Life Here and There

Live peaceably with all men… Easier said than done. Everything in us wants to fly off the handle when we are inconvenienced or insulted. Paul’s words were nothing new, they had been modeled by Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Nonetheless, these words are revolutionary as far as human society is concerned. To seek peace, to refuse the right to get even, is one of the greatest accomplishments any person could ever make.

My Sunday began on the wrong foot. First, I’d gotten pulled over by a Deputy on Saturday night for speeding down an unpopulated street. I had church members in the car! My speed had crept up and I hadn’t even noticed. I also hadn’t noticed that I was gaining on the Officer, who kindly allowed me to pass him so that he could pull me over. Thankfully, he gave me a warning only. I mentioned to him that I was going from one house to another as part of a Sunday School class progressive dinner, but I managed to leave out the little detail that I am the Pastor of the church.

After a late Saturday night, I got up early and experienced printer problems before church on Sunday. Then the little issues began to trickle in. People were stressed. There was a little tension. A microphone was missing and we had a big musical for the morning and my mood was not terribly worshipful and contemplative. Then we prayed. Though our prayer circle got started twenty minutes late, my heart changed as we approached God’s throne. A little later the choir sang that “He alone is worthy.” I began to realize again what being at church was really all about – and it surely wasn’t about my trivial issues.

By the end of the evening, God had moved in a very special way and I was reminded again to “let it roll.” Most of the issues we attack really aren’t worth our effort. If our reactions to others are not mixed with a healthy dose of compassion and understanding, they are rarely beneficial to us or to them.

Something special happened last night. In my exhaustion (late night, long morning, no afternoon nap…), God anointed me in a special way for the message. Everything flowed from the text in Romans 12:17-21. The message was a simple one about forgiving people, especially people outside the family of God. There was an extra dose of boldness, clarity of thought, and eloquence. The words just seemed to be there when I needed them. When it was all over, several people said it was a particularly impactful message. Glory to God alone!

My task this week is to live what I’ve preached… to let the little things roll and get the big picture – that He alone is worthy! God is so good and His people are such a wonderful family. May my heart and yours be praising and thankful to the Holy Giver of Heaven!

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it.” -1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Paul’s prayer for the people of Thessalonica was a heartfelt prayer for their permanent cleansing. “May God completely cleanse you and set you apart for His purposes… May He preserve you until Jesus comes again.” Then Paul notes that the God who called them to the Christian life would be faithful to keep His promise. They would be cleansed. They would be set apart. They would be found blameless when Jesus comes becuase of His miraculous intervention in their lives.

The fulfillment of God’s promises toward His children does not hinge on our faithfulness but on God’s faithfulness. Our being found blameless at the throne is not contingent upon our ability to wash ourselves with religion, but on His ability to preserve those that He saves. We didn’t save ourselves, yet so often we begin to believe that we must somehow keep ourselves in the favor of God. Each time we make a mistake, we come to the conclusion that surely this time God will be finished with us.

While we should never treat sin lightly, we must realize that God’s patience with His children is inexhaustible. This is no license to sin, it is rather motivation to serve our loving Father faithfully. To know in advance the victorious outcome of our life of faith frees us to run the race with patient endurance for “our God is faithful, who will do it!”

“The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” -Matthew 13:41-43

Jesus is the gentle, compassionate Lamb of God. Angels are those cute little winged cherubs we have displayed on water fountains. But the picture Jesus gives of Himself and His angels is all together different than that to which we are accustomed. We suddenly see a sovereign Jesus, commanding his angels to gather people to judgment and to cast them into the fire for all eternity.

We need to see Jesus in this light, for we need to understand that His ultimate concern is that the holiness and righteousness of God is vindicated for all time. All that offends will be destroyed, all sin will be judged. All iniquity will be eradicated at the throne of God. Thankfully, for believers, their sins have already been judged on the cross, but for most of the world, sin will be punished in an eternal flame. Why? So that the righteous (those made righteous by the blood of Jesus) may shine forth, unhindered by darkness forever.

We must learn to love the righteousness and holiness of God as much as Jesus does. We must hunger for God’s nature and name to be vindicated. At this moment, He is being blasphemed, forgotten, pushed under the rug while men do their evil biddings. But someday He will have the last laugh (literally, read Psalm 2). At last every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. All of mankind will acknowledge Him as Lord in that day. In fact, we should get started now!

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” -1 Corinthians 15:57-58

When I was in Junior High, I had a Nintendo game system and a particular baseball game in which you could pre-program the statistics of your team to make them better. You were allowed a certain number of homeruns for the season and you divided them among your lineup as you felt best. I would stack the first seven batters with all of the statistics so that I would end up winning almost every game against the computer. In a 162-game season, I’d end up winning about 150 games! Cheating? You decide.

One thing I know is that the odds are already stacked in our favor. You may feel like Satan’s punching bag today, but God has already insured your success. Satan is defeated, or at least he is as good as defeated. When darkness shrouded Jesus on the cross, Satan had his brief glimmer of limelight, but when the tomb was opened, Satan’s doom was sealed! Now God’s Word says clearly that every believer has sure victory, certain success, absolute assurance of final conquest.

We often wonder at God’s ways. If you want your people to work hard, why guarantee their salary? Why not give them a quota, some incentive to earn their keep. But remember that the very nature of salvation is that it’s a free gift from God. The gospel would not be so glorious if it could be earned by our labor. Instead it is too lofty, too high for us. It is so glorious it is unattainable. God’s eternal riches are reserved for those who, in absolute humility, fall on their faces before His throne in worship and adoration. May His name be praised! We’ve won, now let’s get to work!

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; His glory fills the whole earth.” -Isaiah 6:3 (HCSB)

God’s holiness cannot be defined in terms of human goodness for “there is none good, no not one.” Instead, we must realize that God’s holiness speaks of His transcendent perfection. To say that God is holy does not merely mean that He is ultimately moral, but rather that He is completely removed from anything imperfect. His holiness is defined by His separateness.

God’s glory cannot be defined in human terms either. His glory is the outward manifestation of His holiness, His infinite worth. His holiness is the shining radiance, the majestic splendor of His ultimate worthiness. Isaiah said that the whole earth was filled with His glory. All of creation screams that God is holy, transcendent, and set apart. All of His creatures testify of His creative power and genius.

Only human beings fail to bring God glory and one day “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.” Have you yet caught the vision of Isaiah concerning our holy and majestic Lord? Only when He is the object of your devotion will He receive glory from your life, and only when He receives glory from your life can you fulfill your God-given purpose for existence. Have you called Him Lord yet? Will you call on Him as Lord today?

“Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.” -Judges 5:18

There are a lot of great songs in the Bible. The book of Psalms reads like a hymnbook without notes. There is the song of Moses and the song of Miriam. Judges, chapter five, contains the song of Deborah after she and Barak fought with Jabin and Sisera. The fight must have been hard fought and though God gave them victory, much loss must have been incurred.

At the end of the day’s fighting, Deborah composed a song in which she recounted the day’s battle. In the midst of the song, she points out that some of the tribes wanted to approach the situation with diplomacy, in writing. Others remained at home to mind their own business. Still others fought from ships or from stationary bunkers on the beach, but two tribes – Zebulun and Naphtali – put their very lives on the line. They fought in the high places of the fields, hand to hand.

The Hebrew word for “jeoparded” means that they exposed themselves to the elements of battle, risked reproach and even death for the cause of Israel. For the rest of the tribes, the bleakness of their plight was unconcerning. For Zebulun and Naphtali, however, Israel’s safety and future were at stake. Issachar was the third tribe involved directly in the battle. It is apparent that Issachar covered the main front while the other two tribes provided reinforcements.

When it comes to fighting spiritual battles today, many of us are like Benjamin and Ephraim. We’d like to make an agreement with evil that says, “You don’t bother me, and I won’t bother you.” Obviously evil forces don’t honor peace treaties! Others of us are willing to fight, but only from a safe spot such as a ship or a bunker. It’s much easier to look the part of a hero when your uniform doesn’t get messy. But how many of us will be like Zebulun and Naphtali who were willing to engage the enemy and risk everything believing that the Kingdom of God was worth it? The spiritual climate enjoyed by future generations hinges on our decisiveness in putting our lives on the line to prove that God is still on His throne!

What’s the spiritual battle from which you want to retreat today? Stand up and risk all to fight on the open plain, and God will be your greatest Defender! Whether we live or die, God’s name will be honored in the fight!