Jun 11, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
When you’re talking to someone, and you are not very near each other, you have to shout in order to hear what each other is saying. The closer you get, the more softly you can speak, to the point that your mouth can be just by the person’s ear, and you can communicate what you want to say with nought but a whisper.
When I first began to walk with the Lord, I felt like I heard Him loud and clear. When I prayed about something, the answer was almost a shout — like He was making sure I knew He was there, He was helping me to learn to trust Him, helping me to learn to recognise His voice. As the years have gone by, however, it seems His voice has grown more quiet. This could be a discouragement, if I were not thoughtful about the Lord’s ways, and perhaps His motivation in drawing more quiet.
If someone is speaking to you quietly, you have to draw nearer to listen. As long as they’re shouting, you can stand at a good distance and still get the message. But as the voice of the Lord becomes a still, small voice, He invites you — as deep calls out to deep — to draw nearer and nearer, to listen. Â Perhaps the goal in this is that we can draw so very close to the Lord that our ears are upon His chest, and we are listening to the very beat of His heart.
What untold riches there are at the foot of the throne of Jesus! But perhaps even more treasures may abound, the closer you draw to the heart of God.
“…and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave…” Â 1 Kings 19: 11-13
Jun 6, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
For the past few days, I have been sensing a feeling of uneasiness…like a bit of distance from the Lord that I didn’t understand. I was reminded of His word that says, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1&2) As that came to mind, I continued to ask the Lord what it was that was making me feel like we were separated, and why He felt far away. (Be reminded, if the Lord feels far away, it’s normally you who moved.)
At first I didn’t get a sense of what the matter was, so I went on about my business. Then last night as I lay in bed, a memory came to mind from about five years ago. An incident that I won’t go into detail about happened, which left me feeling cheated, angry, frustrated, guilty and even ashamed. Mind you, this was no major incident — really not a huge deal — so it was strange to me to be reminded of it all these years later, and to think hmmm….what is it about this that is so unsettling to me, and why am I struggling to put it away?
I was suddenly reminded of a statement a friend of mine who is staying with us at the moment made — “The two ways we usually deal with sin are blame and shame.” This might be a rather rough paraphrase, but it was enough to get me thinking about the incident I’d been mulling over from the Lord’s perspective, and to realize there was a depth and breadth of issues within it that I needed to deal with. First, I blamed myself because the incident put a dear friend of mine in a situation that was uncomfortable for her. The Lord showed me the truth: this was not my fault, the free will of other people placed her in that situation — people choosing not to follow the Lord. I also discovered that because of that, and everything else that happened, I felt ashamed. Ashamed that I’d put my friend in that situation, ashamed because I felt like I’d compromised, and ashamed that I hadn’t listened to my gut instinct that “something was fishy”. I repented for not listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and God reminded me of His goodness.
I also needed to extend forgiveness to the person I trusted who hurt me and put both of us in that situation. I needed to acknowledge that I’d been trying to cover myself because I was ashamed of what happened. I needed to turn to the Lord and ask His forgiveness for covering myself and hiding instead of committing all this to Him.
Back in the garden, Adam and Eve were ashamed of their sin and began to cover themselves and hide from the Lord, and we often do the same thing today. Sometimes we do it because we don’t want to be seen in our sin. When I was a kid, if I had disobeyed my parents, I ran and hid. This was because I didn’t want the spanking that was due to me as a punishment for my misbehaviour. They often had a difficult time finding me, and as a result, I didn’t get as many spankings as I deserved! Often I think today I’m still hiding and hoping I won’t be found, instead of dealing with something because I don’t want punishment. If I had been honest about what I’d done, I might have even been forgiven, and received a lesser punishment!
The good news of the Gospel, however, is that Jesus took the punishment for our sin (the eternal separation from God we deserve) on the cross. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. We need to learn to forgive those around us, knowing that the forgiveness we receive has a direct correlation to the forgiveness we extend. We need to learn to stop hiding from God because we’re ashamed of our sin. The great and glorious Good News is that we can turn to God, and He will deliver us, and remove our shame.
David prayed, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed.” (Psalm 34:4&5) God is willing and waiting to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God promises this over and over again! David prayed, “I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:5) And again He promises: “…Then you will know that I am the Lord, For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.” (Isaiah 49:23)
God is so good! He was waiting all along to help me deal with this past hurt, and I finally brought it to Him so He could show me the truth, and His desire for me to walk free from shame, blame, and condemnation. He can convict us, cover us, and cleanse us instead! May we all learn to turn to the Lord quickly, to be honest about our mistakes, and to let Him remind us how much He loves us, and how, even when we’re behind the bushes somewhere sewing fig leaves, He still wants a relationship with us, and He wants to make us whole.
The sermon in a nutshell: Don’t hide from the very Being who can set you free from the the shame, the guilt and the condemnation of your past! Â He wants to walk with YOU, and to make you whole!
Jun 1, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
Have you ever heard this song? Â I was thinking about it this morning for some reason. It’s been remade on a David Crowder Band CD, but Alison Krauss sang it before that… not sure where it came from honestly. As I was pondering that popping into my head, I realised how incredibly true that statement is, in light of what the Lord has been speaking to me about lately. On the surface you think, yeah clearly, nobody (for the most part) really wants to die, but, if there is a heaven, the average Joe on the street would say, “count me in on that one, big man.”
At a deeper level though, honestly, we are all called to die, on this side of heaven. I’m not speaking in the sense of just kicking the bucket and pushing up daisies, I mean, the Christian call is a call to die to yourself, day after day, and to live in Christ. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) Why is this so dang hard? Because I am selfish and I want to do what I want to do.
I’ve been reading a great book lately (finally) called The Bait of Satan, by John Bevere. It has absolutely challenged me to remember the essential elements of what Jesus was instructing His followers to do, and the type of life He was calling them to live if they wanted to be His disciples.  Here are a few of the mind-blowing statements I’ve been reviewing in the Scriptures that are deeply challenging to me:
“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. — Matthew 5:44 Sometimes I don’t even want to pray for brothers or sisters in the Lord who are getting on my nerves!!
“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” Ephesians 4:29 Wow.
When Paul is discussing the lawsuits among the believers in the Corinthian church:Â “…Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?” (1 Cor. 6:7) In other words, instead of taking offense and fighting for ‘justice’ when you feel someone has wronged you — why not let it go, refuse to carry offense around with you, and trust God to be your defender?
It’s likely that many of you will read these, as I do myself, and say, yeah yeah yeah I know that. But do we know it? The greatest challenge for me has come from considering 2 Timothy 3. Paul warns us about perilous times and perilous men. He says that men will become lovers of themselves, lovers of money…unthankful, unholy, unforgiving….having a form of godliness, but denying its power…always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Did you hear that? We can study the Word and listen to podcasts all day long. We can read Christian book after Christian book, pass through a Bible course or even a seminary with flying colours, we can sit under some of the greatest teaching pastors and speakers or our time, but if we are not applying the Word of God to our lives, obeying it and doing what it says, we don’t know Jesus, and don’t have a part in Him.
Paul goes on to encourage Timothy to keep walking in godliness: “you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Our works will never never justify us — it is through faith in Jesus that we find salvation. But if we have no works to demonstrate that we do believe, then do we really believe? James put this well: “But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” He goes on to explain how faith works together with works, and (as an example), by works, Abraham’s faith was made perfect. When we obey God, we choose to die to our own selfish desires, and in this death, friends, there is life in abundance!
The Sermon in a Nutshell:Â The conclusion of the matter seems always to be the same for me, well summed-up in a cherished old hymn: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust AND obey.”
May 20, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
Matthew 22. Parable of the Wedding Feast. Wow. Praise our amazing God — who saw it fit to speak in parables, so that those who desire to get their hands dirty and wrestle with understanding will find life and encouragement, and truth.
Jesus spoke this parable to the chief priests and the Pharisees. It was a stern warning against their self-righteousness. At this point, the ‘religious folk’ were already pretty ‘peeved’ at Jesus’ preaching, and were trying to figure out how to ‘lay hands on him’ (but not in a nice way). Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them. (Mark 4:12 / Isaiah 6:9,10)
In the parable, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a king who arranged a marriage for his son and then sent out his servants to call the people who were invited to come, but the people weren’t willing to come. He sent out other servants, saying “Tell them it’s ready! Come to the wedding.” But the people who were invited made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. When the king heard, he was really really ticked. He sent out his armies and destroyed the murderers and their city. Then he sent his servants out to the highways to invite as many as they found to the wedding. So they did gather together all whom they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was packed out for the par-tay.
Then the king came in to see the guests, and he saw a man there who didn’t have on a wedding garment. He was like, “Dude, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” And the guy was speechless. So the king said, “Handcuff him. Footcuff him. Take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus ended all this by saying, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
What inspired me to dig a little deeper into this was the realisation that I hadn’t the foggiest idea why that one dude got kicked out just because he wasn’t wearing the right thing. Like what if he was poor and couldn’t afford a wedding garment? Or what if he spilled something on it last week — they didn’t have oxiclean back then! Â But my friends, there is so much to more to the story than just what not to wear!
In this parable, praise God, the feast is the Gospel. It is a continual feast of good things — forgiveness and pardon from sin, favour of God, peace of conscience, hope of eternal life. The King, God, provides this eternal feast for us, through Christ, and His work on the cross. The original invited guests — the Jews — RSVP’d “B.B.R.” “Busy Being Righteous.”
This is Jesus’ indictment against the religious folk of the day — they should’ve been rejoicing that the promised One had arrived, but they were too concerned about losing their power and status to believe Him. The prophets of old were unsuccessful in their continual invitations to the Jews to believe the Gospel. John the Baptist was unsuccessful, and so was Christ himself. They told the Jews the entertainment was almost ready — the kingdom of God was at hand. The apostles and ministers of the Gospel were even sent after the Resurrection, to tell them it was come, it was quite ready; and to persuade them to accept the invitation. The natural man neither discerns, nor desires, the things of the Spirit of God.
The invited guests made light of the invitation — “perhaps the messengers are making too big a deal out of it? It’s probably not all that great.” They could feast just as well at home. Multitudes perish for indifference. It’s kind of like they’d seen invitation after invitation in their Facebook inbox and they were like, “I’d rather just chill out at mi casa.” Clicking ‘ignore’ is missing the feast of all eternity.
So the businessfolk and the farmer folks rejected the invite, (let not your work distract you from the One thing that is needful) and the others — who would’ve been religious leaders, if they weren’t tradesmen — treated the King’s servants spitefully. Like Saul of Tarsus who became Paul, many have persecuted the messengers of God. Â In speaking of the King’s armies, Jesus is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem and the death of many many Jews at the hand of the Roman armies, 40 years after his time. That happened people!
Now here’s where the story gets really good for us — the invitation is extended to the Gentiles. And unless you’ve some Jewish heritage in your back pocket, this is good news for you! The Lord has extended the invitation to all, through Christ, to enjoy the goodness of the Gospel and right relationship with God. But what of the gent who pitches up in the wrong outfit? This is a warning we should definitely listen to. You or I might be just like him.
There are many professing Christians in the Church today. But when the King comes in, (when God returns in all His glory) He is a discerner of hearts, and He will know who belongs and who doesn’t. As Matthew Henry puts it, “How durst thou claim a share in gospel benefits, when thou hadst no regard to gospel rules? […] Despised sabbaths and abused sacraments must be reckoned for, and judgement taken out upon an action of waste against all those who received the grace of God in vain.”
Jesus is teaching the fear of the Lord. This man, afterwards, could not speak. He was convicted and without excuse. It will be better in the day of judgement for those who never heard about Jesus than for those who heard and did not take heed to follow Him and obey His commands.
So what the heck was this guy trying to wear to the feast? His own righteousness. He was trying to get into the feast on his own merit, in view of his good deeds and good works. Listen to Jesus, people! Your own good works are never going to be good enough for a holy God. Fear God and obey His commands! What TO wear: the righteousness that Christ lived out, and died to give you.
Many are called, but few are chosen:
Setting aside those who made light of the invitation, as well as those who make a profession of religion, but the temper of their spirits and the tenour of their conversation are a constant contradiction to it; setting aside the profane and the hypocritical, you’ll find that few, very few, are chosen … many are called to the feast, few chosen to garment — to salvation, by sanctification of the Spirit.
The Sermon in a Nutshell: Jesus often talked about people being really surprised in the judgement day. “Jesus we were pals! You know me! You’re my buddy — it says so on my t-shirt.” “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Your mission, should you choose to accept it, and your invitation, should you choose to receive it, is to accept the gift of salvation bought for you on the cross by Jesus, and then to begin to demonstrate that you understand the significance of the gift of Jesus by loving Jesus and obeying His commands. Jesus’ invitation is the only invitation you’ll ever receive to the feast that will last for eternity. Don’t click ‘ignore this invitation‘!!!
xCC
May 16, 2009 | Scotland, Stories
Some friends of mine from church here in Edinburgh were part of a mission trip to Nepal a few weeks ago. They helped make a very special Pastor’s Conference happen and, among other things, also began looking into the possibility of helping with the great and grave issue of human trafficking there. This is especially a problem among young Nepali women who are often lured to India with the promise of work, and tricked into forced labour in the continually burgeoning sex industry there. They also visited a wonderful native of Nepal named Nima who was a classmate of mine at the University of Edinburgh. He studying in Edinburgh, but doing field research back in his home country, because he has a heart to see the Gospel effectively spread in Nepal through church planting. Through Nima (whose family currently resides here in Edinburgh) these connections between our local church and the people of Nepal have begun to form. Exciting stuff!
A friend of mine named David was among those on the trip — some of you may remember the story of how he was my first letting agent in Edinburgh, (translation for the Americans: he rented me my first flat/apartment) and was a great blessing to me as my life started here. David shared the following story with me. It is both inspiring and challenging. I hope it touches your heart, too.
One Day a beggar woman that lived in a temple was going down to the river when she saw in the distance a man throwing a sack into the river. He noticed her and ran away. She thought he may have stolen something and so she began to walk over to investigate. The dogs beat her there and were dragging the bag and trying to open it. She arrived and scared them off. Slowly she opened the bag to find a small baby inside, only a few days old. She gathered the baby up and took her back to the temple where she lived and begged for money to survive. She cared for this child for 9 years until she died.
A woman from a church heard about the child (called Didi) and contacted Shanta (pronounced “Santa,” this woman runs the Peace Rehabilitation Centre the team visited) to ask her if she would take the child in. Shanta of course said yes. Sadly the day that the beggar woman died the gurus at the temple raped the girl. Shanta went the next day to see the little girl and asked her if she would like to come with her. She said yes and PRC would become her home and family where she would be educated, find healing and love.
Fast forward many years. Didi had many offers to marry as she grew to be a beautiful young woman, but she turned them all down. One day another man came to ask her if she would marry him. He had been stricken with tuberculosis of the spine as a child, which left him very disabled. To everyone’s surprise, Didi said yes. Shanta asked her why she would choose to marry this man, and this was her reply. “Mommy if I do not marry him who will? You took me in when no one else would, and showed me love. Jesus sacrificed his life for me when he did not have to. I will sacrifice all I have to care for and love this man.”
We had the privilege to meet this couple in our last few days in Nepal. They have two children and you can see the love in their eyes for one another.
Wow. We have so much to be thankful for. And so much work to do. Lord help us to remember, despite how much so many of us have, how BIG, how great, how amazing, and how magnificent a gift the sacrifice of Jesus is, to those of us who have received Him and for those who still need to know.
May 7, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
Weddings are awesome! This past weekend, I celebrated my sister’s wedding. I had the privilege of serving as her matron of honour (can I say maid though? — that just sounds old!) and of organising her bachelorette party, and there were lots of other special moments, where I just rejoiced that God had answered our prayers by bringing an awesome and godly gentleman into her life. I have long long awaited this special moment, and am overjoyed that it has come to pass! Â Praise the Lord! Yay for Dodi and Andy!
The funny thing about a special weekend like this is that afterwards, as life begins to get back to normal, and you begin to remember all the little things on your plate, concerns for your future, perhaps even financial concerns, you can sort of get some post-wedding (or post-anything-you’ve-been-long-waiting-for) blues. Totally common I suppose. So by Tuesday morning, I was still happy to be in North Carolina (even though there were thunderstorms and I really wanted to enjoy some warm weather and sunshine) but at the same time, I was feeling a little “blah” considering what’s ahead for us when we return to Scotland — financial challenges, spiritual challenges, relational challenges, etc. The first thing I should do when I’m in a funk like that? Open my Bible and get out of it. Monday morning I did dwell in Psalm 91 for a bit, but I must admit it was a half-hearted effort that ended in a nap.
Tuesday, instead of Bible time, I opted for shower time. Slack! However, in the shower, I looked up and saw a Scripture I’d put on the wall some time ago — an encouragement about the goodness of God. In that moment, I was so encouraged in being reminded of the goodness and faithfulness of God — those who look to Him are radiant, and they are never put to shame. This simple reminder of God’s goodness brought a flood of encouragement, and I felt the Lord simply remind me of the principle of compound interest.
I’ve heard that Albert Einstein once said, “The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.” If you’ve studied finance at any stage, you’ll find that it is truly an incredible principle. Simple interest is only calculated on the original investment. But with compound interest, a one-time investment of £10,000 with 12% interest, compounded yearly, will amount to £299,599.22 after 30 years. If the interest is compounded quarterly, you’ll have a whopping £347,109.87 in the same amount of time!
What I felt like I was to understand from the Lord regarding that moment was that just as the solid investments we make in the natural world will generally pay off in the long term, the spiritual investments we make will definitely have long term rewards and returns — with great interest. I’d previously invested time and effort into my relationship with the Lord — in studying and thinking about His Word regularly, in prayer and fellowship with Him, and in a moment when I simply needed to be reminded of His goodness, those investments brought a return — the reminder was there, just when I needed it.
The greater picture, I think, is that investments in a relationship with God will bring exponential compound interest over time. The Scripture actually promises blessing for your children’s children if you love God and obey His commands. (Psalm 103:17) And when times are hard, the efforts you make to learn God’s Truth, and put it into your heart will pay off. God’s Word in Your heart will keep you from disobeying Him when temptation rears its ugly head in a tough moment — I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Ps. 119:11) If you make room for God (see this post for more thoughts about that) and for His Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart, He will help you find joy in times of sorrow. If you deeply endeavour to believe God is good in every circumstance, when you’re not in the middle of a battle, then it will be easier to hold on to the Truth when the battle rages all around you. If you don’t have that Truth firmly implanted in your heart, then your faith is likely to be rocked whenever your world is.
Amazing fruits will be present in your life if you allow the Holy Spirit to be present and at work in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If you walk by the Spirit, you won’t carry out the desires of the flesh. Even if the investment is as simple as deciding to begin reading a chapter or two of Scripture a day, and then committing to obey what the Word says, you can expect exponential returns on your investments with God. You’ll never out-give Him, out-bless Him, or out-do Him. His Peace, His Truth, and His Presence will mark your life in ways you never expected — and you might just think to yourself, “Wow, that investment of ten minutes a day has brought a return I never expected! I’m gonna bump it up to twenty!”
The Sermon in a Nutshell: Spend more time thinking about the investments you’re making towards eternity. It’ll put the cares in this life into perspective. Whether the economy you’re living under booms or busts in this lifetime, your investments in God’s eternal economy will always bring incredible return — in this life, and the next.
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