¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

As I was reading through John’s Gospel this week I came to these incredibly familiar words from John 3:16.  There is no question that this single verse is the most well-known verse in all of the Bible.  This verse is so well known, and so familiar to us I am afraid that far too often we look past the profound truth that this single verse contains.  I am sure most Christians can recite this verse with great ease, but I think it is so important for us to slow down and be reminded of what Jesus is telling us in this statement.  It will do good to our souls to be reminded of the great love God has for the lost sheep of this world.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…”  God gave the most precious thing that a Father could ever possess…his son.  And God did not give a son, He gave His only Son.  This one act of love from God should be a constant reminder of just how much God loved the lost people of the earth.  The most precious thing the Father could give was not spared on the worlds account.  But I want to take this thought to its logical conclusion, God did not spare His most precious gift, His Son, specifically for you.  For God so loved you, that He gave His only Son so that you might not perish.  The infinite God of the universe, the God that owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the God that has dominion over billions of stars and galaxy’s…only has one Son.  And this one Son, Jesus Christ, was not more precious to Him than your and my soul.  So God gave Him up as an offering to reconcile a lost people to Himself.  Through the blood of Christ and the resurrection of His body, God accomplished the greatest act of love the universe will ever know.  He spared no expense to redeem your and my lost soul!

The next thing that is so incredible to understand concerning God’s love as demonstrated through Christ is that there was no power in Heaven or Earth that could have ever taken the Son from the Father.  The Father had to give the Son.  Freely and by His own good will.  God gave, because God loves us in a way that is so deep and so profound that we will assuredly never understand the fullness of it while we are still here on Earth.  I am sure that we will not fully understand it nor fully appreciate it until we are all standing face to face with God in all of His glory in Heaven and all of the mysteries of His incredible love are finally revealed to us and come rushing toward us in eternity.  The love of God is a force that the powers of darkness can never extinguish.  The love of God and the obedience of the Son made possible a way where there seemed to be no way.  And scripture tells us that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will not perish.  Praise God for His love!

I know this truth is not new to us as those redeemed by the Lord.  But has this truth become so familiar that we fail to see the incredible amazement, wonder and the mystery of the Gospel on a daily basis?  It is my prayer that we never become so familiar with God’s great love that we take it for granted, or worse, that we lose our sense of wonder and gratitude for what God has both given and accomplished through Jesus Christ.  Next time you fail as a Christian, next time you fall into sin or begin to doubt God’s love for you during a difficult time in life, remember that “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

“²²For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,”  1 Corinthians 1:22-23

What if it were said of you that the you were a man or woman that had a one-track mind?  How many of you would be flattered by that statement?  Not many I presume!  This statement is most usually used to shine a negative light on a person.  But that being said, I am sure everyone of us have fallen prey to a one-track mind at one time or another.

When Steph and I were just married she would very often pack me a lunch to take to work.  Since she left for work before me she would always place the brown paper bag containing my lunch on top of my work boots so I wouldn’t leave home without it.  This was a very thoughtful and well devised plan.  There was only one problem.  More often than not, in my haste to leave for work, I would remove the pesky lunch bag from atop my boots and walk out the door with the lunch tossed aside in the corner.  I think there is a saying about “best laid plans”!  You see, my only goal at 6:30 in the morning was not being late for work.  What I was going to have for lunch was the furthest thing from my mind.  I had fallen prey to a one-track mind!  Something that has been my nemesis for many years!

But is having a one-track mind always a bad thing?  I would venture to say that the answer to that question is always “yes”, except in one case.  As Christians, we are not only all called to have a one-track mind, but our one focus should actually all be the same.  What is this one focus?

  Soul winning!

“It is a grand thing to see a man thoroughly possessed with one master passion”  – C. H. Spurgeon 

In truth, every Christian should have a one-track mind!

You see, in this life there are many things that vie for our attention.  There are worldly interests that seem to have a greater hold on our lives than they should.  We all know of areas in our lives that we must let go of more and more.  But I have also noticed that there are “good” pursuits that seem to take up more of our time than they should as well.  Doctrinal and theological study, raising our children and offering them opportunities in this life, working on our marriages, pursuing a good job and the list could go on.  While these things may be important, the goal of soul winning should be laced throughout everything we do in life.  While raising a family, a good marriage and doctrinal study and theological principles are important things, they are not THE thing.  I am afraid that we far too often substitute these “good things” for our true purpose for being called by God…

  To preach Christ crucified.

We far too often seek out wisdom by studying and learning “good things” while neglecting wisest thing of all…

“³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls.”  Proverbs 11:30

He who wins souls is wise!  God’s standard for wisdom is winning souls!  If you as a mother or father are raising your children without the main purpose being winning their soul for Christ then you are not wise.  If you are studying theology and doctrine from dusk till dawn yet do not win souls for Christ then for all of your knowledge you are not wise.  If you are working in a job just to get a paycheck and yet do not win souls then your time is being wasted.  He who wins souls is wise!

Brothers and sisters, we are called to have a one-track mind as Christians, to preach Christ crucified!  This one passion should invade every space in our lives.  It should never be the afterthought, it should always be the only thought!  Everything else is secondary.  This is no easy task, I understand that, but Jesus never promised that the Christian walk would be easy.  So, in light of all of this, the question then becomes…”Do you have a one-track mind?”  Is it your goal to preach Christ crucified and win souls for Christ no matter what you might be doing?  If not, then by God’s standard are you wise or a fool?

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

Ephesians 5: 6-7

^“6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not be partakers with them;”

As I read these words from Ephesians 5 this week I thought, “Perhaps at no other time in human history have these words carried such a warning to the people of God.”  We live in a culture that is full of so many empty and useless words and ideas that it is hard to even filter them out anymore!  Unfortunately I believe that the professing church isn’t even actually trying anymore.  Instead of affecting the culture with truth, the culture is affecting the professing church with empty words and ideas.  The epidemic is so prolific that most churches look like an extension of the culture instead of a temple of God.  Daily we are told lie after lie.  And after a while even the most guarded Christians begin to believe them.

You have heard many of these lies before and perhaps you have even begun to believe some of them…”You can be anything you want to be”, “You are free to make your own truth”, “Being fat is healthy and beautiful”, “You are in control of your own destiny”, “Trust your heart”, Trust your feelings”, “Posting selfies everyday on Facebook isn’t narcissism”…actually, rather ironically, as I write this, a song just came on the radio in the coffee shop I am working from today…listen to the words.

“You should know you’re beautiful just the way you are
And you don’t have to change a thing, the world should change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we’re stars and we’re beautiful
Oh-oh, oh-oh
And you don’t have to change a thing, the world should change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we’re stars and we’re beautiful”

-Alessia Cara

Are any of these statements true?  Can we be whatever we want to be?  Can we make our own truth?  Is a man or woman beautiful just the way they are?  Who defines beauty?  Of course the answer to this question is that God is the only one who defines what is right, good and beautiful.  Believing the empty words of the lost culture we are living in is far more dangerous than we may realize.  We live in a culture that celebrates sin and wickedness in every possible way.  In the lyrics above the singer states, “And you don’t have to change a thing…”  What a lie!

Romans 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed (CHANGED!) by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

We must be changed if we are to find peace in God!   We must be changed by God if we wish to even be able understand God’s will and truth.  The goal of the culture in all of these lies is to get every man woman and child to believe that every decision a person makes is right.  There is no truth, there is no need to be changed, after all you are beautiful any way you want to be.  Want to pretend you are a man even though you are a woman…no problem.  If you disagree you are a bigot.  Want to be a glutton and be overweight and unhealthy…no problem!  If you disagree you are a fat-shamer.  Want to murder your child in the womb…that’s a good thing!  Disagree and you are a misogynist.  And the list could go on.

The world is filled with lies, because the fleshly world is a product of the father of lies, Satan.  Satan’s entire focus is to get everyone to question the truth of God’s word and to replace it with their own empty words and ideas.  The truth is that humans are not beautiful just the way we are…they are uglyful just the way they are (I realize this is not a word, but work with me!).   We are sinful, wicked and abhorred by God just the way we are and we will incur God’s wrath on the Day of Judgment because of the way we are.  We must be changed!  Repentance is both a change of mind and a change of direction.  So the question is, “Have you believed any of the lies of the world?”  Do you believe that your gluttony is beautiful (or at least not really a sin)?  Do you believe that your own version of truth is beautiful?  Do you believe that your narcissism is beautiful?  Do you believe that basing your life’s decisions on your emotions is beautiful?  Church, we are called to look nothing like the culture around us…we are called to look like Christ.  To be His reflection on earth.  Brothers and sisters, do you look like more like Christ or more like the world?

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

John 18:25-27

²⁵ Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.” ²⁶ One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” ²⁷ Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.

I often try to put myself into Peter’s shoes at this very moment in time.  To think of the level of fear that must have gripped Peter in these moments for Him to deny His lord must have been something that I have never experienced in my life.  Peter, the “Rock”, the first among the disciples, had fallen into a shocking denial of Jesus!  Peter had failed, and it crushed his very soul.

This fall was so monumental and so soul shaking that Peter went back to the only thing he knew for certain…fishing.  Peter was so discouraged by his failure to his Lord during Christ’s greatest earthly trial and became so dismayed by his tremendous denial that he resigned himself to be a fisher of fish again.  If God could not count on him during the most important of times, how could he count on him with the smallest of tasks?  And so in John 21 we see a defeated and deflated Peter casting his nets in the wrong location.  All night he toiled casting his nets in every direction with no luck.  Peter did not catch a single fish for all his work.  Every place that his net landed was the wrong location.  However, in reality, the entire Sea of Galilee was the wrong location.  You see, Peter was called to be a fisher of men, not of fish.  His toiling was to be done for the sake of men.  His toiling was to be done for the sake of the Church.

It took a very intense conversation with Jesus to bring him back to his senses in John 21:15-17!  Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me? And after Peter answered “You know I do.”  Jesus told him to feed His sheep and to once again lay down his fishing nets as he had done several years before when Christ first called him.  Peter was to spend his time caring for the people of God, not trying to catch fish.  To spend his days toiling for the sake of The Gospel and the Church.  You see, the guilt and heavy cloud of Peter’s denial also led him to deny his call.

When we fail, we often find ourselves returning to the only thing we are sure that we can excel at…feeding our flesh.  We often cast our nets feverishly and foolishly during the night into empty waters.  Water that will never yield a crop of spiritual growth and of kingdom growth.  We try to fix the problem ourselves.  Like Peter, we think that retreating to our “safe space” is the proper solution.  We go back to what we are comfortable and familiar with.  We respond with fleshly instincts many times.  I have experienced in my own life that during spiritual failures it is easier to abandon hope and give up our striving in favor of admitting defeat.

How many of us I wonder have been discouraged by the sheer difficulty of life and of living for God and following the Truth of His word no matter the circumstances?  How many of us have stumbled and fallen into various levels of despair, anger, guilt or become exasperated because of our fall?  Maybe you’ve seen your fire for the Lord wane, maybe you’ve seen your desire to seek the Lord with all of your might become an after-thought.  Maybe you’ve seen your relationship with God or God’s people to become strained and confused.  The Lord desires to remind us of our call.   Our call is to be fisher of men and to feed God’s sheep.  We are all called to cast our nets into the waters that are teaming with God’s work.  Gospel work and the work of being a blessing to the people of God.  Don’t let the circumstances of your life dictate your work or your attitude in the work.  Jesus wants to use our stumbles and outright failures to remind us that without Christ, there is nowhere to go.  There is no work that can be done that is of lasting importance.  It is often out of the ashes of our failures that the Lord works in us for our greatest growth!

This past year, I know all of us have experienced various levels of failure and difficulty.  Have you grown through these times?  Have you been able to refocus on doing God’s work and are you casting your nets in the right place?  Are you feeding the sheep and being fishers of men?  Or are you still feverishly casting your nets in the darkness of the night into empty waters?

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

Luke 6:38

³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Over the past several months I have been so encouraged to see God work in the lives of His people.  As God teaches us, directs us and bestows wisdom upon us our lives will increasingly look more and more Godly.  As we have studied the issue of Godly stewardship and the Christian principles concerning giving over the past few weeks in particular a very profound realization has come to my attention.  Our attitudes concerning money and how we use our money is directly related to nearly every aspect of our spiritual growth.  Jesus tells us in Luke 6 “Give and it will be given to you…”  This is a great truth, but the question still remains, “what will be given to you?”  The answer to this short question can be summed up in an even shorter response.  “Everything!”  A good measure of every good thing that we need as Christians will be given to those who give to Him with liberality!

Now when we think of something being given to us we often think only in terms of material possessions, but praise God that He has something far more valuable in mind than mere earthly possessions when He promises to give back to us!  God promises to give us everything we need in order to live for Him when we become truly sacrificial givers.  I think Billy Graham hit the nail on the head when he said this…

“If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.” – Billy Graham

When we hold onto our earthly possessions loosely and give them to God freely, God frees us from the bondage of those earthly possessions and gives us things that are far more important than what we gave up.  We are rewarded with a good measure of many things.  We are freed from the grip of greed.  We are freed from the pride and arrogance of personal earthly wealth.  God will grant us every spiritual blessing in order to grow us into the image of His Son, who, after all, gave up everything on our behalf.  When we give to God He truly gives the greater gifts back!  But God not only blesses us spiritually, He blesses us physically too.  He often protects our children, our homes and our property.  He faithfully supplies our daily needs of sustenance and He can even keep us in good health…all because we have given liberally to Him.  But if that weren’t enough, God promises even more than this.  God promises that the work of His kingdom will multiply and that the saints will rejoice in the generosity of the giver.  The people of God will also be encouraged by the gifts of God’s people and the work of the Gospel will go forth in power!  God takes a completely unholy, unrighteous thing (our money) and returns a gift back to us infinitely greater than what was given!

But why does God reward the giver so liberally?  Because God, after all, is a God who gives liberally Himself.  “For God so loved the world He gave…”  God sets the example and standard for giving brothers and sisters.  He gave more and continues to give more than we could ever begin to pay back.  God’s desire is to make us into the image of Christ, and Christ gave everything…He gave His life to redeem the lost sheep.  God’s love for His people is profoundly deep and unwavering and His good gifts are given in measure to those who give to Him!  Praise God for His provision, and praise God that He supplies all of our needs according to His purposes!  I continue to pray that as generous as the saints at LWBC are, that we will continue to grow in our generosity.  And God promises to return to us far more than we could ever purchase for ourselves!  Praise be to God!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

1 Thessalonians 5:11

¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

How many of us have felt the power of a simple word of encouragement at some point in our lives?  There are very few things in life that can lift a person’s spirit as quickly and effectively as a simple and genuine word of love.  How many of us have not only been on the receiving end of encouragement, but have also been on the giving end?  All of us know the incredible power of encouraging words, yet why is it that we so often hold back from speaking them?

Over the past several months I have very seriously begun to look at myself in light of the biblical call to encourage the brethren.  I have had to examine myself and ask myself these very important questions, “Am I an encouragement to those around me?  Do I speak words of encouragement freely and readily?”  There is no question that the biblical call to encourage one another is laced throughout the New Testament.  We see it in the writings of Paul, Peter and especially in the writings of John.  Even in epistles such as 1 Corinthians where Paul is writing a letter of rebuke he starts off his correspondence with a heartfelt word of encouragement.

Are we a church that excels in the area of encouragement?  Do we make a point to speak words of heartfelt love with the goal of building each other up on a regular basis?  I am not talking about speaking words of flattery or of a patronizing quality, what I mean is real, joyful and heartfelt expressions of our appreciation and love for one another.  When you examine yourself, do you see yourself lacking in this area?  Words are very powerful and a simple word of encouragement goes a long way to give strength, comfort, peace and love to our fellow brethren.

I see an opportunity for much growth in the body of LWBC in this area.  Will you make it a point to speak a word of encouragement to someone this week?  But not just this week, we need to make it our goal to continually be an encouragement to one another.  Even as you read this I know each of us can think of at least one person that the Lord has placed on our heart to speak to with the goal of building them up in Christian love.  However, for whatever reason, we far too often hold back encouraging words.

I want to challenge us to let encouraging words flow freely and flow often from our lips.  No matter how strong we may think we are or we may think another is, we all need to hear kind words from our Christian family.  On our darkest of days, during our most troubling time, a simple word of encouragement from another can strengthen our hearts and our resolve.  Even during our best day and our most carefree of times, a word of encouragement never goes unappreciated and is never ineffective.  We all need to be encouraged!  Let’s be a church that is known for our love for one another and let’s be a church that openly, freely and without prejudice builds one another up in our walk with Christ!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

Philippians 2:3-5

“³ Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; ⁴ do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. ⁵ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…”

A few weeks ago I decided to do a little experiment with my children.  I carefully divided a brownie into three sections.  However, instead of creating three equal sections, I created three very different sized sections.  Of course, one section was far bigger than the others.  After setting these pieces on a plate I called the oldest three children into the kitchen to see how they would respond to the obvious injustice in the brownie slicing department!  Upon arrival the eyes of my children became fixed on the largest piece of brownie.  I then asked Finn to divide the brownie slices out amongst the other siblings.  Without hesitation he selected the largest slice for himself (before he even gave the small pieces to his sisters) and then divided the others.  When he was finished I asked him if he would be willing to give the large piece to one of his sisters…and I will never forget his response.  He said “If I give this brownie to Leah, what else do I get.”  Even in an act of “kindness”, the motivation was not kindness, it was selfishness.  This was, of course, a great opportunity to teach my children a valuable lesson.  If you haven’t done an experiment like this with your children, it is a great teaching tool!

As we examine a story like this, it is easy to chuckle under our breath and say “kids will be kids”, or “That sounds like something Finn would do!”  But I want us to take a closer look, not only at our children, but at ourselves.  Are we much different?  The older I get and the more I observe myself and others as we walk along in this blessed life in Christ, the more I notice that we are all a bunch of 6 year olds trapped in adult bodies!  In reality this sounds like something we all would do!  In the vast majority of cases we are the little boy or girl reaching for the largest piece and leaving the leftovers for others.  But in light of Philippians 2:3-5, shouldn’t we operate in a different manner?  How many of us can truly say that we regard others as moreimportant than ourselves.  Think about that statement before you read on…  You see, the call of the Christian is always a call to what we might consider extreme.  Some might think that we have done a good thing if we regard others at all.  If we “throw” others a “bone” from time to time then we have achieved some great thing.  Likewise, some might think of others’ needs as equal to themselves and think they have fulfilled God’s call.  But God says we must regard one another as more important than ourselves!  Then and only then have we have reached, not the extreme of Christianity, but merely the standard of the Christian.

So do you regard others as more important than yourself?  I know I don’t.  I may be getting there and learning and growing towards it but at the end of the day, my needs far outweigh the needs of others.  Often, if I am in the middle of working on a project or just want time to myself and I get a call for help from another, I will say “I am too busy right now”.  Really many times what I am saying is “my needs are more important than yours”.  What Philippians 2 tells us to do may be one of the most difficult things to master in the Christian life!  We very often love our own needs…there is no way around it.  We don’t only prove that we value ourselves more than others in regards to our time though.  We do it with our money as well.  We do it with our talents, abilities and other resources.  But the biggest tragedy concerning this topic is when we refuse to share the Gospel with others.  When we withhold Gospel truth from others what we are really saying is “My eternity is taken care of and I really am not all that concerned about yours…my eternity is more important than yours.”

This week is as great a time as any to truly examine the ways in which we can change our minds about how we view other people.  Do we really value other people as much as we say we do?  Are we anywhere close to the standard set before us in scripture to regard others as more important that ourselves?  I have a long way to go brothers and sisters!  Bear with me!  How close are you?

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

Colossians 3:1-4

“¹ Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. ³ For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”   

Just recently I was walking through the woods when I came upon a large clearing. This was no ordinary clearing, it was a maze of the most tightly woven briars and bramble that I have ever seen. Three to four feet high and a few hundred yards wide and long. The problem was that I needed to get from one end of the field to the other, and in order to do so, I needed to navigate through the mess before me. As I gazed over the top of the obstacle I fixed my eyes upon my destination…an old deer blind way on the other side of the clearing. And with a step my journey had begun. As I struggled through the briars I would trip and fall from time to time, get hung up in the thorns and struggle along. But after a while I realized something very important. I never took my eyes off of that old deer blind for long. It became my guide and my goal…my prize. Every time I became disoriented or frustrated I looked up and gazed above the mess and fixed my eyes on the destination. After a while I noticed that my walk became less of a struggle as I learned the best way to navigate the maze. And with each passing step I came closer and closer to my destination. I even found myself enjoying the challenge of getting from point A to point B.

As I read Colossians 3:1-4 after returning from that walk in the woods I couldn’t help but make a connection of my experience to the walk of a Christian. There is no doubt that the walk can be a great struggle from time to time. There is no question that many times we will fall and get stuck along the way. Walking in a manner worthy of our calling is tough, because the world is full of barriers and messes that seek to derail us. But in those moments what is your reaction to the struggle at hand? Do you react to the situation and get embroiled and lost in the earthly struggle? Does the earthly situation become your focus? Or do you lift your eyes above the mess and fix your gaze upon the destination, the prize, the goal…Jesus Christ (no, our goal is not a deer blind!) God promises that “in this world we will have troubles, but I have overcome the world”. Jesus has risen above the mess and overcome the mess and offers us rest and hope and peace in the midst of struggle through repentance and salvation in Christ.

But why do so many Christians get lost in the struggle? Why do so many of us focus on the circumstances of life and allow them to steal our joy and peace so easily? Well the answer to that is in verse 2 and 3 of Colossians 3. The Christian not only is to set their eyes on things above but they are to crucify their flesh. To quit gorging their flesh with earthly desires, distractions, feelings and other seductions. Without crucifying the flesh daily, the Christian easily loses their focus. The Christian is to be dead to the present things. They don’t find their hope and portion (sustainment) in earthly things, but in heavenly things. Our flesh is buried with Christ. Dead. Every Christian is to be crucified unto the world, and the world is to be crucified unto him, (Gal. 6:14). And if we are truly dead to the world, and do not count it as our source of joy, hope and happiness, it would be ridiculous for us to set our desires and affections upon it, and seek it. How absurd would it be for me to seek a field of thorns and when I find it, count the thorns as my joy and hope!? If the world is dead to us we ought to seek strength from the Lord so we are not moved and affected deeply by it.

Finally church, why is it that we can walk through the thorns and thistles of life and not have it destroy us? Because it is Christ Himself who keeps our salvation “hidden”. Jesus keeps our salvation safe and holds it for us until the day He calls us home. Jesus sustains us and nourishes us. Even though we do not see Him, we know Him, and because we know Him we have a confident expectation that He is Faithful and worthy of our well placed trust. And because of this, we have deep reason to love Him and we may rest in the comfort of Christ’s care even in the midst of the thorny walk of life!

Yours in Christ, Pastor John

Proverbs 18:1-2

¹ He who separates himself seeks his own desire, He quarrels against all sound wisdom.
² A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind.

Many years ago as a young man I witnessed something in the church that impacted me at a very profound level.  The church that I had spent many of my formative years attending was headed for disaster.  What started out as a small seed of disunity among some members quickly grew into an irreconcilable disaster.  The end result was a wounded congregation and a church split.

On the outside looking in it was clear to see what had happened.  Neither side sought understanding and wisdom, both sides sought allies.  As the days passed the phone lines heated up and each person involved in the scuffle sought to ally themselves with other members by pleading their own case.  They didn’t delight in understanding, but rather their delight was in sharing “their side of the story” in order to create the large group of supporters to crush the “enemy”.  It was eye opening to me on many levels, but the most lasting impact was to see God’s church divide and separate right before my eyes.  Just as Moses divided the Red Sea, the end result was a division in God’s church that was just as distinct, and just as deadly for those caught in the middle as the two sides crashed back together again.

The problem with this situation and the millions of others like it is that pride is often more important to us than humility.  Convincing people that we are “right” is often more important to us than actually being right.  It is human nature to protect ourselves at all costs…and there is very little about our human nature that is Godly.  Actually, even though thousands of years have passed since Solomon’s reign, nothing has changed as far as human nature is concerned.  Today we have cell phones and Facebook to rally support for ourselves, in Solomon’s time they might have had the “Camel Express” as their gossip platform!  Whatever the method for rallying support for OUR cause, we need to begin to learn humility, not pride, and we must seek peace, not support.  We must seek truth and wisdom first, not seek to isolate the situation and look for ways to plead only our point of view.

When a difficult issue arises in your life, do you seek understanding, wisdom and reconciliation with the perceived offending party…or do you seek allies to join your cause?  Are you more concerned with recruiting people to “your side” by revealing your own thoughts than you are in seeking God’s wisdom and God’s resolution to the issue at hand?  Think about the last time that you were in a position to seek God or seek man, did you reach for God’s word and God’s wisdom…or did you reach for the phone?  Did you seek to separate and isolate your version of the events by revealing one side of the story to friends and family or did you seek truth?  I would wager that each one of us knows who to call to rally support depending on the situation…like a child that goes to mom in a certain situation and to dad in others.  And most of us not only know who to go to and when, but we act upon it.  Isn’t it true that more often than not we seek the person that will be most sympathetic to our cause, while refraining from either seeking God’s truth by searching His word or calling someone that might give us a dissenting viewpoint?  Being in an echo chamber is often very comfortable.  But hearing another viewpoint that says we might be wrong in our judgments is wise.

Brothers and sisters, I want wisdom, not comfort.  I want humility, not pride.  I want God’s way, not my own.  I know each of you want those things too.  If we are to be a church that grows in our love for God and each other, we must learn that protecting ourselves is not the most important thing, protecting the integrity of God’s truth is.

James 3:13-18

¹³ Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John