Observations from a Sunday away

I'll never forget the weekend Jesus changed my heart and gave me a love for being with God's people on Sundays.  I had already been challenged by a Sunday school teacher for my inconsistent participation on Sundays but that wasn't what did it.  On this one particular weekend I was supposed to meet my friend Jeff Denlinger at the college cafeteria; but as a Resident Advisor in the dorm, I'd been up until the wee hours of the morning.  So when I finally crawled in the bed I decided I wasn't going--- Jeff would understand when I wasn't there.  But Jeff didn't understand and before I knew it, I was awakened to a knock on my door.  There stood my friend questioning me as to why I wasn't at the cafeteria.  I told him I wasn't going, talked about how late I'd been up, and watched him leave a bit dejected.  As I laid in bed, wide awake, God did a work in my heart; before I knew it I was up getting ready and soon on my way.  I never looked back.  That day God filled my heart with love for God's people and a desire to encourage my brothers and sisters with my presence.  And I can say I never again missed gathering with God's people on a Lord's Day for an inconsequential reason.

As a pastor I don't get too many Sundays to visit with other church families but whenever I'm away for vacation, or any other reason, being a part of a new church family is a great privilege and quite often a great joy.   Earlier this year, while on vacation at the Outerbanks, I was able to worship with two different churches--- at 9:30 a.m. a small Methodist church right next to the home where we were staying and at 11:00 a.m. a small church that appeared to be a part of the Assembly of God fellowship.  I'd like to share with you a few observations I made from these two worship gatherings and a "take-away" from each observation.

First I noticed how different were the two worship expressions.   One was traditional, including three hymns sung from a hymn book and accompanied by a lone pianist.  There were liturgical readings and singing the doxology after the offering was collected.  The other was very contemporary and we sang to digital music projected on a screen with the lights dimmed.  The songs were so new that I was unfamiliar with two of them.  One church had a traditional building, traditional stage and traditional pews.  The other one was very different with a stage decorated with nautical paraphernalia.  But the truth is, worship isn't dependent on the music, the lighting or the building but on our hearts and I observed brothers and sisters worshipping in both places, as diverse as they were.   My "take-away" was this:  King Jesus is worshipped with great diversity as His people gather on Sundays and that's ok.  Having worshipped with believers in Congo and Mozambique I already knew this but I observed it again on the Outer Banks.  And an equally important truth is that however a church chooses to express their worship, I can join in with them and worship Jesus my Savior.

Second, I observed how different both pastors were yet they shared a few things in common.  One dressed in a suit while the other in jeans and a casual shirt.  One preached for twelve minutes and the other about forty.  One preached simply talking to us while the second pastor used every voice intonation and every tempo available, even crying at one point.  I doubt they could have been much more different yet they were also similar.  It was obvious to me that both men loved Jesus.  Their passion and heart for Him was clear.  They both believed in the authority of the Bible and wanted their preaching to impact their listeners.   As I watched them, I was convinced that both men truly loved the people.  My "take-away" was this: God can use a pastor no matter what he looks like if he loves God's people, loves God's Word, and loves the Lord Jesus.  I want to be such a pastor.

Third, I observed that neither church family seemed all that interested in me as a person.  No one greeted me outside the allotted "greeting time" and even then it was only with a handshake.  It was funny because with the Methodist church they loved the greeting time and were very intent on greeting each other but I sort of just stood there.   My "take-away" was this: How hard it is for us to make guest feel welcome.  We must be intentional.   Obviously we can't control what anyone else does, just ourselves, so this truly applies to each of us individually.  Paul spoke often of hospitality; we need to apply that to our church family gatherings on Sunday mornings.

Finally, I observed that at neither of the churches I visited on Sunday was the gospel clearly presented.  They spoke of loving Jesus and giving Him our all, obviously two very important truths, but the gospel is not what we can do for Christ, but what He has done for us in the cross.  We should definitely call one another to greater consecration but only upon the foundation of the grace of God in Christ.  The gospel is not that I try harder to live for God but that I recognize my sin and my inability to obtain God's forgiveness by my own effort and merit, and instead trust in the life and death of Jesus for the forgiveness of my sin.  The good news is that when I cannot be holy by my efforts, I can be holy by receiving Jesus' holiness as a gift from God-- freely given to all who will believe.    My "take-away" was this: There is so much we as followers of Jesus need to know and learn, but it clearly needs to be built on the bedrock of the gospel.

Has God given you a love for the local church?  Many of you who might read this will be members of the Castle family.  Has God given you a love for our church family?  Are you committed to being a part, to give of yourself, to be an encouragement to others?  Over the years God has grown my love for God's people and for the weekly gathering of believers.  I'm devoted to it.  It began one Sunday morning with a decision to be a part.  If you haven't made such a decision, such a commitment, will you choose this day to love God's church and give of yourself?  I hope so.  No telling what you may observe

Happy birthday Dad!

Today my father turns eighty (80) years old. I thought it would be fitting for me to write a bit about him for those of you who have never met him.  Dad grew up in Bull-Island, as it was known to the locals-- Poquoson to the rest of us.  I can only assume that ‘Bull-Island’ got its name because at some point in the past, there used to be a bunch of bulls kept down there.  Much like how we call the wildlife reserve down by the nuclear plant, “Hog-Island.”  My dad’s father was a shipyard worker, my grandmother a teacher early on but lived most of her life as a domestic engineer, raising dad and his siblings.  Dad was the oldest followed by a brother five years later and then a sister five years after that.  He was raised in what I assume was a typical post-WWII home, loving, caring, nurturing.  He married a lady from his high school— Annette Moore.  They had grown up in the same church family though I don’t really think they were high school sweethearts.  As the old saying goes, he definitely married above himself!  At some point early in life dad became a Christ follower and into his late teens and early twenties he felt led to pursue vocational ministry— dad would go on to serve as a pastor/missionary his entire life.

Dad and me

While in seminary and soon after, he would give leadership to three churches, Beech Grove, Coinjock and Sawyer’s Creek--a few years at each.  I remember him sharing with me how hard it was to lead churches where people had no desire to change.  He almost left vocational ministry while at one of those churches because he felt like he would not survive the emotional discouragement.  While serving at Sawyer’s Creek dad and mom both felt leadership from the Lord to serve as missionaries and with their three very young sons in tow, they headed for Montevideo, Uruguay.  They would spend the next twenty years serving there.

I know my parents didn’t go south for their children, but I’ll always be grateful for the upbringing I received, having been raised on foreign soil.  There are so many lessons I learned, so many skills I developed, so many friends I received.  Having been raised in Latin America, I believe I received a view of the world that I might not have had I lived in North Carolina all my life, but truly those are just speculative thoughts.

Dad and mom went to Uruguay to do youth work but that never really materialized.  Dad would end up being a theology teacher, pastor and counselor for most of his time there.  We returned to Uruguay two years ago, my parents and my brothers and I, and it was extremely encouraging as we gathered with this great crowd of witnesses who came to tell my father how much his life had impacted them. I saw tears on my father’s face as people shared with him how his life and words had added so much value to theirs.  He had led some of them to follow Jesus but all of them talked about how he had loved them and helped them.

They returned to the United States in the late 1980’s and dad finished his ministry career by serving as the pastor of several churches before his retirement.   None of those experiences would ever top the blessing he received serving in that small Latin American country.  Today he turns eighty and I want to say how much I love and appreciate him.  My dad taught me many things over the last five decades of my life— let me share three with you.

My father taught me that we were all sinners and not to judge others by their sin.  Nothing people told him shocked him and his goal was always to help them leave their sin behind.  He showed me what love without condemnation looks like; what it means not to judge others.  He helped nationals, missionaries, and even sought to help people who didn’t know Christ.

He taught me how to love in marriage and be committed to its permanence.  Now don’t misunderstand--Dad could have and should have helped my mother much more.  I always joke that dad never changed a diaper— and unfortunately that may not be a joke!  But growing up it was obvious my father loved my mother, and she him.  They were playfully affectionate around us.  They were kind.  I never heard them raise their voices or even argue.  (Of course that may be because my mom is a saint!) They locked their bedroom door at night.  I didn’t know what that meant then but I know today they had a healthy marriage in every way.  I’ll never be able to thank my dad and mom for giving us the healthy family we had to grow up in.  And my parents stayed together.  Through thick and thin.  They showed me that marriage is what maintains the love, not the other way around.

Dad at 75

My dad taught me what it means to be a man.  He invested in me.  He instructed me verbally and modeled many good things.  I’ll never forget dad writing me a letter when I first went to college.  He emancipated me with his words.  He declared me a man and said from that point on I needed to act like a man.  He was there to be my friend, to advise me, to help me, but I needed to take responsibility for my life.  Honestly, it was a bit scary but I guess it’s not unlike a parent bird throwing the baby bird out of the nest saying, “Fly or die!”  But dad knew I was ready to fly.  He had taught me over the years responsibility, work ethic, family values, and what really ultimately matters in life.

It might be easy to think, because of what I’ve written, that dad was perfect, that he made no mistakes.  Like all of us who have parented, dad made plenty.  But the mistakes don’t often overpower or erase the good we managed to do.   So dad, if you read this, I just want you to know I’ll always be grateful to you.  I owe you so much.  I am not solely the man I am due to your influence, but yet I recognize that much of who I am came from what I learned from you while under your care.  Happy birthday dad!

Discipleship Imbalance

I was listening to the Outsiders Podcast this week and they made me think.  They call themselves "Outsiders" because they used to belong to the evangelical church but having rejected Biblical authority, they now find themselves 'outside' the boundaries that most evangelicals will embrace.  This particular podcast was on discipleship and one of the speakers' main contention was that discipleship wasn't about knowing propositional truth but rather the development of the character of Jesus in our lives.  Discipleship he contended, wasn't about being able to recite doctrine, (they seemed to have a pretty strong disdain for doctrine and anyone who believes God actually inspired the Scriptures), but rather about us being changed and transformed by Jesus as we walk through life with Him.

I once heard someone say that 'balance is that place we find ourselves as the pendulum swings to the other extreme.'  I could not agree more.  If we are not careful we tend merely to react and go to the other side of an issue only to find ourselves in error again, but on the other side.  Robertson McQuilken used to say, "We need to live in the center of Biblical tension," or to quote my friend Dick Lane, "We need to fly with two wings of truth."

To reject discipleship as growth in our understanding of truth, and more specifically in our understanding of God's Word, is to ignore so much of what the Bible says.  When Jesus prays for his disciples on the night before His death He says; (John 17:17) "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."  Peter says something similar in his second letter;  "Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;" (2Pet.1:4-6)  Because we have escaped the corruption of this world, in other words we have been saved, Peter tells us to add to our faith goodness and knowledge.  We don't need to reject the idea that discipleship includes our growth in knowledge.

But the 'Outsiders' are right when they say that discipleship isn't just knowing more; its about being transformed into Jesus' likeness.  In fact this is God's intention in salvation; I will be conformed in heart and soul and action to Jesus Himself!  If I am a Christ-follower, if Jesus is indeed my Savior, it is a certainty: I can't help but be more and more like Him with the passing of time.  That means I'll grow in my understanding of truth and doctrine but just as equally important, my character and my life will become more and more like Jesus.  Salvation isn't just about my agreeing that Jesus died for me as the "lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,'" but its about me entering into a relationship with God Himself.  He comes into my life with power and purpose and I begin to follow and the result is change.  I become like Jesus.

In what way do I become like Jesus?  I begin to take on His character.  I grow in love, patience, kindness and goodness.  I am able to love my enemies and do good to those who despitefully use me. I am able to serve others rather than demanding that others serve me.  I am humble as Jesus was humble.  I am holy, having been declared holy by God through faith, my heart longs to be holy.  Like Jesus I begin to long to spend time with God.  Prayer becomes my heart's desire.  Someone has said, "Jesus loves me just as I am but He loves me too much to leave me that way."  As He by His Spirit 'disciples me,' my heart and character and life are transformed by Him.

Don't make the mistake of discipleship imbalance.  Jesus wants you to grow in truth, in doctrine, and in your character.   Are you a disciple of Jesus?  If so, would you say you are changing, growing in both these regards?  Remember its a life long process.  Some times we take a few steps forward only to find ourselves falling one back.  Don't be discouraged.  Don't give up.  But do examine yourself.  Are you understanding and grasping truth in a growing measure?  Are you loving like Jesus?  Are you patient?  Are you kind?  Are you selfless?  Are you serving others?  Do the poor matter to you?  How about people without Jesus; do you see them as lost sheep without a shepherd? Are you Jesus with 'skin on' to those in your life and in your sphere of influence?

Be a disciple in balance!  Grow in truth.  Grow in godly character.

Greater Condemnation (Luke 20:45-47)

Last week at the end of the service I commented that I felt a bit unsettled about the message I had just shared.  (http://baconscastle.com/podcastgen/?name=but_god_looks_at_the_heart_(luke_20_27_-_21_4).mp3)  Several of you spoke encouraging words to me during the week and I’m thankful for that but I believe I know why I felt the way I did. 

I spoke of how Jesus says that if we live a life of hypocrisy we will reap even greater condemnation.  But what left me unsettled was which one of us doesn’t live in hypocrisy, even often?  We all, all too often, dress up the outside with spirituality but inside we are far different than we present.  We are like the Pharisees who honored God with their lips but their heart was far from God.  Which one of us doesn’t at times find ourselves living as a hypocrite?

What bothered me last week, I believe, was did I speak enough of grace?  Did I speak enough of the grace that God sheds in our hearts that gives us a new heart and regenerates us, makes us new?  The truth is grace changes us and though we may live in a moment of hypocrisy, we don’t live a life of one.  I think what troubled me was maybe I didn’t root Jesus’ words well enough in the context of His grace.  We are recipients of grace that leads us tear down our hypocrisy and live authentic Christian lives, owning our sins and failures and relying daily on that grace of God.

Jesus doesn’t promise greater condemnation for moments of hypocrisy; He promises greater condemnation for pretending we know the grace of God in our lives when in reality we don’t.  And how do I know if I’ve experienced the grace of God in my life?  My heart is changed and I depend on Jesus, I want to follow Jesus.  Following Him becomes my heart’s desire and my life ambition.  Yes I’ll stumble along the way and even live hypocritically at times but even in those moments I’ll cling to His grace.

The call to examine ourselves still stands; am I clinging to the grace of God?  Is God's grace transforming me or am I merely pretending to know and love God?  Don't pretend.  Be for real.  Own the truth. 

God is listening (Acts 12)

We often think that the early church, those early believers, operated so much in the supernatural that  all they had to do was ask God and he would break His natural laws to accomplish whatever they wanted.  That was not so.  Now I will grant you that they seemed to encounter more supernatural acts of God than we do but even in their experience, the supernatural was the exception not the rule.  The reason we know that is because when God supernaturally releases Peter from prison, no one believes it is really him.  Why?  Because they know he’s in jail and there is no way he could get out; at least no natural way.  What’s really ironic was that Peter’s release would have been a focal point of their prayers, even as they were praying at that very moment!

So let me encourage you with several thoughts from this little vignette in Scripture.

1. God does hear our prayers.  If there is one thing I’d like you remember, to remind yourself daily, it’s that God always hears your prayers.  Have you ever been talking to someone and realize they aren’t even listening to you?  I must confess I’ve been guilty of that way too often.  I’ve also been intently sharing with someone else only to realize they are somewhere else in their mind and heart.   God is not like that.  He is able to hear and listen to all our prayers.  He actually invites us into his presence to share our heart with him.  I always like to remind myself when I'm praying that God isn't a million miles away in a far off land we call heaven; God is right there with me in that very spot I'm praying.  He hears your prayers.  

2. God can and does intervene in our history to accomplish His will.    Sometimes it can seem that this world is just out of control, a result of our sinful and selfish choices.  The murderous rampage of ISIS against people, and against people who follow Jesus in particular, prods us to ask the questions, “God where are you?  Why are you allowing this?”  You know those early believers who suffered equal pressures and martyrdom often wondered the same thing.   But this story reminds us that God is Sovereign over His creation; accomplishing His will as He desires.   There is no doubt that most of the evil and despair we see in the world is simply God allowing us to reap the results of our sinful and fallen choices.  Indeed, God said that we would 'reap what we sow,' but don’t ever forget that God has not abandoned us.  God is still at work and will indeed accomplish His desires at the end, in spite of our sin.  Take courage, God has not left us alone and God is leading all of history to the conclusion that He desires. 

3. So let me encourage you to not grow weary but to pray!  Jesus once told us to pray and not lose heart.  Accept the truth that God doesn’t always violate His natural laws to answer us BUT He is always listening, always attentive, always involved.  Make your requests known to Him.  Trust that He is at work in the world; He can and does work with all our errant and sinful choices to yet bring about His ultimate will and our good.  Remember the words of Joseph to his brothers, “You meant it for evil but God meant it for good.”  God was so wise, so powerful, so good that He was not deterred by men’s sinful choices; He could work through them for His perfect end.  That’s the promise of Romans 8:28, “God works all things together for good for those who love Him.”  So pray.  Pray and talk to God always—as you are driving, sitting or whenever you have a free moment.  But also make time to gather with others and pray together.  This story tells us the early church did that a great deal.

Blessings

Jimmy

The dangers of being a stumbling block

One thing is true today-- somebody is watching me.  I don't mean with sinister motives either.  I mean people are watching me as I follow Christ in order to gain encouragement in their own walk with Jesus.  Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ" and I've done that my entire Christian life.  I've watched the men who follow Christ and I've followed them.  I followed them as a man, as a dad, as a friend and as a pastor.  I watched what they did and I emulated them.  I guess because of that I've always known that people were following me too.  I don't know if the men ahead of me felt the weight of that responsibility but I know I have as I thought of those following me.  I didn't want to be a stumbling block for others.

Matthew 18:5-7 always challenges me as I think of those who might be following me.  "Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.  Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!"  I have never wanted to be a stumbling block for anyone.

Have you ever thought about how we can be a stumbling block to others?  If people respect me and are following me as I follow Christ, how might I trip them up if I'm not careful?  Here are three things we might do to cause others to stumble.

Sin - When people are following us, and we choose to reject Christ and embrace sin, we are placing a stumbling block before others.  Most all of us know that we are sinners, and even that those we follow are too, but there is something truly disheartening to watch someone we love and respect, someone we follow, choose selfishness and sin over loving God.  Your sin will not only affect your relationship with God, it can stumble those who are watching you, looking up to you.  When you and I choose the selfishness of sin, especially grievous sin, those behind us may choose to give up in their disappointment.

Unrepentance -  We all know that we still sin and deep down we are aware that even our "leaders," those we follow, can fall.  We know they can even fall grievously and that in itself can cause others to stumble, but something else that may stumble even more is a heart unwilling to repent.   When confronted with sin, if you and I are unwilling to repent and turn back to follow Jesus, those who have been following us may decide that Jesus isn't worth it either.  Maybe they didn't stumble over our sin but they stumbled over our unwillingness to repent and turn back.  They may choose to give up because we are unwilling to return.

Rejection - John Maxwell once said, "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care."  There is a great deal of truth in this.  So often people follow us because they feel loved by us, they trust us.  If we act unlovingly, if we portray rejection, then we may just be setting a trip hazard before others.

Ultimately all of us are responsible directly to God himself.  None of us will be able to excuse our own failures by appealing to a stumbling block someone else put before us.  Along with this reality, there is the truth that God's Holy Spirit indwells and empowers us all to walk and not stumble.  Yet nonetheless, there is this grave word of caution-- do not be the cause of others tripping.

May God help us walk and even run the race in such a way that those who follow will not stumble over us.

Serving is what we do

Jesus often spoke about humility and servanthood.  In Matthew 18 he says;

18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  5 And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Here is that familiar call of Jesus to humility.  Greatness in the kingdom of God will always be measured in terms of our servant's heart, our humility of heart.  As a leader I've struggled with this; I desire to be a servant at heart because this is what we do.  Jesus said, "I've come to serve and not be served."  But at the same time, I'm not convinced that my leadership is one and the same with serving.  I often hear Christian leaders say that their platform ministry is one and the same with serving others.  Even in the secular world we hear politicians called public servants.  But serving seems to be something we do personally for others out of our humility.  Jesus speaks of receiving a child and nothing is more servant like than caring for a child.  Platform ministries are rarely personal and instead of lowering ourselves to serve the least, those ministries often elevate us to positions of great praise.  The larger the platform ministry, the greater the praise, power and position that usually follows.

Now I don't mean to imply that leaders can't be servants.  Indeed they can be and should be but service isn't seen so much in the platform ministry but in the heart of that leader outside of that large ministry.  Does that leader serve the least of these personally?  Is their heart of humility seen in how they treat others outside the popular large ministry?  Does that leader have time to talk to and encourage the young, the unknown, the one with no power?

Dr. Al Moyler represents the leader who is both powerful and humble.  Though I don't know him personally, he is the president of Southern Seminary, prolific author and speaker, but I listen to his daily briefing and on the weekend he takes questions from people.  His humility and his desire to serve the least is evident in how he answers their questions.  He is kind.  He is encouraging.  He is never self ingratiating.  I believe he'd always have time for the young ones, whether they were the children around him or the young in faith.

I desire to be the best leader I can be.  I want to be strong and assertive.  I want to be inspiring and challenging.  But above all those things I long to be a servant.  I want to be humble, a man under authority and one who serves Jesus but a leader who also sees serving Jesus as lived out in serving even children.  Jesus told us that to receive the children is to receive him.  Never grow to the point that you are too big, too powerful, too important to have time to serve the least of those around us.  Personally serving the little ones is what we do.

A thorn in the flesh

Yesterday I was reading the passage on Paul's thorn in the flesh.  Here's what Paul wrote:

2 Corinthians 12:7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

God took this passage and spoke to my heart in a very clear and challenging way.  Let me share with you three observations I made.

Whatever Paul's "thorn" was, he didn't want it and asked numerous times for God to remove it.  Paul calls it a messenger from Satan to torment him so this thorn must not have been an easy thing to deal with.  He described it as torment.  My first observation was that this was no little thing to Paul, he hated it and wanted it to change.

But God tells him definitively that He is not going to remove it.  Some how, in some way, God's glory was made more evident in Paul's life through Paul's weakness.  My guess is that when people saw Paul's weakness, his thorn, and they saw his devotion and love for Jesus, they would know that what made him like he was was the power of God at work in his life.  But what was clear was that no matter how much Paul wanted that thorn gone, no matter how much he asked, God wasn't going to remove it.  That was my second observation.

My third observation, something I think I'd glossed over and missed in the past, was Paul had accepted that answer and was content to live with his less that ideal situation if at the end of the day God would be more greatly exalted.  I imagine that he still would very much like to have had that "thorn" removed.  It was undoubtedly an irritant since most thorns are; it clearly hurt him.  But Paul had quit fighting against it and had accepted the answer of God and now was choosing to live in contentment and allow God to shine through that weakness.

Here's where it gets personal.  I've had a thorn in my flesh too and I've asked God repeatedly to remove it, to change it, but he has always said no.  But what was clear to me yesterday was, that unlike Paul, I've never accepted that.  I still fight against it on the inside.  I chaff at it and it often consumes my thinking.  I have been unwilling to accept what Jesus has been saying to me for years-- "Jimmy, I'm not changing it for in this weakness my grace is made perfect in you.  Jimmy, you shine brighter for me in this weakness than you would if I removed it.  I'm not going to take away your thorn."   I've refused to accept that, though almost three decades have gone by. 

But yesterday God tenderly helped me see Paul's contentment and his willingness to embrace the thorn and stop fighting against it.  Today I'm asking God to do that in me.  I can't say that accepting this thorn is going to be easy, or a quick turn around, but I sense God's work in me to that end.

It's easy to rationalize

A few Sundays ago I said something that I believe is worth repeating here in this blog.  We’ve been studying Abraham in the book of Genesis and one thing I’m pretty convinced of is that when he took Hagar as his second wife, he knew that was not what God intended for the fulfillment of his promise to Abraham that he would have a son.  I continue to believe that Abraham knew in his heart all along that God intended to give Sarah a child.  So why did he do it?  Maybe he wanted to support Sarah in her plan—to give her some relief in how she was feeling as a woman who had not been able to give him a son.  Maybe the prospect of having another wife was enticing to Abraham’s lust.  Maybe at the end of the day, he convinced himself this might work but whatever his ultimate motivation, I believe he knew this was not what God wanted him to do.

            But thirteen years go by and he has a son.  His wives have learned to live with the situation so things seem a bit better at home but during this time something happens to Abraham.  He begins to believe that he must have been right in his decision to take Hagar as his wife.  So much so that after thirteen years he doesn’t even think about Sarah having a son anymore.  God had promised him a son and by his own ingenuity he had brought it about—through Hagar.  So when God shows up in person to talk with Abraham and tells him that Sarah’s going to have a son next year, his immediate response is to laugh to himself at the impossibility of such a thing.  Yet God is patient and his rebuke is gentle.  God will bless Ishmael but the promise God made long ago would be fulfilled in Sarah’s son, a boy to be named Isaac.

            When I read that and saw what happened to Abraham, I immediately saw a corollary between what happened to him and what happens to us.   We often do things that in our hearts we know are wrong.  We know God doesn’t approve but we convince ourselves it’s ok.  And as time goes on, and nothing really bad seems to happen, we convince ourselves that not only is it not wrong, it’s what God wanted us to do.  I think we’re particularly susceptible to this in relationships with others but really it can happen in almost any area of life. 

Here’s a couple of “for instances” that I see often.  Walking with God demands a daily personal time of prayer and fellowship in God’s Word but because we know we can talk to God always and everywhere, and because we’ve read the Bible before, we rationalize that walking with God doesn’t need that daily, focused time of meeting with Him.  In fact, we convince ourselves that God would rather have the “on the go prayers” than the disciplined time with Him. 

Commitment to your church family is a command from God but people rationalize that they can worship anywhere.  Before long we have forsaken the church gathered for worship for fishing on the river.  We convince ourselves this is the will of God because God is everywhere in nature and we pray before we launch.  And besides, we’re spending time with our children. 

I could go on but my point is simply this; let’s stop rationalizing our disobedience and submit our selves to God.  For some of you, you’ve been so long ignoring the prompting of the Holy Spirit, it may be hard for you to even hear His voice still.  I’m praying for revival because in revival we all hear Him clearly once more. 

But let this be my challenge to us in the days ahead.  Heed his voice.  Listen to His Spirit.  When you know something is wrong in your heart, when you have that check in your spirit, obey God.  Stop doing what you are doing.  Start doing what you need to be doing.  The old song says, “Trust and obey for there is no other way…”  Trust the Lord Jesus will see you through.  He will help you.  And obey those promptings, obey His voice.  There is no other way for us to walk before him blamelessly than to trust in Jesus and obey His will.

One final word, walking in obedience is not easy.  It often hurts.  It often cost you.  There can be a huge sacrifice in not living for your self.  The world says, “You fool!  This is all there is—why are you wasting your life?”  But we know better.  This is not all there is.  Jim Elliot once said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can not lose.”  Christ died for our obedience—now by His grace let’s live in it.

            

Buck the shift!

I recently attended a daylong seminar where Andy Stanley was one of the speakers. One of the things that he said was that there has been a shift in church as it relates to one’s participation in worship. Indeed things are always shifting, in culture and in the church. Some shifts are good. Our country has shifted from viewing people of color as chattel to viewing all men as created equal regardless of their race. That has been a good shift. Our country has also shifted from believing in certain moral absolutes to seeing all morality as neutral or relative. That is not a good shift.

The church also experiences shifts. In the last couple of decades the church has shifted in its missiology. In years gone by missionaries would often taken their American culture and impose that on believers instead of working through that cultures’ constructs. Today missionaries are committed to imparting the gospel and separating it from our culture’s distinctives. That is a good shift.

Another shift in the church has been the move away from participating in the central worship service. According to Stanley, today believers are not even particularly committed to a single church family and are even less committed to being a regular participant on a weekly basis. As a response to this, North Point Community Church, where Stanley serves as the lead pastor, closes down the last Sunday of the year and doesn’t meet.

Now it may be obvious from the direction of these thoughts, but I don’t think this is a good shift. In fact, it seems to me that the lack of commitment to a local church family and the Sunday morning gathering is a shift that reflects a general lack of commitment and individualism that we see our culture. Not all individualism is bad but one of the things that should be so true of us as believers is that we are a body, a family, and together we are so much more than we can be on our own. In fact, God calls us to that unity.

In the book of Hebrews chapter ten God tells us that in light of Jesus’ great sacrifice we should approach God’s throne with confidence and we should draw near to God with confidence. But he also says, in light of Jesus sacrifice, don’t forsake gathering together, as some are doing, but make it a time to encourage one another to love and to do good deeds. I guess one response could be to give into the shift, stop resisting and just take the last Sunday of the year off since many people aren’t going to come anyway. But something in me says we should defy this shift and encourage just the opposite; commitment and faithfulness to be here every Sunday whether we feel like it or not and be here regardless of what the rest of the world is doing. After all, it is Jesus’ sacrifice that God says provides the motivation to come and encourage one another.

Less you think this doesn’t affect us at BCBC, did you know that our attendance can fluctuate as much as fifty people from Sunday to Sunday? I believe quite often folks are deliberating on Saturday night or even getting up on Sunday and deciding then whether they will be a part of the Sunday gathering. I realize there will always be major things that cause us not to be here—sickness, vacation, work or travel but if I could, I want to challenge us to make being here not optional. Why not decide, even as you read this, that from this point on being a part of your church family gathering on Sunday morning will not be up for debate or discussion? Why not choose to be here if at all possible and you make it a priority?

When I was a new Christian at Ferrum College, Jeff Denlinger was encouraging me in my new commitment. I was supposed to meet him at the cafeteria and we were going to church that Sunday morning. Well when the alarm went off, I was tired and decided I wouldn’t go so I rolled over and went back to sleep. In what seems like just minutes later there was a knock on my door and there stood Jeff. “Aren’t you coming with me to church” he asked? I gave him some sheepish reply about being too tired and so he left. I got back in bed, wide-awake now, laying there thinking about what I had just done. Jesus died for me, rose again, and I was too tired to be a part of his family? Alan, my brother was my roommate, and he too was wide-awake. “You want to go,” I asked? “Absolutely” he said, and we were up and moving fast. That Sunday morning I made a commitment in my heart I would be at worship with God’s people on Sundays and by the grace of God that has been my heart. And I wasn’t a pastor then-- I was a college student!

Let me ask you to make the same commitment today. Won’t you decide even as you read this that being a part of your church family on Sunday will not be optional? Won’t you make a commitment that unless it is something that can’t wait, you will make God’s people your priority on Sundays? I love you and I hope that you will resist this church shift and you will be one of the family who others can count on to be here and be an encouragement to those around you!