The Effect of Thankful Prayer

In this final installment on fighting our tendency to worry with a correct view of prayer, we will continue our look at Philippians 4:6-7 and focus on the effect of thankful prayer.

The effect of thankful prayer is the surpassing, protecting peace of God.

That’s the message of verse 7. Notice how the word “guard” is used here. This was the word used of the way in which garrisons would guard the gates of a city, not from the outside, but from the inside. The effect? This interior guard can protect against those things that go out from us, as well as those things that come against us from the outside.

In like manner, God must guard our heart from the inside by the indwelling power of His Holy Spirit. It is God’s peace (or more accurately, that peace produced by God) that guards us.

He guards our hearts—that protects our disposition; and He guards our minds—that protects our thought life. We need this divine protection against the assaults of the enemy within and without.

In his commentary on Philippians, John Calvin noted:

In these words Paul exhorts the Philippians, to cast all their care upon the Lord. For we are not made of iron, so as not to be shaken by temptations. But this is our consolation, this is our solace —to deposit, or (to speak with greater propriety) to disburden in the bosom of God everything that harasses us.

God is telling us how to “disburden” ourselves through prayer. There are two things we’re to notice about this peace of God. First, it surpasses all understanding. This peace of God “goes beyond all human reasoning and all logic.”

The word for understanding here is literally the mind; the processes of logical thought. But God’s peace surpasses even this!

It’s a non-logical (not il-logical!) peace which is calm even in the face of tremendous adversity. Here is a peace that, quite frankly, doesn’t make any sense to the logical mind. It surpasses all understanding.

Several years ago I was on a week-long trip to Arizona for some meetings. Part of that trip included a chartered flight over the Grand Canyon in a 727 jet.

As we flew into the mouth of the canyon, an air current caused our plane to suddenly lose altitude. We were plummeting, not nose-first, just flat down into the canyon.

At that moment there was no time for a logical exercise of peace-making. Yet I felt remarkably calm and filled with an unspeakable peace. Not that I would live, but that whether I lived or died, it would be alright.

Well, the plane swept back up on the next air current and the color returned to the faces of the nauseated flight attendants. When you see that—you know it’s going to be okay. But what was this peace I felt?

I can tell you this, it wasn’t anything that I could grab hold of in that moment of alarm. The crisis was too sudden for that. Fear streaked through that airplane like lightening through a metal pipe.

The only way I can explain it is as a peace that instantly grabbed hold of me… and enveloped me. It was not a logical peace, it surpassed all understanding. That’s the first thing we’re to notice about this peace of God. But we need to see something else.

Second, this peace of God is a protecting peace. It will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  The heart and the mind… these are the venues of our being.

It’s not enough to guard just one or the other. If the enemy gets a foothold in either of these prime territories, we can be easily defeated with prayerless anxiety. God’s peace protects the heart and the mind.

You remember the story in Mark chapter 4. While the anxious disciples were panicked by the storm, Jesus, being aware of the Father’s protecting peace—slept away in the stern. What a picture of our situation in times of crisis!

Spurgeon said, “Jesus reveals himself so graciously, and gives such sweet refreshment, that the warrior feels more calm and peace in his daily strife than others in their hours of rest.”

Because only God knows the full scope of our mortal conflict, only He can adequately guard our hearts and minds against the dark forces of the hidden foe.

The child of God who takes anxiety and turns it into a passionate prayer to God will experience this surpassing, protecting peace of God. This is the benefit of one who prays for everything with both prayer and supplication, making your requests known to God.

The one who prays for everything may experience God’s peace in everything. The text leaves no room for doubt. He doesn’t say the peace of God may guard (as if there were some doubt)… but this peace of God most certainly will guard your hearts and minds… through Christ Jesus.

Note the means of this guarantee. This inerrant promise is stamped with the name and imprimatur of God’s own dear Son. It cannot fail! But will you fail to ask?

The only prayer God cannot answer is the one you refuse to pray. The only request God cannot grant is the one you refuse to ask. He says ask… pray… request.

We’re an anxious people, living in anxious times. But there is the voice of one who knows the souls and strifes of all, His words through the Apostle Paul still exhort us…

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Every one of us has a mental worry list. The list may change from day to day. But what God says to each of us this morning is to take that list—scratch out the heading “worry list” and change it to prayer requests—then something amazing will begin to happen. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

With joy in His peace,
Pastor Kevin

 

 

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The Source of Worry

We’ve been looking at how Philippians 4:6-7 helps us deal with our tendency to worry with a correct view of prayer. This third installment will begin to deal with the source of our worry.

As we saw last time, the adversity in our lives will either be an inducement to worry, or an invitation to prayer. The choice between those two ways of living is made long before the crisis arises.

Since we’re more inclined to bring major crises to God in prayer, let’s take a less major situation that occurs in daily life.

Have you ever misplaced your car keys? When I lose my keys (and it doesn’t happen often), the last thing I naturally feel like doing is to pray. I’m proactive! I want to find my keys, not pray about it. And in my logical mind I’m rationalizing, “The more time I spend praying about the keys, the less time I’ll have to actually find the keys.”

But here’s the real issue: When I pray about something as annoying and frivolous as losing my car keys, it doesn’t put the keys into my hands any faster. What it does is far more than that.

When I pray: first, it calms me down; second, it gives me God’s perspective on my problems; and third it reminds me that He’s in control and I’m not… and that’s no small thing.

So, I may be late for a meeting, which for me is a big deal. It’s okay. In the long run, that’s a very small problem for any of us to have. And most people are gracious enough to allow for the little annoyances that define what it means to be human.

Don’t wait for a major crisis to go to God in prayer. Go to Him at all times. Be anxious for what? “Be anxious for nothing, but pray about everything…” Anything big enough to make you anxious is big enough to be a prayer concern.

Sometimes our “worry list” is longer than our “prayer list.” When difficulties arise, we have a choice to make. Because the adversity in your life will either be an inducement to worry, or an invitation to prayer.

The decision you will make when crisis comes your way is being cultivated right now by the patterns and principles that govern your life.

But what about the source of worry? Where does this worry and anxiety come from?

You may be intrigued to learn, as I was, that “worry” is not necessarily an internal condition… at least, not exclusively. It’s also an instrument of external affliction.

Webster defines worry as something imposed from without, “to afflict with mental distress or agitation: to make anxious.” Do those tactics sound familiar?

Based on this definition, it can be seen that worry is oftentimes a choice weapon in the adversary’s arsenal. Satan uses worry to afflict, to distress, to agitate, and to make God’s people anxious.

The enemy doesn’t want you to pray; he wants you to worry. He wants you to spin your wheels and get nowhere. But God says, through the apostle Paul, that the answer is to…

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Here’s my paraphrase of these verses:

“Don’t worry about anything. Always pray with pleading and thanksgiving and tell God exactly what’s on your heart; and in so doing, God’s marvelous peace will guard your hearts and minds [from Satan’s worrisome afflictions] through Christ Jesus.”

This guarding takes place through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in prayer is a lens which discerns the providence of God through the murky haze of circumstance. The adversity in your life will either be an inducement to worry, or an invitation to prayer.

In the next blog we’ll consider the amazing effect of this kind of thankful prayer!

Until then,
Pastor Kevin

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Be Anxious for Nothing

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” [Phil 4:6-7]

In the previous blog we began considering the struggle we all have with worry even when we have a belief in God’s sovereignty and faith that He hears and answers prayer.

In this and following blogs, I want to go further in our study of Philippians 4:6-7.

The first thing we learn from these verses is that: Adversity in life is either an inducement to worry, or an invitation to prayer.

Even though we may know this instinctively, worry can be so automatic that prayer is the last thing on our mind. And sometimes just knowing the right answer isn’t enough.

A few years ago I was about to take a flight out of Dallas and I was feeling nervous about the trip. There were some health concerns and travel connections that were troubling me.

In the car, on the way to the airport, I explained to my friend (who was driving me) the matters on my mind. I thought it would help to just talk about my fears out in the open. Unfortunately, I was with one of those dear Christians who was heavy on doctrine but light on compassion.

After I shared my [very real and, I think, legitimate] concerns with him, he glibly rattled off the verse, “Be anxious for nothing…” Instead of a comfort, those words sounded like a dismissing rebuke. He had taken a beautiful verse of Scripture and had shaped it into a dagger.

For some people it’s easier in the face of problems to press “play” on the well-worn tape recording of stock answers in our head, than it is to really apply truth with tenderness and clarity.

When someone is sick and you have the medicine they need, don’t just read them the prescription. Apply the medicine!

My friend was more or less reading me the prescription, which I knew quite well. What I wish he had said was, “Let’s pull over and just tell God about this.” That’s applying the medicine. That’s the remedy prescribed in God’s word.

We will always have adversity to face in this life. At the moment of choice, adversity will either be an inducement to worry, or an invitation to prayer.

To worry is natural, but it’s a habit that can be broken. To pray is supernatural and it’s a habit that must be cultivated. It’s during conflict that the peace of God becomes so real to us.

Peace is not the absence of problems. Peace is the inner persuasion of God’s power in the presence of adversity. The adversity in your life will either be an inducement to worry, or an invitation to prayer.

The choice between those two ways of living is made long before the crisis arises. You can make that choice right now. The way you make that choice is by making thankful supplication the natural pattern of your daily life right now.

Make prayer your first recourse in all situations, not your last resort in a moment of panic. That’s why Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Be anxious for nothing, but pray about everything…”

There are some problems that fall on us like a ton of bricks. We’re so overwhelmed by the crisis that it knocks us to our knees. But during those other times of distress, where the problem isn’t so alarming as it is annoying, it’s then that we’re more likely to worry than to pray.

We’ll consider what this application looks like in our next installment.

Until then,
Pastor Kevin
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“Prayer Worriers”

It was a horrible feeling back in the winter of 1994. I didn’t want to make the trip at all, especially across the river. But I had to do it.

After all, it was the first day of my new job at a radio station in West Memphis, Arkansas. I told them that I’d take the job. It was a prime shift in the heart of the day.

I wanted the job, but I dreaded the trip. It was miles and miles of heavy traffic at high speeds for a relatively long distance, back and forth each day.

To make matters worse, it happened to be snowing on this February morning, making the trip seem even more ominous and difficult than usual. I began to drive toward the interstate, but the snow was blinding even at low speeds.

I went back home and called the station. I told them I’d need to wait a while until the snow stopped. An hour later, it was clearing. So I drove out again. This time I went all the way. But still, I was fearful and anxious.

Trucks were cutting in and out of lanes. High speeds, slick roads, brake lights, horns honking. I felt my jaw aching because I had been grinding my teeth in traffic, I guess without even knowing it. It was the pressure and tension of the road.

Mile after mile, I could feel the anxiety and worry building inside me. This was not something I wanted to do day after day. As I went to and from work, I prayed to God for safety… but I also did my share of worrying along the way.

One of the great debilitating problems that each of us must battle… is worry.

It’s a menace that drains its victims of their vitality. Our English word “worry” comes from an Anglo-Saxon word that means “to strangle”; worry certainly does strangle people physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Roger Babson rightly observed, “Worry is to life and progress what sand is to the bearings of perfect engines.”

In every life there are issues that seem to grind our gears, but get us nowhere. Worry is like rocking back and forth in a rocking chair; it gives us something to do, but it takes us nowhere.

We must be careful that we don’t confuse movement for progress, or mere action for advancement. Worry, like the rocking chair, represents movement and action, but not progress or advancement.

What’s worse, for Christians, worry reveals something detrimental about our understanding of God. It may, in fact, represent a misunderstanding about God.

With convicting insight, Oswald Chambers noted that “Worry is an indication that we think God cannot look after us.” I don’t want to believe this is true about my worry… but it is.  

Now, most Christians would never admit this because we know and believe that God most certainly can look after us. That is, we know that God has the ability to look after us. But we may yet be haunted by the thought that He won’t… and for reasons we may never understand on this side of eternity.

After all, we’ve known of godly Christian people who have endured horrible tragedies in this life. They may even have maintained a rock-like faith that trusts God through the storm. But still they have suffered in ways that are hard to imagine… ways that beggar description.

And we see this and wonder, “Will God ask me to endure that same kind of heartbreaking tragedy… even though I know that He can provide for my needs?”

And so begins a sort of spiritual alchemy in which we mix together elements of faith and fear, elements of devotion and doubt. But they don’t mix well. In reality, one cancels out the other.

Somewhere, we seem to have adopted the erroneous idea that we can truly pray, so as to yield the situation completely to God… and yet continue worrying. Instead of engaging “prayer warriors” who are ready for battle, we’ve engaged a battalion of “prayer worriers”.

As Christians, we have a choice to make. God has given us something to do instead of worry. In the next few blogs, I want us to consider what we can learn from a study of Philippians 4:6-7 that can redefine the way we think of prayer in the face of our worries.

Until then,
Pastor Kevin 

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Service and Serving

In his play, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare wrote: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Yet we know from experience that names and titles have much to do with our perceptions.

In the church, those who serve often go by different names and different titles. The most common biblical title for one who serves in the church is “deacon.” A deacon is a person who serves the church according to the Word of God for the glory of God.

Although some churches use other titles for the people who serve officially or unofficially among the members of their congregations, the end result proves the biblical point: all churches need deacons… those who serve in various ways to strengthen and edify the church.

In our recent exposition of 1 Timothy 3:8-13, we learned that God calls both men and women to serve the church in various ways according to the qualifications in His Word.

In our conservative traditional churches we may be a bit uncomfortable with the title “deaconess” or having women serve in the official role of “deacon.” After all, it seems that men have always been called deacons in the churches we know.

Many churches committed to the Bible therefore hesitate to use the title “deacon” to describe a woman who serves in the church. That’s understandable. It seems that liberal churches have distorted the roles of both men and women making them all appear interchangeable.

As we rightly avoid the errors of liberal-feminist theology that blurs gender distinctions between men and women, we also need to avoid the error of over-correcting to the dismissal of all roles for women who serve in the church.

The common link is that both errors miss what God’s Word is teaching.

Another part of our discomfort is owing to the way some denominations have misapplied the role of deacon to refer to a ruling office rather than a serving office. But biblically, deacons don’t rule, they serve; and both men and women are called to serve the church in various ways.

It would have been much easier for us if the Apostle Paul had simply used the word “deaconess” in 1 Timothy 3:11 instead of gunaikos which can mean either wives or women.

But there’s a good reason for why Paul didn’t do that: there’s no such word as “deaconess” in the Greek language. The word diakonos is a masculine noun that simply means “servant” or “one who serves.” This word was used to describe both males and females in the serving role.

This is why Paul had to add the term “women” (gunaikos) in 1 Timothy 3:11 to distinguish women who serve the church from men who serve in this same role. They are “women servers.”

Although the editors of the English Standard Version translate the word gunaikos to mean wife/wives—which it can mean—the context makes it far more likely that the word here is woman/women. It would then simply refer to women who serve in the church.

In his commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, Dr. Donald Guthrie explains the difficulty:

“The reference [to women in 1 Timothy 3:11] is too general to postulate with certainty a distinct order of deaconesses, but some feminine ministry was necessary in visitation. . . . For such work certain moral qualities would be essential whether for deacons’ wives or for deaconesses in their own right.”

Dr. Philip G. Ryken adds, “Since the meaning is not certain, perhaps it is best to translate the word gunaikas as ‘women helpers.’ Indeed, it is possible to argue that these women were neither deacon’s wives, nor deaconesses, but women who assisted the deacons.”

If Paul was referring to the wives of male deacons, we have to ask ourselves: why does he give specific qualifications for the wives of men who serve the church as deacons and give no qualifications for the wives of elders who have more influence by virtue of the fact that their husbands exercise authority over the church? It doesn’t fit the context or the serving role.

New Testament women frequently carried out diaconal (serving) ministry, in the broad sense of the word. Consider Dorcas, who was “full of good works and acts of charity” (Acts 9:36). Or Lydia, who clothed the Philippians in purple (Acts 16:11-15).

Or Tryphena and Tryphosa, women described as “workers in the Lord” (Rom. 16:12). Or especially Phoebe, who was “a patron of many” and is identified as “a servant of the church at Cenchreae”—literally, “a deacon” or servant (Rom. 16:1-2).

Many New Testament women carried out diaconal (serving) ministry and at least one of them was called a “deacon,” even if she was not ordained as an officer of the church.

The obvious conclusion is that, whatever title they are given, women must be deeply involved in the mercy ministries of the church. Women have always served in the church.

In his survey of the women’s ministry in the early church, J. M. Ross shows that deaconesses served as doorkeepers, visited the sick, helped when women were baptized and cared for orphans. In the fourth century, John Chrysostom described the order of deaconesses to be “necessary and useful and honorable in the Church.”

Therefore understanding gunaikos as “women” who serve in verse 11 better harmonizes the general meaning of deacon as “servant” with the rest of the New Testament’s teaching. That’s the first reason it’s preferable to translate gunaikos as “women” instead of “wives” in verse 11.

Furthermore, if the Bible meant “wives,” we might expect it to say “their wives” so as to eliminate any possibility of confusion. But no possessive pronoun is used here.

A second reason is that both verse 8 and verse 11 contain the word “likewise” (hosautos), which introduces a new office or category like the one that preceded it. Paul is therefore establishing a similar order of women who serve in the church with specific qualifications.

In 1 Timothy 3:1, Paul refers to the office of overseer. Then in verse 8, he transitions to the office of deacon using the word “likewise” to distinguish male deacons as a separate office from elders.

So there is an office in view in verse 11. It regards women who serve and is introduced with the word “likewise” and buttressed with high and holy qualifications for those who serve in this way.

Both verse 8 and verse 11 are grammatically dependent on the main verb in verse 2, which strengthens the connection between them. Taken together, these parallels make it sound as if the women Paul had in mind were to fulfill a separate but equal office in the church as servers.

This role or office for women who serve in the church doesn’t require that we call them “deaconesses” or “female deacons.” The name isn’t as important as the function they serve.

We may call them the Women’s Service Ministry or Ladies Helping Ministry. The main point is that what we do lines up with God’s Word in 1 Timothy 3:11 and elsewhere.

In no way does serving the church violate the prohibition against women teaching men or exercising authority over men in the church. The deacon role is one of service and helping.

The ministry of such women is vital to the health of the church. If the problem with feminist theology has been its failure to submit to divine order, the traditional church has often failed to employ the gifts of women to their full biblical extent. And we all suffer as a result.

Whether or not they are called deaconesses or women servers, women should exercise servant ministry to the glory of God, in particular to other women and children. They should “minister to those who are in need, to the sick, to the friendless, and to any who may be in distress.”

The result will be increasing health and joy in the church!

To that great end,
Pastor Kevin

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Worship: American Style

As Christians, we have very few visible ways to publicly display the supreme value of knowing Jesus Christ over all of the other things we value in life. Super Bowl Sunday is one of those rare occasions.

What a visible witness to our society it is when real men, football-loving men, make it a priority to take their family to church while many other men are beginning to watch the game.

That simple decision speaks loud and clear to ears that are deaf to the supremacy of Christ until Christian men demonstrate what it looks like when game day happens to be the Lord’s Day.

The fact is, the closest thing to “worship” for most men occurs around sporting events. They worship with their passion, their enthusiasm, their time, money, planning, distance to travel, preparation, their exultation in victory and their despondency in defeat.

In a secular context, this is worship… worship American style.

I want to share with you a great article written by Dr. Jim Elliff that makes the point as well as anything I’ve read on the subject. I challenge you to read this and prayerfully take it to heart.

When Ball Becomes Baal
Dr. Jim Elliff

 It’s rare to see kids playing sports in the neighborhood anymore.

We’re now organized and “professionalized”—including uniforms, state-of-the-art facilities, endless trips to the field, competitive coaches, equally competitive parents, and the after-season tournaments designed to give parents “bleacher bottom.” In addition, you’ve got to pay to play—and when you’ve paid that much, you’ll be sure to play.

It is also fun, and it can be instructive. I love to watch my kids play sports. In fact, they need to play—some. But, it’s not so easy as handing over seventy bucks and saying, “Sign up Johnny and Susie this year.” Making that decision means that you may be out four to five times each week during the season.

Soon sports becomes all about calendarization and control of your life—especially if you have more than one kid. Perhaps nothing outside of a change in your job has so much potential to turn the family schedule upside down.

“This man understands,” you say.

Now comes the part you won’t like: “Behold, I say unto you, you have made sports the household god.” Too strong? OK, not all of you. But the deification of sports is happening to many.

How does ball become Baal? Answer: When it controls you, and you give it devoted worship. It is around your god that you order your life—and you can almost never say “no” to it.

Like “athlete’s foot” on the hygienically-challenged teenager, sports has taken over more and more of the life of believers. Almost overnight we have awakened to the sad fact that, in many communities, sports has even usurped the hours believers meet on the Lord’s Day.

All too often members are saying to church leaders, “We’ll be gone next Sunday because of the soccer tournament.” In turn, leaders are supposed to acquiesce humbly.

After all, we can’t afford to appear “legalistic;” everyone knows that the greatest crime a church can commit is to demand something of someone.

You’ll hear, “But the team needs all the players. We can’t let the team down.” It never occurs to them that the church Body is being deprived of a necessary body part, or that God is marginalized and disobeyed. We are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, states God in Hebrews 10:25.

Devotion is the operative word. When the team says, “We need you,” we sacrifice to do it.

But when it crosses the time allotted to spiritual edification and worship, the Ruler of the universe is often sent to the bench. In the process, we teach our children that devotion to sports is more important than both devotion to God and loyalty to our spiritual family.

Have you considered that you may be teaching your kids to worship sports?

Here are some ways to put sports in the proper place:

First, decide beforehand that there will be no contest between the church’s essential activities designed for your family’s spiritual growth and what the team plans for your lives. If you will talk this over ahead of time with your child and then the coach, there will be no confusion.

Through the years I’ve found that many coaches respect that decision. But, it must be a prior decision, not one made on a case by case basis. When sports conflicts with Sunday worship or youth camp or a special spiritual activity, the decision has already been made.

Secondly, determine that your children cannot play every sport. There is a sanctity to the home life that must be protected. You need quiet evenings at home. You need meals together.

Just let your children know that you are excited about sports, but there are limits. You then determine what those limits are. For us, we attempt to have only one sport per year for each child.

Finally, think about some creative choices. One of my sons played basketball, but the season was interminably long. I was also traveling. So, I would be gone speaking over the weekend, then, when I was home, I was out two or more nights sitting on the sidelines watching my son practice. It was not really “time together.” This wasn’t going to work.

The solution came to me after prayer. I asked him if he would be willing to learn golf in the place of basketball. We could play together, along with his brother, and we could do it whenever we wanted. We could enjoy this for the rest of our lives.

I’ve paid some extra money, but I’ve bought back some time with my sons and some good exercise for me also. It’s a bargain. 

God Himself uses sports language in the New Testament. He’s not against it, unless it steals the devotion belonging to Him. All other gods have to go!

I couldn’t agree more. Use sports as a way to display that Jesus and His church are a priority, especially on the Lord’s Day.

For Christ alone is worthy,
Pastor Kevin

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Playing Your Strengths

In the body of Christ, everyone who is born again has at least one spiritual gift.

Some Christians have more than one gift, but every Christian has at least one gift from the Spirit. All of the gifts of the Spirit have one purpose: to build up the other members of the Body of Christ for the glory of God. That’s it.

God’s glory is seen and savored in our exercise of these gifts as the gathered Body of Christ.

When you and I use our Spirit-given gift or gifts to build-up, encourage, or edify other Christians, then God gets the glory. Plus, our joy in Christ increases in the use of our gifts.

However, not all Christians have the same gifts.

Even in society, not all individuals have the same talents or strengths, naturally or spiritually. Likewise, different members of the body have their own unique strengths and also those areas where they must rely on the giftedness and strengths of others.

What would happen if every person in the church had to have the same gifts and strengths as everyone else? In 1 Corinthians 12:15-20, Paul addressed the subject:

“If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?

If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.” [ESV]

Every member of the body of Christ is needed by every other member of the body. When every member functions according to their gifts and strengths, we all benefit and God gets the glory.

Some time back, the Springfield, Oregon Public Schools Newsletter published an article that makes my point in a colorful and, I think, memorable way. It’s a parable from the animal kingdom.

Many years ago, the animals decided they should do something to meet the growing problems of the world in the 21st century. So they organized a school.

They adopted an activity curriculum of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals were required to take all of the same subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming. In fact, he was even better than his instructor! But he made only passing grades in running and was very poor in climbing. Since he was so behind in climbing, he had to drop swimming and stay after school to practice climbing.

This caused his web feet to be badly worn, so that he eventually became only “average” in his using his gift of swimming. But average was quite acceptable here, so nobody worried about that – except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running. But he soon developed a nervous twitch in his leg muscle because of so much make-up work in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing, but he encountered great difficulties in both his swimming and flying classes. That’s because in flying class he was required to start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down. He developed “charlie horses” from overexertion, and so only got a C in climbing and a D in swimming.

The eagle was a problem student from the beginning. He was severely disciplined for being a non-conformist. In climbing classes he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but he insisted on using his own way to get there. So even though he was excellent in flying, he had to be expelled for not doing the assignments like everybody else.

The moral of the story is a simple one. God has made each of us with wonderful gifts and strengths to be used in harmony with one another. We all have our weaknesses, but when we use our strengths, the whole body benefits.

If everyone in the Body of Christ plays their strength, the weaknesses of any individual will be consumed within the giftedness of another.

Use your gifts in the church. Run your race. Play your strengths!

For the glory of God,
Pastor Kevin

In the New Year

The new year is an excellent time to begin a daily Bible reading plan or to resume one if you did this in years past but fell short in recent months.

Providence Church is offering a great plan that takes us through the New Testament and many parts of the Old Testament as well.

It should be refreshing to go through many of the foundational narratives of the Old Covenant that inform our faith… and to do so with other people in our church. This will give us a broader sweep of redemptive history throughout God’s Word.

The start of a new year is also a time to commit to growth in particular areas of Bible doctrine. Pick some doctrines that interest you or ones about which you might want to learn more and then find good authors who can explain them to you.

You might want to study the doctrine of pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit; or perhaps the doctrine of forgiveness as we grow in our relationship with others.

Whatever area you choose, make this a year of advancement in the Christian faith. Learn new aspects of God’s great love for us, of His sovereignty, and saving power. Let’s also commit to learning new music in hymns and lyrics that glorify God.

2012 can be a year of phenomenal spiritual growth if you want it to be. It begins with your commitment to do so and it comes to pass one decision at a time.

With you in the journey,
Pastor Kevin

After Christmas

Now that Christmas Day is over with presents opened and garbage cans filled with discarded paper and boxes, what are we to do?

It’s winter and that means it’s cold outside (usually). Not only that, but the days of sunlight are the shortest they’ll be all year and darkness comes early now.

So what should we do as believers in the afterglow of Christmas?

I think this is a good time to evaluate the past year and then to spiritually prepare for the coming year.

What was this closing year like for you in a spiritual sense? Was it good or better than previous years? Or was it worse? What can you do that would make next year better for you in your walk with God?

What would make you closer to God in prayer? What would make you more disciplined in your study of His Word? These are the kinds of questions to ponder in the days after Christmas and just before another year begins.

As you and I begin to put our decorations back into their boxes and return them to the attic, basement, or garage… I hope you’ll be preparing your heart spiritually to grow in God’s Word, to grow in your prayer life, and to grow in your commitment to God’s people in the church.

That’s the first step toward making next year better in every sense of the word.

In Him,
Pastor Kevin

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Christmas

Every time the Christmas season rolls around, two very different kingdoms always collide. It happens every time.

One kingdom is earthly and temporal. The other Kingdom is heavenly and eternal. The king of the earthly realm is “self” along with its frenzied desires for temporal gain. The King of the heavenly realm is God and the gift He freely gives… bringing life and restoration.

Behind all of the merchandising and sales and shopping extravaganzas, there is still that one simple manger in Bethlehem… one young couple… one perfect Creator who became an infant in the Virgin Mary’s womb.

At the end of the day… the One born of a virgin is all that ever matters.

For the atheists and other opponents of Christmas, the problem is that Jesus didn’t stay in the cradle. He grew up. He lived a sinless life and proved beyond any honest doubt that He was in fact God.

The ungodly don’t want that to be true. Because if it is true, then they are tragically wrong and their destiny is an eternal hell. Therefore, much is denied because much is at stake.

Yet Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be. He is truly God in human flesh. He lived a sinless life and died a substitutionary death on behalf of those who would trust in His merit and goodness instead of their own, those foreknown before the foundation of the world.

Christmas is never just an end in itself. Christmas is really a beginning. It is the prelude to a fuller narrative that climaxes on Calvary.

From death on a cross to resurrection life three days later; the empty tomb with Christ appearing to crowds of over 500 witnesses and then ascending bodily back into heaven demands a response from all humanity. Many will mock and scoff at the news. Others will believe and repent.

Jesus came to bring life. Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of Christ. Jesus also said He was coming again. Until then, the righteous will live by faith!

How will you live as a result of believing this truth?

Merry Christmas,
Pastor Kevin