September 3, 2014

"Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”  Luke 5:17-26

People came from far and near because they heard Jesus was in the house.

That is typical of what happens when Jesus is in the house!

Also typical is the two kinds of people who came to see Jesus that day.

First, there were the fault-finders. The fault-finders were represented by the scribes and the Pharisees.

Their fault-finding came out of their self-righteousness, which by its very nature cannot be wrong, thus finds it necessary to prove others wrong.

Fault-finders lift themselves up by tearing other people down. That's why they came from all over the region to be in the house with Jesus.

While Fault-finders are quick to recognize the needs of others, they are not aware of their own spiritual neediness.

Jesus message of righteousness and truth was exposing  the unrighteousness of those trusting in self-righteousness . That was causing them great anxiety and it was time to discredit Jesus once and for all. 

Then there were the faith-finders as represented by the four friends who carried their faithless friend clear across town in order to get them to Jesus.

Faith finders believe God's Word and whenever He speaks the Word they believe it and learn it and shape their lives according to it.

Faith-finders are sensitive to the spiritual needs of others since they are so painfully aware of their own neediness! Because they knew where to go to have their spiritual needs met, they knew where to take their needy friend!

Fault-finders and faith-finders. 

Every church has some of each.

So, I ask you, which are you? 

Are you a fault-finder or a faith-finder?

September 2, 2014

“One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven. “ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?  But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.” Luke 5:17-26

Wow! 

What an amazing and thrilling story!

There is much to be learned from these four friends who helped their friend find healing at the hands of Jesus. Sunday, Lord willing, I plan to share some truths from this account to challenge the FredWes family because there are some direct applications from their ministry to the ministry of a local church that wants to get people to Jesus.

First, they wanted to carry their friend because Jesus was in the house.

The main reason people want to go to a church is because they know Jesus is in that house. Likewise, the reason they want to bring their spiritually needy friends is the same reason, because Jesus is in that house.

It's a worthwhile reminder of what is most needed to attract people to church. Many churches have bought into the idea of what it takes to get people to choose a church:

• A high-powered, high personality, high-profile pastor
• A high- powered praise band with a worship leader to match
• High quality worship productions
• High-powered programs for every age and every need
• And highly polished promotions for all of the above

There is nothing wrong with any of those things but they are poor substitutes for the presence of Jesus in the house. When you have the leadership and the budget and the staff and the talent to make all those things happen, it gets very tempting to invest all your focus and energy toward making them happen. The time, the thought, the focus, the practice and the planning required to execute all those things can distract from time spent in prayer. It is easy to drift away from trust the Lord and start depending on talent, creativity and planning.

I have served in a couple of situations where we faced those issues and I know how easy it can be to fall in love with creativity and lose touch with Christ. It's a battle but one worth fighting because when you have all those benefits and still have Jesus in the house - powerful things can happen!

When these four friends carried their needy neighbor to see Jesus, they found no room in the house because Jesus was in the house.

Of all the things we need at FredWes, the thing we need the most is to have Jesus in the house. 

How does that happen?

Seek Him first and surrender to Him and don't settle for less. Jesus comes where He is invited and welcomed.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and these things will be added to you as well." Matthew 6:33

September 1, 2014

"Then He said to them all: "If anyone would come after me......." Luke 9:23a

I am so encouraged to read the call of Jesus to those who would desire to be disciples!

Notice whom He addesses:

"He said to them ALL".

"If anyone will......"

Anyone can be a follower of Jesus Christ. You don't have to be wealthy or well educated or well adjusted. You just have to be willing! Consider this story from Brooklyn Tabernacle, a great church in metropolitan New York City:

Jim Cymbala preaches at a church in the slums of New York. He tells the following story: It was Easter Sunday and I was so tired at the end of the day that I just went to the edge of the platform, pulled down my tie and sat down and draped my feet over the edge. It was a wonderful service with many people coming forward. The counselors were talking with these people. As I was sitting there I looked up the middle aisle, and there in about the third row was a man who looked about fifty, disheveled, filthy. He looked up at me rather sheepishly, as if saying, “Could I talk to you?” We have homeless people coming in all the time, asking for money or whatever. So as I sat there, I said to myself, though I am ashamed of it, “What a way to end a Sunday. I’ve had such a good time, preaching and ministering, and here’s a fellow probably wanting some money for more wine.” He walked up. When he got within about five feet of me, I smelled a horrible smell like I’d never smelled in my life. It was so awful that when he got close, I would inhale by looking away, and then I’d talk to him, and then look away to inhale, because I couldn’t inhale facing him. I asked him, “What’s your name?” “David.” “How long have you been on the street?” “Six years.” “How old are you?” “Thirty-two.” He looked fifty- hair matted; front teeth missing; wino; eyes slightly glazed. “Where did you sleep last night, David?” “Abandoned truck.” I keep in my back pocket a money clip that also holds some credit cards. I fumbled to pick one out thinking; I’ll give him some money. I won’t even get a volunteer. They are all busy talking with others. Usually we don’t give money to people. We take them to get something to eat. I took the money out. David pushed his finger in front of me. He said, “I don’t want your money. I want this Jesus, the One you were talking about, because I’m not going to make it. I’m going to die on the street.” I completely forgot about David, and I started to weep for myself. I was going to give a couple of dollars to someone God had sent to me. See how easy it is? I could make the excuse I was tired. There is no excuse. I was not seeing him the way God sees him. I was not feeling what God feels. But oh, did that change! David just stood there. He didn’t know what was happening. I pleaded with God, “God, forgive me! Forgive me! Please forgive me. I am so sorry to represent You this way. I’m so sorry. Here I am with my message and my points, and You send somebody and I am not ready for it. Oh, God!” Something came over me. Suddenly I started to weep deeper, and David began to weep. He fell against my chest as I was sitting there. He fell against my white shirt and tie, and I put my arms around him, and there we wept on each other. The smell of His person became a beautiful aroma. Here is what I thought the Lord made real to me: If you don’t love this smell, I can’t use you, because this is why I called you where you are. This is what you are about. You are about this smell. Christ changed David’s life. He started memorizing portions of Scripture that were incredible. We got him a place to live. We hired him in the church to do maintenance, and we got his teeth fixed. He was a handsome man when he came out of the hospital. They detoxed him in 6 days. He spent that Thanksgiving at my house. He also spent Christmas at my house. When we were exchanging presents, he pulled out a little thing and he said, “This is for you.” It was a little white hanky. It was the only thing he could afford. A year later David got up and talked about his conversion to Christ. The minute he took the mic and began to speak, I said, “The man is a preacher.” This past Easter we ordained David. He is an associate minister of a church over in New Jersey. And I was so close to saying, “Here, take this; I’m a busy preacher.” We can get so full of ourselves.

The call to discipleship is to "all" or to "anyone who will". That means even people like David can follow Jesus! Or, people like you and me.

August 31, 2014

"You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  No do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."  Matthew 5:14-16

You have and influence. I have an influence. All God's children have an influence. The issue is, "Does your influence bring glory to God?"

You were created to glorify God. Nothing else is acceptable.

To bring Him glory you must reflect His light and spread His purifying, preserving and pleasure giving salt on a dark and dying world.

Before Jesus came, it was believed that good works were the way to give God glory. But in His very first public teaching Jesus makes it clear that glorifying God will require "God works" not good works.

The Pharisees relied on good works and built an entire religion around it. But in His Sermon on the Mount Jesus announced a new righteousness, a radical righteousness, a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees. It is a righteousness is based on a relationship not on a religion.

It is precisely this relationship that is described in the Beatitudes. 

When you realize your utter sinfulness and despise any self-righteousness you have trusted in you are getting closer to a relationship with God. When you mourn over your sinfulness and cry out to God for forgiveness, you are close to the Kingdom of God. When hunger and thirst to be made righteous, you can enter into a relationship with Him. When you meekly surrender control of your will to God, your relationship with Him will deepen.

When you are in a right relationship with God it will impact how you relate with other people. His righteousness will be expressed toward others. You will be merciful, you will be pure in heart, and you will be a peacemaker.

Those are the "God works" that He will manifest through you when you are in an obedient faith relationship with Him.

"God works" are what give God glory because everyone recognizes could only come from Him and not from you. 

It was the "good works" of the Scribes and Pharisees that Jesus rebuked and confronted because they were observing largely man made rules for the purpose of earning glory for themselves.

Radical righteousness comes only from God. Radical righteousness results largely from a radical relationship with God.

Are you living in radical relationship with Jesus?

Why wouldn't you?

Will you?

August 30, 2014

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."  Matthew 5:14-16

As in the reference to the salt, Jesus is illustrating that you have an influence. Your life makes an impact on the lives of others and when His righteousness is resident in your influence should reflect the light of God for the glory of God.

Here is a powerful illustration from the early days of the Faith:

In the days of the Roman Emperor Nero, there lived and served him a band of soldiers known as the "Emperor’s Wrestlers." Fine, stalwart men they were, picked from the best and the bravest of the land, recruited from the great athletes of the Roman amphitheater. 

In the great amphitheater they upheld the arms of the emperor against all challengers. Before each contest they stood before the emperor’s throne. Then through the courts of Rome rang the cry: "We, the wrestlers, wrestling for thee, O Emperor, to win for thee the victory and from thee, the victor’s crown." 

When the great Roman army was sent to fight in Gaul, no soldiers were braver or more loyal than this band of wrestlers led by their centurion Vespasian. But news reached Nero that many Roman soldiers had accepted the Christian faith. Therefore, this decree was dispatched to the centurion Vespasian; "If there be any among your soldiers who cling to the faith of the Christian, they must die!" 

The decree was received in the dead of winter. The soldiers were camped on the shore of a frozen inland lake. It was with sinking heart that Vespasian, the centurion, read the emperor’s message. 

Vespasian called the soldiers together and asked: "Are there any among you who cling to the faith of the Christian? If so, let him step forward!" Forty wrestlers instantly stepped forward two paces, respectfully saluted, and stood at attention. Vespasian paused. He had not expected so many, nor such select ones. "Until sundown I shall await your answer," said Vespasian. Sundown came. Again the question was asked. Again the forty wrestlers stepped forward. 

Vespasian pleaded with them long and earnestly without prevailing upon a single man to deny his Lord. Finally he said, "The decree of the emperor must be obeyed, but I am not willing that your comrades should shed your blood. I order you to march out upon the lake of ice, and I shall leave you there to the mercy of the elements." 

The forty wrestlers were stripped and then, falling into columns of four, marched toward the center of the lake of ice. As they marched they broke into the chant of the arena: "Forty wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee, the victor’s crown!" Through the night Vespasian stood by his campfire and watched. As he waited through the long night, there came to him fainter and fainter the wrestlers’ song. 

As morning drew near one figure, overcome by exposure, one man crept quietly toward the fire; in the extremity of his suffering he had renounced his Lord. Faintly but clearly from the darkness came the song: "Thirty-nine wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee, the victor’s crown!" 

Vespasian looked at the figure drawing close to the fire. Perhaps he saw eternal light shining there toward the center of the lake. Who can say? But off came his helmet and clothing, and he sprang upon the ice, crying, "Forty wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee, the victor’s crown!" 

Are you on the ice or near the fire?

August 29, 2014

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."  Matthew 5:14-16

I am an ice cream lover. I would love to eat a lot more of it than I allow myself to enjoy.

How about you?

Imagine this, the only ice cream you have ever known is simply crushed ice with some cream poured over it. It is cold and it is refreshing and it's all there is.

But one glorious day you happen past a little store front place with an sign out front declaring, ICE CREAM!

Since it is a warm day you decide to grab a couple of dips on a cone. So, you walk into the store and say, "I would like two dips on a sugar cone please."

The kid behind the counter asks, "Would you like vanilla or chocolate?"

You are stumped. You don't know what to say. No one has ever asked you that before and crushed ice is all you've known.

Could I have a little sample please?

"Sure! Which would you like to try?"

"Uh, I don't know. Which do you like?"

"Here, try the chocolate it's my favorite and he hands you a spoonful and it is love a first lick!"

Before you leave the establishment you have consumed a double scoop of chocolate AND a doubled scoop of vanilla! Your whole ice cream appetite has been changed forever. Never again will you even think about that crushed ice stuff.

That is what Jesus intends for His followers who are "the salt of the earth". Those who have been revolutionized by His righteousness are to shock the spiritual taste buds of a world devoid of flavor.

You are on I-95 heading toward D.C. You are bumper-to-bumper and door-to-door in traffic. It is a pitch dark night with no trace of the moon or stars. When I say pitch dark I mean no one has headlights dark!

Those of you who regularly drive I-95 know how nerve wracking it can be in broad daylight under the best of conditions. Can you imagine driving it in zero visibility conditions?

Think what a relief it would be to suddenly discover you had headlights! You would be relieved because you could see and others would be relieved because they could see you and see others in the light of your headlights.

Jesus said, "You are the light of the world".

I share these hypothetical situations with you to help illustrate the importance of being "salt' and "light".

If you are a follower of Christ He makes it clear that you ARE salt and you ARE light. You will have an impact on your world. Will you flavor your world or will you leave a bad taste? Will you dispel the darkness or add to it?

August 28, 2014

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."  Matthew 5:14-16

"A well-known Bible teacher has just finished speaking to a large class of business people on the Christians' responsibility to be light in the world. He had emphasized the as believers we all have the obligation to reflect the Light in the world, the Lord Jesus. 

After the class, one the members related to him an experience he had in his home that impressed upon him the same truth. He said that in the darkest corner of his basement he had made a surprising discover. Some potatoes in that darkest corner had sprouted and where growing. At first he could not figure how they had gotten enough light to sprout and grow. Then he noticed that the hung from the ceiling near the basement window was a shiny copper kettle that was brightly polished and it was in the perfect position to reflect the sun's rays onto the potatoes in that darkest corner of the room. 

The person relating the story said, "When I saw that, I thought, I may not a preacher or a teacher with the ability to expound Scripture, but a least I can be a copper kettle catching the rays of the S - O - N and reflect His light to someone."

It is instructive to realize when Jesus calls His disciples to be "the light of the world" He is not calling them to produce light but to reflect His light like the copper kettle did in the story.

Here are some practical truths that are illuminated by this shiny kettle:

Christians are called to be in the light. This kettle was hung near a basement window where it could be exposed to the light during the day.

You cannot be a follower of Christ unless you are in the light because He IS the light and He dwells in His believers.

Christians are to keep their lives clear and shiny. Though the kettle was positioned in the light, if it had been all tarnished and dull it would not have reflected sufficient light to give life to the potato.

Is your life dulled by the tarnish of sin and unable to reflect His light or is it pure and polished to brightly reflect God's light to others?

Christians are expected to be positioned between His light and the darkness of the world so they can strategically and effectively penetrate the darkness with God's light and life.

Are you remaining close enough to the darkness that you can impact it with the reflection of God's light?

When Jesus says, "You are the light of the world" He could have said, "I am the light and you are to be the reflector of My light into a dark and dying world."