Connecting Points

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Today’s Topic: Never Done This Before

Today’s Text:  Acts 10:44-48 (ESV) ⁴⁴ While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. ⁴⁵ And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶ For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, ⁴⁷ “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” ⁴⁸ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

I must interrupt the study of the life of Joseph to share with you some incredible news of how the Holy Spirit is at work in our church. Now more than ever we are on an adventure of faith in fulfillment of Christ’s Commission.

It all started many years ago as I sat in a local Asian restaurant having lunch. As I interacted with two of the servers the Holy Spirit reminded me of an interaction I had several years before that in another country with people of the same heritage. At that time the Lord had convinced me that someday I would be a part of a church that would reach people of Chinese descent with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That initial vision was given to me twenty-three years ago. I have had it in the back of my mind waiting for the Lord to open the door. Four or five years ago, the Lord started laying the groundwork for what is now becoming a reality. A wonderful sister in Christ of Chinese descent began coming to our church, and had a ministry to college professors and students at the University of Wisconsin here in Eau Claire. She began inviting visiting Chinese professors to attend our church and be informed about the truth of the Gospel. Several of them repented of their sins and were saved by grace through faith in the work of Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. They have since returned to China to do their part to spread the Gospel.

“So this is how the Lord will fulfill His vision,” I thought. But our Lord had even greater plans than that. About eight months ago two more Asian men who speak Chinese began attending our church, both of whom have known Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord for some time. It has been a joy to begin to fellowship with them. Then last night the Lord swung the door open wide so we (the Elders) could see the Lord’s bigger picture. Here’s what happened.

One of the Chinese men came to our Elder meeting last night to share his testimony and his desire to serve the Lord in our church. I didn’t know why, but as he spoke, in fact only about two sentences into his testimony, my eyes welled up with tears. I couldn’t stop. I wondered if he thought something was wrong with me. But there was nothing wrong. The Lord began to reveal to me the realization of a twenty-three year old vision. Our guest shared his experience in Dallas, Texas as a member of the council at a large church, and his ministry as the director of campus outreach to Chinese students at the University of Texas.

He went on to share his passion for reaching “his” people in the Chippewa Valley with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, explaining that there are over 100 Chinese students at the University here and over 200 Chinese residents of Eau Claire. The longing of his heart is to fulfill God’s call on his life to reach these 300+ people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I’m in full-blown cry mode now, wiping tears from eyes as the Elders ask him questions about his spiritual gifts and previous methodology of reaching Chinese people in an American culture. I stopped them and spoke for the first time, with tears continuing down my face. I read them the passage of Scripture above that the Holy Spirit had laid on my heart, translating verse forty-seven into this current application. “Can anyone here think of any reason why we should not honor the movement of the Holy Spirit in this meeting right now and immediately confirm that Jesus Christ is calling us to plant a Chinese Church in our new facility?” The room was instantly filled with affirmations, and it was done.

The Elders of Calvary have officially decided to follow the direct leading of the Holy Spirit and begin an intentional process of starting a Chinese-speaking church in Eau Claire. I wept some more. I am weeping now as I write this.

God never reneges on a promise. He never withdraws a vision. He ALWAYS fulfills His purpose if we wait for His timing.

What a step of faith we took. We’ve never done this before. But God has given us a plan, and a person who has already worked this plan, and He has given us three Chinese-speaking people to be the launch team. Pray for us, in the same way Paul asked the people of Colossae to pray for him – At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ… (Col. 4:3)

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, April 15, 2013

Today’s Topic: Suffering Before Glory

Today’s Text:  Genesis 37:3-4 (ESV) ³ Now Israel [Jacob] loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors.
⁴ But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

The book of Genesis is fascinating. It tells us the accurate, actual, and Holy Spirit-inspired history of the creation of the world and the first 2,500 years of the human race from Adam and Eve up to the beginnings of the nation of Israel in Egypt.

The one aspect of this incredible book that fascinates me the most is the typology of all the stories. In other words, each and every story contains a picture of the major doctrines of the Bible and the main characters of the accounts are true and accurate pictures of Christ himself.

For example, the story of Abraham is a clear picture of the doctrines of election and faith. In Isaac we have the picture of the Divine Sonship of Christ and the new spiritual nature of man in Christ, while in Ishmael we have pictured the old man of the flesh. In Jacob, who would be named Israel, we see the conflict between the two natures that lingers in us all, and the loving discipline of God to bring eventual triumph over the flesh.

In Joseph we see the heirship of Christ and all believers typified. His life story points to the future Savior who would first suffer and then be glorified, and who calls all of His followers to the same path in life. One day, as Joseph’s family discovered, we will reign together with Christ, but not before we have learned to suffer as He did.

There is an important distinction that we must understand from Scripture as depicted in the lives of Jacob and Joseph. You see, Jacob was disciplined by God as a son, but Joseph suffered like Christ as an heir. Discipline is the loving hand of God applying correction and training to the lives of His children because of their flaws, while suffering is the testing ground of faith to prepare His children for their inheritance.

It is the suffering for righteousness sake that we see in Joseph, and it is the beginning point of his story in Genesis 37. His father loved him more than all the others, yet that love brought him undeserved suffering. Yet it is in these martyr-type sufferings we see in Joseph that will mark the path for all those who will reign with Christ in glory. It was His path. It will be our path.

As we mature in our faith, it will become increasingly important for each one of us to learn to discern this truth. We must begin to understand the difference between the discipline of the Lord in our lives because of sin and character flaws, and the suffering that we have been called to as we stand for righteousness in an unrighteous world. It will benefit you greatly to spend quality time meditating on this truth and recognizing its importance.

In general practice we tend to avoid both. We ignore the discipline of God because it means admitting weakness and sin and involves correction and change, all of which are contrary to the nature of our flesh. We also tend to avoid a consistent and public lifestyle of faith whenever there is a threat of rejection or harm for being unashamed of the Gospel and representing Jesus Christ. But both are necessary. In Jacob we see the necessity of God’s children being disciplined and trained in righteousness. In Joseph we see righteousness lived out with such fervor and conviction that no amount of unjustified suffering could convince him to deny his God.

As it was true of Christ, and Joseph as a type of Christ, let it also be true of us, that we may understand that it is in and through righteous suffering that we are proven as heirs with Christ of all things and become partakers of His glory.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Friday, April 12, 2013

Today’s Topic: Sovereign Identity

Today’s Text:  Ephesians 1:5 (ESV) In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,

This morning the Holy Spirit spoke a truth to me concerning the issue of the Father’s Sovereignty. It started with a question that raced across my mind – “What about identity?” He instantly got my attention, and I knew exactly what He meant. You see, when it comes to the truth of God’s Sovereignty, we generally and primarily think of it in terms of activity, i.e. God’s control of nature, political powers, circumstances and events. Yet Sovereignty, by pure definition, demands control of more than just activity. It must also include the control of identity.

As the Holy Spirit spoke to me, He convicted me of my abuse of my identity. He opened another compartment of my mind where I had been working on Sunday’s sermon, and used the story of two blind men coming to Jesus to drive home the point. These two men came to Jesus and asked to be healed of their blindness. In response, Jesus asked them, “Do you really believe I can do this for you?” They responded with a unanimous YES! So Jesus restored their sight.

As my mind drifted into the subject for Sunday, which is the faith that Jesus required for the healing, the Holy Spirit asked another question. “How many blind people, after being healed, willingly go back to being blind?” After responding quickly and saying none, I thought about it more deeply. Once Jesus Christ established a new identity, and it was accepted by faith, no one need ever go back to the previous identity. The new identity has been established forever by the Sovereignty of God.

This is when the Holy Spirit began the convicting process in my own heart. How many times have I abused the identity Christ gave me by returning to the old one? How often have I distrusted the Sovereignty of God by not believing that the identity He gave me is not only eternally secure but entirely sufficient? Every time I fall into any level of despair or discouragement about my past, or any time I allow the circumstances of today to re-define me according to my old nature, am I not abusing the Sovereignty of God?

Read again in Ephesians 1 the description of His Sovereignty (verses 4, 5, 8 and 11) and our identity. I will assist you by underlining key thoughts.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

By the Sovereign will of God I am adopted permanently into the family of God through Jesus Christ who redeemed me and forgave me of my sins. I have been sealed eternally with the Holy Spirit who guarantees the inheritance promised to me in the glorious presence of God someday. That is my identity – and yours, if you believe the same. God, who is Sovereign, has said so, and if I truly believe it, then I will never willingly choose to go back to being blind.

Pastor John

What a statement of faith for all of us to be able to make – God, whatever comes my way, I will trust you. Meditate on the truth of God’s sovereignty today until it overwhelms you and conquers your fears and doubts.

Connecting Points

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Today’s Topic: Sealed Forever

Today’s Text:  Ephesians 1:13 (ESV) ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit…

I’m completely serious when I say to you that I don’t have much to say. Hard to believe, right? But it’s true.

I have this one thing on my heart today as a gift from God – I’m sealed by the Holy Spirit as a child of God forever!

It cannot be undone by circumstances, tragedies, loss, or even my daily diversions into prideful sin.

At the moment I heard the word of truth, the Gospel of my salvation, and believed in Jesus Christ as my Savior, I was sealed. It didn’t happen later after I earned it or prayed for it, but right away, as a gift of God’s grace and love and the fulfillment of Christ’s promise. The instant I believed in Jesus according to the word of truth, I was born again by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, baptized by Him into the family of God, empowered by Him with gifts for serving Jesus and His church, and I became His dwelling place.

The same is true for you if you believe in the One who died for your sin and rose from the dead.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Friday, April 05, 2013

Today’s Topic: Living Water

Today’s Text:  John 7:37-39 (ESV)  On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” ³⁹ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The warm temperatures are accomplishing what we all in the north have longed for – the melting of the snow. All over the landscape there are streams of water flowing, reviving childhood memories of rubber boots and little toy boats. In some places the rushing water is causing problems, flooding people’s houses and garages because the natural flow of the water is being diverted by stubborn ice and snow banks. But one thing is certain – unless contained water always seeks equilibrium: it always flows downhill and fills every hole until it establishes balance.

When Jesus ascended into heaven following His resurrection, He left His disciples with a promise –
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16:7) Jesus had previously used the analogy of water to describe the coming of the Helper, the Holy Spirit in John chapter 7. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” ³⁹ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. When Jesus sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, a flow of living water began.

Using my analogy of the snow melting, let me point out some practical truths for us today.

• Living Water always flows downhill. The Holy Spirit of God comes from above. He does not flow up from the earth, but down from the throne of God. Do not seek fullness of life from the world, but from the Word.
• Living Water can be contained. Our bodies are designed as cisterns to hold the Living Water, but we must maintain the integrity of the vessel. Jeremiah the Prophet proclaims the word of the Lord – for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13) The Apostle Paul calls us “temples” in 1 Corinthians 6:19 –  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?
• The Living Water fills all the holes of our lives. Given freedom to flow with no diversions, the Living Water will seek equilibrium. By its very nature it must fill in every low spot and create a perfectly smooth and balanced surface. The result of being filled with the Holy Spirit is an abundant life of balance, satisfaction, and contentment.
• The flow of Living Water can be diverted by stubborn sin that refuses to be melted away by the warmth of God’s love. The Water is diverted by ice jams and snow banks of sin that formed when we didn’t properly remove the sin as it began to pile up. Now those snow banks of sin are so large and solidified that they cannot be easily moved. The flow of water is diverted and does damage to our lives – not destructive damage, but disciplinary damage, to teach us to remove sin quickly so the Living Water can flow beneficially and productively into our lives.
• Unrestricted flow of Living Water will always overwhelm the limitations of its container and overflow to the low spots around it. Our hearts have a capacity limit, and when filled with Living Water there can be only one result – the Living Water will flow out of us onto others. We are surrounded by people with holes and low spots in their lives. We are to be the unbroken cisterns that not only hold water, but remain under the constant downhill flow of Living Water so that it flows out of us into their lives, thus bringing the healing power of Jesus to restore the broken cisterns of their lives.

May these simple truths become profoundly significant to our lives today as we seek to obey the Lord and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Connecting Points

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Today’s Topic: The Quality that Counts

Today’s Text:  Genesis 41:38 (ESV)  And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”

I cannot find an appropriate metaphor for how I feel this morning. Maybe you can help. How would you finish this sentence? It has been three weeks since I last sat at my computer to spend time writing, and it feels like…

Here are some of my attempts:

• …picking up my golf clubs after the longest winter ever.
• …trying to play my trombone after 25 years of inactivity.
• …running up and down the basketball court trying to be competitive with the young men of our church in our new gym.

Yet as I sit here, I realize the best metaphor is the one about never forgetting how to ride a bike.

I’ve been praying about what to study in my own life as the foundation for these Connecting Points, and the Lord has led me to the longest story in the book of Genesis. If you guessed Abraham you would be incorrect. The story of his great-grandson Joseph is longer. Not that it really matters from a spiritual perspective, but it is a story that has always fascinated me, and a story from which we can learn incredible truths about suffering, character, and wisdom.

The story begins in Genesis chapter 37, and concludes at the very end of the book. I would encourage you to take time to read it this month, maybe more than once, and follow along on the adventures of a young man who grew to be a powerful leader in spite of tragic circumstances.

The key to Joseph’s life is found in a question that was posed by Pharaoh to his officials following a dream that he had. Joseph has already spent an extended period of time unjustly confined to a prison cell and rudely forgotten by people whom he had helped and served. Yet by the grace and power of God, Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dream and be restored to a position of authority.

The question Pharaoh asked was this – “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”

Now consider this carefully. Pharaoh was a pagan ruler who worshipped idols. Throughout his reign as Egypt’s ruler he has chosen men for leadership based on all the natural characteristics of strength and authority promoted by his culture. Yet when confronted with the humble heart of a young man whom he had previously confined to prison, he could speak no higher praise than to say that he saw the Spirit of God in him.

That must be our foundation for this study, and it must be the foundation of our lives, for we are nothing if we are not filled with the Holy Spirit of God. All our personality traits, all our training, all our efforts, and all our accomplishments are meaningless unless they have been done in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the one and only quality of our lives that really counts.

Therefore, we must spend some time understanding what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Otherwise all of the other things we will learn from the life of Joseph will be nothing more than our attempts to learn behaviors that will hopefully bring us some measure of success and blessing. Without the Spirit of God everything we do is done in the strength of man and results only in the outcomes man can produce. But contrast that with what happens when we live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Look at what Joseph was able to endure and accomplish. Look at what the disciples did following Pentecost. Look at what the Apostle Paul did. Look at how all of their lives endured hardship, persecution and even death at the hands of God’s enemies, and yet they accomplished the glorious and eternal purpose of their Savior.

Why? Because they were filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Pharaoh saw it in Joseph even before the Holy Spirit was given as the permanent resident of our lives. The religious leaders of the New Testament saw it in Peter and James and John. But the living testimonies of the power of the Holy Spirit did not end with them. They must continue in us.

So when the world takes notice of you: when you are commended or recommended for advancement in your career, is it because of what you have done or because what you have done is a result of the Holy Spirit of God at work in you? Let the world rise up and take notice of the followers of Jesus, because no matter what injustice, hardship, tragedy, or persecution comes our way, they will be forced to give us the highest praise possible – “The Spirit of God is in them.”

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Friday, March 15, 2013

Today’s Topic: Baby Food

Today’s Text:  Hebrews 5:14 (ESV)  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Even though I have not been able to write any devotionals lately, I was challenged to take a couple of minutes this morning and share with you another of Ron Hutchcraft’s devotionals that I listen to on WHEM Radio in the mornings. Today’s was especially appropriate, and here’s why.

I have been struggling all week with the story of Jesus casting demons out of two men and allowing them to enter a herd of pigs resulting in all the pigs being destroyed. I’m having trouble because recently I’ve been told that my Sunday sermons are too long and too deep, and that I need to keep them shorter and simpler. There is validity to that, and last Sunday was a perfect example of how people respond when that happens. But can I do it two weeks in a row when faced with the deep issues of Christ’s revelation of His power over all spiritual authorities?

So today, on A Word With You, Ron spoke this right to my heart, and hopefully to yours also:

If you ever saw my oldest son eat a hamburger, you’d see how quickly it disappears. I’m sure that you would find it hard to believe that there was a time when he was actually too young to eat one. Yes, but we have the movies at home to prove it! We’ve got these old Super 8 movies. Well, not now; we’ve, of course, made them something more current. But there’s this little baby eating this mush that only babies eat. He didn’t have any equipment to chew a hamburger with then. So we’d feed him this smooth, beaten-to-death version of the real thing – no chewing, no effort, it just kind of slides right on down. Now he has to work harder on it these days, like when you’re eating a steak. But he seems to have no desire to go back to the good old days of baby food. The best food will require some effort, but it’s worth it.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Lazy Eaters.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews chapter 5, and it’s about lazy eaters. I’m beginning at verse 11. The writer says, “We have so much to say to you, but it’s hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need somebody to teach you the elementary truth of God’s Word all over again. You need milk, not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

Now, the writer of Hebrews is writing to some Christians who insisted on food that didn’t demand much of you. In this case, milk. They were lazy eaters. Well, that kind of laziness is all too common among a lot of North American Christians I’m afraid; the most entertained Christians in history. We’re so spoiled by our radio preachers, our TV shows, our seminars, our Christian celebrities. We want our sermons to be funny, and exciting, and always red-hot challenging. We want our speakers to be entertainers. We expect our teachers to be brief, to the point. How dare they talk too long! And we want our pastor to chop up our food for us and give it to us Gerber-ized. We like melt-in-your-mouth messages that don’t take a lot of effort.

Well, there are a few very gifted pastors or speakers who do 80% of the chewing for you. All you have to do is meet them maybe 20% of the way; you don’t have to put a lot of effort into it. But most of God’s messengers require careful attention from you, a determination to follow along with them, a willingness to make your own applications and connections.

There are some people who have a lot to say from the Lord, but they require you to come maybe 40-50-70% of the way. There are writers like that. You say, “This is hard to read.” But it’s worth sticking with it; it’s worth chewing. See, a spiritual leader doesn’t have to be funny or have a ton of charisma in order to feed you God’s Word. He doesn’t have to be some famous preacher or TV celebrity. God has put you under the teaching care of someone who loves God and cares about you; one of his servants. Don’t expect that leader, that pastor, that teacher, that writer to do all the chewing for you. Give your God-appointed teachers your very best.

When you listen to them, go prepared to chew, to work for your good meal. You’re too big for baby food. Lazy eaters never grow up. So, don’t be too lazy to chew a good piece of meat.

Come prepared for a full course dinner of meat and potatoes on Sunday.

Connecting Points

Friday, March 08, 2013

Today’s Topic: Always Wealthy

Today’s Text:  Revelation 2:9a (ESV)  I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich)…

My kids make fun of me for it. As we travel to North Dakota to see family my wife usually makes a slightly sarcastic comment about it every time we get close. You see, I love windmills. If I had my way I would have a tall traditional farm windmill in my front yard. For some reason they have an  aesthetic appeal as my eyes scan the farmlands of the Midwest.

Near my wife’s home town is a huge wind farm, with several miles of huge wind-powered generators reaching high into the sky. I love them. They can be seen from twenty miles away, which is about when the joking starts. As the distance diminishes, an optical illusion begins. It becomes very difficult to discern the rotational direction of the arms on the tower. From one perspective they look like they are travelling clockwise, but as we get closer and the angle of perspective changes they actually are turning in the opposite direction. The fact is they always turn in the same direction, but one’s viewing perspective can make them appear to be turning the other way.

Perspective matters. Jesus told His church in Smyrna to look at life from the right perspective. From the human perspective they appeared to be in trouble and in poverty; but from God’s perspective they were rich.

This morning in my devotions, Charles Spurgeon wrote this:

God’s people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when He chose His people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, He included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs.

Trials are a part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ’s last legacy. So surely as the stars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by Him, so surely are our trials allotted to us: He has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them.

Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the “Father of the faithful.” Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King’s vessels of honor are distinguished.

But although tribulation is thus the path of God’s children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before them; they have His presence and sympathy to cheer them, His grace to support them, and His example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach “the kingdom,” it will more than make amends for the “much tribulation” through which they passed to enter it.

We are so rich in Christ. Our troubles do not define us as poor. Our lifestyles do not increase or decrease our value. Our earthly treasures will all be lost, but our eternal inheritance is secured and kept by the power of God, ready to be revealed in Christ’s presence. If you are struggling with that truth, maybe a change of perspective is necessary.

Connecting Points

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Today’s Topic: The Importance of Love

Today’s Text:  Revelation 2:4 (ESV)  But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

There is a name I love to hear; I love to sing its worth;

It sounds like music in mine ear; the sweetest name on earth.

It tells me of a Savior’s love, Who died to set me free;

It tells me of His precious blood, the sinner’s perfect plea.

Oh, how I love Jesus; Oh, how I love Jesus; Oh, how I love Jesus; Because He first loved me.

That song popped into my head the moment I plopped into my office chair. It will be my constant companion the whole day. I wondered what the Lord was trying to say to me, and where His thoughts would take me. I invite you to come along with me on this journey.

As I thought about the words Oh, how I love Jesus, I was immediately convicted by the Holy Spirit. Do you really love Jesus all that much? Is Jesus the one true love of your life?

No. At first I attached a qualifying statement to that answer –At least not as much as I should or could – but quickly realized I was only attempting to validate the love I do have. We tend to do that when we answer questions: we defend ourselves rather than humble ourselves.

So the answer is simply NO! I do not love Jesus adequately as defined by Jesus in Matthew 22:37 – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” As a result, I also do not love others adequately either, for how can love flow from me when the Source of love is being ignored? I have promoted things of the world to a higher priority than my love for Jesus. Projects have become more important than prayer. Relaxation and recreation have replaced relationship. Personal success often becomes my agenda rather than the mission of Jesus Christ. Oh how I love myself.

At this point I needed to know how it is possible to be in the work of the Lord and yet not deeply in love with Jesus. So I read the context of Jesus’ letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7.  

¹ “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. ² “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³ I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ⁶ Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

Here’s what I discovered:

• The people of this church were doing the work of God – vs. 2
• They were enduring persecution and hardship and remaining faithful – vs. 2-3
• They were taking a public stand against evil in their day – vs. 2
• They were carefully holding to the truth of the Gospel – vs. 2
• They hated the false teaching of Nicolas (Acts 6) that promoted sensual and materialistic living – vs. 6

Yet in contrast to all of that Jesus said, But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. He actually says they have fallen from a previous position of honor and needed to repent (vs. 5). And then Jesus says that all of the other work they were doing would become meaningless unless they repented, for He would come and remove their lampstand from them.

OUCH! Not loving Jesus has dire consequences. The day is coming, and in fact may already be here for some, when those who have lost their first love of the Savior who loved them first and saved them from their sin will become ineffective in the work they are trying to do for the Lord. It all hinges on love.

Love for self and love for the world are opposed to love for Jesus, and serve as barriers to the expression of His power in our lives.

Every time the lyrics or melody to that song flash across my mind today, may my heart be humbled to realize that it is at that very moment that the Lord Jesus wants me to love Him more than whatever else I am doing. Let the journey continue.

Pastor John