March 1, 2009 - Pastor Tim

DOES REVIVAL EVER REALLY HAPPEN?

Psalm 85:1-13

When I was growing up, we religiously had what we called “revival services” in our church twice a year—services that were held every night for a week featuring the preaching of an “evangelist” who went from church to church holding revival services wherever he went. In years before my time, revival services might be scheduled for two or three weeks, and sometimes even go longer than that if things seemed to go especially well.

As a kid, I was glad we were down to one week!—but every night we were there! And since my dad was the pastor, we’d host the evangelist in our home and I remember that we’d always eat well that week at our house, even though I don’t know how my mom pulled it all off after teaching school all day long! Sometimes there were special services for the children every night before the main service, and there were special awards for the kids who memorized Bible verses and brought friends. Rev. Gene Clark was one of my favorites—and he’d give out a huge “Clark Bar” to the kid who did the best night by night! Rev. James Leonard was another personal favorite when I was a kid. He was part American Indian and would dress up in native costume for a picture with all the kids on the last night of the revival services.

And, surprisingly enough, people would come to those services in great numbers! The evangelists who came to preach tended to be more fiery and animated in their approach than most pastors. I’m not sure if most people could handle that kind of preaching week after week, but the evangelists seemed to be especially gifted in calling people to make spiritual decisions. And many people did make decisions to follow Christ in revival services. Others came to grips with pervasive issues in their lives that were keeping them from living a life of obedience to Christ. It was in revivals that some yielded the controls of their lives to Christ and sought to become fully-devoted followers of Jesus. It was in those settings that young people were sometimes called into a life of ministry.

Well, times have changed. As a pastor, I’ve still had some revival services in my churches in recent years, but our lives seem to be spread so thin that few people commit to come regularly to them. While it used to be that people outside the church would come for special revival services, it seems like culturally now we’re better able to encourage visitors to come when they have some idea of who’s going to be preaching and what they might expect. And we’ll likely have some revival services in days ahead, but when we do, I want to make sure we’re doing so intentionally and that our congregation is willing to buy into the purpose and the plan.

There are those who reflect cynically on revival services as times when the same people would come to the altar and get spiritual help, time after time. And I’ve watched that happen some, though I’m not willing to throw out the baby with the bath water. As a kid and as a teenager, I know I made more than my share of trips to the altar, but, in retrospect, I believe that God was keeping my heart tender, and the more I learned about what it meant to be a Christian, the more I saw how far I was from becoming what God wanted me to be and yet the more I yearned to become all He wants me to be!

This morning we’re beginning a series of sermons that’s going to lead us up to Easter, the day we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. (It will be a great day, and we’re already making plans for it and I hope you’ll invite others to worship with you on that morning!) But we have already now entered a period of time of preparation for that. In the Christian calendar it’s called “Lent.” It’s a season of prayer and fasting, preparing believers to enter into the events of Holy Week, the week before Easter, when we focus our attention on the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross. And, as a church, I’ve been encouraging you to join with me in using a daily prayer guide during this time, and my sermons are going coincide during this Lent season with the themes presented in this prayer guide, matters about which many of us will be centering our prayers.

And at the heart of it all is the cry for the Lord to “revive” us—to revive His Church that we might be all that He wants us to be. Perhaps we’re learning that it’s even more than being what God wants us to be. At the heart of that is the yearning to be in close relationship with the Lord—not just “doing” what He wants, but “being” in fellowship with Him, and thus allowing Him to change us from the inside out.

This morning, as we turn to Psalm 85, I want ask you a question. Does revival ever really happen? Were the week-long and two-week-long revival services of the past for nothing? Is that the only means of achieving what God wants to accomplish in our hearts and in our lives? Is there a biblical precedence for “revival” happening in our lives?

Let’s consider the heart-cry of the psalmist found in the 85th psalm—

[Read Psalm 85:1-13, NIV]

As with any passage of Scripture, we always do well to first try to understand what the passage meant to its original audience. In Bible times, the collection of psalms was the closest thing the Jews had to a hymnbook. The book of Psalms is a collection of 150 songs, prayers and sacred readings that the Jews used in worship. Often we think of the psalms as “songs of praise,” but nearly half of the psalms qualify as complaints—songs or prayers of grief, disappointment, or urgent pleas for help. They’re “songs sung blue”—songs of lament. But even in complaining, most of the poets wrap up their complaints with expressions of trust in God. That would be true of Psalm 85.

What was happening was that the people were crying out to God for deliverance from adversity. Israel had experienced a great loss—perhaps a military defeat…we really don’t know. It appears this was written after they had returned from their captivity in Babylon, having already experienced the mercy of the Lord. But now some kind of national catastrophe had them pressed against the wall again—and they knew they needed God’s help. But they also had an assurance that God would help them.

The psalm seems to be broken down into four sections:

1. Remembering how God has acted in the past (vss 1-3). Their praise and thanksgiving to God reminded them of how He had worked in their behalf in the past:

“You showed favor to your land, O Lord; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.” It wasn’t a matter of what they had done to help themselves—it was all about what God had done for them already. And it was all about God’s grace.

2. Crying out for God to restore them again (vss 4-7) The beginning of verse 4 summarizes it well—“Restore us again, O God our Savior!” The psalmist is lamenting the recent problems that have deprived them from experiencing God’s blessing upon them. Verse 6 refers to the concept of “revival” as they cry out, “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” It’s the cry, “Help us again, Lord!…just as you did in the past! Do it again, Lord!” In verse 7 is the heart-cry for God to once again show them His unfailing love. They were dying in some sort of spiritual desert, desperate now for God to show them again that He loves them.

Say what you will, but revival is about our need to experience again the presence of God. That would often happen in weeks of revival, as people would devote time and energy in seeking the heart of God and often hearing God speak to them in new and fresh ways. It also happens in retreat settings, and in week by week worship services, and in private times of waiting before the Lord. When we find ourselves in the thick of the battle of life, there is a real sense of need to experience—to feel, to be assured again—that God loves us with an unfailing love. And we throw ourselves on the mercy of God!

3. Anticipation of God’s deliverance (vs 8). Three words seem to say it all: He speaks peace. God promises peace to His people. He pours out His peace upon His people. And we should also note the warning found in verse 8—“but let them not return to folly.” In other words, “lead us not into temptation”…now that you’ve cleaned us up by your forgiveness, Lord, help us not go out and dive right back into the mud pit where we were!

4. Celebrating the Lord as our Source of Hope (vss 9-13) In some ways, verse 9 answers the question of verse 6. In verse 6 the psalmist raises the great heart-cry, “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” And at verse 9 we read, “Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.” Revival is in God’s hands. This God of unfailing love is our only Hope—but He is our marvelous Hope and we can be confident in Him!

So…what are God’s truths for us today from this psalm? And, specifically, can we ever expect from God the kind of “revival” it speaks of? How can we experience more of God’s love and grace in our own lives—wherever we are on the journey right now?

I think the psalmist has done well to remind us to begin with recalling how God has worked in the past—and specifically how your life has been impacted by that! The real essence of revival is restoration—to be restored to a previous condition or relationship. We often thought of revivals as evangelistic opportunities—and they were, no doubt. But the concept of “revival” is actually more for the believer—who is needing to be called back to a relationship he/she once had with the Lord, to an intimacy once enjoyed that has now faded in its luster. But God was the One who forgave our sins. He’s the One who accepted us into His family. He’s the One who sent His Son to die for us, that our lives might be redeemed! He’s the One who did everything significant when we came to Him—and we do well to never forget that!

And then, like the psalmist, we need to call out to the Lord for His help now! Our hope is in the grace of God and in His unfailing love! We can’t accomplish it on our own, so we desperately need Him to meet us at our point of need! We need Him! We throw ourselves upon the mercy of God! And we’re forced to do this when our lives are in upheaval—and I believe our lives find themselves in upheaval sometimes by our own sin and yet sometimes by our obedience to the Lord and sometimes by circumstances absolutely out of our control.

May I unpack that thought for a moment? Clearly, sin wrecks lives. No doubt about it. And I could go all around this sanctuary this morning and, if we were open and honest with ourselves and with one another, each one of us have experienced the train wreck of sin—sin that has thrown our lives into absolute turmoil! Often in the Old Testament we read of the cry of the people for God to forgive them and to help them—they were experiencing the consequences of their disobedience to God and they had been humbled to the point of recognizing that only God could help them make their way out of the mess they had created. And the story’s not just an old story…it’s pretty current, isn’t it? You know it is!

But I also believe that there are times in life when we need the divine touch of God to “revive” us because we’ve become depleted in the battle—as we’ve remained obedient to the Lord. As I said last week, obedience to the Lord isn’t always easy. Think about Elijah in the Old Testament. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah is obedient to the Lord and God uses Elijah to demonstrate God’s sovereignty and His mighty power as Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. It was dramatic and powerful—no doubt about it! But when you turn to the next chapter, Elijah is hiding in defeat, physically, spiritually and emotionally exhausted and depleted from it all! And God responded to those needs and revived Elijah as only He could do!

I’ve also watched, across years of pastoring, as people have come to a point of desperate need for God’s personal touch of renewal and revival as they’ve dealt with circumstances of life which were absolutely beyond their control. They were depleted physically, emotionally and even spiritually as they had walked through weeks and months and sometimes years of brutal circumstances and heartaches…the burdens of life. And often they had nothing to do with what had taken place. And yet they cry out to the Lord, battle-weary, for Him to intervene, to revive them, to restore to them the joy of their salvation. And I believe that it’s absolutely appropriate for us to read Psalm 85 with applicable hope for renewal when we find ourselves in such circumstances.

Whatever our need for renewal, revival, and restoration, we need to hear the Word of the Lord to us today speaking peace upon our lives. “He speaks peace” to us—and it’s not just a one-time word of peace to His children. He speaks peace over and over again to us as we find ourselves buried beneath our own sins or buried beneath the cares of life. He speaks peace to His people!

I think that’s exactly what the hymn-writer had in mind when he wrote the words to an old hymn that reminds us of that wonderful peace—

Faraway in the depths of my spirit today

Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm.

In celestial-like frame it unceasingly falls

O’er my soul like an infinite calm.

Peace, peace, wonderful peace,

Coming down from the Father above.

Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray,

In fathomless billows of love.

He speaks peace to each of us—and it’s such a marvelous thing! Oh, how we need him to speak peace into each of our lives, over and over again!

And as the psalmist did in the last section of Psalm 85, we need to consider the hope that we can find in the Lord. In the thick of the battle, in his darkest night, the psalmist is held by a great vision: God’s mercy and His righteousness will triumph. There is hope in the Lord—and thus there is hope for the future!

In what may seem like strange ideas—like righteousness and peace kissing each other—some very key dimensions of God’s character are personified. God’s covenant love and His trustworthiness meet. His covenant faithfulness and His peace come together. He brings peace and wholeness to those who call upon Him…and, when it all boils down to it, such grace is available to each one of us as we call upon Him.

One of my favorite story-tellers was a man named Bob Benson—who wrote down many of those stories for us to remember now that he’s gone to be with the Lord. Let me share my favorite Bob Benson story with you in closing—

Do you remember when they had old-fashioned Sunday School picnics? I do. As I recall, it was back in the “olden days,” as my kids would say, back before they had air conditioning. They said, “We’ll all meet at Sycamore Lodge in Shelby Park at 4:30 on Saturday. You bring your supper and we’ll furnish the iced tea.”

But if you were like me, you came home at the last minute. When you got ready to pack your picnic, all you could find in the refrigerator was one dried-up piece of baloney and just enough mustard in the bottom of the jar so that you got it all over your knuckles trying to get to it. And just two slices of stale bread to go with it. So you made your baloney sandwich and wrapped it in an old brown bag and went to the picnic.

When it came time to eat, you sat at the end of a table and spread out your sandwich. But the folks who sat next to you brought a feast. The lady was a good cook and she had worked hard all day to get ready for the picnic. And she had fried chicken and baked beans and potato salad and homemade rolls and sliced tomatoes and pickles and olives and celery. And two big homemade chocolate pies to top it off. That’s what they spread out there next to you while you sat with your baloney sandwich.

But they said to you, “Why don’t we just put it all together?” “No, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t even think of it,” you murmured in embarrassment, with one eye on the chicken. “Oh, come on, there’s plenty of chicken and plenty of pie and plenty of everything. And we just love baloney sandwiches. Let’s just put it all together.” And so you did and there you sat, eating like a king when you came like a pauper.

One day, it dawned on me that God had been saying just that sort of thing to me. “Why don’t you take what you have and what you are, and I will take what I have and what I am, and we’ll share it together.” I began to see that when I put what I had and was and am and hope to be with what He is, I had stumbled upon the bargain of a lifetime.

I get to thinking sometimes, thinking of me sharing with God. When I think of how little I bring, and how much he brings and invites me to share, I know that I should be shouting to the housetops, but I am so filled with awe and wonder that I can hardly speak. I know that I don’t have enough love or faith or grace or mercy or wisdom, but he does. He has all of those things in abundance and he says, “Let’s just put it all together.”

Consecration, denial, sacrifice, commitment, crosses were all kind of hard words to me, until I saw them in the light of sharing. It isn’t just a case of me kicking in what I have because God is the biggest kid in the neighborhood and he wants it all for himself. He is saying, “Everything that I possess is available to you. Everything that I am and can be to a person, I will be to you.”

When I think about it like that, it really amuses me to see somebody running along through life, hanging on to their dumb bag with that stale baloney sandwich in it saying, “God’s not going to get my sandwich! No sirree, this is mine!” Did you ever see anybody like that—so needy—just about half-starved to death, yet hanging on for dear life. It’s not that God needs your sandwich. The fact is, you need his chicken.

Well, go ahead, eat your baloney sandwich, as long as you can. But when you can’t stand it’s tastelessness or drabness any longer; when you get so tired of running your own life by yourself and doing it your way and figuring out all the answers with no one to help; when trying to accumulate, hold, grasp, and keep everything together in your own strength gets to be too big a load; when you begin to realize that by yourself you’re never going to be able to fulfill your dreams, I hope you’ll remember that it doesn’t have to be that way. You have been invited to something better, you know. You have been invited to share in the very being of God.

God’s got something better than what many of us are experiencing today. It’s time to give it up, to call upon Him, to confess our neediness for Him, to turn away from whatever baloney sandwich is proving to be second-best in our lives and embrace all of what He has for us. Does revival every really happen? Absolutely! And it begins when we realize how desperate we are for what only He can give!

February 22, 2009 - Pastor Tim

HIS GRACE IS ENOUGH…ALL THE TIME!

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

[Start with video clip, “Thriving”—2 minutes]

This morning is my last sermon in the series from 2 Corinthians—and, I must tell you, I’ve been looking forward to preaching on this passage of scripture. Words found in this text have come to be tremendously meaningful to me personally, and so I’ve been anxious to share with you how the Lord has spoken to me and continues to speak to me through these words.

You see, like the fallen tree, most of us understand what it is to have been knocked down in some way. The Apostle Paul understood that quite well, and, amazingly enough, he had come to find meaning even in his struggles. Turn with me to—

[Read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, NIV]

If anyone tried to convince you that life is easy as a Christian, don’t believe them! Don’t get me wrong—it’s the best way to live! But we have no assurance that it will be easy.

Take Paul, for example. What he had written about in the 11th chapter of this letter to the Christians in Corinth makes it clear that his life of devotion to Jesus Christ was not a piece of cake. Listen to his words, beginning at verse 23—

[Read 2 Corinthians 11:23b-29]

My goodness! And yet clearly God had worked through Paul’s life in marvelous ways, for which he was so grateful. In the early part of chapter 12, Paul tells about a vision he had experienced 14 years earlier—early in his years as a disciple of Christ. It was evidently something that Paul had not spoken of publicly until this time—and something about which Paul was careful not to become spiritually proud. He actually tells about the vision in third person as though it had happened to someone else—but biblical scholars all agree that Paul was describing his own experience here. And even though he did not fully understand it himself, the one thing Paul was sure of was that he had been in the very presence of God.

And Paul had come to realize that this was not something about which to take personal pride, but rather that he needed to safeguard himself from allowing such pride in his own life. In fact, he recognized that to protect him from becoming proud, God had allowed Paul’s life to be inflicted with “a thorn in [his] flesh,” what Paul actually calls “a messenger of Satan, to torment [him].” Paul seemed to believe that the “thorn” was given to him to keep him from being excessively proud of the revelations he had received from God—and thus to keep him fully dependent upon the Lord. It wasn’t necessary for him to explain what the “thorn” was because either the Corinthians already knew or he felt it was not essential to the point he was making.

Of course, human curiosity has gotten the best of us throughout the years, and many have tried to speculate on what this “thorn” was! Most common has been the thought that it was some sort of physical problem, and scholars have suggested epilepsy, malaria, tuberculosis, or a serious vision problem. Others have felt that it was more spiritual in nature—possibly a nagging doubt or a persistent temptation. Still others believe it was his constant exposure to persecution or vicious criticism. But one thing is sure: we really don’t know what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was! But, you know, if Paul had told us, Christians throughout the ages who lacked that particular problem would have tended to find Paul’s experience irrelevant. And as it is, countless believers have been able to identify with Paul’s reference to the thorn in his flesh.

Paul does tell us that he gave himself to earnest and repeated prayer that the thorn would be taken from him. But instead of removing “the thorn,” God gave Paul the reassurance of His grace and the reminder that His strength—the strength of the Lord—was “made perfect in weakness.” Paul never came to feel that the thorn in itself was a good thing, for he considered it “a messenger of Satan.” But he did come to the place in his life where he could see how God’s grace could transform what was bad into something good in his life.

That was the very principle Paul stated in Romans 8:28—

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

He wasn’t saying that everything that happens in our life is good. Lots of bad things happen to good people! And he wasn’t saying that everything that happened was necessarily what God had purposefully willed to happen. But out of experience Paul learned that God can take our weaknesses and use them to demonstrate His power. Paul affirmed that there is nothing that can happen to one of God’s children that, if we turn to Him with it, He cannot take and use for good in our lives. God clearly does not build a wall around us to isolate us from the risk of harm, but He does surround us with a grace that enables us to transform anything that happens to us…just like that tree thriving though lying on its side.

The Lord’s words to Paul have had great meaning to many Christians throughout the ages—

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

And it was just over seven years ago that the Lord wrote those words on my heart and life, with a promise of grace and strength that would clearly come from Him.

At the time I had been serving a congregation in Northern Ohio for over nearly 11 years. I loved the people of that church deeply, and I believe they loved me too. Our first couple of years there had been challenging because of strife that existed before we arrived, but our years there had been marked with significant growth in the church and a new and fresh spiritual vibrancy that had clearly been the work of the Holy Spirit. Our kids grew up in that church—and we loved the people even more for loving our kids as they did.

But by the fall of 2001, I had a clear sense that God was preparing me for transition. It had been a growing awareness over a couple of years—an unsettledness that I had concluded was from the Lord. The church had just completed a $2 million expansion project, purchasing additional houses around us and putting a whole new front to the church. It was an exciting time for the church—and a good time in most every way. All was going well…but within me I knew that God was preparing me for change.

Within those last couple of years, I had turned down multiple opportunities to interview at other churches. For one reason or another, I never sensed God’s nudging that any of them were right. But early in the fall of 2001, I sensed God was telling me that I was not to turn down any more interviews. It wasn’t that I heard His voice declaring this to me, but there was an inner sense that this was His prompting, and it was sustained across weeks and months.

One Thursday afternoon I was scurrying around the office to get things done so that I could pick up my daughter Kara from school and head with her to Olivet Nazarene University on a college-scouting trip. Our twin daughters were in their senior year of high school and trying to make decisions regarding where they were going to go to college. I think this was the last of four college visits I was to make with one of the two girls in a six-week time period. As I was scurrying around, I got buzzed from one of our secretaries that I had a phone call. Would I take it? It was from some man named Keith Wright.

I knew Keith Wright. It was the District Superintendent of the Kansas City District. He had called me about a church or two in the past, and I assumed that perhaps he was calling me about another church. I liked the guy and had always felt that he’d be a good District Superintendent. As we began to talk, I could tell that he was indeed calling about a church, but I had no clue what church he was calling about. When he told me that he was working with Kansas City First Church in their search for a pastor and asked if I’d be willing to be considered, I was absolutely floored. Honestly, I was probably trembling. The pastor of Kansas City First Church had just a few months before been elected as one of our new General Superintendents in the denomination. I was there when it happened. I knew that KC First Church was open, but it never crossed my mind that Keith Wright was calling me about that church.

We talked about a half hour, and when I emerged from my office to the secretary’s office that Cindy then shared with the secretary who had taken the phone call, Cindy immediately wanted to know what Keith Wright was calling me about. She had heard the other secretary trying to screen Keith Wright’s call as if he were a pesky salesman, but Cindy knew who he who too.

Now one thing you need to know about Cindy is that she doesn’t like change. I’m not sure she’s ever felt the Lord preparing her for a transition—for she’d probably rather take a personal beating than make a move. It’s torturous for her! But when I told her that the call was about Kansas City First Church, there was almost a look of panic in her eyes.

What was the big deal about Kansas City First Church? Kansas City is the location of denominational headquarters—now called our Global Ministry Center. It’s also where Nazarene Publishing House is located—the publishers of our curriculum and the largest printer of books in the Wesleyan holiness movement. Our seminary, Nazarene Theological Seminary, is located in Kansas City, as well as one of our universities, MidAmerica Nazarene University. Simply put, it’s the “Mecca” of our denomination, and Kansas City First Church has historically been considered by many “the mother church.”

Oh, it hasn’t really been that for a few decades now, but many there still think it is! It’s a place where many of our denominational leaders as well as our seminary community worship. From one Sunday to the next you never know who will walk through those doors! And it’s the kind of church that most sane pastors would not aspire to pastor—because of the spotlight and the pressures that go with it. It was certainly not the kind of church I wanted to pastor!

But I had heard what I had concluded was a clear word from the Lord—that I was not to turn down any interviews from that point on. And so when Keith Wright asked if I was willing to be considered, I said something like, “Normally I would tell you that I need some time to pray about it, but I’ve recently concluded that the Lord was telling me that I was to turn down no interviews, and so, in an act of obedience to the Lord, I need to tell you that I am willing for them to consider me in their search for a pastor.” He explained that I was on a shortlist of three, but honestly, I felt it very unlikely that they would end up choosing me—though I was certainly unnerved by the whole conversation! He explained that he would be meeting with them again in a few weeks and that he would keep me posted of what was happening.

One week to the day later, I got another phone call from Keith Wright. They had narrowed their search to me and wanted us to come for an interview. While he had wanted us to come in about two weeks, I couldn’t be gone at that time, so we settled on a date three weeks out. A few minutes later the phone rang again, and he asked if there was any chance we could come out the following week—which would mean flying out in four days. I turned to Cindy as she began to sob (I told you she didn’t like change!)…she wasn’t much help in that moment! We got on a plane headed for Kansas City four days later.

It was all such a whirlwind—with only about 3½ weeks time from the initial telephone call to the day the congregation elected me to become their new pastor. Word seemed to spread quickly, even during the process—and it was something about which many had strong opinions. Some saw it as a great “promotion” for me…but I wasn’t looking for a promotion. As far as I’m concerned, that’s not how ministry works. The view of others was best expressed by a pastor friend who said candidly, “You’re an idiot! What do you think you’re doing?!” And honestly, I was scared to death—as was Cindy. I didn’t consider myself the kind of pastor that church would want…but it seemed to be happening anyway.

And early on a Sunday morning during that process in the privacy of my office at the church in Bedford, I began to once again pour my heart out to the Lord, seeking His guidance and direction in this matter. And acknowledging the vast array of opinions and perspectives about the matter, I vividly remember asking the Lord, “What do You make of this?” And immediately the words came to me,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

It was as if God was saying to me, “Okay, let’s just get this settled right now. You’re not adequate for this task…but I am. And if I open the door for you to pastor that church, I will go with you and help you to be all that I need you to be.”

We began the second Sunday in January, 2002. The installation service was dramatic—feeling almost like a coronation! Several of my predecessors and wives were present—several of which have distinguished themselves as leaders in our denomination. The church was packed. And in my first message to that crowd I held up the program put together for that day which contained the list of former pastors of that church. I told them that I had just seen that list for the first time—and it was like reading from the pages of our denominational history. I said, “I know that my name will never rightfully belong on the same list as these great men, but, in God’s providence, I also believe that He has led us here.”

Our six years in Kansas City were the most challenging years of our ministry. There was never any honeymoon! Some of the most marvelous people I have ever known are in that congregation—but all-in-all, it’s the most difficult pastorate we have ever encountered. I often felt like such a misfit—and in confessing that to a fellow pastor, he said, “You probably are…and that’s probably why the Lord has you there.” And I believe God did have us there for a purpose.

I guess I never felt I had the “aura” about me that one might expect for such a leadership position. I’m not tall enough! I’m not scholarly or dignified enough! I recall meeting one of the pastors on the district for the first time. We were hosting at our church an event for the district pastors. He asked what church I was from, and I told him. Then he asked, “Are the associate pastor?” And I said, “No, I’m the senior pastor.” His eyes got big in amazement, “You’re the senior pastor here?!” To which I said, “It’s okay. I was as surprised as anyone else!”

But throughout the six years, God kept reminding me of His word to me early in the process of going there—

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

God’s promise sustained me. I wasn’t adequate for the job…but He was! And what I came to experience over those years was the depth of grace God pours over us when we are obedient to Him despite our own inadequacies! When we get humbled by our own inadequacies—by our weakness, we’re forced to “get out of the way” and let God do in our lives and in the lives of others what only He is capable of doing! His strength is made perfect in our weakness! And sometimes our obedience to the Lord forces us into situations where our inadequacies are all too obvious…and that’s when He steps in to do what we humanly are incapable of pulling off. And over and over again, in our six years in Kansas City, that was what we experienced.

It forced me to a greater dependence upon the Lord than ever before and a deeper trust in Him. And you know what? He was faithful! That’s just Who He is! He is faithful God! He can’t be anything less than that! His grace was more than sufficient! His power was made evident in my weakness! And He was faithful to do what He said He would do.

Why have I bothered to tell you this story today? Because the very same God will put you in situations that are bigger than you, too. Just this week I talked with several people who find themselves in over their heads in life. They’re facing circumstances that they never would have chosen! And God’s Word speaks powerfully to us in just such moments in life—

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

He is Faithful God! He’s not going to leave you stranded! You can depend upon Him! You can lean hard on Him—and He won’t let you down!

You may feel like that fallen tree in the video. You may not understand why you’ve gone through all that you have. It may be all too overwhelming! But as long as you stay grounded in your faith, in your dependence upon the Lord, you can still flourish—just like that tree that was still sprouting leaves. The truth is that the Lord uses the most difficult experiences of our lives to mold and to shape our character to make us more and more like Him—and He will do that in your life too if you will simply lean on Him.

February 15, 2009 - Pastor Tim

WHAT JESUS ARE YOU FOLLOWING?

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

We got a check in the mail the other day for $10.00. It was addressed to Cindy, and she opened it and left it on the kitchen counter. It looked to me like a rebate check of some sort, so when I was getting ready to deposit another check, I glanced at the letter which this check came attached to and picked up the check with the intention of depositing it too. Cindy called me after I’d left the house that morning and asked if I’d taken the check. She’d read the letter which it came with and realized that if you cash that check, you’re opening a charge account with this company. It wasn’t a rebate check at all! It was a clever ploy to get people to start another charge account—and to pay their annual fee to do so! And in my haste, I almost fell for it!

The Apostle Paul was detecting that the same thing was happening to the Christians in the church in Corinth—but it wasn’t credit card companies that were deceiving them, it was what he called “false prophets, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.” Let me read from chapter 11 to you this morning—

[Read 2 Corinthians 11:1-6, 12-15, NIV]

Paul spoke so directly with the Christians in Corinth because Paul cared about these people as a father cares about his children—which, in some ways, was what they were to Paul because he was the one who had first taken the Gospel to them! Just as the snake had seduced Eve in the Garden of Eden, Paul feared that they were being sucked into the lies and distortions propagated by those passing themselves off as reputable teachers in the Christian life. And the result was that these Christians in Corinth were being lured away from the simple purity of their love for Jesus Christ.

But what they were happily falling for were all lies! It was as if it was a completely different “Jesus” that was being preached and taught and sought after—and they were falling for it! Those teachers were posing as Christ’s agents but were total shams—and it’s no wonder! Satan does it all the time! Satan dresses up as a beautiful angel of light! So it shouldn’t surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God.

While Paul had firmly stated that self-praise was worthless, he evidently felt that in this case it was what he had to do in order to get the attention of the converts in Corinth who were vulnerable to whatever teachers came their way claiming to have a word from God. He had to get their attention! In some ways, what we have here is Paul sharing in God’s divine jealousy. God will not share our devotion with anyone or anything. In that sense, He’s a “jealous” God. And Paul had a father’s passionate concern for the exclusive and pure devotion to Christ in the lives of his spiritual children.

He could see what was happening to them, and was so fearful that their hearts and minds would be corrupted and they would lose their single-minded faithfulness to Christ. His words, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy,” picks up an analogy that Hosea used in the Old Testament. We’re reminded here that faithfulness to Christ needs to be like that of a husband and wife to each other. And while we can’t discern from scripture the specific content of these false teachings, what is clear is that there was a gullible willingness on the part of the Corinthian Christians to listen to the eloquent preachers of an adulterated gospel. The “Jesus” these false teachers were proclaiming wasn’t the same Jesus that they had come to know and love and serve under Paul’s discipling ministry.

These wandering preachers had apparently received some financial remuneration for their teaching—and they had encouraged it, as they regarded themselves as apostles. They had felt it was their right to accept or even to demand appropriate wages for their work—and this had become the validation then of the authenticity of what they were doing. Paul, on the other, had refused financial support from those to whom he was currently ministering, and he was hoping that his financial independence would highlight a difference between him and those he called “false prophets” and prompt the Corinthians to rethink their attitude toward him—and recognize that he was genuinely concerned for them!

Turn again to Paul’s words in verses 13-15—

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15a)

My thought today, in reading and studying this throughout the week, is that every generation must deal with its own “false prophets”—those who come with their own version of Christianity or religion. And what’s so absolutely confusing to many sincere church folk is that propagators of a false gospel can sound so spiritual and so sure of themselves, so that without even being aware of what’s happening we’re taken in! The sad truth is that people can easily be manipulated to meet the ego needs of a leader—and it can happen about anywhere! God’s Word to us today is a warning not to be gullible Christians!

How are we taken in today? I want us to first of all consider the danger of that which is cloaked as “Christianity” but isn’t. I’m not talking about a matter of theological fine tuning and the little differences we might have between one church and another. I’m talking here about those that define themselves as “Christian” but, when lined up alongside the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures, clearly aren’t “Christian” at all.

I’ve enjoyed the Wednesday evening Men’s Class that Phil Weeks and I lead (you’re invited…). The book we’ve been going through is written by Patrick Morley, entitled Seven Seasons of the Man in the Mirror. Early in the book he tells of his own journey, a spiritual journey in which he was caught for a long time in what he calls “cultural Christianity.” His initial commitment was to what he calls “the God I wanted”—and he eventually came to be committed to “the God Who is.” And it seems that a lot of people are happily serving the God we want—and there are a lot of false prophets out there teaching that kind of religion.

Looking back, Patrick Morley would tell you that he simply added Jesus to his life—as another interest in an already busy and otherwise overcrowded schedule. He calls it “the gospel of addition.” He had accepted Christ into his life, but he still wanted to run his own life. He tried to blend together what he saw as the best of two worlds—success in the material world and salvation in the spiritual kingdom. The technical term for this is “syncretism.” It’s the attempt or tendency to combine differing philosophies or religious beliefs. It’s probably at the heart of all false prophets.

People who are trying to approach Christianity in this way pick and choose scripture as it affirms what they’ve already concluded. So when they see a verse in the Bible that agrees with their overall philosophy of life, they underline it and may even memorize it. But when they come across scripture that challenges their way of thinking, they simply pull out a large mental eraser and smudge that verse right out of their minds.

Cultural Christianity is first and foremost committed to building kingdoms of our own. God becomes a means to the end. In cultural Christianity, the devotion is to what we want in life, rather than what God wants for our lives. We call upon the Lord, but our thought of God is “more or less a cosmic genie to help fulfill [our] dreams.” Cultural Christianity is to seek the God or gods we want and not the God Who is.

The problem is that Cultural Christianity doesn’t lead us to Jesus Christ. It leads us to “another Jesus,” so to speak. And all of the blessings of fellowship with God and a life of truly living and life eternal aren’t experienced because we never seemed to find the Jesus that really is.

And you can find churches out there who are teaching “cultural Christianity”! I sometimes call it “Christian Lite.” And these churches and pastors may even have a tremendous following because it’s what we in our humanity want to hear, even though they’re failing to say all of what Scripture says. You see, that’s the problem—when we pick and choose Scripture. There’s no doubt at all that God’s grace and love are primary themes of Scripture—particularly the New Testament. And aren’t we glad for that?! But if we’re preaching and teaching that and failing to come alongside that with an understanding of God’s judgment and His “jealousy” for our devotion and His holiness that will not tolerate sin, then we’re listening to a watered-down gospel.

On the other hand, some of you may feel like all you ever heard in your early years was God’s judgment and His punishment for sinners. Even good intentioned people became false prophets who made the whole basis of Christianity a legalistic system. “If you do that, you’re going to hell!” It neglects the Gospel of God’s love and mercy—and, interestingly enough, it cultivated “false prophets” who were critical, negative and judgmental with others—so different from what Jesus taught us to be. And such people have done more damage in “holiness” churches than they can ever fathom.

The “Christian Lite” Gospel demands nothing of us—and we know that’s not the Gospel Jesus taught. Jesus called people to leave behind anything that would distract our devotion to Him. He’s the One who said, “You cannot serve two masters.” And then more specifically nailed us at the point where many of us try to go—“You cannot serve both God and Money.” Ouch! Funny, isn’t it, that Son of God would somehow understand that money is what seems to trip up so many people. We can’t just “add” Jesus to our already busy lives and overcrowded schedules. He calls us to something deeper…something more significant…something more life-changing. He calls us to absolute devotion to Him and to His ways—a life that puts Christ first in all we do and then is willing to trust the Lord to take care of all the things that we might otherwise conclude are our primary issues in life.

I get concerned about how fickle Christians can be. And we’ve been that way throughout the ages! The Church has always had to deal correctively with all sorts of distortions of Biblical teachings! And I’ve watched it happen in my lifetime!

It seems to me that there was a dominance of teaching on the Second Coming of Jesus back in the 1960’s. I suppose it was a reflection of where we were as a society. Now please understand, I believe in the Second Coming of Jesus. I believe that, as Scripture tells us, He’s going to return some day and that everything as we know it in this world is going to come to a screeching halt. I don’t pretend to understand all the specifics of what will happen when and in what order—and I don’t believe Scripture makes that incredibly clear to us, so I have to assume that God doesn’t intend for us to know all the details—just that Christ will return and that we are to be ready to meet Him. But there was such an emphasis on such things a few decades ago that people were getting saved as a form of fire insurance! Preachers were scaring people into salvation! And some false prophets were even foolish enough to declare the time table of Christ’s return—which Scripture tells us none of us will know!

And then a man named Jim Baker caught the attention and the wallets of many in the Christian community back in the 70’s. Much of what he said was true, but he wasn’t living it himself. He got caught up in greed and he and his wife promoted a gospel of prosperity—that God wants to prosper us all. Well, of course, such a gospel sounds good! For the Bakers, it was their justification of an extravagant lifestyle. And it all eventually came crashing down, with Jim Baker spending years in prison. I stood behind him in a line at Branson, Missouri and few years ago and kept thinking, “I should know who this is!” It hit me after we had gone our separate directions. He was a false prophet who was brought to his knees in what I believe ended up being a true repentance.

Today many have become enamored with anything relating to “the emerging church.” Much of it is in reaction to ways in which the church has drifted from what Christ intended for us to be, and in that way it’s certainly legitimate. But in many respects it reflects too broad of a pendulum swing—and it is foolish for any of us to fully buy into authors and teachers simply because they’re part of “the emerging church” movement. Actually, they get a number of things right, including their challenge to evangelicals to be of some earthly good—the idea that how we live and what we do for people is important. The striving for authenticity is admirable. But it seems that too easily that leads to a “what can I do for God” mentality as opposed to a gospel-focus on the atoning work that Christ did for me on the cross. I’ll tell that you I’m afraid of how the emerging church movement too easily is guilty of having a low view of Scripture, minimizing the authority of the Word and removing the trustworthiness of God’s Word to us and shying away from any concept of “absolute truth.” I fear how many are taking it to minimize the need for people of all ages to make a clear-cut, all-out decision to follow Jesus. And when we’re reading emerging church leaders and listening to them, we need to listen with discernment because not everything that’s coming out in the name of “emerging church” comes from an accurate or a balanced view of Scripture. I’m certainly not calling them all false teachers, but neither can I embrace all of what they’re telling us. All I’m saying, friends, is that we can’t trust everything we read in every book that’s supposedly written by a Christian author.

Now, let me come at Paul’s thoughts from a little different angle. We’ve been talking about the dangers of following the teachings of those cloaked as “Christianity.” But I don’t think we’d be true to the passage in our world today if we didn’t also consider the dangers of that which is cloaked as “compatible” with Christianity. There are lots of celebrities and icons out there that Christians are listening to every day! Does the name “Oprah Winfrey” come to your mind? How about Dr. Phil? And the on-going mantra of these and other celebrities who get a listening is that there’s something good to be learned from all religions. It’s exactly what I was talking about in the context of “cultural Christianity” a few minutes ago—syncretism. It’s the attempt or tendency to combine differing philosophical or religious beliefs. And it’s very much a part of the culture in which we live.

It’s often propagated in the name of “tolerance”—what some see as the new 11th Commandment. Don’t get me wrong. I believe all people should be treated with kindness, dignity, and respect—with the love and grace with which Jesus encountered people. But tolerance has come to mean for many that it’s wrong—even “unchristian”—to declare that certain actions and lifestyles are sinful. And some of you are bristling that I’d even say that—because we’re infected by our cultural lie. Jesus wasn’t afraid to call sin “sin”—and it was much because of his love for the sinner. He knew that sin wrecks lives—now and eternally. Do you get it?

The false prophets of our world who cloak their teachings as “compatible” with Christianity place the ideals and philosophies and theologies of other religions on equal par with those of Christianity. Some religions that want to be seen as compatible with Christianity or in line with it have put certain people on equal plain as Jesus, the Son of God—accepting the authority of what they say to be as valid as what Jesus said.

Please understand…I’m not trying to bash certain people or certain religions—at least not in an unkind way. But I’m a Christian. My life has been changed by the love and grace of the God who sent His Son to be my Savior. I’m not wise enough and smart enough to be the final authority on all matters relating to our faith. But in some wonderful, mystical way, I have come to know Him—just as each of us can do through the sacrificial death of Jesus. And He has called us into an exclusive relationship with Him—a pure devotion…to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And He has called us to take this Gospel to others. All through the Old Testament His warning to the Israelites was not to buy into the false religions of the people around them. And in the New Testament, Jesus gave His life for the salvation of all the people of the world, and His followers put their lives on the line to take that Gospel message to others because they knew that people would die without hope if they didn’t.

We need to be wise and discerning! Funnel what others are saying through the authority of the Bible! Don’t just fall for every person’s ideas because they are eloquent and convincing! Be stronger than that! Seek out the truth of Scripture yourselves! Be faithful in studying God’s Word with me. I’ll do my very best to be faithful to the Word week after week! Get involved in a Sunday School class or a small group—and in those settings study the Word! And understand that we need to study the Word together and hold one another accountable for being true to it. “Private faith” is too vulnerable to being easily led into tangents and ultimately led astray. We need one another!

Email is a part of my every-day life. I get lots of emails—more than I want! And people I know and people I don’t know send me all kinds of emails that propagate some idea or some concern or some theory. And I’m supposed to send it out to everyone I know that day or the sky is somehow going to fall in upon me! But the truth is that I can’t buy into it all. It’s not all true. It hasn’t all been tested. It’s not all consistent with the Word of God, the Bible. The truth is that I shouldn’t even open up many of these emails, because they can “corrupt” my computer. Like viruses that spread from one child coughing to another, the viruses in an email that’s opened can do great damage to my computer. It seems like everyone has equal access to my email account, but I don’t have to grant them equal status. It’s a choice I make, and one that I make every day.

The same is true in our own lives. There are a lot of ideas and philosophies and religious teachings floating around out there, and they may all seem to have access into your life in one way or another. It’s no different than it’s always been…but maybe now with communication as it is we’re even more vulnerable. But God wants to equip us, as His children, with all that we need to discern between His truth for our lives and that which is a lie—merely merely a word from Satan, the great enemy of our souls, who cleverly masquerades himself as an angel of light.

May God make us wise and discerning, loving and patient, strong and incorruptible.

February 08, 2009 - Pastor Tim

LIVING LARGE GOD’S WAY

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

I was raised in a home in which a constant theme was “always do your best.” It honestly was a great lesson in the stewardship of life—making the most of what God gave us. And “always do your best” was applied often to the matter of schoolwork. I suppose that might have come from a dad who was raised with the mantra, “get all the education you can”…which pressed him on toward a doctorate degree and pressed all three sons to complete doctorate degrees in their chosen fields. And as Cindy and I were raising our children and as we encouraged them through their days of education, what was often forefront in my encouragement was the theme I was raised on: always do your best—whatever your best is, that’s good enough!

It really is a matter of stewardship of our lives, and I believe it’s consistent with biblical counsel. I want us to turn this morning again to 2 Corinthians—chapter 8. There was a matter about which the Apostle Paul felt compelled to challenge his Christian brothers and sisters in Corinth. He was challenging them to “do their best” in a particular dimension of Christian living…and I believe our Heavenly Father wants you and me to hear that same challenge this morning.

[Read 2 Corinthians 8:1-15, NIV]

Let me explain what was taking place here. Paul was trying to raise money to help the Hebrew Christians living in Jerusalem. The need was evidently tremendous. It wasn’t the first time Paul had mentioned this need to them, for he was at this point only following up on what had been begun earlier.

We don’t know for sure why the Hebrew Christians in Jerusalem were struggling as they were, but we do have some ideas. Primarily it was likely that, after their conversion to Christian, many of these Jews in Jerusalem would have been ostracized socially and economically. There is also historic documentation of persistent food shortages in Palestine about this time, and, as the mother-church of Christianity at that point, the Jerusalem church was obliged to support a proportionately large number of teachers and probably to provide hospitality for frequent Christian visitors to the holy city—that on top of a crippling twofold taxation there to both the Jews and the Romans.

Paul was motivated to raise this money by brotherly love and compassion for these people—whom he clearly acknowledged as his brothers and sisters in Christ. And with a great degree of tact and wisdom, Paul began this part of his letter by citing an example rather than simply making a plea. The example was that of the Christians in the province of Macedonia who begged for the opportunity to give to this cause—despite their own poverty.

The paraphrase of Scripture called The Message says it better than I can, beginning at verse 1—

Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians. (2 Corinthians 8:1-4, The Message]

Here was the truly Christlike example of Christians who did not allow their own poverty to repress their generosity. And Paul saw in these Macedonia Christians the life-changing influence of God’s grace.

When I read these descriptive words about the Macedonian Christians from The Message, I wrote in the margin of my notes, “Doesn’t this describe our economic times well?” “Fierce troubles” have come upon us economically, too—and many of us have been terribly impacted by it. We’re hearing reports every day of the growing numbers of persons unemployed and the tremendous rise in home foreclosures. Many of us have seen our stocks and our retirement accounts plummet in value in just the past six months. And some of you feel like you’re about to go under for the third and final time! And my heart goes out to you today.

Some might even suggest that this is a tacky time for a pastor to be preaching on cultivating the “grace of giving”—but, judging from this example in Scripture, perhaps it’s a very good time for me to do so (even though there are those who get uncomfortable and edgy anytime a pastor preaches on anything relating to money!). Our Heavenly Father wants us to learn the grace of giving. I was particularly struck with Paul’s words to us in verse 7 of this chapter—

But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. (2 Corinthians 8:7, NIV)

Paul was saying to the Christians in Corinth, and I believe God is saying to us today, “You do so well in so many ways—you trust God, you share the Gospel well, you’ve got great insight and wisdom, you’re passionate about the Christian life, and you’re full of love for others. Now learn to do your best in this matter of giving as well.”

Why did Paul make such a big deal about this? (Why didn’t he just mind his own business?!) Because he had learned that an important dimension of growth in Christlikeness is learning to excel in the grace of giving. Unless we learn to do this, our Christian growth will be stunted.

I remember a summer when our son Justin was likely entering 7th or 8th grade. In the spring he had played baseball, as he always did in those years, and he wore cleats that were size 8. That year he also played in a fall baseball league, and complained that his cleats were too tight. We went to buy new ones and had to buy size 11! His feet had grown that much in a few months! He still hadn’t had his growth spurt in height, and I remember teasing him that with his feet growing so much if he didn’t get some height on him now he was going to look like a duck! I doubt Paul had a duck in mind, but he certainly recognized that the spiritual life of the Corinthians Christians was going to be out of proportion and thus overall thwarted if they didn’t learn the grace of giving that the impoverished Christians in Macedonia had obviously learned so well.

At the heart of the grace of giving is love. Christ’s love in our hearts is where it begins. Paul wrote—

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9, NIV)

As abundant as the love of Christ is for each of us, so should be our love for others. Christ is our ultimate example of generous love! And when we love others as Christ loved us, such love compels an eagerness to address their needs in any way that we can. It presses us to inconvenience ourselves, even to sacrifice in order for their needs to be met.

The generosity of the Christians in Macedonia inspired Paul! And they didn’t limit their contribution to financial aid. “In keeping with God’s will” they dedicated themselves first and foremost to Christ, but also committed themselves as partners with Paul to address these needs. These people begged Paul to let them have a part in financially supporting those who were worse off than they were. They understood hard times—and it compelled them to do everything they could to reduce the heartache and suffering of others.

I couldn’t help but think here of those who say that they don’t have enough to give financially so they serve instead. I don’t find any biblical support for that logic. Paul was speaking here of people who had fallen on terribly hard times themselves, and yet had embraced the grace of giving of their means. Regardless of our financial status, an important dimension of growth in Christlikeness is learning to excel in the grace of giving.

I had a conversation with someone out in the community the other day that impressed me. I met this lady perhaps a year ago when I was trying to find a barber or hair stylist that I liked. She’s really tried to please, so I keep going back to her—though I’ve wondered how she makes a living at it because it doesn’t seem like she has a lot of customers. Habitat for Humanity is currently building a new house for her and her special-needs son to live in. She’s been so excited about it as the house has taken shape. But I learned this week that she saved up her food stamps so that she could serve a really nice Thanksgiving meal to the prisoners who come from time to time on work release to work on her house. She figured they probably wouldn’t get a nice Thanksgiving meal otherwise. She seems to have an inside scoop on what charities one could donate to that best gets those items to the people who need them. She has a tremendously giving spirit about her, even though she clearly doesn’t have much herself—and I couldn’t help but be inspired by the way in which she has learned the grace of giving.

Poverty is relative, you know. Even those who are struggling the most among us have homes to sleep in and food to eat and clothes to wear. The truth is that the poorest among us is still among the wealthiest minority worldwide—we’re just so used to having it nice and comfortable! Go visit Mexico or Ukraine or China or Haiti or Uganda or India or even the poorest sections of our cities and see how millions of people in the world live today! Perhaps then we’d let loose of what we have—however meager we might feel it is!—and let God cultivate in us the grace of giving.

That’s an interesting phrase, isn’t it? “The grace of giving.” Paul wrote, “See that you also excel in this grace of giving.” Paul was longing to see every dimension of Christlikeness cultivated in the lives of his friends in Corinth and beyond. By using the Greek word “charis”—which means “grace”—of the virtue of giving, he’s making it clear that generosity stands alongside faith, knowledge and love as expressions of God’s grace in us. Already excelling in Christian virtues and gifts of the Spirit, the Corinthians were to make sure they also lived out the grace of generosity in their lives as well. And Paul wasn’t barking orders or trying to lay on a guilt trip as much as he was trying to compel them by Christ’s own love for them to extend such love to others by practicing generosity.

Several years ago I was pastoring a church that was raising money to build a much-needed addition to our facility. In challenging our people to give, we used the theme, “Not equal giving, but equal sacrifice.” And I recall the sacrifices we made in order to participate in that cause, and the tremendous sacrifices others were making. Oh, yea, it could get a little discouraging now and then to consider the fact that some hadn’t embraced the “not equal giving but equal sacrifice” part. I remember letting it get to me a little when I happened to learn that one of the leading couples in the church who I knew were likely the wealthiest people in the congregation were giving less than we were giving…but I also had to sadly acknowledge that their tight grip on their money was really hurting them more than it was hurting anyone else.

You see, it doesn’t take great means to excel in the grace of giving. It just requires a generous heart. Every person is challenged to give. I can’t help but think of the poor widow who gave all that she had and Jesus’ comments about her gift—

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41-44, NIV)

God wants to teach each of us the grace of giving. It’s a part of His character that He wants to cultivate into the fabric of our lives—and in His great wisdom, He knows that our lives will be better too if we learn to give and that the needs of others will be met at the same time. It can’t be coerced or manipulated, and we can’t cultivate it in our human strength and wisdom. But, if we will submit ourselves and our resources completely to the Lord, He will teach us this grace of giving.

Did you know that God actually created you in such a way that you are healthier, happier and more fulfilled in life when you learn to truly love others and when you give of yourself and of your financial means to help them? Isn’t that an amazing thought? Scientific studies even reveal that you’ll live longer! Proverbs 11:25 says,

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. (Proverbs 11:25)

It’s written into the fabric of who we are to become and how we discover life at its best! Giving to others is the way to “Living Large God’s Way.” Hoarding what we have never brings the satisfaction we anticipate.

I heard a well-known scholar share some interesting scientific data this week that validated that. Imagine…science confirming the goodness of God’s plan for our lives! Scientific studies done by people who may not acknowledge the existence of God conclude that materialism doesn’t make people happy.

* Science magazine concluded in 2008 that our happiness is not related to our income, but that those who give more to others and to their churches and to charities were happier people. They even noted that making a donation for just $5 can improve your mood!
* A 2005 Time Magazine poll revealed that 75% of people identified that giving to others is a source of happiness in their own lives.
* A study in 2006 revealed that making a donation activates chemicals in our bodies that make us feel happy—the same kind of chemicals that are often used in anti-depression medication.

Loving others and giving to them go with the grain of how we are designed and created rather than against it! Giving is good medicine—it’s good for your health and well-being.

In our churchy language we have said, “It’s a blessing to give.” But however we express it, God’s way of learning to live large includes increasing our willingness to give to others regardless of how much or how little we may have ourselves.

I suppose this has been one of the eternal benefits of people of all ages being involved in Work and Witness projects. Our young and our old have seen firsthand the great needs of people near and far, and we’ve also witnessed the great joy of Christians who live in the midst of such poverty and yet radiate the joy of the Lord in their lives despite it! They’re inspiring though they have so little!

Do you believe God wants you to experience joy in life? Do you believe that God wants to enrich your life—not by material things by those things that increase our joy and our fulfillment in life? Then learn to live life large His way—by learning to excel in this grace of giving. Let Him teach you how to do your best in this important dimension of spiritual growth. Let Him stretch you to give more than you might think you can give—just as the Christians in Macedonia had modeled for the more economically stable Christians in Corinth.

But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

February 1, 2009 - Pastor Tim

DON’T GET ON A MOTORCYCLE

WITH JUST ANYONE!

2 Corinthians 6:14 – 7:1

My dad’s a great guy. Raised in a Nazarene pastor’s home himself, his personal story was that of a young man who ran from God, leaving Ohio to go to college in California, only to find out that God was there too! He finally gave in to God’s persevering love, and from that time on he pursued God’s calling for his life with great passion.

I remember various times when we three boys were young and the family was driving through the part of Southern Ohio where Dad had grown up, and it seemed like every few miles Dad would point out a place where he had wrecked a vehicle in his early wild life. I often thought that if any of his three sons had wrecked that many vehicles, he’d have taken our licenses away! And though Dad is conservative in most ways, I have vivid memory of getting on a motorcycle with him when I was a teenager. It was as if something inside him triggered a flashback to his wild days of youth. We were on hilly dirt trails on wooded land, and I was scared to death! At one point, he flipped the motorcycle and we crashed, and as much as I love my dad, I promised myself I’d never get on another motorcycle with him!

Why would I tell that story? Because I was reminded of it when I was thinking through the implications of the passage of scripture we’re going to look at this morning. Here the Apostle Paul—after whom my father was named!—makes a strong and incredibly helpful statement about the importance of Christians living a different kind of life. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 6:14, and I would like to read to you from the New Living Translation of the Bible because I believe it puts it in words that have greater meaning to many of us—

[Read 2 Corinthians 6:14 – 7:1, NLT]

The New International Version of the Bible and the King James Version begin verse 14 with the admonition, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.” What I just read began, “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers.” The paraphrase of scripture called The Message begins, “Don’t become partners with those who reject God.” Paul’s imagery with his original audience was that of two oxen being “yoked” together—harnessed together with wooden beams that kept the two beasts of burdens heading the same direction and at the same speed. And Paul’s warning is about not putting ourselves as Christians into positions where we’re partnered with or teamed up with or “yoked” with those who do not share our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Can we just acknowledge that hearing such a “prohibition” from scripture makes some of us bristle—just because we’re being told not to do something! We don’t like to be told what we’re not to do! I suppose it’s human nature. What I want us to understand as we look at this passage of scripture is that, as it is in every restriction God places upon our lives as we journey with Him, it is done out of the protective heart of a Father who loves us and desires the very best for us.

If you read the Old Testament, you find lots of warnings being given to the people of Israel, the people God had chosen to be His own, the people whom He had promised to bless and prosper, as long as they remained faithful to Him. And in order to keep them faithful to Him, there were strong warnings about not intermarrying with pagans of other nations.

God’s warnings didn’t have anything to do with race, as it has sometimes been supposed. It was all about remaining faithful to God. Our Heavenly Father knew that if we partnered in marriage with those who worship other gods, we would be drawn away from our single-hearted devotion to Him—not to mention that the marriage would be under great duress because two people can’t go two different directions in life when they’re “yoked” together! God understood how our lives will be different if we commit to following Him—affecting what is important to us day by day; how we spend our time and our money; our dreams and ambitions, our goals, our priorities.

And while we sometimes bristle with the things God tells us not to do, why wouldn’t we want God’s Word to give us appropriate warnings? I would think we would welcome them! If I were busy talking with you as we were crossing a street and you saw a car coming right at me, I would hope that you’d interrupt me and tell me I better move it or I’m going to lose it! I really won’t mind if your words aren’t gracious and kind or if you raise your voice a little! But please don’t just go on as if nothing was happening and let me get run over! Do you suppose we could embrace God’s Word to us in such a way this morning?

What I believe Paul is saying to us is this: Don’t form any partnerships, whether temporary or permanent, with unbelievers that could lead to compromise in your commitment to Jesus Christ. Why? Because the unbeliever does not share the Christian’s standards, values, priorities, or goals. And, I might add, if your standards, values, priorities, and goals aren’t different from the person who is not following Jesus Christ, I have to seriously doubt the validity of your commitment to Christ. Is that fair?

What I don’t believe the Word is saying to us here is to avoid close contact with the world apart from Christ—the “pagan world,” if you will. By Christ’s Great Commission to us, we need to be in contact with the world, or we’re missing our calling as His Church. What Paul is calling us to stay away from are partnerships with those who do not share our commitment to Christ—teaming up with them. By the very nature of partnerships, we make mutual agreements and commitments with another—and that’s what Paul is telling us is extremely unwise and dangerous for the Christian.

So what’s he saying? How are we to apply this? Let’s start with Paul’s illustrations—

How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? (2 Corinthians 6:14b-16a)

Paul asks five rhetorical questions presupposing a negative answer to each one. A rhetorical question is when you ask a question to which you don’t expect an answer because the answer already seems obvious! I had to be careful in one of the churches I pastored because I had a lady in the crowd who would often respond out loud to my rhetorical questions and her answers weren’t always appropriate! What Paul is trying to make clear in his rhetorical questions is the incompatibility of Christianity and the world apart from God, the incongruity of intimate relationships or fellowship between believers and unbelievers. The chief reason why believers aren’t to enter any syncretistic or compromising relationship with unbelievers is that we belong exclusively to God. In many ways this Word of the Lord through Paul was an elaboration of the first two of the Ten Commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me” and “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything…”

It’s fair to think that Paul might be implying by his words to the Corinthians that some of them had perhaps become defiled by occasionally sharing meals at the local idol-shrines or by continuing to attend festivals or ceremonies in the pagan temples or even by maintaining their membership in some local pagan cult—trying to blend it in with Christianity in some way. All of scripture is clear to us: if we’re going to follow Jesus Christ, we have got to make a clean break with attachments that keep us somehow bound to the world apart from Christ. We are to live holy lives, and holy lives are lives that are fully devoted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

So how might we apply Paul’s words to us today? Certainly the quickest application we make—and appropriately so—is to marriage. Scripture gives vivid warning here for a Christian not to enter into marriage with someone who is not a believer, who does not share their passion to follow Jesus.

I remember attending a wedding when I was growing up. A girl who had grown up in the church was marrying a young man who was not a Christian. It was perhaps in the early years of using the unity candle to symbolize two lives becoming one. I remember that once they had lit the unity candle, it wouldn’t keep burning. It was kind of awkward and embarrassing. The flame went out. And my mom later commented to me her concern that it was reflective of what would happen in that bride’s life spiritually—and, as I recall, it’s exactly what did happen in the months and years that followed.

In watching lots of relationships across the years, I’ve concluded—and I often told our kids and the kids in our churches—you choose who you date, not who you’re going to fall in love with. Choose carefully the people you’re willing to date, because once you start dating them, you don’t really choose if you’re going to fall in love with them or not—you’ve already opened yourself up to that. It’s a dangerous thing to even start to form a dating relationship with an unbeliever. “Missionary dating” isn’t very smart. I know there are stories out there of people who have led someone they dated to the Lord—but for every such story I’m guessing there are 10 or 20 stories of people who thought they could change someone, fell in love and got married, only to find themselves in a marriage with someone whose life was aimed a completely different direction from them because they did not share a faith in Christ. And it seems complicated enough when it was just two, but start adding children to the family, and the disparity in values and priorities only become more obvious and more heartbreaking.

I also believe we can rightly apply Paul’s warning to forming a business partnership with someone who is not a believer. Again, the problem is with values and overall purpose. Our commitment to Christ should affect everything we do—including how we do business. It impacts why we do what we do, what we’re willing to sacrifice, what our ultimate goal in life is. And if you become a business partner with someone whose life goals are taking them a different direction than yours, you’re setting yourself up for a lot of frustration and grief. If we’d simply hear God’s warning, we’d spare ourselves a lot of grief in life!

Again, the problem is with values and overall purpose. Money is a powerful thing—and the true follower of Christ sees money through a different set of lenses than the person who is not committed to Christ. And while my first thought is that of the typical business setting, I also believe the same issues would arise in professions such as the medical field. Just think of all the ethical dilemmas facing our medical people today! Christian attorneys partnered with unbelieving attorneys are setting themselves up for certain conflict. Even educators find themselves facing dilemmas today, spurred by the clash in values. Lots of Christians today are struggling with the issue of unions—because in uniting with some unions they are uniting with those who do not share their Christian values. This warning against partnerships with unbelievers could also be broadened to give us strong warnings about employee/employer relationships—because if we’re not careful who we team up with, we find ourselves in a serious conflict of values. Oh, it’s getting complicated, isn’t it? How wonderful that we have the Lord to guide us through such complicated issues, granting wisdom and discernment to those who seek it with open hearts and open minds.

I have a dear Christian friend who is in the construction business. He was in a partnership with a man who turned out to be crooked in how he did business. My friend ended up facing prosecution and almost ended up serving time himself because of the actions of his business partner. He carries the label “felon” today because he made the unwise decision to go into business with an unbeliever. If he and his wife were to stand before our crowd today, I’m somehow guessing they’d have some convincing words to share about this passage of scripture!

Now, I think we’ve got to acknowledge the balance that we must learn to strike between being “light in a world of darkness” and yet not being “unequally yoked” or “partnered” with unbelievers. We are called to be the light of the world—to let Christ’s light shine through our lives that others may be drawn to Him. It’s our mission as individuals and as a church. And when we read passages like John 17—Christ’s “high priestly prayer” before he went to the Cross, it’s clear that His heart and passion for us is that we would be “in the world but not of it.” We are to live our lives in the world and to do so in such a way that others are drawn to the Savior whom we serve. But Paul is warning us not to partner with the world in any way that might lead to compromise of our primary devotion to the Lord. I might note here that this is the very reason why Nazarene churches and other holiness churches have throughout the years asked its members not to be part of what is often referred to as “oath-bound secret orders”—organizations that are quasi-religious in nature and to which its members must make an oath of allegiance, even though the values of that organization may not always reflect Christian values.

Paul was not calling for withdrawal from the secular world, but rather pleading with Christians not to put themselves into relationships with either pagan persons or pagan institutions that would water down or undermine their Christian values. And for those believers who are today in an unequally yoked marriage, if you read 1 Corinthians 7:12-16, Paul actually encouraged the Christian partner in a mixed marriage to maintain the relationship once in it if at all possible—though it’s clear from the whole of scripture that it’s terribly unwise for a Christian to enter into such a marriage.

There are those who might take Paul’s warning from 2 Corinthians 6 to be in conflict with the call to love others. Some might accuse us of being “intolerant” of other religions or of those who do not share our Christian faith, but please understand that scripture is clear that God will not share our devotion with any other god of any sort. Christianity is not by its nature a faith that can be syncretistic—blended in to merge acceptably with other religions. God will not share our devotions, though God is love and invites all people into fellowship with Him through Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that Jesus “is the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to Father except through Him.” We are to love others, but we must choose carefully those with whom we partner.

We to carry out the words of Paul that came from the pen of the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel—

“Therefore come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them,” says the Lord. “Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.” (2 Corinthians 6:17, NLT)

It is the call for us to live holy lives.

Some of us remember the day when the church tried to define holy living simply by the things we did not do—and it’s taken us awhile to figure out that such an approach produced Pharisees instead of healthy Christ-followers. The effort to define the church in terms of a haven from the world has an element of truth in it, but it also offers all sorts of danger. It can produce a kind of “enclave” (closed society) mentality in the church. In this model the church is not a fellowship in which we are equipped to function with integrity in the world, but a place where we do everything we can to hide from the world.

There’s no doubt that it can be intimidating and frightening to try to live a Christian life in an un-Christian world. At the same time, it’s a serious mistake for the church to cocoon itself in a protected environment from the world. I’m afraid that if we do that we become, as they say, “so heavenly minded that we’re of no earthly good.” But Christ has called us to be salt and light in our world—and we must figure out how to live that out dynamically and responsibly.

When it’s all said and done, what’s the bottom line for us as Christians? God insists on our single-hearted devotion to Him—a devotion that is not threatened or compromised by any other allegiance or devotion. And to such a person God promises that He will be our Father, and we will be His sons and daughters. As the Lord repeated to his people throughout the Old Testament, God is saying, “I will live with them and walk among them…I will be their God, and they will be my people.” It’s a wonderful promise! It’s a wonderful covenant God has made with us—and it’s a covenant that we are to keep with Him, a covenant we are to protect by guarding the commitments we make to others that might compromise our overall commitment to Him.

Let’s go back to my motorcycle ride with my dad. I won’t get on a motorcycle with just anyone because I value my life—and I’ve come to believe that motorcycles can be incredibly dangerous if the one in control isn’t safe. Now my dad’s almost 80, and I’d probably get on a motorcycle with him if he wanted now, but I can assure you that I won’t get on a motorcycle with just anyone! Why? Because I know I won’t be in control—which is a real problem if they ride like a maniac and you value life more than they do! And I won’t partner with just anyone either in any kind of partnership unless I’m confident that the person with whom I’m partnering shares my values and my whole-hearted commitment to follow Christ and to fully submit to His ways. That’s what Paul is saying to us today.

January 25, 2009 - Pastor Tim

LOOK UP!

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

One of the most personally frustrating things I deal with in life is an ongoing battle with my weight. I know that not everyone relates to this issue, but I won’t ask for a show of hands—nor will I ask all of you to stand up and turn around. It’s beyond my comprehension that those who go through life with no understanding of what it is to battle weight are irritated when someone calls them “skinny.” I’d love for once in my life to be so offended!

I remember the embarrassment of wearing “husky” size pants when I was a pre-teen. Don’t you think they could come up with some label that would be a bit nicer than “husky”?! In my last year of high school, I lost probably 20 pounds and I recall an old friend seeing me and asking what it was like to be able to see my feet again! I’ve yo-yoed back and forth across the years—losing the same 20 pounds probably a half-dozen times! I exercise almost daily and three times a week do a pretty rigorous workout, and the Lord only knows how big I’d be if I didn’t do that! When Cindy cooks—which seems to be less and less these days!—she cooks consistently healthy, and, while I tease her about never baking goodies for me, I’m afraid I’d be as big as the side of a barn if she did!

I’m getting to the point where I’m ready to do something about it again, but haven’t seemed to have mounted up the self-discipline yet to tackle it. It’s pretty much up to me—I know that. I’ve got to be the one who makes the choice not to eat dessert and not to eat the things that put on the pounds. Cindy’s tried nagging me on it a little bit across the years, but I think has finally realized that it’s not very productive. If I’m going to lose weight, it’s up to me.

Putting the weight issue aside now, do you think that’s the same way many of us approach our relationship with God? Do we feel the burden, day after day, that it’s all on our own shoulders—and get to feeling pretty dismal when time after time we seem to fail? It can be real discouraging, can’t it? It’s really a terrible way to approach the most important facet of our lives—our relationship with God. Do you really believe God intended it to be that way? The Apostle Paul didn’t believe so, and wrote some powerful words for us to digest this morning.

[2 Corinthians 5:11-21, NIV]

Did you know that Paul wrote those amazing words primarily to address his critics in defense of his ministry? Paul, who was undoubtedly the most significant human instrument for the spread of the Gospel in the first century, was guided by the Holy Spirit in writing a good portion of the New Testament. And when we think of him that way, it’s hard to fathom that there was a time when he was accused of being a crazy, self-appointed peddler of the Gospel. Evidently enough people took the criticism seriously that Paul felt it necessary to defend himself. I suppose we might also remember that there was a time when Jesus’ immediate family wondered if He might be crazy! This should be encouraging to those of us who have also been misunderstood and even falsely accused of ungodly motives along the way! But as a result of Paul’s defense, we have these classic statements about his motive for ministry and the difference Christ can make in our lives.

There’s actually so much in these eleven verses—more than we’ll have time to deal with adequately this morning—but I might make a few observations from the text before I hone in on what I believe is the Lord’s primary message to us today.

For Paul, the reason for doing something was as important as what was done. Christ had also stressed that principle in the Sermon on the Mount when He criticized those who did good things—like fasting and praying and even giving—but did it for the wrong reasons. Paul had grown up in a religious world that centered on the deed and ignored the motive. But in his relationship with Jesus Christ he had come to realize that fear or guilt or a sense of duty or a desire to impress God or others were terribly inadequate reasons for sharing the Gospel.

And in verses 14 and 15 he opens up his heart and tells us why he was devoted to spreading the Gospel. Four words pretty much sum it up: “Christ’s love compels us.” And though some were questioning Paul’s motives and his integrity, above all things he wanted his readers in Corinth to understand this about him. In saying “Christ’s love compels us,” Paul was putting the focus first and foremost on Christ’s love for us—and not our love for him. That’s what stirred him to do what he did for the cause of Christ in the world. Christ’s love for him compelled Paul to devote his life to sharing that Good News with others.

I also want us to note from this passage that to those whose lives had already changed by the Gospel, Christ has given “the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting [people’s] sins against them…we are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making the appeal through us.” You ought to feel honored in this, friend—that Almighty God would want to work through you and me in His efforts to redeem the world!

I was reading in my personal devotions this week about Moses, and drawn to something written by Louis Giglio—

God is always looking for ordinary people to play significant roles in His unfolding story. And, given that He is God and supremely confident in Himself, He is free to choose the least among us—the slowest, the lesser-known, the last, the smallest, the poorest—to accomplish amazing, God-sized stuff…

So try to put yourself in God’s shoes for a minute. Your people are enslaved in Egypt, toiling day and night building monuments to the fame and greatness of the pharaohs. Yet you have a redemption plan, a deliverance mission, and you’re looking for a spokesman to take your agenda to the most powerful man in the most powerful empire on the planet, demanding that he let your people go free. Who are you going to choose to lead Israel out of bondage? What criteria are you going to use to narrow the field of candidates?…

Well, you probably wouldn’t choose a stuttering shepherd with wilting self-esteem—an aging man on the downslope of life who for years had been on the run from the mighty Pharaoh after killing one of his slave drivers back in Egypt. Would you? But that’s exactly who God chose; just the guy He invited to take the helm in this chapter of His unfolding story. (Louie Giglio)

It’s amazing that God has given to you and to me the ministry of reconciliation—being in some mysterious way tools in the Hand of God to help others become reconciled to God as we have been. We are His ambassadors in this world—just think of it! You and me!—ambassadors in the most important mission of the ages!

By the way, this ministry of reconciliation is why we do what we do as a church in matters of evangelism and world missions. We are Christ’s ambassadors in this wide world—near and far, as close as our own homes and neighborhoods and as far away as the other side of the globe. And the fact that Christ has given us this ministry of reconciliation begs some questions for every believer: How are you carrying out your unique part in this ministry? And is what you’re doing “compelled” by Christ’s love for you or have you gotten drawn into lesser motivation? Those are sermons all by themselves, aren’t they?—and may be the very thing some of you most need to hear this morning from this passage.

But what I have sensed the Lord most wants me to center our message around this morning is found in verses 17—

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

There are few words in the Scripture filled with more HOPE than these words from Paul! (repeat verse) If you somehow feel that you’re “stuck” in a life pattern that is somehow less than what you believe Christ wants you to be, by God’s power and His grace in your life He makes us new creations—“the old has gone, the new has come”!

No one needs to linger outside the realm of God’s grace, somehow fearing themselves unworthy or incapable. Paul threw out the invitation to us all when he wrote,

We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20b)

And if you’re somehow concluding in your spirit that this just might not include you, listen to more of what we find in this passage of scripture—

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

Please hear these words of hope for you—particularly if there is any part of you that somehow feels like you might be beyond the scope of God’s grace. Christ died for all! That includes you! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Gospel of hope for every one of us because it is God’s Word to each of us that we do not need to remain as we are! Christ died so that every one of us could be reconciled to God and so that we could each be made “new”—becoming the persons that God designed for us to be, living lives of submission to Him, compelled to even share this Good News with others!

Paul was not talking about a newness that was merely cosmetic—like a new haircut or a new outfit of clothes or even an “extreme makeover”! Paul was instead speaking of an inner change in us that only God can orchestrate. It’s a newness that redeems our past, brings transformation into our present lives, and encompasses our future with a persevering and powerful hope. This newness is eventually reflected in every area of our lives—giving us a new direction and a new purpose for living. It all comes about when our sins are forgiven and we are thus “reconciled” with our Heavenly Father. We enter a new journey of life with Him!

I was blessed to be part of a radical transformation that I saw take place in the life of a man named John Wildman. John and his wife Sue had visited our church in Ohio. Sue accepted the Lord that week in their home, but John did not yet feel he was ready. He had been running from the Lord for a long time and had a lot of preconceived ideas about what it might mean to be a follower of Christ. I think it was only a week later though that John also asked the Lord to forgive his sins and welcomed Christ into his heart and life.

I don’t know if I’ve ever witnessed such a transformation in someone’s life as I watched happen in theirs—particularly John. John was about my age, but honestly, he looked 10-15 years older than me and it was all because he had lived a rough life—a wild life! But when John prayed through, things began to change! It created a bit of challenge in their marriage initially because John was growing so much spiritually that Sue could hardly keep up with what was happening! And what I began to even notice on the outside of John was that he was looking younger and younger. God was changing him within, and the change was so radical that it was impacting John’s appearance on the outside! The Lord called John into ministry and he has been pastoring for probably 15 years now. I just learned the other day that John is now pastoring the church that my grandfather pastored near the end of his pastoral career back in the 1960’s! It was so amazing to me that someone I had the privilege of serving in this “ministry of reconciliation” was now caring for the flock that my grandfather once served!

I fear though that the church is often tempted to make something less of conversion than this. We sometimes get stuck on what we see in people’s lives today and while we talk about conversion, in actuality we can’t get past where someone is now, failing to believe that God really can change lives! But if we quit believing that God can change lives, we’re all in trouble! We may as well lock the doors of the church and go home! But NO! God has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, and it’s a message of hope! And I want each of you to see that if there’s some part of your life that has not yet been transformed as you know it must be in order for you to live in a right relationship with God, you don’t need to remain stuck in such a pattern. God wants to change you—and, as Paul went on to say in the opening verses of chapter 6 of this letter to the Corinthians, “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

But be assured it will not be a self-improvement project—like my efforts at losing weight have too often been. The “new creation” that Paul is speaking of goes much deeper than any self-help project could ever go. That’s where many who have “tried” the Christian life have failed—they’ve approached it like a giant self-improvement project and it’s simply too big of a task for any one of us! When we try to take on such change in our own willpower, we consistently end up falling flat on our faces. You and I are incapable of making ourselves to be the people God wants us to be. And a personal self-improvement project was never what God had in mind for us anyway!

God is the One who makes the changes within us! It is through his Son that reconciliation and forgiveness are made possible. Yes, He needs our cooperation. Yes, we must be willing. Yes, we must come to the point where we submit to Him and allow Him to work in our lives—but the transformation He has in mind for each of us goes way beyond what we could imagine or pull off on our own! Our Heavenly Father has graciously provided all that is needed for you and for me to be made new creations in Christ Jesus. Are you ready?

A wonderful thing that comes alongside the hope God wants to give each of us is the CONFIDENCE with which we are to live our lives as we journey with Him. It’s all too easy for Christians to get caught up in the pessimism of our world. I sometimes wonder if Christians seem like the most pessimistic people around—because we look at what’s happening in our society, the way in which our culture’s ethics and morality must surely break the heart of God, and we get this awful sensation that evil seems to be winning.

I watched a movie recently that reminded me of the atrocities of the slave trade that for several centuries brought Africans to our continent as slaves. To see what surely must have been their realities was awful—and it weighed so heavy upon my spirit. But I feel the same way when I think about the millions of babies aborted here in our country every year and about the current move to desecrate God’s design for marriage by extending the terminology and legal status to include those who are in homosexual relationships. What are the people in our country thinking? Oh how terribly far we have come from being anything close to a Christian nation! And it can become overwhelming and discouraging and even foreboding as Christians.

But I believe that our Heavenly Father wants us to live with a sense of confidence and hope—not drug down by the evil around us. We need to remember the ultimate outcome in the history of humanity! We need to remember Who is going to win! That was settled long ago by Christ on the cross! When Paul wrote what he did to the Corinthians, there was a spirit of confidence that God is reconciling the world to Himself! “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone the new has come!” That doesn’t sound dismal or hopeless to me, does it to you? Paul was not consumed by the evil around him; rather, Paul believed with all of his heart that God could transform every person into a new creation! Paul believed that because Paul had lived it himself! God had radically transformed him!

So friend, look up today! Be assured that you don’t need to be stuck where you are right now if you know you’re not fully in a right relationship with God! “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” This is it! It’s time for you to be made new in Jesus Christ and to put off the way of life that’s really not working for you or for those around you!

My wife Cindy loves to watch the TV shows like “Extreme Makeovers.” They did an extreme makeover for a family in Kansas City when we were living there, and another Nazarene Church actually became the host site for the Extreme Makeover crew, including their many volunteers. What they do when they go in is tear down what has become a terribly inadequate house for a family and build in its place a house that is all that the family could possibly have dreamed for—but would have been impossible for them to have built on their own. And when the family returns after just a relatively few days away, the old is gone; the new has come!

Today’s your day, friend! God wants to put behind you that part of your life that’s become terribly inadequate—even though it was the best you could do! And in its place, God wants to create a new life—one that will end up being more than you would ever have dreamed. How do I know? Because that’s how my life has been! I know what God can do with a terribly inadequate person. I know how God can give strength and help with temptation and how He brings victory into our lives. I know how He takes our failures and our trials in life to mold and shape us into the person He had in mind for us to become all along! And I know that He can do it for you, too.

January 18, 2009 - Pastor Tim

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Cindy and I had driven by it lots of times already in our short time in Idaho, but had never taken the time to stop until a couple of months ago when a friend of Cindy’s from Kansas City had come our way and we were taking her up to the mountains that we’ve come to enjoy so much. It’s just outside Horseshoe Bend on the left-hand side—and it ended up having some real interesting items, not the least of which are their chainsaw carvings. You can buy large wooden bears, totem poles, eagles and more that have essentially been carved out of the wood with the principle tool being a chainsaw! That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?! I understand that they also use finer instruments in doing the finishing work, but it’s intriguing to think of art being done with a chainsaw.

Ever felt like God was taking a chainsaw to your life? Most of us know all about God having a plan and purpose for our lives—and we believe it and even stake our lives on it! But sometimes…and for some people “sometimes” may seem like “most of the time”…God chisels away at our lives not with fine little tools but with life events which may resemble chainsaws in the scope of magnitude and the fear it generates.

I think one of the things so many have appreciated about the New Testament writings of the Apostle Paul is that it’s clear that Paul understood the very human dimensions of what we experience as we endeavor to live our lives for Jesus Christ in a very imperfect world. He knew what it was like to face incredibly difficult challenges in life. As we continue in our series from 2 Corinthians, let’s turn to chapter 4—

[Read 2 Corinthians 4:1-18, NIV]

Though Paul was a mover and a shaker, he was realistic enough to recognize that his hard work and the resistance and persecution he often experienced along the way had all taken their toll on him physically and otherwise. But that wasn’t the end of the story. He has also experienced the ongoing renewal of spiritual strength. It was as though the more he gave of himself for the sake of the Gospel, the greater was his spiritual resilience.

But some of us never seem to get past the exhaustion and the discouragements of life—and we easily get stuck at the point of defending the legitimacy of our discouragement. We see our own limitations and imperfections and often fixate on the imperfections of others. The problems in the world and in our own personal lives seem foreboding. And the indifference of some people with whom we are sharing the Gospel makes us wonder if what we’re doing is truly worthwhile.

It frustrates us when people in the world aren’t nice and don’t play fair—though I’ll tell you that I’ve come to the point where I don’t even expect that out in the world…I’m just grateful when I see Christians act like Christians! I’d be lying to you if I didn’t acknowledge that even pastors get discouraged when as shepherds of their flocks they come to the harsh reality that some sheep bite. And for those who are wearing themselves out seeking the perfect church, there is for us all the harsh reality that no church is perfect—at least we know that it could never be perfect once you or I walked through its doors!

It’s also easy to become discouraged by all the aggressiveness of evil in our world. Nothing seems to be off-limits! We live in a world of fast-moving cultural change that is indifferent to the New Testament call for us to turn away from sin in order to follow Jesus. Phil Weeks made the observation in our Men’s Group last Wednesday evening that we’ve gone from “love the sinner; hate the sin” to “love the sinner; accept the sin.” Even churches have dropped any mention of “sin”—and I was even told by one pastor that they don’t believe in “sin” at their church and that the closest thing they would understand to being “sin” is “intolerance.” Can you believe, for example, that as Americans we have moved so far from biblical teachings that one of the most hotly debated issues in our country today is the determination to allow men to marry men and women to marry women—and we believe that such is a violation of God’s design and His laws are labeled narrow-minded bigots! The advance of evil in our world is frightening and unsettling!

But what scripture makes clear is that it’s always been that way. Paul had experienced such a dominance of evil in his world too—and yet he wrote to his friends that in spite of it all, “we do not lose heart” (vss 1 and 16). And in this particular chapter of 2 Corinthians he gives us the reasons why he could not give up and throw in the towel and give in to discouragement and despair.

When I was thinking of a title for this sermon, I was drawn to the phrase made famous by the great British statesman Winston Churchill. What’s often been told is that when he was asked to give a speech before a group of students at a school he once attended, he simply got up and said, “Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, give in. Never give in. Never give in. Never give in” and that then he sat down. I guess that what’s historically accurate is that he delivered far more of a speech than just that, but it was obviously those few words that made the biggest impact. And when I think of Paul’s words to us today I can’t help but summarize it in words a little more to my liking—“Never, never, never give up!”

Why? Surely there are a lot of legitimate reasons for you and me to become discouraged in life and even in serving the Lord. Why should we never, never, never give up? Why not lose heart as followers of Christ in an ungodly world? Why not give up? Why not get discouraged when even the church world is not perfect? I believe Paul’s words to us today can help us.

We don’t need to lost heart because God is great! He is the real treasure. He is the eternal wellspring of power. Paul spoke in such graphic words—

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

Paul knew that the real treasure in life is Jesus Christ and that he (Paul) was merely the vehicle of carrying that treasure to others.

He set up a paradox here—the difference between the indescribable value of the Gospel treasure and the apparent worthlessness of the Gospel’s minister. He’s not despairing of the life of the Christian or the one who is committed to ministering to others in the name of Christ—but he’s contrasting the relative insignificance and unattractiveness of the bearers of the light with the countless worth and beauty of the Light itself. We don’t have to be great and mighty…because God alone is that! We don’t need to lose heart because “this all-surpassing power is from God”—it’s not from us…it never was!

It’s not a clay pot, but I think the principle still relates. It’s glass. I’m sure it’s not crystal or anything special…except for the fact that it came from my grandparents’ home. It’s just a little square box with a lid—and for lots of years I’ve used it in my office to put out candy or nuts of some sort. Since I’ve been here, it’s mostly had M & M’s in it. I buy the package for a few bucks at Walmart and it lasts quite a while. But it’s never been the delicacy of the glass or even the contents of the thing that makes it significant to me. It’s a reminder often of two people who loved Jesus and who loved me and who had such a wonderful role in my life until they both died within 8 months of one another during my college years.

And sometimes I take a good look in the mirror at myself—and when I get over the scare of it all (!) I get to realizing once again that it’s not the body—the container, if you will—that makes me anything special at all. It’s Who I belong to…it’s all about the One who has held me in His hands…the One who takes an otherwise flawed container and by His Presence brings value to my life. Just like skin that is scarred here and there and that’s getting a little wrinkly with the years…my life’s been weathered by mistakes and failures. But the amazing thing is that the treasure I bear is not diminished at all by the container. In fact, my life is made valuable by the treasure I’ve found in Christ.

So regardless of what circumstances I go through, I don’t need to lose heart because God is great! He’s the real treasure. It’s not about me; it’s about Him. And He holds all-surpassing power…so why should any child of God get down in the mouth and discouraged?! Have we forgotten Whose we are?!

We need never give up because God’s strength is sufficient for us regardless of what we go through. Paul was encouraged because life hadn’t thrown more at him than he was able to handle with the help of the Lord. The honest truth is that we can cope with a whole lot of stuff in life as we learn to depend upon the strength that Christ gives.

I love Paul’s words—

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

He was “bewildered…[but] never at…wits’ end” (NEB). He was “at a loss, but never totally at a loss.” He was hounded by the enemy, but not left to the enemy’s mercy. He was knocked to the ground, but never permanently “grounded.”

Have you followed the story at all this week about US Airways Flight 1549 that pilot Sully Sullenberger “crash landed” into the Hudson River in New York? He had just lifted off from LaGuardia Airport and hit a couple of birds that disabled a significant part of his engines. Fearing that he could not make it as far as another landing strip, he saw his opportunity with the river below, and, as some say, almost used the river itself as a landing strip. There were 155 people on that plane, and not one was killed or even seriously injured. It was amazing! Might we add to the Apostle Paul’s words, “We were forced down, but never crashed”!

When I said a few moments ago that we need never to give up because God’s grace and His strength are sufficient for us regardless of what we go through, some of you were likely reminded of a verse that’s found later in this letter Paul wrote to the church in Corinth—2 Corinthians 12:9—where we find the words of the Lord to Paul:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

It’s a great promise that many of us have learned to lean upon, and one that we’ll center a message around in a few weeks. But it’s what Paul was saying here too—as followers of Jesus Christ, we need not lose heart because He is all-sufficient for any challenge He allows us to face. How wonderful to know that we don’t face any of the challenges of life alone!

I’m afraid that when we hear Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 that we in our humanity tend to place the emphasis on the wrong words. I’m afraid we tend to read—

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

Perhaps how we’d best it read it is the way I believe Paul meant—

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

It makes all the difference, doesn’t it?! Paul was writing here with a sense of celebration! Even though life had knocked him down, it hadn’t knocked him out—and Paul was rejoicing over it and wrote these words to his friends in Corinth so that they too would be encouraged with the help of the Lord throughout life.

Across years of life and ministry, I’ve watched some of God’s people deal realistically and triumphantly with tragedy, illness, death and losses of all kinds. I’ve stood by some of them during times of almost unbelievable stress with the assurance that they would not be abandoned by Christ. And with time, and with patience, and with lots of love and encouragement from other believers, I’ve seen them persevere and come out on the other side of such difficulties with stronger faith in the Lord and greater confidence in life.

The Christian author J.I. Packer wrote,

We should not be upset when unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things happen. God in his wisdom means to make something of us which we have not yet attained and is dealing with us accordingly. (J.I. Packer)

And with Him by our side and with the strength that He gives us, we should never give up!

We don’t need to lose heart because God renews our spirits every day. It’s a day by day thing.

Paul was encouraged by God’s ability to renew his spirit when circumstances got him down. Though Paul was confronted with the threat of death and even the reality of the limitations of the human body and his own mortality, he could still write—

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

Paul’s strenuous and challenging schedule had taken its toll on his body and his spirit, but he said that through God’s Spirit he daily experienced renewal. This helped him to face life here and now and gave him hope even about death

Again, I like how the paraphrase of Scripture called The Message translates this word from Paul—

So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. (2 Corinthians 4:16, The Message)

We must never give up, because God is renewing our spirits every day!

I suppose in some ways it’s like our longing for spring when we get sick and tired of winter weather. How many of you are ready for spring yet? I’m guessing those in the Midwest are ready for spring this week! I checked on the weather report yesterday when I was finishing up my sermon to see what the temperature was where our daughter Kara and son-in-law Josh live near Cleveland, Ohio and it said that they were currently at 1 degree outside—and that wouldn’t have taken into account wind chill!

Several times in recent weeks I’ve looked out over our lawn and over some of the new bushes and trees I planted in the fall and I long for spring weather. I’m anxious to see my grass green again. I’m anxious to see tulips and daffodils blooming. I’m anxious to see buds on the trees. And though we still have a couple months of winter left, we can be assured that spring will come.

In much the same way, we can rest assured during the difficult days of life that God is constantly restoring and reviving and renewing our spirits day by day. We don’t ever need to give up.

As Christ-followers, we need not lose heart and give up because the truth is that things look altogether different through the eyes of eternity. Paul was encouraged about his own life and ministry when he realized that God had a different view of such things—what I’ve often called “eternity’s perspective.” I believe that’s what Paul was referring to when he wrote—

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

It’s awful easy for us to be spiritually near-sighted, isn’t it? And while we sometimes get glimpses of what God sees, He’s the only One who really gets to see things as they truly are. We live in a microwave kind of world—we want what we want and we want it now! Patience probably isn’t much of an American virtue. With time, God has a way of reversing judgments and eternity has a way of telling us what was valuable and what was permanent and exposing that which was temporary and useless all along. So we dare not lose heart in the thick of life, because God sees our circumstances through a completely different set of lenses than we do!

Some may hear the words, “Never, never, never give up!” and imagine God standing over us like a Gestapo, ordering us to keep going. But I believe it’s far more accurate to envision God and His saints, like fans cheering on a runner in a race, encouraging us to keep going. I’ve always been taken by the words found in Hebrews 12:1—

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1)

My heart is encouraged when I think of great people of God like Stephen and Paul and Peter in the New Testament, and men and women throughout the ages whose life stories are ones of perseverance and courage. My heart is warmed as I reflect on people of great faith whose lives I’ve witnessed personally—mostly ordinary people, but people who had learned the lesson well through great heartaches and challenges in life that we need never give up in our trust in the Lord. He is great and we can depend upon Him. He won’t give us more than we can bear, as long as we lean on Him. He renews our spirits day by day, and helps us dare to believe that our temporary circumstances of life are going to look altogether different through the eyes of eternity. Therefore I have hope—and I offer you that hope today!

January 11, 2009 - Pastor Tim

HOW’S YOUR COLOGNE?

2 Corinthians 2:12 – 3:6

Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians, chapter 2. We’re continuing our series on Paul’s second letter to the fellowship of Christians that had been established in the midst of a very worldly and even corrupt Greek city—the city of Corinth.

[Read 2 Corinthians 2:12 – 3:6, NIV]

Maybe some of you would relate to Paul not having any peace of mind as you waited for a reply to a crucial letter or email. As I mentioned last week, his first letter to the Corinthians dealt with some tough issues, and Paul was anxious to hear from his friend Titus regarding how the church at Corinth had ultimately responded to his letter. That was what Paul was referring to in the opening verses of this passage.

But something happened to lift Paul’s spirit and he broke into words of praise to God—a sort of hymn of triumph that begins at verse 14. It’s really fairly remarkable that with all the pressure, persecution and opposition Paul had experienced that he would think of his ministry in terms of triumph and not defeat. Of course, the vision of triumph was all about the ultimate triumph of God and the victory that is for every person through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And that triumph gave Paul a platform from which he could view everything else—a lens through which he could see things through the ultimate victory promised us from our Heavenly Father.

I was particularly struck in this passage with Paul’s imagery in describing the way in which God “through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” He goes on to say, “We are to God the aroma of Christ,” the “fragrance of life” to those who believe. I shared this passage with the staff in the devotional time of our staff meeting this week and Tom Foisy noted how interesting it is that Scripture uses all of our senses to describe the way in which we are Christ’s representatives in our world: light in a world of darkness—the visual sense; the salt of the earth—the sense of taste; and now “the aroma of Christ”—the sense of smell.

When I was seminary student many years ago I worked at Nazarene Headquarters in Kansas City. Among the many great people with whom I worked was a lady named Marian Rich, who was coordinating the WILCON conferences for pastors’ wives. I had a great respect and appreciation for Marian, and she was such a delight to be around. I always knew when Marian came anywhere near my cubicle because of the fragrance of the perfume she wore. It preceded her and followed her—and it was a sweet smell to me because I thought so much of her.

I got to thinking this week of the multi-million-dollar industries that are based on our sense of smell—candles, air-fresheners, deodorants, perfumes, cologne, lotions, after-shave, and even what they call “eau de toilette”, which is, I might add, an awful strange label for something that’s supposed to smell good! And while I understand that we don’t all have equal appreciation for perfumed and scented things, I am one who appreciates pleasant fragrances. I think the scent of candles is a warm, inviting, even soothing thing. I have a favorite cologne that I like to wear. It’s actually an interesting choice for a pastor—it’s called “Eternity”! (You wouldn’t expect me to use a cologne that carries some sleazy name, would you?!)

Scripture says that God spreads “the fragrance of the knowledge of him” through us. Isn’t that amazing? We are to our world “the aroma of Christ.” Imagine it. To those open and receptive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the life of the genuine, authentic Christ-follower is a pleasing and attractive aroma.

Are there people who come to your mind when I speak of authentic followers of Christ carrying the fragrance of Him wherever they go? I’ve known so many of them throughout the years—and just recalling their lives and their countenance and the “aroma” of their lives is a joyous thing to me. I’m hoping you can do the same. I was talking with one of the young men from our church just this week and he spoke of his father in such a way. One way I’ve often spoken of such people is that I feel like I’ve been with Jesus whenever I’m around them. I’ve said that about Chuck Higgins, a retired pastor that many of you know. There is no doubt the fragrance of Christ in Chuck’s presence.

Two people that come to my mind when I consider such fragrances are Wayne and Wilma Gallop. Wayne was head of campus maintenance when I went to Trevecca Nazarene College as a 17-year-old. Wilma was the campus nurse. We attended the same church together and I sang in the church choir with Wayne. I worked for Wayne during part of my college years. Whenever we interfaced on campus or off, they were such wonderful encouragers, carrying such a Christ-like spirit in their loving care, in their attitudes and in all they did. I sometimes referred to them as my “spiritual parents” during my college years. They were to me the fragrance of Christ.

I certainly don’t pretend to be the authority on who carries the fragrance of Christ and who doesn’t, but I do know what I smell! I sensed it early among some of my family members. I recall adults who taught me when I was a child who carried the fragrance. I remember the way in which I was drawn to certain teens I knew during my teen years who carried the fragrance of Christ in their lives, and others during my college days. I may have been especially blessed to have experienced that wonderful fragrance through the lives of so many people throughout the years, or perhaps the Lord knew it would take a lot of such fragrance to overcome the smell I would have in my life without Him…but I certainly have been enriched by those who so clearly are the fragrance of Christ to me.

Paul goes on to make the interesting analogy of the fragrance of Christ being a stench of death to those who have rejected the Savior. Listen to how the paraphrase of Scripture called The Message puts part of this passage—

In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse. (2 Corinthians 2:14-16, The Message)

I suppose we might compare it to those who have allergies or sensitivities to perfumes for whom what seems wonderful and pleasing to others only serves to give them a headache or to make them sick.

It’s hard for those of us who are Christians to imagine that the “fragrance of Christ” is a dreadful stench to some. They just don’t seem to get it! It’s part of the sadness regarding those who refuse to believe in Christ and refuse His offer of forgiveness and new life. The Gospel of Jesus is not Good News to them—it sometimes even makes them angry. And while the Lord continues to hold out to them all of the blessings He has for those who will follow Him, they are kept from sensing it because of their own stubbornness and the hardness of their hearts. And I may have just described someone you know and love, someone for whom you are praying—and I urge you to keep loving them and live an authentic Christian life before them and keep praying that their hearts will be softened so that they can sense for themselves what the Lord has for them.

Paul had himself experienced both the response of those who experienced his life as the fragrance of Christ and the response of those who experienced his ministry as a smelly thing to them. As you may recall from what I said last week, Paul was somewhat defending his own ministry in this second letter to the Corinthians, having experienced unfair criticisms after his first letter to them. For some, Paul was clumped with those that Paul himself defined as “peddling the word of God for profit.”

Those are interesting words, aren’t they—but they paint a picture, a picture of people who were trying to personally profit from their ministry to others, all in the name of Jesus Christ. But their hearts weren’t right and their ministry wasn’t motivated by Christlike priorities. They were in it for the money or perhaps for the notoriety. And what they were doing cheapened the Gospel and gave it a bad name—and Paul was being clumped together with such spiritual no-goods, just as we as a church might be discredited by some because of the way a church or a pastor or someone who called themselves a “Christian” had mistreated them sometime in the past.

We were in a city we didn’t know well a few years ago, approaching a Sunday in which we wanted to at least slip into some church for worship, though we weren’t sure our hosts would share our desire to do so. Our host graciously offered to go with us wherever we wanted to go for worship, though, as we were driving through the area, pointed out the big church that was home to one of the fairly notorious TV evangelists and added, “Though if you want to go there, you can go by yourselves!” It appeared that the TV evangelist’s reputation for “peddling the gospel” had spoken for itself, though I was glad that our host had not clumped us or all churches into the same category.

In the passage I read earlier, Paul refers to recommendation letters that were often sent to these early churches to validate the authenticity of someone who was coming to see them. It made sense, so that one of these early fellowships of people who were themselves new Christians would know whether or not they could trust someone who came to them to teach and encourage them.

The sadness to Paul was that, because of those who had falsely accused Paul of having impure motives, there were those who weren’t sure they could trust Paul. But Paul had started the church in Corinth. There was no church at all when he got there. The followers of Christ in that place had come to know Jesus because of his ministry, and he was simply stating that surely they didn’t now need commendation letters about him in order for them to trust him. Surely they didn’t need someone else to validate the authenticity of his Christian life and influence. He was saying that they were themselves his letters of commendation to them—written by the Holy Spirit not on paper but rather on human hearts.

You see, regardless of the human response to the Gospel, the genuine and true proclamation of the Gospel delights God’s heart because it centers on His Son Jesus. It is a fragrant offering to God. The truth was that Paul’s life had been the aroma of Christ to these people and they had been drawn to the Savior through him—and Paul was needing to gently remind them of that, even though there were those wanting to discredit him and those who wanted to cast aside all Christians because of the lack of authenticity among some who proclaimed to follow Jesus Christ but didn’t. I suppose we will not have control of how others may perceive us, but what we must seek to be in all we do is “the fragrance of Christ.”

Much of what Paul was wanting to get across to his readers was the opportunity we have as Christ-followers to learn to live with a sense of winning, with a sense of victory in life. Hear again the words of verse 14—

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

The Message begins the verse, “…in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade.” Now that’s a great way to look at life—wherever the Lord takes us and whatever challenges we must face—“God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade!”

May we as Christians never forget the victory that is ours through Jesus Christ! When we’re following Jesus, we’re following the winner! His team’s going to win! And unlike all the recent hoopla over which college football team is really Number One, there’ll be no debate in the end that Christ is the Victor! When we’re following Jesus, there’s the smell of victory in the air!

Paul’s analogy of triumph was taken from one of the great Roman spectacles, the picture of the victorious general leading a procession through the streets of Rome. The victory parade featured government officials, captives from the battle, musicians and priests, and finally the conquering general riding in a chariot pulled by four horses, followed by his family and then his conquering soldiers. The streets were lined with excited, shouting people—who would certainly never forget such a grand occasion.

In giving this account, Paul was mixing his metaphors a bit, but the basic meaning is still clear. Instead of a Roman general he saw Christ as the universal conqueror. Paul saw Jesus Christ winning the victory and all of us who are part of His work as being in His victory parade. This was the vision that transformed all the circumstances of his life and kept adversity from weighing him down temporary setbacks from depressing him.

And you and I cannot afford to lose sight of the victorious Christ. The God whom we serve is the victorious One. He will not be defeated. What we’re called to be about as a church is the loftiest of purposes. To have “Passion for God” and “Compassion for People” is the way of Jesus Christ. To be fully-devoted to His Lordship in our lives is, without debate, the best way to live our lives. And along the way, each of our lives is uniquely blessed and anointed to be “the fragrance of Christ” in our world.

Do you realize the honor that is yours to carry the fragrance of Christ in your corner of the world? Are you overwhelmed by the responsibility? Of course we are, if we think for one moment that we’re supposed to be able to do so in and of our own strength. Paul spoke in 3:4-5 about our confidence and competence for such ministry can come only from God Himself—but affirms that God “had made us competent as ministers of a new covenant…” He is walking with you, friend—and He wants to make you fully competent to be the fragrance of Christ in the world.

So how’s your cologne? How’s your cologne working for you these days? How’s it working for others? What kind of scent is in the air as you walk by, as you do your work, as you interact with your family, as you see the needs of people around you? How’s your cologne? Can you dare to believe today that Christ wants to make you to be His aroma to those around you? Would you like to be that in this new year? Will you allow Him to change you, if He needs to, in order for you to be an authentic reflection of the fragrance of Christ?

January 4, 2009 - Pastor Tim

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Don’t you just hate it when God allows you to be knocked off your feet and you find yourself absolutely helpless…utterly dependent upon Him?

It happened three years ago this last month. We were already into the busy Christmas season and planning a party at our home the following night. I had just been part of a district meeting over lunch in another part of the Kansas City area. I had been sensing a little bit of pressure in my chest, but really didn’t think it anything more than common aches and pains when you’re approaching 50. But on this day, I had an added ache in my left arm—again, not too uncommon when you’re 49. But as I was driving back to my office from my meeting, I decided to place a call to a friend of ours that’s a nurse. I think I needed to call her about another matter anyway, but while I had her on the line I asked if I could ask a personal medical question. I described what I was experiencing and simply asked her if she thought I should be concerned. She clearly wasn’t alarmed, but encouraged me to call my doctor…which I did once I got back to the office. While I had to leave a message initially, a nurse soon called me back, encouraging me to go to ER, since they would have necessary equipment there to determine if there was any reason for concern at all.

I wrapped up things I was doing at the office and headed home, waiting for Cindy to come home from work. Once we’d discussed matters from her day, I finally acknowledged that I thought we needed to go to the ER—and then explained what was happening. Neither of us was alarmed, and I even drove. Of course, they insisted on running me through all kinds of blood work, etc. Everyone was pleasant and joking around, and, at one point, someone said that I probably could tell that they weren’t too concerned. Two or three hours later, when they were talking about sending me home, the last report on blood-work came back indicating a slight problem with my heart. They wanted to keep me to run more tests the next morning. While I was contemplating going home and coming back in the morning, Cindy made it clear that she did NOT want me going home…so I stayed. I encouraged her to go on to work in the morning, and she agreed because neither one of us felt there was anything to be alarmed about. I figured I’d just get a staff member to come and pick me up when they were ready to release me.

They did an echocardiogram and a stress test and probably several other tests I don’t recall. About 3:00 in the afternoon they were finally letting me having something to eat, when the nurse came in and asked if I’d eaten anything yet. With my fork in my hand, I smiled and said, “No, but I’m about to!” She told me the doctor had should called and instructed me not to eat or drink anything and that he’d be up to talk with me in a few minutes. I’d been around enough hospitals as a pastor to know that something was up. Within a half hour, they were doing a heart catheterization on me, during which they discovered two major blockages in the arteries of my heart. They were able to do angioplasty and implanted two stents. Cindy got to the hospital after they’d already taken me in. The next thing I knew I was in ICU waking up to the reality that I was suddenly a cardiac patient with heart disease.

Now honestly, they’ve got these procedures down to a science—and fortunately I didn’t have a heart attack nor did they have to do what I’d call major surgery. But such things are only minor surgeries when they’re done on someone else. For me, it was a mind-blowing event. My self-perception was not ready to deal with the realities of what the doctors were telling me. These things happen to old people—and I wasn’t old! These things happen to people who never exercise—and I had exercised regularly for decades almost fanatically. These things happen to people who smoke and who are terribly overweight…neither of which described me, but here I was, at age 49, a cardiac patient. I had a physical problem severe enough that if I didn’t take it seriously, it could significantly shorten my life. The honest truth was that I was on my way to a heart attack when I went to the ER.

We all have those times when God allows us to be knocked off our feet and we find ourselves absolutely helpless, utterly dependent on God. It reminds me of riding a roller coaster—something I generally promise myself I’ll never do again every time I’ve done it in recent years! The whole time the thing is chug-chug-chugging to the top, I’m thinking, “What am I doing on this thing?” And then you reach that moment when the roller coaster crests the top of the climb and you know you’re about to get whipped up in the flurry of its erratic ride. There’s no turning back! All you can do now is hold on and hope for the best!

Heart disease may be one of the lesser challenges we’ll face in life. Hard times are sometimes too painful to talk much about. I understand. I’ve been there…and I know. And so did the Apostle Paul. In fact, when we read his writings, we learn a lot about the merit of the hard times in life and about the power of God to keep us through such times and to ultimately use such experiences for His glory.

During the months of January and February, we’re going to be looking together at one of Paul’s letters—his second letter to the Church in Corinth. Paul wrote this letter in a bit of a different manner than his other letters. It is more personal—almost autobiographical. Paul was really opening his heart to his readers and allowing them to hear about his deepest concerns.

Paul’s first letter had contained some hard truths. For many it was a hard pill to swallow. And, as it always the case, there are those who are prone to shoot the messenger if they don’t like what they’re being told. Some had questioned Paul’s authority—“Who is he to talk to us like that?!” Others had become suspicious of Paul’s motives—and, of course, it only takes a couple of people raising questions about someone else’s motives and that person becomes more and more suspect in the eyes of many, regardless of truth and reality! So it was with Paul.

Paul was no different than any other minister in that there was never a time when everyone held him or his ministry in the highest esteem. Ordinarily he would have simply ignored the criticism, but it was so widespread and damaging that Paul must have decided that he should defend himself and his actions. That’s what he was doing in this letter—2 Corinthians—and we and the church throughout the ages are the benefactors because of this book’s great insight into the riches and depths of the Christian life. It is a classic example of the way in which God, in His infinite wisdom and sovereignty, takes a bad situation and redeems it and creates a blessing for others.

So turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 1—

[Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-11, TNIV]

I’ve got Good News and Bad News for you this morning as we enter a new year. Let’s get the Bad News over with first! The Bad News is that trouble is going to come our way in life. We’re not going to be able to avoid it. The Bad News is that it’s not going to be a perfect year! The stock market’s still looking like a yo-yo. Some of us have retirement funds that have proven to be terribly volatile—and others are facing the reality that their jobs are terribly insecure! The obituary columns will still be full most every day—and occasionally we’re going to know some of the people whose stories are told on those pages and we’re going to experience grief and heartache. Families are still going to struggle with conflict—because whenever you get two or more people together there’s simply the potential for them not agreeing!

In this passage, Paul was sharing some insight into his own personal struggles. He doesn’t share with us all the gory details—for which we should be grateful, because it obviously wasn’t pretty. But it was so severe for Paul that he didn’t think he was going to make it through it—and he wasn’t sure he wanted to! He thought for a while that it was all over.

It makes me wonder why we still have Christians preaching and teaching that if you’re a Christian and you’re trying to live within the center of God’s will that you won’t experience any trouble in life. In fact, they dare to say that if you say you’re a Christian and you face certain problems in life that surely there’s something wrong with your faith! They have somehow come to the mistaken notion that in Christ’s death on the Cross provision was made not only for the forgiveness of sin but also for health, wealth and happiness…and it’s just not true! God does not promise us everything we think we want in life!

Paul’s approach to troubles in life was not to try to construct a theology that denied the reality of suffering for the Christian, but to seek purpose and meaning to our suffering—particularly in light of the cause of Christ in our lives and in our world. And I suppose that leads us to the Good News.

The Good News on this first Sunday of 2009 is that the challenges and the hard knocks of the year ahead will undermine our self-confidence—just as it did for Paul, compelling an utter dependence upon God Almighty. That really is Good News, because the God who has power to raise the dead will surely be able to see us through our challenges in 2009! I love the part of this passage that describes how all of Paul’s troubles undermined his own self-confidence and forced him to depend upon God.

When we face the troubles of life with such a dependence upon God, it moves us out of the realm of casual faith and plunges us into the deeper realms of trust in our Heavenly Father. And that’s what God wants for each of us. I fear for those who are stuck at the level of casual faith. We come to church and certainly believe in God and even know all the right things to say and we may even know all the “right things” to do. It’s part of our lives…part of our routines…and that’s not all bad, mind you! But what Paul is saying that it’s the major struggles and battles and heartaches in life that force us to go beyond self-confidence and into a deeper dependence upon the only One who has the ability to see us through all of the challenges of life. And Paul’s reminding us how good that is for us!

And besides being good for us, God uses those experiences in our lives as an opportunity to for us to uniquely help others who find themselves in much the same situations. While we certainly don’t have to experience every challenge in life in order to be able to help another persevere through such a time, there is powerful camaraderie for those whose lives have similar journeys—where one can encourage another with the many ways in which God saw them through just such a challenge.

You see, the more we depend upon God, the more dependable we realize that He is! And realizing how dependable God is will be the only truth to get us through some of the challenges we face in life—including some of the currently-unknown challenges we may face in 2009. But whatever is ahead, God knows and He’s capable of seeing us through it! I love what Paul wrote in this passage—“He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again!” (2 Cor 1:10).

It was Mary Gardiner Brainard who said a long time ago,

I would rather walk with God in the dark than go alone in the light. (Mary Gardiner Brainard)

That’s trust. That’s how God wants us to trust Him. He will lead us and He will guide us…even through the darkest part of the night…and, best of all, we can trust Him.

It was Paul Ellis who reminded me of the FROG Principle when he learned where I was going with this sermon. It honestly sounds like something our beloved Dr. Kratzer would come up with—but I think it was actually even new to Dr. Kratzer. The FROG principle is simply this: Fully Rely On God. It’s a great opportunity—especially since none of us know what’s ahead for us in 2009. We have our hopes and our dreams, our plans and ambitions—and I believe those can be good and even God-ordained…but what do we do when things don’t go the way we planned? What do we do when we hit a roadblock or a deadend? Fully Rely On God. It’s that simple—yet that profound! And, sad to say, too easily we get sidetracked into self-reliance when things are going well and it takes those times when God allows us to be knocked off our feet to remind us that we really aren’t self-sufficient and that we don’t need to be. We can fully rely upon Him!

While we don’t know the exact details of the Apostle Paul’s trouble and how God delivered him, many of us do know enough about God’s help to identify personally with Paul’s experience. There was a period in my life when I experienced so much pain and stress and even betrayal that I wasn’t sure I would survive. But in finding myself depleted of all human resources, incapable of managing my own life in those circumstances, I began to experience a wonderful sense of God’s presence and His sustaining power in my life. In the darkest days, people would ask how we were doing and I could honestly say, “We’re doing okay.” And then I’d go on to explain how God was helping us and encouraging us and sustaining us—and that, by His wonderful power at work in our lives day after day, we really were “okay”—and that was enough! His Presence was all that we needed!

I was reminded again recently of a wonderful passage from the Bible—one that I want to take you to this morning as we begin this New Year. Many of you have memorized it in the past—and, if you’ve never done so, it’s worth memorizing and even being refreshed on this morning. Here it is, found in Proverbs 3:5-6—

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Let me close with a profound thought from the great Christian named A.W. Tozer—

For each of us the time is coming when we shall have nothing but God. Health and wealth and friends and hiding places will be swept away, and we shall have only God. To the man of pseudo faith that is a terrifying thought, but to real faith it is one of the most comforting thoughts the heart can entertain. (A.W. Tozer)