Psa 116:1-9 NLT - [1] I love the LORD because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. [2] Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! [3] Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow. [4] Then I called on the name of the LORD: "Please, LORD, save me!" [5] How kind the LORD is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours! [6] The LORD protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and he saved me. [7] Let my soul be at rest again, for the LORD has been good to me. [8] He has saved me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. [9] And so I walk in the LORD's presence as I live here on earth!
What is this business of love? It has consumed man's thinking for thousands of years, yet still his mind is unable to grasp it. Why do we love? The scripture is the only definitive answer to this question. It is not contained in emotion, wound in transcendence, or bound within ourselves. Love, the word of God tells us, flows from the Father. Notice the Psalmist's prayer to God in Psalm 116. His praise to God is that he "love[s] the LORD because He hear[ed] [his] voice and [his] prayer for mercy." At first it would appear to the casual reader that the love of God is bound to the conditions of what He does for man. To the contrary, it is the love of God which has eternally existed that causes the Lord's redemption to be manifest upon the Psalmist. Redeeming love is not an action so much as it is the product of God Himself.
Notice that the Psalmist beautifully annotates that God "bends down to listen," so the Psalmist will "pray as long as [he has] breath." What a powerful analogy! God bends down to hear our prayers. His infinite frame crushes through every boundary of the heavens, and the debris of His mercy and love fall upon us as He lifts us up into His arms. Redemption! Redeeming love! We are like children lifted up into the arms of God. This is why we love. I John 4.19 says "we love because He first loved us" (NIV).
In all our relationships, all our actions, all that we encounter, we approach everything with love because Christ is love and He lives in us. His redemptive power that rescued the Psalmist, the redemptive power that caused him to shout "How kind the LORD is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!", is the same love which beams down on us every day of our lives. Let's live through our week remembering that. God's redemptive love is continually wrapping itself around us. Our Lord holds us firmly in the times of storms and in the times of joy. He has redeemed us through His Son, and He is never letting go!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
On Supporting Fellow Believers
Act 2:42-47 NLT - [42] All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper ), and to prayer. [43] A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. [44] And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. [45] They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. [46] They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity -- [47] all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
One of the fundamental and often neglected duties of Christ's followers is the responsibility to support our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to minister to the world and to our communities, indeed, but the Scripture is also clear in this: that we are to support one another. In Acts 2, this picture is portrayed with absolute clarity. The recorder of Acts(likely Luke) explains that "the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had." Not only this, but they "sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need." The Scripture is undisputedly precise on the intentions for God's church: we are to be one body. In order to be one body, we must live as one body. When a member is week, we must minister to the needs of that member.
There are many ways in which God accomplishes His will regarding this issue. The most obvious, as is the case in Acts 2, is monetary aid. The believers loved their brothers and sisters so much that they were willing to give up everything they had so that they might all live together. Clearly the tithes of fellowship--the sense of oneness with Christ--is present in Christ's early church. What does that say about us? I believe ti says we are to desire, above all else, a oneness with each other. The Church is designed primarily to serve the kingdom of God, and this goal is impossible without the daily functioning of His children all working together for a common goal. Let us be aware of the monetary needs around our congregations. Those in need may often be too embarrassed to proclaim their struggles, but if a believer is struggling to feed their family or pay their bills, Acts 2 instructs us that it is the duty of God's Church to step in and aid this person.
The second vital ministry we can perform to serve members of the body in need is that of spiritual needs. This need triumphs every other need, be it monetary, physical, or emotional. In fact, some of the monetary problems, behavioral problems, and ailments source from a real spiritual need. Hearts are hurting even in God's kingdom. Prayer and words of encouragement are not just stereotypical instruments of God's empowering of the spiritually needy within the Church: they are vital resources for the ministry of the broken heart. I am convinced that if we can address these needs, a great deal of other needs will be met as well. Hurt, depression, malice, guilt, and other emotions all are rooted deep within a hurting spirit. Once the root is resolved, the rest will(thought often slowly) begin to heal as well.
Let's remember Acts 2 when we go into worship. There are many needs around God's Church. Let us act as one body, ministering to the needs of one another as Christ calls us.
One of the fundamental and often neglected duties of Christ's followers is the responsibility to support our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to minister to the world and to our communities, indeed, but the Scripture is also clear in this: that we are to support one another. In Acts 2, this picture is portrayed with absolute clarity. The recorder of Acts(likely Luke) explains that "the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had." Not only this, but they "sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need." The Scripture is undisputedly precise on the intentions for God's church: we are to be one body. In order to be one body, we must live as one body. When a member is week, we must minister to the needs of that member.
There are many ways in which God accomplishes His will regarding this issue. The most obvious, as is the case in Acts 2, is monetary aid. The believers loved their brothers and sisters so much that they were willing to give up everything they had so that they might all live together. Clearly the tithes of fellowship--the sense of oneness with Christ--is present in Christ's early church. What does that say about us? I believe ti says we are to desire, above all else, a oneness with each other. The Church is designed primarily to serve the kingdom of God, and this goal is impossible without the daily functioning of His children all working together for a common goal. Let us be aware of the monetary needs around our congregations. Those in need may often be too embarrassed to proclaim their struggles, but if a believer is struggling to feed their family or pay their bills, Acts 2 instructs us that it is the duty of God's Church to step in and aid this person.
The second vital ministry we can perform to serve members of the body in need is that of spiritual needs. This need triumphs every other need, be it monetary, physical, or emotional. In fact, some of the monetary problems, behavioral problems, and ailments source from a real spiritual need. Hearts are hurting even in God's kingdom. Prayer and words of encouragement are not just stereotypical instruments of God's empowering of the spiritually needy within the Church: they are vital resources for the ministry of the broken heart. I am convinced that if we can address these needs, a great deal of other needs will be met as well. Hurt, depression, malice, guilt, and other emotions all are rooted deep within a hurting spirit. Once the root is resolved, the rest will(thought often slowly) begin to heal as well.
Let's remember Acts 2 when we go into worship. There are many needs around God's Church. Let us act as one body, ministering to the needs of one another as Christ calls us.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Wrestling with God
Gen 32:24-32 NLT - [24] This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. [25] When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob's hip and wrenched it out of its socket. [26] Then the man said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!" But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." [27] "What is your name?" the man asked. He replied, "Jacob." [28] "Your name will no longer be Jacob," the man told him. "From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won." [29] "Please tell me your name," Jacob said. "Why do you want to know my name?" the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. [30] Jacob named the place Peniel (which means "face of God"), for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared." [31] The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip. [32] (Even today the people of Israel don't eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob's hip.)
The stories of Jacob display a constant struggle. Jacob's struggle is the struggle to receive the blessings of God. Not only does he deceive his father and brother in Genesis 27 to receive Isaac's blessing, in Genesis 32 we read of his nightly tussle with the mysterious man who carries an ordinance from God. In the midst of this conflict, Jacob's unwillingness to "let [the man] go unless [the man] blesses [Jacob]" demonstrates Jacob would fight to the death for the Lord's blessing. Why? Is it Jacob's internal struggle to find acceptance with God? Does he wish so desperately to do the will of God?
The Scriptures leave void many of the details of Jacob's life. Nevertheless, his struggles are our struggles. Not much has changed in the past few thousand years. Men still wrestle with God to find acceptance. For many Christians, it is the struggle to avoid returning to "the sin which so easily ensnares us" (Hebrews 12.1). For others, it is the guilt of being completely helpless to ever justify our faith through our own works. Still, with others, their daily lives are a constant burden of what plans God has for them in their lives.
You see, Jacob's struggle was not a physical struggle. Externally he wrestled a man, but internally he was wrestling with God, for the man he wrestles proclaims that Jacob "fought with God and with men and [has] won." Notice what Jacob's proclamation when he names Peniel: "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared." In whatever fashion we cannot comprehend, our empathy extends to Jacob's circumstances. In our wrestling with God, we experience the trials of life(the physical wrestlings) in order to seek God's face(our spiritual wrestlings.)
What is the key to winning? How do we keep going when life presses against us so unbearingly at the weakest moments in our lives? Endurance. Jacob possessed endurance. We must possess it. As children of God we are called to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12.1). We fight with God for different reasons, but the conflict is not for us to win--it is for us to realize why God wins. Only then can we understand His purposes. Only then can we, like Jacob, receive the blessings of God so that we might live out those blessings to glorify the Lord.
The stories of Jacob display a constant struggle. Jacob's struggle is the struggle to receive the blessings of God. Not only does he deceive his father and brother in Genesis 27 to receive Isaac's blessing, in Genesis 32 we read of his nightly tussle with the mysterious man who carries an ordinance from God. In the midst of this conflict, Jacob's unwillingness to "let [the man] go unless [the man] blesses [Jacob]" demonstrates Jacob would fight to the death for the Lord's blessing. Why? Is it Jacob's internal struggle to find acceptance with God? Does he wish so desperately to do the will of God?
The Scriptures leave void many of the details of Jacob's life. Nevertheless, his struggles are our struggles. Not much has changed in the past few thousand years. Men still wrestle with God to find acceptance. For many Christians, it is the struggle to avoid returning to "the sin which so easily ensnares us" (Hebrews 12.1). For others, it is the guilt of being completely helpless to ever justify our faith through our own works. Still, with others, their daily lives are a constant burden of what plans God has for them in their lives.
You see, Jacob's struggle was not a physical struggle. Externally he wrestled a man, but internally he was wrestling with God, for the man he wrestles proclaims that Jacob "fought with God and with men and [has] won." Notice what Jacob's proclamation when he names Peniel: "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared." In whatever fashion we cannot comprehend, our empathy extends to Jacob's circumstances. In our wrestling with God, we experience the trials of life(the physical wrestlings) in order to seek God's face(our spiritual wrestlings.)
What is the key to winning? How do we keep going when life presses against us so unbearingly at the weakest moments in our lives? Endurance. Jacob possessed endurance. We must possess it. As children of God we are called to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12.1). We fight with God for different reasons, but the conflict is not for us to win--it is for us to realize why God wins. Only then can we understand His purposes. Only then can we, like Jacob, receive the blessings of God so that we might live out those blessings to glorify the Lord.
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