Posts
"If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-3)
In 1898 businessman and leisure-time lyricist Johnson Oatman, Jr. wrote words that were later set to music, one of some 3,000 songs written by him. This one became a favorite of the church of Jesus Christ. Oatman, himself a licensed Methodist Episcopal preacher of the gospel, expressed beautifully in his lyrics his own desire for a higher plane of fellowship with God than he had at the time of this writing. His words illustrate wonderfully for us the exhortation by the Apostle Paul written to the believers in the church of Colossae:
I'm pressing on the upward way,
New heights I'm gaining every day;
Still praying as I onward bound,
"Lord, plant my feet on higher ground"
"Lord, lift me up and let me stand
By faith on heaven's table-land,
A higher plane than I have found:
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground"
The "higher plane" about which Oatman wrote, beloved, the apostle here describes as "things above." The Greek word ano refers specifically to a different plane than the one upon which believers commonly live. The clear contrast is between the kingdom of this earth and the kingdom of heaven!
Furthermore, the command to "keep on seeking" is a translation of the Greek verb zeteo which speaks of pursuing a thing passionately, even of coveting it above all else. Paul's focus cannot possibly be misunderstood. He was talking about each believer living on this plane of existence seeking as the focal point of his thoughts and actions daily a different plane - the kingdom of heaven. And the reason given is simply that as followers of Jesus Christ we have "died" to this world through our identification by faith with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. We have awakened spiritually to a new realm, to a "higher plane," as Oatman so describes it.
And what of those who profess faith in Christ yet who are content to focus only on this sphere? In his letter to the believers in the city of Philippi, this same apostle wrote these somber words:
"For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things" (Philippians 3:18-19)
"Who set their minds on earthly things" - do you see Paul's contrast, beloved? That is precisely what Oatman meant when he through his prayerful lyrics petitioned God to plant his feet on higher ground! Where is your own personal focus today? Are you seeking the interests of the kingdom of heaven above all else? Do your feet itch to walk the shores of higher ground? My hope is that all of us will be able to say with hearts of passion, just as Johnson Oatman, Jr. did - "Lord, plant my feet on higher ground"!
Ron
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
What Is That in Your Hand?
"And the Lord said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' And he said, 'A staff.' Then He said, 'Throw it on the ground.' So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it" (Exodus 4:2-3)
I was busy preparing a message this week for this coming Sunday morning's service of worship, beloved, when the Spirit of God brought back to mind such a wonderful truth about our service unto the Lord as Christians that I just had to share it with you! That truth simply is that God loves to start with what is at hand or, as in Moses' case, "in your hand." Moses was being commissioned by God to confront Pharaoh and to lead the Hebrew people out of bondage in Egypt and to a glorious land of promise known then as Canaan. In his fear and doubt, Moses questioned God's choice of him as that leader, so God chose to show him to what extent He would be with him. He asked Moses what was in his hand and Moses replied that it was just his shepherd's staff. When he cast it down at God's command, however, it became a serpent on the ground. That staff became to Moses "the rod of God" and was the instrument he held out over the Red Sea and saw the waters part miraculously and the whole nation cross to safety on dry ground.
The prophet Elisha asked of a widow lady the same question when she came to him in dire need of help and in imminent danger of seeing her sons sold into debtor's slavery to pay her debts. Elisha asked her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?' (2 Kings 4:2). In other words, beloved, he asked her what was at hand! She replied by telling him that all that was left in the house was a single jar of oil. The prophet had her borrow as many jars from her neighbors as she could procure, then to start to pour from that single jar of oil into the empty jars. As long as she had even one empty jar remaining, the oil continued to flow miraculously. As soon as the final jar was filled, however, the oil stopped flowing. Elisha then told her to go and sell the oil and pay off her debt and then provide for herself and for her sons with the rest.
And in the Gospel narrative of John Mark, our current Sunday morning course of study, Jesus and His disciples were confronted with a massive need as well. While trying to grab a few moments of rest and repose on the grassy slopes of Bethsaida east of the Sea of Galilee, they were confronted with a great multitude of people seeking Jesus' teaching and His healing touch. When sundown came and the disciples questioned how the people were to find food for supper, Jesus replied by saying to them, "You give them something to eat!" (Mark 6:37). Astounded at such a thought, they told Him that they could not possibly feed that many people themselves. Jesus' response to them was to tell them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" Andrew came back with a small boy and his tiny lunch of five barley crackers and two sardines. You know the rest of the story, don't you? Jesus blessed the lunch and promptly began to distribute it among the people as His disciples passed it out. Not only were all of those thousands fed but the disciples then gathered up twelve baskets of fragments not distributed.
It seems quite clear, beloved, that God wants to always start with what is at hand! And what is in your hand right now? What is available to you as a starting point for the miraculous? Today I would say to you that you are that starting point! God is not nearly as interested in your "ability" as in your "availability." If you make yourself available to Him, He is certainly capable of providing the ability! In each case in Scripture that we have noted, a common truth is present: When those involved presented what was available to God, the miraculous happened! Whether it was a shepherd's staff or a jar of oil or a small boy's lunch, the ordinary became the extraordinary when God chose to use it. How available is your life to the hand of God today?
Ron
I was busy preparing a message this week for this coming Sunday morning's service of worship, beloved, when the Spirit of God brought back to mind such a wonderful truth about our service unto the Lord as Christians that I just had to share it with you! That truth simply is that God loves to start with what is at hand or, as in Moses' case, "in your hand." Moses was being commissioned by God to confront Pharaoh and to lead the Hebrew people out of bondage in Egypt and to a glorious land of promise known then as Canaan. In his fear and doubt, Moses questioned God's choice of him as that leader, so God chose to show him to what extent He would be with him. He asked Moses what was in his hand and Moses replied that it was just his shepherd's staff. When he cast it down at God's command, however, it became a serpent on the ground. That staff became to Moses "the rod of God" and was the instrument he held out over the Red Sea and saw the waters part miraculously and the whole nation cross to safety on dry ground.
The prophet Elisha asked of a widow lady the same question when she came to him in dire need of help and in imminent danger of seeing her sons sold into debtor's slavery to pay her debts. Elisha asked her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?' (2 Kings 4:2). In other words, beloved, he asked her what was at hand! She replied by telling him that all that was left in the house was a single jar of oil. The prophet had her borrow as many jars from her neighbors as she could procure, then to start to pour from that single jar of oil into the empty jars. As long as she had even one empty jar remaining, the oil continued to flow miraculously. As soon as the final jar was filled, however, the oil stopped flowing. Elisha then told her to go and sell the oil and pay off her debt and then provide for herself and for her sons with the rest.
And in the Gospel narrative of John Mark, our current Sunday morning course of study, Jesus and His disciples were confronted with a massive need as well. While trying to grab a few moments of rest and repose on the grassy slopes of Bethsaida east of the Sea of Galilee, they were confronted with a great multitude of people seeking Jesus' teaching and His healing touch. When sundown came and the disciples questioned how the people were to find food for supper, Jesus replied by saying to them, "You give them something to eat!" (Mark 6:37). Astounded at such a thought, they told Him that they could not possibly feed that many people themselves. Jesus' response to them was to tell them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" Andrew came back with a small boy and his tiny lunch of five barley crackers and two sardines. You know the rest of the story, don't you? Jesus blessed the lunch and promptly began to distribute it among the people as His disciples passed it out. Not only were all of those thousands fed but the disciples then gathered up twelve baskets of fragments not distributed.
It seems quite clear, beloved, that God wants to always start with what is at hand! And what is in your hand right now? What is available to you as a starting point for the miraculous? Today I would say to you that you are that starting point! God is not nearly as interested in your "ability" as in your "availability." If you make yourself available to Him, He is certainly capable of providing the ability! In each case in Scripture that we have noted, a common truth is present: When those involved presented what was available to God, the miraculous happened! Whether it was a shepherd's staff or a jar of oil or a small boy's lunch, the ordinary became the extraordinary when God chose to use it. How available is your life to the hand of God today?
Ron
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Considering Jesus
"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 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. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:1-3)
"Well, consider that!" is a well-worn cliche from many years ago, beloved. To "consider" anything means to fix your focus upon it, to give it your undivided attention, to make it the focal point of your thoughts and even actions.
We come this week to the fourth and final key command in the verses above, imperatives from God through the writer of the book of Hebrews. We have already discovered together three such commands - strip down for the race, run the race with endurance, and fix our attention upon the finish line. In conclusion, we are told to "consider" Jesus. The word "consider" in Greek is analogizomai and means "reckon upon" or "add up" as in calculating a thing and drawing an inescapable conclusion.
The reason for us to "consider" Jesus, beloved, as the author has revealed to us, concerns what He bore on our behalf. We should consider the "hostility" He put up with from the religious leaders of His day and from the disbelief of people who would not accept Him as Messiah. He even had to put up with the timidity and flip-flopping faith of His own disciples! Yet He endured it all and gained the victory for us over sin and death and hell. Because He endured what He did, we have been enabled to endure as well.
And what is it that we are enabled to do today as a result of all that He bore? We have been given the ability first of all to refuse to grow weary in our service as disciples of Christ. The Greek verb kamno means literally "tire" or "faint" in the sense of giving up before crossing the finish line. Because of His example that is ever before us, we can finish our course just as He finished His!
Then we can and must also refuse to lose heart. The Greek phrase here means literally "become faint in your soul." It is the believer's resolve, then, that is at stake and we have been empowered through Christ to refuse to give up and just quit the race. Remember that great cloud of witnesses that this writer mentioned in the first verse? Consider just a few examples for a moment:
The patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
The prophets - Moses, Elijah, Samuel, Daniel
The apostles - Peter, James, John, Paul
The martyrs - Stephen, Polycarp, Jim Elliott
The preachers - Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Spurgeon, Adrian Rogers
The missionaries - William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Bertha Smith
We may not be running our own race of personal holiness before their eyes, beloved, but their testimony is certainly ever before us! Great servants such as these were faithful in their time and now have passed the baton down to us. What will the next generation of servants say about our running of the race? Consider that!
Ron
"Well, consider that!" is a well-worn cliche from many years ago, beloved. To "consider" anything means to fix your focus upon it, to give it your undivided attention, to make it the focal point of your thoughts and even actions.
We come this week to the fourth and final key command in the verses above, imperatives from God through the writer of the book of Hebrews. We have already discovered together three such commands - strip down for the race, run the race with endurance, and fix our attention upon the finish line. In conclusion, we are told to "consider" Jesus. The word "consider" in Greek is analogizomai and means "reckon upon" or "add up" as in calculating a thing and drawing an inescapable conclusion.
The reason for us to "consider" Jesus, beloved, as the author has revealed to us, concerns what He bore on our behalf. We should consider the "hostility" He put up with from the religious leaders of His day and from the disbelief of people who would not accept Him as Messiah. He even had to put up with the timidity and flip-flopping faith of His own disciples! Yet He endured it all and gained the victory for us over sin and death and hell. Because He endured what He did, we have been enabled to endure as well.
And what is it that we are enabled to do today as a result of all that He bore? We have been given the ability first of all to refuse to grow weary in our service as disciples of Christ. The Greek verb kamno means literally "tire" or "faint" in the sense of giving up before crossing the finish line. Because of His example that is ever before us, we can finish our course just as He finished His!
Then we can and must also refuse to lose heart. The Greek phrase here means literally "become faint in your soul." It is the believer's resolve, then, that is at stake and we have been empowered through Christ to refuse to give up and just quit the race. Remember that great cloud of witnesses that this writer mentioned in the first verse? Consider just a few examples for a moment:
The patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
The prophets - Moses, Elijah, Samuel, Daniel
The apostles - Peter, James, John, Paul
The martyrs - Stephen, Polycarp, Jim Elliott
The preachers - Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Spurgeon, Adrian Rogers
The missionaries - William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Bertha Smith
We may not be running our own race of personal holiness before their eyes, beloved, but their testimony is certainly ever before us! Great servants such as these were faithful in their time and now have passed the baton down to us. What will the next generation of servants say about our running of the race? Consider that!
Ron
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Focusing on the Finish Line
"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 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. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:1-3)
Anyone who knows anything at all about running, especially sprinting, knows that you must set your gaze upon the finish line and make it the object of your determined attention. As a baseball player who is attempting to stretch a single into a double is exhorted to set his focus upon the base into which he is going, so the runner is urged to watch the finish line! For a runner to look at those who are running around him is to lose not only his concentration but his pace in running. Those who do so will invariably slow down whether running a base path or a track in a race.
The Greek verb here translated "fixing our eyes" means literally look away toward intently in the sense of fixing one's focus upon some distant object. Do you recall Jesus' words to Simon Peter when he questioned the Lord about what John's future was to be?
"Jesus said to him, 'If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!'" (John 21:22)
Very simply, Peter wanted to know how John was to run his race and Jesus responded by telling Peter not to watch John's race but rather to run his own! We are too easily distracted in our race for personal holiness, beloved, when we start looking to see what someone nearby may be doing or not doing. How we need to learn to run our own race in life!
Standing at the finish line, in the sense of this passage, is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who must become the object of our desire, the ultimate reason for which we run the race. The reality of life for each of us, beloved, is that our race will end either when He calls us home or when He returns in glory for His bride, the Church. But until either of these events is accomplished, we must keep our eyes on the finish line and not allow anything to deter us in our running.
And what of the example that Jesus Himself established for us to follow? The fact that the writer here says that He "endured the cross, despising the shame" is another way of saying that Jesus has run His own race and has run it successfully. Motivated by "the joy set before Him" - the satisfaction of redeeming you and me - Jesus bore it all, crossed His own finish line and became our Redeemer. Now He patiently and lovingly encourages you and me to run our own race with faithfulness and to keep our eyes upon Him.
Is your gaze on the finish line, beloved? If not, let me urge you to "look away" to Jesus! He's all the motivation that we need to finish our course and to keep the faith!
Ron
Anyone who knows anything at all about running, especially sprinting, knows that you must set your gaze upon the finish line and make it the object of your determined attention. As a baseball player who is attempting to stretch a single into a double is exhorted to set his focus upon the base into which he is going, so the runner is urged to watch the finish line! For a runner to look at those who are running around him is to lose not only his concentration but his pace in running. Those who do so will invariably slow down whether running a base path or a track in a race.
The Greek verb here translated "fixing our eyes" means literally look away toward intently in the sense of fixing one's focus upon some distant object. Do you recall Jesus' words to Simon Peter when he questioned the Lord about what John's future was to be?
"Jesus said to him, 'If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!'" (John 21:22)
Very simply, Peter wanted to know how John was to run his race and Jesus responded by telling Peter not to watch John's race but rather to run his own! We are too easily distracted in our race for personal holiness, beloved, when we start looking to see what someone nearby may be doing or not doing. How we need to learn to run our own race in life!
Standing at the finish line, in the sense of this passage, is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who must become the object of our desire, the ultimate reason for which we run the race. The reality of life for each of us, beloved, is that our race will end either when He calls us home or when He returns in glory for His bride, the Church. But until either of these events is accomplished, we must keep our eyes on the finish line and not allow anything to deter us in our running.
And what of the example that Jesus Himself established for us to follow? The fact that the writer here says that He "endured the cross, despising the shame" is another way of saying that Jesus has run His own race and has run it successfully. Motivated by "the joy set before Him" - the satisfaction of redeeming you and me - Jesus bore it all, crossed His own finish line and became our Redeemer. Now He patiently and lovingly encourages you and me to run our own race with faithfulness and to keep our eyes upon Him.
Is your gaze on the finish line, beloved? If not, let me urge you to "look away" to Jesus! He's all the motivation that we need to finish our course and to keep the faith!
Ron
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Running with Endurance
"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 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. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:1-3)
The notion that an athlete would enter a race and then not "run" is absolutely unthinkable, beloved! Just as unthinkable is the notion that such a runner might run with all his might, but then for some reason stop short of the finish line and not complete the race! As we return to our consideration of the Scripture call to run the race of holiness, let's discover a second key command that we have from God through the writer of the book of Hebrews.
The Greek verb trecho, meaning "run," appears here in the present active tense and could well be translated as "keep on running." As noted already, no race of any kind, literal or figurative, means anything if you never cross the finish line. As an avid golfer, I am all too familiar with the old adage about putts that never reach the cup - "never up, never in!"
In this race of life, beloved, my race is not your race and yours is not that of any other believer. Each of us must run his or her own race of holiness in life and the true joy lies in finishing the race! As the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about his own impending crossing of that finish line:
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7)
But this writer not only has urged us to "keep running," beloved. He also urges us to "keep running" with endurance. The Greek word hupomone means literally "a bearing up under" in the sense of something that is not going to be easy. Actually, the believer's race is less like a trip around a smooth and level oval track than it is like a cross-country venture. We face obstacles of all kinds in our race for personal holiness. At times it may be flat and easy, but more times than not it will be hilly and tough. The key for us lies in determining that, come what may, we are going to finish the race!
What is your own personal determination-level set at today, beloved? Are you bent on not only running steadfastly but on finishing the race? Do you face those inevitable obstacles along the way with courage and even daring? Do you get beyond them by the power of your faith in Christ and your commitment to His cause? Let me not only urge you again to run, but to keep running until the end is gained!
Ron
The notion that an athlete would enter a race and then not "run" is absolutely unthinkable, beloved! Just as unthinkable is the notion that such a runner might run with all his might, but then for some reason stop short of the finish line and not complete the race! As we return to our consideration of the Scripture call to run the race of holiness, let's discover a second key command that we have from God through the writer of the book of Hebrews.
The Greek verb trecho, meaning "run," appears here in the present active tense and could well be translated as "keep on running." As noted already, no race of any kind, literal or figurative, means anything if you never cross the finish line. As an avid golfer, I am all too familiar with the old adage about putts that never reach the cup - "never up, never in!"
In this race of life, beloved, my race is not your race and yours is not that of any other believer. Each of us must run his or her own race of holiness in life and the true joy lies in finishing the race! As the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about his own impending crossing of that finish line:
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7)
But this writer not only has urged us to "keep running," beloved. He also urges us to "keep running" with endurance. The Greek word hupomone means literally "a bearing up under" in the sense of something that is not going to be easy. Actually, the believer's race is less like a trip around a smooth and level oval track than it is like a cross-country venture. We face obstacles of all kinds in our race for personal holiness. At times it may be flat and easy, but more times than not it will be hilly and tough. The key for us lies in determining that, come what may, we are going to finish the race!
What is your own personal determination-level set at today, beloved? Are you bent on not only running steadfastly but on finishing the race? Do you face those inevitable obstacles along the way with courage and even daring? Do you get beyond them by the power of your faith in Christ and your commitment to His cause? Let me not only urge you again to run, but to keep running until the end is gained!
Ron
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)