Do You Admire Ministers? Remember! by John.

Do You Admire Ministers? Remember!

In I Corinthians, Paul gave those people a startling revelation that still startles people today. In 1:21, Paul says God chose to save people by what the Greeks in particular chose to consider foolishness.
1:25 says, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." Verses 26-29 really should catch our attention: "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."

God did not choose many of the best, but mainly the lowest, less valuable people by the world's standards to call; yet, some of these messengers of God today are feted as intelligentsia. They come very close to becoming idols themselves. I hope none allow such a thing to happen, but I know too many of us become quite egotistic when we should be completely servant-minded. I've known many deacons who thought their title made them rulers in the church instead of servants of the church. Acts 6 makes it quite clear that deacons started out as people who handed out food and other required items to widows and other needy people in the church. That didn't take a great mind, only a great spirit of devotion to the Lord and His work.

Pastors of large churches have attained popularity that most Old Testament prophets never achieved. With that popularity a lot of power is bestowed on them not by God necessarily, but by the people in the church.

Now, I've always considered church members as Christians, but time has given me reason to doubt that all of them are. I tend to think of myself not as one who has arrived, but as one who is striving to reach the goal of the high calling in Christ as Paul said in Philippians 3:14. I believe none of us ever reaches such a position that we can be absolutely right about anything, salvation included.

When you look at us (ministers of the Gospel), what you see is not what we once were. All of us have things in our past, things we do not want to ever come up in public. If we don't, then I believe we've already missed God's truth about us. We grow from nothing to something under the tutelage of older Christians used by the Holy Spirit for that, and from our peers who are also striving to become the person God wants all of us to be.

This situation makes us very vulnerable. We are still "earthen vessels," or ("jars of clay" II Corinthians 4:7, NIV). God's power is shown to all who will see it in the very accomplishments of such ineffectual, lowly servants.

Numbers 16-18 starts with the rebellion of Korah Dathan, Abiram and On against Moses and Aaron. They considered themselves called of God, and Moses and Aaron as failed leaders. If you remember the history, this occurred after the messengers brought back a discouraging report of the land God was going to give them. The ground opened up and swallowed them with their families, tents and other belongings. I'll not dwell on that. What I want you to notice is that Moses fell on his face before these people. He wasn't a young man! He was getting old, more than eighty; Yet, I'm sure he was stirred by mixed emotions. I believe he felt his own unworthiness to be in the position of God's leader for these people. I believe he remembered the sins in his past. I believe the people's sudden vicious enmity terrified him. Despite that, they were family, and he did not want them destroyed! He wasn't the man he was when he was in Pharaoh's palace; He wasn't the man who saw the burning bush. He wasn't the man who stood before Pharaoh and challenged him to let the Israelites go! He was the wonderful mixture that a person becomes with the help of God's Holy Spirit doing the leading. He stood for God's right, and still he pled for the lives of those who hated and wanted to depose him. Doesn't that remind you that Jesus said, "I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5:44).

I admire Moses, but not as a demigod. I see him as another minister of the Lord who suffered growing pains like all the rest of us. Of course, I gladly acknowledge God talked directly with Moses, and I don't think God has ever done that with anyone else other than Jesus. I know some claim that God converses with them in prayer. All I can say is that I haven't had any experience like that; Yet, I have experienced what I believe was a message from God to me alone, and I rejoice in that.

I'm also glad that I have experienced the love of many people, and I'm sorry I've disappointed some and made enemies of others. I don't think any of us want to make enemies. We want to be peacemakers and be blessed by that, but we are living, growing things in God's hands, and as one of my children used to frequently remind me, "No one is perfect, Daddy!" That certainly included me and everyone else I know.

I think it is good to admire God's servants, but we should be careful not to place them on some kind of pedestal overlooking everyone else. We should see them as equals with a different chore to perform for the Lord, and we should see our own calling to be just as important as anyone else's in God's plan for His creation. If you belong to Jesus, I do not only consider you a brother, or sister, but as someone doing God's work where you are, and I admire you! You are family!

We Can't Control God. by John.

We Can't Control God

All of us establish rules in our minds about everything. I suppose it is necessary for us to keep some order to things. Some of those rules become so strong that we might call them our personal laws. Someone observed is was like building a box that fit everything. It's our way of saying, "This has to be like this." It may, or may not, be a logical conclusion, but we still try to make everything fit in one of our mental boxes. Maybe it is more appropriate to call these mental file cabinets in which we store what we know we know. This sounds a little redundant doesn't it?

Doing this is okay except we frequently discover it doesn't work. Some think creation can only have happened according to scientific principles. I believe that it did and does; however, to suggest there is not a God disobeys a basic scientific principle. My atheistic Zoology professor in college drilled into us that we must observe (under the microscope) and report only what we observe. To declare because of other discipoines that there is no God is only an inference of ignorance. Besides, we all know there is more science to be learned than we yet uncovered. Some of us, and I certainly include myself, believe God created everything that is. How can I believe in science and God? Well, I discovered long ago that there is no mental box big enough to contain God. A Methodist minister when I was a child illustrated our plight with a story of three blind men's first contact with an elephant. Each touched the elephant just once and then discussed what they discovered. One felt the elephant's tail. He said an elephant is like a big, rough rope. The second felt the elephant's leg, and he said an elephant is like a big tree. The third felt the elephant's trunk said the elephant was like a huge snake! They got angry with each other because of their disagreement. The preacher then compared their view of the elephant with our view of God. The only thing the blind men agreed on was that the elephant was big! Humans only get glimpses of God, and from those we fill in an image of Him. All of our experiences with God may be entirely real and valid, and yet even when we put them together sincerely believing we are right we've only begun to find out what God is really like.

I read a humorous story someone wrote many years ago about a little girl sitting at the kitchen table while her mother prepared their meal. Her mother noticed she was scribbling on some paper with crayons. She asked, "What are you doing, dear?" Her daughter answered, "I'm drawing a picture of God." "But you don't know what God looks like, do you, dear?" "No. But I will when I get done."

I believe God let's us see as much of Himself as He wants us to see. I believe He also limits us to be sure we develop faith in Him instead of seeing Him as a fact. If we could conceive of Him precisely, couldn't we build a box around Him? Wouldn't we think we could control Him? Of course, if that were possible, and I certainly don't believe it is, we would discover that being God, He still could not be manipulated.

Moses talked directly to God and God answered Him directly the Scripture says in Numbers 12:6-7, God spoke to Miriam and Aaron directly on one occasion. Moses stood by them; "...When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house." God wanted them to know there are different levels of inspiration. Then God continued in verse 8: "With him I speak face to face clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"

My wife wrote in her book, "Women of the Bible" that Miriam was strong-willed, and Aaron was weak, and that she probably convinced Aaron to join with her in rebellion against their brother Moses, so God punished her alone as responsible instead of punishing Aaron, too. He made her immediately leprous. Moses interceded for her, but she still had to remain leprous for seven days. She was kept outside the camp until the leprosy was gone.

That not only tells us we may have differing levels of inspiration but also tells us we should be careful not to go beyond what God has given us. It may be extremely costly if we do. I have a lot of tools that I am fond of, but when one breaks and can't be repaired, I toss it into the trash barrel. I'm thankful God loves us more than I love my tools.

I study the Bible a lot, almost every day, and I've learned a lot, but I am careful to say I don't really know the Bible. I've had some tell me they didn't need to know the whole Bible because they lived by the Golden Rule. When I asked them what they called the Golden Rule, some of them said, "Why, it's do unto others as they have done to you! Everybody knows that!" Wrong, of course, but even if they had gotten it right, I'd have to also ask them, are you doing it? When anyone gives it some real thought, I think they will find they come up quite short of that goal because all of us have too much selfish desire to get it done.

You might think I'm trying to explain God, or protect Him in some way by what I've written here, but I would not dare! God doesn't need anyone's protection! I am certain about that. I am also sure that I sin by overstepping the inspiration I have as it is without adding another sin to the list.

We can't search out God. He reveals Himself to us. We can list some of His attributes, but we cannot give anyone an absolutely clear picture of God. We can state with assurance that God even created science, and that scientists only discover what God has created, but we don't have all the answers to questions of science, technology, or anything else. God does, and our disbelief in Him does not make him less real or untrue. Neither does it stop His love for us, His creations. John 3:16 is still vital to every human being: "For God so loved the world (that's us) that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Instead of trying to figure God out, my advice is put your trust in Him, and let Him fill you with His inspiration!

Scripture Is God-Breathed, by John.

Scripture Is God-Breathed

I heard a forceful speaker bantering about his sermon notes. He said he put a "PPP" in the margin of his notes by some points. In music that means pianissimo, but in his notes it meant that point was weak and to pound the pulpit plenty! I think we too often express our weak points of doctrine by hitting them hard when talking with others. Have you noticed that? Most of us realize that volume has nothing to do with truth, but in arguments, we keep doing it anyway.

II Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." II Peter 1:20-21 says, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

Between these two passages, lies an understanding of inspiration. I mentally subscribed to the verbal inspiration of Scripture for a number of years. I thought that God dictated the words to the prophets. I did not know that there were three words in the Old Testament for "prophet." I was amazed when I discovered there were, and that those three words gave a good description of how prophecy manifested itself. One of them refers to foretelling the future. That's the one most people think of when prophecy is mentioned. Foretelling the future could really get a prophet in trouble because if their prophecy didn't come true, they might be put to death. Zoroaster would not have lasted long in that day, and we wouldn't have the myriad forecasts he made. Elijah's prophecy concerning rain, happened exactly as he forecast it would. In fact, he's probably the only weather man other than Noah to get his forecasts 100% right!

The second word means the prophet looks around himself at what is happening with his neighbors, and his nation and he speaks out against those ills of society which are most destructive. These are the things people do that displease God the most, and if we pleased God all the time, we could do away with wars and prisons. Of course, the immoral majority of people never really seek to please God, so that's not going to happen. Both forms of prophecy fit Micaiah, I think. When Jehoshaphat visited Ahab, Ahab wanted him to attack Ramoth Gilead with him. Jehoshaphat agreed, but asked that they consult the Lord first. They consulted all of Ahab's prophets who were no more than "yes" men, and they said they would be victorious. Jehoshaphat, as we might say, smelled a rat. He asked if there wasn't someone else they could consult. Ahab said there was one more man named Micaiah, but that he always had something bad to say to him. They consulted Micaiah, and he agreed with all the other prophets, but even Ahab knew he was speaking ironically. He told him to tell the truth, and in II Chronicles 18:16 Micaiah said, "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, 'These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.'" One of Ahab's prophets named Zedekiah had made some crude iron horns, like a bull's horns probably, and had prophesied that Ahab would "gore the Arameans until they were destroyed." Micaiah told Ahab a "lying spirit" was in his prophets. That made Zedekiah a liar, and he slapped Micaiah across the face and asked him which way that lying spirit went when it left him to go to Micaiah. Micaiah prophesied again and told Zedekiah in verse 24, "You will find out when you go hide in an inner room."

The account shows Micaiah practiced both of these forms of prophecy. He had decried Ahab's evil life, and forecast his death. It happened almost immediately. We aren't told what happened to those false prophets, but we can be sure God dealt with them.

The third word for prophecy deals directly with visions and indirectly with what we call ecstatic experience. We might think of it as being in a trance, seeing a picture, or something certainly out of the ordinary. When David danced in the street in II Kings 6:14ff that word is used, and he is spoken of as prophesying. It represents the excitement a person may experience when God speaks to him.

The three words should give a better idea of how the Scripture was written. Two people seeing the same vision will give differing reports because they saw it differently. That doesn't mean one is wrong and the other right. It simply means what they saw inspired them somewhat differently. I believe the Bible is like that. It's all true, but it presented different people's reports in different times, different places and circumstances. In a way, every word applies to us, but not in the same way. We learn from the whole Bible, but not every word applies to each one of us personally.

The central message of the Bible is Jesus. I understand there is a book just been published that says Jesus is the only true Word of God. He is certainly the Word of God according to the Scripture. He is not a book made of paper and ink. He is a living personality called in the Bible God's only born Son. I take that not only to refer to the virgin birth, but to the fact there is no other being in heaven or earth like Him, and the Bible tells us God spoke from heaven saying exactly that also telling us to listen to Him.

Inspiration in Greek is theopneustos a combination of the word "god" and "breath." God breathes on people, and they get the picture and deliver it to others. There are others who claim God has breathed on them, but it isn't true. They are false prophets. The surest way to flush them out is to compare their prophecy with what the Bible says plainly. An instance is easily seen in messages on the last times. God informed us about our attempt to establish timetables in Acts 1:7. In it Jesus says, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority." That's as plain as anything gets, isn't it? Beyond that setting up a schedule for the end is false prophecy. Some other things are more subtle however, and we have to depend on the wisdom of many Christians instead of just our own idea.
I believe God is still inspiring people today to give His message to the world. Some are more gifted, some less, but many are agreed on the main doctrines of God, and I believe we probably should be talking and thinking about what is godly and ungodly rather than right and wrong. Following that we should do what we believe is godly regardless of what anyone else in the world does.