Caring for others

Colossians 1:27-28 (NLT)

27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. 28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.

Men must be warned and taught in all wisdom. We must choose the fittest seasons, and use the likeliest means, and accommodate ourselves to the different circumstances and capacities of those we have to do with, and teach them as they are able to bear. [Matthew Henry]

This letter was written by Southern Baptist Missionary to Iraq, Karen Watson, prior to leaving for the Middle East. The letter was dated March 7, 2003. Karen was killed, along with four other missionaries, on March 15, 2004.

Dear Pastor Phil and Pastor Roger:

You should only be opening this letter in the event of my death.

When God calls there are no regrets. I tried to share my heart with you as much as possible, my heart for the nations. I wasn't called to a place. I was called to him. To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, his glory my reward, his glory my reward.

One of the most important things to remember right now is to preserve the work….I am writing this as if I am still working with my people group.

I thank you all so much for your prayers and support. Surely your reward in heaven will be great. Thank you for investing in my life and spiritual well-being. Keep sending missionaries out. Keep raising up fine young pastors.

In regards to any service, keep it small and simple. Yes, simply, just preach the gospel….Be bold and preach the life-saving, life-changing, forever-eternal gospel. Give glory and honor to our Father.

The Missionary Heart:

-Care more than some think is wise.

-Risk more than some think is safe.

-Dream more than some think is practical.

-Expect more than some think is possible.

I was called not to comfort or success but to obedience….There is no joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving him. I love you two and my church family.

In his care,

Salaam,

Karen                                                             ["Keep Sending Missionaries," Baptist Press (3-24-04)]

Sting of Death

John 10:28-30 (NIV)

28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

A reminder that the Father provided salvation through Jesus Christ and those who have been given eternal life are safe and secure in the Son’s and the Father’s hands. There is no one or no thing that can take that away.

Bob Mankoff is the cartoon editor for The New Yorker magazine. His jobs is a laugh-a-minute. The New Yorker has published more than 80,000 cartoons since its first issue. In an interview on 60 Minutes, Mankoff said that the Grim Reaper has appeared in the magazine's funny pages more than any other character. For example, in one cartoon the Reaper's latest acquisition is saying: "Thank goodness you are here—I can't accomplish anything unless I have a deadline."

Mankoff told 60 Minutes, "Honestly, if it wasn't for death, I don't think there would be any humor … Grim Reaper's going to get the last laugh. Until then, it's our turn." [Adapted from Ron Jones, Mysteries of the Afterlife (Harvest House, 2016), page 37]

While we associate The Grim Reaper with death, physical and spiritual death came about because of man’s sin. It was man who chose sin over life and therefore paid the price for his actions. Jesus Christ however paid the ultimate price when He died for us. Jesus took away the sins of the world. He took away the sting of death and offered us eternal life. May we forever be grateful to our Savior.

Angry or loving

Proverbs 19:19 (NIV)

19 A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty; rescue them, and you will have to do it again.

Those that are of strong, or rather headstrong, passions, commonly bring themselves and their families into trouble by vexatious suits and quarrels and the provocations they give. To rescue them from such only encourages them to act the same way again.

Recently, while inching along in traffic, I saw two men in conversation on the sidewalk. One man was seated on a box at the end of the freeway off-ramp. He was gray-haired and tired looking, and he held a cardboard sign with a message written by an unsteady hand: "Please Help." The other individual was a Latino man. They shared a brief exchange, and the Latino man walked away.

As I slowly drove by the spot where the man in need sat on his box, I caught a glimpse of the younger Latino man walking down the street. I immediately recognized his gait—it was Juan, an immigrant who attends the church where I pastor. I pulled over, rolled down the window, and asked Juan if he needed a ride.

"No, my car is right there," he said, as he pointed in its direction.

Confused, I asked what he was doing walking down the street by the freeway.

"I just stopped to pray with that man and get him some food," Juan said.

"Oh! Uh, wow," I said. Then I drove off, moved by Juan's generosity.

I found out later that day that Juan has stopped before for the old man. A member of the church choir once witnessed Juan literally take the shirt off his back—a shirt his wife had just given him for Christmas—and give it to the man.

Needless to say, it didn't take long to realize that Jesus was showing me what it looks like to be a neighbor.  [Bill White, Paramount, California]

We can live with rage in hatred in our lives or we can be live Christ who lived with compassion, love, grace and mercy.

The name of The Lord is a fortified tower

Proverbs 18:10 (NIV)

10 The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

The saints' security in God. It is a strong tower to those who know how to make use of it as such. The righteous, by faith and prayer, devotion towards God and dependence on him, run into it, as their city of refuge. [Matthew Henry Commentary]

When I was a teenager, I stole a hat. What is worse, I arrived at the store with a wad of cash in my pocket. Staring at the price tag, I thought, Hey, why should I spend my money on that hat? I can get it for nothing by pinching it, then save my money for something else.

As I headed for the door, the store manager stopped me. I [suddenly] wished I were dead. The manager saw I was not yet a hardened criminal and sent me home with instructions to have my parents call him back with the news or he would call the police. I went home to take my lumps. To this day, I remember what my 18-year-old sister said when she overheard me confessing: "How totally embarrassing. I've got a brother who's a thief!"

She called me a thief! …

[But] becoming ashamed of what we are as a result of what we do is a good thing and a necessary part of getting real about guilt. If you commit adultery, you are an adulterer. If you lie, you become a liar. I stole, and I had become a thief. It led me to my room weeping and ashamed of myself. But that was good! Painful, but good.  [Adapted from John Ensor's The Great Work of the Gospel (Crossway, 2006), for the 5-18-10 entry in Men of Integrity (May/June, 2010)]

We all should remember the name of The Lord is a fortified tower. Keeping our minds on the righteousness of God and running to Him when we are about to fall keeps us safe 

Leaders

Romans 13:6-7 (NIV)

6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

These verses remind us that those who serve us, such as politicians, police, soldiers and other government officials are God’s servants. They are organizing and protecting a society and therefore they should be given respect and honor.

David Slagle, of Lawrenceville, Georgia wrote, my 21-month-old, who had just learned to say, "Daddy," had been struggling with asthma and an ear infection for two weeks. He coughed and sneezed continually, and his nose ran like a faucet. Each night when I came home, he ran to meet me at the door, smiling, coughing, nose running, yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!"

I was not repulsed by his runny nose or close range sneezes in the least (he "slimed" every shirt I own!). I love him deeply and enjoy his love for me.

I'm reminded that though I am sick with sin, God loves me deeply and desires that I run to him as a son crying, "Abba, Father."    

We need to remember God loves us and provides for us. God put the nations in place. You can read through the books of Kings in The Bible and see how God put the rulers in place. Some rulers were good and obeyed God and treated the people well. Other rulers were desired by the people and God in His love allowed them to have what they chose. But so often those rulers were evil and it wasn’t long before they were begging God to put in a ruler that had the nation at interest and followed God.

Remember if we allow it, God is in control. God will give us the right leaders that we should honor and respect.

Falling short of God's glory

Romans 3:23-24 (NIV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Here the apostle tells us that all have sinned. If God’s mark is 100% purity in righteousness, then everyone falls short of that 100%. Some may be 10%, others 40% and maybe even some close to 100%, but we still fall short of God’s glory.  God is not an unloving God, but instead by His grace allows us to be justified through the salvation of Christ Jesus.

Who are the real villains on Good Friday (or the story of Jesus' death)? It's kind of like the kid's TV show Scooby-Doo—that lovable morning cartoon about Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma, and their dog, Scooby-Doo. "The Gang," as they were called, were always getting themselves into trouble here or there—getting robbed, scared, lost. In each adventure, their task remained the same: discover and catch the villain. Whether the villain was a ghost, a witch, or any other ghoul, every episode would end the same—the Gang would catch the villain, and in every single episode, the villain turned out to be a person you'd never expect. We'd always assume the villain would be that really mean tour guide, or the obsessive park ranger, or the mean gasoline attendant from the beginning of the episode. But as the Gang ripped off the mask of the villain, it was always quite the surprise. The villain was always the really nice janitor, the sweet teacher, or the seemingly "good guy."

Good Friday is also like a children's book titled The Monster at the End of This Book. The story is simple—page by page, furry old Grover, scared as could be, pleads with the young reader before him not to turn to the next page because, as the title aptly claims, there will be a monster at the end of the book. Grover worries whether anyone will follow his timely advice. The reader, of course, never does. Then we soon come to the end of the book and discover who the monster is—it's Grover. He's the monster at the end of the book.

Grover and Scooby-Doo teach us precisely what Christianity has been trying to teach us about Good Friday: the villain and the monster aren't who we thought they were. In the Gospel stories, everyone fails; everyone sins against Christ—even the best disciples, even the "good guys." In the end, the villain is us.  [A.J. Swoboda, A Glorious Dark, pgs. 16-17 (Baker Books, 2015)]

The lyrics from the song The Hammer by Ray Boltz sums it up like this:

And I cried, "Who nailed Him there? This Child of peace and mercy. Who nailed Him there? Come and face me like a man.  Who nailed Him there?"

And the crowd began to mock me, I cried, "Oh my God, I do not understand". Then I turned and saw the hammer in my hand.

I nailed Him there. The child of peace and mercy. I nailed Him there. I am the guilty man.

I nailed Him there with my sins and my transgressions. I cried, "Oh my God, now I understand. When I turned and saw the hammer in my hand.

Serving Christ

Luke 9:23-24 (NIV)

23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

We must live a life of self-denial, mortification, and contempt of the world; we must not indulge our ease and appetite, for then it will be hard to bear toil, and weariness, and want, for Christ. We are daily subject to affliction, and we must accommodate ourselves to it, and acquiesce in the will of God in it, and must learn to endure hardship. We frequently meet with crosses in the way of duty; and, though we must not pull them upon our own heads, yet, when they are laid for us, we must take them up, carry them after Christ, and make the best of them. [Matthew Henry]

Benjamin Kwashi, a Christian leader from Jos, Nigeria, tells the following story of how the gospel came to his part of the country:

Missionaries came to my home area of Nigeria in 1907. One of them was a man named Reverend Fox. Reverend Fox was a professor at Cambridge University, and when he arrived his walk with Christ was so deep that he led many people to Christ. He founded a church and moved about 10 kilometers away to Amper, my own hometown, and founded the church there too. How a first-class person from the University of Cambridge was communicating to illiterates, I don't know, but God suddenly gave him favor and people were turning to Jesus Christ. So many people came to Christ that he wrote to his younger brother, who was a physician also in Cambridge, and asked him to come and help him because medical practice was needed. As his brother started the journey from England, Reverend Fox fell ill and died. Soon after his brother arrived, he also fell ill and died.

The Church Mission Society wrote to their father, who was also a pastor. When they told him he had lost two sons, he and his wife cried, but then they did something astounding. They sold their land and property, took the proceeds to the mission society, and said, "As much as we grieve the death of our two sons, we will only be consoled if the purpose for which they died continues." They gave that money and walked away.

Recently I looked through the profile of those two missionaries who came to my hometown. They both had first-class educations and degrees from the best schools. They died as young men—the oldest was only 32. They gave up everything to serve Jesus and bring the gospel to my country. Were they crazy? No, they had heard what Jesus had said, they believed it, and they were willing to stake their whole lives on the truth of Jesus' words. These men wanted to end their lives well. No matter how long or short their life, it wasn't going to be wasted, but they would invest it for eternity.

[Benjamin Kwashi, "Where Do You Want to Finish Your Life?" PreachingToday.com]

In need of healing

Luke 9:11 (NKJV)

11 But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.

He spoke unto them of the kingdom of God, the laws of that kingdom with which they must be bound, and the privileges of that kingdom with which they might be blessed. He healed them that had need of healing, and, in a sense of their need, made their application to him. Though the disease was ever so inveterate, and incurable by the physicians, though the patients were ever so poor and mean, yet Christ healed them. There is healing in Christ for all that need it, whether for soul or body. [Matthew Henry]

A friend recently asked friends to pray for the speedy recovery of her dad. He is 91 years old and has been working almost every day for 49 years in a hardware shop that he runs. He enjoys his work and would rather be there in the solitude of his hardware store than most anywhere else.

But like most of us we come to a point where we need healing; either for the body or the soul. In this case it was the body that needed healing. And even though we might trust in what modern medicine gives us, it sometimes lets us down. The good news is Christ will never let us down. He will do what is right for us.

My friend later replied after the request for prayers saying, “It worked! He was a little freaked out yesterday and my brother saved his life! Not worried like I was yesterday. He has heart issues yet all going to be treatable with a healthy salt free diet and lots of meds. He's not happy about that. Pills are not his thing. However, prayers were heard and he seems pretty good and may be at home tomorrow later in the day.”

God hears the voices of His people! He responds accordingly out of His love for us. So if you find yourself in need of healing for either the body or your soul take a moment and speak to God. Amen!

For the love of Christ compels us

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NKJV)

14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

We should not make ourselves, but Christ, the end of our living and actions: and it was one end of Christ's death to cure us of this self-love, and to excite us always to act under the commanding influence of his love. A Christian's life should be consecrated to Christ; and then do we live as we ought to live when we live to Christ, who died for us. [Matthew Henry Commentary]

Stephen Mansfield tells a true story about a church that had an incredible ministry to men. For years the driving force behind the men's ministry was a man named Taylor. His ministry rocked on for years, changing lives and impacting the community. But in the midst of a major transition within the church, Taylor got hurt deeply by his own community and he left the church. He wouldn't talk to anybody. People figured he'd come back eventually, but he didn't.

Finally, some of the men in the church took it upon themselves to reach out to Brother Taylor. After some discussion with the other guys at church they came up with a bold plan: they would set up camp in Taylor's yard—150 men! So they set up rotating shifts and said they wouldn't leave until Taylor came out. They had electric lines running from neighboring houses to power televisions. About twenty smokers and grills worked up some great barbeque food. They were in for the long haul! They even had big signs all over the place: "Taylor, come out." "We love you." "Taylor, we know you're in there."

Taylor didn't appreciate it. He even called the police on his former friends. As a matter of fact, the police showed up twice a day for almost a week. And every time they came, Taylor would came to the door to explain the situation. And every time the men camping in his year would explode with cheers until Taylor finished his chat with the police and went back inside.

But on the sixth day, when Taylor opened the door for the police and the men exploded with cheers, Taylor finally broke down and started crying his eyes out. He sputtered how sorry he was, and then he came out from his porch and greeted the guys who had camped in his yard and refused to go away. Such is the power of committed, persistent friendship. [Adapted from Stephen Mansfield, Mansfields's Book of Manly Men (Nelson Books, 2013), pp. 241-244]

The church is the body of Christ and the love of Christ compels us to live not just for ourselves, but for Christ. By living for Christ we share the love He has poured out for us.

The forgiveness of sin

Ephesians 1:7 (NIV)

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.

 It was by reason of sin that we were captivated, and we cannot be released from our captivity but by the remission of our sins. This redemption we have in Christ, and this remission through his blood. The guilt and the stain of sin could be no otherwise removed than by the blood of Jesus. All our spiritual blessings flow down to us in that stream. This great benefit, which comes freely to us, was dearly bought and paid for by our blessed Lord; and yet it is according to the riches of God's grace. [Matthew Henry Commentary]

Popular author and shame researcher Brené Brown recently talked about coming back to church after years away and the moment "the whole Jesus thing" finally clicked. She said:

People would want love to be unicorns and rainbows. So then you send Jesus, and people say, "Oh my god, love is hard, love is sacrifice, love is trouble, love is rebellious." As Leonard Cohen sings, "Love is not a victory march … it's a broken hallelujah." Love isn't hearts and bows. It is very controversial. In order for forgiveness to really happen, something has to die. Whether it's your expectations of a person, or your idea about who you are. There has to be a death for forgiveness to happen. In all of these faith communities where forgiveness is easy, and love is easy, there's not enough blood on the floor to make sense of that.

All of a sudden, it becomes clear why Christians take forgiveness to heart. The blood on the floor is Christ's own.  [William McDavid, Ethan Richardson, and David Zahl, Law and Gospel: A Theology for Sinners (and Saints), (Mockingbird, 2015)]

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin!

There is room in your heart for God

Psalm 14:1 (NKJV)

14 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.

The sinner here described. He is one that saith in his heart, There is no God; he is an atheist. "There is no Elohim, no Judge or governor of the world, no providence presiding over the affairs of men.' They cannot doubt of the being of God, but will question his dominion. He says this in his heart; it is not his judgment, but his imagination. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but he wishes there were none, and pleases himself with the fancy that it is possible there may be none. [Matthew Henry Commentary]

As an atheist university professor, Dr. Holly Ordway, was convinced that by definition faith is utterly irrational. She would eventually become a Christian, but prior to her conversion she used the following analogy to explain why, as an atheist, she could not consider the option of believing in Jesus and going to heaven:

Imagine that you tell me, "If you believe that there's an invisible pink unicorn in the sky, I'll give you a new BMW." I see the car in the parking lot; you jingle the keys in your hands. If I can believe what you want me to believe, the new car is mine. Cool! But it's a waste of time: I know there's no unicorn. No matter how much I want that car, I am incapable of believing something contrary to reason in order to get it. Believing something irrational on demand to get a prize: that is what the evangelical invitation to "accept Jesus and get eternal life in heaven!" sounded like to me.

Despite her skepticism, she went on to accept Christ and to write a book about her conversion experience called appropriately Not God's Type.

[Holly Ordway, Not God's Type (Ignatius Press, 2014), page 9]