The Spiritual Necessity of Being In Need

If I could wish, for you and I, one thing that would bolster our faith and bring vitality to our Christian experience it would be a needy life. Now, of course, you are wondering why in the world I'd wish for that.  I mean, would it not be better to wish for a fulfilled and completely needless life? No, I don’t think so and let me tell you why. Without needs we would go nowhere in the Christian life. You see, our neediness is the impetus for our spiritual growth and maturity. Our needs cause us to turn away from ourselves and our own resources to Christ and His resources. Our problems produce stress, which results in the neediness that drives us away from our miniscule personal resources to Christ as our infinite and all-powerful resource.

Were it not for our needs, most of us would not search out, reach out and then appropriate by faith God’s promises. And if God’s promises are never appropriated we will not become partakers of God’s divine nature. This is what 2 Peter 1:4 teaches us.

“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

God’s plan for our spiritual growth primarily utilizes our problems, struggles, and challenges to promote within us the sense of need that pushes us to search the Word of God for the promises of God. Once these promises are found and we by faith grab ahold of them and appropriate them spiritual growth occurs and presto, we find ourselves becoming more and more like Christ—who, by the way, all the promises of God find their fulfillment in (2 Corinthians 1:20).

God does not so much reveal Himself to us through philosophy and higher education as He does our needs. As J.N. Darby writes: “. . . necessity finds Him out. I doubt much if we have ever learned anything solidly except we have learnt it thus.” Therefore, perhaps it is not the most knowledgeable and articulate that make the greatest ambassadors for Christ—perhaps it is the most needy.

And while most of us equate happiness with having our needs met to the point that we have no more needs, the Bible begs to differ.   Jesus, Himself, said: “Blessed (happy) are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied.” In other words, the happiest people are not those whose belly is full but whose spiritual belly is always hungering and thirsting for God. You see, the need of spiritual hunger and thirst drives them to God and His promises, which satisfy them. However, this satisfaction is not an end in itself. No, it is the means to greater hunger and greater thirst and thus even greater satisfaction in God.

Thus, our need for God not only produces spiritual growth, it produces spiritual satisfaction and contentment for God, which in turn glorifies Him as nothing else can. As John Piper puts it so well, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

Why I Still Run

Back in 2013 I wrote a post entitled: "Why I Run".   Six years later and with another decade under my belt I'm still running. I've been running fairly consistently since 1978 when I was dared to run a 45 mile ultra-marathon race in Kodiak, AK called the Chad Ogden Memorial Run.  Whereas, I was not in particularly good shape and would not have considered myself a runner I had the day off the day of the race--so I figured I'd give it a try.  Believe-it-or-not, I finished 13th out of the 26 people who started the race.  Only 14 finished.  By the time I got across the finish line, 10 hours after we started, everyone had already gone home except for one race official who quickly handed me a “finishing trophy” and said "another hour and we'd have sent out the dogs”. That was it….no band, no hand clapping, whistle blowing crowd cheering for me, not even a T shirt. But it didn’t matter because I didn’t quit and that meant more to me than any of those things.  What I remember about that day was learning just how far 45 miles really is, how much it hurt, but how good it felt to finish and not quit.  This was the day I became a runner and I've been running ever since.

Now, don't take all this to mean that I am a fast runner or an accomplished runner.  I'm neither.  If anything, I am a plodder, struggling to pick up one foot after another only to do it again a few thousand times until the run is over.  Anymore at 60, I don't so much envision running 6 miles as much as I envision running one mile six times.

But why do I still run? Well, whereas, I do find enjoyment in running, it still comes back to what mattered most to me when I crossed the finish line 41 years ago….I finished! It wasn’t pretty. No one else cared except for the race official who finally got to go home but it did matter to me because when tempted to quit….when my body was begging me to quit….when the blisters on my feet and my blood chafed inner thighs were screaming at me to quit….when I really wanted to quit….I didn’t. I kept going until my race was finished and in the finishing experienced the sheer joy of not quitting. And that’s why I run and keep on running….for the sheer joy of not quitting.

Real runners don’t quit and that’s what proves they are real runners. So what does this all have to do with anything anyway? I mean, is there any spiritual significance to any of this? I think so. I think it portrays and illustrates what so many Bible verses teach regarding the need for believers to persevere until the end so as to not quit, but finish their race.  In the end it is their perseverance that finally proves they were true believers for only the true believer will persevere until the end because only the true believer will be preserved until the end.  And in the persevering, in the not giving up, in the enduring until the end they experience the sheer joy that comes when you don’t quit. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

In this day when apostatizing (quitting) seems to be in vogue among religious "superstars" remember this--just as real runners keep running and don't quit--real believers keep believing and don't stop.

And in case you're wondering......the pic is of our last two teens still at home, Esther and Peter, who, while being able to run much faster and farther than me still run with me to make sure I don't quit.  Ah, I think that's fodder for yet another post down the road.

The Call To Worship

My family and I love our church.  We look forward to gathering as "the church" each week in order to worship God together as a family of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.  In our church worship is the one word descriptor for what happens the moment our pastor makes his way to the platform and announces "the call to worship".  After that call is given through the reading of an appropriate text of Scripture our focus is intentionally pivoted away from anything and everything other than God and His Word.  We don't do announcements after the call to worship.  We don't "meet and greet".  We don't hear reports, make financial appeals, announce special events, or get out the vote.  We simply worship by focusing our attention and affections on our Triune God, His Gospel, and His Word in song, Scripture reading, prayer, and preaching.

Our church is one of the few I have been involved with that takes her worship of God so seriously that she is dead serious about not allowing our weekly one and a half hour gathering to be hijacked by  good and even churchy things so as to miss the very best thing we can give ourselves to.....worshipping our Triune God as best as we are able "in Spirit and in truth".

And when all is said and done, as we walk out the doors of the building where our church worships together once a week we go home spiritually energized, enthused, enraptured, and empowered to face six more days of a worshipless world as we look forward to the "call to worship" next Sunday.

What a joy it is to be involved with a church that sees the priority of worship and does something about it.  What a joy to have a pastor who protects our time of worshipping together so as to experience a taste of heaven on earth.  What an eternal joy to know and worship the God Who deserves all worship.

What’s With The Pic of The Coast Guard Boat? (Repost from 2017)

A lot of responsibility for a 20 yr. old

 That's a good question.  

The fact is, I served in the U.S. Coast Guard for a few years back in the day.  I started in Kodiak, Alaska and then was transferred to a life boat station on Lake Michigan where I was a small boat coxswain running a 41' rescue boat just like the one in the picture to the right.  In the Coast Guard, the coxswain is the person in charge of the boat, its crew, and how the mission is to be carried out.  So, basically my job was to ensure our boat and crew were ready at all times to assist and rescue those who were in trouble and sometimes in danger of perishing.  It was also my job to make sure my crew didn't get sidetracked and lose sight of our mission.  The mission, not us or our concerns, was the priority every time we went out.     

So, in part, my affection for the Coast Guard is one reason for using such a picture.  But, its not the only reason.  You see, the Coast Guard's mission is to rescue people who are in trouble and in danger of peril.  As I see it, that's the church's mission too.  We are to be involved in rescuing the perishing.  And this picture reminds me of that so that when I find myself immersed in all the nitty gritty of church life especially the administrative details, the inevitable internal conflict that comes when sinners rub shoulders, and yes, the good stuff too, I don't forget that first and foremost we're a rescue outfit.  We are tasked with the mission of rescuing, with the gospel, those who are perishing.  And we do it all for the glory of God and the eternal joy of those people who will believe the gospel and be rescued.

The Next One

I am told that in a monastery in New Mexico, my home state, is a small cemetery primarily used for the Benedictine monks who die there.  But, unlike most cemeteries, graves here are not dug after death but before.  It’s not uncommon for pilgrims and strangers to walk through this cemetery and upon seeing an open freshly dug grave ask, “did one of the monks just die?”  The answer they receive undoubtedly shocks most as it also awakens others.....”No, it is for the next one.”

So, three times a day, on their way to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all normal activities of living, these men pass by an open grave reminding them of two things. Death is lurking and will not be denied and one of them will be the “next one”.

I wonder if this wouldn’t be a good picture for us as professing believers in Jesus Christ to cement into our consciousness—an open grave not hidden from the reality of living but as part of it.  An open grave ready and prepared for the “next one”, reminding us that one of us could be the “next one”.  

It makes me wonder how I might think and do differently if my daily routine included a continual reminder that I’m not promised tomorrow and that today could possibly be my last day.  Realizing I might be the “next one” might not be a bad thing.  In fact, it might very well be a good thing because living with death in sight tends to make one live better.  I think that’s why Solomon made the point, toward the end of his life, in Ecclesiastes 7:2, that, “It is better to go to a house of mourning (funeral parlor) than to a house of feasting because that is the end of every man—and the living takes it to heart.”

The thought that any day I might be the “next one” tends to motivate me to run the last lap of my life with a renewed vigor because quite frankly, at 60, the finish line is in sight and I want to finish my race well.  I don’t want to play it safe all the way to the grave with the intention of leaving behind a hefty bank account, lots of toys, and no broken bones.  No, that’s not for me.  I want to make it home safe by skidding in sideways, an empty wallet in one hand and God’s Word in the other with my body thoroughly used up and totally worn out making much of Jesus and screaming—“Wow what an adventure!”

It motivates me to run my race with endurance compelling me to lay aside my besetting excuses (encumbrances) and sins which have entangled me so as to run with my eyes fixed only on Jesus, Who, in running and defeating death before and for us, has already marked out the path we are to follow (Hebrews 12:1-2).  In this way and only in this way will we run the race that is before us and cross the finish line of death well so as to obtain a better resurrection (Hebrews 11:35).

So, might you be the next one?  Are you running?  Are you running well?

Believer.......You Are Not Defined By Your Sin!

The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news but not just good news.  It includes both bad news and good news.  And in order to embrace the good news so as to be saved people must first accept the truth and reality of the bad news.  The bad news isn’t complicated.  In fact its very simple.  We are more than  people who have made a few mistakes or done some bad things.  The truth is, we are bad people who have done and do bad things.  The fact is—we were never good or pure and thus our sinful state and our sins are our identity.  We are sinners through and through—in thought, word, and deed.  That’s the bad news we have to come to grips with in order to really hear and embrace the good news Jesus wants us to embrace and enjoy.

The indescribably good....no the incredibly great....no the incredibly amazing news of the gospel is that God the Father sent God the Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to assume our identities as sinners and then take our identities to the cross where He died in our place, paid the eternal penalty for our sins and our sinful identities, satisfied the wrath of His Father against our sins and us, destroyed any record of our past identities, and then gave us His identity.

Thus, from the moment of belief, from the moment of conversion, from the moment of salvation believers are no longer defined by their sin because it no longer exists.  Our sin, in whole and in part, was removed from us, paid for, destroyed, and forever forgotten by God at the cross.  It has no jurisdiction in your life.  It has no bearing in regard to how God sees and treats you.  It is not your identity and never will be again.  Your identity as a believer is Christ.  Thus, you are no longer defined by your sin but by your new life in Christ.

The correct response to this incredibly great and amazing news is to believe it, embrace it, exult in it, enjoy it, and share it.  The worst thing you and I can do is to forget about it and let Satan and your own flesh deceive you into thinking your sin is your identity and that which defines your life.  That shadow cast upon your soul will rob your joy faster than anything I know.

Don’t let it linger long.  Fight it by preaching the incredibly great and amazing news of the gospel to yourself.....Christ is not only your Lord and Savior, He is also your identity.  His obedience to the Law, His righteousness, His devotion, His love, His purity, His passion for His Father’s glory, His works, His death, His burial, His resurrection—its all yours!  As Paul put it in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Preachers And Their Churches

Much is said these days about pastors neglecting the proper, biblically expected and defined, and in fact required work of giving themselves to the preaching of the Word of God.  I believe I'd have to agree that it sure seems to me that, by and large, the majority of men filling our pulpits have tragically given themselves to communicating everything else but what Scripture says and means.  Whether its the seeker-driven, customer knows best, culturally sensitive, politically correct brand of sermonizing which seems to gather the biggest crowds or the brow beating, issue focused (i.e. KJV only, etc), performance centered "let's all live worthy enough for God to save us and then keep us saved kind of preaching or the "Seven Steps to a Better You" kind of dialogue or even the kind of preaching that touches on everything else except what passage is actually saying--it all smacks of a form of godliness lacking any kind of spiritual Holy Spirit anointed power.

In fact, these are forms of preaching unknown to the prophets and apostles in our Bibles whose preaching was more often than not introduced by the clarion call “Thus saith the Lord”.  Much of what passes for preaching in probably, more churches than we'd care to think, has nothing to do with this kind of Bible preaching that proclaims a powerful to save and keep saved Gospel ordained, set in motion, and accomplished by an All-Powerful God Who Himself, for His own glory, chose to save sinners on His terms rather than theirs.

But, for all that's said about the preachers who fail to preach--not much seems to be said, at least in my hearing, about those churches that accept this kind of preaching as the norm and see nothing empty, powerless, anemic, or do I dare say it, wrong with it. While many are asking, “where are the men?” I am wondering “where are the churches?” I mean, whatever happened to those churches that took their calling as “the pillars and supporters of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15) seriously and insisted--no-- demanded that their preachers “Preach the Word!” (2 Tim. 4:2)?!

Perhaps, if more churches understood and took to heart their calling--more preachers would too. As in the riddle about the chicken and the egg, the question of who comes first, the Bible preaching preacher or the Bible believing church—neither is independent or unnecessary to the other.

Personally speaking, as a man who has pastored a few churches, here and there, I have always preached best to those churches, who like Cornelius, in speaking to Peter in Acts 10:33, make it a point to remind me: “. . . Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

The Great Divide

There is a huge chasm existing in the lives and families of many who claim the title Christian, those being, people who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and are trusting in Him and His work on the cross to save them from their sins.  This canyon is found between their profession and their practice.  It is flanked by what the Bible teaches and understandingly applying what the Bible teaches to every area of their lives and families in every arena they venture into which obviously will include work, education, recreation, consumption (as in eating, drinking, buying, the using of resources), apparel or decoration, if you will, and of course church life.

For many in the church their understanding of how their faith in Christ is to relate to each and every area of their lives is terribly deficient and in many cases non-existent.  They see their faith as being merely another category of life rather than life itself.  They see Jesus as being relevant to Bible study, prayer, and church but not to mathematics, sports, what they wear (or don’t wear), how they eat, making a buck, retirement, and Craig’s List.  It is as though they cannot see how their faith in Christ connects to the totality of their lives.  They, like small immature children told to connect the dots so as to find the picture in a coloring book, struggle because they are so intently focused on the individual dots—they can’t see how they connect and obviously miss the big picture.

The fact is, our faith in Christ affects every one of the dots in our lives so as to not only connect them to each other but to connect them to Christ so as to create the Big Picture also known as a Biblical world view or philosophy of life that is indeed Christian or Christ-centered and therefore spiritually functional.  The apostle Paul makes it very clear that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:3).  This essentially means that any kind of learning process, regardless of where that education is supposedly taking place, apart from Christ is at best incomplete, disjointed, full of gaps, inferior and at worst—demonic.  It is demonic in the sense that Satan’s intent from Genesis 3 has always been to separate man from the relevance of God to his life so as to distort and eventually destroy the Big Picture of Life.

This means that living a life apart from seeing and applying the relevance of your Christianity to every area of your life will result in an inferior and spiritually dysfunctional life.  Family life lived and practiced apart from seeing the relevance of Christ to every aspect of family life all the way from the internet to soccer practice to what the purpose of the family meal is all about to living separate lives within the same household will all result in a spiritually dysfunctional family which produces spiritually dysfunctional children who become adults who, while perhaps claiming the title Christian, see no or very little relevance between it and the lives they are living and desire to live.

Until "Bible-believing" Christians start becoming "Bible-applying" Christians who see the relevance of their faith to and in every area of life any positive and spiritually constructive Christian relevance we might have in this world will remain fairly trivial.  We must do away with the “Great Divide” between what we know and how we live, between the church and ball field, between manna and math, and between making a living and making a life.  We must sack this unbiblical thinking that sees faith in Christ as just another aspect of life when it is clear from Scripture that Christ is our life—which is all-inclusive of every fragment of our lives (Colossians 3:4; Galatians 2:20). 

Until our faith in Christ oozes through and out of the church into where we live out the vast majority of every hour of every day, the Christian and the Church alike have no essential beneficial bearing or positive influence for Christ anywhere.  Faith without works is indeed dead because an unapplied faith in any area of the believer’s life is a dead faith in that arena of life.  And the influence of a dead faith is much the same as a dead body left to decay—it stinks! 

The God In Our Mess Genesis 1:1-2 (Part 3 in the Genesis Series)

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep 

and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."

So, have you ever made a mess of your life?  Or has someone else made a mess of your life?  I mean, can you look back on your life and see times or a time where you decided that your way was better than God’s way and now you have a mess to work through in terms of consequences, relationships issues, financial problems, integrity issues, and maybe even substantial loss and because of all this— your future looks pretty bleak right now?  In fact, maybe right now, you can’t see past your mess to see anything positive, productive, promising, peaceful, or pleasant in your future.  And the fact is, maybe you’re at that point where it all looks so bad to you that you don’t believe that God could or would turn your mess into something beautiful, valuable, and even glorious.  

Well, this is where the Israelites who had just Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land found themselves many times because of their many decisions to “do it their way” instead of God’s way.  Whether it was their besetting sins of complaining, grumbling, and continually threatening to desert the mission and head back to Egypt or their bent toward idolatry or their lust for immorality or their unwillingness to follow God joyfully or their lack of trust in God—the Israelites did everything they could to wreck their future and provoke God to wreck them.

But, God had a plan for these people—a plan that even incorporated their failures and God was going to fulfill His plan and give them and us a future.  You see, God had made a promise that He was going to form this motley crew into His People whom He was going to use to bless the world. That’s right—God’s plan for reconciling the world to Himself included calling the people of Israel to Himself to be the conduit by which God would reveal Himself and His plan to reconcile sinners to Himself so as to make all things right.  And God’s plan for Israel included using her as the means by which the Word of God would be recorded and preserved as well as the means by which the Messiah—Jesus Christ the Lord would enter the world.

Now, these Israelites couldn’t see God’s plan or their future in it but God could. They needed to hear that God could take any kind of mess they made and turn it into something good.  They needed to see that God could He bring order, beauty, and glory out of their chaos. And I don’t think we're any different.  We, too, need to see that God can take  people like us who are sinners to our very core—and turn our confusing mess and chaos into a life that brings God glory and us joy and meaning. This is why the Israelites and we too need to be familiar with Genesis 1:1-2 which helps God's people understand that:  For His glory God finds joy in turning our chaos, emptiness, darkness, and confusion into order, fullness, beauty, and light.

The Hebrew word for create bara indicates that God intentionally, purposely, and deliberately created the heavens and the earth out of nothing.  If you spoke Latin you'd say ex-nihilo.  So, this verb bara tells us that when God created he did not use existing materials nor did He create haphazardly.  As Hebrews 11:3 puts it—“By faith we understand that the worlds  were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”  What God created and how God created during the Creation week were according to His will and thus, His plan in every respect. 

Verse 1 tells us what God started on Day 1—He created the Heavens and the Earth.  And in reading the rest of chapter one, we know that He took five more days to finish His creative work which primarily focused on Earth.  God did not create everything immediately on Day 1 but rather initiated a six-day creation process in which He formed and filled the Earth.  And I believe those 6 days were literal 24 hour days not ages of unspecified time. Now, obviously, God chose to create in stages so that on Day 1 He creates the ingredients or raw materials, if you will, that He will use on days 2-4 to form Earth into a place that can sustain human and animal life on days 5 and 6.

But, verse 2 kind of surprises us because the beginning stage of Earth’s creation was not pretty.  In fact, the verse says that the Earth in its original created state on Day 1 was formless, empty, and enveloped in darkness. The word formless means desolate.  It has a very negative connotation in that it describes that which does not have any recognizable form and that which does not appear to be able to be formed.  Some scholars have suggested that it is describing chaos and that which smacks of confusion and disorder. The second word the Bible uses to describe God’s initial Creative act in forming the raw materials which He would form into Earth is void or empty and it basically means uninhabited and uninhabitable. Finally, verse 2 says that “darkness was over the surface of the deep” which simply means Earth’s surface which was some sort of liquid was completely enveloped in darkness.

So, the Bible is not describing the initial creation and constitution of earth as being very attractive, appealing, or promising.  Now, we need to keep in mind that this was not an accident as though God made a mistake mixing chemicals to try and find the right ingredients.  This couldn't be the case because as we have already seen God's creative work was intentional not haphazard.  He knew what he was doing and what He did was totally according to His plan.  On top of that, His plan, like all of His plans, was made according to His good pleasure or joy so as to bring Him the most glory (Eph. 1).  It is as though God is purposely creating a chaotic mess to begin with in order to make the point that:  For His Glory God finds joy in turning chaos, emptiness, darkness, and confusion into order, fullness, beauty, and light.

And the reason I say that God finds joy in doing this is because at the end of the Creation Week God declares everything “very good”. The word “good” which is tove (to-ve) means that which results in joy, glory, beauty, happiness, and value. In other words, God found value and glory and joy and happiness in bringing life, beauty, order, and meaning to something that was ugly, stinky, chaotic, confusing, dead, and enveloped in darkness. And this helps us understand why God began His Creation the way he did. God had much more in mind in His plan of creating than just making Earth.  He was using His plan and His Creation to tell a story the Hebrews and we need to hear.

The Hebrews and especially Moses, I think, really needed to know that God could take a band of misfits and their failures and still accomplish His divine purposes in and through them. And we need to know that too because sometimes we look at our sin and our consequences and wonder if God will ever give us back our purpose and our joy. And Genesis 1:2 is telling His people—“Yes, He can and He will and that as bad as it looks right now—in the end it will all work out for our good and His glory.”  In other words, Genesis 1:2 is illustrating Romans 8:28.

But, the really BIG story He is using Creation, first and foremost, to illustrate is the Gospel which tells us how God redeems sinners whose lives are chaotic, empty, and enveloped in complete darkness.

Remember, according to Jesus, Genesis, like the rest of the Old Testament is primarily about Him and His work of redeeming and reconciling sinners whose lives are hopelessly dark and confusing and chaotic to God (Lk. 24:26-27, 44-47; Jn. 5:46). 

So, thus far we have seen why God began His creation of earth with a mess but now let’s see how He takes this mess and turns it into something good. Take a look back at verse 2 and notice Who was “moving over” the surface of the deep or was moving over and through the darkness that was enveloping Earth—The Spirit of God or as we would say—The Holy Spirit.

The Hebrew word that is used of Spirit is ruach (ru-acch) and it is used in verse 2 as “the Spirit of God” or Elohim. In other words, here we see the third member of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit—in the Beginning—and He is there moving in the chaos—in the confusion—in and over the darkness. And the reason we see the Holy Spirit here is because He is inseparably connected with the Creation of life in the Bible.  Throughout the Bible He is referred to as the Originator of life, both in creation and in salvation. In fact, the Apostle Paul refers to Him as "the Spirit of life” in Romans 8:2. 

Besides moving and hovering over the initial stage of creation we also see the Spirit being the member of the Trinity Who gives life to Man in Genesis 2:7.  When God made man, He formed him "of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath (i.e., Spirit) of life…".  Job ascribes his life and existence to the Holy Spirit when he says in Job 33:4 that "The Spirit of God made me, and the breath or Spirit of the Almighty has given me life”.  And in Psalm 104:30 we see that the creation of animals and even the renewal of life every Spring is attributed to the Holy Spirit.  For this reason, in A.D. 381, the early church amended the Nicene Creed so that instead of merely saying that they believed in the Holy Spirit they confessed the Holy Spirit as "the Lord and Giver of life.” 

So, when Genesis 1:2 states that the Holy Spirit is “moving” or “hovering” over the surface of the waters that were covering the earth—the Bible is telling us something about the Holy Spirit’s Creative role in the initial stage of Creation. Notice His role was twofold—Number One, He oversaw the Creation from within the Creation bringing it to its intended goal.  And Number Two, He energized and animated the Creation infusing it with Life.  You see, the Hebrew word for “moving” is describing what a bird like an eagle does with her young as she hatches her eggs and then protects and guides the eaglets ensuring they safely reach the age when they can fly on their own. And, the New Testament equivalent of this word “moving” is used in 2 Peter 1:21 of the Holy Spirit Who is the Member of the Trinity Who inspired Scripture making sure that the men who recorded Scripture wrote down exactly every word God wanted them to use.

So, the Holy Spirit is moving in and over the chaos in Genesis 1:2 so as to animate it and then ensure that it ultimately becomes exactly what God wants it to become and that it pictures exactly what God wants it to picture and that it communicates exactly what God wants communicated in relation to His Redemption story—His story of how He will redeem and save sinners. And in this story of redemption—our story starts just like the initial stage of Creation in Genesis 1:2 started—with us being spiritually empty, dead, powerless, and enveloped in darkness. But, God the Holy Spirit was there and He was at work—in our lives—in our darkness—in our emptiness—in our lost, confusing, and chaotic lives to initiate the work of redemption—the work of salvation in us. You see, just as the Creation could not create physical life—neither can you nor anyone else create spiritual life—It must be created by God and the member of the Trinity who creates this spiritual life is none other than the Holy Spirit of God.

It shouldn’t surprise us therefore that the Holy Spirit is also spoken of as the Author of life in the salvation of sinners.  Just as He is the Originator of physical life He is also the Originator of spiritual life. Throughout the Old and New Testament Scriptures the Holy Spirit is identified as the One Who causes the dead sinner to be made spiritually alive so that they can see their lost condition and desire Christ.  As Jesus put it in John 6:63, in talking about how God saves people, “It is the Spirit Who gives Life. And this same Holy Spirit Who is God—Who gave us spiritual life so that we trusted in Christ for salvation is the God Who is still always with us even in our mess and Who will ultimately bring us through our mess to the  Promised Land. And what we learn from Genesis 1:2 about God and in particular God the Holy Spirit is that—Not only is He fully capable of turning our chaos, emptiness, confusion, and darkness into order, fullness, beauty, and light—He delights in it.

God Has No Perfect Servants

Christ is the divine/human reference point for both God and man.  Just as no man can come to the Father but through Christ, God does not come to us but through Christ either.  In this way Christ is indeed the only mediator between God and man.  Just as we see God through and in Christ, God sees us in and through Christ.  Therefore, just as our reference point in our dealings with God is not ourselves, not our sin, and certainly not our performance as Christians but rather is Christ, His righteousness and His performance on our behalf—God’s reference point in dealing with us is the same.   

This is the truth behind Psalm 103:10, in which we are told God does not deal with us according to our sins.  How can this be?  Because He is dealing with us in accordance with another reference point—that point of reference, being Jesus Christ Who made an end to all our sins! 

As I read through my Bible, I am often confounded as well as relieved with how God related to and carried on intimate fellowship with the likes of men who lied about their wives, had more than a few wives, were not the best of fathers, kept a few household idols around just in case, took advantage of others, and otherwise chose not to deal with some serious sin issues in their lives thus failing to break down the “high places” that were a constant scourge to their spiritual progress.  

Reading these biblical accounts reminded me of a short biography of A.W. Tozer, a man whose intimacy with and knowledge of the Holy very few would dispute or have experienced.  Yet, for all his godliness, he greatly lacked as a husband and father causing those closest to him to question throughout their lives whether he truly loved them or simply tolerated them as he pursued Who he truly loved—Jesus Christ.  As I read about Tozer’s less than complimentary and acceptable performance as a Christian husband and father I struggled to reconcile his intimacy with God with his lack of intimacy with his family.  How could he know and relate to God yet not truly know and relate to his wife?  How could he preach, pray, and write with such spiritual power yet fail to communicate and demonstrate a father’s love to his sons?  Basically, I was surprised that God could and would relate as intimately to and use a man to such a degree as He did Tozer. 

Now please understand, my surprise was not because I thought Tozer was unfit or unqualified for service but rather because I thought he really had it all together and that is why God was so intimate with Him and used him to such a great degree.  In other words, I had fallen into the trap of a performance-based consecration which thinks that God relates most intimately with and uses most greatly those whose lives demonstrate the greatest degree of holiness and “spiritual got-it togetherness”.

Then in one of those all too few moments when God seems to come down and speak directly into the heart of His servants, God spoke to me, deep within my heart of hearts,  and here is what He said,   “I have no perfect servants.”    What a freeing realization this became for me the more I contemplated His words.  My sin, my failings, my lack of sanctification, my issues, my rough edges, my lack of godly character, and myself in general and in particular are not God’s reference point when it comes to dealing with, fellowshipping with, becoming intimate with, and/or even using me.  His reference point, plain and simple, both now and forevermore, is Christ.  He sees me in Christ and deals with me in Christ and this is the way it will always be.  And this is what frees God to love me allowing and enabling me to experience and enjoy intimacy with Him.  Not only does it free Him to relate to me in a positive way it also enables Him to use me, failings, immaturity, sin issues, and all, for His greater glory and my immense joy.

Now, I realize, that given most teaching on the subject of consecration, that saying our degree of sanctification is not the main issue when it comes to whom God chooses to use in His service, seems spiritually dangerous—it nevertheless is true.   Not that it hurts to pursue holiness so as to be as sharp an instrument as possible in the hands of God but God has never been nor is He now nor will He ever be limited by the quality of the cutlery available to Him.  Hebrews 11 is the perfect example of how greatly God used imperfect and in fact badly flawed and even badly dulled instruments to accomplish some of His greatest and most penetrating work.  This should not surprise us either as the whole point of Hebrews 11 as well as in salvation and sanctification is not the merit of the recipient of God’s grace as much as it is his or her’s utter lack of merit.  In other words,  God did not use and does not use great men and women of God to accomplish great work for God for the simple reason there are no great men and women of God.  God has no great or perfect servants.  All are flawed, all are sinful, all have issues, all struggle, and all have Christ and His righteousness as their point of reference when it comes to how God sees them, relates to them, and uses them.  In this sense, all are trophies of His grace.

The point of consecration in terms of greater sanctification is not so much service or spiritual usability as much as it is a greater capacity for seeing and thus experiencing and enjoying God.  “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” is the promise made to all of those who have become partakers of divine grace and mercy.  The point of consecration is not greater service for God but greater vision of God.  Divine happiness, of which, we have all been enabled to enjoy as much of as we desire, comes not through our serving of God but in seeing God.  In fact, to find a greater joy in serving than in seeing God is idolatry in its purest and most hideous form.   We serve because we see not vice versa.  Furthermore, we serve Him best when we see Him best.  But we will never see God to serve God and in fact to enjoy God if we continue to view the quality or lack of quality of our relationship with God through the false reference point of ourselves, our sins, our failures, our immaturity, and our glaringly true spiritual inadequacies and inconsistencies.  Only one reference point exists by which the believer is to view God as well as himself and all that he is or is not and that point of reference is the same one through Whom God views, deals with, and comes to us—The only Mediator between God and man—Christ Jesus our Lord!

Christian Meet Your God Genesis 1:1A

This post is a continuation of yesterday's thoughts on Genesis and in particular the first independent clause or statement in the Bible, "In the beginning God", found in Genesis 1:1. This is how God introduces Himself.  The basic idea is that when beginning began God already was and had been forever.  Theologians refer to this concept as the pre-existence of God.  Now since God is pre-existent and thus prior to all things because He is the Creator of all things—He cannot be controlled, bound, obligated, limited, known, or defined by anything He created. 

God can only be known if He makes Himself known.  Furthermore, God can only be known to the degree that He makes Himself known.  But interestingly enough, this God Who is Infinite and without limitations  and thus unknowable—knows Himself perfectly, completely, and infinitely.  So how do you package a God Who knows Himself perfectly and yet by theological definition is unknowable?  You can’t!  And that is God’s point in the very first sentence of the Bible—Don’t try to define or figure me out so you can put me in your little box and try to contain me.  God is not a box-able, package-able, containable God.  As Tumnus, in C.S. Lewis’ book, “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”, states to Lucy about Aslan the Lion, who pictures Christ Who is Himself God,—“He is not a tame lion but He is good.”

To go further in understanding this first sentence of the Bible we see that because God is pre-existent and the source of all things and is thus bound by nothing outside of Himself that He is self-existent, self-sufficient, and self-determining or completely Sovereign over every atom in His Creation.  In other words, God exists because it is His nature to exist—He is self-existent and because He is self-existent—He will always exist and He will always exist as He is—thus God is eternal.  And because God is eternal as He is in all His perfections He will never change.  So this means that regardless of what becomes politically correct and acceptable to man—God will not change to accommodate the speck of dust He calls Man and his perversions of God’s created order.

God’s pre-existence also means He is Self-sufficient which means He did not create because He needed to or because He needed something from his Creation.  God has always been and thus has always been Self-sufficient and really Self-Contained thus there is absolutely nothing that we or the rest of Creation can do to improve God’s existence.  In other words, God did not create us because He needed company, fellowship, workers, glory, love, or anything else.  He created because He wanted to--not because He needed to.

The fact is—God has never needed fellowship or company or love because He exists as a Trinity with perfect fellowship and love with each member of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  This is hinted at by the use of the Hebrew word, “Elohim” in the first sentence of the Bible, “Bereshith Elohim” or “In beginning God”.  You see Elohim is plural.  It is the plural form of El which means God.  The word Elohim occurs 35 times in Genesis 1 so, this was not a typo.  God wants us to understand that He exists as more than one person and the remainder of Scripture reveals to us that God exists as the three Persons we know as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, existing as Trinity in perfect fellowship and love—God did not create because He was lonely and needed love or fellowship.

Now, finally, because God is Infinite as the Pre-existent God, He is Omnipotent or All-Powerful and Omni-Present or Present everywhere at the same time which means He is absolutely able to do whatever He wishes whenever He wishes and wherever He wishes which means He is Absolutely Sovereign over everything—including us.

Wow—all this in the very first sentence of the Bible.

And the fact is, this very first complete thought in the Bible is perhaps the most important because it is bringing us face-to-face with the God with Whom we have to do.  He is not an imaginary God nor a God of our own making because no man would create a God like this—no man could.  He is the God Who is—and He will always Be.  And He is perfectly capable and able to meet your every need.  He is infinitely more than able to satisfy your every desire.  He can be trusted and He can be relied upon and knowing Him as he reveals Himself is the only true and lasting antidote to stress and fear that exists.

You know, God gave the Israelites the Book of Genesis to help them but they for the most part failed to use it and they failed to teach it to their children.  And this spelled disaster for them for generations to come.  They who forget God and Who He is—do so to their peril.  And the reason why we often struggle with sin, stress, a lack of faith, spiritual courage, confidence in God, and a lack of joy in our lives is because we too have forgotten Who our God is and What our God is able and willing to do on our behalf if we would only trust and rely upon and put confidence in Him alone.

We are often like the man who was walking next to a cliff and suddenly slipped and went over the edge.  As he was falling however, he was able to grab ahold of a tree root extending out from the cliff.  And as he was dangling in mid-air holding on to that root for dear life he began crying out for help.  He began yelling, “Is anyone up there who can help me?”  And then all of a sudden he heard a voice from above which said—“I can help you but first you need to let go of the branch.”  The man looked up and then he looked down and began yelling—“Is there anyone else that can help me?”

Well, there is no one else who can help us except God but we have to trust Him—we have to put our confidence in Him and we can only do that if we know something about Him.  Genesis is God’s gift to you to help you understand that He not only is able to help you—It would be His joy to do so—but you’ll have to trust Him and place your full confidence in Him to help you by doing what is best for you not necessarily what is comfortable—whether you like it or not.

Finally, our Creator God is ultimately inescapable by anyone.  All of us who are creatures must one day meet Him and be judged by Him.  And we will either be judged innocent because we have trusted in Him for salvation or we will be judged guilty because we chose to ignore Him.  The God with Whom we all have to do is merciful, compassionate, kind, and will forgive our sins but only if we come to Him on His terms which is to come to Him through Jesus Christ Who is Himself God the Son.  Oh how much better to do business with God today rather than later.

STRESSED OUT? READ GENESIS!

Can you imagine going to your pastor or counselor because your stress level has shot through the roof only to have him tell you to go home and read the Book of Genesis?  Well, it may surprise you to know that this is exactly what some pastors of old would have prescribed.  You see, back in the day, a really long time ago when pastors were considered by the Puritans to be "doctors of the soul" Genesis would have been a go-to tool in their spiritual medical bag for people who were struggling with stress.  Who would have known--right?!

I mean, this surprises us and the reason it comes as a surprise is because when many of us think of Genesis we picture endless genealogies, ancient history, a really long Book filled with names we can’t pronounce, stories we’ve heard over and over again in Sunday school, and all the technical details about Creation versus Evolution.  So, how can this help anyone and why would I say that Genesis can help stressed out believers?  Good questions that deserve a good answer.

Well, for starters the original intended target audience God provided Genesis to was a group of several million Hebrew people Moses had just led out of Egypt into the middle of the barren “no-man's” land of the Sinai Wilderness.  These were people who had been in Egypt for 430 years—most of that time as slaves—and then this God whom they had for the most part forgotten raised up a man with a criminal record ,whom they did not really know,  to lead them back home to a place they no longer knew on a journey through a wilderness they not only did not know but did not in the least care for.  Talk about stress!  Can you imagine all the “what-if’s” these Hebrew people must have had?!

So, if you were there would it be of interest to you to meet this God and find out a little bit more about Him?  Would you want to know something about His ability to take care of you, provide for your family’s needs, keep you safe, and successfully lead you all to the Promised Land?  Well, I sure would!!  I mean, if I am going to entrust my life, my family, my future, and in fact, my very soul to God—I’d like to get the scoop on Him.

In fact, if I don’t get the scoop on Him—if I really don’t have any understanding of this God—how can I really trust Him—let alone love Him.  Because, you see, we humans come pre-wired to only trust what and who we know and to only love what and who we trust.  So, if we are going to love and follow someone—like God—we need to be able to trust Him.  And to trust Him we need to know some stuff about Him.  In fact, we really need to know Him to trust Him.

So, the way in which God began to alleviate their stress and their fear was by formally introducing Himself to them through the very first Book in the Bible—the Book we call Genesis.  But, not only did He introduce Himself and make Himself known to these people—He also introduced them to themselves by sharing through Genesis the stories of their roots and their ancestors.

But, that’s not all God gave them Genesis for—In Genesis, He told them why there was so much evil in the world and why life just didn’t seem to add up and what He was doing about all this evil and how in the end He would restore their hope, their dignity, their dreams, their future, their relationship with Him, and their original destiny which, they had all but forgotten.  You see, God wanted to help His stressed out and fearful people by giving them faith, hope and courage by revealing Himself, His Attributes, His Faithfulness, His Promises, and His Love for them.

Now, to really get a handle on Genesis we need to understand that the Hebrews were not so much concerned with how old the earth was or precisely how God created the universe as much as they were with knowing if this God Who was leading them into the unknown could and would take care of them.  So, He gave them Genesis.  And here’s a secret for you—this is why He gave us Genesis too!  He gave us Genesis so that we might know Him better than we do so that we will trust Him much more than we are so that we will love and enjoy Him far more than we ever thought.  Oh, sure Genesis gives us all the facts we need to know concerning the creation of the universe and people but it was never intended to be a science text book as much as it was designed to introduce us to the God of science Who created the universe and people. 

Now, Genesis was recorded by Moses sometime after the Exodus in 1445 B.C. and before Moses died in 1405 B.C.  And the other really important thing to know about Genesis is that it, correctly understood, is really all about Jesus Christ and the Gospel.  That's right!  Don't believe me?  Look at Luke 24:25-32.  Now check out Luke 24:44-47.  Consider John 1:45; 5:39 as well as verses 45-47.And let's throw Matthew 5:17-18 in there too.  You see, Jesus not only completes the Old Testament; He fulfills it in the sense that He is the ultimate reality that everything in the Old Testament is pointing to.  Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, the feasts, the sacrificial system, the Temple, the priesthood, and the promises written about in the Old Testament.  Thus, every bit of Scripture including Genesis is part of the same great story of God rescuing us from our sin and its condemnation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ so that we might be reconciled to God and restored to our original destiny in Creation, which we had all but forgotten.

As Tim Keller writes:

There are two ways to read the Bible.  The one way is to read it as though its all about you—what you have to do in order to be right with God and stay right with God.  This way of reading the Bible will never give you sure hope and security because you will never measure up.  The other way to read it is to see it as all about Jesus.  Its about Who Jesus is and what Jesus has done to make you absolutely right with God.  If you do not read the Bible this way you will never be secure in your Faith.  But, once you understand that the Bible is all about Jesus Christ and what He has done for you and in your place—then you can be secure and experience hope and peace.

I'd also add that once you understand the whole Bible--including Genesis--is about Jesus and His rescue of sinners who will repent and believe in Him from an eternity in hell--you'll be well on your way to experiencing much less stress.

Now, the title “Genesis”, which means “origins”, comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.   The original Hebrew title of the Book, named after the first word in the Book, is Bereshith—which means “In  Beginning”.  Both are appropriate titles because Genesis is about the origin or the beginning of our universe, marriage, family, sin, redemption, the Hebrew people, and a bunch of other things.  But Genesis is especially concerned with telling us about Him Who has no beginning—He Who has always been and always will be—Him Whom we call God. 

This brings us to the very first sentence in the Bible, found in Genesis 1:1 which is—“In beginning God.”  Now, I know that does not make grammatical sense in English and so the first sentence in our Bibles is:  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  But, in Hebrew—“In beginning God” or “Bereshith Elohim” form an independent clause which stands alone as a complete thought or sentence with “created the heavens and the earth” being the second clause or second complete thought.

Thus, Genesis 1:1 is telling us more than—when beginning began God is the One Who brought it into being—it is first and foremost telling us that when beginning began God already existed and had existed forever.  Perhaps the best way to understand it is to see how Moses phrased it in Psalm 90:2 where he wrote: "Before the mountains were brought forth or you had formed the earth and the world--from everlasting to everlasting you are God."  In theological terms, what Moses was saying is that—God is pre-existent!

Therefore, the first complete thought in Genesis—Bereshith Elohim—rightly understood is introducing to us the God Who has no origins, no beginning, no end, no source, no equal, no superior, no needs, no rivals, no limitations, and no problem dealing with us and whatever is causing us stress.  You see, the fact that God is pre-existent means He is previous to and thus, more powerful than and in fact--sovereign over any thing, person, experience, situation, problem, anxiety, challenge, issue, glitch, fear, doubt, or sin which might be causing you to be stressed out. 

Notice also that the Bible does not begin with man or with creation but with God because God is the beginning and the source of all things.  This means that nothing in our universe can be understood correctly without beginning with God first.  This means nothing that is wrong can be made right apart from starting with God first.  It means that God is necessary to every equation, every proposition, every truth, and the solution to every stress-causing problem because God as the originator of all that exists is essentially necessary.  In fact, God is the only Being Who is necessary! 

So.....got stress?  Read and believe Genesis!

How God Uses Your Doubts To Give You Assurance

If I could see my sanctification with 20/20 vision I would have no trouble believing in my future glorification with 100% certainty.  But, the fact is, I can't and I don't see my personal holiness and growth in Christlikeness with this kind of 20/20 clarity.  Truth be known, most of the time I can't see it at all and this sometimes causes me to doubt my salvation.  And this is serious business because if my doubts prove true and I am not a believer I have no expectation of future glorification but rather condemnation.  But, what if I were tell you that God's purpose for your doubts is to give you assurance of your salvation?

You see, this inability to see our growing sanctification with perfect 20/20 vision causing us to doubt we possess it is the very thing that fuels an intense desire to be growing in Christ and holiness so as to prove the reality of our salvation.  If you could see with perfect clarity your growth in Christ and holiness so as to never doubt it you would have no reason to hope for it.  But, when we cannot see our sanctification clearly--resulting in us intensely desiring, crying out to God, and hoping for it we are seeing the genuineness of our faith.  You see, it is the desire for spiritual growth and holiness (aka: sanctification) that gives us assurance of our salvation, continuing sanctification, and future glorification.  

The Apostle Paul alludes to this in Romans 8:23-25 when he makes the point that true believers eagerly look forward to the final redemption of our bodies which finally and forever frees us from the presence of sin which fights us at every turn in our battle for holiness.  He goes on to state in verse 24 that "in hope we have been saved but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?"  In other words, if you could see your progress in sanctification with 20/20 clarity you would have no reason to hope for it.  Then in verse 25 he makes the all-important point that ". . . if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it."  What Paul is saying is that our inability to see perfectly our own sanctification is the very thing that drives us to intensely desire it and persevere in waiting for it which, in turn is the assurance or proof that we are truly saved and will be glorified.

Keep in mind, unbelievers are not at all bothered by an inability to see spiritual growth and holiness let alone Christlikeness in their lives.  It is not a problem for them because it simply does not interest them.  Only believers care about sanctification.  Only believers care about not seeing it in their lives as they think they should.  Only believers desire it.  So, if you are hoping for the sanctification and holiness that you cannot see very clearly if at all today--rejoice.  Rejoice that you are desiring and hoping for that which only true believers in Christ Jesus desire and hope for.  Rejoice that God is using even your doubts to assure you of your salvation.  

What's A Pastor To Do?

Used to be that one of the most popular synonyms for the title "pastor" was another title, "preacher".  That's because, back in the day, that's what pastors were--preachers--because that's what they did.  Now, that's not all they did.  In fact, if that's all they did they really wouldn't be able to be pastors because pastors do more than preach.  Besides preaching, pastors also pray and shepherd the souls of those God has entrusted to them.  Of course, they also provide leadership and counsel to their congregations as they shepherd them.  So, there you have it.  Pastors primarily preach, pray, and shepherd God's people.

In preaching pastors are essentially talking to the congregation about God.  In their praying pastors talk to God about their congregation.  And in their shepherding pastors live life with their people offering spiritual direction, counsel, encouragement, friendship, a listening ear, an imperfect example of what it looks like to follow Christ, and sometimes even firm loving discipline.  These three tasks of preaching, praying, and shepherding are the essential acts of pastoral ministry.  

This is not to say pastors don't do other things like moderating business meetings, presenting budgets, training church workers, attending meetings, overseeing building projects, analyzing community demographics, launching attendance growing programs, scheduling, and any number of other tasks that have somehow over the decades become part and parcel of what a pastor does.  It's almost as though a conspiracy was hatched ages ago to keep the pastor so busy with the peripheral that he has very little time and energy for the essential--the tasks of simply preaching, praying, and shepherding.

And how has the church fared with hordes of pastors neglecting the essential tasks of their calling to heed louder voices screaming "expediency", "pragmatism", and "church growth"?  Not well.  You see, pastors who are too busy to study Scripture so as to preach, who are too busy to pray, and who are too busy to interface spiritually with their people have become themselves inattentive to God.  This results in their churches becoming inattentive to God too.  

Pastors do not need to be attentive to God to grow a big church.  The word of faith prosperity false gospel preachers have proved that.  But, pastors do need to be attentive to God if they want to see their people become and remain attentive to God so as to see healthy spiritual growth take place in their lives and churches.

Boiling the pastor's job down to just one all-encompassing task is challenging.  At the risk of oversimplification I'd have to agree with one old pastor who said it's the task of keeping God's people attentive to God.  But, this can only be accomplished if and when well-meaning pastors get back to the basics of their pastoral calling--preaching, praying, and shepherding.            

    

Where Have All The Pastors Gone?

The late Eugene Peterson made the observation back in 1987 that pastors in America were leaving their posts "left and right, and at an alarming rate".  Adding some clarification to his observation, he went on to say that they were not literally leaving their congregations as much as they were leaving their calling.  He put it this way, "Congregations still pay their salaries.  Their names remain on church stationary and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays.  But they are abandoning their posts, their calling.  They have gone whoring after other gods."

The "other gods" he had in mind were the gods of ambition, influence, respect, prestige, recognition, status, success, and significance all summed up under the category of church growth.  His words, back in 1987 were prophetic.

The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches.  They are preoccupied with shopkeeper's concerns--how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out the money.  Some of them are very good shopkeepers.  They attract a lot of customers, pull in great sums of money, develop splendid reputations.  Yet it is still shopkeeping; religious shopkeeping, to be sure, but shopkeeping all the same.  

So, thirty-two years down the road where has this "shopkeeper" mentality left us.  I think its left us with churches, who having obediently followed their shopkeeping pastors, have become "shop franchises" all trying to be or at least appear successful in marketing whatever it is they are marketing on a particular Sunday or series of Sundays. 

But, as Peterson went on to say back in 1987,  "The biblical fact is there are no successful churches.  There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. . . [And] in these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community . . . to keep the community attentive to God.

Biblically speaking that has not changed.  At best, we are still a community of sinners, albeit, forgiven sinners who live our lives together before God week in and week out--all struggling with the same temptation to become inattentive to God.  Those gatherings who have been led to forget this and thus, have become distracted with becoming cutting edge, relevant, pragmatic, and bigger so as to be labeled "successful" probably should not be called churches.

Nor should their leaders rightfully be called "pastors"--not if the pastor's job is to see his success in terms of shepherding his flock, no matter the size, of forgiven sinners he has been charged to lead to remain attentive to their God rather than the distractions of the world.  Maybe its time for those pastors who can no longer stomach the business of shopkeeping to return to their calling of leading flocks of gospel believing and thus, forgiven sinners to be attentive to God week in and week out.  Maybe its high time, for all who are called pastors to reaffirm their primary calling of preaching, praying, and shepherding rather than building bigger more sophisticated shops.  And for all you real pastors--men who have resisted the temptation to become shopkeepers--who still preach the Word of God, pray for the sheep, and shepherd the flock, week in and week out, Thank You!

       

  

God's Best Now And Forever Is Himself

The key to obtaining the best life has to offer is desiring "The Best" life has to offer.  That's right and not only is it right--its biblical.  Now, lest you think this is just another prosperity false gospel false promise being trumpeted by a false preacher on cable who writes motivational books take a peek at Psalm 84.

Psalm 84 was written by the descendants of Korah which is in itself very significant.  It's significant because Korah, a contemporary of Moses, was a man who wanted the best that life had to offer.  The only problem was that the best he sought was not God's best for him or anyone else.  

You see, Korah, a subordinate Levite responsible for transporting the furniture and articles within the tabernacle, became dissatisfied with his assigned role.  He believed he deserved better.  He was convinced a more "important" job with greater influence suited him better and would make him much happier.  Significance was, in his mind, to be found in serving more visibly.  Being a Levite was not enough--he wanted to be a priest.  

So, jealous and resentful of his lower, yet very important and essential position, he questioned the claim of Aaron and his sons to be God’s only ordained mediators for the people. Korah argued that the entire community had an equal right to the priesthood. His power play not only challenged Aaron but also Moses and finally even God Himself, affronting the Lord’s divine authority to anoint whomever He chooses.  

Korah's questioning of his role coupled with his desire to seek what he believed was the best for him rather than pursuing God's best for him led to disaster--not only for him but also for 250 malcontents who believed his false preaching.  Because they rejected and rebelled against God's best for them, choosing to create their own "best"--God killed them.  You can read all about Korah's rebellion, false teaching (Yes, he was a false teacher and according to Jude 11 became the a model of what it is to be a false preacher), and demise in Numbers 16.  
  
On a happier note, the descendants of Korah found favor in God’s eyes. Seven generations after Korah died, the prophet Samuel arose from the line of Korah (1 Chron. 6:31-38 and 1 Samuel 1:1, 20).  The Korahites later became doorkeepers and custodians for the tabernacle while one group of Korahites became elite warriors who joined King David in various military exploits.  During the time of King David, the sons of Korah also rose to the esteemed role as the worship leaders of Israel in which they recorded psalms as well as led the whole congregation in singing.   They recorded eleven psalms--one of which is Psalm 84. 

With this background information in mind, Psalm 84 gives us a beautifully refreshing snapshot of God's grace at work in the lives of people who have come to learn, albeit, the hard way, that the key to obtaining the best life has to offer is found in desiring and pursuing the best God has to offer--which is God Himself.  Psalm 84 is all about finding your satisfaction, significance, and salvation in God and specifically in God's presence by trusting in Him.  

You see, God's dwelling place is lovely because God is there (Ps. 84:1).  God's courts are desirable because God is there (Ps. 84:2).  God's house causes His people to break out in song because God is there (Ps. 84:4).  Hard, difficult and painful circumstances can't break you because God is there.  In fact, because God is there our challenging days are opportunities to enter into even deeper experiences of God's presence (Ps. 84:5-9).  God's personal presence in your life is the guarantee that all you will ever receive from God in this life and the next are manifestations of God's grace and glory (Ps. 84:10-11).  These are the eternal benefits of those who trust God--not to give them His best--but to be their best (Ps. 84:12).

Somehow, Korah missed this.  He thought the key to obtaining the best life has to offer was by pursuing "a best" of his own making.  Sadly, this pursuit cost him his life.  His descendants, on the other hand, in learning from his tragic mistake, recognized that the best life has to offer is God's presence with us now and forevermore.   Whether they knew it on not, the writers of Psalm 84 gave us a beautiful picture of what life is like for those who trust in Jesus--Whose first given name is Emmanuel which means "God with us".