A Memorial Day Special

Today too many people look around and, wringing their hands, say, "So many problems; how are we going to solve all of these problems?" They need to be reminded that life is not a series of problems to be solved, but a series of adventures. And what are we as Americans if not lovers of adventure. From that first adventure of crossing the Atlantic in a tiny ship called the Mayflower, to the adventures of crossing ragging rivers, vast plains, and towering mountains to settle this land; and then on to the greatest adventure of them all, putting a man on the Moon, we have proven ourselves to be a people who do not look at a set of challenges and say, "Oh, so many problems;" but instead say, "An adventure?! Yeeha, let's go!"

So now we face some challenging adventures. The adventure of maintaining our security, culture, and way of life so that future generations can have the same opportunities the founding Fathers had to be all that God intended them to be. The adventure of creating a population of healthy citizens who rely on a healthy diet, a healthy lifestyle, and a healthy mind-set, rather than on doctors and pharmaceuticals. And the adventure of creating a well educated population which has more than just an understanding of math and science, but also understands ethics and aesthetics, so that the people will know what is truly good and beautiful in life.

These are challenging adventure filled with many difficulties. But should any among us say, "Can we really do all these things," let them remember that we are the ones who made it through the Donner Pass, built the Panama Canal, and put men on the Moon. We are Americans; there is nothing we cannot do.

So, as we face the great adventures before us, may the God of our forefathers abide with us and guide us. May he armor us with courage, cloak us with compassion, endow us with wisdom, and lead us always in His peace.

Happy Memorial Day!

Scripture reference: 1 John 4:7-12

Recently I had the great pleasure of hearing the testimony of a fifteen year old boy at the church I am a member of. He revealed that he came from a home where, for whatever reason, he did not feel a great deal of love. For that reason, he had a hunger for love in his heart. It was the thing missing from his life. It was the thing he was seeking, without really knowing that was the source of his emptiness. By the grace of God he was led to our young congregation when it was just a house church meeting in the pastor's home. There this young man found what his heart had been seeking. He was immediately fed the love of God. It was in that way this young man was led to Christ.

In verse 8 of our reference scripture we are told that "God is love." The way the old Greek language works is different from modern American English. Therefore this simple phrase actually convey a deeper revelation of how God lives, and how we are to live. The statement "God is love" means that God's nature, the core of His being which motivates all of his behavior, is love. God is a loving being who does everything he does out of love. He creates out of love. He gives life out of love. He rules by love. He judges by love. A person is known by their nature as revealed by their actions. In this way, God is known and His nature is revealed by His love.

It should not be a mystery to any one that all humans need love. After all, if we are created in the image of God, whose very nature is love, then it follows that our nature would need love to be complete. And when that element is missing, we feel incomplete, and seek something to makes us feel whole. Some seek power; some seek wealth; some seek sex; some seek nothing and submerge into isolation and loneliness. But all men need love to be complete, or perfect, as the Bible states it. And that perfection comes from knowing God. For when we know God, we know that perfect love our nature needs to be whole and complete.

Because God loves us, He wants us to be complete, to be the perfect being He intended us to be when He originally created Adam. That is why Jesus commanded us to love. We are to love each other; we are to love our neighbors; we are to love our enemies; we are to love God. Living in love and doing every thing we do in love is the only way we can conform our nature to that of God and become complete. It is the only way to perfection. To conform to the love of God as revealed to us and demonstrated to us by God's only Son, Christ Jesus.

Jesus told Peter that if he loved Jesus he should feed His sheep. (John 21:15) In Matthew 25:35 Jesus indicates that those He will consider among the righteous are the ones who fed the hungry. This admonition should not be interpreted only in a physical sense. For Jesus himself tells us that man does not live by bread alone. (Matthew 4:4) We are also to feed men's natural heart hunger for love; understanding that our fellow men can never be whole and complete without that love which comes from God through Christ Jesus. And it is our duty to distribute that life giving food.

As God is Spirit and man is mortal or carnal, we cannot truly experience and share God's love unless we have the Spirit of God in us. This is why Jesus told the apostles that He would ask His Father to send the Holy Spirit to us. And it is why everyone who wants to have his hunger for love fed, must be reborn and baptized with the Holy Spirit. In our mortal nature, we cannot know God. Therefore we cannot receive His life giving love, and share it with others. It is only by asking Jesus to take away our mortal life and give us the life He came to provide us with that we can then know God, and be filled with His love through His Holy Spirit.

Love is the food of the heart. It is necessary for real life. It is God's love that provides abundant life; eternal life. It is God's love that all men need to be complete and whole. Love is the element of God's nature which, when it becomes part of our nature, makes us one with God. It is the element by which God creates and gives life. It makes those who are born again new creations, and empowers them to call the dead to life. God's love is the source of all life. Without it, there is no real life; only dead existence.

Let us live a life conformed to God, having His love as our nature. Let us be motivated in everything we do by the love of God as revealed to us through Christ Jesus. In this way we become instruments of His creating, life giving power. The power of God's love.

May the love of God live in your heart and guide your ways. Amen.

Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 15:22

Many Christians believe the way to please God is to give up or sacrifice certain things in their lives. The idea is that giving up, refraining from, or sacrificing certain activities or elements of life shows one's devotion and obedience to God. However, this scripture states specifically that God does not equate sacrifice with obedience. What God considers obedience is doing exactly what He says to do; not coming up with things to not do as a way of showing obedience. And God does not buy any worldly reasoning that our ideas of showing our devotion to God should be as acceptable to Him and obeying His commands.

Let us observe what the Lord God Almighty tells us through His prophet, Isaiah. "I am sick of your sacrifices. Don't bring me any more of them. ... Who wants your sacrifices when you have no sorrow for your sins? ... Your holy celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath, and your special days for fasting - even your most pious meetings - all are frauds! I want nothing more to do with them. I hate them all; I can't stand the sight of them." (Isaiah 1:11-14 TLB)

In this passage God gets to the heart of His real objective. He wants sincere contrite hearts truly repentant of our sins. He wants to see that we are fully aware of how our sinful behavior has hurt Him, and are filled with sorrow because of that knowledge. In short, God, who looks into a man's heart, wants to know that we really love Him so much that we hurt in our heart when we do not do as He commands us. Simply performing certain rituals, like going to church and saying grace before a meal, and not doing certain things, like drinking alcohol or dancing, does not meet with God's approval. It does not show Him that we are sorrowful for our disobedience to Him; and it does not show that we are following His commands.

Now the question arises, just what does God command us to do? How can we show our obedience to Him? The answers to these questions can be found quite easily in the scriptures. All we need to do is turn to the teachings of Jesus as presented in the gospels. We need look no further than the words of Christ while he was among us.

When can start with the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. In the beginning of that great sermon Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the Earth. What does that mean? Well, salt was and is still used to cure and preserve meat. A modern cured and smoked ham has a salty taste because it is first soak for several days in a salt water solution, and then smoked. Salting meat and fish to preserve it is still done all over the world today. So Jesus is telling us that we are to be the element in the which world cures and preserves the souls of men. And if we do not do that, then we are useless, and shall be cast out of the kingdom of God.

Next Jesus tells us that we are to be a light in the world. We are to be a transmitter of the light of God's glory. His light is to shine through us to all the world, so that those who are living in the darkness of not knowing God may find their way into his redeeming light. And how do we do this? By our deeds; by the way we live every day life. It is by always having a kind word for everyone we encounter; by offering a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises; by comforting sorrow, and nursing the sick; by feeding the hungry and welcoming the stranger. In these ways we are obeying God's commands. This is a true demonstration of our heart felt devotion to Him. It is in these ways that we offer a worship to God which he finds pleasing and acceptable.

The most clear set of commands from God concerning our behavior in regular, daily life, and a sign of our true devotion to and worship of God, can be found in Matthew 25:334-40. In this passage Jesus tells us exactly what is expected of us. We are to feed the hungry, give drink to those who thirst, care for the sick, and visit the imprisoned. In these ways Jesus says we are caring for Him. It is those who obey these simple instructions Christ calls righteous.

It should be noted what Jesus does not say. He does not say that we are to perform any rituals, observe any specials days, dress a certain way, listen to a certain type of music, or forbid certain activities. And the reason should be obvious. In feeding others, quenching the thirst of others, caring for others, and visiting others in distress, we are putting others first. We are putting the needs of others before our own wants and concerns. This is the central theme of all of the teachings of Jesus. For by putting those whom God loves first in our life, we are putting God first in our life. Conversely, when we make rituals and rules that please us and make us feel religious the most important elements in our life, we are putting ourself first. We are putting our need to feel pious in the center of our life; and that is God's place. He wants to be in the center of our life, because He has made us first in His life. We are His central focus; therefore, God should always be the central focus of our life. And we make Him the central focus of life by following the few simple commands He has given us through our Savior Christ Jesus.

Paul admonishes us to be as Christ. He tells us to remember that Jesus willingly gave up all the privileges of being the Son of God to serve the hungry, thirsty, sick, and imprisoned. We, therefore, are to follow Christ's example, and do as He did. Paul tells us that doing so is our true worship of God through Christ. By doing as Jesus instructed in Matthew 25:34-40 we are obeying God's commands and giving Him the worship and glory He is due. This is the sign of true obedience.

May the grace of God, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the peace of the Holy Spirit be with you. Amen.

Scripture reference: Romans 12:2

For this particular verse I would like to refer to Dr. William Barclay. (1907-1978) He was a world-renowned New Testament interpreter and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at Glasgow University in Scotland. He wrote over fifty books, and was best know for his deep understanding of the Greek of Paul's day. That is very important to this discussion. For understanding this verse comes down to understanding the words translated as "conformed," and "transformed."

First, in verse one Paul is basically saying that instead of just saying we are going to church to worship God, we should say we are going to work, to the store, to the office, to school to worship God. In other words, we should worship God in everything we do.

This requires a radical change. We must be not conformed to the world but transformed from it. Here Paul uses two almost untranslatable Greek words; words which have taken almost sentences to express. The word he uses to be conformed to the world is suschematizesthai; its root is schema, which means the outward form that varies from year to year and from day to day. One's schema is not the same at age 17 as it is at 70. Nor is it the same when going to work or school as it is when dressed for a special occasion. It is continuously altering. So Paul says: Don't try to match your life to all the fashions of this world; don't be like a chameleon which takes its color from its surroundings. In other words, don't be one way at work or school, one way with your best friends, and another way at church.

The word Paul uses for being transformed from the world is metamorphousthai. Its root is morphe, which means the essential unchanging shape of anything. We do not have the same schema at 17 and 70, but we have the same morphe. When we are dressed for work or school we do not have the same schema as when we are dressed for a fancy night out, but we have the same morphe. The outward appearance changes, but inwardly we are the same. So Paul says that to truly worship and serve God we must change, not our outward form, but our inward personality. We must live a life kata Christon or kata pneuma, dominated by Christ or the Spirit.

Paul says this inward change happens by the renewal of your mind. The word he uses for renewal is anakainosis. The root of this word is kainos which means new in point of character and nature. When Christ comes into our life our way of thinking about what is good, right, nice, fun, and everything else changes. We see the world and ourselves differently.

As a result of this change we are able to worship and praise God in everything we do every moment of the day. Whether at work or school, at home or out with friends, being in the church building or in the car. For it is what is going on in our inward personality where true worship occurs, not what we are doing or listening to outwardly.

May the Lord bless you with His Holy Spirit at all time and in all the moments of your life. Amen.

Scripture reference: Ezekiel 37:1-14

Although this scripture refers directly to God restoring Old Covenant Israel, it is an allegory of God filling the born again Christian with His Holy Spirit, having brought the spiritually dead back to life through the savior Christ Jesus. It tells us clearly and plainly that, no matter how long a person has been dead in spirit, even long enough to make a person nothing more than a bag of dried bones, His Spirit can restore life to the vigor of a great army.

This scripture can also been seen as a sign that God can and will raise up a wayward Church; restoring it to real Christian life, by pouring upon it His Holy Spirit. This is something that is surely needed today; and something that should give all who are concerned for the modern Church hope. For it could be said that many of the groups around the United States called churches are nothing more than collections of dried, old bones. Lifeless and motionless, they sit disconnected from one another in what should be an active field of battle against the enemy. Christian in name only, there is no sign of the life of the risen Christ; no carrying of his teachings to all the world; no feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, caring for the sick, comforting the sorrowful, or teaching the things which Jesus taught. Instead there is political action preaching against abortion and gay rights, or secular guru teachings about having a good marriage or an organized life, or prosperity preaching about how to live a materially rich life style. All of which is popular with those who are worldly wise, but have nothing of the life of Christ in them. The churches who engage in such socially relevant preaching are as spiritually dead as a field of dried old bones.

For those who wring their hands and bemoan this condition of the modern Church, this passage of scripture brings hope and assurance. It tells us that not only can God restore life to his dead Church, He will. He will call leaders to whom He gives his Word to proclaim life among the dead. And He will pour out His Spirit on currently dead churches, bringing them back to life. And not a passive life; but an active life of vigorous service to the living Lord, fighting His battles and displaying His greatness and glory. God will use those who will commit themselves to Him just as He used Ezekiel to proclaim His message of promise to a beat down and scattered Israel. God will call His Church to life, and empower it to go forth into the world and accomplish His mission.

If you have been discouraged and depressed over the current condition of the American Church, cheer up. God has not and will not forget and forsake His Church. He will call leaders just as He called Ezekiel. And He will pour out His Holy Spirit upon the dead dried bones of local congregations. God will give new life to old churches that have been languishing in secular guruism and prosperity preaching. He will raise up His people, those called according to His purpose, and fill them with His Spirit, that they might go forth and do His work. They will teach what Jesus taught; they will live the way the Acts 2 Church lived; they will be the true living body of Christ.

We can all be a part of this re-birth of the Church in America. All that is needed is for each of us to follow the example of the prophet Isaiah as recorded in Isaiah 6:8: "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." Let us each let the Lord know that we are ready to fill Ezekiel's role, and call dried bones to life.

May the God of new life be with you. Amen.