Is God ashamed to be called my God?

By Chris Hammett - Think in your own mind the things of which you are ashamed. Things you or someone you know have been a part of that you don’t want anyone to find out; Skeletons in our closet so to speak.

Now think of the things of which you are proud. Pride can be something you have accomplished in school, the workplace, sports, and many other areas of your life. Pride can also be an emotion that we had no part in achieving. Coming off this week’s holiday you look around and see images of pride and freedom in our country, but really how many had a part in securing and defending our freedom? I was not in the country after 09-11-2001, but I heard stories of a great outpouring of national pride and commitment to freedom. Flags were being flown everywhere, bumper stickers were on almost every car and truck and so on. For these who have served for me to have freedom I want to say thanks. PRIDE or being proud is a deep emotion. My question for myself and each of us today is this "Is God proud of me”?

Most of us have those family members we just don’t want to be seen with. You know the ones with unspeakable baggage. I have a brother who spent eight years in federal penitentiary. If I brought him in here none of you would know it and I would be comfortable. However, when there is a family reunion  the family knows his past and there is a sense of embarrassment when he comes around. I also have a family member who has chosen to live a homosexual lifestyle. When she and her friend come to family events it is very uncomfortable for most. I know if you ask the parents in both cases they will tell you that they love these two family members, but they are not proud of them. They are even embarrassed of them and their choices.

I have shared of times in my own life when I have not been proud of things that I or my children have done. I have also shared of times when I have been very proud of my children. These are my children and yet they cause me both pride and embarrassment. I don’t love them any less. And the hurt from embarrassment is very real.

At this point I want to make a clear distinction that I am NOT talking about Salvation. Salvation is when you put your life in Christ’s hands and confess your are lost without Him. You acknowledge your lostness and ask for forgiveness. Just as a child has an earthly father we can have that relationship as Children of God and that relationship can never be broken. When I speak of pride and embarrassment, I'm speaking of how we live our lives out in faith.

I am sure God sees me as I see my children. Some of my choices have pleased God and then other have embarrassed Him. Look at Exodus 32:7-10. This is the account of the First Tablets God had given to Moses. While Moses was on the mountain with God the people became restless and built the Golden Calf and worshiped it. You see God’s displeasure. You see how God is feeling? Does it sound like He is proud to be called their God? 

What does it take to have God proud of us?  First I want to make sure you understand perfection is not required. Look at the people God with whom God is ashamed. Hebrews 11 is not a listing of people who always did everything God asked them to do. Hebrews 11 is a list of people who had faith and it was credited to them.  In Hebrews 11:5-6 the writer speaks of Enoch and because he pleased God, God took Enoch away. 

Ask yourself these questions:

Why should God be proud of me?

How do I live out my faith?

When I see God face to face will He welcome me as in the parable of Matthew 25: 21 or will there be awkwardness as I am welcomed into the kingdom?

WILL God Ashamed to be called My GOD?

Lucy's Story - A Parable

In September 2008, our German Shepherd, Queen, died after being bitten by a snake. Normally, a single snake bite would not kill a 100 pound, healthy German Shepherd, but it was the right bite in the right place, and she could not recover from it.

Matthew had never known a day of his life without Queen. And, it was his first encounter with the death of anything beloved. So, he was heartbroken. When I went to pay the veterinarian’s final bill, I took Matthew with me so that the veterinarian could console him – helping him understand what had happened and why death was a relief to Queen’s agony.

In the few days after Queen’s death, I thought it best to get another dog pretty quickly. But, none of us wanted another German Shepherd. It would be impossible for us to replace Queen, and another Shepherd would keep reminding us of her. So, I asked the veterinarian to recommend a good dog for a boy of nine, and she recommended that we get a beagle. Yes, I know, a howling, digging, and overly-playful beagle. “Every boy needs a beagle,” she said.

Not knowing anything about beagles, I asked her where Mathew and I might go see one and learn more about them. She directed us to an area breeder who raised beagles, taught them to rabbit hunt, and sold them across the country. I called him, and Matthew and I, on a Monday evening, went for a beagle visit.

It was a first-class operation. I learned more about the personality and temperament of beagles in 30 minutes than I suppose most beagles owners really understand. As we received an education worthy of The Discovery Channel, he pointed to female and said, "If you want one, I can let you have her for $100. She's a year old and completely up to date on shots. I can give you her health history.” And, he only wanted $100.

We became beagle owners.

Perhaps I was the victim of shrewd salesmanship because I believe he intentionally talked of the sale with Matthew’s ears on full alert. But, Matthew was happy, and our family is very comfortable with dogs. And, so we left with a one-year-old, full-blooded beagle that we named Lucy. When I completed the ownership transfer with the American Kennel Club, I learned that Lucy’s sire was paid royally for his stud services.This further added legitimacy to the man’s rabbit-hunting operation and to Lucy’s pedigree.

Let me add a bit of disclaimer. We love dogs. We are not indoor dog people. Vicki and I have had beloved dogs all of our lives. My family even raised full-blooded Cocker Spaniels. But, we are a family that understands dogs are dogs and people are people. We don't ever get that confused.

Lucy, just like Queen, was going to be an outdoor dog. Well, sort of.

As soon as we got home with Lucy, we noticed something was wrong with her. Though the September temperatures were warm, she was noticeably shivering – her heart racing out of control. As the boys moved in to love her, she retreated. I understood that all the noise was probably overwhelming to a dog with very limited human contact, and so we wrote it off to first-day jitters. I put her in Queen's extra large kennel box that night so she could stay indoors with us. I didn't want to put this terrified dog in our back yard for the night.

Over the next several days, the fear did not go away. In the back yard, Lucy went behind the shed, cowered in the underbrush, and stayed there all day. Where was the playful beagle? Where was the diggingest dog? Where was the howler?

We decided to continue bringing her in the house at night, if for no other reason but the human contact. So, at night, I went out to get her. I would approach her and she would run from me. She would not let us get near her. She did not threaten to bite me. She never snarled or growled. She didn't whimper. She just ran and hid - and hid well. And, she trembled. We tried everything.

Hoping to connect with Lucy, we tried everything to approach her in the yard and point her, at night, to the light and warmth of the house. But, she would not respond. Finally, I took a lesson from my childhood around the hog farm. We developed a system of corrals, forcing Lucy into smaller and smaller spaces until we could pick her up and bring her into the house.

When we brought her in, one of us would sit in the floor, holding her, consoling her as she trembled. We noticed that she never once soiled the kennel box, and so one night we left her out of the box. The next morning, she was in the exact same place we had left her the night before – a comfortable pet bed on the floor. She had not moved, or explored. And, no accidents. I opened the back door and she ran outside, and hid. In fact, let me interject here: In five years of coming in - or being brought in - at night, Lucy has never explored another part of our home. Once inside, she goes to her bed, curls and rests . . . and never moves until the next morning.

Days, weeks and months passed. We watched Lucy get more comfortable with the back yard, playing by herself. She took an old tennis ball, nudged it forward and then chased it down. We had a big oak tree cut down and she would perch on the stump like the ruler of the back yard. She owned the back yard, and we would spy on her through the window blinds. But, if we ever opened the back door or she saw us in the window, she would run behind the shed and hide.

And, at night, even on rainy and cold nights, she would not come inside. We physically had to bring her inside. Some nights, I can walk to the far corner of the yard, leave the back door open, and she will run inside on her own. But, she will not run inside if any of us are near the door.

Once inside, she curls up on the floor. One of us will often sit by her, love on her, and offer her a dog treat. She doesn't love back. She just rests.

Last year, Matthew and I built a small patio and fire bit. We are out there a lot, and I thought surely she would come up to the patio and sit with us. Nope. As we sit around the patio, she is hiding over behind the shed or under the shed. I even went to her one evening, and brought her to the fire pit. As soon as I let her go, she ran away.

This past winter, on a particularly cold, wet and miserable day, I looked outside to see Lucy cowering under the shed. I went to get her. I opened the door to our home and moved far from it, but she would not run inside. I went to the shed, and lay down on the ground, looking at her. I began talking to her.

“Lucy, why won’t you come inside?” I asked her. “Inside, it’s bright and warm, and we all love you. Out here, you are all alone, it’s dark, and it’s cold, and it’s lonely. Why are you so content to stay out here? Why has this gotten so comfortable for you?”

She just looked at me.

“Lucy, we aren’t trying to clean you up before we bring you in. Not one time in five years have we tried to give you a bath as a requisite to coming inside the house,” I said. “It doesn’t matter to us." (We do bathe her,  obviously, but as therapy it's always in the tub with warm water.)

She just looked at me.

“Inside there are people who genuinely love you. Even big Richard loves you though he doesn’t show it like Matthew shows it,” I said.

Finally, I got far enough under the shed that she let me get a foot, and then I inched her to me until I carried this mentally wounded, dirty, wet dog into the comfort of our house.

As I hope you understand . . . this is not a dog story.

I look around Lexington. I see hundreds if not thousands of people who would have gotten comfortable in the dark, cold, and lonely world that we live in. They have gotten comfortable with the lie that being a follower of Jesus is limited to an hour of dress-up on Sunday morning. Nothing about this world loves you and me – not one thing of this world loves us. Only in faith with Jesus, can we experience love that can't be defined. John 15:19: “The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.”

I don’t understand why these good people won’t come inside of faith, where the pressure and pain of this world is made joyful and peaceful and hopeful. I don’t understand why people value this world more than they value Jesus, and, yes, they do, we do – all the time. I know people inside of faith are noisy, imperfect, and do stupid things – but it’s still a better place than living in the dark.  John 3:19: “ And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” (Any deed grounded in self-fulfillment is evil).

God doesn't expect any of us to come to Him in perfection. He doesn't ask us to get squeaky clean before we come to Him. He sent His son to us just as we are, and Jesus just says "follow me." Jesus never says, "take a shower, and then follow me." As the old hymn reminds us, "Just As I Am, I Come." You and I cannot get clean enough for a Holy God, and God knows that. He judges sin, yes, but he loves us enough to send Jesus to be with us. Psalms 130.3-4 – If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness… I don't understand why people put up barriers, preventing their own faith from taking root.

I don’t understand why people can’t see that God loves us so much that He sent His son to save us. God didn’t say, “Find me on your own or go to hell.” No, he sent his son to crawl under the shed and be with us – to find us where we are and to love us right there. John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus is still in the business of coming to us every day and saying, "Follow me."

I don’t understand why a loving God never gives up on us. No matter how much we resist Him. No matter how much we resist His love for us, God never gives up on us. He is always opening the door and calling us inside. It breaks my heart that people can’t let God love them the way He wants to love them.  Philippians 1:6: "God is the one who began this good work in you, and I am certain that he won't stop before it is complete on the day that Christ Jesus returns."

What about you?
Are you living in the light or are you comfortable in the darkness?
Perhaps you have even experienced the light, but still find a lot of contentment in the world. You can't serve two masters.
What’s stopping you from going into the dark places and talking to people about Jesus?
What’s stopping you from running to faith, full throttle, and discovering what God needs to do through your life?
How long will you live this life, day after day, living tomorrow just like today, knowing it’s better on the inside of faith, but unable to fully commit to it? How long will you waste the precious time that God has given you on this Earth to reflect the Savior who loves you?
Today, do something. Turn to Jesus. Come inside and fear no more.

Followship: The secret ingredient to being a great Leader

By John Wright 

The last opportunity that I had to speak to the V Class, I talked about leadership and how Jesus was absolutely the greatest leader that ever lived.  Well today, I will continue on that theme but talk about a leadership quality that is sometimes overlooked and that quality is followership.  I have had the opportunity over the years to work with some of the world’s greatest leaders and one thing that I am convinced of is that you cannot be a good leader without being a great follower.  There is no gray area in Jesus’ teaching about this. In John 14;15, Christ says “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” 

So let me start this discussion of followership by saying that I love a good story.  Growing up in southern Appalachia, a great part of our Scotch-Irish heritage is the handing down of history through the oral tradition.  In fact, the little town that I am from hosts the National Storytelling Festival every year.  Every year, people from all over the world pour into this little town to hear world-renowned story tellers.  I could get the same thing by sitting in my grandmother’s kitchen or the local country store.  And the good thing about those options, in addition to being free, I was usually able to eat what was left in a mixing bowl or have someone buy me a grape or peach Nehi.  In fact, Susan’s and my alma mater now offers a storytelling program of study, so hopefully this tradition is not going away in our modern times,

I say all this because this year, I am reading through the Bible using a chronological version and I am constantly amazed at how fascinating God’s word is as a literary work.  And what you have to appreciate is that all those great stories and historic accounts began with an oral tradition, generations and generations passing these stories down.  So, this morning, I would like to use two stories from the Old Testament as examples of good and bad followership. 

The first story is the account of Saul as the first king of the Israelites in the book of 1st Samuel.  The fact that Saul is the king of Israel is even an account of corporate bad followership by the entire nation of Israel.  If you remember, before Saul becoming king the affairs of the nation were overseen by judges whose job was to interpret the will of God for the people.  But like so many times in our lives, we have God’s perfect will but we think we know what is best.  So the people of Israel come to Samuel and say “well all the other nations have a king why can’t we have one.” The problem was that they already had a king.  God was their king and by wanting a king they, in turn, were telling God that he was not good enough.  Do we ever do that? Do we say to God, “well this person has this and that, and I want it, too.” When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, remember that he taught them to ask for their daily bread. Trust God for exactly what you need because not only is He Jehovah Jireh that can provide it, he is the God of Infinite Wisdom and he knows exactly what you need.  So fast-forward a few years. Saul has been doing a pretty good job as king.  After claiming the land that God had promised to them, there was one nation that continue to be a thorn in the side of Israel and that was the Amalekites. So let’s pick up the story in 1 Samuel 15.

15 Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy[a] all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

Now that sounds pretty rough, doesn’t it? It does to me and I have had the unfortunate opportunity to experience ground combat.  But, remember that this about followership, obedience to a perfect God, with perfect wisdom. 

So let’s pick up the story again:  

7 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. 8 He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves[b] and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

Did you catch that?  Everything that was good they kept, everything that was despised and weak they destroyed.  Saul has got clear instructions from God Almighty and he’s following those instructions right down to the letter. Nope.  Sound like anyone you know? Sounds like someone that lives in your mirror?

I love the next part of the story.  I think Samuel must been just a really cool old guy.

11-12 Samuel was angry when he heard this. He prayed his anger and disappointment all through the night. He got up early in the morning to confront Saul but was told, “Saul’s gone. He went to Carmel to set up a victory monument in his own honor, and then was headed for Gilgal.”

By the time Samuel caught up with him, Saul had just finished an act of worship, having used Amalekite plunder for the burnt offerings sacrificed to God.

13 As Samuel came close, Saul called out, “God’s blessings on you! I accomplished God’s plan to the letter!”

14 Samuel said, “So what’s this I’m hearing—this bleating of sheep, this mooing of cattle?”

Yes, you heard that right. Saul had gone to erect a monument to his own honor.  Oh, but he’s not done.  He’s standing in a hole already and shoveling as fast as he can.  He goes on tell Samuel:

15 “Only some Amalekite loot,” said Saul. “The soldiers saved back a few of the choice cattle and sheep to offer up in sacrifice to God. But everything else we destroyed under the holy ban.”

Of course, we know the rest of the story. God decides that Saul’s descendants will not serve as the king of Israel and Samuel will go on to find their next king.  He’ll find a country boy, Jessie’s youngest son, a kid named David.  But listen to what Samuel says to Saul after learning about what he has done.

What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices
or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.

23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft  and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.
So because you have rejected the command of the Lord,he has rejected you as king.

Saul had a pretty good gig going.  The first king of Israel and he lets his pride get in the way and blow it for him.  You see, there is a major difference in following the instructions of God and the instructions of man.  When you follow the instructions of another person, there can be that little sliver of doubt as to whether or not this is really the right thing to do.  When following God there is never a reason to doubt his instruction, it’s perfect.  Many folks would tell you that The Bible is an antiquated book full of instruction and wisdom for people that lived a long time ago and in times very different than others.  I will tell you that they are wrong and will further say that there is not a conflict or crisis in your life that the Holy Spirit and the words of God himself in this book aren’t answered.  Followership is so easy but still so hard.

I am a big fan of the movie, Forrest Gump. I especially love the scene when he has just assembled his M-16 and the big drill sergeant asks him “Gump, why did you put that weapon together so fast?” Of course, his reply was “Because you told me to Drill Sergeant!” Do you think God would like to hear us justify our actions by saying, “because you told me to God?"

I told you that I would give you a good and bad example of followership from the Bible.  Obviously that was the bad one.  Not only do I love stories as a result of my childhood, I also have a tendency to express myself using euphemisms.  That’s just the way people communicate where I’m from.  I went my whole childhood wondering who Cooter Brown was and why he didn’t get help for his drinking problem. And while I didn’t know who this guy named Dick was, I certainly wondering why he never adjusted his hatband. Southern mamas have some of the best ones.  My mother used to tell me to “get next to myself” and I never understood what that meant.  Anyway, one of my favorite metaphors is that “you have to drink upstream from the herd” and really no explanation is required for that one. So this story is about a guy who drank upstream from the herd both figuratively and literally.

Our next story takes place before Saul back in the time of the judges and begins the way that so many stories begin in the Old Testament, “The Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord.” He we go again.  I think I could write my autobiography starting chapters that way. “Then John did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Then just like Scott talked about last week, God’s gotta do a little work on me.  Now a man named Gideon is chosen by God to be the judge for Israel. Now unlike Saul, who struggled with his pride, Gideon is like so many others who doubt their own abilities when God promises to side with us to do his own will.  For seven years, the people of Israel have been tormented by the nation of Midian.  So God tells Gideon that he is going to deliver the Midianites into the hands of the Israelite army. Preparing for battle, Gideon receives his first order from God:

Judges 7

2The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. 3 Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain[a] and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.

Oh, it gets better.  The last time you heard this story might have been on a flannel graph in Sunday School and if you don’t know what a flannel graph is, I’m sorry your childhood just wasn’t complete.

4 But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.” 5 When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.” 6 Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.

If I’m Gideon, I’m thinking, “OK, surely God is going to tell me to send those 300 home and I’ll take the 9,700 left and go defeat the Midianites.” Right? Nope

7 The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.” 8 So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them home. But he kept the 300 men with him.

But God did something very special for Gideon. He encourages him just like he will encourage you through the Holy Spirit when you resolve to do his will.  Like any great military leader, He instructs Gideon to go on a little recon. So Gideon and his servant, Purah go creeping down to the Midianite camp where they overhear this conversation: 

13 Gideon crept up just as a man was telling his companion about a dream. The man said, “I had this dream, and in my dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent, turned it over, and knocked it flat!”14 His companion answered, “Your dream can mean only one thing—God has given Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all its allies!”

Well, the rest of the story is pretty simple.  Gideon and his 300 troops go on to totally annihilate the Midianites.

Do you notice the difference between Saul and Gideon?  Both leaders were faced with huge tasks that can only be accomplished with the help of God. And unlike Saul, every time Gideon was given instruction he followed it with complete obedience.  You see not only was Gideon displaying obedience in his personal life, the fate of the entire nation of Israel rested on his decisions.  Think about the leadership roles that you have assumed (mom, dad, teacher coach, manager) and how your ability to follow God affects those around you.

In the latter chapters of John, Jesus had just washed his disciple feet and he is preparing for this terrible death that he will soon face.  This is what he tells His disciples:

John 14:

12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!15 “If you love me, obey[d] my commandments. 

When you read this that this whole concept of followership seems so elementary. Why wouldn’t we follow God with complete obedience? But there’s good news.  In the same passage, Jesus goes on to say

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.

Folks, never forget that when you become a Christian that the Spirit of God lives within you.  After Saul’s sin with the Amalakites the Bible says that the Spirit of God left him.  How sad does that sound?  But Jesus promises us that if we belong to him the Holy Spirit will never leave us.

God will discipline those who are His

Does God punish us?

As I have told you before, I was especially rebellious in my 20s, leading to some ugliness in my life as I reached 30. My mama, who had introduced me to Jesus and followed my Christian journey all my life, said to me one day, “Scott, God will not let ONE OF HIS continue to rebel like this.” Those words penetrated me and caused me to pause. She did not speak those words in anger. In fact, it was her lips moving, but it was the voice of God speaking to me. That is why I can tell you that God will not let us call Jesus, Lord, and then continue to purposely live our lives with self-indulgence. If I do that, I will be disciplined by God. If you live that way, you too will be disciplined by God.

But, let's start this discussion elsewhere and come back to that.

We all sin, and we sin (love self more than we love God and others) throughout our lives. We sin by putting our plans ahead of God's plans. We sin when we choose the smart action rather than the right action. We can't escape sin. Sin is with us from birth to death. And, because God is sinless, and all of creation belongs to God, God must punish sin.

It's like we're born on Death Row. But, there's hope! God sent Jesus to free us from Death Row. Those who confess Jesus as their Lord & Savior from sin are spared God's wrath. As a follower of Jesus, my sin - past, present and future - were punished on the cross, where Jesus was crucified. Paul writes in Romans 8:1, "So, now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." Because of Jesus' sacrifice, God sees only the righteousness of Jesus when He looks at believers. Our sins were nailed to the cross with Jesus, and we will never be punished for them. That's why we call Jesus the Good News. It is Good News to be freed from Death Row.

The unbeliever, sadly, does not have a relationship with God through Jesus. He or she is not saved from sin. The unbeliever may live a good life with what they perceive as rich blessing, but the unbeliever remains on Death Row. Dying on Death Row, the unbeliever receives God's death penalty, and spends eternity in a real and literal place called hell. God doesn't send people to hell; people choose to be there.

Let's now turn our attention back to the believers, spared from the God's wrath on sin. Though forgiven and saved, sin remains in our lives. But, believers have the Holy Spirit living within them. And, the Spirit cries out when we sin, telling us to avoid or flee from the sinful behavior, or thought, or action. As we are counseled by the Spirit that we are involved in sin and we don't repent of the sin, continuing to take up the sin, God will step in and discipline us in a divine way.

It's a parent-child relationship.

When the boys were little, if I told them to stop doing something, and they kept doing it out of defiance or neglect, I whipped them. I certainly loved them, and the whipping was to shape them into the men that Vicki and I wanted them to grow up and be. It was not a spanking to hurt them, but to get their attention and shape them. My preferred discipline style was a whipping. Other parents choose isolation punishment or the removal of activities. I preferred whippings because I could take care of business in less than three minutes, correct the behavior, and not have to keep up with how long someone had been in timeout, and I was not going to punish an entire baseball team by keeping my son out of practice. But, the point is this: As we discipline children for rebellious behavior, we can expect God to discipline us for continued rebellious behavior. That’s what my mama meant when she said, “God will not let ONE OF HIS continue to rebel like this.”

If you don't ever feel God's discipline - through the Holy Spirit, the words of others, or through a situation - you may not be saved from sin. I say this because I can't imagine a Holy God who loves you ignoring your desire to do, and act, outside of His plan for you as a follower of Jesus. I believe that all believers are regularly disciplined. I know I am, and I can't imagine that other believers are any different than me.

In Hebrews 12:7-13 (NLT), we read, "As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as His own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn't discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn't we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God's discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening - it's painful! But, afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. So, take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong."

We should be thankful that God loves us enough to discipline us, shaping us as stronger followers of Jesus.

Why is the discipline necessary, you ask? Well, to make us more like Jesus, yes, but read again Hebrews 12:13. You and I have a responsibility to live lives that encourage the weak in faith. We will be disciplined when our lives have a negative impact on the weak in faith. The next time you socialize with friends, please keep that in mind. People are always watching. Believers must reflect the One they claim to follow. Failing to be conscious of the weak is grounds for discipline. It will sting.

God's discipline is designed to turn us from rebellion to obedience. It's to open our eyes more clearly to God's calling on our lives. Read what David writes in Psalms 32:3-5, "When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord." And, you forgave me! All my guilt is gone." So, God's discipline is from a place of love. It is a shaping of our lives to a more peaceful, hopeful, and loving existence.

Okay, Scott, how does God discipline us, specifically? Well, none of us are God, none of us can understand the ways of God, and God can choose to discipline as He sees fit. But, here's some thoughts for you:

1. The discipline will be from a place of love. It will not be from a place of hard-heartedness or cruelty. My analogy. God's discipline will be more like a spanking; not a torturous event like cutting off your fingers. But, the spanking will have sting to it, it will get our attention, and it will cause us to confess sin and turn from it. When we do that, God promises peace.
2. The discipline will fit the sin, and you will be able to recognize that it does so. This is how God teaches us.
3. The believer will know he or she deserved the discipline. Because of the Holy Spirit within us, there will be brokenness and repentance. David wrote that he groaned all day under the weight of God's discipline. Come on, as a follower you know - you know to your core - when you have done wrong, acted wrong, said something wrong, and taken the low road. You know when you've been ugly. I do, and I know you do, too. And, because I belong to God - as a follower of Jesus - I can expect discipline for regular and unrepentant selfishness.

Very personally, I hear God's discipline through Vicki. I hear it through my dearest friends. I feel it to my core. God will take me to the desert to teach me, too. For me, personally, God takes His hands off my life and I start sinking. I'm restless, I'm not at peace, I'm worried, I'm frustrated, I'm sleepless, and I'm mildly depressed. Then I cry out, beg forgiveness, and peace is restored. That's how God's discipline works for me.

What inquiring minds want to know, because we are all sinners, is this: When do "they" get their discipline, and can I watch? We have this fascination with wanting to see others punished for what "they" do, specifically if "they" are doing it to me and mine. That's a very sinful attitude, because it inserts "me" in the discipline of others by a Holy God for my satisfaction. The prayer should not be, "Sic'em, Lord" but instead, "Use me Lord to love them into a stronger relationship with you." Big difference.

What about those who claim to love Jesus, but seem to sin their entire lives? Well, this leads us back to conversations of The Narrow Gate, right? If someone perpetually sins, and never turns from it, there’s a strong chance that person does not know the Lord at all – regardless of what they say and do. Why? Because a follower of Jesus is going to be disciplined, will realize it, and turn from the sinful behavior. So, our responsibility is to build relationship with that person toward the opportunity of sharing Jesus with them. We can’t turn from them, nose in the air, and give them the middle finger.

Some people have addiction problems. I understand that. While we all have a sin problem, in some believers sin has rooted and manifested into addiction – sexual, alcohol, chemical to name some. If the addict is a believer, God’s discipline will drive that person to seek professional help, including, possibly, Christian counseling.That’s why there is always hope for every person – even those whose sinful nature has gotten out of their control.

But understand something. It all begins with Jesus. Know Jesus as your Savior, and escape God's punishment on sin. Know Jesus and lean on the Holy Spirit for right direction in daily living. Enjoy today – and in eternity – the love, hope and peace that comes with Jesus victory over your sin. Thank God for the continuous shaping He does with me and you through His divine discipline.

The Narrow Gate

In Matthew 7:22, we read the words of Jesus, "Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, 'Lord! Lord! we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.' But, I will reply, 'I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws.'

Every human being on this planet was and is and will be born without salvation from sin. Please understand that. All of us are born sinful and live our lives in sin. We die as sinners. We are born on a road with hell - a real place and an eternal separation from God - as our deserved destination. God loves us, He is with us, but, outside of faith in Jesus, God has no relationship with us because we are 'born in sin' and he is sinless. (John 14:6 - Jesus says, "No one can come to the Father except through me.) Knowing that we are born with hell as our eternal destination helps us understand what we read in John 3:17, "God sent His son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him."

There is not one thing that you and I can do that will make hell more of a destination. We were born ticketed to that destination. It's ridiculous then to lower ourselves to the judging of others' sinfulness except between believers and in a spirit of protection and love for that person. (If my close friend is beginning to flirt with women outside his marriage, I'm going to confront him for his own good and because I love him). Likewise, there is not one thing that you and I can do to save ourselves from hell as a destination. In the Scripture passage, above, from Matthew 7, Jesus says people will claim they did great things in the name of spirituality, but none of it saved them.

Because God loves us, despite our sinfulness, and desires a relationship with each of us, He provides an escape - salvation - from our road to destruction. He sent his son, Jesus, to die as a substitute for each of us. Jesus bore each of our sins, died on the cross with them, was cleansed of them, and rose again to join God in heaven. Those who believe that Jesus made this sacrifice will be filled with the Holy Spirit for daily guidance, and be restored to a relationship with God. These believers will die and God will not see their sin - God will see Jesus and pardon the individual. That's the gospel presented by the apostle John in John 3:16.

Only Jesus saves. Only Jesus. None but Jesus.

In Luke 18:16, Jesus says, "Then Jesus called for the children and said to his disciples, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the Kingdom of God like a child (acceptance, faith, trust, and innocence) will never enter it." It takes a child's faith to respond to Jesus. That's why adults have such a struggle coming to Jesus. Adults try to logically figure it out. But, we aren't God. We must acknowledge that we need Jesus, that we have a void in our innermost being that nothing of this Earth can fill, and that only Jesus can fill that void. We acknowledge Jesus and respond - we let go of what the world calls logical. The world is a deceitful place.

Jesus tells us that most people can't or won't accept Him as their Savior.

Many of the people that I know will not be with me in heaven. That's not an indictment of their lifestyle because all of us are sinful. It's just that I know, from the words of Jesus, that only a few will enter the Kingdom. The indictment is on me to be bold in my faith and point people toward salvation. And, that indictment eats at me day and night, night and day. Who is coming to Jesus because of my life? Because of your life?

It's uncomfortable and messy to believe that many of the people I know will not be in heaven. We like to think of our comfortable little Bible Belt, where people gather in churches, have lunch afterward with mama, sign up children for Vacation Bible School, read devotion books, and revere Billy Graham. We like to think that everyone on our left and right will be with us in heaven, but the opposite is true. The question is not whether people are good or bad because many of the lost are really good people. But, being a good person doesn't lead to eternity with God - only a confessed faith in Jesus does that. If being a good person was all that's important to salvation, we could buy our salvation and that's not Biblical.

My studies and travels lead me to believe that people fall into three very loose categories:

1. The carnal lost. Those that have completely turned from faith, and have rejected it.
2. The Cultural (Carnal or Consumer) Christian. Those who believe they do the right things that "Christians are supposed to do" and by default they are saved. These people - regardless of what they do in the name of church or religiosity - are not saved. 
3. The Conversion Christian. Those who can and do publicly confess, "I love Jesus; my life stands for Jesus, and nothing else in my life matters when compared to Jesus."

The overwhelming majority of people who have lived, live today and will live tomorrow fall into categories One and Two. Jesus says in Matthew 7:13, “You can only enter God’s Kingdom through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.” How much is a few? Well, it's not a majority. A few, in the great scheme of the universe, isn't very many.

What does a Conversion Christian look like? They will have or long to have these attributes.

• There is a confessing love of Jesus, an acknowledgment of personal sinfulness and that only a faith in Jesus covers sin in the presence of Almighty God. There is an understanding that life is worth living only because Jesus lives. (Mark 8:38)
• There is an accepting that following Jesus is costly and painful to this human existence. Every believer that I know has suffered in this Earthly life because of a faith in Jesus. It is ridiculous to believe Jesus died on the cross and that we can follow Him without suffering. A believer will lose friends, lose customers, be at odds with family, be cut from the team, have children cut from the team, be laughed at, ridiculed, and struck down by this world and its forces of evil. (Matthew 5:10-12)
• There is a hunger to produce other disciples. Following Jesus is not a precious gift we lock away in a safe for our own admiration. There is a hunger to have eyes and arms wide open for people who need Jesus, and to point them toward the cross. I believe the Conversion Christian grows to a place, where he or she no longer sees people, but sees souls who need to know Jesus. Following Jesus is about "going and doing" with intention. (Matthew 28:19)
• There is a desire to be "workers" in a fellowship community - the church. There is a seriousness to the place of church in God's plan and in our lives. (Acts 2:41-47)
• There is an understanding that Salvation is not a transaction, but a conversion.It involves change. We are literally new creations manifested by repentance, love and obedience toward God and our neighbors. (James 2:14-26). To believe otherwise is to believe in a cheap grace. Salvation occurs within the heart; not within the trappings of church-based protocol or rituals.

You can see why the number are few, can't you? You can see why many buy into the deceit of the Cultural Christian that salvation can be purchased only by doing good things, connecting to a church, knowing some Scripture, attending prayer breakfasts, giving money and using influence for good, and making baptisms and confirmation classes synonymous with salvation? It's a wide gate. Some will even quote John's vision in Revelation 7 of the "multitude" in heaven, and use that to dismiss the Narrow Gate. Yes, many will be in heaven; but, still that number will only represent a few of all humanity that has ever and will ever live. Don't be deceived by the wide road. We see a lot of people on this wide road, and it feels comfortable. It's even fun. We can join the herd and be content - never even calling on the name of Jesus. But, Jesus provides the painful reminder of The Narrow Gate. Nothing about faith is ever really comfortable.

Many who read this will be confronted with the reality of Jesus' position in their lives. Non-existent, a cultural icon, or a personal Savior. For those who have not confessed Jesus as their Savior from sin, I invite you to contact me at scott@svministry.com. I invite you to attend our Sunday morning class, The V Class, at Lexington Baptist Church. God has put on my heart the need to share the gospel every week, and to stand with other believers in making disciples. We don't have it all figured out; we need others to be on the journey with us. We invite you to join with Jesus, and then join with us.

For those who are Conversion Christians, I need to speak with you here.
We can no longer assume that everyone is saved from sin by the blood of Jesus. We must assume that everyone is lost - continuing from birth on that broad road to an eternity without God. We must ache for people, not judging them, but judging ourselves. If you are a teacher, the classroom and the families behind the students become souls who need to know a Savior. If you are in sales, the customers become souls who need to know a Savior reflected through you. If you are a mechanic, a banker, a doctor, a lawyer, a coach, a dad, a mom, an aunt, an uncle, a grandmother, a grandfather, a brother, or a sister - all who come in and out of your life are souls, needing to hear about Jesus from you. This is not the pastor's job. This is not the Sunday School teacher's job. This is not the church's job.

As a Conversion Christian, this is the holy order you have been given: Make disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them about Jesus. Our holy order is to see people loosened from this world's values and knotted to faith in a risen Savior. As Christian soldiers, the Holy Spirit will teach us when to be bold and when to work in stealth.

We may not trumpet Jesus on every street corner, but we can pray daily this way, "Lord, put one person in my path today - one person - and then the courage to tell them, 'I love Jesus and I want you to know my Jesus.' Give me this divine appointment, Lord, knowing that you will give me the exact words to say."

Maybe you feel this burning inside you to stand up for Jesus, but you just don't feel equipped. No church ever equipped you. That's the future chapter of our Sunday School class. We are going to equip people who want to testify for Jesus, knowing that the Cultural Christians will be converted or slip away. I pledge to you that I will stand with you, and we will learn together. I've not yet fully arrived myself and that is not a false modesty. I am still growing as a follower of Jesus. I will not be fully made until I see my Savior in eternity. My life's calling is to share Jesus with others and to help others share their own faith.

Friends, this is what we call the Weight of God. It's heavy business that is uncomfortable.
You and I live a life that will end with judgement. This world is a temporary place for temporary bodies.
There is an eternal, supernatural world going on all around us and it's in our future. There is no denying it. There is no escaping it. There is no prolonging it. It is here, it is now and it is forever.

You and I were born separated from a God who loves us, and wants a wonderful unimaginable eternity with each of us. He sent his son, Jesus, to die for our sinfulness and restore us to God's love. Few accept this gift. Most don't. Some become deceived that they have when they haven't. None of us have the vision to see a person's deepest relationship with Jesus, but each of us - to the core - knows the truth of our salvation. Only the few will enter the Narrow Gate. Please be in that number. If you are among the few, please join me - though imperfect and sinful - in pointing others to the arms of our sweet, sweet Savior.

Jesus. Name above all Names.

           

             

Love, Honor & Cherish

Marriage is important to God. It is serious business.

You and I were created for relationships, and the Bible is all about relationships - our vertical relationship with God, through Jesus, and our relationships with others.
St. Augustine made the statement, “our hearts are restless until we find our rest in God.” We were designed for a relationship with Him.
God created us to have relationship with others – people we could live and learn with. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:18-21,  “But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” In preparation for this lesson, I read this statement, "If God deeply desires to place us in relationship with the body of Christ (the church), doesn’t that mean He also desires to place us with the spouse of His choice?"
Do you see that shift? It's not about who we want to marry - or arrange for our children to marry - but who God desires to place us with.
Marriage then, for me, becomes a supernatural, God-valued, serious part of our lives.

But, why would God create marriage? Why is it important?
Marriage is the most intimate (closest) of human relationships. Of all your Earthly relationships - all of them - the closest, the most intimate, the most endeared is the one with your spouse. No relationship trumps the relationship with your spouse. If others - even children - have come between you and your spouse, your marriage is in trouble.

Why is the marriage relationship the most precious? In Romans 8:29, Paul writes, "For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His son (Christ-like)." We know from Jeremiah that God knew us before we were born, and God desires us to be conformed to the image of His son, Jesus. Marriage - being bound to someone for a lifetime - forces us to care for someone other than self, to consider someone other than self, to love someone more than self. What better than marriage sharpens us toward putting self aside and being more like Jesus? Remember the traditional vows: Love, Honor & Cherish (putting spouse ahead of self) Until Death Do Us Part?

Marriage is God's way of teaching us to be more Christ-like. Knowing this about marriage helps us understand why we should be praying every day for our spouse. Single folk should be praying for their future spouse. Parents should be praying for the future spouses of their children . . . and grandchildren. Who do you have chosen, Lord, and hear and direct my prayers for them?

The problem in our culture, friends, is that we don't take seriously the things of God. We have reduced church - the bride of Christ - to another organization through which to impress our friends. We claim to pray for others, but never do it. We've trivialized marriage. Many marriages are doomed to fail before they even begin.

In some faiths, marriage (Matrimony) is a Holy sacrament. Even in Baptist services, pastors and officiants will refer to Holy Matrimony. Matrimony is a union; wedlock means joined or locked together. Holy means "set apart." And, so marriage is a bound - locked - relationship that is set apart by God - set apart from all the other relationships in your life. Because it is a relationship set apart by God, God has His hands on it. It's a covenant with God - a solemn and binding relationship meant to last a lifetime. God is so serious about His covenants with us - including marriage - that He sees them as a Walk into Death. God sees these covenants as a walk all the way to death. In the Old Testament, when two people made a covenant with one another, a goat or lamb would be slain and its carcass would be cut in half. With the two halves lying on the ground, the two people forming the covenant would solemnize their promise by walking between the carcass halves. That's how serious God sees marriage.

I don't like television shows like The Bachelor because it takes a God-breathed covenant like marriage and dumbs it down to our culture. Marriage is not a whimsical affair. We focus more on rings, dresses, flowers, parties, showers, bachelor parties, registering and honeymoon trips than we focus on the Holiness of what we are entering - a lifetime commitment with another human toward the goal of sharpening one another into deeper followers of Jesus. I refuse to officiate a wedding that, in planning and delivery, replaces holiness with culturalism. That's not to say that you can't have all the fun - I love a good wedding reception - but the celebration should be the union of two people and their covenant with God. What would a wedding reception look like if families of the bride and groom circled them for prayer before the party began? Many people enter marriage with a focus on the ceremony and parties - not the lifetime commitment that follows when all the guests go home.

The covenant is for a lifetime - until death do us part - because God doesn't go away and neither should we. God expects the covenant to stay around, too. And, marriage doesn't get easier as you grow older nor does a 25- or 50-year Anniversary translate into an immunity from problems. Many empty-nesters find their marriages have "lost purpose" once the children are grown, and spouses begin to look for new territory. As we get older, we begin to think about "bucket lists" that we want to accomplish without our spouses along. Satan hates God, and God is at the center of marriage. No marriage - until death has claimed it - is secure from Satan's attacks.

What about divorce? Clearly, and without question, divorce is not a a part of the marriage equation. That's why so much due diligence is required before marriage. It's why parents must coach children toward dating / engagement that involves prayer, faith conversations, parental counseling and formal counseling. Young people must know that marriage is serious business and divorce is not an option. But . . . certainly divorce is a reality in our broken world. Divorce is inevitable because of our broken world. Even in the Old Testament, Moses permitted divorce provided the two parties wrote a letter requesting it. Even in Moses' day it was relatively easy to get a divorce, but Moses required the letter to ensure the parties had thought it through.

Jesus was asked about divorce in Matthew 19:5-6. He responded this way, "Haven’t you read Scripture? God made them male and female. This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into ONE. Since they are no longer two but one, let no one separate them for God has joined them together.”
Someone asked Jesus, “Well, what about Moses and that letter-writing business?”
Jesus said, “Moses permitted divorce as a concession to your hard-hearted wickedness, but it was not what God originally wanted. And, I tell you this, a man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery – unless his wife has been unfaithful.” (And, in our culture, that goes both ways)."

In fact, Paul, in 2 Corinthians, implies that if you aren't going to take marriage gravely seriously, it’s better to remain single.

So, what are the purposes of a marriage:

1. Cooperation – Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Comparable to him means similar and equal to him, compatible, to help and support one another in all things. It’s a partnership because two heads are better than one. Cooperation toward what? Making disciples of Jesus . . . not pooling money or working together for a better economic status.
2. Procreation – Procreation is about preserving humankind from extinction. But, understand this, Christianity does not make procreation or children the primary purpose of marriage – the primary purpose is cooperation. That’s why childless couples should not grieve God’s plan for them. Procreation – producing children from a sanctified home - is equivalent to generating missionaries into a hopeless world. God wants these children raised in faith so they can go marry someone who is a believer, and continue making disciples.
3. Sexual Intimacy - It's the sexual intimacy that protects the marriage against adultery and fornication (consensual intercourse between two non-married people). In 1 Corinthians 7:1-16, Paul writes that "the wife’s body does not belong to her and the man’s body does not belong to him. Each should fulfill their marital responsibilities; not depriving one another except by mutual consent." If you start monkeying around with sexual intimacy in your marriage – using it as a weapon, being influenced by sinful self-esteem about how your body looks, allowing yourself to get so busy that you are too tired – I promise that your marriage will begin to unravel. We are sexual beings made aware of it by man’s fall in the garden of Eden. When sexual intimacy disappears from marriage, most people will give in to a lack of self control and find the intimacy in other places - pornography if not adultery. The door becomes wide open for Satan to bombard the marriage. Christian Marriage elevates the bodily union to become a spiritual union, through the Holy Spirit, just as the Holy Spirit works in the Baptismal water to make humans a new creation.  The Holy Spirit also works in the couple during the marital ceremony, through prayers and faith to unite them in the Lord.  Through the commitments made by the bride and groom in fulfilling the commandments of marriage, and the work of the Holy Spirit, the two partners become one.
4. Reigning – Genesis 1:28, “God said them – man and woman, whom He created separately and purposefully – be fruitful and multiply, and fill the Earth and subdue it.” We must be good stewards and good managers of God’s creation, and I like to further than by saying, “We must be reminded to lead our families in making disciples of Jesus so that all who are on the Earth hear the gospel.”

In closing, I want to give you a few practical things to think about and discuss with your spouse concerning your day-to-day relationship.

1. Love your spouse as God loves us. Sacrificially. What can I put aside to make my spouse’s day better? What can I sacrifice? What speaks love into my spouse: Quality time, encouraging words, gifts, a hug or hand-holding, acts of service? My life? My body?
2. Honor your spouse. 1 Peter 3:7, paraphrased, honor your spouse – be considerate and treat them with respect. Not because they earn it but because through your covenant they deserve it. Being considerate means considering your spouse's feelings and responses before you act; respect them by holding them up as revered – not chiseling away at their reputation.
3. Cherish your spouse. Cherish means “To cultivate with care – to make the person feel special – the most special person to you.” Here's how we cherish our spouse:
1. Sacrifice.
2. Listening.
3. Touching.
4. Being With Them In Public.
5. Saying Kind Things About Them In Public.
6. Sharing Responsibilities.
7. Never Allowing Children or Parents or Siblings To Come Between Spouses.
8. Admiration.
9. Respect.
10. Seeing Every Day As Valentine’s Day.
11. Opening Doors Of Possibility – "Where You Go, I Go."
12. Taking Time To Be Alone With One Another.
13. And, Men, Providing Spiritual Leadership. Men: Have you abandoned spiritual leadership in your home?

Marriage is serious business. Marriage is serious to God because it sharpens us as followers of Jesus and it produces disciples. It is a contract with God. And, God takes His contracts seriously.

Behind and Beyond The Manger

For me, there's a problem surrounding our picturesque Nativity scene.
Coming to us each December, framed with warm and gentle hymns, and quiet lights, we are lulled peacefully by the image of the stable with lots of warm hay, and a family huddle there as the baby Jesus is born. Animals kneel in reverence, we want to believe. Shepherds and wise men approach in order from poor to rich (the least shall be first). Some, honestly, believe there was even a drummer boy, i.e. the Rankin-Bass cartoon. The brilliant star shines on it all. Silent Night, peaceful night, Holy Night.

This Christmas-card scene leads us to quiet, candlelit Christmas Eve services, where we turn down the lights and turn up the candlelight. Peace on Earth, goodwill to men.

I'm pretty sure the birth of Jesus wasn't very peaceful or silent. It was real life. It was messy. Jesus was born into chaos. The birth of Jesus was also unlike any event before or since or ever to be again. And, there is an incredible back-story that we ought to understand in order to fully understand Christmas.

Vicki’s daddy was a brilliant man – an engineer – who ridiculously loved problem-solving, mechanics, and math and science. One weekend, as I visited, I found him on a Sunday morning, removing the engine from the family car. That entire day, he spent removing the engine, cleaning it, eye-balling it, and then replacing it in time for everyone to go to dinner. It was a hobby. I would shake my head and he would say, “You look at it, you think it’s just a car. You open the hood and explore, and you find it’s so much more than that. It’s a machine.”

Let's go under the hood of a conversation within the Christmas story - before the manager scene.

First, a disclaimer. Most Americans are illiterate when it comes to Scripture. We revere the Bible, but we don't read it. We don't study it. Only about 50 percent of Americans can name the four gospel writers; more than 60 percent can't name the Ten Commandments. It's pretty tough to follow God's law when we don't know it. Within the Bible, there's so much teaching that can bring peace, hope, joy and love to our lives and  yet we don't seem to care. Within the Bible, there's so much teaching about what we should be doing, how we should be living, and what we should not be doing. Yet, we would rather plead ignorant, as in, "I can't be held accountable for what I don't know." Unfortunately, that's not true. We will be held accountable according to all that's in Scripture.

I should study the Bible more - every time I do, I am blessed and convicted, encouraged and corrected. Even the correction somehow feels good - like having my hamstrings stretched. It's painful, but feels great. I believe the Bible. I believe every word of it is true. Certainly, I believe it's written by men, but I believe those men were divinely set apart and were writing as inspired by God. I believe that it's dangerous to pick and choose what we want to believe and not believe within the Bible. When that pick and choose subjectivity happens, Scripture begins to unravel, faith can be compromised, and fellowship with God jeopardized. So, for me, it's all or nothing with Scripture, and I choose to believe it all.

And, believing it all requires a lot of faith because there's so much in the Bible that is supernatural and beyond my feeble ability to comprehend: The virgin birth, the Resurrection, David and Goliath, the flood, Lazarus brought back from the dead, the temptation in the wilderness, the strength of Samson, the hand-writing on the wall . . . it goes on and on. Supernatural stuff. I choose to believe all of it for fear that hedging on even a little is dangerous territory for those who love Jesus.

And, that brings us to angels.

Scripture does not tell us much about angels. But, the angel - coming to Mary in full person - is a significant part of the Christmas story. Inexplicable as it is, it happened. A living, breathing angel showed up on planet Earth and this young girl saw him. It happened. Truth.

Humans and angels are the only two-self conscious beings in the universe. The Bible tells us that humans and angels can both have intelligent conversations with God. Humans never become angels - there's no Scriptural  basis for that. It's a cartoon myth.

On the first day of creation, Genesis 1:1 says, "God created the heavens and the earth." Some argue that on the first day, God created both humans and angels. "The earth was empty, a formless mass covered in darkness," Scripture tells us. Humans were created to procreate. Hebrews 12:22 refers to "thousands of angels" without reference to that number being the total of angels. There could be millions. We don't know. But, on that first day of creation, they were probably created first, as part of the heavens, and then watched as the Earth was created. Job 38:4-7 reads, "Where were you (Job) when I laid the foundations of the earth? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone, as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?"

It must have been, in simplistic terms, like hitting a walk-off grand slam to win the seventh game of the World Series. Heaven erupted at the creation of Earth. Genesis 1:31 reads, "Then God looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was excellent in every way. This all happened on the sixth day." Sin - the love of anything over God; the love of self over God - was not present.

In Genesis 2, Adam and Eve first populated the world, and were tempted, in Genesis 3, by Satan. So, between heaven erupting over a perfect Earth, and Satan tempting Adam and Eve, something happened. Something supernatural happened beyond the realm of human understanding.

Some of the angels sinned, challenging God. They were led by what Isaiah infers was the wisest and most beautiful of the angels, Satan, who challenged God in heaven. 2 Peter 2:4 reads, "For God did not spare even the angels when they sinned; He threw them into hell, in gloomy caves and darkness until the judgement day." (There's a message here, friend: Challenge and mock God with unrepentant behavior will not end well.)

Satan was cast to Earth and many followed him and became demons. A spiritual war began between Satan's armies of darkness and God's angelic armies of light. Satan went after what God loved (John 3:16) - me and you. That's why he tempted Adam and Eve, and introduced sin into the world. Satan went on to tempt Jesus, and in Revelation we know that Jesus leads a powerful army at Armageddon - the final battle - and destroys Satan once and for all. Satan is then cast into the lake of fire. Until then, however, the supernatural war between good and evil, right and wrong, holy and unholy rages all around us. It rages today.

Satan is one of three angels introduced to us, by God, through Scripture. The other two angels are Michael and Gabriel. It's very dangerous to go looking for other angels and studying too deeply about angels. A casual study beyond Scripture can quickly lead us away from the 66 books of our Bible into resources that feel and look like Scripture, but are not. It's easy, especially with web searches, to end up in seemingly fun websites with direct ties to the occult. Remember, Satan is a demon - a dark angel - and you can't study angels without bumping into him. It's also easy to begin worshiping angels. Angels exist, and God certainly uses them to intersect with us. We know that from Scripture. But, there is no Scriptural need for a personal, guardian angel. We have Jesus. I know people - you do, too - who talk more about their guardian angels than they do about their Savior. That's dangerous theology. My opinion.

We know that there is a hierarchy among angels. Jude 1:9 refers to Michael as one of the mightiest of angels - an archangel. Daniel 10:13 refers to Daniel's help coming from Michael, one of the chief princes.

Revelation 12:7-8 reads, "Now, war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon (Satan), and the dragon and his angels fought but were defeated." Clear evidence of Michael, an angel, leading spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness, led by Satan.

And, now we come to Gabriel.
In Daniel 8:15, the prophet writes about Gabriel - "the man" - coming to him. Angels, apparently do or can look like us. There's no mention of wings though lesser angels - seraphs and cherubs - inexplicably have wings. In verse 17, Daniel writes, "As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate." While Daniel fell into a deep sleep, Gabriel brought a message from God about "the time of the end." It all left Daniel exhausted and ill for several days (v.27).

Here's the man who survived the lion's den and who saw God's hand write on the wall, and yet this "man" appearing to Gabriel was terrifying. Clearly, Daniel was in the presence of something unworldly; something crystal clear from God himself; something with a message directly from God.

This is the same Gabriel, sent directly from God, during a heavenly war with Satan's forces, to Mary (Luke 1:26). This ancient messenger of God, who scared the pee out of Daniel 600 years earlier, comes to Mary and says, "You are highly favored! the Lord is with you."

Scripture says that Mary was troubled "at his words" (not his presence). Gabriel comforts her and says (v.31), "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name of Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will given him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

Mary doesn't question the assignment, but she's concerned - how can a virgin have a baby?

Gabriel says (Luke 1:35-37), "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

This may be one of the most hopeful testimonials in all of Scripture. Here's an ancient being, Gabriel, who is in the presence of God all the time. Gabriel is at the top of the angelic heirarchy, presumably with Michael (Daniel 10) and at one time Satan. Gabriel has directly heard the voice of God. He is a messenger of God. God pulls him from battle with Satan to go to Mary with news that God loves the world so much that He is coming - as Jesus - to deliver those who believe from sin and Satan. Gabriel has heard and seen things in the supernatural - things foreign and strange to us as humans. And, I can almost imagine him grinning to himself as he encourages Mary by saying, 'Trust me, Mary. I know, I KNOW,' that "nothing is impossible with God." Gabriel saw the Earth breathed into existence. He knows that nothing is impossible with God.

The Christmas story is not warm and cuddly. It is a wartime event that comes quietly to us, but is actually an eternal event. How I wish I could see Christmas from God's perspective . . . of even Gabriel's. I'm not sure we can fully wrap our minds around it. That's why we anchor ourselves with faith in Scripture.

Christmas is the turning point in the great battle for the soul of men and women, and boys and girls.
John 3:16, "For God so loved (insert your name) the world that He gave his only son so that whoever believes (trusts) in Him can have eternal life." That includes a peace-filled, joy-filled, hope-filled, love-filled life today, too. Those who believe this join God's family; those who do not will be on the losing end for all eternity.

I believe that one of Satan's deceptions is to lull believers into lethargy and complacency. Many point and complain about commercialism at Christmas or the media's sensationalism at Christmas, but the problem is not "them" as we like to say; the problem is with us - believers who have dumbed-down Christmas into a Christmas card cliche that makes Christmas easy to swallow. We've heard the Christmas story so much that we gloss over it each year and move on to our worldly agendas, which come back to self-gratification. I know believers - you do, too - who give to charity at Christmas to ease the guilt of spending more extravagantly on themselves throughout the year. Gee whiz.

Being reminded of Gabriel at Christmas, reminds me people all around us are living and dying without hope or an eternal future, and most all of us - as believers - seem lethargic about it. We rarely talk about the unsaved. We rarely lift prayer requests for them. (Most of our prayer requests are for self). We don't explore opportunities to share faith. We don't invite people to churches. We don't give Bibles, with notes inside, as Christmas gifts. We don't have luncheons with single-agendas - "may I tell you why I love and follow Jesus?" At some point, we must get serious about what we believe because what we say we believe at Christmas is serious business.

Most believers approach faith with the same casual attitude as going to the grocery store. When that happens, Satan wins and the brilliance of the Christmas story is dulled.

As believers, we are Christian soldiers - much like Mary - and we have a responsibility, as commanded by Jesus (the one born in that manger) to make disciples and teach Scripture. Look what Mary said when Gabriel gave God's orders to her: She said, "I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true." (Luke 1:38). Jesus commands us to go make disciples. Do we respond with, "I am your servant. May it come true"? This Christmas, I pray we are each convicted - and encouraged - about how we will approach 2013 toward helping people discover Jesus as Savior through our words, actions and lives.

Birth Announcements

Job is coming out of a dark and deep valley, and he says to God, humbly and exhausted and broken, "I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you."

When searching for something to fully describe the power of Almighty God, Job's words just stop me in my tracks: God, I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. No one can stop you. Not all the armies and all the kingdoms and all the rulers together can stop you. The forces of evil and darkness can't stop you. You can do anything, God. And, by contrast and comparison, we can do nothing.

And, yet, this powerful, Almighty, sovereign God chooses to love each one of us. For those who love Him, through faith in Jesus, He says that He will keep us from harm, watch over our days, and all things in our lives will work to bring Him glory. He says that He has plans for us, and had those plans before we were even born.

God is all powerful and all loving.

This season of Christmas, we celebrate birth. We celebrate God coming to Earth as Jesus to provide a way for restoration with God. This past week, I've been a spectator of two powerful examples of birth and rebirth. I've been a spectator of what Job says when he says, "I know that you can do anything."

Jeff

Jeff and my oldest son, Andrew, were on the University of South Carolina track team together for three years. They became friends. For the past five years, we have prayed for Jeff - not in pitiful ways, but in expectant ways that God would make Himself known to Jeff, and through Jesus, launch a new chapter in Jeff's life.

For the past few Easters, we have opened our home for the boys to invite their college friends to our church, and then to our home for Easter lunch and an egg hunt. This year, Andrew called to say that Jeff was coming with him. We had a great time, and enjoyed getting to know Jeff. Afterwards, we didn't think much more of it. Yet, prayers continued. (Pictured is this year's group of egg-hunters; Jeff is in the top row, left; Andrew is in the center (blue shirt).

At Thanksgiving, I asked Andrew if Jeff ever attended church with him near campus, and Andrew said that Jeff did not and probably would not attend church with him. And, we just sort of dropped the conversation. Yet, prayers continued.

Last Monday, Dec. 3, at 9:46 p.m., I received this text from my oldest son, "Jeff gave his life to Christ tonight."

And, putting on my "Reverend" hat, I responded in the most call-worthy way I could at the moment: "Holy Crap!!" I texted. And, here's the ensuing text conversation.

Me: I need details.

Andrew: We went to get wings. And, then Jeff asked me to get ice cream. He said he's been thinking about Jesus a lot and what that means. He talked to me about coming to church with me over Easter, and then he just asked questions. I shared the gospel with him as best I could and then asked him, "Why not (give your life to Jesus) right now." And, Jeff said, "Yeah, I want to." So, he asked me what to pray and I told him. It was huge.

Me: Did he pray?

Andrew: Out loud (in the Sandy's parking lot).

Me: Wow, son, you watched someone be born again!

Andrew: I can't stop laughing when I think about it. God can do anything. It is so exciting. God is going to do great things with Jeff.
Since that conversation, I've had opportunity to meet with Jeff and begin discussions about believer's baptism, joining with a fellowship of believers, Bible Study and prayer. I've reminded Jeff that this is not the end of a story or a mile-marker, but the beginning of a new life - a new story in Jesus and following Jesus. In his own genuine way, he's all over it, and I'm confident Andrew will continue to mentor his friend. I will pray for both of them.

Born again. This story has some messages for me and you:

• Never give up praying for people.
• Never doubt that God can do anything, and that His timing often does match our timing.
• Simple hospitality with no agenda can make a difference to people.
• Be ready to share the gospel "as best you can" when you have the opportunity to do it. Don't walk away from the chance to introduce someone to Jesus.

Kelly & Leigh Ann
Kelly and Leigh Ann Roberts are near and dear to my heart. Leigh Ann is my baby sister. I was months shy of 15 when she was born in 1974. She and Kelly have been married 15 years, and have been unable to have children of their own. A few years ago, at Christmas, Kelly and Leigh Ann gave out gift cards to my family and to the families of my brothers. This was unusual because we siblings don't exchange Christmas gifts. When I acted surprised at their kind gesture, my sister said, "Well, we don't have anyone to buy gifts for and this is something we want to do."

In my heart of hearts, I ached for her. It was as if that Christmas gift was her way of saying, "We give up, and surrender the desires of our heart to Almighty God."

My former sister-in-law, Cindy, is a labor and delivery nurse at a south Georgia hospital. Because Cindy will always be the mother of "cousin Paul," we've kept the doors of communication open with her and still love her. Off the family radar - and a few hundred miles away - Cindy has always been on the lookout for a baby in need of adoption.

Last Friday morning, I was visiting my parents in Atlanta. When I came downstairs, about 8 a.m., my mama said, "Cindy has found a baby for Kelly and Leigh Ann." I was two cups short of coffee, but was still able to grasp the reality. A baby had been born in the pre-dawn hours of that Friday, and its parents wanted to place it for adoption. Cindy called my mother, who found my sister. Leigh Ann, a nurse, called Kelly, a school teacher, and told him the news by telephone. It went sort of like this:

God has provided us with a baby. We need to make a decision right now.
The decision was easy.

As long as I live, I will never forget my sister's words when she called me about mid-morning.

"You have no idea how long we have prayed for this, and I know this is a gift from God," she said. "This is how God works in my life - He comes quickly and in big ways."

On Saturday morning, without nine months to plan and prepare a nursey, these two took off for south Georgia, where they adopted this little girl and named her - Emilee Joy Roberts. (Pictured, right, with her mommy) Her middle name is so very appropriate for this Christmas gift from God. How blessed we are that the birth parents chose to have the baby and not pursue abortion; how blessed we are that they loved this girl enough to ensure she has a home dedicated to loving and serving a Holy God; and how blessed we are that God preserved our relationship with Cindy for all these years.

A life born to one day be born again. This story, too, has messages for me and you:

• Never give up pouring out the desires of your heart. God hears them; He absolutely hears them. And, in His time - not ours - He will answer those prayers even if it's not how we might expect them to be answered.
• Never doubt that God can do anything.
• Preserve the relationships that come in and through your life. Finish well this life with no ill will toward anyone. You never know how that person might be used, by God, to love and serve the ones you love down the road.

This Christmas, be reminded. Please be reminded, "Oh God, I know you can do anything, and no one can stop you." Amen.

Joy at Christmas

I begin this Christmas season by proclaiming, "Joy To The World" as in Jesus, our Savior, has come to the world. Believing in Jesus as the only true and pure Joy, and knowing the Holy Spirit resides in each believer, it is inexcusable for a believer to whine, "I can't catch the Christmas spirit." 

Here's how to find the Joy at Christmas; here's how the believer can catch the Christmas Spirit today and every single day.

I was so happy on that Christmas morning when I received the green bicycle. It had high handle bars and a banana seat. It was dark green with a black center bar. I was happy because it meant freedom on a lot of levels. I now had wheels. I could get to my grandparents’ house, Herschel Harrison’s country store, and the pond in half the time. I could also explore. We could load the bike in our station wagon, and now I could ride it to see all of my friends when I went to town, where my mother worked.

If I made a list of the top five Christmas presents presented on the top five Christmases of my past – the green bicycle would be at the top of all lists. That bike made me so happy I’m not even sure I could list a No. 2 all-time without a space between it and bicycle.

And, yet, that bicycle was in the trash heap in about five years – replaced with a larger 10-speed that I never quite loved as much. The treasures of today will surely be the dust of tomorrow. That bike was incapable of bring me Joy; it could only bring me temporary happiness.

You have no idea how much my mama wanted a daughter. She and my dad had three boys, 15, 13 and 10. A run at adoption of a little girl had failed. Attempting a fourth pregnancy had ended in miscarriage. All of my mama’s best friends had a daughter. My grandmother, my mom’s mama, had six grandsons and no granddaughters.

And, in late 1973, my mama found out she was pregnant. We all began praying for a healthy baby, but one that would also be female. Everyone was watching this pregnancy – boy or girl? Would my mama be able to contain her disappointment? It would surely be yet another Vaughan boy.

On March 7, 1974, my dad came by the high school and got me out. He went around to the other schools and got all my brothers. He called my grandmother and told her – it’s time – the baby is coming.

At the hospital, there were about 30 people in the waiting room. Boy or girl? Boy or girl? Probably a boy. The doctor came out and said, “It’s a girl.” It was like winning the lottery – people cheering and nurses crying. It was a community event. I worked at a local pizza restaurant and that night at work - the manager gave me a free dessert by way of celebration. When my grandmother came into the hospital, I shouted down the hallway, “Mema! It’s a girl.” And, she passed out.

People described it as a joyous day, but for those without a faith in Jesus, that was not true. For those, it was only heightened happiness and Earthly celebration. For those of us who were believers, having prayed and heard those prayers answered, it was a Joyful day. Joy only exists when Jesus exists. Joy, for me, and in my opinion, is that sweet spot of worship when my life and its events are in concert with Almighty God, through faith in Jesus.

Read the words of Psalm 98 and reflect on the Joy mentioned in it.

• Joy is a reflection of a deep and personal relationship with God through Jesus. It is impossible for people to now Joy apart from a faith in Jesus. What the unsaved will know is a heightened measure of happiness. The reason we sing “Joy To The World” each Christmas is because apart from the gift of Jesus, there is no joy.
•  Joy is found in authentic worship, pouring out the pain and sorrow of life to an Almighty God – praising and thanking God for all his blessings even in the midst of pain.
• And, while Joy is provided by God, we must pursue Joy, too. It’s an inward disposition. You can be a believer and not be joyful, and that’s a sad and pitiful way to live. It’s like being given a wonderful gift and never opening it.

How can we experience Joy? How can we experience the fullness of faith in Jesus? And, in experiencing that sweet spot with God, how can we fully celebrate His son's birth each December? How, then, can we capture the Christmas Spirit?

First, and foremost, the individual must be a confessing follower of Jesus Christ - not with head, but with heart; not with the right words or the right cadence before each meal, but with disposition and attitude and decorum. And, then, these considerations:

• Make God’s words personal – Jeremiah 15:16 – "Your words are what sustain me. They bring me great joy and are my heart’s delight. For I hear your name, O Lord God Almighty." Would you believe that an estimated 80 percent of all believers are Biblically illiterate; more than 60 percent of believers never even read the Bible. What does that say about the state of Joy in today's believers and then collectively within the church? Go to Scripture.
•  Whole-hearted service – 1 Chronicles 29:9 – "Then the people rejoiced for that they offered willingly because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord." Service without disclaimer; service without expectation – not even with the expectation of a thank you. Understand that your money is not yours; your time is borrowed – give it all away to bless the lives of others.
• Faithful service – Matthew 25:23 – Recognizing the source of all things in our lives, and plowing those things into service. It's not just about time and money. It's about the greatest gift many of us have - our children. 3 John 1:4 reads, "I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth." I look at the trophy shelves containing all the trophies and awards that my boys have gathered, and yet Joy comes to me when I know Andrew is driving college students to worship services on Sunday mornings. See the difference between the Earthly and the Eternal? Happiness is in the Earthly; Joy is in the Eternal.
•  Knowing your heart is right with God – Psalm 3:22 – "Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice all who are upright in heart." My heart is not always right with God. I get frustrated, I lose my temper, I slink into negativity and cynicism, I say and do things that I regret, and I then I feel ashamed in front of Almighty God. But, what Joy comes when I recognize the sinfulness of my heart, cry out to the Lord, and feel Him wash through me. There is no Joy like the sweet spot of being right with God.
• Winning souls – Psalm 126:5 – "Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy." Have you ever watched as someone came to know Jesus – broken and then redeemed? Can you remember that feeling in yourself? Only in the last five years have I introduced anyone to Jesus, and I can tell you that there’s nothing like it. Once you have experienced the joy of seeing someone come to Jesus, you will want to live the rest of your days – you will cry out for those days – for that pure joy found in soul-winning.
• Answered prayers – John 16:24 – Jesus says, “Ask, in my name, and you will receive and you will have abundant joy.” Are you praying? Are you thinking about prayer? Have you experienced the abundant joy of answered prayers. There is Joy in the knowledge and affirmation of a loving, Almighty God through answered prayer.

Joy, to the world!

When Jesus was born, Joy entered our bleak and empty world. When the Holy Spirit comes alive in each believer, the opportunity for Joy enters that human life. Christmas should be a season of worship; Christmas should be a season of the focused pursuit of Joy. Don’t let it slip away from you – Serve, Pray, Dive into Scripture, Confess Sinful Attitudes, and look for the opportunity to hit your sweet spot with Almighty God.