Month: May 2010

“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…”
Heb 12:2

I like the phrase “servant leadership.”  It is a concept that is clearly foreign to many in our day where leaders have repeatedly been exposed as self-serving individuals.  In most cases, it seems the people underneath them are nothing more than stepping stones in their quest for greater wealth and power.  I wonder if any of them realize that with their place of authority comes stricter judgment from the Lord! (Jm 3:1) Their attitude is in direct contradiction to the leadership qualities displayed and taught by our Lord.

In Lk 22:27, He told His disciples, “I am among you as the One who serves.”  As He and His disciples gathered in the upper room in Jn 13, supper being ended and the cross drawing near, Jesus called His disciples together and did the last thing anyone expected.  The eternal Creator and Lord of all washed their feet!  Peter was so shocked by this act of lowliness that at first he refused!  As Jesus explained what He had just done, He acknowledged that He was their superior: “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.” (v. 13) But in this act, He was showing these men how to lead the people of God, to be the apostles upon which He would build His church.  Jesus was leading by example. “I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” (v. 15) And, did you notice that he washed their feet BEFORE Judas had departed?!!  That’s right, his servant leadership extended even to the unfaithful.  What an example He is to us!

As I began to think on this concept of “servant leadership,” I realized I was only taking into account our service toward others, but the reality is that none of us can lead by serving others unless we are first serving the Lord.  Our main text above highlights this point.  The term “author” in Heb 12:2 literally means “chief leader.”  The same Greek word is translated “captain” in Heb 2:10, declaring Christ to be the chief Leader of our salvation.  In other words, just as we call Him the Lord of lords, we could appropriately refer to Him as the Leader of leaders!  We can only lead properly if we follow His lead.  Rom 9:21 reveals God to be the potter while we are simply clay.  The clay can’t determine to be of any benefit to anyone.  The potter must form it into something like a pitcher or a bowl in order for it to be of use to him and others.  Our heavenly Potter alone has the power to make an earthen vessel unto honor, that is one useful for the Master (2 Ti 2:21).  Only in submitting to His leadership in all things will we be able to effectively lead and serve the souls around us.

Jamie

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Mt 6:33-34

I’ve thought of this passage many times in the last few weeks.  My wife has been battling a MRSA staph infection that she contracted from a recent surgery.  With her in and out of the hospital, three children to care for, a ministry to attend to, work, bills, food…it would be easy to fold under the pressure!  But the passage above has been used of God to maintain my focus.  This passage is for our benefit!  We can’t handle the responsibility of tomorrow.  To deal with today is enough.  I had to simply put tomorrow in God’s hands and be obedient to His command to “be anxious for nothing….” (Ph 4:6)

Oh, Christian!  The peace is there, but we too often keep ourselves from it!  1 Pet 5:6-7 instructs us to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God…casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”  Did you catch the “all” in that passage?  That doesn’t leave any care for us to deal with ourselves, does it?  You see, our shoulders were not designed to bear that load.  We are simply to fix our hearts upon the Lord.  He knows what we need better than we do! (Mt 6:8,32) When we let go, we find that He has a plan that exceeds anything we can come up with in every way.

When my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago, our world was turned upside down.  As she went through weeks of chemo and radiation, I struggled to care for her and the kids (the youngest was only 18 months old).  It was a hard road to travel, and I found at times I didn’t handle it so well.  But looking back on it now, I realize that it was a failure to practice our passage above that made these times so stressful.  It has been encouraging this time around to see that God has made some headway in my life when it comes to worry.  What a load has been lifted from me as I’ve simply taken each day as it comes, trusting that God will work things out and provide the strength sufficient for that day!

It’s been amazing to see God take care of things.  He really cares about every aspect of our lives.  If we had time, I could witness to the truth that there is no detail to small to Him!  I’ve found the little phrase in the middle of 1 Cor 10:13 to be absolutely true: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”  God is faithful!  Don’t forget it Christian!  Don’t doubt it for a second!  He “works all things according to the counsel of His will.” (Eph 1:11) And guess what His will is concerning these “all things?”  He has determined that they should “work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” so that we would “be conformed to the image of His Son!” (Rom 8:28,29)  Seek Him first, children.  He will take care of the rest!

Jamie

And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
Acts 10:45

In examining the lives of the apostles, we find them connected to a diverse group of believers in various locations.  Certainly, many of these connections were the natural result of the missionary work of these men.  As they fulfilled the command of Christ to go into all the world and preach the gospel, ties developed in the places the Spirit led these men as people believed the word of God and were saved.  But, as we see in our text above, it wasn’t only the recipients of the word that grew as a result of these relationships.  Sometimes those doing the ministering were the ones that were ministered to!

The account in Acts 10 relates the events surrounding Peter’s visit to Cornelius’ house.  Peter didn’t go alone.  V. 23 tells us that some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him.  Further, our text above reveals these companions were Jews because they were “of the circumcision.”  Now, consider the blessing these men would have missed if they had stayed home that day!  God revealed the fullness of His plan to include the Gentiles in on the “common salvation!” (Jude 3) What if they had said within themselves, “What need do we have to go to a Gentile’s house?  What could we possibly learn from that experience?  We are Jews!  We’ve been taught the law and the prophets since we were children.  Furthermore, we’re not blinded as many of the Jews are, but we recognize Jesus as the Christ.  With such deep spiritual understanding, it would be a waste of our time to go to Caesarea.”  They could have stayed home and remained in their spiritual box, but in their fellowship with brethren they had little in common with except for the Lord, their eyes were opened to a fuller understanding of the greatness of their God!

We have a human tendency to congregate with those that look, talk, and act like we do.  “Birds of a feather flock together.”  God’s intention, however, is to build His church “out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” (Rev 5:9) We hinder our spiritual growth if we surround ourselves only with believers that use the same familiar terms that we do, that practice the same familiar traditions, that sing the same familiar songs, etc.  Most of us, to some degree, tend to remain inside our spiritual boxes that we, not the Lord, have established.  Yes, the local assembly has its place in our lives, and we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb 10:25); however, it is not the only place we grow in the Lord Jesus and learn what it means to follow Him in a practical way day by day.  We would do well to broaden our spiritual horizons by enjoying fellowship with those of like precious faith outside of our own assembly.

When we stay confined to our individual places of assembly and the members therein, we sometimes become like Elijah and think we’re the only ones left that are truly seeking the Lord (1 Ki 19:10,14), but what an encouragement when the Lord reveals there are many others that are still faithfully bowing only to Him (v. 18)!  Over the years, I have learned much from those I gather with weekly at work to study God’s word.  They don’t always use the same Bible translation I do nor do they attend churches of the same denomination.  They quote Bible verses that aren’t always familiar to me, and they love preachers, authors, and artists I’ve never heard of.  But we have one key characteristic in common–we all love the same Lord!  We have the same desire to serve Him and know Him better tomorrow than we do today!  These individuals have encouraged me, challenged me, prayed for me, and always loved me.  At times my experiences with them have been comfortable while other times my palms have been sweating, but every time has been a blessing.  God has used these dear souls in a special way to draw me outside of my spiritual box.  If God has provided an opportunity for you to be a part of a gathering of believers outside of your usual group, I can’t encourage you enough to take full advantage of that opportunity.  If you love the Lord Jesus, I promise that you will be a blessing and you will be blessed! “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,” no matter when or where they are! (Ps 133:1)

Jamie

…for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds…
2 Pet 2:8

I’ve always thought the phrase “hell on earth” had little truth behind it.  After all, how can we compare the temporary sufferings of this present world to eternal suffering in hell?  I was surpirsed, however, to find that the word “tormented” in the verse above comes from a Greek word often associated with the sufferings of hell.  In Rev 20:10 it is used to describe the eternal suffering of Satan and his demons.  It is also clear in Mt 8:28 that the demons within the two men of the Gergesenes connected this word with their place of final judgment as they questioned Christ, “Have You come here to torment us before the time?”  Finally, the root of this word is translated “torments” in Lk 16:23 where we find the rich man in hell experiencing this eternal pain.  But, in our text in 2 Peter, Lot is still on earth as his soul, not his body, is “tormented”!  The wicked have to go to hell to experience it, but for the righteous, this experience can be very real right now.

We understand that there is a sense in which this earthly torment cannot be helped.  When Paul instructed the Corinthian church to not keep company with fornicators in 1 Cor 5:10, he had to qualify that statement in the following way: “Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.”  As long as we live in this world, it is simply not possible to keep ourselves from being exposed to sinful practices.  Besides, if the church were to separate herself from the ungodly world, how would any of them here the gospel and be saved?  Isn’t it the church’s responsibility to go “into all the world and preach” (Mk 16:15) this gospel which is “the power of God unto salvation”? (Rom 1:16)  At the same time, however, we should not let the filthiness of the surrounding society dull our senses to sin.  We must maintain that abhorrence of sin that causes the righteous in Eze 9:4 to weep.  The one’s that are marked for preservation by the Lord, who will not be destroyed in the coming judgment, are those “who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done.” Yes, we’re concerned for men’s souls, but as we seek their eternal good, we “save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.” (Jd 23)

What strikes me about Lot in our text above is that it seems to some degree his torment was self-inflicted.  The verb used is in the active voice.  In other words, it doesn’t read “he was tormented” but rather states “that man…tormented his [own] righteous soul!”  He was an active participant in this affliction by “seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.”  How often are we guilty of the same offense?  Sure, we will be subjected to sinful sights and sounds just because we live in this ungodly age, but is not true that sometimes we place ourselves in situations where it’s likely we will encounter the wicked’s lawlessness?  If you’re deathly allergic to peanuts, you don’t go to a restaurant that specializes in dishes made with that legume for fear that one might accidentally make it’s way onto your plate!  Likewise, if sinful lust is heartbreaking to our souls and tempting to our old nature, we shouldn’t purposely involve ourselves in activities that will likely lead us into sin.

Abraham told Lot to choose a dwelling place.  “Is not the whole land before you?” (Gen 13:9) But with all the places he could have chosen, we find in v. 12 that he “dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.”  Lot chose to dwell here even though we read in v. 13 that “the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD.”  We have similar choices today.  There’s no reason to elaborate because we know the things we can see or hear that tempt us to sinful thoughts and actions.  We must guard our outward members, our eyes and ears, for they are paths used by the enemy to assault our inward man.  Job understood his eyes to be an inlet for sin, an avenue into his heart and mind.  In Job 31:1, he says “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?”  We would do well to follow brother Job’s example and direct our gaze  away from that which might cause us to stumble and instead turn to the One that cries out, “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” (Is 45:22)

Jamie