truth – Page 16

Entrustice

ENTRUSTICE

Entrustice: the state of continually putting (something) into someone’s care or protection.

“Then he released Barabbas for them. But after he had Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified. Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe around him, and after braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” They spat on him and took the staff and struck him repeatedly on the head. When they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.”

–Matthew 27:26-31

Have you ever considered the silence in which our Lord endured such torture. Never a vengeful gaze, never a deserved curse passed from His lips. How often I see my guilty children clinch their fist and scrunch their face in rage when they endure their just sentences and declare them unfair. And how often am I quick to protest any circumstance that fails to fall in my own favor.

Jim Caviezel, in his portrayal of Jesus in Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, recounts the difficulties he had in portraying Jesus during those horrific suffering scenes. During the scourging scene, where they shot Caviezel from below and placed a board on his back to receive the severe lashings from the two Roman guards, “broke character” after one of the whip’s throng’s came over the board cutting a 14-inch gash in his back. “I turned around and looked at the guy, and I tell you, I may be playing Jesus, but I felt like Satan at that moment. I turned to him, a couple of expletives came out of my mouth.”¹

“It’s one thing to act as Christ, it is another thing entirely to be Him for a single millisecond,” (Tom Nelson). Who of us can truly suffer with such grace as Christ, who willingly gives His back to those who beat Him (Isa 50:6)? Even forgiving the very soldiers (Luke 22:34) who mocked his kingship, spat in his face, nailed his precious hands into wood, and callously gambled away his clothing. “This was infinite meekness and goodness, truly worthy of God’s only-begotten Son; an example of forgiveness which, though it never can be equaled by any, is fit to be imitated by all,” (Benson Commentary).

Brothers, may the Spirit guide us in absolute humility when we encounter situations that seem to weigh against us. May we stop to consider the meekness of our Lord before we call a situation “unfair” and demand justice (on our own behalf), and seek to entrust our lives to the only righteous judge above.

Billy Neal

(https://www.today.com/popculture/caviezel-playing-christ-proved-be-challenge-wbna4297029).

Are Your a Good Disciple?

Good Disciple

We think about or have heard a lot about what a good teacher, or a good pastor or elder should look like. We all know that when spiritually mature we are all to go make disciples. But do we think about what it looks like to be a good disciple today, regardless of our maturity? You say, “I am in a leadership role; I am working to make disciples”, but are you a good disciple? Who is mentoring you today? Are you teachable? And what does a good disciple look like?

Excluding Judas, were the other 11 disciples of Jesus good disciples? In many cases we mainly focus on their failures (lack of understanding, dumb questions, expressed doubt, demonstrated lack of faith, focus on the physical) prior to Christ’s ascension to heaven, but the Truth is, they really were very good disciples. What were their characteristics that made them so good?

They were ardent seekers.
They were consistent followers
They were rapidly growing spiritually
They were breaking away from ‘religion’

Do ALL of these characteristics describe you and me?

Jesus chose each of His disciples (John 15:16) and He chose disciples that were seeking Him (John 14:1). These disciples were looking for the Messiah and when they found Jesus, they dropped what they were doing and followed Him. Many others were called to follow Jesus, but for a multitude of reasons, they would not follow Him. Some couldn’t leave their possessions (Matthew 10:27). Some couldn’t leave their families (Luke 9:59-61). Others simply ignored the call and went about their own business (Matthew 22:5). But the disciples followed Jesus. While others said, “But first let me” do this or that, the disciples followed Jesus immediately.

And they were absolutely trying to learn from Jesus. In fact, they stayed in a state of wonderment, with a subsequent constant line of questions (kind of like a young child, right?). And Jesus answered their questions. Sometimes they asked the question out loud directly to Jesus, and sometimes Jesus was simply ‘aware’ of the questions before they asked Him (Matthew 16:8), and He answered them quickly, almost immediately, while the question was on their mind.

Are you and I continuously seeking Jesus? Are we asking questions and staying in the Word? If so, the questions of our growing spirit will form in our mind and the Holy Spirit will answer. John 16:12-13 says, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.” When we are ‘in Christ’ (surrendered to Him and acting in His will) and walking in the Spirit, the Spirit will often answer our questions before we have even put the question to words and spoken it out loud; very similar to walking with Jesus back in the day.

Are you spending time with Jesus and growing? The disciples spent time with Jesus. They traveled around with Jesus. They ate meals with Jesus. They heard Jesus’s words, a lot, and they were rapidly growing spiritually. Are you having supper with Jesus (Revelations 3:20) and taking your lessons from Jesus (John 14:23)? Sunday pot-luck at church is good, and the fellowship of Wednesday supper is good, but are you spending time with and taking your lessons from Jesus through His Spirit?

The disciples had been raised under a Pharisee, Sadducee, and Scribe system that absolutely worked hard to control the ‘religious’ methods of the day. The goal of that system was not truth and grace and pursuit of God, but rather pomp and circumstance and methodologies and priest-controlled worship, knowledge, and forgiveness. These leaders had created systems of men to replace the free-flow of God’s spirit and grace. They had created a huge religious ‘box’. Are you in any box today? Is there any system of ‘religion’ that controls the flow of God’s word (flow from God to you and from you to God) and spirit (the growth of your spirit facilitated by the Holy Spirit) to you and subsequently your family, even to your children’s children, or to any in your circle of influence? Disciples of Jesus, yesterday and today, will not be boxed, and constrained from knowing Jesus. Rather, they will pursue Him directly, through the written word and the living Spirit, and they will worship Him corporately in systems that put Christ first and man second. Un-boxed and direct we seek Him, and He answers us directly and quickly and we grow in an ongoing manner.

Are we good disciples? Seeking daily? Following regardless of cost or excuse? Growing rapidly in the knowledge of Jesus and His kingdom? And breaking from ‘religion’ and choosing Jesus, both personally and corporately? If not, what hinders us? In Luke 9:62, Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’ Let’s continue to be about His business, seeking, following, and growing. Whatever ‘good’ thing, or bad thing that hinders us, let’s cut it loose as we continue to pursue great discipleship of Christ today.

Derek Dougherty

Lowly Slave

Slave

In John chapter 13, we read about the account of Jesus and his disciples eating the Passover meal together. At some point, Jesus washes His disciples’ feet. But He meets protest when He gets to Peter.

6 Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” –John 13:6-8

The first thing to note is that Jesus did not perform the menial task of a servant in a vacuum or simply to make a point. He served His disciples in such a humble way because that is the character of God. “BECAUSE JESUS KNEW” who He was (v.3). Service is not just something Jesus does, it is something He IS: God’s Holy Servant (Act 4:30).

But this can be a very unsettling thing, not just for Peter and the disciples, but us as well. Simply put, because we understand v.16:

16 I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

We expect our President to fly around in his own plane. We expect the royal family of England to throw the most elaborate weddings. We aren’t too surprised when Vladimir Putin is the first one with an umbrella when it rains. We can’t even imagine one of these rulers taking out their neighbor’s trash or working the nursery during our Sunday service (not sure I would trust any of them anyway). We understand that leaders sit above their subjects… and Jesus doesn’t dispute this.

Yet, He only said and did what the Father commanded.

Thus, if Christ stoops this low, how much further must I bow?

Listen to the beautiful words of one of the great church fathers, Alexander MacLaren:

“The true position, then, for a man is to be God’s slave. The harsh, repellent features of that wicked institution assume an altogether different character when they become the features of my relation to Him. Absolute submission, unconditional obedience, on the slave’s part; and on the part of the Master complete ownership, the right of life and death, the right of disposing of all goods and chattels, the right of separating husband and wife, parents and children, the right of issuing commandments without a reason, the right to expect that those commandments shall be swiftly, unhesitatingly, punctiliously, and completely performed-these things inherent in our relation to God. Blessed the man who has learned that they do and has accepted them as his highest glory and the security of his most blessed life! For, brethren, such submission, absolute and unconditional, the blending and the absorption of my own will in His will, is the secret of all that makes manhood glorious and great and happy.

“Such slavery is the only freedom. Liberty does not mean doing as you like, it means liking as you ought, and doing that. He only is free who submits to God in Christ, and thereby overcomes himself and the world and all antagonism and is able to do that which it is his life to do,” (MacLaren’s Expositions).

Brothers, may we seek to see ourselves as nothing more than Christ’s slaves, and draw the deep satisfaction that stems from living in the purpose in which we were created.

Billy Neal

Healing or Healer

Jesus Our Healer

26. Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on Him the Father, God has set His seal. — John 6:26,27

Over the last several weeks I’ve been dealing with some physical challenges. Challenges that my Savior could have easily healed or prevented. In the process many have prayed for that healing, myself included, and the prayer has seemly gone unanswered, or has it? Does my loving Savior have a greater purpose in mind than my physical comfort? The people in John 6 had had their physical desires met and wanted more. Jesus calls them out on it. As the chapter continues, Jesus continues to try to point them to eternal life, but sadly many stayed focused on their physical desires, not on the true purpose of the miracle and left.

Before I go on, I need to clarify that I do believe that miraculous healings are for the present day (James 5:14,15). I have seen them. The thing that needs to be remembered though, as in the days of Jesus the physical healing was never intended to be an end unto itself. The purpose of the healing was to point the person or crowd to a relation with Jesus. The same is true today. No physical healing on this earth lasts long, we are all in the process of dying, unless their is eternal healing. (Salvation)

As the days and weeks have been passing the words of two songs have been going through my head. 1. Do I want the Healer more than I want the healing? 2. Even though I know that all my Savior has to do is speak the words and I will be healed, but if He doesn’t will I trust him any way? Do I trust my Savior that there are greater purposes going on than my physical healing and or comfort, that of making me more like Him. Paul said in Phil. 4:11 that he had LEARNED to be content (trust) while he sat in a Roman jail, which God could have freed him from. Heb. 11:6 tells us that, “without faith (trust) it is impossible to please God.” As I am going through (learning) this process I can not count the times the Holy Spirit has whispered in my ear “do or will you trust me?” Do I, do you, want the healing that prepares me, you for eternal life more than the comfort of this life? Do we want the Healer more than the healing???

Tim Smith

True Service

Serve

I’ve never worked as a waiter, but I imagine service jobs like that are some of the toughest. I remember working customer service as a teenager, and nothing angered me more than being mistreated by the very people I was there to assist. Fortunately, it was rare, but I remember those encounters vividly. One individual showed me no respect, even though I gave him the answer he sought. He obviously despised my youth and said abruptly, “Let me talk to someone who knows what they are talking about.” That kind of comment would ruin my day. So, one of my superiors took over the conversation, only to give the man the same answer (after retrieving it from a brochure). There’s nothing more aggravating for me than to serve arrogant and ungrateful people.

2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. 3 Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself. 5 He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself. –John 13:2-5

Have you ever considered that Jesus washed the feet of Judas? Keep in mind, Christ knew for certain the state of Judas’ heart and his inevitable betrayal. I personally find this stunning.

Often, I serve for a particular outcome (from either God or man), like a form of manipulation. I expect fruitful results: favors in return, some type of life change on the part of the other person, or at the very least appreciation. And when I don’t get it, when people mistreat me or reject me or respond in pride and ungratefulness, my flesh is quick to dissipate any desire to continue.

Perhaps you have heard this profound quote before: “The true test of a servant is how you respond when treated like one.”

How deceptive is our sin that leaks out from our flesh in subversive ways. It often corrupts our righteous works with pride, turning good deeds into filthy rags (Isa 64:6) and altars of worship into exposures of our nakedness (Exo 20:26). For even man’s greatest works done to glorify himself are too minuscule to see from Heaven (Gen 11:5) and do nothing to shrink the monstrous gap between him and the glory of God (Rom 3:23).

Yet Jesus did not just say “love your enemies” (Mat 5:44) and repay evil with good (1Th 5:15; Rom 12:21), but lived it out sacrificially, remaining faithful on that bloody cross even as those He died for laughed and mocked Him (Mat 27:39-44). Yet He did not revile in return but trusted Himself to the one who judges justly (1Pe 2:23).

Thus, may we consider our own motives as we seek to serve like Christ. May we prove ourselves true servants, remaining undeterred when we receive ungrateful attitudes and abuse in return. May we walk before our Lord in complete submission to His will and exaltation, giving no thought to the views and reactions of men.

Relational Unity – The Goal of the Church? Part 2 of 2: Is Spiritual Unity a Reality Today?

unity God is pretty smart (really, all knowing or omniscient). He created us, and He knows us. He knows that in our fleshly natural state, we are not unifying beings. Don’t believe it? Look at the drama we create so easily. If you don’t see that, go keep the 2 and 3-year old nursery in your church. In our fleshly, worldly state we are not ready for unity. But, in our spiritual state and design (in God’s image), we can become just the opposite, when the Holy Spirit comes to our spirit at the time of salvation and through the renewing of our minds a ‘new creature’ begins. Here, we BEGIN down a path TOWARD real, achievable, and beautiful unity with Jesus, God the Father, and our brothers and sisters in Christ through the Holy Spirit, in our faith and knowledge of Jesus.

Is personal Oneness with Jesus and the Father possible on earth? Yes! (Consider Jesus the man and his relationship with God the Father while on earth; consider the apostles). Is Unity within the Body of Christ possible today? Poll 100 Christians and the majority will say ‘No’, but I say Yes! Is this Biblical? Consider the Upper Room. Consider the first church. For me, I go to personal testimony as well, i.e. I have experienced it in relationship with surrendered, mature believers. For those that have accepted Christ as their savior and put Him on the throne of their lives, unity in the Body can be lived out today within a group and it is beautiful (not easy; requiring communication, surrender to Christ, and real love). BUT, if your expectation is full unity and kumbaya with a large group, be ready for disappointment. Be realistic about spiritual unity among the masses, while being persistent about Spiritual unity within the true mature Body.

Is unity in the physical church you go to on Sunday’s possible (NOTE: I am making a distinction between Sunday church, and the saved Body of Christ, and a more mature group within the saved body)? The physical church you go to on Sunday, if like most current churches in America, is attended by a mix of people. Some have accepted Christ, others have not. Some say they have a relationship with Jesus, but they don’t even know Him. Some of the Christians have surrendered, others have not. A few are selfless (God’s will not mine), many are selfish still. So unity in the local church is a teaching and a pursuit, but you are not likely to be fully unified because you are likely not fully like-minded (or rather like-Spirited). Can it be close or managed? Yes, but only with great church leadership.

Unity (individual Oneness in Christ and the Father and then shared with mature brothers and sisters) is often sought in the Sunday-Wednesday church by either 1) heavy handed leadership, or 2) mature leadership as described by the Apostle Paul. A leadership that displays residual pride, restricts communication and seeking of the truth, will be heavy handed and live in fear of disunity. This system may limit teaching (control the message), limit the teachers (deliverers of the Message), even require church contracts (versus using the Spirit as our seal and contract), or other similar methods of control. In contrast, a leadership of humble men that is faithful enough to deal openly and Biblically with questions that arise, and seek and teach through them, will be better able to maintain unity in the Spirit even among diversity (of maturity and belief) and adversity (which always comes). This too I can attest to and it is a beautiful thing to witness and be a part of.

What contribution can you or I make to assist with unity in the Body (believers) and unity in the Sunday church (mix of believers, non-believers, mature and immature) and in a small focused group (of mature, surrendered men for instance)? First, get in the Word and gain maturity in understanding (2 Timothy 2:15). Then, remain broken and open to the Spirit’s ongoing education, and put Christ first in your life, surrendering the desires of self. Then, have ‘expectations’ for the leadership and mature men in the church, all while you have ‘understanding’ for the new believers and the unsaved (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). If the church, leadership and layman, is unified in its acceptance of luke-warmness, living in fear, heavy handed in leadership, and satisfied if the people in the neighboring communities go to hell, should you unify (be silent and go along with all) with that? If you want to be unified in a Revelation 3:16 type judgement, then that might be right for you, but I don’t think that is the goal of men that love Christ.

Don’t mistake accountability with judgement. Paul is clear in the method of careful consideration and discussion of these matters in Ephesians 4 when he says, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love”. This should certainly be OUR goal, but a harder truth and a deeper teaching is that sometimes the messenger delivers GOD’s message (not ours; today and in times past), through the Spirit, in the way and tone that God desires. In 2 Samuel 12, the Lord sent Nathan to deliver a tough and direct message to David. He told the King of Israel that he was a great sinner and punishment was coming. If a similar message were to go out to many of our churches today, do you know what many would say? They would say, “That is not love; that is not humility to come to us that way.” Rather than hear the Lord’s message, and see how far they have fallen, they would blame the issues on the world and criticize the messenger. David’s response to the Lord’s message delivered through Nathan was one of repentance, and the Lord delivered grace. In 1 Samuel 15:16-34, Samuel delivered a tough message to Saul and the heart that received it was not the same as that of David’s.

Relational unity is a nice pursuit. It feels really good to get along with everyone. And we are commanded to love our neighbor. But unity or Oneness with Jesus and the Father is the priority for God’s men. This is by design and meant for our success. Our creator knows that true unity with our brothers only comes through first establishing a personal surrendered relationship with Christ.

Derek Dougherty

Relational Unity — The Goal of the Church? Part 1 of 2: Unity or Passivity?

unity

In the name of unity, the Church is often rendered ineffective (Revelation 3:1), Christians are often crushed by this world (because they live without power), and those that are ‘dead in their sin’ go to Hell (due to lack of Church activity outside its walls; Romans 10:14). When ‘can’t we all just get along’, ‘that’s not love’, or ‘that is not humility’ removes the power from the Church and replaces it with a human understanding of unity (lack of contention and sense of relational peace), then unity (actually, passivity) is not positive.

What is unity? By definition it is, “the state of being united or joined as a whole.” We could be in a state of unity, and not be aligned with God. You could be united in your desire to kill all the Jews. Hitler had unity enough in Germany to kill millions of them. Think this is an absurd example? You could create a majority enough with unity (of the court, congress, voting block, church, etc.) to abort millions of babies in a country. Seem absurd? This has happened in America underneath the nose and the ‘power’ of the Church. You could create enough unity of self-righteousness that you could literally damage the individual spirit of many young Christians within a church denomination for decades by not understanding grace. You could lean the other way in a unified fashion and kill the spirit of many for eternity by not preaching the seriousness of sin and its consequences. UNITY of people and even of church member relationships alone is not the goal! And this simple-minded pursuit and satisfaction of ‘unity’ is killing the effectiveness of many individual churches.

The Spirit and the Bible, together, provide the truths for a Unity that IS the goal of Jesus’s Church (John 17:20-26) and it is achievable, in part and in areas of our walk, now. And, when obtained, it is beautiful. How do we understand unity then? Let’s go to Ephesians 4:1-16 where it is defined in simple, straightforward terms. For the sake of space it is not reprinted in full here, but take a minute and read it, and then re-read it (as the depth does not sink in fully in a casual read), and then join me back here. People so often read this passage and come away with, ‘be humble, gentle, patient, and bearing with love’ to keep unity within the Church. Pastors may preach this passage this way to try to ‘put down’ problems or to verbally chastise those coming against them. But, this is not what is says nor what it means and if we keep with this shallow interpretation, or use it for personal means, we will continue to kill the power of the Church.

The power of the Church is not in the unity of personal relationships and treatment of each other. The power of the Church is in the SOURCE of the commanded unity. In verse 3, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”. In verse 13, “…until we reach the unity in the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God..” Who’s unity? Unity in what and of what? These descriptors are key here.

The goal is not to fully get along (zero issues to work through, Beulah land today, perfect relationships) with each other, and go one way or the other together (agree on carpet colors all the time, every time). The goal is unity in One WAY! ‘In the Spirit’, ‘in the faith’, and in the knowledge of Jesus! THERE IS ONE SPIRIT! There is not a Baptist spirit, and a Methodist spirit, and a Lutheran spirit. There is not a carpet committee spirit and a building committee spirit. There is not a Pastor Bill spirit, a Pastor John spirit, an Elder Ray spirit, or a Deacon Bob spirit that we are to unify in (people have their individual spirit, but these are not the Spirit of God that we unify in). THERE IS ONE SPIRIT (of God)! Similarly, there is not a faith in Pastor Jim, or Man-of-God Charles, or Bishop Jakes that saves. THERE IS ONE JESUS. Open your ears and hear! Gentle, loving, humble-seeming people who ignore this Truth everyday have killed and continue to kill the effectiveness of the Church. If I can have modern day Kumbaya or Beulah Land or Jesus, give me Jesus. If I can choose between the tightest knit Sunday social club and Jesus, give me Jesus! Why? Because Jesus, and He alone, is Life!

Derek Dougherty

Dirty Feet

In John chapter 13, we read about the account of Jesus and his disciples eating the Passover meal together. At some point, Jesus does something very perplexing for the disciples… and us today, but perhaps for different reasons.

3 Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself. 5 He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself.
–John 13:3-5

The washing of feet is a foreign practice to us modern westerners, but at this point in history and in this culture, it was common practice for a household to provide water to their guests so that they may wash their own feet (Gen 18:4; 19:2; 24:32; 43:24; Jug 19:21; 2Sa 11:8; Luke 7:44). Only if the household was of a higher financial status did a lowly servant perform the task, because to wash another’s foot was a servile task.

For this occasion, water appeared to have been provided, but none of the disciples deemed it necessary to wash their own feet, let alone anyone else’s. It didn’t matter that their master continued to teach them that the greatest among them would be a servant to all (Mat 23:11, Mar 9:35; Luke 22:26), they must have assumed limitations. Besides, they were comfortable with their filthy feet, and even more ambivalent to each other’s.

So, what does the Master do when His words fail to reach past the ears and into the heart? He leads by example. So, the Son of God puts picks up a towel and a bowl of water and starts making the rounds. The Creator of the Universe, the one who intricately fashioned the foot with such purpose (as to propel the body forward and keep it upright), washed His creation clean.

I really think that my understanding of this passage is hindered by my cultural experiences. Typically, I don’t wear sandals as I walk to every one of my destinations (the only means of transportation for most) in the hot sun (consider the sweat) and along dusty roads where beasts of burden have most certainly relieved themselves. Quite frankly, my feet aren’t that dirty. Therefore, if someone offered to wash them, I might consider it a nice gesture, but more awkward than valued. However, if I could see the cracked dust caked upon my feet, and smell the feces between my toes, and feel the discomfort of my hot, dry and itchy feet—then not only would their washing be necessary, but I’m sure I would find the act refreshing and immensely appreciated.

And now suddenly, I feel such a task very beneath Jesus, my Master, my Messiah, my God.

And how much more does this apply to my sin. If my sin isn’t that dirty, then its cleansing isn’t that appreciated… perhaps more awkward than valued. Perhaps this is where I also misjudge Christ’s greater act of service—His death on the cross—because I fail to see the need of my cleansing and filthiness of my sin. Like Uzzah, (see 2 Sam. 6:6-7), I think that a little dirt (which does exactly as its Creator commands, and from which we all were made, Gen 2:7) is more offensive than my sin (which is me REFUSING to do what my Creator has told me to do). Furthermore, sin is not just something on me, picked up on my travels. No, it is a part of me, a direct excrement of my heart (Mat 15:19). Therefore, Jesus’ act of cleansing my sinful soul with His blood is monumentally more sacrificial than His service of cleansing my soiled sole with water.

May we all meditate on this glorious truth, recognize the massive debt we owed (Rom 6:23), its gracious forgiveness (Luke 7:41-43), and be overwhelmed by His generosity and servitude on our behalf. Perhaps then our hearts may swell with worship and love for our great and glorious Savior as they ought.

Billy Neal

Fear in the Church, or Beauty in the Ashes?

Just recently, in a small south TX town a deranged local towns-person entered a church during the 11 o’clock hour service and killed 27 people, walking pew to pew, gunning down innocent Texans, Christians, family members and friends. The death of these brothers and sisters turned the spotlight on this little TX town, the people of the town, and their God. Questions regarding why would God allow this, what do you say to explain it, and many similar and familiar question come rushing to the surface.

In Sutherland, TX, the strength of God’s people has shown bright. Their light and their testimony has been strong. Their shared truths of the comfort of God and the love of His people has been genuine and inspiring. The attack of the enemy is a reminder of the battle. Satan and his demons are active and he is capable of crippling and misleading the minds of men who open the door to him. This is his earth where he roams, seeking to kill and destroy. The sureness of God’s plan also shows clear to His people in this event. God takes bad and works it to our good and His good. Out of death comes life and out of this incident will come great Life. Many Christians and non-Christians alike will have to confront the uncommon peace shown and the stories of comfort shared by the survivors of the victims. The peace is not natural. It is supernatural. Many non-Christians around the globe will have to confront the reality of life and death, and make a decision of how they will spend eternity. Christians throughout this country will have to confront the shortness of this life and consider how they are spending their life on earth now. Are we using the time we have wisely, working for a heavenly and eternal kingdom, or rather storing up worthless toys and treasures on this earth that will not last?

Around the country, every Christian church subsequently has to deal with the questions of congregational safety in their own church. And the individual members have to consider their own safety, and subsequently their faith in the protection of God. Many churches will respond with locked doors and armed guards and even a skeptical review of visitors. Others will trust in the sovereignty of a great God and leave their doors open. Those prior will base all on the premise that God gave us common sense to make decisions. The latter will say and believe that God orders our steps and goes before us. Others will fall somewhere in between. But a couple of things are more sure and clear. For one, there is no place for fear of man in our lives. The fear and respect of God is the beginning of wisdom, while the fear of man, is the undermining of your Christian faith. Luke 12:4 puts the focus where it should be, Jesus said “And I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do”.

Secondly, there is no place for holding too tightly to our own life. For any real follower of Christ, his or her life has already been relinquished with the reins given to the Lord. In Matthew 10:29, Jesus puts it directly, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.”

What will your response to the killings at Sutherland Baptist Church be? Will you be a captive of Satan-inspired fear? Or will your faith in a great God and your surrender to Jesus as Lord increase? Will fear supplant faith in your church? Fear not! Instead, look up and observe while God brings beauty from ashes.

Derek Dougherty