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Tags: Men's Ministry, Missions, ways to serve, Women's Ministry
ARE YOU A SHEEP OR A GOAT? Deuteronomy 24:19-22
(Click on any link to take you to BibleGateway.com for the whole scripture.)
What would you do to save the life of a child?
There was a study done that demonstrated that if people were confronted by a huge need (1billion hungry), they were basically immobilized or paralyzed, but if they were shown the picture of one hungry child, they were much more likely to spring to action.
When we look at the OT we see it to be very practical – when you’ve harvested your grain or olives or grapes, leave the gleanings for those who are in need.
Of course this did not help the starving in Kenya, but then they had no way of knowing or doing in regard to them.
But what might they have done with the gleanings – after all, they planted the crop, they tended the crop – perhaps buy food they did not grow, or buy an animal, or buy another piece of clothing – their options were pretty limited, but they could have done something.
What do we do with our gleanings, or in modern terminology, expendable income? What is our expendable income – what is left after we meet our needs or after we meet our wants?
Care for the poor was part of the DNA of the Hebrew people, and when it failed to be they were condemned by God for their failure (Isaiah 3:13-15) – it was part of their value system – is it part of our value system, part of our DNA?
Why should it be?
1. Because it is of concern to God – Proverbs 22:22, 23.
I have two images here – one is that God is a defense attorney for the poor and is pleading their cause before an indifferent jury, but the second is that God is a prosecuting attorney and we are the accused trying to defend why we failed to help relieve their suffering!
If this concern of God flows through the OT and NT, do we think that perhaps it should be of concern to us?
2. Because God honors those who honor the poor – Luke 14:12-14 I have mentioned this concept found in Randy Alcorn’s book, The Treasure Principle, before – that you can’t take it with you but you can send it on ahead.
If you are going to live much longer post-grave than pre-grave, where to you want your capital invested?
Too many Christians live like Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead – if that is true then do with it as you please, but if you say Jesus is the Truth, then this passage in Luke 14 must be considered a promise worth claiming.
3. Because such care shows that we have sheep rather than goat DNA – Matthew 25:31-46.
I use this passage with caution for two reasons – one is that to some it promotes the salvation by works heresy – I heard a pastor at a funeral actually say this – and two is that the little ones Jesus speaks of may not be just anyone in need but his persecuted disciples.
That said, it would seem clear that a visible sign of God’s invisible work in us is that we are found to be caring for those in need, whether it be for fellow Christ-followers or for the stranger.
In Jeremiah 22:15, 16 caring for the poor and needy is equated with knowing God – there he is addressing those in power, but in this world who are the powerful?
• Who has the power to change the life of a child in need?
• Who has the power to provide clean water to a village?
• Who has the power to provide mosquito nets for dozens?
The reality is that no one in the world, despite the current state of the economy, has the amount of available gleanings as the American church .
We have them and we have the motivation, because we know the heart of God regarding the poor, we know that God honors those who care for the poor, and we know that to do so is to demonstrate and prove that we are sheep and not goats.
God has poured out his grace to us in Jesus – how gracious have we been in return?
Tags: Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jeremiah, knowing God, Luke, Matthew, Proverbs, the hungry, the poor
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WILL YOUR ANCHOR HOLD IN THE STORM? Hebrews 6:13-20
Tom Warner – August 22, 2010
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, e?he swore by himself, 14 saying, f? “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham,?3 g?having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes h?an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to i?the heirs of the promise j?the unchangeable character of his purpose, k?he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which l?it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope m?set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into n?the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone o?as a forerunner on our behalf, p?having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Do you ever stop to think about to what it is that your life is anchored?
As you know, I was born and raised in RI, and as you can see, RI has a state flag that has as its emblem an anchor and a banner with the one word, hope – appropriate for the so-called “Ocean State” – it is derived from our passage from Hebrews 6.
This passage not only uses the anchor analogy, but also alludes to mariners racing for the shelter of a safe haven in a storm – v. 18
And when securing a vessel in a storm, what is the single most important piece of equipment in a boat? The anchor.
But what piece of equipment when doing what it is designed to do is functioning unseen to the human eye? The anchor.
And in a storm, if this anchor fails, what is the likely result for the ship? It will be cast upon the shoals.
I have read a ton of books about sailing vessels on the ocean, and I am often amazed at the power of the wind and waves to cause the anchor to drag or for the lines to part in a storm.
And when the storm is raging, what is it that the mariner sees? The power of the sea – what does he not see? The anchor.
In such conditions the mariner has only two choices – succumb to the fear of what is seen, or put his confidence in that which is unseen.
However, for someone who has no anchor there is no safe haven and they must remain tossed about upon the sea or face certain destruction upon the shoals.
In our passage in Hebrews, the writer reminds us of the promise made to Abraham, a promise that continues to be fulfilled to this day whenever someone puts their faith in Christ, fulfilling the purpose for which God called Abraham – to be a blessing to the nations.
But not only was its purpose to be a blessing in the sense of drawing people into the Abrahamic family if you will, but it proves to us who are inheritors of this promise that God is faithful in fulfilling his promises.
We have a future hope that is proven by God’s faithfulness in the past which gives us courage to face the storms of life in the present.
As Hebrews 11 tells us, Abraham did not live to see the fulfillment of the promise – he had one son – hardly a great nation! Yet he believed the promise and the oath that confirmed it and by faith pressed on in life in the face of great odds against him.
We do not have a blind faith or a groundless hope, for we have the record of God’s faithfulness in the Bible and in the story of the church.
Our anchor of hope is set deeply in Christ and in what he has done for us, so that as the strains of life beat against us we hold to that hope and so we survive the storm.
As Paul said, we are not like others who have no hope.
So the question is, to what do you cling in the storms of life – to that which is seen, such as other people, money, education, possessions?
How faithful have you found them to be in all life situations? Is there a guarantee that they will always hold you when the waves crash against the ship of life?
When two large rogue waves crashed against Job, all of his outward security was gone, washed away, sunk, but he could say in the midst of this trial, I know that my Redeemer lives – and that anchor, that hope, held him fast through the long and lonely trial.
As our forerunner (prodromos) Jesus has gone ahead of us to guarantee an anchor in a safe haven – are you attached to him or is your anchor less sure? Are you trusting that he will hold you in every storm of your life?
Tags: Abraham, God's faithfulness, Hebrews
ARE YOU ENCOURAGED? – Hebrews 10:19-25
Tom Warner – Aug 15th, 2010
How many of you wake up each day feeling encouraged? When you go to work? At school? In your relationships at home or with friends? When you read the paper or watch the news?
In none of these areas is there a built-in assurance that herein you will be encouraged – in point of fact, it would seem that the world would militate against encouragement for all but the so-called lucky few.
The writer to the Hebrews is writing to a people who although they have yet to shed blood for their faith, are none-the-less facing some hard times both currently and certainly in the future.
He has taken great pains to demonstrate the overwhelming superiority of Christ in all things and now begins a discussion of how this applies to our lives as his followers.
He first mentions two things that we have – confidence to come before God because of the blood of Christ cleansing us, and a great priest who represents us before the throne of grace.
He then calls us to three actions based on the triad of faith, hope, and love.
1. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith
Just as the high priests ceremonially cleansed themselves in order to enter into the most holy place, we have been cleansed once for all so that we may draw near to God.
2. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope
As we encounter trials in life, remember the hope we felt when we first confessed our faith in Christ – we have a good future!
3. And let us consider…
I want to land on these verses for a bit, for herein is the key to being encouraged in this life.
The first thing he says is consider – in other words, the action that is to follow is not something that just happens on the spur of the moment – it’s like Paul’s instructions regarding giving – we should have already decided before we get here.
Undoubtedly we spend a lot of time considering our own needs and concerns, but the writer is drawing our gaze outward – beyond ourselves to one another – consider one another
For what end? To provoke – to spur – to goad! Usually this term or phrase is used in a negative sense in both Greek and English, and in fact that is perhaps how it was being experienced among his readers.
As kids we used to provoke one another through means such as name calling, and as adults we do it more subtly, and call it “pushing my buttons”.
Most good-willed people don’t spend time considering how to provoke another intentionally in a negative way, but do we spend time considering how to do so positively? How might you provoke another to be more loving – to do good more faithfully?
Well, maybe if you want to provoke someone to love you love them first, or if you want them to do good works of service you serve them first!
And what does this do – it creates an atmosphere of encouragement, where people want to be together, where people do not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing
We draw near to God (4:15, 16) and by his grace we draw near to one another to provoke and to encourage.
The God who has shed his grace upon us is calling us to likewise shed grace, mercy and love upon one another – I can provoke you for 30 minutes or so once a week, but it is so much more effective if you are in the mode of encouraging one another daily.
Look at the empty seats around you – do you know anyone who might fill them if they knew that they would leave this building emboldened to face the week ahead because you have spent time thinking about how you might provoke and encourage them?
Tags: encouragement
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