LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Romans 5:1 – 2  ¹Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

This study on Philippians has been so timely for me, especially lately as we focus on the subject of rejoicing. So much of life right now leaves little reason for rejoicing for so many people. As a pastor, I get to live the hurts and pains of the people God brings into my life, and sometimes it is hard to rejoice. Add to that all the personal issues I have of my own, and life gets overwhelming at times. But I can praise God anyway and rejoice in the Lord because my hope is not in this world, but in Him and His coming glory! This study of Philippians has reinforced that faith.

So far in our study of Philippians, Paul has used the word rejoice seven times, and there is one more to come later in his letter. The overall theme of his conversation with the people of Philippi is to rejoice no matter what the circumstances. The basis for such encouragement is that our hope is not in the circumstances or the outcomes, but in the glory of God. Let’s review what he has said:

1. Rejoice that the Gospel is being preached and that God’s purpose is being accomplished. Philippians 1:18 The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.  
2. Rejoice that the sacrifice we make to serve Christ is producing a harvest of faith in others. Philippians 2:17-18 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.  So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
3. Rejoice in the Lord and not in the circumstances of your life. Philippians 3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Reflect on those three reasons to rejoice. Evaluate your level of praise. Spend time with the Lord seeking His perspective on life. When we begin to see things His way, there’s reason to rejoice. The Gospel is changing people’s lives. Our lives, lived according to God’s grace, are impacting others for Christ. And God is the One who reigns supreme, so even my circumstances are under His control.

Rejoice! And again I say, REJOICE!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Zephaniah 3:14 – 17  ¹⁴Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! ¹⁵The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. ¹⁶On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. ¹⁷The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Have you rejoiced in the Lord yet today? If not, you’re out of touch with what God is doing, because He is rejoicing over you! The verses above are one of my favorite passages of scripture. In it we discover the reciprocity of rejoicing. As we consider the Lord – His nature, character, and works – we are to be glad and rejoice with all our heart. As I read these verses I do not see this as a private celebration. It appears to me that the rejoicing is very public and very loud. The oppression of the enemy is public. The effects and consequences of sin are public. The Redeemer went public. The price for sin was paid in public. The celebration of freedom should be public. Shout aloud for all to hear, O Children of God! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart.

While we rejoice here on earth, there is a reciprocal rejoicing taking place in heaven. It too is public, for all the angels and saints to hear. The Lord your God, the King of Israel, has taken great delight in you. He has brought peace to your life through His love. He is rejoicing over you with singing!

Imagine the scene around the throne. Let’s try to put the limitlessness of eternity into a human moment and imagine that God is doing one thing at a time instead of managing all things together at one time. He has just looked at your life right now. He sees the decision you are struggling with. He sees the pain you are experiencing. He sees the pride you take in who you are. He sees what you have accomplished. He sees every aspect of your life. But He looks beyond all of that, pushing it aside as unimportant and irrelevant to the one thing He wants to see – your heart. There, He sees Jesus your Savior and Lord, who by the power of the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in you for all eternity through your faith in His sacrifice on the cross. There, He sees your new name that He has given you, which has been written in the Lamb’s book of life. There, in your heart, He recognizes you as His child, and He begins to sing.

The attention of all of heaven is turned to the throne because God is singing. It’s a song of unrestricted joy. The song immediately stimulates participation in praise from all who hear it. The words of the verses are uniquely expressive of your life, but the chorus is identical to what is sung about all of us. In my imagination the chorus goes like this:

By my might I saved you

I have taken away your sin

The enemy’s been defeated

My life now dwells within

Your fear of harm is over

Rest quietly in my love

I delight in you with singing

Hear me rejoicing from above.

Every moment of every day, God is rejoicing over your life with singing. Stop and listen…can you hear the song? It’s important that you do, because His rejoicing is the source of our rejoicing. Join in the singing. Then the reciprocity of rejoicing will be underway – He is rejoicing over us, and we are rejoicing in Him.

Let your rejoicing be heard!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Psalms 35:9 Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation.

Imagine this scene – hundreds of people are frantically swimming upstream in the Niagara River within 100 yards of the falls. Every minute dozens more are swept over the edge to their deaths. Suddenly a man appears floating through the crowd wearing a life jacket, seemingly unconcerned about what lies ahead. He is speaking to all the people who are struggling, saying “I’m saved! I’m saved!” He is hanging on to a rope attached to a net filled with life jackets, and he is trying to get others to wear one. They ignore him, calling him a fool, believing that all the life jacket will do is provide a false sense of security. Death will still happen unless you can get out of the water. So, they keep struggling to go one way while the man in the life jacket keeps floating through them, at peace with his situation and his direction.

As they approach the edge of the falls, the screams increase as people realize they are about to pass into eternity. They still hear the shouts of the man in the life jacket – “I’m saved! I’m saved!”  They cannot understand why he is at such peace with his situation, and why he is spending more time looking up than he is looking around at the danger. The crowd is having difficulty making any progress away from the edge, but he is not even resisting the flow. He is not even facing away from the falls, but is looking directly at them. They do not understand why he is not trying to escape. They are tired of fighting the current. With their backs to the falls, and their eyes on the water, they put their last bit of energy into one final attempt to swim away, but it is useless. As they pass over the edge their eyes catch a glimpse of the man in the life jacket. He has stopped just before reaching the edge, appearing to hang motionless in midair. They see a cable that has been strung from one shore to the other, just above head level, to which the man has attached a snap hook that is attached by another cable to his life jacket. If only they had looked up instead of at the danger around them they might have seen it. Suddenly they realize why he had not been concerned about the falls. He knew that the cable was there and that he would be saved because he had put on the life jacket with the safety hook. The crowd falls to their deaths fully aware that they could have been saved from it.

Every day we have to float through the same waters as everyone else, heading toward the same destination of death. But we have been given the life jacket of faith and the hook of hope in the glory of God. Many of us have chosen to completely rest in that faith and hope, and live in peace with our circumstances. Every day we float down the river, spending most of our time trying to hand out life jackets to those who do not have one.

But others with life jackets appear to be fighting the current, the waves, and the rocks just like those who do not have one. Their eyes are focused on their immediate circumstances and they are expending all their energy seeking to avoid the dangers that are around them and the pain they might cause. They have no time to tell others that they are saved because they are so intent on using their life jacket to gain an edge on others. They have lost the ability to rejoice in their salvation because they have replaced their hope in the glory of God with a desire for personal safety and security. They have forgotten about the hook on their life jacket and believe the jacket’s only purpose is to give them an advantage while they are in the river.

I admit there are elements of this analogy that don’t completely work, but I think you get my drift. Our hope is in the glory of God. Our faith is in Jesus Christ, the Life Preserver. Even though we must float through the river of life, we do not need to fight it. We do not need to spend our time fighting the current and checking for rocks. We simply need to rest in the saving power of the Life Preserver, and rejoice that we are saved. The Psalmist said it this way in Psalms 91:9 – 16…

“If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the LORD, who is my refuge—then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Therefore, spend every day in the river as a rescuer. Let it be known that you are saved, and start making the Life Preserver available to others. You’re not going to go over the falls. You will be brought safely to the other shore. Quit fighting the waves and the current, and rejoice in your salvation. Others are looking for what you have.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, July 9, 2018

Psalms 31:7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love…

 Years ago, in preparation for an outreach we did to the local neighborhood around our church, I wrote a small Gospel pamphlet to be given out. The title of the pamphlet is, “God won’t love you any more if you go to church!”  When I first read that statement I thought exactly what you are probably thinking – Why won’t God love me any longer if I go to church? But that is not the intended reading. The point of the pamphlet is to show people that God’s love cannot be earned by our actions. God won’t love us more than He already does just because we work to impress Him. And God won’t love us any less because we occasionally fail.

I am amazed every day at how much I still must learn about God’s love for me. My consistent needs to be approved, valued, and loved, indicate clearly how much I still don’t fully grasp the awesome wonder of God’s love for me. Too much effort and energy is spent in trying to impress people. Too much disappointment is experienced when we don’t get the desired responses. Too much hurt is caused by our actions motivated by our frustrations. Then, after the damage has been done, we defend ourselves for fear of losing more value in our own eyes. If only we understood the value we have in God’s eyes and the unconditional love He has for us. We have forgotten how to say, “That’s OK, God loves me anyway!”

Do not think for one instant that I’m saying we can use God’s love as a license for bad behavior. I am convinced, however, that we get so wrapped up in the value system of this life that we forget to rejoice in the unfailing love of the Lord. We get discouraged and even depressed because we are not receiving love from people, and that puts a stop to rejoicing in God’s love for us. We know He understands our weaknesses and our shortcomings. He sees our sin. Yet, He loves us completely. So much so that He even disciplines us when we get out of line.

I’m not sure I fully grasp the significance of that concept yet, but let me try to illustrate it. As a parent, and now a grandparent, I have been guilty of discipline and correction that was designed for my benefit and not the child’s. I have attempted to correct behaviors that have irritated and frustrated me, but may not have been necessarily wrong for the child. But God never works that way in our lives. Every corrective measure is designed for our best. Every circumstance of your life right now is designed by God to shape you into a complete person capable of experiencing the totality of God’s love.

So rejoice! You are loved! Even though some of the circumstances of your life right now hang over your head like a dark cloud – Rejoice! The rain will make the grass grow and the flowers bloom. And even if the lightning bolts send you running for cover, remember the promise of Psalms 5:11 – 12…

But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.  

And if it seems like God is no longer there at all, and that the only rejoicing you hear is coming from your enemies, then read this Psalm daily until you can rejoice in your salvation:

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, July 6, 2018

Philippians 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

1 Chronicles 16:8 – 10  Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

I confess I go through times when issues weigh heavily on my heart and mind. My spirit becomes oppressed.  I could be rejoicing instead, but sometimes pity feels good. For some very strange and totally unproductive reason, feeling down is captivating. I sometimes give in to the very real temptation to wallow rather than worship.

As I analyze why I do that, I conclude that wallowing is caused by one thing – taking control of outcomes. Many of the issues I deal with have the potential to end badly and hurt the cause of Christ and other people. Somehow, I have decided that I need to fix that. Maybe it’s pride that makes me think I can, or maybe it’s a desire for the sense of value I would get from doing it. Maybe I’m hoping for some appreciation. But the bottom line is that I hear the call of people for help, and determined that I don’t need to make the same call for help. What makes us think that we are the final connection in the human 911 emergency response system?

When there is an emergency, it’s great to know that help is as close as a call to 911. But the person who answers the call is not the responder who comes to help with your emergency. The 911 operator immediately calls on the appropriate response team that will be able to meet your need.

Many of us are in positions of being 911 operators for others. Ideally, all of us should recognize our privilege of serving in that capacity to the people of our church and community. But if the emergency response system is going to work correctly, all calls we receive must be immediately forwarded to the appropriate response team. There is one Team that can meet all the needs, and there are three members of that team – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Sometimes they invite us to participate in the outcome, but only as an assistant who carries out their plan. They are completely in control and have never failed at a rescue attempt, when they are asked to take control of the outcome.

The problem is that we don’t ask the Trinity Response Team to take control. Imagine what it would be like to discover some evening that your house is on fire. You quickly gather up the family and move them outside to a safe location. You dial 911 and quickly tell the operator that your house is on fire. You become very frustrated as the operator begins to tell you about some of her past experiences at helping people in similar situations and why she is qualified to help you now.

She then proceeds to ask you a series of questions.

“Did you check your smoke alarms to make sure they are operating correctly?”

“Yes, their all screaming loudly!”

“Did you check for smoke?”

“You mean before or after I put a wet towel over my head and crawled to safety?”

“Did you unplug your electrical appliances?” “Did you shut off the gas supply to your house?” “Did you try to put the fire out?” “Is the fire really as bad as you think?” Was it really necessary to call 911?”

By now you are hopping mad, and you scream into the phone, “Look, lady, there are flames shooting out of my roof and I can see fire in every window. When will help arrive?”

But before she does anything else she asks you one more question: “Did you take time to reflect on what you may have done to cause the fire?” You throw the phone across the driveway and determine to never call 911 again because real help is never notified that they need to respond.

All my great intentions to help others and my previous experiences with help are nothing compared to the help we receive when we call the TRT. But every time I receive an emergency call, I tend to become the first responder, instead of just the operator who forwards calls to the TRT. It is very possible that the TRT will ask me to be involved in implementing a response plan, but it must be Their response plan and not mine. My need to solve the problem causes me to wallow in despair because I know my own limitations. But when I call on the name of the Lord, and cease from my wallowing and begin worshiping, I realize that He is the One who responds with wonderful acts and mighty deeds, and that He is control of all the outcomes.

The heavens do not rejoice that I am in control. The earth is not glad that I have been called. The nations do not rise up and praise my name as the one who reigns. I am simply the 911 operator who forwards calls to the One who does reign.

So, give thanks to the Lord, because no matter what the emergency, you have called on His name. No more wallowing in worry because we know our weaknesses. Let’s worship in wonder because we know His works.

Rejoice in the Lord! And again I say, REJOICE!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Philippians 4:4  ⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Psalms 34:1 – 3  ¹I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. ²My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. ³Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

I want to follow up on what was said on Monday about rejoicing in the Lord. I wish I could say that it was always easy to look beyond our human experiences which bring us distress and discouragement and to rejoice in the nature and character of God – but it isn’t. Let’s face it – we let the things of life really get to us, don’t we? But let’s also be honest about the reason for that; we have allowed ourselves to be captured by the world. Here’s what I mean.

According to Jesus in Mark 12:30, there are four parts to human existence. Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 when He said, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The four parts are: the heart, the soul, the mind, and the strength. The heart is the center of our emotions, affections and desires. The soul is the life force that animates the physical being and gives it personality. The mind is the intellect which makes decisions, otherwise called the will. The strength is representative of the physical body we possess.

Take a close look at all four of those aspects of your life right now. Which of them is being dominated by the world’s philosophies and objectives? Maybe your heart has been captured by the world so that you are attempting to satisfy all your emotional needs according to the desires of the flesh. It could be that your soul, in seeking to be recognized and valued, is looking for a level of acceptance from the world. It’s possible that your mind has been captured by the goals of the world so that all your decisions are designed to produce a worldly benefit. Maybe the pleasure-seeking flesh has become the dominant motivator of your life and is dictating behavior to the heart, soul, and mind.

So long as the circumstances of this life continue to provide you with the temporary satisfactions you seek, you will claim to be happy. You will even rejoice, but it will not be rejoicing in the Lord. You will rejoice about God because you think He has given you what you want, but that is a far cry from rejoicing in the Lord because He is God, even when you don’t get what you want.

Test yourself in this: what happens to your desire and ability to rejoice in the Lord when things start to go drastically wrong and your desires are no longer being realized? How would you respond to these verses of Scripture about rejoicing in the Lord?

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad…   Matthew 5:11 – 12

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Acts 5:41

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.  After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.  Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.   Acts 16:22 – 25

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings…    Romans 5:2

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds..   James 1:2

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  1 Peter 4:12 – 13

OK, for those of you who just skimmed those verses and skipped to this paragraph to see what else I had to say – STOP! Go back and really read them, and ask yourself if you have such a great and trusting view of God that you can rejoice in His nature and character no matter what your circumstances. Don’t read on until you do.

Now, which part of your life needs work? Have you let the world gain access to the value system of your existence? Does discouragement based on unfulfilled worldly goals overtake you at times and keep you from rejoicing in the Lord? King David said, It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. (Psalms 118:8) But listen especially to these words of God through the prophet Jeremiah:

This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.  “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”   Jeremiah 17:5 – 8

God alone is sufficient to meet the needs of your heart, soul, mind, and flesh. Rejoice in the Lord no matter what! Let His praise be continually in your mouth.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Philippians 4:4  ⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Paul uses the word rejoice nine times in the book of Philippians. It is obviously an important point of emphasis. The Philippian people are poor and persecuted. Paul is in prison. Praise is essential. But how can we be filled with joy when the circumstances of life stink?

Paul says to rejoice in the Lord, not in the circumstances of life. The key to doing this is found in our knowledge of God, not in our emotional stability. Joy is not an emotional response to good things – that’s called happiness. Joy is the deep abiding confidence we have in a God who is always at work for His good and His glory, and He will not fail. The ability to rejoice even when times are tough is seated in one’s understanding of God’s character and consistency. The more we know about the Lord, the more we can rejoice in Him in spite of what is going on around us.

In his classic book on the attributes of God, The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer wrote,

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

For this reason, the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God.

Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. (Reprint; New York: Harper & Row, 1975, 9)

What comes into your mind when you think of God? Is He Lord of all to you? Are you filled with confidence in His character? Does trust is His promises fill you with peace? Does knowledge of His love for you settle the issues of meaning and purpose in your heart? Then rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Nothing in this life can change Him – don’t let it change you!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devo

Monday, July 2, 2018

Philippians 4:2 – 3 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. ³  Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

“Man overboard!”  Those words bring terror to the captain of a ship. Every effort is made to rescue the one in the water. The boat slows, and if necessary changes course, and all the people on the boat become focused on the rescue attempts. On the one hand, this is good, because it demonstrates the value of one life. On the other hand, it is bad because it interrupts the progress of the boat in reaching its destination.

I was in Louisiana in 2006 working on projects at our sister church on the Bayou. I had the privilege of going out on a shrimp boat and spending an afternoon and evening with Captain Quincy along with several other men from our church. We took turns manning the con (driving the boat) and doing other small chores in preparation for letting down the nets to catch shrimp and crabs. Prior to letting down the nets, we had stepped outside the wheelhouse onto the narrow ledge to get pictures. We had to be very careful not to fall overboard, but there wasn’t a lot of danger because we were only in 4-6 feet of water and the shrimp boat was traveling slowly. The Captain was not concerned.

After the nets had been let down, one of the men again stepped outside onto that narrow ledge. The captain came running to me from the back of the boat with terror in his eyes. He quickly explained that absolutely no one was allowed outside the wheelhouse in front of the nets, because if they fell overboard they would be trapped inside the nets and drown. There would not be enough time to raise the nets to rescue them. I quickly passed the word to the other men.

The Apostle Paul is shouting “Man overboard!” in today’s Scripture passage. Actually, in this case he is shouting “Women overboard!” Two women from the church in Philippi are no longer standing firm. Their boats have been swamped and they have been tossed into the water of the world. We don’t know for sure what the disagreement was about, but we do know that Paul sees it as being very destructive to the church of Jesus Christ. There is no longer unity of purpose in the church because two people can’t agree on some issue. It could be the color of carpet for the sanctuary, the pattern of silverware for the new kitchen, whether or not we should have drums in the sanctuary, whether or not there should be dances at weddings, or any other issue. All such issues are comparatively insignificant when people who have never been in the boat are drowning all around us. These two women have been knocked into the water of contention by a wave of pride and personal preference, and now the attention of everyone on the boat has become focused on them. The church slows, sometimes to a stop, because of the sinfulness of the saints.

The Captain of the ship, Jesus Christ, has given us the responsibility of letting down the nets to catch the unsaved. He has made us fishers of men. But that process is interrupted far too often by people in the church who fall overboard into some disagreement, contentious issue, or sin, and the whole focus of the church shifts from catching fish to solving problems. Of course, we will stop and attempt to rescue anyone who has fallen overboard, because we know the value God places on every saint’s life. But how many rescue attempts could be avoided if the saints would act like saints and keep their focus on the church’s purpose? Paul gives us two absolutely essential fundamentals to follow that will keep people from falling overboard:

1. Stay focused on the Gospel. Paul says that before these women fell overboard into their disagreement, they had been strong workers at his side in the cause of the Gospel. There was unity between them because they were working toward a common goal. They obviously had taken their eyes off that goal and were now contending for something personal. Whenever the focus of our lives becomes personal rather than spiritual, we will fall overboard and hurt the progress of the church. Nothing we want can be allowed to interfere with what God wants, and what God wants is for lost people to be found through our efforts to seek them. Far too much time is spent in the church pulling up the nets to untangle a saint who has fallen into sin when we should be pulling up the nets to rescue a sinner who wants to be on the boat. How many sinners did we miss with the nets because they were out of the water when we had to rescue you when you fell overboard? We will rescue you if we can and if you want to be rescued, but could your fall have been avoided if you were focused on God’s purpose and not your personal pleasure or preferences?
2. Remember that the one with whom you disagree has a name written in the book of life just like you do. So many disagreements and issues would be avoided if we would remember to see our brothers and sisters in Christ the way God sees them. It is so easy in our flesh to forget that the person with whom we are contending is a child of God. So much emphasis in the church today is placed on our distinctives and differences rather than on our common cure at the cross.  We may see things differently, but we are all seen by God the same way. We could avoid a lot of overboard situations if we treasured the heart of people the way God does, rather than focus on the differences we have with people. To be perfectly honest we must admit that our focus on differences actually causes us to push people overboard.  They wouldn’t have fallen if we had not pushed. But we would not push people we treasure. We don’t treasure them because we are not seeing them as equals, whose names have been written in the book of life just like ours. Their goal is the same as ours, so let’s work together.

Focus on the Gospel, and focus on the goal – the two fundamentals that keep us from falling overboard. Now, let down the nets again and let’s catch some fish.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, June 29, 2018

Philippians 4:1  … stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

Several years ago my wife and I were blessed to be able to invite our family and some friends to join us at a beautiful home on Stone Lake in northern Wisconsin. Fishing was a top priority for some of us, so every morning and evening we were out in the boats trying to land the big one. One of the guys had brought a big tri-hull boat with an inboard motor. This boat made a huge wake when it was on the move. We also had a small aluminum fishing boat with a 3-horsepower motor on the back. My brother’s son was using the little boat, and was on his way to his fishing spot when the big boat took off from the dock on its way across the lake. They came a little too close to the small boat, and the wake came dangerously close to swamping the little boat. My nephew said he was really close to capsizing. If he had been in his fishing spot and standing on the seat like he usually did when he fished, he would have been thrown overboard. If he had wanted to stand firm in the waves, he would have needed a bigger boat.

There are three big boats on the lake of our lives that are making waves in an attempt to capsize us and send us overboard. These boats are constantly driving by us, rocking our boats and causing us to lose our balance. We may have even been capsized by them a time or two, or we may even be in the process right now of trying to right the boat so we can climb back in. But these three boats just keep coming, circling us and laughing at us as we try to get stable.

If we look closely we can make out the names written on the sides of each boat – there’s The World, The Flesh, and The Devil.

The World is tempting. It’s a beautiful boat with all the latest equipment, and furnished in luxury. It exudes pleasure.

The Flesh is powerful. It has twin 250 horsepower motors on the back and is built for speed. It quickly moves from one side of our boat to the other creating a tempest that rocks us in all different directions.

The Devil is aggressive. This boat is built for destruction, and is capable of sinking most boats if they ever took a direct hit. It has cannons mounted on its bow to shoot flaming arrows that could burn boats up if they were hit.

Any one of these boats is capable of capsizing us, and at the very least causing us some major instability in our lives. How can we begin to stand firm? What chance do we have?

Paul says the key to standing firm is to put into practice what he has just written in Philippians 3. That’s why he starts this verse with the word therefore. Whenever we see that word in the Bible we must go back and review what has just been said because what is about to be said is an action statement based on the previous truths and principles. We can stand firm if we understand the truths that have just been stated. Here they are:

1. We have a bigger boat than theirs. Paul says that all the equipment and luxury of The World is rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ. Our boat is bigger and better than The World.
2. We have a more powerful boat than theirs. We have twin engines too – the power of Christ’s resurrection and the power of Christ to bring everything under His control. We have more power than The Flesh.
3. Our boat is indestructible. One day our boat will be called in for refitting at the heavenly port. It will have faithfully served its purpose and it will be transformed into a perfect vessel for all eternity to match the glory of Christ Himself. The Devil may be aggressive and destructive, but he cannot sink my boat nor can he burn it up.

Stand tall on your boat. The waves cannot swamp you. Besides, you’re not the captain of your boat. Trust the One who is. He can calm the waves and bring you safely to shore.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Philippians 4:1  Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

The search for intimacy is destroying our society. It is destroying our lives. The cause is simple but the cure is hard. The cause is this – we have redefined intimacy according to self-serving terminology. The search for intimacy has become nothing more than the search for personal fulfillment through pleasure. The deep, clear and refreshing waters of true intimacy have become a shallow, stagnant slough of self-serving relationships, and it stinks! One look at the philosophy of intimacy presented to us in the media brings us to one conclusion – love only lasts as long as it feels good, and anything that feels good must be love.

How far we have fallen from God’s view of intimacy! In God’s system, feelings are the product of love, not the means to attain it. But we are bombarded every day with messages that convince us that feeling good must come first. For example, notice the extremely high percentage of commercials on television that promote personal fulfillment and feeling good. There are diet pills and diet plans so we can look better, because if we look better we will get other people to notice us, touch us, and love us so we can feel good about who we are. There are commercials about hair color, skin treatments, the latest exercise plans and equipment, and even drugs to enhance your personal pleasure and performance. Everything about intimacy is wrapped up in one word – GET! Get more attention. Get more pleasure. Get more satisfaction. Get more fulfillment.

Compare all of that to the number of commercials you have seen recently that present intimacy as a product of what you have given to another person. Can you think of even one? Can you think of a movie or television program that presents God’s view of intimacy? Can you find any really good examples in the world of how Paul expresses intimacy in Philippians 4:1? Here’s how he understands it:

1. He has a personal relationship with them that goes beyond mere acquaintance. The connection Paul has at the heart level allows him to call these people his brothers. There is a depth to the relationship that involves acceptance, trust, and security. But being a part of a band of brothers (and sisters) can only be experienced if the other aspects of intimacy are also present.
2. True love must be present. Not love as culture understands it – lustful and self-serving; but love according to God’s standard, which is sacrificial and serves others. It is not the product of an emotional attachment, but it is a decision that produces emotional responses. God demonstrated His own unique brand of love to us when He sent His Son Jesus to die for while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8) We had done nothing to produce an emotional response in God, but He decided to love us and then act on that love regardless of the response He would get. This is the true foundation of all intimacy.
3. True intimacy also involves a desire to spend time together, or as Paul puts it, he longs for them. But this type of longing is different from what the world feels. When a person of the world longs for someone they love it is primarily to receive from that person something they need – acceptance, value, or pleasure. But when a person of God who operates under His rules of intimacy longs for another person, it is to impart to them something that they have that will bring greater fulfillment to them both. In Romans 1:11 and 12 Paul says, I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. True intimacy involves mutual giving and response, and a deep desire to be involved in it with the person you love.
4. True intimacy produces total fulfillment. Paul says that the people in whom he has invested his heart have become the source of his joy and the crowning achievement of his life. The same pride I feel as a parent when my children mature and become successful in society is multiplied many times over when I see the spiritual children God has given me grow to maturity and become successful followers of Jesus Christ. I can honestly say that you are the joy and crown of my life when I see the Holy Spirit finishing the work in you that was begun at the moment of your salvation. I am humbly thankful for the part God has called me to play in that process.

These are the things that should set us apart from the world. These are the true qualities of intimacy, and the world needs to see them modeled in us. The body of Jesus Christ called the church is to be the place where people find a band of brothers and sisters to accept them. The church is to be the place where sacrificial love and serving spirits bring emotional strength. Jesus has called us together into His body so that we can grow together to maturity through mutual encouragement and admonition. And when all of this happens, and true intimacy is expressed and experienced, there will be total joy and the church will be the crowning experience of our lives.

Is your church like that?

I’m glad mine is!

Pastor John