"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. 26. And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (KJV with a little "Beauchamp" added)
What do I mean by "Jesus Lite"? It seems that today people try to relegate Jesus to a small role in their lives. He is used as a "crutch" when life gets out of whack, but ignored when all is going well. Also, some see Jesus as one Who makes us tolerant of all things, and in the name of love compromise His values. He is used by some as an excuse to be self-righteous and look down their noses at everybody. I could go on and on with this because "Jesus Lite" covers every spectrum of the human condition. But what Jesus wants is to be the Lord of our lives and teach us how to love all people and to stand by what He teaches. This is why He said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life..." (This incident took place just before Jesus raised Martha's brother Lazarus from the dead.) He wanted her to know that He could not just raise people from the dead, but that He Himself is the resurrection. He also wanted her to know that He is the life. All of our hopes of eternal life rest in Jesus. All of our hopes for an abundant life rest in Jesus. He literally wants to take over our lives. He does not want to hang around on the periphery of our lives; He wants to be at the very center of our lives. His death on the cross should compel us to love Him and follow Him. That is why Jesus asked Martha, "Do you believe this?" That is the important question. All that Jesus is means nothing to us until He saves us and we make Him the Lord of our lives. In John 6 a group of people asked Jesus what "works" they had to do to have eternal life? Jesus said that the "work" that we are to do is to believe in Him. That means to trust Him with our life. It all hinges on whether or not we believe that Jesus is Who He says He is. I know that not everybody is ready to hear about this sort of thing. Many are too busy living their lives and seeking their pleasures to take Him seriously. But our eternal security rests in Jesus because as He said: "I am the resurrection and the life." This was true when He said it and it is true now. If you don't believe it, just try it. Ask Jesus to forgive and to save you, and mean it, and you will know what all of the "fuss" is about. This is not written in judgment of you, it is written out of love for you - mainly the love of Jesus. Well, "Do you believe this?" Bro. Joe
0 Comments
"Even now declares the Lord, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. 13. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity.'"
If you are looking for "the power of positive thinking" kind of message from Joel, you have gone to the wrong book of the Bible. "Even now" in the text shows that harsh judgment on Judah had already been wriltten by Joel, but in the midst of the harsh judgment, Joel gave a positive message of hope. His message from God had been to appeal to the people of Judah to return to Him. The fact that they needed to return was evident in his call for them to return. The people of Judah were doing whatever they wanted to do. They were not being guided by any moral compass. At the heart of their moral problem was idolatry. The idols that they loved so much encouraged them to commit all kinds of sins. I guess it means that if you want to do what you want to do, create your own god and follow his or her teachings. But God sent Joel to tell them that they could still return. What did God want from them? The simple truth is that He wanted their hearts. He said "return to me with all your heart." Furthermore, He said "rend your heart and not your garments." He wanted their hearts, not their religious ritual or their phony "garment rending" repentance. In other words, God does not want a show of repentance, rather, He wants real repentance. He wants repentance that comes from deep within us - our hearts. Why would the people of Judah not give God their hearts? Because they were stubborn and wanted what they wanted instead of what God wanted. Our nation needs to heed Joel's message. Churches need to heed this message. God wants more from us than weekly ritual. He wants our hearts! He wants us to really repent and do His will. I occasionally have to remind myself of this. If we are not careful, we can drift from what God wants from us. Why wouldn't Judah return to God and why don't we? Look at the God who waits for us: "He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love." This is the God who waits for us to return to Him. We know even more about His compassion and abounding love, for we know Him through Jesus. Jesus took the compassion and love of God to the cross for us and died for us that we might be saved. Return to this compassionate and loving God. Bro. Joe Colossians 1:15: "(Christ) is the image of the invisible God."
1 Timothy 1:17: "Now unto the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen"" Yesterday, Mary read a "rant" in the newspaper to me by some person who berated those of us who believe in the "myth" of an invisible God. At first, I was angry, then I remembered: "I've been there." When I was 19 or 20 years old, I thought that since I could not see Him, God did not exist. I guess that part of the problem was that after two or three years in the Navy, and seeing all that I had seen, I discovered that everything wasn't like it was in Smithville (my little hometown). Nothing was simple, and nothing seemed to make sense to me anymore. But in the midst of several months of turmoil, the invisible God made Himself real to me. I do not know how He did it, but all of a sudden He was real. This brought me from a "little boy's" belief in God to a more profound understanding of His existence. I've still had some doubts over the years, but not about God's reality. Which brings me to the title of this article: "Good Lord, where are you?" How has the invisible God made Himself visible? We can start with the Bible. The fact that it is still around after thousands of years, and still on the best-seller list says a lot doesn't it? It has survived attacks from believers and unbelievers. Paul wrote in the first chapter of Romans that nature reveals God - if we will observe it. Colossians 1:15 tells us that Christ makes the Father visible. For example, He gave us visible evidence by his works that are revealed in the Bible. I could cite all kinds of things from the Bible that proves my point, but one has to believe that the Bible is God's word to be convinced. What is there outside of the Bible that reveals the invisible God? Well, there is His Church. The fact that it is still in existence, and vibrant, after 2,000 years says something. (The fact that we Christians have not killed it with our egos and feuds says something about God's reality, not to mention its enemies.) There are people whose lives have been changed completely because they received Jesus as their Savior. There is no explanation, outside of divine intervention that can explain how a person goes from a total "ne'er do well" to an upstanding person. Believe me, I've seen plenty of them. Then there is the fact that miracles still happen. Even science cannot explain, for example, how a person is healed of cancer after they have gone through all of the treatments and the doctors have declared them as good as dead. It has happened! It happened because God's people prayed. It doesn't always happen that way, but the fact that it happens says something about God's reality. Someone once told the philospher, William James, that answers to prayers were coincidences. His reply was that it was interesting that these "coincidences" take place more often when people pray than when they don't. I could cite other proofs of God's reality, but these should suffice. Don't go through life always doubting your beliefs. Dr. Ted Adams, one of my professors at Southeastern Seminary, told us on several occasions: "Don't go through life doubting your beliefs and believing your doubts, rather, doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs." Good advice. Take it! Bro. Joe "There is lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?"
A big crowd of over 5,000 people had gathered to hear Jesus teach. The hour was late and the people were hungry - what to feed them? One little boy there had a "happy meal" (lol) of five barley loaves and two small fish. Jesus took those and fed all five-thousand people. O.K. all of you doubters out there, I know that you will say "Jesus did what?" Yes He did, He fed over 5,000 people with this "happy meal." (lol again) You see, there was no MacDonalds (or even a Chic-Fil-A) to get carry out for all of those people. Here is what Jesus did: He took what He had and used it to do what needed to be done. I know that you will allow me to spiritualize this text (thank you), and tell you that Jesus can do the same with us. He can take what little we have to offer and mulitiply it to carry out His purposes. Take me for example. I was a high school drop-out serving in the Navy. Let us say that I saw the world, at least the Orient, and was not exactly a missionary - if you get my drift. But Jesus did not see a worldly drop-out. He saw a young man who could do some things for Him, if he would just put his life into God's hands. I did! Now, I can't say that as far as the world is concerned, I have been a big success. I did, for example, go to four years of college. one year of teacher certification training, four years of seminary and one year of work on a Doctor of Ministry degree, to equal the ten years of public school that I attended. I would not have done this on my own. It took Jesus to help me to do that. (I might also add that, in His infinite wisdom, Jesus put a young woman named Mary Alice Ezell (Beauchamp) into my life, who has helped me, in spite of myself, to go forward.) Please do not understand me to be telling you that once I put my life into Jesus' hands that it has all been smooth sailing, and that I have been a perfect person. That didn't happen, but He has been able to use me to accomplish a few things that could not have been done without Him. As little as I deserved it, He has multiplied my life and blessed me beyond all that I could have expected. But this is not just about me. You probably don't deserve it either, but if Jesus can multiply my life, He can certainly multiply your life. Take the "happy meal" (lol again, again) that is your life and put it into the hands of Jesus and let Him multiply your life. You will not be sorry, rather, you will be glad. Try it! Bro. Joe "This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. 13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
Karl Barth was a neo-orthodox theologian, whose greatest years were in the 1920's through the 1950's. He wrote books that you did not scan. You really had to think and study to understand what he was writing about. Being a conservative Southern Baptist, a lot of what I could understand I disagreed with. That's why I was surprised when I read that when someone asked him what he thought was the greatest theological statement ever made, his answer was: "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so..." Verse 13 of the above scripture reference states Jesus opinion about love. To Jesus love was a sacrificial thing, in which one was willing to die for "his friends." This is exactly what Jesus did at Calvary. I once heard Billy Graham say that from the cross, Jesus was saying: "I love you. I love you. I love you." We know that Jesus loves us because He died for us - for all of us. You might ask, "who does Jesus love, who are His friends?" The answer to that is that Jesus loves everybody. To be sure, He is not pleased with everybody, but that doesn't mean that He doesn't love everybody. (He is certainly not always pleased with me.) Who did He die to save from sin and from the consequences of sin? He died for every person who has ever lived on the earth, those who were living at that time and for those who would be born in ensuing years. That means that He loves you and me. You might ask, "but how do I know that Jesus loves me." The only way that I really know to experience His great love is to invite Him into your life and experience His presence, through the Holy Spirit, on a daily basis. Millions of people do not know that Jesus loves them because they have never given Him a chance to show His love by saving them. You can experience His love by believing in Him. By that I mean to put your faith in Him to the extent that you put your life and your eternal security into His hands. He died for you, but you need to acknowledge Him and believe that He really exists. In fact, I challenge you to simply confess that you have sinned, as we all have, and ask Him, by faith, into your heart and life. This will not make Jesus love you, for He already does, but it will make you know that He loves you. "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Bro. Joe I don't normally write a blog on Saturday, but I want to make an exception today to share something very special with you. If you know me, you probably know that the doctor declared me cancer free yesterday. I battled with lymphoma and colon cancer through 2011 and part of 2012. I want to share what I have learned from this experience.
The first thing is that God is with us every step of the way, whatever we might have to endure. I am not accusing God of giving me cancer, but He certainly used the time of my battle and recovery to "take me to school." He taught me about His love for me and His presence with me. He taught me that I need to spend more time in His word. He taught me that I am not immune to serious illness. (Isn't it interesting how we think that "we will never get it"?) He also took me to new depths in prayer for myself and for others as well. The second thing is about how great and loving people are. I have friends from all over the political and theological spectrum and you have stood with me and prayed for me through all of this. I am grateful to all of you. The third thing is that I have rediscovered the importance and depth of Christian fellowship. For a long time Mary and I were not in church because of my lack of immunity to disease during chemo treatments. We went to TV church every Sunday, and heard some very good preaching, but it is not the same as being in church with God's people. Since I have not been able to preach, I have attended church and sat in a pew like all other Christians. This was a new experience for me, since for fifty years I was most always the preacher. It has been delightful for me to learn that I really do enjoy going to church. :) I have enjoyed the fellowship of the people around me, but I have also enjoyed, or been challenged by, the various preachers that we have heard at FBC Camilla. Just being part of the congregation has been good for me. However, as I recover strength and stamina, I expect to do some preaching in the future. All of you mean a lot to me, and the people at FBC Camilla do not know what their fellowship has meant, and still means to me. This goes as well for people in the churches of the Tucker Baptist Association. This experience has taught me the value of praying for other people. I have kept a prayer list going through this, as I always have, but I really know what to pray for now. Part of what I have learned about this is through people praying for me as well. I can really empathize with people now more than I could before. I can feel the pain of others in a deeper way now. This could be classified under lol, but I know now that being really sick ain't no fun. The fourth thing is that I learned afresh and anew what a great family I have. Mary had to be my nurse and chauffer for a long time. We both lived through it, and she still loves me. It made me love and appreciate her more. Faith and Hope and their families have been great. The two girls took this time to bring me into the 21st Century technologywise (New word?). This has really and truly helped me to spend my time in my favorite couch and chair more wisely. The grandchildren have been a source of joy through all of it. The same goes for my immediate Beauchamp family - brothers, cousins, etc - and for the Ezell connection as well. That's not all, but I'll stop now. This is enough of me writing about me. Bro. Joe "And when they had appointed him a day, there came many unto him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. 24. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not."
Paul had arrived in Rome and was put under house arrest, but he was given the freedom of having visitors. People came to the house where he was living and he preached to them about Jesus from the Old Testament prophecies. Notice this: "And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not." Even the great apostle Paul could not win them all. Why? Because, like us, his job was to tell people and their job was to heed the Holy Spirit and accept Jesus as their savior. We cannot persuade people into the kingdom of God by our rhetoric. We cannot persuade people into the kingdom by out arguing them. We cannot persuade people into the kingdom of God by any other means at our command. Our task is to be the witnesses that Jesus called us to be, and the Holy Spirit takes care of the rest. So do not be surprised if you witness to somebody and they refuse the witness. Do not take it personally. They did not say "no" to you; they said "no" to the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm going to depart from the text to share another reason why we sometimes do not win them all. We might take a look at our own lives and ask if the way we are living is a winsome witness for Jesus? For example, if the biggest feud in town is taking place at the local church (you name the denomination), people are not likely to listen and respond to what we say. ("What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.") The Holy Spirit is not likely to work among people who are feuding and acting like the rest of the world. Another example: How do we act when we are in public? I know that I have to watch what I say when I encounter people who work in public places who have bad attitudes. Something in old Joe Beauchamp wants to give them a piece of my mind - which I don't have to give. I have to remind myself that I am a Christian witness, and I have to watch what I say to them. It pains me that waiters and waitresses say that the rudest and stingiest people that they serve are the people who go to the restaurants after church services. I didn't make that up; it is a fact. That is not a winsome witness for Jesus. The point is, that the more like Jesus we are in our relationships with people, the more likely people are to listen to what we have to say about Him. I could give other examples, but the two that I have given should suffice. I am not judging my fellow Christians, because I have to watch myself as well you do. But we need to really watch how we act if we want to be effective witnesses for Jesus. Amen and Amen! Bro. Joe Acts 26:32 - "Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed to Caesar."
Romans 1:9-10 - "For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. 10. Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a properous journey by the will of God to come to you." Before Paul was arrested in Jerusalem, he was making plans that after his visit to Jerusalem, he would go to Rome. I think what Paul had in mind was that he would take care of business in Jerusalem, then start making plans to make a trip to Rome. But that was not God's plan. (Now, don't ask me to explain why God's plans for us are so different from our plans for ourselves. I guess that one explanation would be that He is God and we are not, and His plans for us are always best.) "Ironic" might be the wrong word here, but it does seem ironic to me that Paul's arrest in Jerusalem and his two year imprisonment in Caesarea led to the fulfillment of his desire to visit Rome, as stated in Romans 1:9-10. Think of it, according to Agrippa, if Paul had not appealed to Caesar, he could have gone on his way witnessing and ministering wherever he chose. However, it was his appeal to Caesar that got him to Rome. Though he was a prisoner in Rome, Paul's influence there got the message of Christ to what Jesus referred to in Acts 1:8 as "the uttermost part of the earth." Why? One big reason is that Paul got to witness to his Roman guards, who were Roman solidiers and were sent to different places in the world. That's not the only catalyst, but it is a big one. From Paul's arrest in Jerusalem, to his ministry during his imprisonment in Rome, it all fits together like a puzzle. That brings me to God's plans for us. We think of our plans as being simple and easy, and certainly without a lot of hardship. Sometimes it works out like that, but sometimes it does not. Like He did with Paul, God gives us a more circuitous route to carrying out His will for our lives. To use my own life as an example, when I retired from the Tucker Baptist Association in 2010, I planned to be very active in preaching in churches, probably being an interim pastor or even pastoring a church. Those of you who know me, know that this is not what happened. It was not in my plans to spend, at this point, a year and a half suffering from cancer and recovering from it. For some reason that's what God wanted. That's why you are reading this blog on the internet now. Let us say that I have spent more time writing than I have preaching. Do not be surprised, if at some time in your life God sidetracks you to get you to do what He really wants you to do. The point is that in this process he will teach you, as he has me, to listen to HIm and obey Him. I don't mean to say that God's final aim for me is to write blogs on the internet, but it is his will right now. I'm looking forward to what He has in store for my future. My advice to you is that in all of the plans that you have for your life, let God be God and discern what it is He wants from you and is teaching you. Don't complain, just accept God's will and move on. Bro. Joe . "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. 28. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."
I quoted the above text to illustrate the wider point that I want to make in this article. In Paul's arrest in the temple at Jerusalem, he was falsely accused of breaking Jewish law, and later of causing a riot. If anyone ever had the right to protest, and protest loudly, it was Paul. He was not happy with his arrest, but he kept his presence of mind, and he kept in mind at all times that the was a witness for Jesus Christ. During his trial before the Sanhedrin in Jersualem, he took opportunity to witness about Jesus and about his conversion on the Damascus Road. During his imprisonment in Caesarea, he stood before Governor Felix, then Governor Festus and both times he witnessed about Jesus. When he was before King Agrippa, he witnessed about Jesus. Agrippa heard the witness and was amazed that Paul was trying to convert him. There is a whole lot more to this story, but I want to stick with my major point, that though under duress, Paul managed to be a witness for Jesus, which he was called to do. What is the lesson for us? We go through many hardships in this life in which we are totally focused on "self." We are upset that we are under some kind of duress and if we aren't careful, we will become bitter about it. We need to understand at these times what Paul understood, i.e., that he was where he was, and in the predicament that he was in, for a purpose. Paul's purpose at all times was to be a witness for Jesus. If Paul had given in to self-pity, he could not have been a witness for Jesus. The point is that the focal point of Paul's life, after his conversion on the Damascus Road, was Jesus, and everything that happened in his life had to do with Jesus. Because of this, he was under mandate to tell others about Jesus, no matter what the situation. It is no different for us. We are witnesses for Jesus, and we should have the presence of mind at all times to share that witness. Therefore, we need to know why Paul witnessed under duress. The reason is simple: Paul knew that his life was in the hands of God, and even if he was in an unfair and negative situation, this did not change the purpose of his life. We are where we are because of God's purpose for our lives; therefore, we should not forget that we should be witnesses for Him even then. As Christians, the focus of our lives is not ourselves, rather, our focus should be on Jesus. Let's get over fussing about the situations in our lives and take advantage of the situation to be the witnesses that we were called to be. Paul would be proud of us (lol). Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|