The "Whatever You Do" Virtues

Friends,

Christian author, Charles Colson tells this story in his book, The Body: Being Light in Darkness, p.163 -- one time, theologian Francis Schaeffer, shared a platform with former politician and urban leader, John Gardner.  Mr. Gardner spoke on the need to restore values to our culture.  After he finished speaking, a Harvard student asked him – “On what do you build your values?”  Gardner, usually articulate and confident, paused, looked down and said, “I don’t know.”  Colson says, “I have repeatedly encountered this same reaction when I have contended before scholars and college audiences, that…in a secular, relativistic society, there is no basis for ethics.  No one has ever challenged me.  In fact, in private, they often agree with me.”  I would affirm -- I am not certain what other answer could there be.  Without some set standard, such as that found in the Word of God, then there can be no set standard for values.  When this is the case, every individual is his or her own standard…so, there can be any number of millions of standards.  This is the kind of pluralistic world that we are living in today in many respects.  But, before we through dirt on a Christianity that some have settled in a six foot box, let’s not forget that the power is with God, not us. Humanism has no definitive answers to life’s big questions, but...God does.  People’s doubts and fears will be erased when they trust in the God that “shows up” when we least expect it, but who also is always there.

Paul shares with the Colossian believers (Colossians 3:12-17) that, in Christ, they have been blessed with distinct values, a set of standards. The challenge is to continue to live according to these values that are revealed.  Paul wants the Colossian believers to live holy, “set apart” lives, (the original word, which we are probably familiar with, is hagios).  There are some important motives for doing such, based upon what God has done for all of us.  God has chosen His people through His Son, Jesus Christ.  He wants for all men to come to salvation.  For those who “choose their chosenness” in Christ, these are able to find salvation in Him.  And as we have indicated, believers who have given their lives to Christ also have been set apart from the world and unto the Lord.  We are not our own, for those of us who are in Christ belong completely to Him. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) This is certainly a growth process for all of us, but I appreciate what Kyle Idleman says about this subject…that we do not get “to go to a ‘spirituality’ buffet” to pick and choose what we want and what we do not want.

We are motivated by love…by such unbelievable, yet believable love, that we have a Father in heaven who would give up His Son on our behalf, so that might be able to live eternally.  Related to this is another motive for Christians to understand -- forgiveness.  In Christ, God’s forgiveness is complete and final…it is not conditional or partial.  God is able to forgive guilty sinners (which is all of us), because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. He has forgiven us for the sake of Christ. (Ephesians 4:32)  And because of this love, we should live lives of love of gratitude, thankful for what God has done.  As we grow in our love for God, we also grow in our desire to obey Him…walking in a “newness” of life in Christ.

Now, based upon these motives, believers have a solemn responsibility before God. Following are eight spiritual values that we need to grasp and apply:  Tender mercies – we live with compassion (love) toward others.  The word is, once again, one of my favorites in the original, splanchnizomai…we feel deeply, an anguish for people, as from the bowels; Kindness – because of God’s kindness toward us, we likewise need to live with kindness toward others; Humility – while the pagan world of Paul’s day admires pride and domination, Jesus exemplified humility…thinking of the Father and others first, rather than Himself; Meekness – is not weakness, rather it is “power under control”…like “healing medicine,” such as the plasma that Kent Brantly is donating to Ebola victims in order to speed their healing process; Long-suffering – literally means, “long-tempered,” which is to forbear with difficult circumstances, people without retaliating…in other words, it is patience; Forbearance – which we just mentioned means to “hold up” or “hold back”…to be patient with one another.  God holds back judgment because of His grace. As with God’s virtue above, we also exercise -- forgiveness. Unlike the Father’s love, our love is frequently conditional and partial. But the more that we grow to understand and apply God’s love to our lives, we understand that this is not acceptable. We love and forgive those who offend and hurt us.  We do this because we come to understand how much we have been forgiven, and that we have no room to be carrying such fleshly baggage around as envy, anger, worry, hate.  It is simply not enough just to endure, but we must be active in our forgiveness.  Finally -- love is the most important of all Christian virtues and values.  All of the other qualities flow out from this, as if it is the headwaters.  Love binds all virtues together.

Paul moves from character to conduct. When we live according to God’s will, we experience the peace of Christ.  When we are not at peace, it is likely that we have somehow disobeyed the Lord. But, if we have peace in our hearts, then we will also be at peace with fellow-believers.  As seen in the parallel passage, Ephesians 5:18-19, we are likewise encouraged in other spiritual pursuits by living according to the Word – teaching, admonishing, singing, and praising are all able to take place in our lives if we are living to please the Lord and not ourselves.  As Christians, we bear the name of Jesus Christ…and it is His name that has authority.  Whatever we do in our spiritual walk needs to reflect that there is salvation in no other name, but Jesus. (Acts 4:12)

A few years ago Dr. Nick Stinnett of the Univ. of Nebraska conducted a series of studies in an attempt to discover what characteristics were common in strong families. He and his researchers discovered six qualities. And the first quality and one of the most important to be found in strong families was that of appreciation. They concluded that families which were strong were strong because family members expressed appreciation for what each member DID and for who they WERE. In a similar study another researcher looked into the effect of praise in the workplace. His study showed that the ratio of praise to criticism in the workplace needed to be 4 to 1 before employees felt that there is a balance - that there had be 4 times as much praise as there was criticism before those employees felt good about their work and about the environment they worked in.  (Both studies were reported in Richard J. Fairchild’s "Gratitude-A Necessary Attitude" 2001)

People need appreciation…they need praise. And they need to receive this four times as often as they receive criticism in order to have a healthy environment at work or home.  One of the things that Christians are often accused of is that they often do not look or act any different than those who live in the world…this is a problem. The Lord calls the Colossians…and us…“holy.” Once again, “holy” means “set apart for a special purpose”. People that are set apart for a special purpose live differently from the rest of the people around them.  God chose us in Christ because He sees great potential in us. Do we really want to be like everybody else, or do we want to be special and reach the great potential that God sees in us? Do we want to “live out our salvation”?  If we want to reach the place that God has for us, we need to recognize that we belong to a different family.  We must dress in the wardrobe of that family. We are to wear white clothes that have been given to us by our Savior.  We do not want to stain these clothes with sin, or even by living in the gray areas of life.  We need to have the “whatever we do” characteristics at work in our lives – compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, and love.  If we are in the Word of God, if we are at peace, by the grace of the Lord we will strive and thrive as His special people…and be thankful.

Blessings, Don

In the Word, not of the World

Friends,

Steve Shepherd shares this -- The most interesting thing about Tifton, GA is an abandoned Victorian house filled with thousands of bats.  Tift County declared the once-elegant house in the town’s historic district off limits after a bat specialist said that maybe 20,000 bats had moved in, apparently for good. Now, teenagers call it the bat house. People talk about the smell, which is a mix of urine and decaying wood. I have no intention to visit that bat house. Vacant houses get infiltrated with all kinds of creatures and probably not just bats. And many of these creatures make a mess, create a big stink, and eventually ruin that dwelling. But it doesn’t just happen with vacant houses, it also happens with vacant lives! If a person doesn’t fill their life with good stuff, the bad stuff and sometimes, the evil stuff, will move in and take over. God wants us to stay clean in this world and this will only happen when we let Him move in, that is, when we fill our lives with worship, prayer and service. (From a sermon, Our Walk in This World, 4/4/2011) I believe that this is the encouragement that Jesus is sharing with his disciples in this next portion of His high priestly prayer in John 17 (vv.13-19). If we do not immerse ourselves in the presence of God, then the world is going to have a much easier time infesting our lives and making us miserable. Jesus knows that if His disciples are going to survive and thrive in taking His message to a lost world, that message must be inside of them first…helping them, guiding them, and empowering them to be in the world, and yet not have the world be in them.

The Word of God is God’s gift to us.  It tells His story, the story of His Son, and it is empowered by the Holy Spirit to change lives.  In the world that we live in today, it is easy to take the Word of God for granted.  D.L. Moody wrote in the front of His Bible – “This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.” We live in a world where there is little joy.  A lot of people, including some Christians, look and act as if they have been feasting on some sour grapes…and it is not a pretty sight.  This is because sin or sinful attitudes regularly control their lives. Those who regularly spend time in the Word know that it is necessary to do so in order to be an overcomer.  And how does the Word of God help us to overcome the world?  One way is that it brings us joy (v.13), and this inward joy…the fruit of the Spirit…provides us strength to overcome. John has already shared that joy comes as the result of answered prayer (16:23-24).  It also comes from struggling and overcoming as our Lord was able to do. Jesus experienced many struggles as He ministered among fallen men, but He also had a deep and abiding joy.  Jesus’ joy was not affected by the fleeting mess of the sinful world, but the abiding enjoyment of relationship with His Father, the Holy Spirit and the Word. He did not depend upon, nor was He controlled by outward circumstances, but on inward spiritual resources.  It is this kind of joy that Jesus want us, His followers, to experience.

The Word also assures us of God’s love.  The world hates us…this becomes more evident with each passing day.  The world hates us because we do not belong to its system…and often times, we take the world’s bait, and try to fight the world on its terms.  This is never going to turn out well for Christians. But, we are able to confront this hatred with the love of God…a love, once again, that is imparted by the Holy Spirit through the Word. We must overcome the temptation to be as ugly as the world is in returning vile for vile…and allow the Holy Spirit to help us to be above the fray – we must love those who hate us and pray for those who persecute us, as Jesus shares in His Sermon on the Mount.

The Word not only brings us joy and love, but it also imparts God’s power for holy living (vv.15-17).  Jesus prays for security for believers in this prayer, but He also asks for sanctity – holiness. We are indeed in the world, but not of this world…and we must not live like the world. Some people would like to be “outside of the world”…and some people really are “out of this world” J…but such spiritual isolation would not keep evil from us or us from evil. True sanctification takes place on the inside, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  As we grow in faith, the more we experience this “cleansing”, and the less that we are willing to partake of the world’s offerings. This is spiritual growth!  You and I love sin less and we love God more.  You want to serve Him and be a blessing to others, rather than serve yourself, sin and the world. All of these matters help the truth of God to be worked out in our lives.  Once again, if we seek to be holy and right as the Lord is holy, truth is present – it is as much something that we live as what we know.  In fact, if we truly know the truth, then we will live the truth. And being made holy, sanctified, is not for the purpose of selfish enjoyment or boasting, it is so that we might represent Christ in the world and be an example to others of what it is to be Christ-like.

To consider these thoughts further, Mark Brunner shares this -- when we purchased Beech Springs years ago, we arrived in a valley that was filled by trees, trees and more trees. There was little lawn because the trees shaded it out. We would not need much in the way of landscaping, which was to my liking. There would be little need for a rototiller, a spade and a wheelbarrow here. I could focus on making wood and the necessary improvements that were needed on the inside of the house. Puttering with flower beds and the like was so tedious and, as opposed to making wood and other tasks like it, were slow in demonstrating any visible progress. That is, of course, until the elms in the immediate area began to succumb to disease. Suddenly spaces were opened…spaces that beckoned my wife to say, “Plant a sunflower here or nestle a poppy there!” It wasn’t long before a tiller and a wheelbarrow appeared on my gift list.  I have often thought how much like those flower beds you and I are as we daily walk in grace. It takes work to get us ready for growth in grace. Sometimes, the results aren’t so immediately visible. But, over time, the work and effort pay off. The flowers bloom and fade and come back again the next year that much more brilliant and bountiful. Phillips Brooks was a very busy minister, yet he always seemed relaxed and unburdened, willing to take time for anyone in need. Shortly before he died, someone asked him the secret of his strength and serenity. In a heartfelt response, Brooks credited his still-growing relationship with Christ. He responded, “The more I have thought it over, the more certain it has seemed to me that these last years have had a peace and fullness which there did not used to be. It is a deeper knowledge and truer love of Christ.  I cannot tell you how personal this grows to me. He is here. He knows me and I know Him. It is the most real thing in the world. And every day makes it more real. And one wonders with delight what it will grow to as the years go on.” (Our Daily Bread, October 14, 1994) God promises to “sanctify” us “by the truth” (John 17:17) in our daily walk with Him. That is, He will make us holy, set apart and cleansed through Christ Jesus. He doesn’t tell us that it is a work completed overnight, however. It is something that is ongoing like my wife tending those flower beds. As the faithful gardener He digs, weeds, tills and transplants in the gardens of our hearts. Then, when day is done, we are known to Him perfectly as we continue to grow in our knowledge of Him. It won’t happen overnight nor should it. Some of the best flower beds are those which are never completed.

We live in a very impatient world.  We often expect spiritual education and growth to happen instantly…overnight…but, this typically is not going to be the case.  It is much more like a marathon than it is a sprint. We must be patient concerning what the Lord is seeking to do with us.  He isn’t done with you or me just yet. As Jesus reveals in the Revelation, "if we are able to be faithful until death, He will give us a crown of life." (2:10) In this, we are not talking about “mediocre” faith, or faith “until things are falling apart around me" -- it is genuine faith, like that of the Centurion or the Syro-Phoenician woman.  When we are focused on what the Spirit of God is seeking to do with us though the Word, the world is not going be able to wreck us, but we will continue to grow to be more like Jesus, and being more like Him, day by day, is to be our goal.

Blessings, Don

Opposition and Proposition

Friends,

In a report on wnd.com by Michael Carl from September 17th, 2012, two U.S.-based religious freedom groups say that anti-Christian persecution is on the rise in America.  The joint report by Texas-based Liberty Institute and Washington-based Family Research Council says government agencies around the U.S. are trying to push Christian expression out the door.  “It is dramatic,” says Liberty Institute Founder Kelly Shackleford, of the recent hike in reported incidents of persecution.  “There are children being prohibited from writing Merry Christmas to the soldiers, senior citizens being banned from praying over their meals in the Senior Center, the VA banning the mention of God in military funerals, numerous attempts to have veterans memorials torn down if they have any religious symbols such as a cross, and I could go on and on,” Shackleford said.  Christian civil rights organization senior counsel David French says many of the new cases come from colleges.  “Our knowledge of incidents is only as good as the reporting,” French says.  “However, it’s clear that – particularly on college and university campuses – we have seen a significant rise in attempts to silence Christian organizations by the misapplication of nondiscrimination laws.”  French adds that many public facilities are also covering over Christianity.  “One of the most strident examples: the misuse of the Establishment Clause to attempt to ban any mention of God from historical markers, monuments or even museum exhibits,” French says.  “This represents an effort to whitewash God from American history and change our national identity.”  And this has not all occurred since 2008…“the seeds for these attacks were dropped in Supreme Court opinions in the ’40s, and it really began to take off in the 1960s.  The thing that is shocking now, and different, is that the attacks have dramatically picked up speed,” Shackleford says. “There can be as many as 100 new attacks per month.   While Liberty Institute has the highest win rate of any group in the country (at over 99 percent), we just can’t currently cover all these with our current resources.”  This is the world that we live in today, a pluralistic world of religion, and much of it is no longer friendly toward Christianity.  But, jumping to end of the “story”, we can put on our rose-colored glasses, for in this section, Jesus provides this important message -- "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33, NIV)

There are two important themes that run together in this section of John (15:18-27) – the opposition of the world against Christianity and the ministry of the Holy Spirit to and through God’s people.  Jesus has been talking about love, but now He discusses hatred.  The contrast between the way Christians are to treat one another and the way the world reacts to Christians could not be more evident.  Jesus has already mentioned that persecution will come…back in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:10-12), and in His commissioning message (Matthew 10:16-23).  Throughout John is it evident that as Jesus ministers for three years, the religious establishment not only opposes Jesus, but seeks to kill Him…there is a tide of open resentment, hatred and then open opposition against Him.  We must clarify what “the world” is, because it is really a three-fold concept -- it can mean the created world, (John 1:10), the world of humanity, (John 3:16) or society apart from God and opposed to God.  Sometimes, we call this this third aspect “the world system”.  This is what I have typically called it in order to differentiate.  From a Christian perspective, it involves all of the people, plans, organizations, activities, philosophies, values that belong to a society without God.  Some of these matters are cultural…but all have their origins in the heart and mind of sinful man and promote what sinful man wants to enjoy and accomplish, and so are corrupt.  What may seem right to the flesh is so wrong to the Spirit and to the spirit.  Christians must not love the world system (1 John 2:15-17) or be conformed to the world (Romans 12:1-2).  Jesus tells His disciples that their situation in the world will be serious and even dangerous.  If worldly people hated Jesus, they will also hate those who are identified with Him. (15:20)

When we trusted in Christ, we moved (or at least we were supposed to move) into a new spiritual position…we are now “in Christ” and “out of the world (system).”  We do live in the world physically, but are not to be of it spiritually.  This does not mean that “we are so heavenly-minded that we are not any earthly good,” but it means that we consider the things of this world from a different point of view.  The world system functions on the basis of conformity, and as long as a person follows the fads and fashions and accepts the values of the world, he or she will “get along.”  But, the Christian refuses to conform to the world. The believer is a “new creation” and no longer wants to live “the old life.”  It is apparent that we must live in a world of persecution and opposition, but how do we do it? What is the secret to success?  It is through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Jesus sends God’s personal power, the Holy Spirit, to indwell His people (Acts 2:38-39).  If we did not have the Holy Spirit within, we would not be able to serve the Lord in this present evil world.  We are to “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16), “worship in the Spirit” (Philippians 3:3, and “witness in the Spirit” (Acts 1:8). Believers can stand and withstand in the midst of the world’s hatred because of the special ministries of the Holy Spirit.  We will pursue this in the next section of John’s message.

Steve Goodier shares this -- when Henry Ward Beecher was a young boy in school, he learned a lesson in self-confidence, which he never forgot. He was called upon to recite in front of the class. He had hardly begun when the teacher interrupted with an emphatic, "No!" He started over and again the teacher thundered, "No!" Humiliated, Henry sat down.  The next boy rose to recite and had just begun when the teacher shouted, "No!" This student, however, kept on with the recitation until he completed it. As he sat down, the teacher responded, "Very good!"  Henry was irritated. "I recited just as he did," he complained to the teacher.  But the instructor replied, "It is not enough to know your lesson, you must be sure. When you allowed me to stop you, it meant that you were uncertain. If the entire world says, 'No!' it is your business to say, 'Yes!' and prove it."  The world says, "No!" in a thousand ways:  "No! You can't do that."  "No! You are wrong."  "No! You are too old."  "No! You are too young."  "No! You are too weak."  "No! It will never work."  "No! You don't have the education."  "No! You don't have the background."  "No! You don't have the money."  "No! It can't be done."  And each "No!" you hear has the potential to erode your confidence bit by bit until you quit altogether. Though the world says, "No!" to you today, will you determine to say, "Yes!" and prove it?

The world says “no” to the way we want to live for God…but the Holy Spirit empowers us to say “yes” to God and “no” to the world system.  Many believers want to have their cake and eat it too, as it relates to the fundamental spiritual battle that we face, but as Word of God reveals – if you willingly live compromised with the world system, then you are not Jesus’ friend…and furthermore, you quench the Holy Spirit’s power in your life.  I have seen the warning signs in people's eyes and heard it in their speech on numerous occasions (unfortunately).  The evil one is always looking to cause individuals to stumble by sowing seeds of discontentment, discouragement and distraction.  We must guard our hearts and minds, keeping sensitive to the heart and the will of the Lord by doing some regular self-examination, telling ourselves the truth with honest self-talk, standing firm in our commitment to spiritual disciplines and in our relationship with Him and our spiritual family.  We have a choice to make…and sometimes it occurs even on a daily basis…will we trust in the power of God through His Spirit in order that we will live like Jesus, or will we compromise our witness?  Be salt and light.

Blessings, Don