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"But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; or again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you'" (1 Corinthians 12:20-21)
Perhaps nothing in life hurts quite like the feeling of being rejected, beloved. And when that rejection takes place among Christians within the visible church, it is even more traumatic. Paul in this passage was dealing with that very problem in the church in Corinth. Some who had shown evidence of the showier spiritual gifts were looking down upon and even disdaining as unnecessary other members that did not have such gifts. Thus, both a feeling of spiritual superiority as well as one of inferiority had arisen and were tearing the church apart. Because the have's were manifesting the attitude "we don't need them" of the have not's, those being rejected had begun to conclude of themselves that "we are not important."
The apostle felt led of the Holy Spirit to use the parallel of the members of the human body to make his point. Suppose, he proposed, that the head should say to the feet: "We do not need you." How would the body get around anywhere if it were not for the feet? "Ridiculous!" surely thought the Corinthian believers about such an absurd occurrence. Yet they failed to see that what they thought to be silly when occurring within the human body was precisely what they were allowing to take place within the spiritual body of their local assembly of believers!
How absolutely vital today within the visible church that none of us as members of those churches ever allow an attitude of either spiritual superiority or inferiority to develop! The way to make sure that such never happens and, thus, tears apart the fellowship of the church is for us to go out of our way to show every member of Christ's body how special and how unique they really are. Such a ministry will be one of personal encouragement, of consolation, of appreciation and of total acceptance. As Paul would later write in this same passage:
"And those members of the body, which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to have more abundant seemliness" (1 Corinthians 12:23)
If you want to grow a healthy church, then, make it your goal in your interpersonal relationships within the assembly of believers to insure that every single members feels necessary and useful, regardless of what their spiritual giftedness or even their level of spiritual maturity might be. It should be unthinkable to us today, beloved, that even one member of Christ's body should feel rejection in any form!
Ron
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Lessons from Dry Bones
"And He said to me, 'Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord''...So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone" (Ezekiel 37:4,7)
I cannot imagine preaching to a valley of dried-out, sun-bleached human bones, beloved, and I stand in awe of Ezekiel for the way in which he was able to do so! I have stood in pulpits where it was the last place I wanted to be and preached to people for whom I was likely the last person they wanted to hear, but that is still a far cry from Ezekiel's valley of dry bones!
What really grabs my attention about Ezekiel is that, regardless of what he may have thought of what God had commanded him, he did it faithfully and apparently with great passion. Imagine being told: "Preach to these bones!" From a preacher's perspective, nothing seems more a waste of time and energy than preaching to those who can neither hear nor see. Yet Ezekiel proclaimed to those bones the unmistakable truths of God's word as if they were all pulled together and hanging upon every word!
As Ezekiel obediently carried out God's command to him, a wonderful thing began to happen. Bone began to move toward bone until they were connected as they had once been however long before. Ligaments and tendons joined bone to bone and bone to muscle, blood vessels appearing and tissues and skin covering each restored individual. As Ezekiel continued to preach God's word, there suddenly arose before him "an exceedingly great army" (v.10).
Should it surprise us, beloved, that God commanded Ezekiel to proclaim truth faithfully to even those dried up old bones? Do you recall the apostle Paul's exhortation to a young preacher named Timothy?
"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2)
We may all at one time or another encounter our own "valley of dry bones," a situation in which we feel that we are not doing God any good, that no one cares and no one is listening. Those are the times that most try our endurance, those times when we feel that our energies are being wasted. Yet that is not God's concern, just as it was not when He commanded Ezekiel to prophesy. His concern is rather that we do what we have been put there to do and just leave the outcome to Him.
What an encouragement I find Ezekiel to be in these verses, beloved! He is an encouragement to me personally to remain faithful where God has me and not to worry about who is listening or who is not, about who is being changed or who is not. And that is precisely why and how you and I need to keep right on proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to a world that seems to care less. Let God connect the bones, beloved! Let's you and I just determine that like Ezekiel we are going to keep on preaching!
Ron
I cannot imagine preaching to a valley of dried-out, sun-bleached human bones, beloved, and I stand in awe of Ezekiel for the way in which he was able to do so! I have stood in pulpits where it was the last place I wanted to be and preached to people for whom I was likely the last person they wanted to hear, but that is still a far cry from Ezekiel's valley of dry bones!
What really grabs my attention about Ezekiel is that, regardless of what he may have thought of what God had commanded him, he did it faithfully and apparently with great passion. Imagine being told: "Preach to these bones!" From a preacher's perspective, nothing seems more a waste of time and energy than preaching to those who can neither hear nor see. Yet Ezekiel proclaimed to those bones the unmistakable truths of God's word as if they were all pulled together and hanging upon every word!
As Ezekiel obediently carried out God's command to him, a wonderful thing began to happen. Bone began to move toward bone until they were connected as they had once been however long before. Ligaments and tendons joined bone to bone and bone to muscle, blood vessels appearing and tissues and skin covering each restored individual. As Ezekiel continued to preach God's word, there suddenly arose before him "an exceedingly great army" (v.10).
Should it surprise us, beloved, that God commanded Ezekiel to proclaim truth faithfully to even those dried up old bones? Do you recall the apostle Paul's exhortation to a young preacher named Timothy?
"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2)
We may all at one time or another encounter our own "valley of dry bones," a situation in which we feel that we are not doing God any good, that no one cares and no one is listening. Those are the times that most try our endurance, those times when we feel that our energies are being wasted. Yet that is not God's concern, just as it was not when He commanded Ezekiel to prophesy. His concern is rather that we do what we have been put there to do and just leave the outcome to Him.
What an encouragement I find Ezekiel to be in these verses, beloved! He is an encouragement to me personally to remain faithful where God has me and not to worry about who is listening or who is not, about who is being changed or who is not. And that is precisely why and how you and I need to keep right on proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to a world that seems to care less. Let God connect the bones, beloved! Let's you and I just determine that like Ezekiel we are going to keep on preaching!
Ron
Thursday, July 16, 2009
You Never Know Whom You'll Meet in a Tight Spot!
"He answered and said, 'Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!'" (Daniel 3:25)
Three young Hebrew men learned a wonderful lesson about God, beloved, and they learned it, of all places, right smack in the middle of a blazing furnace! Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, better known to us by their Babylonian names given to them by the king - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego - had made a serious decision concerning the degree of their commitment to God. And that commitment had cost them their personal freedom and a one-way trip to Babylon's biggest bonfire! They certainly hoped that God would choose to keep them out of the fire, but their determination to obey Him was just as resolute even if He did not:
"But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up" (Daniel 3:18)
But it is upon those moments when they were actually in the furnace that I would like for us to focus briefly, beloved. Note carefully that Nebuchadnezzar had ordered three men bound and three men cast into the furnace. And knowing that surely even a pagan like Nebuchadnezzar could count to three, how utterly shocked he was to look into the furnace as was his perverted pleasure to do and find four men "loosed and walking about" unharmed in the flames! And even that pagan king could see the resemblance to divinity when he described the fourth man as being "like a son of the gods."
This incident is replete with wonderful lessons for us as Christians today. One that occurs to me immediately is that Shadrach and Meshach and Abed-nego knew that the furnace was coming. It came as no surprise to them when they were trussed up for their brave stand and cast into a smoking, blazing inferno. Today we should never be surprised when the fiery trials of this life come our way. In our heart of hearts we know they're coming, beloved. And especially as Christians who take a stand in this sinful world for Jesus Christ, we've got to know that our faithful dedication to Him is going to bring some "fire" into our future!
"And indeed, all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12)
A couple of other truths occur to me as I read this familiar passage again. One is that God isn't always going to keep us out of the flames. I know that we, like the three Hebrew men here, would love for Him to do just that, but it just isn't always going to happen. Sometimes the simple truth is that the flames are part of the plan! Nowhere in God's word will you find Him promising us that we will not know tribulation. Quite the opposite!
"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4)
Another truth that occurs to me is that God isn't ever going to leave us alone in the flames. What we go through in life, we never go through alone. If we take time to look around, wherever the trial may take us, there will always be an extra person present! And if Nebuchadnezzar could recognize His divinity through the scratched-up glass of a furnace window, then surely we can spot Jesus because He will never be far away:
"Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,' so that we confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?'" (Hebrews 13:5-6)
One other truth that occurs to me, beloved, is that unbelievers will always be watching every time we are tossed into the flames of this life. Know it or not, like it or not, skeptics and mockers will be watching to see how we handle the fire, just as they did for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. How we handle our trials will be some kind of witness to this watching world.
Just as God brought three Hebrew men through a furnace of blazing fire and caused a king to stand amazed and even declare that He is "the Most High God," so today God will astound those who watch what you suffer, beloved. He will, that is, if like Shadrach and Meshach and Abed-nego we determine that, come what may, we are going to be true to God. So we can know whom we are going to meet in that next tight spot, beloved! And you can look for Him and find Him with you every time that you by God's design encounter one of the many trials of life. Let me encourage you, then, to always look for Jesus first when the tough times come. When you know He's there with you, somehow it just looks different!
Ron
Three young Hebrew men learned a wonderful lesson about God, beloved, and they learned it, of all places, right smack in the middle of a blazing furnace! Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, better known to us by their Babylonian names given to them by the king - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego - had made a serious decision concerning the degree of their commitment to God. And that commitment had cost them their personal freedom and a one-way trip to Babylon's biggest bonfire! They certainly hoped that God would choose to keep them out of the fire, but their determination to obey Him was just as resolute even if He did not:
"But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up" (Daniel 3:18)
But it is upon those moments when they were actually in the furnace that I would like for us to focus briefly, beloved. Note carefully that Nebuchadnezzar had ordered three men bound and three men cast into the furnace. And knowing that surely even a pagan like Nebuchadnezzar could count to three, how utterly shocked he was to look into the furnace as was his perverted pleasure to do and find four men "loosed and walking about" unharmed in the flames! And even that pagan king could see the resemblance to divinity when he described the fourth man as being "like a son of the gods."
This incident is replete with wonderful lessons for us as Christians today. One that occurs to me immediately is that Shadrach and Meshach and Abed-nego knew that the furnace was coming. It came as no surprise to them when they were trussed up for their brave stand and cast into a smoking, blazing inferno. Today we should never be surprised when the fiery trials of this life come our way. In our heart of hearts we know they're coming, beloved. And especially as Christians who take a stand in this sinful world for Jesus Christ, we've got to know that our faithful dedication to Him is going to bring some "fire" into our future!
"And indeed, all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12)
A couple of other truths occur to me as I read this familiar passage again. One is that God isn't always going to keep us out of the flames. I know that we, like the three Hebrew men here, would love for Him to do just that, but it just isn't always going to happen. Sometimes the simple truth is that the flames are part of the plan! Nowhere in God's word will you find Him promising us that we will not know tribulation. Quite the opposite!
"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4)
Another truth that occurs to me is that God isn't ever going to leave us alone in the flames. What we go through in life, we never go through alone. If we take time to look around, wherever the trial may take us, there will always be an extra person present! And if Nebuchadnezzar could recognize His divinity through the scratched-up glass of a furnace window, then surely we can spot Jesus because He will never be far away:
"Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,' so that we confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?'" (Hebrews 13:5-6)
One other truth that occurs to me, beloved, is that unbelievers will always be watching every time we are tossed into the flames of this life. Know it or not, like it or not, skeptics and mockers will be watching to see how we handle the fire, just as they did for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. How we handle our trials will be some kind of witness to this watching world.
Just as God brought three Hebrew men through a furnace of blazing fire and caused a king to stand amazed and even declare that He is "the Most High God," so today God will astound those who watch what you suffer, beloved. He will, that is, if like Shadrach and Meshach and Abed-nego we determine that, come what may, we are going to be true to God. So we can know whom we are going to meet in that next tight spot, beloved! And you can look for Him and find Him with you every time that you by God's design encounter one of the many trials of life. Let me encourage you, then, to always look for Jesus first when the tough times come. When you know He's there with you, somehow it just looks different!
Ron
Thursday, July 9, 2009
"Drop-off" Discipleship?
"And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up" (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)
Just reading the words of Moses to the children of Israel brings back into sharp focus once again, beloved, those occasions so many years ago when as a child I would see Mom push back the dishes on the dinner table to make room for Dad's Bible which he brought out faithfully. We would sit together at the table as a family and receive carefully the instruction of God's Word. Then Mom would ask us if there was any special prayer request we might have and we would all pray together, each in turn, as a family. I can tell you without any fear of contradiction, beloved, that my own formal Bible training served only to confirm, to hone, and to fine-tune the truths of God that I learned from godly parents in a Christ-centered home.
Can there be any doubt at all that such a practice as this was precisely what God had in mind when He instructed Moses to write these commands concerning the discipling of one's children? It was, in fact, the way that God chose to insure that His divine truths for living would be not only passed from one generation to the next, but would be lived out faithfully by each of them. The terms "sit in your house" and "walk by the way" and "lie down" and "rise up" serve only to confirm that the spiritual nourishing of the young has always been and is now the responsibility of the home!
Unfortunately we see the common practice today that, when we are away from "church," we as parents tend to postpone any and all such training until we are back at "church" the next time. Worse than that, we have made the mistake of leaving it to the church to accomplish what God intended all along to take place at home.
Is the instruction offered at Bible-believing churches today important? Absolutely! But know this, beloved, that God never intended for Sunday School or Vacation Bible School or Christian camp or the academy classroom to take the place of the home as the primary site for personal discipleship to be accomplished. Nor was any preacher or pastor or youth worker or Sunday School teacher ever meant to replace godly parents who are sold out to Jesus Christ.
"Drop-off" discipleship does not work, beloved! And it is past time for Christian parents to step up and handle what God has always intended for us to handle. The ministries of the local church and the local Christian school are there to help out in this most important work of growing children into godly adults. But they cannot and must not be used in any way as a substitute for the influence of parents living solidly for Jesus Christ! Instead of just "dropping off" our kids at this meeting or that, let's start "dropping down" on our knees with them, studying God's Word together and beseeching God in prayer for the grace and courage to be what He has called us to be. Parent or grandparent, may God bless you in this endeavor!
Ron
Just reading the words of Moses to the children of Israel brings back into sharp focus once again, beloved, those occasions so many years ago when as a child I would see Mom push back the dishes on the dinner table to make room for Dad's Bible which he brought out faithfully. We would sit together at the table as a family and receive carefully the instruction of God's Word. Then Mom would ask us if there was any special prayer request we might have and we would all pray together, each in turn, as a family. I can tell you without any fear of contradiction, beloved, that my own formal Bible training served only to confirm, to hone, and to fine-tune the truths of God that I learned from godly parents in a Christ-centered home.
Can there be any doubt at all that such a practice as this was precisely what God had in mind when He instructed Moses to write these commands concerning the discipling of one's children? It was, in fact, the way that God chose to insure that His divine truths for living would be not only passed from one generation to the next, but would be lived out faithfully by each of them. The terms "sit in your house" and "walk by the way" and "lie down" and "rise up" serve only to confirm that the spiritual nourishing of the young has always been and is now the responsibility of the home!
Unfortunately we see the common practice today that, when we are away from "church," we as parents tend to postpone any and all such training until we are back at "church" the next time. Worse than that, we have made the mistake of leaving it to the church to accomplish what God intended all along to take place at home.
Is the instruction offered at Bible-believing churches today important? Absolutely! But know this, beloved, that God never intended for Sunday School or Vacation Bible School or Christian camp or the academy classroom to take the place of the home as the primary site for personal discipleship to be accomplished. Nor was any preacher or pastor or youth worker or Sunday School teacher ever meant to replace godly parents who are sold out to Jesus Christ.
"Drop-off" discipleship does not work, beloved! And it is past time for Christian parents to step up and handle what God has always intended for us to handle. The ministries of the local church and the local Christian school are there to help out in this most important work of growing children into godly adults. But they cannot and must not be used in any way as a substitute for the influence of parents living solidly for Jesus Christ! Instead of just "dropping off" our kids at this meeting or that, let's start "dropping down" on our knees with them, studying God's Word together and beseeching God in prayer for the grace and courage to be what He has called us to be. Parent or grandparent, may God bless you in this endeavor!
Ron
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