Give Thanks

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!”
- Psalm 92:1-5

God daily shows us his love and faithfulness.  His works are great.  He does great things for us.  Let us give thanks to him!

What is one thing you are especially thankful for today?  Record it in a comment below.

Lukewarm Coffee

I have come to like coffee – when it is hot.  Lukewarm coffee makes me want to, well, spew it back out.

Have you ever thought about what happens when someone orders coffee at a restaurant?  The coffee comes hot from the pot.  But it doesn’t take too long for it to start to cool off, to get lukewarm.  So what does the waitress do?  If she is good, she comes by regularly to pour more hot coffee into the cup so the coffee in the cup stays hot.

We are the cup of coffee.  Jesus is the pot.  If we stay away from Jesus too long, we cool off, we get lukewarm.  We need to regularly draw near to him, let him “fill” us, so that we might stay hot.

So how is our cup?  Hot?  Or have we stayed away from the pot too long?  Does Jesus want to, well, spew us out of his mouth?

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”  – Revelation 3:15-16

Sick Church

In Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus addresses a sick church.  The Creator of the world gives a certain and true diagnosis, and faithful counsel for needed healing.  His words were originally directed at the church of Laodicea.  Might his words describe our churches?  Might his words describe us?

The church is sick because they are lukewarm.  A nearby city was known for its cold water, another for its hot springs.  Laodicea was known for its lukewarm water.  Unwary visitors were known to take a drink only to spit it back out.  Their water was a picture of their spiritual condition.  They had not coldly rejected Christ.  Nor were they fervently serving Christ.  They were lukewarm, indifferent, apathetic, comfortable.  And Christ wants to spew them out.  How well does that describe our churches?  How well does it describe us?

The church is sick because they have a faulty perception of themselves.  Laodicea was a wealthy city and relatively self-sufficient.  The church thought they were rich and needed nothing – but they were deluded.  Christ says they are wretched and pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  Do we see ourselves as rich, or as sinners saved by grace?  Do we think we can manage the Christian life on our own, or do we recognize our need of help?

Christ’s counsel first addresses the second problem.  He calls them to look to him.  They need to acknowledge their spiritual poverty and give up their spiritual self-sufficiency.  Laodicea was a wealthy city, but the church needed to look to Christ for true spiritual wealth – for all the spiritual blessings that flow from Christ. Laodicea had a textile industry specializing in black wool, but the church needed to look to Christ that they might be clothed in white garments – good deeds flowing from God’s grace. Laodicea was known as a medical center with a focus on the eyes, but the church needed to look to Christ that they might see themselves as God sees them.  Are we looking to Christ?

Christ’s counsel continues – moving to the first problem.  They must repent of their lukewarmness.  Though Jesus gags on their lukewarm condition, he still loves them.  He will not allow them to continue living in sin; he will lovingly discipline them.  They must repent – turn from their apathy and be zealous for him.  How?  They cannot do it on their own, they must again look to Christ.  He is knocking at the door of their hearts.  He wants to come in and fellowship with them.  In that fellowship, their hearts will be warmed that they might be zealous for Christ.  Do we need to repent?  Has our relationship with Christ grown distant?  Do we need to open the door again and draw near that we might again be zealous for Christ?

To those who overcome, he promises that we will reign with him.  May we hear what the Spirit says to us in these verses.

Fellowship with my Wood Stove

Winter is quickly coming and with it comes the cold.  Soon my wood stove will be full of burning wood to keep our home warm.  The wood stove is in the living room.  My office is the farthest room away.  While the living room stays nice and warm, my office is more lukewarm – even chilly.  After an hour or two in my office, I often go out to the living room to fellowship with the wood stove.  I’ll stand next to it and let its warmth warm me.

The Christian life is much like this.  On our own, away from Jesus, we grow chilly.  No longer hot, on fire for Christ, we grow lukewarm, indifferent, apathetic.  Our greatest need is to fellowship with Jesus.  As we spend time with the Lord, he makes us hot again.  He gives us a hunger and desire for him.  He makes us fervent in spirit.  He fills us with passion for God and compassion for people.

Have you grown a bit chilly, kind of lukewarm? Is it time to draw near again that he might make you hot?

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).

“…you are lukewarm….Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:16-20)

Driftwood

This summer I picked up a piece of driftwood from the beach.  I wonder how long it was drifting in the water before it washed up on shore.  Was it days, weeks, months, that it drifted, carried along by the waves?  Once it was part of a tree.  It was growing.  It had a purpose.  But then somehow it broke off, fell in the water, and just drifted.

How easily we can be like a piece of driftwood.  Once we were walking in close fellowship with the Lord.  We were growing.  We lived with a purpose to serve the Lord.  But somewhere along the way, the close fellowship was broken and we started drifting.  Maybe all at once, probably a little bit at a time.  We drifted further and further away, carried along by the waves of our world.  For how long?

Thank God, there is a difference between us and a piece of driftwood.  The piece of wood can never become part of the tree again, but God invites us to stop drifting and return to him.

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”  – James 4:8a

Amen.  May it be so.

The Great Exchange

Imagine that you are a begger dressed in dirty, filthy rags.  You work really hard, and after a long time you are able to buy a shirt.  You proudly put it over your rags, but the rags are still underneath, and you can still see the rags on your legs.  What is more, you note that your new shirt is stained with dirt; it is not as clean as you thought.

Then one day, the son of the king comes through town.  You hide in the crowds, but he picks you out, and tells you to come with him.  He casts your new shirt aside, and takes your rags.  To your surprise, he takes his clean robe and places it on you, as he puts your old rags on himself.  What you could not do by your own effort, he has done for you.  And the king welcomes you to his palace.

Dear reader – are you still in the rags of your sin or have you received the great exchange offered to you by Jesus, the King’s Son?  If you are still in your rags, Jesus offers this great exchange to you – he died to pay for your sins, and he offers you his perfect righteousness. Turn from your sins and trust in Jesus and he will give you a new life. If you have received this great exchange, no matter what you have done, you are pure and clean in his sight.

Have you not read:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” – Titus 3: 5a

“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” – Isaiah 64:6

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:6

“For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” – Romans 3:21-22

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” – John 1:12

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” – Isaiah 1:18

Motions

Why do we do what we do for God?  Is it from an all consuming passion for him?  Or are we just going through the motions?  Do we have a heart for God or is it just ritual?  Matthew West has a great song called “The Motions.”  The chorus is:

“I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions”

Check out the whole song here: The Motions

Why I Love The Church

At the conference I attended last week (see last post), Ted Kluck gave several reasons why he loved the church.  Since I insisted in the last post that we must love the church, I thought I might make my own list of why I love the church.  Granted the church has its share of problems (it is made up of people like us!), but there are many reasons to love the church:

1. Preaching of the Word – There is something wonderful about gathering together on a regular basis to focus on the Word of God.  And there is great value in having another person speak the Word to us.  Presumably this person has studied the passage and can bring out things we would have completely missed – both in interpretation and application.  In a sermon we hear the  Word proclaimed with the clear expectation of a response.  One thing I miss about being a pastor is not hearing the Word preached regularly every Sunday by someone else.
2. Corporate Worship – There is something wonderful about gathering with the same people every week to worship God.  This is not something you can duplicate on your own, with a praise CD, or by hopping from church to church.
3. Corporate Prayer – There is nothing like knowing you have a church family praying for you in difficult times.  Better yet is to have someone pray for you while you are gathered with your church family in prayer.
4. Relationships – People who are often very different gather together in the name of Jesus.  Sure, this can create untold conflicts, but it can also enrich our lives in many ways.  And how much I have learned from older more experienced saints!
5. Accountability – If I start to stray in life or doctrine, I know at least one person in my church will confront me.  I need this!
6. Humility – The church reminds me that it is not about me.  How often things don’t happen as I may want them to happen, but that is okay, because it is not about me.  I may not always like this, but I do need this!
7. Gospel – In the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and the singing of many hymns, I am regularly confronted with the good news of Jesus Christ.  Most of all, I need this!

These are just a few things I love about the church.  I’m sure we could add to this list.  What would you add?

Loving Christ and his Church

I had the opportunity today to attend a pastors conference entitled “Don’t Stop Loving The Church” with Kevin DeYoung, Ted Kluck, and Mike Wittmer.  A few take home points:

DeYoung: Some folks want Jesus without the church, but if the church is built on Christ’s foundation, then without the church we have a basement without a house.  If the church is the body of Christ, then without the church we have a head without a body.  If the church is the bride of Christ, then without the church we have a wedding without the bride.

Of course all of these things are absurd (or disgusting), and in the same way so is trying to claim Christ without his church.  If we love Christ, we must love his church.

Wittmer: Some folks want to be part of the universal church but not a local church.  That’s like being married but never living together.  (Think about it.)

Also Wittmer: It is not enough to be Christ-centered.  We need to ask: who is the Christ we are centered on?

Indeed, a good question.  Is it the Jesus revealed in the Bible or a Jesus made up from our own imagination?  This question may have many applications, but on this topic consider that the Jesus of the Bible is passionate about his church (he loved her so much, he died for her – Ephesians 5).  If that is not our view of Jesus, then our view of Jesus is simply wrong.  Or if we hold that view of Jesus but still refuse to love his church, then to that extent we fail to love Jesus.  I will never believe you if you claim to love me but reject my wife.  It is no different if we claim to love Christ but reject his church.

Someone might say that church is full of problems (add your list here).  Granted, but Jesus still loved her and died for her, and he calls us to love with the same love he has.

Let’s drop the nonsense about embracing Jesus but rejecting his church.  If we really love Jesus, we will love his church too.

Ready To Go

Loss, heartaches, sickness, pain, disease, strife, trials, suffering – sometimes I look around and I’m just ready to go.  Ever feel that way?

Paul writes about this desire in II Corinthians 4:16-5:9.  He reminds us that the glory that is to come is so great that our current struggles are only slight in comparison.  That must be some glory!

He goes on to remind us that we will one day have glorified resurrected bodies.  Our current mortal bodies (our outer nature) are wasting away.  In our mortal bodies we groan.  But one day we will have resurrected bodies.  The mortal will be swallowed up by life – bodies that will not waste away, in which we will not groan.

Yet our resurrection awaits Christ’s return, so what about when we die before he returns? We get a clue from the cross.  Before he died, Jesus cries out to his Father – “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”  When Jesus died, his spirit went to be with the Father.  This is confirmed by his words to the thief on the cross next to him – “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  The body of Jesus would be buried, but his spirit would meet the spirit of the thief in paradise – with the Father.

So Paul writes that he wishes to be away from the body so he might be with the Lord.  While death is not good (being a result of sin and the Fall), on the other side of death is the beginning of glory when we will be with the Lord.  Paul is ready to go so he might be with the Lord.

Are we ready to go?  Not just to see the end of trials, but because we long with Paul to be with Jesus?  Are we that excited about Jesus?

Paul concludes by saying it his goal to please the Lord.  Until God calls us home, we should seek to please him, to live for him, to serve him.  Is that our goal in life?

Ready to go, and living for him until he calls us to himself.  May it be so.