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LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Ever since I was a boy, I have had a deep love of nature. It is the place I go to let God touch my heart and refresh me. That’s what sets me apart from others who go there to let nature refresh them. Nature is their god of choice. Other moments demand other gods. Emotional, physical, and relational needs stimulate the formation of false gods. A god is defined as anyone or anything from which we seek to gain human value. Our attempt to satisfy self through relationships, possessions, position, and power, is idolatry. We resist calling it idolatry, yet our attempts to use people, activities, or things to enhance our worth substitutes a false god for the real One.

Ephesians 5:5  “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”

There is another important passage of Scripture in Romans 1, where the Apostle Paul says, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.”

That’s why Paul can say that no idolater “has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” If sexual immorality is our means of producing a sense of worth and value as a person, then we are an idolater. If we allow impurity in any form to be our means of earning acceptance with people, then we are guilty of idolatry. If we attempt to improve our status with people or our opinion of ourselves in our own mind through possessions or position or power, then we are worshipping an idol. Once aware of that idolatry, anyone who continues in it is proving that their worship of creation is more important than the worship of the Creator, and they are without hope for eternity.

I am so thankful for my times in the woods. I see the invisible power and divine nature of God in all of creation. But creation is not God. I do not worship a non-existent mother earth. God’s creation is a means of knowing Him. So don’t hug trees – honor the God who created trees. Don’t bury the pain of emotions in immoral or impure thoughts and actions – but embrace that pain as a means of experiencing the Presence of Jesus Christ. Don’t seek your identity in things but find your true identity in the Creator of all things. Your worth can only be truly determined by the One who made you. Worship Him and Him alone. Don’t settle for less. If you do, that’s exactly what you’ll get.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

 A basic principle of Bible interpretation is this: “When the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense.” Today’s verse is a great example of that.

Ephesians 5:4  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 

The plain sense makes perfect sense. As imitators of God, our speech is to honor Him. We can easily see three types of communication that do not honor God and one type of communication that does. Even though the words obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse joking are not used anywhere else in the New Testament, the principle of honoring God with your speech is talked about frequently in the Bible. Rather than me sharing my thoughts on this subject, let the plain sense of the following Bible verses make good sense to you, and then let’s all put them into practice by guarding our tongues.

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly. The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. A man finds joy in giving an apt reply—and how good is a timely word! Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor; you’re an expert at telling lies. You love evil more than good and lies more than truth. You love to destroy others with your words. But God will strike you down once and for all. He will pull you from your home and uproot you from the land of the living. For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.” The tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

(Psalm 19:14; Colossians 4:6; Ephesians 4:29; Proverbs 10:31-32; Proverbs 15:2,4, 23; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Psalm 52:2-5; Matthew 12:34-37; James 3:6-10; Hebrews 13:15; Ephesians 5:19-20; Colossians 3:16-17)

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions (Click here for Apple podcast)

Monday, March 21, 2022

Jacob, age 85, and Rebecca, age 83, were getting really excited about their upcoming wedding. Both widowed, they were looking forward to spending their remaining years together. One day while on a stroll they entered the local drug store. They began to question one of the clerks. They asked about heart medication, pain medication, vitamins, sleeping pills, antacids, blood sugar test equipment, and so much more. After getting a favorable response from the clerk to all their inquiries, they looked at each other and smiled. They knew they had found the place to register for their wedding gifts.

The older we get, the more we focus on our real needs rather than our dreams. I would like to think that it’s because we are more mature. Maybe it’s because we already bought everything we thought we would ever want. When the Apostle Paul tells us to imitate God, he lists some obvious characteristics of our life. One of them is that there will not even be a hint of greed in us. This is really tough. How do we distinguish between needs and wants – between basic provisions and greedy desires? For me it all boils down to the difference between serving and satisfying. If I want it because I can’t serve God faithfully without it, then it’s a need. If I want it because I can’t satisfy myself without it, then it’s greed.

Ephesians 5:3  “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” 

The Greek word for greed means “the desire to have more, especially because others have it.”  Greed is the fuel that powers the engine of self-fulfillment. That engine drives us to use possessions to establish our identity and our worth. It takes us to the store to buy something when we are feeling depressed or rejected. It drives us along the streets of the community of Comparison. It transports our thoughts to images of greater success based on our ability to own more things. It is an engine that is easily started and not easily shut off. The ignition key is pride, and pride tells us it’s ok to drive around every now and then just to see what’s out there. We justify the drive because we claim to be in control of the steering and the brakes. But we are not in control. Once pride has ignited the fuel and put greed in motion we find it difficult to put on any brakes. We are being driven by desires for improved image, status, social standing, and success, and we are convinced that all of those things are possible through possessions.

As imitators of God, this is sin. When self is honored through the acquisition of things it does dishonor to God. When we seek to earn value through performance it is in direct opposition to the love of God. God’s love is not earned. Our position is Christ is not achieved by human effort. God’s love conquers the greed of self-gratification.   

Paul says greed is improper for us. The original Greek literally says, “As imitators of God, be conspicuous by the absence of greed.” It is improper for Christians to be greedy because they cease to be conspicuous as Christians. When we turn from serving God to satisfying self, we identify with the world, and we are seen as one of them. That is not God’s call on our lives. We are to be conspicuous for Christ, identified by the life of Christ in us and not the effects of the world on us. Greed camouflages Christ. 

Every day we are bombarded with messages from the world that seek to convince us that our lives will be better, more fulfilling, and more successful if we will just buy their products and live their lifestyle. It’s a lie! Don’t believe it. Satisfying self ends in greater heartache, pain, and disillusionment. Serving God is what truly satisfies. Be conspicuous by your rejection of self. Be conspicuous for Christ.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions (Click here for Apple podcast)

Friday, March 18, 2022

Remember the target talk from yesterday? It’s time to talk specifics. The Scriptures describe the True Target. However, when we read it, we may tend to rationalize what it says so we can justify our preferred choices. We tend to justify missing the Target with rationalizations like “I was close,” or “One miss won’t really matter.” By such excuses we reveal our choice to value self over the holiness of God.

This is serious business. The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes that we are to be imitators of God. He then proceeds to describe specific areas where that imitation is most quickly lost. He begins in the arena of sex.

Ephesians 5:3a  “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality…“

The abuse of God’s splendid gift of sex is a serious issue – especially among Christians. The followers of Jesus Christ are becoming more indistinct from the pagan world in their attitudes towards sex. According to the Barna Research Group, the percentage of Christian teens involved in premarital sex is the same as for non-Christians. Born-again Christian adults showed no difference from their unsaved counterparts when it comes to viewing adult-only content on the Internet. 36% of born-again Christians said co-habitation is morally acceptable. It is so bad that Barna titled one of his research papers “Practical Outcomes Replace Biblical Principles As the Moral Standard.”

I want to believe that most of you reading this devotional are as shocked as I am. I want to believe that the percentage of people who still hold to Biblical morality is much higher than the national average. But I do not know what goes on behind the closed doors of your lives. I do not know what you are justifying as acceptable behavior to satisfy your personal desires and needs. I do know that we have collectively left out a very important word from Paul’s description of the True Target – the word “hint”. The original Greek says, “Don’t let it be mentioned among you even once.” Unfortunately, we have moved beyond hinting to allowing our conversation and our lifestyle choices to be influenced by immorality. There is only one proper format for the expression of the sexual experience, and that is between a man and a woman – a husband and a wife – within the context of marriage. When we talk about, read about, view, or participate in anything else, we have chosen sexual immorality rather than the holiness of God.

There are some behaviors we have allowed to exist that are small and subtle steps away from the holiness of God. We are allowing a hint of sexual immorality in our lives and in our churches. For example, what happened to modesty? Do we use our physical appearance to get others to notice us and build our self-worth?  Are we justifying behavior that falls short of the glory of God’s holiness? 

Every word of Scripture is important. Is there even a hint of sexual immorality in your life. Then address it. We who are filled with the Holy Spirit must not place our personal pleasure ahead of the holiness of God. Not even one little hint of it. We are to be imitators of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit to have victory over the world. Maybe then the world will take notice that God is real and that Jesus truly transforms lives.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions (Click here for Apple podcast)

Thursday, March 17, 2022

One day an elderly man was driving in the country enjoying the scenery, when he saw a young boy standing in front of a barn. Three targets had been painted on the side of the barn, and in the bull’s-eye of each target was an arrow. The man stopped his car and spoke to the obviously talented archer. “Son, how did you get so good at shooting?” The boy replied, “Well, I take each arrow, lick my fingers and straighten the feathers like this. Then I pull the bowstring back to an exact spot on my cheek and let go. Then wherever the arrow lands I paint a target.”

That’s exactly how many of us live our spiritual lives. We have replaced the True Target with man-made ones so that we can consider ourselves spiritually successful. We satisfy ourselves by painting our own targets at the end of the day, rather than looking at the True Target at the start of the day. We are convinced that it is much safer and more fulfilling to let the flesh have its way throughout the day, and then at appointed times, like on Sunday at church or at night when we go to bed, to reflect on any small spiritual moment we had and paint a big bull’s-eye around that and call ourselves imitators of God (Eph. 5:1).  In reality we are only imitators of the flesh, creating false spiritual targets that do nothing more than perpetuate the flesh rather than crucify it.

There is only one True Target, and it has already been painted on our lives. It is the life of Jesus Christ. There is no need for us to paint additional targets. I admit that it’s a tough target to hit, and that in this life none of us will ever hit the bull’s-eye every time. That may be discouraging. It may seem that having targets easier to hit will bring more satisfaction to life. But this is a deception of the one who holds the can of paint and the brush. He has always tried to paint a different target – a target that appeals to the flesh and offers the false hope of fulfillment. Satan painted alternative targets for Adam and Eve that appealed to their fleshly sense of self-fulfillment. His targets make us feel good about who we are and keep our attention focused on the image we want to have for ourselves. Every morning when we wake up, our spiritual enemy offers us the opportunity to paint targets on our life’s calendar of events, and each of those targets keeps us from aiming at the True Target. Each freshly painted target serves to satisfy our flesh, and when the flesh is satisfied there is no need for God. If we aim at Satan’s targets, then we make God unnecessary and irrelevant. We become our own god. 

For me, the best illustration of this principle is the game of golf. Every hole on a golf course has a target, marked by a flag. It is the goal of every golfer to get the ball into the hole. Because of man’s need to measure himself against others, we have decided that we should count how many strokes it takes to get the ball into the hole, and then offer a reward to the one who does it in the fewest strokes. I have been a victim of that competitive philosophy all my life. Our image gets so wrapped up in our performance that some will even cheat to enhance their image. Rules are set aside for the sake of “having fun,” when the truth is they only want to feel better about themselves by keeping their score down. How did their personal worth get wrapped up in the score? If only we could be like little children at a miniature golf course. They don’t care about the score. They can’t even count that high. All they care about his hitting the target, no matter how many times they try.

God is not keeping score. He does not compare your life to anyone else’s life and offer rewards only to the one who hits the True Target in the least number of attempts. There will be some holes on the course of life that will be easier than others. Some of us will score well on one hole, while others will score well on another. But when we all meet in the clubhouse after our round is over, we will all be greeted by the same words from the Course Designer – “Well done. You finished the course. Here is your crown of righteousness.” No one will compare scores. Everyone will enjoy the thrill of hitting the target.

“Jesus, you are the True Target. I want to imitate you in every area of my life. I confess I have painted some targets to please my flesh and have changed some rules to justify it. I confess I have compared myself to others to better my image in my own eyes. I confess my need to refocus on You as the One True Target. Thank you for your forgiveness, and for the grace you will grant to imitate you.”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions (Click here for Apple podcast)

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

One day a young mother was sick in bed at home. Even though her daughter was only four years old, she had been taught that love meant serving others in need. She got some magazines for her mommy, fluffed her pillow, turned on the TV, and then went to the kitchen where she was determined to make a cup of tea. When she returned, her mommy was impressed. “Who taught you how to make tea?” she asked. “Oh, Mommy, I’ve seen you do it lots of times. But I couldn’t find your strainer, so I used the fly swatter instead.” Mom was shocked, and yelled, “You what?” The little girl calmly replied, “Don’t worry, Mommy. I didn’t use the new one – I used the old one so you wouldn’t be mad.”

Children are great imitators. Unfortunately, imitation without reasoning skills can be dangerous. That little four-year old was imitating her mom, but still needed the direct influence of her mother to do it correctly. This is an important distinction for us to understand when it comes to our imitation of God.

Ephesians 5:1-2  “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

As His dearly loved children, we are never left to imitate without His direct influence. Several years ago a bracelet was created for people to wear that had four letters on it – W.W.J.D. Those letters stood for What Would Jesus Do?  That phrase first gained real popularity as a result of Charles Sheldon’s 1896 book, In His Steps. Sheldon’s novel grew out of a series of sermons he delivered in his Congregationalist church in Topeka, Kansas. Sheldon’s theology was shaped by a commitment to Christian Socialism. The ethos of Sheldon’s approach to the Christian life was expressed in this phrase “What Would Jesus Do”, with Jesus being a moral example rather than a Savior figure. The end result of his teaching for many was to emphasize the ability of man to please God and to minimize man’s need for salvation from sin and the necessity of the indwelling presence of God.

Now that’s not to say that there isn’t a great need for the social application of God’s love. In fact, that’s the whole point of the Apostle Paul’s command in Ephesians 5:1-2. We are, as dearly loved children of God, to imitate the love of God in our lives to the fullest extent that Christ Jesus did when He sacrificed His life to meet our need of forgiveness from sin. But the imitation of God’s love is not a learned behavior that we put on over top of a sinful flesh. God’s love is not a series of rules and regulations we follow because we want to please God and somehow look and behave like Jesus. God’s love cannot be understood or practiced by studying it. God’s love can only be imitated by those who have been transformed by it. The external imitation of God’s love is only possible by the person who has been born-again by Jesus Christ. We do not earn our salvation by imitating God – we imitate God because we have been saved. We have no need to ask, “What would Jesus do?” so that we appear spiritual. We who are spiritual already know what Jesus would do because He lives in us. He is the direct influence that is needed for us to live lives that are pleasing to God. Jesus Christ, the hope of glory, lives in us by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. There’s no need to ask, “What would Jesus Do?” It is only necessary to surrender to the life of Jesus that is in you and He will live out God’s love through you.

On June 3, 2008, United States President George Bush honored a soldier who responded sacrificially when all of his training had told him to protect himself. You see, if there’s an opportunity to escape the deadly blast of a grenade, the Army trains soldiers to take it. But when an Iraqi insurgent threw a grenade into the Humvee where PFC. Ross A. McGinnis manned the machine gun, he had time to jump from the turret and save himself. But according to his buddies in the Humvee he would have probably been the only one to escape. Instead, McGinnis yelled “grenade” into his microphone, dropped down the turret and used his back to smother the grenade. On Monday, during a solemn White House ceremony, President Bush presented McGinnis’ parents, Tom and Romayne, with a posthumous Medal of Honor for their son, who absorbed the grenade’s blast and saved the other men. “America will always honor the name of this brave soldier who gave all for his country,” Bush said.

That’s exactly how our lives can be lived – so that the life of Jesus Christ overwhelms the training of the world in a moment of need. We honor the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross when we do what He did – sacrifice our lives for the sake of others. That’s what proves we are His dearly loved children. Then we too are true imitators of God.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions (Click here for Apple podcast)

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Children, and even grandchildren, can be a source of both joy and sorrow. From the moment they are born we invest our time and energy into nurturing them and teaching them the values that will sustain them through this difficult preparation period for eternity. We set up boundaries and provide guidance, knowing from our own experience the consequences of ignoring them. To the children we may seem mean, unfair, and constricting, but our motive is to protect them and show them true freedom. When we finally trust them to make decisions for themselves, and they reject the training we gave them, we are grieved. We experience the pain of knowing the pain they are going to experience. Our love for them magnifies the sorrow. We hurt even more deeply because they have chosen not to trust our guidance. We may even think they have rejected our love. We experience both the grief of watching someone we love being hurt, and the grief of our own rejection.

Now consider the response of the Holy Spirit of God when we reject His teaching and guidance.

Ephesians 4:30  “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Triune God. He is the fullness of God and the spiritual expression of the living Christ who dwells in each and every born-again believer. He has personality, emotions, and feelings, all existing in sinless perfection. He brings to us all the nature and characteristics of God as seen in Jesus Christ. He is God’s gift at the request of Jesus, so that His life might be lived in and through us. He teaches us all the things we need to know about Jesus so our lives will be lived to His glory and honor. He guides us into all truth. He gives wisdom for every decision. His love is God’s love, complete and perfect, and motivates every input into our lives. His influence is constant. His patience is perpetual.

Yet He can be grieved. Every time His influence is ignored, He is grieved. Each time His wisdom is outweighed by our wishes, He is grieved.  Whenever we turn from trusting Him to trust in self, He experiences the pain of rejection. If we, as parents and grandparents who love deeply yet imperfectly, can experience such sorrow over a child’s rebellion, how much more deeply does the One who loves perfectly feel that pain? All rejection of the Holy Spirit’s direction is rebellion. All choices made to please self are rebellion. All distrust of the Holy Spirit’s love and purpose is rebellion. All rebellion grieves Him.

It not only grieves the Holy Spirit when we rebel, but it grieves Him when we redefine rebellion to justify our rebellion. How often are we guilty of justifying sin because it provides us immediate gratification? It is time for revival in the church of Jesus Christ, and it must start with our repentance from sin. That is only going to happen when we truly define sin as God does. The Holy Spirit who lives within us has taught how God defines sin. He reveals every temptation to sin when it shows up in our lives. We are grieving the Holy Spirit when we ignore His input for whatever reason. Imagine the power of God that will be revealed in and through us in our churches if we would all live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit and stop grieving Him. Imagine the number of people who would come to Christ if they saw the effects of His transforming power in our lives.

The Holy Spirit knows the will of God for our lives. He is intimately involved in every detail.  He is constantly present providing wisdom. He knows exactly how to nurture us and teach us the values that will sustain us through this life. Do not grieve Him by ignoring Him. Do not grieve Him by distrusting Him. Do not grieve Him by rejecting His influence. Surrender to Him, for in that surrender you will be truly free.

Pastor John

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Monday, March 14, 2022

One day a man was driving down a lonely stretch of country road, when he saw another car approaching. As the car got closer, he observed the driver waving her hand out the window. He was totally focused on her, and as they passed, she was screaming at him. The only word he heard was “Pig!” He was furious, and immediately yelled back, “Idiot!” He was still looking at her in his rearview mirror when he crashed into a huge pig that was standing in the road.

Clear communication is so very important. In just one verse of Scripture today we are given several principles that will help us be better communicators.

Ephesians 4:29  “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.“

First, good communication is motivated by the needs of others and not our own needs. The woman who yelled “pig” was not satisfying some emotional need to belittle another person to elevate her own worth, but she was attempting to help another person. She observed a need, and she tried to meet it. So much of our communication is wrapped up in self and not in others. That’s why we get in trouble with our words. Communication that is intended to draw attention to self will result in hurt and shame, both to the hearer and the speaker. When we learn to seek the benefit of others we will be seen as exceptional communicators.

Second, we are to be in control of our words. Words are a choice. We must learn to make wise choices about words. We are to be in control of our words, so that no unwholesome talk comes out of our mouths. Words are an indicator of what’s in our heart. Jesus said, “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Jesus also said, “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’”  Hurtful words that come from our mouth originate in a sinful heart.  

Finally, being a good communicator doesn’t require good listeners. What? You heard right. Good communication does not require people to listen. Our Scripture does not say that our words will benefit everyone. It says they are to be spoken so that they will benefit those who choose to listen. Not everyone chooses to listen. Does that mean we are communicating poorly? Not necessarily. If our communication is wholesome and spoken to benefit another person and meet their needs, and if our words will build that person up and help them grow in the spiritual maturity, then our communication is good. It is now their choice to listen or not. We are not responsible for the application of our communication: we are only responsible for the content and motive of our words.

Some people will listen. Others will crash into pigs. We do not take credit for those who listen, and we do not take responsibility for those who don’t. If we have designed our words based on the need of the person to whom we are speaking, then we have fulfilled our responsibility. Don’t get trapped in the bondage of believing that we are responsible for the results. That’s God’s territory, not ours. We are only responsible to communicate the truth out of our love for others. God handles the application. 

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions (Click here for audio blog)

Friday, March 11, 2022

Membership in the body of Christ provides the most complete and fulfilling form of relationship with others. Or at least it’s supposed to. Most of the time we don’t get to experience the joy of intimacy the way God intended because we are overly focused on our personal feelings or the feelings of others. Now don’t misinterpret that. I know we are to be sensitive and concerned about the feelings of others, but I think within the body of Christ we have exaggerated that concern to the point of sin. Let me explain.

Ephesians 4:25-27  “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” 

When Paul wrote these words he did not state two distinct issues separated by a verse marking. I believe the issue of speaking truthfully to one another and the issue of unresolved anger are intricately connected. The devil has a foothold in our lives and in our churches because we don’t see that connection. Let me explain it.

First, silence can be falsehood. Not speaking the truth is lying, whether it is the actual verbal expression of untruth or the withholding of truth by silence. We sin against the other members of the body of Christ when we fail to speak the truth to them. Of course, the presentation of that truth is critical – it must be done in love.

A few years ago, I played my last softball game of my life with our church team. I was so excited to be a part of the team, and to have all the young, athletic, macho guys accept me as one of them, even though the age and physical conditioning differences are obvious. Prior to the game, I spent some time on the grass stretching my leg muscles. Ouch! They were so out of shape. Each time I would stretch they would scream at my brain and tell them they were hurting. My brain told the other parts of my body to slow down a little and be considerate of those muscles until they reached the flexibility level that was desired. My hamstring rejoiced that his voice had been heard, and that the other members of the body had rallied to his assistance. In the end, the whole body was able to function to the best of its current ability.

There would have been a different outcome if my brain had not heard the voice of my hamstring and continued to command running hard. I would have been hurt for a long time and the body would not have been able to function in a competitive manner. But what if my hamstring, not wanting to offend the other muscles that were ready to play, had kept silent about his need or his pain? That lie would have had the same result of disabling my body. The first time I rounded first base and dug for second on a hit I would have probably pulled up as I grabbed the back of my thigh and screamed in pain. Silencing hurts is falsehood. In the body of Christ, all hurts, all pains, all offenses are to be openly communicated and dealt with in love. It’s what makes for true intimacy. It’s what keeps the body of Christ healthy.

The second point is this – when we keep silent about our hurts, it causes anger to develop into bitterness. Anger is the emotional response to hurt and pain. Anger itself is not sin. Most people, when asked to explain how anger becomes sin, respond with something like, “when it leads us to do something sinful.” They usually mean that the anger leads us to acts of vengeance, spite, gossip, or other form of redirected pain toward others. However, in the context of these verses, the sin Paul is referring to is the sin of silence. We sin against each other when we live under the pretense that all is well, while inside we are seething with anger. We sin against our own spirit and its relationship with the Holy Spirit when we bury our true feelings and deny their expression within the context of the loving, caring, and forgiving body of Christ. We give Satan a foothold in our lives and in our church by planting the seed of bitterness when we don’t deal with issues of hurt feelings and anger before the sun goes down on them. We justify that course of action by claiming that we don’t want the rest of the body to be hurt, when in fact we are hurting it more deeply than by speaking the truth.

The Body of Christ is to be the most fulfilling form of relationship with others. Silence does not enhance relationships. Some issues may be insignificant and need to simply be overlooked. That’s what Paul meant when he said we are to “bear with one another in love.” When our silence is bearing with one another in love, then our spirit will not be angry. We can’t have it both ways. If what happened makes us angry, then we must deal with it in a loving way. Every stretch of the muscles brings greater health to the whole body and prepares us all for running the race with greater efficiency.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions (Click here for podcast)

Thursday, March 10, 2022

How bad is it? People jump at the chance to answer that question. It seems that everyone has an opinion on how bad things are compared to what they used to be. But a quick look at history reveals that sin has always abounded in humanity and its effects have always ravaged society. Sure, things are bad right now, but are they really any worse than they were in the days of Noah when God destroyed the whole population of the world because of their sin except for eight faithful people? Are things really worse now than they were for Sodom and Gomorrah when homosexuality was so rampant that the men of the city wanted to have sex with God’s angels? Are things really any more corrupt now than they were in the days of the Persian Empire when anyone who defied the King was run through with a pole from their bottom through their head and put on display in the city streets? Are Christians in parts of the world any less safe than they were in the days of the Roman Empire?

The followers of Jesus Christ have succumbed to the false notion that somehow things are so bad that there’s nothing we can do. We are convinced that we are powerless to affect change. We seem to almost gloat in the false reality that we are living in the worst of times. The effect of such thinking is to empower evil and minimize the power of God. Such thinking has become so prevalent that the church of Jesus Christ has allowed the infiltration of evil into its doors, and the followers of Jesus are unconcerned about the presence of sin in their lives. We have convinced ourselves that it’s just the reality of the times in which we live. Sin abounds around us, so it’s not that a big deal if it abounds in us.

But since Adam sin has always abounded, yet that is never a justification for its presence in the life of a Christian. There is a new life born in us that rejects the presence of sin and evil – the life of the sinless Jesus Christ. In Him we are a new creation. All the old has passed away and all things are made new. His life will change our thinking about sin, giving us a totally new attitude. His life will lead us to true righteousness and holiness. His life will not tolerate shared space with sin.

Ephesians 4:22-24  “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.“

Our complacency to sin is a sad commentary on the compromised condition of our conscience. Our compliance with sin is completely contrary to Christ’s life in us. Our lifestyle identification with the world reveals the true love of our hearts. Love for self has overwhelmed love for Christ. Choices are motivated by personal fulfillment. The old self still sits securely on the throne of our lives. But the Bible tells us that it doesn’t have to. It is there by our choice. There is an alternative. We can choose to put it off and put on its place the new life of Christ. In fact, for all those who truly love Jesus, this will be the reality. Maybe you were never taught that. I’m sorry for the misinformation you were given about what salvation is. When Jesus saves you from your sin, He saves you from your sin. It is not salvation if there is not deliverance. You have been delivered from your sin by the power of the resurrected Christ, who conquered all sin and its consequence of death. It is false thinking to believe that we can have the life of Christ and continue to live a life of sin. Those who are in Christ have crucified the old self, and daily put to death all of its desires so that their lives reflect the true love of their hearts, which is their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (Please read Romans chapter 6)

So how bad is it? It’s bad. Always has been. Always will be. But what makes it worse is that those who know Jesus are living as slaves of sin. Instead, we should live as Paul says in Romans 6:17-18. “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” It’s time to start living our faith!

Pastor John