fire on it died out. It needed to be with the other pieces to stay on fire.  That little episode is a parable for a disciple who wants to stay passionate about serving God.

"Church, who needs it?" is an idea widely accepted among Christians. In the church I lead an increasingly casual attitude toward gathering for worship has led to only about half of the congregation being present on any given Sunday.  Many insist that they can worship as they play, or have family time, or rest at home.  Fact is, a disciple who brushes off the importance of being an active part of a congregation, is ignoring something that is on God's 'critically important' list!  Here’s what the Bible says, “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:24-25, NIV)

Our spiritual experience while personal and individual is incomplete without Church. The Bible says that we are part of Christ’s Body, each of gifted to contribute to the whole, none of us self-sufficient in our practice or understanding.  (see 1 Corinthians 12)  Looking back over Christian history it becomes clear that nearly every aberrant or heretical practice began when someone decided that he or she no longer needed to stay in the Church. Without the balance of the Body, we all risk becoming self-deceived. Then, too, what we can do together far exceeds what we might hope to do for the Kingdom by ourselves.

The church may gather in someone's living room, a school gymnasium, a chapel by the roadside, or a cathedral. I have worshipped with Christians in all of the above and offered my praise and worship to the Living God.  I remember feeling the Presence of God as I worshipped with people whose language I could not understand, sitting on a wooden bench in a potato warehouse that had been converted to a church in India. Our only musical instrument was a single drum!  A couple of Sundays back, I worshipped in a huge church with thousands.  The house in which God's people gather is not what is central to our faith practice.  It is the act of gathering; coming together so that the Spirit can be among us!   And Jesus assures us that "where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20, NIV)

*        If your church is not a good church, then earnestly pray for her; don't abandon her!  God may change the church or He may change you, but the act of loving His Church with prayer and support, is a choice of obedience that the Lord will always bless. 

         

*        If your church is a good, healthy Body, give thanks for the work being accomplished and pray for those who lead her to keep vision renewed and fervor fresh.  Nothing breeds complacency like 'success' however that may be defined.  As much as some may denigrate the church, there is nothing that will contribute to the stability and vitality of your faith in a greater way than your church over the course of your life.  God says so! 

Don’t be like the log that rolled off the fire!  The charred piece of wood lies cold and useless in my fireplace this morning.  The fire went out when it got separated from the other logs.  Stay fired up! Keep your holy passion intact by staying ‘in church.’  If  the Church is important to Him, it must be important to those who claim to love and serve Him!  You better believe it.

____________________________

The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation by water and the word.

From heav'n He came and sought her to be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.

Elect from ev'ry nation, yet one o'er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation- "One Lord, one faith, one birth;"

One holy name she blesses; partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses, with ev'ry grace endued.

Yet she on earth hath union with God the three in one,
And mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won;
O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with Thee.

The Church's One Foundation

Samuel Stone, Samuel Wesley

© Public Domain

You are not ‘all that!’

 

I'm a good and responsible man, my yard is trimmed, my car is clean. I pay my bills on time, watch my credit score, and take my vitamins. I go to church, read my Bible, pray, and give my tithe. I love my wife and my kids. I don't curse. I have a temper, but I try to keep it on a short leash.  Isn’t God fortunate to have a guy like me on His team?  (Of course, I’m playing the Pharisee. Stay with me, please.)  If I think, even for a moment, that 'being good and keeping rules' is gaining me right standing with God, I am deceived.  Long ago, I abandoned personal morality as a reason to hope for God's favor.  The Spirit offered me the gift of salvation, provided freely by Christ Jesus. I received it, by faith. Now I am confident, full of hope for life now, for death when it comes, and for eternity!  

Jesus told a story of two men – one who thought he was ‘all that,’ and one who knew how desperate he was. The Lord’s conclusion shocks some people. Read it!
“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  (Luke 18:10-14, NLT)

This is the upside-down, inside-out world of Christian grace. Those who are ‘in Christ’ are good, because they are full of the Spirit, changed from the inside out. They know their spiritual standing is a gift, not a reward. Some disciples begin in faith, accepting God's grace that allows them to enter the Kingdom of God and to live with a sure hope of a home in Heaven. Once their lives straighten out, they turn into smug Pharisees, proud of how good they are. When life is going well, they conclude that it must be because they are being 'good enough.'  That fallacy has a terrible downside! 

When a self-righteous man hits a rough spot, the Devil exploits his faulty theology by making him think it must be punishment for some sin. “What did I do to bring this  on myself?” he asks.  With gusto he redoubles his efforts, raises his giving,  sings more loudly in church, and tries to be nice. Why? He is tricked by the ‘basic principles of this present world,”  (Colossians 2:8) to believe that the favor of God is for sale.  When he realizes that he can’t buy God’s favor, he may get discouraged, or worse – he may become angry at at the Lord - because "He is so unfair!"    Don't jump to the wrong conclusion here.   Our actions do have consequences, both good and bad.   The Lord wants us to grow in grace and live good, pure lives.  But, we never trust in our own goodness to earn for us, what He wants to give to us freely - salvation, acceptance, and hope!

The prophet Jeremiah gives us the word from the Word for today. May it keep us from the sin of the Pharisee, humbly dependent on Christ and His Cross. 
"Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.  But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit."   (Jeremiah 17:5-8, NLT)

_____________________________

A friend of Jesus! Oh, what bliss
That one so weak as I
Should ever have a Friend like this
To lead me to the sky!

Friendship with Jesus!
Fellowship divine!
Oh, what blessed, sweet communion!
Jesus is a Friend of mine.

Joseph Ludgate- Public Domain

Filling in the little squares

A visit to the Emergency Room with Christian who had injured his wrist in gym class was a lesson for me. What is the mission of an ER? It is to provide medical care in an emergency situation, correct?  Sadly the process has overwhelmed the mission! We had to speak with three people before we even saw a doctor, each repeating the same questions and typing the same information into their computer. The doctor who finally saw us knew immediately that there was no bone break, but she ordered a full set of x-rays anyway, most likely just to cover herself from liability on the remote chance that her diagnosis was wrong. What could have been a 20 minute visit turned into 2.5 hours the process more important than the purpose.

Complexity is the curse of 21^st century. Every system – educational, medical, government, church – is specialized, sub-divided, overloaded with so many expectations that often the mission is lost and people end up thinking that they are ‘doing the job’ because they are filling out forms and reporting statistics.

Are you clear about your mission as a follower of Christ?
Do you live on purpose, each day doing what the Spirit of God has called you to do?
Or, have you become so tangled up in complex processes of religion that you have lost sight of why you became a Christian, to know and serve the living God?

A person filled with the Spirit of God knows his purpose and strives to live it. His passion is not just to ‘meet minimal expectations’ or ‘show up as necessary.’  He loves whole-heartedly, serves unselfishly, listens with an open heart, and is connected to the Head, who is Christ Jesus! When you read and study Scripture do you seek to hear God’s voice through the words, letting them shape the way you live; or are you just making sure you read three chapters a day because ‘that’s what a good Christian does?’  Are your prayers real communication with the Father, authentic and reflecting your heart’s desire, or are they more like greeting card sentiments or ritual incantations that you repeat day after day out of habit?  

The Spirit leads us out of the vanity of religious practice into a vital relationship with our Heavenly Father. Jesus soberly warned of the possibility of becoming so involved in the process that we lose sight of the purpose. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" (Matthew 7:21-23, NIV)  Empty prayers, scrupulous morality, even a stellar church attendance record can never replace knowing God and showing that love with obedience and service.

Here’s the word from the Word today. Ponder the truth in it and should you be letting religious process replace spiritual relationship, repent and return to the purpose to which He calls.

“But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go. “Which of the two obeyed his father?” They replied, “The first.” Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins." (Matthew 21:28-32, NLT)

Anger’s Acid

An email showed up announcing yet another disappointment that I needed to process. “Come on,” I angrily thought to myself, “give me a break.”  The details are not important, but suffice to say, my character has been under development recently. Frustration has been a daily companion. I find myself prone to anger which, unless I quickly recognize and redirect it, becomes a corrosive acid that eats away at my spirit and spills over onto the people around me.

Many Christians feel that anger is a sinful emotion. They fail to remember the indignation of the Old Testament prophets who spilled fury onto those who defied the Lord and brought dishonor on His Name before the world. Jesus’ rebukes of those who victimized others in the name of God only to enrich themselves are expressions of anger. Anger can be valuable, a powerful catalyst for change, in ourselves and our circumstances. Holy anger is always fueled by equal measures of hating sin and feeling the pain that sin brings on those deceived by it. But, when does good anger turn into destructive wrath? That’s the fine line. Wrath grows out of fear for our safety, feeling threatened by some situation, or by our own self interest being thwarted.

The Bible says “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." (Ephesians 4:26-27, NIV) Another way to say it – Keep anger on a leash and do not allow one day’s anger to  carry over into the next. If you do, the devil will use it to enter your life!  Wise words, indeed. The most destructive form of anger is one directed at the Lord God. When we let our disappointment with circumstances simmer, it often boils over into resentment. “How could You let this happen to me? I thought you loved me. A good God would not permit such a thing, would intervene on my behalf.” Job slide into anger with the Lord and demanded a hearing. God invited him to speak up, but offered no defense of His actions except to remind Job that He was great and powerful. “Trust Me!” is implied throughout the 38^th and 39^th chapters of Job. Job wisely chose to do so. In a great passage I try to remember when I’m angry he says: "I’m speechless, in awe—words fail me. I should never have opened my mouth!" (Job 40:4, The Message)

Tasting the acid of anger today? Feeling the knotted muscles of tension?

Tell the Lord about it!
In a place alone with Him, talk it over with God. Ask Him to help you sort through the issues. Standard advice for dealing with anger includes “Count to 10 before you speak.”  Better to go to prayer!

Talk it over with a friend! 

When I was angered, I reached out to trusted friends who both encouraged and offered a differing perspective. Take care that you don’t just look for people to join you in your emotions.  That’s like adding gasoline to a fire, explosions may result. Give your friend the opportunity to challenge your emotions, to tell you where you may be getting it all wrong.

Work at acceptance!

No one that I know experiences life in a way that is completely to their liking. People disappoint us. Unforeseen circumstances mess up our plans. We are caught in storms we did not cause and cannot change. Forgiveness is a powerful antidote to this kind of anger. Gently allowing for the imperfections of others creating a rich reservoir of forgiveness from which we can draw when we fail, and we will. The Bible urges us to ‘make the most of every opportunity.’  That is not just written about the things we like, situations we find pleasant, or people who make us feel good! Even Jesus, the perfect Man, wrestled with acceptance. On the night of His betrayal, He was stressed.  But rather than rage about the injustice of it all, He knelt in the Presence of His Father and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42, NIV)

Here’s the word from the Word. May the Spirit use it to restore our peace.

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32, NIV)