By John Stallings
…..And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do. John 14:13
One night a little boy told his mom as she tucked him into bed that he had a problem that was worrying him and needed her to help him solve it.
The mom told her son to tell her the problem and forget it, go to sleep and let her worry about it. An hour later the concerned little boy knocked on his mom's doors and asked, “Mom, are you still worrying?”
There’s a big difference in praying about something, leaving it in God’s hands and letting Him do the worrying; and praying about something, then carrying it with us when the prayer is over. We must take our needs to God in prayer and trust Him with the answer and let Him do the worrying and the driving.
To me the book of John just may be the best book in the whole Bible. Oh the riches those twenty-one chapters contain. Later you’ll see more of the reason why I say this. The passage in John 14:13-14 is one of the greatest in the Bible and it explains to us that if we ask anything in Jesus’ name He’ll do it. Do you really believe that?
Well it’s a wonderful promise---a promise that our Father will say “yes” to all of our requests that we ask in Jesus’ name.
Does this really work? Look what happened in Bible days.
· MEN would pray and oceans and rivers would part revealing super hi-ways.
· MEN would pray and the dead were raised.
· JOSHUA prayed and the Sun stood still for almost a whole day.
· DANIEL prayed and the starving Lions went on a vegetarian diet.
· ELIJAH prayed and there wasn’t a drop of rain for three and a half years.
· ELIJAH prayed again and the earth was blessed with an abundance of water.
· THE EARLY CHURCH prayed and Peter escaped from jail.
JOHN STALLINGS prayed and often nothing at all happened.
Has that ever happened to you? It’s happened to me many times. I’ve prayed for a lot of things that I’ve never gotten. It can be very frustrating when you spend a lot of time praying about something and things get worse. We can feel like we’ve struck out in the spiritual ball-game too many times with few home runs.
Then we read James 5 where it says –The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much- and we think, “I must not be a very good Christian. My prayers don’t amount to much."
One thing I can tell you after over fifty years of ministry is; some people I pray for get well and others die. We pray for things and they just don’t materialize and we’re tempted to think our prayers must not get past the ceiling.
If you’ve ever felt like that, this message is for you.
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!
FIRST of all, you are not alone! There were many people in the Bible whose prayers were turned down. God said No!
· Paul had to accept No when he prayed for the thorn in his flesh to be removed. - 2 Cor.12:7-8.
· Joseph had to accept No when he prayed and asked God to release him from the jail in Egypt. Don’t you imagine he prayed many a prayer as he was being misused by his brothers and sold down the river by seemingly everyone he came in contact with? Most of his prayers were put on hold from age 17 to 30.
· Abraham had a burning desire for a son and prayed often for God to allow his wife to become pregnant but for most of a hundred years he was childless.
· Jesus prayed and not all His prayers were answered immediately or with a “yes.” In Matt. 26:39 he prayed to His father, if it be possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet not as I will but as you will.· Look at His words on the cross; My God my God, why have you forsaken me? Matt.27:46---Obviously Jesus felt deserted. He could have taken things into His own hands and called enough angels to sweep Golgotha clean, but He didn’t.
We can see that good people can pray and receive a No answer from God. So if it happens to you don’t feel like the Lone Ranger, it happens to the best of people.
GOD ISN'T A VENDING MACHINE WE CAN WALK UP TO WITH A SPIRITUAL QUARTER, PUT IT IN, AND OUT COMES THE CANDY.
God knows best and our part is to let Him know what we desire and quietly and faithfully trust Him for the answer. He’s our best friend & we can always trust Him. Jn.14:13 says- if we ask in His name we’ll receive- but of course it doesn’t say “when” and it doesn’t say “how.” So when some of our prayers come back with a big “no” stamped on them, we shouldn’t get discouraged and stop praying. We shouldn’t stop praying because delay isn’t always denial and God still loves us, cares for us, suffers with us and He knows best.
GOD IS ALSO AN EDUCATOR.
God has a much more comprehensive picture of our situation than we do. He sees the whole parade of our life as it passes. I’ve learned that it’s best to make my request known & then submit everything to His higher & broader will as well as His timetable. God isn’t always thinking about delivering us as much as he’s thinking about developing us & educating us.
WHY ARE SO MANY OF OUR PRAYERS NOT ANSWERED IN THE WAY WE’D LIKE?
Let me try to answer that question, with the caveat that I don’t think we’ll ever understand it all until we get to heaven. You will be able to think of other things not included here, but here some reasons prayers aren’t answered.
1. JAMES 4:2 says, We have not because we ask not.
The number one reason for prayers being unanswered is that we don’t pray. If your child wants a piece of watermelon but doesn’t ask for it, chances are good you want give it to him/her. You don’t even know they want it unless they ask for it. God obviously knows our wants & needs but still admonishes us to ask. What if a parent were to create a fund when their kids were small, give them a pass-book & tell them that all their needs are met if they just go to the account & use the money? No parent would do that & the major reason is that it would cut off the personal contact with the child. We want our children to come to us & discuss their needs with us & we’ll move heaven & earth to see that their needs are met. God is the same way. He wants His children to come to Him with their needs. If you haven’t tried it lately, why don’t you ask God to grant a request & give Him an opportunity to be God in your life?
2. HEBREWS 11:6 says…For he that cometh to God must believe that He is & that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
So often people just pray & then hang up the phone. If I’m reading right, a lot depends on whether or not we truly want the object of our prayers enough to ask, seek & knock. When Jacob wrestled with the angel who was the pre-incarnate Christ, He asked to be let go as the day was coming. When you think about it, what did it matter to God whether it was day or night? When Jesus met the disciples on the Emmaus road, He would try to go & they’d keep prevailing on Him to stay longer. Jesus would often say things to needy people that seemed to be discouraging them or trying to get them to go away, but then when they pressed on in refusing to take no for an answer, He’d grant their request & comment on their great faith & determination.
What’s going on here? I believe the answer is that God wants us to want Him. Over & over we’re told that we’ll find God when we seek Him with our whole hearts. It would be wise for us to ask ourselves how much do we really desire what we say we desire, for if the Bible asks any question, it asks, “How much do you want it?” Another helpful thought in prayer is to always be willing to be a part of the answer to the prayer you pray. If you pray for a million dollars, I don’t have a doubt you’ll get it if you pray within certain parameters, but instead of a million dollars lying on your pillow the next morning, you’ll probably be given a great business idea that, if properly pursued, will net you much more than you prayed for, for the next number of years. This, my friend is one way God answers. Now look back on your life & “ see what the Lord has done.”
3. PSALM 66:18 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me.
I used to think that I had to be sinless & perfect or I couldn’t get a prayer answered. If that were true, believe me no prayers would ever be answered. What that really means is that if we highly cherish some sin in our hearts, it impedes & interferes with our prayers. How can God answer our prayers when He knows that we are locked in an embrace with some known sin? It just can’t happen. If we have an agenda of sin that we cling to tenaciously, our prayers aren’t going to have a positive outcome.
Have you ever drunk water from a garden hose? I certainly have & I learned that if a hose is all knotted & crimped up, nothing but maybe a fine mist will come out. The water source is there but it can’t get to us until the hose is straightened out. All the power God has is as available to us as it was the Apostle Paul, but if there are knots tied in the “hose” nothing will come out.
I think this is an awesome truth. There are individuals & churches that for years have had answers to prayers & mighty showers of blessings all backed-up just waiting to be released & come gushing through to them. It will happen as soon as they get the kinks & knots of bitterness, stubbornness & other sins removed. It’s not that we’re begging God for revival & he’s turned His back on us. A thousand times no. The principal will work for us just as it has & does for others, for God is not a respecter of persons. The answers to prayer are, in a spiritual sense, backing up in the ‘hose,” waiting for the impediments of sin to be removed.
In John 15:7 Jesus said,--If you abide in me & my words abide in you , you shall ask what you will & it shall be done unto you.
The word abide means to have full access. If you say you abide in a house, that means you have full access to the entire house. It doesn’t mean you are holed up in part of the house; you have access to every room of the house. If Jesus’ words abide in us, that means He isn’t cordoned off to just a part of the house, & kept out of the rest. No, He’s invited into every room. When we can truly say that we are abiding in Christ, & His words abide in us; he has access to all of our lives, then we can ask what we will & it will be done.
4. GOD CAN’T ANSWER ALL PRAYERS IN A POSITIVE WAY, HE JUST CAN’T DO IT.
You might say that God can do anything, & in a sense He can. But take the example of a woman praying over her little garden that’s about to dry up & die. She’s praying that God will send her some rain. But next door there’s another lady praying for God to let the weather be dry that day because her daughter is going to have a very expensive outside wedding ceremony. How can God answer both those prayers with a “yes?”
Say a man is trying to sell his car & he’s praying that God will let him get as high a price as possible for it so he can send his son to college. Then the man who’s coming to look at the car has little money but needs the car & is praying to get it as cheaply as possible. How is God going to answer both those prayers positively for both men? It’s not possible. Two Christian football coaches may be praying for God to let their team win but we all know God isn’t on either side, like a parent being impartial with their children, & the game probably will go to the better prepared team.
5. WE PRAY FOR THE WRONG THINGS WITH WRONG MOTIVES.
JAMES 4:3 says, Ye ask & receive not, because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your own lusts.
The world would be a strange & dangerous place if God answered every prayer in the affirmative. I’ve gotten to the place that most of my prayers are for God to let my life fit His master plan for He alone holds those plans. A good prayer as far as I’m concerned is, “Lord help me to submit to your plan for my life & show me that plan. Thank you for the good work I know you’re doing in my life.”
I heard the story of a little girl who wished for years that she’d be a boy. She knelt down & prayed one night asking God to please make her a boy, for she thought boys had a lot more fun in life. She actually prayed & believed that when she woke there’d be a cowboy outfit hanging on her chair & she’d be a boy. However, as you might expect, in the morning she had a great disappointment. She was still a little girl. You & I would hear that story & smile, rightly thinking it’s cute, but also knowing that it’s just a very childish request that an all-wise God would never grant. True, but I submit that all of us at times have prayed prayers just about that selfish & unwise, at least in God’s eyes. As we’ve grown up we’ve began to realize that God seldom answers a selfish prayer & can’t answer us in the affirmative when the thing we request is not according to His will.
YES WE SHOULD ASK, BUT WE MUST BE WILLING TO LEAVE THE OUTCOME IN HIS HANDS.
We should--with thanksgiving let our requests be known to God. But the larger & better prayer is that we might have the strength to submit to the master plan of God for our lives.
THE GREATEST PRAYER EVER PRAYED.
Reading the book of John, you see that chapters 13-17 are Jesus’ “Long goodbye.” They are among the most profound chapters in the whole Bible. The first section of the book deals with seven miracles of Jesus. The second half deals with the long goodbye & the explanation, then the account of the actual events of “The Passion.”
In John chapter 17, the greatest prayer ever prayed is recorded. It takes about six minutes to read aloud but what it lacks in length it makes up in depth. If you want to do yourself a favor sit down & read this prayer. There is so much richness in it that it can totally revolutionize your prayer life. There are approximately 650 prayers recorded in the Bible but none can match this Priestly Prayer of Jesus. Nor can any prayer ever recorded outside the Bible. The prayer is regarded among scholars as a literary & theological masterpiece.
Notice what the conditions of this prayer were. When Neal Armstrong said the words, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” had he said those words while playing hopscotch with neighborhood kids, no one would have thought them great. But he uttered those words as he stepped down from his spacecraft, the first man to walk on the moon.
The occasion surrounding Jesus’ prayer makes it so significant because it is spoken about His greatest hour. What hour is that? He says in the first verse, Father the hour has come, & it was the hour of His crucifixion. A time of separation & betrayal, in which God's eternal purpose is about to be carried out; A time when Jesus is about to carry the sins of the whole world on the cross. This gives great weight to the words of His prayer because what’s on His mind at this time must be very important. But notice he doesn’t say He’ll be “Crucified,” but rather “Glorified.”
Jesus knows He’ll be leaving soon & until now He’s been physically with His disciples. Now He feels & acts somewhat like a big brother looking after a much younger brother. The disciples will be on their own & then what? What would become of them? What would happen to Simon Peter, compassionate, full of ideas but mouth too often running without engaging the brain? What would happen to the “Sons of Thunder,” James & John? They always managed to shoulder their way to the front of the line, what would happen when that line was a line of suffering? Matthew? He’d left behind a high-power job as Tax Collector & all it,s perks. Would he continue in his Master's service or would a good offer come to him from H&R Blockstein?
In this prayer, Jesus deals with great themes. He takes us back in time to eternity past in verse 5 & forward to the future glory in verse 24. It deals with glory & love & contains great petitions. “Glorify me” in verses 1-5, “Keep them” in 6-12, “Sanctify them” in 13-19, “That they all might be one” in verses 20-23, & “That they may behold my glory” in verses 24-26.
Jesus is revealed in John 1-3 as being God & being with God the Father from the beginning. He is proclaimed in the book of John as The Word, The Lamb of God, The Son of God, The Promised Messiah, The Bread of life, The Light of Life, The Light of the World, The Great “I AM,” The Good Shepard, & “The Resurrection & the Life.”
Jesus prays for Himself in verses 1-5, His disciples in verses 6-19 & all believers in verses 20-26. He prays that His disciples won’t be Deceived, Defiled or Divided. The verb “give” is used 17 times, 13 associated with The Father giving to The Son, & the other 4 with Christ giving to man. Jesus, after this High & Holy prayer, gives into the powerful hands of His Father all He’s accomplished as He prepares to leave the quiet safety of the table where He shared this meal with the disciples, & go into the garden of Gethsemane where the suffering would begin.
This Priestly Prayer of Christ is indeed the greatest prayer ever uttered, but it is a prayer on behalf of those who are Jesus’ disciples. Think of it; Jesus was also praying this prayer for you & me. So much the more we should go back & read it often. For those who aren’t disciples, Jesus’ prayer is that they would become one. Then as disciples we should do all that we can to see that “The greatest Prayer ever prayed” be fulfilled in our lives.
I hope you immerse yourself in Jesus’ prayer. I also pray that your life unfurls expecting great things from our great God. I hope you & I will live with a happy response to His love & His plans for us & that we never forget to,
Delight thyself also in the Lord & He will give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4
Blessings,
John
Monday, January 27, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
BLIND AMBITION
By John Stallings
The first time I remember hearing the term Blind Ambition was in reference to a 1979 T.V movie series tracing the career of Watergate figure John Dean, special council to President Nixon.
But you’ve seen the headlines in recent years & you’ve heard of the failures & buyouts, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and AIG etc.
We don’t have to go back thirty years to Watergate to find examples of Blind Ambition; it’s splashed all over today’s news.
Somewhere in the back of our minds even if we’re not economic majors we understand that this all started with bad mortgages, especially the ones where no down payment was required; the down payment was financed & included in the monthly payments.
But things didn’t work out as rosy as many of the blindly ambitious borrowers thought they would & loans made by blindly ambitious lenders went into default.
I’ve been around long enough to remember that this basically started in the mid-seventies when the Carter administration presided over the decision to make housing more affordable. It’s a matter of record that in 2003 the Bush Administration recommended an overhaul in the housing finance industry. This was mostly because of memories of the Savings & Loan crisis [S&L Crisis] in the 1980’s & 90’s. You may remember that hundreds of Savings & Loans failed during those years. I certainly remember it.
I’m including excerpts here from a piece by former presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan posted on 09/19/2008 called “The Party’s Over.” You & I perhaps won’t agree with all he says but I found it interesting.
“The recent crash is wiping out trillions of dollars of our people’s wealth, like the crash of 1929, & is likely to mark the end of an era.
The new era will see a more sober & diminished America. Seizing on the crisis, the left says we’re witnessing the failure of market economics, a failure of conservatism. This is nonsense. What we’re witnessing is the collapse of Gordon Gecko [“Greed is good!”] capitalism.
What we’re witnessing is what happens to a prodigal nation that ignores history, & forgets & abandons the philosophy & principles that made it great…….For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing. Credit card debt, consumer debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt---all are at record levels. And with pensions & savings being wiped out, much of that debt will never be repaid……
Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall. For foreigners will not forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if they rightly fear that they will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper dollars…
The party’s over.
Yet still the promises of the politicians come. Barack Obama will give us national health insurance & tax cuts for all but 2 % of the nation that already carries 50% of the federal income tax load.
John McCain is going to cut taxes, expand the military, move NATO into Georgia & Ukraine, confront Russia & force Iran to stop enriching uranium or “bomb, bomb, bomb” with Joe Lieberman as wartime consigliere.
Who are we kidding? What we’re witnessing today is how empires end.
What the Greatest Generation handed down to us—the richest, most powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history, with the highest standard of living any nation ever achieved—the baby boomers, oblivious & self-indulgent to the end, have frittered away.”
Agree or disagree with Mr. Buchanan, I think we will recognize that in many respects he’s right.
I’m don’t moonlight as a financial advisor but like you I am blessed with a modicum of common sense. What nags at me, [though I’m appreciative of what current leadership is trying to do,] is concern that what’s going on now is a “shell game” where money is being moved around to give an appearance of saving the day when it will all eventually be hung around the necks of the hardworking American taxpayer whose money it was in the first place.
If I were to go out next week & borrow $200,000 to go on several radio & television stations to preach the gospel, if within the next two years the money didn’t come in to support the endeavor, the government wouldn’t be there to bail me out. I think that’s as it should be.
I’ve heard of ministries writing ‘faith checks” waiting for God to “come through” but checks like that don’t bounce back on “Jesus’ account” but the account of the individual who wrote them.
Where God guides He provides but it’s incumbent on us to be sure we’re doing what God will bless, not asking God to bless what we’re doing.
As an onlooker what I see today is a mix of both dead-beat borrowers & greedy lenders. It’s estimated that this fiasco will eventually cost the American taxpayers right at one-trillion dollars.
POLITICIANS WITH BLIND AMBITION
For nearly two years we the people have been bombarded with the promises of presidential candidates. In the next few weeks we’re going to have an opportunity to go into the voting booth & vote our conscience. God forbid that we should elect leaders because he/she’s the most ambitious. God grant that we would vote for the people who’ll keep as much government off our backs as possible while standing firm for the moral principles God can honor & that our country was built on.
I can only speak for myself but no one ever has or ever will get my vote who believes in abortion or who espouses special rights for the gays or who would change the definition of marriage from what it’s always been; one man & one woman.
JAMES & JOHN’S PROBLEM WITH BLIND AMBITION
If you’re a parent, you’ve no doubt seen kids arguing over where they’re going to sit at a party. “I want to sit by her.” “No, I want to sit by her.” “That’s not fair. You got to sit by her last time.” And so it goes.
But we adults can act like that too. Have you ever been to a party & checked to see if you’re sitting by someone you like? Have you ever been relieved to learn you were sitting by friends? I’ve seen grown-ups secretly switch nameplates with those of people from other tables. Have you ever been stuck with people & couldn’t get a conversation going with them for the life of you? I have. Have you ever watched little cliques form at a gathering forgetting about everyone else in attendance?
In Mark 10, two brothers, James & John, among the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples hatched a plot which reveals some unhealthy attitudes not the least of which is strong blind ambition. They wanted to best seats in the house. But what these men wanted wasn’t special seats at a banquet, they wanted power & glory. They wanted to be top dogs in the kingdom of heaven.
The story starts when James & John say to Jesus, “We want you to do for us whatever we ask.” Now already we can see the immaturity in them. You’ve probably seen children do that too. “Mommy, I’m going to ask for something, will you please say yes before I ask?” But these are grown men & they want a blank check from Jesus even before they tell Him what their request is.
James & John can actually see themselves occupying the seats of honor in the kingdom of God. They say, Grant us to sit, one at your right hand & one at your left in your glory. [10:37.]
JAMES AND JOHN DON’T GET IT…..AT ALL
They are so caught up in their own vision of the kingdom that they are like a pilot flying on a dark night without instruments. They weren’t always this way but right now all they could think about was what they stood to gain from the kingdom.
This ambition stuff is all about us isn’t it? Aren’t we like that sometimes? Our desires, hopes & dreams are all about us. Our attitudes & actions, prayers & requests, are all about us.
I don’t believe it coincidental that immediately following this episode with James & John, they come upon blind Bartimaeus. But at least blind beggar Bartimaeus knows he’s blind & cries out to be healed. Poor James & John don’t have a clue to their blindness. They even seem to be blind to the truth about who Jesus is & the essence of His mission. They’re blinded by their desire & ambition to share in Jesus’ glory but sadly they don’t even know they’re blind.
SPIRITUAL LEADERS WITH BLIND AMBITION
In a piece I wrote a few months back called, “Who let the dogs out,” I talked about the fact that in the Bible false teachers & people who are doing gospel work for selfish reasons are called “dogs.”
I’m persuaded that the great majority of present ministries really want to help people. However, as much as it grieves me to say it, there are many who are making merchandise of the gospel & far from having a heart for God & spreading His gospel, are shallow, surface people & in the main, nothing more than “Religious Entrepreneurs.”
Please read carefully here; we have a tendency to judge leaders & ministers alone doctrinal lines, feeling that the “acid test” is an individual’s doctrine. If they believe all the right things they’re O.K. But Jesus says that is not how we’ll know if they’re genuine. We also have a tendency to judge a ministry by its spiritual gifts. But this isn’t what Jesus taught us. Nowhere in the Bible do we read, --by their gifts ye shall know them.
Praise God for a ministry that preaches sound doctrine & also for the marvelous gifts of the Spirit. But Jesus said the only way to know a person’s spiritual character is by their fruits. The fruit of the Spirit can’t be faked over any period of time.
How could an individual fake these qualities;
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, & temperance?—Gal.5:22-23
Do we see transformed lives spring up around this ministry? Do we see this ministry meeting spiritual needs as well as ministering to the oppressed & physically needy? Are people being set free or more dependent on the leader? Is the leader’s lifestyle overly extravagant?
A person can make Jesus Lord of their Lips but never Lord of their Life. If we only look at what someone says we’ll be fooled over & over again. It’s important to get to know people & see what makes them tick. Jesus said;
Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have we cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity.—Matt. 7:21-23
Jesus is plainly saying here that miracles in His name don’t make up for obedience to his commandments & a good character. In First Corinthians 13, Paul says we can do all kinds of great works but if they’re not done with love they’re worthless. If our lives aren’t being formed by the Holy Spirit into a life that resembles the life of Jesus then it isn’t Christian no matter how many mighty works we do. I find it interesting that some of our greatest dangers to the church, especially in these last days will most often come from within the church, not from the world.
IN THIS STORY, BLIND AMBITION HAS KEPT JAMES & JOHN FROM SEEING THE PAIN JESUS IS NOW GOING THROUGH
Jesus has spoken over & over about His impending death-revealing the pain He must face as He journeys toward Jerusalem. Each time He mentions this He’s met with an insensitive & unsympathetic response from His disbelieving disciples. The disciples are revealing that the idea of Jesus’ terrible death on a Roman cross hasn’t sunk in on them.
When they asked to be seated next to Jesus in His kingdom, James & John were obviously blind to the nature of their request & what it involved. Jesus responds—you don’t know what you’re asking.
When the other ten disciples heard what James & John have been up to, they got all bent out of shape. They don’t try to hide that they have about the same attitude as the two brash brothers. Each of the twelve is full of blind ambition, preoccupied with their own greatness & glory.
JESUS’ BOLD ALTERNATIVE TO BLIND AMBITION
In Mark 10:43-44 Jesus rebukes the whole bunch of his disciples by telling them-- in His kingdom, greatness isn’t measured by power over people, but by willingness to serve & becomes servant or “slave of all.” Being a Servant rather than a Star is Jesus’ alternative to blind ambition.
This is a vivid statement of the upside-down values of the kingdom of God. Jesus tells the disciples in 10:45,--For the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, & to give His life a ransom for many.
PEOPLE GOD USES
In Acts chapter three Peter & John are on their way to the temple at the hour of prayer. Keep in mind that this is immediately after the great outpouring on the day of Pentecost at which Peter & John were present. It looks like they were going to be on time too, the hour of prayer was the ninth hour.
1. God uses people who are already busy doing the right things.
There at the Beautiful Gate in front of the temple these two disciples see the man who’d been lame from his mother’s womb & was brought there to beg daily for alms.
I must say I’m impressed by these two men who’d so recently been recipients of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The fact that they’d seen the miraculous didn’t spoil their everyday walk with God. Please don’t misunderstand. I believe in the experience & am blessed to humbly call myself a Spirit Filled Christian.
The reason I’m so impressed with Peter & John is that so many people I know who call themselves Spirit Filled, haven’t been grounded by the experience. They no longer are interested in the everyday walk with God. They are now “chasers of miracles” appearing anywhere & everywhere they hear that a great move of God is in evidence to “soak-up” the blessing someone else prayed down.
These folk don’t seem interested in asking God to send revival in their little church but will pay any price to get to the place where miracles are happening. Jesus said, --These signs shall follow them that believe”-He didn’t say,--believers should go around following signs.
2. God uses people who can be interrupted.
When Peter & John saw this man [and by the way, we have no record of their ever seeing the man before, although he came there daily & so did they] they weren’t so eager to perform their religious duties that they rushed on to get to the meeting, ignoring human need. That’s what a baptism of love does for you.
3. God uses people who inspire hope in others.
And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them expecting to receive something of them.-Vs.4-5
Evangelist D.L Moody said he’d never seen God use a discouraged man. May God grant that when you & I enter a room it will be as though a light has been turned on, not off.
4. God uses people who use what they have.
Then Peter said, Silver & gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee.—Vs.6a
There used to be an old song that went,
“It‘s what you do with what you got,
& never mind how much you got,
It’s what you do with what you got,
That pays off in the end.”
5. God uses people who know He’s their source.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, raise up & walk.—Vs.6b
God doesn’t use folk who look in the mirror & sing, “How great I am.”
6. God uses people who’ll do their best-- & trust Him to do the rest.
And he took him by the right hand, & lifted him up: & immediately his feet & ankle bones received strength.-Vs.7
Like Joshua of old, when we “get our toe in the water” God will roll the waters back.
7. God uses people who have no earthly ambition other than to bring glory to His name.
As the lame man which was healed held Peter & John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this, or look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we made this man to walk.—Vs. 3:11-12
Do you know the greatest joy a person can experience in this life? We might answer that question in many different ways & I feel sure there are as many answers as there are readers of this piece.
But, I would suspect that deep in every person’s heart there is a desire that God might use them. This isn’t a selfish motivation but a very normal & appropriate desire.
There is no thrill that remotely approaches the thrill of the consciousness that God in His sovereignty has chosen to use us as instruments in His hands to do some of His work; to change the direction of someone’s life, to keep someone from sinking beneath the waves of despair, to resolve a hostility, to answer a challenge, to heal a wound, to rebuke a ruler, to turn a nation, or even to write a simple poem.
There are two alternatives. Which will we be; James & John who through blind ambition wanted to tower above all others in the kingdom, or Peter & John, freshly baptized in love wanting only to hide behind the cross upon which the Prince of Glory died & be conduits of his mercy & love, passing all the glory on to Him?
Blessings,
John
The first time I remember hearing the term Blind Ambition was in reference to a 1979 T.V movie series tracing the career of Watergate figure John Dean, special council to President Nixon.
But you’ve seen the headlines in recent years & you’ve heard of the failures & buyouts, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and AIG etc.
We don’t have to go back thirty years to Watergate to find examples of Blind Ambition; it’s splashed all over today’s news.
Somewhere in the back of our minds even if we’re not economic majors we understand that this all started with bad mortgages, especially the ones where no down payment was required; the down payment was financed & included in the monthly payments.
But things didn’t work out as rosy as many of the blindly ambitious borrowers thought they would & loans made by blindly ambitious lenders went into default.
I’ve been around long enough to remember that this basically started in the mid-seventies when the Carter administration presided over the decision to make housing more affordable. It’s a matter of record that in 2003 the Bush Administration recommended an overhaul in the housing finance industry. This was mostly because of memories of the Savings & Loan crisis [S&L Crisis] in the 1980’s & 90’s. You may remember that hundreds of Savings & Loans failed during those years. I certainly remember it.
I’m including excerpts here from a piece by former presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan posted on 09/19/2008 called “The Party’s Over.” You & I perhaps won’t agree with all he says but I found it interesting.
“The recent crash is wiping out trillions of dollars of our people’s wealth, like the crash of 1929, & is likely to mark the end of an era.
The new era will see a more sober & diminished America. Seizing on the crisis, the left says we’re witnessing the failure of market economics, a failure of conservatism. This is nonsense. What we’re witnessing is the collapse of Gordon Gecko [“Greed is good!”] capitalism.
What we’re witnessing is what happens to a prodigal nation that ignores history, & forgets & abandons the philosophy & principles that made it great…….For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing. Credit card debt, consumer debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt---all are at record levels. And with pensions & savings being wiped out, much of that debt will never be repaid……
Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall. For foreigners will not forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if they rightly fear that they will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper dollars…
The party’s over.
Yet still the promises of the politicians come. Barack Obama will give us national health insurance & tax cuts for all but 2 % of the nation that already carries 50% of the federal income tax load.
John McCain is going to cut taxes, expand the military, move NATO into Georgia & Ukraine, confront Russia & force Iran to stop enriching uranium or “bomb, bomb, bomb” with Joe Lieberman as wartime consigliere.
Who are we kidding? What we’re witnessing today is how empires end.
What the Greatest Generation handed down to us—the richest, most powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history, with the highest standard of living any nation ever achieved—the baby boomers, oblivious & self-indulgent to the end, have frittered away.”
Agree or disagree with Mr. Buchanan, I think we will recognize that in many respects he’s right.
I’m don’t moonlight as a financial advisor but like you I am blessed with a modicum of common sense. What nags at me, [though I’m appreciative of what current leadership is trying to do,] is concern that what’s going on now is a “shell game” where money is being moved around to give an appearance of saving the day when it will all eventually be hung around the necks of the hardworking American taxpayer whose money it was in the first place.
If I were to go out next week & borrow $200,000 to go on several radio & television stations to preach the gospel, if within the next two years the money didn’t come in to support the endeavor, the government wouldn’t be there to bail me out. I think that’s as it should be.
I’ve heard of ministries writing ‘faith checks” waiting for God to “come through” but checks like that don’t bounce back on “Jesus’ account” but the account of the individual who wrote them.
Where God guides He provides but it’s incumbent on us to be sure we’re doing what God will bless, not asking God to bless what we’re doing.
As an onlooker what I see today is a mix of both dead-beat borrowers & greedy lenders. It’s estimated that this fiasco will eventually cost the American taxpayers right at one-trillion dollars.
POLITICIANS WITH BLIND AMBITION
For nearly two years we the people have been bombarded with the promises of presidential candidates. In the next few weeks we’re going to have an opportunity to go into the voting booth & vote our conscience. God forbid that we should elect leaders because he/she’s the most ambitious. God grant that we would vote for the people who’ll keep as much government off our backs as possible while standing firm for the moral principles God can honor & that our country was built on.
I can only speak for myself but no one ever has or ever will get my vote who believes in abortion or who espouses special rights for the gays or who would change the definition of marriage from what it’s always been; one man & one woman.
JAMES & JOHN’S PROBLEM WITH BLIND AMBITION
If you’re a parent, you’ve no doubt seen kids arguing over where they’re going to sit at a party. “I want to sit by her.” “No, I want to sit by her.” “That’s not fair. You got to sit by her last time.” And so it goes.
But we adults can act like that too. Have you ever been to a party & checked to see if you’re sitting by someone you like? Have you ever been relieved to learn you were sitting by friends? I’ve seen grown-ups secretly switch nameplates with those of people from other tables. Have you ever been stuck with people & couldn’t get a conversation going with them for the life of you? I have. Have you ever watched little cliques form at a gathering forgetting about everyone else in attendance?
In Mark 10, two brothers, James & John, among the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples hatched a plot which reveals some unhealthy attitudes not the least of which is strong blind ambition. They wanted to best seats in the house. But what these men wanted wasn’t special seats at a banquet, they wanted power & glory. They wanted to be top dogs in the kingdom of heaven.
The story starts when James & John say to Jesus, “We want you to do for us whatever we ask.” Now already we can see the immaturity in them. You’ve probably seen children do that too. “Mommy, I’m going to ask for something, will you please say yes before I ask?” But these are grown men & they want a blank check from Jesus even before they tell Him what their request is.
James & John can actually see themselves occupying the seats of honor in the kingdom of God. They say, Grant us to sit, one at your right hand & one at your left in your glory. [10:37.]
JAMES AND JOHN DON’T GET IT…..AT ALL
They are so caught up in their own vision of the kingdom that they are like a pilot flying on a dark night without instruments. They weren’t always this way but right now all they could think about was what they stood to gain from the kingdom.
This ambition stuff is all about us isn’t it? Aren’t we like that sometimes? Our desires, hopes & dreams are all about us. Our attitudes & actions, prayers & requests, are all about us.
I don’t believe it coincidental that immediately following this episode with James & John, they come upon blind Bartimaeus. But at least blind beggar Bartimaeus knows he’s blind & cries out to be healed. Poor James & John don’t have a clue to their blindness. They even seem to be blind to the truth about who Jesus is & the essence of His mission. They’re blinded by their desire & ambition to share in Jesus’ glory but sadly they don’t even know they’re blind.
SPIRITUAL LEADERS WITH BLIND AMBITION
In a piece I wrote a few months back called, “Who let the dogs out,” I talked about the fact that in the Bible false teachers & people who are doing gospel work for selfish reasons are called “dogs.”
I’m persuaded that the great majority of present ministries really want to help people. However, as much as it grieves me to say it, there are many who are making merchandise of the gospel & far from having a heart for God & spreading His gospel, are shallow, surface people & in the main, nothing more than “Religious Entrepreneurs.”
Please read carefully here; we have a tendency to judge leaders & ministers alone doctrinal lines, feeling that the “acid test” is an individual’s doctrine. If they believe all the right things they’re O.K. But Jesus says that is not how we’ll know if they’re genuine. We also have a tendency to judge a ministry by its spiritual gifts. But this isn’t what Jesus taught us. Nowhere in the Bible do we read, --by their gifts ye shall know them.
Praise God for a ministry that preaches sound doctrine & also for the marvelous gifts of the Spirit. But Jesus said the only way to know a person’s spiritual character is by their fruits. The fruit of the Spirit can’t be faked over any period of time.
How could an individual fake these qualities;
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, & temperance?—Gal.5:22-23
Do we see transformed lives spring up around this ministry? Do we see this ministry meeting spiritual needs as well as ministering to the oppressed & physically needy? Are people being set free or more dependent on the leader? Is the leader’s lifestyle overly extravagant?
A person can make Jesus Lord of their Lips but never Lord of their Life. If we only look at what someone says we’ll be fooled over & over again. It’s important to get to know people & see what makes them tick. Jesus said;
Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have we cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity.—Matt. 7:21-23
Jesus is plainly saying here that miracles in His name don’t make up for obedience to his commandments & a good character. In First Corinthians 13, Paul says we can do all kinds of great works but if they’re not done with love they’re worthless. If our lives aren’t being formed by the Holy Spirit into a life that resembles the life of Jesus then it isn’t Christian no matter how many mighty works we do. I find it interesting that some of our greatest dangers to the church, especially in these last days will most often come from within the church, not from the world.
IN THIS STORY, BLIND AMBITION HAS KEPT JAMES & JOHN FROM SEEING THE PAIN JESUS IS NOW GOING THROUGH
Jesus has spoken over & over about His impending death-revealing the pain He must face as He journeys toward Jerusalem. Each time He mentions this He’s met with an insensitive & unsympathetic response from His disbelieving disciples. The disciples are revealing that the idea of Jesus’ terrible death on a Roman cross hasn’t sunk in on them.
When they asked to be seated next to Jesus in His kingdom, James & John were obviously blind to the nature of their request & what it involved. Jesus responds—you don’t know what you’re asking.
When the other ten disciples heard what James & John have been up to, they got all bent out of shape. They don’t try to hide that they have about the same attitude as the two brash brothers. Each of the twelve is full of blind ambition, preoccupied with their own greatness & glory.
JESUS’ BOLD ALTERNATIVE TO BLIND AMBITION
In Mark 10:43-44 Jesus rebukes the whole bunch of his disciples by telling them-- in His kingdom, greatness isn’t measured by power over people, but by willingness to serve & becomes servant or “slave of all.” Being a Servant rather than a Star is Jesus’ alternative to blind ambition.
This is a vivid statement of the upside-down values of the kingdom of God. Jesus tells the disciples in 10:45,--For the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, & to give His life a ransom for many.
PEOPLE GOD USES
In Acts chapter three Peter & John are on their way to the temple at the hour of prayer. Keep in mind that this is immediately after the great outpouring on the day of Pentecost at which Peter & John were present. It looks like they were going to be on time too, the hour of prayer was the ninth hour.
1. God uses people who are already busy doing the right things.
There at the Beautiful Gate in front of the temple these two disciples see the man who’d been lame from his mother’s womb & was brought there to beg daily for alms.
I must say I’m impressed by these two men who’d so recently been recipients of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The fact that they’d seen the miraculous didn’t spoil their everyday walk with God. Please don’t misunderstand. I believe in the experience & am blessed to humbly call myself a Spirit Filled Christian.
The reason I’m so impressed with Peter & John is that so many people I know who call themselves Spirit Filled, haven’t been grounded by the experience. They no longer are interested in the everyday walk with God. They are now “chasers of miracles” appearing anywhere & everywhere they hear that a great move of God is in evidence to “soak-up” the blessing someone else prayed down.
These folk don’t seem interested in asking God to send revival in their little church but will pay any price to get to the place where miracles are happening. Jesus said, --These signs shall follow them that believe”-He didn’t say,--believers should go around following signs.
2. God uses people who can be interrupted.
When Peter & John saw this man [and by the way, we have no record of their ever seeing the man before, although he came there daily & so did they] they weren’t so eager to perform their religious duties that they rushed on to get to the meeting, ignoring human need. That’s what a baptism of love does for you.
3. God uses people who inspire hope in others.
And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them expecting to receive something of them.-Vs.4-5
Evangelist D.L Moody said he’d never seen God use a discouraged man. May God grant that when you & I enter a room it will be as though a light has been turned on, not off.
4. God uses people who use what they have.
Then Peter said, Silver & gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee.—Vs.6a
There used to be an old song that went,
“It‘s what you do with what you got,
& never mind how much you got,
It’s what you do with what you got,
That pays off in the end.”
5. God uses people who know He’s their source.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, raise up & walk.—Vs.6b
God doesn’t use folk who look in the mirror & sing, “How great I am.”
6. God uses people who’ll do their best-- & trust Him to do the rest.
And he took him by the right hand, & lifted him up: & immediately his feet & ankle bones received strength.-Vs.7
Like Joshua of old, when we “get our toe in the water” God will roll the waters back.
7. God uses people who have no earthly ambition other than to bring glory to His name.
As the lame man which was healed held Peter & John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this, or look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we made this man to walk.—Vs. 3:11-12
Do you know the greatest joy a person can experience in this life? We might answer that question in many different ways & I feel sure there are as many answers as there are readers of this piece.
But, I would suspect that deep in every person’s heart there is a desire that God might use them. This isn’t a selfish motivation but a very normal & appropriate desire.
There is no thrill that remotely approaches the thrill of the consciousness that God in His sovereignty has chosen to use us as instruments in His hands to do some of His work; to change the direction of someone’s life, to keep someone from sinking beneath the waves of despair, to resolve a hostility, to answer a challenge, to heal a wound, to rebuke a ruler, to turn a nation, or even to write a simple poem.
There are two alternatives. Which will we be; James & John who through blind ambition wanted to tower above all others in the kingdom, or Peter & John, freshly baptized in love wanting only to hide behind the cross upon which the Prince of Glory died & be conduits of his mercy & love, passing all the glory on to Him?
Blessings,
John
Monday, January 13, 2014
The Danger Of Complaining
By John Stallings
A construction worker sat down to eat his lunch and when he saw the sandwich in his lunch-box he growled “Oh no, another meatloaf sandwich.”
The men who worked with him kept silent and soon they all went back to work. The next day the man did the same thing; he opened his lunch-box, looked at his sandwich and exclaimed, “Not again! Not another meatloaf sandwich!”
After a week of the man complaining about his meatloaf sandwiches, one of the men asked, “Why don’t you ask your wife to fix you something else if you don’t like meatloaf? The man replied, “What are you talking about, I make my own lunch.”
In a real sense you and I are “making our own lunch” each and every day by our thoughts, words and attitudes. When you complain you use the incredible power of your mind to cause things to be drawn to you. You get caught in the “complaint loop” and your words become a self-fulfilling prophecy of –complaint, manifestation—complaint, manifestation—complaint manifestation, and you began attracting the very things you don’t want to you.
There’s a long list of disastrous behaviors that can be fed through complaining and grumbling-all leading to sin. There’s slander, pride, anger, resentment, bitterness, guilt, unforgiveness, a lying heart, a hard heart, jealousy, complacency, excuses, laziness, insensitivity, a seared conscience, malice, hypocrisy, envy, rage, quarreling, greed, lewdness, arrogance, folly, theft, false testimony, and lust.
A NATION OF WHINERS
The reality is that you and I are blessed with more freedom, more choices, more prosperity, more health, more opportunity, more comforts, more conveniences and more prerogatives than any other people on the face of the earth, and yet this somehow doesn’t stop us from griping our way through life. A recent global survey revealed that only the Germans complain more than Americans do.
I understand that we have our problems in this great country but could it be we’ve had it so good for so long that we’ve become more and more unrealistic in demanding that everything be perfectly to our liking? Have we become spoiled brats as a nation?
PRESIDENT OBAMA
If a CEO of a large American company were to conduct himself like President Obama has; constantly blaming his predecessor for all his problems, even if much of it were true, he’d lose his job and quickly be replaced in much less than two years.
I’m pragmatic enough to say if something works it works but it hasn’t helped the president when he kept on asserting that he had inherited a terrible situation from the Bush administration. Everyone knows he stepped into a rough situation but enough already Mr. Obama, we elected you to solve problems, not to complain about them.
A man known for his constant complaining inherited a large sum of money. However it wasn’t as much as he thought it would be. He complained for weeks about the amount he actually got. Finally one day he decided to buy a farm for him and his wife to enjoy in retirement. He asked his wife, “What do you think I should name it?” His wife replied, “Why don’t you call it “Belly-Acres?”
Someone might say, “Come on John, isn’t it unrealistic to expect folk not to complain at least a little? There may be a lot right with our situation but there is so much wrong about our world, our nation, our workplace, our neighborhoods, our homes, our aging bodies, our families and our marriages. How can folk be expected not to have some kind of negative feelings and comments when there are so many things we shouldn’t tolerate and so many things to legitimately complain about? Wouldn’t we be lowering our standards if we suddenly stopped demanding that the world and the people around us be the best they can be and at least strive for some sort of excellence?”- The answer lies in;
SHIFTING OUR TONE, STYLE, EMPHASIS AND METHODS
Listen to what Paul told the Philippians;
Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [[against God] and [questioning and doubting …. Philippians 2:14 (Amplified Bible)
Paul is saying in essence here, Zip-It! Don’t complain because Chronic Complaining has some Catastrophic Consequences. Our lives could be much sweeter and we’d be more successful in our relationships if we’d begin to practice a change of tone in the way we do and say things.
LEARNING TO LOVE THE JOURNEY
So much of my life was spent on the road I sometimes feel as if I should have written Willy Nelson’s song, “On the road again.” My father was a traveling preacher a good portion of his life and often took his family with him. I started on the road early in life and much of my grade- schooling came through correspondence courses.
When I went to Bible College in the fall of 1957 I joined the College Choir, the Men’s Chorus, A Men’s Quartet, as well as one or two other groups whose names escape me now.
We toured for two weeks each year with the choir from Lakeland Florida to New York City. We’re talking about 35 or 40 teenage boys and girls, with several chaperons traveling together in a leased Greyhound bus all day, then singing at a church at night, and staying overnight with members of the local church.
The Men’s Chorus toured a couple of weeks a year throughout the Southern states. The Men’s Quartet I was in singing second tenor and playing guitar for accompaniment traveled often throughout the year mostly in Florida and a few southern states.
Then came the many years of travel in Evangelism after I got out of school and was married.
LIFE IS LIKE A “ROAD TRIP”
In many ways a road trip can be an apt metaphor for life. The road can bring out the absolute worst in people. Travel can turn an otherwise sane and reasonable individual into a chronic complainer so tensed up their shoulders are up around their ears ready to put the kibosh on the first person who looks at them funny.
If it’s men only, traveling by car, you have the problem of…well… body odor. Not being raised with brothers, I soon learned that some guys will only shower every other day. Needless to say that presents a problem with shall I say… B.O? A road trip can leave you seeking relief from “air pollution.” Once in a while you need to roll down the car windows to get some fresh-air. I’ve always had low tolerance to bad odors.
No matter how good or not so good the travel conditions are, after a while the road especially traveling with a group will hammer you into submission and ultimately wear you out, if not spit you out. But I find it interesting that we human beings can bond around our complaints. For this reason it’s not unusual for lifetime friendships to start on a trip with only the common thread of some hardship or a test of our patience that we experienced with another individual.
A common thread for grumbling, faultfinding, complaining, murmuring etc. begins and grows in our thoughts, a selfish ungratefulness for not having things go the way we’d like them to. Either things are too slow or too fast, too big or too small, don’t taste, smell or feel right, too hot, too cold, to wet or too dry, too expensive, planes and trains are running late, restaurants serving inedible food, beds with rock gardens in them and grumpy fellow travelers to contend with, and this is only a short list of “road hazards.”
So what’s wrong with a little grumbling and complaining?
The bible is full of people who complained to God, not the least of which are Moses, Job, Elijah, Paul, Jonah and of course maybe the champion, The Psalmist David.
From God’s perspective, when His people grumble about their circumstances, they are grumbling against the Lord’s provision – and thus treating the Sovereign Lord Himself with contempt. The “worst case scenario” of grumbling in Scripture and the trouble it led to has to be the Israelites as they left Egypt for the Promised Land. When God’s people murmured against His appointed leaders – whether Moses or Aaron – God took it personally as grumbling against Himself. He still takes it personally.
To grumble against God’s provisions or God’s leaders is to dishonor God and to treat Him with contempt, and that is as serious an offense in God’s sight as idolatry or sexual immorality. We know how offensive it is to our ears to hear people taking the Lord’s name in vain. That’s how our grumbling and complaining sounds to God.
ISRAEL HATED THEIR JOURNEY SO A TWO-WEEK TRIP TOOK FORTY YEARS.
Moses talks about the truth of God’s provision for His people in the wilderness:
Deuteronomy 2:7 - “The LORD your God has blessed everything you have done and has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the LORD your God has been with you and provided for your every need so that you lacked nothing.”’
Exodus 16:8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD.”
Numbers 11:1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:6 - 11
-Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry. We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the Fulfillment of the ages has come.—NIV
CHOOSING NOT TO GRUMBLE WILL LEAD TO GOD’S BLESSINGS
When Paul and Silas were arrested for casting demons out of a girl, they were beaten and thrown in jail. They were even fastened in stocks as if they we violent criminals. Paul and Silas were Romans citizens and never should have been forced to endure such treatment-but they did.
Rather than accusing, grumbling, threatening, blaming and excusing, Paul and Silas began to pray and sing to God not caring if the other prisoners could hear them. They set the example of praising God in all situations. Because of the choice these men made, they were able to not only lead the jailer to Christ but his entire family. If Paul and Silas had decided to cop an attitude of complaining, we’d have had a great tragedy to read about here instead of several miracles.
Come with me to a little Israeli village many years ago. It's getting dark and nervously a woman paces in her modest home. She is worried. She trembles as she sweeps the dirt floor from one side to the next. She stares into the darkness. It’s late and she begins to pray, "O God, where is Joseph? Where is he, Lord? It is getting late and I know he didn't find work today. I went to the market place and I saw him still standing there late in the afternoon. O Lord, where is he? Has something happened to him, or is he too ashamed to come home again empty handed?"
The mother feels a tug on her dress. It's her five year old daughter Elizabeth. She asks, "Mama, where is Daddy? Why hasn’t he come home yet? Is he bringing us something to eat? Mama, I'm hungry." And with that the door burst open and the husband says, "Hello, Elizabeth! Hello, Rebecca! Prepare the table, we have a feast! Look! I have bread, I have cheese, I have figs -and for the two women in my life, a little bit of honey!"
"Joseph, where did you get all of this? I know you didn't work, I went by the market place and I saw you standing there late in the day." He said, "The most amazing thing happened to me today. I was standing in the market place waiting for someone to come by and hire me. It was getting late and many had given up. Others had gone to work and just a few of us were standing there. I just couldn't come home empty handed again. I couldn't stand another night just lying in bed when sleep wouldn’t come. The growling of my empty stomach could not drown out her words, 'Daddy, I'm hungry.'
I was almost ready to give up when around the eleventh hour the most unusual thing happened. A fellow came up and he yelled to us and asked us why we weren't working. We said, "No one has hired us." He said, "I'll hire you! Come on and work!"
"It was late in the day but a few pennies were better than nothing at all, so I went and worked in the vineyard. There were people there who had been working a long time. You could tell they were tired and hot. We worked for only an hour. Then the land owner gathered us together to pay us, and would you believe he paid us first, the ones who had only worked an hour, not those who had worked three hours or six hours or nine hours or twelve hours. And would you believe he gave us wages for an entire day? We worked one single hour and we were paid for an entire day! I was so happy. I ran to the market place and bought all of this food. Doesn't it look good? We’ll have a feast tonight."
"As I was in the market place, I heard some of the workers who had worked longer than I had grumbling. They were just downright mad. I didn't say anything, I just came on home. I just couldn't wait to get home with this food. Let’s gather around table and thank God for the favor He has given us."
"Joseph,” the wife said, “may I ask you something? I'm curious, why are there just three loaves instead of the customary four? And are my eyes deceiving me, it looks like someone has cut off half of the cheese?" "Well, you're right. I hope its okay but on the way home I thought of the widow Sarah and I stopped by her house and gave her some of the bread and cheese.”
Wiping tears from her eyes, Rebecca says, "Oh Joseph, you know it's more than alright. Let's bow and thank God."
You may not have ever heard that parable in this way. It's a strange story when you think about it.
Right in the middle of this is the landowner. You and I know the land owner represents God and shows to us the nature of God. This land owner is unpredictable and generous to a fault. He will do what he will with his favor and with his money because he wishes to do so.
The land owner honored his agreement with those who worked twelve hours. They got exactly what they contracted for. He was also generous and kind to those who only worked an hour. He didn't want them to go home empty handed to a hungry family.
Where are you in this parable? I'm sure that probably every single one of us at some time has been the one-hour worker, and sometimes we have been the twelve-hour worker.
We've been in it all day long, we've been in the baking hot sun and the dry and dusty heat is choking our throats. We have worked in the nursery for thirty years. We have changed more diapers than Gerber. We have done it all! We've listened to more dry, dusty sermons than we can count. We've tithed and every time the church would have a special program then we would give above our tithe.
We've served on every committee. We have been there every time the door has opened and sometimes we have dragged our children screaming and kicking to the church. We've done it all! We've been there; we've been the pillar of the church! We sometimes feel that the church could not get along if we were not there.
But here they come, those “newbie” converts bopping in the church with their flowered short sleeve shirts and Bermuda shorts and tennis shoes and their crazy looking hair and say, "Man, let's get turned on to Jesus!" And they get turned on to Jesus. They have never listened to any of those long dry, boring sermons, never worked in Sunday School. They think John 3:16 is a rest room on the third floor. They don't know a Benediction from a Trout. They know nothing. They respond to Jesus in faith and they are going to get the same thing we are? Is this fair?
We have a choice. We can either be gracious and thankful for what God has given to us or we can gripe and complain and grumble that God has been gracious to others.
The wonderful thing is that God can change our attitude. God wants to make us gracious. God has been generous to us. He sent His Son Jesus to die on Calvary's Cross for you and for me, because of His love and His grace you can be forgiven and have a home in Heaven. Our part is to accept it and be gracious. We can't do anything else.
If you could give one gift to your children, what would you give them? Would that gift be gratitude? God's work of grace is to make us gracious and take the criticalness and complaints out of us.
He has made more progress with some of us than He has with others.
The very act of praising God in every situation can nourish our faith and strengthen and encourage us, as well as those around us who are affected by our grumbling or our gratitude.
….he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.-Proverbs 15:15
Blessings,
John
A construction worker sat down to eat his lunch and when he saw the sandwich in his lunch-box he growled “Oh no, another meatloaf sandwich.”
The men who worked with him kept silent and soon they all went back to work. The next day the man did the same thing; he opened his lunch-box, looked at his sandwich and exclaimed, “Not again! Not another meatloaf sandwich!”
After a week of the man complaining about his meatloaf sandwiches, one of the men asked, “Why don’t you ask your wife to fix you something else if you don’t like meatloaf? The man replied, “What are you talking about, I make my own lunch.”
In a real sense you and I are “making our own lunch” each and every day by our thoughts, words and attitudes. When you complain you use the incredible power of your mind to cause things to be drawn to you. You get caught in the “complaint loop” and your words become a self-fulfilling prophecy of –complaint, manifestation—complaint, manifestation—complaint manifestation, and you began attracting the very things you don’t want to you.
There’s a long list of disastrous behaviors that can be fed through complaining and grumbling-all leading to sin. There’s slander, pride, anger, resentment, bitterness, guilt, unforgiveness, a lying heart, a hard heart, jealousy, complacency, excuses, laziness, insensitivity, a seared conscience, malice, hypocrisy, envy, rage, quarreling, greed, lewdness, arrogance, folly, theft, false testimony, and lust.
A NATION OF WHINERS
The reality is that you and I are blessed with more freedom, more choices, more prosperity, more health, more opportunity, more comforts, more conveniences and more prerogatives than any other people on the face of the earth, and yet this somehow doesn’t stop us from griping our way through life. A recent global survey revealed that only the Germans complain more than Americans do.
I understand that we have our problems in this great country but could it be we’ve had it so good for so long that we’ve become more and more unrealistic in demanding that everything be perfectly to our liking? Have we become spoiled brats as a nation?
PRESIDENT OBAMA
If a CEO of a large American company were to conduct himself like President Obama has; constantly blaming his predecessor for all his problems, even if much of it were true, he’d lose his job and quickly be replaced in much less than two years.
I’m pragmatic enough to say if something works it works but it hasn’t helped the president when he kept on asserting that he had inherited a terrible situation from the Bush administration. Everyone knows he stepped into a rough situation but enough already Mr. Obama, we elected you to solve problems, not to complain about them.
A man known for his constant complaining inherited a large sum of money. However it wasn’t as much as he thought it would be. He complained for weeks about the amount he actually got. Finally one day he decided to buy a farm for him and his wife to enjoy in retirement. He asked his wife, “What do you think I should name it?” His wife replied, “Why don’t you call it “Belly-Acres?”
Someone might say, “Come on John, isn’t it unrealistic to expect folk not to complain at least a little? There may be a lot right with our situation but there is so much wrong about our world, our nation, our workplace, our neighborhoods, our homes, our aging bodies, our families and our marriages. How can folk be expected not to have some kind of negative feelings and comments when there are so many things we shouldn’t tolerate and so many things to legitimately complain about? Wouldn’t we be lowering our standards if we suddenly stopped demanding that the world and the people around us be the best they can be and at least strive for some sort of excellence?”- The answer lies in;
SHIFTING OUR TONE, STYLE, EMPHASIS AND METHODS
Listen to what Paul told the Philippians;
Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [[against God] and [questioning and doubting …. Philippians 2:14 (Amplified Bible)
Paul is saying in essence here, Zip-It! Don’t complain because Chronic Complaining has some Catastrophic Consequences. Our lives could be much sweeter and we’d be more successful in our relationships if we’d begin to practice a change of tone in the way we do and say things.
LEARNING TO LOVE THE JOURNEY
So much of my life was spent on the road I sometimes feel as if I should have written Willy Nelson’s song, “On the road again.” My father was a traveling preacher a good portion of his life and often took his family with him. I started on the road early in life and much of my grade- schooling came through correspondence courses.
When I went to Bible College in the fall of 1957 I joined the College Choir, the Men’s Chorus, A Men’s Quartet, as well as one or two other groups whose names escape me now.
We toured for two weeks each year with the choir from Lakeland Florida to New York City. We’re talking about 35 or 40 teenage boys and girls, with several chaperons traveling together in a leased Greyhound bus all day, then singing at a church at night, and staying overnight with members of the local church.
The Men’s Chorus toured a couple of weeks a year throughout the Southern states. The Men’s Quartet I was in singing second tenor and playing guitar for accompaniment traveled often throughout the year mostly in Florida and a few southern states.
Then came the many years of travel in Evangelism after I got out of school and was married.
LIFE IS LIKE A “ROAD TRIP”
In many ways a road trip can be an apt metaphor for life. The road can bring out the absolute worst in people. Travel can turn an otherwise sane and reasonable individual into a chronic complainer so tensed up their shoulders are up around their ears ready to put the kibosh on the first person who looks at them funny.
If it’s men only, traveling by car, you have the problem of…well… body odor. Not being raised with brothers, I soon learned that some guys will only shower every other day. Needless to say that presents a problem with shall I say… B.O? A road trip can leave you seeking relief from “air pollution.” Once in a while you need to roll down the car windows to get some fresh-air. I’ve always had low tolerance to bad odors.
No matter how good or not so good the travel conditions are, after a while the road especially traveling with a group will hammer you into submission and ultimately wear you out, if not spit you out. But I find it interesting that we human beings can bond around our complaints. For this reason it’s not unusual for lifetime friendships to start on a trip with only the common thread of some hardship or a test of our patience that we experienced with another individual.
A common thread for grumbling, faultfinding, complaining, murmuring etc. begins and grows in our thoughts, a selfish ungratefulness for not having things go the way we’d like them to. Either things are too slow or too fast, too big or too small, don’t taste, smell or feel right, too hot, too cold, to wet or too dry, too expensive, planes and trains are running late, restaurants serving inedible food, beds with rock gardens in them and grumpy fellow travelers to contend with, and this is only a short list of “road hazards.”
So what’s wrong with a little grumbling and complaining?
The bible is full of people who complained to God, not the least of which are Moses, Job, Elijah, Paul, Jonah and of course maybe the champion, The Psalmist David.
From God’s perspective, when His people grumble about their circumstances, they are grumbling against the Lord’s provision – and thus treating the Sovereign Lord Himself with contempt. The “worst case scenario” of grumbling in Scripture and the trouble it led to has to be the Israelites as they left Egypt for the Promised Land. When God’s people murmured against His appointed leaders – whether Moses or Aaron – God took it personally as grumbling against Himself. He still takes it personally.
To grumble against God’s provisions or God’s leaders is to dishonor God and to treat Him with contempt, and that is as serious an offense in God’s sight as idolatry or sexual immorality. We know how offensive it is to our ears to hear people taking the Lord’s name in vain. That’s how our grumbling and complaining sounds to God.
ISRAEL HATED THEIR JOURNEY SO A TWO-WEEK TRIP TOOK FORTY YEARS.
Moses talks about the truth of God’s provision for His people in the wilderness:
Deuteronomy 2:7 - “The LORD your God has blessed everything you have done and has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the LORD your God has been with you and provided for your every need so that you lacked nothing.”’
Exodus 16:8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD.”
Numbers 11:1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:6 - 11
-Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry. We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the Fulfillment of the ages has come.—NIV
CHOOSING NOT TO GRUMBLE WILL LEAD TO GOD’S BLESSINGS
When Paul and Silas were arrested for casting demons out of a girl, they were beaten and thrown in jail. They were even fastened in stocks as if they we violent criminals. Paul and Silas were Romans citizens and never should have been forced to endure such treatment-but they did.
Rather than accusing, grumbling, threatening, blaming and excusing, Paul and Silas began to pray and sing to God not caring if the other prisoners could hear them. They set the example of praising God in all situations. Because of the choice these men made, they were able to not only lead the jailer to Christ but his entire family. If Paul and Silas had decided to cop an attitude of complaining, we’d have had a great tragedy to read about here instead of several miracles.
Come with me to a little Israeli village many years ago. It's getting dark and nervously a woman paces in her modest home. She is worried. She trembles as she sweeps the dirt floor from one side to the next. She stares into the darkness. It’s late and she begins to pray, "O God, where is Joseph? Where is he, Lord? It is getting late and I know he didn't find work today. I went to the market place and I saw him still standing there late in the afternoon. O Lord, where is he? Has something happened to him, or is he too ashamed to come home again empty handed?"
The mother feels a tug on her dress. It's her five year old daughter Elizabeth. She asks, "Mama, where is Daddy? Why hasn’t he come home yet? Is he bringing us something to eat? Mama, I'm hungry." And with that the door burst open and the husband says, "Hello, Elizabeth! Hello, Rebecca! Prepare the table, we have a feast! Look! I have bread, I have cheese, I have figs -and for the two women in my life, a little bit of honey!"
"Joseph, where did you get all of this? I know you didn't work, I went by the market place and I saw you standing there late in the day." He said, "The most amazing thing happened to me today. I was standing in the market place waiting for someone to come by and hire me. It was getting late and many had given up. Others had gone to work and just a few of us were standing there. I just couldn't come home empty handed again. I couldn't stand another night just lying in bed when sleep wouldn’t come. The growling of my empty stomach could not drown out her words, 'Daddy, I'm hungry.'
I was almost ready to give up when around the eleventh hour the most unusual thing happened. A fellow came up and he yelled to us and asked us why we weren't working. We said, "No one has hired us." He said, "I'll hire you! Come on and work!"
"It was late in the day but a few pennies were better than nothing at all, so I went and worked in the vineyard. There were people there who had been working a long time. You could tell they were tired and hot. We worked for only an hour. Then the land owner gathered us together to pay us, and would you believe he paid us first, the ones who had only worked an hour, not those who had worked three hours or six hours or nine hours or twelve hours. And would you believe he gave us wages for an entire day? We worked one single hour and we were paid for an entire day! I was so happy. I ran to the market place and bought all of this food. Doesn't it look good? We’ll have a feast tonight."
"As I was in the market place, I heard some of the workers who had worked longer than I had grumbling. They were just downright mad. I didn't say anything, I just came on home. I just couldn't wait to get home with this food. Let’s gather around table and thank God for the favor He has given us."
"Joseph,” the wife said, “may I ask you something? I'm curious, why are there just three loaves instead of the customary four? And are my eyes deceiving me, it looks like someone has cut off half of the cheese?" "Well, you're right. I hope its okay but on the way home I thought of the widow Sarah and I stopped by her house and gave her some of the bread and cheese.”
Wiping tears from her eyes, Rebecca says, "Oh Joseph, you know it's more than alright. Let's bow and thank God."
You may not have ever heard that parable in this way. It's a strange story when you think about it.
Right in the middle of this is the landowner. You and I know the land owner represents God and shows to us the nature of God. This land owner is unpredictable and generous to a fault. He will do what he will with his favor and with his money because he wishes to do so.
The land owner honored his agreement with those who worked twelve hours. They got exactly what they contracted for. He was also generous and kind to those who only worked an hour. He didn't want them to go home empty handed to a hungry family.
Where are you in this parable? I'm sure that probably every single one of us at some time has been the one-hour worker, and sometimes we have been the twelve-hour worker.
We've been in it all day long, we've been in the baking hot sun and the dry and dusty heat is choking our throats. We have worked in the nursery for thirty years. We have changed more diapers than Gerber. We have done it all! We've listened to more dry, dusty sermons than we can count. We've tithed and every time the church would have a special program then we would give above our tithe.
We've served on every committee. We have been there every time the door has opened and sometimes we have dragged our children screaming and kicking to the church. We've done it all! We've been there; we've been the pillar of the church! We sometimes feel that the church could not get along if we were not there.
But here they come, those “newbie” converts bopping in the church with their flowered short sleeve shirts and Bermuda shorts and tennis shoes and their crazy looking hair and say, "Man, let's get turned on to Jesus!" And they get turned on to Jesus. They have never listened to any of those long dry, boring sermons, never worked in Sunday School. They think John 3:16 is a rest room on the third floor. They don't know a Benediction from a Trout. They know nothing. They respond to Jesus in faith and they are going to get the same thing we are? Is this fair?
We have a choice. We can either be gracious and thankful for what God has given to us or we can gripe and complain and grumble that God has been gracious to others.
The wonderful thing is that God can change our attitude. God wants to make us gracious. God has been generous to us. He sent His Son Jesus to die on Calvary's Cross for you and for me, because of His love and His grace you can be forgiven and have a home in Heaven. Our part is to accept it and be gracious. We can't do anything else.
If you could give one gift to your children, what would you give them? Would that gift be gratitude? God's work of grace is to make us gracious and take the criticalness and complaints out of us.
He has made more progress with some of us than He has with others.
The very act of praising God in every situation can nourish our faith and strengthen and encourage us, as well as those around us who are affected by our grumbling or our gratitude.
….he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.-Proverbs 15:15
Blessings,
John
Sunday, January 5, 2014
A Peculiar People
By John Stallings
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people…..1 Peter 2:9
Among my earliest memories of childhood were the days when I was a kid playing sports after school. We played baseball, basketball, cops and robbers and had “gun battles.”
In those days, we didn’t take Polo or Golf lessons, & we had no video games. We knew how to have fun on a shoestring & sometimes with a shoestring. At one time I had seventeen horses, all made of broom handles. But when you’re a little kid, & they’re choosing up sides to play a game, the worst fear you can imagine is not to be chosen, to be chosen last or that no one will want you on their team. Even later in college I can remember games of pick-up basketball when we’d stand on the sidelines waiting to be chosen by the older guys. I never liked that feeling.
In reading the verses from 1 Peter 2 about being chosen, I can imagine a small group of early Christians somewhere in the Mediterranean world gathered in a small unassuming house. The group leader reads them the letter from Peter telling them; “once you were nobody, but now you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, & a peculiar people.”
Once these words applied to Israel, God’s chosen people but now they apply to all who are saved.
In our day we associate the word peculiar with weird. We have many ways of expressing this. We call peculiar people, among other things...
· A few fries short of a happy meal.
· Dumber than a box of rocks
· One Fruit Loop shy of a full bowl
· The cheese slide off his cracker
· He fell out of the stupid tree and hit every limb on the way down
· Not the sharpest knife in the drawer,
· His elevator doesn't go all the way to the top, &
· He’s not exactly a rocket scientist.
No one likes to be thought of as peculiar but the word Peter is using here means something very different than the descriptive words we use. Right in the middle of Peter’s beautiful statement describing the Christian we find the word-PECULIAR!
Some people have so misunderstood the word peculiar that they’ve prided themselves in being, odd, strange, different, and even weird. But those words don’t begin to describe what God means when He calls His people peculiar. I remember years ago hearing people say, “Halliluyer I’m peculiar,” like they thought being peculiar was to be uncouth or eccentric. But the word peculiar in Greek was –Periousios—meaning –Emphatically & distinctly God’s property.”
1. The Greek New Testament goes---A people for a possession.2. The Amplified Bible says in part, ---God’s own purchased special people.
3. Wuest’s Expanded Translation; -A people formed for God’s own possession.
4. The New English Bible has replaced the term “peculiar people” with –“people claimed by God for His own.”5. The New Living Translation; “His very own possession.”
6. Other translations render the phrase as follows,-“a special people” “a purchased people” and “a people for safe-keeping.”
Notice that none of these translations speaks of us as odd, strange or weird. Rather, one & all in an attempt to correctly bring an English meaning out of a Greek term, states that we are SPECIAL, PRIVATE POSSESSIONS OF GOD.WE ARE HIS OWN PEOPLE! Ptl!
We can even look in Funk and Wagnall’s and in Webster’s and find these definitions for peculiar; “Select of special, separate, belonging exclusively to one, and a private possession. Exclusively individual,-something that is set apart from other things.”
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people…..1 Peter 2:9
Among my earliest memories of childhood were the days when I was a kid playing sports after school. We played baseball, basketball, cops and robbers and had “gun battles.”
In those days, we didn’t take Polo or Golf lessons, & we had no video games. We knew how to have fun on a shoestring & sometimes with a shoestring. At one time I had seventeen horses, all made of broom handles. But when you’re a little kid, & they’re choosing up sides to play a game, the worst fear you can imagine is not to be chosen, to be chosen last or that no one will want you on their team. Even later in college I can remember games of pick-up basketball when we’d stand on the sidelines waiting to be chosen by the older guys. I never liked that feeling.
In reading the verses from 1 Peter 2 about being chosen, I can imagine a small group of early Christians somewhere in the Mediterranean world gathered in a small unassuming house. The group leader reads them the letter from Peter telling them; “once you were nobody, but now you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, & a peculiar people.”
Once these words applied to Israel, God’s chosen people but now they apply to all who are saved.
In our day we associate the word peculiar with weird. We have many ways of expressing this. We call peculiar people, among other things...
· A few fries short of a happy meal.
· Dumber than a box of rocks
· One Fruit Loop shy of a full bowl
· The cheese slide off his cracker
· He fell out of the stupid tree and hit every limb on the way down
· Not the sharpest knife in the drawer,
· His elevator doesn't go all the way to the top, &
· He’s not exactly a rocket scientist.
No one likes to be thought of as peculiar but the word Peter is using here means something very different than the descriptive words we use. Right in the middle of Peter’s beautiful statement describing the Christian we find the word-PECULIAR!
Some people have so misunderstood the word peculiar that they’ve prided themselves in being, odd, strange, different, and even weird. But those words don’t begin to describe what God means when He calls His people peculiar. I remember years ago hearing people say, “Halliluyer I’m peculiar,” like they thought being peculiar was to be uncouth or eccentric. But the word peculiar in Greek was –Periousios—meaning –Emphatically & distinctly God’s property.”
1. The Greek New Testament goes---A people for a possession.2. The Amplified Bible says in part, ---God’s own purchased special people.
3. Wuest’s Expanded Translation; -A people formed for God’s own possession.
4. The New English Bible has replaced the term “peculiar people” with –“people claimed by God for His own.”5. The New Living Translation; “His very own possession.”
6. Other translations render the phrase as follows,-“a special people” “a purchased people” and “a people for safe-keeping.”
Notice that none of these translations speaks of us as odd, strange or weird. Rather, one & all in an attempt to correctly bring an English meaning out of a Greek term, states that we are SPECIAL, PRIVATE POSSESSIONS OF GOD.WE ARE HIS OWN PEOPLE! Ptl!
We can even look in Funk and Wagnall’s and in Webster’s and find these definitions for peculiar; “Select of special, separate, belonging exclusively to one, and a private possession. Exclusively individual,-something that is set apart from other things.”
Aren’t you liking this word peculiar better all the time?
In the Old Testament we find the word peculiar five times and it means “something special; a precious private possession.”
In Titus 2:13-14 we find---Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might Redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a PECULIAR PEOPLE zealous of good works.
We’re not....odd, weird and funny, but rather we’re....private, special, treasured possessions of God.
If you’re wearing a wedding ring, let me ask you a question; do you often loan it out or even rent it to someone? That’s so silly it hardly rates a serious answer. Your wedding ring is “special.” It belongs exclusively to one person and that’s you. Period!
Now don’t misunderstand me here; I believe when we’re God’s special people we are going to be DIFFERENT! As a matter of fact if we’re not different, something’s fundamentally wrong. That difference, in my opinion, won’t mean a woman has to have a “glory knot” on the back of her head or that her face will be so pale she’ll look like death on a Ritz cracker. If you want to look like that fine & dandy as long as you don’t try to force it on other people, especially my wife. The problem with external standards or non-essentials only comes when we feel God has asked us to dress or appear a certain way, then we put that spiritual “pet rock” on everyone else’s spiritual “red wagon.”
My mother always had long hair & it was so hard to deal with I can remember as a kid seeing her sit & try to comb it with tears running down her face. Finally when she was in mid-life she cut her hair making it more manageable but far from bobbed- off to look like a male.
One of the ladies in the church who had “thirteen of the nine gifts” came up to mom one Sunday & said, “Oh Sister Stallings, I’m so disappointed in you that you’ve cut your hair. Now you wouldn’t be able to dry Jesus’ feet with your hair.” I could have warned that dear lady but I didn’t get the chance. My Mother smiled & answered the lady who was acting as a self-appointed hair-sheriff,- “Well sister, I suppose I’ll just have to furnish the tears to wash His feet.”
Yes as God’s special property there will always be a difference but not a Pharisaical difference that only cleans the outside of the cup but leaves the inside dirty.
I don’t want to get on a rant about this but the other day someone sent us a ministry magazine & they were advertising a Christian ladies retreat. Obviously it was a retreat for women only. I noticed as I read the ad that they had an extreme dress code for the women.
I can’t remember all the ad said but it went something like, “no shorts, no short skirts, no cut-off jeans, no sun dresses or tight pants etc.etc..” I was picturing a bunch of older ladies wearing bathing suits with long sleeves. Now to be frank, I’m from the old school myself & believe in modesty in dress for both sexes, however I found the ad off-putting.
I don’t want to upset the ladies over this but don’t we all know that when a group of church ladies get together the biggest problem is more likely to be loose tongues than tight clothes? I wondered why the ad didn’t specify that the ladies should come prayed up & filled to overflowing with love & no gossiping was going to be tolerated. But that’s just me.
That’s why Jesus got so ticked off at the Pharisees; they were always emphasizing the externals instead of the internal things of the heart. They dressed great but they were mean as snakes.
Zechariah 14:20 says, ---In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord…Certainly that didn't imply the horses would in themselves be holy, but rather they were holy in that they were the Lord’s horses.
Friend, you and I are God’s love gift to His son Jesus Christ. We’ve been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb.
Paul reminds us, --Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price.—1 Cor. 6:19-20
Peter reminds us—Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver and gold…but with precious blood… the blood of Christ. ---1 Pet.1:18-19
A good example of this was the Old Testament Job. God had set him apart and built a hedge around him as His own private property. Job was encircled & marked-off as being peculiar to God. God allowed Satan to test Job but when you read the last chapter of Job, the man was eventually doubly blessed in every area where Satan had attacked him.
Praise be to God, Job wasn’t the only one protected by a hedge. You and I are also His peculiar people.
For surely O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.—Psalm 5:12
So let’s see how we are different and peculiar as God’s special people. What do we who are Christians do differently than non-Christians? How do we stand out in this world?
1. WE STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD WHEN TROUBLE STRIKES.
Christians have trouble just like non-Christians do but real Christians take it in stride. Again, Job is the oldest example of that. He was put through almost hell on earth but never charged God foolishly & as we’ve said, he was given back double for his trouble.
Daniel was put under pressure and finally thrown in a den of hungry lions but his faith in God brought him out in one piece. Joseph went through enough trouble to make some people give up and quit but he persevered and became second in command in Egypt & was able to save a great portion of the world from starvation.
It was this capacity to bear with equanimity torture & even martyrdom which made the early Christians stand out & caused a rapid rise in their ranks. Everybody saw they had inner resources & wanted to know the secret. Even Jesus was driven into the desert & presented with such demonic temptation & harassment that He didn’t eat a bite for forty days. Have you ever had so much trouble you lost your appetite? Most of us have never been that stressed out but if we live long enough trouble will come our way at some point.
It’s good to remember when trouble comes that it’s “Father filtered.” Nothing comes to God’s children that He doesn’t allow to come & give us grace & strength to endure. When anything hits the child of God, & we can be certain we will be hit at some point, when the blow comes it must pass through a “divine sifter” so that when it hits us, it can’t do anything but help us. This is what Romans 8:28 is all about.
I heard the story of a dear old lady who used to say, when anything harassed or harmed her, “This will do me a world of good.” When eventually her aging body was no longer able to support her spirit and she lay dying & was about to slip through the phantom walls that separate this life from eternity, her dying words were, “this will do me a world of good.” And she was right.
I heard about an elderly lady who was sitting in her rocking chair & working with a large piece of raggedy material with loose ends of string going every which way. It looked so horribly ugly that a man asked, “Granny, what in the world are you doing with that big ugly lump of threads of all colors knotted up,-it has no sort of design or beauty.” Granny was non-plussed for a moment then she smiled & flipped the large ugly piece of material over so the man could see she was making a throw rug. It had a beautiful design on the other side. The man had been looking at the shaggy side.
Many times when trouble comes we see only the shaggy side of it & don’t see the design God has in the things He allows. Maybe down the line we’ll see the trouble for what it really was or it could take another world to reveal it to us. But if we’re God’s child, nothing is wasted, not even our battles & trials are wasted.
James went so far as to say,--My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diver’s temptations, knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. –James 1:2-3
In the 23rd Psalm David said—Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…..
David didn’t say, “Lord I know you’ll be waiting for me when this trial is over.” No, he proclaimed that God was going to be with him as he passed through his trouble.
2. WE STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD IN... MUTUAL LOVE.
Jesus said men would know we were His disciples when we loved each other. The early Christians enjoyed the “Koinonia” or shared fellowship of souls with one another & God. Many Christians today are trying to get back that spirit of the early church with small groups of members personally known to one another meeting together in their homes and are again seeing what the miracle of love can do.
I’ve often said if I moved to a town with only two churches, one church was filled with gifted people moving in all the spiritual gifts & overflowing with talent, but wasn’t friendly, but there was another church which had none of the gifts operating & little talent was displayed, but were friendly people, I’d choose the friendly church every time.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13, -- If we have all the gifts in operation but have no love, we don’t have the welcome mat out, & don’t reach out to others in friendliness, we are nothing, or zero.
I am grateful for some of the practical things my parents taught me as I grew up. I’m not going to say I was the best student but I did manage to pick up some keystone truths that have served me well throughout my life & ministry. The one I now have in mind that my mother drilled through my head a hundred times as a boy was, “Son, a bad attitude cancels out all the other good things you might do.”
You & I can be doing all the right things but if we’re doing them with a wrong spirit & bad attitude, we lose our effectiveness & it just doesn’t count. I’ve been in hundreds of churches as an evangelist & have been shocked when song leaders would come on the platform & walk right by me with their nose in the air & never speak. Then they’d get up & lead in worship & run all over the platform as if they were more spiritual than the Apostle Paul, but when it came to the practical side of their walk, they missed the mark.
I’ve amazed at Christians who don’t seem to even be aware of the simple fact that when we’re engaged in doing God’s work, we should put a smile on our face no matter how we feel & show the love of Christ in all we do. We don’t have the luxury of showing our feelings if we expect to be usable in The Kingdom of God. Every thing that we do, if it’s not done with the right motivation, the motivation of love toward God & man, it’s wood hay & stubble & will burn at Christ’s Judgment Seat.---1 Cor.3:11-15
3. WE STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD BY OUR LACK OF WORLDINESS & CONCERN FOR THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT.
The early church wasn’t materialistic, but rather they stressed the things that were spiritual in nature. They had a lightness of touch when it came to the mundane things of earth. They were free from selfish ambition, the desire to amass property but were content with their lot, never complaining or expressing frustration or jealousy. They joyed in the presence of God & their brothers & sisters in the Lord. They were;
Praying people. Eph.6:18
Earnest people. Jude 3
Consecrated people. Rom.12:1
United people. Eph.4:1-3
Loving people. Eph.5:1, 2
Influential people. Matt.5:16
Active people. Phil.2:12
Righteous people. 2 Cor. 5:21
LASTLY, WE ARE A PECULIAR PEOPLE BECAUSE WE’RE A RADICALLY CHANGED PEOPLE.
I believe that we’re nearing the end of the Gospel age & the Lord is making us peculiar people ready for a very peculiar & glorious job. That job is nothing less than reigning with Christ for a thousand years.
We’re a holy nation within a nation but we should always remember that the weapons of our warfare aren't carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Our weapon is the Sword of the spirit which is the Word of God.
All we who are members of this “chosen generation” this “royal priesthood,” this “holy nation & peculiar people” are called & should strive to be different & separate from the spirit of this world so that we may fulfill our purpose;
To show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His glorious light.
Blessings,
John
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