December 31, 2024

Revelations 22.21 (NIV)

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

No matter how we interpret or define grace, it starts and ends with Jesus Christ.*

With all the dark and mysterious images in the book of Revelations, it’s hard to know for sure the tone of John’s closing. “May God have mercy on your soul,” has a similar ring to it but has ominous undertones. It seems that John is delivering a gracious benediction directed at the seven churches to whom he was writing, and not issuing a warning or a curse.

 

In John’s prayer, as in so many of ours, he seems to be asking God for things he has already given us. “Give us our daily bread,” we pray, when most of us have never gone hungry. “Bless the missionaries” as if God has abandoned them. “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.” Isn’t that what makes us God’s people?

“Waist Deep” began with the very first verse in the Bible so I thought it would be sweet to end with the very last one. While the Old Testament concluded with a “curse” in connection with the law, the New Testament closes with a blessing through Jesus.* It reminds us of the contrast between the impotence of the law and the power of God’s grace to save us.

The last words of this great Revelation of Jesus Christ show His desire that all should share eternally in the sweetness of that grace.*

December 30, 2024

Jude 22, 23 (NIV)

Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them.

When it comes to exercising genuine compassion, a person’s need should determine how we respond.*

Many Christians live in constant danger of falling away. Some merely need to be taught not to play with matches. Others need to be rescued from a burning building. Each of us has a part to play in the rescue process.

In my home church, we have people who minister to the homeless. We also have a ministry that helps people who are dealing with addictions and destructive habits. We have friendly people who make our visitors feel welcome when they come in the door. We have a host of volunteers in our children’s department who have my abiding admiration.

If we were all firefighters, rushing in with our protective gear and our tools, we would not be meeting the needs of those who are merely playing with matches. As Paul wrote in I Corinthians 12.14, “Now the body is not made up of one part but many.” Just as the body does not function as well with one foot as it does with two, the church body needs every member’s abilities and passions to meet the needs of the lost or the about-to-be-lost.  Jude’s admonition clearly shows our responsibility as faithful Christians toward those who are confused about the faith,* or who are purposely living in defiance of it. 

Each job in the church is equally important - from showing mercy to dragging a lost soul from the blazing fire - so don't neglect your calling. 

No fall is sudden. . . . [No] man [has] been dragged over into the domain of evil, who had not strayed carelessly, or gazed curiously or lingered guiltily beside its verge.*

December 29, 2024

III John 4 (NIV)

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

The first church flourished and grew simply through intentional relationships, clear presentation of the facts about Jesus, and the witness of transformed lives.*

I took my children to church. Sent them to Christian camp. Prayed with them. Exposed them to Christian people. Encouraged them in their faith. Tried to be a good role model. But after all of that, it was still up to them to choose to walk with the Lord. What a joy it is when our children begin to walk in their own faith!

 

It is also a delight to watch your “spiritual children” grow in the Lord. The word translated in this verse as greater is a “double comparative.” John is saying that hearing about his “children” walking in faith is somewhere between greater and greatest – betterer, if you will. Have you ever had the privilege of mentoring a brother or sister in the faith? Youth ministers and children’s ministers have the unique joy of participating in the spiritual growth of many young lives.

 

If you wish to experience the joy spoken of here, you must be willing to become a “spiritual parent.” What can you do to prepare yourself to disciple a spiritual child in the faith?

God wants you to step up to new opportunities to use the lessons you have learned and the talent He has given you.*

December 28, 2024

II John 10 (NIV)

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him.

The church is obliged. . . to preserve its own purity.*

Is John telling us not to be nice? Aren’t we told elsewhere to bless and pray for our enemies? To feed them if they are hungry and give them something to drink if they are thirsty?* Let’s look at some clues that John is not advising us to abuse all the rules of hospitality:

         ·         At the time John wrote this, there were no “church houses” – only “house churches,” so a house could be a church as well as a home.

   ·         The word “your” is not in the original language. In English, “house” is not a stand-alone kind of word; it needs an article or a possessive pronoun. It sounds strange to our ears but what John actually wrote is, “do not take him into house.” (Compare to how Americans say that someone is “in the hospital” while the British say “in hospital.”)

   ·         John was not talking about strangers or “seekers.” He was referring to people who claimed to be preaching the truth but whose doctrines were utterly subversive.* They were denying the Lord Jesus Christ,* not coming over for dinner!

We need to understand that tolerating false doctrine is a much bigger offense than poor hospitality or hurting someone’s feelings. Allowing it to continue can have eternal consequences for the perpetrator and for his listeners. Church leaders must not be timid in confronting those who infiltrate the church with a counterfeit gospel. Don’t let them preach “under your roof.” Do not acknowledge them as brothers. But do seek to show them the truth and bring them back into the fellowship.

Sometimes fellowship is more important than a fight. Sometimes not.*

December 27, 2024

I John 5.3 (NIV)

His commands are not burdensome.

His laws are not unreasonable; the duties which he requires are not beyond our ability; his government is not oppressive.*

When the Pharisees asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment, they were hoping to trick him into saying something they could use against him. He answered their trick question with a “trick answer” – he named the two greatest commandments: Love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22.37-39). And then he added, “All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22.40)

So whatever else Jesus may have commanded us; whatever Paul and James and Peter were inspired to write; and of all the laws of the Old Testament era – would we need any of those words if we knew what “love God and love your neighbor” looked like? And yet, Jesus has shown us clearly what it looks like: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (I John 3.16)

There is no doubt that trying to keep the commandments in the law was burdensome - lots of stuff to remember and do; but Jesus came and simplified the rules. As a single mother, caring for my twin toddler boys was – shall we say, challenging? – but never burdensome. Loving God should be even less so.  Look how he loved us!

If you maintain these two top priorities – love God and love others – they will guide you in setting all the other priorities in your life.*

December 26, 2024

I John 1.9 (NIV)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Unconfessed sin creates a barrier in our relationship with the Lord.*

Confessing our sins to another person will not save us. In this verse, John tells us that we are forgiven if we confess to God that we are sinners (as opposed to denying it), taking “complete responsibility for our decision to disobey.”*

Many of us have the seriously mistaken idea that every time we sin, “we drop from 100 percent forgiven down to zero again and remain there until [we] go through some kind of ritual prayer of confession and asking for forgiveness.”* To believe that is to believe that your salvation depends on something you do – that is, that you are saved by being “good enough.”* Do we really believe that we must keep ourselves saved by our own efforts?* Jesus died to deliver us from that prison of hopelessness.

John tells us that God is faithful and just and will forgive us. This is not justice in the strictest sense. Forgiveness is not an act of justice but an act of mercy.* It is just that he forgives us only because he has promised that he will.*

Confession must come before cleansing.*

December 25, 2024

II Peter 1.16 (NIV)

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses to his majesty.

Personal testimonies are more powerful than we believe.*

When someone acts like they don’t believe what I’m saying, I am sometimes pushed to exclaim in exasperation, “I’m not making this up!” I don’t know if Peter was to the point of exasperation, but he was not making up a story to entertain his listeners.

We read history books which were written by people who have read other history books and we believe what they wrote – even though we never met Napoleon or Alexander the Great. Peter isn’t asking for even that level of credibility – he just asks us to take the word of genuine eyewitnesses.

And what did they see? The power and the coming of the Lord, and his majesty.  They saw Jesus demonstrate his power through his teaching and his miracles. They witnessed the ministry of the Messiah and had to rethink their notions of what his mission was. And they beheld his majesty - the risen Savior who walked and talked with them and who, one day, while he was blessing them, was taken up into heaven.

I remember reading a spy novel in which the hero kept reminding himself (and the readers) that “testimony is evidence.” This is Peter’s testimony and it sounds like a three-point sermon to me!

To be an eyewitness . . . supplies the highest kinds of evidence.*

December 24, 2024

II Peter 1.5-8 (NIV) 

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is no one grace which makes a Christian. . . . Nor does any number of excellences united make a Christian, unless they be excellences added to faith.*

In this passage, do we find a recipe to be followed step-by-step, or do we add ingredients to the mixing bowl at different intervals and in varying amounts according to our individual personalities and experiences? 

In the “step-by-step” camp, here are two samples of what others had to say:

    ·         “Each of these several steps begets and facilitates the next.”*

    ·         “The believer’s way is marked out step by step."*

Plus, here is one who wanted it both ways: “The different virtues here are not arranged according to definite logical order,” but, he says, “Each of the virtues . . . forms the complement of that which precedes.”*

Of the writers who agreed with me that this recipe is somewhat more random, this approach is my favorite: “This is to be seen not so much as a progression but as an expansion (you do not start with faith and gradually build up to love, rather, as you truly believe, your life expands to take it all in).*

I believe it is safe to say that when Peter writes about possessing these qualities in “increasing measure,” he doesn’t expect us ever to reach saturation point, only to keep adding ingredients. As someone else expressed it, “These beautiful qualities are not things that the Lord simply pours into us as we passively receive. Instead, we are called to give all diligence to these things, working in partnership with God to add them.”*

What about the benefit of our diligence? Were you as surprised as I was that Peter says that we will be effective and productive in our knowledge of Jesus, rather than in some activity for Jesus? Knowledge seems such a passive attribute. Shouldn’t effectiveness and fruitfulness be the result of heroic service? We need to understand that full knowledge of Jesus is not the same as knowing the multiplication table or the state capitols. To know Christ is to know his will, and it is not his will for us to remain inadequate and barren.

Spiritual growth in the Christian life calls for the strenuous involvement of the believer.*

December 23, 2024

I Peter 5.6, 7 (NIV)

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

If we humble not ourselves under God‘s grace, he will humble us under his judgments.*

Upon first glance, it would seem that these verses contain two unconnected thoughts, but a closer look reveals that they really do go together. The “bottom line” here is actually found in the first line: humble yourselves. If you intend to cast your worries on God, you first have to admit that you can’t handle them yourself. Peter reminds us that God is powerful and he has promised to lift us up when the time is right. Why would we not bow down in surrender?

If it is your plan to humble yourself so that later on God will exalt you in this life, you may be misunderstanding the phrase. And if you’re thinking, “Well, yeah. When I die and go to heaven, I’ll be ‘lifted up,’” then you may not get it either. The eternal prize is part of the equation but there is an earthly reward found within the promise: Humble yourself - because God is able to deliver you. He may or may not make your problems go away but if you cast all your anxiety on him, it becomes his problem. Is he not big enough to handle it?

If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you. God’s experiments always succeed.*

December 22, 2024

I Peter 4.10, 11 (NIV)

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. 

God doesn’t call us to “good enough.” He calls us to “best.”*

I have a friend who was not blessed with superior intelligence, good looks, or outstanding skills, but right out of high school he started working for an agency who rewarded his hard work and plodding faithfulness with promotions and bonuses. He had been in a supervisory position for several years by the time he retired. He did not always get the respect he deserved from his colleagues but he continued to do his best and give his employer what they paid him for.

I think my friend is a shining example of what God expects from us. Not many of us are blessed with the flashy gifts that place us on ministry’s stage. Most of us are behind-the-scenes people without whom God’s work on earth would be relegated to mere entertainment. At times our service to the kingdom seems less like giftedness and more like drudgery. Often, I jokingly say that you have to do something you hate now and then or you can’t go to Heaven. That may not be sound theology but if you are waiting for God to provide you with a glamorous gift, you will miss the opportunities to serve him in the unobtrusive but effective ways that bless others and glorify him.

Follow the life of Jesus. Did he sing on the stage with the spotlights glaring on him while the audience stood with upraised arms? Did he play a musical instrument or preach in a megachurch? Jesus’ ministry consisted of brief moments of glory and weeks of obscurity, misery, and rejection. Still he did his Father’s will.

If you don’t know what your “gift” is, I suggest that you just do what you are called on to do today, asking God to provide you with the strength to do it well so that in all things he will be praised through Jesus Christ.

In opportunity, in privilege, in the endowment of youth, strength, intelligence, or other of life's benefits, every Christian in some specific sense is better than any other.*