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Pastor's Corner

humble pie

8/29/2015

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We commonly expect that a pie will be divided into pieces, do we not? Therefore, perhaps it is fitting now to consider “Humble Pie” in this fashion. In the familiar context, perhaps none of us would choose to willingly eat “humble pie”. The truth is, humility will eventually visit every person sometime in their life. For the believer though, humility is to become a way of life, a part of us, even as it was for Jesus. Consider these three pieces of Humble Pie:

The Price of Humility:

No matter the occasion where humility occurs in a person’s life, it will always come with some sort of price tag. For Jesus, the ultimate price was as high as it comes (see Philippians 2:8). For us, there is a price tag too - always. However, this is not to be considered a bad thing, or something to be avoided. We can learn from the example of people in scripture, and of course what scripture has to say about the subject directly. Let’s consider for a moment, and as an example in scripture, the humility of David.

In spite of his faults, flaws and failures, God called David “a man after his own heart” (see Acts 13:22). One of the qualities that made David great was his willingness to acknowledge his mistakes and failures. This is a true sign of humility, and is often itself a price tag. Consider the response of David when he received the news that 85 priests, their entire families, and the residents of the entire city they dwelt in had been slaughtered. David said; “I have caused the death of all the persons…” (see I Samuel 22:22). Although this was not due to his failure directly, David still took full responsibility. He was devastated at the news, but not defensive! Can you imagine taking responsibility for such an enormous tragedy? Can you imagine the humility he must have demonstrated? In the familiar account of David’s failure with Bathsheba where he was guilty of infidelity, deception, and murder; when confronted by Nathan the prophet he openly admitted without defense; “I have sinned against the Lord” (see II Samuel 12:13).

Would we have the emotional and spiritual maturity to admit such things? Or, would, we try to defend or justify our actions for fear of being judged, criticized, or rejected altogether? Further, would we tend to counter-accuse or even blame those who bring such news? Might we become hostile, even sarcastic? Making mistakes does not make us lesser people, but defending those mistakes does! Pride, which God certainly hates (see Proverbs 8:13) will rob us every time of the wisdom that will eventually and surely come through humility. This wisdom and understanding is, in fact, part of the purpose of humility.

The Purpose of Humility:

Proverbs 15:32-33 (NIV)                                Those who disregard discipline despise themselves, but the one who heeds correction gains understanding. Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the LORD, and humility comes before honor.

From this passage alone, and specifically in relationship to God, we recognize that there are actually several purposes for humility. Along with wisdom and understanding, the fear of the Lord simply is not possible apart from humility. The proud person will never experience the fear of the Lord, the proper awe of God. Despite the ways of the world and its thinking of which we are to not love, the fear of the Lord is not an option for the Christian, and for that matter, neither is humility. We’ll discover in other passages of scripture that humility indeed is part of God’s ongoing design for everyone believer.

Understanding that God’s ultimate and premier purpose is that we as believers all be conformed to the image (likeness) of Jesus Christ, it would stand to reason that humility must therefore have a direct relationship to this higher purpose. Being conformed, formed, and transformed as processes all have to do with being changed, shaped, even molded. Humility puts us in the proper attitude and mindset where being conformed to Christ’s image can even begin to happen. In essence, we have to be willing to let God shape us, and realize that He is constantly in the process of doing so. This is a humility that we thrust ourselves into, not a humiliation with which we fear to fall upon us.

Jeremiah 18:1-6 (NKJV)                 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.

In an indirect way, we see in Proverbs 15:33 that honor is also in store for those who demonstrate humility. The human tendency is to want honor; perhaps even seek it. History records countless attempts of those who sought honor with complete disregard for humility. We find here that honor from the biblical perspective takes a certain and designed course. Along this journey, we must pass through the “desert of humility” as a prerequisite to seeing “the pasture of honor”.

In consideration of the substance of clay, notice that it has no aspirations of its own. It’s simply pliable, moldable, and completely subject to the potter’s will. Christian author Henry Blackaby once said: “When God’s assignment demands humility, He finds a servant willing to be humbled. God uses holy vessels, so He finds those who will allow him to remove their impurities. It’s not a noble task being clay – there’s no glamour in it, nothing boast-worthy, except it’s exactly what God is looking for.”

It’s exactly what God is looking for? Yes. How do we know this? Does scripture speak of it? Yes.

The Place of Humility:

We have just seen that a humble person is willing, in essence, to put themselves in God’s hands. The Bible tells us, and experience does also, that God is Spirit. Why then does scripture refer to God’s hands in so many instances? Because God is merciful, loving, gracious and generous, He gives us figurative language to help us better understand what is being referred to. From a human perspective, hands are so important and signify a wide variety of things. In scripture, the hand of God is used to speak of His provision, guidance, might, righteousness, salvation and protection. In a figurative sense, the hand of God is also a place. Note what we as believers are charged with in reference to humility:

I Peter 5:5b-7 (NKJV)      Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Under the mighty hand of God is the place where I clothe myself with humility. Indeed, the only place!

When I physically dress in the morning or otherwise, I always find a place to do so that is fitting for that purpose. The same is true for humility. The “dressing room” for clothing ourselves with humility is under the mighty hand of God. Note that this is also the place, the position, from which I cast my cares on Him. From my own experience, I have found that we really need to do this “casting” from this humble place. Unless we position ourselves (figuratively, but purposefully) under the mighty hand of God, I surmise that casting our cares on Him is something we are unlikely to do? Our carnal tendency is to carry most of the cares ourselves, and to let our subtle pride have its way.

Pride cannot have its way in us! If it does have its way, God cannot have His way in us. It is that simple. Consider the person who was used to pen this scripture – Peter! Had Peter held on to his pride, he would never have been restored to Christ Jesus. He had failed. He had disowned Christ. Yet in the end, he had already done what he is here admonishing the church (us) to do. For him, his humility led to restoration and the awesome privilege of taking the gospel into the world as a vessel of honor.

May I suggest that this humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God is something we should be intentional about in our life and walk in the Spirit? May I suggest also that the clay in the hand of God can and should first humble itself under the hand of God? After all, it was pliable, moldable, and without self-aspiration under the hand of God before it was in the hand of God. This is representative of the completely willing vessel. This is the vessel that is willing to be marred, broken, over and over again – as long as it is in God’s hand. God is sovereign, and He has historically even used unwilling vessels to accomplish His purposes. However, would we not rather be willing vessels, trusting that his ways and purposes are perfect indeed.  It is a tremendous honor to be His vessel. It is also humbling.

It is promised (again) that honor (an exaltation in due time) is in store for those who humble themselves in this fashion. Let me encourage you today (now) to intentionally humble yourself under God’s mighty hand. Do it again tomorrow. Do it as a lifestyle. Purpose in your heart to put “humble clothes” on every day.  As a part of your early daily routine, let our heavenly Father know somehow that you are doing so, even if it is just a simple expression from your heart to Him. Then, live from this place. Do everything and say everything from the place of humility.

If this is the first time that you have, so to speak, come to this place of humility, then come to stay for the rest of your life! If you are doing so, then you are humbling yourself under God’s mighty hand of salvation. Now is the day of salvation (II Corinthians 6:2).

Oh, blessed day!

Isaiah 64:8 (NKJV)            But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand.

Other scriptures for further study: (Acts 20:18-20; Colossians 3:12; Titus 3:1-2)
Pastor Bob
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fantastic focus

8/10/2015

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Last Sunday, Brian Templin said several things that have truly stuck with me...

In the evening, he mentioned that often we choose to focus on the wrong thing, or rather, just not the right thing? Whether believer or not, for various reasons, we sometimes have the natural inclination to gravitate toward the focus of something other than the right thing. Oh we may not mean to, we just find ourselves often doing it.

The Bible admonishes us to be "looking" unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2 NKJV)  Said another way and in another version, we are to be "fixing our eyes" on Jesus... (NIV)

The Greek word for “looking” or “fixing our eyes” is aphorao.  It originates by combining two separate Greek words meaning "away from" and "to see". The implication is that there is a turning away from that which we are currently looking at, to instead see something else. In this case, we are to turn our attention from that which may currently be occupying our attention and to, with intent, fix our eyes on Jesus instead. What exactly does this mean?

Perhaps an illustration is in order. Better yet, a modern day parable: "Two Boys on a Journey"

Two boys found themselves on a journey together. The younger boy was extremely homesick and was, in fact, headed home. But he was unaware of it. Nonetheless, he was consumed with the desire to go home. Aware of it, the older boy had just left home and was going to a place to learn survival skills. This trip for survival learning was to prepare him for life away from home, but it was to also include subjects other than outdoor skills. But he, too, was unaware of it. While on this journey, and not long after the journey had started, the older boy became extremely irritated with the younger boy because of his constantly expressed desire to go home. This soon became an obvious distraction and to the point where the older boy said, "I just want you to go away." But the younger boy still said insistently, "I just want to go home." Whose eyes do you suppose, the younger or the older, remained fixed on their individual purpose and pursuit?

The parable I have just shared is based on an incident that actually happened. I was actually right in the thick of it on my return flight from a recent wedding. The boy who wanted to go home was just three years old. Oh my - what focus he had! He kept repeating to his mother, desperately over and over, perhaps 40-50 times during the flight, “I want to go home”.  The boy and his still younger brother, and the mother, all fell sound asleep about 40 minutes into the flight. For whatever reason, it never occurred to the toddler that he was actually indeed headed home.

The older boy was a young military serviceman who was 23 years old.  He and about two dozen other soldiers were headed to a destination for military training. The mother and the two young boys were sitting directly behind us during the flight. This young soldier was seated next to me and it quickly became obvious that he desperately wanted the younger boy to be quiet. He made it very clear by his countenance and gestures. The mother on the other hand had a focus of her own. She was not focused on what people thought, including this clearly agitated serviceman. She simply remained patient with her young son until she could calmly get him calmed down. Quite frankly, I thought she did a remarkable job. I even prayed for her very early in the flight.

Each of these people illustrate a focus. Focus is a term we use for a variety of subjects in everyday life. Focus can relate to an attention span, determination or resolve, or vision in general. It however seems to always have two ends of the spectrum - in or out.  A camera out of focus; our concentration on a goal would be considered determination or resolve in focus; and yes, our physical eyes depending on the circumstance can be "in or out" of focus.

Awhile back we had a season in our church where we invited broad participation on vision casting for future ministry. This process was called "Future Focus Forum". It is quite obvious, at least to those who call our church “home”, that this is not something we are focused on at the moment. Some are familiar with the popular Christian organization "Focus on the Family" and James Dobson its founder. The family is indeed a good thing to focus on, as well as vision for church ministry. However, it is not the central subject of this message. Hopefully we will focus our attention here on the "focus" of something else.

In our title, "Fantastic Focus", I had honestly considered the use of the term "fixation" instead of focus. However, it typically brings a negative impression, or shall we say, negative focus! Have you ever had what might be considered a fixation? In an older comedy movie (Dream Team), actor Peter Boyle plays a character with a psychotic condition what is known as "Christ fixation". In this instance, the term had a very negative focus. The man clearly had an unhealthy, deranged and very distorted mental concept. Fixations can come in the form of stalkers of celebrities, secret admirers, and every other manner of unhealthy obsessions. But does it always have, or need to have, a negative connotation as it did in this case? Perhaps it would be beneficial to quickly review the varied meanings of fixation. May I suggest that you do this on your own.

Looking again (focusing) on our scripture passage in Hebrews, is it any wonder that these first two verses in Hebrews 12 follow directly on the heals of the "great faith chapter", Hebrews 11? We all know that faith is the focus of that chapter. Further, is it any wonder that verse two of Hebrews 12 relates our "focus" to the authoring and the perfecting of our faith? The writer of Hebrews has already admonished readers to fix their thoughts on Jesus in the first verse of chapter 3. Why? Because Jesus Himself is the author and perfecter of our faith. Our faith is not a generic one - it is in Christ. He is always front and center. If I cannot keep a steady focus on Christ, the end result is that my faith will never be perfected. Perhaps a steady focus on Jesus, a "Christ Fixation", is not a negative thing after all, at least in the biblical sense. Not only that, but the admonition in Hebrews 12:1 is to throw off everything that hinders, including the sin which so easily entangles us. These simply are among the many “front and center” distractions that take our attention off of Jesus. The spiritual mind and eyes fixed on Christ are, in a protective and preserving sense, an anecdote. Not only that, this particular fixation might be thought of as a holy obsession of which we have no reason whatsoever to be ashamed.

In our parable and true story, we see how easily and quickly we can be distracted from our goal, our purpose. The older boy represents a person without a healthy Christ fixation. The younger boy, rather, represents the one whose eyes are fixed on Christ. Having the simple faith of a child, perhaps we should think of it in these terms. If I am in Christ, I am at home. If I am away from him, even in thought for very long, I am homesick. Put very simply, Jesus is home. There should be a sense of being at home in Christ. The one who fixes their eyes on Christ in this fashion cannot and does not wander very far from home.

I have a pair of binoculars that, in my opinion, have incredible focus. The clarity is simply fantastic. If I think of my own focus on Christ in these terms, I wonder just how fantastic it is? A focus such as the young boy had indeed represents a healthy focus, even a fantastic one. I dream, and pray, that I would be a believer with a fantastic focus on Jesus. I pray that you will be too.

May I admonish you to purpose in your heart today to grow in this grace. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you perfect your Kingly focus, your focus and fixation on Jesus Christ. Remarkable and odd at the same time, we are admonished to focus; fix our eyes; on the eternal unseen (II Corinthians 4:18). That which we see all around us is easy to focus on, but it is temporary. Jesus, at least at the moment, is unseen. He is also eternal. Let's fix our eyes on Him.

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being a plus or minus christian

8/3/2015

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The written “rants” on social media (such as FaceBook) lately have caused me to question what kind of believers we really are, and what does the church “say” to observers through all the rhetoric?

As Christians, we always have a choice to add positive or negative to any situation. Better yet, we have a choice to consider and treat people with a positive or negative approach. When we consider those who are not yet believers, do we take them as they are, or do we attempt to “fix them” first by suggesting that certain things be removed from their lives before they are “worthy” of God’s mercy and grace?

As an illustration, picture a non-believer as an empty glass with some sand in the bottom of the glass. The sand represents their “sin”, “issues”, or “problems”. If we take the “minus” approach to treating others, it is like taking a pair of tweezers in nit-picky fashion and selecting and personally removing a speck of sand out of the bottom of the glass. Of course in this fashion the process of “removing the sand” is long, laborious and frustrating. In fact, we may soon give up. If however, we take the “Plus” approach, understanding that we are filled with streams of living water, we will pour ourselves into the glass, and in no time the glass is not only full of water, but the sand is being displaced and washed out of the glass. Only Christ can wash completely, but we are, after all, His ambassadors! (II Corinthians 5:20)

Is it possible that the Apostle Paul, when addressing the church in Ephesus (Ephesians 2:1-5), was in some respects addressing a “Minus” church? Here, he tells them; “but as for you, you too were once dead”, and figuratively speaking, they had previously had sand in their own glasses. Maybe they still do.

This business of plus and minus brings to the surface a host of questions. For example, does the church choose who it ministers to, and why? Do you? Who, after all, are you willing to associate with? When it comes to people in your sphere of influence, can there still be sand in the glass? A lot of sand? When we consider Jesus, he was not ashamed to make his association with tax collectors, prostitutes, and those who were considered “unclean”. In essence, these were the ones that no one else would associate with.

So why do we treat others differently, or rather, inconsistently? Minus says, “You change, and then I will associate with you.” However, Plus takes on the attitude of what we read in Ephesians 2:10. We were created to be Plus Christians – those who add to (or into) the lives of others. One of the things to be added is fruit – the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is not to be kept for ourselves, and it is to be without price or cost to the recipient. Rather than make the person come to the super-market of your life to purchase the fruit, why not leave the fruit on the tree, out in the open and in public, to be picked by whomever would choose to pick it? We can choose to be Minus and be stingy with our Christlike fruit, or we can leave it on the tree for everyone to pick – everyone! Who gets to enjoy the fruit of your life?

According to scripture (I Corinthians 13:13), we must love if we are to truly be a Plus Christian. Our love is to be poured out and into lives, like water filling the glass. And it is to be poured out on whomever, regardless of their status. Must they act and be “just right” to receive His mercy? Your mercy?

Be a Plus Christian to ALL those around you, even as Paul did. Become a minister of grace without prerequisite (Ephesians 3:7) and show forth the power of this grace by your deeds (James 2:14).
(This subject was derived and is based on the sermon message with identical title by Brian Templin; August 2, 2015)


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