There’s a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: “Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father.” On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.

Happy fathers’ day!Nationally, we celebrate five holidays that honor either family members or the family as a unit. Valentine’s day is a day for all people who are in love. But it is a day of special significance for wives and husbands. Mother’s day exists to honor mothers. Father’s day exists to honor fathers. And Thanksgiving and Christmas have become two of the most important family days of the entire year. A successful father (by that I specifically mean a man who is successful as a father) is one of the most remarkable persons in our society. What is a successful father? Are we talking about the perfect parent? No. Successful fathers are imperfect parents who acknowledge and accept responsibility for their mistakes. Successful fathers are comfortable in accepting the fact that they are not super human, are not always right, and do make mistakes. A successful father loves his children. He communicates his love with words, kindness, fairness, and touch. He builds and nurtures relationships with his children rather than assuming the role of an authoritarian. He dares to accept the challenge to communicate with his children in the knowledge that communication is a hard and often painful art to learn. He is kind even when his children exploit him. He is fair in all his discipline.He seeks influence, not control. He literally loves his children enough to want them to make their mistakes while they are at home. Then he can in love and forgiveness help them recover and learn from their mistakes. He knows that it is impossible to program a child to live his or her life in the ways that he as the parent chooses. But he also knows that he can live as a positive force in his children’s hearts even after he dies. A Dad Is … A dad is a mender of toys, A leader of boys. He’s a changer of fuses, A healer of bruises He’s a mover of couches, A soother of ouches. He’s a pounder of nails, A teller of tales. He’s a dryer of dishes, A fulfiller of wishes Bless him, O Lord.  – Jo Ann Heidbreder OUR FATHER NOTICES WHEN WE ARE WEAK AND STRUGGLING “I lift up my eyes to the hills– where does my help come from? {2} My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. {3} He will not let your foot slip– he who watches over you will not slumber; {4} indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. {5} The LORD watches over you– the LORD is your shade at your right hand; {6} the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. {7} The LORD will keep you from all harm– he will watch over your life; {8} the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Sometimes we want to put on a front; we want others to think everything is okay and we are in control; we don’t want their pity, or curiosity, or disrespect. A mask of courage, a facade of strength, a pretense of power may well fool others around us and protect our image. But our sighing is not hidden from God! Our way is not hidden from Him! He has not failed to take notice! He has not drifted off into disinterested sleep. Psalms 121:4: (Psa 121:4)  indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. God sees, God knows, and God cares.  Let’s make it personal here. Let’s bring this into life: You may be weighted down with debt and financial pressures. God knows all about that and has promised to meet all your needs. You may be struggling with a deep-seated sense of failure and frustration. God is aware of it and cares. You may be weak in some moral area of life and may be struggling with temptation to sin. God sees it. You may be grappling with some personal relationship. Maybe you are at odds with a parent, or a sibling, or one of your children, or a friend. You want to reconcile, but you are having a difficult time. God recognizes your weakness. You may be weak spiritually right now. You just can’t seem to pray with power; you read the bible and forget it as soon as you close it; you have to force yourself to come to worship; your witness has dried up. God perceives the problem, and cares. In all our weakness, in all our struggles, in all our futility, he speaks to us as He did to the disciples in Gethsemane: (Mat 26:41)  “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” The wonderful invitation still sounds out, still waits our RSVP: (Mat 11:28)  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. If you’re struggling, He invites you to come to Him for rest. So, let me tell you a secret about a father’s love, you see, father’s don’t just love their children every now and then, it’s a love without end, even when we are weak, amen! OUR FATHER LIFTS US WHEN WE HAVE FALLEN (Psa 37:23-24)  If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; {24} though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. Our strength fails us; our foot slips. Sometimes we suffer the weakness of the flesh, and we sin. We disobey. We fall Those of us who have watched our own children struggle to walk also watched them fall. They’d take a teetering step or two and then topple over, but we’d be there to take them by the hand. Or later, when they were learning to ride a bicycle or to roller skate, they’d take a spill or two. That’s part of the learning procedure. But when they fell, we were there to pick them up. We didn’t kick them; we didn’t berate them; we didn’t disown them. Nor does our Father! He lifts us! He stabilizes us.  “…who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” But when that inevitable fall comes, God is there to lift us and to encourage us and to help us. So, let me tell you a secret about a father’s love, you see, father’s don’t just love their children every now and then, it’s a love without end, even when we fall, amen! OUR FATHER IS WITH US SO WE DON’T HAVE TO STRUGGLE ALONE: God has given us unfailing promises (Gen 28:15)  I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Exo 33:14)  The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Deu 31:6)  Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. (1 Chr 28:20)  David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished. Jesus promised his disciples: (John 14:18)  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. We sing the truth, let’s believe and live by it: “He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am his own!” “No, never alone, no never alone. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.” So, let me tell you a secret about a father’s love, you see, father’s don’t just love their children every now and then, it’s a love without end even if He has to carry us to the finish! You can have that love today if you put faith in Jesus Christ and obey Him as Lord. And when you cross the finish, everyone in heaven will rise and cheer. You won’t win the gold medal, however, but something infinitely more valuable and desirable; you will receive a crown of life. That is the promise of the one who brings us love without end, amen! Some what are some of the qualities of a great dad? 1.  A great dad treats the mother of his children with adoration and respect.  Little children see it all! Nothing gets by them.  They see the contemptuous looks and they hear the words that drip with sarcasm. The way you treat their mother, impacts the way they will treat others later on. 2.  A great dad is moral, even when his children are not looking.  A great dad realizes that an immoral lifestyle impacts his children whether they ever know the details or not.  After all, his character is slowly being diminished. 3.  A great dad shows his children what it means to love the Lord as he allows them to see his heart and life each day. Children don’t grow up loving God simply because they’ve seen Dad sing loudly at church.  Rather, they grow up loving God because they have seen how the Lord has impacted his life. 4.  A great dad lives his own life and deals with his own issues himself.  He doesn’t use and manipulate his children into thinking that they must somehow make their daddy happy. 5.  A great dad behaves like a grown up.  It is true that parents can be friends to their children.  However, more than needing friendship, children need a parent. 6.  A great dad tells the truth.  There is a certain security that children experience when they learn their parents always tell the truth.  However, children who learn that they cannot always count on their parents’ word, grow up wondering they  “really mean it” this time. 7.  A great dad treats his child right – regardless.  A great dad does not allow his moods determine what he says to his children.  A great dad lives by his principles not his emotions. Build Me a Son, O Lord Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail. Build me a son whose heart will be clean, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past. And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, “I have not lived in vain.” -General Douglas MacArthur

An incredible event took place at the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. A runner from Britain, Derek Redmond, had trained for and worked toward and dreamed about winning a gold medal in the 400-meter race. The starting gun sounded in the semifinals and his aspiration seemed attainable. As he ran the race of his life, he could see the finish line as he rounded the turn into the backstretch. Suddenly, Derek felt a sharp pain go up the back of his leg. He ran with difficulty for a few steps and then began to stumble. His father, watching from the stands, became keenly alert to his son’s difficulty. As you and I press on through life, we grow weak and we struggle and we, too, often stumble badly, and our difficulties do not escape the attention of our Father.

Derek was struggling, and his father was watching from the stands. The pain in Derek’s leg was the result of a torn right hamstring. He tried to run, but stumbled and fell face first onto the track and winced in agony. As help was approaching, Derek fought to his feet and began hopping toward the finish line in a desperate effort to finish the race. But he had fallen, and was now far behind. Suddenly, his father came out of the stands, brushed aside the security guard and ran to Derek. Putting his arms around his injured son, he helped him stay on his feet. In our weakness, we often stumble; but in that very moment, our Father is there to help.

Derek’s father came to his side and spoke kindly. “You don’t have to do this,” he told his weeping son. “Yes, I do,” Derek said, through clenched teeth. “Then,” said his father, “we’re going to finish this together.” And the two of them pressed on; sometimes Derek’s head was buried in his father’s shoulder, but they stayed in his lane all the way to the finish line. When you are overwhelmed by the hard happenings of life, you will never face them alone. You have the Father by your side.

As Derek and his father crossed the finish line, the crowd rose and cheered and wept. He didn’t win a gold medal at Barcelona, but he walked away with the incredible memory of a father who came to him in his need and helped him finish the race.

This father demonstrates the same kind of imminent, present, caring, helping love God has brought to us in Jesus Christ. He did not remain apart from us in Heaven, He came to us, He identified with us, He brought us love. Love divine, all excelling love, redemptive love, saving love.

I appreciate your kind comments these past few weeks as we have worked our way through the first major part of Hebrews.

It is sobering to think that we might be sitting in this auditorium with heads of households who might not be faithful to the cause of Christ in coming years…and it moves us to our knees to be prayerful that we can be of help to encourage any who might “lose heart” and fall away.

Those who might move toward this unfaithfulness can lose the spiritual resources they need to make progress in this life..and certainly could miss out on the reward that is waiting at the end of our short time on this earth

The best thing we can do – and the first things we can do – is to be faithful ourselves. To get our priorities straight for those in our households, both physically and spiritually!

To appreciate chapter 11, which we will begin studying soon, we need to see it in its setting in Hebrews. Hebrews 11 was written not just to give us a great chapter on faith, but because faith was what the readers needed.

God’s Prescription For Discouragement Hebrews 11 Introduction

Our world does not encourage us in the direction of God, or Christ, or the Word of God or a “called out body of believers…the church” does it? I hope today and in coming weeks we will be reminded of circumstances in our life (and people) that brought us to that point of conviction and belief that encouraged us to put Christ on in baptism and begin the most wonderful life in this world…and the one to come!

The readers were Jewish Christians who lived in a certain locale, possibly in a predominantly Gentile city. They had started their Christian life with a great deal of enthusiasm. (They were commended in Hebrews 6:10 and 10:32-34.) Then they had become discouraged.

Spiritually, their hands were hanging down and their legs were shaky (Hebrews 12:12). Things had not turned out as they thought they would. It was not easy to be a Christian week after week, month after month, year after year. They were even being persecuted.

On top of this, apparently their fellow Jews had made fun of them, perhaps saying, “Look at our magnificent temple . . . and our high priest in his priestly robes . . . and the smoke of our sacrifices waft­ing heavenward—and you, you have nothing as far as we can see.” As a result, these Jewish Christians were on the verge of giving up.

Hebrews 10:32-39 (NIV) ³²  Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering.  ³³ Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. ³⁴ You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

In the third century A.D., Celsus, a pagan philosopher, carried on a lively debate with Origen, the Christian scholar. The pagan phi­losopher tried to show that Christianity was untrue. He said that Christianity served only the superstitious and the simple-minded.

If there was anything of substance to the Christian faith, Celsus argued, certainly it would have attracted a greater following. He was one of many edu­cated people offended by Christian beliefs. (Do we often feel the same way today? We know only a remnant will be true to the principles set forth by Jesus Christ…but we often wonder…)

If numbers decided who is right before God, who has the largest crowds on the weekends…and on Sundays? I know of some groups that begin meeting on Saturday nights and have 2-3 meetings on Sunday…yet brag that they rarely discuss sin in their assemblies…never talk about hell…and worship in ways contrary to the New Testament pattern.

Before we went to China I heard that there was some 150,000 that followed the teachings of a man who did not believe in God, Christ, or the Bible. I never heard of this person, and I am thankful there are many thousands in the country that have a firm belief in God, are studying the Bible, and are coming to understand the message of Jesus Christ.

   I am personally aware of a baptism in the Ukraine, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and China during the past two weeks.

One characteristic which particularly of­fended ancient people was the Christian de­mand that people have faith in realities that no one could see or experience. The educated Greek required his students to examine all things using reason. They said “faith could too easily become a crutch for the simple-minded who dared not face real­ity. Christianity called for faith in its fol­lowers, so the pagans disdained this reliance on faith.

The old pagan argument seems modern. For many people, the church includes people who believe in a story and in a God who is far re­moved from the real world of their experience.

Scientific advances have made God seem more and more remote from the world. Today’s secu­larism concludes that the real world consists of our homes, our land, and those other material items that give us a sense of security. Indeed, we speak of papers that are locked away in a safe deposit box as our “securities.”

How has that kind of thinking served us during the past .com meltdown? Housing collapse? Stocks and other investments losing 65-90% of their value?

I read a few years back of one of our secular politicians who had earned with his wife in excess of 1 million $$…yet his income tax records of the previous 4 years showed he had given only $507 to charities. Where do you think his priorities were?

Sigmund Freud believed Christianity “was an invention on the part of people who ‘needed’ something in the midst of ‘our uncertainty in our future on this earth.”’

Ted Turner (of CNN, TNT and TBS fame) said “religion was for weak-kneed” or “weak-willed” or “weak-minded” people. He apparently never heard the stories of those we read about in those latter verses of Hebrews 10. Christianity was not a ‘crutch’…it was a firm conviction: because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

Faith in the ‘unseen’ was a great difficulty of scholars of the past…this view affects the life of the church today.

1 Corinthians 1:17ff (NIV)
¹⁷  For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel–not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. ¹⁸  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
¹⁹  For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
²⁰  Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
²²  Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³  but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴  but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵  For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
²⁶  Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are, ²⁹  so that no one may boast before him.
³⁰  It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹  Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 2:1-16 (NIV)
¹  When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. ²  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³  I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.
⁴  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵  so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
⁶  We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
⁷  No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

Our apathy toward the life of the church is probably the result of the unspoken belief that the real world is somewhere else. If it comes to a choice be­tween our commitment to the church and the world we see, we easily demonstrate which of the two is the real world.

What was the conclusion given, as we finish the verses from Hebrews 10: ³⁵  So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
³⁶  You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
³⁷  For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay.
³⁸  But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”
³⁹  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

We can imagine, however, an objection: We do believe, and we still are having all these prob­lems. So the writer of Hebrews begins to talk about what real faith is in chapter 11.

• The sluggishness of the original readers of Hebrews was probably the result of a conviction that faith was impossible because they could not see or touch its reality. Frustration set in when the promises were not immediately fulfilled.
• Perhaps the fact that Christianity had turned out to be a long pilgrimage or a distance run had unsettled their convictions and left them with the feeling that faith had brought no security. Persecution and imprisonment (10:32-34) had left them at the point of “falling away” and “shrinking back” (10:39).
• Like Esau, they seemed ready to sell their birthright for a single meal from the real world (12:16, 17). The only world apparent to them was the world they could see and touch. The realities of faith had become nothing more than a mirage.

The Faith Chapter

The first part of chapter 11 is on the descrip­tion of faith, and the last part of the chapter is on the demonstration of faith, as the writer uses great examples of faith from the Old Testament.

Notice I said the chapter begins with a descrip­tion of faith. The chapter does not define faith in the full sense of the word. For instance, verse 1 does not mention the object of our faith, and verse 6 does not mention faith in Jesus. To get a complete definition of faith, we have to supple­ment this chapter with Paul’s discussion of faith in Romans and other books.

What the writer is striving to do is show what real faith is, the faith that will enable his readers to take whatever comes—persecutions, ridicule, whatever—and to remain faithful to the end.

As we shall see in the series, this involves several things, but the point I want to stress in this lesson is that real faith has the ability to see the unseeable.

Hebrews 11 stresses that God’s children can see the unseeable but goes a step further as it stresses that what enables us to see the unseeable is our faith. Note these verses:

Faith is . . . the evidence of things not seen (v. 1).

Through faith we understand . . . that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear (v. 3).

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark. . . . (v. 7).

By faith [Abraham] . . . looked for a city [which was spiritual, eternal, invisible] (vv. 9, 10).

[The patriarchs] died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off (v. 13).

By faith [Moses] . . . endured, as seeing him who is invisible (v. 27). (Emphasis mine.)

From these passages, we conclude that “see­ing the unseeable” involves several things:

First is the ability to see the reality of things spiritual and eternal; thus, to see these are of far greater importance than the physical and temporal.

Second is the ability to see the truthfulness of the God-given account of events which occurred when we were not present, and to learn from those events.

Third is the ability to see the cer­tainty of God’s promises, though the fulfillment of those promises may be far in the future.

We also learn that it is by this ability to see the unseeable that we can live the triumphant Christian life. If we can see the invisible, we can do the impossible. To put it another way, if we can see what others cannot see, we can do what others cannot do.

Perhaps most important, however, we learn from these verses what it is that enables us to see the unseeable by the eye of faith: the Word of God, the Word of Him who knows all things and who cannot lie!

The emphasis in this chapter is the same as that of Paul in Romans 10:17: “Faith cometh by hear­ing, and hearing by the word of God.”

It is God who tells us about the things unseeable—and you can, without reservation, totally trust in God and His Word!

      

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(I referred to this article in a recent lesson and wanted to share the full article)

Why Men Don’t Talk

By Hampton Keathley

I read a book a couple of months ago that really changed my thinking on a few things and helped me understand a lot more about myself. The book was The Silence of Adam by Larry Crabb. It was so good, that I read it twice. It is called The Silence of Adam because he starts off by asking where Adam was when Eve was talking to the serpent.

Tradition has always taught, and I had always assumed that Eve was alone at that time, and that after she was deceived and ate the fruit, she went in search of Adam and gave him some to eat. But Crabb pointed out that Adam was right there with Eve during the conversation with the serpent. When I read that, I immediately got off the couch and went to get my Bible to read the verse for myself.

Genesis 3:6 says, When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, (imah) and he ate.

Wow! Adam was with her! I don’t know about you, but that blows away my categories. We always talk about how Eve was deceived, (In fact we read that three weeks ago in 1 Tim 2:14 right here in class.) And I think deep down, we sort of blame Eve for getting us all in this mess in the first place, even though we know technically that Adam was responsible.

But what if Adam was standing right there the whole time that Eve was talking to the serpent? I think this sheds new light on just how responsible Adam was for what happened. What does this say to us about not doing anything when we are not sure exactly what we should do or say? It sure makes inactivity look more sinful to me

If Adam was there, then why didn’t he say something? Why didn’t he tell the serpent to get lost? Why didn’t he correct Eve when she misquoted the command not to eat of the tree? Why didn’t he suggest they go somewhere else to talk about the situation? Why didn’t he stop Eve when she reached for the fruit?

Why Adam was silent? I’m not going to answer that right now. The answer will become obvious as we work through several concepts.

We are going to divide our study into the following topics:

• The Search for Real Men
• Man’s model—God’s role in creation, because man is created in God’s image and we need to see what that entails.
• Man’s responsibility—to walk in God’s image.
• Man’s natural tendency—to be silent.
  ————————————–
• What Speaking is Not.
• The Reasons for Silence
• The Solution
• Woman’s responsibility

The Search for “Real Men”

I think the first time I ever heard any talk about “real men” was in college when someone said, “Real men don’t eat quiche.” I think there was a whole string of “real men” jokes going around then, but that is the only one I remember.

The traditional view of a real man is one who is broad-shouldered, self-confident, tough, unemotional and successful. If you ever read any Louis L’Amour books, the main character was always tall, dark and invulnerable and he didn’t talk much. John Wayne and Clint Eastwood always played that kind of man in their movies.

But for the past ten years there has been a call for men to be more sensitive, to be vulnerable, to share their feelings, to cry more. Men are supposed to be more concerned with connecting with others than with trying to achieve and conquer the world. I remember my dad once making the comment that there didn’t seem to be any actors rising on the scene to replace John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Maybe that is the reason. Their character type was out of style. John Wayne has been replaced with Billy Crystal.

I think the John Wayne tough guy image is a warped model of what a man should be. But I also think that the soft, vulnerable, almost homo-sexual image that we are bombarded with in the secular media is a pendulum swing too far in the other direction.

There is obviously a problem, but what is the solution? What constitutes a real man?

In the Christian world, we’ve been trying to come up with the answer. We have Family Life Seminars, Promise Keepers conventions, hundreds of self-help books on how to be a good father, how to be a good husband, how to be a good whatever. The list of self-help books is endless.

I think that phrase “self-help” is significant. I don’t mean to discredit any of those things I just mentioned, because they all have their place. In fact, many of them were started because people felt like churches weren’t dealing with the issues. But our tendency, when we realize there is a problem, is to go find a book written by some expert with the answers or go to a “professional counselor” or go to some conference to learn some neat steps to follow or principles to apply, to get motivated to work hard, and then we go home and try really hard to follow those steps. We do them for the next few weeks or months. But eventually, we slip back into our old habits and wait for the next conference. Perhaps that is why the Promise Keepers have to come back each year. We don’t keep our promises. The problem is that we were doing all these things out of our own energy, not God’s energy.

In our day, too many men are seeking more diligently for their manhood, than for God. However, if you read the biographies of the great Christians of the past, like Dwight L. Moody, Hudson Taylor, etc., it becomes obvious that they sought God first. They spent hours in the word and in prayer. They were very godly men. And look what God did through them. They are remembered as great men. Therefore, I think it is safe to say, “The only way to be manly is to be godly.” (Crabb, p. 32)

How do we become godly? By reflecting the image of God. We can’t do that unless we know what God is like. So we need to study what God is like. That by the way is theology. I almost hesitate to say that because most people think of theology as booooooring, but you will see that is very relevant. It is relevant because if we are to be godly, we have to know what God is like.

The Model: God’s Role in Creation

Genesis 1:2 says that the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep. In other words, everything was chaos. Then, while everything was darkness and chaos, God spoke into the darkness and He created life and beauty.

For years, people have argued about the “Gap theory” or “Restitution Theory” which proposes that there were two creations. After the first creation, Satan messed up the earth and so God had to rebuild. All this was supposed to happen somewhere between Gen. 1:1 and 1:3.

I think one reason this idea became popular was to try to explain why there was chaos. The question people asked, was “Why would God create a chaotic earth on his first pass, and then have to come back and fix it up later?” The gap theory also gained popularity when science started saying that the earth was millions of years old. A “Gap” between a first and second creation left room for that. The fact that the earth appears to be millions of years old can be explained without a gap theory. If God created a tree, and we cut it down the next day, how many rings would it have in it? 50? 100? God created trees, man, everything, including the earth, with apparent age. So we don’t need a gap theory as an answer to evolution.

Also, a good understanding of Hebrew shows that there is no reference to a gap in time in Gen. 1:3.

So, why the part about the earth being formless and void in vs. 2? Let me propose another reason—a theological one.

When Moses wrote Genesis, he left out lots of stuff. He covered 6000 years in just a few pages, and then focused in on Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. I think Moses was very selective in what events he recorded. He only recorded what he did because they make a theological point. Therefore Gen. 1:2 is as much a theological statement as it is an historical one. It is not just giving us a chronological order of events.

When I say it is a theological statement I mean that, the part about the earth being formless and void is there to make a statement about God—to let us know what God is like. What it is saying about God is that God moves in darkness and chaos and creates order and life. The statement is there so that man, who is created to walk in God’s image will know what that involves. It involves moving into the chaos and creating order and life.

That brings us to the next point.

Man’s Responsibility: To Walk in God’s Image

Genesis 1:26 says that man was created in God’s image and one purpose was to rule over the rest of creation. Man was to help keep the order. One of the first things Adam did was to name the animals. That did three things:

• It demonstrated his superiority over them, and fulfilled the command to rule over creation.
• It helped fulfill his role of being in God’s image and taking part in creating order out of chaos.

Lori and I were talking about that the other day. If animals didn’t have names, you would find yourself saying things like… I saw one of those yellow, furry animals down by the creek today. The other person would say, “The one with the long neck?” Then you would say, “No, it had a short neck..” Then the other person would say, “The one with stripes?” “No, the one spots…” And on and on it might go. That definitely would be a chaotic situation.

• Adam was also “like” God because naming the animals involved speaking into the disorder.

I imagine that naming all those animals was not easy. Imagine if someone brought a few hundred species of animals to you and asked you to name them. Would you be overwhelmed? Sure you would. It was probably all you could do to think of a name for your baby. And if you’re like us, you didn’t decide untill they were rolling mom and baby out of the hospital.

So, Gen. 1:3 says God spoke and then in Gen. 2:19-20 man spoke. There is a logical connection between the two. Man was reflecting the image of God by speaking into the chaos and creating order.

That is the theological basis for our study. God spoke into chaos and created life and order. Man is created in God’s image and part of man’s responsibility is to speak into chaos and create life and order.

How does that apply to us today? We don’t need to name the animals.

For me, that means that when life is chaotic, I need to speak. I need to say something and I need to do something. I need to get involved. I should not remain silent. If I remain silent, I am like Adam in the garden. I am sinning.

But man’s natural tendency is to remain silent. That takes us to the next topic.

Man’s Natural Tendency: To Be Silent

If Adam were the only man in the Bible who was silent, then perhaps one could say that this conclusion is doubtful. But, there are several examples in the Bible of men who were silent. Let’s look at them and see where it got them.

The Example of Adam

We’ve already looked at this one, but I just wanted to make it a part of the list so I could ask you what were the consequences of Adam’s silence? The result was that billions of people have lived miserable lives and then died and most have gone to hell.

The Example of Abraham

Everyone probably knows of God’s promise to Abraham (Gen 15)—that he would have a son and be the father of a multitude, through whom God would bless the world. After ten years, and no children, Sarah comes to Abraham and says, take my slave, Hagar, and have children with her so that God’s promise can come true. What did Abraham say to that? Nothing. Gen 16:2 says He listened to the voice of Sarah.

Then later after Hagar has Ishmael, Sarah is jealous and Abraham tells her to do what she wants to her slave. And he lets her treat Hagar harshly.

So, Abraham was silent and did what Sarah said. What was the result? The Arab/Israeli conflict that still rages today.

The Example of Lot

We know from 2 Peter 2:7f that Lot was a righteous man, but you would never know it from the Genesis account. He stayed in Sodom and Gomorrah and was silent about the evil around him. When he offered his two daughters to a crowd of men to protect God’s messengers, that was not the action of a strong man. At the end of that account, when they are fleeing the city, and Lot’s wife looks back at Sodom and turns into a pillar of salt, it becomes obvious who it was that wanted to live in Sodom and Gomorrah and who was in really running the family. If Lot was tormented in his soul by the evil around him (2 Pet 2:8), then why didn’t he leave? Because his wife didn’t want to. Lot remained silent and passive.

Some time later Lot’s daughters commit incest with Lot while he is drunk and they get pregnant. So, we see further damage result from Lot’s silent passive life.

The Example of Bethuel

Do you remember the story of how Isaac got his wife? His father, Abraham, sent a servant back to the home country to get a wife for his son, Isaac. In the account in Gen. 24, the servant goes to a well, meets Rebekah, follows her home, and then proceeds to bargain with her brother Laban for her hand in marriage for Isaac. At the end of the account, (24:50) it says Bethuel agreed to the arrangement. It seems to me that Laban was the one who was involved, and Bethuel was along for the ride. I can’t swear to it, but nothing is said about him, and he doesn’t speak until the end of the account.

What was the result? He had two very controlling children. Laban and Rebekah. We know that Rebekah was very involved with the deception of Isaac when Jacob deceived his father out of the family blessing. And we know that Laban made life miserable for Jacob when he tried to marry Rachel and got Leah instead. So, by being a silent and uninvolved father, Bethuel helped create at least two manipulative and very controlling children.

The Example of Isaac

We don’t have to read much further in Genesis before we come to the next silent man —  Isaac. He was a very passive man. If you read through Genesis, you see that he didn’t do anything right except allow his father to almost sacrifice him.

Isaac knew the prophecy of God that his older son, Esau, would serve the younger son, Jacob, but he preferred Esau who appeared to be a strong, manly man always out hunting. And at the end of his life, he was going to go ahead and bless Esau in spite of the prophecy. Why? I think it was easier to go along with the tradition of blessing the oldest son than to trust God and bless Jacob. Why? Perhaps he was afraid of Esau’s reaction? After all, Esau was the hunter. Perhaps he was afraid of what others might say when they found out. Because he was afraid to act, his wife tried to take over and handle the problem. It backfired and the family was split up and Isaac and Rebekah never saw Jacob again.

Conclusion

Here we have five examples of men who were silent. In each situation the result was much harm to others. We might say the result was chaos.

When God spoke, He made order out of chaos. When man fails to act in God’s image, and speak, the result is more chaos. And very important to recognize: It brings the severing of relationship. And that is what this is all about – relationships. How is my silence going to affect my relationship with others? The Bible shows that it wll definitely destroy them.

• Adam’s silence destroyed his relationship with God and his wife.
• Abraham’s silence resulted in the Arab/Israeli conflict.
• Lot’s relationship with his daughters and his wife was not good.
• Isaac had almost no relationship with his wife or son, Jacob. This is obvious when you read the story of Isaac’s deception at the blessing. Isaac never talks to Rebekah. He never talks to Jacob (except when he thinks Jacob is Esau). Rebekah never talks to Esau. And Jacob never talks to Esau. You see a family divided right down the middle.

Notice also that in each of these situations, when the man was silent, the women stepped in and took control. God said that was going to be the woman’s natural tendency in Gen. 3:16, and we can see it happening over and over again.

So, man’s natural tendency is to be silent. But what we’ve seen so far ought to do away with the description of a man as “The Strong Silent Type.” When you understand these principles, it makes you want to change it to “The Weak Silent Type.”

Summary

• What we’ve seen is that God speaks into disorder and creates order and life.
• Man is created in God’s image and should also speak into disorder and create order and life.
• But man’s natural tendency is to avoid the chaos and to be silent.
• When he does that he creates even more chaos and destroys relationships.

      

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“For though by this time you ought to be teachers.. . .” (5:12).

In the Middle Ages, a list was made of the “seven deadly sins.” The authors must have considered these seven sins worse than any others. The “seven deadly sins” contained such expected sins as pride, envy, anger, avarice, gluttony, and lust.

But there is one surprising item— the Greek word accidie, which is normally translated “laziness” or “sloth.” We may not think of it as one of our most serious offenses because to us the word “sin” normally conjures up images of sexual or anti-social offenses. But the church in the first century considered “sloth” to be one of its most serious offenses.

Another characteristic of accidie might be a “couldn’t-care-less” attitude.  We  might think that our problems are very different from those of ancient people because our lives are more complicated than theirs. But listen to this description of a lazy fifth-century monk: “When the poor fellow is beset by it, it makes him detest the place where he is, and loathe his cell; and he has a poor and scornful opinion of his brethren, near and far, and thinks that they are neglectful and unspiritual.

“It makes him sluggish and inert for every task; he cannot sit still, nor give his mind to reading; he thinks despondently how little progress he has made where he is, how little good he gains or does . . . he dwells on the excellence of other and distant monasteries; he thinks how profitable and healthy life is there; how delightful the brethren are, and how spiritually they talk. On the contrary, where he is, all seems harsh and untoward; there is no refreshment for his soul to be got from his brethren, and none for his body from the thankless land; . . . and so, with his mind full of stupid bewilderment and shameful gloom, he grows slack and void of all spiritual energy, and thinks that nothing will do him any good save to go and call on somebody, or else to betake himself to the solace of sleep.” 1

Sloth is  our  problem  as well.  We  see  the debilitating effects of not caring. Discouragement easily robs us of our will to go on with our Christian calling.

The Hebrews’ author says in 6:12, “That you may not be sluggish. . . .”

One of the problems of those Christians was that they had “hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble.” Having lost their original intensity, they were vulnerable to new ideas or doctrines (13:9). This sluggishness was especially evident in the problem of lack of church attendance (10:25) and in their temptation to “neglect” their great salvation. Sluggishness was only the beginning of what could turn into apostasy (6:6).

DULL OF HEARING

There is more than one way to be sluggish. We have already noticed some of the symptoms of sluggishness among the readers of Hebrews. But another aspect of sluggishness is often overlooked. In 5:11, the author suddenly says, “You have become dull of hearing.”

In 5:1-10, he starts the central section of the book showing that Jesus Christ is the high priest after the order of Melchizedek. After describing the levitical requirements for priesthood (5:1-4), he demonstrates that Jesus Christ fulfills all requirements.

Having experienced the agony of suffering (5:8, 9), He has been designated the “high priest according to the order of Melchizedek” (5:10). This fact is first mentioned in 5:10 and is then developed in chapters 5 through 10. For most people, the argument about the high priesthood of Christ is the most memorable section of the epistle. We learn that Jesus is no ordinary priest. Unlike levitical high priests, He lives forever (7:3, 23).

To our surprise, this discussion is interrupted in 5:11. The author leaves the subject to address his readers personally. We know that the author consistently ends his expositions of the Old Testament with some words of encouragement. The longest exhortation in the book is found in 5:11—6:12.

The subject which the author introduced in 5:10 is too difficult for the readers: “Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain.” The Greek word for “hard to explain” (dusermeneutos) literally means “hard to communicate,” not “hard to interpret.”

Hebrews is sometimes known for its difficult arguments, especially  in  the  description  of  Christ  and Melchizedek. We wonder why the author pursued a matter that is “hard to explain” with Christians who were dropping out of the community.

Why did he not try “pep rallies” or other new gimmicks to stir their interest? Often, we think the church should consider things that are “hard to explain” only after all other matters have been solved. Or we reserve such matters for the experts, not the entire church.

But the author was convinced that matters “hard to explain” were meant for the whole church—even a tired and  bored  church—to  pursue.  In  chapters  7 through 10, he continues this difficult message. We may wonder why the author pursues such a topic in a book on church renewal. The answer is that the only renewal that matters is a lasting renewal. There is a need for depth and roots if we are to maintain our vitality for a long period. A pep rally may be useful for a while. But a church that endures needs a firm anchor (6:19) where it can find the security and encouragement to keep the faith. Archimedes, the Greek mathematician, said, “Give me a place to stand, and I will move the world.” The author introduced a topic “hard to explain” because he knew the church needed a place to stand.

It is easy to lose the balance between the tasks of informing and exhorting in preaching. A sermon that merely informs may never confront the audience with the demands of God on their lives. A sermon which only exhorts may easily be without substance.

The author of Hebrews, a model preacher, knows that a living church maintains its vitality through both exhortation and information. He recognizes that a church needs firm roots in solid, demanding study. He is not afraid of confronting Christians with challenging words. He knows that a faith that is easily reduced to a few slogans does not give a firm place to stand. There is a place in biblical preaching for a challenge to our minds. There is no substitute for words that are “hard to explain” because the enthusiasm for learning provides roots for living.

AN INDICTMENT

Preaching should sometimes confront us with our responsibilities and indict us for our failures. The author of Hebrews says that the word is difficult to explain because “you are dull in hearing.” The Greek word for “dull” (nothros) is the same word that is translated “sluggish” in 6:12. This word was often used for a lazy student who refused to develop his mind. The author might have said, “The fault does not lie in the word itself. The fault is yours. You have not developed the capacity to understand.”

The readers had apparently been Christians for at least a generation. The author mentions the amount of time which has elapsed since they first became Christians (“by this time,” 5:12). The readers had sufficient time to sharpen their minds and become competent to teach. Their problem was sluggishness manifested in a lack of physical and intellectual energy.

The answer for a tired church, according to the author, is to be fed “solid food.” In the ancient times, a beginning philosophy student was introduced to a few “first principles” by his teachers. The student was often described as a “babe” who had to rely first on “milk” before he went on to “solid food.” The students intended to develop their potential in order to become teachers themselves. Any student who remained at the beginning level for a long period of time caused serious problems.

This was appropriate imagery for the author of Hebrews. After a generation, the readers were still in their infancy (5:13). Their diet consisted of milk, and they were unable to digest the solid food that the author would offer. The author probably looked at the tired community and wanted to say something that would strengthen their faith. But he observed that their lack of intellectual growth made it almost impossible for him to communicate what they needed most. He recognized that the church can never main- tain its identity unless it is grounded in the solid food of the Word of God.

A FAITH FOR OUR MINDS

According to the author of Hebrews, Christianity cannot survive unless it is taught. It must be treasured enough to capture our minds. Christians in every age have set up schools to pursue the scholarly study of Scripture. The health and vitality of Christianity benefits from a respect for learning. As heirs of a long, respected tradition of learning, we depend on the survival of educated church members. Faith must be explained, and faith seeks understanding. Only a shallow, inconsequential religion makes no demands for continued learning.

R. Glover, a great classical scholar, once explained a major reason why Christianity was victorious in the ancient world. There were many causes competing for the people’s commitment, but Christianity conquered their minds and hearts. Glover said Christians did better thinking than other people.

The Christian read the best books, assimilated them, and lived the freest intellectual life the world had known. Jesus had set him to be free to fact. There is no place for an ignorant Christian. From the very start every Christian had to know and to understand, and he had to read the gospels, he had to be able to give a reason for his faith. They read about Jesus, and they knew him, and they knew where they stood. . . . Who did the thinking in that ancient world? Again and again it was the Christian. He out-thought the world.2

 A WASTE OF TIME?

We sometimes think of study as a waste of time or a diversion from more important things. We live in a culture which favors action over reflection. But we must question the value of actions which are not guided by careful study. The author makes a careful distinction between those who are nourished on milk and those who are nourished on meat. Those who exist on milk are “not accustomed to the word of righteous- ness” (5:13). Those who live on meat “have their senses trained to discern good from evil” (5:14). The Greek word for “unskilled” literally means “inexperienced” or “ignorant.” The author says some Christians remain perpetually like beginning students. The “word of righteousness” or the Christian faith remains incomprehensible to them because they have no habit of careful study and reflection and no recognition that faith requires an understanding, responsive mind.

On the other hand, some Christians can distinguish between good and evil because their minds have been trained by practice. The author uses the illustration of an athlete who trains himself through habits of practice and self-control. The same language was sometimes used for the discipline of the philosophy student because he knew the importance of training the mind.

In the same way, there is training in the Christian faith. We can develop the necessary sensitivity to make moral decisions only through such training. Our minds are trained to “distinguish good from evil.” Without this training, we have no way to evaluate new ideas. We may easily become prey for any new popular idea. Without disciplined training in the “word of righteousness,” we cannot distinguish between the Christian faith and the many other claims.

But Christianity is not a religion only for learned people. Paul could describe some of the early Christians as being “not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble” (1 Corinthians 1:26). But Christianity called all of these to use their own gifts to become more intelligent in the faith.

We notice also that it is not just a certain group of experts in Hebrews who were called to develop their understanding of the faith. The words “you are dull of hearing” were addressed to the whole congregation. It was the author’s reminder that, while we may want responsible leadership to guide our study, others need to use their own gifts to grow up in the faith.

Are we also “sluggish in hearing”? What has happened to families who should have a thorough knowledge of the basic content of the Bible? As James Smart wrote in his book The Strange Silence of the Bible in the Church, there is a danger that the church will largely ignore the Bible in its educational curriculum. The indictment of a bored church long ago may also be indictment of contemporary congregations.

Not all educational programs based on the Bible are equally beneficial for the vitality of the church. We often demonstrate that we do not take the Bible seriously by the way we treat it in our programs. In some instances, we abuse it by limiting our study to only a few sections. Sometimes, it is used only to prove a point reached long ago. The mere fact that we use the Bible does not mean that we will “train our senses,” as Hebrews puts it. We grow when we study with enough seriousness to be prepared to hear the whole story, not just the parts we prefer to hear. We wonder why people who read a lot do not read more books on religious subjects. Some people take their Christianity very seriously. They keep informed in many fields by reading the best books.

But they seldom read a book about the realities of faith, about God, Christ, prayer, and the Bible.

Most of us have known people in the church with extraordinary competence in the academic, professional, or business world who have not grown beyond a few fundamentals in the Christian faith. In business they have shown their keen minds and capacity for growth. But they exhibit an unbelievable immaturity when it comes to faith. The author of Hebrews knows sluggish minds do not give vitality to the church.

A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT

The preacher’s indictment of his community is not the end of the sermon. Preaching also offers words of hope and encouragement. People must see a reason to engage in the action to which they are called. So the author of Hebrews encourages his community to leave the “elementary doctrines of Christ and go on to maturity” (6:1f.). In this word of exhortation, there is a stern warning that ap- pears in two other instances in Hebrews (10:26f.; 12:17).

If those who have been “once enlightened” fall away, it is impossible to restore them to repentance. The author does not elaborate on his statement, so his warning is hard for us to understand. We must remember, though, that his words are not addressed to people who have already fallen away and are seeking readmission to the church. His major point is that our faith is far too precious to throw away. Our “enlightenment,” or our beginning Christian life, only happens once. To think that we all “fall away” and then return cheapens our salvation. We must “go on to perfection.” Without that progress we will die.

The preacher must also provide the resources that will challenge the people to go on. The author offers two reasons to his community to keep their commitment. First, verses 7 and 8 provide an illustration from nature. The land which receives rain and bears useful fruit is blessed by God. If it bears only thorns and thistles, it will be burned. God calls the land to be responsible. He provides His blessing only if the land does its part. It is the same way with this tired community. God promises His blessing only to those who discipline themselves to grow up in the faith.

Second, we have invested so much of ourselves in the faith that it would be a tragedy to throw it away. The readers of this epistle demonstrated their “earnestness” (spoude) long ago when they served the saints. In 10:32-35, there is another reminder of what their faith had meant to them. They endured loss of property and abuse from their society. They visited prisoners (10:34), endured a hard struggle (10:32), and ministered to the saints (6:10). This faith meant far too much to them to be thrown away now.

Our church life often appears unpleasant. Disagreements with others and dissatisfaction with the direction of the church can cause us to become disheartened and sluggish. We need to remember our previous investment in a cause in which we believed. If God does not forget our “work and labor of love for his sake” (6:10), our past should also stimulate us to “show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end” (6:11).

If the author of Hebrews had written his book two thousand years later, he probably would have said about the same thing. A weary church in the twentieth century needs to hear both his word of indictment (5:11-14) and his word of encouragement (6:11). Both sound as if they were addressed to us.

* Appreciation to Dr. James Thompson

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1 David H. C. Read, Virginia Woolf Meets Charlie Brown (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1968), 141.

2 Donald Baillie, To Whom Shall We Go? (New York: Scribner’s Press, 1955), 63.

      

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Hebrews 4:12-13 (NIV) 12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

The author’s enthusiasm for the Word of God seems to be naive to many contemporary Christians. Instead of seeing the Word of God as the answer for a dying church, many today suspect that it is the cause for much of our apathy.

Sin in the life of a child of God can bring terrible consequences. We have seen what sin did to Israel: It hardened their hearts, produced unbelief, and kept an entire generation out of the Promised Land.

The writer of Hebrews said that the same misfortunes can befall Christians. He encouraged his readers not to make the mistakes the Israelites made (v. 11).

If sin is so terrible, what can be done about it? Specifically, what should a child of God do with his sins?
For us, words can be cheap. We make promises to each other that we do not take seriously. We make oaths to God that we easily break. It is easy for our words to mean nothing because too often we have turned them into nothing.

But God is different. He says to Jeremiah, “‘Is not My word like fire?’ . . . ‘and like a hammer which shatters a rock?’” (Jeremiah 23:29). Our commitments may be meaningless, but God’s Word is lasting. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8).

We cannot hide them (4:11–13)
People deal with their sins in many different ways. Some deny them; others ignore them; many make excuses for them. Then there are those who try to hide them. The author of Hebrews said, in effect, that it is impossible to hide our sins. The Word exposes them (v. 12). Further, God knows when we sin (v. 13).

The Israelites fell because they did not heed God’s Word. The same will be true of us if we do not pay close attention to the teaching of the Scriptures.

In context, “the word of God” refers to the Old Testament passages the writer was quoting, but the message is applicable to all of God’s revealed will.

First, it is “living and active.” God’s Word is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (v. 12a). The Word can reveal even the most carefully hidden sin.

The Bible is not a book of thousands of isolated verses. It concerns the God whose Word is “living and active,” who offers our lives a promise. 

Early Christians were sustained largely by the conviction that the thread running through the Bible was the word of promise:

• They recalled that God had made promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:2) and David (2 Samuel 7:10-17).
• In the coming of Jesus Christ, they recognized that God had kept His promise.
• Paul told his listeners in one speech, “And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus” (Acts 13:32, 33).
• The good news was the word that was “promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures” (Romans 1:2).
• God’s Word—pierces “as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow” (v. 12b). The message is that the Word of God lays bare all of a man. If we look into the Word with an honest heart, we see ourselves as we really are (James 1:22–25).
• The Word is therefore “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (v. 12c; emphasis mine). The Israelites fell in the wilderness because of a heart problem. As our lives are com- pared to God’s Word, our hearts are revealed.

God Knows When We Sin (4:13).
The writer moved easily from the Word of God to God Himself. God’s Word is an expression of Himself; the two cannot be separated.

The passage says that no one can hide from God: “And there is no creature hidden from His sight” (v. 13a). God knows everything. “All things are open” to His eyes (v. 13b).

Think of an individual who has done everything he can to hide the flaws of his body. Then think of his embarrassment as he is stripped of his clothing and every flaw is exposed. Even so, regardless of outward religious show, God sees us as we really are.

Everything is “laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (v. 13c).

Right now God knows all about us, and someday we will stand before Him in judgment and give an account for all that we have said and done. The conclusion from this is that we need to repent of our sins and change our lives!

Words of cheap grace do not sustain the life of the church. It is the confrontation with God’s word of judgment which calls us to repentance and accountability.

We must acknowledge our sins and turn to Jesus for mercy Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

If we cannot hide our sins, what should we do with them? We should acknowledge them and turn to Jesus for mercy.

We Have a Sympathetic High Priest (4:15).
He passed through the heavens (4:14). The most sacred locale ever entered by an earthly high priest was the physical Holy of Holies (the “Most Holy Place”; NIV), but Jesus went “into heaven itself” (9:24).
He can sympathize with our weaknesses (4:15). This was not always true of earthly high priests.
He is sinless (4:15). This was definitely not true of earthly high priests.

He administers grace. Earthly high priests could administer law and even justice, but not grace. Jesus gives “grace to help in time of need” (4:16).

Verse 14 says that since Jesus is our High Priest, we should “hold fast our confession”—that is, the confession we made before we were baptized, the confession that Jesus is the Christ. If we hold fast that confession, we will never leave Him or cease to follow Him.

To phrase verse 15 positively, “we have a High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses because He was tempted in all things as we are (yet without sin).”

We Can Come Before Him With Confidence (4:16).
“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace” (v. 16a). Someday Jesus’ throne will be the throne of judgment; but today, for the faithful child of God, it is “the throne of grace,” which means “the throne that is characterized by and inhabited by grace.”

We need to draw near “so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (v. 16a). We need mercy and grace to be saved; we also need mercy and grace to stay saved.

Hebrews 5:7-10 (NIV) 7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Many interpret the “loud cries and tears” are here because of Jesus’ concern about the pain on the cross. While there was much pain involved during those last few hours, the tears and cries here are about the time on the cross when God turned His back on Him as He took on the sins of the whole world.

It should give us an indication why we must deal with our sins God’s way…they separate us from God and it should trouble us with ‘loud cries and tears of our own.’

 

Just a Housewife?

A lawyer met a housewife at a function, and asked her what she did. The housewife replied, “I am socializing two homo-sapiens in the dominant values of the Judeo-Christian tradition in order that they might be instruments for the transformation of the social order into the teleological prescribed utopia inherent in the eschaton.” Then she added, “And what do YOU do?” The lawyer stammered: “Er, I’m just a lawyer.”

Unfortunately many mothers feel very far from the ideal. The sermons are like the story of 2 cows in a pasture. They watch a milk truck pass by w/signs painted: “Enriched w/vitamin D,” “Homogenized!” “Pasteurized!” One cow looks at the other & says,”Every time I see those signs, I feel very inadequate!” 

Our purpose in this lesson is not to make the mothers feel inadequate but to honor their role & applaud their service.

We’re calling upon a man whose name is mentioned only once in scripture, yet this choice portion of literature seems to last forever in our minds as we look for a godly woman.

His name was King Lemuel, and he had a good mother. Listen to the opening verses of this chapter: Proverbs 31:1-9: “The sayings of King Lemuel–an oracle his mother taught him: {2} “O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows, {3} do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings. {4} “It is not for kings, O Lemuel– not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, {5} lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. {6} Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; {7} let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. {8} “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. {9} Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.””

In verse 10, King Lemuel begins with both a question and a declaration:

Question: a wife of noble character, who can find?

Answer: she is worth far more than rubies!

Verse 30 sums it all up: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

Many times these verses are presented in such a way that a great deal of guilt is brought forth on the part of the woman and mothers listening. If you do not get up early and buy-and-sell land or provide your family with hand-sewn clothing…these verses are still for your encouragement.

Instead of listing items of activity which should be part of the Christian woman, it is listing characteristics which are then applied to the culture in which we walk and work. The idea: be this kind of woman in your character and your activities will be determined by the particular circumstances which do apply to your life.

1. She is diligent (vs. 13, 17-18, 27)

Proverbs 31:13: “She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.”

Proverbs 31:17-18: “She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. {18} She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.”

Proverbs 31:27: “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.”

This trait seems to be mixed with a pleasant spirit and a good attitude. She seems to possess pride in what she does…she’s not happy just to “get by” but in doing a good job. She looks for the best buys, she realizes a profit, and works even into the night.

2. She’s industrious and efficient (vs. 14, 16, 24)

Proverbs 31:14: “She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.”

Proverbs 31:16: “She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.”

Proverbs 31:24: “She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.”

She’s a thinking individual. In the investment of her time, she looks for dividends and returns. Instead of focusing on the grind, she looks to the benefits her work will bring.

3. She’s compassionate (vs. 20, 26).

Proverbs 31:20: “She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.”

Proverbs 31:26: “She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.”

She has a soft heart that can be touched. And this makes her unique and distinct when contrasted to the man: an illustration….a child is hurt and the two responses:

Mother: How are YOU doing? What can I do? (the caring one)

Dad: Why were you running? You scratched the wall! Who’s fault was it? (the investigator).

4. She has inner beauty (vs. 22, 25).

Proverbs 31:22: “She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.”

Proverbs 31:25: “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.”

IF MARRIED: She’s a devoted wife:

1. She maintains her husband’s confidence (vs. 11a)

Proverbs 31:11a: “Her husband has full confidence in her….”

He’s comfortable in being transparent with her. He can share his feelings of insecurity, inadequacy, and disappointment and know she will keep them to herself.

2. She meets his needs (vs. 11b).

Proverbs 31:11b: “…and lacks nothing of value.”

She’s supportive and affectionate. She encourages his pursuits, and is committed to him and his efforts.

Remember when God looked at Adam and said: “It is not good that man should be alone.” He made a help-meet that would make him complete. Woman was a special creation of God but also a “corresponding part.”

3. She seeks his good (vs. 12)

Proverbs 31:12: “She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.”

4. She aids his influence (vs. 23)

Proverbs 31:23: “Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.”

IF A PARENT: she’s a dependable mother.

1. She is disciplined (vs. 15, 18-19).

Proverbs 31:15: “She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.”

Proverbs 31:18-19: “She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. {19} In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.”

This is not a verse teaching you into hell if you don’t make homemade biscuits early in the morning, etc. But it is teaching a principle of taking charge of your time so you can meet the family needs. If the role of the husband or father in your house is for him to fix breakfast, then, obviously, the specifics would change.

1. She’s organized (vs. 21).

Proverbs 31:21: “When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.”

This verse presents a sense of planning. She takes the challenge of a family as just that, a challenge, and seeks to meet it. It’s not just “a cross to bear.”

1. She’s dedicated (vs. 27).

Proverbs 31:27: “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.”

What will be the results of this kind of woman (28-31).

Proverbs 31:28-31: “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: {29} “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” {30} Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. {31} Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”

* Her children will bless her! * Her husband will praise her!

* Her peers will be challenged by her! * Her works will bring their own praise!

* Her Lord will be honored by her life!

A Housewife’s Lament

“Make the beds, bandage heads, straighten up the room, wash the windows, cut the grass, see the tulips bloom. Drive the children off to school, drive them back again. Have the cubs to their meetings…then I clean the den.

“Serve on my committee, attend the PTA, forgot to buy the children’s shoes, I can’t do that today. Pay the bills, write a note, fill the cookie jar…Oh, dear, I forgot to go and have them grease the car.

“Catch up on the ironing, scrub the kitchen floor, answer phones and doorbells…need I list some more?

“My pet peeve, I must admit, you surely will agree…when someone will ask: are you employed? I will answer: ‘no, not me…I don’t work…I’m just a homemaker.’”

A husband’s relationship to his excellent wife: (vs. 11-12, 28-29)

Proverbs 31:11-12: “Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. {12} She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.”

Proverbs 31:28-29: “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: {29} “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.””

1. He trusts her (vs. 11).He has no cause for suspicion for her. Deep within, he holds confidence in her.
2. He benefits from her (vs.11).
3. He’s affirmed by her (vs. 12).
4. He’s impressed with her and sings her praises (vs. 28-29).

Young men – look for this kind of woman!

Young ladies – strive with God’s help to be this kind of woman!

Fathers and married men – Thank God if you have this kind of woman!

There are some ‘Private Worship’ books available for free download at: 

http://www.collegepress.com/storefront/node/238

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God has always taught us that who we are day by day determines His attitude toward our corporate worship when we gather as His ‘called out’ people.

So I want to my spend time looking at Private Worship through the lens of the teaching about spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual Disciplines – What are they?

A spiritual discipline is a good habit that allows you to remain OPEN  to God and develop yourself spiritually.

Spiritual disciplines are practices modeled by the life of our Lord and in the rhythms of the church dating back to the first century. These practices are embedded in the rich history of God’s story in each century as He is writing our stories.

They are simple practices that help create space for God and for you to attend to His Presence.

These are practices you may have already been doing like- prayer, solitude alone with God, fasting and study of the Scriptures; practices the Lord engaged in when he was on earth.

Life is crazy busy. Each of us needs an anchor to hold us down in the midst of the incredible speed at which our lives move. Some days could feel like they are spiraling out of orbit.
 
R. D. Laing: “We live in a secular world…There is a prophecy in Amos that a time will come when there will be a famine in the land, ‘not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.’ That time has now come to pass. It is the present age.

Psalm 63:6 (NIV) On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.

Psalm 119:148 (NIV) My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.

Psalm 1:2 (NIV) But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Discipline is defined as “training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior.” Spiritual disciplines can be described as those behaviors that augment our spiritual growth and enable us to grow to spiritual maturity. This process of spiritual growth and development begins to take place the moment a person encounters the risen Christ and comes to Him for salvation.

By definition, disciplines are (but are not limited to):

• Repetitive actions driven by spiritual decisions rather than natural environmental reactions.
• Deliberately self-induced behaviors that nurture spiritual health and fosters spiritual growth leading to maturity with God.
• Deliberately self-induced actions to alter existing life and thought patterns, thereby breaking the normal cycle of life and breaking the focus on intimacy with God.

The spiritual disciplines are means by which individuals and communities can very literally “practice” their faith. They are tools by which Christians seek to know God, yield to the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying power, and surrender to the Divine Will in their lives.

God intends the Disciplines of the spiritual life to be for ordinary human beings: people who have jobs, who care for children, who must wash dishes and mow lawns.

In fact, the Disciplines are best exercised in the midst of our normal daily activities. If they are to have any transforming effect, the effect must he found in the ordinary junctures of human life: in our relationships with our husband and wife, our brothers and sisters, our friends and neighbors.

The primary requirement is a longing after God. Psalm 42:1-2 (NIV) As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

Richard Foster identifies 12 crucial spiritual disciplines. These are further organized into sections: inward, outward, and corporate practices.

Disciplines of Personal Development (Inward)

• Prayer – communicating with God ( 6:9)
• Meditation – focusing on God and his will  ( 4:8)
• Fasting – a reminder of the source of all nourishment (Luke 5:35)
• Study – careful attention the reality that God reveals to us, especially through Holy Scripture (Luke 2:46)

Disciplines of Service to the Body of Christ (Outward)

• Simplicity – seeking God’s Kingdom first ( 6:33)
• Submission – placing God’s will above one’s own (Luke 22:42)
• Solitude – withdrawing from the world to spend time with God ( 14:23)
• Service – supportive action toward others (Mark 10:45)

Disciplines of Service with the Body of Christ (Corporate)

• Confession – acknowledging one’s sin with and to others in the community of faith (James 5:16)
• Guidance – giving and receiving direction from others along the journey with Jesus (Acts 15:8)
• Celebration – taking joy is what God has done (1 Cor. 5:8)
• Worship – giving God glory through attitudes and actions (1 Cor. 14:26)

Spiritual disciplines exercise our spirit, mind, and emotions so that we become closer to God. They help us see His will for our lives more clearly so that we can live the life He desires for us. The more we practice these disciplines, the better we get at them, and the stronger we make our faith.

Spiritual Disciplines Make It Simple

Spiritual disciplines also help us simplify our faith. How often do we just feel discouraged because we don’t quite know what to do or if our decisions are right or not? Spiritual disciplines have a way of clearing out the superfluous things so we can just get back to basics. Sometimes we just overcomplicate things, and spiritual disciplines can keep us from making our spiritual lives more difficult.

By practicing spiritual disciplines we also keep our eyes on God more often. When we focus on God, we stop letting other things get in our way or cloud our vision. Our lives find a clarity when we become more disciplined in our faith.

Examples of How Real Change Happens

The Disciplined Christian can know God’s ways though study…

He or she spends time soaking in Scripture, becoming intimately familiar with its message, learning the history of God’s church, and gaining understanding of the practical implications of theology.

The Disciplined Christian is reminded of the source of all blessing and sustenance through fasting…

Abstaining from food, time commitments and distractions, from anything that takes focus from Jesus brings clarity, focus, and humility.

The Disciplined Christian can SLOW  down through simplicity…he can hear God’s voice more clearly through solitude…

Alone time with God helps provide room for silence, waiting on God, and hearing the sometimes still, small voice of his Spirit.

In the end, the spiritual disciplines are hardly disciplines but gifts, opportunities to know grace, to experience joy, to brush the hem of Christ’s robe.

At the very best of moments, when we enter into the disciplines, our heads crane upwards, our mouths fall open, our hearts pound beholding wonder and mystery!

Disciplines of Letting Go

Solitude—Spending time alone to be with God. Find a quiet place to be alone with God for a period of time. Use the Bible as a source of companionship with God. Listen to Him. Remain alone and still.

Silence—Removing noisy distractions to hear from God. Find a quiet place away from noise to hear from God. Write your thoughts and impressions as God directs your heart. Silence can occur even in the midst of noise and distraction. But you must focus your attention on your soul. This could mean talking less or talking only when necessary. And it could mean turning off the radio and the TV.

Frugality—Learning to live with less money and still meet your basic needs. Before buying something new, choose to go without or pick a less expensive alternative that will serve your basic needs. Live a simple, focused life.

Secrecy—Avoiding self-promotion, practice serving God without others knowing.Give in secret. Serve “behind the scenes” in a ministry that you are assured few will know about.

Sacrifice—Giving of our resources beyond what seems reasonable to remind us of our dependence on Christ. Choose to give your time or finances to the Lord beyond what you normally would.

Disciplines of Activity

Dallas Willard writes, “The disciplines of abstinence must be counter-balanced and supplemented by disciplines of engagement (activity).” It’s choosing to participate in activities that nurture our souls and strengthen us for the race ahead.

Study—Spending time reading the Scriptures and meditating on its meaning and importance to our lives. We are nourished by the Word because it is our source of spiritual strength. Choose a time and a place to feed from the Word of God regularly.

Worship—Offering praise and adoration to God. His praise should continually be on our lips and in our thoughts. Read psalms, hymns, or spiritual songs, or sing to the Lord daily using a praise tape. Keep praise ever before you as you think of God’s mighty deeds in your life.

Prayer—Talking to and listening to God about your relationship with Him and about the concerns of others. Find time to pray to God without the distraction of people or things. Combine your prayer time with meditation on the Scriptures in order to focus on Christ.

Fellowship—Mutual caring and ministry in the body of Christ. Meet regularly with other Christians to find ways to minister to others. Encourage one another.

Confession—Regularly confess your sins to the Lord and other trusted individuals.As often as you are aware of sin in your life, confess it to the Lord and to those you may have offended.

Submission—Humbling yourself before God and others while seeking accountability in relationships. Find faithful brothers or sisters in Christ who can lovingly hold you accountable for your actions and growth in Christ.

PERSONAL  and corporate confession provide a way to confront, admit, be convicted of, and deal with sin in the context of a supportive community and ministers of grace.

The Disciplined Christian puts God in the highest place through worship…which sets us up for the lesson on Corporate Worship…

 

 

 We now know where Eric, Wendy, Brinson, Aiden, Sheldon, and Pierce will be moving in mid-July, 2015. They will live in Kigali, Rwanda and work with the Kigali International Community School. Go to this site to read their announcement: Flyer regarding the work

http://pritchport.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/rwanda-here-we-come-by-eric.html

Kigali International Community School – Google Maps

https://goo.gl/maps/hrqvj

MISSION The mission at KICS is to provide a Christ-centered, U.S. accredited primary and secondary education that challenges students to excel academically and live out a biblical worldview. Website: http://www.kicsrw.org/ VISION The vision of KICS to impact the world for Christ by preparing servant leaders who choose character before career, wisdom beyond scholarship, service above self, and a lifestyle of participation over apathy.KICS is a fully accredited member of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), and Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA) and is endorsed by the Rwandan Ministry of Education as a sound educational institution. Kigali International Community School (KICS) began in August of 2006. It grew out of the need of several international families in Kigali searching for an English-medium, American-styled education in a Christian context. During the introductory year, the school moved from meeting in a small house to its current campus in Gaculiro. KICS ended its first year on the campus with 50 students from nine different countries.KICS currently serves around 200 students from nearly 30 different nationalities and is recognized as a leading international school in Kigali. While admission priority is given to children of missionary families and Christian cross-cultural workers, KICS is proud to be able to serve nearly 40% Rwandan children as it works to maintain a healthy balance of students. School calendar 2015-2016: KICS 2015-2016 Calendar Kigali International Community School Caisse Sociale Estates, Gaculiro Kigali, Rwanda BP 6558 Kigali, Rwanda +25 0783307282 info@kicsrw.org

      

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Paul gives us God’s description of love (agape) in 1 Corinthians 13 and states quite boldly that all of those qualities really are manifestations of the first one, love — that, after all, joy is love enjoying itself; peace is love resting; patience is love waiting; kindness is love reacting; goodness is love choosing; faithfulness is love keeping its word; gentleness is love empathizing; and self-control is love resisting temptation.

Love is the key; love is the main thing. This chapter, therefore, is setting forth that quality of love which is the work of the Spirit of God within us reproducing the character of Christ. Now once you have love all these other qualities that are part of the fruit of the Spirit are possible to you.

Love for God is not difficult, because all you need to do is be aware of how he has loved you — in creation, in the supply of all you need, in leading and putting you in various places with various persons. But above all else he has loved you in having given his Son for you, having redeemed you, having forgiven you, having healed your inner hurt.

If we have the love of God in our hearts, then we can be patient; we can be peaceful; we can be good, loving, faithful, gentle, kind, and all these other qualities. But without love all we can do is imitate these qualities, and that is what produces a phony love. One of the most deadly enemies of the Christian cause is phony love.

That is why, in Romans, Paul says, “Let love be genuine,” {Rom 12:9a RSV}. When you come into the church, especially among the people of God, love must be genuine. If it is not, it is hypocrisy. If it is put on just for the moment, if it is an attempt to put on a facade, to act like you are kind, thoughtful. gracious, faithful, and so on, but it all disappears as soon as the situation changes, that spreads death within the whole community. Genuine love, however, will produce all these qualities.

In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote,  “Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”

Dr. Halbeck, a missionary, saw lepers at work. He noticed two, particularly, sowing peas in the field. One had no hands; the other had no feet, these members being wasted away by disease. The one who wanted the hands was carrying upon his back the other, who wanted the feet. He, in turn, carried the bag of seed and dropped a pea every now and then, which the other pressed into the ground with his feet. And so they managed the work of one man between the two.

What makes life worth living? Love does. Paul contrasts love here with certain things that were highly regarded in Corinth and are still highly regarded in the world today. The loveless person produces nothing, is nothing, and gains nothing.

This thirteenth chapter of the Book of 1 Corinthians is about love. Since few subjects are more important, let me remind you of some of the reasons love holds such importance.

(1) The whole Old Testament Law is summed up by the one word, “love” (see Leviticus 19:17-18; Matthew 19:19).

(2) Love sums up the Christian’s responsibilities in the New Testament (Romans 13:9).

(3) Love is the capstone, the crowning virtue, the consummation of all other virtues (Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Peter 1:5-7; Colossians 3:12-14).

(4) Love is the goal of Paul’s instruction (1 Timothy 1:5).

(5) Love is the distinguishing mark of the true Christian (John 13:35).

(6) Without love, the value of spiritual gifts is greatly diminished (1 Corinthians 12:1-3).

(7) Love is greater than any of the spiritual gifts and is even greater than faith and hope (1 Corinthians 13:13).

(8) Love endures suffering under persecution, and Christians will be persecuted (Matthew 24:10; 2 Timothy 3:12).

(9) Love is easily lost, without one’s even being aware of it (Revelation 2:1-7).

(10) Love is misunderstood and distorted by the unbelieving world.

(11) Love is vitally important to Christians, for it should govern our relationships with other Christians, especially those with whom we strongly disagree.

Love is patient.

I have always admired the spouse who said “I love you, not because you’re perfect, but because you’re so perfect for me.” It reveals an acceptance and understand that is not shallow or weak.

The Greek word (makrothumein) used in the New Testament always describes patience with people and not patience with circumstances.  It is the word used of the man who is wronged and who has it easily in his power to avenge himself and who yet will not do it.  It describes the man who is slow to anger and it is used of God himself in his relationship with men. 

Sometime ago one of our members complained after services because of a distraction during the Sunday morning worship. Two people were mumbling to each other, it seemed. Because I knew the situation, I was able to offer a quick and adequate explanation: “Forgive them,” I said. “I need to explain that one of the people is a new Christian and doesn’t speak much English, so the message is being translated.”

Something similar also occurred: a young man was wearing a baseball cap during the Sunday morning class…one of the members commented on it to me after class ended. I explained calmly that the person had just concluded chemotherapy and was conscious of the fact that he’d lost most of his hair. To that person’s credit, there was quick retreat from his words and thoughts.

All of a sudden everything changed. Patience replaced impatience. Why? Because patience always hitches a ride with understanding. The wise man says, “A man of understanding holds his tongue” ( Prov. 11:12).

Before you strike out, tune in. “It takes wisdom to have a good family, and it takes understanding to make it strong” ( Prov. 24:3 ). Before anything else, love is patient. May I urge you to do the same?  “God is being patient with you” ( 2 Pet. 3:9 ). And if God is being patient with you, can’t you pass on some patience to others? Of course you can. Because before love is anything else: Love is patient.

Fosdick points out that no one treated Lincoln with more contempt than did Stanton.  He called him “a low cunning clown”, he nicknamed him “the original gorilla” and said that Du Chaillu was a fool to wander about Africa trying to capture a gorilla when he could have found one so easily at Springfield, Illinois.  Lincoln said nothing.  He made Stanton his war minister because he was the best man for the job and he treated him with every courtesy.  The years wore on.  The night came when the assassin’s bullet murdered Lincoln in the theatre.  In the little room to which the President’s body was taken stood that same Stanton, and, looking down on Lincoln’s silent face, he said through his tears, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.”  The patience of love had conquered in the end.

We might occasionally respond the way an elderly couple in a nursing home did.  They were constantly fighting, arguing, yelling at each other as they had from the time when they were first married as young people. They would argue and fight from the time they got up in morning until they fall in bed at night.  Finally one day the wife says to her husband, “I’ll tell you what, let’s pray that one of us dies. And after the funeral is over I’ll go to live with my sister.”

Robert Ingersoll, the well-known atheist of the last century, often would stop in the middle of his lectures against God and say, “I’ll give God five minutes to strike me dead for the things I’ve said.” He then used the fact that he was not struck dead as proof that God did not exist. Theodore Parker said of Ingersoll’s claim, “And did the gentleman think he could exhaust the patience of the eternal God in five minutes?”

Patience is the red carpet upon which God’s grace approaches us.

Love is kind.

“Love is kind,” writes Paul.

Nehemiah agrees: “You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness” ( Neh. 9:17 ).

David agrees, “Your lovingkindness is better than life” ( Ps. 63:3 nasb ).

Paul speaks of “the kindness and love of God our Savior” ( Titus 3:4 niv ). He is exuberant as he announces: “Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it” ( Eph. 2:7–8 msg ).

If longsuffering (or patience) is the passive side of love, kindness is the active side. Kindness is: “… a word suggesting goodness as well as solicitousness. They are interested in true goodness, actively interested in the welfare of those about them. Obviously these people are doers; they do not claim good intentions but then plead helplessness because of weakness or apathy.”

Kindness is the opposite of “having a chip on one’s shoulder. A chip on one’s shoulder predisposes one to hostile action with only the slightest provocation. But kindness in one’s heart predisposes one to helpful action which only requires the hint of a need before it takes action.

In a world that is saturated with harshness, a kind disposition is a refreshing breeze. There is many a woman who would trade a handsome husband for a kind one. Kindness would stifle the plague of child abuse. More kindness among brothers in the Lord would alleviate so much church trouble. The Scriptures demand that we be kind to each another (Eph. 4:32). Kindness is characteristic of God and should thus characterize the Christian as well:

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men (Luke 6:35).

And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32).

Soon after Angi and David’s sixth anniversary, the couple’s home burned to the ground.  Angi’s first act, when they were allowed to hunt through the blackened remains, was to search for their photo albums.

When she went to tell David that the pictures had indeed survived, she found him carefully placing in a box some charred, folded pieces of paper — their courtship love letters.”

As I watched David kneeling there in the ashes,” she says, “I was overcome with the certainty that we were meant for each other. There, in the face of our greatest tragedy, our first thoughts were not of our material loss but of the potential loss of these precious parts of our life together. As I knelt to help him with the letters, I was certain that we hadn’t lost anything that mattered after all.”[1]

Jesus’ invitation offers the sweetest proof of the kindness of heaven: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. ( Matt. 11:28–30 nkjv )

Farmers in ancient Israel used to train an inexperienced ox by yoking it to an experienced one with a wooden harness. The straps around the older animal were tightly drawn. He carried the load. But the yoke around the younger animal was loose. He walked alongside the more mature ox, but his burden was light. In this verse Jesus is saying, “I walk alongside you. We are yoked together. But I pull the weight and carry the burden.”

The following letter was send to Ann Landers, the famous newspaper columnist who dispensed advise for those who wrote: “Dear Ann Landers:  I have a message for that 16-year-old boy who has a “21-year-old problem” — his brother.  My brother drowned three weeks ago.  One minute he was alive and full of fun.  The next minute he was gone, forever.

“I never felt especially close to my brother.  We fought and didn’t agree on many things.  But now I realize how much a part of my life he was.  Sure, he got on my nerves, and I’d tell him to bug off.  But now I remember all the favors he did that only a brother could.

“I’m just trying to urge people to think about what their brothers and sisters mean to them and to express their appreciation.  I hope they do it today because tomorrow may be too late.  — Miss Him a Lot.

She responded this way: “Dear Friend: I’m sure your letter will make millions of brothers and sisters think.  Thanks for expressing those beautiful sentiments. —Ann Landers, 8-24-92

Dr. Smiley Blanton tells us that “Eighty percent of the problem patients that have come to me, come because good manners were never taught them as children.  As adults, they made mistakes and were rejected.  They couldn’t play the game of life because they didn’t know the rules.”

Compassion lies at the heart of our prayer for our fellow human beings. When I pray for the world, I become the world; when I pray for the endless needs of the millions, my soul expands and wants to embrace them all and bring them into the presence of God. But in the midst of that experience I realize that compassion is not mine but God’s gift to me. I cannot embrace the world, but God can. I cannot pray, but God can pray in me. When God became as we are, that is, when God allowed all of us to enter into the intimacy of the divine life, it became possible for us to share in God’s infinite compassion.

 Love is not jealous.

 Jealousy or envy is resenting another person because of what they have or how they have succeeded. Envy possessively wants what somebody else has. Love, in contrast, is glad for somebody who is popular or successful or beautiful or talented or married or have children….the list could go on and on.

Jealousy is a feeling of displeasure caused by the prosperity of another, coupled with a desire to wrest the advantage from the person who is the object of one’s envy. The loving person will rejoice at the success of others. Jealousy has destroyed many a home and church.

In despair and frustration, we often allow similar circumstances to cause a “flicker” to occur in our attitude. And this can become a problem: for what is a flicker today can turn into a fire tomorrow.

Suppose you spotted a flame in your house. Not a blaze and certainly not a fire, but tiny tongues of heat dancing on the hem of a curtain, on the fringe of the carpet, to the side of the stove. What would you do? How would you react? Would you shrug your shoulders and walk away, saying, “A little fire never hurt any house.”

Of course not. You’d put it out. Douse it, stamp it, cover it—anything but allow it. You would not tolerate a maverick flame in your house. Why? Because you know the growth pattern of fire. What is born in innocence is deadly in adolescence. Left untended, fire consumes all that is consumable. You know, for the sake of your house, you don’t play with fire.

Jealousy, or envy, has two forms. One form says, “I want what someone else  has.” If they have a better car than we do, we want it. If they are praised for  something they do, we want the same or more for ourselves. That sort of jealousy  is bad enough. A worse kind says, “I wish they didn’t have what they have” (see  Matt. 20:1-16). The second sort of jealousy is more than selfish; it is desiring evil for someone else. It is jealousy on the deepest, most corrupt, and destructive level.

The cure for jealousy? Trust. The cause of jealousy? Distrust. 

Charles L. Allen in The Miracle of Love writes of a fisherman friend who told him that one never needs a top for his crab basket. If one of the crabs starts to climb up the sides of the basket, the other crabs will reach up and pull it back down. Some people are a lot like crabs.

 Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

Peopereuomai (“to brag”) is used nowhere else in the New Testament and means to talk conceitedly. Love does not parade its accomplishments. Bragging is the other side of jealousy. Jealousy is wanting what someone else has. Bragging is trying to make others jealous of what we have. Jealousy puts others down; bragging builds us up. It is ironic that, as much as most of us dislike bragging in others, we are so inclined to brag ourselves. Charles Trumbull once vowed: “God, if you will give me the strength, every time I have the opportunity to introduce the topic of conversation it will always be Jesus Christ.” He had only one subject that was truly worth talking about. If Christ is first in our thoughts, we cannot possibly brag. 

C. S. Lewis called bragging “the utmost evil.” It is the epitome of pride, which is the root sin of all sins. Bragging puts ourselves first. Everyone else, including God, must therefore be of less importance to us. It is impossible to build ourselves up without putting others down. When we brag, we can be “up” only if others are “down.” Jesus, who had everything to boast of, never boasted. In total contrast, we who have nothing to boast of are prone to boast. Only the love that comes from Jesus Christ can save us from flaunting our knowledge, our abilities, our gifts, or our accomplishments, real or imagined.

Arrogance and boasting are the reverse side of the coin. Jealousy is my sinful response to the prosperity of others. Arrogance and boasting are my sinful response to my own prosperity. Arrogance (or pride) takes credit for my “success,” as though it were due to my own merit or superior efforts. Boasting is letting other people know about my success in a way that tempts others to be jealous of that success.

 Love is not Rude

The principle here has to do with poor manners, with acting rudely. It is not as serious a fault as bragging or arrogance, but it stems from the same lovelessness. It does not care enough for those it is around to act becomingly or politely. It cares nothing for their feelings or sensitivities. The loveless person is careless, overbearing, and often crude.

William Barclay translates our text as, “Love does not behave gracelessly.” Love is gracious. Graciousness should begin with fellow believers, but it should not end there. Many Christians have forfeited the opportunity for witnessing by rudeness to an unbeliever who offends them by a habit the Christian considers improper. As with Simon, sometimes our attitude and behavior in the name of righteousness are more improper, and less righteous, than some of the things we criticize.

Love is much more than being gracious and considerate, but it is never less. To the extent that our living is ungracious and inconsiderate it is also unloving and unchristian. Self-righteous rudeness by Christians can turn people away from Christ before they have a chance to hear the gospel. The messenger can become a barrier to the message. If people do not see the “gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1) clearly in us, they are less likely to see Him clearly in the gospel we preach.

 Love Does Not Seek Its Own

I understand that the inscription on a tombstone in a small English village reads, Here lies a miser who lived for himself, and cared for nothing but gathering wealth. Now where he is or how he fares, nobody knows and nobody cares.

In contrast, a plain tombstone in the courtyard at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London reads, “Sacred to the memory of General Charles George Gordon, who at all times and everywhere gave his strength to the weak, his substance to the poor, his sympathy to the suffering, his heart to God.”

What’s the cure for selfishness? Get your self out of your eye by getting your eye off your self. Quit staring at that little self, and focus on your great Savior. 

If Christ becomes our focus, we won’t be like the physician in Arkansas. He misdiagnosed the patient. He declared the woman to be dead. The family was informed, and the husband was grief-stricken. Imagine the surprise of the nurse when she discovered that the woman was alive! “You better tell the family,” she urged the doctor. The embarrassed physician phoned the husband and said, “I need to talk to you about the condition of your wife.”  “The condition of my wife?” he asked. “She’s dead.” The doctor’s pride only allowed him to concede, “Well, she has seen a slight improvement.”

The story is told of a chauffeur who drove up to a cemetery and asked the minister who served as caretaker to come to the car, because his employer was too ill to walk. Waiting in the car was a frail old lady with sunken eyes that showed years of hurt and anguish. She introduced herself and said she had been sending five dollars to the cemetery for the past several years to be used for flowers for her husband’s grave. “I have come in person today,” she said, “because the doctors have given me only a few weeks to live and I wanted to see the grave for one last time.”

The minister replied, “You know I am sorry you have been sending money for those flowers.” Taken aback, she said, “What do you mean?” “Well, I happen to be a part of a visiting society that visits patients in hospitals and mental institutions. They dearly love flowers. They can see them and smell them. Flowers are therapy for them, because they are living people.” 

Saying nothing, she motioned the chauffeur to leave. Some months later the minister was surprised to see the same car drive up, but with the woman herself at the wheel. She said, “At first I resented what you said to me that day when I came here for a last visit. But as I thought about it, I decided you were right. Now I personally take flowers to the hospitals. It does make the patients happy and it makes me happy, too. The doctors can’t figure out what made me well, but I know I now have someone else to live for.”

As always, Jesus is our perfect model. He “did not come to be served, but to serve” (Matt. 20:28). The Son of God lived His life for others. God incarnate was love incarnate. He was the perfect incarnation of self-giving love. He never sought His own welfare, but always the welfare of others.

 Love is not easily provoked.

The Greek paroxunoô, here translated provoked, means to arouse to anger and is the origin of the English paroxysm, a convulsion or sudden outburst of emotion or action. Love guards against being irritated, upset, or angered by things said or done against it. It is not provoked.

The apostle does not rule out righteous indignation. Love cannot “rejoice in unrighteousness” (1 Cor. 13:6). To be angered by the mistreatment of the unfortunate or by the maligning and contradiction of God’s Word is righteous indignation. But when it is truly righteous, indignation will never be provoked by something done against us personally. When Jesus cleansed the Temple, He was angered at the profaning of His Father’s house of worship (Matt. 21:11-12). But on the many occasions when He was personally vilified or abused, He did not once become angry or defensive.

Like his Lord, Paul was only angered by the things that anger God. He responded strongly against such things as heresy, immorality, and misuse of spiritual gifts. But he did not become angry at those who beat him, jailed him, or lied about him (see Acts 23:1-5).

The being provoked that Paul is talking about here has to do with things done against us or that are personally offensive. Love does not get angry at others when they say or do something that displeases us or when they prevent us from having our own way (cf. 1 Pet. 2:21-24). Love never reacts in self-defense or retaliation. Being provoked is the other side of seeking one’s own way. The person who is intent on having his own way is easily provoked, easily angered.

We get angry when another person gains a privilege or recognition we want for ourselves, because it is our “right.” But to put our rights before our duty and before loving concern for others comes from self-centeredness and lovelessness. The loving person is more concerned about doing what he should and helping where he can than in having what he thinks are his rights and his due. Love considers nothing its right and everything its obligation.

Telling our wives or husbands that we love them is not convincing if we continually get upset and angry at what they say and do. Telling our children that we love them is not convincing if we often yell at them for doing things that irritate us and interfere with our own plans. It does no good to protest, “I lose my temper a lot, but it’s all over in a few minutes.” So is a nuclear bomb. A great deal of damage can be done in a very short time. Temper is always destructive, and even small temper “bombs” can leave much hurt and damage, especially when they explode on a regular basis. Lovelessness is the cause of temper, and love is the only cure.

Love that takes a person outside of himself and centers his attention on the well-being of others is the only cure for self-centeredness.

 Love Does Not Take Into Account a Wrong Suffered

 Paul tells us that love “does not take into account a wrong suffered.” I like what Morris writes on this point: “Paul’s next point is that love does not, so to speak, go around with a little black book making a note of every evil thing. ‘Love keeps no score of wrongs,’ says Paul (the NEB translation). We find it hard to forget it when people offend us, often storing up such grievances.

Logizomai (take into account)is a bookkeeping term that means to calculate or reckon, as when figuring an entry in a ledger. The purpose of the entry is to make a permanent record that can be consulted whenever needed. In business that practice is necessary, but in personal matters it is not only unnecessary but harmful. Keeping track of things done against us is a sure way to unhappiness—our own and that of those on whom we keep records.

The same Greek word is used often in the New Testament to represent the pardoning act of God for those who trust in Jesus Christ. “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account” (Rom. 4:8). “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19).

Once sin is placed under the blood of Christ there is no more record of it. It is blotted out, “wiped away” (Acts 3:19). In God’s heavenly record the only entry after the names of His redeemed is “righteous,” because we are counted righteous in Christ. Christ’s righteousness is placed to our credit. No other record exists.

That is the sort of record love keeps of wrongs done against it. No wrong is ever recorded for later reference. Love forgives. Someone once suggested that love does not forgive and forget, but rather remembers and still forgives. Resentment is careful to keep books, which it reads and rereads, hoping for a chance to get even. Love keeps no books, because it has no place for resentment or grudges.

Chrysostom observed that a wrong done against love is like a spark that falls into the sea and is quenched. Love quenches wrongs rather than records them. It does not cultivate memories out of evils. If God so completely and permanently erases the record of our many sins against Him, how much more should we forgive and forget the much lesser wrongs done against us (cf. Matt. 18:21-35; Eph. 4:32)?

 Love Doesn’t Rejoice in Unrighteousness

Love never takes satisfaction from sin, whether our own sin or that of others. Doing wrong things is bad enough in itself; bragging about them makes the sins even worse. To rejoice in unrighteousness is to justify it. It is making wrong appear to be right.

The rejoicing at sin, the taking pleasure in them that commit sin, the exultation over the fall of others into sin, are among the worst forms of malignity: (Romans 1:32 NIV)  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

(2 Thessalonians 2:12 NIV)  “…and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

We cannot imagine taking delight in a tragedy that befalls a friend or loved one; yet when we delight in sin, we are delighting in that which offends and grieves our heavenly Father and which is tragedy to Him.

 If we love God, what offends Him will offend us and what grieves Him will grieve us.  (Psalms 69:9 NIV)  for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

Granville Walker said,  “There are times when silence is yellow, times when we ought to stand on our feet and regardless of the consequences challenge the gross evils of the time, times when not to do so is the most blatant form of cowardice. But there are other times when silence is golden, when to tell the truth is to make many hearts bleed needlessly and when nothing is accomplished and everything is hurt by a loose tongue.”

Sin can produce nothing but harm. In the unsaved person sin is evidence of his lostness. In a believer sin is evidence of disobedience and broken fellowship with God. To love a person is to hate his sin. Discipline in the church is necessary not only to protect the purity of the body but to help the sinning believer confront his wrong and to repent: (Matthew 18:15-20 NIV)  “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. {16} But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ {17} If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. {18} “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. {19} “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. {20} For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

Paul had reminded the Corinthians of his command: (1 Corinthians 5:11 NIV)  But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

 Love Rejoices in the Truth

After mentioning eight negatives, things that love is not or does not do, Paul lists five more positives (see v. 4a). The first is a contrast with the last negative: love rejoices with the truth.

At first glance it may seem strange to contrast not rejoicing in unrighteousness with rejoicing in the truth. But the truth Paul is speaking about here is not simply factual truth. He is speaking of God’s truth, God’s revealed Word.

Love is consistent with kindness but it is not consistent with compromise of the truth. Compromising the truth is not kind to those whom we mislead by our failure to stand firmly in the truth.

“This is love,” John tells us, “that we walk according to His commandments” (2 John 6).

Love, truth, and righteousness are inseparable. When one is weakened the others are weakened. A person who teaches falsehood about God’s truth should not even be received into our home or given a greeting (v. 10). We are not to rejoice in a wrong doctrine that he teaches or in a wrong way in which he lives. Love rejoices in the truth and never in falsehood or unrighteousness.

On the other hand, love does not focus on the wrongs of others. It does not parade their faults for all the world to see. Love does not disregard falsehood and unrighteousness, but as much as possible it focuses on the true and the right. It looks for the good, hopes for the good, and emphasizes the good. It rejoices in those who teach the truth and live the truth.

A minister was known for his love and encouragement of the people of his church and city. When he died someone commented, “There is no one left to appreciate the triumphs of ordinary folk.” Love appreciates the triumphs of ordinary folk. Our children are built up and strengthened when we encourage them in their accomplishments and in their obedience. Love does not rejoice in falsehood or wrong, but its primary business is to build up, not tear down, to strengthen, not weaken.

 Love Bears All Things

Paul has just written that love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” (verse 6). How can he now inform us that “love” accepts everything as truth, believing whatever one is told?

Love is always characterized by certain qualities, without exception. Throughout history, man has sought to excuse disobedience or sin by convincing himself that his situation is an exception.

Love does not justify sin or compromise with falsehood. Love warns, corrects, exhorts, rebukes, and disciplines. But love does not expose or broadcast failures and wrongs. It covers and protects. Henry Ward Beecher said, “God pardons like a mother who kisses the offense into everlasting forgetfulness.”

Matthew’s Gospel sheds further light on this matter of our silence when Jesus teaches His disciples about church discipline (Matthew 18:15-20). We are to go privately to a brother who has sinned against us, and if he repents as a result of our rebuke, the matter is settled, never to be made public.

If, however, this wayward brother resists and refuses to repent, then the matter once dealt with in the strictest privacy must now be dealt with in a way that becomes more and more public. After all efforts to turn the wayward brother from sin have been rejected, the whole church must be notified of his sin, and he must be publicly ex-communicated.

Love always seeks to keep the sin of a wayward brother as private as possible, but this does not mean we cannot and should not be confronted publicly, if all private efforts have failed.

During Oliver Cromwell’s reign as lord protector of England a young soldier was sentenced to die. The girl to whom he was engaged pleaded with Cromwell to spare the life of her beloved, but to no avail. The young man was to be executed when the curfew bell sounded, but when the sexton repeatedly pulled the rope the bell made no sound. The girl had climbed into the belfry and wrapped herself around the clapper so that it could not strike the bell. Her body was smashed and bruised, but she did not let go until the clapper stopped swinging. She managed to climb down, bruised and bleeding, to meet those awaiting the execution. When she explained what she had done, Cromwell commuted the sentence. A poet beautifully recorded the story as follows:

At his feet she told her story; showed her hands all bruised and torn, And her sweet young face still haggard with the anguish it had worn, Touched his heart with sudden pity, lit his eyes with misty light.

“Go, your lover lives,” said Cromwell; “Curfew will not ring tonight.”

This quality is most often lived out by mothers. Jean Kyler McManus said: “God knew there should be mothers to hear each infant’s cry, To pat away the little tears that fill a baby’s eye . . . God knew there should be mothers to hear a child’s first word, To listen with attention when a child’s voice mist be heard . . .  God knew that each and every child needs someone close each day To help them out, to cheer them up at home, at school, at play –  To teach them how to share this world with sisters and with brothers – And so in His great wisdom. God created mothers.”

This is a worthwhile prayer: “ Dear Lord, Thank you for this child that I call mine; not my possession but my sacred charge. Teach me patience and humility so that the best I know may flow in its being. Let me always remember, parental love is my natural instinct but my child’s love must ever be deserved and earned; That for love I must give love, That for understanding I must give understanding, That for respect, I must give respect; That as I was the giver of life, so must I be the giver always. Help me to share my child with life and not toclutch at it for my own sake. Give courage to do my share to make this world a better place for all children and my own.”

 Love Believes All Things

Love is not suspicious or cynical. When it throws its mantle over a wrong it also believes in the best outcome for the one who has done the wrong—that the wrong will be confessed and forgiven and the loved one restored to righteousness.

Love also believes all things in another way. If there is doubt about a person’s guilt or motivation, love will always opt for the most favorable possibility. If a loved one is accused of something wrong, love will consider him innocent until proven guilty. If he turns out to be guilty, love will give credit for the best motive. Love trusts; love has confidence; love believes.

 Love Hopes All Things

Even when belief in a loved one’s goodness or repentance is shattered, love still hopes. When it runs out of faith it holds on to hope. As long as God’s grace is operative human failure is never final.

 Love Endures All Things

Hupomenoô (“to endure”) was a military term used of an army’s holding a  vital position at all costs. Every hardship and every suffering was to be endured  in order to hold fast.

Love holds fast to those it loves. It endures all things at all costs. It stands  against overwhelming opposition and refuses to stop bearing or stop believing or  stop hoping. Love will not stop loving.

Love bears what otherwise is unbearable; it believes what otherwise is unbelievable; it hopes in what otherwise is hopeless; and it endures when anything less than love would give up.

After love bears it believes. After it believes it hopes. After it hopes it endures. There is no “after” for endurance, for endurance is the unending climax of love.

 The Permanence of Love

Love is far superior to the spiritual gifts. The great permanence of love clearly shows its superiority.

Love never fails, never ceases, and never vanishes. Love endures and lasts forever. But not so with spiritual gifts: the spiritual gifts shall cease to be and shall vanish. When? Spiritual gifts are only temporary; they are not permanent; therefore, they are far inferior to love. Spiritual gifts were only temporary tools available to the first century church to use in reaching and ministering to a lost and needy world.

Love is perfect and complete. We know nothing perfectly, and we can proclaim and predict the truth only with partial certainty. No person knows all the truth. However, a day of perfection is coming, and when it comes, only that which is perfect will stand and endure.

The point is this: love is perfect; therefore, love shall endure and be the primary trait between believers in eternity. Therefore, love is far superior to the gifts.

Love is mature—maturity of behavior. However, the day of maturity is coming, the day when he shall set aside all the childhood understanding and thoughts and become a mature man, a perfected man. Love is the great gift and quality existing upon earth today that shall endure throughout eternity; therefore, love is far superior to the gifts and abilities of men.

Love is being face to face with God—a perfect consciousness and knowledge of God. Our present relationship with the Lord is comparable to the reflection we see through a dark mirror. We can faintly see the figure, but it is not fully distinct nor clear. Therefore, we only see God and the truth in part and we only know God and the truth in part. However, the day is coming when we shall know God even as He knows us—perfectly.

—————————————–

[1] Reader’s Digest, August, 1982

[2] W. L. Watkinson

[3] Stanley Hauerwas, quoted in Context (Sept.l5, l989). Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 8.

[4] Fr. John Shea in U.S. Catholic (March 1990). Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 7.

[5]Moody’s Anecdotes, pp. 71-72

 

“Bringing Dry Bones Back to Life” (a study of Hebrews)

An Introduction

Many people believe Christianity faces a fate where its buildings will become museums to be visited by those wanting to review history. It’s believed that Christianity will live in small groups of people, but the vitality will be gone.

People base these pessimistic predictions on reports that say religion is declining in American life. Sociologists tell about a startling contradiction: people are as religious as they were in generations ago, but they go to church less.

How does any person sitting here today evaluate the “spiritual health of this congregation?” Do we look at budgets, attendance, ministries, or patterns of growth? They certainly offer ‘indicators’ but we quickly acknowledge that ‘vital signs’ are taken from the ‘inside out.’

Because we worry about the future of the church, we should recall that the Bible is not a story of triumph after triumph: Discouragement overtook the children of Israel many times. Elijah complained in 1 Kings 19:10: “He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.””

Do you remember God’s response? Verse 18: “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel–all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”

I especially like Ezekiel 37:1-10: “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. {2} He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. {3} He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” {4} Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! {5} This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. {6} I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'” {7} So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. {8} I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. {9} Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'” {10} So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet–a vast army.”

Jesus’ ministry didn’t always look like a success story. There were instances when ” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” (John 6:66 (NIV) There have always been periods of decline among the people of God.

What resources do we have to bring life to a tired community? Of course, it is God who ultimately works to bring life to the church. In the past (and in many places today) periodic “revivals” or “meetings” were tried to achieve renewal. In many instances, these occasions were very useful in stimulating the church to greater service. Meetings, campaigns, and other special programs indicate our awareness that communities do grow tired and that one of our great needs is to find the resources for renewal.

In reality, we have likely been more successful in providing momentary diversions than in providing on going renewal of the church.

If the writer to the Hebrews had one text it was: “Let us draw near.”

Hebrews 10:19-23: “Therefore, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, . . . let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”

(Hebrews 4:14-16 NIV) “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. {15} For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin. {16} Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

(Hebrews 6:1 NIV) “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God…”

(Hebrews 10:22 NIV) “…let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

The Christians here were in danger of committing apostasy (of turning their back on Christ and going back to the law). They had been Christians long enough to have developed spiritual depth and insight…yet they were said to be “dull of hearing” and still needed “milk instead of solid food.”

As Christians, we know the answer to the world’s problems, but the problem was: “How to make the world believe the answer?” Story of a young Christian who seemed considerably troubled. With a deeply concerned look on his face, he said, ” Why doesn’t the world believe what we have to say?” Then he added, “I think it’s because so many Christians don’t act like they believe it themselves.” Then he asked the logical, but thorny, question: “How can we make Christians believe what they believe?”

That is the very theme of the book of Hebrews: How to make Christians believe, how to make Christians act like Christians. This is what the world is waiting to see and what the epistle was written to effect. It is addressed to a group of Jewish Christians who had begun to drift, to lose their faith.

They had lost all awareness of the relevancy of their faith to the daily affairs of life. They had begun to drift into outward formal religious performance, but to lose the inner reality. Doubts were creeping into their hearts from some of the humanistic philosophies that abounded in the world of their day, as they abound in the world of our day. Some of them were about to abandon their faith in Christ, not because they were attracted again by Jewish ritual and ceremony, but because of persecution and pressure.

They felt it was not worthwhile; they were losing too much, and that it was possible, just possible, that they had been deceived and the message of Christ was not true after all.

Hebrews 1:1-2 (NIV)
¹  In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
²  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

The great tragedy is this: men have groped and grasped after God as though they were in a dark world that gave no evidence of God. But this is just not so; there is no need for man to be in the dark about God. Why? Because God has revealed Himself, and He has revealed Himself in many different ways:

• through nature or what might be called a revelation of His Supreme deity and power. A person can look at nature and clearly see God’s deity and power
• through conscience or what might be called an inner witness or sense of duty to God.
• through law or what might be called a revelation of Supreme justice
• through religion or what might be called a revelation of how to worship and become acceptable to God
• through prophets and priests or what might be called the revelation of God through human spokesmen and mediators.

The list could go on and on, but the point is that God has revealed Himself to man, and each revelation has been very important for man’s understanding of God. But despite all these revelations, something vital is still missing. If man is ever to know God, there is only one way, the very same way that man gets to know anybody.

Man can know about a person, know all the facts about a person’s life; but until he personally meets the person and associates and fellowships with him, he does not personally know him.

Therefore if man was to ever know God, God had to reveal Himself in the most supreme way possible: He had to come to earth and show Himself to man, revealing exactly who He is and what He is like. This is the whole point of the first four chapters.

The word better is used thirteen times in this book as the writer shows the superiority of Jesus Christ and His salvation over the Hebrew system of religion. Christ is “better than the angels” (Heb. 1:4). He brought in “a better hope” (Heb. 7:19) because He is the Mediator of “a better covenant, which was established on better promises” (Heb. 8:6).

Another word that is repeated in this book is perfect; in the original Greek it is used fourteen times. It means a perfect standing before God. This perfection could never be accomplished by the levitical priesthood (Heb. 7:11) or by the Law (Heb. 7:19), nor could the blood of animal sacrifices achieve it (Heb. 10:1). Jesus Christ gave Himself as one offering for sin, and by this He has “perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14).

Eternal is a third word that is important to the message of Hebrews. Christ is the “author of eternal salvation” (Heb. 5:9). Through His death, He “obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12) and He shares with believers “the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15). His throne is forever (Heb. 1:8) and He is a priest forever (Heb. 5:6; 6:20; 7:17, 21). “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

When you combine these three important words, you discover that Jesus Christ and the Christian life He gives us are better because these blessings are eternal and they give us a perfect standing before God. The religious system under the Mosaic Law was imperfect because it could not accomplish a once-for-all redemption that was eternal.

These people were “second generation believers,” having been won to Christ by those who had known Jesus Christ during His ministry on earth (Heb. 2:3). They were true believers (Heb. 3:1) and not mere professors.

They had been persecuted because of their faith (Heb. 10:32-34; 12:4; 13:13-14), and yet they had faithfully ministered to the needs of others who had suffered (Heb. 6:10). But they were being seduced by teachers of false doctrine (Heb. 13:9), and they were in danger of forgetting the true Word that their first leaders, now dead, had taught them (Heb. 13:7).

The tragic thing about these believers is that they were at a standstill spiritually and in danger of going backward (Heb. 5:12ff). Some of them had even forsaken the regular worship services (Heb. 10:25) and were not making spiritual progress (Heb. 6:1). In the Christian life, if you do not go forward, you go backward; there is no permanent standing still.

“How can you go back into your former religion?” the writer asked them. “Just take time to evaluate what you have in Jesus Christ. He is better than anything you ever had under the Law.”

Much like our own times, the writer of Hebrews and his audience are not accustomed to daily miraculous experiences that make God’s presence in our world glaringly obvious. These people are not first-generation followers. None of them saw Jesus; apparently they are not accustomed to the miracle-working of the early apostles and leaders.

Like us, the activity of God in their world is apparently more subtle. When the social world around them seems to be doing just fine without God or when they seem to be suffering and ridiculed and excluded from the materialistic successes around them, they could decide that God really isn’t active. Their faith has cost them a great deal in the social setting in which they live.

They could decide to just blend back in, find their identity in the social structures and material world around them. Or they could believe that God has acted in Christ in ways that have eternal import for their lives.

“God Speaks To Us…Through Jesus“

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways. (1:1)

Here is an indication of how God wrote the Old Testament. Its purpose was to prepare for the coming of Christ. Whether by prophecy or type or principle or commandment or whatever, it made preparation for Christ.

This He did through the words of the Old Testament. He used men as instruments, but was Himself behind them, enlightening and energizing them. The deists teach that God started the world going and then went away, leaving it to run by itself. But God is not detached from His creation; He is not uninvolved in our world. The true and living God, unlike the false gods of man’s making, is not dumb or indifferent. The God of Scripture, unlike the impersonal “First Cause” of some philosophers, is not silent. He speaks. He first spoke in the Old Testament, which is not a collection of the wisdom of ancient men but is the voice of God.

The senses of man, marvelous as they are, are incapable of reaching beyond the natural world. For us to know anything about God, He must tell us. We could never know God if He did not speak to us. Thus, in the Old Testament, the writer reminds us, “God … spoke.”

How does God work in our world? Through Jesus!

In these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. (1:2)

God’s full, perfect revelation awaited the coming of His Son. God, who used to speak in many different ways through many different people, has finally spoken in one way, through one Person, His Son Jesus Christ.

The whole New Testament is centered around Christ. The gospels tell His story, the epistles comment on it, and the Revelation tells of its culmination. From beginning to end the New Testament is Christ. No prophet had been given God’s whole truth. The Old Testament was given to many men, in bits and pieces and fragments. Jesus not only brought, but was, God’s full and final Revelation.

Yes, he has always cared about and paid attention to our needs. He has desired to be in communication with us from the start. He spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He talked to Abraham through angels and in bodily form. He came to Joseph and Daniel in dreams. Oh, he even raised up a string of prophets to give a more general word to people – Moses, Deborah, Isaiah, Amos. But we weren’t getting his point. We were garbling the message. We were fighting over words and their interpretation.

So heaven pulled out all the stops and God chose to enflesh his message in a Son. Love became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth. In the mind of the unnamed writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Jesus is the final and unanswerable proof that God not only knows about our human plight but cares for us with love that knows no boundaries.

Jesus isn’t almost divine but “the exact imprint of God’s very being.” He isn’t trying to come up with a remedy for sin but “made purification for sins” and sat down at God’s right hand. He isn’t as good as God’s other servants and messengers but has inherited “the name” that is “more excellent than theirs.”

He isn’t as good as God’s other servants and messengers but has inherited “the name” that is “more excellent than theirs.”

This preacher-writer of ours can’t say enough about Jesus! He strings together a series of descriptors for him that anticipate the all-important, incomparable role assigned to him in this sermon-epistle. These verses are very simple. They tell us Christ is superior to everyone and everything. The three primary features of His superiority are: preparation, presentation, and preeminence. Keep in mind that all through the book Christ is presented as being better than the best of everyone and everything that was before Him—absolutely better than anything the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, provided.

*Appreciation to James Thompson and “Strategy for Survival” book