Vision Plus a Positive Attitude = Blessing and Fulfillment

“Where there is no vision, the people perish; but happy is he who keeps the teaching.”              

(rf. Prov. 29:18 MEV)

 

“When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven. And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: ‘Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us…’”    (rf. I Kings 8:54–57NASB)

 

            One of the key phrases used in leadership employment in the present day is the term, “vision-caster”. This is a person who provides their vision of where the organization is and where it needs to go to be successful. Although the term has more of an individualistic bent in our culture (e.g. the leader’s vision), it has been appropriated as of late into the Church, especially the American version, which, above all things, values material and numerical success.

            However, the Scriptures also teach the necessity of having a “vision”, but, more importantly, God’s “vision” for His people. Since He is Lord and King and Christ is the Head of the Church, His body, it is only right that He be the one who provides the direction and insight that His people are to follow and accomplish. This truth not only applies to the overall Church, but also to the local expressions of His Church.

            So, what then is God’s “vision” for St. John’s? We’ve made a number of adjustments over the years to bring our church into the 21^st century while holding on to our treasured heritage in the German Reformed faith. This is important because, like the well-used phrase from Esther 4:14, these purposeful changes have been designed “for such a time as this” when many of the younger generations have found the contemporary church lacking in depth and substance and are seeking churches with greater spiritual and historical connection with Christ and His Church (read Ever Ancient Ever New by Winfield Bevins). Secondly, the Kannapolis area is experiencing an explosion of growth in retail businesses, industry, and the connected housing opportunities as it further explores its expanding position as a bedroom community to Charlotte. God is situating St. John’s to be in just the exact spot to benefit from this growth and interest for the coming years and for the future. What will this mean for St. John’s and what actions will we have to take shortly and down the line to maximize the prospects that God desires for us to have?

            First of all, without jettisoning our Reformed and liturgical heritage, we need to consciously retire the past into the past. No church ever grows stronger toward the future while trying to keep their “glory days” in the present. Secondly, we must embrace the tools of technology while not becoming captive to them. The younger generations are inseparably connected to technological enhancements and so, instead of being in fear of learning and using new things, we must be willing to expand our minds and experiences so that these generations will see our willingness to grow in this area and add their ideas, energies and insights to our ministry. It is clearly possible to have sacred worship in a sacred space while providing some helpful technology as a benefit to all. 

Thirdly, and most importantly, we need to keep our focus forward as a positive endeavor. We have some in our fellowship for whom negativity is a constant. As the old saying goes, “the glass is always half-empty”. If we want to minister to others, especially the younger generations, positivity is an absolute necessity. If our spirits are inclined more toward “vinegar” than “honey”, we really need to “test ourselves to see if we are in the faith”, as the Apostle Paul would say in II Corinthians 13:5. Where Jesus lives in the heart, grace, love and hope abound, leaving no room for constant negativity. Only in Christ will people be drawn to Him (rf. John 12:32)…and to St. John’s.

God has great plans for His Church and for St. John’s in particular. Are we willing to be led by His Spirit, following His lead, so that these plans will be realized? Only with our hearts committed to Him will we truly see all He has in store for us.

 

True Faith is Shown by Works

“What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ and yet you give them nothing that the body needs, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But a man may say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works…As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.” (rf. James 2:14-18, 26 MEV)

 

            Years ago when I was first starting out in ministry, I was a bivocational pastor at a small church deep in the farms and fields of southwest Georgia. For my full-time job, I managed Lemstone Christian Bookstore, one of a chain of franchised Christian bookstores located in Albany. I learned a great deal of my management skills and understanding of retail business while working there. 

I remember one particular individual who would come into the bookstore at least once a week. He had some developmental issues and so was actually much older in age than his actions and words seemed to show. He would ride the bus to the mall with his elderly mother so she could go to the beauty shop while he would meander around the other retail establishments. Our store was typically high on his list to visit.

He always had the same ploy. He would find a book or two or even a small trinket that he liked and would bring it to me with the pledge that he would bring me the money for it when he returned the following week. He would never fail to tell me, “My word is my bond; I will pay you.” It was very tempting to allow him the “purchase”. However, because the store owner had already a history with this individual, I had been told not to fall to his pleadings since she previously in a move of compassion had allowed him to take something on the basis of his words, but he had never provided payment for it. Indeed, when she questioned him about it later, he had no knowledge of the transaction. His “word” may have been his “bond”, but the follow-through never materialized.

The Apostle James tells his readers that true faith fulfills its pledges and promises. Because true faith produces the “works” of God, as followers of Christ we are to possess His same commitment to completing the tasks and backing up our words with actions. In other words, just as Christ has committed to uphold His word by actual deeds, so must we as His children “put feet” to our words. Rather than making empty statements, like “you are in my prayers” or, as James puts it, “be warmed and filled”, we are to take definitive measures, praying when we need to pray, acting when we need to act, etc.

We must remember that our “faith is shown by (our) works”, not just in our words alone. We must commit ourselves to being more consistent in the application of our faith so that others will know for sure that we are truly following after Jesus. 

Love is Designed to be Constant not Seasonal

 

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…”

(rf. I Cor. 13:4-8a NASB)

 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” 

(rf. Gal. 5:22-23 NASB)

 

 

February has arrived and with it the emphasis on love. The world takes this opportunity to overwhelm us with the need to spend inordinate amounts of money on those whom we love.  Their view is that the dollars spent should be an equal reflection of the loved one’s value in your lives. If that were the case, truly we would be bankrupt and forever in debt, for no monetary attachment could ever come close to reflecting the blessing of those who have shown their unconditional love and dedication to us over the years. Money spent properly can indeed give someone we care for an indication that we do love them, but it is not necessary since we tend to communicate our love for others regularly through the things we do normally and by the encouragement we provide in both word and action. Material gifts are not the only way to express our love to others.

If love were only a feeling, then momentary reflections through gifts would be appropriate. But how would the person receiving the gift feel between gifts? Do we still love them in the intervening times? True love, however, is much more than a feeling; it is a commitment to be there through thick and thin, poverty and wealth, good times and bad, illness and well-being. To accurately reflect this love, gifts given out of appreciation for another’s love and devotion should be a year-round practice. Nor does our appreciation always have to shown in expensive gifts, but rather in the giving of a smile, a hug, a word of encouragement—each of these bestowed at the right time can be worth more than the most extravagant of presents.

Therefore, during this month in which “love” is the key theme, make the commitment to show those you love that you care for them daily, not just during holiday seasons. Remember that the essence of love is derived from the source of love itself—God. He gave and still gives His love freely, showing us in a myriad of ways that He cares for each us within the events of our everyday lives. His ultimate gift of His Son was granted to us with no price tag attached; His atonement for our sins was free, but its worth was priceless and most costly! Though we can never match such a gift in content, we can give to our loved ones acts of kindness, compassion, and encouragement in the spirit of Christ’s gift to us. I guarantee these things along with material gifts from time to time will bless the heart of the recipient more so as it shows them that our love for them is not seasonal, but continual, as is Christ’s love for us.

A Negative or Positive Heart: What God Wants to See Within Us

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

(Prov. 23:7 KJV)

  

            New beginnings are very good times to develop new perspectives on how we act, interact and live our lives. As Christians the standard for doing these things is so high, it is literally out of reach for us apart from God’s grace being operational continuously in us. We do not have the capacity to do good or to be good in ourselves. The Apostle Paul wrote about this truth extensively in the first few chapters of his letter to the Romans (see chaps. 1-3). It is on the basis of this truth of our own innate sinfulness that he builds his doctrine of justification by faith since we cannot justify ourselves before God on the foundation of our merits. However, pursuing a discussion on the reality of this doctrine is not my intent in this article; therefore, forgive my digression.

            Rather, having pauses in our lives gives us an opportunity to reflect on how we are living and behaving toward others around us. Many of us do a good job of fooling ourselves into believing that we are better than we really are. Some are quick to point out the “speck that is in (our) brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in (our) own eye” (rf. Matt. 7:3 NASB). Others have an ongoing love affair with negativity and, like a fog bank of noxious and deadly gases, they have a poisonous effect on all of the people and relationships in their lives. Still others, because they were treated poorly in their past, feel the need to become the victim in every situation so that all ill that they experience is someone else’s fault and never their own. These are just a few examples of how the principle exhibited by the author of this proverb above, likely Solomon, comes to life. 

            Solomon here states that our actions and attitudes are directly reflective of the status of our heart. If our heart is negative, dark, vindictive, victimized, then our perspective and deeds cannot but be adverse. We will keep people at arms-length, always striking first at them so that we are not hurt ourselves…again. If our heart is positive and overwhelmed by the grace of God, then our conduct will follow suit. We will be thankful for all the blessings we have experienced in the past and look forward to feeling God’s favor in the future. We will also treat others with kindness, compassion, love and mercy, all qualities of the Lord Jesus who has brought His Spirit and salvation into our lives.

            Therefore, my encouragement to all of us is to take an honest, personal assessment of where our hearts lie in terms of being negative or positive. If we see that negativity is our “calling card”, then we need to ask the Lord to make Himself, His Spirit and His Gospel real within us, to change us and transform us by His power so that we can be used by Him to affect positive change. If we see that His love is operational within us and our viewpoint toward others is constructive, optimistic and service-oriented, then may we ask the Lord to give us even more opportunities to be His agents of encouragement and affirmation. We all need to arrive at this point of submissiveness to His greater use so we can see Him do more of His good in our own lives and in the lives of others, as individual believers and as His Church.

What God Did for Jesus, He Will Do for His People

“Now when they departed, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word. For Herod will seek the young Child to kill Him.’ When he rose, he took the young Child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod, to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called My Son’.”

(rf. Matt. 2:13-15 MEV)

 

            At the time of this occurrence Jesus was just a toddler or a “young Child” (vs. 14) as Matthew puts it. He was too small to understand what was going on around Him in His humanness, but His Deity knew all the well what was taking place. Jesus was endangered by Herod’s hurt pride and insecurities. King Herod had wanted to know from the Magi where Jesus was located so he could supposedly go and “worship Him” (rf. Matt. 2:8), knowing full well that he wanted to find out for the purpose of killing Jesus. When the Magi left without returning with the desired knowledge, King Herod made the horrendous decision to massacre all of the young children, two and under in age, to avenge his pride and to take out the perceived enemy to his throne.

            What Herod never suspected, even in his assessment that this child, this new “King of the Jews” (vs. 2), was actually God the Son in human form, the second Person of the Trinity. Herod was not just dealing with human beings who could easily be slain by his troops. He was “messing with” Almighty God who would take whatever precautions necessary to protect His Son. Thus, Herod had not reckoned on God’s intervention by His sending of Gabriel to warn Joseph to leave Bethlehem and go to Egypt. Nor had Herod considered that God would also provide for His Son and the holy family by giving them the necessary provision for the journey through the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh by the hands of the Magi. God’s promise and accomplishment of His protection and provision for His Son was clearly evident to all involved, except, of course, King Herod.

            When circumstances turn negative for us as God’s people, we should be assured that the same promises that He made clear to Joseph and Mary on Jesus’ behalf are the same promises that we can hold close to our own hearts. God has given His Word to us as His people to protect us and to provide for “all (our) needs according to His riches in glory” (rf. Php. 4:19). He will not fail us even as He did not fail to do the above for His Son when Jesus was humanly vulnerable. 

            As we move into a new year of life and service, let us take these promises of God to heart and to manifest our trust in them by faith. He wants us to take Him at His Word. Will we do so regardless of the circumstances in which we may find ourselves and through which He will lead us? If we do, then we will watch the miraculous things He does for His own glory to make His promises a reality to us.

"Forget Not All His Benefits"

^“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits…For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Like a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord gives compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows how we are formed; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field he flourishes. For the hot wind passes over it, and it is gone; the place where it was is not known. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant, and to those who remember to do His commandments…” (rf. Ps. 103:1-2, 11-18 MEV)

 

            In the Psalm above, King David encourages the reader to join him as he praises the Lord in song (for remember, the psalms were originally songs written as works for worship). David’s heart rejoices at the thought of all that the Lord has done for him. He reminds himself not to “forget…all His benefits”, the many things through which God has blessed him personally. He outlines a great number of incidents in his own life where he has seen the hand of the Lord evident. In the passage given above, David recounts specifically how the Lord has forgiven his sin, how He has chosen purposefully not to remember them at all, casting them “as far as the east is from the west”. David sees himself as the beneficiary of God’s wonderful and amazing grace, enabling him to serve and fear the Lord and to fulfill His commandments. He also expresses how this is the same experience of all who follow the Lord; they know His “compassion” firsthand and rejoice in it.

            As we approach the season of giving thanks to the Lord, David’s reminder is most fitting. We should take his encouragement to heart, looking back at all of the blessings that the Lord has given to His people, not because they deserve or merit them, only that God desires to express His grace, love, mercy and “compassion” to us. Being the recipients of these blessings should elicit our praise of Him and a constant desire to worship Him and to be in His Presence.

            So, may it be an act of commitment on our part to diligently and thoughtfully take time to recall all of the ways God has shown His love to us. May we also give Him glory each day and look forward to being together as His people to share our joy with Him and with each other in worship.

 

"Come Out of Their Midst and Be Separate"

“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (rf. II Corinthians 6:14-18 MEV)

 

 

            The Apostle Paul here is teaching a principle echoing the words of Jesus in John 15:19 which says, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, the world therefore hates you.” For both Jesus and Paul the concept of Jesus’ followers being distinctly different is a very important one. In many respects, Jesus’ expectation of us as His people is a radical departure from the present perception among Western Christians, in particular, that we should be as “relevant” and connecting to society and culture as possible, that our commonalities should far outshine and outpace our differences. 

            Paul lived in a time when his surrounding culture was profoundly pagan and wicked by Scriptural standards. The church at Corinth to whom the text above was written was enveloped and oppressed by spiritual darkness. Temples to various Greek and Roman gods dotted the landscape along with the drunken and sexual orgies that accompanied their worship. Cults and other religious sects thrived as did the veneration of the Emperor and the Empire. It was, indeed, a dark backdrop to the work of Christ in that cosmopolitan city.

            Notice that Paul did not encourage making the Gospel “relevant” or to disclose faith in Christ as just another color in the religious “rainbow” of the Gentiles. Rather, Paul is clear that followers of Christ should be distinct from the world around them. As he puts it, “what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial (the Devil), or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” Instead of playing along with the culture, Paul’s encouragement to his fellow Christians is to “come out from their midst and be separate”. Why the need for distinction? Only as light is separated from darkness is the difference between the two clearly seen. Those who are spiritually alive must not be acting like corpses; otherwise, how will the spiritually dead know that they are dead if not by the comparison with those who are truly alive in Christ.

            Even today, Western culture is quickly returning to the paganism of old; gods in the past have been exchanged for a plethora of gods in the present. Around us, especially during this time of year, we see clear expressions of spiritual darkness. Evil acts and representations abound with the air of fun and the promise of excitement. It is as if someone truly opened Pandora’s Box and all manner of wickedness now flourishes and is socially acceptable.

            Since the present is becoming more reflective of Paul’s context, it is incumbent upon us as believers in Christ to follow closely Paul’s admonition above. Only when we shine the light of Christ in our lives by being separate, different and distinct from the world around will those trapped in its evil grip know and see that there is a better way of living. We must renew the call to “come out…and be separate”, shining our light brightly for all to see while being committed to not being a part with or supportive of the world around us that relishes in darkness. Only when we do so are we truly fulfilling His call to be His disciples and reflective of His reality in us.