Giving God Bargain-Basement Stuff!

"However, the king said to Araunah, 'No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.' So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver" (2 Samuel 24:24)

All of us have no doubt either at least seen or even participated in a department store's "bargain-basement" sale, beloved! You know how it works, don't you? Merchandise prices slashed to the bone, piled haphazardly on tables, usually in the aisles of the store. And that is before hungry customers get their hands on them! But then, who doesn't enjoy saving money on a good bargain?

King David had a definite thought about offering "bargain-basement" merchandise unto the Lord. When Araunah the Jebusite offered to give to the king his threshing floor and also wood for the fire and oxen for a burnt offering to stave off a plague from the hand of God, all that David had to do was to accept the gift free of charge from Araunah. But the king had a different idea about such a transaction. He did not believe that any sacrifice should be offered unto Jehovah that did not cost the giver something. And the sacrifice was from David and not Araunah! So he paid a price of 50 shekels of silver to Araunah and only then built the altar and offered the burnt sacrifice unto God.

It is so easy today for us as Christians to fall into the habit of offering to God that which costs us little or nothing, beloved! We have become so accustomed to quick worship that even grace itself has become "cheap" to us, a term coined by German theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. How many of you remember what Jesus said to the multitudes who were following Him, most of them for all the wrong reasons?

"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish'" (Luke 14:27-30)

These are harsh-sounding words from the Master, are they not? Yet how many supposed Christians find themselves in such a predicament today? Having professed their faith in Jesus Christ, they begin to follow Him with a certain amount of fervor, only to become disillusioned at last by the apparent price of true discipleship. They begin to substitute the inferior for the genuine, the "bargain-basement stuff" for high-quality living, to the point where Jesus Himself becomes a commodity sold at the lowest possible "bargain-basement" price!

Jesus' message to all of us today is graphic and clear, beloved - count the cost! Salvation may appear to be free because it is God's own gift to you, but following Jesus Christ as Lord will cost you your life. If you are precious enough to the Father for Him to sacrifice His only begotten Son on the cross for your sins, then Jesus should be precious enough to you for you to offer Him only your best. A New York Baptist minister named Howard Grose wrote and published in 1902 the lyrics for a beloved hymn of the church that speak directly to what God expects from each one of us as His servants:

Give of your best to the Master;

Naught else is worthy His love.

He gave Himself for your ransom,

Gave up His glory above.

Laid down His life without murmur,

You from sin's ruin to save.

Give Him your heart's adoration;

Give Him the best that you have.

Ron

A Christmas Invitation for You!

"So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger" (Luke 2:16)

The popular Christmas carol O Come, All Ye Faithful was originally written in Latin as Adeste Fideles by a man known as John of Reading in the 1300's, beloved. It is commonly attributed, however, to an Englishman named John Francis Wade. Wade fled to France in the 1700's after the Second Jacobite uprising was put down. As a Catholic layman he lived the rest of his life with other exiled English Catholics, teaching music and working on church music for private use. In 1841 Rev. Frederick Oakley, a Catholic priest, worked on the current translation that we know as O Come, All Ye Faithful.

As we sing this time-honored and beloved Christmas carol at this season, I cannot help but note within its words a wonderful "invitation" for each one of us! Consider first that it assumes the need to make a decision as found in the word "come." We do not celebrate Christmas without being transformed by it, then, and becoming the better for it!

Note next that the invitation is specifically extended to people of faith. The word "faithful" implies inherently that those who do "come" are responding in true faith. They become the "faith-filled"! And the word also implies just as strongly that their coming is followed by a changed lifestyle. These become the "faithful"!

Also, those responding to this Christmas invitation are by nature those who are "joyful" - the joy that is Jesus filling our hearts and lives. Not only are we joyful but we are also "triumphant" - in Christ having overcome the world. We live in joy and we walk in victory! Such living cannot help but catch the eye of this unsaved world.

We as invitees are further challenged in our responding to approach and "behold" Jesus, God's greatest gift. All of Christmas, then, is to be focused upon God's only begotten Son and His advent. He is to be the central point around which all Christmas celebration revolves!

And as we behold Him, what more natural outcome than that we "adore" Him in heartfelt worship! So Christmas is also about worshiping Jesus Christ the Lord. We come in faith as the faithful, we come with joyful hearts and triumphant spirits, we focus all of our attention upon Him, and we adore Him for being our Savior and Lord.

Anything less in our manner at this season, beloved, is to miss the point of Christmas altogether. We simply must respond to God's gracious invitation to "come" and to "behold" and to "adore" the One without whom there simply would not be a Christmas season. May God bless you and yours with a truly Christ-honoring, joyful Christmas celebration! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Ron

Inheriting the Joy That Is Jesus!

"These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full" (John 15:11)

Have you ever wondered what, if anything, is the difference between "joy" and "happiness," beloved? I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people declare that God wants them to be happy. Yet the truth of Scripture is that God really wants you to be joyful! So what is the difference? The distinction lies in the fact that happiness depends upon external circumstances while joy is an inward disposition of the spirit that exists in spite of circumstances.

Jesus had just been teaching His disciples about the practice of "abiding" in Him as the branches to the Vine. He let them know that He wanted as much to "be at home" in them as He wanted them to be in Him. And as a result of that mutual abiding, His joy would reside within them and make their joy in living full and complete.

Have you ever stopped to think about how important your joy as a Christian is to the Father, beloved? Did you know that everything about Christmas is at heart about joy? What did the angel declare to the shepherds on the hillside that blessed night? "Behold, I bring you good news of great joy....there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11). You see, everything that is associated with Jesus' coming is a matter of joy! Nor is that joy limited to Christmastime and to our celebration of this glorious holiday. That same infant grew to manhood and faced the worst possible death imaginable to the world of His day. And as He faced it, He did so with a very unique perspective:

"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2)

And what was that "joy" which the Father had set before Him? In the shadow of an ugly cross and a hideous crucifixion, Jesus saw through to the "joy" of shedding His blood as the once-and-for-all-time atoning sacrifice for your sins and mine. Simply, the "joy" of His heart, beloved, lay in the realization that He was providing eternal life for you and me! Jesus' joy, then, lay in fulfilling His mission and in carrying out His Father's plan of redemption.

It is, then, with the same joy made full that He wants you and me to face our own circumstances of life today. As He told His disciples on that day that His joy would be "full" or abundant within them, so His joy in our hearts today can carry us up and over and beyond any of the adversities of this life. How real is your joy in Jesus Christ today, beloved? Only as you and I seek to truly "abide" in Him and He in us will we ever know that which the Apostle Peter called "joy inexpressible and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8). As we light the Advent candle of Joy this Christmas season, recall the joy that Jesus has made available to your heart!

Ron

Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace!

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33)

W. George Cooper and Warren Cornell, at a Methodist camp meeting near West Bend, Wisconsin in 1889, wrote these words together:

Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!

But is there true peace in the world today, beloved? Certainly not among governments and nations! So what kind of peace was the focus of Cornell and Cooper's words? And even more important, what kind of peace was Jesus promising to His disciples as He prepared them for the work that He had for them to do after He had departed from them?

Jesus knew that the work to which He was sending them would require of them a sense of inward peace that they themselves would not be able to produce. As He said to them - "in the world you shall have tribulation" - the Greek word thlipsis referring to things that press in upon us, that put us in a "bench vise" of circumstances. He knew full well that what faced them in their kingdom-building work would sorely try them and test them beyond the limits of mere human determination and will-power.

So He promised them His own divine peace, a peace that operates best in the face of the trials and turmoil of this life. This peace would become their legacy, just as it is our own legacy today as those whose "watch" it is in the vineyard of service unto Jesus Christ. Nor would His peace be some sort of ethereal or abstract concept which would "trick" the mind into thinking that all is well when in reality it is not. He confirmed the reality of His peace by declaring to them, "I have overcome the world." Standing there that day in the very shadow of Golgotha, Jesus of Nazareth claimed victory over the world! Satan would not succeed in keeping Him from the cross, nor in keeping Him in the tomb. He would rise victoriously over sin, death, and hell and reign supremely as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And that reality would be the source of their everlasting peace.

What kind of mountain are you facing today, beloved? Whatever it is, the peace of Jesus Christ has the power to carry you through and beyond your trial to the accomplished purpose for which He allowed it to come into your life in the first place. And in facing every such challenge as you stand your watch in the vineyard, recall with me the promise of the Apostle John to the believers of His day:

"You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4)

In the darkest moment of his life, having lost fortune, home, and all four of his daughters in a tragic accident at sea, Horatio Spafford was inspired by God's peace to write these words that have comforted and uplifted millions of God's people for many years:

When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll -
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
'It is well, it is well with my soul.'

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control -
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend!
Even so, it is well with my soul!

Peace, peace, wonderful peace! And why not? After all, He is the Prince of Peace! As we light the Advent candle of Peace this Christmas season, remember the price that was paid for us to have His own eternal peace!

Ron

Is There Assurance? I Sure Hope So!

"For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4)

We've all done it before, beloved, that wistful fingers-crossed-behind-the-back longing for something we want or need that is just on the horizon! How many times have you said to yourself, "I sure hope that works out"? What we need so much to understand is that no one wants more for us to be people of hope than does God!

This is the Advent season and, if you are accustomed to lighting Advent candles, then you know that this past Sunday was the time to light the candle of Hope. But is the hope that we find in Jesus' coming that "wistful fingers-crossed-behind-the back" kind that longs for something which may or may not happen? Not at all! This word in the original language of the New Testament could and should be translated "assurance." You see, God wants us as His children to be assured concerning what He has done for us in Jesus Christ.

And just what is the source of this assurance which the Advent season proclaims so joyfully to us? Here the Apostle Paul told the saints in Rome that our assurance comes from two directions. The first of these is "the encouragement of the Scriptures." The promises of God are found clearly laid out for us within His Word, beloved! If we would have hope, then, if we would be assured concerning what God has in store for us, we need to lean heavily upon the Scriptures.

The second direction from which comes our assurance as believers is our own personal "perseverance." This word in the original language means literally "a bearing up under." It means simply that we determine to stand under whatever circumstances of life God has allowed to come our way and to trust that He is in control and that He has a divine purpose for what He is doing. As Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego told the king of Babylon that they would not bow down and worship false gods even if Jehovah did allow them to be cast into the furnace of fire (Daniel 3:18), so we today must determine that come what may we are going to trust God and be faithful to His Word.

Jesus is Himself God's gift of "hope" or the assurance of eternal life! As we celebrate another Advent season, let the candle of Hope remind you of the assurance that you can have through your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Is there assurance, then? Yes, praise God! There is...and His name is Jesus!

Ron