The Grace of Giving

4/8/2017

2 Corinthians 8.7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. – St. Paul

Several years ago, we had a missionary at our church and he spoke about giving. As missionaries are wont to do, he spoke about his work, his successes, and his needs in the land of his mission. He said: the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is directly tied to our wallet. I think more than a few pushed back hard in their seats. Statements like that are hard for many to accept and embrace.

Paul spoke, to the Corinthian church, of the Macedonian churches's eagerness to give to the work of the ministry. He said:

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. (2 Cor. 8.1-5)

The example here is not what they gave but how they gave: In the midst of a very severe trial…; [in] extreme poverty; gave as much as they were able; and even beyond; they pleaded…for the privilege of sharing; they gave themselves to the Lord; [they gave themselves] to us.

So, today, the takeaways for me are simply:

·         Don’t ever worry about the amount to give

·         Don’t be distracted or hampered by trials or poverty

·         Allow the aforementioned, to overflow in rich generosity

·         Give as giving to the Lord

·         God isn’t concerned with our money; He looks at our heart about money

·         God doesn’t want our money, He wants our heart

Our use of money reveals where our heart is with money. Where our heart is with money reveals where we are with God. We can be wise with money, or we can be foolish. It’s up to us. A wise person gives himself to the Lord and does what is wise with his money.

We have to live. God knows that. We have to work. God knows that. We have to live within our means. God knows that. But we have to do what God desires we do with our money. And He tells us: Give yourselves first to Me, and then give what you can to others. That we give, is more important that what we give. This week, let’s be prepared to give…

Father, You know all about money, transactions, and the way things work here on the planet. It is not what I give as much as it is that I give. You know where I am with money, and I simply want to be a generous person. I ask that You enable me to be more generous, but that You accept what I give as from my heart. In Your Name, amen

Contemplate

4/3/2017**

2 Corinthians 3.18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. – St. Paul

Paul speaks, in 2 Corinthians 3, of the Spirit, saying: He [God] has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter [Law] but of the Spirit; for the letter [law] kills, but the Spirit gives life. And I say, the way of the Spirit is hard, but sets us free.

We have a house guest this week, and this morning we were talking about what it takes in our lives to follow Jesus. We discussed our personal paths to this point in our lives (in our 60s), and the success we’ve had (little to none) in living according to our own rule – the letter or law of our own existence. The general consensus being: how’s that working for ya?

Life with God may not be perfect as it strives for perfection, but it is a life of ever increasing progress. I know many whom I would say: they’re making better progress in their young lives than I have, to this point, in my 60s. I’m not to compare myself to them and their accomplishments – whatever they may be – but I am to keep my slow-learning eyes focused on God, and what He is doing in me to get it. God is the Spirit. And I am well-served to contemplate that truth.

Life ought to be filled with contemplation of God and what He is doing. Life ought to be a process of thinking about the Lord – Jesus – who is working in us to live the life orchestrated by His Spirit; and when we do we ought to arrive at the conclusion that the Spirit is Him, He is the Spirit. (No kidding Captain Obvious!) I told you I was remedial…

I for one, wish I’ve made more progress at this point. I, for one, realize just how ineffective I’ve been to this point, but am getting it, that I, for one, have been my biggest source of retardation. However, I believe today that the retardation is diminished more today than it was yesterday; and I for one, [with] all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, am being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from [Him] the Lord [Jesus], who is the Spirit.

And I for one, realize that I need Him more today than yesterday, and with my face unveiled to see it, am happy.

Thank God that though He’s removed the veil of the Law, He’s replaced it with His Spirit. Thanks be to God, for His indescribable Gift!

Lord, I admit I am slow of heart to believe, but Lord, I believe. And Lord, I believe because of Your Holy Spirit, I believe more today than yesterday. Help me not to glory in myself, but to contemplate on what You are doing with ever-increasing glory, and give You praise – Amen.

**Apologies in advance for the grammatical errors - just read it as if we were speaking face-to-face...

Gideon and Me

3/29/2017

Judges 6. 13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

A bigger question may have been asked, but this one from Gideon ranks right up there: if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Wow! How many people use that one!?

We humans fancy that we have it all figured out – that time is on our side; and that God will give us peace, security, health, wealth, and whatever else we need. And the promises of God do tend to lean in that direction. But the condition is that God be our God, and all His blessings, in whatever form they appear, satisfy us. Job said, Shall I accept [only] good from the Lord and not trouble? (Job 2.13) Good question Job!

I think we tend to live any old way we please, and expect God to pick up all our broken pieces. And we are happy when it’s good, but question God when it isn’t. Why is it we think we can call God into question as Gideon did: if You’re so good, God, why has all this happened to us? What’s up!?

Gideon went on to ask, “Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’” (…and, how come He isn’t doing it now!?) And then Gideon gets down to what everybody does in turmoil, he states: “But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” Ah, the real conclusion: mighty God has let us down again.

A friend of mine said, if it’s always just you against the world, then it might be you that needs to change. Gideon, Israel, Christian, it just might be you that needs to change.

Gideon needed to change. He was in deep weeds and he knew it, but rather than repent and ask God for help, he insisted in blaming God for his troubles. Don’t we do that? Some of us? In between infrequently and frequently – depending on the severity of the need? Gideon needed to find a humble heart. Gideon needed to quit looking at God as his servant and ask: God, what can I do and how will You help?

God was patient with the whining Gideon, and He is marvelously patient with me when I do the same thing. It’s not what I am going through; it’s what I learn as I go through what I’m going through. Trusting God in the proving grounds is the means, not the end. The end is falling on my face in worship proclaiming God’s adoption of me as His son, and His tender care over me in the troubles and trials He promises to go with me through. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

In trials, trouble, tests, and tribulation (in this world, you will have them all! But take heart, child, I have overcome the world…on your behalf – Jesus, John 16.33) our best defense is trusting the Lord for who He is and whose I am. When things get ugly or difficult or wearisome, that’s when I ought to be praising God for His presence, His plan, and His participation in my life – I never go through difficulty alone as long as God is on the Throne.

Lord, You use broken, accusing people such as Gideon, and me, to accomplish Your will. Lord, help me to cooperate, trust You, and praise You for all I am going through. Through it all, my eyes are on You; the waves and wind still know Your name. Amen

Grownup Children

3/28/2017

1 Corinthians 13.11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. – St. Paul

On Wednesdays, my church has a kids ministry (boys and girls) during the school year called: Royal Rangers. It is a curriculum/experience based ministry where kids are taught to earn various merits: cooking, camping, photography, hiking, and the like. There is everything from first-aid, to bicycle safety. It also includes Bible teaching and general living principles from a godly perspective. We use Royal Rangers to introduce children to the concept of leadership in hope of raising them to accept the leader mantle as they grow into adulthood.

We have a saying: boys will be boys, until they are taught to become men. For girls, it is the same: girls will be girls, until they are taught to become women.

Adulthood isn’t just a date on a calendar. I know plenty of boys who are in their sixties and seventies. I once worked at a large box-store retail company that sold toys. Each year at Christmas, we sold Hot Wheels® cars, cheap, as a way to draw people into the store. It wasn’t the kids looking for the cars, it was these older children in their fifties, sixties, and seventies buying these stupid little toys. Collectors, they fancied themselves. And the stuff older guys buy trying to reclaim the magic of Christmas from their days of their pre-adolescence. Yikes!

Paul said, When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. The hinge is: what makes a man? Age? Maturity? Experience? Do we, one day, grow up and cease to be children, and then take on adult things? Paul grew up one day: day after day, after day, of getting there…

I don’t think Paul grew up different than many other Jewish boys in his day, but the goal for him (and his peers) was to become a man, not just a grownup child. The stresses of life can make us want to revert to simpler times. I didn’t balance a check book as a child; I never worried that we’d run out of pancakes. I had clothes and shelter, and a warm bed to sleep in. But I never had to concern myself with providing those things for myself. My parents did all that.

But becoming a man means taking on the more serious side of life and thinking as an adult should think: marriage, home, career, etc. And leadership. Adults are to lead the next generation into their adult years. But often, as things become more complicated, the current generation is reluctant to fight, and the next generation isn’t so willing to follow; they’d rather remain children.

In our faith and in our relationship with God there comes a time when we must become men, and women. There comes a time when we adults must put childish things aside. We must at some point: grow up; the world and our very way of life is at stake.

Father, some of us get it sooner than later, but I pray for the days of my life to become more increasingly leader quality, and that I would forsake my nagging, unrepentant childishness. Fill me with You Spirit to be a man today, and put childish things aside! Amen.

When We Were Pagans

3/27/2017

1 Corinthians 12.2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. – St. Paul

I went to a men’s retreat this past weekend. I had fun, I learned lots of things, and was reminded, and re-reminded of a lot more. One of the biggest things I was reminded of, was my identity. In Christ.

I am not yet what I will be, but I am not what I once was. Paul said, when you were pagans… - that was an important statement because their identity had changed. They were accepted in the Beloved, because of their faith. Anyone who accepts the offer of God’s grace in Christ becomes a new creation, old things are gone, and all things become new (Galatians 2.20).

They were no longer pagans...

And so, the believer today can confidently say, I am beloved by God. I am not what I once was, I am near, and He is near, and He loves me without condition. My pastor says, God’s love language is obedience; and though that thought makes me uncomfortable, it’s true. God loves me, and is working diligently in my life. All the time. He is making my love language obedience as well – if I love Him I will prove it by obeying Him (John 14, 15. 16).

My identity is beloved. If you are a Christ-follower, yours is too. You may not yet be what you will be, but you are never again what you once were. When we were – whatever that was, is before who we are now. Now is different than then and now is who we’ll be forever. That ought to make us think about who we are now in Jesus.

Are we obedient – not to a tyrant, but to a Savior? Are we enjoying Him in the moment – this one, and every other one coming our way? Are we experiencing Jesus right now? And how is that, right now? What is our love-language to Him.

Our changing ourselves in an attempt to have God love us more is foolish. We can never do that despite our efforts. But God’s loving us, changes us in ways unfathomable to our minds, and schemes. He does that for and to His beloved, singularly, and corporately. If you are a Christ-follower, like me, we’re beloved by Him, and that ought to change us. The other part of change is this: are we experiencing Him right now, and how is that experience? We can never have too much confidence in that.

Father, I was given insight this weekend I don’t want to lose. I want to consider Your presence and where You are each moment of my day: with me, for me, in me, and through me. Your love changes me but I must remember that I am never out of Your thoughts or sight. That ought to help in the heat of the battle with sin. That ought to quench fear and uncertainty. That is my identity and is to define me forever. Thank You, Lord! Amen

The Need and the Savior

3/24/2017

1 Corinthians 9.26-27 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. – St. Paul

I used to work for a guy who took the whole concept of intentionality pretty seriously. I thought he was OCD. He was, at least outwardly, fanatical (and I don’t use that term lightly) about intentionality and strategy. He was under an extreme amount of self-imposed pressure. But he was effective.

Sometimes intentionality can be a shtick – just someone’s way of getting things done, or garnering attention to sell a product, or enthrall an audience. A shtick can be just an act. But when we run into those (inside and outside the Church) who are intentional, there is something to be said about the way they think. Paul the apostle was one of those men. I don’t think Paul used his ‘playtime’ at all.

So, Paul said, Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. Paul was very intentional. You might ask why.

For better or for worse, the ancient saint saw the magnitude of two things: the need for men’s salvation, and the Savior who brings that salvation. To Paul, life was not just a meaningless exercise in how to make it through another day; to him, life was all about how to make it to the next life. But even in that, there was much more. Paul would settle for nothing less than the very presence of God over and above all else. That, was what he was passionate about.

Church, to Paul, was not some piddling play-thing; it was the proving ground of faith. The proof was effectiveness and the practice was helping men see their plight: they were doomed beyond imagination without salvation – specifically, the salvation that only Jesus Christ could bring. Paul ate, breathed, and slept that intentionality.

In this life, we’re not to rate ourselves by what Paul did or did not do – he would be horrified if we did. But Paul would be pleased if we were as intentional about the Savior as he was. Paul, somehow, believed his very life was only to live for and promote the Savior who saved him. And that was the basis of his intentionality. Nothing else mattered. Not life, not death, not wealth, not health. Paul was intentionally sold out to living intentionally for his Savior. And though Paul understood men, he expected great things from the churches he planted: he expected their intentional living to promote and proclaim Jesus Christ.

Lord, Paul was a vessel in Your hand, a tool in Your kit. He was effective and seemed unfazed by hardship and difficulty. He only lived intentionally to promote and proclaim Your name. He saw the big two: man’s need, and Your salvation. May I learn to live as intentionally as Paul did. I know it will cost me, but Lord in the present hour there is no greater need than for men to live for You. Help me Jesus. Amen

If What I Do

3/23/2017

1 Corinthians 8.13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. – St. Paul

I have a friend who always challenges me with: what is God saying to you? We talk and he listens and then He invariably says: so, what is God telling you to do? Sometimes, I want to yell at my friend: I DON’T KNOW!!! I don’t, but when I read a passage like 1 Corinthians 8 and land on verse 13, I ask myself: what is God saying to me? What did He say to Paul?

Corinth was a city of great decadence in those days. It was a port-town and ports usually have sailors, and if sailors then were like sailors now, well, you get what I mean; even port-towns need Jesus. Paul was called by God to plant a church in Corinth and he did. If you read 1 and 2 Corinthians you might pick up that they had some issues (what church doesn’t), and they were a little rough around the edges.

Like many-a-church, Corinth not only had their issues, but they also had their questions: what do we do about this? What about that? And Paul, absent from the scene, addressed their questions through letters exchanged back and forth between them. And 1 Corinthians 8 addresses: what to do about eating food which had been sacrificed in pagan temples, to idols.

In Israel, in their old days, the slaughtered animals in the sacrificial ceremonies were roasted in the fire, and for the most part, were then eaten by those who sacrificed them. Other cultures did as well. At some point some enterprising soul came along and established restaurants of sorts in temples and it caught on like fast-food. It smelled good, it tasted good, and, no sense in letting it go to waste.

In Corinth, some ate in the temple cafes without so much as a second thought; it smelled good, it tasted good, and who cares how it got there, let’s eat! Other’s weren’t so bold; their conscience wouldn’t let them go that far: the food had been sacrificed to idols, and therefore it was sacrifice-food, and thereby tainted in some way. It smelled good and probably tasted good, but it had a stigma: it had been sacrificed to some pagan god and therefore was bad. And those who ate bad food, were bad – or so the thinking went.

Now, remember, Paul was answering a question and he had to be careful. He stated that knowledge puffed up, but love built up. Some, in Corinth had no problem with temple-food – they knew there was no other God but God, and that sacrificed food was just that: food. So, their knowledge gave them the freedom to eat whatever they wanted without question. But their freedom presented an issue for those who couldn’t go there in their own minds: once sacrificed, always sacrificed. And sin. And distress.

Here is where Paul led them: I care enough about my brothers and sisters in Christ that if what I eat causes [them] to fall into sin (either by judgment, or participation) I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall – they mean that much to me. And the implication: I’m going to err on the side of grace in my eating so as not to cause undue harm to another believer by my choices. Love builds up. I know better, but knowledge puffs up: and forcing a baby to act like an adult is futile, frustrating, and damaging.

Father, You know my preferences and my penchants. May neither be a stumbling block to my brothers and sisters in Christ, and my I live out of deference for them rather than in selfishness for me. Help me to be wise and hear what You are saying to me because I want to love others as You do – amen