The Bible talks about freedom and, actually, emancipation.  Freedom is a biblical value but when the Bible talks about freedom it talks about it in a deeper kind of way.  It talks about it spiritually.  That is where we are today in our series on the Gospel of John.  It is a short passage today, which has been unusual lately, but a very deep passage.  We will literally be going verse by verse in this particular one because it is very short, but it deals with that powerful concept of freedom. 

 Listen to the word of God.  (John 8:30-36) 

³⁰Even as he (Jesus) spoke, many put their faith in him.

 ³¹To the Jews (those that put their faith in him) who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 ³³They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

 ³⁴Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

What’s Jesus talking about?  Well, I have come up with this particular outline.  I think first and foremost Jesus is saying that God’s freedom is born in surrender and grows in obedience.  Obviously some of the people who heard him believed in him in a way.  One of the themes, as we have seen in the Gospel of John, is that John is very, very concerned about people knowing what real faith is.  It is not just believing in a fact.  Apparently this is the kind of faith that these folks had.  They had a kind of faith, Jesus was attractive to them but it wasn’t all the way.  It wasn’t biblical faith.  So he recognizes that and he challenges them.  He says, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.”  In other words, it has got to be real.  It has got to be faith in me not just believing in a fact.  Later on Jesus’ human brother, James, will say in his book in the Bible, “the demons believe and they shudder.” In other words, the demons believe in God, what’s the difference between that kind of faith and yours?  It has to be something qualitatively different. 

I heard a story this week about a man from North Carolina named John.  John was seen to be walking toward the train station.  This was a long time ago.  And he had a big bible in his hand.  Someone asked him, “Where are you going, John?”  He says, “I’m going to New Orleans.” They said “Why are you going there?”  John said, “Because I have heard that the woman are loose and fine and I have heard the bars flow with liquor.”  “Why do you have a bible in your hand, John?”  He said, “Well if it is as good as they say it is, and I get to stay over until Sunday, I don’t want to miss church.”

 That may seem far fetched, and it probably is, maybe not; but the point is that all of us do things we shouldn’t, and we will talk about that more in a minute, but we need to make it real.  We can’t carry a bible in our hands and maybe have pictures on our computer.  We need to be careful about what we watch, not to be legalistic, but some things just aren’t appropriate for us because we need to make it real. Faith in Jesus means change in behavior, and means that we are following a certain direction.  We have to see what we need to see, and do what we need to do, in order to be those witnesses we have been talking about for others outside of ourselves.  Jesus is saying that.  He is saying to those folks, and to us, that you are free, and we will talk more about that in just a minute, but to be free you must have discipline.  You must have surrender. In fact that is one of the greatest paradoxes of the Christian faith.  You will never be free until you surrender to God and literally put the chains on, if you will, the spiritual chains on and say, “I am yours.” We have heard stories like this over and over again.  People who have been enslaved to sin and basically say to God, “I am yours” and suddenly they become free by saying “I am yours.” That is what it is about.  It is a paradox, seemingly, but you know, life is that way, is it not?  Isn’t life that way?  I mean, I am kind of addicted to the Olympics— I don’t know about you—in a good sort of way; but I stay up too much at night watching things.  I couldn’t help but stay up the other night when Evan Lysacek, I am trying to pronounce it correctly.  It may be a Czech name, I’m not sure, but I still have trouble.  But, how wonderful he was!  I don’t want to get in the debate about who won or who didn’t; but to do those kinds of things requires hours of, literally, slavery, slavery of discipline.  And only in doing that did he have the freedom to move like he did.  Or the story of the young Canadian skier who won the first gold medal, French, Alexandre Bilodeau, I think is his name.  I saw his story.  He has a brother who has cerebral palsy and he said, “Every time I felt like not training, my brother would remind me that I needed to train.”  In other words, training is a form of slavery.  In order to have the freedom to ski like he did, he had to basically be disciplined and give his life to that, give his life to that.  That is what Jesus is saying.  He says, “God’s freedom is born in surrender and then it develops, it grows, in obedience.”

 There is a wonderful poem and I do not know the author, I read it, but I was struck by it.  It goes like this, it was a statement.  It’s a parable.  He says:

 “I have on my table a violin string.  It is free to move in any direction I like.  If I twist it on end, it will move in any direction, but it is not free to sing.  If I take it and fix it on my violin, I bind it and when it is bound, it is free for the first time to sing.” 

 Our purpose in life, we have said it many times, is to serve God and we are only free when we surrender to God and continue to surrender to God.

Now when Jesus says these things, he goes on and says “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  The truth he is talking about, it is basically two things: one is you belong to God and the second is you can’t save yourself.  You can’t save yourself.  When he says that, the folks that are listening to him aren’t very happy.  They are Judeans.  Now remember I’ve told you when he talks about the Jews, he is talking about Judeans or the leaders.  It says they answered him “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.  How can you say that we will be set free?”  Now they had a problem.  They looked at their freedom, their freedom, as something they deserved.  It was something they were entitled to because they were descendants of Abraham.  They looked at it as their privilege. 

Many of you I’m sure, it has been all over the news, you can hardly help it, have seen the story of Tiger Woods lately.  Who knows how that is going to end up, but I was impressed by a part of what he said.  He said, “I felt like I was privileged to do what I did because I had worked so hard.” He had enslaved himself to golf, literally, and he was free to play, that’s the good part because he was so disciplined.  But he felt like he was privileged to do what anything else he wanted because he had done that and had all this money.  And it bit him, didn’t it.  He fell from it.  That is what happens when you think you are privileged. 

The Judeans were not free because they were privileged, their freedom was a privilege and it is a huge difference.  It is a huge difference.  They didn’t have that knowledge.  They didn’t have that kind of thing going on in their lives.  Now, as we approach modern people it is not quite the same for them but I think it is somewhat similar.  In modern life, freedom, again, is a big deal.  But there is a philosophy going around.  It runs something like this: Human beings are basically good but they are bound.  They are bound by things like ignorance, poverty, and corrupt institutions and for others they would add morality and religion.  The idea is that if we can free people from these things, because human beings are basically good, they will be really free.

Now, of course, we should make corrupt institutions better.  Of course we should build schools and have education.  Of course we should deal with poverty and hurt and injustice, but Jesus and the Bible refute those ideas and those ideas are very prevalent.  You know, even John Lennon, “Imagine there’s no heaven, it isn’t hard to do.  Nothing to kill or die for, no religion too.”  The whole idea is that if we just get rid of these things we will be free.  It is still alive and well.  But Jesus says “No.  Freedom is not a privilege.”  Then there is a power much worse than any Roman domination, much worse than any corrupt institution, much worse than ignorance, much worse than many things.  It affects young and old, it affects rich and poor, it affects the educated and the not educated, it doesn’t matter what color you are or where you are from.  It is that thing in the heart called human sin that we are all born with, every one of us has it and it must be dealt with.  It must be dealt with.  That is the knowledge Jesus is talking about, because when you know this about yourself, that is the only day you can become free.  It is much like someone who is addicted to something and can’t get help until they admit they have a problem.  We are all like that, aren’t we?  I was at an Army marriage enrichment conference on Friday and Saturday and it is really good stuff.  It is a longer version of the Marriage Course, really, in the end.  It was interesting.  As I was talking I had one of my talks and I was doing a break, you know we let them do some work, a couple came up and said, “We need to talk to somebody right now.”  I said, “O.K. I’ll do it and you guys take over.”  So we went and talked.  A nice couple.  But the man said, “I just realized why I do a lot of the stuff I do.  In your talk, I realized why I do this.”  The light had come on.  He was able to get help now because he knew what he had done.  We were able to talk a little bit and I could refer him to someone who could talk to him more.

These guys aren’t very happy with Jesus.  “How can you say that we will be set free?  How can you say this to us?”  In other words, you can’t save yourself.  Jesus is saying it doesn’t matter about ancestors.  We all have this problem.  There is an ancient legend about some very committed Christians who wanted to leave the sin with the world.  So they literally become monks and they left the world and they were to create their own little community, high on a mountain away from everybody.  They went away and no one heard from them for years.  Finally someone went up on the mountain to see what had happened to them and found that they had all been killed and they had done it to themselves.  There was a note scribbled that said “We couldn’t leave the sin of the world, we brought it with us, because we brought it with us in our hearts.” 

Jesus gives them the bad news; but then he talks about the good news.  God’s freedom is guaranteed by Sonship.  Now don’t get wrapped around the actual about the word Sonship.  It means both men and women.  It is a theological term.  It is just talking about how as Christians we become God’s children in a very special way.  John said in his letter, “How great is the love that God has lavished on us that we should become the children of God.”  That is the legacy of becoming a Christian.  And the good news is that when God sets you free, you are free, indeed.  Now Jesus gives an argument.  He says “if you sin you are a slave to sin”.  Now, it is not stated directly, but he basically says if you sin you are a slave to sin, and underneath that, all are sinners therefore all sin.  That is what he was trying to tell his fellow Jews, and to us as well.  But here is the good news, he says, “a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”  In other words the only way you are going to get free is me.  The paradox, again, is that you can’t be free until you give your life to God.  And you can’t be free of sin until you give your life to Christ.

There is a wonderful illustration I read this week about this, as Steve Brown tells it, he says:  Suppose that I hire someone to do my dishes for me and that person does the dishes but he leaves dirt on them and he doesn’t do a very good job.”  Steve says, “I may give him another chance.  I may give him a third chance before I fire him and kick him out of my house.  But, if I ask my daughters to do the dishes and they leave dirt on the dishes, they are still my daughters no matter what happens.  I may want them to do better but they are still going to be my daughters. They are still going to be my children.”  And that is what is true about you and me.  We become his children through faith.  And that is forever.  We will talk about forever in a minute.  But “a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” 

Most of us here have heard of the Prodigal Son, the story of the Prodigal Son. That is just a story.  You know the story.  A younger son says to the father, “Get lost!  I want my inheritance.”  He runs off and spends it all and then finally kind of wakes up and says, “I need to do something about this.”  He changes and he goes back to the father and what does he say to the father?  He says “I am no longer worthy to be your son.”  In other words, I am a slave; make me like one of your servants, your slaves.  At least I can live in your house, at least I can eat. And what does the father do?  He says, “No, you are still my son.  You are my son.”  He puts a ring on his finger and a robe on him and they have a feast.  That is what God does with us.  There is a sense in which we are a slave to sin.  In and of ourselves, we are condemned, but when God makes us his child, we have freedom, we are his, forever.  It doesn’t end.

Now, one of the themes in the Bible is be what you are.  Paul will often say that in one way or another.  He’ll say, “You are this and you are this and you are this, so act like it.”  That message still applies.  Act like children of God.  You know, I remember when I was in high school and I was competing for a starting defensive line position.  I was a junior, and we had a lot of seniors on the team and seniors don’t treat juniors very well in those kinds of situations.  But as we got through summer practice, I didn’t have a lot of confidence; I remember that.  But the coach said, “Chris, you are starting.” “Me, how cool!”  You know, I became different.  I became a lot better after I knew that I belonged because I then had confidence.  We can become better because we know who we are.

And that is the last point.  God’s freedom is forever.  Same verse, except I was emphasizing before that “a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it…and you will be set free” but you “belong to it forever.”  You belong to it forever.  You know, I know if I were you sitting there I would be going, “O.K. I am a son but I also know that I mess up a whole lot.”  Being better as a Christian is like slogging away inch by inch.  Sometimes it is two steps forward, one step back in life and we struggle with sin.  I read a story about a beggar in New York City.  He walked up to a successful business man and said, “Change?  Change?”  And the business man looked at him and said “I am doing the best I can.” 

That’s the way I feel, half the time.  But you know what?  When we go to heaven and we stand before Jesus, and we have been changed, permanently, we will be completely obedient, completely obedient. And we will also be completely free.  In the meantime it is process and there is a sense in which the more we obey, the more we are free.  Paradox of all paradoxes, but it is true.

So go, be what you are.  If you have faith in Jesus Christ, you are his child, no matter your sins because Christ died for you and be what you are.  And one day, as we have heard in our singing and in our prayers, by and by God will bring us home and change us forever and we will be completely free and we can say:  Thank God Almighty!  I am free at last!

Would you pray with me?

Lord God thank you for the promise that you give us that even though we cannot save ourselves you can save us and you have through Jesus Christ.  Help us to believe that.  Help us to know that, that we are your child and help us to act like that, and to know that in spite of ourselves we can be your children in this hard and difficult world and I pray it in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Thank God I am Free At Last!

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22   <Read James 2:18-26>                                                                                                            

Even as He spoke, many put their faith in Him.   John 8:30                                                                                 

Biblical faith is not assenting mentally to a set of doctrines or claims.  Biblical faith requires not only a belief that He is who He said He is; it also requires a personal commitment to Him and a promise to follow Him as best we can.  Apparently there were some Judeans who believed Jesus to some extent, yet they held back from committing themselves.  In the end, some of the same Judeans would pick up stones to throw at Jesus (v.59). Many people today believe in Jesus to some degree.  Most people believe He lived.  Others believe He performed miracles. Still others believe He rose from the dead and answered prayers.  Yet many have never given their lives to Him, much less try to follow Him.  James tells us that mere belief means nothing in the end.  Even the demons have that kind of faith. Faith that is important in God’s sight is faith that acts.  Faith that is real is faith that loves.  Faith that saves is faith that follows.

Prayer:  Work in me now that I may never doubt You as the truthful, mighty faithful God; work in me that I may work for You and bring glory to You with all that I do.  Amen.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23  <Read Luke 15:11-32>

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:31-32

There is a wonderful parable about a violin (I do not know the author’s name) that goes something like this, “I have on my table a violin string. It is free to move in any direction I like.  If I twist it on end, it will move in any direction, but it is not free to sing.  If I take it and fix it on my violin, I bind it and when it is bound, it is free for the first time to sing.”  Much of the world’s definition of freedom is simply to do as we please, but in the world real freedom finds its genesis in responsibility, surrender and discipline.  An athlete can only find the freedom to run as fast as he desires through discipline.  A musician can only find the freedom to play if she will submit to hours of practice.  The same is true for our faith.  The first paradox of God’s freedom is that we can only get it through surrender.  To have real faith in Jesus means to give Him our lives and trust Him with them and then God frees us from the consequences of our rebellion and sin.  The second paradox is that faith and the freedom that comes with it is proven and grows through the continual submission of obedience.  What Jesus says to those who initially believe in Him, He says to us as well.  You really are my followers if you do what I say.  Your faith is real if you do my will.

Prayer: “Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will, While I am waiting, yielded and still. Amen. 

(“Have Thine Own Way, Lord.” The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration, #371)

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24  <Read Romans 7:21-25>

They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants  and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  John 8:33, 34

Freedom was a huge topic in Jesus’ day and continues to be in ours.  The people in Jesus’ time trusted in their ancestry for freedom.  Freedom was their birthright because they were descendants of Abraham.  For modern human beings, the emphasis is quite different.  For our time, the argument runs something like this: “Human beings are bound but basically good.  If we can break the chains that bind us: morality, poverty, ignorance, religion or corrupt institutions, then the basic goodness of human beings will triumph and we will be free.  Jesus refutes both these ideas.  For Him, there is a power much worse than any Roman domination or any ignorance or corrupt institution, and neither trust in ancestry nor human efforts to shape their own institutions and attitudes will deal with it.  His argument is simple.  Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Everyone sins.  Therefore, everyone is a slave.  Ancestry is not a bad thing in itself nor are the efforts to deal with corruption, ignorance or other human problems, but in the end they do not deal with the power of sin that enslaves us all.  That is why all need a savior, none other than Jesus Himself.  Jesus deals with our sin on the cross by offering permanent forgiveness.  He also gives us His Spirit which lives in us and works constantly against the sin that still resides in us.  Finally, He gives us a living hope that one day the power and stain of sin will be defeated and we will be with Him forever and ever.  

Prayer: Lord, let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut at their roots; Grant me to know that I truly live only when I live for You, and I am only free when I am free in You.  Amen.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25  <Read John 1:12; Galatians 3:26 >                                                                

Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  John 8:35-36

Pastor Steve Brown tells this modern parable: “If I were to hire someone to wash my dishes and they did not do a good job and left several dishes dirty, I might give them another chance or even two chances to make it right before I fire that person and send them on their way.  On that day, the person would no longer be in my employment.  If I ask my daughters to do the dishes and they did not do a good job, they never cease to be my daughters.  They will always be my children and I would never cease to love them.”  One of the most profound gifts given to us by our Lord when we surrender to Him is the gift of Sonship.  That means that by faith, we have been made Children of God and brothers and sisters to Christ Himself.  This fact changes the whole perspective of freedom and obedience.  We obey not because we are like slaves trying to achieve or earn a place in God’s house or His love.  We obey because we are free and already have that place as a gift, and because we love the one who first loved us. 

Prayer:  Thank you Lord for making me your child. Help me to obey less out of obligation or for what I can get out of it but rather, obey You more and more out of pure love for You.  Amen.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26  <Read Romans 8:9-17>                                                                             

Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  John 8:35-36

Someone described our earthly life like one of the World War II battles on an enemy held island.  The marines would land and establish a beachhead.  When that happened, victory was assured and would eventually come, but it took many long days and sometimes months of brutal battle to conquer the rest of the island.  In many ways, we are that island.  God has landed and has established His beachhead.  We are His, and the victory is assured, but until we go to be with Him, battles are fought within us daily.  The constant battle of obedience makes our lives on earth frustrating.  All of us ride the roller coaster up and down, back and forth.  Obedience, and the freedom that comes with it, seems to come inch by inch.  That is one reason it is very appropriate to long for heaven, and the day when the internal battle will be over.  On that day, we will be completely at peace because we will be completely obedient.  On that day, you can truly shout: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, I am free at last!”

Prayer:  Lord, help me remember that heaven is all love, all peace and all Joy true freedom: the end of believing, fasting, praying, mourning, humbling, watching and fearing. And lead me to it soon. Amen.

This morning we continue our series on John and we have arrived to Chapter 8 in John where Jesus gives one of the great “I am” statements.  He says, “I am the light of the world.”  John is organized in sevens, often some of the Bible is, and he has seven “I am” statements and this is one of them.  What he is doing is, when he says this, he is referring back to Exodus, Chapter 3.  Most of you have probably seen The Ten Commandments and you remember when Moses goes up to the burning bush and he is in a conversation with God and God says “Go to Israel.”  Moses says, “Tell me your name, so I can tell them.”  And you remember the great statement where God says, “I AM WHO I AM, Moses.”  In other words, he gives him his name of Yahweh, which is a form of the verb “to be.” So when Jesus says “I am the light”  “I am the resurrection”  “I am the shepherd” “I am the door”, he is pointing right back to that and is saying, “Guess who has come to dinner?” “Guess who has come to be with you?”  Not only that but he combines this with the light and in the Bible, light is identified with God.  “You are my light and my salvation, O Lord.” 

So that is where we are.  Jesus is identifying himself as the Messiah.  He is God come to earth.  He is having this discussion, as we have seen, with the leaders, the Pharisees.  Of course, they are not taking it in and you will see that in the passage.  This passage, I think, has a lot to say to us about who Jesus is but also how we share him, because it is bracketed by “I am the light” and “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

 Let’s read it.  Follow along; notice what happens in the passage.

¹²When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

¹³The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

¹⁴Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. ¹⁶But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. ¹⁷In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. ¹⁸I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

¹⁹Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.

²¹Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

²²This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

²³But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”

²⁵“Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied. ²⁶“I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

²⁷They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. ²⁹The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” ³⁰Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

³¹To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Let’s pray together.

O Lord, be with us today your Spirit hovering over our minds and our hearts.  May this word touch our hearts, may it be light in our souls, may it be truth in our minds, and we may know you better today that we may share you and give you away to others.  I pray that in his name.  Amen.

I believe that the Bible teaches that being a witness for Jesus Christ is why we are here.  It is one of the main purposes of the church.  It is one of the main purposes in our lives, and yet, in many ways, we don’t do it very well.  We don’t do it as much as we should.  So today I want to talk to you a little bit about being a witness and what you need to know to be a better one.  We all need to hear this.  There are many things I could say but I am limited in time.  I always say “there is so much more to say” and there is, but first, let’s think about these things.

I think first you need to know the person you are telling about.  You know in the art of selling the maxim is you cannot be a good salesman until you know the product you are selling.  Well in many ways, the same is true with our faith, except, we are not selling a product.  We are selling or, if you will, introducing a person.  That is key.  We are introducing a person to someone else. 

You know, I have been amazed at how popular the dating services are on the internet:

eHarmony.  Match.com.  What are these services about? Well they start by giving information about people.  You know I have never used one; I hope I don’t have too; but apparently, that is how they work.  You start knowing a little bit about the other person through some information; maybe a picture is exchanged; but that is not what the end is.  Sometimes as Christians we think witnessing is just telling information about Jesus Christ, and it starts there.  But the end result, the object, is to introduce a person to another person.  In many ways, that is what we are trying to do with Jesus Christ.  And, if you will, Jesus is our valentine.

You know, I thought about that.  If we were trying to tell someone about our spouse, what would we say?  Well if you are a husband, you ought to say, you ought to tell that person how beautiful she is to you and what she has meant to you and all the things in your life that would not be there without that person.  Well in a sense, it is that way with Jesus except we are trying to get that person to have Jesus as their valentine also.  You want that person to fall in love with Jesus.  So the question for all of us is how well do we know him ourselves?  There are some good questions in that area or, on a scale from one to ten, what is your relationship like with Jesus Christ?  Now, it is true that in different parts of life it can be lower or higher, but where is it for you right now?  And after you have identified where your relationship is, just ask yourself, do you want it to be better?  Most of us do, but the kicker is, what are you willing to do to make it better? What are you willing to do to make that relationship of Christ better, so that you can give it away?  That is the purpose.  It isn’t just to keep it yourself.  It is to give it away.

The second one is that we need to know the message we are trying to communicate, the message that we are trying to give away.  Jesus says, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  And then he says later, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  You know, I have shared with you my own story many times, but back in those days when I didn’t know the Lord, I had a series of events that brought me to him.  As I shared with you I was a college football player.  It just so happened in the first game I ever started, my ligaments were torn in my knee and I wound up in the hospital.  They took me to surgery the next day, and during the very hour I was in surgery, a fire started in my bedroom where I was staying—that very hour.  They didn’t cut me open, they just put a cast on it and sent me back and there all the fire trucks were.  Well, I got the hint.  And the light began to go off in the brain and I walked around for a couple weeks saying “God saved my life.  God saved my life.”  “Are you crazy, you got your knee hurt?”  “God saved my life.”  Now, it was true that the light was going off but Jesus was not yet the light.  He was not yet my life.  That happened a few weeks later when he did become my life and my light and my truth and everything else in between.  But what was the truth to set me free?  What was the truth, what is the truth that sets people free?  Well for me, and I think it applies to everyone, I realized just how badly my life was going.  Something was missing and I couldn’t fill it.  Every time I tried it got worse and worse.  I finally just gave up.  That is what it was.  It was a surrender to the Lord.  That is the truth that people have to come to.  Listen to what Paul says about the Pharisees.  He was one himself; he describes them accurately in Romans, Chapter 10.

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.  For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.”

Here is the problem: people have a problem and they try to fix it themselves.  That is what most religions are about, trying to fix yourself by doing this or doing that.  Christianity says the message is ‘you can’t fix yourself. You have no power to fix yourself.  There is a broken relationship.’  We are made to have a relationship with God.  We were born for that, but it is broken.  It is called sin, and we can only fix it by going to him.  That’s the message.  That is what we are trying to say to people.  We try to help them understand they can’t fix it.

Now, of course, sometimes when we think about that that is kind of hard, isn’t it? “You mean I have to go tell my friends they are sinners, and they need to repent.”  “Well, yah.”  But you don’t really have to do it that way.  You see witnessing is more about a relationship and you can tell them what God did for you.  What did God do for you? Well I could tell what God did for me.  God picked me up when I knew I was messed up.  When I decided I can’t; God could.  You see, yes, it’s true when we start talking about people being sinners, we turn them off sometimes.  You don’t really have to do that.  I think most people deep down inside already know. But when you hear a person whose life is hurting, you can say, “you know my life is hurting too and God helped me and here is what I did.”  You take the message and you combine it with your life and about this restoring of the relationship and that is how it works.  I learned about sin later.  I got all that vocabulary later. But we can talk about being broken, we can talk about hurting, we can talk about messing things up because we know what that means.

Third, we need to know how short the time is, how short the time is.  Jesus says something very hard to them.  Listen to what he says to the Pharisees, now, the Pharisees were the best people.  They kept the rules.  They were considered the most moral, the most zealous; they were the good church folks.  Look what Jesus says:  “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be (in other words, you don’t put your faith in me), you will indeed die in your sins.”   Do we believe that?  I think we have a hard time believing that people are going to be lost forever, that every human being has a terminal disease and it is not just physical death.  It is spiritual, eternal death.  The staff, your staff, went over to help with Feed My Starving Children this past week.  It was a great experience.  We got to put together the food packets and that kind of thing and then, of course, we went out to eat…but that’s another story.  It was a lot of fun.  You know, we will go to any length to help people.  We will go to any length to help the folks in Haiti.  We will take our time to help Feed My Starving Children.  We will get involved in all kinds of ways to deal with cancer and all that kind of stuff, and all that is great.  But what do we do for people who are dying all around us?  It is kind of out of sight, out of mind, I think, to some degree.  Why don’t we do that?  I think deep down inside a lot of us believe, my God is not that mean, he doesn’t send people to hell, or wherever he sends them.  You know, it is not a question about being mean.  It is a question of justice.  God is a God of love, isn’t he?  Yes, he is, but God is also holy and righteous and just.  If you don’t know it yet that is what the cross is all about.  The Bible says “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”  God is holy.  The cross comes together, God’s love and God’s justice—justice condemns us because we are all sinners, we are all condemned and “God in his love so loved the world he gave his one and only Son, that whoever should believe in him should not perish.”  So not only do we sometimes not believe that God is that mean, at least in our view, it is not fair; it really isn’t fair. 

I like object lessons.  I came up with this sort of thing.  You know, an old illustration, you may have heard it before; suppose you and I only sinned three times a day.  Now remember sin is not only what you do, it is what you think, and what you fail to do, among many things.  So we do a lot of this kind of stuff, especially in our brain.  Suppose it is only three, though.  Now for me, it would be a lot more than that, but suppose it is only three.  (He is now holding a small hand-held adding machine.)  Well let’s see, three, plus three, plus three, plus three, plus three, for a year. What’s that?  A thousand?  What’s it in a lifetime?  Some of you are chronologically blessed.  But if it is only seventy years, that’s what –seventy, eighty thousand sins?  Now suppose you broke the law, just the human law, say eighty thousand times, what jail are they going to lock you in forever?  It is just an illustration.  Fair?  I don’t want fair.  I don’t know about you; I think in the end sometimes it is just that we don’t love enough to those people outside.  We say, “Oh, they can come to us if they want to.”  The Church’s purpose is to go out, all of us, not simply organizationally, but individually, and love the person out there.  It doesn’t mean knocking them over the head.  It doesn’t mean that, but being available to share the word.

You need to know that you are going to face opposition.  We already know that, but you know, if Jesus got crucified and got all kinds of things happen to him, what’s going to happen to us? Well, we are going to face opposition.  In this passage it is very interesting.  Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and they insult him in every way possible, in every way possible.  First they question his truthfulness, binging up the law. “Well, you are your own witness, therefore your witness is not valid.”  In Jewish law you needed two witnesses for anything to be true.  Jesus says, “Well, I’ve got me and I’ve got my Father but you don’t know him.”  Then they insult him by asking who his Father is.  It is kind of like the modern, “Who’s your daddy?”  “Well, who is your Father?”  They probably heard that Jesus had dubious distinctions of not knowing his human father, in other words, he is illegitimate.  In the end they asked him, “Well who are you?” and they had already made us their mind, “Well, you are a nobody.  You are illegitimate in every way.”  Yes, there will be opposition.  There are all kinds of ways people oppose you and some people won’t and some people will.  Peter tells us, “Always be willing and ready to say why you have the hope you have.”  Then he says, “But do so in gentleness and respect, no matter how people treat you,” he talks about that a little later.  It is not about us knocking people over the head but it is about giving a consistent witness no matter what happens.  Because, you know what in the end, you know what in the end, it is so powerful in people’s lives if you just realize it that it doesn’t matter what other people think about you, it only matters what God thinks.  It only matters what God thinks; because in the end, that is what counts.  Now, of course, we don’t ignore what other people think of us, I don’t think we are built that way.  I don’t think we can.  But in the end, it only matters what God thinks.  That is a powerful thing in anyone’s life.

Last but not least we all need to know how to please the Lord.  Notice what Jesus says, he says “The one who sent me (my Father) is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.”  I always do what pleases him.  Well today is Valentine’s day and, you know, it is amazing the advertisements out there.  There is one person telling you “you need to go buy flowers.”  Another person says “Oh, flowers aren’t very good; you need a massage, or a teddy bear, or dinner, or this or that.”  They are all good things.  It brings up the question of motivation.  I think admittedly many guys, particularly, rush out and get a gift because they want to stay out of the dog house.  Now we don’t want to talk about that, but that is probably right; but our motivation obviously shouldn’t be that.  It’s because we are trying to please that person that we love.  We have all heard of WWJD, What Would Jesus Do? and that is not a bad thing; but it is kind of impersonal.  I think it ought to be WWPML, What Would Please My Lord?  How do you please the Lord?  WWJD is fine but if you want to know a powerful thing in your life, a powerful tool, is just ask the question:  Is this going to please my Lord, the one I love?  Is this going to please him who died for me, who loves me so much?  What are our motivations?  It is one of the questions we really should ask ourselves.  Why do we do the things we do?  Why do we go to church?  Why do we go to Feed My Starving Children?  Is it because it gives us a warm feeling—it makes us feel good?  Is it because we feel guilty?  Is it because of what I get out of it?  If we were all to examine ourselves I would say that is number one—what’s in it for number one?  They are not all bad, but we need to move toward another motivation more and more and that is what pleases our Lord.  Like Jesus, what pleases the Father who sent His Son?  That is a powerful thing. 

A good place to start is to ask ourselves just a couple of questions and I will leave you with them. Ask yourself, if what I am doing, am I doing it because I love Jesus?  Or, have I or will I stop doing something because I love Jesus?  Ask yourself these things.  Use them as tools.  Let them change your heart.  Let them change your motivations so that God will make you a great witness for him, because it really is all about relationships.  To be a powerful witness means we need to be in relationship with God so that we can tell others about a relationship they can have.  So as you think about it today, ask yourself what kind of a relationship you have with the Lord and ask him to make it better, not in a guilty sort of way, but in a way in which he can powerfully enter your life and you can speak for him and he can speak through you.  In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Would you pray with me?

Lord God, none of us do this very well.  But we pray that you would help us be better that, we may further your kingdom; but even more just rescue the perishing, bring healing to people who need it in their hearts and minds and that they may be with us all in the end, forever and ever.  I do pray it in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

What You Need To Know To Be a Witness 

MONDAY, FEBRUARY <Read 15 Psalm 27:1; Isaiah 60:19; John 1:1-5>

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” John 8:12

The first thing we need to know is the Person we are telling others about. In the art of selling, the maxim is that you cannot be a good salesman unless you know the product you are selling. In many ways, the same is true with our faith. When we witness, we are telling people about Jesus. The question for all of us is do we know Him well enough to tell others about Him? This does not mean we need a seminary degree or know Him perfectly. It does mean we know Him, love Him and are trying to follow Him as best we can. In other words, do we have a real growing relationship with Him? Is He the love and light of our lives? Some good questions we ask ourselves go something like this: First, on a scale of one to ten, where would you say your relationship with Jesus is right now? Second, do you want it to be better? Third, what are you willing to do to make it better? What are you willing to do?

Prayer: “Day by Day, Day by Day, O, Dear Lord, Three things I pray: To see Thee More Clearly, Love Thee more dearly, Follow Thee more nearly, Day by Day” Amen.

(Day by Day, The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration #55)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16 <Read 1 Peter 3:13-18>

“Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12b

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

The second thing we need to know is the message we are trying to communicate. If you had the opportunity, could you tell someone how they could become a Christian? Could you tell them the truth about their need for forgiveness and a holy and loving God who has provided it to set them free from condemnation? Could you tell them how Jesus is your light and walk in His light? Could you tell them what it means to walk in the light? Sadly, many Christians could not do so either because they do not really know themselves, are too embarrassed or too busy with other things. Knowing the message is the first step in expressing it when the opportunity presents itself. The same questions in the previous message apply. How well do you know the message? Do you want to know it better? What are you willing to do to make your knowledge better?

Prayer: Lord, give me a hunger to know your Gospel, not just to know the right words and phrases, but to know it so well because I have myself have experienced what you have done for me and I want with all my heart to tell others about the light and the truth and love I have known from You. Amen.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17 <Read John 3:16-18>

“I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the One I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.” John 8: 24

Do we really believe that people can be lost, forever separate from God? Judging by how we act in our churches, one might conclude that we do not. If we hear about ways to avoid cancer or lose weight, we are sure to tell others about it. We support laws regulating speed and building codes and some of us are supportive of the laws regulating smoking and trans-fat. Rarely, if ever, do we mention the absolute worst thing that could even happen to someone: dying without having the opportunity for forgiveness and spending eternity separate from God. Jesus makes it clear to the religious leaders that they will die in their sins because they did not believe in Him. Before we can be effective witnesses for Christ, we need two things. The first is love. We need to love people enough to tell them the greatest news there is. Second, we need a sense of urgency. Many around us are driving headlong off an eternal cliff. Are we willing to at least put up a stop sign? Are we willing to let the love of Christ, who went so far to die for the lost, to influence us to speak?

Prayer: Lord, give me the same missionary heart that you have, the heart that went to the lengths of becoming human and living among us so we as lost people might see you as you are and be found;, the heart that was willing to die so to that we might be forgive and so saved from being separate from you. Give me that heart. Give me that love. Amen.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18 <Read Romans 10:8-15>

“Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied. John 8:25

If we will be witnesses for Christ, we can expect opposition. The leaders first questioned Jesus’ truthfulness (v.13). Second, they questioned His parentage (v.19), probably referring to rumors that Joseph was not His real father and therefore He was illegitimate. Third, they mocked Him, asking where He is going, suggesting (perhaps hopefully) that He might kill Himself (22). In Jesus’ time, it was thought that anyone who killed themselves would end up in the deepest part of hell. Last, they ask “Who are you?” They did not really want to know. To them, He was a no body, illegitimate in every way. As we witness for Christ, we can always expect questions, both good and bad, and we should answer as best we can. At the same time, we should also expect those who ask questions, not because they want real answers, but because their intent is to insult, mock or ridicule. Are we willing to have our truthfulness or background questioned, to be ridiculed, mocked or thought unintelligent? In the end, we must remember it does not matter what others think of us. It only matters what the Lord thinks. He loves us and we are His children and that makes all the difference.

Prayer: Lord, help me to know you are with me and nothing can harm me or separate me from your love. Give me patience and love when others try to insult me. Give me peace and a clear mind when they try to turn me from the message you have given. Amen

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19 <Read 2 Corinthians 5:1-10>

“The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” John 8:29

One of the questions we ought to ask ourselves as Christians is why we do things. Why do we go to church? Why do we serve others? Why do we worship? Is it to please a spouse, a parent or boss? Is it what we get out of it mostly? It is some kind of guilt? These forms of motivation are not always bad, and sometimes they are at least a place to start, but they are inadequate. Being a powerful witness for Christ and indeed leading our Christian lives, requires that our basic motivation for anything we do should be to please our Lord. This was Jesus’ motivation and it should be ours. A good place to begin is to ask ourselves some simple questions in much that we do. Am I doing what I am doing because I love Jesus? Or, have I or will I stop doing something because I love Jesus? If we learn to please God more, we will experience the blessing of knowing our Lord’s presence more and more.

Prayer: Lord, help me Love you more and make my one desire to please you in all things; so that I might more and more like my Lord and my savior Jesus. Amen.

I read a story this week about an older couple who wanted to take a plane ride and they went to one of these places where you could get on and ride in a small airplane.  They found out it was one hundred dollars a head and the old guy said to the pilot, “Well, I just can’t afford that.”  The pilot said, “I’ll make a deal with you.  If I take you up in the air and you remain perfectly silent and you don’t shout out, I’ll give it to you for free.” So he took them up.  He did a loop-de-loop and he went around and he did all the banks and that kind of stuff and he kept waiting to hear them yell out and nothing happened.  Well, he took them back to the ground and he kind of looked back and he said, “Well, I did everything I could to make you shout out but I didn’t hear a word.”  And the old man said, “Well it was touch and go there when Mama fell out of the airplane….”

Not many things make Presbyterians yell out, get excited, but I think we should get excited about being a member of God’s Church.  As we prepare to do our congregational meeting a little later, it is a time to re-access and talk about our membership.  That’s what I want to talk about and I am organizing the sermon according to our three rocks, according to the vision that we have come up with:  Worship, Discipleship, and Service.  You will see that as we go along.

First, let’s pray.

Lord God, be with us now as we consider your Church and our part in it and what we are supposed to be and do.  As always Lord, I pray that there will be something in it that would speak to each one of us, that you would be talking to us and saying, “Do this” or “Don’t do that.”  If you would be saying to us, “Here I am, bless you and be thankful,” that you would say to us “I am your God and you are my people.”  I pray these things Lord in Jesus’ precious name.  Amen.

Well, first about church membership.  As we all know, if we haven’t lived in a cave in the last several months, there has been a huge discussion about health care and all those different things.  You know, some of the debate centers on the idea of what should be a privilege or what should be a right, what should be something we should expect.  That discussion happens on all kinds of arenas.  Sometimes people talk about it in terms of jobs: Is that something that is a right or is it a privilege?  I don’t pretend to be able to answer all those different kinds of questions, but today I want to talk about church membership; and very definitely, church membership, membership in God’s Church, is not just a right.  It is not an entitlement.  It is a privilege.  Well, why is that so?…because church membership, like your salvation, is a gift.  We all know that salvation is a gift, at least we should.  Salvation is something God gives us.  Paul says, “The wages of sin are death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.”  We receive that gift by faith.  “It is by grace we are saved.”  When you are saved, when you come to Christ, God places you in the Church.  You become a member.  It is kind of like the opposite of “membership has its privileges.”  In this case, salvation has its privileges and it is a membership in God’s Church.

Now, to some degree, of course, I am talking about “Big C”.  I am talking about God’s universal Church, the Church that has existed since the beginning of time and will go to the end of time. The Church that is in heaven and the Church that is here below, the Church that is here now and all over the world. We might ask a good question, “Well, O.K. I get the idea that being a member of ‘Big C’ is a privilege.  What about ‘little c’?  What about the local church?”  Well it too is a gift of grace.  “Little c” wouldn’t exist without “Big C”.  In other words, this expression of God’s Church wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Big Church.

But you know what?  That is part of the problem we have.  In every era God’s Church faces challenges.  Along the way the Church has faced heresies, threats from within, threats from without, people trying to destroy it.  In our history, American history, we are facing some similar things; but one of the things we are facing is a philosophical issue, lifestyle issue.  I would deem that as consumerism.  Now, I don’t think there is anything wrong with being consumers or the market economy or anything like that, but it bleeds over into how we view the Church.  You see, we view the Church kind of like a department store.  We can go to this one or that one to get what we need.  People hop from one church to another.  I know one pastor who was not very kind about that, he calls them “bunny hoppers.”  They hop from one place. “I have grown tired of this one; I’m going over to that one.”  Or “This one has a much better program and is more exciting than that one.”  That is not all wrong but it really does go right through the core of where we are in almost everything.  We have a choice to do literally everything.  That is a marketing strategy for a lot of people now. You have a choice of many applications for your cell phone.  I mean there are thousands of them.  You have a choice of what school you go to.  It used to be, as I was reminded this morning, that you had to go to this school in this district.  Now it is open enrollment.  You can choose anything you want.

Even cruise ships, you know, I have only been on one cruise.  But it used to be that you went at this time to eat.  Of course, they had food all the time, but if you wanted dinner you went at this time.  Now you have a choice.  There are choices everywhere.  The same is true with church.  It is treated as a department store, or even worse, a club membership. You know, I was an associate pastor of my first church in North Carolina.  I learned a lot about things I’ve never heard before at that church.  One woman came in and laid her check down on the desk and said, “I am here to pay my dues.”  That is the problem when we talk about membership in our culture because it sounds like we are a membership of Lifetime Fitness.  We expect services for our membership dues.  So a lot of people look at their tithe exactly the same way.  “I am paying my dues and I expect goods and services.”  So if you have a child, “I expect a program for them or I am going to take my dues somewhere else.”  Or “I have been a member of this place for fifty years and I havepaid my dues so I am owed.”  It goes across the board. It is this entitlement mentality.  You know if you ask any pastor what frustrates him or her most about church it is this. Maybe top five. In fact, many issues are this way.  When you sit down in front of a couple doing counseling, it is almost always, “My spouse is not giving me what I deserve.  I am unhappy (he or she).”  Or “Life is not giving me what I deserve.  I am unhappy.  What can I do about it?”  Heaven knows, a lot of things you deal with in a church are “we aren’t getting what we want.”  Now to some degree, it is legitimate.  But, as we talk starting about church this morning, I think there is a wonderful principle I heard about a few years ago.  To some degree it became a cliché but it is still kind of like, it is not about me.  It is profound.  Actually someone did put it on a little button.  It said, “I’m Third.”  In almost every case in life, as a Christian, it is God first, others second, and you are third, I’m third, we are all third.  It is not that we don’t think about ourselves but it is always in the context of God first, others second, we are third.  And, ladies and gentlemen, we, all us human beings, tend to go three, two, one.  Or at least, three, one, two.

Membership is a privilege, not a right, because it is a gift from God.  Whether it is “Big C” or “little c,” it is a privilege.  Yes, you made a decision to join here, it is still a privilege.  One of the great privileges we have, first and foremost, is Worship.  Worship is the most important thing that we do.  Do you know what, you know I told you we were going to talk about Worship, Discipleship and Service, do you know which of the three that will continue into heaven?  Well, that is a rhetorical question.  You already know.  It is worship.  Discipleship is growing to knowing God in his will and his truth.  I think we will learn more in heaven but it will be very different.  Discipleship will not be the same, and there will not be any need for service or missions because everybody will be a believer.  There won’t be any injustice, there won’t be any hunger, there won’t be any of those things.  Missions will go away, but worship will remain the same.  Now I know that is depressing to some of you.

I repeated this story many times about one of the prime ministers of England.  His name was Lloyd George.  He said, “The thought of worshipping into eternity made me an unbeliever for years.”  Well let me just say that worship in heaven will be exciting, it will be fun, it will be joyful in a way we can’t even think about.  But it continues.  It is the most important thing we do.  But again it is not about us, first.

I had a pastor friend who was approached by a member of his church who rarely attended services.  After talking for a few minutes he said, “John, I am curious.  Can you tell me what the purpose of worship is?”  And the man answered quickly, “Well the purpose of worship is to praise God.” He got that right; but my pastor friend then asked, “Why do you rarely attend worship?”  The man answered, “I mean no offense, but your sermons don’t reach me and I don’t enjoy the music.”  I hear that all the time and I am not insulted by it.  I learned a long time ago that I can’t reach everyone.  Everybody has a style of communication.  Everybody does it a different way, and it doesn’t necessarily touch everyone.  But there are three things to consider about worship.  One is worship is a service not a serve us.  Did you know that worship is considered a service?  We call it the Worship Service.  Often we do think, well I am going to a worship service.  I think, in our minds, we think we are going to be served; but it is considered, theologically, a time to serve God.  But very often we come, going, I hope the sermon means something to me or the music, or whatever it happens to be.  Now, remember, that is a legitimate consideration; but it is third.  It is third.  Others are second.  God is first.

Another thing to consider is that it takes effort to worship.  It takes effort to listen to a sermon.  Often we come passively.  Jazz me! Reach me! Inspire me!  Again, legitimate considerations.  But we are third.  You have to come with some effort toward God and listen, take notes, listen to the music even though it isn’t quite your style.  What are the words saying?  Even if nothing happens, it is still O.K.

Thirdly, and this is very serious, if you are a Christian and you are not prevented by some illness or job or other legitimate reason, and you are not going to worship, you are not in God’s will.  It is not an option.  You might say, “Well I am worshipping at the lake or the golf course, or the beach.”  Fine.  Great. You should have a quiet time personally with God, but corporate worship, almost everything in the Bible when it mentions worship, it is corporate.  It is community.  You were saved into a community. It isn’t just you and me.  It isn’t John Wayne.  It is about being together. If you aren’t attending somewhere, you are not in God’s will.  Now, I want to be very careful here because you might walk out and say, “Did you know what I heard at church today?  Chris said ‘You are going to hell if you don’t go to worship’”.  No.  We are all saved by grace.  We are saved by grace, not by works.  But if you don’t go to worship somewhere you are missing something.  You are missing what God wants you to do.  Even more seriously, you are making worship about you.  You may not think so, but you are.  You are making worship about you.

That leads to the second point about worship.  It is so important I made two points about it.  Again, it is the I am third, rule.  Worship is about God, others and you in that order.  Yes, when I say “you” I mean me, too.  It is about God, others, and you.  Notice what the Bible says, “Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God.  Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God.” (Romans 4:11) The Bible is very serious about this.  Very serious about this.  Again it is the rule of three.  Very practically speaking, that means that how blessed we feel is a secondary consideration when it comes to worship.  Actually, it is a third consideration.  The real question first is how does God feel about our worship?  You see we are going there to worship God, first, and the question is, what does God think of your worship?  Does he have a smile?  Or is he just going,” he wasn’t there today.  I’m not sure what he was doing.”  “She wasn’t really thinking about me.”  There may be some legitimate reasons for that, but in most cases, are we thinking about playing golf at one? Or lunch? Or, I just don’t really care for this?

It is about God and secondly it is about others.  You know I mentioned that in the Bible worship is almost always in the context of community.  It is about others.  Most of us know who Fred Rogers is.  He was obviously “Mr. Rogers” but he was a Presbyterian minister.  One day he went to a church and heard the biggest turkey of a sermon that he had ever heard in his life.  He was sitting there, and you know the toughest audience in the world is ministers.  When I go and speak in front of a group of chaplains it is like “Oh my gosh.”  I am one of them and I know I can’t judge them because I have been there and I have sinned against brothers who are speaking.  But here he is, and he said, “It is the worst sermon I have ever heard.  He didn’t know what he was doing.  He didn’t know where he was going.  It was delivered poorly, and all of it.”  Then he looked next to him and saw the woman next to him crying because it had touched her so deeply.  It was about her that day, not him. It is about everybody else.  If you don’t show up, you are missing from the body.  You are missing from the body and there is something missing there.

And third, it is about you.  I’m not going to say it isn’t.  There are considerations.  If you go to a place and you are a member of a church and you just can’t stand the worship, you should go somewhere else.  You should go somewhere else where you can get something out of it; because if you are not going at all, you are not in God’s will.  You are not in God’s will.

The second piece, following Christ takes desire and effort.  Here I am talking about Discipleship.  One of the main purposes of God saving us is to make us mature in him.  That is what the whole vision is about, that our church is going to focus on worship and discipleship and among many verses, Ephesians 4:15, “God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything.” In other words, God’s purpose for you and me is to make us a little more like Christ every day.  To make us a little bit more like Jesus Christ every day.  Discipleship is necessary.  It is something we all have to be and do. Now what is it?  Well, I heard an example last week in the Marriage course.  I was listening to what they were saying about marriage and the teacher said this:  Marriage is the most important relationship you will ever have—the most important.  They anticipated the objection, well what about the relationship with our children?  They pointed out that our children, our whole goal for them is separation.  From day one when we raise our children, we are trying to get them out of the house, because it is better that way… I am just kidding.  Speaking as an empty nester, it is better, a whole lot better…but that is another issue.  Now we want them to become independent so that they have their own families.  But in marriage your desire is to grow closer for the rest of your lives.  Actually our relationship with God is both of these things.  Discipleship is about learning to follow Jesus, to know Him personally more and more. It is also becoming stronger in our knowledge of the truth in our faith so that we can stand when the chips are down and the bottom falls out, because it will.  It will.

You know, most of us have probably heard of The Picture of Dorian Gray, that character in literature looks young all the time for years and decades; but he has this picture which he keeps covered up.  It actually shows his true state of age.  So he may look young but the man in the picture is a decrepit looking person.  I think spiritually a lot of people are just like that.  Many people don’t grow up in their faith.  It takes effort.  We have to try.  We can’t just blow it off.  We choose what we want to do and how we use our time.  I encourage you to make a commitment to being a disciple and to celebrate it.

Last but not least if you are not serving, you are missing God’s purpose for you.  If you are not serving, you are missing God’s purpose for you.  Among many verses, Ephesians 2:10:  “It is God himself who made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.” That is what it is about.  Have you ever wondered why God just doesn’t immediately take us up to heaven the moment we accept his grace?  Well the answer is that God has saved us to serve.  This is the third privilege of being a church member.  We serve people in the church and outside of the church.  It is our purpose.  It is what we are to do.  It is part of the fabric of the Christian life.  It includes those actions of worship and discipleship.  It is a response to worship and as we grow in ministry we stop asking who is going to meet my needs and we start asking more and more how can I meet the needs of others.  It doesn’t matter how old we are or how young we are.  Yes, when we get older it is harder to get out of the house, but we can still pray; we can still do things, if we want to, if we decide to.

I read a wonderful story about a Chinese Christian woman who was arrested because of her faith, put into a horrible prison and she couldn’t talk to anybody about her Lord. She decided she would do something about it.  She volunteered to clean all the toilets in everybody else’s cell.  As she went and cleaned up everybody else’s toilet, she would tell the people in the cells about Jesus.  She made it happened.  She served.  Serving is what we are called to do.

A man who was a very strong man in his ego but he was trying to grow asked, “How do I know if I am growing as a servant?”  And someone said, “When someone treats you like a servant, it won’t bother you.”

Find out.  Ask God what you can do for Him, not what others can do for you.

I want to close in a prayer.  As we approach the communion table, I would ask you to think about parts of this prayer that apply to you, that you and I, we all, might become greater servants in our lives.  The prayer goes like this:

Lord God, you asked for my hands that I might use them for your purpose.  I gave them for a moment then withdrew them for the work was hard.

You asked for my mouth to speak out against injustice and tell others about the Christ.  I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused.

You asked for my eyes to see the pain of poverty in those that were hurting.  I closed them for I did not want to see.

You asked for my life that you might work through me, and I gave a small part that I might not get involved.

Lord forgive me for my calculated efforts to serve you only when it is convenient, only in places where it is safe, and only with those who make it easy to do.

Lord forgive us, renew us, make us usable instruments that we might take seriously the meaning of your cross and your life and your death and your resurrection.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Privileges of Church Membership

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8 <Read Ephesians 2:19-22> 

“You are members of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.” Ephesians 2:19b (LB)

We are called to belong, not just believe!  Our relationship to Christ is personal, but God never intends it to be private.  Through Christ, we are connected to every other believer, and we will belong to each other for eternity.  The Bible says we are put together, joined together, built together, members together, heirs together, fitted together, held together and will be together forever.  What does this mean?  First, we should remember the Christian life is more than just commitment to Christ, it includes a commitment to other Christians.  The first decision brings salvation, the second brings fellowship and service.  When we find salvation, God makes us a part of His family and gives us the privilege of not only being a part of His family, but serving that family.  Second, we must remember that none of us can fulfill God’s purposes by ourselves.  Left to ourselves and our own devices, we will always drift away.  Our faith can only grow in the context of God’s community, and we stay strong only as we live and love and work together.

Prayer:  Lord, help me to see the privilege of being part of your family, the church.  Help me to learn to love your people and to serve them and so find my purpose and place among your people.  Amen.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 <Read Romans 8:1-8>

 Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God.  Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. (The Message) Romans 8:7

 A pastor friend approached a member of his church who rarely attended services.  After talking for a few minutes, he said, “John, I am curious.  Can you tell me what the purpose of worship is?”  The man answered quickly, “The purpose of worship is to praise God.”  My pastor friend then asked, “Why do you rarely attend worship?”  The man answered, “I mean no offense, but your sermons do not reach me and I do not enjoy the music.”  The church member knew the “right” answer when asked the purpose of worship, but his actions showed that in his heart he considered worship service about him.  He did not go because HE did not get anything out of the sermon or the music.  The first privilege we have as church members is worship and worship is first and foremost about God.  It is called a Worship Service because in it we render service to God as we thank Him for who He is, and what He has done for us and give Him honor and love.  That means, that how blessed we feel, is a secondary consideration.  The question is how blessed does God feel.  Second, Worship is not an option for a Christian.  It is one of the initial ways we fulfill the first commandment (“Love the Lord your God….”).  When we treat worship as being about us or treat it as an option, we fail to honor God as the Lord of our lives and rob ourselves of the true blessings that worship brings.

Prayer: “You alone are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power, because you created all things, and they came into existence and were created because of your will.” Revelation 4:11

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 <Read Ephesians 4: 10-16>

God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do.  (The Message) Ephesians 4:15

Our Father’s goal for us is not success or comfort, but to maturity, to develop in us the characteristics of Jesus Christ.  Sad to say, millions of Christians grow older but never grow up.  They are stuck in perpetual spiritual infancy.  The reason is that they never intended to grow.  They appreciate the blessings of being a Christian, but fail to see the intent is for them to grow as disciples of our Lord.  The second privilege of being a church member is growing as disciples of our Lord.  A disciple is a follower and to grow we must follow Christ.  We grow by learning about Him and His will through the Bible.  When the first disciples chose to follow Jesus, they did not understand all the implications of their decision.  They simply responded to Jesus’ invitation.  That is all we need to get started: decide to be a follower of Christ no matter what.  Then, as we continue to get serious about becoming like Christ, the Lord helps us begin to act in new ways, helps us let go of some old routines, to develop new habits, and change the way we think. Our Christian life is far more than creeds and convictions; it includes conduct and character.  Our deeds must be consistent with our creeds, and our beliefs must be backed up with our behavior.

Prayer:  Lord, Help me walk as Jesus walked, with Him my only Savior and perfect model, His mind my inward guest, His meekness my clothing, and His love my light.  Amen.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11 <Read Mark 10:35-45>  

“It is God himself who made us what we are and gave us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago, He planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.” Ephesians 2:10 (LB)

Have you ever wondered why God does not just immediately take us to heaven the moment we accept his grace?  The answer is that God has saved us to serve. The third privilege of being a church member is service.  God has a ministry for us in His church and a mission for you in the world.  Sadly, many Christians miss this. They appreciate knowing God through Christ and the blessings that come from His grace, but miss the call to serve and so miss the very purpose for which God not only saved us, but created us in the first place.  Serving is an essential part of the fabric of the Christian life and are the actions of both worship and discipleship. Service is the natural response of worship, as we seek to thank God by fulfilling the missions to which He calls us.  And as we grow in maturity, we stop asking, “Who is going to meet my needs?” and we start asking more and more, “How can I meet the needs of others?”

Prayer:  Lord, fill me with an over-flowing sense of love and compassion for those around me, the reign of love my motive, and the law of love my rule.  Help me ask first: “What can I do for others?” before I ask what others can do for me.  Amen.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13 <Read John 17:13-23>

“In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world.”  (The Message) John 17:18

God is at work in the world, and He wants us to join Him.  This assignment is called our mission. God wants you to have both a ministry in the Body of Christ and a mission in the world.  Our life mission is both personal to us and shared with fellow Christians.  It is not only our obligation as part of our obedience to God, but also our privilege to be part of what God is doing in the world.  Our Lord clearly understood His life as a mission.  At the age of twelve he said, “I must be about my Father’s business,” and twenty-one years later, dying on the cross, he said, “It is finished.” Like bookends, these two statements frame a well-lived, purposeful life. If we will commit to fulfilling our mission in life no matter what it costs, we will experience the blessing of God in ways that few people ever experience. There is almost nothing God will not do for the man or woman who is committed to serving the kingdom of God.  If we want to be used by God, we must be willing to be used by Him, and if we are, then we can stand before God one day and say, “Mission Accomplished!”

Prayer:  Lord, help me to want the things you want and to learn to do the things you do.  Fill me with a desire to serve; that will overcome my focus on myself, my desire, and my own comfort, and seek to fulfill the mission to which You have called me.  Amen.

Now, I guess it wasn’t as funny as I thought it might be.

Well today I am going to talk a little bit about another kind of drink that Jesus talks about in the passage today that we are dealing with.  As you know, I have been preaching through the book of John and we have come to the end of Chapter 7.  This is the end of when Jesus attends the Feast of Tabernacles.  Now in those days they would have many feasts during the year, celebrations, and this was an eight day celebration of God’s blessing of the children of Israel in the desert.  Jesus taught every day in the temple.  During those times, on every day, there where lots of ceremonies; and on the last day the priests would walk in procession and everyone would follow them out of the city to the Pool of Siloam; and, with a golden cup, they would dip it into the pool and take it back to the Temple.  Everybody would march out and march back in, the symbol of water in the desert; and Jesus uses this time to cry out in the Temple, “If you want living water, come to me.”

I am going to focus on that today, but as you read the passage today, we will read the whole passage, also notice what happens, the divisions that Jesus causes, the arguments that people have about him.  Some people thought he was a prophet.  Other people thought he was something else.  From John, the end of Chapter 7: (John 7:37-52)

³⁷On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” ³⁹By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

⁴⁰On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

⁴¹Others said, “He is the Christ.”

Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? ⁴²Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” ⁴³Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. ⁴⁴Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

⁴⁵Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶“No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.

⁴⁷“You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. ⁴⁸“Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

⁵⁰Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ⁵¹“Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?”

⁵²They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

Would you pray with me?

Lord God, thank you again for John’s words— so many things in his words that come from no where else.  Thank you for the insight that we have about Jesus and who he is and who he is for us.  Speak to us Lord in our hearts and minds things that we need to hear today.  Be with the one who peaches and forgive him of his many sins for they are indeed many.  Be with us now Lord with that same Spirit that Jesus mentions, for we pray in his name.  Amen.

As we go through this passage as I have often done, I have an initial observation about the passage as a whole.  As you go through this passage and study it, take note of the divisions that Jesus causes.  You know, we tend to think that Jesus always brings peace, that he always smoothes over the waters, that he is the Prince of Peace; and certainly, he is.  But if you read the gospels, we find that Jesus sometimes is just a plain trouble maker.  It is like he throws a grenade in the crowd and he says things, that, “What?”  Or he does things that upset people.  Now he may not being doing that on purpose but these things happen, these divisions happen, because of who he is.  Now we don’t know all the reasons that it happens, but certainly as we look at these passages, we see that Jesus causes these divisions for lots of different reasons, among them because he said that they would happen.

Listen to what he says.  He says in Luke 12, and actually it is repeated in Matthew, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.  From now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.  They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.  And even in his own house, a man will find enemies.”  Jesus said it would happen.  Well why would it happen?  Another reason is this idea of truth.  You know, I have found in life that if you say things in a categorical manner, that is, something is always true; someone will always dispute with you.  “Well it may not be always true…”  It almost always happens, doesn’t it?  And that’s O.K., but sometimes Jesus says things; in fact, many times he says it in a categorical manner. He says things, “I am the truth.  I am the way.  No one comes to the Father except by me” and on and on it goes. We have seen some of those things.  We will see them again.  And that’s difficult.

These days there is almost no truth that is considered always true for all time, especially religious truth.  If you even suggest that something might be true for everyone, particularly in religion, the labels come out with a vengeance.  “You’re bigoted, unloving, unwelcoming, not to mention, probably not too smart.”

Another reason is that Jesus asks for total commitment.  Listen to what he says. He says, “We must love him more than our work, our political party, our possessions, our family and even our lives.”  He says, “If you don’t hate your life, you can’t be my disciple.”  He says” if you follow me it may mean the loss of your friendship, possessions, your physical life.”  He says that “we must believe that he is the truth above all others and then speak the truth to the world, no matter what others think of us.” Wow!  That’s tough stuff.  That’s tough stuff, but Jesus says it.  He says, you must have the courage of your convictions and stand out in the world, not as someone who draws fire to yourself on purpose.  We are to speak the truth in love; but it will come and we must be ready for it.

Now to the passage at hand.  There was so much in this passage, again, and I have decided to focus on the very well known verse at the beginning when Jesus cries out in the temple and says, “If you want to drink living water, come to me.”  Then he says.. John has a little explanation; he talks about Jesus’ talking about the Holy Spirit.  What’s going on here?

Jesus simply wants people who listen to him to drink.  He wants us to drink from him.  He wants the world to drink of him.  But the problem is, to coin a phrase, I guess, or to copy one, is that most of us have a drinking problem.  In other words, we reliably, almost always, and again maybe that’s categorical, but, we almost always seek to quench our thirst in other ways.  God wants us to drink of him.  Now, of course, he is talking about spiritual drink.  The fact is that you and I are thirsty people.  You and I are hungry people and I am not talking about simply physically.  We hunger for something else.  Yet, we continually seek to fill that hunger—we might call that an eating disorder, spiritually— and we continue to try to drink from other wells. So God, in my view, actually it is a view of a professor I had and I have never forgot what he said, he said, “God has rigged the world not to work.”  God has rigged the world not to work, and isn’t it true that nothing truly satisfies.  Even the best of things in this world are not quite enough after a while.  We get bored with them easily, even the best of relationships, even the best of things that we have.  Everything gets rusty.  What my professor friend was actually, theologically, talking about if you look back at the beginning of Genesis, God says to Adam after Adam has sinned, “Cursed be the ground because of you.”  What does that mean?  It means that work is not going to be much fun because things are going to go wrong.

One of you, I won’t mention your name, was mentioning a sermon I preached a while back when I said “When we get to heaven we are going to work.”  That person said, “What!  I was hoping we wouldn’t have to do that.”  Well I believe we will, except, when we get to heaven, it will be fun.  It will be fulfilling.  But you know, if you plow the ground and plant the seeds, guess what you are going to get?  Half corn and half weeds.  Isn’t it true when you grow a garden, if you don’t keep it up, you get the weeds.  Isn’t it true that what we do, sooner or later grows tiresome; and the car that we bought yesterday gets a dent today and rusts tomorrow.  God has rigged the world not to work.

Now we may look at that and go, well that is kind of mean, you know particularly when we look at things like Haiti.  You know the inevitable questions come out about that:  Why the Haitians?  Why earthquakes?  Why now?  And frankly, we don’t have the answer to those questions.  Some people try to give them, like Pat Robertson, you know, the one trying to say that a couple hundred years ago somebody made a deal with the devil, and that kind of thing.  I wouldn’t know.   Who knows?  Obviously in human life there are consequences to human choices and certainly those people, like everyone else, are sinners; but they were certainly sinned against for two hundred years with people robbing them, then they built houses which collapsed on one another.  I don’t know why.  But these things happen.  The Bible says they will happen.  And we ought to do something about it. We should rush to aid but we also should see the bigger picture.  And what is the bigger picture of hurricanes and earthquakes?  This world is not your home, and yet, we reliably try to make it so.  That is one of the biggest lessons in the Christian life—that this world is not our home, and we need to live like pilgrims and strangers because we have another home.  That doesn’t mean we don’t live well, or we don’t enjoy life.  We should.  But this world is not our home.  And yet, ninety-nine percent of our focus is right here.  We have a drinking problem, because we don’t drink from the well that God has given us.  We try to dig our own.

Now if you are following the outline, you’ll notice that number 2 and 3 are switched.  As I was looking at it, it seemed like that flowed a little bit better. What I mean by this is that Jesus says that we have an inheritance as Christians, and it is none other than the Holy Spirit.  You know when people think about an inheritance they are usually thinking about someone dying.  Now, I won’t ask anybody to raise their hands, but if you have ever had someone in your family that you thought you might get an inheritance from, you know, sometimes we think, how long is it going to be?  Now I am only kidding, well,,,, Don’t look over your shoulder.  Or at least the mystery writers at least help people along to get the inheritance.  In other words, you have to die to get an inheritance; and it is true for Christians, to some degree.  We are going to heaven.  We are going to get an inheritance because we are children of God and we don’t even know how great it is going to be. We can’t imagine it.  But do you know what?  We get the inheritance now, in the form of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” and that is none other than the Holy Spirit.

For those of you who are biblical scholars, before Christ, the Holy Spirit was certainly in the lives of the Israelites but mostly like an umbrella, if you will, overseeing them and influencing them.  Very few people had the Holy Spirit within them.  David did.  Some prophets did.  A few people did.  But when Jesus came, things changed. The Holy Spirit has been given to all of us who believe.  Paul says, “The Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing the inheritance;” you know, like when you put a deposit down for a house, its earnest money.  So literally, the Holy Spirit lives within you and me.  But you know, again, we sort of quench the Spirit in our lives.  I think some people, some Christians are sort of afraid of this idea of the Holy Spirit, thinking, well that is kind of spooky.  Or, we are just sort of saying, “O.K. Lord, I am going to keep you in the living room while I have the run of my own house.”  But again, we have a drinking problem.  The Holy Spirit is meant to not only be in our lives, but we should be in a relationship with him all the time.  And water is just what water is.  We have to drink all the time in order to quench our thirst.  It is not a one-shot deal.  Yet again, reliably, we are off try to fulfill ourselves in some other way.

I have a friend who has a dog and he began to feed the dog all the table scraps.  It wasn’t very long before the dog wouldn’t eat the dog food.  It began to gain a little weight.  So he took the dog to the vet and said, “Doc, I have this problem.  My dog won’t eat dog food any more.”  And he told him the story. The vet said, “Put the bowl of dog food on the floor; don’t feed him anything else and he will eat.”  The man said, “You don’t understand.  My dog is a connoisseur now.  My dog is a connoisseur.  He won’t dog food.”  And the vet said, “If you don’t feed him anything else, sooner or later he will eat.”  Sooner or later he will eat.

That is what God does with us, sometimes.  I talked about that with the airplane, how God sometimes has hard things in our lives; sometimes God rigs things not to work, so that we will eat from him.  He does it because he loves us, not because he hates us or he is mean to us, but because of our natures we tend to go in the wrong directions.  You don’t have to die to get that inheritance.

Thirdly, if God gives it, you have to share it or it will grow stale.  If God gives it, you have to share it or it will grow stale.  Most of us have heard the illustration of the Dead Sea.  The Dead Sea is dead because all the water goes in and doesn’t go out.  We know what it is like when we stop up something and the water just sits there.  In other words, our water has to flow.  It is kind of like a muscle.  You know back a long time ago I was pastor of a small church and I was chief cook and bottle washer, did everything in the church, including the youth group. We were having a lock-in and so we were all spending the night, all night in the church.  I invented this game.  I called it balloon volley ball but it was not really just a balloon; it was, you know, one of those rubber balls that you blow up and it is about this big around and it bounces like that.  You know what is cool about that?  You could hit it as hard as you want and get hit by it and no one gets hurt.  So this was sort of a violent volleyball game.  I put a table out in the middle and we wham like that and then wham back.  It didn’t matter….everybody was laughing. But I thought that you could not get hurt in it, but little did I know:  I could get hurt in it.  Well I swung one time to hit this thing, missed, and hit some kids palm and dislocated this finger.  I do this stuff to myself all the time, but… anyway, they put it back together; but I had a young doctor and he didn’t tell me what I needed to know, that I needed to do therapy. What I found out three months later, this finger wouldn’t move any more.  I began to do therapy on it but it still doesn’t move like it should if I had moved it.

If we don’t use things they get stiff.  Muscles grow atrophied and our faith can die.  Any relationship you have must be maintained and used and shared or it dies.  Steve Brown tells a story of a youth person who came into his office and said, “My faith is dying, Pastor Brown, I don’t know what to do.  God seems so far away.”  And Steve, basically being who Steve is, basically said, “It is because you are not sharing your faith.  You haven’t shared it and therefore it is dying.”  The youth got mad at him and left, but came back a couple days later and said, “You know, Steve, you’re right.  I shared my faith today and the Father is alive again.”

If we don’t share our faith, it is no wonder God seems far away.  If we don’t give it away, and the Holy Spirit is meant to give away, that is the remarkable thing in what Jesus says, he says that “if we have the Holy Spirit it will flow through us to other people.”  Isn’t that remarkable, that we become channels of the Holy Spirit?

Last but not least, you just saw it:  Don’t forget to eat the dessert.  This phrase comes from a story I heard about a woman, could be a man, could be anybody, really, but they went to eat somewhere and the waitress came up and asked if they would like dessert.  The woman said, no, politely, thinking she would have to pay for it.  But as she was walking out, she overheard the waitress say, “Well the dessert was included.”  She fussed and she fumed over that, that she didn’t get her dessert.  I think Christians do the same thing.

You know, often, the stereotype for Christians is that you have to be always serious and always kind of glum.  Kind of like that picture of me in my uniform, I look very serious.  I call it the Army smile.  But you know Christians are supposed to be alive.  Yes, life is serious.  Life hurts.  But we have the Holy Spirit and we have Jesus. We have the Lord.  And we are supposed to give it away.  As we give it away, we have more joy; we have more of the Lord. It works that way; but if we keep it to ourselves, we die.  We forget that we are supposed to have joy.  Jesus says that “the Spirit had not been given until later because the Lord had not been glorified.” When John uses the term glory, he is talking about Jesus’ death on the cross.  Most of the time when we think of Jesus’ death on the cross is that he died to save us from hell.  That’s true; but even more, he died to get the hell out of us.  In other words, our lives are to begin now, not later.  Dessert is first, if you will; and we are to have a life that is different than any.

So as we close today, I would ask you to ask God to make it different for you.  If you have a Christian life that isn’t that real, ask him to give you the Spirit, or put you in touch with the Spirit already in you, and ask him to make it real.  Ask him to make your Christian life different.  And he will.

Let’s pray together.

Lord God thank you for the words we have through Jesus Christ.  Thank you that you have given us you, the Holy Spirit, in our lives.  Make him real to us and give us the joy that comes through him and may that joy and that message and that power flow from us to those around us.  Through Jesus Christ we pray.  Amen.

Do You Have a Drinking Problem?

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1  <Read Isaiah 55: 1-9>

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.   John 7:37                                                                                                                      

A great teacher once said: “God has rigged the world not to work.” What he meant by this is basically two things. First, there is nothing in the world that satisfies completely, nothing that really lasts, nothing that fills the deepest longing that is in all of us. There is no possession, no fame, and no relationship that truly fills us.  Yet, all of us have a longing for something that lasts, something that feeds our souls and quenches our spiritual thirst.  The teacher’s point was the “something” we all want is none other than God Himself.  God has made everything else so that it does not satisfy so that in the end, we should seek Him and find Him.  Jesus is remarkably straight forward.  If you are hungry, eat.  If you are thirsty, drink.  In other words, He is saying, “I am it.  I am what you looking for.  I will quench your thirst.  I will feed you with food that will give you life. Won’t you come to dinner?”

Prayer: “Taking my sin, my cross, my shame, Rising again I bless your Name; You are my all in all. When I fall down you pick me up, when I am dry you fill my cup; You are my all in all.  Jesus, Lamb of God.  Worthy is your name!  Jesus, Lamb of God.  Worthy is your Name!”

                                                                          (You are my All in All, Verse 2, The Celebration Hymnal, #583)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2  <Read John 4: 7-15>

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.  John 7:38

There is a great principle we should write on our hearts and minds and even on the door of our refrigerators: “If God gives it, you have to share it or it goes stale.”  Most of us know that the Dead Sea is one big stagnant pond.  It is stagnant because all the water flows in, but none flows out.  Many Christians are like this.  They have faith and perhaps they spent a lot of time nurturing it through worship and Bible study.  Like the muscles in our body, our faith not only needs to be fed, it needs to put to work or it becomes atrophied; like water, it must move to remain clear and alive.  Sadly, many churches are this way too.  Once alive with the purpose of sharing Jesus, time wore away the letters and their focus became on “—us.” This is evidenced by churches that have either died or are in the process of dying are all around us.  Our faith in Jesus, even our very lives, must be given away to grow.

Prayer: “We’ve a Savior to show to the nations Who the path of sorrow hath trod, That all the world’s great peoples, Might come to the truth of God. For the darkness shall turn to dawning, And dawning to noonday bright, And Christ’s great kingdom shall come on earth, The kingdom of love and light.”

                                                   (We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations, Verse 4, The Celebration Hymnal, #446)

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3  <Read John 14:15-21>                    

By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.   John 7:39a

Have you ever felt like you could not go on, but then found the strength to do so?  Have you ever felt a presence that gave you the feeling you are never really alone?  Have you ever been at a loss about what to say but then the words were there?  Have you ever felt like something you did was wrong and you needed to make it right?  Have you ever been full of joy and have not really known from where the joy came?  All of these experiences are evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives—God Himself living in us and through us.  This is the great heritage we have as Christians and something many Christians fail to fully grasp.  The Scripture tells us that when we come to Christ and give our lives to Him, He makes us His children and gives us an inheritance. That inheritance is a new relationship with God as our Father and a new life which is eternal, a whole new purpose of living in Him and for Him.  The wonder of this inheritance is that it is not just something we get later; it is something that we now have through the Holy Spirit.  Our new relationship with God is right now; our new purpose of living for Him is right now; and our new life is right now.

Prayer: “Child of the Kingdom, be filled with the Spirit!  Nothing but fullness thy longing can meet. ‘Tis the enduement for life and for service. Thine is the promise, so certain, so sweet!  I will pour water on him that is thirsty; I will pour floods on the dry ground. Open your heart for gift I am bringing; While you are seeking Me I will be found.”                             (Come, Every One Who is Thirsty, Verse 3, The Celebration Hymnal, #720)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4  <Read John 17: 1-5>

Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.  John 7: 39b

When John uses the term “glorify,” he almost always referred to the cross.  In other words, Jesus’ death on the cross brings Him glory, not only because through the cross Jesus would redeem us, but through the cross God gave us the Holy Spirit and enabled you and me to live a victorious Christian life.  Many Christians do not understand this.  We say, “Praise God, Jesus died for my sins and when I get to heaven I am going to be like Him.”  That is certainly true, but God wants us to start right now.  The purpose and the power of the cross of Jesus Christ is that God wants us to live for Him now, not in our power, but in His power, the power of the Spirit which He has given to us.  Do you see it?  Through the cross, we have been forgiven and have been made children and heirs.  Heaven is indeed our destination and inheritance.  Even more, through the cross, we have been given the Holy Spirit and have been given purpose and power.  So many of us live our Christian lives like someone hanging off a cliff holding onto a tree branch.  The fact is God has given us victory now and wants us to live with it.  

Prayer: “Breathe on me breath of God, Fill me with life anew, That I may love what Thou dost love, And do what Thou wouldst do.”                        (Breathe on me breath of God, Verse 1, The Celebration Hymnal, #393)

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5  <Read Luke 12:49-53>

Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.  John 7:43

These days there is almost no truth that is considered always true for all time, especially religious truth.  If you even suggest that something might be truth for everyone, the labels come out with a vengeance: bigoted, unloving, unwelcoming, not to mention disdain for your intelligence.  This puts Christians in a difficult place because Jesus’ requirements for us who follow Him are quite uncompromising.  He says we must love Him more than our work, our political party, our possessions, our family, and even our lives (Luke 14:25).  He says our purpose must be to follow Him even if it means loss of friendship, possessions, status or our physical lives (Matthew 6:19-24; Luke 14:26).  He says we must believe He is the truth above all others (John 14:1-5) and then to speak that truth to the world, no matter what others think of us or do to us.  As Christians, we do not believe we have all the truth, but we do believe that Christianity is all true.  Even more, we believe that Jesus is the embodiment of truth and life, purpose and salvation.

Prayer: “Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small: Love so amazing so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.”

                                                    (When I survey the Wondrous Cross, Verse 4, The Celebration Hymnal, #321)