#15 God's Will

³⁷ Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' [Matthew 22:37-39]

Many people struggle with whether or not a behavior that they're thinking about engaging is God's will.  I recently had a conversation with an old friend that was struggling with whether something he was thinking about doing was God's desire, his desire, or the devil's desire.  His question was, "how can I tell the difference between what are God's thoughts, my thoughts, or the devil's thoughts?"  He was truly confused.  

I believe that his confusion is a confusion that many people also feel.  Many well-meaning Christians consistently struggle with whether a thing is God's desire or something else.  And what I tell these well-meaning Christians is the same thing - God wants you to know His will more than you want to know God's will.  We are not mice in a maze with cheese in front of us labeled, "God's will."

Jesus wants you to know the Father's will.  And to that end He codified the greatest commandments - love God and love your neighbor.  God gave us 66 books written by 40 different authors over a period of 2000 years - simply to tell us what God's will is.  And all those words can be summed up by the words, "Love the Lord your God - and your neighbor as yourself."

Now, this is simple to know - but difficult to live out.  What does love look like?  It looks like forgiveness, discipline, self-control, etc....Yes, you will need discernment on what behavior to take in any and every situation.  However, knowing the principle is simple.  What we need to ask before we engage in a behavior is, "is this best for my neighbor?  Is this best to bring me closer to the Lord?"

Furthermore, we have the Word of God.  Every thought, behavior, and attitude can - and should - be filtered through the Word of God.  If a behavior, thought, or attitude can be filtered through the Word of God [meaning it is not condemned but instead encouraged] than you can be sure that it is God's will.

You see, God will never contradict Himself - so if His Word says it - He believes it.  He does not change like shifting shadows [thankfully] but instead is the same yesterday, today and forever.

We must not look inside ourselves to figure out God's will.  We will always simply do what we think is, "good."  And, to be quite frank, what we think is good is not always that good.  Our emotions, will, and desires always get in the way.  The Word of God will always be objective.  Amen. 

#14 praying for enemies.... "

⁴⁴ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. [Matthew 5:44]

I don't know about you but the above verses have always been a struggle for me.  This is one of the reasons that at the church where I pastor I pray these verses almost every single Sunday.  During our time of corporate prayer I pray that we would, "love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those that mistreat us; so in this way we can show the true love of God to a hurting world..." or something along these lines.  I do this so that these words will be ever front and center in our lives. 

These words became more powerful to me this past week.  This past week I was hurt by a person.  I have been hurt by them in the past.  [And do not start guessing...as a matter of fact, if you are reading this I am sure you are not that person....] And this past week I found myself inwardly very angry and upset.  In my mind I was thinking of all the past, "hurts" that have occurred.  And I was thinking about this person in a very negative light.  

But then it simply hit me like a ton of bricks..."you have never once prayed for this individual...you have simply remained angry at them..."  Sometimes I can have such blind spots.  So I prayed.  And I did not pray that this person would, "see the light" of their actions.  I simply prayed that God would bless them.  I prayed that I would find a way to bless them.  I prayed that God would change my heart towards this person.  And something amazing happened.  The bitterness and anger that I was feeling vanished.  Quite literally the Holy Ghost took it away.  A load of bricks was lifted.  It was wonderful.  

Now, this was not some one-time magic pill.  The next day I started feeling angry again...but this time I was armored up.  So as soon as I felt the anger begin to well up, I prayed.  I prayed that God would bless them - and I began thinking of ways that I could be a blessing to them.  

Then fear crept in....I thought to myself something along the lines of this, "well Chris...if you keep blessing this person than this person may want to spend time with you...and you certainly do not want that to happen!!!!  I had to laugh right there at the devil.  Who knows?  Perhaps we can become the best of friends.  


The simple fact of the matter is it is a worldly mentality to fight fire with fire.  It is a worldly mentality to let anger stew.  To pray that God would bless our enemies - and to literally do good to those who hate us - that is a Jesus standard; and I truly pray we live the Jesus standard.  Amen.

#13 - Guilt "And you forgave the guilt of my sin..." [Psalm 32:5]

Guilt is a crippling issue for many people.  We all have things in our life for which we feel ashamed.  I have done things in the past, and I have hurt people, in ways that to this day make me cringe.  The words that have come out of my mouth, the actions that I have taken in anger or frustration, when pondered, make me hang my head.

I know that I am not alone in this.  I know that being sinful is part of the human condition.  Yet, there are some things - some events - that plague people for many years throughout their lives.  Make no mistake - all sin separates us from God.  From the little white lie to the bank robbery, all of this separates us from God.  Yet, there are sins which have a greater impact on our relationships - both with God and with others. [I know that seems contradictory, but even Jesus said things along this line.  When before Pilate Jesus said to Pilate, 'he who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin...' (John 19:11)]

When we commit sin of this kind - of a faith destroying kind - the kind of sin that impacts not only us but those around us, often the guilt is of a much greater kind.  We see the wreckage we have caused families - perhaps even our own.  We see the societal implications of our sin and we see the tarnish it has placed on our witness and it makes us grieve deeply.  What do we do with this kind of thing? What do we do with the guilt?

As a pastor I have had the opportunity to sit down with many people who are plagued with guilt over their past sins. Though the sin in question may have happened years ago, they still carry around with them, almost daily, the guilt and the pain and the responsibility of that sin.

The answer, as always, is bringing that sin to the cross and allowing Jesus to do what He does best - forgive.

King David was, as God said, "a man after My own heart." [Acts 13:22] Yet, King David was a grave sinner.  You can read the entire account in 2nd Samuel 11-12; however, I will briefly here simply tell you that this great King committed adultery, murder, theft [stealing another man's wife], coveting, bearing false witness, and misusing God's name all at once.  He made many widows in Israel when he committed the murder he committed.  He took another man's wife, got her pregnant, murdered her husband, married the woman, and played off the child as if it were his own after marriage.  I have never met in my life a man that did the things that David did.

David was confronted with his sin in 2nd Samuel 12; and in that meeting showcased why God could call David a man after his own heart - David confessed his sin.  He did not blame the woman.  He did not blame her husband.  He did not justify his actions.  He did not talk about the circumstances of the issue.  He simply admitted guilt and confessed.  And God forgave.

Now, there were societal implications for what David did.  He had to grieve over the death of his son.  Yet, God still forgave David - and one of the Messiah's title's in the New Testament is still, "Son of David."

In retrospect, David writes about this time in his life in Psalm 32.  He says that when he kept silent about his sin and hid his sin his bones wasted away.  But when he acknowledged his sin - when he admitted his sin - when he confessed - "God forgave the guilt of my sin."

We need to understand something amazing about God.  Jesus did not simply die for our sins [He did that.] He took the punishment - emotional, psychological, and spiritual, for our sins.  Guilt is called conviction when left unconfessed.  However, as soon as we are moved by God's Spirit to admit what we have done, confess our sins, then Jesus' blood washes over us.  Not just objectively paying for the sin - but also paying for all the consequences of sin - including our guilt.

Let me be clear - once a sin has been confessed to God and confessed to the person we have sinned against - once we have truly sought to confess - Jesus forgives us.  He forgives us objectively and subjectively.  Our sin is paid for at the foot of the cross.

So please hear today - whatever sin you may have - confess it.  Admit it.  And receive the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

#12 - Abortion. "You shall not Murder." [Exodus 20:13]

I want to talk about a subject that many individuals will be upset about.  However, during our time of Lent we need to be self-reflective.  We need to look at the culture that we are a part of and ask what we are doing and see if we need to make changes.  On the subject of abortion, I have no doubt that we need to make some changes.

What I would like to do is share a link to an article that I read this morning.  The link is as follows: [highlight the link and copy it into your web browser - then when finished come back to the article.]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9113394/Killing-babies-no-different-from-abortion-experts-say.html

I don't know if this is going to work but I hope that it does.  Please read the article before you continue in this post.

Now, the, "Telegraph" is a British paper.  This is not the United States.  However, the author's of the article are actually quite logical in their thinking.  Their thinking goes something along the lines of this, "abortion is widely accepted.  No one would say that the, 'fetus' is not human.  Of course it is human.  The question is whether or not the,'fetus' is a person with all the attendant rights of a person." 

The question then becomes, "what makes a person a person?"  The answer to this question makes all the difference in the world.  The author of the article seems to believe that a person is not a person until that person can recognize themselves as a self-conscious self, aware of their surroundings and able to value their own life.  Since, in their mind, a newborn child cannot do this then they are not yet a person.  Instead, they are, "potential persons" - just like a, "fetus" and they can be exterminated upon the wish of the parents - or the State.

This is logical...if that is your definition of personhood.  Alzheimer's patients, those in a coma, those with dementia, or severe brain maladies, would also cease to qualify as persons.  This is what logic would dictate.

I want to be clear - I see absolutely no difference between killing the child outside of the womb of the mother and inside the womb of the mother.  The reason I believe this is because of my definition of personhood.  I believe that personhood begins as soon as God gives life - and this begins at conception.  Which one of us did not begin our existence as a conglomeration of cells in the womb of our mother?  We all did.

I know that the abortion debate is often couched in terms of a woman's right over her own body.  However, I am not talking about the woman's body here at all.  The unborn child has a different and distinct DNA and genetic code from the mother.  A woman does not become a hermaphrodite when she carries a child of a different sex.  There is a separate heartbeat, set of lungs, all organs, etc...with the child and the mother.  The child has a different soul than the mother.

And even if this does not sway us, can we at least say that there is doubt about the personhood of the unborn?  If you were a demolition crew about to demolish a building and someone came up to you and said, "we do not know if there is a person in the building...maybe there is and maybe there is not...." would you not counsel the demolition crew to wait until they are sure the building is empty?  Of course you would.  Can we not give the same thing to the unborn? 

We betray our prejudices in the way we speak.  No one goes up to a woman who is carrying a child and says, "awwwww...how is your pre-birth material progressing?"  No one says this.  What they say is, "how is your baby doing?"  In many places if you murder a pregnant woman you are charged with double homicide.  How can this be?  So is the mother's desire to keep the child make the child a person?  Is, "wanting" the child what makes the child a child?  If that's the case then I can assuredly say that there is at least three persons that always want the child - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

I know that many people who read this have had an abortion - or have recommended an abortion to another.  Please know that there is forgiveness for this available.  Jesus has died for all of us and all of our sins.  He took upon Himself on Calvary murder, greed, adultery, blasphemies, pride, and all other sins.  I too am a sinner and I too need forgiveness badly.  All those who confess their sins to Him are forgiven.  But the first step is to admit that we have sinned.  The first step is to admit that we, as a culture, have sinned.  I pray we do.  Amen.

#11   Giving


²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. [Ephesians 3:20-21]


Jesus was distraught over the greatest prophet ever alive being killed. [Remember Jesus is much more than a prophet - He is God in the flesh] John the Baptist was beheaded.  He went off to a solitary place to pray.  But He could never be alone too long.  The crowds followed Him.  They were like sheep without a shepherd.  He healed their sick.  He cast out the demons.  And then it was time for the crowd to be dispersed.  Yet, they were hungry.  What to do? 


Matthew 14 records the events in this way.  The crowds are there - healed but hungry.  They have heard the words of Jesus; they have seen and received the miracles of Jesus.  If they left, they still would have been satisfied.  But Jesus had not yet given enough.  He called the disciples together and told them to feed the five thousand.  They doubted.  "How can we feed so many?"  Jesus even says quite forcefully, "you give them something to eat."  The disciples respond, "we have but five loaves of bread and two fish - what will so little do amongst so many?"  


This is the question for the ages.  "What will so little do amongst so many?"  Sadly, this is the mentality of too many of us.  We forget that we have Jesus with us.  He can take our, "little" and do amazing things.  Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish and broke the bread.  He looked up to heaven and gave thanks to the Father.  He then told the disciples to distribute.  


Can you imagine the disciples' faces as they walk toward the crowds of people with a paltry amount of fish and bread.  Can you imagine the doubt that would be going through their minds?  But then the miraculous happens.  They hand the five loaves and two fish to the crowd and it multiplies.  All have their fill and are, "satisfied" the Scripture tells us.  They ate as much as they wanted.  


Now, what is amazing about all of this is that the leftovers were more than what they started out with.  They had 12 baskets of bread left over. 


I see something amazing here.  Jesus gave more than expected.  He healed.  He spoke.  He fed the body.  He provided for all of their needs.  That is our Jesus - He gives abundantly and all glory goes to Him.  


Now, the response of the Christian to this should be the response of the disciples.  Even in their trepidation [remember, they gave all they had to the crowd - they would have had, 'nothing' left for themselves] they gave.  Why?  Because they had Jesus with them, that is why; and Jesus always provides.  


This excites me.  I must confess my worry.  I must confess my hoarding my gifts, talents, and abilities to myself.  I must not simply understand and know - but truly embrace the fact that Jesus loves me more than I love me; and He will always provide.  This fact alone should excite me to give more than I think I  can in all things.  


During this Lenten season, let us truly focus on the giving nature of Christ to us and how that can compel us to give.  Amen. 

#10 Compassion.

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. [2nd Corinthians 1:2-4]

As of late there has been a lot of suffering in and around my life.  Now, as my calling as pastor, that is something one must expect.  People get ill and you visit them.  People get sick and you pray for them.  You anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  People die and you officiate their funerals and you grieve alongside the family.  But there is a difference between suffering in another and suffering in your own life.  As of late, there has been suffering in my life.  

My Father-in-Law is exceptionally ill.  Right after my two youngest girls were born he had a level 4 tumor removed from his brain.  After surgery he had seizures.  Months passed and then he had much more severe seizures.  He had a stroke.  Now he is currently in a rehabilitation facility and may come home soon - but not because he is better; because insurance is running out for the hospital stay.  He still cannot walk on his own and he will need assistance with almost everything.  

I have also experienced some very recent emotional downs.  [No need to go into them and please do not begin to worry - everything is just fine.]  I am a jolly fellow a great majority of the time.  I am not used to being sad for any long extended period of time.  And that still applies.  As I write this, honestly, I am doing much better.  However, I am convinced that the Lord allowed me to go through this so that I could learn the principle of the above Scripture.  

You see, without suffering there is no compassion.  If you are a person that is immune to, or at least does not take seriously, suffering, then very often you will have a lack of compassion.  God very often allows suffering in our lives to understand this principle.  If we were not sinful we would simply be compassionate due to our holy nature; however, we are sinful.  Therefore by nature we are selfish - and we do not want other people ruining our good time with their suffering.  One serious bout of suffering will relieve us of this hypocrisy.  To walk in the shoes of one who suffers is a serious thing.  

But Jesus comforts us.  You and I have to remember that we have a suffering God.  And I want to make clear that it was not just the cross where Jesus suffered. [As if that was not enough]  Jesus is God.  Prior to His becoming flesh He was in the heavens being constantly glorified.  Becoming human, for God, is a humiliation.  To thirst, to tire, to grow weary, to sweat, to hunger, to be tempted, etc...these are all unique sufferings that God went through for us.  He simply claimed the victory in every way. 

Jesus speaks a word of comfort in the midst of suffering.  We pray to Him and He hears.  We read His Word and the Spirit speaks.  We sing songs of praise and we are uplifted.  He comforts us.  But as in most things He comforts us for more than simply to comfort us - so that we can learn the principle of compassion and begin to be compassionate towards those who suffer.  

I now watch my wife suffer over her father [and her mother suffers attempting to minister to her husband.]  I see the weariness in my brother-in-law, and I pray that the Lord gives me compassion every day.  During my times of emotional sadness, the Lord used people to help me in my emotional suffering - they were used to give me wonderful words of wisdom.  One thing I have learned as of late is this - there may be many reasons why we suffer, but one reason is to teach us compassion.  I pray that I can showcase the compassion of Christ for my family and others.  Lord, help us have compassion.  Amen.

#9 Politics.  "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's." [Matthew 22:21]

In my first blog I addressed some of what I am about to say.  However, I believe now is the time to codify some political thoughts as they pertain to faith.  The presidential and local election season is quickly approaching and, I am sure, our precious Savior will be dragged into negative political discourse.  Therefore, now may be the time to discuss political things.

The genesis of this thought process is something that I read recently in an online magazine concerning a Presidential Candidate.  This particular presidential candidate has branded himself as a follower of Jesus Christ and has publicly stated that his faith was very important to him.  The author of the article openly wondered how this politician could be affiliated with the political party that he was affiliated with and read the same Bible he was reading.  Basically it was an article where the author said, "how can this person really be a Christian and be a part of the Party that he is?"

I have heard this question from many well-meaning Christians throughout the years.  They do not understand how anyone who truly claims the name of Christ could, "vote a different way."  I am here to tell you that I believe that there are authentic Christian Democrats and authentic Christian Republicans.  There are authentic Christian independents as well.  I have met them.  Believe me, they are there.

What I have a real problem with is how both sides attempt to use Jesus to their advantage.  I have heard Republicans clearly advocate that Jesus would be on, "their side" of any political debate; and I have heard Democrats use Jesus to their advantage as well. 

Now, I want to be very clear about this.  I absolutely, unequivocally believe that our faith should influence all that we do - and yes even how we vote.  What I am saying is that well-meaning Christians, who are attempting to follow conscience, come to different political opinions.

In the above verse the religious leaders of the day were trying to, "suck" Jesus into a political controversy.  They wanted to ask Jesus, "should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  Now, the reason this was a loaded question was because if he were to answer, "yes" then the religious leaders of the day could paint him as a sympathizer to the Romans - for He's telling us to submit to their illegitimate rule. [Remember, at this time Rome occupied Israel and they occupied by force; therefore, they were an invading army]  If Jesus were to answer, "no" then the religious leaders of the day could turn Jesus over to the Romans as a trouble-maker and have them jail Him. 

Jesus asked for a Roman coin and was given one. [Interesting fact - those who did not think they should pay taxes to Caesar nonetheless used the Roman money...showing they already submitted to their rule...] He then asked, "whose inscription is on this?"  The people replied, "Caesar's..."  And Jesus said, "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's...Basically, Jesus was saying, "God has placed His name on you - give the coin to Caesar, give your life to the Lord." 

I cannot overstress this - politics are important, but they are not as important as we make them.  Jesus, in my opinion, was bothered about the pettiness of this.  I can almost hear Jesus saying something along the lines of, "come on people...do we not have bigger things to talk about - like people dying and going to heaven and hell?  I am here to save the Cosmos, not involve myself in the pettiness of all this..."  [I understand it is extremely dangerous to put words in the mouth of Jesus, so forgive me if I upset you...]  

Remember also this - Jesus pulled from amazingly different walks of life to be His disciples.  Simon the Zealot was a disciple.  The Zealots were people zealous for the political standing of Israel and advocated overthrowing Roman rule.  He also chose Matthew - the tax collector; an individual who was working at the behest of the Romans.  Jesus chose both to follow Him.  Now, they changed no doubt - but the change was not so much political - it was a change that transformed them from looking to one realm to the next.

And I will say this - look at the book of Acts.  What were the disciples doing there.  Here we see the first Christians in action.  And what action were they doing?  What, "acts" of the Apostles do we see?  We see them doing all they can to spread God's Word so that people would be saved.  Period.  

What is my point?  My point is this.  I do think we should work in our government.  Christians need to be involved.  Our Faith should guide who we vote for - amen.  Yet, I still believe that Christian's can disagree over what is the best route for our government.  What we cannot disagree about is this - the greatest way to change our culture is not the halls of Congress - it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and if Christians focused passionately on sharing the message of the love of God in Christ as passionately as they fight politically, we would see the culture change - not through the laws of men - but through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.