Underrated

2 Corinthians 1:15-16 ESV

“Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and come back to you from Macedonia…”

Romans 1:11 ESV

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you – That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”

“Are you going to make it to the State Championships this year?” Was the question from my card mate. We were playing at a tournament in June and making small talk. The conversation goes about the same every time. I mention I am from Lincoln and am asked about the tournament in Beloit. Every year the Kansas State Disc Golf Championship is held in Beloit Kansas. They have reduced it from four rounds over two days down to three rounds over two days. It is always in late July and therefore very hot. I mention/remind them that the tournament is a two-day tournament and get the “oh, yea” realizing that I am busy on Sunday. I have gotten the “take a vacation day” comment before as well. At the time I poo pooed this with a comment about family not appreciating me using our vacation to play a tournament, looking back I think an opportunity was missed.

A few weeks back I read 2 Corinthians chapter 1. In it Paul makes the statement that he wanted the Corinthians to receive “a second experience of grace”, I had to wonder what this meant. How do we get “more grace” ? Is Paul planning on laying hands again on them, a second time getting the Holy Spirit? Obviously, this isn’t what he was thinking then what was he wanting to give? Simply put, his presence. The joy of Christian fellowship was what he was referencing. The pleasure of sitting around a meal discussing the things of God, laughing, and enjoying a gentle ribbing, with kids being silly all around. I came to this conclusion for two reasons. The first being Paul’s letter to the Romans and the second being why his plans changed.

In our day the first Chapter of Romans is pointed regularly because of the fall of humanity as seen in the homosexual acts in the second half of chapter one. The first half is what plays into our conversation today. As he is explaining his longing to visit the Romans, he references a “spiritual gift to strengthen you” and explains that he is referencing the mutual encouragement that comes when brothers and sisters gather. The gathering and what is given and shared with each other is considered by Paul to be a “Spiritual Gift.” He is not referencing prophecy, tongues, or healings, but simply gathering and encouraging each other in Romans chapter 1. The gathering is a spiritual gift. The second reason I consider the “second experience of grace” to be fellowship, is that Paul chose not to change his plans and not visit because he says “I made up my mind not to make another painful visit”. (2 Cor 2:1) So the visit was not going to be pleasant because of all the issues he would have to address and clean up, therefore, he chose not to come. My point being that the fellowship with the saints was seen by Paul as an “experience of grace” that was to be longed for.

Our view of what we do Sunday and when we gather throughout the week needs to become more biblical. When it becomes biblical it then needs to be explained to those who don’t understand. I say an opportunity was missed with the gentleman above because I allowed the current lie about the importance of family to be the reason I wasn’t going to attend, knowing he would understand that. (I do say lie because family is often raised to idolatrous levels in our society at the moment, trumping Christ and his bride, the church.) Why not allow him to know that there is no sweeter time than Sunday morning at church? Why not allow him to hear of the spiritual gift I receive when I am around my brothers and sisters every Sunday morning? Why not speak of the “experience of grace” I am given when my adoptive family forsakes other commitments and activities to sing songs, read scripture, and teach me?

Fellowship is something that needs done regularly and often to be sweet. Thanksgiving and Christmas with my parents and siblings is sweet, but when it is only once or twice a year, “on your best behavior” reigns. Christian Fellowship is to be regular so it can be sweet and of depth. When you meet 1-3 times a week for extended periods of time it is hard to keep the front up. Yes, my kids misbehave, I lose my temper, sometimes I simply am melancholy, it is hard to hide when you are regularly with each other. When there aren’t places to go, and too many people around, and the half hearted “okay” you were given before church can be pursued.

Coram Deo

My Head and Brick Walls

Acts 16:6-7 ESV

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

Another call, another message left. Now I wait. This is the time when I wait to call back because the message will be ignored or not returned. So, how long should I wait before calling back?  Things had been moving along at full boar and then all of the sudden nothing was happening. The engine is revving and the wheels are spinning but no movement is happening. The well used adage comes to mind “when God closes a door, he opens a window”. So, I am left trying to find a window to smash open…

How do you fight against the Holy Spirit? Doesn’t God want Christians to share the gospel all-the-time? According to Paul the answer is no. He was constrained from sharing the Gospel in Asia and Bithynia. He was constrained by the Holy Spirit, from ministry in that area. Battling with not being able to go in a direction I wish to go, leaves me wondering “what does it look like when the Spirit of God won’t allow something?” Looking at Paul’s ministry it must be assumed that the Spirit stopping something doesn’t look like hardship.

Paul was called to Macedonia. When he comes back to do the Ministry in Ephesus, he notes that “a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries”. Meaning that opposition is not a sign of God shutting a door. Riots, beatings, arrest, and stoning are not signs of God shutting doors either, apparently. What then did it look like when God stopped the Apostle from serving in Asia. Looking at his statement to the Corinthians of his work in Ephesus, it must be related to effective work. If your work is effective, it will be opposed. There was a tree I played in on a friend’s farm. I had walked by it multiple times, played in it some, but this time, we broke branches, and therefore the bees came out and were not pleased, we shall say. I could do all I wanted around that tree, but when the hive was threatened the battle started to rage.

What does it look like when the Spirit forbids? Nothing. No work of Satan in opposition. No great defeats or great successes. Simply a quagmire of ineffective ministry. A stalled campaign with no opposition. Effective work looks like controversy, disruption, and opposition. The effective work in Ephesus looked like the church having to support newly converted witches who had burned their books (and means of income), false teachers attempting to cast out demons, whole economies on the verge of collapse, and riots in the streets. Often the quagmire is safe. My unsaved neighbors aren’t mad at me, my kids are okay, my job isn’t in danger. To be direct, quagmires are comfortable. What do you do when you are in a quagmire and no doors or windows are open? Paul couldn’t do ministry in Bithynia or Asia, so they went to Troas and prayed. I did insert prayer because Paul received his vision and that normally comes when people are praying and fasting. The text also doesn’t say how long they were in Troas before direction was given.  When all the doors are closed you pray and wait. Hezekiah stops the springs as he waits for the Assyrian invasion. David stockpiles materials for the temple he can’t build.

Do what you can. Pray and wait. Direction is eventually given. You might not like the direction you get, but orders will be given and new doors will be opened.

CORAM DEO

A Casual Thought

1 Chronicles 17:16-17

“Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God.”

Coming to a place of peace and prosperity, David looks around and desires to do something for God. Enjoying the Royal past time of building great structures David decides he should build a house for God. You see a similar position with Nebuchadnezzar as he is on his roof seeing all his great projects and the magnificent of the city, yet he glorifies himself, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”(Daniel 4:30) David seeing all that has happened wants to glorify God, and God says “no”. As if God wants to let David know he did not raise David up to build houses for him. The message is clear. God lifts people up, establishes them, he is not lifted up by them or established by them. The humility of David comes through as he recognizes the casualness with which God does all that David holds to. The kingdom, the honor, the comfort, all a shepherd boy could hope for, given to him, and more as God promised to sustain his house. A promise David must trust in for his salvation, as he, like us, is saved by trusting in the savior.  David simply had to trust in the savior who was to come from his line, and trusting in that promise, David would call his unborn offspring Lord.

The nature of this overwhelming glorious nature of God’s casual blessing of such immense proportion, grates on the sinful nature of Americans. It grates in a way that has many denying such a glorious God. For the question that immediately comes to mind is “what about me.” The idolatrous self that is born in and trained up in our hearts wants to wonder why such a God would not bless ME in that way. We join Nebuchadnezzar and seek for the me, mine, my of these things. Joining Nebuchadnezzar and the leach that is never satisfied. (Proverbs 30:15) So, some write off the God of the bible and invent a new god that will give them what they want if they are good. Others, dishonestly, simply write off the idea of “God” at all, convincing themselves to believe the lie of their own invention. Let us choose the “more excellent way.” (1 Corinthians 12:31)

To love and trust a sovereign God. To love and trust a sovereign God that orders creation for our good and that includes the suffering that comes our way. The sleepless nights on the mountain (why do you think he was awake to still Saul’s spear), driven from the closest friend he ever would know, have his wife given to another, a murderous nephew always at his side, to trust God in the midst of these hardships is what “trusting the Lord” means. David would trust him more than all else, even in the discipline he would rightly deserve (2 Samuel 24:14). To raise a boy from following the flock and place him as king “was a small thing” for God. Which means God chooses not to “give you a million dollars”, not to allow you all the children you want, not give you the promotion, not allow your spouse to survive you, not to heal your back that you might walk, not to. Will you join David and trust the God who chooses “not to”? He does choose to raise up, he does choose, to bless with children, to heal broken backs, these “little things” he occasionally chooses to do. But often he chooses not to. Not to heal Joni Eareckson Tada, Not to let Abner or Amasa defeat Joab, not to give a young man back the use of his legs, not to… Do you trust him?

“Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus…O for grace to trust Him More”

Cruce, Dum Spiro, Fido

Time to Think

Proverbs 29:20 ESV

“Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

Sun beating down and climbing on to the blessing a friend had given me to be the new steward of. As the mower came to life, the choice was quickly before me, put an ear bud in or not. I had fallen behind on the podcasts and another friend had sent me a link to another one he was sure was up my alley. Even as I hear that “there is never anything good on” I have found that to be a very false statement. There seems to always be another podcast I haven’t listened to, a YouTube channel I haven’t seen, a clip of a sports event I remember from when I was a kid, nothing like watching Bo Jackson run up a wall, or Christian Okoye run over a defender again. The commentators on world events are plethora and seem to go on and on, with another hour program each day. “Nothing good on”, really? That is not including the Disc Golf Tournaments I haven’t watched, the old movies I want to watch again, or the comedians that I want to encourage as they try to keep it clean.

Do I put the earbuds in and listen to another good program edifying me and encouraging me in my faith? A Christian brother from states away doing what he can, hoping his download count goes up. More and more I find that the Preacher was right “of many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” (Ecclesiastes 12:12) The Wealth of Nations sits on my bookshelf hoping ambition will strike me. The quantity of books worth reading is growing. The quantity of quality translations of old books in modern English, worth reading, is ballooning at the rate of PhDs who need projects. Good projects worthy of the church to translate and preserve for us. The time is there, I could even listen to them while I mow my lawn instead of one of those podcasts I need to catch up on! I could even have the bible read to me. All that is needed is to slip it in my ear, they even act as ear protection from the dangers of the low drone of the mower.

Why the hesitation? Why not put my mouth under the tap and enjoy the joys of constant flow of biblical teaching? James tells us in his first chapter that we should be “quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). That is not saying we are to constantly be listening to others but rather wisdom for us to make sure we understand what has been said before we respond to it. How much time do I give to understanding what has been said, understanding the intent of the speaker, and formulating a thoughtful response? Too often we behave as parliament rather than what was once the senate (“the greatest deliberative body”). It takes time and focus to digest and formulate a good response.

Jerry Root, a professor at Wheaton, advised drives of two hours alone with the music off to get to the issue. He was speaking specifically about emotional issues, but the advice holds for processing much more than emotional baggage. The same idea holds for the back of a motorcycle, as the wind whips through your ear, and the sound of the motorcycle drowns out other things, you are left with your thoughts. (Also, why I get annoyed at motorcycles with radios.) As more and more outlets clamor for your eyes and ears, the Christian must steward his mind all the more closely. Not only about what is allowed in, not only about how much, but also that thought is given to understand it. For all I am annoyed by constantly seeing earbuds in ears, the danger is not in them, it is us. Will we take time to understand or not? The same holds true of books, TV, and even preachers, it is wearisome to the flesh if we don’t take the time to understand, to contemplate. So, let the drown of the mower roar in your ears, the sound of the wind whistle by your window, let the sound of silence have its day as your thoughts take shape that you might act and speak with wisdom and understanding.

Coram Deo

A Little Polish

Isaiah 49:2 ESV

He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

He made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.

Preparations mean there is a plan and a purpose. Isaiah looks and sees God preparing his anointed one and notes that those preparations are not pointless. He prepares his mouth to be a sharp sword and then puts it into his hand. The anointed is likened to an arrow polished and ready in the quiver. Not needless or pointless preparations but the preparation of those that are going to battle to engage the adversary, by the will and wisdom of their head.

This last weekend I was blessed to participate in some dedicated polishing. As men are put to work for the glory of God and the growth of his kingdom. Young men are prepared for future usefulness and older men are prepared for immediate use. The preparation of a campus for the theological training of pastors was the means God used to accomplish this. The mundane is often and regularly the greatest means of our blessing. Watching as God would train my son to hard work by mundanely running a log splitter with another boy, over and over for four hours one day and eight the next. Simply learning how to work hard and do a good job.  Learning the truth of the proverbs: “Sweet is the sleep of a laborer…” (Ecclesiastes 5:12) and “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” (Proverbs 22:29) will provide him with a great deal of blessing in his life. He is being sharpened for a usefulness that I do not know because he is not being polished or sharpened to be of use to me but to God, as God will use him to combat the wickedness of a culture bent against the glory of God.

As Isaiah continues in his prophecy of the coming Christ it comes to the point that what Israel would like the Anointed One to come for is not hard enough, “It is too light a thing” merely to save Israel from her sin. The Christ must be given a challenge worthy of his polish and sharpness. Isaiah points out that Christ is not merely for Israel but for “all nations” and that salvation will reach “to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6) Looking to God as he prepares you for what lies ahead you must realize that he prepares in and through the mundane daily actions. Preparing you through daily bible reading and prayer, through weakly Sunday services and bible studies. Ordinary means to polish extraordinary arrows. Ordinary, mundane challenges of annoying people, lost spouses, frustrating children, all brought in to shine the arrow for the purpose the master has in store, and when you come to the reason you think you are being polished, you’ll find it too small a thing, and God will do infinitely more than you could have imagined when first the arrow was laid to the stone.

Coram Deo