May God Do An AWESOME Thing With Us!

Being a Pastor is not easy. To say that it is the most difficult occupation in the world would be presumptious and probably untrue. But I have done a lot of things in my 38 years of life, from working for a moving company, to working as a plumber's helper (not fun!), to working for a trenching company (yes, digging ditches), to farming, to filling sandbags, to lifting kegs of beer (no, not recently!), to working with Greyhound buses, and to working in gold mining in the Yukon (by Alaska for all you Americans...and no I did not see any polar bears-a favorite question from my friends to the South), and NOTHING I have done is as difficult as being a Pastor and Shepherd for Christ in His Church. And I must admit (though I probably shouldn't) that there have been times when I wished that God would offer me the same offer He did to Moses in Exodus 32:9-10, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." Yes, there have been days when thoughtlessly I would have said, "Okay, I agree! Do what You want to do, and let's start over with a people who will ADMIRE ME!" And then verses 11 & 12 rebuke me, and reduce me to a heap of dust and ashes: "Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people...Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people." I am sure that Moses loved many, or even most, of the people that he had led out of Egypt, but that is not what drove him to plead with God in this way in Exodus 32. No, what drove Moses to plead with God for mercy instead of wrath was this, "Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'?" (v.12b) Moses plea to God was as God-centered as it gets- "Why should you give the opportunity to the Egytians to laugh, mock, or belittle Your NAME? If you pour out wrath on Your people and destroy them, it will effectively reduce the AWE that Egypt (and soon all the nations around the Middle-east) has of You. And You cannot permit that!" On those days, that I referred to earlier, I just wouldn't care. Okay so God's glory would be a little less (but He has a lot of it!), but I would become a great Pastor (er...nation). If Moses were British at this point he would politely remove a white glove from his hand and slap me with it! My whole theology from the Bible and the springboard from which all my preaching comes is at the core--God-centeredness! But, O' how easy it is to become self-centered, self-indulgent, self-pitying, and self-reliant, no matter what your occupation may be. I pray that God would conintue to "make me complete in every good work to do His will, and work in me what is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. AMEN!" (Heb.13:21) I long for, even more so, I crave to always and automatically respond in times of difficulty and in times of accolades in a God-centered way that always keeps God's glory at the forefront of things. I pray that self-pitying and self-advancement would become less and less a part of my expereince in reacting to things around me. Two chapters later in Exodus 34:10 God has indeed turned aside from His wrath and states, "Behold, I make a covenant (with you)...and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD (Yahweh). For it is an awsome thing that I will do with you." Yes, that is what I long for as a Pastor. Yes, yes, yes!!! Show us (my little church, and Your universal Church around the world) Your grace and mercy through the covenant of the Cross of Jesus Christ-the exalted Messiah of mankind, and DO AN AWESOME THING WITH US so that all the world will be in AWE OF YOU! I want for God to do an awesome thing with me and the church He has called me to Pastor, so that He is marvelled at! "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant me the thing that I long for!" (Job 6:8) That I may continue to live for His glory by His grace...always.

A Correct Response To Trials

The people contended...and...the people murmured...So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, "What shall I do with this people?" (Exodus 17:2-4) If I weren't a son of Adam I would be incomprehensibly astounded at different reactions of the Hebrew people as a nation following their exodus from Egypt. They most certainly were an unspiritual people, prone to complaining, and short in memory. How could they contend and murmur against Moses with such besotted hearts of unbelief in "I AM" (Exodus 3:14)? What am I and Moses missing in the narrative account of this befuddled, ungrateful people? God invented and caused 10 astonishing plagues to afflict the people of Egypt. He brought the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry ground and drowned the army of Egypt. He gave them clean water at Mara (bitterness), rained down daily mana (bread flakes) from heaven, and even through in some quail for a meaty feast. But no sooner are the Hebrews back on the trail to the promised land than they feel parched and...contend with...and murmur against Moses AGAIN! As a Pastor, I feel for Moses. I know his lot in life, and share in his burden, stress, and disillusionment with God's people. It can be nothing short of frustrating and discouraging tryin' to lead God's people. So I want to tell Moses to just cut ties while he still has his sanity--bolt before they stone you (Ex.17:4)--or bail before you go down with the boat. But Moses doesn't do that. This is the most humble man to ever walk on earth (Numbers 12:3) (outside of the God-man Jesus), and he has a lesson for both you and I. No matter that you are not a Pastor or even, directly, a leader of God's people. Whatever the insane trial is that you are facing that is frustrating you to the point of 'quit', let's listen again to what Moses does. "So Moses cried out to the Lord!" (Ex.17:4) Thankyou Moses for saving me from another 'bite of the forbidden fruit'. I was just about to indulge in another dose of self-sufficiency when Moses caught hold of my mind and heart with that word. Let every carnal reaction to the trials and temptaions of life be siffoned through these words, "Moses cried out to the Lord!" He did not cry or sob. He did not make a contingency plan for Israel's future contentions with him. He did not pick up a nice devotional to make him happy. He did not lay down a mat and crack out some yoga moves. He did not run to the Sinai Christian bookstore and buy Joel Osteen's latest book on self-help and how to smile. He did what I and you need to do all the days of our lives to find satisfaction and contentment--"He cried out to the Lord saying, 'What shall I do'?" Lord help me to react like this always...for your glory by your grace!

Being Found In Christ!

Almost everyone is familiar with the expression, “Oh he or she is just going through a difficult time right now, they are trying to FIND themselves.” It was a common expression in the seventies, in the so-called Age of Aquarius, when people were desperate for self-discovery. Discovery is a part of human experience, and people have been trying to find themselves through every age and every generation. And though everybody’s experience of self-discovery is uniquely different in many ways, there is one universal thread of commonality that all humans share. It is the common trait the Bible calls sin. The Bible calls sin a state of lawlessness, and declares that all created beings have sinned and will face judgment before God one day. The moral laws of the universe are no more subjective to human criticism and interpretation than the physical laws of the universe are. God has made them both. God has revealed to man through the Decalogue or Ten Commandments the moral authority that is to govern every one of us. When that moral authority is disrespected, disregarded, discarded, or usurped—that is called sin! Any one who truly seeks to find themself will discover that they are a sinner. What becomes even more serious is that the Word of God also proclaims that the wages of sin is death—everlasting exclusion from the presence of God and torment in the place called hell. This is why the Apostle Paul said, “I want to be found IN Christ…through faith IN Christ…” (Philippians 3:9) that he might be found clothed in the righteousness of Christ before God. Jesus was perfectly sinless and died as a substitute for the sins of all those who would have faith in Him. So we can try and find ourselves and risk inheriting an eternity in hell, or we can seek to be found IN Christ and inherit an eternity in paradise in the presence of our Creator.

Lose To Win? (Philippians 3:7-8)

The concept of losing to win is a strange one. But a radical servant of God from the first century had this quirky perception that to lose would ultimately mean gain for him. His name was Paul, and he wrote to the Philippian church, “that he counted ALL things loss, that he might gain possession of Jesus Christ!” He counted as a loss all his former confidence in religious fervour, zeal, and righteousness for his new found confidence in Christ. And he went a step further to say that in fact he counted all things outside of his love and relationship with Jesus Christ to be dung or refuse. This was a radical servant of the risen Lord! But he did not consider all things as a loss in his life because he had an affection for misery or sorrow. No, Paul lost for a greater gain. He was willing to give up all competing affections for Christ, that he might gain or acquire possession of Christ Himself! As the Gospel of Matthew says in chapter 13 and verse 44, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” He lost everything he owned to gain a far greater treasure. This is the Gospel- that Christ is a far greater treasure than anything else. Paul was willing to lose his reputation, his religious boasting, and anything else in his life that stood in the path of his affections for Christ. The late missionary Jim Elliot once penned, “He is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”. What is the treasure you most prize today? Are you gaining now, only to lose it all one day, or are you willing to count it all as refuse that you might gain Christ forever!

Are You Really Living?

When Jesus lived and walked upon this earth some two thousand years ago he had the Spirit of a prophet and made some very interesting observations about people around Him. He said of many that they were “seeing but not perceiving, and hearing but not understanding”. Of course what He meant was that many people have the ability to see with the eye, but lack the proper judgement to know what they are really looking at. So there are many who are seeing blind people. And there are many with the gift of hearing who cannot understand what they are hearing. So there remains many who are hearing deaf people. The book of Hebrews in the Bible says, “But we SEE Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9) But do you really SEE Jesus? Do you SEE Him as the One through whom all things in heaven and earth have been created? Do you SEE Him as the One who upholds the universe with the power of His Word? Do you SEE Him as God, the beloved and begotten Son? Can you hear? Can you hear the Bible as it proclaims that this same Jesus suffered death that He might taste death for the nations- for every tribe, and tongue, and ethnicity, and people? Jesus tasted death, that we might live! That is He suffered at the hand of God His Father for our sins, that we might be deemed as pure, righteous, and holy. Are you really living today? And can you really taste life? Pray to God that you might SEE, and HEAR, and LIVE.

A Wasted Life!

I can often be heard exhorting and saying to those who are close to me, and to my congregation, the words from the title of a book, “Don’t waste your life!” A book written by my mentor and friend, Dr. John Piper, it calls for the radical pursuit of a life lived with single passion—with the passion to “joyfully display the supreme excellencies of God in all the spheres of your life!” The wasted life is the life without this passion. So many of us spend the better part of our lives thinking, strategizing, and planning of ways to be noticed by others, and to be made much of, while the Bible tells a different story. It declares the wonder of God, and His desire to be made much of by that which He has created! That is, we have been created to make much of Him- God, not to be made much of by Him! To make much of God in every sphere of your life is to heed that word from the Apostle Paul, “that you live carefully, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time seeing that the days are evil” (Eph.5:15-16). Yes the days are evil, and it is not the time to buy the bill of goods being sold through slogans like “freedom 55”. Anyone can waste their life putzing around making much of nothing, but it is a lot harder getting to know God, making much of Him at all times in all places, and positively influencing the people and culture to which you belong. “King Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king. He reigned in Jerusalem for 8 years, and to no one’s sorrow, departed- died!” (2Ch.21:20) To no one’s sorrow he died. That is a wasted life! Making much of God, is this the single passion of your life today?

Goodness And Godliness Proceed From Preparation!

There is no question that Solomon, the son of David, was a great king over Israel, but he was not perfect. And among his many imperfections was his son Rehoboam who would be heir to the throne, and a foolish king! The biblical epitaph over his royal reign was, “He did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.” (2Chronicles 12:14) His heart lacked the proper, purposeful preparation necessary to do good before God. He drifted, enjoying the trinkets of the royal throne, and was thus vulnerable to all kinds of evil. I ask, “Can a turkey dinner just be whipped up, or is there a course of proper preparation for something that good and tasty?” Can one’s heart be good and righteous before God without proper purposeful preparation? The heart needs to be purposeful in seeking the Lord of heaven and earth each day. And the heart needs to go through disciplined preparation if it is to gravitate towards good and not evil! One of the ways of preparing a turkey is to baste it and stuff it. So the heart needs to be basted each day with the Word of God, and stuffed with the fullness of God’s Spirit. Rehoboam did evil! This was the result of an undisciplined life, without purpose, and adrift! How do you prepare your heart for each day? What is the object of your heart’s affection? At the end of this day if God were to write an epitaph over your affairs, what would He say? You did evil because you did not seek the Lord, for your heart was unprepared! Or, you did good because you sought the Lord from a disciplined heart, basted by the Word of God, and stuffed full of the Holy Spirit!