DOING WITHOUT DO OVERS

“What is behind-a me is not-a before me!” shouted the Italian racer as he ripped the rear view mirror off the windshield, and put the pedal to the metal in one of those silly seventies rally movies. We used to quote it when heading out on family road trips, exaggerating the dialect for effect.

Most of us would like to live that way, “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead…” as the Apostle Paul would say. But the truth is, many of us do look back, are held back emotionally and spiritually, by mistakes we’ve made in the past, things we wish we could “do over.” We don’t necessarily call them sins. We’re still uncomfortable with that verdict. But if we were honest we’d admit that most of them were. We were raging, or deceitful, or covetous, gossipy, greedy, or gluttonous. We indulged our sinful nature and it cost us. In our guilt we look for “do-overs,” ways to fix what we did wrong, or indulge melancholia in an attempt to appease God.

Trust me: God doesn’t need your melancholy. If you’re living with some left over guilt from 2010 allow me to share some encouragement for 2011. It comes from Hebrews chapter ten.

Under the old covenant, The Law of Moses, “every priest stood daily ministering and offering, time after time the same sacrifices, which could never take away sins.” (Vs. 11 paraphrased). That didn’t help much because the sacrifice of an animal was never enough to cover all sins. In fact, verse three explains, “…in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.”

All the Law could do was to remind us of our inadequacies and encourage an eternal longing for “do overs.” But Jesus Christ, “having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD…” Sitting down is a symbol for finished work. Jesus was one and done. He made one sacrifice, himself, and it was enough. Hebrews explains that the whole Old Testament temple system was a model, a type, a shadow of the real thing in heaven. When Jesus made his sacrifice it wasn’t offered on earth alone, it was offered in the real temple, the heavenly temple. It was once for all, eternal, infinite in its ability to wipe out the sins of all who believe. In other words, the sacrifice of Christ enables all of us to do without the do overs.

So no more do overs. Grab that mirror, rip it off the windshield, and say it with me as we head off into 2011: WHAT IS BEHIND-A ME IS NOT-A BEFORE ME!

THE CHRISTMAS QUESTION

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. (Luke 1:26-27 NIV)

Every year the world’s largest automakers come together in Detroit Michigan for a stellar event. First string entertainers man multiple stages, high-tech extravaganzas of light and sound and video and graphics fill the conference hall, multiple 5 star banquets are laid on in the adjoining ball rooms for the VIP guests and millions of dollars are spent producing the Detroit Auto Show. Oh and don’t forget the press. The automotive media and every other media service is there in great numbers and wined and dined like royalty because after all, they are the town criers of the electronic age, the royal heralds and chroniclers of the 21st Century.

And what is all this for? What is all that moving and grooving, singing and schmoozing and million dollar light show all about? Well, Ford and GM and Chrysler and all the other big names just want to make an announcement. They have some new models coming out and they want to be sure that everybody hears about them.

2010 years ago God did something totally new, something completely different from anything that had ever been done before. But compared to the Detroit Auto Show and most other new things we hear about, he barely made a peep about it. God never announces things like we do. Most of the time, when God makes an announcement about something he’s going to do he does it in an out of the way place, to an unsuspecting person at an inopportune time and lets the rest of the world catch up very slowly.

That’s what he did on the first. God sent a supernatural messenger to the teenage fiancé of a Jewish carpenter in a tiny backwater Judean town to tell her that an unplanned pregnancy would precede her marriage. I can’t think of a more inconspicuous and, from Mary’s point of view inconvenient way to usher in the arrival of the Savior of the World. Mary’s life was going to be turned upside down. Yet that’s the way God works. The Christmas question for Mary was: would she cooperate with God? Would she receive this blessing mixed with such difficulty?

Incarnation is always difficult, always inconvenient from a human point of view. When Jesus wants to make his presence known in your life, to work in you and through you to bless the world, it will most likely happen at a time and in a situation that is problematic for you, awkward, just plain hard. The Christmas question for you is: will you let him be Lord in that moment?

The Savior does not need and will not use a big, loud, splashy forum to do his work. He comes in quiet ways to humble people who are willing to cooperate, even when his timing is inconvenient. How will you answer the Christmas question?

RANDOM ACTS OF CULTURE

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Cor 3:17 NIV)

On the day after the Al Qaeda attack on a Catholic Mass in Iraq I had a rather extraordinary experience in contrasts. I took a break from studying to prepare for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church and opened an email from an old friend. It took me to a Youtube video of a self-described Random Act of Culture. The Youtube caption explains:

On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers. (See it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU or search Opera Company of Philadelphia Hallelujah.)

I watched the video with tears in my eyes, remembering the thrill of singing that song with a chorus of hundreds in years past. Then I sent my friend the link to the Resurrection Sunday Dance in Budapest, Hungary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dSIL358NM ). Both videos elicit deep emotions of joy for our freedom in Jesus Christ along with longing for the day he returns.

That’s when the extraordinary contrast hit me. Just before viewing the Hallelujah Chorus video I had watched painful, first-hand accounts of persecution from fellow believers in Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Egypt, and Iraq. The brothers and sisters were under extreme pressure and spoke with great feeling and urgency asking us to pray and to speak up for religious freedom in their countries. I groaned within as they told their stories. And their oppressors? Fundamentalist Muslims and Islamic governments.

I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath and reflected. What are the Random Acts of Christian Culture? Glorious music performed in public celebrations with complete freedom, joyous dancing by thousands of young people in ancient city squares where atheistic communism once ruled. And the Random Acts of Muslim Culture? Well orchestrated and Sharia-law legalized oppression of human rights, annihilation of entire Christian congregations, brain-washed boys and girls with bombs in their clothing, premeditated ambushes on defenseless fellow soldiers, airliners crashing into sky-scrapers.

What to do in the face of such things? Keep singing. Keep dancing. Keep praying and advocating for the persecuted. And keep telling the world that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is true freedom.

FOR WHOM WOULD JESUS VOTE?

Someone asked Jesus that question once. He famously replied, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”. In other words, “Get your allegiances right and your obligations will become clear.” The Christian’s role on planet earth is as an Ambassador of God. Our ultimate loyalties are to God’s values, God’s purposes, and God’s mission.

If our ultimate loyalties are to God what exactly are our obligations? In a democratic republic we the people are Caesar. We owe it to ‘Caesar’ to vote. We owe it to God to understand what he says about the political issues of the day and vote accordingly. Here are a few examples:

The War in Afghanistan – Scripture teaches that government is God’s servant, “an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong doer.” (See Romans 13). Scripture also teaches us to love neighbor as we love self. War for the purpose of conquest, revenge or greed is unjust. War for the purpose of protecting the weak and innocent before they can be harmed or coerced by a nut with a bomb is just and loving. Christians should vote for the person they believe will do the best job of protecting the weak and innocent here and abroad from Islamists.

Abortion – Back in 2004 I watched a presidential debate with a friend. A question arose about the partial birth abortion ban. My friend didn’t understand the phrase – a euphemism for a gruesome death delivered to a child in the final stages of birth. When I described it he was horrified. He should be.

God is the creator of life. Children in the womb are the weakest of the weak, the most defenseless. Isaiah 1:17 says, Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Christians should vote for the people who will support the partial birth abortion ban and defend the unborn.

Homosexual Marriage – God created marriage to be between a man and a woman. God established the moral order for the world that he created. If we observe it and abide by it, things go well. If we abandon it we can expect trouble. (See 1 Timothy 1:8-10). Christians should vote for the people who will honor God by protecting the traditional definition of marriage.

Religious Freedom & Freedom of Speech – Jesus instructed us to ‘go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ Religious freedom and freedom of speech are two of the founding principles of America. Activist judges who wish to silence Christians in the marketplace of ideas are challenging those freedoms. Thoughtless lawmakers and leaders who make room for the growth of Sharia (Islamic) law in America undermine Religious freedom and freedom of speech in the name of protecting them. Christians should vote for the candidates most likely to protect us from Sharia law and from legalized oppression of Christians in the work-place and academia.

Render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s. Get your allegiances right and your obligations in the voting booth will become clear.

YOU ONLY SAW HER HANDS and not her face on TV

YOU ONLY SAW HER HANDS (and not her face on TV)

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Col 3:23-24 NIV)

"I'm a good ole boy and my Momma loves me, but she can't understand why they keep showin' my hands and not my face on TV." Waylon Jennings was so well known on the Country Music scene that by the time he played that song for the redneck sitcom The Dukes of Hazard in 1979 everyone who heard the verse above knew who was singing it. The good ole boys (myself included) of the old South immediately grasped the message in the verse. Waylon’s face never appeared, only his jeans, cowboy shirt and leather vest framing his fingers picking his signature white and black electric guitar. It was an inside joke. But we understood. Waylon was already famous in the South as an “outlaw” country singer. We didn’t need to see his face. We could recognize that guitar and that coal mine deep baritone anywhere.

At about the same time that Waylon and the Duke Brothers were hitting their stride the hands of another musician of a totally different stripe began appearing regularly on television. In Touch, the ministry of televangelist Charles Stanley was airing nationwide in the early eighties. In those days part of the signature opening sequence for the program was a shot of a pair of skilled hands caressing the ivory white keys of a black grand piano. The viewer never saw the musician’s face and very few people ever knew her name but those of us who were members of First Baptist Church of Atlanta back then didn’t need to see her on TV. We recognized the hands and knew the signature sound of one of the most dedicated servants to ever play a hymn. Her name is Alice Marie “Bee” Wolter. We used to sing her that verse of Waylon’s song just to kid her. For twenty-two years she pounded the keys for countless rehearsals, worship services, weddings, funerals, church theatrical productions and traveling choirs as part of the ministry of First Baptist Church of Atlanta. But that period doesn’t make up half of her time in service to the King at the keyboard. Bee began playing for the church when she was ten years old. As of last Sunday, when she played the entire service at FCC, she has been at her post in some church or ministry, almost every Sunday and many nights in between, for seventy years. She has “worked at it with all her heart, as for the Lord, not for men…serving Christ” and the rest of us who love to sing his praises.

So if you ever get discouraged or tired in your service to the Kingdom, and wonder if anyone will ever appreciate it take a little perseverance lesson from my mother-in-law Bee. Very few people on earth will ever know her name. And no one is likely to see her face on TV. But her inheritance is waiting in the presence of the King.

Time Traveling from the Latest to the Greatest Generation

On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.' (Exod 13:8 NIV)

I had one of those time travel moments recently that form part of life as a pastor. No, Scotty didn’t beam me up for a ride on the Enterprise and I haven’t passed through any time portals, at least not lately. But I did cover the distance from the Greatest Generation to the Latest Generation (1942-2010) in less than twenty-four hours. And I came away with a sense of how difficult and how important it is to transmit the virtues of the one to the other. I guess I should explain.

I spent an hour or so one afternoon with Rich Crum who, at 93, is our church’s oldest member. Rich was born in Kansas in 1917. He went to war in 1942 as part of the US Strategic Bomber Service, serving in Europe till war’s end. Listening to Rich talk about that era brought all of the danger and sacrifice, the courage and faith of that generation back to vivid life. The men and women of his time not only won that war, they built the America that you and I know today. They understand sacrifice and service and the cost of freedom better than most people now living in the USA.

Flash forward to 7:30 AM the following morning. I stood with about forty-five students and adults around the flag pole in front of the Middle School for the annual See You At The Pole ceremony. We joined with millions of students across America who met that day to pray for their schools and their country. My job was to offer a 9-11 remembrance. Middle Schoolers are 6th thru 8th grade students, 11 to 13 years of age. None of them were older than four years of age when the towers fell on 9-11. Rich's war is ancient history to them. That’s when the time warp hit me. How can we, who live in the present, possibly transmit to these kids the gravity of the moment, the enormity of the evil we faced on that fateful day and give them the virtues they will need to face the enemies of freedom in their own generation?

Scripture gives us the answer. After God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt he gave them - through Moses - a number of instructions on how to keep the memory of those great events alive. He gave them the Passover, and other colorful ceremonies of remembrance. He gave them the law. And he gave them the tabernacle, with all of its forms of worship. Essentially, the Israelites were to model the great truths of their faith and history; mentor their children in its virtues; and memorialize the extraordinary events of the past. In this way each new generation would have a vital link, a time portal through which the ancients could travel forward in imagination and pass on the virtues that strengthen the foundations of freedom.

Let’s you and I commit to keep the portal open. The next generation is going to need it.

IN MEMORY OF BIG MIKE

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Heb 12:1 NIV)

Nitrogen fumes from the Shell premium gas Mike burned in his Honda CBR 1100 XX motorcycle drifted back to us, threading their way into our helmets along with the mountain aromas of cool granite, green laurel and fresh-cut grass. Family friend Jessica McGill and I kept pace with Mike and my daughter Mikeala on a borrowed BMW, railing the tight curves and slowing to a walk on the one hundred and eighty degree switchbacks of Georgia SR 180 as we wound our way up Brasstown Bald, the highest point in the State. It would be our last motorcycle ride together before he died on August 5th and one of the best, climaxing as it did with a view of the world from 4,784 feet above sea level. He had already covered 200 of the 350 miles he would ride that day and wasn’t even tired. It stands as a metaphor to me of an even greater climb that the big guy made.
My older brother Mike, Uncle Fuzzball to my girls, suffered from a chemical imbalance in his brain diagnosed as a-typical bi-polar disorder. In the mid nineties I watched this disease grab him like the imaginary monsters of childhood, shake him like a ragdoll and fling him to the ground.
Big Mike, his nickname in the neighborhood where I was born, stood over six feet tall from the time he was twelve years old. He was always bigger and stronger than me and most of my friends. He was also a spiritual rock for me when I needed him most. Watching him break into a thousand mental pieces was almost more than I could bear. But watching him climb up out of that psychological black hole, a place from which few men return, was one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever witnessed. We talked about writing a book on it. I’m writing this today to encourage you and anyone else that you know who suffers from a mental disorder.
Mike’s ascent up the mountain of mental health was marked by three things. The first was humility. He was a proud man, a strong man that submitted himself to hospitalization under the care of competent, Christian professionals who prescribed medication and psychotherapy. Once out of the hospital Mike took responsibility for him self and worked the program. It took years and, like many bi-polar patients, along the way he decided he no longer needed the meds. This led to a relapse and another hospital stay. But the second time was the charm. He humbled himself by taking his medicine every day and visiting a counselor every week for years. Even when he no longer needed the counselor he stayed on the medicine and visited a therapist now and then just to keep a check on himself. He knew the monster all too well and as strong as he was knew he couldn’t handle it alone.
The second thing was his faith. In all the years of his suffering Mike never turned his back on his Savior. I never heard him blame God or use his illness and disappointment as an excuse to quit worshipping or neglect his devotions or stop fellowshipping with other believers. He wanted to be well and he knew that in the end, only walking with Jesus would give him the strength to get there.
The third thing that characterized his recovery was perseverance. Sadly, in twenty years of ministry I’ve known a lot of people who gave up, wallowing in the slough of self-pity, and let their illness define them for the rest of their days. Mike never gave up even after two years of fruitless searching for a regular job, something that spins many men down into depression. He was as healthy on that day at the top of the world as I have ever known him, enjoying the good gifts God gave and discussing plans for his new business. He was working in his home shop on the day his heart stopped.
So if you know someone who is struggling with a mental disorder tell them about my brother. Tell them there’s a guy in that great cloud of witnesses, cheering them on.

WHY AN AMERICAN MUSLIM OPPOSES THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. Solomon, King of Israel. Proverbs 22:3 NIV

A scan of national and international media reveals that non-Muslim support for the proposed Mosque near Ground Zero (GZM) seems just as strong as opposition to it. Evidence, I’m afraid, of a far too simple reading of a dangerous situation. Most supporters of the GZM cite the US Constitution’s protections of religious freedom. But they are failing to take into account critical facts about the GZM, its backers, and the nature of the global Islamist movement.

Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., is not so simple minded. Jasser is a devout Muslim and the founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (aifdemocracy.org). He is a former U.S. Navy Commander, one of the first Muslim Americans to speak out against the violence of 9-11, Fort Hood and other atrocities, and has been a consistent voice of opposition to what he calls the global Islamist movement defined as those who promote the Islamic State and governmental sharia law. Jasser is also the host and narrator of the award winning documentary The Third Jihad, which was screened at Faith Community Church last March.

One of the things missing from most American’s analysis of this issue is the theological underpinning and societal longing of the global Muslim community for prosperity, prestige and power. That theology and longing coalesced in the 1950s along two lines. First is Secular Nationalist Islam, as seen in Egypt, Libya, and Iraq under Mubarak, Qadafi and Saddam Hussein respectively. Second is militant, theocratic Islamism as illustrated by the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Ayatollahs in Iran and the multiple tentacles of the Muslim Brotherhood running through al-Qaeda and many other violent as well as non-violent organizations in the U.S.

In an interview with Aaron Elias on PajamasMedia.com Jasser outlines three major reasons to oppose the GZM. First, it is an insult to the millions of Americans who experienced the horror of 9-11. Second, the mosque is clearly being funded by people connected to the Muslim Brotherhood and other supporters of the Islamic State and governmental sharia. That funding creates an open door in what would be the greatest Mosque on American soil for the same jihadist philosophy to spread in the heart of Manhattan. And third, it will send a message of weakness to millions of Muslims world wide. A message that validates and affirms everything the Bin Ladens and Zaraqawis and other Islamists have been telling them about America all along.

“It will be used by Islamist leadership around the world to say, ‘despite the violence that al-Qaeda perpetrated on the American population, political Islam will always be victorious and from its ashes has risen the largest religious Muslim structure in the United States,’” Jasser warns. “As the administration continues to move backwards, [outlawing] the use of any specific religious Islamic terms like jihad, Islamsim, and salafism, the Islamists continue to make unopposed headway in the contest of ideas. We are losing the war of ideas.”
For the full length interview with Dr. Jasser see: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/a-patriotic-muslims-warning-on-ground-zero-mosque

Religious freedom is a fundamental value in America. No one should oppose the kinds of mosques that Dr. Jasser and his fellow non-Islamist Muslims would build. But neither should anyone be so simple as to assume that the GZM is such a mosque.

DID JESUS EVER DISCUSS HOMOSEXUALITY OR GAY MARRIAGE?

The recent ruling by US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker striking down Proposition 8 in California has put the debate about homosexual marriage on the front pages again. One feature of the discussion about this issue in religious circles is the oft heard sound byte: “Jesus never said anything about homosexuals or gay marriage.” This can be confusing because at first glance it would seem to be correct. Enter the word “homosexual” into your Bible software concordance and limit the search to the four gospels and you won’t find Jesus using the word.

But people who are more familiar with their Bibles know that the argument is false. Jesus did address homosexuality and marriage and his stance on the issues is quite clear. I hope the following verses and brief explanations will equip you to clarify Jesus’ position on the matter should it ever come up in conversation.

First, Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi speaking to a first century Jewish audience. When he spoke in Matthew 15:18-19 of the heart as the source of sins he used the broadest term possible - the Greek word is porneia - to describe sexual sin. His comments aren’t limited to adultery, or rape, or incest etc. Porneia included the whole sweep of sexual sin. Any sexual intercourse outside of the marriage of a man and a woman was considered porneia. Dr. Don Fowler, professor of Biblical studies at Liberty University, adds: homosexuality was not overt in a Jewish world but when Paul took the gospel to the gentiles, homosexuality (especially among the Greeks) was notoriously common. In other words, Paul's strong emphasis was necessary whereas in Jesus' world it was much less so. Jesus didn't discuss pedophilia either because it wasn't a common issue in their world but the use of young boys for sexual purposes was common in Greek wealthier classes.

Second, Jesus said marriage is between male and female. In Matthew 19:4-6 Jesus explained what marriage is by going back to the original design of God. The union between male and female is the order of creation. It is God’s design for men and women. Homosexual marriage had no place in Jesus thinking.

Third, Jesus condemned homosexual practice in his condemnation of Sodom & Gomorrah. – In Matthew 10:15 Jesus explains to his disciples that in the judgment to come the towns that refused their message would suffer a greater judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah. Again in Matthew 11 Jesus denounces Capernaum telling the people, “It will be more tolerable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” Some people will say that Sodom was only judged for its brutality to strangers but you have to ignore the clear meaning of multiple Old and New Testament texts to arrive at that conclusion. Sodom and Gomorrah are bywords throughout the Bible for sexual perversion, especially homosexuality. Jesus, though he had many opportunities to do so, did not upend the teaching on Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament. He supported it and quoted from it.

Finally, other New Testament writings condemn homosexuality – The Apostle Paul’s writings against homosexual behavior are well known (See Romans 1:21-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:8-11). I do not have space here to elaborate on them but suffice it to say that they are in accord with the teachings of Jesus. Also, the Apostle Paul is Jesus’ personal envoy to the Gentiles (that’s us, see Acts 22:21). If we ignore Paul’s teaching on this subject we are ignoring Jesus as well.

Many people are being led astray by the idea that Jesus never mentioned homosexuality. I hope this article helps you correct that mistake.

The Keys' to Success in High Stress part 2

I recently “retired” after six years as a board member with Tri River Habitat for Humanity. In the time that I served on the board Tri River completed three homes in partnership with needy families in the community. Our goal was to complete one home per year but as the following story illustrates, Christians define success differently from the rest of the world.

In 1940, Clarence Jordan founded Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, as a haven for racial unity and cooperation. In 1954, the Ku Klux Klan burned every building on the farm except Jordan's home.

In the midst of the raid, Jordan recognized the voice of a local newspaper reporter. The next day, the reporter showed up for a story about the arson while the rubble was still smoldering. He found Jordan in a field, planting seeds. He said to Jordan, "I heard the awful news of your tragedy last night, and I came out to do a story on the closing of your farm."

Jordan just kept planting and hoeing. The reporter continued his prodding, with no response from Jordan. Finally, the reporter said, "You've got two Ph.D.'s, you've put 14 years into this farm, and now there's nothing left. Just how successful do you think you've been?"

With that statement, Jordan stopped hoeing. He said to the reporter, "You just don't get it, do you? You don't understand us Christians. What we are about is not success, but faithfulness."

Here’s the cool thing about that story. Tri River Habitat’s last home, its 11th in Halifax County, was finished last year. Most of the volunteers were white. The partner family was black. The executive director of Tri River recently informed me that the Banister River Association of Baptist Churches, a traditionally black association in our county, will soon be a major source of volunteers with the ministry. Koinonia Farm is the place where the vision of Habitat for Humanity was hatched. Who succeeded and who failed?

THE KEYS TO SUCCESS IN HIGH STRESS part 1

Are you feeling stressed? Pressured? Overloaded?
Many of you are returning to school soon, some to totally new environments, some to increasing responsibility as you near the end of your educational career and the beginning of your working career. That’s stressful.

Some of you are under tremendous pressure at work. One guy described his day as “walking into a buzz saw.” Here’s a little research on the subject:

A survey of 1,313 managers on four continents found that "one-third of managers suffer from ill health as a direct consequence of stress associated with information overload. This figure increases to 43 percent among senior managers."

The sheer volume of information you have to screen, absorb and respond to can make you sick. Then there are those other “little” stressors that any body with a lot of responsibility and a little authority can relate to.

 Dealing with spin – Information comes to us like a Tom Glavine curve ball. It looks like the straight stuff until it gets to the plate. The truth gets lost in the rumor mill or shady ethics.
 Office Politics – Strained relationships between others in your organization make your job more difficult.
 Political Correctness – Rears its head but you have to say things no one wants to hear.
 Administrative Hassles – Can you just go ahead and hire the person best qualified or do you have to jump through a bunch of hoops first to keep the watchdogs happy?
 Communication Breakdown – I thought you said it would be here Friday! No, I said it would be there Monday!

If you can connect with any of that you can connect with Pastor Tim of the first Church of Ephesus. He was dealing with all of it only it was dressed in Church clothes instead of business.
 Spin – Tim was confronting spin in the form of legalism, Gnosticism and superstitious mysticism. (See chapters 1, 4,5,6).
 Politics – Strained relationships between church members put him in the middle. (See chapter 2:8)
 Political Correctness – What would the role of women be? How would he address it? (See chapter 2:9)
 Administrative Issues – Who would serve as Elder? Deacon? How would they be qualified? (See chapter 3:1).
 Communication – He had to set the example of clear communication and following through on commitments. (See chapter 4:11-16).

Let me go back to my original question. Are you feeling overloaded? Pressured? Stressed to the max? If so you might be feeling like Pastor Tim. And maybe you’re feeling his instinctive response: RUN BABY RUN!

But his mentor the Apostle Paul had another idea. It’s recorded in
1 Tim 1:3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer. (NIV)

That was not what Tim was hoping to hear. But it’s one of the keys to success in high stress. Paul was saying to his son in the faith,
“Tim your desire is to come back under my wing. But God has you there for a purpose. Be content to stay there.”

The message: If God has you in a tough situation stay in it. Don’t bail out just because your palms are getting sweaty. If you’re sure God’s in it – you stay in it. Problems are just opportunities dressed in scary costumes. God has something to teach you in it and something to accomplish through you in it. If you bail out you may never learn what you can be and you may never see what God can do.

Jesus Money & Posessions Part 4 The Treasury of the Heart

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also…
Jesus (Matthew 6:21)

The treasury of the heart is the ordering principle of life. Everything revolves around it. It is like the sun to the earth, the earth to the moon and the moon to the seasons. And if that ordering principle is dark, then all of life is darkness.

Suze Orman tells a story in her book, Nine Steps to Financial Freedom that vividly illustrates that point.

When I was 13, my dad owned his own business—a tiny shack where he sold chicken, ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, and fries. One day the oil that the chicken was fried in caught fire. In a few minutes the whole place exploded in flames. My dad bolted from the store before the flames could engulf him.

Then my mom and I arrived on the scene, and we all stood outside watching the fire burn away my dad's business. All of a sudden, my dad realized he had left his money in the metal cash register inside the building, and I watched in disbelief as he ran back into the inferno before anyone could stop him.

He tried to open the metal register, but the intense heat had already sealed the drawer shut. Knowing that every penny he had was locked in front of him about to go up into flames, he picked up the scalding metal box and carried it outside. When he threw the register on the ground, the skin on his arms and chest came with it. He had escaped the fire safely once, untouched. Then he voluntarily risked his life and was severely injured. The money was that important.

That was when I learned that money is obviously more important than life itself. From that point on, earning money—lots of money—not only became what drove me professionally, but also became my emotional priority.

I don’t know where Suze Orman is on that issue today, but I do know that when money becomes our emotional priority, when cash is all that fills the treasury of our hearts, then we are truly in darkness.

JESUS MONEY AND POSSESSIONS Part 3: Treasures in Heaven

GOD WANTS US TO HAVE WEALTH. WE MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO SETTLE FOR MONEY. Max Anders

One of the myths that came out of the great Wall Street crash of 1929 is that some investors, distraught by their losses, committed suicide by jumping out of the windows of Wall Street high rises. Thankfully, that is not true. But sadly, some men did take their own lives. They just didn’t take their last leap on Wall Street.

As far as I can tell the most recent financial crisis has not sparked a rise in suicide. But it has caused some serious soul searching. And that’s a good thing considering the fact that Jesus had more to say about money than just about any other topic.

One of his more notable quotes is recorded in Matthew 6:19-20 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for your selves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (NIV) He might have said “where bear markets and housing bubbles destroy.”

The question is: what exactly did he mean by that? What exactly does treasure in heaven look like? Some other passages of scripture help us understand.

Matthew 19:21, among others, stress giving to the poor, giving to meet the legitimate needs of those who cannot meet their own. When we give to ministries like The Good Samaritan, Prison Fellowship, Feed the Children, Samaritan’s Purse etc. we are “Laying up treasures in heaven.”

1Timothy 6:18-19 Indicates that we can lay up more treasure by being rich in good deeds. The greatest benefit of financial security is not being able to insulate ourselves from the world but rather the freedom from the need to make a living so that we can serve others.

When my children were small we had the good fortune to find an excellent pediatrician in Atlanta named Dr. Bill Warren. Warren is one of the heirs to the Coca-Cola fortune. He didn’t need the money that his private practice generated. So he closed his private practice to open a non-profit clinic in Atlanta. As far as I know it is still there. When your own financial security makes it possible to forgo making a living so that you can help others live, that’s laying up treasure in heaven.

Philippians 4:15-17 indicates that giving to support the spread of the message and ministry of Jesus “credits our account” in heaven. When we partner with organizations like Wycliffe Bible Translators and others that take the message of Jesus to places that we cannot personally go we are “laying up treasure in heaven.”

So what kind of treasure are you storing up? Is it the kind that bear markets and housing bubbles can destroy? Or will it last for eternity? As my friend Max Anders says, “God wants us to have wealth. We must be careful not to settle for money.”

Jesus Money and Possessions Part 2

GUARDING AGAINST DEBT STRESS

A recent survey by the Associated Press and GFK found that 46% of Americans are stressed out by debt. The AP article went on to say that the average amount owed on credit cards alone was $3900. That’s down from $5600 last fall but still high. And it doesn’t include car loans or mortgages.

Why are we so stressed? Why are we carrying too much debt? Well perhaps it is because we failed to heed one of Jesus’ little known warnings. Then he (Jesus) said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12:15 NIV)

Later on in the Bible, in his letter to the Colossian Church, the Apostle Paul warned that greed is equal to idolatry: putting our desire for money and possessions above our desire for God. Clearly our greed is costing us more than simple cash. It’s costing us our souls.

Obviously, our attitudes toward money and possessions are critical to our spiritual health. But we live in a spiritually caustic economic culture. Much of our economy is designed around stimulating or creating in us a sense of need for things that aren’t necessities, generating covetousness and greed and idolatry.

One of the courses we took in business school was marketing. In the early days companies created and advertised products that met needs. Now we create needs where none existed before. You don’t have to work very hard to sell a hammer to a carpenter. But you have to be very creative to sell him hair spray and a blow dryer. You have to make him think that he needs it.

How do advertisers do that? They know what makes us tick. They know what scares us, what moves us, what our unspoken longings and insecurities are. And they use it to make us think we need the stuff.

One of those ads caught me a few years back. It was an advertisement for a boat. I like boats. But I never thought that I needed one until they showed a dad fishing from his boat with his daughter. The caption said it all: “Because my wedding will be sooner than you think.” I have daughters. I want to stay connected to them. Ergo: I needed a boat! I couldn’t believe how that simple advertisement tugged on my heart!

Madison Avenue has learned to tap the oil fields of the human soul. Only the derricks are in our hip pockets. They know I don’t need a new boat to go fishing. They’re telling me I need a boat to be a father who never loses touch with his daughters! I have nothing against boats. But I know they won’t last. They won’t give me what I need the most.

It’s like the great theologian and sometime actress Jamie Lee Curtis said in an interview, “The biggest lesson is that nothing on the exterior will make me feel better. It may seem that way for a short time, but those feelings of inadequacy will surface as soon as that new purse (jeep, boat, or whatever) is no longer new.”

What do we need the most? We need a relationship with God the Father, a relationship that can only be found through faith in His Son Jesus Christ, who died for our sins so that our greatest debt – the debt of sin that we could never pay – would be wiped out. Now that’s what I call real stress free living.

The Treasury of the Heart Part 1

In these days of runaway public and private debt, rampant unemployment and foreclosures it seems appropriate to consider what Jesus teaches about money and possessions.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Jesus, Matthew 6:19-21NIV)

What Jesus Isn’t Saying
If all we do is look at this on the surface we could come away with the wrong idea. Is Jesus saying, “Forfeit all your Social Security, turn over your 401k to the church, get rid of all your retirement investments, sell your cars and stop eating at restaurants?” No.

That reading of this text is a good example of why regular Bible reading is important. It keeps us from reading Scripture like a child.

One Sunday the teacher at the Durham [Kansas] Baptist Church asked the children to raise their hands if they wanted to go to heaven. Every child raised a hand except one. "You don't want to go to heaven?" asked the surprised teacher.
"No," came the almost tearful reply. "I want to stay here in Durham."

The way to avoid misinterpreting Scripture is to read one text on a given topic with all the other teachings on that same topic in mind. Let Scripture interpret Scripture.

Here is what the broad scope of Scripture teaches about possessions –
It requires a man to provide for his relatives (1Tim 5:8).
It encourages us to enjoy the good things the Creator has given us (1Tim 4:3-4; 6:17).
It encourages work and provision for the future (Prov 6:6-8).

Since Jesus is the ultimate author of Scripture we can say without hesitation that He is not against money, possessions or saving for the future. I think John Wesley had it right when he said the following about the production of wealth. “Work as hard as you can, to make all the money that you can and spend as little as you can in order to give away all that you can.”

What Jesus Is Speaking Against
Jesus is not against money, he’s against greed. Jesus is not against possessions, he’s against covetousness. Jesus is not against the enjoyment of good things, he’s against the worship of things. Jesus is warning us not about the earning of money for good purposes. He’s warning us about “laying up treasure for ourselves.” He’s warning us about putting all of our hopes and dreams in our money and possessions. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.

Jesus' Un-American Dream

The owner of the Chicago Bulls defined the American Dream when Michael Jordan retired (the first time). “He’s living the American Dream,” said Jerry Reinsdorf. “The American Dream is to reach a point in your life where you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do and can do everything that you do want to do.”

I do this. So do you. We set up our lives so that we don’t have to get involved with the world if we don’t want to. We can’t do it on the scale of a wealthy person. But we do it. And when we do we leave Jesus’ decidedly Un-American dream for us out of the equation. His Un-American dream? “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do men light a lamp and place it under a bushel, but on the lamp stand; and so it gives light to all who are in the house.”

The Anglican cleric John R.W. Stott makes a pertinent observation on this point.

"You know what your own country is like. I'm a visitor, and I wouldn't presume to speak about America. But I know what Great Britain is like. I know something about the growing dishonesty, corruption, immorality, violence, pornography, the diminishing respect for human life, and the increase in abortion.
Whose fault is it? Let me put it like this: if the house is dark at night, there is no sense in blaming the house. That's what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is, "Where is the light?"
If meat goes bad, there is no sense in blaming the meat. That is what happens when the bacteria are allowed to breed unchecked. The question to ask is, "Where is the salt?"
If society becomes corrupt like a dark night or stinking fish, there's no sense in blaming society. That's what happens when fallen human society is left to itself and human evil is unrestrained and unchecked. The question to ask is "Where is the church?"

When Jesus said “You are the salt...You are the light...” The “you” was in the emphatic. It’s like when we say “YOU DA’ MAN!” He’s saying, “God has a job for you. You – the members of my kingdom - are the only ones who can do it. You will be the ones who prevent decay and show the way, the salt and light of the whole world.”

God leaves his people – us – here for a reason. He could have said, “Come out, be separate, start a holy commune, create your own economy, your own schools, your own record companies, your own TV shows. Keep your churches so rule bound that no sinner would dare show up in the place. Hide out in the holy ghetto until I come and get you!”

But that isn’t what he said. He said, “Stay there! Stay in the world! Keep it from rotting. Guide it toward that which is good!” You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.

Shelley Lubben Tells the Hard Core Truth

Pornography has always been a soul destroying scourge. And it has never been easier to access than it is now in our wireless world, where the latest titillation can be downloaded to your phone. It isn’t unusual to hear preachers like me speak against it either. But it is unusual to hear porn “stars” tell the real story behind the industry.

Shelley Lubben has done just that. She is a former prostitute and porn actress that has been completely restored by Jesus Christ. She tells her compelling story on a website for the foundation that she created to reach out to people caught in the porn industry. The website is www.thepinkcross.org. It is a powerful story for anyone to see, but especially for those who use porn or who work in the industry. More about Shelley’s personal biography can be found on her personal website www.shelleylubben.com.

Here are some sobering stats from her site:
 66% of porn stars have Herpes, a non-curable disease.
 Chlamydia and Gonorrhea among performers is 10x greater than that of LA County 20-24 year olds.
 70% of sexually transmitted infections in the porn industry occur in females.
 25 HIV cases among porn performers since 2004 reported by Adult Industry Medical Healthcare. (Shelley advises that this number is purposefully underreported.)

Shelley’s story is full of hope. But it is also convicting to those of us Christians who have never known the shame and degradation of a life like hers. It takes a relentless kind of unconditional love to reach a person like Shelley and let her know that she is as valuable to God as any one of us that sings songs to Jesus on Sunday Morning. Most of us, I’m afraid, would rather “pass by on the other side of the road” than offer the hope and forgiveness that she was offered at her church in California. God bless those guys, whoever they are.

Go to www.thepinkcross.org, click on the video link to the right titled: SHELLEY LUBBEN TELLS THE HARD CORE TRUTH. Watch the whole thing. And ask God to help us become a Church where the Shelley Lubbens of the world can meet Jesus and be restored. And if you know someone struggling with a porn addiction, give them the link and urge them to watch. They will never see porn the same way again.

THE SPIRITUAL SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

Physics recognizes the second law of thermodynamics. Everything is winding down. Everything atrophies. Everything decays unless it’s maintained.
Do you have a car? The clutch will need to be replaced or the seals in the automatic transmission. Own a home? The siding will rot. The mortar in the bricks will need touching up. The porch will sag. The plumbing will stop up. Have a computer? Its brain will get corrupted unless you protect it.
What most of us don’t think about is that there is a spiritual version of that law. It’s called “the law (or doctrine) of total depravity”. It means that the whole person is affected by something that destroys us, something that causes problems in our relationships and our communities. The mind, the will, the emotions and the body of every human being is infected with a condition known as sin. It doesn’t mean that everyone is as bad as he can possibly be. It means that left to ourselves, without something to keep us in line, we will tend toward selfish, greedy and destructive behavior.
The second law of thermodynamics means we have to work at maintaining physical things. The law of total depravity means that we have to work at maintaining spiritual things. That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost its saltiness it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do men light a lamp and put it on under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and so it gives light to all who are in the house.” (Matthew 5:13-16).
How to pull that off? How can we be salt and light? Well, it can be quite costly. Howard Hendricks of Dallas Theological Seminary illustrates the cost with a story.
Some years ago, I was walking the streets in San Mateo, California. I met an attorney I knew from a local evangelical church. I said to him, "What are you doing?"
He said, "I'm looking for a job."
I said, "You've got to be kidding."
He said, "No, last week I walked out the front door of that corporation and told them, 'You can hang it on your beak. I'm no longer going to write contracts that you and I both know are illegal and illegitimate.'"
That man is regarded as one of the top five corporate lawyers in America, and he's unwilling to sell his value system for a mess of pottage. We need a larger core of lawyers like that.
I can hear you thinking, “Yeah, we need more lawyers like that.” But to be honest we need more mechanics, more doctors, more contractors and more everybody to be like that. That’s what it means to be salt.
Without something to preserve it, the world will decay morally and ethically. Without something to light the way, the world will recede into darkness. God put his church into the world to be that something. God put you and me here to do something for the world that the world cannot do for itself. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” It sounds good but peacemaking is costly work. A story from Japan illustrates the point.

Most westerners are unaware of it but Asian cultures suffer as much from racism as any conflict between blacks and whites or Jews and Arabs. For fifty years the Japanese and the Koreans hated each other. Japanese atrocities during World War II are still vivid in the Korean conscience. And the Japanese had nothing but disdain for Koreans.

On January 26, 2001 a plasterer working in a Tokyo subway station, fell into the path of an oncoming train. A Korean College student leaped down on the tracks to save him. But he was too late. The train killed both him and the craftsman.

The emotional response to the student’s sacrifice was unprecedented in Japan. The Prime Minister openly confessed his regret for racial bigotry against Koreans. The late radio commentator Paul Harvey said, “In seven seconds that one act of sacrificial love broke down more barriers than 50 years of negotiations.”

Which brings us to the real difficulty in peacemaking: Words are rarely enough, deeds make the difference. It is acts of kindness and love that take time, effort and sacrifice that are the most powerful peacemakers.

Are there some old barriers between you and people of another race that need to come down? Or what about you and members of your own Church? It won’t cost you your life. But it may cost you your pride. That’s a small price to pay. For “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

Blessed Are the Pure In Heart

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.” But what exactly does it mean to have a pure heart? And how will they see God?

In the Bible the heart is the center of one’s being. It is the intersection of mind, will and emotion, the place where life’s most important decisions are made and carried out. No wonder wise Solomon warns us to “Keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flow all the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23). His warning also tells us that the heart is prone to wantonness. We have to actively engage in managing the heart, taming it and training it to right habits of thought and action lest it run us headlong into hedonism or deceive us into slavery.

Thus, to be pure in heart is to have an attitude of complete sincerity. It is to be the same in the dark as we are in the light, without hypocrisy, free from all deceit. To have a pure heart is also to care more about God and the things of God than we care for this world.

The model for this of course is Jesus, of whom the Bible says “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” (1Pet. 2:22.) He was the same in the dark as he was in the light.

Yet you and I know people who, as John Stott says, “weave round themselves such a tissue of lies that they can no longer tell which part of them is real and which is make-believe.” You see, sometimes we are so afraid of the truth about ourselves that we pretend to be something other than what we really are. It is a great shame to live like that. We fear the opinion of others more than we fear God. Worse, we expect that if we were to be honest with God he would treat us with the same disdain that the world would treat us with. What a tragic deception!

Jesus is doing more than making a pithy saying about spirituality. He is making a promise: “Get real with God and He will get real with you. He will reveal himself to you in ways you cannot imagine.”

If you have been afraid of letting God see the real you take courage from Isaiah’s prophecy: For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isa 57:15 NIV). When that happens, when contrition comes, we go from impurity to purity in a brief moment. Then the promise of Jesus comes true.
Proverbs 3:32 says God “takes the upright into his confidence.” He shares his thoughts with the pure. So blessed are the pure. God talks to them. And they can hear.

Ten Secrets of...

What if I told you that you could sharpen your mind, deepen your peace, strengthen your confidence in all things spiritual and enhance your prayers with one simple secret? You’d probably think I was trying to sell you a new herbal supplement! I’m not. No herb can do for you what I’m recommending. In fact, you can’t buy what I’m selling. It will cost you some time and effort. But it is one of the best investments you will ever make.

I’m talking about Scripture memory. I’ve been in a project since February to memorize Matthew chapters five through seven, the three chapters that make up Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. It has done all of what I mentioned above and more (about which I will blog on later).

Memorizing large segments of anything can be difficult. But many years ago I was playing the roll of Luke in a musical called THE APOSTLE produced by our college group at First Baptist Church of Atlanta. The musical was based on the book of Acts, which Luke wrote, so as the narrator I had a lot to memorize. I developed a system for doing it.

Here are my secrets for memorizing large portions of scripture:
1. A Good Translation - Use a readable translation—NIV will work for most, but use the one you are most familiar with.

2. Quiet Space—Make sure you will not be interrupted. Turn off the TV, Radio, Computer, etc.

3. A Fresh Mind - Set aside time—Morning is best, when your mind is fresh, or take a nap before you start so your mind will be sharp. Plan on spending at least fifteen minutes but no more than thirty.

4. Read it Out Loud—the whole chapter, two or three times, like you were reading it to a group of children to get the feel of what the writer emphasized and the flow of his thoughts.

5. Memorize Whole Thoughts - Read the paragraph you plan to memorize—again out loud. Don’t try to remember the verse numbers. They aren’t inspired anyway. The more you say it the better it will stick. Don't try to do one verse at a time. You want the whole thought, the whole paragraph.

6. Use Your Imagination - Focus on the scene. Pick a spot on the wall or close your eyes and see yourself in the scene. Imagine that you are the speaker or writer. You are Jesus on the hillside or Paul at his desk. See what they saw and feel what they felt and their words become yours.

7. Repeat The Last Paragraph Before You Start the Next — This is the real key: Repeat what you memorized last time before you start the next paragraph. That’s how you get your cues from one topic to the next and how you build up a long passage.

8. Listen for Patterns— Jesus and the authors of the New Testament used literary forms and patterns. “You have heard that it was said...But I tell you” repeats six times in the Sermon on the Mount. Watch for them. They save time in the process.

9. Meditate on the Text - Integrate your memory work with your devotions. Talk to God about what you see in the text. As you repeat the thoughts new thoughts come to mind, links with other scriptures emerge, deeper understanding of spiritual things develops. Now you are really cooking!

10. Incentivize — All of us need motivational help. Set a goal and give yourself a reward when you achieve it!

Congratulations! You are now on the way to thinking God's thoughts like never before.

What Are You Hungry For?

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The late Malcolm Muggeridge, a successful writer, had a good grasp of what that meant. Here’s his take on it.

"I may, I suppose, regard myself or pass for being a relatively successful man. People occasionally stare at me in the streets—that's fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Internal Revenue—that's success. Furnished with money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to, may partake of trendy diversions—that's pleasure."

"It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time--that's fulfillment. Yet, I say to you--and I beg you to believe me--multiply these tiny triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing--less than nothing, a positive impediment--measured against one draft of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who or what they are."

So what are you hungry for? Wealth? Fame? Fulfillment? Love? Respect? Whatever it is, if you happen to find it, I can promise you that it will not satisfy. You will still be hungry. But if you hunger and thirst for righteousness you will be filled. For when you find righteousness, you will have found Christ. This is how the Apostle Paul said it.

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Phil 3:8-9 NIV)

BLESSED ARE THE MEEK?

Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” But what exactly is meekness? Does meekness mean I become the world’s doormat? Does it mean I’m to give in to the demands of obnoxious people? No.

Meekness is a humble and gentle attitude toward others. Meekness is strength under control. A well-trained horse is a good example. A horse is a powerful animal. But its power is wasted – even destructive - if it won’t submit to harness and bridle. To submit to control of the rider or farmer is meekness in a horse. To submit to the control of God is meekness in a man.

President Theodore Roosevelt adopted as his pet proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." By that he meant that if the U.S. had a strong military, it could work its will among the nations of the world. In 1901, Roosevelt elaborated on his philosophy: "If a man continually blusters,… a big stick will not save him from trouble; and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power."

When Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," he was not speaking of armies and foreign policy, but some principles are the same for people and nations. The meek Christian does not need to bluster, as if his or her personal self-confidence could win the day. Whether we're contesting a point, responding to criticism, or speaking of the hope within, we can do so in meekness, with quiet confidence. For in "back of the softness," within us, lies the strength and power of God.

Meekness does not mean giving in to every demand made by unreasonable people. Meekness has to do with how we say no to unreasonable people.

Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change. And when we are right, make us easy to live with. -- Peter Marshall

BLESSED MOURNING

By Dane Skelton
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Doesn’t that sound strange?

In other words, Happy are the Unhappy. This is not the mourning that comes with the loss of a loved one. It is the mourning that comes with the loss of innocence, righteousness, self –respect. It is the sorrow of repentance.

Author and Pastor John Stott writes: “The Christian life, according to Jesus, is not all joy and laughter. Some Christians seem to imagine that, especially if they are filled with the Spirit, they must wear a perpetual grin on their face and be continuously boisterous and bubbly. How unbiblical can we become? The truth is that there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them.”

Mourning is something we do when we suffer a great loss. It’s natural and right. When a loved one dies, we mourn. When we lose a job we mourn. When we lose our dreams, we mourn.

God has so wired the soul that we need to mourn when we have lost something. When we sin, we lose something. We lose touch with God. We lose the dignity and nobility that comes from being made in His image. We need to grieve over those things because they hurt us and grieve God. Until that happens, something will be left undone in our souls. Until we have mourned the losses that come from sin they are still with us.

If your soul is disturbed within you and you do not know why, ask the Lord to expose you to the tragedy of sin – what you have lost and what he has lost in you. And do not be afraid to grieve. For when you do, God himself will comfort you.

Mastering Unexpected Change Part 3

Americans are taught, almost from birth, that we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. That kind of grit and determination is a good thing. It’s one of the things that make America the greatest country on earth. But it doesn’t prepare us very well for the vagaries of human existence – the things that are completely out of our control. One of the keys to mastering unexpected change is coming to grips with our limitations as human beings and completely trusting ourselves to the will of God.

J. R. Love of Ruston Louisiana reflects on how he learned that when reading some old magazines.

On a vacation in October 2001, I was thumbing through a pile of dated magazines, and in Time magazine I stopped to read the column called Winners & Losers.

In the "Loser" category in an August 2001 issue was Rudy Giuliani, lame duck New York City mayor, suffering from crumbling health, a crumbling marriage, and a crumbling political career. What a loser, Time suggested. Who would want to be this guy?

In the "Winner" category a month earlier was Ted Olson, rising star as Solicitor General of the United States. What a winner, Time proclaimed. Who wouldn't envy this guy?

How things change. Within a matter of weeks of these two issues, Time would refer to Giuliani as the "Mayor of the World" and a "tower of strength" for his leadership in the aftermath of September 11, and a few months later the magazine would name him "2001 Person of the Year."

By contrast, we ached with Ted Olson as we watched him bury his wife, Barbara, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. No one envied him at that moment.

James 4:13-15 says, 13) Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14) Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15) Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." (NIV)

The great temptation for many of us is the temptation to control. We want to do A and get B and we expect God to cooperate with our plan. We want our kids to be perfect, our colleagues to follow through and our partners to please us – all the time. Funny when you think about it, that “a mist and a vapor” should have such pretensions. But we do and it’s a lousy way to deal with change. Better, much better, to embrace the humility that says, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

Mastering Unexpected Change Part 2

MASTERING UNEXPECTED CHANGE Part 2
By Dane Skelton
In 2003, my daughters had a funny lesson on the inevitability of change. Their uncle Mike had given them a gift, a whole box of VHS tapes containing 144 episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation. The videos dated back into the 1980’s so watching them was like being in a time machine for commercials. But what really tickled the funny bone was seeing an ad for a brand new 1989 Chevy truck on Tuesday night, and then standing at the bus stop Wednesday morning, watching that same truck with fourteen years and 175,000 miles on it go by. “It’s a heap!” They cried. Talk about a lesson on the inevitability of change!

Change is inevitable. It’s how we meet it that matters. The one luxury we cannot afford is to assume it will not touch us and refuse to prepare for it. And that’s a hard one. We work hard at creating stability and predictability so that we can enjoy life with the least amount of hassle. We are control oriented. Unexpected change upsets the apple cart, reveals our lack of control and makes us feel naked in the cosmos.

The Bible is full of examples of God’s people meeting unexpected change. One of those is Joshua. Consider the changes that Joshua had witnessed or been part of: Deliverance from slavery in Egypt; A miraculous escape across the Red Sea; The Ten Commandments and finally the wandering in the wilderness.

All these changes across forty years Joshua had witnessed but they paled in comparison to what he was about to do. He was about to lead the people of God into the Promised Land itself, he was facing the walls of Jericho and he was doing it without his mentor and friend, Moses.

God had two specific commands for Joshua as he took up the challenge of this change. You can see them in Joshua 1:7-8.

7) Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8) Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (NIV)

God’s instructions for Joshua work for us as well: The first lesson for facing unexpected change is: ‘be strong and courageous.’ The world is a difficult place, our challenges are great, and sometimes we have to meet them without the people we have come to depend on. We need strength and courage for the battle.

The second lesson is: stick to your core principles (Vs. 8). When the walls in front of you are thick and the danger is high – when the change you are faced with seems unmanageable - it’s tempting to forget your core commitments and do something expedient. God warns us: “Don’t fall for it.” Strength and courage in the service of those principles enable us to adjust our approach to meet the need at hand. Trust God and obey what you know. He will manage the rest.

 Change is inevitable. We can prepare for it or be overwhelmed by it.
 Those manage change best whose principles are changeless.
 Those manage change best who trust that God is still at work in unwanted change.
 Those manage change best who meet it with a positive attitude.

Mastering Unexpected Change

MASTERING UNEXPECTED CHANGE Part 1
By Dane Skelton
The world is changing more rapidly than it ever has before. Just take a look at some recent statistics.

Population – It took until 1850 for world population to reach 1 billion. By 1930 it was at 2 billion. By 1960 it was 3 billion. Today it is somewhere close to 7 billion.

Books – There were almost no books until 1500 and Gutenberg’s press came along. By 1900 there were 35,000. Today, in England, America, China and Russia alone there are over 600,000 published every year.

Top Speed – Until 1800 the top speed for a human being was around 20 mph. Trains reached 100 mph in the nineteenth century. Now we routinely travel at 400 mph. Supersonic jets are three times faster.

Pick any field and a few minutes on the internet will yield data on the hyper pace of change in every one, medicine, robotics, chemistry, physics, you name it.

Change is picking up speed and for some folks that’s unsettling.
It’s much easier to adapt to change over time. But sudden change rocks us. And it doesn’t matter who you are. Unexpected change comes upon everyone. The good news is that scripture gives us timeless principles for mastering the winds of change.

The first principle is to expect the unexpected. Hear what Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said about change.

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. (Ecclesiastes 9:11NIV).

The pros and the CEOs, the prima donnas and the politicians, each one, not to mention the rest of us will experience change. Change is inevitable. We can expect it, prepare for it, or be overwhelmed by it.

The good news is that Christians need not fear unexpected change. As the people of God we belong to the One who knows the end from the beginning. He isn’t caught off guard by change. As people of God’s Book we have reliable charts and a sturdy vessel for sailing through the winds of change.

Over the next few weeks we’ll look at these principles in depth but for now a summary might be helpful to you:
 Change is inevitable. We can prepare for it or be overwhelmed by it.
 Those manage change best whose principles are changeless.
 Those manage change best who trust that God is still at work in unwanted change.
 Those manage change best who meet it with a positive attitude.

The Snow Sabbath

The Snow Sabbath
By Dane Skelton
The recent weather reminded me of an article I wrote ten years ago, when a blizzard stopped our world for a while. I hope it encourages you as we see more bad weather on the way.

Monday morning January 24th of 2000 dawned bright and clear. But school was still out. The cold and light snow we had experienced the previous week and weekend had closed the roads and deposited a number of the neighborhood kids on our doorstep, in our den, in the basement and in our bedrooms. They were everywhere! Eating the groceries, needing their mittens and boots dried and going through art supplies like snow in a frying pan. A few of them (including my two youngest) are home-schooled but most attend C.H. Friend down the street.

When Marynn (my oldest) asked, “Are we going to school tomorrow?” Krista and I both said, “Yes! You, your sisters, the neighbors and all the home-schooled kids in the neighborhood!” Little did we know, the blizzard of 2000 was almost upon us.

But it had a different effect than might be expected. Unlike the previous week’s weather that kept only the schools closed, the blizzard brought the adult world to a standstill too. Fifteen inches of snow in 8 hours forced everyone to “be still and know that I am God”. It created a “Snow Sabbath”.

Sabbath, at its most basic level, means to cease from work. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man.” It is an opportunity for the soul to re-establish the balance and equilibrium it loses by striving in the work place. We work in a world cursed by sin. That makes work difficult and draining. It taxes us spiritually, emotionally and physically. Sabbath compensates us for the energy we spend dealing with our own sins and the challenges of working life. We need Sabbath time. It restores us.

And if you’re one of those folks that “feels guilty when I relax” then Sabbath can re-orient your perspective. I had “things to do, people to see and places to go” the next morning. I’m sure you did too. But the Snow Sabbath forced me to realize once again that, “God can run the world quite nicely without my help thank you very much.” That single thought, a Sabbath thought, will do more to relieve your stress than any other thing I know. God has worked and is working to provide for us. He wants us to know what it means to rest in him, to be humble enough to know that we can’t accomplish anything at all without him. So we can trust him enough to relax, let the world go by, and enjoy the peace of a quiet day, or even the occasional blizzard.

HOW TOUGH IS YOUR SOUL?

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love. (1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NIV)

In my first year at FCC I met a wonderful woman named Violet Farrar. I was just getting to know her when one day I got a call that she was in the hospital. I went to visit and she said, “I just got dizzy and weak one day. The next day they told me my heart was bad and here I am, on my way to Duke for bypass surgery.” Less than a week later, we were burying Violet.

Life is tough. And it only gets tougher. I’m discovering as I get older, and I know you are too, that “life is good, no worries” is at best a temporary arrangement. “Life’s a witch” is usually waiting just around the corner. The tough things in life are one heartbeat, one doctor’s report, one emergency phone call, one company meeting away.

And lest we think “that’s only for the older folks” I remember how suddenly I lost my friends Joseph Ramsey, a high school senior, and Steve Kotter, aged 49, who died in car accidents in 2002 and 2004. I also remember how quickly Halifax County lost over four thousand jobs in the first few years we lived here.

Life is tough and it gets tougher. In fact, life can get down right crazy. And the temptation is to spend all of our time as a church in the “emergency room” of soul work – helping wounded people heal – instead of in the gym or on the practice field, training believers for strength and endurance and skill to face the battles.

Healing is necessary. But healing is a temporary state, or it’s supposed to be. (No one I know wants to spend one day longer in the hospital than necessary.) Growing up into full maturity, coming back into the game after an injury or illness, and playing ‘all out’ to the end is what following Christ is all about.
God wants us to be strong people, active people, resourceful people and balanced people as we face the challenges of life. I’m going to spend the next few weeks E-Update columns talking about how to get there. Until then, …be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. (Eph 6:10-11 NIV).