Life Lessons

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If Jesus Had Facebook

If Jesus had Facebook,
     just what would He say?
Would he “like” the nude photo
     that you shared today?
Would He laugh at the language
     that you said, “never mind”?
When He looked at your wall,
    just what would He find?

I think far too often,
     we try to fit in.
We laugh and we joke
     at things God calls sin.
You say times are different,
     I need to relax.
The world likes you better
     if you avoid all the facts.

But I look at God’s Word,
     I believe it’s still true.
It says I should be different
    in all that I do.
To avoid the appearance,
     and even the hint.
Of things that are sinful
     and toward evil are bent.

I don’t claim to be perfect,
     but I think I should try.
To honor the One
     that for my sin did die.
I wake up each morning
     and offer a prayer.
“Lord, let your love in me,
     be all that I share.”
© 2015 by Tom Lemler

As I was cleaning and praying tonight, I would check Facebook periodically as I let the floor scrubber recharge or floors dry in order to continue my work.  As I did so, two things stood out to me – the promptness of people of all backgrounds to ask other to pray for Paris and the varying degrees of subtlety and inappropriateness in the content of the “usual” posts that show up in my newsfeed.  It made me think of the scripture which asks the rhetorical question, “Can salt water and fresh water come from the same spring?”  Should cursing and praises come from the same mouth . . . or the same Facebook account?  Just some late night thoughts as I wrap up a long day of work and pray that God would help each of us be consistent in our testimony and witness.

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It’s Not About YOU! (Prayer Ministry Update & Sermon)

 

Audio recording of an Impact Prayer Ministry update and ICOM report wrapped through a sermon presentation.

 

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Luke 24b: Journey With Those Who WALK

 

Sermon from the “Living Like Christ” series.

 

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A Voice in the Crowd

“The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.  The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.  But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”  
John 10:2-5 (NIV)

How often have you witnessed or experienced someone saying, “I would recognize that voice anywhere!”  Most of us have people in our lives that could be talking in the midst of a crowd and not even knowing they were there, we would immediately recognize their voice and know who is talking.  That type of recognition doesn’t happen overnight.  It requires much time spent conversing and listening so that we not only know the sound of the voice, we also know the character of the content of what will be spoken.

It is fairly easy to find people who want to hear from God.  Hold a class or teaching series on knowing God’s will and people are quick to sign up.  Change one word in the title and focus the class or teaching series on doing God’s will and all of a sudden participants are nowhere to be found.  Is it possible that many within our modern Christian culture have such a difficult time hearing God’s voice because we have consistently failed to listen to the things we know He has said?

Rarely a day goes by but what I hear or read the statement, “My God would never ____________” with the blank being filled in by something that even a casual reading of scripture would show God has in fact done or said.  I find it interesting that these statements are always “My God would never” and not simply “God would never”.  We have indeed created God in our own image and often define Him in ways that make us feel comfortable and safe.  In the midst of such a culture, it is no wonder we struggle with hearing and knowing the voice of our Shepherd.

It is in our quiet times with God and His Word that we become familiar with His voice and begin to recognize the things that He would say by understanding the things that He has already said.  The quiet times are necessary so that we are prepared to hear our Shepherd’s voice even in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  Scripture teaches us that Jesus would often withdraw to “lonely places” to spend time with His Father, but as you read about the life of Jesus it should be clear that He recognized and obeyed the voice of His Father even in the midst of the crowds.  God expects and wants us to listen, to recognize His voice and to follow it, each moment that we live — whether in quiet times or in times surrounded by the crowds of this world.

Jesus says that His sheep will know His voice and they will follow Him.  When you and I struggle with questions about hearing God, perhaps we need to seriously examine if the problem is really in the hearing or in the following.  I pray that you and I are not only hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word as well.

In prayer,
Tom

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A Day Called Today

What if today
     was all that you had?
To determine if your life
     was lived good or bad?
Are there things you would do
     and things you would say?
That would be different somehow
     from a “regular” day?

Would you care for the poor
     or just walk on by?
Would you give with joy
     or respond with a sigh?
Would your children see you
     take time from your day?
To just be with them
     as they run and play?

Would the things that concern you
     make you want to fight?
Or would they lose their importance
     and now seem so slight?
Would being first
     in whatever the line?
Make all that much difference
    or perhaps second is fine?

If today was the day
     that you were judged by.
Would you face it with joy
     or would you walk off and cry?
What would be said
     by those left behind?
What kind of fruit
     would anyone find?

This much I know,
     though it may not be fact.
Today’s the last day
     some may see me act.
The people in life,
     they do come and go.
Will I lift them up
     or will I bring them low?

Will the words that I say –
     the ones that they hear.
Make them run away
     or perhaps draw them near?
Will they hear of Jesus
     in word and in deed?
Will my life be the one
     that has planted a seed?

So what will you do
     with the day that’s ahead?
Will you fill it with life
     or walk through it dead?
Will you find deeper meaning
     than just getting by?
Will you be found ready
     when it’s your time to die?

None of us know
     just when that will be.
When our time here is done
     and our Creator we see.
So the best I can tell you
     is just live today.
With the help of the Spirit
    in the best possible way!

© 2015 by Tom Lemler

As I was preparing the audio files from last night’s sermon to be put on my blog, this poem showed up in my mind.  The sermon from Luke 21 was about understanding the signs of the end.  The message that I really wanted people to walk away with had much more to do with being ready than actually knowing when.  I suspect that God’s preparation in my mind for that sermon was also the seed for this poem.  I pray that it accomplishes His purposes for it and that it is an encouragement to you as you live faithfully each day.
 
In prayer,
Tom
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The Walk-Off

A long time ago
     in the mind of a child.
God planted a dream
     that to most would seem wild.
To walk with Him closely
     throughout every day.
To listen intently
     for what He will say.
To walk side by side
     as friend walks with friend.
To walk this way daily
     without any end.
 
To live like old Enoch
     from days long ago.
Whose walk with his Lord
     was more than “so-so”.
To be walking one day
     on this earth and its ground.
Then to walk off with God
     until he cannot be found.
That is the way
     that I want to be known.
I was walking with God
     then from earth I have flown.
 
What greater joy
     could there ever be.
Than to be called to heaven
     where God’s face I will see.
And when I get tired
     of being alive.
I recall Enoch’s years
     totaled three-sixty-five!
So I keep on walking
     by faith, not by sight.
For I could never make it
     if it was by my own might.
© 2015 by Tom Lemler
 
It has often been in the valleys of life that God has given me poems to write and this one was not an exception. From as far back as I can remember, Enoch has been one of my favorite Bible characters as I would contemplate a life lived in such a way that he “. . . walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.” As the great-grandfather of Noah, Enoch lived in a time period where wickedness would have surrounded him in ever-increasing measure yet he chose to walk with God. I pray that you and I would make that choice daily that regardless of the wickedness around us, we will walk with God.
 
In prayer,
Tom
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The TRUTH that Leads to Freedom

 “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. . . . So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.'”
John 8:31-32, 36 (NIV)

I had the privilege of sharing a sermon this morning from John 8:31-59 as I chose to address the topic of freedom on this Fourth of July holiday weekend.  I opened by reading a poem, Freedom, that God had put in my mind to write yesterday morning.  Then, as my custom is, I used a word of the sermon title as an acrostic to outline my sermon.  God calls His followers to know, live, and share a freedom that can only be found in the truth of Jesus who claims, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

As we unwrapped “The TRUTH that Leads to Freedom”, we first looked at the Teaching that leads to freedom.  Jesus stated that by holding fast to His teachings we show that we are His disciples and will be set free by the truth of them.  Jesus made it clear in the story of the wise and foolish builders, that there is a difference between knowing the teachings of Jesus and actually putting them into practice.  It is by being a “doer of the word and not a hearer only” that we find the Teaching that leads to freedom.

The second point of the message addressed our need to practice a Repentance that leads to freedom.  Repentance is a word, and practice, that most of us tend to avoid because it requires an admittance that there is something not right in our life.  Often lost in a culture that loves to quote “judge not”, is the clear message of Jesus that He came not to call the righteous but to call sinners to repentance.  The real excitement in that last sentence ought to be the realization that Jesus came to call you and I to a Repentance that leads to freedom!

Through Jesus, we also gain an Understanding that leads to freedom.  Some of my favorite passages in the Bible are when Jesus addresses His disciples and refers to them as “dull” or asks them, “do you not understand?”.  I love these because it shows that Jesus knows that my understanding of who He is and the freedom He offers is a growing process.  In one of those passages there is an expressed concern about the keeping of some Jewish ceremonial practices to be considered clean.  Jesus explains that it is what is inside of a person that makes them clean or unclean  It is knowing, and trusting, the promises of Jesus to wash away my sins that gives me an Understanding that leads to freedom.

Perhaps the most difficult part of the message was this fourth point as I addressed the Traditions that lead to freedom.  I must make it very clear, it is not the traditions themselves that lead to freedom rather an examination and understanding of why I practice them.  Jesus made it clear to those accusing Him of forsaking the Law of God, as found in the Old Testament, that His intention was not to abolish the law, but rather to fulfill it.  He was keeping and fulfilling the law not for the sake of tradition but because he understood and believed the purpose behind it.  When we seek the old paths, paths founded in the truth of God’s Word, and walk intentionally in them as part of our relationship with God, we discover Traditions that lead to freedom.

Finally, we considered the Honor that leads to freedom.  Jesus could do and say the things He did while on earth because He wasn’t concerned about bringing honor and glory to Himself.  He was despised, ridiculed, rejected, and crucified all while living in complete freedom.  His stated goal was to not bring glory to Himself but to honor His Father.  It is so easy to get caught in the trap of compromise as we become afraid of what people will think of us.  Most of us want people to speak well of us and to honor us for our accomplishments and for who we are.  The problem is not so much in honoring people or being honored by people — God tells us to give honor to whom honor is due.  What keeps us from experiencing freedom is our desire to bring honor to ourselves.  It is when we make the focus of our life all about bringing glory to God that we can experience the Honor that leads to freedom.

Like the Jewish listeners in the days of Jesus, I think many people are disgusted with the idea that someone would set them free.  That original audience believed they were already free and had never been enslaved to anyone or anything — sounds rather familiar and contemporary to today’s culture, at least to me.  As much as we like to fight for our freedoms and shout to be heard, it doesn’t appear to be working all that well.  Perhaps it is time we turn to The TRUTH that Leads to Freedom!

In prayer,
Tom

Freedom
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Freedom

As we celebrate
     the Fourth of July.
How many people
     will ask themselves, “Why”?
The time off of work
     and cookouts are great.
But what is the reason
     that you celebrate?

The “land of the brave”
     and “home of the free”.
Do we live like that?
     Is that what you see?
We lock all our doors,
     we’re afraid to go out.
And sharing the truth
     causes people to shout.

Somehow we think,
     if I’m louder than they.
Then all of the people
     must do things my way.
The laws pile up,
     the rules list grows long.
And all it creates
     is more chance to do wrong.

We all want our freedom
     to do what we like.
From the old and the gray,
     to the littlest tike.
You can’t tell me different,
     I’ll do it my way.
“I have my rights”
     is what we all say.

And so it is strange
     when we go to The Word.
And see freedom defined
     like we’ve never heard.
You must surrender
     to truly be free.
And live to serve others
     so that Jesus they see.

There is no “freedom”
     that is worth the cost.
If I do what I want
     and still remain lost.
So I set my mind firmly
     to live like I should.
Trusting God’s Son has freed me
     as only He could.

God’s given His Spirit
     so that I can live free.
The fruit it produces
     ought to be seen in me.
Love, joy, peace, and patience;
     kindness and goodness too.
Being faithful and gentle
     with self-control as my view.

God says this is freedom;
     against such things there’s no law.
We’re set free by the Son
     from sin’s cold, deadly claw.
So, please remember
     if it’s freedom you need.
“If the Son sets you free,
     you will be free indeed!”

© 2015 by Tom Lemler

As I was spending time this morning reflecting on a sermon I’ll share tomorrow and thinking about our nation’s worship of freedom, this poem filled my mind. It appears that somewhere along the line we have forgotten that freedom always comes at a cost. As Americans we demand our freedoms thinking that somehow they are our right and that freedom means “free”. Unfortunately, that same mindset is often found in Christians regarding the freedom we do have in Christ. I pray that you and I would consider fully the cost of the freedoms we enjoy — both as Americans and, more importantly, as citizens of God’s kingdom — then truly live as ones who have been set free by the Son.

In prayer,
Tom