Truth for Today

I celebrate my spiritual birthday today. On February 8, 1948 the Lord Jesus Christ found me, convicted me of my need for Him and entered my life. It was a cold Sunday night in a small town in Kansas. I had gone to Church with a young lady who later would become my wife. The congregation was small and I don’t remember the sermon, but what mattered was that a profound transaction took place between the Lord and me.  This caused a radical change in my life and determined my eternal destiny.

Personal salvation  touches on so many great themes from the Bible…regeneration, justification, sanctification, adoption, reconciliation and more.  However, my purpose here is to share what rises to my mind from deep within me as I reflect on my 64 years in the household of faith.

First of all, I CELEBRATE DIVINE ELECTION.  Jesus said to His disciples, “You have not chosen Me , but I have chosen you.”  Of course, the disciples did exercise their free will and chose Christ; but the prior choice was His! He took the initiative. He acted first.  Paul reveals an awesome dimension to this truth when he says, “He has chosen us in Christ  before the foundation of the world.” I and all believers were in God’s loving heart from all eternity! Our salvation flows out of that great fact. It had to be this way because our depravity left us lost, blind and dead in trespasses and sins. We were totally incapable of seeking God. The condition of our will is defined in the biblical statement, “We will not have this man to reign over us!”  It is therefore a great blessing to read, “FOR IT IS GOD who works in you both TO WILL and to do for His good pleasure.” (Emphasis mine)

And then, I CELEBRATE DIVINE DIRECTION.  Just as with those first disciples, I heard Jesus say, “Follow Me”. And from the first hour of my conversion until now I have endeavored to do that. I haven’t always done this well but there never has been a question in my mind as to Who  the Lord of my life is. In the majority of cases, by God’s grace, I have been able to say, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”  The Lord has immersed me over the years in words like these: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord”…”He shall direct your paths”….
…”He knows the way that I take.”..”In Him I live and move and have my being.”…”He leads me beside the still waters..He leads me in the paths of righteousness.” ..”You will show me the path of life.”…”A man’s steps are of the Lord.”..The most important events and assignments in my life were not on my agenda first!  He  led and I followed..He opened doors and I stepped through. I rejoice in saying that I have lived by His appointments. This certainly rules out luck or fate or chance.

And finally, I CELEBRATE DIVINE PROVISION. ”The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”… This area of  celebration is immensely wide and deep…By sovereign grace,  God provided me a perfect salvation in Christ. As someone has aptly put it, I have been saved from sin’s penalty; I am being saved from sin’s power and someday I will be saved from sin’s very presence… God provided scholarly and Spirit-filled professors from whom I learned the Word of God…God provided me with spiritual gifts and loving and supportive congregations where those gifts could be exercised…God provided the indwelling Holy Spirit Who gives the dynamics for life and service. I learned after many failures that it is not what I do for God that matters but what I permit Him to do through me that will produce fruit that will remain and ultimately glorifiy Him…And, on a very personal note, God provided me Leila, my loving wife for over 60 years. She has modeled unselfish service to our 5 children, their spouses and now 11 grand children and 4 great- grand children…And I must acknowledge the host of family and friends God provided as our faithful support group. They prayed, paid bills, stood with us in all the crises of life. Indeed, they are still with us…. In conclusion, I must embrace the hope God provides. Jesus said, “I will come again.” This is the blessed hope of all believers. When He returns, “The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and forever!”  In a world filled with unspeakable filth and violence and injustice, this is our only hope. Jesus gives us the last promise of the Bible, “Surely, I am coming quickly.”  And we respond with the last prayer of the Bible, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”  

                   “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding  joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” Jude 24-25

Much of what the world tells us is wrong. For example, we are told that “seeing is believing”.  The materialist believes in what he sees. Life to him is pretty concrete; none of this God and angels and heaven for him. He looks upon “believers” as being out of touch because to him the only reality is what you can put your finger on. Everything else is beyond the realm of his understanding and experience and he therefore rejects it as being non-existent.

The Psalmist expressed the philosophy of the person of faith when he said, “I had fainted unless I had BELIEVED TO SEE the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”  (emphasis mine) To him and to all believers, believing is seeing. He saw the blessing of God with eyes of faith before he saw it with eyes of flesh, and his faith sustained him in his adversity until the reality of the promised blessing was his. He didn’t faint.

Joshua and Caleb are great examples of this.(see Numbers 13 and 14). They believed God’s promises and wanted to go into the promised land immediately and possess their possessions. But they were voted down by ten men who were more ”sensible”. They were living by the sense of sight and they believed what they saw. They saw giants and high walled cities and all sorts of problems. They even developed a “grasshopper complex”! To them, “seeing was believing” and they didn’t venture by faith…it was too risky. They believed in giants and their fears not God. They didn’t go anywhere and they didn’t get anything. They just went around in circles in a wasteland for forty years and then died a very “sensible” death. This certainly shows how”progressive” unbelief is!

But the unbelief of the ten could not cancel the promised blessing to Joshua and Caleb. God’s delays are not His denials! Afer forty-five years and at age eighty-five, Caleb cries out “Give me this mountain!” and he took it, giants and all!  (Joshua 14).

Dear Arthur Mathews use to say, “The strongest thing in your life is what you are looking at.” So, am I looking at problems (giants) or promises?

We don’toften think of Job’s trials as being essentially positive in nature. A lonely, grief-stricken man sitting in pain and misery on a heap of ashes creates a pretty negative image. However, a close study of this ancient man and his troubles will reveal that the final issues were all positive.

We see this first of all in the way God answered Satan’s charge that Job was not the sincere and genuine servant of Jehovah. His theory was that Job was a hireling who served only because of the personal benefits derived and that if the benefits were removed, Job would curse God to His face. So God removed the hedge surrounding him and the benefits he enjoyed and opened the flood gate of sorrows. Unquestionably, Job suffered as few men have ever suffered. His initial reaction was, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Later he struggled and became very despondent but he never cursed God. Indeed, he emerged from the crisis with the triumphant cry, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”

A second positive aspect of Job’s experience is seen in the purifying effect his sufferings had on him. Job said in his darkest hour, “When He has tried me (tested,burned out the dross) I shall come forth as gold.” And come forth, he did, and a far better man than before. Fiery trials are never for the destruction of the believer but always for his purification.  

Another great plus factor in Job’s sufferings is the redemptive results in the lives of his three friends. They came with the professed desire to help him but they were “miserable comforters” and utterly failed. They couldn’t help Job, but in the end, Job certaintly helped them. He became God’s priest and made sacrifices and offered  prayers for his friends and was accepted. Job 42:7-9. This was one of the most significant ministries Job ever performed and it came as the direct result of his trial.  We should learn from this that every suffering situation in my life is in some way intended for the benefit of others.

And, finally, the Bible says that after Job’s distressing ordeal, he had twice as much as before. God prepared Job through great losses to be the steward of greater gains. God never removes anything from us without replacing it with something of much greater value. In the final chapter of the book of Job, we read, “so the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginnings.”  The key words here are “blessed…more”.  Job’s story is a perpetual reminder from God that severely tested people are the  “blessed more” people and when the final chapter is written, all will see that it is so.

It seems to me that there is a legitimate place in the Chrisian’s life for reasonable resolutions. He who aims at nothing hits it every time! In view of this, I am aiming at some goals for 2012. I won’t reach them all, but with God’s help, I will reach some.

I RESOLVE to strive for self-improvement; for only then can I improve my family and the friends with whom I am involved. Change outside me must begin within me. I must be, by the grace of God, a better man.

I RESOLVE to focus more attention on the service I am peculiarly gifted to perform. I cannot do another’s work and I must not try. May God enable me to excel in my personal calling and leave others to theirs.

I RESOLVE to learn more of the composure of Christ. He is with me and I must enjoy His presence.This will enable me to reject all the voices and influences and pressures that confuse and disturb. His peace alone can keep my heart and mind.

I RESOLVE to be more alert to the unfolding plan of God for me and those I minister to. I must learn to read the providence of God with greater skill so that I shall know what He is doing for us and with us. I must beleive that He is constantly bringing us into pre-arranged situations where we have vital roles to fill.

I RESOLVE to read more, filling my mind with the truth of God and the good and wise thoughts of others. I cannot speak out of emptiness. I cannot give to others what I do not have myself. May there always be overflow.

I RESOLVE to be less sensitive to criticism.What I do in the will of God need not be defended; what I do contrary to the will of God cannot be defended. My fallible nature requires the correction of others and I am always the better for it.

I RESOLVE to remember that I am not responsible to bring forth immediate answers to all the world’s problems. I cannot cary all the burdens of others and will only create disappointment in them and frustration in myself if I try.I must resist every tendency toward trying to “play” God.

I RESOLVE to be genuinely enthused in the work I am doing. This enthusiasm will be real in the measure that it springs from the conviction that I am God’s man doing God’s work in God’s way for God’s glory.

I RESOLVE to reach toward my full potential. I cannot and should not be pleased with myself if I am not doing my best.

I RESOLVE, finally, to forgive myself even as God forgives me when I fail. I do Him no honor and I do myself no good when I refuse to enjoy the immediate favor His forgiveness brings. He never “gives up” on His own and with this in mind, I must press toward the perfection that He has promised.    AMEN.

Professional counselors report a decided increase in melancholia among their clientele during the Christmas season. Numerous causes for this could be given. Many people get depressed with the string of bills that remind them that they overspent in their gift purchasing. An empty chair at the family table is a mute reminder of the departure of a loved one and often brings stabs of sorrow. Some find being away from home at this time of the year puts them in a dark mood of loneliness. There probably are guilt-feelings also accompanying the over indulgence in the festivities which certainly do not create happy mental attitudes–especially at a time when half the world is ill clothed and underfed.

But I suppose one of strongest depressants to people’s spirits is the extreme frustration that comes from getting far less than we expected from the “jolly season.” We are never quite as happy as we thought we would be. And when January rolls around and we look out in the alley at the battered and brown Christmas tree with boughs blowing forlornly in the cold winter wind, we wonder if it was worth all the effort, energy and expense.

In contrast to all this gloom, it is instructive and helpful to study the joy experienced by those who celebrated the first Christmas…

With the angels there was the joy of ANNUCIATION…”Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord.”

With Zacharias there was the joy of REVELATION….”Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John.And you will have joy and gladness at his birth…he will go before …to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

 With Mary there was the joy of DEDICATION….”Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you…Behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus.”  Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”

With the shepherds there was the joy AUTHENTICATION…”I bring you tidings of great joy…For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord…you will find the Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. The shepherds replied, Let us go and see…And they came with haste and found..the Babe lying in a manger.”

With Simeon there was the joy of CONSOLATION….”There was a a man whose name was Simeon..just and devout waiting for the Consolation of Israel…the parents brought (into the temple) the Child Jesus…he (Simeon) took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said ‘Now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation.’ ”

With Anna there was the joy of COMMUNICATION…”And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”

With the Magi there was the joy of ADORATION…..”When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they came into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrr.”

In each case, the celebrants were focusing on Christ. Theirs was a Christ-centered Christmas. In the measure we follow their example, we shall experience their joy. 

He really is the reason for the season!

We all have our ideas about the “ideal” Christmas. We dream about a “white” Christmas or some kind of Christmas that will be like the Christmases we once knew. Christmas can be fantasy time. It can be a time to escape some of the harsh realities of life and and experience something very warm and pleasant even if it is only in our imagination.

But what do we really need in order to be able to say after the festive season that we had a great Christmas?

Let me answer the question by suggesting a few things we don’t need. The answer comes from some simple reflections on that first Christmas in Bethlehem.

1. The first thing we don’t need is to be home for Christmas. Many of us remember from the war years that rather wistful song, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”. Home and Christmas for many people are inseparable. They feel that you can’t really celebrate Christmas away from home. But on that first Christmas Eve, certainly Jesus was not home. There would have been no Christmas at all if He had been home.

2. Another thing we don’t need is the exchange of gifts we can’t afford and don’t need. There was no gift exchange in Bethlehem….songs of praise, worship and shared love and joy, but not gifts. Later when the Magi came with their gifts, the gifts were ALL FOR JESUS and probably used to support the holy family when they fled to Egypt. They were God’s provision to meet a need. 

3. We also don’t need elaborate planning, tight schedules and carefully orchestrated parties. The first Christmas just happened. It was planned from all eternity by God but it was not convenient for Joseph and Mary. In many ways it was not pleasant. A long journey, a closed inn, a filthy stable and birth pangs were all a part of the Son of God’s entrance into the human family.

In advancing these thoughts, I certainly am not suggesting that any of us develop a “Scrooge” mentality about Christmas. I enjoy and support the idea of enjoying this holy and happy season to the full. All I am saying is let’s keep a balance. For, after all, all we really need for a truly great Christmas is the Lord Jesus Himself. 

Phillips Brooks had it right when he penned the now famous words:

“O Holy Child of Bethlehem! Descend to us we pray; Cast our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today.”

The Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in December of 1620 and were ill prepared for the harsh conditions they found in their adopted homeland. 46 of the original 102 died from exposure, lack of food and disease that first Winter. However, the crops of the following Summer were bountiful and Governor William Bradford called for a 3 day feast in the Autumn of 1621 to celebrate and give thanks for the Lord’s goodness. His old journal has the quaint record, ” And now begane to come in store of foule…And beside water foule, ther was a great store of wild Turkies..” They were joined in this feast by Chief Massasoit and 90 of his braves. It is generally agreed that without  the support and help of these Native Americans, most, if not all of the Pilgrims would have perished.

This feast was a one time event, but much later in 1863 Abraham Lincoln was the first President to proclaim Thanksgiving Day and this November event has been a part of the American culture ever since. Most of us would agree that this civic holiday is far more than family gatherings, turkey, pumpkin pie and football. It really should be primarily about the giving of thanks to Him  who has so richly blessed us. Let me pass on a few thoughts that may help us.

Do you remember the story of the ten lepers recorded in Luke  17:11-19? There are several features in the story that give us valuable lessons on the subject of Thanksgiving.

1. First of all, the lepers, without exception, were healed by the Lord Jesus. He simply extended His grace to them all and cleansed them in their hopeless condition entirely apart from any merit  on their own. None of us will ever be truly thankful if we do not recognize that our blessings have come to us in precisely the same way…all from Him and all undeserved.

2. Next, we observe that out of the ten, only one returned to express thanks to the Lord. All were equally blessed but not all were equally thankful. This says to us that an attitude of gratitude is relatively rare. It is not in our nature to be thankful. When Paul described the corruption of the human race he said, “although they knew God (intellectually) they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.”  Romans 1:21  A thankless heart is always a dark heart.  

3. A third lesson is that Jesus always notices when privileged people take their blessings for granted and never say “thanks”. His words are poignant indeed , “were there not ten cleansed? But where are nine?” Jesus can count! He knows perfectly well who are grateful and who are not. It is a terrible offense to Him and brings deep hurt to His heart when I don’t bother to give Him thanks that He so obviously deserves.

4. Finally, the story tells us that thankful people are twice blessed. They have blessing that gives rise to their thanksgiving and then they are blessed when they return to express their thanks. Nine lepers were physically healed but only one came into the presence of Christ, expressed gratitude and received His personal commendation and affirmation.”Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you whole.” We never express thanks without experiencing  the Lord in the process. In blessing Him we are blessed!

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the armistice was signed with Germany and the first world war ended. Since that moment, that day has been called Remembrance Day in the U.K. and Canada, and Veterans Day in the United States.

Our Canadian friends wear poppies on their clothing on Remembrance Day. This is to reflect on the poem, “In Flanders Fields”.  “In Flanders fields the poppies blow..Between the crosses row on row.”  The author had witnessed the death of a friend in a field of poppies in Belgium during the first world war. This friend was later buried in a field of poppies nearby.

Some thoughts:

1. War in this fallen world is a fact of life. Jesus said, ” You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass…” The last great war will be fought when Jesus returns and leads His army against Satan and his forces. Jesus, of course, wins and out of the ashes of the enemy’s defeat He will establish His kingdom. And for the first time since Adam was banished from the garden, there will be universal peace on planet earth!  See Revelation chapters 19 and 20.

2. Freedom is not free and even a temporary peace is very costly. The destruction of every evil empire and bloody tyrant has been at the awful cost of the lives of many gallant men and women. Scores of cemeteries around the world with  thousands of white crosses are a mute testimony to this fact.

3. What can we do? We can thank our veterans at every opportunity. We can visit them as they recover from war wounds. We can treat them to a meal. We can give them special recognition in our places of worship. We can contibute financially to their causes. And,  last but certainly not least, we can pray for them and their families.

Sometimes the Lord’s people respond to an assignment with the negative expression of the prophet Jeremiah, “I cannot”. This reluctance to become in spiritual ministry is sometimes the result of wrong thinking about how God works. Some have the idea that they must be equal in gifts and resources to the task to be done; not realizing that no one is ever sufficient in himself to do anything of an eternal nature. Paul, staggered by his great responsibilities, askedthe question, “Who is sufficient for these things?” and then answered his own question in the very encouraging words, “Our sufficency is of God”. With every God-given assignment comes God-given ability to carry it out by faith. We can state the whole blessed procedure in an equation: God’s assignment + God’s ability + my action=  accomplishment.

History is replete with men who offered excuses for non-involvement in the Lord’s work by pointing to personal limitiations. Moses was bothered with a NATURAL limitation. He was not eloquent–he was slow of tongue by nature. The Lord informed him that He had made him the way he was and that He, the Lord, would be with his mouth and teach him what to say. In other words, the area of apparent natural weakness in Moses’ life was to become the very place where God’s power would be most manifest. The man with slow speach would become the great law-giver!… The prophet Isaiah was disturbed by a MORAL problem. He confessed that he was a man of unclean lips. Upon his confession, the Lord cleansed his lips and then communicated through those lips the most beautiful messianic prophecies ever uttered!… Paul was greatly exercised about a PHYSICAL weakness that brought him much distress. He seemed to feel that if God would remove this “thorn in the flesh”, then he would be better able to serve. But the Lord instructed him that the thorn would remain and grace would be given in the measure needed so that His strength could be made perfect in Paul’s weakness. So a weak man became the most productive apostle in church history!

Why not stop thinking that the problem areas of our lives as being bothersome and barren and begin to entertain the exciting thought that these are the places where God purposes to do His greatest work!

The human family can be generally divided into two classes of people….the spectators and the paticipators. Or you might classify them as watchers and workers or critics and contestants or audience and actors. But regardless of how you distinguish the two, you must identify with one and live your life accordingly.  This may be an over-simplication, because we are all in both categories at times, but I am speaking here about the predominate role we fill in our society.

What are the differerentiating characteristic of these two groups?

Well, in the first place, the spectator tends to be very critical. And he can well afford to be…it isn’t his performance. He is the one who hisses the performing artist or screams “kill the umpire!” or “go back to the bush league, ya bum!” The spectator is the one who second guesses the coach or vents his wrath on the poor fellow who misses the pass, the key block or the game- saving tackle. He considers his role to be basically that of critic. On the other hand, the participator is in a supporting role and is far more sympathetic with the poor performance of his teammate, realizing that in a similar situation, he could have made the same mistake. If he says anything it is probably, “forget it, you will do better  next time!”

The spectator is also quite fickle. If the performers do not produce according to his wishes, he can change teams or go to another concert hall. He doesn’t have to be loyal. In contrast, the partipator will often stay with his group and try to improve even though the crowds are small and the audience response is poor. He has contract obligations to fufill and team loyalties to maintain in spite of the problems. “The show must go on!” is the watchword.

Another difference is that the spectator gets his “kicks” vicariously, whereas the participator gets his in actual, personal involvement. The spectator’s thrills are small indeed compared to those of the participator. There is a great difference between giving applause and receiving it. Cheering the star as he crosses the goal line is nothing compared to carrying the ball yourself and knowing that months of hard work and discipline have paid off in a championship. Watching a victory celebration cannot possibly bring the electric excitement  that comes from lifting the trophy in triumphwith your teammates.

And, certainly we can say that the great things in life are always accomplished by participators, never by spectators. Spectators have interest in week-end entertainment and that is about the extent of it. Participators are the people who work and sweat and even bleed if necessary, in order to achieve their purpose and make their contribution.

Every bridge ever built, every battle ever won, every book ever written and every beneficial thing ever produced, have come from those who participated.

Yes, the spectator sits to receive and the participator strives to acheive. Which am I?