Stop Watching The Video and Start Living The Life

I'm no different than you. I can get just as distracted by life. The long To Do list, the bills, the children, work, tasks; so many tasks. Just living creates a huge To Do list and it is an easy thing to allow that To Do list to move us from one thing to the next in our day, from one day to the next. We can get to the end of our week and ask ourselves "Is this really what my life is about?" Is it?

As a Christian I am compelled to respond with an emphatic "NO!" Jesus warned us against chasing after the priorities of this world and to set the Kingdom priorities before us all the time. These priorities help shape our world view and the purpose for living. Perhaps it is time that we remember a few facts and I would like to use a few verses from Romans 2 to do that.

Now before I am misquoted here, let me say, it is well understood that good works will not save us; only Jesus saves. However, good works is the fruit of that salvation and ongoing relationship with Jesus. The Word of God is clear that the "tree" is known by its "fruit". So understanding this we listen to Paul's warning about the facts of life:

(Yahweh) “will render to each one according to his deeds”. (Romans 2:6)

This is a fact about life that the vast majority of this world population does not understand. The "deed" is only a fruit or manifestation of the heart condition. What we do, what we say, matters. It is important that Christians maintain a tender heart to Jesus so the Spirit can produce in us the things that prompt us to good works:

Eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality (v. 7)

Doing good is the fruit that is produced in the life of someone possessed by Jesus Christ, who live for his glory. Doing good is not the catalyst of salvation but the fruit that shows the rightness of the heart. The opposite is also true:

But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. (v. 8-9)

These actions are only a window to a heart that is chained by its sin nature. It cannot help but do these things because it is without the transformation of Jesus Christ. This knowledge should shape our day. We should understand the purpose is not the task but the people included in that task. Our life is not what we accomplish but the people we impact.

The Christian life is not how much time we spend in the Bible, prayer, meditation, worship but instead how these activities change us to live our purpose. If these activities are producing nothing in us then we need to examine the condition of our heart and relationship with Jesus. What matters at the end of the day is how our faith is impacting the lives of the people Jesus gave us to love. We need to take our example from him and not just speak the words but put them into action.

Is the purpose of your life to serve yourself or to humbly love others through service to them? We need to spend some more time meditating on and then responding to the teaching and direction of Jesus. Stop watching the video and start living the life.

We Have The Knowledge, So What Is The Problem?

Lack of knowledge is not our problem; lack of application is. We have more knowledge available to us now than at any other point in history. I am not speaking of the knowledge available to the elite of academia but of the general masses of people who occupy this planet. More information is available at our finger tips than can be found in the city library. But has it made us any wiser? Are we any better off because of it?

The same can be said of the Church and the general population of Christians. We have more teaching on the Word of God available to us than at any other time. More teaching videos, recorded sermons, blogs, books, dvds and blue rays, stuffed with incredible teaching and revelation. But it all amounts to nothing without application. The Word of God is not about acquired knowledge but holy living.

We have all the answers. We know what we need to do to be strong in the Lord and to be used by him. It is not new just unused. Our failure is not knowledge but wisdom. Our failure is the application of the knowledge we have gained. I know I am repeating myself but I am desperate for me to understand and apply this fact, and maybe you know what I mean:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

You know this. You have studied it. You have memorized it. You might even have it on a poster on your wall. But how many times have we failed to apply it and paid the price of sleepless nights because of it?

In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. (v. 6)

You have told other people to do this. You've sung about it. You have taken notes from countless sermons on this. But how many times have we failed to apply it?

We know that we can have an incredibly intimate relationship with Jesus. He desires it and has made it possible. We also know that the vehicles of such a relationship is prayer, Bible meditation, worship, service but do we apply this knowledge? Do we set aside the things that have no eternal worth to lay up treasures in heaven? Do we do everything we can on our part to cultivate an intimate relationship?

We can't blame Jesus. We know the blame lies with us. We know that we suffer because of our own neglect. We know we suffer because of our inaction. We know that he seems so far away and detached because that is what we have done. We have the knowledge. We know what to do. Is it important enough to us to apply it? To be wise? To take action? Lack of knowledge is not our problem; application is.

Boldness Despite Insecurities

Knowing my audience, especially those of you on Tumblr, you probably don't see yourself as a bold person. In fact, you probably see yourself in the opposite light. Certainly in the safety of your keyboard you can manage bold words, but put you in a public setting and you blend into the background. So if I talk to you about spiritual boldness you probably would not be able to relate. It's because we have the wrong idea of boldness.

Even the most daring and bold person you can think of has a whole attic of unspoken insecurities. Most likely they act as bold as they do to compensate for those insecurities, but that is not how spiritual boldness works. In fact, spiritual boldness has nothing to do with your confidence or insecurities and everything to do with belief and faith in Jesus Christ. All Jesus needs from you is to believe his promises apply to you and then faith to act on them. With these two things in place Jesus is able to accomplish great things through anyone, despite their shortcomings. Consider David.

David had never fought against a man before facing the seasoned warrior, Goliath. His experience was limited to protecting the family's flock of sheep from various predators. But David took the experience and knowledge he had gained about Yahweh and translated it to this situation with Goliath. His thinking was simple: If Yahweh makes it possible to protect these meager sheep he will also make it possible to protect Israel:

“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.” (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

How could Yahweh not respond to such a bold trust? Jesus told us time and again to have this same attitude when serving him. Ask whatever you need, is what he said to us. Ask, seek, knock are his instructions. Boldness and determination were the subjects of his parables. Read through the gospels again and look for it. You will be amazed how clear it is.

The Lord doesn't need anything you have to offer him so your spiritual boldness does not depend or your ability or inability. What he needs are more hearts like David; people who know and believe the promises and who have the faith to act on them. Boldness does not depend on who you are but on your willingness to act on who Jesus is. It is not "I think I can" that moves mountains but "I know he wills it". Step out in the boldness of the promises; believe and act on it.

Not Much In Man's Eyes, But A Giant To Jesus

I am not a popular preacher and I don't expect to be. It isn't because people are jealous of my stellar righteousness. Just the opposite. I am clearly a sinner saved by grace. My sins are obvious to everyone, but the grace of Yahweh should be just as evident. My unpopularity doesn't come from jealousy over my preaching skills because most people can out preach me in the flesh. I have not been called by the Lord because he needed my public speaking skills and I certainly need his anointing to complete the task. In fact, I possess nothing that the Lord needs because he needs nothing from me at all. But I am called nonetheless. No, my unpopularity steams from my habit of preaching the Word of God.

Not a lot of people want to hear the real truth any more. Most want to be entertained. Most want to listen to a skilled speaker. Others just want knowledge. Very few are truth seekers and those who start off that way soon abandon their effort when they realize the unpopular cost associated with it. It's not a hard thing to preach the truth. Just open the Word and preach nothing but the Word and the Spirit provides the rest. That is what I am determined to do and I pray I will never stray from it. I am not saying that I am the only true preacher; far from it. I am the least of the least, not worthy to be called a preacher, and I only bring what truth I have grasped and put into practice. Others are of far greater skill and anointing. But there are not many who still abide by the Word.

Sometimes, most likely accidentally, the truth is presented to the masses instead of being confined to small pockets of believers. It is then that people are faced with a decision. They can laugh it off and claim they were mistaken in the hearing, or they can embrace the truth and immediately put it into practice. What Jesus expected from those who claimed to follow him is simple to understand:

And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”

But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27-28)

This is the same message Jesus repeated throughout his ministry and one we fail to implement. Receive the Word. Do the Word. That is what is expected of us. Receive his instructions. Obey his instructions. Over and over he repeats it in varying words but the same message, "He who has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me." Again and again. Hear and obey.

Not complicated. "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." Obedience. Not a complicated thing to understand but we must first know the Word to know what it is that we are to obey. We need the Truth. It needs to be preached to us, taught to us, set before us. We need to read it for ourselves, study it, consume it and have the Spirit teach it directly to our hearts. And all that we receive must be lived. There is no way around it; it must be found to be the living Word.

Truth makes us uncomfortable, especially when it requires the sacrifice of self and living to love others. We would rather get lost in distractions and be entertained by fine sounding words and arguments. It's hard to come face to face with the truth because we usually end up on our faces before Yahweh. So no, I don't expect to be too popular any time soon because I am determined to know the Word and to put it into action every day for the rest of my life. I expect to live and preach in the power of the Spirit and I don't expect it to win me any popularity contests. That's fine by me because my only desire these days is to be popular with Jesus.

Handling The Stress Of Failure

Have you ever been in a leadership position? If you have then you know that being a leader is not all fun, glory and power. The leader is not some boss who sits back and tells other people what to do. The boss facilitates the success of others so he too becomes a success. When it all goes wrong there is no one else to blame but the boss, because even if the failure was by people under him, he is still to blame because he did not support, encourage and equip as he should have. A good boss feels and takes on the failures of those for whom he is responsible.

The interesting thing is how good bosses handle failure. A great example of a somewhat brilliant leader is David, even before he was king. The part I want us to consider is when David was in exile in Palestine with his mighty men. To get away from the deranged king Saul they had sought refuge in their enemy's camp. One day, while they had been away from their settlement, the army of another enemy had come in, destroyed their town and left with their women and children. This came as a complete shock to this group who had never experienced defeat.

David was the leader so their sorrow and frustration were focused on him. He was under pressure and he could feel it, at the same time he is trying to deal with his own loss. So does he resign? Does he walk away? Does he become so stressed that he is of no use? Does he make foolish decisions? Does he shrug his shoulders and accept the loss? Let's pick it up here:

Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. (1 Samuel 30:6)

David did the only thing he knew how to do, he sought strength in his relationship with Yahweh. Not only did he seek strength but he sought counsel as well. He inquired of the LORD what he should do and he received this instruction:

“Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” (v. 8)

David rallied his men and they went after the army that had come against them. They went into the enemy's camp and took back what was theirs. David went into the battle, against a large enemy with only 400 men and he destroyed the enemy, except for 400 who escaped on camels. This was not because David was a brilliant leader but because he was an obedient servant of Yahweh.

The thing that David did right as a leader is the same thing we are instructed to do every day, leader or not: We are to strengthen ourselves in our relationship with Jesus and be obedient to his instructions. The thing is not to quit. There are no lessons but defeat in quitting. It looked like David and his men were defeated but thankfully those mighty men were following a man who was following the LORD. David did not accept defeat and sought out the will of his God.

There is nothing too big for Yahweh. There is no obstacle that he cannot remove. There is no enemy he cannot defeat. There is nothing he cannot do. What is impossible for man is an easy matter for the Creator of all things. We cannot afford to forget who we serve. David went from a fugitive hiding in the enemy's camp to king over Yahweh's nation. What looks like defeat to you today is a trivial matter compared to the plans of our LORD. We have to show ourselves trustworthy with the small things, including defeats, in order to move on to the greater things.

These two things you should never forget. No matter what you are facing, no matter the stress and pressure, never quit. Instead, do these two things: strengthen yourself in your relationship with Jesus and seek his counsel. Trust the LORD in all things and he will see you through.

"Faith In Me Without Seeing Me"

Have you ever had a moment in your life that gave you a reputation that you can't shake? A moment that everyone associates with your name? It might have been something from your childhood that you pass off as a joke now. Maybe it was something from High School, College or your first year of marriage. Sad to say but I have had several moments like that. Praise God that he does not remember the sins of our past like people do. Thankfully he is one who forgives and forgets.

Every Easter there is one person I feel bad for because of this reason of reputation. When you hear the name Thomas what pops into your head? No, not Thomas the Tank Engine but Thomas the disciple of Jesus. We refer to the poor guy as Thomas the Doubter. You think it's bad that you haven't shaken your reputation in 20 or 30 years? How about 2000 years?

Thomas wasn't present when Jesus first appeared to the disciples after the resurrection. He wasn't there to see with his own eyes what they were telling him and because of it he uttered these words that are forever stamped upon his name:

“First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. I must put my hand where the spear went into his side. I won’t believe unless I do this!” (John 20:25)

Thomas didn't believe his friends. Would you? Jesus was tortured, nailed to a cross, died and then buried. Would you believe your friends a few days later when they told you "We have seen Jesus"?

Now before we come down too hard on Thomas let's remember that the only reason the other disciples believed is because they had seen Jesus. When the women came back from the tomb and told them that they had seen Jesus alive, Peter and John had to run to see for themselves. Even though they had been told, when Jesus did appear they were shocked and afraid. And who could blame them. They were still without the Spirit and had no spiritual discernment.

If it had been Peter in Thomas' sandals I am certain he would have had a similar response. It is only that Thomas was articulate in expressing his doubt. He declared that it was not until he could actually see and touch the wounds. Why the wounds? Because an impostor would not have any wounds. Now consider how God accommodates our doubt.

A week later the disciples were together again. This time, Thomas was with them. Jesus came in while the doors were still locked and stood in the middle of the group. He greeted his disciples and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands! Put your hand into my side. Stop doubting and have faith!” (vv.26-27)

There is nothing indicating that Thomas actually touched the wounds. The only reaction that we see from Thomas is the same one we would have had:

Thomas replied, “You are my Lord and my God!” (v. 28)

Jesus did bring correction to Thomas but I am sure that each disciple took that correction to heart for themselves. The correction also made mention of us:

Jesus said, “Thomas, do you have faith because you have seen me? The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!” (v. 29)

Sounds great, right? We are blessed because we have faith without seeing. But look at those words again. It is not just that we have faith that Jesus is real, alive and our King. "The people who have faith in me", is saying that we trust what Jesus has said is true. Jesus is saying those who take him at face value, who act on what Jesus taught, who live the promises that Jesus gave, are blessed.

Now I want you to think about that for a moment because we live in an age where we gloss over or excuse away much of what Jesus taught. We accept the moral values, the "does and don'ts", the right and wrongs but we set aside much of the spiritual walk that we are suppose to be on. We have been told to live by the Spirit but most of us don't even know what that means. When we say that we "have faith" what we are really saying is that we believe Jesus is real. We are not saying that we trust Jesus enough to do the impossible things he has commanded us to do.

We say that we "live by faith and not by sight" but we are lying to ourselves. We are worse than Thomas. At least Thomas was brave enough to articulate his doubts. We gloss over our doubts with a fake perception of faith and live our life according to our own personal beliefs. We pray over the sick and nothing happens. We speak to mountains and they do not move. Because we don't really believe. We don't really understand faith.  We think that morality is all there is to God and that the impossible of which Jesus speaks was a period of time, even though the Word puts no time restrictions on what Jesus declared. Funny the excuses we come up with to hide our lack of faith.

Love, trust and obedience should be the guiding code of our lives. If Jesus said it, we should believe it and allow it to shape our thoughts and actions. We should be living according to every single word of Jesus, never doubting, always trusting, empowered by the Spirit to do God's will, just like Jesus was. Let's not judge Thomas because he had the guts to speak what we can't even bring ourselves to admit. Instead, let's examine our own hearts and ask the Spirit to show us what Jesus meant by "faith in him".

Christmas: Obedience No Matter The Cost (revisited)

Christmas has always seemed to be a magical time for children and for some adults who are still able to see with the eyes of a child. They whole world seems to be transformed. Here in Canada we usually have the natural transformation of a blanket of snow, then add to that all the Christmas lights on the houses. The inside of the house goes through some transformations as well, as things get moved around to make room for the tree, lights get added and various decorations go up. In some fortunate homes, the ones where mom's still bake, the house gets filled with the smell of Christmas treats. Add to that the anticipation of the gifts on Christmas morning. For some there will be a few great surprises.

Christmas has always been about surprises. Yesterday we considered how God surprised Mary and Zechariah with the appearance of angel Gabriel and the announcement of pending children. We have all heard of the possible risks to Mary, being found to be pregnant before the consummation of her marriage. The penalty was to be stoned to death but that is almost non-relevant. I don't even think Mary thought that God would do this and then not protect her from such a thing. Sometimes we are not always intelligent in our faith. Whatever God calls us to do he will equip us to complete. But have you thought about Joseph?

We know that when Mary told him she was pregnant he had in mind to divorce her quietly. That speaks much of his love for her, that he would not publicly denounce her but it also speaks of his pain to be betrayed in such a way. We can't condemn him for that. How many of us would have believed Mary if we had been in his shoes? Many people today still don't. But God was about to surprise Joseph too.

Just like with Mary, Gabriel paid a visit to Joseph and confirmed to him everything Mary had told him:

“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21)

Talk about a surprise. Hey buddy, you've been chosen to raise the Son of God. Some have considered the risk Mary took in saying yes to God but have you considered the hit Joseph's reputation took? He was the local carpenter, a righteous man according to the Bible. He was most likely well thought of, even respected. But here he rushed the betrothal and had sexual relations with Mary so that he had to bring her into his home before the year of engagement was over. At least that was how everyone would have seen it.

It's not that this manner of marriage had anything to do with Scripture but it is what developed in the Jewish tradition. The engagement was as binding as a marriage but the marriage was not consummated until one year had passed. After the year was over the bride would then move into her husband's home and the marriage would be finalized. This was the tradition of man but God is no respecter of man's traditions. Because of man's traditions there would have been a lot of gossiping going around, Joseph would not have been seen as so righteous any more and his business may have even taken a hit, but Joseph was the right kind of righteous. He was righteous enough to set aside concern for himself and his reputation to be obedient to the Lord.

Joseph's righteousness was like Mary's, but more importantly it was like Abraham's. These people received a promise from God and they believed him. They just didn't believe by the words they spoke but in actions as well. They acted upon their trust in God. Yesterday we looked at Mary's response to God:

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38)

Now consider Joseph's act of obedience that came from his heart of righteousness:

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. (Matthew 1:24)

Who cares what the gossips are going to say; God said it and I believe it. The question remains whether we would have done the same. So many of us are shackled by the traditions of man that have nothing to do with Scripture. We worry more for our reputation than for our obedience. We say that we love God with our words but our actions are lacking. Few of us are prepared to be surprised by God; we lack the faith of an Abraham, Mary and Joseph. Yet it is that faith that has the power to see this world transformed. Jesus said it takes a child-like faith to see and believe. What better time of the year to have that faith renewed than at Christmas.