“Be therefore followers of God, as dear children. 2. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.”
I doubt that I will write anything here that you have not read about, or heard about before, but I hope this time it will grasp your heart if it hasn’t already. If it has grasped your heart, enjoy reading about it anyway. This article is simply about Jesus and what He can mean to you and to your life. First, Jesus loves you. Didn’t I warn you that you would have heard this before? Many people know this in their lives but they do not know this in their minds and hearts. The fact is that “Christ loved us, and has given Himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” You should be able to read this as “Christ loves me,,," I never cease to see the miracle of the reality that Jesus loves me. I don’t want to get to a point in my life that I take Christ’s love for me lightly. You see, I know me. I know that I am not always lovable. (Now, there is some news!) But Jesus loves me even when I am not lovable. Grasp this: Jesus loves you with a radical love. Second, Jesus wants to save you from sin, and will save you from sin. Jesus gave Himself as an offering for your sins. Jesus will save you from sin when it dawns on you that you are a sinner. This is difficult for some people to grasp. There are those who feel insulted if you suggest that they are sinners. There are also those who feel that they are so deep in sin that Jesus could not possibly pull them out of it. In both cases, He is only waiting for your confession and for your invitation to Him to come into your life. Perhaps what He is waiting for from you is for you to share this love with someone else. There are plenty of people who need to know that Jesus loves them. Third, Jesus wants to come into your life, and not only save you, but He wants to make your life better. John 10:10b tells us that that Christ came “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” The world is always calling you away from the abundant life that Jesus wants to give you. Satan is always trying to remind you that your life cannot be better, but that you will just have to live in the defeat that you feel. Jesus wants to forgive you and free your mind and heart to live in victory. His forgiveness is as real as His love. It might be difficult to grasp, but it is there for the asking. These are three of the great things that Jesus wants to do in your life. Take Him up on it! Bro. Joe
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“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
I’m not sure whether I have written on this text before in CouchPotato, but I wanted to write on loyalty, and this is the best example of loyalty that I can find in the Bible. What does this text tell us about loyalty? It means to keep on fighting no matter how many obstacles you encounter. Paul wrote “I have fought a good fight.” Think of all of the opposition that Paul had, yet at the end of his life he wrote: “I have fought a good fight.” He could have written this is as “I fought on in spite of the obstacles put in my way by Satan and people.” Think of your own commitment to the Lord. When you have encountered some criticism, or opposition, did you keep on fighting, or did you say, “I don’t have to put up with this, no Sunday School class, choir, pastorate or whatever, is not worth this.” What about your own sense of loyalty? Do you keep on “fighting” in spite of obstacles? It means to finish what we start. Paul wrote: “I have finished my course.” I think that Paul did everything that he thought he could do. Think of all of the churches that he started and actually stayed in close touch with them, at least as close as you could stay in those days. His communication with them was with letters. We have some of those letters in the Bible. He spent years under house arrest in Caesarea, and in prison and house arrest in Rome, yet he continued to write and to witness for Christ. Paul did not think that he had done all that could be done, but all that he could do. He was ready to go to heaven. Let us continue our “course” until we have completed it. It means to keep the faith. Paul kept the faith by continuing to serve the Lord in prayer and faithful service in spite of everything that he encountered. Satan will try to tell us that sticking with our work of faith is not necessary. I encountered this over the years in my own work of faith. There were times when I thought I could give up the work of faith that I had been called to do, but I could never really do that. It was tempting, and I’m certain that Paul met that temptation, but he continued to preach Jesus and to serve Him until the end. Whatever God has called you to do, do it in faith. If it wasn’t important, He would not have called you to do it. This is what Christian loyalty is all about. Read it and believe it! Bro. Joe “And above all things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.”
I saw three things in this text today that I had not noticed before. In preceding verses, Paul had called them to forgive each other, to kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and to “bear with one another.”( Verses 12-13) But along with these virtues, Paul called them to add love, to live in “the peace of Christ,” and to be thankful.(Verses 14-15) It is obvious that one could not live and practice the virtues of verses 12-13 without the practice of verses 14-15. We need all of these to be effective witnesses of Christ. Let’s look a little more closely to them. Love – This is the translation of our old friend, the Greek word “agahpay.” This describes the kind of love that Christ had for us when He went to the cross, e.g., it is compassionate and sacrificial. Under the inspiration of the Spirit, Paul did not suggest that they love, but actually commanded them to love – which Christ also commanded in John 15:12. Which makes loving each other ultimately important. This is one virtue that is sorely needed in our churches and Christian work today. Think about it: Do you love the people that you go to church with each week? This does not mean that they have to act lovingly for us to love them- just love them. Well think about it? Do you love people period? Well,,,,,,,,do you? Peace of Christ – Just as we are to love like Christ, we are to have His peace. The “peace of Christ” is given in John 16:33: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation (trouble). But be of good cheer – take heart – I have overcome the world.” This is the peace of heart and mind given to Christians as a gift from Christ. We need to ask at least two questions about this peace: Do we live in peace, and at peace, in our own hearts? Do we live at peace with our fellowman? I must confess that I approached this question in fear and trembling. This peace is so important that we cannot ignore it… . Thankfulness – Along with love and peace, thankfulness is an important Christian virtue. The Greek word translated “thankful” is “eucharistos.” “Eucharist” is one name for the Lord’s Supper. In light of this, we are to be thankful for all that Christ did for us on the cross, and for all that He does for our lives. We should also live thankful lives as a witness of Christ’s presence in our lives. Are you a thankful person? Take some time today and think of love, peace and thankfulness in your own life. Do it! Bro. Joe “Behold now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.”
Paul gave the Corinthian Christians a reminder from Isaiah 49:8 about the importance of time. I want to share a few thoughts that I had recently about time. First, time is a gift from God. I guess it is difficult for us to see time as gift, but it is, indeed, a gift from God. We need to view the time that we spend on earth as a gift to be used to benefit the kingdom of God and our fellowmen (fellowpeople). I look back over the time that I have wasted and I wish that I had some of it back so that I could make better use of it. I think you probably know what I mean. I do not mean that we should never take “time off” for rest or for a vacation. Also, I do not mean that we need to use our time being “religious” and talking in stilted tones. I have come to the conclusion that most of the time our best use of time is to be decent human beings. (Don’t you agree with me that Jesus showed us how to be good human beings?) Second, time does not wait. Chaucer wrote that “time and tide wait for no man,” (Nor does it wait for any woman – just to be politically correct.) I served in the U.S. Navy from 1956-1960. I remember thinking that 1960 would never get here. Believe me it did get “here” and it flew by afterward as well. If there are things that you know you need to do, and, perhaps, things that God would have you do, to quote Paul and Isaiah “now is the accepted time” to do them. It is not just the accepted time to be saved, but it is the accepted time to do God’s will for your life. You are here for a purpose, or for purposes, and you need to discover what those purposes are and get about them, because time is not going to wait for you. This leads me to the third point: Time is to be used wisely. This does not mean that we should never take time for ourselves, or for our families and friends. Even Jesus took time to rest, reflect and pray. He even spent time with children. Our wise use of time is as much in our thought lives as in our activities... For example, (Here I go bragging again.) there are not many waking hours that I am not thinking of what I should write in CouchPotatoRedux articles –even when I’m watching TV. (Yes, friends and family, even when I’m watching “American Pickers” and Hallmark movies.) I’m not calling on you to be a workaholic, but to just remember Who is in control of your time and use it wisely. Think of the gifts that God has given you and use them, not just in church work, but in your daily life. Bro. Joe (This is a reprint. I thought it was time that I ran it again. It has a good message about the Bible. Read it!)
“When therefore (Jesus) was risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this unto them: And they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus said.” After Jesus’ resurrection, His disciples believed what He had previously told them about it, and they believed the scriptures – the Bible. They realized afresh and anew that the Bible had a place in their lives. The Bible should have a place in the life of every Christian. It is our source book. There are many good Christian books on the market, but none should take the place of the Bible. Let me illustrate what I mean: The Bible has a place in the hands of a Christian. We need to take the Bible in our hands and read it every day. We should set aside a time each day to read and study the Bible. We should read it systematically. We should begin at chapter one of a book and read through to the end. Of course there are times when we will read a verse here and a verse there, but this should not be all that we do. The Bible has a message, and we can’t get the message by just skipping around in it. We should read it through. It is not too much to ask a Christian to at least read the New Testament through every year. There are 260 chapters in the New Testament; therefore, we can read it through in 260 days if we read just one chapter a day. Ideally, we should read through the whole Bible every year. The Bible has a place in the head of a Christian. We need to know what’s in the Bible and what the real message of the Bible is. It is a book of redemption ultimately through Jesus Christ. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses tell us that most of their converts in the south are Southern Baptists. If those Southern Baptists knew the Bible, they would not believe those doctrines. We need an intellectual grasp of scripture. This does not mean that we have to be intellectual to understand it. It means that the message of the Bible should be part of our thought processes. We really need to think about what we read in the Bible. The Bible has a place in the heart of a Christian. We should internalize what we read in the Bible. Its message should be in our hearts, our emotions, indeed, in our souls. Just as the food that we eat becomes part of us, what we read becomes a part of us. If we never read the Bible, or only read it sporadically, it will not become part of whom and what we are. Life’s decisions are made from the head and the heart. If the Bible is to help us make decisions, it should be in our heads and hearts. We should take the Bible seriously enough that its message becomes a part of our decision making processes. If it is not in our hearts, we will not believe it or practice it. We should be emotional about the Bible. It should make us laugh and cry. It should make us stop and think about our lives and cause us to change what needs changing in our lives. We should be emotional enough about the Bible to share its message about Jesus with other people. After all, Jesus is the main focus of the Bible. I do not consider myself an expert on the Bible. I am a student of the Bible. I read it through every year and learn something new almost every day. I do not write this to brag, but to get you to see that if I can read it through, you can too. Pick up your Bible, read it, think about and believe it in your heart. Bro. Joe “Let love be without dissimulation (be sincere). Abhor (hate) that which is evil; cleave (cling) to that which is good.”
I suppose that the cheapest, and the most irritating thing in the world is unsolicited advice. It seems sometimes that there are people who always know more about what we should be doing than we do. If this advice that I am about to give was from me, you might call it cheap, and you might even call it irritating, but it is not from me. It is from the Bible. When I read Romans 12:9 just now, I said to myself that this is some very good advice. I plan to take the advice given here and I hope that you will. “Let love be without dissimulation,” or “let love be sincere” is good advice. The kind of love that Paul wrote about was not the kind of love that simply says “I love you,” it is the kind of love that is sincere and is realized by the object of love. In other words, people know whether or not we truly love them, or if we are simply saying “I love you.” In John 15:13, Jesus said: “Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Now, that is serious love isn’t it? This is the kind of love that Paul wrote about in this text. It is the kind of love that Jesus has for us. No one could ever accuse Jesus of being fickle in His love for us. He set the example of sincere love by sacrificing Himself so that we could be saved. When we tell people that we love them, let’s be certain that we are sincere. “Abhor (hate) that which is evil.” Love is to be sincere and we are to be sincere in what we hate. You will observe that I did not write that we are to be sincere in who we hate. We should hate that which is evil. The problem is that we have a shallow view of evil. We know that adultery is evil. We know that lying, cheating and stealing are evil. We know that hating people is evil. Because we might not do any of these things, we might think that we do not have to worry about evil. However, there is a lot of hidden evil that Satan loves to snare us with. One example of such an evil is pride. The Bible is death on pride. It never has anything good to say about false pride. We need to learn to hate false pride like we hate murder or lying. I could give you many other examples of hidden evil, but I think that you get the idea from what I have shared. “Cleave (cling) to that which is good” is good advice. People have a tendency to cling to things that are not good. That is what drug, alcohol, or whatever addiction is about. We tend to cling to that which gives us momentary pleasure instead of that which will give us real soul satisfaction. For example, we need to cling to doing unto others as we would want them to do to us. (You know, the Golden Rule.) We need to cling to being patient with people instead of being impatient with them. (This might be about the most difficult of all.) We need to cling to saying uplifting things to people instead of putting them down. We need to cling to loving other people instead of hating them. I could go on and on with this, but I think you get the idea. Remember, this is not advice from me, it is from the Bible. I need to take it to heart myself, and I hope you will. Bro. Joe “I can do all things through Him (Christ) who strengthens me.”
We can learn a lot from the Apostle Paul’s experience. From the day that he became a Christian his life was in danger. When Paul became a Christian he went from persecuting Christians to preaching Christ. It was very difficult for Paul’s former friends to accept his new life. This would make a difference to a lot of people, but it did not make any difference to Paul. When Jesus saved Paul, it was a real experience and he could not be turned from it because of the problems that his conversion created for him. We need some of what Paul had. What can we learn from Paul’s experience? We can learn that being a Christian is not always trouble free. When Christ is in our lives He will help us either around or through problems, but life will certainly not be trouble free. Leonard Ravenhill wrote that everywhere Paul went there was a revival or a riot. When he was in Philippi with Silas, he and Silas ended up in prison because they healed a demon possessed girl. Their feet were actually anchored to floor in stocks. Now, I would call that a problem. But this problem did not stop Paul, for after he and Silas were delivered from that experience, they went on to other places preaching the Gospel. Paul knew that it was not about him but about Christ. We have a tendency to want to quit when we encounter problems, for example, at church. We will quit if we think that it is about us instead of Christ. When we put Christ first, we can get up and go again after we have fallen. When we put Christ first, quitting is not an option. I don’t know what problems you are encountering now in your life, but don’t let them keep you from serving Christ. We can learn that we can “do all things through Christ who strengthens (us).” We are timid sometimes about what we can do for Christ. Believe this: If Jesus wants you to do something, whatever it is, in the church or in the community, He will give you the wherewithal and the power to do it. There was very little in Paul’s background that prepared him for serving Christ, but Christ used him anyway. There was very little in my background that prepared me for the service that I have rendered for fifty-eight years, but He has given me the strength to do it. There might be very little in your background that prepares you to do what you know that Christ wants you to do. Step out by faith and do whatever it is. If Jesus didn’t think that you could do it, He would not have put it on your heart. Get up off of it and serve the Lord, for He will give you the strength to do it. I pray that we can all learn from Paul’s experience. After all, we serve the same Lord. Bro. Joe "Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master we would see a sign from thee. 39. But He (Jesus) answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: 40. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
"If we could just see more miracles, we would believe." This was basically said by the scribes and Pharisees and by many people today. I find myself sometimes asking God to do some miracle so people will believe. I have found, however, that miracles do not necessarily result in faith. I am certainly not against miracles. I've had some in my life and have seen them in the lives of others. Miracles are wonderful and real, but they do not necessarily make a person turn to Jesus. Besides that, what other sign, or miracle, did they need? They had already said that Jesus' power was from Satan. Which proves my point that miracles do not make a person focus on Jesus. The problem is that, as wonderful as they are, miracles tend to call attention to themselves, not to Jesus. Jesus said that the number one sign, or miracle, would be His resurrection. The fact that Jesus defeated death, hell and the grave is what should draw us to Him. Our faith is to be in a person named Jesus, not in what we have seen Him do. Jesus did not have to prove Himself to the scribes and Pharisees, and He does not have to prove Himself to us. The fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was raised three days later, and ascended to the Father forty days later, is really all that we need to believe. It is possible to rejoice in a miracle and miss Jesus. Our focus should be on Jesus, first, second and always. He is the source of our salvation. This is what Jesus wanted the scribes and Pharisees, as well as ourselves, to see. He is enough! We need to put our faith in Jesus, for He is the only way to the Father. Don't stop praying for and believing in miracles, but don't depend on them to win people to Jesus. I think the gospels are pretty clear on this. Bro. Joe “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.”
I saw two things in this text that can help make our lives count in reference to our Christian lives: “walk in wisdom” and “redeeming the time.” If we want to walk in wisdom and redeem or make best use of our time, I want to suggest three simple lessons that can help us in this endeavor. The first lesson that we need to learn is to trust in the Lord. Frankly, this has been a difficult lesson for me, but as I’ve gotten older and have been through several things that I knew that I could not handle myself, I think that am learning the lesson. There is nothing in our lives that we escape the need to trust in the Lord. What I mean by trusting in the Lord, is that you lean on Him, and depend on Him in every decision that you make in your life. I always go back to Deuteronomy 26:27a to give me guidance: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Make a commitment to trust in the Lord, and depend on His guidance in your life. The second lesson is “to do unto others and you would have them do unto you.” As you know, this is the “Golden Rule.” Jesus told us to” love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” (Matthew 19:19) This is what is meant in the text by walking “in wisdom toward them that are without.” This reminds me that the Lord loves other people as much He loves me. It also reminds me that if I want to live obediently and make the best use of the time that God has given me, I should love other people and treat them with respect. We need to do a better job of in our church fellowship and in our daily dealings in the world. The third lesson that we need to learn is to dedicate our lives to use the gifts that God has given us to serve Him. We can become so selfish that we will only do what benefits us. I want to share my own pilgrimage in learning this lesson. When I finally realized that my greatest spiritual gift is encouragement, it gave me greater guidance in what I preach and write. This identifies me with the biblical character “Barnabas.” That was his nick name and means “son of encouragement.” Of course, the Spirit has given me other gifts as well, but encouragement is my life’s calling. I try to remember that when I preach and when I write. Find out what your spiritual gifts are, and use them to serve the Lord through your church and through your daily life. These are three critical lessons that we need to learn and practice. – period. Bro. Joe "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. 18. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation, 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to Christ."
Paul wrote that Christ "hath given to us the ministry of reconcilation" in verse 18, and in verse 19 he wrote "...and hath committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation." We who have been reconciled have been given the ministry of helping other people be reconciled to Christ. Because of this ministry we have become "ambassadors for Christ." As ambassadors we have been sent on a mission to tell others about Christ. What does an ambassador do? Let's begin with what he does not do. He does not go to another country and do his own thing, or tend to his own business. He does whatever the leader of his country tells him to do. Therefore, as "ambassadors for Christ," we are to do as Christ tells us to do. For example, there are people who have been called to be "ambassadors for Christ" in faraway countries. They raise their children in that country, and many of them spend their days until retirement in that country. That is one example. Another example is people like most of us who are not called to be ambassadors in faraway countries, but are called to be ambassadors, or witnesses, where we are. We are to do what Christ tells us to do where we are. We sometimes have the idea that because we are not called to go to another country, we do not have to be ambassadors. The Bible says "go ye." "Go ye" means all Christians. We are all ambassadors, or missionaries, for Christ. This is as true where you live as it is in Africa, Japan, Korea, etc.. We need to remember that it is an honor to be appointed an ambassador. Ideally, our country does not send people to other countries as ambassadors unless they are smart, tactful and able to get along with other people. Ambassadors also have to have some knowledge of the country to which they are assigned. In order to do this, I imagine that they have to study and learn about the country to which they are going. It is a privilege to be an ambassador for the kingdom of God. We should take our ambassadorship seriously and learn and do all that we need to do to be the best ambassadors that we can be. Let's determine that in this crazy world in which we live, we will be Christ's ambassadors. Bro. Joe |
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