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Wednesday, March 9, 2022

People are lost. They are hopeless. They are crying out for meaning. Here is a story that will stimulate your determination to share the hope of Jesus Christ with others.

During a time of incredible pain and suffering, one dad I know was an incredible example of faith. He modeled a peace that passes all understanding. He and I talked many times about the reason God took him on that journey. We were convinced that God would bring unsaved people to the point of salvation as they saw his faith. God used his struggle to help the hopelessly confused.

One day my friend received this email.

“I have been praying for your family for so long now, following your triumphs, and have been truly touched by your faith and love. I hope this does not strange but for such a long time I have been searching for my place – my connection – my way to find meaning. Through following your story, I am so motivated to develop my relationship with God. What you share makes sense to me – if you do not mind directing to where I can find fellowship like you have described. I feel silly asking and sorry for bothering you. Thank you and bless you all!“

Here’s what my friend wrote back…

“What a joy to receive your email this morning. When I read it, I just smiled and thought to myself…”Lord, this is why we are going through this, to inspire people like this”. I’m so excited to hear that you are wanting to press forward in your relationship with God. Let me ask you something…Have you personally asked Jesus Christ into your life? Have you admitted before Him that you are a sinner and that you need Jesus, and the blood that He shed on Calvary, to cleanse you from your sin? If you have done that, now you just grow in that truth. If you haven’t done that, and you have questions about that, we can work through that too.”

“So, I go to Calvary Baptist Church in Eau Claire and ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! Our pastor preaches from the Bible every week. Everyone is so accepting and loving. We stress prayer and the power that is found in it. We focus on Christ and His redeeming grace. We don’t stray from the word of God, and we don’t compromise it either. If you want to grow in your relationship with Jesus and meet people who will love you for who you are….Calvary Baptist is the spot.“

Of course, as I read this email I started to cry, because the Gospel was being shared with an unbeliever. What a thrill for any of us to have the opportunity to present the simple message of God’s love to someone who is lost in their sin. But the confusion and delusion of sin is not easily overcome.

Ephesians 4:17  “With the Lord’s authority let me say this: Live no longer as the ungodly do, for they are hopelessly confused.” 

Here is what the person wrote back to my friend.

“I am so sorry I have not gotten back to you. I just didn’t know what to do next. I did receive your email and was so happy to hear from you then as well.  You and your family were brought into my life for a reason, but I have to be totally honest with you I feel kind of lost in this whole process. I was raised as a holiday Catholic and do not have very much familiarity with the Bible. I consider myself an intellectual person, but  I
wonder at times if I have missed the boat in how to have a solid relationship with God.  I want to have this beautiful love and peace that you have but don’t know how to do that. Don’t get me wrong, I live my life believing in God and doing good and being as good of a person as I know how to be.  But I just feel like I have had this void and I don’t really know how to go about filling it. I mean really do I just start reading the Bible front to back? Do I just pick a section?“

“I have to admit that I am a person that gets nervous in meeting and dealing with new people – in situations that I am not too familiar with.  Worried that I won’t fit a certain mold that people expect.  Please don’t take it as I am some basket case – I am just being completely open with you. You actually met a very good friend of mine with her daughters at the play place at the mall one day – and we both have just been so inspired by you and your family.  We are both seeking to find the right paths in our lives.  I looked your church up on the net and it seems to have some exciting things going on but all I think is where would I fit in? How?….”

“At times I wonder if maybe I am just not one of those people that find that peace, that have that relationship, I am not perfect person but I want to find that faith and joy that you have…I just don’t know how to do it. Where to start…”

“So…now that I have dumped that load on your shoulders. I just want to thank you! You have so much going on in your life and yet you make time to think of and check on me…if I am overwhelming you, I am sorry. But I just feel like I have been lost for awhile now and may need some help in finding my way.”

This person and her friend are a microcosm of our culture and should motivate us to be intentionally sharing the Gospel with as many people as possible. People need Jesus to overcome the deception of living a good life to earn salvation. People need to experience the unconditional love of Jesus that accepts them. You have the opportunity to touch someone else’s life with how you live out your faith in Jesus Christ every day.

Pastor John

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Tuesday, March 8, 2022

I am a Boomer. Some of you are Builders, while others are Busters. Some of you belong to Generation X. Some are called Post-Moderns. We all carry a generational label that attempts to define the characteristics of our era. Each generation is a response and/or reaction to the previous one. Most generations rebel in some way against the standards of the previous one. Every generation appears to be identified by what it is seeking to change.

The characteristics of each generation also get carried over into the context of Christianity. One recent trend was for the post-modern thought of those born since 1980 to seek to transform the church. Those who advocated such change adopted the overall name of “The Emerging Church.” It has now evolved into what is called Progressive Christianity.” While some of the points they make seem valid and the changes they suggest appear valuable, the underlying theology of the movement is troubling. They teach that truth is based on experience not on proposition. Theology is open to debate. The goal of Christians is to live out their faith in such a way that culture is transformed, and we are to bring the kingdom of God to earth. The redemption of society is our highest call rather than redemption from sin. And probably the most disturbing to me of all their beliefs is this – there should be no line of distinction between those who are “in” and those who are “out. In other words, there is no reason to proclaim a “Gospel”, because who are we to judge whether someone else’s beliefs are valid or not. 

Ephesians 4:14  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 

Scot McKnight, author and theologian, wrote an article entitled, Five Streams of the Emerging Church in Christianity Today, He states, “This emerging ambivalence about who is in and who is out creates a serious problem for evangelism. The emerging movement is not known for it, but I wish it were. Unless you proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, there is no good news at all—and if there is no Good News, then there is no Christianity, emerging or evangelical.”

He goes on and states, “So I offer here a warning to the emerging movement: Any movement that is not evangelistic is failing the Lord. We may be humble about what we believe, and we may be careful to make the gospel and its commitments clear, but we must always keep the proper goal in mind: summoning everyone to follow Jesus Christ and to discover the redemptive work of God in Christ through the Spirit of God.”

I can’t and won’t claim to know the motivation for these generational church movements, but I can offer some observations. If the primary purpose for any change in church ministry or philosophy is not to win more people to Jesus, then not only is the change wrong but the heart of the initiator of the change is also wrong. And if the fundamental theological truths of Scripture are not proclaimed as non-negotiable, absolute truth, then the movement is not valid, no matter how much cultural relevance or social impact it has.

It is clear in Ephesians 4 that there is only one body – the body of Christ – made up of those who are born again by one Spirit. There is only one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God, the Father of all. In Christ we are called to grow up in Him until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, becoming mature. We are not called to live as infants, subject to every wind of teaching that comes along and appeals to our itching ears. We are not called to allow for alternative experiences of faith that satisfy the flesh. We are not brought to unity by debate. We are not made one by adopting a purpose to transform society. We do not redefine redemption so that it applies to transforming culture. We are one in Christ, and in Christ alone. We are not mature because we are tolerant and accepting of untruth. We are mature when we stand firmly in the one truth of Jesus Christ and His redemptive work on the cross that must be experienced individually before any social transformation can take place.

I’m sure there are well-meaning people in the new generation of churches who have a deep heart-felt desire to know God and serve Him. However, there is a cunning deception going on that undermines the essential of absolute truth. I urge you to be careful. Be cautious. Be spiritually discerning. Any movement that puts the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a secondary role to anything else, no matter how morally right or socially beneficial, is wrong. Let us be infants no longer. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)

Pastor John

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Monday, March 7, 2022

Soon the garden shops will be bursting with plants for the upcoming gardening season. People will be anxious for the last of the snow to melt so they can begin preparing ground for the planting of all their fruits and vegetables. There’s a lot of work to be done to prepare to produce a harvest.

I remember the year we changed a portion of our back yard into a garden. First, we skimmed off the grass and weeds that were growing in the spot where we wanted the garden located. Then, landscape timbers were dug into place and stacked two or three high so the garden would be slightly elevated. Then black dirt was hauled in and spread inside the box. Fence posts were installed so the garden could be enclosed to protect it from all the rabbits we have in our woods. Final soil preparations and fertilization were done, and then we were able to plant. It was great feeling to watch all of the work begin to grow and develop into something that bore fruit. It took great patience and constant nurturing, but the harvest was worth it.

Ephesians 4:11-13  “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.“

Being a gardener and being a pastor are similar. The church is the ground in God’s yard that needs landscaping. Jesus Christ has appointed some master gardeners to oversee the work. Their job is a long and difficult one that requires much patience, but the harvest is worth the effort. One thing that makes the process easier is when the ground cooperates. We are the ground of the Holy Spirit, and He is working to produce fruit in our lives. We need to cooperate with Him and His gardeners.

First, He has to skim off all the grass and weeds that are growing in our lives where the fruit needs to grow. When God speaks to us through our gardeners, and when they bring in the skid steer to slice off all the growth that doesn’t belong there, let them work. Listen to the truth they speak. Follow the advice they give. Submit to their admonitions and the rebuke of sin. Grass and weeds are like sin, and they don’t produce much of a harvest that benefits us. Let them help you take it away.

Let the gardeners help you elevate your life above the rest of the environment. That means they will have to put boundaries in place. Every life needs boundaries. There is the greatest freedom within the framework of God’s will. The gardeners want you to rise above the rest of the world around you.

Be thankful for the rich soil of God’s Word the gardeners bring to your life. Let it become the topsoil of your life. Keep it fertilized with prayer and personal Bible study. Don’t add anything to it that would diminish its richness. Keep it soft through constant cultivation. Weed it often. Water it regularly. Take care of the soil and there will be a bountiful harvest.

Assist the gardeners in putting up fences around your life that will protect your crop of righteousness from the enemies who would destroy it. Let the fence be large enough and strong enough to stop a lion, for there is one who is stalking you and seeking to devour you. Let the fence be tight enough to stop the small pests who don’t take big bites, but who through consistence persistence will ravage your plants and limit your harvest. Guard your garden from any and all enemies that will destroy it.

After all this has been done, and the gardener plants the seeds in your soil, nurture every plant in your garden so that it grows to full maturity and produces a harvest. The gardener will still be working to keep the garden free from weeds, and to provide water and fertilizer, but you are responsible for the growth of the seed and for the harvest it produces. You decide how the soil, water, fertilizer, light, and seed all combine to produce a crop of righteousness. You choose what kind of work your harvest will accomplish. You decide whether or not you will cooperate with the gardener in becoming prepared for works of service. You decide if you will become mature and attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, producing a bumper crop of righteousness and good works.

The gardener can only do so much. He is working hard to prepare you and equip you. What kind of harvest will you produce? 

Pastor John

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Friday, March 4, 2022

I am a fan of team sports. I think they’re a great analogy of the church. I have a favorite baseball and football team, and while I don’t have a specific favorite hockey team, I love watching the Stanley Cup playoffs. I also love basketball, although I am not a fan of how the NBA has ruined the game. But of all the team sports, football is unique, and for me makes for the best comparison to the body of Christ. For example, in baseball, hockey, and basketball, while there are specific positions and skills required, everyone on the team has the chance to touch the ball and score. They all have to share certain skills in common that are required to put points on the board. Not so in football. I have a deep admiration for the members of the offensive line. These five guys – almost 50% of the team – except for the center who has to hike it to the quarterback, are not allowed to touch the ball unless there’s been a fumble. By rule they are not allowed to be the first ones to touch a pass if it is thrown. They have one role – block the players of the defense so someone else can pass, catch, or run with the ball.

Soon the National Football League will hold their annual draft of college players. Some people might think that the guys who pass, catch, or run with the ball would be the first ones chosen. It would seem that their skills would be most important to the team. However, in a recent draft, the very first player taken was an offensive lineman. Of the top 31 players chosen, 23 were NOT quarterbacks, running backs, or receivers. That’s why I love football – everyone’s skills and position on the team is equally valued. The press and the fans may choose to overemphasize one position’s importance over another, but not the owners, scouts, and coaches. They know the importance of the guys in the trenches.

Ephesians 4:7 “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.“

That’s how it is to be in the Body of Christ. We do not all get to score touchdowns or hit home runs or score goals. We do, however, all get to play, and every player’s skills are essential to victory. Our Coach, Jesus Christ, has chosen us for His team because of the specific skills we have. Then, after selecting us, He gave us additional spiritual skills that are not learnable in the flesh. Those gifts complement and enhance our natural abilities, and make us perfectly fit for the position we are to play on the team. We tend to overemphasize the importance of certain positions, like pastors, elders, and teachers.  We believe that unless we have those skills and gifts we are not really needed or important. How wrong that thinking is! That’s exactly how Satan keeps the church from becoming the powerful force of change in our culture. That’s exactly why the church isn’t being recognized as a contender for the championship of life.

The Apostle Paul tells us in today’s Scripture verse that Jesus Christ, the Head Coach of the team, has given each member of the team a specific skill and gift set in the exact proportion He wanted to fit each one for a specific task that is necessary to the complete success of the team. You are one of those team members. You are essential to the team’s success. No one has the privilege of considering themselves more important than anyone else, and no one has the right to consider themselves insignificant and unimportant. It is Jesus Christ who determines our value, and that value has nothing to do with the position you play on the team. It has everything to do with the person you are in Christ. You are chosen. You are gifted. You are exactly what Jesus made you to be, whether that’s a ball carrier or a blocker.

So come on, get in the game. There are places for you to serve. There are games to be won. We need you to play so we can all be champions.

Pastor John

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Thursday, March 3, 2022

Magnets are cool. They help me see the invisible. They teach practical lessons of eternal value. I remember playing with two little magnetic dogs in church when I was a little boy. They were mom’s way of keeping her three sons quiet while she sang in the choir and while dad led the service. Little did I know the importance of the lessons about unity I would learn from them. You see, the force of a magnet has the ability to attract an object if it is made of a material that responds to magnetic force. That material can also be influenced to become magnetic itself. If the object is another magnet, it will either attract or repel depending on its position. Let’s draw some spiritual applications from these scientific facts. 

Ephesians 4:3  “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.“

I see the power of the Holy Spirit represented by magnetic force. God has created all human life out of eternal material that is able to respond to the Holy Spirit. We can be influenced sufficiently by the power of the Spirit to become like Him. That’s what happens when we let the power of the Spirit flow through us. But just like magnets, we can also be repelled by the Spirit if our position is wrong. When I played with the two magnetic dogs, they would attract each other if they were facing each other. If I tried to come up from behind one of them with the other, it would be pushed away. The Holy Spirit can only attract those who are facing God and seeking Him. All others will be repelled deeper into their own lives of selfish aspirations.

Once a life is attracted by the Holy Spirit, connection happens. This connection is most powerful and influential when there is nothing between the two. However, things do get between us and God. I used to put one dog underneath the cover of the hymnbook, with the other dog on top. Any movement of the bottom dog would influence the position of the top dog. God’s Spirit influences us constantly, and directs our every move, even when things of the world try to interfere. However, the more pages I would put between the two dogs, the less influence there would be, until finally the top dog was not influenced at all. Continual submission to the things of the world will quench the power and we will be unable to sense the movement of the Spirit.

One of the direct results of continuous magnetic force on an object is that the object itself becomes magnetic. I remember this lesson from a time I was fixing a car. I had dropped a small bolt down into a very tiny opening in the frame of the car, and needed to retrieve it. The magnet I had was too large to fit into the opening. I grabbed a nail, and began stroking the nail with the magnet. The nail became magnetized. I attached a wire to it, and dropped the nail down into the slot, which in turn picked up the bolt. What a great lesson for us. We are constantly being stroked by the Holy Spirit so that our lives with be used to attract others to Jesus.

Another direct result of magnetic force is that it will hold objects together so long as the force is permitted to work. Let me tell you about another experiment I did once in school. On an oak table we placed a pile of nails. Underneath the table we had built a small electromagnet. When the electric current was turned on and the poles of the magnet were brought up under the table, immediately there was a field of magnetic force formed around the nails. So long as this field of force was maintained the loose nails could be built up in various forms, such as a cube, a sphere, or an arch. So long as the current was on, the nails would stay in exactly the form placed, as if they had been soldered together. But the second the current was cut off the nails would fall into a shapeless mass.

Unlike the experiment, where the power could be turned off, the power of the Holy Spirit cannot be cut off. The power to create unity is always on. But picture those nails all being held in a large arch by the magnetic force. Now, remove one of the nails and replace it with one made of a non-magnetic material, and try to build the arch again. It won’t work. Every individual nail has to be connected to the power for true unity to exist.

That’s why the verse says that we are responsible to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. His power is always creating unity. Our lives sometimes become an obstacle to unity because we are more attracted to the world than we are to Christ. We have turned away, like the magnetic dog, and are no longer facing Jesus. We repel His power rather than connect to it. What that field of magnetic force was to those nails, the Holy Spirit is to all believers. By His power we are held together in a bond of love, a bond that is broken when we grieve and quench the Holy Spirit by our self-willed actions. Make every effort to let the Holy Spirit’s power continue to influence every part of your life, and your life will be used to bring unity to the Body of Christ.

Pastor John

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Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Let’s be honest – there are people who bug us. Some bug us with their idiosyncrasies, while others bug us just because we think they’re idiots. Sorry for the bluntness, but that’s the truth of how we think, isn’t it? There are people with whom we lose our patience. There are people we’d just like to smack. There are people who need to be told to shut up, and there are people who need to be encouraged to speak up. There are people who make us mad, and there are people who make us laugh. We laugh with some because they are funny. We laugh at others because we think they are dumb.

Like this woman. I don’t know if hair color has anything to do with it, but she was blond. She was crying her eyes out at work when the boss asked her what was wrong. “I just got off the phone with my mom and she told me my grandmother died.” Being a compassionate man, he told her to take the rest of the day off. She refused, stating that it would be best if she could keep her mind off it by staying busy. Several hours later she was found crying hysterically again. The boss asked if something else had happened. She explained, “I just got off the phone with my sister, and she tells me her grandma died too.”

Smack! It’s what we want to do. But what does Christ say?

Ephesians 4:2  “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” 

I don’t think we realize how much arrogance we display in our attitudes towards others. Far too often our lives stand in direct contradiction to Christ’s Spirit within us, leading us to be completely humble and gentle. Where is the patience that is one of the fruit of the Spirit? Where is the Christ-like perseverance to bear with one another in love? I know where it is – it’s locked up in the basement of our life’s house. We may have poured the foundation correctly in Christ, but the house itself has been built with faulty materials. The building permit for the house was issued by God, but we have changed the name on the permit from LORD to SELF. We built everything just the way we wanted it, for our use and for our honor. We’ve locked the Spirit of God in the basement, and then have the audacity to proclaim that we built on the right foundation. We are the ones who need to be smacked.

We are proud people. We seem to constantly pursue our personal agenda. We seek approval. We perform to earn value. We make choices based on one main criteria – self-satisfaction. We look at others as competitors for a limited amount of worth that is available. We have succumbed to the lie of Satan that’s there’s only so much good to go around, so we’d better grab all we can while it’s accessible. Even if we can’t keep others from getting some of it, we can at least criticize them in our own minds so they appear to us to not have any, which in some warped way is supposed to make us feel like we do. We have wandered a long way from living humbly.

Humble living involves two things. I don’t intend for these to seem simple – they are not. But they are required. Not just partially, but completely. First, we must have an honest opinion of ourselves in comparison to Almighty and Holy God, not in comparison to others; and second, we must have complete confidence in God to provide all things and work all things out for His good, rather than having to control it all ourselves. That’s a lot to work on. Imagine how bugged with us God must get. Or does He? He does not! He is gentle with us, bearing us up in His arms and sustaining us with His powerful right hand. He is patient with us, which is an amazing thing because we all know how much patience it has taken to stand by us knowing all we have done in the past. He bears with us in love because He is the One of perfect love. He has modeled for us how we are to live with others. 

May I suggest a starting point. Take a piece of clear plastic, and with a permanent marker write the word SMACK! on it. Now, right up at the top of your car’s windshield, on the inside, next to the reminder for your next oil change, stick that piece of plastic. Then ask God to draw your eyes to that spot every time you get frustrated with another driver. It will remind you that you are the one who needs to be smacked for allowing pride to govern your life. It will be the start of learning humility, gentleness, patience, and love.

Pastor John

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Tuesday, March 1, 2022

From 1996 to 2000, the New York Yankees were the dominant team in Major League Baseball. They were World Series Champions four out of those five years. Each year, as the rookies would arrive for spring training and receive their new uniforms, Joe Torre, the team manager, would remind them of something a former Yankees manager by the name of Billy Martin used to say to his players when they won two championships in the 1970’s. “Men, you are now members of the greatest team in baseball history. You are New York Yankees. When you put on this uniform, you represent a tradition like no other. You are part of a team like no other. We are champions. I ask only one thing of you – play like you are a champion. Be worthy of this uniform.”

Today’s principle from the book of Ephesians is the same – live like a champion.

Ephesians 4:1  As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 

We are followers of Jesus Christ. We represent a tradition like no other. We are part of a team like no other. We are spiritual champions. Our team manager, Jesus Christ, asks only one thing of us – live life like a champion of God. Be worthy of wearing the uniform of faith.

It’s interesting that Paul makes that statement while a prisoner – under arrest for living like a champion of God. It’s hard to understand his logic. He lived worthy of his spiritual calling, got arrested and thrown in prison, yet tells others to live in the same way. That puts us at risk of the same outcome. Many reject this calling. Many compromise their faith for the sake of secular acceptance. Many keep silent about their faith for the sake of financial peace. Many hide their beliefs for the sake of personal safety and security. But Paul’s logic makes perfect sense to those who truly understand their calling and position in Christ. Paul urges his friends to live like champions because he knows two things from personal experience:

1. That no suffering in this life is worthy to be compared to the glory of seeing Jesus someday; and…
2. That during the suffering, the grace of God is so sufficient that the experience of the peace of God is more satisfying than the suffering is harmful. Paul knew that faithfulness to God brings a fulfillment to life that no suffering can diminish. 

Unfortunately, many of us have never put that to the test. We have avoided suffering and hardship by living a life worthy of the world but unworthy of being a champion of God. We have predetermined that visibly and boldly living out of our faith will cause us to lose relationships, suffer financial loss, and experience social alienation. What we have chosen to idolize human experience above our love for Jesus. We put on the spiritual uniform on Sunday, but on Monday, when game day arrives, and we walk to the plate to take our first at bat, we intentionally strike out to please the other team. When we walk to the mound to throw our first pitch, we throw easy pitches for the opponent to hit so they can win. We bring shame to the name by which we are called when we intentionally live to please the other team. We disgrace the uniform of Christ by living like losers, not champions.

But we are champions. We have been called to not only be on God’s team, but to wear the uniform of Jesus Christ our Lord and King. We are called by His name. We are proud to be identified as one of His followers. There is nothing this world or its people can do that can separate us from His love.

So today, we choose to live a life worthy of our calling. We will proudly wear the lifestyle of holiness. We will proudly tell everyone that we are members of God’s team. We will live in faith and full confidence that strikeouts, hitless streaks, and errors do not bring an end to the game. We will bear down like champions and finish the game, being fully confident of this – we are champions, and we will win!

Pastor John

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Monday, February 28, 2022

Sometimes I wonder about the strangest things. Like this morning, I wonder why we say “please” when we ask for something. Here’s what I think. The basic meaning of the word “please” is “to be agreeable; to satisfy”. I confess that the satisfaction part of the definition is more significant than the agreeable part. When I am pleased with something, I feel satisfied by it. When I take pleasure in something, it satisfies me and in some sense fulfills me. It is in that sense that we use the word “please” the most. When we make a request to another person, we are usually asking within the context of our own perceived satisfaction, and we want the other person to know that it will please us.

But we misuse the word when we think it of it only from that perspective. We cannot be truly pleased if what we ask for is not agreeable to the one we are asking. Saying please when asking for something must take into account whether or not the person we are asking will be agreeable to what we have asked and will be satisfied to grant it. “Please” is a two-way street. As parents and grandparents we have practiced this for years, but have probably never really thought about it. Kids think, as do childish adults, that saying “please” guarantees results. No matter how many times my grandchildren would say “please” when asking me for permission to play in the street, I would deny their request, because I am not in agreement with their desire and it would not satisfy me. They can say “please” all they want, but I will not be pleased to say yes. The ultimate expression and fulfillment of “please” is to be in agreement with the person being asked.

I started thinking about that today while I was evaluating how my life pleases God. I thought about God’s words to His Son Jesus when He was baptized, when He said, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” How and why did Jesus please the Father? We tend to believe that pleasing God, or people, is all based on performance. But at this point, Jesus had not yet performed anything. He simple lived in quiet, humble submission to God’s will and purpose for His life. He was a carpenter, with nothing written about His life after His birth except one event at the age of twelve where He astounded people with His wisdom. Otherwise, His life had been lived to this point in obscurity – unnoticed, unrecognized, and unappreciated. Yet God said He was pleased with Him. Pleasing God goes far beyond performance.

It’s not that performance isn’t a part of pleasing God, but it doesn’t start there. As important as doing the work of God is, pleasing God begins with God doing His work. It is only possible to do the work of God if we first let God do His work in us. What ultimately pleases God is this – when He can fulfill the work of His Son Jesus in our lives.

Ephesians 2:8-10  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God is most pleased when we become His workmanship. Then, when He creates the life of Jesus in us, it will result in us doing good work that pleases Him. That is why God was pleased with His Son before any work had been done. Jesus was fully surrendered to whatever God’s work would be, and that was the basis of God’s pleasure.

So many people spend their lives trying to work hard to earn the approval of God. Some even waste their lives trying to earn the approval of people. But this one truth will set us free. God is pleased with me because I am His workmanship, and there is no performance that can improve my position. Performance doesn’t earn position. Performance only validates position. God is pleased with position, not performance, and our position in Christ pleases God. He is in agreement with it. He is satisfied with it. That truth has power to change your life. Insecurities will dissolve into the security of God’s approval on life because of who we are in Christ and not because of what we can or cannot do.

Will you let this truth have the same effect on you…please?

Pastor John

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Friday, February 25, 2022

Not all churches understand unity. Many have never experienced it. Like the church I read about this morning. The Pastor had presented an idea to the Elders several weeks earlier that he believed would facilitate greater spiritual growth and outreach within the church. The Elders met to debate the idea, and the meeting dragged on for hours. They were worn out from arguing. Each side had presented convincing arguments that only seemed to entrench the opposition more deeply in their own defense of their position. Finally it came time to vote, and the results were announced to the congregation the following Sunday. The Elders had voted 6-5 to participate in Unity Sunday.

Unfortunately this scenario describes far too many churches. A firmly entrenched group of long-term “owners” of the ministry seem to run everything. Newcomers are excluded from leadership and are not included in the inner circle of information. They are called foreigners, aliens, and immigrants, but are never accepted as fellow citizens or members of the household. That’s because some churches believe that they get to define their household of faith and get to choose who belongs to it. A few powerful and influential people take power and dictate the direction of the church. Once that happens, it is nearly impossible from a human perspective to ever overthrow their self-appointed reign.

But that’s not how God established the church. Here’s how the church is supposed to operate.

Ephesians 2:19-22  Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The church is God’s household, and in Christ, everyone, no matter how young or old, rich or poor, powerful or weak, black or white or red or yellow or brown, newcomer or long-time member, is joined together to form a building in which God dwells by His Spirit.

Because God is holy He can only dwell in holiness. Unless the whole building – everyone who calls Jesus Lord and has been washed in His blood for the forgiveness of sins – is joined together it cannot rise to become the holy temple in which God will dwell. Racial prejudice has no place in the church. Preferential treatment for people of a particular heritage is unacceptable to Jesus. Assigned status based on financial solvency is an offense to God. Every member of Jesus Christ is a member of God’s household and is to be accepted, included, and treated as an equal.

I think this story illustrates perfectly what our Scripture passage is saying today:

During Vacation Bible School one year the pastor’s wife had an experience with her primary class that she says she will never forget. Her class was interrupted on Wednesday about an hour before dismissal when a new student was brought in. The little boy had one arm missing, and since the class was almost over, she had no opportunity to learn any of the details about the cause or his state of adjustment. She was very nervous and afraid that one of the other children would comment on his handicap and embarrass him. There was no opportunity to caution them, so she proceeded as carefully as possible. As the class time came to a close, she began to relax. She asked the class to join her in their usual closing ceremony. “Let’s make our churches,” she said. “Here’s the church and here’s the steeple, open the doors and there’s…” The awful truth of her own actions struck her. The very thing she had feared that the children would do, she had done. As she stood there speechless, the little girl sitting next to the boy reached over with her left hand and placed it up to his right hand and said, “Davey, let’s make the church together.”

My friends, let’s make the church together, using every building block God has given us. Together, in unity, we will become the dwelling place of God in all of His glory.

Pastor John

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Thursday, February 24, 2022

I am in awe of God. Every day the awe deepens. Every day the splendor of who he is becomes more real. It’s not at all like this guy, who was still a little groggy after waking up from surgery. He turns to his wife and mumbles, “You’re beautiful.” Then he rolls over and goes back to sleep. A short time later he wakes up, looks at her again, and says, “You’re cute.” She asks him what happened to beautiful, to which he replies, “I guess the drugs must be wearing off.“

Sometimes the initial thrill of things wears off. You only get your first hole in one once, or see Mount Rushmore for the first time once. Familiarity minimizes awe, and that is probably true about most experiences in life. It has long been my dream to live on the shores of a lake, where every morning I could dive off the end of my dock and exercise these aging muscles with a good swim. The thrill of being able to jump in my boat any time I want and go fishing would be spectacular. I would like to think that I would never grow complacent toward the blessing of being able to live in such a paradise, but I’m afraid I would. If the lake property didn’t also include enough woods on which to deer hunt, or wasn’t located close to a golf course, I’m sure I would begin to complain. I think most of us become dissatisfied with what we have, always looking for something better and more fulfilling on the other side of the fence.

That’s what makes our relationship with God so fascinating. Nothing grows old with Him. Every day there is something new to discover about the paradise of personal intimacy with God. It’s like knowing that every morning’s sunrise over the lake will be more spectacular than yesterday’s, and with every record fish caught from the lake God has replaced it with bigger ones. It’s like one of my friends always says, “His mercies are new every morning.“ Here’s how the Apostle Paul describes it.

Ephesians 1:15-19 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

In my years of ministry I’ve stood next to people who shared a testimony of what God was doing to personally move them higher in their spiritual lives. I’ve heard people who had walked with Jesus for many years say how God was moving them out of their comfort zones into ministry they never knew they were gifted to do. I listened as a new Christian told how God brought him to understand his role as the spiritual head of his family and how he is accepting that role. One young couple that is new to our church talk about their pain from previous church experiences and how meaningful it has been to find a church that is faithful to God’s Word and where they have been accepted for who they are. In all of this I’ve seen Jesus Christ confirming our mission. The Holy Spirit is actively at work in people’s lives. I am in awe of God. I will NEVER grow weary or complacent about what God has done, is doing, and is planning to do.

This is real church. This is people who have the Spirit of wisdom and understanding and are pursuing knowing God better. I am watching people whose hearts have been enlightened and are living according to the hope of their heavenly inheritance and not according to the pursuit of an earthly one. I am serving with a group of people who believe in the power of God to do immeasurably more than they could ever ask or imagine. I am in awe of God!

“Thank you, Jesus, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Head of the church, for calling us together to accomplish your great and eternal purpose of connecting people to God. Thank you for the Holy Spirit who equips us to do that work, and who brings us to unity of mind and heart to bring glory to Jesus Christ our Savior. And thank you for today and the new adventures we will embark upon together. Lead on, O King Eternal. We will follow you!“

Pastor John