God

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Climbing the Ladder to Greatness

Ahh . . . Christmas.  That time of year when “peace on earth, goodwill toward men” prevails.  From the streets to the malls . . . from the department stores to the supercenters . . . from the check-out lines to the parking lots . . . from office parties to family gatherings — wherever you turn, mankind is at its finest.

Okay, you may be thinking, “Where is this guy from?”.  While there are bright spots that can be found among people in the midst of the Christmas hustle and bustle — more often than not, the public response of people to one another is far less than ideal. 

While the result is far from ideal, it really shouldn’t be a surprise.  Much of the confrontation and tension of the season has its root in an age-old pursuit — the pursuit of greatness.  We don’t want to wait in line, we want to be first.  Wherever we are, it becomes all about seeking our place — a place that we are not willing to step back from to benefit another.  We need to move forward, not backward.  We get caught up in the clamor to determine “pecking order” in all of our Christmas gatherings.  We go to work parties, church functions, and family gatherings and try to figure out where we belong and how to “move up the ladder” to greatness.

As I mentioned earlier, this is an age-old problem.  A problem that we find existing throughout scripture and addressed by Jesus.  One of those times is recorded in Matthew 20 when the mother of James and John want special status for her sons.  Jesus responds by telling her it is not His place to grant her specific request.  The real response comes from Jesus as the other 10 disciples get word of this “special request”.  The Bible says the other disciples are “indignant”.  Their response does raise the question, “Why?”.  The response of Jesus indicates to me that they were probably “indignant” because they each wanted to be in a “top” position.  Matthew writes about it with these words in Matthew 20:24-28:

“When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.  Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'”

You see, there is a ladder to greatness.  The only problem is that the vast majority of us get it wrong.  We are taught and believe that we obtain greatness by climbing to the top of the ladder.  Jesus teaches quite the opposite — we obtain greatness by climbing to the bottom of the ladder.  It is a ladder we climb down to serve others.  Not just any others, all others!

How Christmas would change if all Christians remembered this as they drove about this time of year.  If they thought of others and served them as they do business in the stores and as they attend various work, church, and family gatherings.  If each of us would climb down the ladder of success to reach greatness as defined by Jesus.

I pray that you and I would commit to climbing the ladder to greatness.  May we learn to truly serve this Christmas season.  May others know of Jesus and His great love because we are becoming great in the kingdom of God — great because we are learning to wholeheartedly serve God and the “least of these His brethren”.

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I Am The Lord’s Servant

This week, my writings will look at another attribute of being a Christian — God says I am His servant! 

What first comes to your mind when you hear the word, “servant”?  Is it a positive mental picture, or a negative one?  In the American culture that I live in and write from, being a servant is not a popular goal.  As children go around a group stating what they want to be when they grow up, you never hear someone say, “I want to be a servant.”  Unfortunately, in the average life, good role models in being a servant are hard to find.  Those that do serve well are filled with humility that makes them shy away from attention or being noticed.  Others serve with a motive of being noticed and it often comes across as fake and self-serving — because it is.  Yet many others simply don’t serve.  It’s beneath  them.  They are too good, too important, too busy, to have the time or desire to serve someone else.

Even in the church, many times it is hard to find every-day examples of servants for the same reasons.  A genuine servant is often un-noticed and un-recognized.  Others serve with an arrogance and pride that serves themselves much more than serving others.  Yet, many simply do not serve.  Church after church that I have visited reflect the same problem.  Not a necessarily a lack of members or attenders, but a lack of servants.  You’ve heard it and seen it — perhaps even said it — right?

  • “What, me shovel snow and spread salt?  I thought we paid someone to do that!” 
  • “You want me to work in the nursery or teach a children’s class?  I’m too old, young, busy, or already “served” my time!” 
  • “You want me to serve communion and take up the offering?  I come to church to sit with my family!” 
  • “Visit the nursing home on a Saturday morning?  I work hard all week and deserve to sleep in!” 
  • “Give items to the food pantry and help make sure hungry people have what they need?  I work hard for what I have, so can they!” 
  • “Call and visit shut-ins, the elderly, and the sick?  I don’t have the time and I have nothing in common with them!” 
  • “Work a week of church camp so young people can learn about Jesus in a incredibly intense environment?  My vacation time is too valuable to waste doing that!”
  • “Walk across the room and say hello to a visitor or stranger or someone who looks down and lonely?  I don’t know them and wouldn’t know what to say!”
  • “Give up my rights, desires, and preferences to benefit someone else — someone I may not even know or like?  What planet are you from?  Let them accommodate me!”

I could go on, but hopefully you get the point and have even seen yourself in some of this dialogue — I know I have.  Serving is not natural.  Serving says that the needs of someone else are more important than mine.  Serving is about honoring and caring for the one we serve.  Serving seeks to be invisible while at the same time accomplishing everything the “master” desires.  A servant would never detract from or subvert the will and direction of his master.

That is why Mary’s response to the news that she was to carry and give birth to the Messiah, is so remarable.  It is the genuine response of a servant; “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me according to your word.”  Wow!  Mary understood that as a follower of God, she was His servant.  It didn’t matter if the task seemed difficult, demeaning, questionable, or even impossible — whatever God asked her to do, she would do it.

What would your life and mine be like if we sought God in everything?  What if when the youth leader, director, or minister asked you to serve in the church nursery, your response is to God — “Lord, I am your servant, what do you want me to do?”  Or when you see that lonely and hurting person, you said — “Lord, I am your servant, what do you want me to do?”  Or in any of the other situations listed above or the myriad of possibilities encountered in life you and I said — “Lord, I am your servant, what do you want me to do?”  What if we said it, and meant it, and acted as a servant in obedience.

A servant of God seeks to please only his master.  I pray that you and I continually grow in our obedience as servants.  God says that I am His servant!  I pray that I constantly remember that and live up to His view of me.

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I Have A Hope!

Knowing that God says I am His child helps me to see things in a proper perspective — God’s perspective.  Particularly when things are not going quite the way we would like —  when we’re not what we want to be — it is comforting to know that as God’s child, I have a hope.

One of the biggest struggles for Junior High students is that they rarely believe that whatever part of their body they don’t like at the time — and there is always something — will ever change.  They fear that they will always be too tall, too short, too awkward, too quiet, too loud, too “pimply”, too something that will cause them to be overlooked or mocked their entire life.  They think that what is has always been and there is no hope for change.

Many times, followers of Jesus end up with the same attitude.  The growth process of a Christian takes time and during those inevitable delays, it is easy for our adolescent faith to begin to feel hopeless.  Every stumble feels permanent.  Every sin drives home a sense of failure.  Doubt begins to grow instead of faith.  It is at these times that we need a reminder of the hope we have as God’s child.

John puts it this way in 1 John 3:1-3:

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.   But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”

John says that as God’s child, you will feel like a misfit because that is what you are.  You won’t fit into the world.  The world won’t know or understand you because they don’t know or understand our Father.  As children of God, we are adolescents.  It is not yet known what we will become.  Yet even with the unknown, we are assured that we will be like Jesus — the image of our Father. 

As we struggle with our identity and what we are becoming, we have hope.  This is a confident hope that our sin is dealt with and removed.  We are becoming like Christ — and will be like Him — so our hope is assured that we are purified because He is pure.  We can take courage in being God’s child as our hope puts to death and rejects sin and the work of evil.  God says that our hope in Him purifies us so that we accomplish deeds of righteousness and relationships of love.

As God’s child, I have hope because I know I don’t have to stay the way I was, or even the way I am.  My hope in God purifies and refines me into who I will become — like Jesus.

I pray that as God’s child, you recognize the hope you have.  May that hope compel you to grow up into the image of Jesus.

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I Have An Example!

I’ve been writing this week about things that I have because I am a child of God.  Our study text today reminds me that as God’s child, I have an example! 

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  Ephesians 5:1-2

Whenever I am in an unfamiliar setting, I love to be with someone who is accustomed to the situation.  Someone who knows what to do and say and what not to do and say.  When I visit a new church to preach or share in some way, I pay attention to the people of that church and how they do things.  I watch them.  I study them.  I learn from them so that I can reduce my uncomfortableness and limit my embarrassment.  They become my example.  I follow their steps, their gestures, their words, their responses.  I become what I need to be because someone models it for me.

The Christian life should be like that.  Paul writes in his letters that people should imitate him as he imitates Christ.  That whatever people hear from him, whatever they observe or learn or receive from him, they should put into practice.  Paul understood the value of an example in living the Christian life.  In the verses above, he commands us as children of God to imitate our Father.  We have a perfect example of love that is seen in our Father, therefore we need to walk in the way of love.  This example of God, seen through Jesus, is one of giving and sacrificing our self for the benefit of someone else.

As God’s child, I have an example to follow.  The more closely I follow it, the more I look like I belong to my father.  I have a number of tendencies that people from my hometown recognize and immediately say, “You’re a child of your father.”  They know where I belong — what family I fit into because in many areas I follow the example of my father.    The bigger question when people observe me is, “Do they recognize I belong to the family of God?”  Am I walking in the way of love in a manner that resembles the example of my Father? 

As a child of God, you have an example.  Are you following it?  Can people see the family resemblance when they watch you?  I pray that you and I will “walk in the way of  love” as we faithfully follow the example of our Father.

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I Have An Inheritance!

Today’s text in the daily questions for the “A View From The Top:  What Does God Say . . . About Me?” series seems to make two distinct statements that God says about me as His child.  My previous post, I Have An Obligation, covers the first statement and I will consider the second statement in this post.

As you read the following words, listen closely to what Paul says about life as a child of God.

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.  The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.  And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”  Romans 8:14-17

Wow!  Did you catch it?  I have an inheritance!  Not just any inheritance, but an inheritance from God.  As a child of God, I am a co-heir with Christ.  The Spirit of God has freed me to live as a son because the Spirit has brought about my adoption as such.  As a son, I can have confidence in my inheritance — an inheritance I share with Christ himself.  I suffer in the sufferings of Christ.  I endure with the endurance of my Lord.  My inheritance is more than a future reward — yes, that is coming.  My inheritance includes taking on the characteristics of my Father. 

It is slow and often painful process, this becoming like my Father.  I’m not a natural son.  I’ve developed habits and tendencies that are not like my Father at all.  Yet, I watch Him.  I listen to Him.  I imitate Him because I want to be like Him.  And I’m not alone in my efforts.  He understands my weaknesses and my sinful nature — my flesh that wars against me.  He knows I need help and He provides it.  He gives His Spirit — a “down payment”, if you will, of the current and future inheritance that is mine.  His Spirit is transforming my mind into the mind of Christ and replaces my heart with a heart for God.  The Spirit has set me free from the slavery of sin and releases me from the master of destruction. 

Has God’s Spirit brought about your adoption as a child of God?  He wants you to be His child.  He longs for you to allow His Spirit to live in you and be who you are.  He has an inheritance for you — an inheritance that has the power to transform you into the image of Christ. 

I pray that you are a part of God’s family and that you have taken your adoption seriously.   May you live a life in the power of the spirit that seeks to imitate your Father and live like your co-heir, Jesus.  May you endure the family difficulties — the persecution and suffering — knowing that they are not worth comparing to the glory of the final inheritance.  I have an inheritance!  An inheritance that cannot be diminished by the number of people laying claim to it.  I pray that you also have this inheritance.

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I Have An Obligation!

This week’s writings will focus on various aspects of God’s view of me as His child.  Yesterday, I wrote about the right we have to become children of God.  As incredible as that right is, like every right that we claim, it comes with an obligation.  An obligation is the backside of a right — a side we would often just as soon ignore.

There is a statement that I was told by my parents countless times during my childhood.  It is, “Your rights only go as far as to the point that you are stepping on another’s toes, or infringing on their rights.”  Now I understand that there are times that we all need our toes stepped on.  We need them stepped on by a brother who is rebuking, correcting, or challenging us in love, not by the “rights” of someone else.  If I am exercising my “rights” in a way that is harming or restricting someone else in their rights, then I have overstepped my bounds — particularly when we are talking about our rights in becoming children of God.

Paul puts it this way when he writes about the power of God’s Spirit within us:

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.  For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.  The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.  And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.'”  Romans 8:12-15

Paul tells us that because of Christ dwelling in us through the presence of His Spirit, we have an obligation.  This is not a natural obligation to live according to my desires and wants.  That is an easy excuse.  We word it in many ways — “This is just the way I am.” . . . “I can’t help it, I have desires.” . . . “I’m just not a friendly person” . . . “You don’t understand what I’ve been through.” . . . and on the list could go — justification as to why we live according to an obligation to the flesh.

Paul says we have a different obligation — an obligation that comes from, and shows, that we are indeed children of God.  This is an obligation to live by the Spirit and in the power of the spirit, putting to death the “obligations” of the body.  This rejecting of the misdeeds of the body brings life because it shows that we are indeed children of God, being led by His Spirit.

Who are you giving the greater power in your life today?  Is it the sinful nature of the flesh or the presence of the living God whose Spirit brought about your adoption as God’s child?

I pray that as you experience the freedom of crying out to God, “Abba, Father”, you will embrace the obligation to live in the power and presence of the Spirit so that you may truly live.  As a child of God, you and I have an obligation.

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I Have My Rights!

Here in the United States, we seem to thrive on individual rights.  Our country was founded proclaiming that its citizens have the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.  We’ve added so many more.  The right to bear arms.  The right to assemble peaceably.  The right to vote — equal representation.  The right to own property.  The right to defend that property.  The right to choose — to make our own decisions.  Even the right to remain silent — unfortunately, one that isn’t used often enough. 😉

There is one thing that fascinates me about our American “rights”.  Even though most would claim that these are “God-given” rights, the Bible often does not back up that claim.  I think of those original “Creator-endowed, unalienable rights” — “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.  If these are truly rights given to us by God, then I think the predominance of the godly Bible characters somehow missed their rights.  Prophet after prophet, along with the majority of the apostles and early Christians, did not live a life centered around their “right” to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.  Many of them lost their life for the sake of their faith.  Others were imprisoned and enslaved because of their belief in God.  It was not their own pleasure that drove them to share the message of God with individuals, cities, and nations.  No, it often brought misery, hardship, and turmoil into their life — quite the contrast to the “happiness” our American culture says we have a right to.

That is not to say that as Christians we have no rights — we do.  We have a right that far surpasses any of our “guaranteed” American rights, or rights any other nation or person may give you.  John writes about this as he communicates to us the Christmas message — the message of God coming to earth and taking on human flesh in the person of Jesus.  John writes this message of our “right” in John 1:9-13:

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and though the world was made by him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

The right to become children of God!  Wow!  This is the right that caused the Apostles and early Christians to fearlessly proclaim the gospel as they should.  God says that to those who receive Jesus, who believe in His name, they have a right — not a chance, not a possibility, not a what-if or maybe, but a right to become a child of God.  We know all about rights in this country and we believe that no one can take our rights away from us.  We demand our rights because they belong to us.

When I dwell on God’s view of me, it is humbling and invigorating that He sees me as His child.  He has set up the true “Creator-endowed, unalienable rights”, and this is it.  Not simply a right to life, freedom, and happiness; a right to relationship!  I have a right to call God my Father.  John says that this is a right I have by birth — not a natural birth, but a supernatural birth.  It is the birth Jesus talks about in the third chapter of John when He tells Nicodemus, “You must be born again”.  It is this acceptance and belief in Jesus that gives me the greatest right ever.  I claim this right.  I have this right — a right purchased by the blood of Jesus through which God says I am His child.

May you and I value the right we have to become children of God.  May we honor that relationship and live up to the responsibility that comes with being a part of the family — God’s family. 

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What Does God Say . . . About Me?

The “View From The Top:  What Does God Say?” series at the Deer Run Church of Christ has just finished 13 weeks of pursuing God in “What Does God Say . . . About God?”  This has been a great 3 months of listening to God’s view of Himself.

This week we start the next 13 week focus of “What Does God Say . . . About Me?”  Much of my writings on this blog will follow our weekly topics and daily questions.  You can find the daily questions for this series, and the previous one, at Something To Think About . . ..  I am looking forward to this section of seeking God as 13 weeks are spent individually, and corporately, listening to God’s view of me.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.