The past few days my New Testament reading has been in the Book of Acts. This book excites me every time I read and study through it. There is always something new to learn. As I have read about, what I will call "The Adventures of Paul," I have called to mind something I heard about Paul years ago. After Paul met Jesus on the Damascus Road, he was completely sold out to Jesus and he would not compromise that Name. This uncompromising stance is the reason for the quote: "Everywhere Paul went, there was a revival or a riot." This is true. Is this because Paul was a troublemaker? I guess if you were on the unrepentant Jews or the pagan's side, you would call him a troublemaker. I don't think Paul was a troublemaker. I think he was a dedicated man of God, who refused to be taken off message by people who opposed what he taught. He did not present Christ as another deity to worship, rather, he presented Christ as the only means of salvation. It is not recorded that Paul spent a lot of time railing against Caesar or Roman rule. I might be wrong about this, but I do not detect that he railed against false religions. He simply preached Jesus, won converts, and started churches. All that he did was based on being pro-Jesus - for lack of a better term. He did not agree with the conservative Jews, and he certainly did not agree with the worship of false gods, but his emphasis was not on these things but on Jesus. For example, when Paul was in Athens, he was troubled by all of the idols, especially one to an "Unknown God." His sermon to that bunch of Epicurean and Stoic philiosophers was about the resurrection of Jesus. He made it plain that a god made by human hands is no God at all, but his emphasis was on the risen Christ. He got in trouble because he would not compromise what he believed about Jesus, not on his stand on Roman rule.
I am not suggesting in this that we never take a political stand. Today some political stances give a direct challenge to our devotion to Jesus. What I am suggesting is that we do better when we stick to the positive message about Jesus, and that our concern is not about getting the best of our opposition, but that the Holy Spirit will convert them to Jesus. Jesus chose us to be His witnessess, not necessarily his defenders. No matter who seems to be winning the day, eventually Jesus will rule and reign, and we will reign with Him. He doesn't want us to be on defence as much as He wants us to be on offense. So if we are going to cause "a revival or a riot" let's do if for and in the name of Jesus. If we are going to get in trouble with society, let's make sure that we are in trouble for our stance on Jesus and not because we are really troublemakers. After all is said and done, we Christians are to love all people. That doesn't mean that we have to agree with them, but it does mean that we are to witness to them by the way we behave and by what we say. Our greatest act of love is to tell them about Jesus, and to demontstrate that love by how we treat them. When they know Jesus by faith, they might not agree with us about everything, but they will be saved. That was Paul's aim, and it should be our aim. Here it is in Paul's own words in his last meeting with Ephesian elders in Acts 20:24: " However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." (NIV) Bro. Joe
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"Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: keep the door of my lips." (KJV)
"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord, keep watch over the door of my lips." (NIV) I have never really paid much attention to this statement in Psalm 14l in previous readings. This time around it really grabbed my attention. You will never know how many times in my seventy three years that I have needed this scripture. Many times I have said to myself, "shut my mouth." Now, don't you start feeling self-righteous about me, because I imagine that, if you are honest, you will confess the same thing. If you feel no need to confess that, God bless you. But haven't you said at some time or other, "I don't believe I said that"? While I'm confessing, let me tell you that I have said that to myself in the pulpit. This was particularly true in my younger years. Sometimes we say things off of the top of our heads that we wish we hadn't said. Wouldn't it be nice if we could reel words back to our mouths like the fisherman reels his lure back to the boat? That will never happen. Once a word is said it is in play and we can't take it out of play. I am glad that I have learned over the years to watch what I say and really and truly "shut my mouth." Oh! that more people would do that! James wrote in James 3:8b: "(The tongue) is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." And we must remember that our words can be just as poisonous as anyone else's. That's why we need to say with the psalmist, "Lord, shut my mouth." (Another Beauchamp translation....) You see, the Lord wants to control our tongues. He wants to tame our words so that the words we say will help people instead of hurting them. As Christians, we should pray that the words that come out of our mouths be said in love and that our words should be helpful. Even negative words can be spoken in love and can be helpful. One of the most helpful things that was ever said to me were spoken by a man named Bert Phillips from Climax, Georgia and a member of the Pine Forest Baptist Church. This was when I was a very young preacher. He saw me in Climax one day and he and I struck up a conversation. In the course of the conversation he said, "My wife and I think that you will be a good preacher. We like to hear you preach. The only thing that we see wrong is that when you read the Bible from the pulpit, you read it too fast and it is hard to follow you." (not verbatim but close) Did you notice how he handled this young preacher? He bragged on me first and then told me something that I needed to correct. His words did not hurt, because they were seasoned with love. Yes, I slowed down in my public Bible reading because of what he said. This has been a help to me for over fifty years of public Bible reading. This was all because a fine Christian man helped a young preacher and did not have to say "shut my mouth." He could have said, "Beauchamp, one thing I see wrong with you is that you read the Bible too fast. Why don't you slow it down?" Being the young "whipper- snapper" that I was in those days, I probably would have taken it in the wrong spirit. I think of this conversation when I want to say something ugly, and I say, "Lord, shut my mouth." I hope that you are adept at saying this too. Bro. Joe "At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. 2. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders."
What I want to call attention to in this text is the word "so." It is a little adverb that speaks volumes. It carries the meaning of the bigger word "consequently." It can also mean "as a result of." Now catch the meaning of "so" in the text. Paul and Barnabas encountered great opposition to the gospel message. One would have thought that the Jews would have received it gladly, but they did not. They stirred up the Gentiles, who were probably considering embracing Judaism, and "poisoned their minds against the brothers." This is where "so" comes in. One would have thought that Paul and Barnabas would have just given up and stopped trying to teach about Jesus. But what we read here is that as a result of the opposition that they encountered, they stayed on there for a considerable time and spoke "boldly for the Lord." What does this "so" message mean to us? First, it means that when we encounter opposition, which we do increasingly today, we are not to give up and move on, rather we are to "hunker down" and keep preaching and teaching the good news of Jesus Christ. If the message about Jesus was that important to Paul and Barnabas, it should be that important for us. Second, it does not mean that just because a group of people oppose the gospel that they are right. These Jews were wrong in their opposition to the gospel, just as people who oppose the gospel today are wrong. If we are presenting a message about our politics or our own ideas, then they might be right. But if we are presenting the good news about Jesus Christ, they are wrong. Just because people disagree with what we have to say about Jesus does not mean that we have been naughty and need to have our hands slapped. Indeed, we are doing what Jesus told us to do. Third, it means that we should not use opposition to the gospel as an excuse for not obeying Jesus and spreading HIs word to the world. We might say, "Well, if they feel that way about it, we just won't tell them about it." Then we huff and puff and stomp off. This is not what Paul and Barnabas did. As a result of the opposition Paul and Barnabas hung in there and preached the word. This is what we are to do. There were times that the apostles "shook the dust off their feet" and moved on, but that was God's decision and not theirs. We need to "stay with it" until God tells us to move on. "So" what does this say to us. It tells us that we need to follow the lead of Paul and Barnabas and let nothing stand in the way of telling others about Jesus. Bro. Joe The Lord speaking to Ananias after Paul's conversion: "15. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings and the children of Israel. 16. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake."
Old Testament prophets had mentioned that the Lord would reach out to the Gentiles. When Christ came, He broadened the scope of God's concern by going into Samaria and into Gentile country. Though the Jews did not wish to share this glory with Gentiles, it was inevitable that it would happen. How was Jesus going to reach the Gentiles? One would think that He would find a fine, upstanding Gentile, convert him and send him to his own people. This is not what God did. He found the meanest Jew that He could find, converted him and sent him to witness and minister to Gentiles. Saul of Tarsus had wreaked havoc on the Christian church. His aim was to stamp out this movement before it infected the whole world. He made a fateful decision to go to Damascus, arrest Christians and send them bound by chains to Jerusalem to be tried for heresy. On the way to Damascus, the Lord Jesus Himself stopped Saul, and converted him. Just that quickly, a hater of the Christian faith became a follower of the Christian faith, and became one of its most eloquent defenders. From chapter 11 until the end of the Book of Acts, the book becomes a chronicle of Paul's work among the Gentiles. In the end, he wrote one-third of the books of the New Testament, and much of our Christian doctrine is based on his letters to churches and individuals. Only God could accomplish something like this. Why am I writing this? I want to point out that God knew what he was talking about when He inspired Isaiah to write that, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways." (This is not a direct quote. Let's just call it a "Beauchamp" translation.) We should not expect God to do as we would do, or as we would want Him to do. God does things that only He can do, and uses people that only He can use to carry out His purposes. Some of my high school friends were amazed when I became a preacher. Frankly, I was a little amazed myself, though God had been dealing with me since I was twelve years old. I humbly submit that this was God's choice for my life. As you read this, you might wonder if God can use you to aid in carrying out His purposes. Indeed, He can use you. If He could use Paul and if He can use me, He can certainly use you. Listen for God's voice in your life and let HIm lead you to what He wants you to do. Think about it. Selah Bro. Joe For those of you who have followed my journey through cancer on CaringBridge, this might be a rerun for you. However, it should serve as a good reminder.
In the throes of cancer and chemo treatment, I read David Jeremiah's book about his journey through cancer - lymphoma, the same thing I had. He had a quote from Alan Redpath that just literally touched my heart to the very core. Here is the quote: "There is nothing, no circumstances, no trouble, no testing that can ever touch me until, it has come past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose." Dr. Jeremiah's book was an inspiration to me, but this quote is what has stuck with me through all of this past year. My wife, Mary, made a copy of the quote for me and framed it. I am sitting at my computer now, looking at the framed quote. In fact, what I just typed for you is from that framed copy of the quote. The quote still touches my heart deeply. I want to ask you to read this quote through several times and let it's message sink into your heart. God may have allowed some negative things to happen in your life because He wants to use you. Somehow these negative things could make you more useful, or could help you to be used in a different way. This is what happened in my life. For over fifty years my main ministry was preaching and teaching from the pulpit. I never thought about being used in a different way. My daughters, Faith and Hope, subscribed (if that's the right word) to CaringBridge for me. I began to write on that site, keeping people abreast of what was going on with me, and writing an inspirational piece each time. Then they decided that I needed a website, so Faith set me up on Weebly and I began to write daily blogs. I have only preached twice since June of 2011, so this has been my ministry since then. I'm not saying that I will never go back to preaching and teaching. But at this time God is using me to encourage others through this medium. This has been God's "great purpose" for me during this time of illness. I'm writing all of this for you to let you know that no matter what happens in your life, God is not through working with you and will show you another way. This is not just true for preachers but for all of you. Whatever happens in your life, embrace what God has in store for you and serve joyfully in the midst of the trial. (Isn't it interesting that God used our two daughters, Faith and Hope, to help me find my purpose for this period in my life? Thank you girls.) Bro. Joe In yesterday's blog I laid out some of the problems of church, and some of the problems of membership in a church. These are real problems and it is not in my power to erase them, but there are two sides to this coin. While there are problems in the church because, as I wrote yesterday, the church is made up of people, they are for the most part people who have been redeemed, changed by the Lord. Over the years I have had sweet fellowship with a lot of these people. There were people in my former churches who blessed my life and made me a better pastor for it. There were people in my former churches who were critical of me in order to help me. I might have been late in realizing that, but it was true nonetheless. They were acting out of love, not out of hatefulness or arrogance. All of these saints served to make me a better pastor and a better human being. Of course, there were the other people that I wrote about yesterday, but they couldn't erase the gentleness and caring of those who were serving the Lord.
While I pointed out yesterday that I sometimes despaired for the church, I want to point out today why I have been glad to be a part of it. I have seen many people helped because of a local church's generosity. I have seen churches help people financially, and otherwise, who could care less about the church. This is what Jesus would do if He were here.. Sometimes there were naysayers in the church who did not want to help anybody, but that did not stop the loving action of God's people. I have seen individual church members help people who needed help with no hope of any return for their selfless acts. Christ's church is at its best when it is helping people in its membership and outside of its membership. There is another dimension to this positive side of the church, and that is that the presence of the church, not the buildings but the people, reminds people that there is a God, and that He does care. When we are being Christ's Church at it's best, we are telling people about the God who loved them so much that He gave His only begotten Son for their salvation. We are not only telling them about Jesus, but we are trying to do what Jesus would do if He were here in the flesh. Regardless of the problems that churches encounter, they are trying to get the word out to a lost world. Because of this, I do not want to think of a world without a Christian church in it. If you will look honestly at the history of our country, and of the world, you will see the influence of Christ's churches in hospitals, schools, orphanages, etc. This short blog by no means covers all of the positive aspects of the church, but I hope that it will help you to see that, with all of their problems, Christ's churches are here for His purpose and that the world is better off because of it. DO NOT GIVE UP ON WHAT CANNOT BE DESTROYED. Bro. Joe A lot of people have given up on going to church. We frequently hear people say things like, "I can serve the Lord just as well without the church." In a way this is understandable. I have been involved in church for fifty two years - twenty seven years as a pastor and 23 years as a Director of Missions in a Baptist association. I know that being involved in church can be a daunting experience at times. Why? Because there are all kinds of people in church, just like there are all kinds of people in the Lion's Club . People are people wherever you meet them - at church, at work or at play. Some people can be a real trial. (You just need to make sure that you are not one of them.) Some people live to make trouble wherever they are, and church is no exception. Of course, there are always the hypocrites, who say one thing on Sunday and do whatever they want to do on Monday-Saturday. Oh yes, after fifty two years of serving in Christ's church I can think of plenty of human reasons to leave it. If you think it is a trial for you as a member, try pastoring for a little while, then you will know what a trial it really is. Why then don't we just give up on the organized church? Well, the work of the church is bigger than we are. With all of its foibles and failures it is, after all, Christ's church. There has never been a perfect church. Just read the letters of Paul for a good example of what I'm writing about. Read First Corinthians. The church at Corinth reminds us of our own churches with divisions, preacher worship, immorality, etc. You name it, and it was in the Corinthian Church. Paul did not just throw up his hands and say, "I've had it with you people. I'm washing my hands of you and going home." What he did was to challenge them to do better. So, what can we do about the church dilemma? We can decide, first of all, that there is no perfect church, and it you found one and joined it, it would no longer be perfect. God convinced me years ago that I would never pastor angels, and, incidentally, that I would never be one myself. Second, we can ask ourselves that if everybody at church was like me would it be a better church? Has it ever occured to you that your attitude might be part of the problem? Do everything that you can to make your church a better church! Don't just go to church on Sunday, rather be the church everyday.
Jesus said that the "gates of hell" would never prevail against His Church. His church includes every "born again" believer of all Christian denominations. It also includes that body of believers to which you belong. Don't give up on what cannot be destroyed and do everything that you can to make it better. Bro. Joe "And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 18. And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."
Jesus sent out seventy of His followers to do His works and to spread His word. When they returned from the journey, it seems that they were pretty impressed with themselves. They marveled that, "even the devils are subject unto us through thy name." Jesus agreed that He had seen Satan's work crushed for that time, and agreed that He had given them unusual protection, but He reminded them of what is of utmost importance in His work: to never forget where we came from. Jesus said that our source of rejoicing, like the seventy He sent out, is not that He has empowered us for service, but that He has saved us in the first place. We must never forget that salvation is a gift of the grace and love of God. We must never forget that we are sinners saved by grace. If we are not careful, we can become real proud of our service in the kingdom, and start to think that we are something because God is using us. If the "spirits" are subject unto us, it is because we are saved by, and serve One who is greater than the "spirits." If we take the credit for ourselves, the devil will win after all. I can approach this subject from personal experience. It is a great temptation after God has used us in a mighty way to think that "we really shined today." There is that flesh part of us that wants to think that we surely had a little to do with the great things that God brought about. God did use the gifts and talents that He gave us, but the credit for success, is His. When we rejoice in a job well done, we are to be thankful above all that our "names are written in heaven." In that way, we will never cease to be amazed that Jesus can use us in a mighty way to serve Him and to serve others. Jesus did not denigrate what the seventy did; He actually told them that it was a job well done. He just wanted them to remember, as He wants us to remember, that it is a great thing that God has "written our names in heaven." It is also great that we can be saved and be empowered to serve Him. Let's rejoice today that we belong to God in a saving relationship with Jesus, and that He will use us to do His work. Bro. Joe "And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13. And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy."
We seem to be fascinated with people who live on the edge. This means that they live in constant danger and insecurity. The "Indiana Jones" movies, for example, fed a lot of this fascination. He was in constant danger, and almost lost his life in about every other scene. Well, Bible characters are no strangers to living on the edge. David certainly lived on the edge in the early part of his life as he spent a lot of time evading King Saul, who was trying to kill him. Another Bible character that comes to mind is Paul. Notice that in the text above, there were more than forty men who swore to kill Paul, and that they would not eat nor drink until they had killed him. This wasn't the first threat on his life, for a group wanted to kill him soon after he was converted on the Damascus road. There are other references to people who wanted to kill Paul. Imagine what you would feel if word got to you that more than forty men wanted to kill you and would not eat or drink until they had done so. I imagine that you would go into hiding. (I probably would too.) Through his faith in Christ, Paul lived through these constant threats and other dangers that he faced. What does this have to do with us? We are living in a time when we might learn what it means to live on the edge. I do not mean to imply that we are threatened with death as Paul was, but we are living in what has come to be called the "post-Christian era." There is a move by secularists to take us out of the mainstream of American thought, and they are doing a pretty good job of it. If we stand on the word of God for any reason, we are called "bigots." No one is threatening our lives, but they are threatening our way of life. I have heard that in Canada, preachers have been arrested for preaching the Bible on issues of sin. If secularists have their way, this will happen in our country too. Freedom of religion has taken a back seat to political correctness. We are not living on the edge like Paul yet, but the day may come. The question is, will we stand or will we surrender? Bro. Joe "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is to come. I say my purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please."
In Isaiah 46 God was establishing His sovereignty. He alone is eternal and knows the "end from the beginning," and He alone knows "what is to come." Because this is true He declares: "My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please." This looks ominous, but if we will think about it, it is a promise. What did God please to do? For the answer, let's go over to Galatians 4:4-5: "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." What pleased God, ultimately, was to send His Son to redeem the world. We are reminded in John 3:16 that: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Hebrews 1 reminds us that: "In these last days, God has spoken to us through His Son." Nothing is clearer in the scriptures than this. What this teaches us is that God is "pleased" to save us and to bless us. The problem is that the world fights against this great truth. People either want God to be hateful and mean, or they do not want to believe that He exists. The Bible does teach the wrath of God, but in the final analysis, it teaches that "God is love." The Bible never says that "God is wrath." The Bible tells us that "God is a jealous God," but it nowhere says that "God is jealousy." Hey world, we are stuck with a God who loves us and has enabled us to escape His wrath through faith in His Son. He did not have to accommodate us like this, but He did. Don't ever let anyone tell you that God does not want what is best for you. He will not make you do what is best for you, but He wants it. He loves you enough to give you free choice, but if you want His best, it is available through Jesus Christ. If you already know Jesus in a saving relationship, claim all that you have in Him. If you do not know Jesus in a saving relationship, I challenge you to reach out to Him today in faith, and He will be "pleased" to save you. Do it! Bro. Joe |
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