GROW UP
April 6, 2011
It’s not easy to grow up. Most of time we become so comfortable in the place that were at, that we don’t want to stretch, to reach, to risk for something new. Think of the challenges we face growing up; walking, toilet training, school, driving, work, paying bills).It’s true in life and it’s also true in faith. It’s been said that many Christians live with a third grade education. Meaning that they stopped coming to Sunday School in third grade. And so they live with that level of Christian Education. Have you dusted off your Bible? Have you participated in a Bible Study that stretched, informed and challenged your faith? Growing up is always hard work.
Pastor Jim
I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. [12] By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one-baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago!
The writer of Hebrews told his readers that it was time for them to grow up. They were still babies in the faith.
We are often babies in our faith too. The Pew Forum’s religious knowledge survey given in September 2010 included 32 questions about various aspects of religion: the Bible, Christianity, Judaism, Mormonism, world religions, religion in public life, and atheism and agnosticism.
The average respondent answered 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions correctly. Just 2% of those surveyed answered 29 or more questions correctly (including just eight individuals, out of 3,412 surveyed, who scored a perfect 32); 3%
Questions on Bible Knowledge On the other hand, most Americans are able to correctly answer at least half of the survey’s questions about the Bible. For example,
- Roughly seven-in-ten (71%) know that, according to the Bible, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
- More than six-in-ten (63%) correctly name Genesis as the first book of the Bible.
- And more than half know that the Golden Rule — “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” — is not one of the Ten Commandments.
On the full battery of seven questions about the Bible (five Old Testament and two New Testament items) Mormons do best, followed by white evangelical Protestants. Atheists/agnostics, black Protestants and Jews come next, all exhibiting greater knowledge of the Bible than white mainline Protestants and white Catholics, who in turn outscore those who describe their religion as nothing in particular.
If you were given a knowledge test about your faith, how do you think you would do? Do you know what you believe?
Many Americans are devoted readers of Scripture: More than a third (37%) say they read the Bible or other Holy Scriptures at least once a week, not counting worship services. But Americans as a whole are much less inclined to read other books about religion. Nearly half of Americans who are affiliated with a religion (48%) say they “seldom” or “never” read books (other than Scripture) or visit websites about their own religion, and 70% say they seldom or never read books or visit websites about other religions.
Baby food is great for babies, but as adults we need food that can nourish our bodies. As adults we also need solid food to nourish our faith. What are you eating? How are you nourishing your faith?
Be still and listen to what God is saying to you!
GOD-AND
April 5, 2011
We often think and hear that the problems of this world are success, wealth, peace and rest. God, certainly gives these to some of us. The problem is not the blessings, but rather where those blessings reside in us. If they are competing with Jesus for the affection of our hearts. That’s a Problem. It’s right here, in our self-centeredness, that we often then begin to use God to get what we want, instead of worshiping him as the Lord of our live. All of us wrestle with “God and” conflicts in our hearts from time to time. They can be hard to identify, because they often get mingled with Christian lingo and practices. We may look just fine on the outside while we are practicing idolatry on the inside. This conflict is what are pondering today.
Pastor Jim
2 Corinthians 11:3
And now I’m afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ.
How can you tell if we want things too much? Maybe by asking four more questions?
- What do we pray about?
If our prayers are usually only centered on getting more of God’s blessings, then we may be using God to get what we want. - How do we respond when someone has more than we do?
How deep is your compassion? When we someone get a new car, new clothes, a new job, or an scholarship, are we sincerely glad for them, or do we smile and pat them on the back but think, “She doesn’t deserve that. I do”? - Do we get angry when God doesn’t give us what we want? If we have a God-And demand, we are sure we deserve whatever anyone else has-and a little bit more. And Anger boils when it doesn’t arrive as planned.
- Do we feel sorry for ourselves when God doesn’t come through the way we wanted? Why me? Why is it always me? Doesn’t God care about me anymore? Self-pity rather than thankfulness moves us from “God-And” to “God, but”
This week:
- when you pray, don’t just go through the motions and hope God is happy with the effort. Look for Jesus. Listen.
- When you study the Bible, look for Jesus in each thought and each verse, and talk to him about what you find.
- When you worship, sing to Jesus himself, not for those around you.
- When you serve others, serve as if you were serving our Lord Jesus himself.
Be still and listen to what God is saying to you!
The Cross: Are You Beyond It?
April 4, 2011
Today’s devotion asks us to consider how we view the cross of Christ. There are crosses everywhere, we hand them around our necks, they hang from rear view mirrors in cars. We have them in our homes, on our shelves and on our walls. Some of our crosses have the body of Jesus on them and some of them are bare. The question to ponder this first Monday in April is; What does the cross mean to me? We’re in the fourth week of Lent and soon we will hear again of Jesus’ death on the cross from the gospels of Matthew and John. What will you hear differently this year?
The Cross: Are you beyond it?
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
The cross of Christ is not only the source of our salvation, it is our highest motivation, our clearest example of obedience, and it draws us to rich intimacy with the one who loves us that much.
Has the cross become trivial? It is a good luck charm that we wear to keep us safe from harm? Is it a reminder that you are loved today by the creator of all?
A lot of us think, I’ve done that. I became a Christian when I was a baby at baptism, or fifteen when I was confirmed, or when I married my spouse. If that’s you attitude, you have no idea what the cross is about. We need to think about the cross of Jesus everyday of our lives. We never get any deeper than the cross. Everything we say and do needs to be filtered through the sacrifice Christ made on the cross. At every crossroad in life, the question is not necessarily, “What would Jesus do?”, but more accurately, “What has he already done of the cross.” and “Will my decision honor the cross?”
Don’t take the cross of Jesus for granted. Don’t trivialize it by wearing it as a token without feeling intense gratitude for what it means. Don’t reduce Jesus’ death to only an example to follow. It is more. Our entire lives and all of eternity will be spent trying to grasp the power and the depth of what the cross of Jesus means. There is nothing deeper.
How does the cross shape: your identity? Your motivations? Your goals and desires? How you relate to other people, especially those who have hurt you?
Be still and listen to what God is saying to you!
The Crucible of Choice
April 1, 2011
Sacrifice. It’s not something that I wake up in the morning and think, Oh Great! Today I Get to Sacrifice my …time, abilities, energy, relationships, love, possessions). I tend to avoid sacrifice is possible. It doesn’t feel good. It often hurts. It goes against my will and my way. Thankfully, Jesus was willing to sacrifice it all, for me, even when I’m not willing to sacrifice for him. This is the lesson of Lent.
Matthew 26:42
He then left them a second time. Again he prayed, “My Father, if there is no other way than this, drinking this cup to the dregs, I’m ready. Do it your way.”
Today I’m quoting three paragraphs from the book, A Call To Die by David Nasser.
“As you and I walk with God, we feel the daily shaping of the word and the Spirit shaving off unwanted mess and conforming the contours of our attitudes and behaviors to be more like Christ. That is a continuous process, day after day. But so often, we experience the collision of our will against God’s. The reality of his call to obey breaks in and we simply don’t want to do it. In our flesh..we want out. However, as Christ chose obedience in his spirit, we, too, may chose obedience through his grace.”
“Jesus first asked the Father to take the cup of sacrifice away from him, but he affirmed his willingness to drink it. Then, when he sensed the Father’s confirmation, he accepted it as final. Between those two moments was a struggle in is soul so titanic in its intensity that blood vessels in his forehead broke and blood dripped from his face. The collision of wills took Jesus to the brink. It takes us there, too.”
“In psalm 63, David declares, “Oh God, you are my God.” He’s not stuttering. David’s saying the Lord of his life is the Lord of Lord. The question is not during the easy decisions times of life, but in the crucible of choice: Who is you God?”
Be still and listen to what God is saying to you!
God’s Ciriculum
March 31, 2011
I’m not a big fan of tests. My hands used to get all sweaty before I tool a test in school. It’s wasn’t joy. But that is what the writer of James says, “Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials.” Joy and trials are two words that don’t belong together. Yet, when I’ve failed at something, I remember those lessons far longer than the moments when I’ve succeeded at something. Joy is different than happiness. I’ve seen people full of joy and yet deep in sorrow. What test or trial are you being schooled in? It may be God opening your life to joy?
uses them to produce character and faith deep in our hearts.
God’s curriculum includes:
- enough joy to encourage us.
- enough love to strengthen us.
- enough success to build our confidence.
- enough suffering to force us to depend on him.
- enough confusion to make us seek his face.
That’s his curriculum. Don’t play hookey from his school. Be still and listen to what God is saying to you!
p.s.
This reminded me of a sermon illustration that many of you have asked for: I share it here–It’s called I WISH YOU ENOUGH
When we say, “I wish you enough,” we are wanting the other person to have enough good things to sustain them. The wish goes like this:
“I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough adversity so the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to be grateful for all you possess.
I wish; you enough hellos to get you through the final goodbyes.”
The father looked at the other man and said, “I wish you enough”… and then he turned and walked away.
