Want to Please God? First Thessalonians

May the mumbling commence!

Have you ever wondered how you can please God?  Paul wrote some clues in First Thessalonians.  Read from chapter two.

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.  For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out.

They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.  But, brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. (Verses 13-17)

In this passage, we have the juxtaposition of how to please God and how to grieve God.  Lest we slip into anti-Semitism, we must not attach any significance to the groups of people labeled as pleasing and grieving God.  The true significance is NOT nationality but actions and attitudes and words.

To please God: Receive the word of God – the Bible – not as words merely written by men but as the word of God.  This acceptance will fuel another way to please God – belief.  Another way to please God is through imitation of Christ Jesus.  Imitation of Christ would not be complete without humble obedience to the call of God in our lives.  At times, we must accept the suffering that comes through our obedience to God.

To displease God: Build up walls of hostility.  Do whatever you can to prevent people from coming to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus.  When we do these kinds of things, we take God’s immense patience to its limits.

What does obedience to God entail?  It comes back to the same basic principle.  It is a strand that runs throughout the Bible.  We find it again in First Thessalonians chapter four.  Read a passage from chapter four below.

Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.  And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.  Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (Verses 9-12)

There it is again.  Love each other.  Love all the brothers.  Love them more and more.  How do we do this?  Lead a quiet life.  Mind your own business.  Do honest work.  Depend upon your brothers and sisters in Christ, and you will lack nothing.  In these ways, we will earn the respect of outsiders.

Overcome hostility with love.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

On the Road to Perfection? Colossians

May the mumbling commence!

What would a perfect church look like?  The Apostle Paul gives us some hints toward the end of his letter to the Colossian church.  Read a passage from chapter three below:

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.  Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. 

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Verses 9-17)

Our former arbitrary divisions mean nothing anymore.  In a perfect church, the only distinguishing feature would be Christ in all the people.  We are no longer Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives.  Christ has brought down all the arbitrary walls we seem so set on building.

We will wear new spiritual and attitudinal clothing.  Did you notice some of the fruit of the Spirit sprinkled about this passage?  The most important is love, which binds them all together.  But I also see compassion and kindness and humility and gentleness and patience and peace and thankfulness.  A perfect church would bear these fruits of the Spirit.

A perfect church will also embrace the idea of forgiveness through the empowerment of these fruit of the Spirit.  Yes, forgiveness can be helped along by understanding where the other person is coming from – compassion.  Yes, forgiveness can be built upon not insisting on your own way – humility.  Forgiveness takes time, so we need a patience fueled by peace.

Wow!  How do we get there?  It is a constant journey.  Paul gives some hints at the end of this passage.  Teach and admonish one another through the Scriptures.  Sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God.  In fact, whatever we do should be done in the name of Christ so that praise and glory and honor might come to him.

Sometimes, it is hard to sing.  And sometimes it’s not about ability.  Sometimes difficulty in singing is a spiritual block.  How do we open ourselves to fully praise God?  Read from Colossians chapter four.

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.  Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.  Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Verses 2-6)

The answer is prayer – specific prayer for others.  Prayer for others gets our mind off of our own set of problems and helps us to know that we are not alone.  And we also offer specific prayers for ourselves – particularly in expanding the family of God through actions and words of grace to whoever crosses our path. 

And prayer is an extremely difficult wrestling match between our wills and the will of God – just as Jacob once wrestled the angel of God.  Read another passage from Colossians four.

Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.  I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. (Verses 12-13)

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Putting All Things Into Perspective; Philippians

May the mumbling commence!

There are many pulls on our lives.  If we are not careful, we find ourselves swamped with activity.  Yet, at the end of the day, we feel that nothing has been accomplished.  Nothing has been achieved. 

Yes, we hold many things dear – but there is only one thing worthy of our greatest attention.  If we learn to focus on that one worthy thing, we will find everything else falling into place.  Having the proper focus grants us a keen ability to gain a true perspective.

Things that we once thought were so important are revealed to be marginally relevant at best and trivial at worst.

What is that one thing worthy of our greatest attention?  That one thing is what Paul wrote about in Philippians chapter three.  To know Christ is worthy of our greatest attention.  Read the passage below:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Verses 7-14)

Everything else pales in comparison to the greatness of knowing Christ.  But, what does it mean to know Christ?  Knowing Christ is not a simple matter of having heard of him and believed in him.  Knowing Christ is not merely a matter of having table fellowship with Jesus (Luke 13:22ff).  Knowing Christ is not merely a matter of doing miracles and good works in Jesus’ name (Mt. 7:21ff).

To know Christ is to have fellowship in Jesus’ sufferings.  That doesn’t sound too cheery, does it?  Yet, to have fellowship in the sufferings of Christ – the sufferings of obedience to our heavenly Father – is the narrow path to knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection.  Death comes before resurrection. 

Dying to ourselves is a painful and laborious process.  For this reason, Paul encourages us to press on to take toward our goal to be Christ-like.  Dying to ourselves is a never-ending journey. 

At times, we will wander and stray from the narrow path of obedience to God.  But we cannot allow our deviations from God’s plan for our lives totally derail us. That is why Paul tells us to forget what is behind. 

We cannot change our past.  The steps that we have taken cannot be taken back or retraced.  Instead, we must press on toward the goal – total obedience to God’s call on our lives.

Everything else becomes a world of shadows in the revealing light of knowing Christ in this way.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Salvation is Prep for Good Works; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

I am currently in a community stage production with Family Children’s Theatre of Hutchinson, Kansas.  This is production week.  Excitement exudes from every member of the cast and crew.  We will be presenting The Robe, which is based upon Lloyd C. Douglas’ classic Christian fiction book of the same title.  I always treasure the camaraderie of being in the cast – both on stage and behind stage.

Yesterday, we were talking about Christian theology as we were getting ready to leave for the day.  We have a number of denominations represented in our cast, so the discussion got a little intense.  We talked about baptism and salvation a little more than other things.  I couldn’t help but think about our discussion as I read Ephesians today.  First, read a passage from chapter two:

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  (Verses 4-10)

How do we attain salvation?  Twice in this passage Paul wrote that “it is by grace you have been saved”.  That seems fairly clear.  We are saved by grace through faith.  Paul emphasized this salvation fact because no one has room to boast.  This line of argument seems to point us to those who profess grace alone.

The danger of hard line theology of grace alone is that one might conclude that faith in the grace of God frees one to do whatever they want to do.  That is not the reason we are granted freedom by grace through our faith.  Grace is not a license to continue in sin.  We must read Paul further to get a fuller understanding of the salvation offered by God.

We have salvation by grace through our faith.  What great freedom that gives us!  We are free to be what God created us to be.  As the last sentence of this passage tells us, we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Though works cannot save us, works are a fruit of faith.  Good works of faith should be expected from all Christians.

To accept God freeing salvation is to accept God’s call to obedience.  Obedience is the way of Christ Jesus.  It is our call to follow Jesus.  Obedience means good works.  No, we need not do good works for salvation.  Works alone will never save us.  If they could, Christ would have died on the cross in vain.  Yet, accepting grace without good works done in gratitude would mean denying what God has created us to be.  Refusing to do good works means we will miss out on the blessings God has for us.

Salvation is preparation for good works!  Shall we rest on the grace of God?  OR shall we get our hands dirty doing the good works God made us to do?  Doing good works is the best way of showing God’s love to all around us.

Though it is difficult, I choose change.  Daily, I try to lay aside my will for God’s.  I join my Christian brothers and sisters in all denominations.  We are one in Christ.  If we deny our unity in Christ, we fail.  Read from Ephesians chapter four:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Verses 1-6)

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Staying True; Galatians

May the mumbling commence!

Today begins a meander through the shorter epistles of Paul.  We tackle Galatians today – the whole letter.  I chose to focus on a passage from chapter two.  I believe it teaches us about the pitfalls of not staying true to your godly mission.  In the passage, Paul criticizes Cephas (Simon Peter) for changing his lifestyle in accordance to a changing religious climate.  Read the passage below:

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.  Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.  The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? 

We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. 

If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!  If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 

For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Verses 11-21)

How often do we change our tune when the tide of opinion turns a different direction?  Peter changed the way he related to the Gentiles around him when representatives from James came to Antioch.  Hmmm…  Antioch was the first place that the followers of Jesus were known as Christians. 

Perhaps, this little bit of conflict helped to shape the identity of Christianity as grown from the fertile soil of Jewish faith but not exactly the same.  Christianity was a young movement beginning to grow more distant with Jewish traditions.

Why did Paul confront Peter so fully?  It was because Peter was a leader.  When Joe Shmoe turns with the tides, there is barely a ripple.  But, when Peter turns with the tides, others follow.  Other Jews joined Peter in his hypocrisy – even another leader, Barnabas, changed.

Paul questioned their change of attitude.  Why this emphasis on the Jewish law?  Why should the Gentile converts to Christianity be forced to be circumcised?  Why should they be burdened with the Law of the Old Testament in its entirety?

Paul said, “No!”  We are not justified by observing the Law – even Gentiles know that.  Justification comes by faith in the grace of God.

So, there is nothing more that we need to do but believe?  Yes and no.  Paul speaks of crucifying his old self.  Christ now lives in the Christian.  Christ living in us means a transformed person.  This transformation does not make us righteous, but there must be an ongoing transformation nonetheless.  It is the byproduct of being saved by faith in the grace of God.

Help us to stand, O God!  Help us to stand and walk in your light – despite the shifting winds of opinion and worldly wisdom. 

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Direct Access; Mark 13-16

May the mumbling commence!

We have direct access to God – WIFI, if you will.  That direct access is due to the work of Christ on the cross.  The curtain that separated God from His people was torn away.  God removed the curtain.  Read from Mark chapter fifteen:

At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" – which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 

When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah." 

One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said. 

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. 

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!" 

Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.  In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.  (Verses 33-41)

Utterly forsaken and forlorn, Jesus cried out for God.  It was the darkest of valleys.  It is the forsakenness of all humanity from the beginning of time to the end.  God could not stand to look on that sin.  God could not stand to see His Son suffer so. 

My heart is wrenched, knowing that I played a part in the suffering of Christ.  He suffered for me and for you.

Mark records a great cry that came from Jesus as he died upon the cross.  The curtain of the temple that separated the Holy of Holies was torn.  No one went past the curtain except the high priest – and he only once a year, with fear and trembling.  That curtain was removed.  That curtain was torn in two.

The Greek for the verb for “torn” is passive.  It is the divine passive, denoting the action of God in our world.  The curtain was torn in two from top to bottom.  No human could have accomplished this from the floor of the Temple.  If a person had done it, it would have torn from bottom to top.

What does this removal of the curtain mean to us?  It means that we now have direct access to God.  We no longer need to have a human priest intercede for us.  We have Jesus, the only high priest that we need (Hebrews 4:14ff).  We can approach God without fear – as long as we accept the work of Christ for us.  Relationship between God and His people has been fully restored!

Not only is there no longer any curtain, but there is also no longer any need for the veil to cover God’s glorious light – the light of the glory of God (2 Corinthians 3:7ff).  In Hebrew, this light is called the Shekinah glory of the Lord.  It is the light that Moses veiled for Israel after he spoke with God (Exodus 34:29ff).  Now, we can see the glory of the Lord with no fear.

How can we do anything else but cry out with the centurion “Surely this man [is] the Son of God?”  Let us cry out with joy and seek God’s light.  Jesus is the light of the world.  Accept Jesus’ work for you.  Learn his ways and live in them.  Life will never be the same again if you and I do.

We have direct access.  But will you and I use it?

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Spiritual Atrophy and Apathy Healed; Mark 9-12

May the mumbling commence!

Have you ever felt like you were just going through the motions?  You know, I go to worship; but I am not moved.  I sing, but my heart is not in it.  I pray and listen, but my mind wanders.  Nothing is new and exciting anymore.  Sometimes in our lives, we will go through times like these.  I know I have.

But to go through a time of spiritual apathy and stunted growth is not the end.  It is not the end if you and I can keep a steadfast faith in God.  For every autumn in our spiritual life that promises the deaths of winter, there will be a spring that promises new life. 

So I encourage everyone to press on!  Worship, sing, pray, read Scripture, meditate, and listen.  Keep your heart open to God and amazing things will happen.  Read from Mark chapter eleven:

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.  Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" 

"Have faith in God," Jesus answered.  "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." (Verses 20-25)

Have faith, and do not doubt. You will have what you ask for.  That is a powerful statement.  But it can be and has been misused.  How does this sound to someone who is on her deathbed?  She may be praying fervently with no doubt in her heart, but still she slips away into death.  How does this sound to someone, whose loved one is dying?  How does this sound to someone who has a thorn in the flesh that will not be taken away – like the Apostle Paul spoke of having.

God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you (2 Corinthians 12:7ff).”  God’s grace is sufficient for us, too.  You see, praying is not a wish list – like children give to Santa at Christmas time.  Prayer is about relationship.

Do you doubt the relationship core to prayer?  Look at the last verse.  “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."  The relationship at the core of prayer is not only between God and the person praying but it is also between the person praying and other people around him. 

How can we give our full attention to God when our minds are absorbed with conflicts?  Forgive as you have been forgiven.  That, my friends, means healed friendships.

Restored relationships are a miracle of prayer that causes us to reconsider our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  God wants us to be one (John 17).  Together, we can listen more carefully for the call of God on our lives.  As our relationship with God is restored, we can better know what God desires us to do.

And when we pray with God’s desires in mind, we show our faith in God.  We do not doubt that God has our best interests in mind.  It is in these circumstances that we can pray with confidence, knowing that what we pray for will happen.  It might not happen in the way that we anticipate, but it will happen.

Spiritual atrophy and apathy will be healed.  Our God is faithful and strong.  Spiritual renewal depends upon our continually returning to God and to His adopted family, the church.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out