“Look! I am ready to come to you this third time. I will not burden you, for I am not seeking what is yours, but you.” (2 Corinthians 12:14)
The introduction of other apostles to the church in Corinth eventually led to some issues between them and Paul. Paul referred to them facetiously as “super-apostles.” Who exactly they were we cannot be certain, but since there were known factions of the Peter-group, the Apollos-group, the Paul-group, and the Christ-group, we might surmise that Peter and Apollos were among them, but perhaps there were others as well. Whoever these “super-apostles” were, they apparently drew on the resources of the Corinthian church, but Paul made it very clear and pointed that he was not at all interested in their resources for personal benefit. He pointed out to them that when he was in their midst he never asked for or took or received material benefit from them, nor did he want to or intend to. He wanted this church to know that he was not interested in what was theirs, but rather just in them. He saw themselves in a fatherly and pastoral role. He was interested only in what would build them up, even if that meant discipline. His burden was not to be a burden but to help them lay down their burdens, at the feet of Jesus.
Paul’s attitude toward the Corinthians is reflective of the attitude God has toward us. He is our Heavenly Father. He cares deeply for us. He is not seeking the paraphernalia that surrounds us, but rather He is simply seeking us. He is interested in what will build us up, in that which will draw us toward Him so that we might know the fullness of His Spirit and His glory, because He knows that is what is best for us.
This is the Lord we need to follow.
Lord, You lead us like a Great Shepherd. Help us to follow. Amen.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Without Strength
“I call to You from the ends of the earth when my heart is without strength. Lead me to the rock that is high above me.” (Psalm 61:2)
I have a friend, a missionary colleague from Texas. He was deep in the throes of Japanese language study, and I could see the stress etched in his face. I asked him how it was going, and he responded with a Texas idiom, “Well, I’m kind of feeling rode hard and put up wet.” For those not from Texas, that’s a horse thing. When a horse is ridden hard, its sweat literally become lather. If the horse it put up in the barn without being brushed down, not only will its muscles be sore from the ride, but all that lather dries hard, so that the horse can get almost contorted. This is similar to another Southern idiom: “stove up.” The idea in both is that we can go and go and go until we get tired or sick and just feel like we don’t have much strength left in us, if any.
Sometimes folks feel a little like David did: calling to God from the ends of the earth. People can be overcome by a sense of isolation or loneliness, or they can find themselves in a state of weakness where they feel separated from the strength that comes from the Lord. Thus David says that when his heart is without strength he calls to the Lord from the ends of the earth, and he does so because he know the Lord cares and that the Lord will provide strength. So he asks the Lord then to lead him to the rock that is high above, where there will be safety and nearness to God and time to gain strength.
If you are feeling somewhat weak, know that you can call to the Lord, from wherever you are, and experience His strength.
Lord, Thank You for the reminder from Your word today that our strength comes from You, and all we need to do is call to You. Amen.
I have a friend, a missionary colleague from Texas. He was deep in the throes of Japanese language study, and I could see the stress etched in his face. I asked him how it was going, and he responded with a Texas idiom, “Well, I’m kind of feeling rode hard and put up wet.” For those not from Texas, that’s a horse thing. When a horse is ridden hard, its sweat literally become lather. If the horse it put up in the barn without being brushed down, not only will its muscles be sore from the ride, but all that lather dries hard, so that the horse can get almost contorted. This is similar to another Southern idiom: “stove up.” The idea in both is that we can go and go and go until we get tired or sick and just feel like we don’t have much strength left in us, if any.
Sometimes folks feel a little like David did: calling to God from the ends of the earth. People can be overcome by a sense of isolation or loneliness, or they can find themselves in a state of weakness where they feel separated from the strength that comes from the Lord. Thus David says that when his heart is without strength he calls to the Lord from the ends of the earth, and he does so because he know the Lord cares and that the Lord will provide strength. So he asks the Lord then to lead him to the rock that is high above, where there will be safety and nearness to God and time to gain strength.
If you are feeling somewhat weak, know that you can call to the Lord, from wherever you are, and experience His strength.
Lord, Thank You for the reminder from Your word today that our strength comes from You, and all we need to do is call to You. Amen.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
An Indescribable Gift
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
Paul’s statement in the verse above came in the context of proving our commitment to God through generous giving for the Lord’s ministry. Paul was gathering an offering to take to the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem from the Gentile Christians of Macedonia and Achaia. In this section he focused on the right motivation for giving. Our giving must never be because someone pressures us into it, but purely out of thanksgiving to God for His overwhelming and indescribable generosity toward us in sending us His Son. Giving is a service that must come from and be decided in the heart of each person, and we give trusting God to provide for our need. Giving like this glorifies God and serves further to point to the validity of the gospel in changing lives. And it serves to build up and strengthen relationships.
This giving is the product of the indescribable gift which was given to us. Jesus took the penalty of our sins upon Himself when He died on the cross in our place, and through the power of His cross and His resurrection He has now given us peace with God through faith and forgiveness of sins, ushering us into eternal life as citizens of His kingdom. Our ability to comprehend such grace in light of the absolute holiness and righteousness of the God of all glory is extremely limited. About the best we can do is simply say “thank You” and then demonstrate our gratitude through our service, one of which is giving.
Lord, Help us today to give from our hearts because You did. Amen.
Paul’s statement in the verse above came in the context of proving our commitment to God through generous giving for the Lord’s ministry. Paul was gathering an offering to take to the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem from the Gentile Christians of Macedonia and Achaia. In this section he focused on the right motivation for giving. Our giving must never be because someone pressures us into it, but purely out of thanksgiving to God for His overwhelming and indescribable generosity toward us in sending us His Son. Giving is a service that must come from and be decided in the heart of each person, and we give trusting God to provide for our need. Giving like this glorifies God and serves further to point to the validity of the gospel in changing lives. And it serves to build up and strengthen relationships.
This giving is the product of the indescribable gift which was given to us. Jesus took the penalty of our sins upon Himself when He died on the cross in our place, and through the power of His cross and His resurrection He has now given us peace with God through faith and forgiveness of sins, ushering us into eternal life as citizens of His kingdom. Our ability to comprehend such grace in light of the absolute holiness and righteousness of the God of all glory is extremely limited. About the best we can do is simply say “thank You” and then demonstrate our gratitude through our service, one of which is giving.
Lord, Help us today to give from our hearts because You did. Amen.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Dynamic Duo
“When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.’” (Matthew 9:36-38)
Know anyone who feel "weary and worn out?" Many feel this way because they are beset by problems and illness and bad news. Jesus compared people in this situation to “sheep without a shepherd.” They have no one to protect them, no one to help them find food and water, no one to help them when they are sick and injured, no one to care for them. They are easy prey.
Jesus saw people in this condition, and He was moved to compassion. This was not just an inward feeling of sorrow for their plight, though; it was a feeling within that moved Him to overt action, which is what compassion is.
Jesus acted to take care of the needs of these people, and then He made that striking statement, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” This is a statement which we apply to evangelism. It’s interesting that in compassionate action Jesus’ thinking went straight to evangelism.
What we thus learn here is that compassion and evangelism go together. Whereas we today tend to compartmentalize our lives, Jesus did not. We tend to put compassion in one category and evangelism in another. Maybe what we really need to do is to restore the wholeness approach and create stronger ties between compassion and evangelism, and not neglect one over the other.
Lord, Help us today to practice compassion that is evangelistic and evangelism that is compassionate. Amen.
Know anyone who feel "weary and worn out?" Many feel this way because they are beset by problems and illness and bad news. Jesus compared people in this situation to “sheep without a shepherd.” They have no one to protect them, no one to help them find food and water, no one to help them when they are sick and injured, no one to care for them. They are easy prey.
Jesus saw people in this condition, and He was moved to compassion. This was not just an inward feeling of sorrow for their plight, though; it was a feeling within that moved Him to overt action, which is what compassion is.
Jesus acted to take care of the needs of these people, and then He made that striking statement, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” This is a statement which we apply to evangelism. It’s interesting that in compassionate action Jesus’ thinking went straight to evangelism.
What we thus learn here is that compassion and evangelism go together. Whereas we today tend to compartmentalize our lives, Jesus did not. We tend to put compassion in one category and evangelism in another. Maybe what we really need to do is to restore the wholeness approach and create stronger ties between compassion and evangelism, and not neglect one over the other.
Lord, Help us today to practice compassion that is evangelistic and evangelism that is compassionate. Amen.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Cultural Tension
“Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
A nearly constant tension Christians live with is the question of cultural compatibility. To be sure, few Christians go around thinking about that, but whether they realize it or not, it is happening all the time. The question is: How can we live in the world and yet not be of the world. In cultural terms: How can we be part of our culture and yet not be influenced by the evils in it?
Some Christians, like the Puritans, sought to build a culture of purity within their own ranks and withdraw from the world around them. Some of that has spilled over into the Amish communities of today. Is this the solution, to withdraw from the world?
On the other side of the issue, just a casual glance at the American Christian church of today will show that our culture is nearly fused with Christian expressions. It’s difficult at times to know where “the world” ends and “the church” begins.
Donald McGavran, a church growth expert of several decades ago, said that 95% of culture is innocuous, so that many cultural forms are of no real consequence to Christianity. It just means that Christian expressions will differ from culture to culture. But he further suggested that there can be no compromise with the other 5%. But what does that 5% look like? It would have to include such things as: values, relationships, and moral standards.
We might learn something helpful from gold. Gold can be shaped into rings, necklaces, and bracelets. It can be molded into watches. Gold is used today in computers. It has medicinal uses. Probably its most important use is that it serves as the foundation for our monetary system. But regardless of how it is used, the fact remains that it is still gold. That doesn’t change. The fact that it is valuable never changes either.
Peter told us that our faith is like gold, which, when tested by fire, serves only to remove the dross and result in a purer gold. But not even the fire can change the fact that it is still gold.
The point of all this is that Christians need to be Christians, whatever their role in a given culture. When Christians adopt the values of the world, the world’s standard in relationships, and the world’s standards of morality, that would be like mixing gold with lead. The gold gets diluted and loses value.
Let gold be gold. Let Christians be Christians: actively involved throughout culture, but not changed by it.
Lord, We recognize the validity of this, but we also know that it’s a little harder than it sounds. We need Your Spirit’s power within us to enable us to live this way. Amen.
A nearly constant tension Christians live with is the question of cultural compatibility. To be sure, few Christians go around thinking about that, but whether they realize it or not, it is happening all the time. The question is: How can we live in the world and yet not be of the world. In cultural terms: How can we be part of our culture and yet not be influenced by the evils in it?
Some Christians, like the Puritans, sought to build a culture of purity within their own ranks and withdraw from the world around them. Some of that has spilled over into the Amish communities of today. Is this the solution, to withdraw from the world?
On the other side of the issue, just a casual glance at the American Christian church of today will show that our culture is nearly fused with Christian expressions. It’s difficult at times to know where “the world” ends and “the church” begins.
Donald McGavran, a church growth expert of several decades ago, said that 95% of culture is innocuous, so that many cultural forms are of no real consequence to Christianity. It just means that Christian expressions will differ from culture to culture. But he further suggested that there can be no compromise with the other 5%. But what does that 5% look like? It would have to include such things as: values, relationships, and moral standards.
We might learn something helpful from gold. Gold can be shaped into rings, necklaces, and bracelets. It can be molded into watches. Gold is used today in computers. It has medicinal uses. Probably its most important use is that it serves as the foundation for our monetary system. But regardless of how it is used, the fact remains that it is still gold. That doesn’t change. The fact that it is valuable never changes either.
Peter told us that our faith is like gold, which, when tested by fire, serves only to remove the dross and result in a purer gold. But not even the fire can change the fact that it is still gold.
The point of all this is that Christians need to be Christians, whatever their role in a given culture. When Christians adopt the values of the world, the world’s standard in relationships, and the world’s standards of morality, that would be like mixing gold with lead. The gold gets diluted and loses value.
Let gold be gold. Let Christians be Christians: actively involved throughout culture, but not changed by it.
Lord, We recognize the validity of this, but we also know that it’s a little harder than it sounds. We need Your Spirit’s power within us to enable us to live this way. Amen.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Ambassadors
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through, we plead on Christ’s behalf, ‘Be reconciled to God.’” (2 Corinthians 5:20)
The essential role of an ambassador is to represent. He or she represents not himself or herself, but the government of his home country. The tasks of an ambassador include: facilitating official communications, acting and making decisions for the good of his home country, presenting the views of his home country, and providing avenues for others to visit and/or enter his home country.
As ambassadors for Christ, we represent Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God to our world. We communicate God’s truths to our world, proclaiming salvation in Christ alone. We appeal to our world to be reconciled to the God who provided the means for their reconciliation through the cross of Jesus, and we invite the people of our world to enter into the citizenry of the kingdom of heaven through personal faith in Jesus Christ.
As we enter into this day, may we remember that we represent not ourselves but Jesus Christ in this world as our first priority. May those we meet this day recognize us as His ambassadors, and may the Lord use us to bring others into His kingdom today.
Lord, Help us to serve today as Your faithful ambassadors. Amen.
The essential role of an ambassador is to represent. He or she represents not himself or herself, but the government of his home country. The tasks of an ambassador include: facilitating official communications, acting and making decisions for the good of his home country, presenting the views of his home country, and providing avenues for others to visit and/or enter his home country.
As ambassadors for Christ, we represent Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God to our world. We communicate God’s truths to our world, proclaiming salvation in Christ alone. We appeal to our world to be reconciled to the God who provided the means for their reconciliation through the cross of Jesus, and we invite the people of our world to enter into the citizenry of the kingdom of heaven through personal faith in Jesus Christ.
As we enter into this day, may we remember that we represent not ourselves but Jesus Christ in this world as our first priority. May those we meet this day recognize us as His ambassadors, and may the Lord use us to bring others into His kingdom today.
Lord, Help us to serve today as Your faithful ambassadors. Amen.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Gadarene
“At that the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they saw Him they begged Him to leave their region.” (Matthew 8:34)
The story of the Gadarene demoniac is fascinating at several levels. In Matthew’s version of this story there are two violent, demon-possessed men living among the tombs, apparently one quite vocal and the other not so much. Jesus cast the demons out of them and allowed them to go into a nearby herd of pigs. The pigs then ran down a steep slope into the lake and drowned. The townspeople got the report of the incident and went out to meet Jesus. They saw the former demoniacs clothed and in their right mind. They saw the herd of pigs floating on the lake. Then, they begged Him to leave. Why?
The herd of pigs represented a significant source of income. The loss of an entire herd did a great deal of damage to the local economy as well as their food supply. From the townspeople’s viewpoint, for Jesus to remain there created an economic risk they did not want to face. So, they asked Him to leave.
From Jesus’ viewpoint, something more important than the economy was at stake. His priority was healing and restoring the lives of two men, liberating them from the torment of spiritual forces. He was more interested in the spiritual condition of people than He was in economics. Should that not say something to us?
This suggests that maybe our priority should also be the spiritual condition of people’s lives and hearts rather than on economics. In a time when the local and national economies are stressed, it’s easy to get caught up in that fear, but it is more important that our priorities match the Lord’s priorities. And His priority is people.
Lord, Help us daily to re-order our priorities according to Yours. Amen.
The story of the Gadarene demoniac is fascinating at several levels. In Matthew’s version of this story there are two violent, demon-possessed men living among the tombs, apparently one quite vocal and the other not so much. Jesus cast the demons out of them and allowed them to go into a nearby herd of pigs. The pigs then ran down a steep slope into the lake and drowned. The townspeople got the report of the incident and went out to meet Jesus. They saw the former demoniacs clothed and in their right mind. They saw the herd of pigs floating on the lake. Then, they begged Him to leave. Why?
The herd of pigs represented a significant source of income. The loss of an entire herd did a great deal of damage to the local economy as well as their food supply. From the townspeople’s viewpoint, for Jesus to remain there created an economic risk they did not want to face. So, they asked Him to leave.
From Jesus’ viewpoint, something more important than the economy was at stake. His priority was healing and restoring the lives of two men, liberating them from the torment of spiritual forces. He was more interested in the spiritual condition of people than He was in economics. Should that not say something to us?
This suggests that maybe our priority should also be the spiritual condition of people’s lives and hearts rather than on economics. In a time when the local and national economies are stressed, it’s easy to get caught up in that fear, but it is more important that our priorities match the Lord’s priorities. And His priority is people.
Lord, Help us daily to re-order our priorities according to Yours. Amen.
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