En-Couragement

I don’t know about you but there is much in life to discourage us, isn’t there?  On the national and international front, there are stories of disasters, disease, war, hunger, crime, etc.  Then there are problems that we and those close to us are dealing with - debt, divorce, health, the economy.  It seems that in a few decades we have gone from 'where seldom is heard a discouraging word’ to 'where seldom is heard an encouraging word’!

Stop and think about it.  How often do we watch the news, read the newspaper or listen to ‘talk radio’ and come away encouraged?  Not very often.  How often do we talk with co-workers and come away encouraged?  Not very often.  Most of the time our conversation revolves around what is wrong with the world, with society, with others.  Perhaps even what is wrong with ourselves.  What we and our world needs now, more than ever, is encouragement.

What is encouragement?  The dictionary defines it as “to inspire with hope, courage, or confidence; to hearten.”.  I like working with a definition similar to the one that I used for courage and discouragement.  Encouragement is to inspire someone to keep on going, even when life is tough or uncertain.  Basically it is giving someone courage.  Courage to go on.  To not give up.  Or quit.

Once again, turning to the Bible, we can see a number of people who were encouraged - almost all of them by God.  Abraham was encouraged that he was going to have a son.  Gideon was encouraged to recruit an army to fight the Midianites.  Hezekiah was encouraged that the Assyrians would not conquer Jerusalem.  Timothy was encouraged to do well at pastoring.  In Acts 4:36, Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus was called Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement.”

Of course, there are numerous verses in Scripture that speak of the importance of encouragement:
    Isaiah 35:3 - “Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.”
    2 Corinthians 13:11 - “Encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace.”
    I Thessalonians 5:11 - “Encourage one another and build each other up...”
    I Thessalonians 5:14 - “Admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted...”
    Romans 15:5 - “....God who gives perseverance and encouragement....”
Clearly encouragement is something that we need and we are to give others.

Encouragement is of particular interest to me for two reasons.  First it is one of my spiritual gifts.  I love encouraging people.  It comes naturally to me and people really seem to be helped by it.  Secondly, I need encouragement.  Being that I am very hard on myself I need to hear from people that God is using my ministry to have an impact on them.  To this end I keep an ‘encouragement book’.  Actually two of them as you can see in the picture.  In these binders are copies of written encouragement that I have received from people over the years.  I look at them periodically to encourage myself when I need it.  If you find that you need encouragement I encourage you to do the same.  What is even better is to read the promises found in God's Word.  It is the best encouragement that anyone could ever hope to receive!

Lord, thank you for the encouragement that You give me.  Through Your Word.  Through Your Spirit.  Through others.  May I receive courage from it.  Help me, in turn, to encourage others.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Dis-Couragement

Yesterday we looked at what courage is.  Today I want to focus on discouragement.  If courage is the ability to keep on going even when life is tough or uncertain then discouragement is the inability to keep on going when life is tough or uncertain.  It is often accompanied by fear, disappointment, a lack of effort and/or desire.  It is the persistent wondering of why we should continue trying since we know we are going to fail anyway.  Ultimately, if left unchecked, discouragement leads to quitting.  Giving up.  Failure.  Defeat.

As such discouragement is an enemy.  It takes away our courage.  It weakens us.  It causes us to shrink back from the battle.  It puts us on the defensive instead of the offensive.  It magnifies problems, making them look much larger and difficult than they really are.  It also minimizes resources, making them look much smaller and inadequate than they really are. 

The truth is that discouragement is an everyday fact of life and it can attack us in so many different ways.  Sometimes people discourage us.  Sometimes we get discouraged about ourselves.  Sometimes life discourages us.  Almost always Satan is somewhere in discouragement.  His trick is to get us to forget about God and His promises and to focus on our problems.  How big they are.  How complex they are.  How impossible they are.

The reality is that discouragement affects everyone at some point in time in their lives.  It affects young and old.  Black and white.  Male and female.  Rich and poor.  White-collar and blue-collar.  Godly and ungodly.  Ironically, discouragement is listed as the #1 reason why pastors leave the ministry.  Not finances.  Nor moral failure.  Not lack of help, change or support.  That says a lot.  I know I’ve had my own battles with discouragement.  More often than not I am discouraged with myself - my own perception that I am not living up to God’s standards, or my own.

Just as we saw people in Scripture who displayed courage, we also see people who were dis-couraged.  Elijah was discouraged after his great victory over the 450 prophets of Baal when Queen Jezebel threatened his life.  David was often discouraged as King Saul attempted to take his life.  The disciples were discouraged after they saw Jesus, their beloved Lord and Master, tortured and crucified on a cross. 

Fortunately, God is not the author of discouragement but encouragement (a subject we will look at in tomorrow’s post).  I like what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 42:11, “Why am I discouraged?  Why so sad?  I will put my hope in God.  I will yet praise him again, my Savior and my God.”  No matter how discouraged we might be, God is always standing by to help us.  All we need to do is ask.  Better days and times are right around the corner.

Lord, there are times in my life when I get discouraged.  Discouraged with others.  Discouraged with myself.  Discouraged with life.  Sometimes I even get discouraged with You.  Help me to see Your many wonderful promises found in the Bible.  Help me to claim them by faith, knowing that they are for me.  That You are for me.  Send someone my way today with a word of encouragement.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Courage

Courage.  The Bible is full of people who had it.  Moses had it when he went back to Egypt to face Pharaoh.  Joshua had it when he led the Israelites against the heavily fortified city of Jericho.  David had it when he stood up to the 9'+ Goliath armed only with a slingshot.  Elijah had it when he challenged the 450 prophets of Baal to a very public contest.  Peter had it when he got out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus.  Paul had it when he got back up after being stoned and left for dead and reentered the city.  And of course, Jesus had it when he faced the cross instead of running away from it, when He refused to call legions of angels to rescue Him.

I can’t say that I think about courage all that often. Now that I do, I wonder exactly what it is?  So, I looked it up in the dictionary.  It defines courage as “The state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence, and resolution; bravery.”  OK, that wasn’t very helpful.  Let me define it this way - Courage is the ability to keep on going, even when life is tough or uncertain.  It is the ability to keep putting one foot in front of the other.  To keep going and not give up.  This helps me to understand it better.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of courage I think of the battlefield, a place where soldiers need courage as they face the prospect of being seriously wounded or dying.  I also think of courage when someone is battling cancer.  Or facing life without a loved one who recently died.  These are the times when courage is needed.

So I was surprised when I stopped and thought how courage is also needed in everyday life.  Really?  I had no idea.  For example, courage is needed at 6 AM when the alarm goes off and you have a house full of children to feed, clothe, bathe and entertain along with all of the other chores that need to be done.  Courage is needed to continue in a marriage where it seems definitely tilted in the other direction - when you give and give and get very little in return.  Courage is needed when a child grows defiant and distant, when they seem to rebel against everything that you’ve ever taught them.

So, courage is a pretty important aspect of life.  But it’s even more than that.  It’s a necessary part of everyday life.  The reality is that it takes a lot of courage to keep putting one foot in front of the other when all you want to do is stop.  Or worse yet, give up.  Now I can tell you that I’ve never looked at myself as being courageous.  Chances are that you haven’t looked at yourself that way either.  But every time we go forward in tough or uncertain circumstances, we are displaying courage.  This means that we are a lot more courageous than we give ourselves credit for.  What a pleasant thought!

Of course, the source of a Christian’s courage is always found in God.  He is the One who helps us to face life, to keep on going even when we are afraid.  Or tired.  Or unsure.  In John 16:33, Jesus said, “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.”  What a wonderful promise to each of us.  No matter how tedious, uncertain, or  foreboding the future looks, Jesus will be with us.  We are not alone.  There is no situation that He can’t help us face or handle.  This is what gives us courage.

Lord, I thank You for the courage that You give me to keep going when I don’t understand.  When I am weak.  When I am tired.  When the future looks bleak and hopeless.  Help me to see that I am much more courageous than I give myself credit for and that any courage that I do have comes from You.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Freedom

Freedom.  The word is synonymous with our country.  It is what gave birth to our country.  It is what sustains our country.  It is the air that we breathe.  For 235 years our country has been all about freedom.  Fighting for freedom.  Enjoying freedom.  Celebrating freedom.  Exporting freedom.  In the entire history of the world no society has ever enjoyed the freedoms that we do in this country.  In 1776 we were ‘the great experiment’.  In 2011 we are the model of human government.

Freedom also happens to be a very important feature in the Christian life.  As a result of sin we became slaves to Satan.  We were in bondage.  He was the one who pulled the strings.  We were powerless to do anything about it.  This is why Jesus came to earth and died on the cross.  For our freedom.   There are many verses that talk about this.  I will mention three:

    "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set you free from the law of sin and of death."  Romans 8:2

    "If it is for freedom that Christ set us free."  Galatians 5:1

    "If therefore the Son shall make you free you shall be free indeed."  John 8:36

It is because of Jesus’ death on the cross that we are now free from Satan and the power of sin.  We are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness.  We are free to follow God, to worship and serve Him.  Freedom is what sustains us.  It is the air the we breath.  It is our right and inheritance as children of God.

So, let us maintain our freedom and not allow ourselves to drift back into slavery.  May we live in freedom.  Serve in freedom.  Die in freedom.  It is the least we can do for the One who gave Himself  to purchase our freedom.

Lord, thank you for the incredible gift of freedom - freedom from the Law, sin, death and Satan.  Help me to maintain my freedom, celebrate my freedom and live out my freedom every day of my life.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Sunday's Sermon - July 3, 2011

Here is the link to my opening illustration this morning, Edgar Allan Poe's, The Masque Of The Red Death.  Since it is a short story it only takes about 10 minutes to read.  Once again I am struck by the similarity between it and Belshazzaar's feast which is mentioned in Daniel 5.  See if you see some of those similarities yourself.  This illustration is another example of the way that God leads me each week as I prepare my messages.

http://www.online-literature.com/poe/36/ 

Once again, to touch on the concept of reverence for God, it is good for us to consider where we are at with this.  On one hand we want to avoid having a superstitious reverence or an unhealthy fear of God.  On the other hand we want to avoid becoming so familiar with God and the things of God that we treat Him and them as common and ordinary.  The key is balance.  Not being unduly afraid of God but also not becoming so at ease with Him that we fail to give Him the honor and respect that He deserves.

Questions:

1 - Do I have reverence for the Bible?  How do I handle my Bible and store it; do I read it and try to obey it; is it a precious treasure that I couldn't do without; do I view it as the very words of God or just the 'good' book?

2 - Do I reverence God in my prayers?  Am I willing at times to kneel in prayer or prostrate myself before Him in a display of humility; do I take the time to worship and thank Him when I come into His presence; has my prayer life degenerated into asking God for stuff all the time?

3 - Do I reverence God's house?  Do I view the church (and the sanctuary in particular) as just another room or do I treat it as the dwelling place of God's presence; am I more concerned with meeting and talking with my friends when I am there or with God?

This is by no means an exhaustive list in regards to having reverence for God but reflecting on these questions does give us a reference for how much/little we have for Him.

Lord, You are worthy to be praised, worshiped and served.  May I find that happy balance between fearing You and becoming too familiar with You.  May I never lose the sense of reverence, awe, wonder and respect that should be present in my life as one of Your creatures.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

What Jesus Looked Like

Continuing on yesterday’s post but with a slightly different twist.  Did you ever notice when reading the Gospels that there is no description of what Jesus looked like.  Nothing.  No height.  No body shape.  No eye or hair color.  Don’t you find this a little odd for the greatest person who has ever lived?  Certainly one would think that Matthew, Peter & John, 3 of Jesus’ disciples who wrote parts of the New Testament, would have mentioned something.  After all, they spent 3 years with Jesus, day and night.  Then Mark, who also was well-acquainted with Jesus, mentions nothing about His appearance nor does Jude who was the physical brother of Jesus.  What we do know is that there was nothing special about Jesus to make Him stick out in the crowd.  Forget the halo that Renaissance painters like to portray Him with and any kind of other-worldly glow.  How do we know this?  Because John the Baptist didn’t know who He was until God told him.  Much later Herod was unimpressed by Him.  Isaiah also tells us that there was nothing about Jesus' appearance that we would desire Him.  Why there is no physical description of Jesus we can only speculate which is what I am going to do now.

First of all, let’s return to the faith thing.  Would God want us to fixate on what Jesus looked like or on who Jesus was and what He taught?  Ah, there is part of the answer!  Part of having faith in Jesus is believing that He actually lived, died and was resurrected by God.  That He was God’s Son, even though we know nothing, in the Bible or in history, of what He looked like.

Secondly, God was being merciful to us.  What do I mean by that?  Suppose that there was a detailed description of the physical likeness of Jesus in the Bible.  Can you imagine how this would have played itself out down through history?  If, for example, it said that Jesus was 6' tall this would have been seen as the ‘perfect’ height.  I can just see some over-zealous individuals putting shorter people on the rack in order to make them 6' tall or chopping off the feet of taller people in order to get them down to 6'.  If it had been recorded that Jesus had a long, skinny nose, guess what?  A long, skinny nose would have been the only acceptable nose.  I can only imagine the disfigurement that would have occurred in trying to get the ‘perfect’ nose.  Worse yet, suppose that it was recorded that Jesus had hazel eyes.  There would have been some parents who would have attempted to change the color of their children’s eyes.  Or they may have shunned them.  Or, worse yet, blinded them.  At the very least people who didn’t fit the ‘Jesus look’ would have either been taking extreme measures to get it or they would have been abandoned, persecuted, tortured or killed by others.  It is definitely something to think about.

The fact is that it doesn’t make any difference to our faith what Jesus looked like.  And that is precisely the point.  It’s not about the appearance but the heart.  In the same way, Jesus doesn’t really care what we look like.  What He cares about is our heart!

Lord, in Your divine wisdom You have chosen not to give us any physical description of Jesus.  But You have given us a vivid description of His words, deeds and character.  May our focus be on becoming more like Him in our spirit.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Relics

Have you ever wondered why God secretly buried the body of Moses?  (Deuteronomy 34:5,6)  Or why there is nothing in existence that Jesus made when He was a carpenter?  Or why no one has ever found the Holy Grail, the cup that Jesus was supposed to have used at the Last Supper?  Or why there are no pieces of Jesus’ cross in existence?  There are 2 great examples of why this is so.

The first example is found in Scripture.  In Numbers 21 the Israelites complained about both God and Moses, the result being that God sent some venomous snakes into their camp.  Many people died and when they repented, God instructed Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole.  Whoever was bitten was immediately healed if they would just look at the metallic snake.  Well, over 700 years later the Israelites were guilty of worshiping the snake so in 2 Kings 18 King Hezekiah ordered it broken into pieces.

The second example is from church history.  Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was a very influential woman in the Catholic Church and during her lifetime she founded a religious order of nuns and established 18 convents across Spain.  After her death, because she was so revered, her body was divided into pieces and distributed to her followers.  (Sort of makes Halloween look pretty tame, doesn’t it?)  Over a period of time her bones became very valuable.  It is said that the Spanish leader Francisco Franco had acquired 4 of the fingers from her left hand and kept them by his bed.  (Apparently the relics did nothing spiritually for Franco who was a pretty ruthless dictator!)

These 2 examples make the same point.  People tend to worship objects they can see as opposed to a God they can’t see.  I suppose that this is only natural.  Seeing is believing.  However, God promotes and rewards faith, which is believing without seeing.  The fact is that if the Holy Grail was found or a piece of Jesus’ cross, it would be worshiped by millions of people.  Think of all the greed, stealing and bloodshed that would have occurred down through the centuries by people and/or nations in an attempt to gain control of these relics.

To a large degree we have no tangible evidence of our faith.  About the closest thing we have are some archeological treasures (cities, artifacts, tablets and cylinders) which corroborate the Bible's historical accuracy.  But we don’t need relics.  Nor do we want them.  We have faith and that is enough.  As we are told in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” and in v 6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” 

If we want something tangible for our faith, something we can see, then I recommend a changed life.  There is nothing that speaks more to the reality of what we believe than this!

Lord, thank you that in Your divine wisdom You chose not to complicate faith by giving us relics, relics which would end of being the object of our worship instead of You.  Help me to continue to walk and live by faith, faith in You.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.