LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Still Stuck.

The point Jesus makes in John 7:24 about prejudice is not one we can move away from too quickly. Yesterday we were challenged to do some personal evaluation of our own prejudices. I hope it was productive time for you as you considered how first impressions can cause us to form judgments about entire groups of people.

Another aspect of prejudice we must consider is this: we tend to form adverse opinions about people based on insufficient knowledge of them and their circumstances.

Here’s a simple example. How many times do we get frustrated with the driver of the vehicle in front of us? They may be going too slow, swerving, or not using a turn signal, and we determine at that instant that they are a terrible driver or they must be on their phone. Men display the prejudice of categories by calling the driver a woman. We all get frustrated because our needs and preferences are honored above an understanding of their circumstances. We make a judgment about more than just their driving ability; we form an opinion of who they are as a person based on insufficient knowledge of who they are.

Let me state something that we have all probably heard before in one form or another. We have no right to make a judgment about another person unless we have intimate personal experience with that person that validates the judgment. In other words, don’t form an opinion about anyone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. You may have an opinion based on limited contact with someone, but it is only an opinion. When did opinions get elevated to equality with truth? Our opinions must be subject to change. If they aren’t, then we are declaring opinions to be truth. When we form opinions about people, we must be willing to be wrong. Otherwise we are guilty of the sin of prejudice.

In 1970, singer and songwriter Joe South released a hit song entitled “Walk a Mile In My Shoes.” Here are the lyrics.

If I could be you, if you could be me
For just one hour
If we could find a way to get inside
Each other’s mind

If you could see you through my eyes
Instead of your ego
I believe you’d be, I believe you’d be surprised to see
That you’ve been blind

Now there are people on reservations
And out in the ghetto
And, brother, there, but for the grace of God
Go you and I

If I only had the wings
Of a little angel
Don’t you know I’d fly to the top of a mountain
And then I’d cry, cry, cry?

Walk a mile in my shoes
Walk a mile in my shoes
Yeah, before you abuse, criticize, and accuse
Walk a mile in my shoes

Before you abuse, criticize, and accuse, get to know the person. Find out what makes them tick. Imagine how liberating it would be to not have to walk around carrying the weight of so many opinions about people. Discover the freedom of realizing the biggest burden you carry is the elevated opinion you have of yourself that cause you to have adverse opinions of others.

Pastor John

LIFElINK DEVOTIONAL

Monday, October 12, 2020

I’m stuck.

When I got to the end of the sermon yesterday at church, I thought I would be able to move on. But here I am, parked on a truth that is still impacting me. No matter how many times I have tried to move forward into the next section of verses, the wheels of my mind just slip.

I’m stuck.

I’m stuck on what Jesus said about prejudice.

John 7:24  “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

I’m stuck contemplating questions about judging people by appearances. What is right judgment? What kind of judgments were the people making about Jesus? What needed to change in their thinking to make right judgments? Could I be guilty of prejudice?

Prejudice is defined in several dictionaries as three specific attitudes:

1. a preconceived judgment or opinion;
2. an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge;
3. an irrational attitude of hostility.

Definition number one is the fatal flaw of first impressions universally applied. We all do it. We create mental compartments designed to help us organize various groups of people. We form an opinion of a certain type of person based on one experience with someone, and then we put everyone like them into the same compartment.  Our judgment is based on nothing more than external appearance. This is prejudice.

Jesus said, ^”You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.” (John 8:15) Prejudice is inexcusable and unacceptable in Christ’s Kingdom. Yet we justify it in our personal kingdoms. We claim we need to make judgments about people for personal protection. We must guard what is ours from those who would take it. We must protect principles of truth from those who seek to undermine and destroy them. We must make judgments about people so we can remain safe.

There is an element of truth in our justifications, but there is no Godly basis for creating compartments into which we categorize people based on appearances. It is sin to universally apply judgment to a group of people simply because they have the appearance of one person who hurt you. Again, prejudice is inexcusable and unacceptable in Christ’s Kingdom.

Please take some time today and contemplate the level of prejudice that exists in your heart. Are we guilty of having a preconceived judgment about people based on the color of their skin, their political affiliation, their income level, their homeless status, their weight, or countless other labels we place on them so we can place them in the proper category and feel safe?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, October 9, 2020

One of the easiest things human nature does is to judge others by appearances. We form immediate opinions about people based on first impressions. We categorize people into classifications of “Acceptable” and “Unacceptable.” We instinctively tell others how wrong they are. We thoughtlessly and unsympathetically point out people’s faults. Humanity would do well to look beyond the faults to the cause of the faults with a desire to understand. If only we would learn to look for what drives and invokes the joy, slothfulness, or the melancholy in people. Until we become aware of the real vision, aspirations, desires, and the needs of others, we will continue to criticize.

In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus proclaims a spiritual principle that is based on a miracle He performed six months to a year earlier. On the Sabbath Day, He had healed a lame man at the pool of Bethesda. He starts by asking two questions.

John 7:19  “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”

Question number one – Are you dedicated to obeying the spiritual laws given to you? Jesus answers this question for them. NO! Your actions prove that you are dedicated to serving yourself with the law, not to serving God. There’s real truth in this question for us today. Has not God given us His commands, precepts, and principles so that we might serve Him with pure hearts? Have we not chosen which spiritual principles serve our own interests and discard the rest? Do we not live our lives according to the flesh with only an appearance of spiritual sensitivity?

Question number two – Why do you seek to eliminate me? Have you become so convinced that your ways are higher than my ways that you want to eliminate the threat I pose to your comfort zones? Have you become so enamored with the ways of the world and your own gratification that you would actually seek to remove Jesus from having any influence in your life?  Has the power of self-serving religion become so important to you that you believe Jesus is a danger to true spiritual life? Do you really believe that Jesus is the law-breaker and you are the law-keeper?

Both of these questions are relevant to our lives today, and according to what Jesus asks next, they are rooted in the nature of man to judge by appearances.

John 7:23-24  “If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Two points to ponder this weekend.

1. Do you consider Jesus to be a threat to your chosen way of life?
2. Do you judge others by appearances and potential personal benefit rather than with right judgement that seeks to know their heart?

Jesus declared an eternal spiritual principle in this passage: Understand the spirit of the law before enforcing the letter of the law. Let’s apply that to how we treat people as we seek to understand the spirit of the person before enforcing behavior standards on them.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Yesterday in our study of John 7, we discovered how we can know the Bible is true. Today, we discover another proof of how we can know that Jesus is true.

John 7:18  “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.”

I will never forget my first big research paper I did in high school. I was a sophomore, and our American History assignment was a 20-page paper on a topic of our choosing. I chose the Pony Express. The requirements for the paper were as follows: 20-pages typed and double spaced; a minimum of 20 different sources cited and referenced; grammar, spelling, and punctuation accounted for 20% of the grade

Remember, this is before the internet, so all research was done at the library, requiring the use of the Dewey Decimal System for locating books. There were no copy machines, which required the use of a pencil and notecards for referencing all quotes and information used in the paper. Every paragraph required at least one footnote listing the source of information. You see, no matter what my grandkids think, I was not present to personally witness the Pony Express in operation. All of my information had to come from another source. I wrote the paper based on no authority of my own.

One of the fundamental principles of teaching is to be able to verify the source of information. It is also supposed to be a fundamental principle of journalism. The passing on of information is only so trustworthy as the source of the information.

Jesus declares to us that He never speaks on His own authority. He is never teaching anything that exalts Himself or seeks His own recognition and honor. Everything He says is sourced in God the Father. The result of such commitment to the One who sent Him is that He never utters an untruth. There can be no falsehood in one who proclaims only what they have been told to say. Since Jesus only speaks what the Father has authorized, Jesus is always telling the truth. If we doubt that, we must doubt that Jesus was sent by God, and also doubt that God is perfectly truthful.

The question for us to consider, then, is this: “When we speak, what is the source of our information; by whose authority are we speaking; and for whose glory are we speaking?”

I think I will just leave you with that question to ponder – if you dare. Maybe it will help if you were required to add footnotes listing your sources to every sentence you speak.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

How can we know that the Bible is true? Jesus answers that question for us in John chapter seven.

John 7:16-18  So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

When we read the Bible we read it through one of two lenses. Lens number one is built into our sinful human nature. It is the lens of self. Through this lens we see the Bible as a challenge to what we want for ourselves. We read it to find loopholes that permit us to do what pleases us. We study the Bible looking for errors or contradictions so we can justify our self-serving choices. We are convinced that our own will is best for us. We doubt that doing the will of God is beneficial. When we read the Bible through this lens we will not recognize it as the authoritative revelation of God, but instead will cast aside anything that doesn’t fit into our own authority over life.

Lens number two is built into the nature of Jesus which we have received by grace through faith. It is the lens of surrender to His will. When the Bible is read through this lens, we have made the choice to bring our will into agreement with God’s will. We find the words coming alive and touching deep into the very fiber of our existence. We recognize their eternal authority. We are transformed by them. We find them beneficial. We desire more and more understanding as our love for Jesus grows with each word.

The Jews of Jesus’ time were using the first lens to analyze the teachings of Jesus. It left them doubting, confused, and ready to eliminate Him as a threat to their agenda.

You do not need to be like them. Those who believe Him, and choose to do the will of God the Father, will have their eyes opened to see that Jesus is the Messiah, the Holy One of God, and will know that His teaching is from God.

Understanding the Bible is a ministry of the Holy Spirit to us. He is limited only by our choice of lens number one. When we read the Scriptures to gratify self, we will not see it as God’s Word. However, through lens number two, the lens of surrender to God’s will, comes the fullness of God’s revelation directly from the Author with all authority.

Which lens are you using?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

What motivates you to make the decisions you make? What drives you to choose what to say and do and when to say it or do it?

There are two possible answers to those questions. Either we are motivated by our love for the world, or we are driven by our love for Jesus Christ.

Here’s what Jesus said to His brothers.

John 7:6-7 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.”

Here’s the context. Jesus has been asked by His brothers to go public with His ministry and show everyone who He really is. Jesus says the time for Him to declare who He is and His mission has not yet arrived. Based on what Jesus says next, we can determine that Jesus was operating under different guiding principles than were His brothers. Jesus said, we can determine that Jesus was operating under different guiding principles than were His brothers. Jesus said, “Your time is always here.”  

Jesus made a clear distinction between Himself and His brothers. Jesus was guided by God’s timeline to accomplish God’s agenda. His brothers could chose to say and do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted because they were being guided by the world. The world could not hate them, because everything they did was motivated by the world’s philosophy and principles.

Under God’s control, Jesus chose to surrender to God’s timeline. Under the world’s control, His brothers chose to seek acceptance by the world.  We have those same two choices. We will be motivated by either God’s principles or by the world’s principles.

All of our choices, decisions, activities, and words reflect which Kingdom we have chosen to fit into and please.  We will do the works of whichever Kingdom we love.

If we love the approval of the world, we will do the works of the world, and we can do them whenever we choose.

But if we love Jesus, we will not love the world, or the things that are in the world, and we will not conform to the ways of the world. We will instead be transformed so that our minds can comprehend and act upon the will of God. His Spirit in us guides our decisions and the timing of everything we do so it accomplishes His redemptive purpose in the world.

Does the world hate you? GOOD! Keep being guided by your love for Jesus.

Pastor John

LIFELINK DEVOTIONAL

Monday, October 5,2020

I remember a Seinfeld show on TV that aired on September 29, 1994. In this episode, George becomes irritated when he doesn’t receive thanks for buying Elaine a salad. At Elaine’s request, George purchases a “big salad” to go for her from Monk’s. George’s girlfriend Julie hands Elaine the salad in Jerry’s apartment, and Elaine thanks her. George is displeased that Julie took the credit for the salad, and tells Elaine that he bought it. Elaine is irritated at George for making a point of such a trivial matter, and briefly vents to Julie about this. Julie is so irate that George told Elaine she didn’t buy the salad that she breaks up with him.

We have a basic need for recognition. We want to be affirmed for what we have done. It is hard to not get credit for doing something meaningful for another person.

The brothers of Jesus must have understood this human need for attention when they attempted to push Jesus into going public with His works. As the Feast of Booths arrived, the brothers told Jesus to go up to Jerusalem for the celebration. That way more and more people would get to see for themselves whether or not Jesus was the real deal. Their request was born in unbelief, but it was based on what they thought was a shared human condition. They believed Jesus wanted to show Himself.

John 7:4 “For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”

The brothers’ premise was that Jesus wanted to be known openly. They believed that Jesus wanted recognition and acclaim. They believed that the motive of our Lord’s heart was to make Himself look good in people’s eyes.

They were wrong. Jesus Christ, the eternal Holy One of God, did nothing for self-advancement. Jesus came to serve, not to be served, and to give His life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

What about us? How many expressions of kindness are motivated by the need for recognition? Do we use niceness to gratify the need for affirmation? Do we determine the size of the gift based on the size of the thank-you we hope to receive?

Carefully consider the words of Jesus when He said, “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:2-4

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, October 2, 2020

I want to clarify something from yesterday’s devotional in case someone got the wrong idea that I believe we have to make ourselves worthy of being called a Christian. That was not the point. Yesterday’s devotional was about claiming to be something for which there is no evidence, with committed obedience being the evidence.

But just to be sure you understand where I stand, I firmly believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ. Grace alone secures us forever as God’s children and joint heirs with Christ. I also believe that the church today has been weak in teaching the ongoing grace that brings us into the obedience of discipleship. I do nothing to get saved…it is by grace alone, but saving grace demands my participation in growing in grace. The evidence of growing in grace is obedience to the commands of God.

1 John 5:3  “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”

Now, for today, I am struck deeply my three truths that come out of the conversation Jesus has with His disciples at the end of John chapter six.

John 6:67-71 “So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.”

Truth #1 – There is only one way to eternal life, and that is by believing that Jesus is God, and that made a holy sacrifice on the cross for our sin. This requires courageously resisting the consensus of people.

Truth #2 – As God, Jesus is sovereign in His choices, all of which conform to the eternal purpose of God to reveal His glory. Even choices that make no sense to us are a part of God’s redemptive purpose. This requires trust.

Truth #3 – It is possible to follow Jesus for all the wrong reasons and be lost for all eternity. Judas was committed, not because of faith in Jesus but rather to achieve personal benefit. This requires contemplation of our motives.

It would be wise for us today to consider all three of these truths. One of them probably applies to your life right now.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, October 1, 2020

I am a golfer. I declared that about myself for the first time in 1968. I had loved the idea of being a golfer for 4 years prior to my declaration. Even as a middle school student I knew the difference between saying you were something, and proving you were by your commitment to it.

In 1963 I had discovered an old golf club called a Mashie in a horse barn at a friend’s house. I swung it a few times, and knew it was something I wanted to do. I went home, took my parents wooden croquet set, and hand cut all the mallets off at different angles. It was my first set of clubs. Crude, but they effectively sealed my desire to become a golfer.

My desire sat dormant until 1968, when after a move to a new city, my neighborhood friends urged me to go golfing with them. I said I had to learn the game first. So I went and bought a set of golf clubs for $17, and bought the paperback book “How To Play Golf” by Jack Nicklaus. I hung my dad’s old army canvas tarp over the clothesline in the back yard, and opened the book. Page by page I went, doing my best to imitate everything Jack Nicklaus illustrated in his book.

Every day my friends would stop by on their way to the course and invite me to join them. My response was always the same. “I’m not done with the book yet.”

Finally the day came when I joined my friends on Phalen Golf Course in St. Paul, Minnesota. After completing the round, I declared, “Now I am a golfer.”

My score did not make me a golfer, even though on that day I beat all of my friends. My declaration didn’t make me a golfer, as words are cheap. What made me a golfer was my commitment to invest my whole being into learning to follow the master of the game at that time.

The words “Christian” and “Disciple” have been cheapened by a lack of commitment. People of all ages claim to be Christians and may even claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ, but are living without a whole-being investment in following the Master. Carefully read these words of Francis Chan in his book “Crazy Love.”

“Some people claim that we can be Christians without necessarily becoming disciples. I wonder, then, why the last thing Jesus told us was to go into the world, making disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that He commanded? You’ll notice that He didn’t add, ‘But hey, if that’s too much to ask, tell them just to become Christians – you know, the people who get to go to heaven without having to commit to anything.’”

My golf game today is the product of the commitment I made to learning the game from golf’s master.

My daily life is to be the product of the commitment I make to learning how to live from the Master Jesus Christ. We must not declare ourselves to be Christian unless we can demonstrate a commitment to Christ – to learn from Him and obey what we learn. I’m not a golfer because I only believe in golf, I’m a golfer because am committed to playing golf. In the same way, I am not a Christian because I believe there’s a God; I’m a Christian because I am committed to being a disciple of Jesus Christ. There is no participation in eternal life without a commitment to follow Jesus in this life.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Yesterday I told you that on Sunday we would resume our study of the Gospel of John in chapter seven. I WAS WRONG! I put that in all caps so it is easier for you to cut and paste it into whatever format you will use to send me a reminder that I admitted it. Part of the issue was that my sermon schedule for October was not available to me due to a Microsoft security issue. I could not access my files in the cloud. You can check out the validity of that on any tech news site. So I guessed. That’s dangerous at my age, when I can’t even remember to turn off the oven after making supper last night.

Anyway, this week we are going to back up to John 6, verses 66 through 71, and talk about another significant question – “What is real faith?”

We live in a world of fakes. At times we are all one. But there is nothing productive about fake faith. Fake faith is based on fake truth. Fake truth is the product of the sin nature in each one of us that demands personal benefit for every investment. Fake faith offers the fake security of immediate gratification while providing no security for the future, especially not for eternity.

One aspect of fake faith is that it requires no commitment. The commitment level of fake faith is based solely on immediate benefits. When benefits are removed, faith is renounced. To paraphrase John Piper, “Far too many people would be willing to accept heaven without the presence of Jesus if they could be assured that all their needs were being met and prosperity was the rule of life.”

That’s what happened at the end of the sixth chapter of John.

John 6:66  After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Fake faith demands more miracles. Fake faith wants more food. Fake faith wants easy teachings that stroke our hurting egos. Fake faith is exposed when Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

Fake faith walks away from Jesus. Fake faith wants the flesh gratified. Fake faith wants life in the flesh, and isn’t satisfied with life from the Spirit. Fake faith forces us to walk away when we don’t get what we want.

How do you know if you have real faith or fake faith? Check your commitment level. Is Christ enough, or do you need material blessing along with Jesus? Saving faith can only be placed in Christ, not in benefits. The blessing of grace is the basis of real faith. Understanding grace is the foundation of commitment. Fake faith is based on a belief that we deserve more. Real faith is grateful for grace that gives us life when we don’t deserve it.

So check your commitment level. Are you only faithful to follow Jesus when things go your way and benefit you? That’s not real faith. Real faith is satisfied with Jesus, and nothing more is needed.

Pastor John