January 8, 2015

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10

Can you be wise and not be a Christian?

Not according to God's Word. I'm sure that will offend people but truth often does that.

Can you be a Christian and not be wise?

I think the vast counsel of God's Word would say, "No you can't."

I know that will offend some people! 

I am not saying Christians can't make occasional unwise decisions, but I am saying that Godly wisdom is the standard to which His people are called.

Wisdom always factors God Word into every decision, "What does God's Word say about this?" is what every Christian is expected to ask.

Wisdom is impossible apart from the Word of God.

Wisdom also factors the will of God into every decision. "What pleases God in this decision? What does God want me to do?" is what every Christian is expected to ask.

Wisdom is impossible apart from knowing God's will.

Wisdom also factor's God's way into every decision. "What is consistent with God's character in this decision?" is what every Christian is supposed to ask.

Wisdom is not independent from a relationship with God through Christ. Wisdom is absolute dependence on God through Christ.

Wisdom is not incidental to a relationship with God through Christ. Wisdom is integral to a relationship with God through Christ as a relationship with Christ through God is integral to wisdom.

Wisdom is the fear of making a decision without God!  

January 7, 2015

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21-22

The barnyard animals loved their farmer. He had taken good care of them for many years and made their lives very pleasant. He loved them and in their animal way, they loved him.

One day they were discussing how blessed they were to be owned by such a kind and generous man. It was decided they would honor him to show their appreciation. They all readily agreed and began to brainstorm on the best way to communicate their appreciation for him.

Finally they came upon an idea that pleased them all. Since the farmer arose early every morning to do his chores they knew that he loved eating a good hearty breakfast. So, to thank him they thought they would prepare a breakfast in his honor.

"How shall we do it?" one of them asked.

"Well," said the hen, "I will gladly contribute a half dozen of my delicious eggs!"

"Great idea!" said the cow, "I will give milk for him to drink and cream for Him to make butter for his biscuits."

The hog was strangely silent. The hen and the cow looked at him indignantly and the hen challenged, "Hey, hog! I am giving eggs for our farmer's breakfast and the cow is gladly contributing her milk. How about if you donate some ham and bacon!"

This simple silly story about the barnyard animals illustrates the difference between involvement and commitment. The hen and the cow were willing to be involved but the hog would be committed. They would be giving from themselves but he would be giving himself. That is a big difference! That is commitment! Involvement costs you something - but commitment costs you everything!"

Paul in saying, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" is saying, "I am committed not just involved!"

How do we know that he is committed? We know because he is willing to die. He was willing to pay the cost. Paul loved God more than He loved life itself.

What about you? Are you involved or are you committed? How do you know? How would others know? How would God know? What price are you willing to pay? Do you love God more than you love your own life?

January 6, 2015

Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

One of the misconceptions that is doing great harm to the Faith and to the Church is the idea that there are levels of commitment. You might hear someone claim in self-defense that they are "more committed" than someone else. What they should say is that they are less uncommitted than that person. The point that Jesus is making here is either you are committed or you are not.

Claiming to be "sort of" committed is like saying you are "sort of" pregnant. You either are or you are not. You can't "sort of" sky dive. You can't "sort of" get married. Peter didn't "sort of" walk on water. Jesus didn't "sort of" die on the cross.

The challenge Jesus is issuing is this - "you can't 'sort of' follow Me!" Either you are a disciple or you are not! Either you do His will or you don't. Either you walk in holiness or you don't. Either you are saved or you aren't.

I know you live in a day and a culture that wants to nuance everything into shades and degrees. That would be fine if you were the rule-maker or the arbiter of the rules - BUT YOU ARE NOT - He is! He makes the rules and you don't. So, you either obey Him or you don't. You are either following Him or you are not. That is what commitment means!

Having grown up in corn and soybean country, I appreciate what Jesus is saying to His hearers, who were also rural folks. What He was saying was, "When you go out to plow you don't 'sort of plow', you plow or you don't!" No true farmer would begin plowing and quit. No true farmer would "sort of" plow. No real farmer would plow forward while looking backward.

In rural Indiana where I was raised and in rural Illinois where I served for 22 years, there are cornfields so huge you can hardly see across them. I have always been impressed how straight those long rows or corn or beans are. Never have I seen a field with crooked rows. 
That is proof that the farmers who planted those rows were committed to planting.

How so?

Farmers plant straight rows by lining up their plows and their planters with a reference point at the end of that row and they stay focused and aimed at that point. Straight rows are evidence of a committed and focused farmer. Those perfectly parallel rows are proof of a committed farmer who never looked back while he plowed!

When you think about commitment think about plowing. When you measure your commitment think about focusing on a fixed point and moving straight toward that point continually. And of course, that straight point is the way of God and the will of God as outlined in the Word of God.

There are no "sort of" committed farmers when they plow. Neither are there any "sort of " committed Christians. Either you are committed or you're not. Don't buy the lie.

January 5, 2015

"Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

People were following Jesus for a lot of reasons. They followed Him hoping to be healed, some followed Him because they had been healed by Him. They followed Him because He had fed them and others followed Him hoping to be fed. Some followed Him because they liked His stories, some followed Him because they had a story. A few followed Him because they were called.

Why do you follow Him?

He calls to commitment.Why do you follow Him?

Commitment is hard - very hard. But it is also very healthy and helpful. And, the very things that make it hard are the things that make it helpful.

I want you to take a look at Jesus' call to commitment in this verse and consider the hard things and see if you can understand why they are also helpful.

There is a cost - "If anyone would come after me he must deny himself......"

Commitment asks you to deny yourself. That means you put His way ahead of your way. He calls you to come after Him and that makes common sense. How could you follow Him and go your own way at the same time? You can't! To be a follower of Christ you must begin by following! And when you follow your own way you cannot at the same time follow His. Chasing Him means surrendering your way to pursue His.

There is a cross - "......and take up his cross...."

The call on Jesus' life led to a cross. This was God's will for Him. Is was not the way Jesus wanted but the cross was why He came. Jesus had to die as the atoning sacrifice for your sins so you can have your sins forgiven.Without His cross, you would not be able to follow Him. Without a cross, you will not be able to follow Him. Discipleship requires a death. Since He has already died, it is now your turn! You must die to your own selfish will so you are free to follow His way! Crosses are hard! They can kill you! No one climbs off a cross once he is nailed there!

You are placed on a cross to die. That is the will of the cross. What needs to die in your life?

There is a consistency - ".....daily and follow me."

It is hard to be consistent at anything. Doing the same thing the same way on a daily basis is hard! That gets tedious in a hurry. And yet, that is what Jesus called these men to do -consistently follow Jesus. In this case that means that everyday you count the cost of following His way and denying your way - EVERY Day! And it means nailing your way and your wants and your will to the cross - putting them to death so you are free to follow Him. Then, the next day, you come back and do it all again! That is consistency.

Counting the cost and paying the cost his hard! But walking in His way rather that yours is helpful - very helpful! And the cross in hard! Very hard - because it calls you to die to your will. But when you consider having His will rather than yours - very helpful! Doing these two hard things consistently (every day) is real hard! But He calls you to following Him daily - counting the cost and dying on the cross! Very hard - but very helpful!

Have you answered the call to commitment?

January 4, 2015

"Be very careful then how you live - not as unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish but understand what the Lord's will is." Ephesians 5:15-17

What is the wise thing for me to do?

That is a question that gives clarity to almost every decision you will ever need to make. But let's add some depth and dimension to it.

Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, equates wisdom with careful living and the word used for careful means "looking in every direction" or "have your head on a swivel". So, wisdom looks ahead and looks around and looks back in factoring a good decision.

So, expanding this critical question in three dimensions, it looks like this:

In light of my past experiences, what is the wise thing for me to do?

Unless we learn from history it will repeat. That should seem obvious but one thing that characterizes unwise people is their reluctance to learn from past mistakes.

Why don't we learn from our past? Let me offer two possibilities:

We don't learn from the past because we fail to ask this question. We are careful to look back and try to learn.

And, we don't learn because we deceive ourselves into believing we can manage the outcome of our decisions. 

Those are very unwise and careless ways to approach life.

Second, looking around we should ask, In light of my current circumstances what is the wise thing for me to do?

Often, our current circumstances are complicated by the unwise decisions we made in the past. So, not asking the wise questions then will catch up with us.

How can we make wise decisions without accurate and relevant information? It is impossible to make wise decisions without properly assessing our current circumstances.

Paul counsels to "make the most of every opportunity" but you can't recognize opportunity without objectively analyzing our current circumstances..

And, finally, ask In light of my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing for me to do?


In fact, all wise decisions are made in reverse. We dream and decide where we want to be and then set goals and plot objectives backward from there to where we are today.

For example, we never get into our cars without a destination in mind. And knowing what our destination is predetermines all the starts and stops and turns we will make to get there.

That's why it is unwise to live life without a destination in mind. We all end up somewhere but without wise decisions we will not end up where we want to be.

Wise decision-making demands that at every opportunity, every invitation, and every impulse we ask ourselves In light of my past experiences, my current circumstances and my future hopes and dreams what is the wise thing for me to do?

2015 can be the beginning of new hopes and dreams if you are willing to wise up in your decision-making.

January 3, 2015

"Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." Ephesians 5:15-17

In his letter to the Church at Ephesus, Paul is giving these Christ-followers correction and instructions on how they should live and believe. As he begins to conclude his letter he knows he has asked them to make some very hard choices and radical changes so he gives them a starting point, one practical thing they could do. From this point on, based on what they have learned he counsels them to begin making wise decisions.

When you distill these three verses down to one clarifying question you get something like this:

WHAT IS THE WISE THING FOR ME TO DO?

Would not that be a careful thing to do every time you were confronted by a decision? 

In fact, I know it may be painful for you, but pause to reflect on a regret that haunts you and imagine how different your life might be today if you had asked that question before making your decision.

Are you beginning to see the value of this question? 

Would your life better or worse from now on if at every impulse, every invite or every opportunity you would stop to ask this question and then act on it?

Should you begin carefully and prayerfully asking that question today do you think you would have fewer heartaches and regrets in your future?

If you committed to asking that question to help you make wise decisions, don't you think you would develop into a more Christ-like Christian?

What if you began asking that question in regard to financial decisions? Do you think you would see your financial situation improve?

Do you think you would begin developing healthier relationships if you began asking that question and acting on it?

If you really have your best interest at heart, wouldn't you begin asking that question?

If you know asking that question would make your life better but you chose not to ask it or act on it, what would that say about you?

Over the next six Sundays at FredWes I am going to challenge your decision-making and apply it to key areas of your life.

Do you care enough to come and listen?

January 2, 2015

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is." Ephesians 5:15-17

You've heard the phrase, "Life is fragile, handle with care". Or, maybe you heard the spiritualized version, "Life is fragile, handle with prayer."

The simple truth of either or both statements is undeniable but did you ever wonder where it came from?

Well, one source is the Scripture verses listed above!

In these three verses Paul equates careful living with wise decision-making. 

Where do I get that? Just take a look at it!

He makes the connection between being careful (very careful) and being wise (not unwise). And, he equates wisdom with:

• recognizing opportunity
• recognizing your obstacles (evil)
• recognizing what's optimum (God's will)

Let's break this down further.

What is opportunity? Opportunity is a decision point, right? An opportunity is a choice between options. For a believer (which this letter is addressed to) an opportunity is not an option between good or evil because doing evil is not a viable option. When you chose to follow Jesus you chose to turn from evil.

So, for a Christ-follower, opportunity is the option to decide what is good or what is best. Or, stated another way, what is God's will in this decision because His will is always best? Or, put in still another way, the wise decision is choosing the option that best pleases God. Not everything that is acceptable for a Christian is necessarily the best for him or for God.

If making wise decisions was easy everyone would be making wise decisions. That doesn't seem to be happening because of some major obstacles that must be overcome. As the Scripture says, "....the days are evil." This means evil dominates our culture like a strong current that can carry you away if you aren't prepared to stand against it.

When you couple that with the fact the human nature is evil, you understand why wisdom is hard to come by.

Wisdom comes from knowing God because all wisdom comes from Him. Wisdom begins when you understand you need to know Him and confess that to Him. Once you come to know Him by faith wisdom consists of obeying Him. That is His will. You cannot ignore God or disobey God and think you will have wisdom.

"Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is." 

Are you foolish or are you wise?