Musings,08/30/10, Preacher... by John

Preacher? Prophet? Pastor? Solicitor?

It bothers me that ministers are given prestigious titles such as "The Right Reverend..." I've not understood why we should have such a title when our Lord chose to walk the earth without one. Many of my friends prefer to be referred to as "Brother...." I prefer that over most of the others. Our pastor said usually when someone calls him preacher to his face, it has a bad connotation to him, and I've frequently felt that way, too. Our pastor is adamant about our calling him by his name, and we usually do that. He has a doctorate, but he chooses not to use it. I feel that is to his credit. Earning the degree should be about the material learned, not the title. Most of my past church members simply called me John, and I liked that.

Recently I invited a man to visit our church. He told me plainly that he would never enter that church at all, and he informed me that all preachers had their "hands out." Then he added that he worked hard just to put food on the table, and money was all any of "them preachers" cared about. It seemed to me he was more interested in keeping his money than doing anything with God. I'd like to say I gave him a good answer for his statements, but I was dumbfounded because I thought the man was a Christian. Now I don't know what to think about him, because giving is a large part of a Christian's life, not necessarily money, but giving in all sorts of ways. I told another friend about my experience. He said he had run across that inviting people to his church. He wanted to know if I'd like to hear his response. I said yes.

He told me he always asked, "If you come to our church, you will be a guest, won't you?" The natural answer is affirmative. He continued, "When you invite guests to your house, do you charge them for their dinner?" The natural answer is no. Then he explained, "You come and you'll be our honored guest. We won't ask you for a single thing! We will invite you to come again as often as you like, and as long as you are a guest, we'll never ask you to support anything we do!" I believe that is a good, tactful way of expressing the truth.

Jesus gave His life on a cruel cross for us. If He is our Lord, we will become like Him. I don't think many of us will be called on to make the supreme sacrifice of our earthly existence as He did, but we cannot be like Jesus if we don't freely give! It is the Christian way. Our pastor has apologized the few times I've heard him mention a need for money from the pulpit. He may have needed to, but he should not have to.

God established a rule for the twelve tribes of Israel. The Levites were not to have an inheritance as a tribe. The other eleven tribes were to own their own lands, and they were to give a tithe, one tenth, of their produce whether it was grain, wine, or livestock. The Levites and priests were to make the offerings, attend to the tabernacle, or temple, needs, and enjoy their part of those tithes. They themselves were to tithe also. That meant that having received tithes from eleven tribes, they had in their hands 10% more than the rest of the families of Israel. When they themselves tithed, that took care of that extra 10%, and kept them about the same average economic level as their peers. By the same reasoning, if a present day church has 20 families, and one pastor. The tithe of the church, should allow the pastor to have a salary equal to the average of the congregation, and there should be that much again for the expenses of the church as a whole.

Nothing, with human beings, ever works out completely as it should. We have people who attain riches and people who are dirt poor. I believe our God loves all equally. I believe all are acceptable in His sight if they are followers of Jesus.

I did not remind the man who, perhaps without thinking, included me with all the other preachers as having outstretched hands, that his argument did not have a single valid point. In addition to that, I know he pays for food, transportation, housing, medical needs, and taxes. He PAYS for those things. God only ASKS for his gifts. He doesn't send out collectors and take those who do not tithe to court to get justice.

It's true there are preachers who are in business to make money for themselves, and who shed tears asking for offerings for the starving children, or masses, in the world while they build their bank accounts. Those are very, very few compared to the others serving God as they should. Some pastors I know worry about how they are going to pay their own electric bills, or pay for their kids' school supplies because so many in their churches are not supplying their needs as God intends they should.

Talk about money by people who really are unaware of what goes on in Christian groups is another way Satan causes disruption and hinders people from receiving the truth.

So what will you get in church? I don't know about many other churches other than the one I attend and support, so I can only tell you what you should expect from us.

First, you should expect a welcome from all the people present as well as the pastor. Second, you should expect to hear the Bible read and taught. Third, you should hear the Bible preached. Yep! I Corinthians 1: 17,18 says, "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who being saved it is the power of God." Oh! One other thing! If you happen to visit on Wednesday night, you'll get a good meal with us, and you won't need to spend money to put stuff on the table at home at least that once! Maybe I shouldn't say that. It sounds a little sarcastic, and I don't mean to be.

If you let money-talk keep you away from church, one other verse of Scripture comes to mind; Hebrews 10:25 says, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." The translators capitalized "Day" because they believe it refers to Jesus coming to earth again to take His followers to heaven where we will spend eternity with Him in our Father's service.

Musings,08/28/10, Biblical Freedom by John

Perfection as used in the Bible

We are all familiar with the word "perfection," aren't we? Student's, well some students, strive to make a "perfect" score. Some people strive to live a "perfect" life. If we think we have achieved it, we have unconsciously fallen into one of Satan's traps!

We deal with words from the time we are born until the time we die, but too often we lose an important or add a false connotation to a word when we translate it into another language. In English, more often than not, "perfect" does refer to everything being absolutely right, no error, ever! It did not in Hebrew or in Greek, the main languages in which the Bible was written.

Why can't we just decide to be perfect and then be perfect? Well, for one thing, Romans 3:22-24 says it well: "The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." You see we are presently sinners. We cannot undo what we have already done. I discovered in art that when I add a smidgen of black pigment to a large amount of white pigment, it results in a shade of gray. If I reverse the procedure using a large amount of white, the result seems to be all white. When compared to an all-white pigment, it usually will be visually detectible that the black is still there. Spiritually, a sinner can never be anything except a sinner. The wonderful thing about Christ and our Father is that we don't have to be sinlessly perfect! Jesus died to cover our sins with His Own blood! I think somewhere in a past musing I mentioned an evangelist who wrote "sin" in bold red letters on a big sheet of white cardboard. Then he covered his sign with a thin layer of red plastic material. When we looked through the plastic, the word "SIN" disappeared. It was still there, of course, but his point was, God does not see our sins because He looks through the blood of Jesus. That simple physical illustration does make a point. We can't undo what we have done. It is part of our history, but it bears no penalty because we trust Jesus.

Now about this word, "perfect." In Greek, it is teleios. There are several words translated perfect in Hebrew, so I won't list them, but none of them refers to perfections in every way. I'm aware that some have a problem with Matthew 5:48 which says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Their argument is that we are to be sinless like God is. The only thing wrong with that is in thinking we can do that on our own, or even with the help of Jesus. As children of God in Christ, we should want to be like Him, and I have enough faith to believe that God's Spirit gives us the ability to become the person God intends us to be. That does not mean we will be as intelligent, as powerful, or in any other respect equal to our heavenly Father. He is Perfection! We will become perfect to a lesser degree. In Isaiah 14: 14 the last sinful goal of Lucifer in the King James, but simply Morning Star in the NIV is, "I will be like the Most High."

My hope is that everyone who trusts Jesus will find contentment in being a child of God and will not try to rise to the level of a god while he/she is on earth. I hope all of us are willing to rest in Jesus and receive whatever gifts or rewards He chooses to give us. I also hope that when we have received all of His gifts that we will be aware we have never been worthy of the least of His favors as a song author has put it.

The great Paul who rose from being a persecutor of "the way," to being the foremost person in sharing Jesus with the nations cried out, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" And then he answered his own question, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7: 24,25a). All who trust Jesus and commit their lives to Him are complete now, and we will become more complete as we approach the time when we meet Jesus face to face. All we have, and all we are, is the result of His work. We have nothing to brag about other than the joyous cry, "Jesus saves sinners! And I am one of those He saves!" That is perfection!

Musings08/24/10, Responsible Freedom by John.

Responsible Freedom

I had two surprises one Sunday morning recently. The first came as an unsigned e-mail. By the address I knew it was from a minister, or perhaps his wife, whom I have not seen in years. It contained pictures of our service men scarred and bleeding, some being buried and some risking their lives to care for both the wounded and dead.

I was aware when I volunteered for Naval service toward the close of WW II that I could be lost at sea because of torpedo or Kamikaze attacks, but I felt it was every American's duty. That included me, and now that I'm an Octogenarian, I am still willing to do whatever is necessary for my country.

The second surprise came when our present pastor delivered a sermon on "Freedom." I think another part of the title may have been "What is it?" Freedom is something that comes with a very expensive price tag. Jesus paid the price for ours. The pastor pointed out that there are many concepts of freedom. One is anarchy, and that may have been what happened in the Bible when it said, "Every man did what was right in his own eyes. I'm interested just in one kind of freedom. I'm not concerned with the freedom we enjoy as Americans. We may keep it, or lose it depending on how our country relates to Jesus' message.

Our acceptance of Jesus' gift of eternal life can be quickly and permanently made, but our living as a child of God certainly takes a lifetime to accomplish. We always have doubts. They may be hidden, and we may deny them, but they are there. Let's think of the different freedoms God gives us.

First, He made us free agents on this earth. That means that when He encourages us to accept His rule over our lives, we are free to refuse to have anything to do with Him. It is certainly true that His will is for us to take the direct road to life eternal, but we are free to travel the broad road leading in any other direction. Scads of people have done that and are doing it today. He warned us ahead of time that the end of such rebellion is death eternal instead of life eternal, but the choice is ours, and we are free to choose eternal death. It is the negative part of our choice. Someone said, "If you aren't going to go with God, then you better do all you can now because when you die, all your opportunities die with you, but if you choose to live this life with God, your opportunities constantly increase for all eternity."

I believe Paul writing in Romans gives the best picture of what this life is all about. Romans 4: 25 says, "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." 5:1,2 says, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Jesus died for each of us so that we could experience the grace of God in forgiveness for all of our sins, and to give us eternal life. Paul spoke of our salvation as both past and present. We don't wait for judgment. We passed through that when we accepted Christ's sacrificial death for ourselves. Ephesians 2;8,9 says, "For by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast." Our slate is clear, not because of anything we have done, but because Jesus made peace with God for us on the cross. Our future is also sure because the hope spoken of in the quoted passage is not even related to chance. Heaven is a reality for Christians. Jesus told us in John 14: 1,2 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

All of God's promises have depended on faith and cooperation by the recipient. We are now free in Christ, but our freedom does have responsibilities. We are responsible for extending to others the same freedom we have. We should expect others to relate to God as we do. If they don't, we are responsible for helping them respond. We should not consider ourselves in the position to judge anyone Christian or lost. Romans 2:1 says, "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things." Our judging others not only disobeys God, it puts a tool in the hand of Satan to drive people farther away from God and to make them refuse any help from us. If we aren't close to those in need, it is much harder to help!

Extremists keep our world in a mess. That's an observation, not a judgment I trust. War seems to be, and perhaps always has been the main event of every age. We may take part in our country's protection, but our hope goes beyond physical conflict. Reading the Old Testament, it seems the Israelites were constantly at war, but God always gave them hope for the future, and we Christians have that same hope. It's more solid now than it was in those ancient days. In fact, our freedom from worry lies in our hope for the future. We trust God to carry out His promises. He has already done so much! And His promises are facts as far as we Christians are concerned. We simply wait for them to be completely fulfilled. Some already are. We already have the promised Savior Who made us free from the laws of sin and death. He's already freed us to live successfully in this world. I'm not talking about the accumulation of wealth. I'm talking about the joy that comes from knowing and serving our living God! He's already freed us to help those who have not received the same blessings we enjoy, and to help each other as well.

Everyone who has freedom prizes it. When the Bible tells us Christians have life more abundant than they had before they met God, it tells me that I can enjoy freedom far more than anyone who doesn't know God. It's not something I need to prove. If you haven't discovered it for yourself, then begin seeking God and you will learn what real responsible freedom is all about.

Musings08/10/10,NathanandDavid, by John.

Nathan and David

It probably is not important, but I've always wondered if the prophet Nathan liked King David. People serving God should be friends, don't you think? The Scripture seldom if ever records the people prophets like and dislike. They do tell us when dignitaries do not like them. An example is Ahab the King of Israel. He asked Jehoshaphat, his brother-in-law, to help him in war against Ramoth Gilead, and Jehoshaphat agreed to join their armies, but his one stipulation was that they consult God about it. Four hundred prophets supported by Ahab showed they knew where their livelihood came from. They said that Ahab would be victorious. Jehoshaphat apparently realized Ahab's prophets were just "Yes men." He wanted to hear from one of God's prophets. Ahab said, "There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." (II Chronicles 18:7) This is the same Ahab who sent armies out to find and kill Elijah. Later, Jesus faced Israel's leaders saying their forefathers killed the prophets. They admitted their forefathers did kill them. They excused themselves by saying they would not have killed them if they had lived then. Micaiah was put in prison on bread and water because of his prophecy. He may have died because Ahab was killed on the battlefield as Micaiah prophesied.

Again, I also wonder if David liked Nathan? We know that Nathan faced David with his sin after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband murdered. I'm troubled by this because many people today dislike certain New Testament prophets/pastors today. Is it important to like your pastor? What do you expect from a pastor, the Word of God, or just friendship, a challenge or soothing words condoning your actions? I'm sure you expect the pastor to be exemplary in deportment, but being human, pastors sin just like anyone else does. None of us are so perfect we never sin. Knowing pastors are not perfect, do you love your pastor anyway? You certainly should respect them for the office they hold.

Whether these two ancient characters from history liked each other is not important, and popularity certainly is not the most important function of a pastor today. If Nathan liked David, it must have been hard for him to face David with his sin and then to tell him the child about to be born would die. If Nathan despised David, the feeling probably would have been reciprocated, and Nathan's life could have been in danger. The daily job of Prophets/pastors is never easy, but the rewards are great. I can attest to that after some 60 years experience.

As hard as it was, the fact is, Nathan performed a great act of friendship when he faced David with his sin, and I believe David realized that. Getting us back on track when we are wrong is a blessing although at the time it may seem like anything but that.

Later, in I Chronicles 17, David decided to build the Lord a "house." His intention were good. God gave him victory over all of his enemies, and David enjoyed a luxurious life in a cedar palace. He felt it wasn't right for God to only have a tent. Nathan agreed with him. Prophets are sometimes wrong when they haven't enquired of the Lord. The Scripture doesn't say so, but I do not believe Nathan even thought about asking God if that was what he wanted, and I am sure he had watched closely how God blessed David all the time, but that night God gave Nathan a totally different message. He told him He had never asked anyone to build him a house, and that David had shed too much blood to do it. Instead, one of David's sons would build the temple, and God would give him peace his whole lifetime. Nathan once again faced David to tell him he was not pleasing the Lord. Have you ever had your heart set on something that you thought was right only to discover God was not in it? That in itself is a devastating experience, but David accepted it without being upset so far as we know.

Still later, we find David amassing materials to build the temple, and appointing people to help Solomon because he was young and inexperienced. Of course Solomon was one of the many sons of David, and in I Kings 1, we find the story of his son Adonijah. He tried to take the throne. That forced David to immediately proclaim Solomon king and install him the same day he heard of Adonijah's activities. Nathan and David were together this time.

What we have here is an account of what it is like to really seek to live for the Lord, fail, be restored, and go on to be spiritually successful. Nathan was a true friend as he related God's will to David when he did well and also when he sinned. David responded to Nathan as a Christian should. He obeyed the Lord. David was pre-Christian, but he was doing what every person who wants to please God must do. He obeyed Him!

There were always false prophets then, and there are now. In Old Testament times a prophet found false was stoned to death, but from what Jesus said, we know many true prophets were killed by the people they served. Jesus' words in Matthew 23:11 are well known, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." God's servants/prophets/pastors are just ordinary people sometimes made extraordinary by God-given messages. God gives them to encourage us and to enhance our lives as we seek to live with and for Jesus. We should give them the respect today they should have received throughout history. We should respect them whether we personally like them or not. Actually, we should love anyone and anything that helps us get and stay close to God.

The relationship between Nathan and David was godly. In this life, we probably will never know whether they were friends or even casual conversationalists, but we do know God's messages were delivered through Nathan, and David obeyed them. Most pastors don't ask for or expect obedience in this enlightened age, but respect between all of God's children is simply keeping the rule God gave us, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12).