The Grass is Greener...Right Here!

In the NT church in Corinth there was this crazy, almost American, unsettledness that caused the members to think that the ideal spiritual life was...somewhere else. That is, if they were unmarried, marriage would be the entryway to a spiritual Eden. If they were married, especially to an unbeliever, the single life was the way up and in. If they were slaves...get free or remain a spiritual pygmy. Underneath it all there seemed to be this thought, not at all foreign to ME, that they could not realize the true freedom in Christ which was their lot unless their situation changed.

The Apostle Paul answers that thinking with a clear, settling, God-centered view of WHERE I AM:

"...Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him." 1Corinthians 7:17

Married or unmarried, working for someone else or self-employed, kids at home or empty-nester, senior citizen or teenager, college-degreed or street-smart, physically handicapped or tri-athlete, raised up in a godly home or a child of abuse, in an apartment or my own home, in the perfect church or a Corinthian-like mess, tight finances or picking fruit daily from the money tree...

The ultimate reason we are where we are is...the Lord. He has "assigned" us and "called" us to the place in life we occupy. Note: HE has assigned us and called us to this place. Not fate or chance or stupid choices (though there may have been plenty of them!!) or discrimination or Satanic evil. Why has He assigned us this place? That we may learn to walk with Him HERE, in humility and dependence. "So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain WITH GOD." 1 Corinthians 7:24

If God has assigned me this place then it is a place where GOD IS. It is a place where I can thrive spiritually and walk with Him. It is a place where all the promises of God apply. It is a place where the Holy Spirit of God will fill me with His fruit and gifts and help. It is a place where my cries to God will be heard as well as any other place on earth. It may NOT be EASY, but easy is not the way to spiritual growth.

May the Lord who assigns and calls to THIS PLACE free me to pursue Him NOW and HERE, believing that the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence. May He free me to take my eyes off of whoever or whatever I have charged with my stunted spiritual life and set them resolutely on Him. HE IS THE GREEN GRASS, wherever I am.

Hard-headed ministry

Has the Lord given you someone to minister to who is exceptionally challenging? It may be an unbeliever or a believer. Perhaps a spouse or teenage child or boss or even a fellow church or small group member.

Ever feel like giving up? Ever feel like their hard-headedness or hard-heartedness is going to win out?

Ezekiel had a whole NATION of hard-heads and hard-hearts to prophesy to. God told him on the front end of his ministry:

"But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me. Because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart." Ezekiel 3:7

Well, so much for the glamor of ministry! Any bubble that Ezekiel had about the masses ooohing and ahhhhing over his prophecies was graciously popped by God before his prophetic ministry began. He knew what he was facing and it would take super-human persistence and endurance to do it well and finish well.

HOW could he serve a granite-headed people for years without throwing in the servant's towel?

God promised to make Ezekiel equal to the task.

"Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house." Ezekiel 3:8-9

In essence, God said, "I have made you equal to the task. They will be resistant as stone, but I have given you a steel-will to keep speaking my word to them. They will give you looks that could kill, but I have given you flak-jacket heart that will keep looking to me."

God can and will make us as graciously hard-headed as sin can make others hard-headed and stubborn. He will make us hard-headed enough NOT to stop trusting Him for love and courage and compassion and wisdom and plain 'ole hang in there toughness.

Don't give up! Cry out to God for a hard-headed ministry.

Ownership Comes at a Price

I love my pda. I have had my Tungsten T5 for about 2 1/2 years now and it is like a right arm to me. It is filled with study resources and tools and loads of pictures of the family and mission trips and schedule reminders. Between the device itself and the programs I have purchased and loaded it has COST ME PLENTY!! I am VERY careful to keep track of my T5. I have it with me almost all the time either in my fannypack (I am the nerdy local who looks like a tourist) or pocket. You might say I am JEALOUS over it. I am.

In 1Corinthians 6:19-20 we are reminded by the Apostle Paul that a great price has been paid for us by God and as a result we are not our own.

"...Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

Bought with a price. That price was the very life blood of God the Son, poured out in His unparalleled suffering of the cross. And that price was not paid so that I would be CALLED God's child and then live for myself, as though I still own the keys to the front door of my heart. No, the price has been paid so that I am no longer my own. The result? I am to live to glorify God in my body.

God rightfully owns me because He gave His Son for me. Therefore, He is jealous over me. He keeps close tabs on me. In fact, He is so jealous and so diligent to watch over me that He has taken upresidence WITHIN me! My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

All of this tells me:

• This temple of God's should be kept HOLY. My mind and body should be free from junk reading and eating. The visual images I load into my mind's pda do not delete. The extra pounds I am carrying on my body at this time do not give me more physical "curb appeal" to God or others. If God himself is in residence in my body, I should keep it more clean than when I have special guests in my home.
• God has the right to the first and last decisions in every area of my life. I am not my own. My time is not my own. My money is not my own. My body is not my own. My talents and gifts are not my own. The direction of my thoughts is not my own. The response to irritating drivers is not my own. Wow, nothing is my own to use as I will but as HE wills. Why? I have been bought with a price.
• What a glorious love God has loved me with! Why would He spend the life of His Son to purchase me? Why? The answer is not in me. The answer is in the infinitely loving heart of God. He is an extravagant Lover. And He is jealous over what He has paid dearly for. Keeping sight of this beyond comprehension love makes personal holiness and bowing to Lordship a whole different matter.

My OWNER is the GREAT LOVER of my soul. Ownership came at a price for Him.

4 Inches of Life

It is a good thing to be reminded just how short my life is. When I am healthy and full of energy and busy with work and family life seems like it will just go on forever. In the busyness I do not often take the time to meditate on the shortness of my days.

In Psalm 39 King David is suffering, possibly from physical illness. He is struggling inwardly with all the questions that suffering raises to the surface. He is trying to be careful to hold his tongue so that he does not say anything that shows disdain for the Lord or that questions His goodness. When he finally speaks, the outpouring of his soul includes questions and statements regarding the brevity and frailty of his life. He says,

"O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!" vv.4-5

God has made our days a "handbreadth." A handbreadth was the distance across the 4 fingers of the hand, about 4 inches. My life...a few inches of time. From where I stand most of the time life looks endless. I am strong and healthy and encouraged (much of the time) and life for this guy looks like kilometers or miles! But against the backdrop of eternity, in comparison to God, I can measure my life with a grade school ruler.

A few implications from this truth:

• I need to live with the END in mind. If I am in Christ, eternity in Heaven is my permanent lot. Life is for loving and serving God in a way that lays up rewards that will be measured in more loving and serving God through the endless ages to come. As Randy Alcorn says, "You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead." What are you sending ahead?
• Humility. I tend to think that my life is the BIG PIECE of the puzzle of what God is assembling in this world. Surely the impact of my life is what the church through the ages has been waiting for and the angels in heaven have been longing for. But my life is one small, short piece. A piece to be sure, by God's grace, but one amongst the numberless multitude that Christ will win as a reward for His sufferings and that He will use to bring universal applause to His name when it's all said and done.
• God is my hope. David writes in v.7 of Psalm 39, "And now, O Lord, for what do i wait? My hope is in you." I can forever moan over the brevity and frailty of my life or I can turn my heart's gaze to the ETERNAL ONE, who sovereignly and purposefully controls all things. My confident expectation is that God is FOR ME, the 4-inch life, with plans and rewards that are quatrillion of miles in length...and that's just the warm up phase!

A proper view of a short life is meant to lead us to a LONG look at our eternal God.

Evangelism and Fishing

The first disciples Jesus called were fishermen. As Jesus always seemed to do, he told them what He would make them in terms they well understood.

"Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." Mark 1:17

Peter, Andrew, James and John did not use monofilament line or fancy colored hooks. They had no underwater fish radars for help in locating the catch. They threw out nets weighted with lead that would hit the water in a circular shape and then sink, trapping the fish below (if there happened to be any below). Then...they'd pull in the net hoping there was something edible or sell-able in it.

They understood fishing for fish. How about fishing for men? They had much to learn, but they already understood key concepts that were very transferable to fishing for men. They were:

• GO. These Galilean fishermen knew you have to go out into the water to catch fish. They did not stand on the shore waiting for the fish to come crawling or flopping up out of the water at their feet. So we have to go to where the "lost" fish of this world are. This is why Jesus' last and great command was, "Go...and make disciples" Matthew 28:19-20. Our homes and haunts can become fortresses from instead of launching pads for evangelism. Are we going?
• THROW. James and John were mending nets when Jesus called them. When they would launch out into the Sea of Galilee they would always take nets. Nets are how you catch fish. It took skill to cast a net, it took strength, and it probably took a certain amount of patience. But without a net, no fish. They're not going to jump into the boat of their own free will or be coaxed by testimonies of how great a fisherman you are or by promises that they are deeply loved by the Maker of Fish. You need a net. Our net is the GOSPEL. The gospel of sinful man under God's wrath, God providing a Savior in Jesus Christ, and a response commanded of repent and believe is the net that God sovereignly uses to fish successfully for men. But the gospel must be THROWN out. It must be shared. People need to hear it clearly, correctly, compellingly, and lovingly. My example may whet their appetite, but only the gospel will save. There is NO salvation apart from hearing the gospel. "How shall they believe in Him of whom they have never heard?" Romans 10:14
• PULL. Once the net settled the big fishermen would PULL it back into the boat to see what was for supper or sale. Remember the time when Peter and friends were fishing all night with no catch? Jesus told them to throw the net on the other side of the boat. I imagine there might have been some unbelieving fisherman eyes rolling in response to that command! But they knew enough about Jesus to obey. And, man oh man, or, fish oh fish! Did they get a haul!! Where did the fish come from? Jesus brought the fish!! Friends, when we obey and throw out the gospel to the lost, Jesus WILL call some into the gospel net. There WILL be a catch. There will be men and women, boys and girls who respond. WHO will respond? Those Jesus brings; those HE calls; those who, like Lydia (Acts 16:14) have their hearts opened to pay attention to the good news. And when folks respond, PULL them in. Share with them what it means to be a follower of Jesus and help them get off to a good start.

What is my responsibility? GO, THROW, PULL. It's the only way to be a fisher of men. It's the Jesus way.

Pride and Urgency

When Mark records the high gear beginning of Jesus' ministry in Mark 1, he includes the nutshell of Jesus' method,

Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying'
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." 1:14,15

Method: "Proclaiming"
Proclaiming was to "herald loudly." Jesus was not timid or shy or ashamed of the gospel he proclaimed. He HERALDED it. Are you ashamed of the gospel? Jesus knew this was the glad tidings of God himself, the good news that lost hell-bound rebels against the universal KING have been given a way out from under the judgment they deserve. Paul wrote, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" Romans 1:16.

Method: "Urgency"
"The kingdom of God is at hand." There is good news but you don't have forever to put it off or think about it. Today is the day of salvation. Turn from your sin and trust in the Savior. The offer of free forgiveness is being held out to you, don't delay to grab onto it with your whole heart!! Tomorrow is NOT guaranteed to you. Right now is given to you as a gift. You are hearing the summons of the KING, respond! Don't turn down this infinite offer of love.

Do you share Jesus' urgency with family and friends?

May God make us more like the urgent, heralding Jesus.

Following Jesus is a BROAD path

Jesus' recorded invitation (command?) to Peter and Andrew and James and John in Mark 1 is,

"Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men" Mark 1:17

It is easy, with minds that can reason through a sinful grid, to see following Jesus as the invitation to the narrowest of all lives. We can think, "It's the end to true freedom. HE calls the shots, and all the shots ring with the sound of 'sacrifice." But think for a moment about how their "immediate" response to that invitation broadened their lives.

These men were Galilean fishermen. All their lives were lived in that relatively small geographical area, primarily concerned with boats and nets and weather and counts. "How many today?" was the question that really mattered at the end of the day. There were doubtless occasional trips to the big city of Jerusalem for required feasts. But all in all, these guys were "locals."

However, once they attached themselves to Jesus, their horizons were expanded.

• It was no longer fishing just for fish, but for MEN, the "catch" mattered for eternity,
• It was no longer just caring about JEWS but for GENTILES, ALL men were now in their sights,
• It was no longer just ISRAEL, but the WORLD, their hearts were expanding, "God-size" me,
• They were no longer just followers, they became some of the most impactful leaders in the history of the world,
• They were no longer TIME BOUND in their interests, but ETERNITY was cemented to their hearts,
• They no longer just knew ABOUT GOD, they came to know Him RELATIONALLY, to the point where they died for Him,
• John became the pastor of pastors in Ephesus,
• Peter eventually went to Rome (he was in prison there shortly before his death),
• Andrew (so strong tradition says) went as far as the border of Russia!

So much for restrictive, narrowing of the arteries of life! May the BROADNESS of FOLLOWING JESUS on the NARROW road expand us all.