Foolish words, empty quarrels

Ever met that person who re-invents themselves every other month?  They are convinced that this diet is the one that is going to change their health, but then next month you meet them eating junk food. They have found just the right church, but a year later they are in another.  Of particular concern to me are those who claim to be ‘in Christ’ but who do not match their profession of discipleship with a life of growing devotion, who get taken in by fads and personalities over devotion to Jesus Himself.

Our faith must be more than words!  We can intelligently debate the fine points about the prophetic timeline of the Second Coming;  we can be able to dissect the various ideas about the intersection of the sovereign will of God and human free will – yet, have no saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Paul urges us to become rooted in Christ and to enter into a transformative experience of His grace. “Those who have trusted in God (must) be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned." (Titus 3:8-12, NIV)

Are you just a great talker, friend?  “Do good!” the Word says.  Paul reminds us that endless debates about words and meanings, getting caught up in tertiary issues of faith are divisive and useless!

In many instances, the 21^st century evangelical church has allowed herself to be diverted from the Gospel of Christ into political activities that are obscuring the eternal message about the wonderful love of Jesus Christ. That is not to say that there are not issues of social concern and justice, that we should be without convictions about the implications of the law of the land and our expression of faith.  In our time we are privileged with the power of the ballot and we ought to use our vote in line with our deep convictions about what it means to live the Christian life.

However, to focus all the energies of our faith, to use the precious resources of our church, to further some political party’s ambitions for power is a terrible diversion from our true mission which is to bring others to peace with God.  The Bible tells us that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, “Be reconciled to God!” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20, NLT)

Questions will arise for each one of us about what certain parts of the Word mean, about ethical convictions, about how the Church should best do her work. God has blessed us with minds that need to be trained and gifts of teaching that can be used to help us develop sound doctrine. The best practice is to root that teaching in service. If we are actively worshiping, generously investing our resources and time in some area of service, if we are visiting the sick, showing hospitality, praying more than 30 second prayers – somehow many of those questions will find their answers in time, while the Kingdom of God is being established.

Let’s commit ourselves to loving Jesus and making that love visible by loving others with a committed, constant, self-forgetful love. Here is a word from the Word. "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority." (Colossians 2:6-10, NIV)

Lord, bring us to profound faith expressed in our service today. Amen.

________

On And On

Where can I run from Your presence

Where can I flee from You

Even if I hide on the highest mountain

You are there

Where can I run from Your presence

Where can I flee from You

Even if I lie in the lowest valley

You will find me there

Deeper than any ocean

Your love goes on and on and on and on

Higher than any mountain

Your love goes on and on and on and on

(Your love goes on and on and on and on and on)

And if I clothe myself in shadows

Would I fade away from You

No even if I fall to the deepest darkness

Love surrounds me still

No even if I fall to the deepest darkness

Your love surrounds me still

There is no ending to Your

Love that holds on won't let go

Love that won't leave me on my own

I am falling deeper into Your

Love that holds on won't let go

Love that won't leave me on my own

Your love goes on and on and on and on

Love don't let me go

Don't let go

Love don't let me go

Don't let go

There's nowhere I can run

There's nowhere I can hide

There's nowhere I can go that You won't find me Lord

Kirby Kaple | Mitch Parks | Rob Kaple

© 2015 Kaple Music (Admin. by Bethel Music Publishing)

Bethel Music Publishing

CCLI License # 810055

Sinner -past tense!

Women from the Hoving Home, of Oxford, NJ, ministered at Faith Discovery Church yesterday. The mission of that ministry is to ‘rebuild shattered lives’ through faith in Jesus Christ. Two of the young women told a little of their stories- poor choices, addiction, ruin, broken relationships, and sadness. There were not too many dry eyes in the room after they spoke and sang about the “Chain Breaker.”  Will recovery be easy for those women? Not at all. Will it be a long road to a restored life? Of course, but with lots of love and support, it happens. God declares them His daughters, their sins past tense through the grace of Jesus Christ.

On this Monday morning, let’s begin the week with hearts filled up with joy in the declaration of God about who we are. Our road might not have all the dramatic lows of which some can speak.  We have not all ended up homeless in the streets or addicted to heroin, but we are all slaves of sin and Self – separated from God, our Father, until found by His grace.   

Here’s how Paul was inspired to tell it -  "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:2-7, NIV)

“He saved us …”  Did you read those words and breathe a prayer of thankfulness? The word that Paul uses there in the original text of the New Testament is a rich one. “Sozo” is not just about some spiritual transaction that is unseen, a fine point of theology. It is a description of God’s work that transforms us from the terminal illness of sin to the radiant spiritual health, that restores our wholeness of person.

How does the Lord do it?  He washes us, as clean and pure as a newborn baby, through rebirth! Jesus told an old religious leader, Nicodemus, you must be ‘born again.’  It puzzled the old man, and he wondered aloud how he could enter his mother’s womb again!  Talk about being overly literal. God miraculously enters into our lives and we emerge a new creation, reborn into the world with new possibilities.  There is the renewal of the Holy Spirit, God who lives in us, so that we no longer think as we once did, no longer hope for what we did in the past, nor are we trapped by the patterns of our past!  Oh, what a Savior.

Let’s not make conversion just about learning some dogma, joining an organization, or tinkering at the edge of life to modify our behavior.  Let’s enter fully, by faith, into this new life – restored to relationship with God and because we are His children, having the assurance that we are written into His plan for eternity;  “heirs having the hope of eternal life

Choose to walk with the Lord, making sin past tense today. Here is the word from the Word. "It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life." (Ephesians 1:11-14, The Message)
_________

What A Savior

(Some Southern Gospel. Enjoy)

Once I was straying in sin's dark valley

No hope within could I see

They searched thro' heaven and found a Savior

To save a poor lost soul like me

O what a Savior O hallelujah

His heart was broken on Calvary

His hands were nail-scarred

His side was riven

He gave His lifeblood for even me

He left the Father with all His riches

With calmness sweet and serene

Came down from heaven and gave His lifeblood

To make the vilest sinner clean

Death's chilly waters I'll soon be crossing

His hand will lead me safe o'er

I'll join the chosen in that great city

And sing up there forevermore

Marvin P. Dalton

© 1948. Renewed 1976 Stamps Quartet Music (Admin. by ClearBox Rights, LLC)

CCLI License # 810055

When the laugh track in life rings hollow

Are you sad today? I am not talking about the kind of sad you feel when your burn your toast or when your favorite sports team loses. The sad that to which I refer is that deep sorrow of loss or disappointment that sets in like a persistent fog. In a conversation yesterday, a man shared the sadness he felt for his 37 year-old son who is an addict slowly killing himself by inches. His sorrow went deep! When I think about Bev, my late wife, there is a persistent sadness. It colors just about everything in my life, even after 3 years.

If we talked today, would you tell me of sorrow, too? Perhaps it is your own - or maybe it is that of those with whom you walk in this world. Frequently the response to the sorrowful is a good ole’ pat on the back and a jolly, “Cheer up!”  The Proverb reminds us just how unhelpful that can be. "Singing cheerful songs to a person whose heart is heavy is as bad as stealing someone’s jacket in cold weather or rubbing salt in a wound." (Proverbs 25:20, NLT)

Our world is a broken place.  I hasten to acknowledge that there are many blessings, too. If you are living in a season of joy and abundance, then sing your praise and joyfully thank God. But, let’s always remember those who suffer. Compassion is a gift – both to the one who is sad and to the giver. When we willingly enter into the experience of another, sharing their sorrow, we are like Jesus.  Our Savior, sent with a message hope and healing to those who are captives of the Evil One, let Himself be moved, felt deeply, and sacrificed to make life better for the broken. "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. ... Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows." (Isaiah 53:3-4, NIV)  His work is our work. Like Him, I want to let my heart be broken by the human need that is real.

Whether it is our own sorrow or that of another, we must meet it with faith. We are reminded that God knows and cares. He is not far removed, a cruel Being without heart. When he was a refugee, pursued by a murderous king, David sang this - "My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. … Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. … The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18, NIV)  It was not just poetry. He was filled with hopeful faith!

When Peter failed Jesus miserably on the night of His trial, he wept bitterly. Later, he went back to Galilee to fish, a broken man filled with regret and sorrow. God did not abandon him there. John records a beautiful scene in which the Resurrected Lord found Peter, served him breakfast on the beach, and spoke words of forgiveness and restoration.  He broke Peter’s despair and commissioned him to a life of service in God’s kingdom!  Later on, Peter wrote to us "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you. … And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Peter 5:10-11, NIV)

We need never deny the reality of our sorrow. But, we are not engulfed hopelessly in it, either. Let’s engage ourselves with suffering while we do the work of Jesus. All the while, we can be sustained by this wonderful promise, our word from the Word  - ". . . they stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter. They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:15-17, NLT)  Oh, Happy Day!

____________________

Jesus! What a friend for sinners!

Jesus lover of my soul!

Friends may fail me, foes assail me;

He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Hallelujah what a Savior.

Hallelujah what a Friend.

Saving, helping, keeping, loving,

He is with me to the end.

Jesus! What a strength in weakness!

Let me hide myself in Him;

Tempted tried and sometimes failing,

He, my strength my victory wins.

Jesus! What a help in sorrow!

While the billows o'er me roll,

Even when my heart is breaking,

He, my Comfort helps my soul.

Hallelujah what a Savior.

Hallelujah what a Friend.

Saving, helping, keeping, loving,

He is with me to the end.

Our Great Savior- J. Wilbur Chapman © Public Domain