Discipleship

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Why Job?

Why Job?  For the purpose of this article that would be the Bible character, not the work.  Although, the answers could be surprisingly similar. 🙂

I’ve been teaching from the Old Testament for a Wednesday night Bible class for a couple of years now.  We began with the book of Joshua and have worked our way through Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and now, 1 Samuel.  It has been interesting, and sad, to hear participants who have been Christians and involved in church for many years comment that they had never before been in a Bible study that had gone through an entire Old Testament book. They’ve been taught the highlights — the quotable moments — but not usually much context around it.  We may well say that we believe God when He says all scripture is profitable, but do we practice that?  God included each book for a purpose.  Not only is the information in each meant to be transformational, it also helps provide context and greater understanding of other passages and the Bible as a whole.  I know for me, our study of 1 Samuel this past year has really brought greater depth and meaning to my daily reading in the Psalms.

As I thought about these comments, I wondered what gets overlooked the most.  I know there are verses and teachings that we avoid or skip over because we find them too controversial, divisive, hard, convicting, difficult to  understand, challenging, old-fashioned, restricting, . . . you get the idea; but I’m thinking from a Bible book perspective, what would make the bottom of the list in books studied in their entirety?  Unfortunately, I’m sure there are several that would be in the running for that bottom spot.  I think Job would be one of the books on that list.  I know I don’t recall ever teaching through the book of Job or being involved in a study through the book that someone else was leading.

It made me think, “Why not Job?”  As I’ve pondered this question, the answer that keeps coming up is interesting.  Could it be that we avoid the book of Job, other than a few quotable verses, because the answer to another question is “too controversial, divisive, hard, convicting, difficult to  understand, challenging, old-fashioned, restricting, . . . you get the idea”?  We’re not sure what to do with the question, or the answer to the question, “Why Job?”.

But is that really the question that catches us?  If you’ve read the book, or at least started to read the book, you know the answer — God!  And that’s the answer I think we struggle with.  Not so much the answer to “Why Job?”, I don’t think most of us really care that much about Job, rather the majority of the time someone is asking, “Why Job?”, they are really asking, “Why me?”!  We focus on the loss and suffering we face while being misunderstood by everyone around us and we go to the book of Job for answers — after all, he lost much, suffered greatly, and was misunderstood by those closest to him.  Yet to go to the book of Job searching for an answer to the question, “Why me?”, forces us to at least consider the answer may be the same as the one Job received — “None of your business!”  Yes, you read that right!  We have the opening commentary that gives some explanation to what was going on but there is no indication that Job was ever let in on any of that.  To boil it down, the answer God finally gives to Job at the end of the book sounds a lot like, “I’m God.  I know what I’m doing.  Trust me.”

So, what do you do when the foremost question in your mind is “Why me?”.  Do you hear God say, “I’m God.  I know what I’m doing.  Trust me.”?  Do you believe it?  Can you look at the book of Job differently than perhaps you ever have before?  You see, I’m not convinced that the primary theme of Job is the loss and suffering that we often connect with the book — I think the primary theme is faithfulness!

Jesus said in Matthew 19:29-30, “And everyone who has left [lost] houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”  Isn’t that the heart of the story of Job?  He lost nearly everything for the sake of God’s name yet through faithfulness it was restored many times over.

Why Job?  Because no matter what happens and no matter how little or much you understand, being faithful is the only way to live!  It is not the swift who receive the prize, but only those who remain faithful to the end.  “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!'”  (Matthew 25:21)

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What’s Inside?

I’ve been working at cleaning and organizing the maintenance shop at camp with the help of my family — well, MJ has been  helping and Susan has patiently watched movies while we worked. 🙂  As we have pulled boxes, containers, and items off shelves and out of corners one question keeps coming up, “What’s inside?”! 

If you’ve ever sorted through years worth of things others have accumulated, you probably already know the secret to finding the answer to that age-old cleaning question, “What’s inside?” — you  have to look, open, or empty the container and see what comes out!  You quickly learn that the writing or label can say whatever it wants– that may, or may not, have anything to do with the actual contents.

That is kind of like life and people, isn’t it?  We can dress up the outside and label ourself, and others, but at some point what  is really inside comes out and is revealed.  Jesus puts it this way, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”  (Luke 6:45) 

Carl Evans shared a sermon tonight at Deer Run that challenged each of us to allow God’s Word and Spirit to check us for heart trouble.  So, how do we do that?  How do we check the condition of our spiritual heart and what do we do about what we find?  Well, I have good news and even better news. 🙂

The good news is that this heart check-up is not difficult — it could be painful to see and acknowledge, but definitely not difficult.  God says that if you want to know the condition of your heart then you should carefully observe just what it is you say and do.  In Galatians, Paul writes that the actions of our sinful desires are obvious.  He goes on to list many actions and activities that we would often put in different categories of very bad, bad, not so bad, and somewhat tolerable.  Paul, however, says all of them are symptoms of a heart that is in trouble — so much trouble that God says if we choose to continue to live in these actions we will not have a place in His kingdom.

The even better news is that there is a cure to whatever heart trouble our spiritual check-up may reveal! 🙂  Paul follows up the list of actions that come from a bad heart with a list of characteristics that flow from a good heart — a Spirit-filled heart.  In Ezekiel 11, God tells his people that he will call them back to himself and they will put away the actions that were in disobedience and rebellion toward him and he will put within them a new spirit — he will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.  The cure for our heart trouble is to repent from the deeds of sin and rebellion and live by the Spirit.

To fully recover from the heart transplant, Carl pointed out tonight some instructions that are commonly given when a person faces a physical heart trouble.  To follow-up on our spiritual heart change, we need to change our diet and get appropriate exercise.  🙂  We must live, and feast, on a steady diet of God’s Word.  As we allow God’s Word to fill and satisfy us, we must get appropriate exercise by actually doing what it says.

I pray that your container, your jar of clay, really does contain what the exterior says is inside.  I pray that you spend time with God listening intently to what comes out of you that would reveal how accurate the label Christian is in your life.  I pray that you  are living with a changed heart and that you are maintaining that renewed heart with a healthy diet and plenty of regular exercise! 🙂

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What’s In Your Box?

“What’s In Your Box” was the title of lesson 5 in the Bible study I am leading through the book of 1 Samuel.  In this study, we found the Israelites heading out to battle against the Philistines only to get thoroughly defeated.  Their solution is to regroup and take the ark of the covenant with them into battle.  The ark represented God’s presence among them and although they had been given very specific instructions from God on how to treat the ark, their desire to have God with them in battle seemed to outweigh any obedience to His instructions.  Rather than seek God and listen to His plan, it appears they thought that if they could take “God in the box” (an ark is by definition simply a box, or chest) with them into battle then victory would be assured.  We know the result though — the Philistines not only defeat them again but they capture the ark and take it away from the Israelites.

It is easy to look at that from our point in history and think, “What did they expect?  You can’t contain God in a box.”  Yet how often do we have a “box” that we try to keep God in so that we can bring Him out on special occasions and when in desperate need?  Sometimes our box is a physical item.  If we just have our Bible, that special cross necklace, a sacred keepsake, then God is with us — He has to be because we have the item that we carry him around in.  Sometimes our box is a little less tangible.  Perhaps a talent or ability, a giftedness or personal strength, even a friendship or relationship with another person — we think if this is present then we know God is with us.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with any of these — remember the ark of the covenant was God’s idea! 

The problem is that when we allow them to become more than reminders and tools to know God — they become our god.  When we replace a relationship with the living God with anything else, we have settled for a cheap (and ineffective) substitute.  If we carry our Bible to show God is with us yet never open it, nor read and do what it says, we will likely find that our “box” does us little good when we face temptation and the enemy.  If we carry our giftedness from God as a badge of honor yet never seek out His wisdom in how and when to use it, are we really worshiping God or just ourself?

So, what is your box and what is in it?  Do you spend time with God or just with the objects that remind you of God?  When trouble comes, and it will come, do you find strength in the confidence and faith that God is really with you or are you left defeated and wondering why God didn’t show up when you have “His” box with you? 

I pray that the “box” of your covenant with God is a constant reminder of the vibrant and growing relationship that you have with Him.  I pray that when the day of trouble comes that your box is not empty but it is filled with the tools necessary to draw you into communication with God for the purpose of knowing Him, His plans, His will, and His direction in your life.

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Hearing Voices

“Hearing Voices” was the title of lesson 4 in the 1 Samuel study I am leading on Wednesday evenings at Deer Run.

Have you ever answered a phone call where the caller immediately launches into a full-speed conversation assuming you know who they are — and you don’t?  You listen intently for clues to the caller’s identity.  There’s a familiarity to it but you just can’t place it.  Your mind races through a mental checklist of the people you know.  The name . . . the name is on the tip of your tongue but it just won’t quite come out of your mouth.  And then it happens.  The pause.  The awkward silence just before the inevitable statement/question that you know is coming, “You don’t know who this is, do you?”.

“Wow!  I should have known.”  “How did I not know?”  “I’m so embarrassed.”  “How could I have not known?”

Granted, sometimes it is all about the phone connection and poor acoustics which make the person not really sound like themself . . . sometimes.  More often than not, we must admit that we were not as familiar with the person as we thought.  Regardless of the amount of time spent together, we’ve not really listened to them.  We’re not used to the sound of the voice.  The words spoken do not flow in a manner that we recognize.  The “voiceprint” is strange and unrecognizable to us.

While this can be mildly embarrassing and somewhat awkward when it takes place between friends, what about when we don’t recognize God’s voice?  This was the case with Samuel as he came to serve God as he lives with Eli the priest.  We read that “the word of the LORD was rare” in those days.  It is in that setting that God calls to Samuel with a message.  As God calls Samuel’s name, he does not recognize the voice and assumes that it must be Eli calling him.  It took three attempts before even Eli surmised that it must be God calling to Samuel so on the fourth call Samuel finally acknowledges God and listens to what He has to say.

Before we come down too hard on Samuel, what about us?  How often do we miss the message God is trying to speak into our life?  How often do we struggle with the questions of life and how God should be involved in each aspect of it?  We have the advantage of God’s Word and His Spirit to lead us and teach us about the very nature of God.  Yet still we wonder, we question, we even doubt if God has anything to say at all.  

We hear many voices in our life but struggle to recognize which belongs to God.  So many of them sound reasonable, but which one sounds most like God?  Which one really is God?  If we’re trying to figure it out with our own reasoning or intellect, we will likely fail every time.  The way we know isn’t that complicated.  We spend time with God.  We read His Word.  We listen to what He says to us through it.  We allow His Spirit to fill us and continually remind us of the nature of God revealed through His Word and the life of His Son, Jesus.  The more we know God, the easier it becomes to recognize His voice.  In John 10, Jesus calls himself the “good shepherd”.  He says that the sheep will follow the shepherd that they belong to, and that cares for them, because they recognize his voice.  It is time with the shepherd, and the shepherd with the sheep, that makes this recognition automatic and without question.

As you consider the direction of your life, are you hearing voices?  Are you spending deliberate time with God with the purpose of knowing Him?  I pray that you and I are “sheep” that hear His voice, recognizing and obeying it because it is a voice we are very familiar with.

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Be STILL . . . And Know That I Am God

“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to share a message at Deer Run, Be STILL, based out of Psalm 46.  The chapter begins with a reminder that whatever happens in this world, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”  This is a very contemporary Psalm as we can look around us, and even within us, and see “the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”  We open the paper or turn on the news and we see “nations are in an uproar; kingdoms fall”.  But it is not just the earth, the nations, the kingdoms — the turmoil often hits on a personal level and much closer to home.  It is in these times of national and world turmoil — and yes, in personal turmoil — that God calls us to be STILL and know Him!

So, what does that mean?  How can you and I “Be STILL” and know God?  Let me spell it out for us.  🙂  Being STILL begins with us being Silent.  I know, uh-oh, can’t I start with something easier?  Many times we have an extreme dislike, even fear, of silence.  How often have I prayed for God to speak clearly to me but I’m not silent long enough to listen to that still, small voice?  The silence that I am talking about is more than just a lack of sound, it is a silence that has deliberately set aside all the distractions both internally and externally.  It is often in these times of planned silence that we begin to prepare ourselves to be Still and know God.

Secondly, being STILL involves our desire to be Teachable.  As we remove all distractions and become silent, we must open our heart and mind to God’s instruction.  Being Teachable is an attitude and a decision.  It requires a recognition that someone else knows more than I do and there are things they can teach me.  It also involves a willingness on my part to make changes based on what I am taught.  To be Teachable requires that we have an open and submissive spirit to both the content that is being taught and to the one doing the teaching.

As we move down the word STILL, we come to the letter “I”.  To be STILL and know God will require us to be Inspected.  Ouch!  In David’s desire to know God, he calls out for God to search him and know his heart — to see if there is any offensive way in him.  To be STILL requires us to come before God and allow Him to Inspect any and every part of us to reveal if there is anything that would interfere with our knowing God.  This Inspection isn’t really for God’s benefit, He is our creator and knows us more intimately than we know ourself.  It is for the good of our relationship that we pay attention as God points out to us the results of our Inspection. 

As we move along in our desire to Be STILL, we must also be Learners.  I think when I first preached this text I used the word Listeners.  Either way the point is the same — we must be intentional in our Silence, in our Teachable times, and in our Inspection in order to understand what God would have us to know about ourself and about Him.  This isn’t about collecting information, it is about having a personal relationship with the living God.  As Learners, we begin to connect the dots and make the application of what God reveals to us as we are STILL before Him.

And finally, we tie it all together with a willingess to be Led.  This amplifies our submission to God that has been growing in the previous aspects of being STILL.  It is at this point we must surrender everything to God so that wherever He leads us, we will follow.  Being led assumes that the direction, speed, and purpose of where we are going are not our own but that of the One leading us. 

While it is easy to spell out — Silent, Teachable, Inspected, Learner, Led — I recognize it is much more difficult to live out.  It is through God’s strength in the practice of these elements of being STILL that we can look at the chaos in and around us and state with king Jehoshaphat, “We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”!

I pray that you and I would grow in our practice of God’s command; “Be still, and know that I am God.”

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Caution: Objects In Life May Not Be What They Appear

You’ve seen the warning on the side mirror of  your car, right?  You know the one, “Caution: Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear”. 

Have you ever observed a specific situation and you just knew what was going on?  Have you watched a person’s actions and were confident of their motives and judged them according to what you saw?  And then when the truth came out you realized just how wrong you were?  Perhaps we need a similar “mirror warning” in constant view as we live life.  I think it would read something like this, “Caution:  Objects in life may not be what they appear”. 

I’m not sure anyone is immune to this, or above needing this reminder.  As a matter of fact, these thoughts come from the preparation I am doing for a lesson series through 1 Samuel this fall.  Listen to what took place and the presumption that followed:  “As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth.  Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard.  Eli thought she was drunk  and said to her, ‘How long will you keep on getting drunk?  Get rid of your wine.'” (1 Samuel 1:12-14)

Ouch!  Unfortunately, Eli has plenty of modern-day companions.  How often have you and I observed what takes place on the surface of lives around us and jumped to conclusions that were just as wrong as Eli’s judgment of Hannah?  The pain, the distress, the activity in another person’s life may not always be what it appears to be.  You know that is true in your life, why is it so hard to remember it is true in others as well? 

How can we avoid the surface judgments?  I don’t think there is an easy to do answer but James gives us great insight to this as he writes in James 1:19, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.”   This simple statement is so profound but so very hard to remember to do at all times!  Listening with our eyes and ears and heart through the filter of the Holy Spirit will go a long way in keeping us from making judgments based on outward appearances. 

In God’s great sense of humor and/or irony, over in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel God has to remind Samuel (remember that Samuel was the answer to the prayers that Hannah was praying),  “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”   Our reaction is often to pass judgment based on what we see but God is calling us to look beyond what we can see and really notice what He sees.

I pray that I become a better listener — a godly listener — before I am tempted to jump to conclusions that are far from accurate.  I pray that you and I recognize that our need for grace and understanding in regard to our actions is the same need that others have from us.

May God grant us ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to understand the work He is doing in our life and in the lives of those around us!

 

 

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L.O.S.T – Part 4: Teach

It seems like I’ve gotten “lost” over the past couple of months when it comes to writing.  There are a number of reasons for that which I hope to write about soon.  However, I do want to finish up this 4-part series with this final segment called, “Teach”.

As I looked at in the previous three articles, there is a progression that we move through as we break free from being “lost”.  We begin by learning to listen.  We hear a lot of things, but we are not particularly good at listening — especially when it comes to listening to God.

As an outgrowth of listening, we begin to observe.  We take notice of what God is doing in, through, and around us.  Our observations lead us to see a different path, or direction, we ought to be taking so that we’re no longer in a lost condition.

The hardest part for most people is often the third stage where we must surrender.  All of the listening and observing does little good if we are unwilling to surrender to what God has called us to be.  Surrendering is an admission that we are lost and in need of direction that only God can give.

That brings us to this final stage — one that is often overlooked because we think that completing the stage of surrender brings us out of our lost condition and completes our “quest”.  But there is much more to it.  We don’t become “un-lost” strictly for our own benefit.  We must teach that which we’ve learned on our journey.  Jesus states in Matthew that we are not simply to make disciples through a process of bringing them to full surrender, we must also be busy about “teaching them to obey all that [He] commanded.”

I’ve been taught, and believe, that you cannot teach what you do not know.  I would go a step further and say that you cannot effectively teach what you do not practice.  We teach by what we say, but we often teach much more by what we do.  In order to effectively teach what Jesus commanded, we must be doing what Jesus commanded.  As we live a surrendered life, we must be busy teaching that same surrendered lifestyle to others.  Listening is not natural for most people, so when we use the tool of listening we gain a valuable practice that we ought to be teaching to others.  As we observe the working of God, we ought to teach others to take notice of what God is doing in and around them as well. 

I pray that as you take note of these L.O.S.T. principles, that you would apply them in your life and live them out in a way that teaches others that you have found direction through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

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L.O.S.T. – Part 3: Surrender

Okay, it would seem since it has been quite some time since I began this series that I must have gotten lost somewhere in the writing process. 

Maybe part of the delay is that part three is the hardest part for me to actually do.  I can handle the listening and the observing because I’m still involved in seeking out the solution.  Part three in dealing with being lost is that we must surrender.  There, I’ve said the word:  Surrender!  Being lost causes us to surrender our will and desires to one who knows where we are and how to get to where we need to be — that is if we want to be “un-lost”. 

I generally have a good sense of direction and usually can find my way around new places rather easily.  Even when I am out traveling and end up in unfamiliar territory, I often just keep driving, figuring eventually something will look familiar or I will see a needed road sign or somehow discover where I am at so that I can begin to make my way back to where I want to be.  At times I am so confident of my ability to figure out where I am at that I end up in unknown territory, way out of the way, lost, before I finally surrender and pull out a map to help me discover where I’m at and how to get to where I am going. 

While that is hard enough for me to do, the more difficult times are when the map isn’t available, or doesn’t help, and I am forced to completely surrender and tell someone that I have no idea where I am at and need their help to get to where I am going.  You would think that after enough practice having to do that, it would be easier — especially when it becomes apparent how much time and energy could be saved simply by surrendering and asking directions much earlier.

Many times, people remain in their lost state in relationship with God because they refuse to surrender.  There is no way to make it to a vibrant and growing relationship with God except to surrender to the lordship of His Son, Jesus.  He put it this way in Matthew 16:24-25:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses (surrenders) his life for me will find it.”

Then in John 14, Jesus comforts His followers with the news that He is leaving to prepare a place for them and that He will return for them.  He assures them that He will be back to take them to the place that He is going to and that they know how to get there.  Thomas is not so sure and responds, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  The answer from Jesus in John 14:6-7 is classic and points out that the disciples did know the way to where Jesus was going — that way is Jesus Himself!

“I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Wow!  When I am lost, I must surrender to the only way out.  This cuts straight across the grain of modern thinking — particularly modern religious thinking.  Rather than surrender to God when lost, people have a tendency to “drive around”, thinking that somehow they will find another way to get to where they want to be.  Recent surveys show that many “religious leaders” profess that there may be multiple ways to get to heaven and varied paths to God.  It makes me wonder what they do with the Bible, especially the words of Jesus above from John 14:6.  Jesus could have said, “I am a way” or “I am the primary way” or even “I know the way” but instead He said, “I am the way”!  Just in case we miss the exclusive nature of His statement, He emphasizes it with the next sentence, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

When a person is in a lost condition, separated from God, surrender is absolutely necessary.  There is only one way to go from lost to relationship with God and only Jesus can get us there.  It is time for each of us to really examine our life and commit it to being a life surrendered fully to Jesus.