Last night in our deeper study class we covered the story of Noah. One of the points I emphasized seemed to hit home to many of the folks in the class and even moved many to tears. I can honestly say that was a much stronger reaction than I anticipated, but obviously the Holy Spirit was at work and so I thought I would share with you what I shared with them.
When Noah found grace with God, and the Lord decided to spare him and his family from the flood, Noah was given very specific instructions on how exactly God planned to affect this salvation in Noah's life. Noah had to build an ark just so, and had to follow God's instructions to the letter. For all the hugeness of the ark, for all its life-saving capacity, God only told Noah to make one door (Genesis 6:16). There was only one way to access this huge vessel of salvation.
It is no coincidence that Jesus Himself uses that same analog of being the only door through which those who would be saved could enter (John 10:1-9). He also tells in another relevant passage of Scripture about a door that once the master of the house has closed it, no more can enter (Luke 13:22-25). Luke talks about those pounding on the door crying out to be let in, but the answer is that they are unknown to the master of the house and no entry is possible once the door is closed.
If we return now to the story of Noah, while the Bible does not spell it out in explicit details, doubtless once God had closed the door (Genesis 7:16), there were Noah's friends and neighbors upon seeing rain for the first time, the very rain Noah had spent 120 years warning them about while building the ark, who were pounding on the door for Noah to let them in. It was not Noah who closed the door, however, it was God, and once God had closed the door it was beyond Noah's power to open it again.
We who know Christ are charged with the same obedience God expected of Noah. We too are to be preachers of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), sharing the gospel with an ungodly world and warning of the judgment to come. Just as Noah faced, most of those with whom we share will not listen to the warnings, but as told in Ezekiel 33:1-11, our job is to sound the trumpet. Those who do not heed the warning, their blood is on their own head, but if we know of the coming judgment and do not sound the warning, then the blood is on our hands.
The question I posed to the group that brought so many tears was "How will you feel on the day of judgment when you are safely inside with Christ and your family, friends, neighbors, loved ones with whom you did not share the gospel are on the outside, pounding on the door to be let in?" We can find many excuses for not sharing the gospel: I'm too busy, what will they think of me, I might get fired, I might get arrested, they won't listen anyway....etc. The truth is, God doesn't want our excuses, He demands our obedience. Three times in John 14 Jesus equates loving Him with obeying His commands, and that includes the command in Matthew 28:18-20 to "make disciples". I know if God took me today that I cannot think of a family member, friend or loved one with whom I have not shared the gospel. That is not to brag, but to set a hope before all who read this to strive for that peace of mind. Whether or not they believe is not a burden you bear. That is the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of each person. What is your responsibility is to be sure and tell them. Do not, on that most joyful day when you stand in the presence of the Lord, find yourself filled with regret at hearing the voices of those God has placed in your life, their fists pounding on the door begging to be saved and hearing Jesus' words from Luke 13:27 echoing in your ears, "I do not know where you are from, depart from Me you evildoers."
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
How Seriously Do We Take Self-Sacrifice
Folks,
So sorry I have fallen down on my desire to blog more regularly, but things have really picked up for us here. The Lord has really done some amazing things in the last month or so since my last blog. Given the sensitivity of where we serve, I have to be careful how much I say or how I say it, but some opportunities have opened with the state-sponsored church which has been pretty standoffish toward us thus far. We really have seen some excitement and buzz start, but also have seen some added attention from authorities as well. Fortunately Father has placed some well-connected persons of peace between us and the authorities and thus far we have felt His hand of protection upon us and the work He has for us here.
It was in developing this new relationship with the fairly good sized state church that prompted the topic of this weeks blog. The prompts really came two-fold: first, in noticing how the believers here interact (or rather fail to interact) with others outside their close clique and second, the latest opportunity God gave me to trust Him and walk in faith against my human judgment.
I will start with the second and move to the first. Several times in my Christian life I have been sent to places to preach or teach and health issues have thrown up a barrier to that happening. I had a choice each of those times, to trust my human failings or to trust in His sustaining power. Each time I have chosen to trust Him. The first was on a trip to Mexico. I was scheduled to preach the day after we arrived and whether from 18+ hours in the car to get there or the high altitude of the town we were visiting, my legs and ankles had swollen badly and I could barely stand or walk. I prayed that night that I knew God had sent me there and told God that if he wanted me to preach sitting in a chair tomorrow then that is what I would do but I wouldn't abandon what he had sent me there to do merely because it was painful. By the morning, without explanation, my legs had returned to normal and I was able to preach.
The second time was on that same trip when we were set to baptize six local believers as well as Amy, my wife. The missionary we were assisting was older and with bad heart problems so he couldn't get into the chilly water of the river to do the baptisms, so I was there to help. It was the end of the rainy season and we were concerned about flash-floods posing a danger, but decided to do the baptisms anyway as many of the locals had waited months for it to be warm enough. On the way to the church it started raining. Harold, the missionary, looked at me and said, "Well there's the rain." I had a moment of clarity from God like never before that we were to trust Him and not our senses. I answered, "Yep, but they are going to get wet anyway, so what's a few more drops. I am positive God wants us to go on." We did, and got to witness a genuine miracle. As we came out for the baptism, the clouds broke above the church and the river where we were going to do the baptisms. We were like in the eye of the storm or something as we could see (and I filmed) rain all around us but sunshine on the church and the river where we were going to do the baptisms. We finished all the baptisms without issue and even had a picnic lunch outside there in the eye of the storm with God's sunshine beaming down on us and rain on all sides around. It was not until we had packed everything up and gotten into the vehicles that the clouds closed up and the rain resumed.
The third time was preaching in Rock Falls, Illinois. I was scheduled to preach a revival there, five sermons in four days, and the day before I left I got a cold so bad that I couldn't talk, breathe or hardly stand. Still I got on the plane and went. Again God came through and blessed my faithfulness as each time I stood up to preach, my nose and chest cleared up and I could talk and as soon as the sermon was over, I went back to being just about ready to collapse.
The most recent time was just the other day. We were scheduled to start a new evening class at the state church. I had the flu and could barely get out of bed, but with the help of the Holy Spirit and a can of Red Bull, I got up and we made it there. I was expecting only a few stragglers that could not make the Thursday morning classes, but over seventy people showed up. Amy, thankfully, did most of the teaching and I did my best not to fall over, but God moved upon the people that night as uneducated, elderly, illiterate, etc all put their fears aside and stood up and opened their mouths to repeat teaching the lesson during the practice time. Even those who could not read the words we wrote on the board were able to recount the main points from memory. It was truly an amazing blessing.
The point of all this is not to point spiritual thumbs at myself and say "lookie here", but rather to give examples from my own life where God has rewarded faithfulness and self-sacrifice when I have chosen to put others before myself. Philippians 2:3-4 tells us, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." When we choose to put our service to others above our personal comforts, it has been my experience that we will come to know God in an amazing way as He proves the truth of this word again and again.
The first topic I wanted to add, under the topic of self-sacrifice, comes from a negative example. The Chinese people can be so polite and courteous, but when it comes to really letting someone into their heart and caring for them, it seems that courtesy stops. When I think back to American culture, I can't say we even do that well as most Americans do not stop their busy lives to make much time for those outside their closest clique, and even then only when it is convenient or planned. Jesus told us in John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." When I think about that verse, it goes beyond being willing to die for those we care for, it is being willing to sacrifice our own desires in life to make time for them. When we tell someone we will pray for them, do we really pray? If we do, how often and for how long? Once? Twice? Do we have a dedicated time every day, or at least every week, to pray for our friends by name? Do we have friends who it has been over a month since we called, emailed or facebooked just to say "Hi, how's it going?"
Laying down our life doesn't have to mean dying for our friends, it can mean laying down part of our schedule filled with our own self-interests and making time to fit in prayer and concern for those friends God has placed in our lives. It means sacrificing what we want to make time to care for and love our brothers and sisters in Christ, or to make one more attempt to share the Gospel with our unsaved friends. Lord don't let us fill our lives with so much of our own interests that love and care for our friends, family, loved ones, brothers and sisters in Christ become something we no longer have time for. I can promise you, when you make the effort to sacrifice your own needs, wants, desires, feelings, etc in order to serve, love or care for someone else, God will move in your life in a mighty way. Do not deprive yourself of the blessings God wants to pour out as He reveals Himself to you in a real and tangible way but rather make the conscious decision to put others before yourself and let His blessings pour down showers of blessing upon your life (Ezekiel 34:26).
Until next time,
David J.
So sorry I have fallen down on my desire to blog more regularly, but things have really picked up for us here. The Lord has really done some amazing things in the last month or so since my last blog. Given the sensitivity of where we serve, I have to be careful how much I say or how I say it, but some opportunities have opened with the state-sponsored church which has been pretty standoffish toward us thus far. We really have seen some excitement and buzz start, but also have seen some added attention from authorities as well. Fortunately Father has placed some well-connected persons of peace between us and the authorities and thus far we have felt His hand of protection upon us and the work He has for us here.
It was in developing this new relationship with the fairly good sized state church that prompted the topic of this weeks blog. The prompts really came two-fold: first, in noticing how the believers here interact (or rather fail to interact) with others outside their close clique and second, the latest opportunity God gave me to trust Him and walk in faith against my human judgment.
I will start with the second and move to the first. Several times in my Christian life I have been sent to places to preach or teach and health issues have thrown up a barrier to that happening. I had a choice each of those times, to trust my human failings or to trust in His sustaining power. Each time I have chosen to trust Him. The first was on a trip to Mexico. I was scheduled to preach the day after we arrived and whether from 18+ hours in the car to get there or the high altitude of the town we were visiting, my legs and ankles had swollen badly and I could barely stand or walk. I prayed that night that I knew God had sent me there and told God that if he wanted me to preach sitting in a chair tomorrow then that is what I would do but I wouldn't abandon what he had sent me there to do merely because it was painful. By the morning, without explanation, my legs had returned to normal and I was able to preach.
The second time was on that same trip when we were set to baptize six local believers as well as Amy, my wife. The missionary we were assisting was older and with bad heart problems so he couldn't get into the chilly water of the river to do the baptisms, so I was there to help. It was the end of the rainy season and we were concerned about flash-floods posing a danger, but decided to do the baptisms anyway as many of the locals had waited months for it to be warm enough. On the way to the church it started raining. Harold, the missionary, looked at me and said, "Well there's the rain." I had a moment of clarity from God like never before that we were to trust Him and not our senses. I answered, "Yep, but they are going to get wet anyway, so what's a few more drops. I am positive God wants us to go on." We did, and got to witness a genuine miracle. As we came out for the baptism, the clouds broke above the church and the river where we were going to do the baptisms. We were like in the eye of the storm or something as we could see (and I filmed) rain all around us but sunshine on the church and the river where we were going to do the baptisms. We finished all the baptisms without issue and even had a picnic lunch outside there in the eye of the storm with God's sunshine beaming down on us and rain on all sides around. It was not until we had packed everything up and gotten into the vehicles that the clouds closed up and the rain resumed.
The third time was preaching in Rock Falls, Illinois. I was scheduled to preach a revival there, five sermons in four days, and the day before I left I got a cold so bad that I couldn't talk, breathe or hardly stand. Still I got on the plane and went. Again God came through and blessed my faithfulness as each time I stood up to preach, my nose and chest cleared up and I could talk and as soon as the sermon was over, I went back to being just about ready to collapse.
The most recent time was just the other day. We were scheduled to start a new evening class at the state church. I had the flu and could barely get out of bed, but with the help of the Holy Spirit and a can of Red Bull, I got up and we made it there. I was expecting only a few stragglers that could not make the Thursday morning classes, but over seventy people showed up. Amy, thankfully, did most of the teaching and I did my best not to fall over, but God moved upon the people that night as uneducated, elderly, illiterate, etc all put their fears aside and stood up and opened their mouths to repeat teaching the lesson during the practice time. Even those who could not read the words we wrote on the board were able to recount the main points from memory. It was truly an amazing blessing.
The point of all this is not to point spiritual thumbs at myself and say "lookie here", but rather to give examples from my own life where God has rewarded faithfulness and self-sacrifice when I have chosen to put others before myself. Philippians 2:3-4 tells us, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." When we choose to put our service to others above our personal comforts, it has been my experience that we will come to know God in an amazing way as He proves the truth of this word again and again.
The first topic I wanted to add, under the topic of self-sacrifice, comes from a negative example. The Chinese people can be so polite and courteous, but when it comes to really letting someone into their heart and caring for them, it seems that courtesy stops. When I think back to American culture, I can't say we even do that well as most Americans do not stop their busy lives to make much time for those outside their closest clique, and even then only when it is convenient or planned. Jesus told us in John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." When I think about that verse, it goes beyond being willing to die for those we care for, it is being willing to sacrifice our own desires in life to make time for them. When we tell someone we will pray for them, do we really pray? If we do, how often and for how long? Once? Twice? Do we have a dedicated time every day, or at least every week, to pray for our friends by name? Do we have friends who it has been over a month since we called, emailed or facebooked just to say "Hi, how's it going?"
Laying down our life doesn't have to mean dying for our friends, it can mean laying down part of our schedule filled with our own self-interests and making time to fit in prayer and concern for those friends God has placed in our lives. It means sacrificing what we want to make time to care for and love our brothers and sisters in Christ, or to make one more attempt to share the Gospel with our unsaved friends. Lord don't let us fill our lives with so much of our own interests that love and care for our friends, family, loved ones, brothers and sisters in Christ become something we no longer have time for. I can promise you, when you make the effort to sacrifice your own needs, wants, desires, feelings, etc in order to serve, love or care for someone else, God will move in your life in a mighty way. Do not deprive yourself of the blessings God wants to pour out as He reveals Himself to you in a real and tangible way but rather make the conscious decision to put others before yourself and let His blessings pour down showers of blessing upon your life (Ezekiel 34:26).
Until next time,
David J.
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