Do you remember the old movie The Time Machine? In it, a scientist sits in the machine, and pushes the lever forward. Time begins to accelerate. The sun and moon pass rapidly before his window. Furniture scoots around the room. He pushes the lever forward faster. The room itself disappears. He is now in a vacant lot. He sees the mannequin in a store window--skirt hemlines go up and down with the changes of fashion. Then the store itself disappears. The town disappears, too, and greenery grows around him. Finally, he is encased in rock and then the rock itself wears away.
The older I get, the more I feel like that time traveler. Everything I know fades away. Old friends age and die. My hair turns from black to white. Just as soon as I get used to one bit of technology it's obsolete.
Think of the things we have known--records, black-and-white television, newspapers, books, full service gas stations, board games, milkmen, door-to-door salesmen, big cars, written letters, balancing your check book, soft drinks in glass bottles—all are either gone or fading. Those things we thought would last forever fall away and we are in an unfamiliar world. We are the strangers in our own homes, even strangers in our own bodies.
Desperately we try to slow things down. We pull on the lever. But the world will not go any slower because we want it to. Everything disappears--including ourselves.
Every generation has experienced obsolescence, decline and death. No one grows old gracefully. Everyone hates to see the old go.
Our reaction to aging depends on one thing--what we think comes afterward. If I were that man in the time machine, I would enjoy the ride only if I knew I was going back to my own time. If I thought it aging was permanent, then I would fight furiously to slow the world down. .
"To be, or not to be," Hamlet said. "That is the question." When he thought of ending his life, he thought of eternal judgment and changed his mind.
Either we believe that we are headed for oblivion, or we believe we are headed for heaven. Which is more appealing? Which give some reason for living?
The Bible gives abundant evidence of the existence of heaven. Consider these verses.
1 Thess 4:13-18. Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Rev. 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, he new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
John 14:1-4 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
What is heaven like? We cannot really know. The pearly gates, streets of gold, wedding feast, and thrones are all just metaphors meant to express to our earthly something indescribable.
Forget everything you have heard about heaven. Forget everything you imagine it to be. There is nothing this side of heaven that can even begin to express its true nature. What kind of existence we will have we could not begin to grasp. The images we get of heaven are either our attempts to grasp the ungraspable or God's method of expressing the inexpressible. It is the fulfillment of all things on earth, and the surpassing of all human joys. It is a real place where all the pleasures and joys of this world are multiplied many times over.
What do we know of heaven? We can at least say four things about it.
First, in Heaven there is no time. When God chose a name to give Moses, He called Himself “I am.” "I exist always in the present." When Jesus wanted to tell who he really was, he said "Before Abraham was, I Am." He lives in a present, which was before Abraham.
Eternity is beyond time and beyond space, when we live in all moments at once, as God does. I do not understand this, I only know it is.
I don't know about you, but this is a great comfort to me. In heaven I will literally have all the time in the world to enjoy what I want forever.
Second, in heaven there will be no sin. Once upon a time, God created a perfect world. We messed it up, by not obeying Him. This led to all the problems of the world, disease, war, famine, destruction, and death. Jesus redeemed out of this world those who would believe. One day when the world ends and our lives end, we will live happily ever after.
We would live happily ever after now, if it were not for one thing--sin.
We all suffer because of something someone has done, either ourselves or someone else. Drug use leads to addiction which leads to poverty. Promiscuity leads to unplanned pregnancy which leads to poverty. Drunken driving leads to accidents which leads to poverty. But many, many more suffer because they are victims of someone else. In a world without sin, there would be no poverty, either. And if there is no poverty without sin, then it must also be true that in a place where there is no poverty, there was no sin.
We battle sin our whole lives. But once we get to heaven, that battle is over. The drunkard is clean, the lustful are faithful, the lazy are industrious, the proud are humble, the greedy are satisfied, and the violent are calm at last. God wipes away every tear from our eyes and every temptation of our heart.
Third in heaven, there is love.
Yes, we will see our mothers and fathers and all those who have gone before (assuming they have trusted in Christ and arrived safely) But this is just a tiny part of heaven's joys. Without the restrictions of this world, and the sin of this world, our love broadens, as so does everyone else. There will not be separate families in heaven. Instead, we will all be part of one great family. Instead of one mother, we will have millions. We will have millions of fathers, too. Everyone we meet will be our brothers and sisters. In heaven, all children will be our children, and we will be children of all.
Love is the substance of heaven, as it the substance of God. We will live in it. Every relationship in heaven is rooted and grounded in the love of God.
Remember what Jesus said "Those who do the will or My father are my mothers and brothers." Remember when He said no one will give up father and mother without having a hundred more in the kingdom of Heaven. Remember when He said that in heaven there is no marrying or giving in marriage. We will all love each one. Divisions on earth are so ridiculous—if we are going to spend all eternity together, who why quarrel about what doesn't matter?
Fourth, in heaven will be the living presence of God. Here's the best part.
In Revelation 21: 22-26 John likens heaven to a city, shaped like an enormous city. The streets and the avenues of the city on every level are transparent gold, like glass
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
The glory of God lights the city, from top to bottom. It fills every nook and cranny of the dwelling place of the dead with glorious light.
On earth, we only catch glimpses of that light Imagine what it would be like to experience that moment of glory every moment of every day, for the rest of eternity, to be frozen in wonder forever.
In James Hilton's novel, Lost Horizon, a man visits a place called Shangri La, a place so beautiful that he spends the rest of his life trying to get back to it. Heaven is such a place. It is worth everything to go there.
So how do we get to heaven? It is simple. We put our trust in Jesus. Jesus' death on the cross washes away not only the guilt, but the power of sin in our lives. Whatever our sinful minds have done, whatever sinful lusts have driven us, he breaks the power of them, so that we can walk free of them.
Don't let the littleness of this life get you down.. God is in charge. He has a better place waiting for us, if we will only believe.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
What is God for? Hope
Today, I want to talk about a third aspect of what God is for—a hope for the hopeless. Before we discuss this, let’s talk about what hope actually is. Hope includes two aspects-- reality and feelings. In order for hope to help us, is must be both.
Let me illustrate. Suppose someone else did in my name and bought me a lottery ticket. I neither believe in nor approve of the lottery. Nevertheless, if you own a lottery ticket, there is an element of real hope associated with it. Any lottery ticket has the possibility, however infinitesimal, of financial gain. I certainly would not go out and run up my credit cards in anticipation, however.
Now, suppose that I had this ticket, but I did not believe it had any possibility of any real gain from it, and I tore it up. Whatever real hope there might be in that ticket would be lost. It would be worth nothing. It would be foolish on one hand to feel the ticket had value when it didn’t, and go borrow money on that basis. It also be foolish to tear it up, without at least waiting to see whether it actually had some value.
Or lets suppose you have a rare and serious illness. The doctors tell you there is no hope, so you give up treatment. Then one doctor says there is a possibility of a new treatment that might work. If you don’t believe it will work, you will not take the treatment, and it will do you no good. But if you think it has a possibility of working, you’ll move heaven and earth to have it.
Real hope is based on a possibility of gain. But without believing in that possibility—perceived or felt hope, then the real value does us no good.
If we perceive hope where there is none, we are just being delusional. If we have no hope where there is real hope, we are being fatalistic. Without some degree of hope, we give up the struggle. We must have hope to continue to live.
It is difficult to overestimate the value of hope. If we have hope, we will do anything, try anything,endure anything. But if we have no hope, even the most routine of activities becomes pointless.
The word "hope" in English is not strong enough to convey what the Bible says about hope. Our word means the possibility of improving situations. The word "hope" in both Hebrew and Greek means a great deal more than that. I means our improvement Is certain, if we stay on the right course.
In Hebrew, the word used is tiquvah. Translated literally int English, it means a rope or a cord. If we are going through a treacherous place, then a rope may be what we hold onto. It is a sure and certain guide before us.
In Greek he word is elpis. It is a word which mean, not only he possibility of improvement, but the certainty of it. Hope is acting on what is promised tomorrow today.
Recently, Joy and I got some new furniture for our living room. It took two weeks to deliver from the store. Druing that time, we were stuck with having to get rid of the old furniture. It took three trips and several house, but we finally got our furniture own to Hope, incorporated to distribute to a burned-out family. When we wer done we sat in a nearly empty living room for a day. If the furniture had not arrived on time, we would have been in a mess. But the furniture did arrive right on time, and our hope was validated.
Every day we make decisions based on hope. We cast our furniture in anticpation of another. We unpack one house and move into another. We reach out because we know we will be of use. Without hope, we would sit in our hoes and do nothing. Hope is something we must have to do anything. It is a necessary commodity to anything we do.
When we lose faith, we lose hope. If we really don't trust politicians, why vote? If we think we have no chance of making friends, then why be a friend? Everything we are and ever will be depends upon hope.
Christians know where hope comes from. It comes from Jesus Christ. Christ is the bringer of hope, more than anything else. The story of Christ's birth is a hopeful story. It shows us that God can come to earth in the most unlikely of places. The story of Christ's baptism brings hope, since it shows that the Messiah can come from anywhere. The story of Christ's miracles bring hope, since it shows that God can overcome anything, even death itself. The story of Christ's death and resurrection brings hope, since it shows that nothing not even death, can separate us from the forgiveness of sins that Jesus gave through his atoning work.
Our faith in Jesus is not vain. It is a real hope. Jesus really did die on the cross for our sins, and he really promises us forgiveness and true life forever. This is not an illusion.
But this hope does us no good unless we feel it. Hope is a thing we must have for ourselvs. It cannot ge given to us b others.
Paul says in Romans 5:1-4
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Hope is an upward spiral to the Christian. As we practice hope that God will accept us by faith in Him, and we anticipate that by praising Him, we learn perseverance, which develops our character, including that characteristic of hope.
Christ gives brought us four kinds of hope to us.
1. He gave us hope for an experience of God.
I believe that everyone instinctually has a desire to see and experience God in their lives. We see this in the way all cultures have developed a sense of divinity, whether it be true or false. We all want fellowship with Him.
In our modern age, many have turned away from all divinity, and declared themselves atheists or agnostics. Even so, they we have kept in our stories, a longing for wonder, a hope for something truly amazing to break into our lives. The reason people seek our ghosts, UFO's and psychic phenomena is because they want to believe there is something greater than ourselves who will come and rescue us. In Communist countries like China and North Korea, their leaders are woshiped as gods. Having done away with the true God, they put worldly rulers in His place
But the only hope we have of speaking to God is through Jesus Christ. Sin has separated ourselves form the truth. We cannot restore is, s we must rely upon God's mercy through Jesus to ope n the door that would otherwise be shut to us. "For there is just one name in heaven and earth by which ou must be saved." .
2. He gave us hope to change our lives and attitudes.
When do you think personality is formed--College? High school? Preschool? When does it become too late for a person to change?
Some people believe that there is no possibility to change. Behaviorists, racists, and gay rights activists all have one thing in common--they believe there are aspects of who we are that came from birth, and cannot be changed later.
We do not have to be any one of those to believe we are predetermined from birth.
As we get older, more and more we accept the lie that we cannot change. In time, we quit trying. But Jesus can still change us, whether we are two years old or a hundred. We can always start again. When we trust Jesus, we are born again. A new life begins, and a new hope comes with us.
3. He gave us hope for eternal life.
When we are young, we think we will live forever. In our country, death is far from most of us for a long time. So we never sit and contemplate the reality of death. One day we will exist on this world, and the next day we will not.
The Bible says that there is another life waiting for us--heaven. Heaven does not have the limitations of this life, nor does it have the temptations. Heaen is forever, and the joy of heaven is forever.
The way we understand heaven makes all the difference in the way we understand this life. If there is no heaven, it doesn't matter what we do. Eefyting will be ther same. But if there is a heaven, then we should live and obey in a way that helps us get there. If there is no heaven, then we should do everything we can to stay alive, no matter what it does to others. A live coward is better than a dead hero. But if ther eis a heaven, then death is not the worst thing. Missing out on eternity is the worse thing, and death which leads to heaven is the best thing we can ever have.
4. He gave us hope for a new world.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth" John said. "For the old heaven and the old earth have passed away." To which the believer will no doubt say "Well, It's about time!" Sin had left this world with some terrible flaws. It is a tough, selfish world to live sin, and it is getting worse. Mark Twain once said that man was a little lower than the angels, and has been getting a little lower ever since. But the hope that we have for ourselves also extends to the whole world. God will make it right. We do not have to despair.
Let us have hope, then. Let us live in that hope and die in that hope. God's hope will not disappoint.
Let me illustrate. Suppose someone else did in my name and bought me a lottery ticket. I neither believe in nor approve of the lottery. Nevertheless, if you own a lottery ticket, there is an element of real hope associated with it. Any lottery ticket has the possibility, however infinitesimal, of financial gain. I certainly would not go out and run up my credit cards in anticipation, however.
Now, suppose that I had this ticket, but I did not believe it had any possibility of any real gain from it, and I tore it up. Whatever real hope there might be in that ticket would be lost. It would be worth nothing. It would be foolish on one hand to feel the ticket had value when it didn’t, and go borrow money on that basis. It also be foolish to tear it up, without at least waiting to see whether it actually had some value.
Or lets suppose you have a rare and serious illness. The doctors tell you there is no hope, so you give up treatment. Then one doctor says there is a possibility of a new treatment that might work. If you don’t believe it will work, you will not take the treatment, and it will do you no good. But if you think it has a possibility of working, you’ll move heaven and earth to have it.
Real hope is based on a possibility of gain. But without believing in that possibility—perceived or felt hope, then the real value does us no good.
If we perceive hope where there is none, we are just being delusional. If we have no hope where there is real hope, we are being fatalistic. Without some degree of hope, we give up the struggle. We must have hope to continue to live.
It is difficult to overestimate the value of hope. If we have hope, we will do anything, try anything,endure anything. But if we have no hope, even the most routine of activities becomes pointless.
The word "hope" in English is not strong enough to convey what the Bible says about hope. Our word means the possibility of improving situations. The word "hope" in both Hebrew and Greek means a great deal more than that. I means our improvement Is certain, if we stay on the right course.
In Hebrew, the word used is tiquvah. Translated literally int English, it means a rope or a cord. If we are going through a treacherous place, then a rope may be what we hold onto. It is a sure and certain guide before us.
In Greek he word is elpis. It is a word which mean, not only he possibility of improvement, but the certainty of it. Hope is acting on what is promised tomorrow today.
Recently, Joy and I got some new furniture for our living room. It took two weeks to deliver from the store. Druing that time, we were stuck with having to get rid of the old furniture. It took three trips and several house, but we finally got our furniture own to Hope, incorporated to distribute to a burned-out family. When we wer done we sat in a nearly empty living room for a day. If the furniture had not arrived on time, we would have been in a mess. But the furniture did arrive right on time, and our hope was validated.
Every day we make decisions based on hope. We cast our furniture in anticpation of another. We unpack one house and move into another. We reach out because we know we will be of use. Without hope, we would sit in our hoes and do nothing. Hope is something we must have to do anything. It is a necessary commodity to anything we do.
When we lose faith, we lose hope. If we really don't trust politicians, why vote? If we think we have no chance of making friends, then why be a friend? Everything we are and ever will be depends upon hope.
Christians know where hope comes from. It comes from Jesus Christ. Christ is the bringer of hope, more than anything else. The story of Christ's birth is a hopeful story. It shows us that God can come to earth in the most unlikely of places. The story of Christ's baptism brings hope, since it shows that the Messiah can come from anywhere. The story of Christ's miracles bring hope, since it shows that God can overcome anything, even death itself. The story of Christ's death and resurrection brings hope, since it shows that nothing not even death, can separate us from the forgiveness of sins that Jesus gave through his atoning work.
Our faith in Jesus is not vain. It is a real hope. Jesus really did die on the cross for our sins, and he really promises us forgiveness and true life forever. This is not an illusion.
But this hope does us no good unless we feel it. Hope is a thing we must have for ourselvs. It cannot ge given to us b others.
Paul says in Romans 5:1-4
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Hope is an upward spiral to the Christian. As we practice hope that God will accept us by faith in Him, and we anticipate that by praising Him, we learn perseverance, which develops our character, including that characteristic of hope.
Christ gives brought us four kinds of hope to us.
1. He gave us hope for an experience of God.
I believe that everyone instinctually has a desire to see and experience God in their lives. We see this in the way all cultures have developed a sense of divinity, whether it be true or false. We all want fellowship with Him.
In our modern age, many have turned away from all divinity, and declared themselves atheists or agnostics. Even so, they we have kept in our stories, a longing for wonder, a hope for something truly amazing to break into our lives. The reason people seek our ghosts, UFO's and psychic phenomena is because they want to believe there is something greater than ourselves who will come and rescue us. In Communist countries like China and North Korea, their leaders are woshiped as gods. Having done away with the true God, they put worldly rulers in His place
But the only hope we have of speaking to God is through Jesus Christ. Sin has separated ourselves form the truth. We cannot restore is, s we must rely upon God's mercy through Jesus to ope n the door that would otherwise be shut to us. "For there is just one name in heaven and earth by which ou must be saved." .
2. He gave us hope to change our lives and attitudes.
When do you think personality is formed--College? High school? Preschool? When does it become too late for a person to change?
Some people believe that there is no possibility to change. Behaviorists, racists, and gay rights activists all have one thing in common--they believe there are aspects of who we are that came from birth, and cannot be changed later.
We do not have to be any one of those to believe we are predetermined from birth.
As we get older, more and more we accept the lie that we cannot change. In time, we quit trying. But Jesus can still change us, whether we are two years old or a hundred. We can always start again. When we trust Jesus, we are born again. A new life begins, and a new hope comes with us.
3. He gave us hope for eternal life.
When we are young, we think we will live forever. In our country, death is far from most of us for a long time. So we never sit and contemplate the reality of death. One day we will exist on this world, and the next day we will not.
The Bible says that there is another life waiting for us--heaven. Heaven does not have the limitations of this life, nor does it have the temptations. Heaen is forever, and the joy of heaven is forever.
The way we understand heaven makes all the difference in the way we understand this life. If there is no heaven, it doesn't matter what we do. Eefyting will be ther same. But if there is a heaven, then we should live and obey in a way that helps us get there. If there is no heaven, then we should do everything we can to stay alive, no matter what it does to others. A live coward is better than a dead hero. But if ther eis a heaven, then death is not the worst thing. Missing out on eternity is the worse thing, and death which leads to heaven is the best thing we can ever have.
4. He gave us hope for a new world.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth" John said. "For the old heaven and the old earth have passed away." To which the believer will no doubt say "Well, It's about time!" Sin had left this world with some terrible flaws. It is a tough, selfish world to live sin, and it is getting worse. Mark Twain once said that man was a little lower than the angels, and has been getting a little lower ever since. But the hope that we have for ourselves also extends to the whole world. God will make it right. We do not have to despair.
Let us have hope, then. Let us live in that hope and die in that hope. God's hope will not disappoint.
What is God For? A Pattern For Living
There are two kinds of people in the world—“thinkers” and “doers.” (This doesn’t men thinkers don’t do or that doers don’t think—it’s what they like to do first that puts them in these categories.
Statistically, the doers outnumber the thinkers four to one. Yet in the church, the majority of preachers are thinkers and the majority of their congregations are doers.
Preachers are rarely practical. They are fond of concepts and ideas, so they figure everyone else should be, too. But most people are much more interested in what to do than why. No wonder so many people are lost in church.
Let’s assume that the majority of you are doers rather than thinkers. What can God do for you doers, who are not interested in theological nuggets of truth? Well, neither is God. God is more interested in us doing and obeying than in us understanding and thinking.
The original name for the Christian movement was the Way, It was a way of life, not some kind of vague theology. Early Christians were more interested in following Jesus than they were in arguing about theology. Jesus really expects us to pick up our crosses and follow Him, not just talk about Him. He demands our obedience and not just our thoughts.
Which brings us to Moses.
When Moses led God’s people to the gates of the Promised Land, I think he knew that chaos was coming. Each tribe, village, and family would be governed by their own set of rules. There would be no central authority. It would be a mess for centuries.
God foresaw this, too. That is why He had Moses preach five final sermons before they entered. These sermons were called Deuteronomy—the second law. He laid before them God’s way one more time.
Over and over, Moses tells them to obey God, and follow His commandments. Let them be your pattern for living.Deuteronomy 5:32-6:25 is very typical. In it, God tells us of all the benefits that will come to us if we follow God’s pattern of life.
1. When we follow God’s pattern, we live long and prosper.
32 So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
God has a way of punishing the wicked. He does not usually swoop down from the sky like some superhero. More often, God punishes sin by His absence, not His presence. He stays out of our affairs and the natural results of sin does the rest.
Every evil we can name--financial ruin, famine, war, climate change, drugs, violence, AIDS—comes as a result of sin. The ultimate product of sin is the wrath of God.
God’s rules are safety instructions for the long road of life. If we run up our credit cards, don’t be surprised if we run out of money. If we don’t take care of our bodies, don’t be surprised if we have health problems. If we get into our cars, and do not fasten our seatbelts, don’t be surprised when we fly around in a crash. If we disobey God, don’t be surprised if we suffer.
There are positive rewards, too, if we obey Him, If we do, we live longer, more pleasant, and more fruitful lives. His rewards are piled up on us—more than we deserve.
2. When we follow God’s pattern, He keeps the blessings flowing.
6:1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.
3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
If we have learned anything from the financial mess this country is in, it is this--you can give a man a loan for a house, but that doesn’t mean he can afford to pay it back. If there is no discipline involved in getting a gift, there will be no responsibility to care for what is given.
The Israelites were in a similar position. For hundreds of years, God promised them a land, a paradise, flowing with milk and honey. But when they got there they discovered that is was not a paradise yet. You can’t have milk unless you tend the cows. You can’t have honey unless you harvest the hive. It wasn’t ever intended just to flow out of the ground. Happiness involves work. Work is the means God uses to bring us His blessings.
3. When we follow God’s pattern, we love Him.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Do you love the Lord? Moses is not talking about a feeling. It is having the resolve to serve him with every portion of our being. You don’t always feel it, but it’s something you do, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Loving God means we take on a new purpose in life—obeying Him. When you die, it will not matter how much you leave behind. You children may squander it anyway. It will not matter what you’ve accomplished in life. All that will matter is who you have accomplished it for.
4. When we follow His pattern, we get more than we deserve.
10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you — a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant — then when you eat and are satisfied,
When we love God, He loves us back. He gives to us, not based on what we earn, but based on His unbounded love.
Life isn’t fair. We deserve we don’t get and we get what we don’t deserve. We don’t deserve heaven. We don’t deserve God’s presence in our lives. We don’t deserve to be called God’s children. Yet he gives all this and a thousand times more to us anyway.
Moses says that when they go into the promised lands, they will move into the abandoned houses and fields of the previous tenants. They will have gardens they did not plant and fields they did not clear. It isn’t fair. But it’s love. God will move others out of the way so that His people can have what they need. Like any parent, he is partial to His children, and he will not withhold any good thing from us—even if it belongs to someone else.
5. When we follow God’s pattern, we survive.
20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?"
21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.. . . 24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."
A tour guide in Israel once told me about visiting a Bedouin sheikh in his enormous tent in the wilderness. He was rich and educated, yet he still lived in a tent. She asked him why.
He replied that his people had been there since before the days of Abraham. Other people became greedy or insecure and wanted to settle down. But their people were content to live in tents, following the ways of their ancestors. When people tried to hold on to this land, they eventually were run off. But they were there to pick up the pieces.
We are not just individuals. We are part of something larger—a family of God. We follow a pattern of life that is at least as old as the Bedouins. That pattern gives us security and comfort, knowing that it will be there for our children, and our children’s children. God’s pattern will never be rescinded. It will be there forever. And so will we.
Statistically, the doers outnumber the thinkers four to one. Yet in the church, the majority of preachers are thinkers and the majority of their congregations are doers.
Preachers are rarely practical. They are fond of concepts and ideas, so they figure everyone else should be, too. But most people are much more interested in what to do than why. No wonder so many people are lost in church.
Let’s assume that the majority of you are doers rather than thinkers. What can God do for you doers, who are not interested in theological nuggets of truth? Well, neither is God. God is more interested in us doing and obeying than in us understanding and thinking.
The original name for the Christian movement was the Way, It was a way of life, not some kind of vague theology. Early Christians were more interested in following Jesus than they were in arguing about theology. Jesus really expects us to pick up our crosses and follow Him, not just talk about Him. He demands our obedience and not just our thoughts.
Which brings us to Moses.
When Moses led God’s people to the gates of the Promised Land, I think he knew that chaos was coming. Each tribe, village, and family would be governed by their own set of rules. There would be no central authority. It would be a mess for centuries.
God foresaw this, too. That is why He had Moses preach five final sermons before they entered. These sermons were called Deuteronomy—the second law. He laid before them God’s way one more time.
Over and over, Moses tells them to obey God, and follow His commandments. Let them be your pattern for living.Deuteronomy 5:32-6:25 is very typical. In it, God tells us of all the benefits that will come to us if we follow God’s pattern of life.
1. When we follow God’s pattern, we live long and prosper.
32 So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
God has a way of punishing the wicked. He does not usually swoop down from the sky like some superhero. More often, God punishes sin by His absence, not His presence. He stays out of our affairs and the natural results of sin does the rest.
Every evil we can name--financial ruin, famine, war, climate change, drugs, violence, AIDS—comes as a result of sin. The ultimate product of sin is the wrath of God.
God’s rules are safety instructions for the long road of life. If we run up our credit cards, don’t be surprised if we run out of money. If we don’t take care of our bodies, don’t be surprised if we have health problems. If we get into our cars, and do not fasten our seatbelts, don’t be surprised when we fly around in a crash. If we disobey God, don’t be surprised if we suffer.
There are positive rewards, too, if we obey Him, If we do, we live longer, more pleasant, and more fruitful lives. His rewards are piled up on us—more than we deserve.
2. When we follow God’s pattern, He keeps the blessings flowing.
6:1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.
3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
If we have learned anything from the financial mess this country is in, it is this--you can give a man a loan for a house, but that doesn’t mean he can afford to pay it back. If there is no discipline involved in getting a gift, there will be no responsibility to care for what is given.
The Israelites were in a similar position. For hundreds of years, God promised them a land, a paradise, flowing with milk and honey. But when they got there they discovered that is was not a paradise yet. You can’t have milk unless you tend the cows. You can’t have honey unless you harvest the hive. It wasn’t ever intended just to flow out of the ground. Happiness involves work. Work is the means God uses to bring us His blessings.
3. When we follow God’s pattern, we love Him.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Do you love the Lord? Moses is not talking about a feeling. It is having the resolve to serve him with every portion of our being. You don’t always feel it, but it’s something you do, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Loving God means we take on a new purpose in life—obeying Him. When you die, it will not matter how much you leave behind. You children may squander it anyway. It will not matter what you’ve accomplished in life. All that will matter is who you have accomplished it for.
4. When we follow His pattern, we get more than we deserve.
10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you — a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant — then when you eat and are satisfied,
When we love God, He loves us back. He gives to us, not based on what we earn, but based on His unbounded love.
Life isn’t fair. We deserve we don’t get and we get what we don’t deserve. We don’t deserve heaven. We don’t deserve God’s presence in our lives. We don’t deserve to be called God’s children. Yet he gives all this and a thousand times more to us anyway.
Moses says that when they go into the promised lands, they will move into the abandoned houses and fields of the previous tenants. They will have gardens they did not plant and fields they did not clear. It isn’t fair. But it’s love. God will move others out of the way so that His people can have what they need. Like any parent, he is partial to His children, and he will not withhold any good thing from us—even if it belongs to someone else.
5. When we follow God’s pattern, we survive.
20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?"
21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.. . . 24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."
A tour guide in Israel once told me about visiting a Bedouin sheikh in his enormous tent in the wilderness. He was rich and educated, yet he still lived in a tent. She asked him why.
He replied that his people had been there since before the days of Abraham. Other people became greedy or insecure and wanted to settle down. But their people were content to live in tents, following the ways of their ancestors. When people tried to hold on to this land, they eventually were run off. But they were there to pick up the pieces.
We are not just individuals. We are part of something larger—a family of God. We follow a pattern of life that is at least as old as the Bedouins. That pattern gives us security and comfort, knowing that it will be there for our children, and our children’s children. God’s pattern will never be rescinded. It will be there forever. And so will we.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Surfing the Wave of the Spirit
Joy and I were having a conversation the other day about churches and how they grow. This is a bad time for growing a church. For at least the past ten years, church attendance has been falling at a rate of about one percent per year. It is a time of great opposition and disinterest in religion, especially in Christianity. That, coupled with the recession has hurt all churches, especially ours.
What makes a church grow spiritually? I know those things which keep it healthy--love, the preaching of the Word, sound teaching, etc. These make a church more likely to grow. But there are plenty of loving churches where the Gospel is preached and growth is slow or nonexistent.
There are nonspiritual reasons for growth, too. Churches on main roads generally grow faster than churches on back roads. When a church reflects the needs and desires of a particular portion of the contemporary culture, it will grow, too. (There is really no one monolithic "culture" in our world, just wide collections of many cultures, leaving room for almost every kind of church to find a niche.) But this can happen whether or not God is in it, I'm afraid. Growth or lack of it is no sign of godliness.
There are other factors which are also cited for the growth of churches--relevance, purity, concern for the lost, faithfulness, and many others. All of these may have an impact on the growth of the church but none of them in themselves means that the church will grow.
Look at the Christian landscape today. How many churches are growing--I mean really growing? How many are reaching the lost in any large numbers? What we see are many congregations, offering many different techniques and styles, mostly without significant success.
Now think about the churches that are still growing today. They can be high or low church, contemporary or traditional--they can be very, very different both in practice and theology. But there is one thing they all have in common--a sense that the Holy Spirit is there.
The degree to which a church is likely to grow depends upon the expectation of the people that the Holy Spirit will move in their midst. There have to be signs and wonders, not necessarily in the Charismatic sense, but certainly in the spiritual sense. People have to see that something supernatural is going on.
People are drawn to Christ by the moving of the Holy Spirit, not by preaching or praying alone. We must ask of God, and we must see an answer. In growing churches, there is a full expectation that God will make Himself known. They come to church expectantly, not knowing what He will do next, but convinced that He will do something.
People often use sports illustrations to explain the church. Let me suggest a new one --surfing. Churches grow when they catch the wave of the Holy Spirit.
The church is not built on our own effort. It is not a race, where the strong and the fit succeed. It is not a game requiring strength and ingenuity. Church growth is an enterprise powered by the overwhelming power of God. Its force is irresistable, unstoppable, and inevitable. Our task, if we are serious about growing churches, is to look for that power and ride it. It involves less planning and less study of the world, and more planning and more study of God's intentions and actions today. We need to catch the waves. We cannot create them.
The first wave started at Pentecost. On that one day, three thousand people were added to the church. The disciples rode that wave for some time Another wave came when the church was under persecution, through the underground movement of evangelism. All through the history of the church - the Prostestant revolution, the missionary movements, the great awakenings, the holiness, pentecostal, and Charismatic movement, the Wesleyan revivals, the Moody revivals, the crusades of Billy Sunday and Billy Graham, the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, and so forth, we see the Spirit moving in waves and eddies. None of these movements last forever, any more than waves on the sea last forever. Every movement of the Spirit in the church inevitably is brought down by pride, jealousy, and heresy. The waves may crash; the tide remains. God continues to move in the church, using different people and different names. Even so, the church goes on.
As far as we are concerned today we have two choices, we can catch the wave, or miss it. We can ride the Spirit, or be knocked down by it.
If we are to grow in this generation, we must not look to restore the waves that have gone on. Nor should we try to create a wave, molded to what we think it should be. We should look, neither to the present, past, or future, but to God. We should seek Him out, to try and discern where He is working His signs and wonders today. I don't mean finding the next trend or fad, but we should genuinely seek what the move of God is. We are like surfers in the water, looking for the next big swell. When we find it, then we ride it, allowing the power of the wave to carry us forward.
What will the next wave be and when will it come? I have no idea. It is not for us to know really. But we can seek God with all our hearts, and stand eagerly before Him. If we seek to be moved by God, God will move us, and the next wave of the Spirit will come here as well.
What makes a church grow spiritually? I know those things which keep it healthy--love, the preaching of the Word, sound teaching, etc. These make a church more likely to grow. But there are plenty of loving churches where the Gospel is preached and growth is slow or nonexistent.
There are nonspiritual reasons for growth, too. Churches on main roads generally grow faster than churches on back roads. When a church reflects the needs and desires of a particular portion of the contemporary culture, it will grow, too. (There is really no one monolithic "culture" in our world, just wide collections of many cultures, leaving room for almost every kind of church to find a niche.) But this can happen whether or not God is in it, I'm afraid. Growth or lack of it is no sign of godliness.
There are other factors which are also cited for the growth of churches--relevance, purity, concern for the lost, faithfulness, and many others. All of these may have an impact on the growth of the church but none of them in themselves means that the church will grow.
Look at the Christian landscape today. How many churches are growing--I mean really growing? How many are reaching the lost in any large numbers? What we see are many congregations, offering many different techniques and styles, mostly without significant success.
Now think about the churches that are still growing today. They can be high or low church, contemporary or traditional--they can be very, very different both in practice and theology. But there is one thing they all have in common--a sense that the Holy Spirit is there.
The degree to which a church is likely to grow depends upon the expectation of the people that the Holy Spirit will move in their midst. There have to be signs and wonders, not necessarily in the Charismatic sense, but certainly in the spiritual sense. People have to see that something supernatural is going on.
People are drawn to Christ by the moving of the Holy Spirit, not by preaching or praying alone. We must ask of God, and we must see an answer. In growing churches, there is a full expectation that God will make Himself known. They come to church expectantly, not knowing what He will do next, but convinced that He will do something.
People often use sports illustrations to explain the church. Let me suggest a new one --surfing. Churches grow when they catch the wave of the Holy Spirit.
The church is not built on our own effort. It is not a race, where the strong and the fit succeed. It is not a game requiring strength and ingenuity. Church growth is an enterprise powered by the overwhelming power of God. Its force is irresistable, unstoppable, and inevitable. Our task, if we are serious about growing churches, is to look for that power and ride it. It involves less planning and less study of the world, and more planning and more study of God's intentions and actions today. We need to catch the waves. We cannot create them.
The first wave started at Pentecost. On that one day, three thousand people were added to the church. The disciples rode that wave for some time Another wave came when the church was under persecution, through the underground movement of evangelism. All through the history of the church - the Prostestant revolution, the missionary movements, the great awakenings, the holiness, pentecostal, and Charismatic movement, the Wesleyan revivals, the Moody revivals, the crusades of Billy Sunday and Billy Graham, the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, and so forth, we see the Spirit moving in waves and eddies. None of these movements last forever, any more than waves on the sea last forever. Every movement of the Spirit in the church inevitably is brought down by pride, jealousy, and heresy. The waves may crash; the tide remains. God continues to move in the church, using different people and different names. Even so, the church goes on.
As far as we are concerned today we have two choices, we can catch the wave, or miss it. We can ride the Spirit, or be knocked down by it.
If we are to grow in this generation, we must not look to restore the waves that have gone on. Nor should we try to create a wave, molded to what we think it should be. We should look, neither to the present, past, or future, but to God. We should seek Him out, to try and discern where He is working His signs and wonders today. I don't mean finding the next trend or fad, but we should genuinely seek what the move of God is. We are like surfers in the water, looking for the next big swell. When we find it, then we ride it, allowing the power of the wave to carry us forward.
What will the next wave be and when will it come? I have no idea. It is not for us to know really. But we can seek God with all our hearts, and stand eagerly before Him. If we seek to be moved by God, God will move us, and the next wave of the Spirit will come here as well.
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