Pastor’s Pen

I realize the title question may offend some people.  Please read on; the problem will be resolved in the end.

To any who attended NCC’s April 20 worship service, the question may seem to be a reference to part of my message that morning.  But I’ve posted that title more in reference to where we’re going than to where we’ve been.  In other words, the 3 people who occassionaly check this page are seeing a preview of next Sunday’s sermon.  Having just completed a series on Colossians, I have just one week to fill before our District Superintendent preaches here on May 4.  The answer to the question “what will be my subject for next week?” was answered when I clicked on the TV and found yet another prosperity preacher spinning his heretical yarns.  Repeatedly through the short time I watched he encouraged his audience to “live like the rich” without “complaining about money [i.e. what things cost].”  Here’s my question:  Forget about the preacher, he’ll have to answer for himself, but don’t the people in those pews (and who tune into his broadcasts) have Bibles?  If they do, they surely don’t read them or the worldliness and pride of that preacher would be rebuked rather than applauded.
The wisdom God offers to us, as described in the book of Proverbs, says, “With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity” (Pr. 8:18.)  But the very next verse is:  “My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.”  Gold and silver represent worldly wealth, and if what wisdom offers is better, then we have to reconsider our understanding of words and phrases like “riches,” “enduring wealth,” and “prosperity.”  Maybe we shouldn’t be measuring those things in dollars?!?!  But, the “church” of the 21st century (if pastors and congregations like what I saw on TV last night are any indication) seems to be saying: “forget about figuring out what God’s idea of wealth might be, just give me the gold and silver.”

Remembering Jesus’ parable (Luke 16) it wasn’t the rich man, but the poor beggar who lay by his gate hoping for crumbs who entered heaven.

Now let me complete the title question:  “How Holy is the Bible that never gets opened?”  Let this be an encouragement for you NOT to accept whatever your pastor / preacher says just because he has such a title.  Check it out for yourselves as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11)

Greetings!  Sorry for the lack of posts, but time has not been on my side in this regard lately.  Even now, I’m writing just to make sure a suspension caused by an inappropriate comment posting has been lifted.

 I’ll leave you with an important reminder a wise friend left with me a while back.  “Life is not about what we’re dealt but how we deal with it.”

Pastor Steve

I did a funeral last week for a saintly lady who died suddenly.  One of the family members asked me: “Do these things ever get easier?”  My answer was: “Some are easy, but not this one.”   

 In thinking back over that conversation, I realize that none of them are really “easy,” because those with whom we’ve had a close personal relationship are hard emotionally even if we know they were living in right relationship with Jesus Christ.  And those with whom we’re not so close are not as emotionally difficult, but the uncertainty of their spiritual condition makes it hard in other ways.  So here are the questions I have for you:

1)  What do you want the minister to say at your funeral?  — can your mourners be assured that your eternal destiny is in the Kingdom of God through a saving relationship with Jesus?

 2)  Does the way you’re living today REALLY match up to the way you want to be remembered and to the confidence you want your loved ones to have about your being in “a better place” at your passing?

Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but by me.”  What if your time comes before you’ve turned to Him?

Rather than use this blog space for a recap of the sermon (which tends to be rather time - consuming), I  thought I’d try shorter, periodic posts of thoughts and challenges with which I’m wrestling.  Your responses are welcome, but (as previously noted) will be reviewed before they are actually posted for public access.  This is not so I can censor input from anyone who doesn’t agree with me, but to keep inapropriate and irrelevant material (such as commercials and cyber gibberish, which I’ve had to delete several times) off the blog site.  Thanks for your understanding and input.

In preparing for yesterday’s sermon (2 Timothy 2:14-21) it became clear to me that those first two verses were saying to Timothy and to us that we ought to focus on God’s words, not on man’s words and ideas.  Our understanding of the world around us and of ourselves ought to come from the self-revealing word of the God who created us, not from our friends and coworkers, Dr. Phil, nor even from the often-slanted messages of the TV preachers.  The same Holy Spirit who inspired those words from our God in the minds of the human “writers” of the Bible is available to us to make it’s message clear — and not by crossing off every other letter in the Biblical texts or some other whacko scheme to find the “hidden message.”  The thing of it is, if we want the Holy Spirit to help our uinderstanding, we also have to make ourselves available to Him!  If the message of the Bible is “hidden” it is hidden from those who don’t approach the Lord and His word as His dependent children – open, obedient and available to Him (Luke 10:21). 

As for that obedience thing, you can’t expect the Lord to bless you with a clear understanding of His word or His will for your personal life if you don’t respect what is clearly revealed as His general will for all people.  In other words, sin acts a barrier to what God can do both in your life and through your life.  Disregard the commandments and teachings of His word, and you can expect Him to disregard you too — until repentence clears the way for Him. 

Getting back to the idea of focusing on God’s word, not on man’s — that is exactly why I choose to base my preaching series on working through books of the Bible rather than on hot topics.  There is nothing wrong with using a Biblical references (Bible study guides, anthologies, concordances, etc.) to check out what God’s word says about certain issues or situations (money, marriage / relationships, stress / anxiety, etc.).  But it seems to me that if this is our orimary approach to Scripture we’er missing something big.  The relevance of the Bible to 21st century living does not depend on our ability to “cut and paste” verses from all over the Bible that deal with a particular subject.  I happen to believe that the word of God can and will speak to us today when read and studied just as it written.  Again, it’s not wrong to do topical studies, but if that’s all we do we’ll not only miss a lot of valuable teaching but (if taken to extremes) we run the risk of flat-out disregarding the parts we don’t find “useful” today.  The Law contained in the Old Testament is no longer the basis for relationship to God.  It was replaced by grace in the gift of Jesus Christ (whose saving work on the cross has to be accepted by each of us to be valid in our own lives).  Yet, we don’t throw out or disregard the OT altogether because it shows us God’s character (as described in His interactions with Israel as well as His “demands” on them).  We need to do our best to follow God’s law — not to save ourselves (’cause we could never earn enough “points” to make that happen) but to show our devotion to and desire to please Him.  We can’t disregard the OT simply because it’s been superceded by the NT.  Nor can we overlook other portions of Scripture that aren’t as exciting or don’t seem obviously “relevant” to our lives. 

Who sets the agenda for our study of God’s word? – we ourselves (by our current situations) , the society in which we live (by it’s emerging trends and ever-increasing resistance to Biblical values), or God – through His word?

Okay, so it didn’t turn out to be short, but I hope it gives you something to think about. 

Galatians 3:1-5,10-14

Those (if any) interested can e-mail me for notes from this message.

Text:  Galatians 2:17-21

 
The legal principle of agency relationship basically holds that unless someone (such as customer) has been given notice to the contrary, someone who seems to have the authority to speak / act for a company makes arrangements that are legally binding on the company.  For example, when we settle on a deal with the car salesperson, we can reasonably expect that he/she (or the sales manager with whom the salesperson has consulted during the negotiations) has the authority to close the deal.  No buyer is going to be happy to discover that dealership management overruled the contract price/terms to which he/she and the sales staff have agreed.  As long as it is reasonable to believe the person with whom you’re dealing has appropriate authority, you should be okay.  (There are practical limits, though.  You wouldn’t be safe to assume that the mechanics or the custodial staff have the power to close a deal on a new car.)  Notice that someone does not have such authority can be given verbally or in writing, posted on company property, or we might even find a newspaper announcement in the classified’s Legal Notices section such as “Be it known that Mr. John Doe no longer represents or acts on behalf of Company ABC.” 

 
The passage for this week’s message is, in part, our notice that neither God’s law nor God, himself, is responsible for the wrong choices we make (sins) or the consequences of them.  That doesn’t mean that He won’t forgive us if we confess/repent nor help us deal with the consequences, but problems that come from our own decisions and actions aren’t His fault.  It’s not uncommon for the spouse of someone who’s had an extramarital affair to blame God for his/her problems.  But it was the offending spouse’s fault, not God’s.  I even know one man who blamed God for the affair he had with another woman –go figure! 

 
The passage does more than just tell us what responsibilities God won’t accept.  It tells us what He will do that no one else can – enable us to live by faith and make right choices through the indwelling presence of His Son, Jesus Christ in the life of the believer.  As long as we allow ourselves (that is, our human nature) to remain alive and well, we’re in for trouble.  Make no mistake, I’m not suggesting we “take our own lives” but that we give our own lives over to Jesus Christ (along with Paul, the human writer of Galatians).  That’s what he meant when he wrote “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  Paul stepped down from the “throne” of his own life and turned it over to Jesus, so that he might live a life that honors God.  We can’t do that on our own.

Paul wrote in another of his missionary letters: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  (Romans 8:1) Some take that to mean that once you’re saved (or perhaps once sanctified) God won’t hold anything against us – especially our unintentional sins.  I find that very hard to accept in the light of OT passages that talk about sacrifices required for sins the people of God “didn’t mean to do” or didn’t even realize they were doing.  (See Numbers 15, for some examples).  Later in Romans 8 (verses 6-9) Paul gives us (yes, believers) two choices:  live by/for the flesh or live by/for the Spirit.  The key to Romans 8:1 is the last phrase “in Christ.”  There is no condemnation for those who are living in Christ, because they are enabled by the Spirit to please God.  We cannot reasonably claim to be living “in Christ” in moments when we’re involved in sin (whether we mean to be or not).  The message here is that God will take responsibility for raising us above our own limitations and keeping us out of trouble as we stay in fellowship with His Son. 

 
Conclusions:

 
1)  God will not accept responsibility for our sinful choices.  The blame for all that is ours alone.

 
2)  God will take responsibility for the lives and choices turned over to Jesus, enabling us to “get it right” as only He can do. 
 
3)  We are the weakest link in God’s plan, but He can fix us. 

Since I got such a dismal response last time (no offense, Rich) I’d like to try the reply thing again.  If you have read this week’s posting, please send an email to:

pastorsteve@ncccma.org with the word “pen” in the subject line.  You don’t need to write anything else in the body of the message, and you won’t be added to a mailing list.  Thanks! 

Sorry.  The Pastor’s Pen is “on vacation” this week.  If only I could have gone with it . . .

Text – Galatians 2:1-10

 
Friends of ours once built a house in the Boston area in a subdivision which was to have deed restrictions requiring 2-story construction – in the interest of uniformity (and, of course, higher sustained property values).  But, because the restrictions apparently weren’t formally recorded with the plat and because the developer was about go bankrupt, our friends were able to buy their lot at a greatly reduced price and without the restriction.  That was good for them, as they knew all they could afford to build at the time was a simple 3-bedroom ranch.  Needless to say, the neighbors were not happy, but their protests and legal challenges did them no good.  Our friends won the battle for the right to build as they had planned, but they lost the war of fitting into and enjoying their new neighborhood. We met them in Lexington where they had later moved to find a more reasonable cost of living.  One of the lessons from this story: when the rules get changed, people tend to get upset (especially those who have been held to higher standards when they see others getting away with less). 

 
That’s exactly the problem that’s being addressed in the book of Galatians.  The Jewish converts to Christianity felt like the “rules” were being relaxed for non-Jewish followers of Jesus Christ.  There were a couple problems with this line of thinking.  1)  With all due respect, the Hebrew people hadn’t been all that good at following the law themselves [not that any of the rest of us would have done better] and 2) They didn’t understand the purpose of the law.  It was not a means to salvation but an indication of how desperately we needed someone / something beyond ourselves to accomplish our salvation.  Yes, the law is also a map for us to continue to follow into the character of God.  Although Paul certainly didn’t support the idea of disregarding God’s law (see Romans 6:1-4), he didn’t believe it was necessary for the non-Jewish converts to be circumcised.  As great conflict arose on this subject in the Syrian city of Antioch (upon Paul’s return to that city in which his first missionary journey had begun), it became clear that the matter had to be settled once and for all.  With that goal in mind, Paul and Barnabus were sent out by the church to visit the Apostles and leaders of the church in Jerusalem.  The “Jerusalem Council,” as it is called, agreed that circumcision was not required for new believers (see Acts 15). This was based on the testimony of Peter concerning his experience with the Cornelius (see Acts 10) – in which God blessed uncircumcised, Gentile converts with gift of the Holy Spirit – and the guidance of James, the brother of Jesus, who presided over the council session. 

 
There are several lessons one could take from this passage.  The one on which I want to focus is the idea of checking with the authorities.  As you read Galatians, it is clear that Paul was not going to Jerusalem seeking their blessing on his ministry.  Having gotten his spiritual insights straight from the Lord in the 3-year period that followed his Damascus Road experience, he didn’t need anyone to tell him what the Gospel is nor to “ordain” him for ministry.  Still, he wanted to absolutely sure that he was right in his understanding on the subject of circumcision.  So, he consulted the other authority figures in the church. 

 
A friend of mine who is now a Chaplain in the US Army printed his own business cards while he was in seminary.  In addition to the usual contact information, the cards identified him as Chaplain Candidate and had a little picture of a soldier on them.  The other item he made sure to include was the challenge to “Be a Berean.”  After being rushed out of the city of Thesselonica on his second missionary journey – for his own safety – Paul made his way to Berea.  The Bible tells us “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).  We don’t have the chance to discuss our theological questions with the council of Apostles in Jerusalem as Paul and Barnabus did, but we do have God’s word to which we can turn for answers – including a record of how the Lord led the first century church in resolving their issues and concerns.  It’s good to get input from other believers, but the ultimate authority for us (our source for checks and balances) is the God’s Word.  I encourage my congregation to check things out for themselves when they have doubts of questions about things I’ve said and to get back to me with their findings. 
 
“Be a Berean.”  Don’t take chances on running your race in vain; check God’s handbook. 

Could I ask a favor of you?  It would be interesting for me to see how many people are reading these postings (especially since this one is much later than usual and even my most diligent “watchdog” hasn’t contacted me yet.)  Please take a moment once you’ve read this entry to send me a quick e-mail with the word “blog” in the subject line.  You don’t have to type a message, and you WON’T be added to my email list for mass distribution of those annoying forwards that guilt you into passing them on — or any other mass messages.  You can use the link below:

pastorsteve@ncccma.org

THANKS!
 

Text:  Galatians 1:11-24
 
 
From this brief history of the life of the Apostle Paul, we learn an important lesson about service to Jesus Christ.  But before we get to that lesson, let’s look at a couple Biblical facts about each of us:
 
1  God has a super-human purpose for your life.  We just finished a week of Vacation Bible School at NCC for the children of our church and community.  The theme was Jesus: the Ultimate Superhero.  So it seems appropriate to speak in terms of super-human accomplishments here.  The first of these God desires for us is simply to know Him and His Son personally.  The final book of the Bible, Revelation, gives us the picture of Jesus standing at a door (representing the entry point into each of our lives) and saying “if anyone opens the door, I will come in with him and eat with him, and he with me.”  That’s fellowship, relationship He’s talking about there!  And it’s up to each of us to choose whether to open our own door and let Him in.  The personal knowledge of God through Jesus Christ is a super-human thing in itself because none of us deserves it nor can any of us do anything to earn it for ourselves – it’s only available as we recognize Jesus for who He is and accept Him (let Him in) as both Savior and Lord (Master) of our lives.  The second super-human thing God desires is for each of us to take part in the building of His church, not necessarily with hammer and nails but by using the gifts only He can give us to support and encourage one another (see Romans 12:3-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:1-31). 
 
2.  You can’t accomplish super-human things with human strength / wisdom.   As I wrote in the last paragraph, there are gifts that only God can give – and He only gives them to those who have put their faith and trust in Him – that we need in order to fulfill His purposes for our lives.  In about 536 BC, the first of the Israelites who had been captives in Babylon for 70 years began to return to their homeland and rebuild the ruined city of Jerusalem.  The leader of the first group of over 42,000 people was a man named Zerubbabel.  God sent him a message through the prophet Zechariah about the work that was before him and his companions:  “Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord” (Zech. 4:6)  That same message applies to our lives today; we can’t accomplish His purposes without His Spirit’s involvement. 
 
3.  Jesus (as we’ve been telling the children this week) is the “super-hero” who paid for us to have all that we need.  For those who haven’t received Jesus as personal Savior, the process looks something like:
 
Realize – God loves you and wants you to know Him
– We all need Him, for our own benefit as well as to accomplish His purposes
Recognize – Your sins separate you from Him (and we have all sinned), but Jesus died to solve that problem
Repent – Confess your sins and turn around to Him (let Him be your Savior & Master)
Receive – Gifts of relationship here and now and Eternal life hereafter
 
For those who have received Him, there is a reminder that the need to be filled with the Spirit of God and renewed in our relationship is constant.  In the book of Revelation, chapters 2 &3 contain letters to various 1^st Century churches.  To the church in Ephesus, God says “you have forsaken your first love.”  Things looked good on the outside, and there were some good things happening in that church, but they had regressed from acting out of love for the Lord in all they did to just doing good things – from relationship to religion.  The fellowship needs to be maintained.
 
For all of us, the message of 2 Peter 1:3 is this:  “His (Jesus’) divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”  All that we need was bought and paid in full at the cross of Calvary.  So how do we acquire and apply these provisions?  That is where we finally get back to today’s text more directly.  The secret to Paul’s success in ministry (as arguably the worlds greatest-ever missionary and evangelist) was Retreat – time alone with God.  Look at what he says in verses 15-18.  He spent 3 years being “tutored” by God, Himself in preparation for the ministry he would have on 3 great missionary tours through the Mediterranean region (and even on his trip to Rome while in chains).  He took time alone with God – a 3-year retreat, you might say.  God’s plans for us probably don’t involve competing with Paul for the title of best-ever evangelist and missionary, but whatever the task, our success also depends on spending time alone with God.  Few of us have 3 years we can spend in continuous Retreat, but there are other ways of receiving from the Lord.  Some people are “wired” to get most of what they need from their daily devotions and an attitude of “prayer without ceasing.”  Others live on a cycle of being recharged on a weekly basis by regular events and services of their church families.  Still others need to take a few hours or a few days alone from time to time in more of what we would think of as a retreat setting.  We’re not all the same (thank the Lord), and we don’t all get filled / renewed the same way.  Still there is benefit in daily, weekly, and periodic special times alone with God no matter which is your preferred method of connecting with Him.
 
The challenge is for each of us to know and follow the “Rhythm of Retreat” God has designed for each of us, so we’re not trying to do super-human things on merely human strength. 
 
Blessings of God for a GREAT week!

Text:  Galatians 1:1-10

 
Who?:  Paul, the Apostle, begins his letter to the people of the Galatian Churches with a clear claim of identity – not that he’s claiming to be anybody special himself, but he wants to make it clear that his identity and his authority are both found in Christ alone.  He was acquainted with a couple of the “heavy weights” of the faith (namely, Peter and James) after a trip to Paul made to Jerusalem, but he does not trace his authority to them or any other human source.  This is important because the purpose of his letter is to challenge the teachings of some others (not Peter or James, by the way) who have set themselves up as authority figures before the Galatians. 

 
What?:  The subject of the letter is the Gospel of Grace contrasted with legalism that was infiltrating the church, including an expectation from Jewish believers that Gentile Christians be circumcised.  The background for this demand was God’s covenant with Abraham in which circumcision was established as an outward sign of commitment to God.  But even as far back as the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, we read “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer” (10:16) and “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” (30:6)  The point of these and other OT references is that the outward circumcision of the flesh is not enough, there has to be a heart commitment.  As Romans 3:20 tells us “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law.”  Salvation comes only by faith in Jesus Christ, as Paul explained in his letter to the Ephesians in 2:8-9; it does not depend on anything we might “add” (by legalism) to what Jesus has done for us.  That does not mean the law is of no value – it is the yardstick for Christian character.  God gave the Mosaic Law as a revelation of His own character and as a guide for living in the newfound freedom for Israel (as they left Egyptian captivity behind) and for NT Christians (as they are freed from bondage to sin/self).  David understood this when he wrote: “ The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” (Ps. 119:7)
 
Why?:  This whole conflict between Paul and the circumcision advocates needs to be resolved because is the importance of “Grace alone” in our salvation.  Even with the law in place, Gal. 1:4 tells us that the possibility of being saved from the evil of this age did not exist prior to Jesus’ earthly life and His death on the cross.  Further, in Romans 4 Paul makes it clear that Abraham’s righteousness was credited to him by faith even before he (the original recipient of the covenant with God) had been circumcised.  Paul is saying that anything that shifts our focus away from the Cross and onto personal accomplishments for salvation is not only unnecessary but destructive.  It is far more important to please God with the nature of our hearts than to please mankind with ceremony and outward appearances that may or may not be a true reflection of what is going on inside us. 

 
Action steps –

 
1.  Be sure that where conflicts / differences of opinion occur, the first line of resolution is to look to God’s authority, not humanity’s

2.  Examine yourself –

a.  Do you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord?  Make sure your hope of salvation / claim to knowing God is based on the Cross of Calvary, not your own efforts and achievements – you must have a personal relationship with Jesus (John 14:6, 15:5)

 
If not, check out the Romans Road:

      Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8” 10:9-10 followed by 1 John 1:9

 
b.  If you do know Him, are you adding anything to the Gospel of Grace?  Whatever else we depend upon for salvation does not improve our position with God, it hinders our relationship with Him.  Again, we have to honor Him with our character / behavior, but if anyone thinks he/she can do that well enough to earn God’s favor, his/her hope is in the wrong place.