Nearly All the Props Removed

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground. Isa. 53:2

           Israel, God’s “first born,” and Jesus, “His only begotten” grew up before the Lord without the usual or customary support. In Isaiah 53 the "Suffering Son" is likened to a plant which pushes itself out of the ground despite the fact it lacks water and/or friable soil. It is always difficult for plants to survive the conditions of hard dry soil. Many will fail to live and most cannot thrive in those conditions. But our faith reveals two startling exceptions. Israel thrived while enslaved to Egypt, Jesus grew up during Roman occupation, and both survived sojourns in death dealing wildernesses. Israel survived forty years of desert wanderings and entered into the Land which flowed with milk and honey. Jesus, with little support from anyone for the idea that he was sent to be the savior of the world grew in wisdom and stature before God and men and fulfilled his God-given mission! His mission was punctuated by being sent by the Holy Spirit into the desert wilderness for forty days where he survived with the Word of God, prayer, fasting, and the help of his Father’s angels.  

      When we consider these two examples, we understand what it means to live with all the props removed. For hundreds of years we in the United States have lived with the props of American Religion which promoted “Nature’s God,” a god whom the founders believed would unite us instead of bringing division. This “popular faith” has many times carried us comfortably and has shielded the people of God from many possible desert experiences. Though this public faith in God was never made a State or National Religion, our building inscriptions, coins, songs, and various oaths made us believe it was one and the same as the very faith proclaimed from pulpits across the land. It never was that officially. For many years, the invocation of God’s name by a president or senator rang familiar in the hearts of the faithful follower of Christ, even though he or she was often calling upon a fairly vague American God and not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is indeed becoming clearer that the use of “in God we trust” means many different things to many different people and does not bring with it a guarantee that the god of the inscription is your God.

        What does it mean for the church? It means for one that our training wheels have been taken away and we need to balance ourselves and increase our peddling efforts. We should expect the current trends to continue and possibly worsen as far as national faith and morality are concerned. The war for “Christian America” has been lost. We now await the terms of peace which will undoubtedly be costly. Secondly, oft neglected prayer should once again be the currency in the economy of the Kingdom of God for His people. We have too often counted on the good will and favor of American Religion instead of bowing before the God of the Armies of Heaven. Thirdly, we must minister with newfound humility, patience, and boldness (not to be confused with being obnoxious) as we encounter more resistance and antagonism toward the gospel. Personal autonomy has replaced both Christian and national unity, and we find that we are being looked at in prejudicial ways. Many of the props which have protected us no longer will.

         For Christ followers in America, there are props that we need to be reminded of and which continue to aid us in our service to God. One prop that is welcome is the number of churches which are made up of God fearing and God honoring people. Where I live it is hard to fall down without someone coming to help you stand and offering prayer for your well being! We help each other. However, it must be noted that we don’t often take advantage of this favorable environment because of labels used to distinguish ourselves from others (partly owning to the sin of pride). The seas we are sailing on are storm tossed and all will be lost if we don’t in some ways abandon the little boats and climb into the ship. Then, with all hands on deck and every oar manned we will be able to reach our destination. Secondly, our government continues to extend tax exempt status to churches without which we would have tremendous difficulty as we now operate. While I don’t expect these to stand forever, I am thankful for them today! Thirdly, God has not revealed to his people that he has finished with the church in America. It must be spiritually cleansed, have its God inspired mission reconfirmed, and recommit itself to America’s God, instead of the American God, but that is achievable!  

          Everything is not so bad with the changes that are coming. We will find that a sifting will occur in the church which will reveal followers who are convinced by the truth of our faith and not by its popularity or societal benefits. This will make us stronger in our pursuit of the things of God and the mission of Jesus Christ. So, as much as we lament the waning of Godly influence in America, we must understand that these events have not taken God by surprise and that our spiritual DNA is that of Israel and Jesus Christ. He made them to stand alone and prosper in a place thought too hostile for life and prosperity and he will do the same for His people today.

NOT A MINUTE, NOT ONE SECOND

About 14 months ago, he sat in my office after completing his ordination exam. He came, not intending to take the test, but did so after riding to our offices with a fellow pastor and friend. The fact was that Brian Brantley didn’t even know the test was being given on that day. He had things far more intense going on in his life at that point; things like terminal lung cancer at thirty-four years of age, a wife and two boys, and a church he was helping to turn around.

After listening to his heart about God’s faithfulness despite suffering and the enduring love of our Father, we wept and prayed together. I can’t really remember how long he said the doctors had given him that day, but being moved by his circumstance and my need to help (and I believe the Holy Spirit), I told him that we would ordain him at the next District Council to be held the first week of May. Although that decision was not one that I could make, and the time frame made it nearly impossible, our Secretary-Treasurer, Phil Wall, and Dr. James Bradford, our General Secretary, made it happen. I’m so glad they did. The Council was a great one for Brian. He was able to preach our Wednesday night Vesper service, receive the Courage and Church Revitalization awards, and become Ordained, which was a hallmark accomplishment in his own eyes.

Yesterday, I attended his homegoing celebration at the church he labored so diligently for in Eastman, Georgia. Two young pastors and a Praise Team (all of whom Brian was so proud) led the Celebration. Sitting in the front row of the church were at least six young men who would carry their pastor to his final resting place. It was very obvious to me by the expressions on their faces that the particular task was for them, a work of love and devotion. The building on which he had labored so diligently right up until he left its doors last week was packed. He had done a wonderful job as pastor, and it showed in every aspect of the service and in the words of those who had come.

As I sat and worshipped, my thoughts returned to that day in my office over a year ago. After we had prayed, I asked him what else I could do for him. He looked down to compose himself, then looked at me and spoke words I hope to never forget. He said, “Promise me that you will call me on it if you see me waste one day or one hour of whatever time I have left. Please tell me because I don’t want to waste not one minute and not one second of this time!”   

I’m afraid I was not able to keep my promise, but I am very thankful because I believe Brian did!

A Day for the Innocent

I have always felt Christmas celebrations had ugly endings. Four weeks of celebration comes to a thudding stop. Boxes and paper scattered over the floor around the tree which stands counting the mere hours before someone, really needing to get over Christmas, throws it onto street side. It seems that for many, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” which we commonly say should be how life is lived the entire 365 days, can’t end soon enough. But today I would encourage us all to linger longer by the manger, allowing the message of Jesus’ birth maximum impact upon our lives.

The real Twelve Days of Christmas, ending on Jan. 6,  gave Christians a way of reflecting on what the Incarnation really means in their lives.  This time encompassed three feasts, among which, was the Feast of Innocents on December 28^th.  This feast commemorated the children murdered by Herod after the birth of Jesus according to Matthew 2:16. Not martyrs like Stephen, these simply suffered unjust deaths without choice or chance in life. In them we see the suffering of all the innocent for whom Christ died.  We mourn their loss due to war, because of drunken drivers, or abortion. We also see them in the faces of those gunned down in an Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut or in a village in the south of Sudan.

On this day, we remember those who have suffered as victims and Christ who died and rose Victorious. Our faith brings us hope in what many times seem to be hopeless situations.  On this day we remember and confess that like those who have been murdered in innocence we are saved only by the sheer mercy of Jesus Christ.

You Who Now Will Bless the Poor

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gath'ring winter fuel…
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing

 

The Feast of St. Stephen is celebrated each year on December 26 in the Catholic Church. It is a day in which the First Martyr of the church is remembered. Because Stephen was also one of the first deacons of the church, this feast is also a day which specially emphasizes ministry to the poor. Stephen is remembered as being filled with faith and the Holy Spirit and with these qualities he served His Lord by serving the basic needs of others.

In the Protestant Church we generally don’t keep the Feasts of the Church Calendar. We would do well, though, to keep alive some of that which is remembered and celebrated. The 19^th century Christmas Carol, Good King Winceslas, venerates an 11^th Century King of Bohemia who was known for his good works for the poor. The last stanza tells us how blessed Winceslas was and reveals that no matter the “Wealth or rank possessing; You who now will bless the poor, Shall yourselves find blessing.”

I encourage you today to “look out on the Feast of Stephen” and all through this Christmas Season to see “the poor” who still today gather to keep warm. Keeping Christ in Christmas is weeping for those in trouble, grieving for the hurting, and inviting the poor to the banquet of life!   Job 30:25 Luke 14:13

He LIVES IN A HIGH AND HOLY PLACE, AND...

For this is what the high and exalted One says
    he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,        Isa. 57:15a

God declares his Holiness. High, exalted and eternal in existence; He lives in a high and holy place. God is entirely the Holy Other, unique and completely different in all His ways! This statement calls upon those who would be called by His name to approach with fear and trembling. He is transcendent. We have not seen His likeness nor encountered His ways, even if we could somehow make our way to His heavenly abode, His radiance would blind us.

Personally, I like the thought of a high and exalted One. While this world spins through its starry course, enduring those who would literally knock it off its ordained path; I find it comforting to have One in place, even if His station is too high for me, who is untouched by the madmen and god imposters. With this picture of our Sovereign in my heart and mind, I am not shaken by the weakness that is inherent and evil which is so prevalent mankind.

The only problem with this picture is that even though I know I can’t approach that high and holy place (because of my association with and relationship to those things weak and evil) there remains a need to do just that! And further, I not only need to approach Him for salvation but I want to draw near because of Him. I want to see God, know God and feel God even if I can’t fully understand Him.

So each year, when the cold wind blows the dead leaves from trees, and the dark hours rule our day I am reminded of the fact that the God who lives in a high and holy place visits my dark days with the incredible light of hope. He who in His demands for Holiness inspired the first part of the story finishes it with a promise:
    “but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.”    Isaiah 57:15b

And its fulfillment:

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord
   and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
   of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
   for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.   Luke 1:46-48

The amazing promise of Isaiah 57:15, that God would live with those who are lowly in spirit and of contrite heart is fulfilled in Mary. She recognized God’s mindfulness of her humility and the fact that it opened the door for her to receive certain and enduring blessing.
As another year comes to a close with days cold and ruled by darkness, I once again realize my great need to draw close to Him and my absolute inability to do so if it were not for a young woman and a trusting Carpenter who were recipients of the high and holy One’s promise. I still like the scripture picture of God Most High as it fills a need that I have for security, but I also enjoy God Most Nigh who comes to me in my humble state of contrition and need.

Father,
You are great and mighty, there is no one like you. I know that no one cares for me like you. Surely as the heavens are higher than the earth, your ways and thoughts are higher than my ways and my thoughts. You are Holy, but I am shaped by thoughts and desires that are not from you.

I humble myself before you, trusting in your grace and mercy. During this advent season help me to prepare my heart to continually receive you in the home of my heart. Reveal to me my errors and show me your ways. Come, Lord Jesus!

Preaching/Teaching and Church Health

“Teaching the content of Scripture, then, gives the believers under your care a framework within which they establish their whole belief system. And such teaching necessarily involves story narrative as well as doctrinal exposition. The stories are foundational to the doctrine. Nothing beats a balanced diet of the totality of Scripture.”

Bradford, James T. (2011-07-21). Preaching: Maybe It Is Rocket Science (Kindle Locations 207-214). Gospel Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

The news is out, an unbalanced diet or a diet filled with nutritionally empty but calorie rich foods is bad for your health! I would like to add a further note to that growing chorus applicable to pastors and churches. That is, if your preaching/teaching is not biblically balanced and rich in scripture content, you will be forced to pastor an increasingly unhealthy and sick congregation. They will not arrive at this overnight and it is very possible that the “creep” toward a state of unhealthiness may occur without much notice, until it culminates into illness. But rest assured it will come and the results are first of all a church that is lethargic.

 “Iron poor blood.” is an old TV commercial phrase from childhood which lingers in my memory. When you have an iron deficiency, your symptoms may range from headaches and heart palpitations to lethargy and irritability. Could this be what is happening in many of our churches where there is little or no heart for evangelism, prayer is neglected and when spiritual and behavioral headaches appear to be in abundance?   

What is the remedy? The meat of the word, of course! When the meat of the word is on the menu, then when people leave the service that is what they are talking about. If you are like me you never leave a Ruth Chris Steak house talking about the potato or the mushrooms! But in many of our churches today, the take away is not the Word but a film clip or some other eye catching side item that should never be central in worship. If I may be so bold, it seems that some have put more time in formulating a message title than studying and hearing from God so they have a real message!

Our first challenge then, in preaching toward health is that we Preach the Word! Let it inform everything you do on Sunday morning, pray until it comes alive in power in you and make it the central focus of your message!

Who Will Provide for You?

A PRAYER BASED ON THE NAMES JIREH AND SHADDAI

Father God, I call upon you today in the name of Jehovah Jireh, who is my Provider and El-Shaddai, the Almighty. In the valley of my need and on the mountain of my testing, I pray that you will quiet my fearful thoughts and still my soul, that my foot might not fail the pathway of obedience. Thank you for the great revelation of yourself as Lord Almighty and God of the Mountain who is present in your promise to those who believe.

I know that the trying of my faith has a precious end which I desire to know. As I ascend to meet those trials I ask that your great power and might sustain me. Unfetter my mind that I might begin to comprehend your great majesty and know the surpassing riches of the kingdom. In my testing, bid me to trust without giving you counsel or directing your hand. In beholding you, I bow down to worship and serve your name. Allow the names of the God of Provision and Lord God Almighty to overshadow the weakness of my flesh and draw me heavenward in gaze.

I offer and present myself as a sacrifice, that I may know the power of your resurrection and the redemption of your powerful love. Thank you for your provision of grace and it’s sufficiency to meet my every need.