Holiday
Park Church of ChristArticles Written by Earl Wilkerson
Senior Minister, Holiday Park Church of Christ
© 2002-2004 All Rights Reserved
Whether we realize it or not, life is "a journey" and for us all that journey is in process. Our God uses this figure of speech often as he counsels us about living life. He describes our lives in terms of "walking," taking "paths," and traveling along a "road."
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." (Ps. 119:105)
"He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep the demands of his covenant." (Ps. 25:9-10)
"Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him." (1 John 2:10-11)
"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matt. 7:14)
So, realize it or not, we are all moving rapidly down the "road of life." We are daily arriving at new "points" along the way as our journey continues. We will soon arrive at the final destination. The concern for each of us is, "am I making sure I know where it is that I am going? There is no question about whether I will arrive there, or that it will be relatively soon. There is also no question about whether one of the possible destinations will be wonderful and the other horrible beyond words. For everyone who gives no concern to WHERE they are going only the latter destination is in view.Without loving help from God, none of us find nor travel that "narrow road that leads to life." But, praise God, He offers the help we need! Jesus days here on earth was God’s effort to extend to us the help we need to find and travel that "narrow road." If Jesus is being allowed to help YOU, you have passed a few points of vital importance along your "path." You passed a "point" one day when you said, "Lord Jesus, I trust in You and Your death for my sins." Soon after that you passed a "point" when you chose to heed Jesus’ call to you to be "baptized in His name." (Mk. 16:16, Acts 2:38) From that time on you’ve been in love with your Savior and have passed many "points" of loving and being loved by your fellow Christian travelers as together you have formed His church to praise Him.
Do YOU know where you are going? Please, please be sure you do! "Take heed to the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure." (Prov. 4:26)
Our God says clearly that we are "saved by our faith." This truth is repeated often in Scripture. You’d think there would be no confusion on this issue since it is so often repeated in God’s Word. Notice these Scriptures:
Rom. 3:28 For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law.
Rom. 5:1 Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Gal. 3:24 So the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal. 3:26 In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.
These and many other passages make it very plain that God looks for "faith" in human beings, faith in Christ, and when he finds it He saves them.
So, an important question then is, for what is God looking in our daily lives that confirms to Him that any one of us really has faith?
God’s own answer from His Word is the only answer we’d better dare to believe. Listen to what He says on this topic:
Phil. 1:27
"Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel."Our God observes our "manner of life" daily to see whether there is any indication of real trust in Him. This trust will reveal itself in numerous basic ways. It will begin to be revealed at our baptisms. After this, God will be able to see us pouring our love and energy and gifts from Him into the power, growth and unity of Jesus' church. After all, this church is all that God will keep from this planet when the rest "burns up." He loves it and the Bible says He "gave Himself up for it." (Eph. 5:25)
So, a question for us all, with God listening to the answer of our hearts is:
"Am I pouring all my gifts and energy of love for Jesus into the church here where He has placed me as He "determined the times set for me and the exact places where I should live"?
(Acts 17:26)
Our Lord knew even as the time of His crucifixion came near that He would have a group of trusting people called "His church" here on the earth for many centuries to come. He is quoted in the Corinthian letter saying, "I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (
2 Cor. 6:16)
During His last moments prior to being arrested, knowing all the horrors that awaited Him during His trial and crucifixion, Jesus main concern was for these special individuals who would make up His own unique people here on earth, a people whom He said would be "not of this world." Because of loving concern we hear from His lips nine special words spoken as a prayer for these people, perhaps uttered even those who would arrest him were en route to where He was. Those nine words were, "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." (
John 17:17)
The word "sanctify" occurs in one form or another numerous times in the New Testament. The word sanctify means (by definition) to "separate, cleanse, and make spiritually clean." Notice that the only means or method Jesus references for accomplishing the "separating" and "cleansing" of the people who would compose His church was "God’s Word" which He said "is truth."
So, if we, or any congregation anywhere, are to be viewed by God as His people, "separated" from the those people in this world who are lost and doomed, it must be that we are a people whose description is that we love, believe and unreservedly accept and seek to know His Word. We live in a world of man-invented "religious" notions and persuasions. Being a people who by real heart-commitment say, "we will be a church of Jesus who accept and believe ALL of His Word" will always make us a "sanctified" (spiritually clean and separated from all others) church. It was having just such a people as this here on earth that Jesus had on His mind both before, during, and after He allowed our sins to be lain on Him at the Cross. The content of His prayer in John 17 documents this.
So, no matter the topic or issue, let’s reject the "paths" of others who have adopted man-concocted religious notions like those often prefaced with words like "it just seems to me," and always remain God’s "set apart" people by our dedication to the "truth" found only in God’s Word.
Each of us experiences a common phenomenal event every day. We awaken from the fuzzy world of "dreamland" to the freshness and beauty of morning. Mornings are wonderfully unique. There it is again, that fresh world of atmospheres and sounds of a new day of life in a world of amazing wonder and brightness. However, in many lives this wonder goes unnoticed and unappreciated because of eyes fixed on negative self-centered things. What a shame! Days are passing and not one of the mornings nor days can ever be brought back. So, priceless life slides by and, because of hearts tuned only to see bleakness, joys and delights are missed forever.
The God who continues to give morning after morning patiently waits hoping we won’t just waste them all. He says to us:
"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Be very careful, then, how you live --not as unwise but as wise making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." (Eph. 5:14-17)
Often even whole congregations need to pause and reflect on these caring words from our patient God. Even we here can come to take for granted our blessed circumstance. We come here several times a week, see the same beloved faces of dear ones to us, get hugged, get cheerfully greeted, see smiles that say we are accepted and loved, and then enjoy the warm fellowship of being "God’s family" together and beloved over and over.
I am especially reminded of just how precious and priceless this is when I hear of congregations (as I have recently) who grow to resent each other, bicker and dislike each other, and actually cause such inward pain for one another that someone's decide to just leave.
Oh how blessed we are by our history of being a people permeated with warm and real love everyone for everyone. Warmly shake the hand, or smile, or hug, every person you can while we are assembled here today and every time we get to be together. Real love from the heart is the "oil" that prevents all friction within the "body of Christ" and makes just being here so uplifting. The God who urges us to "wake up" so He can "shine on us" with the delights of bright and joyful life, says to us:
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." (1Pet. 4:8)
Let’s be God’s wide-awake listening children and just keep doing it !!
So They Went Both of Them Together
In the story that unfolds in Gen. 22, a man’s faith is tested to a degree most of us likely never face. As we carefully read this story we are driven to an understanding that Abraham and Isaac correspond to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ since the sacrifice of Jesus unfolds on the same hill 2000 years later.
Abraham and Isaac had traveled three days to come to this location which God had Himself chosen. In Gen. 22:5, Abraham instructs the two young men who had traveled with them on this journey to “stay with the donkey; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you."
So, Scripture creates a word picture of two men (Father and Son) walking on together up the hill to a place of sacrifice. Abraham’s plan unquestionably is to kill his own son in the sacrifice God has called for. His heart had to be throbbing with pain as he contemplates the dreadful ordeal that lies ahead when they reach their destination. As was common with the “burnt offering” that was to occur, Abraham would bring a brutal death to Isaac. This offering is described as follows:
“He shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill the animal before the LORD ... and throw the blood round about against the
altar. And he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces.” (Lev. 1:4-7)
All this Abraham will do when they get to the top of that hill.
Obviously God remembers this sacrifice with all of its horror and pain for Himself and His Son. God shares this memory with us by repeating twice the following words:
“So they went up both of them together.” (Gen. 22:6 and 22:8)
What a touching scene this is! Especially is this true, IF in my faith I can see “God the Father” and “His Son Jesus” walking “both of Them together” up that old hill to sacrifice “His only Son whom He loved” for ME! May God help us to see this and be “cut to the heart” and moved to obey Him by this scene.
Nothing is So Vital as Eternal Life
Of all the issues that we allow to become the focus of our daily lives, not one will ever be as important as eternal life. Yet in many of our lives the sense of security our God offers to all His true children regarding eternal life is greatly reduced or even lost. The “things of this world” or “the cares of this life” are somehow allowed to push our focus on God’s gift of eternal life into the background of our thoughts or our pursuits.
Because He loves us, Jesus calls out to us to give thought to this very critical matter. His words to us about this are:
“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?”
(Mark 8:36)
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (Jn. 17:3)
So, in just these two verses, two opposite life plans are pointed out. The final results of each of these life plans are very different one from the other.
In the first “life plan,” this person’s focus was to try to gain as much of this world’s sought after things as he could. I suspect his idea of good life was enough money to buy everything he could ever want and do all he’d ever dreamed of doing. But, in the process of focusing on these things, he forgot God, and thus lost his soul which was designed by God to live eternally.
I have an old friend in New Zealand who never quite sorted out this great lesson from Jesus. He was one of the few rich New Zealanders I ever met. Today he is in a home for the mentally unwell. His expensive hobbies, his nice home, and his wealth are all packed securely away, but my friend doesn’t even have his mind ... nor his soul.
In the second “life plan,” this person “knows God,” meaning he and God are personally connected. This life of “knowing God” began when he was “baptized into Christ.” It is maintained, like all relationships, by daily contact and personal sharing. It’s kept in good “knowing God” condition by honoring the things that have special meaning to God.
Our God is obviously pleased with anyone who chooses this second “life plan.” We know this because it is to this person that God promises “eternal life.” Do YOU “know God” like this, s0 making
eternal life yours?
One of the most needed kind of people by us all are those who are "steady." They aren't subject to unpredictable mood changes, intermittent abrasive attitudes, emotionally wild swings, etc., but rather can be counted on to be calm, caring, wise and encouraging every time we come to them.
Knowing this human need, God (after reminding a congregation of the "victory over sin and death" that Jesus had won for them) moved Paul to say to His children:
"Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know
that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Cor. 15:57-58)
Moodiness usually indicates that a person has never grown up, never sorted out life's eternal values very well, and has just become stalled in immaturity. Often it's a tool used to gain attention or acquire some petty selfish goal. For certain, it is the very opposite mindset of the verses above quoted.
All of us "have our ups and downs," but the child of God, who is listening to the counsel of the heavenly Father, knows how to remain or regain his steadiness of spirit and mind.
God uses the Psalmist to point us to how to do this. Listen, as God lets us hear David talk himself through such a time:
"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember You." (Ps. 42:5-6)
It's a lesson learned best by experience that being a Christian works, and makes us happy people with a deep inner peace.
The rapid passing of time is a grace gift from God that too many of us either seem oblivious to or take for granted. Our caring God lets us hear one of His inspired messengers share urgent counsel with us about this huge mistake.
“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by men and hating one another; but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:3-5)
Many of us who now have a few decades of life behind us find ourselves reflecting and asking “how could I have been so dumb?”
Opportunities are now gone to appreciate and show thanks to our God for gifts so precious that their worth is beyond measuring. How could I have been so dumb? Opportunities to love and praise God for a good mom and dad are gone or mostly gone. Opportunity to make use of God-given time with children is gone. Opportunities to help make a church family so loving that people everywhere were drawn to the Jesus who loved us first will be so soon gone. The list could go on and on.
What was I thinking, what was I doing? Well, let’s see, I was “passing my days” seeking “fun,” in conflict with people, being hated and trying not to hate in return. Why didn’t I seek and heed my God’s message back then?
OK, those days are gone. What can we do now? If we’ll finally listen to our God, we can "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.” We can “Look carefully then how we live, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:14-16)
Let’s spare ourselves the pain of more “opportunities missed” by helping make God’s church here more caring.
When I was growing up on the farm in Southern Georgia, it was very rare for a family member to be missing when we assembled for meals. Except for rare times when someone was seriously ill or perhaps other unusual occasions when one of the kids was away visiting a cousin or grandparents, every single member of the family gathered around the table when mom announced that the food was ready.
In the daily responsibilities of work on the farm, or the chores feeding animals and milking cows and gathering eggs or cleaning around the house, every single family member was present and active. When planting season or harvest season came, every family member was there and involved.
If this loyalty to family responsibilities had been allowed to grow sloppy or optional, we would not have survived as a family. We were mutually dependent on each other for our very well-being.
You and I (every single one of us) who are members of the congregation at Holiday Park are similarly part of a spiritual family. If we are to survive spiritually and inherit eternal life, the Father of this family knew we would need each other. He knew we’d be dependent on each other for the encouragement, love, and assistance necessary for such survival. Listen to our Father as He tries to persuade of this truth:
“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” (Rom. 12:10-11)
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you -- unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Cor. 13:5)
Each Lord’s Day and on Wednesday evenings YOUR FAMILY assembles here to share “food” vital to our survival. If “your place at the table” is vacant, both you and your family suffers. We miss your encouragement, and your help. You miss the food God calls “the food which endures to eternal life.”
He’ll Return to Check on His Cause
After reminding the Thessalonian Christians that Christ will one day come back "to be glorified and marveled at" by His believing followers, Paul said:
"With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thess. 1:11-12)
To be "glorified" (which is the whole purpose for His return stated in these verses) means "to be lavished with deserved honor and praise."
So, from the heart of one (Paul) who loved our Lord and His church so much, God wanted us to hear how He wants our Savior and His Son praised from our hearts. Obviously His purpose is to find hearts in us that (like Paul) devote themselves to Jesus being loved and honored.
Our very best way to accomplish "the name of our Lord Jesus" being glorified is to seek strength, growth, unity, love, and harmony in the one "cause" our Lord has here on this earth, His church.
For us here at Holiday Park our God has lain such a wonderful opportunity into our collective hands to bring "deserved honor and praise" to Jesus. It is not far-fetched to believe He literally chose each person in this congregation to be here loving each other and all working together in harmony for Him.
With our love turned on to the full for Jesus, our love and closeness to each other guarded carefully from Satan's efforts to tear us apart, our deep need for composing and being a congregation with just one foremost motive (Jesus being glorified), let’s get it done! Let's resolve to fulfill our commitment to Him by faithfully giving our time and energy that the "cause" of our Lord, which is His Church, be first in our lives. As we do this, He will give us joy, power and growth to serve and praise Him right here where God has placed each of us.
In your mind, see a touching scene. Jesus is alone with His disciples. By the time period of John 6, he had taught hundreds of people, healed sick folk, walked on the water, miraculously fed five thousand, and shown by both His life and His deeds that He was indeed the Christ, God Himself here on earth. Yet, John 6:66 says that "many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him." In obvious disappointment, Jesus then turns to "the twelve" apostles themselves and says: "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Peter's answer on this occasion must have touched the heart of Jesus. He said:
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
What a tremendously enlightened vision of reality Peter displays here! He is saying: "Lord, we have NOWHERE ELSE TO GO." Most of this world's people never seem to arrive at this enlightened awareness. They listen to other "voices" that keep saying there are lots of other things in life to pursue that lead to attractive destinations.
There are the "voices" of sinful music, lewd movies, immoral internet trash, greed, selfishness, hard-heartedness, and the list goes on and on. All these "voices" say: "Don't miss these good things of life, because you only live once."
So, the Evil One continues to be "the Father of lies." He pulls in more and more followers every day. The spiritually retarded of this world believe his lies and chase after virtually anything Satan is "marketing" at the moment.
Jesus, however, for those who will choose to listen to Him, will give enlightenment to "the eyes of your hearts ... in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you." (Eph. 1:18)
Considering that a huge majority of the people of this world have chosen to invest their lives in lying voices that promote sinful pleasures, how blessed we who have chosen to follow Jesus are! Somehow our God has gotten a priceless truth through to our understanding. That truth was uttered to Jesus by Peter almost 2,000 years. His words (paraphrased) were: "Lord, we have nowhere else to go where we are truly loved and saved ... only with You do we receive eternal life." The task God gives to us who "know" Him is to help others receive this enlightenment.
Let's keep reexamining God's Word and our lives to make sure we've seen the vision of life that keeps us within the joy, love and grace of our Lord.
Our God "so loved" each of us that He could not just stand idle while the evil one ruined our eternal destiny. So, there He is on the Cross of Calvary "standing in" for each one of us. If your faith is real, somewhere in your mind that very scene is forever imaged, and you can see it.
What response from each of us is appropriate and enough for this incredibly wonderful gift of self-sacrificing love? Well, the truth is, there is no response from which we could say to our God, "We're even now."
But it is totally essential that we be “cut to the heart” and moved to praise Him. It matters to this “God of all grace” whether our hearts are stirred up to spontaneous praise and worship by His loving and painful sacrifice. To Us he says, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded and came forth from God.” (John 8:42)
So, when opportunities come to assemble with those whose hearts have been touched by such love, you and I just must be there! Such times provide us a revealing truth about our love for God, whether it is real or not. They also offer us opportunity to let God see our real need for Him. Through the Psalmist, God says: "The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God." (Ps. 14:2)
We could never repay God for the inconceivable love-driven pain He chose to endure for us. What we can do, however, is use the faith-powered strength He will give us to keep serving Him even when life is difficult. We can so rejoice in what He has "paid for" for us that when He "looks down" from heaven (as the Psalmist says he does) He gets to see us driven by "faith that works by love" to praise Him in His "body" (the church He loves) even through and in spite of our difficulties. We can flatly refuse to grow sluggish and lethargic even in pain. Our service while suffering says thanks far better than all our words in times of ease.
Heaven is looking down! What are our lives saying?
Is God and Heaven Really that Far-fetched?
I received an e-mail note recently that caught my attention. It led me to a website containing an article with the following quote:
“Weak minded people who can’t face life without buying into some absurd belief in a god who claims to offer them something called heaven do have a ‘faith,’ a faith in the absurd non-existent.”
Amazing, isn’t it, how people who claim to be intellectual and unbelieving find the time and energy to oppose something they claim they believe doesn’t exist? The very fact that they bother to oppose it seems to me to reveal their insecurity. This would be like me going on a campaign to oppose those who still believe the earth is flat.
However, to face this challenge briefly in this article, let’s ask the question in the title line above.
I walked out onto my deck last night thinking about this guy’s challenge to my faith. Looking up into a beautiful sky with only a sprinkling of clouds, I did again what I love to do. I surveyed the seeming dome of creation above me and felt the amazing sense of being on a relatively small planet floating among the stars. I sensed a kinship with David across the thousands of years who looked up into this same sky and said:
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?” (Ps.8:3-4)
It is my contention that to become and remain aware of the amazing and miraculous phenomenon of being (in indisputable truth) here on an amazing planet floating among the stars in an awesome universe that evidences God’s creative power and personality makes faith in this great God far from absurd, but rather the only logical and attractive life viewpoint.
Everything God has made and enabled us to observe says He loves us. His Word which tells us of a visit He Himself made to our planet in the person of Jesus, to try to save us, also says He loves us. Let’s meditate in His Word, obey it, and let God eventually show us this absurdly wonderful “heaven.”
One of the most common faults of God’s people through the ages has been that they lapse into carelessness regarding the quality of what they offer to God. Not just “church things” but also the conduct of our whole lives is considered by God as our response to His unmerited favor to us. Supporting this premise are God’s words wherein He says:
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” “Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men,”
(Col. 3:17, Col. 3:23)
Perhaps, however, the things we “offer” to God collectively as His Church adds a dimension of sacredness we who compose that church ought to take most seriously. Again, His Word supports this truth with focus very worth our attention:
“You shall not offer (to God) anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you.” (Lev. 22:20)
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 12:28-29)
There are unbendable principles that exist in the mind of God that you and I must understand and accept. One such principle is found in God’s words where He clearly says “to you therefore who believe, He (Jesus) is precious.” (1Pet. 2:7)
It is with this requirement being true of our hearts that God says to us:
“Like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1Pet. 2:5)
So, in all we do together as His church of “living stones” here at Holiday Park, let’s make sure it isn’t just “get by” offerings, but is of a quality that is appropriate to the love we have for the God to whom we offer it. Lord God, help us “walk worthy of our calling.”
Our faith is anemic and useless unless to us the expressed thoughts by God in Scripture are true and trustworthy. The way we can know faith has come to life in us is that when we hear God express Himself to us in His Word we go from that event with an adjusted point of view. Jesus knew that many would in essence reject real faith in Him and thus never really trustingly accept His Words. He said to such folk:
“It is the spirit that gives you life, the flesh counts for nothing; the Words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you that do not believe." (John 6:63)
So now, consider with me just one very Scriptural concept from the Word of God. If this concept is really considered true and trustworthy it will document your life as one “walking by faith.” The verse is found in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, verse 21, and says this:
“By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.” (Heb. 11:27)
This verse is in a context where God is using great persons of faith to show us what it means to really have faith.
So, if you and I believe God we too will live our lives every day “seeing Him who is invisible.” To believers like us who accept their place as “followers” of Jesus, He said: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt. 28:18) If he is “with us” we can “see Him,” not with our eyes (since He is invisible) but with our believing hearts. We will see the One who loves us enough to suffer and die to rescue us. Seeing such a God as this always “with us” will produce peace of mind and hearts that love Him more and more.
Do YOU “see God” in all your joys and distresses? He is there to be seen. Do YOU “see” Him when you rise each day to receive more unmerited favor from Him? Does your heart grow warm as you close each day remembering that day’s gifts from “Him who is invisible?” Do you “see” Him in those gifts? If you “see Him” in all things, your beliefs become real faith.
Does the invisible God who keeps His promise to “be with you” get to experience any gladness from being “seen,” trusted, and loved by you?
As a congregation we are blessed far beyond what we could have ever expected. Our “roots” connect us to priceless work done by “Restoration Movement” leaders like the Campbells, Barton W. Stone, and Walter Scott (who worked right here in Pittsburgh). The personal faith in God of these leaders caused them to abandon the “man’s wisdom centered churches” of their time and seek a sonship relationship with God exclusively from God’s expressed message in the “new covenant” (New Testament).
Because we are still dedicated to the same Biblical approach to being God’s church, we are uniquely blessed in that all the promises of this new covenant are our source for forgiveness, eternal life, joy, and a “peace that passes all understanding.”
With such blessings, however, comes huge responsibility. Our Lord expects such blessed people as we are to take seriously our God-given opportunity to use the “gifts” He has entrusted to us to “do the will of our Father who is in Heaven.” (Matt. 7:21)
Consider a serious question. “What will be the result if we do not use the ‘gifts’ and blessings we have as His church?”
Well, let’s see ... 1) God will receive insufficient worship and paltry praise for all we’ve received through the death of His Son. 2) Our loved ones, neighbors down the street, even blood family members, work mates, and even our own children will be lost because we never let God use us to help them see the real Jesus and His way to be saved. 3) Those within the church where I am will never be spiritually uplifted and encouraged and strengthened toward God, and thus may be trapped and ruined by “the evil one.” 4) Those suffering people whom God would use me to help and encourage both outside and inside the church will miss the help God wanted to use me to give them.
On the other hand, (the far brighter “picture”), in all four of these areas, we can say from both our reconstructed hearts and our actions, “here am I Lord, send me.” The result will be that God has a “body of people” on earth whom He can both use and bless and protect. To such believers He says: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (Jam. 4:12)
Somewhere inside most (maybe all) of us there is a persistent yearning to discover the purpose for our lives. A relatively few years ago we were not here. In a few more years we will not be here again. What is this all about? “For what purpose do I exist,” our hearts keep asking.
Did the One who chose for me to exist have any purpose in mind? Somehow most of us instinctively know that Someone did decide we would live and think and love and hope. Such inward pondering led the Psalmist to say: “O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him?” (Ps. 144:3)
So, in your case, have you for real found the answer to our question? Why do you exist? There is no other human being like YOU. You are the only one of your kind? Our VBS song said “there’s no one exactly like you.” Why did the world need someone exactly like you? A longing search for our purpose for being drives us humans to varying pursuits.
Most people try to find this fulfillment of purpose through pursuit of wealth, education, achievement, social standing, and admiration among other humans. Sadly for them these things all erode and fade with the passing of time. So is there an answer? Is there a purpose for each one’s existence that forever fills our longing for our life’s meaning?
Only one consistent and workable Source proclaims back to the searching heart an answer that fulfills and satisfies. That Source is the message of God in Scripture. Other messages soon lead us to emptiness.
This Source basically says to us: “God needs someones to love.” (John 3:16) It also says: “God wants to be loved by each of us.” (Mk. 12:30) This Source says God wants our love expressed by actions, just as His love is expressed by deeds, deeds of unmerited favor for us. (Gal. 5:6)
Those who “have ears to hear” God’s answer soon abandon the other futile ways of trying to find “purpose for being,” and finally find their singular individual “purpose for being” in a personal loving closeness with God described in His Word as being “in Christ.” (Gal. 5:26-27)
It is by deciding, in trusting faith, to be “baptized into Christ” that we “draw near to God and He draws near to us.” In this kind of trusting, loving, obedient faith life, we finally find our purpose for being.
From the time of the first humans on planet earth there has been an invisible evil presence among us whose ultimate vile intent is to bring moral corruption and spiritual degeneration into full control in every life on the planet. No one is spared from his rotten schemes to achieve his perverted objectives. To accomplish his goals in each life he works ceaselessly.
As you would expect, our wonderful God who created each of us pure and innocent tries to warn us of his devious ways. In 2 Cor. 2:11 God tells us that this evil one will try to “outwit us” by devising “evil schemes.” The gentle Father God urges us in Eph. 6 to equip ourselves fully with the protective equipment of “truth, righteousness, the good news of Jesus, trust in God, salvation, the Word of God and prayer. He says we will need all these “so we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes.” He obviously desires that his own “saved ones” take a strong stand opposing evil.
One of the ruinous “schemes” Satan observably uses on people could be called “gradualism.” So how does this scheme work and has he had any success in using it on you and me?
The newspapers carried a story a few weeks ago about a man in Mountain View, Arkansas who had awakened from a coma after 19 years. What a shock it must have been to awaken and see the declining culture changes that have occurred since then. He is said to have been appalled at many things now on TV even in prime time. Hmm, why aren’t we more appalled? Gradualism?
After 29 years of directing Jr. Week at Camp Concern I realized afresh this year that the language many 8 to 10 year olds are using is disgracefully more foul. “Gradualism” succeeding again?
Will even the forgiven and saved people of God (His church) whom He has cleansed allow themselves to be defiled by the evil one through his “device” of gradualism?
Please pray with me that His children here at Holiday Park (you and I) will “take a stand” and refuse to be slowly so corrupted in mind that we aren’t appalled and put off by Satan’s evil. Help us, Lord, to sense its foulness and ugliness and reject it.
Miracles are to Awaken Us to God
One of the crafty “schemes” (2 Cor. 2:11) of Satan to make us ignorant and unaware of God is to “blind our minds” (2 Cor. 4:4) to God’s many miraculous workings. His miracles actually make possible life as we know it. From God’s point of view, we have “no excuse” (Rom. 1:20) for our unbelief, because “since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” Creation’s miracles speak urgently of God.
So, here we are, caught between an evil schemer trying to prevent us from seeing the wonders of God (and so trust in God) and God Himself who has placed us in a world of miracles (seeking our trust). At first thought you would think we would all be devoted trusting believers in such a miracle working God whose miracles are everywhere we look.
You would think just one glimpse of the wonders of nature would totally persuade us of an awesome God. You would think that considering the amazing gifts of our eyes, our minds, our nerve system, our sense of taste or smell or hearing, etc. would convince us beyond all doubt of both the existence and love of the God who gave us all these wondrous gifts and more.
Beyond all this, there is that book. I’m speaking of the book of thoughts we call the Bible. It is a book like no other, and claims that all the thoughts in contains are “God-breathed.” (2 Tim. 3:16) From it, in verbal form, we hear that God loves us in spite of our sinful shortcomings. We learn that God came to this world in the person we call Jesus in an attempt to “reconcile us” through a Cross and save us so we could go home to be with Him when life here is done. (2 Cor. 5:18-19; Luke 19:10; John 14:1-3)
From this same book we learn that this awesome God just wants to be loved in return by us. He gauges our love by how we respond to Him in being “doers of His words.” (James 1:22; John 14:23)
So what is your life’s response of faith to this great God of incredible miracles? Each of us finds himself somewhere between the points of “blinded minds” and “trusting obedience.”
I remember occasions long ago when I was so intensely thirsty. It happened often on the farm. The summer days were enormously hot and it often occurred that water breaks from work had to wait. At times like this cool water tasted incredibly great and no other desire could compete with the need to satisfy one’s natural thirst for water. Had there been offered that day a choice between water and a new car, I would have taken the water. When a deep thirst is exerting its full power within you, all else loses its power to be your main want.
Built within each of us is a very natural and powerful “thirst” for rightness with God and the eternal life He gives. It was this thirst that Jesus was referencing when He said to some Jews one day “he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) He had in mind this same thirst when He said to the Samaritan woman (in John 4:14) “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
The same God who built within each of us our recurring thirst for water also built into us another thirst. This thirst emanates from our spirits, not from our bodies. Just as our bodies were designed to need water, our spirits were designed to need rightness and oneness with God.
Leaving that thirst unsatisfied guarantees that one’s life will NEVER experience satisfaction and real happiness. This thirst cannot be satisfied by this world’s stuff, money, nor careless living. Jesus Himself said "If any one thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, `Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:37-38)
And so, like thousands before us since about the year AD 33, we come to the Father only through Jesus (John 14:6). We come by accepting Jesus’ own invitation to us to “believe and be baptized” to be saved. (Mark 16:16) From that day forward the thirst from within our spirits is quenched, and we become sources (“rivers of living water”) to the thirsty souls near us. Are YOU thirsty?
Life for most of us is so demanding. We get caught up into a routine of
more responsibilities than we have the ability to meet. The clock and the
calendar become our tormentors. We race through days struggling to get caught
up, struggling to avoid the embarrassment of being late, or defaulting on a
commitment, or letting someone down who is counting on us for something, or
forgetting something we promised not to forget. Then sometimes we finally just
become exhausted and go to sleep, only to awaken remembering all the things that
are now more urgent than before.
Then finally we come to that moment in time when we realize we haven’t even taken time to commune with God, to pray, to open God’s Word and just quietly listen for His message of love to touch our spirits. This awareness of having neglected even our God who has blessed us so wonderfully and patiently produces real guilt in us and this guilt just adds more weight to the burdens mentioned above that were already so heavy.
Is this how life is supposed to be for a child of God? Can this be the Christianity that is supposed to be “having life to the full” (John 10:10)? Can this even remotely be compared to having “the peace of God, which passes all understanding, that keeps our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus?” (Phil. 4:7) One doesn’t have to be too brilliant to realize that somehow we must have missed a major point from God about the Christian life.
So, just what might that “point” be? Listen for it in the following words coming straight from the Heart of God, who made us:
“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I just openly admit it. I have read these verses without even vaguely seeing the conditions that bring to me this “peace of God.” God is saying I am always near. Remember My presence. Talk to Me about your life, thankful for My audience. Then ... I will give you this peace.
My “rat-race” life was causing me to fail to find time for the only One who can enable me to accomplish my purposes, His purposes. Lord, we need You every hour. Remind us to treat You as “near.”
Each of us regularly encounters problems. Sometimes they come at the worst
of times. Often they “come in bunches.” At any time they may have the power to
replace our bright outlook with a mindset of misery that produces thoughts of
painful worry.
But wait ... aren’t Christians suppose to be able “rejoice in the Lord always”? Are we Christians just like everyone else, in that all it takes to bring us down from happiness to distress is some kind of disappointment or bad news? Do we really have any workable advantage with which to face and overcome problems?
One of the original followers of Jesus (Peter) experienced some moments of terrible discouragement. He heard Jesus say to him “get behind Me Satan.” Mark 8:33 He found himself in a circumstance so bad that he denied even knowing his Lord. (Matt. 26:74) Finally in Scripture we see a scene wherein Peter reflects on his own conduct and “goes out and weeps bitterly.” (Matt. 26:75)
Poor Peter would be the last one from whom we would expect to learn how to avoid discouragement. However, it is from him years later that we hear priceless words on how to always find encouragement. Apparently after believing in Jesus' resurrection Peter could really trust. He says to Christians in his first letter:
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.” (1 Pet. 5:7)
Paul the apostle who had tried to “destroy the church” and who saw himself as “the worst of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:16) says God will “by His grace give us eternal encouragement and good hope,” and will “encourage our hearts.” (2 Thes. 2:16-17)
It is therefore true that even for us, in spite of our sins, there is always encouragement ready and available if we just trust God.
How is it this can be true? Because no one can “separate us from the love of our God. God makes us more than conquerors over trouble, hardship, persecution, hunger, nakedness or threats of death because He loves us.” (Rom. 8:37) “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31) Bye bye worry! Thank You Jesus!!
Let Praise Sound Like Praise
It must seem to our God that people fall between two less than commendable dispositions as they arrive at their faith and express it to Him. On the one hand, some seem to go to totally irrational mindlessness when they worship Him. On the other hand, others seem to be so dull and unenthused as they assemble to praise God that an onlooker might think they were near comatose, and not the least even happy about being present to worship.
Do we have any guidance from God about what disposition is acceptable and right when we come to praise our God? Oh yes, we truly do. Give attention to the following guidance from God on the matter:
“Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be
thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”
(Heb. 12:28)
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His
great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance
that can never perish, spoil or fade -- kept in heaven for you, who
through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the
salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you
greatly rejoice.” (1Pet. 1:3-6)
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4)
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”
These words are “inspired of God” and they also spring from the hearts of Christians God used to bring us both the content of His Will and the appropriate enthusiasm within which praise and gladness to God can truly occur. Let’s be challenged to push back the restraints that can sometimes make our worship appear like dullness.