It's Too Difficult!

I was walking out of the house to run a necessary errand this afternoon (that to be honest I didn't want to do since I am still on the tail end of some sort of cold) my mother in-law's pharmacy delivery had just arrived and in passing the driver mentioned that most of my Christmas lights were finally taken down. I shared that I wait for decent weather and that I am currently sick. His reply is the point of this story... "It's always something, isn't it."

As I left to run my errand I thought on those words and and how many times I have heard them recently. I have even heard some people repeating them over and over. And let's be honest, it's not an inaccurate statement. God did not promise anywhere in His word that life would be a cake walk and nothing bad would ever happen. In fact it is quite the opposite. Check out what Jesus said in John 16:33 "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." So not only did Jesus NOT promise us a life of ease, but He went as far as to make sure that we were aware that the complete opposite is true. The problem is too many of us get stuck here. We just cannot seem to get past the idea that we will have trouble in this life. We all need to stop wrestling with this one and just accept it. Until you do, you will never be able to move on to the good things in life.

Now once we accept that there is trouble, the obvious question needs to not be why, but instead how do I deal with it. Why is that the question? Because God answers that question clearly in scripture over and over again. Whenever we search for the why we sometimes get answered and sometimes we don't. Sometimes it is because of sin or just a poor choice and God can or has already made that clear. But the question of, how do I deal with it, is clear. One place Jesus illustrates this is with Peter walking on water, a story I am sure most of you are familiar with. Matthew 14:28-31 Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”“Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

There really is something here we need to get a hold of. Yes, Jesus told Peter why he began to sink. But notice it is was something Peter was doing wrong. And it is what Peter was doing wrong that gives us all a huge truth. Peter "saw the strong wind and the waves". Well, I suppose it would have been difficult to not see them. In fact you might say "DUH! of course he saw them." But here is the issue. Doing a wee bit of word study reveals that Peter didn't just see the wind and waves. The greek word originally used here more says that he gazed at them. Gaze meaning, "to fix the eyes in a steady intent, look often with eagerness or studious attention". Peter was fixated on the wind and waves.

Another example is when the Israelites spent 40yrs wandering in the desert. It was for doing the same basic thing. Numbers 13:33 We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!” The Israelites didn't know what they were thinking. No person is a mind reader. But it's this choice to look and see trouble and not walk in faith that caused them to disobey God and spend 40yrs wandering in the desert.

So what do we do? I hope you've come up with the answer already. We need to change what we gaze at. It's about choosing to not look at the wind and waves and instead keeping our eyes on Jesus. And even more Paul had wrote in Philippians 4:8 "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

The world will probably tell you that to not look at the wind and waves is foolish, but that's not how God sees it. We need to get this because every day we don't we are missing out on enjoying the blessing of God because we are too focused on everything going wrong. The wind and waves are there, there is no doubt about it. But is what you are fixated on? Jesus doesn't want us fixated on the wind and waves. What Jesus wants is for us to walk on water despite the wind and the waves.

Criticize Me Please

Let's start out by saying we live in a culture of over sensitivity to criticism and what others say, think, feel or act. I like the 7 cardinal rules in life. No it's not out of the Bible but they are still helpful thoughts in going through life. #2 is one that is I am sure most of us would find especially challenging. And if not, well I do.

 That being said we then ought to be more thoughtful of criticism before it is spoken. Just because you have a critique for someone doesn't make you right. We also need to be willing to accept SOME criticism even if we don't like how it is given or from who it is given. There is a lot we can learn that can help us if we are willing to take what is given and not just take it personally. Some of it may help, throw the rest out.

Jesus handled a lot of harsh criticism from people He loved. In fact He has endured it through all time. But I am going to refer more specifically how Jesus handled criticism while here on earth.

What is most interesting is the source of the criticism that Jesus received. It wasn't from other nations, or people who didn't believe in God. In fact His critics were people who claimed a relationship with God or followed God's law. The people who were the "believers" of their day and in fact the biggest critics among them were religious leaders. What you might also refer to as His peers. it seems to me that generally your peers will always be your biggest critics and those closest to you. Jesus even said Mark 6:4 “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.”

How Jesus handled this criticism was amazing and it is how we all ought to handle it. Matthew 15:1-20 gives us a look at how He did this.

1Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, 2“Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” 3Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? 4For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ 5But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ 6In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, 8‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” 10Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. 11It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.” 12Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” 13Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, 14so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.” 15Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.” 16“Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. 17“Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. 18But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. 19For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.” 

Jesus came back against their traditions and personal ideas of how it should be done with plain simple truth. Their criticism totally missed the heart of God and their religion and personal preferences had superseded God's word. They missed it all together.

 

Also where I want to go with this is recognize the source of the criticism. Those who were truly following Jesus you never see criticizing anyone. They don't blast the religious leaders or the other Jews. In fact those I've seen that those who are after the heart of God do the opposite and they take the criticism to God and learn from it. The criticism came from those who thought they were "right" who were doing the criticizing. They weren't open to hearing that they may be wrong. I recently heard Rick Warren speak about his critics and he said that he walks away from them smarter then them. Why? Because he is willing to learn from them and they are closed off to everything Rick has to say.

vs.10 Jesus said "Listen and try to understand"

Jesus wants everyone to get the truth. The truth here being that it's not what goes in your that defiles you but what comes out of it.

vs.19 Jesus further describes this and it is interesting here what Jesus lumps together. "From the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, slander." It is amazing that slander goes with the rest of those. But Jesus took it seriously and so then we should also.

What is slander? Well it is what "criticism" looks like when we don't do it Jesus' way and talk to others. (Jesus said if we have a problem with someone to go to them one on one first.) The definition of slander is this. "the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation." Yet slander is what we spend too much time in Church doing. Not just in one Church but the Church as a whole. We slander other Church's, we slander other leaders and we slander each other. It's when criticism goes from helping someone to talking about them behind their back to make them look bad that it becomes slander. In fact slander is what the Jews used to get Jesus crucified. It's what they used to end His earthly ministry.

So yes, Criticize Me Please. I am open and available to listen to what you "think" or "believe" I may be doing wrong. Who knows I might just learn something. But slander has no place among those who claim to be followers of Jesus and isn't a good idea for anyone else either. To be honest it just makes you look bad when you slander.

Make Them Stop Sinning!

I enjoy British humor and it reminds me of a show that my mother in law watches in the afternoon called "Keeping Up Appearances", maybe you've seen it. If not, it is a show about a lady that does exactly what the title says. She spends her life struggling to make herself look like life is absolutely perfect. Unbeknownst to her, everyone else sees her life as it really is and they find her quite annoying. This to me is what we as the Church seems to do too much of. We are a group of people that work hard at looking the part. Put on the right smile, wear the right clothes, use the right words, etc. Then we look down on those who aren't also working to keep up appearances.

We need to take a closer look into what Jesus did, how He lived and how He treated those  who sin. Where? Well how about the woman brought to Jesus who was caught in adultery. Interestingly enough when the pharisees brought her to Jesus they were looking him to support the law in saying she ought to be stoned. Get her Jesus, get her! Likewise when we see someone in sin our first response tends to be "get her". Or even if another Christian does sin, we are ready to pounce like a lion on it's prey. This was NOT Jesus' response to this woman. I think we can assume she was Jewish, making her an insider that should have known better. But Jesus still did not endorse what the religious leaders were ready to do. Jesus response, "He without sin cast the first stone". When is the last time we took that approach? I assure you even if it was today, we still don't do it often enough. We are generally ready at a moments notice with a bag of stones at our side.

So we have gotten it in our head that we are God's instruments of justice instead of mercy. How did this happen? Too much time in just the old testament? Nope, because if you read it you see an incredibly patient God who waited generations before punishing a nation in disobedience. I believe it is the human condition, that is we are sinful people with sinful tendencies. Who this applies to is anyone who would say they are a human being. Your creed, race, religion, sex, age... none of these changes it. Think about it. Someone cuts you off and you wish a police officer was there to "get em". What, you've never ever cut someone off even accidentally? Get real. We've all done stuff we regret OR better yet don't even realize we've done. Not to mention the intentional things either done maliciously or with "good intention". Actually, the list is REALLY long. Hence the reason we all need a savior! Because at the end of the day we all suck without Jesus. But in Jesus we are a new creation and He is at work in our hearts and lives changing us.

So you can come at people all day long trying to push people to change their ways but it is generally unproductive. Yes, there are times where someone who is a follower of Christ needs to be gently confronted on sin in their life. But it's not our job to go looking for those instances. And even when one is in front of us we need to be sure we are to do something about it.

Still think you need to be hard nosed to people that are in the wrong? Then read 2 Timothy 2:23-25, and then check this out 2 Timothy 4:2 "...Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage...", or one more Ephesians 4:2,  "Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love." We need to get this! Not one of us deserve it, so not one of us is fit to dish it out. So when you need to help someone get back on the somewhat "straight and narrow" make sure you've removed the plank from you own eye first.

Here is the the wrap up. You can teach about sin all day long and even get people to change their ways and be a good person. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back because that's all it's worth. There will be a lot of "good" people in hell. A relationship with Christ is so much more. Let's preach, teach and love people and allow God to bring the change to the heart that only He can and you'll see the person changing because of the love of God, not because you told them to. A heart change! It's what we all need and should desire for each other.

Remember when the whole world knew John 3:16?

(if you see typos in any of my posts let me know)

How to view your pastor

So it has occurred to me that there are a few different ways that we view pastors and Church leadership as a whole. While this is not an exhaustive list, in my opinion seem to the the obvious ones. I would like to outline a few of these and point out that if we could get ourselves viewing pastors as we view each other than the Church as a whole could be on a much healthier course. What also walks hand in hand with this is getting a healthy view of ourselves and not projecting our short comings onto others which seems to be human nature. We think everyone else is doing wrong what we ourselves do. So here we go...

First, we see the pastor as having attained something we ourselves cannot. The pastor is NOT the perfect husband, father, friend, communicator, etc. He's not perfect at ANYTHING, only God is perfect. Many of you need to get this! Even if your thinking right now, DUH I know this. Do you? What if your pastor's mistake affected you? Would your knee jerk response be "I cannot believe the pastor would do that!". If so your view is not healthy. He needs forgiveness like everyone else. Try not running to another Church next time and give him some grace and talk with him. Rest assured he will make mistakes. He will put his foot in his mouth sometimes and say things he wished he hadn't. He may struggle with depressing thoughts at times and CAN be hurt with words, even yours. Hold onto your seat because some of you aren't prepared to hear that your pastor even sins. Yes, he has to repent on a regular basis of things in his life that aren't aligned perfectly with God's word and God is still working on his heart as God is everyone elses.

Second, your calling is not to be his judge. When it comes to those in leadership, especially the lead pastor some people tend to skip over Romans 3:23 "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Once again we ALL sin even your pastor. He is not in need of your expertise in how he is supposed to live and lead. Remember Jesus said to "take the plank out of your own eye before you try to help your brother try to remove the speck in his". Care about him yes, speak into his life yes, beat him up because of his short comings NO! Of course this is not speaking to a pastor who has obvious destructive behavior/sin in his life. But then care about him as a person enough to address is as Jesus commands. Talk to him one on one first. Unfortunately those of us this applies to skip Romans and go right to James 3:1 that says "Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly." and feel it is our job to be the judge mentioned in the verse. We then stop reading right there and don't read James 3:2 that says, "Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way." Trust me, your pastor is well aware of James 3:1 and lives his calling with fear and trembling.

Third, your pastor is your best friend and should be available to you as any of your friends are. I am sorry to say but if this was the case for everyone in Church then the pastor would be stretched too thin. Speaking for myself I wish this could be true. But remember, your pastor has family or even his own family. So while his Church family is incredibly important to him, he also has a wife and kids that need him as your family needs you. Most pastors try to keep a balance and order of priorities that look the way yours should. 1. God, 2. Family, 3. Ministry, your number 3 would be your job. He made a promise to his wife for forever and his children need him, they didn't choose him. And for a pastor if number 1 and 2 fall apart then he has no business doing number 3 nor will he be able to. When you need your pastor he is definitely there for you. But don't put the expectation on him to be at every event that is important to you. If you do you will be either let down that he is not, or he will be neglecting his family to do so.

Last, your pastor does care deeply about you otherwise he wouldn't be doing what he does. This is the truth! Ministry is not easy. People want their pastor to please them but they don't want him to be a people pleaser. There are many things pastors do right and wrong in the eyes of everyone. Remember this: like you he needs to please one person at the end of the day, God. God alone is his judge as is yours. Support him in going after this and chances are he will support you in doing the same.

Finally, God put this in his word knowing those called to pastor aren't perfect.

Hebrews 13:17
"Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit."

Offense

If I had to be entirely honest, I am sick of people being offended all the time over stupid insignificant stuff. But to remain entirely honest, I at times am offended over stupid insignificant stuff.

Here's the thing. The stuff I am bothered by is the stuff I have a problem with. THAT'S RIGHT! The problem you have with others is generally your own problem. When I don't struggle with an issue that someone has with me it really doesn't bother me, life goes on. I want to help that person, but not everyone can receive from me. I CANNOT help everyone. There are personality clashes and disagreements. Sometimes we are just so set in our ways that we are in the way. Having the ability to recognize this is a gift from God given to those who want to see it and change it. It's like anything in our life. If we don't see it as a problem we won't change it.

Jesus handled offense REALLY well! (I like uses caps to express myself sometimes) There are three ways I see offense being handled in the Bible that really stick out to me.

1. First: He realized that there are times people will get offended and there is nothing you can do about it. An example to this would be when Jesus taught God's word and it contradicted the Pharisees traditions. The Pharisees at one point were so offended they walked away trying to figure out how to kill Jesus. This first way just about always walking in obedience to God's word.
2. Second: Jesus at times avoided offense. We don't have the complete story of every word Jesus said or every interaction He had with every person or even every miracle He did. But God made sure that at least one time it was recorded when Jesus was careful not to cause offense. Matthew 17:27 "However, we don’t want to offend them, so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us.”

There are times that we ought to just let things go that aren't causing harm or hurt to avoid causing harm or hurt. I think Romans 12 is a great chapter in the Bible to teach us how to treat each other, REALLY! READ IT! Examples:

1.  don't think of yourself more highly than you ought
2. don't just pretend to love others
3. take delight in honoring each other
4. always be eager to practice hospitality
5. don't think you know it all
6. do all that you can to live in peace with everyone (within the confines of God's word)
7. never take revenge, leave that to god
8.  conquer evil by doing good

Third: When it's not an issue of God's word and you cannot agree then just love each other anyway and part ways. It seems to me that there are times we may just have to agree to disagree and part in love. Meaning, not gossip or slander or put down the person we parted ways with but build up and maybe even endorse. I'll be honest and say I didn't do this very well when I was younger. If I was hurt or disagreed then I needed to talk about it which is wrong and I repent. If you are one of those people reading this that feel I may have done that to you than I am sorry and I am willing to apologize face to face. But in the future I have a plan to do it God's way and trust Him for the strength to carry it out. I can either burn bridges or build them and I would rather be a bridge builder. But like I said, sometimes it is just time to move on as Paul and Barnabas did. They disagreed as to whether the John Mark, Barnabas' nephew out to travel with them on their second journey. In fact the disagreement was so sharp that they parted ways. Was either of them right or wrong... doesn't say. You can read into it both ways and I would discourage that. If God thought there was a wrong way there I think He would have spelled it out for us. I believe the point to be that they parted ways and still loved each other which seems to me to be expressed later in the Bible.
So yes, there are times I can't help that someone will be offended, then there are times where the fault lies with me and I cannot blame anyone else because I didn't take the time to consider anyone but myself. But there is also that time when you just need to move on in love. Just always be careful to guard your heart and allow Christ to show His love through you. Even when the person has hurt or offended you.

A True Prophet

A few signs of a true prophet
 - what they say comes to pass
 - they have no need to defend themself

A true prophet of God is called to simply to deliver God's word, nothing more and nothing less. How it is received and what is done with the word is not up to them but to the audience. If the prophet is upset they are ignored or otherwise start pushing for results then it is not a prophet but a manipulator attempting to use "God said" to get his or her own way. The best thing to do is to compare it against scripture and to weigh the word  in your heart between you and God and allow God to reveal to you whether or not it His from Him. Also if the person persists... Silence worked for Jesus very well against the accusations of the Pharisees.

Today

I've learned a lot today.

What I have learned? Well, I can't seem to put my finger on it because I feel like I am in the midst of learning it. So while I feel like I learned a lot today maybe you might say that if I cannot tell you what I learned that I did not really learn anything, at least not yet. I would strongly disagree.

Some points...

God's grace is sufficient.
God IS good when there is nothing good in me.
It hurts sometimes, but the hurt isn't mine.

Ok, so that is a random collection of some stuff spewing out of my head right now. But what I feel like God is really trying to show me is this...

Matthew 11:29,30
 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

When life is difficult and the burden I am bearing is unbearable. When I am spinning my wheels trying to keep going then I am not bearing the burden God intends me to. I am carrying the wrong burden when it feels too heavy. Why? Because Jesus said my yoke is easy to bear and the burden is light. Does this mean life is easy? By no means, because Jesus also said deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.

So the key is learning the difference between taking up our cross and carrying a burden and yoke God does not intend for us.