"The Purpose of the Church Among the World"

  There were 8 of us in a discussion. Men whom are men of the word holding it with all their heart and with attitudes of humility. We were discussing the purpose of the church of the Lord. What was realized and agreed upon was this: if the church among the community we live offers nothing but more advice on how to live rightly, if it offers nothing more than a call to treat people right, if it offers little or nothing more than ways to make us more attractive, if it offers nothing more than how to make our marriages and families better, or the giving out commodities,  if this is all we focus on, we need to shut the doors! We ought to close the doors and quit pretending that we are offering something distinctive, something that can't be gained anywhere else! We ought to close it up because on these terms we are only offering what every other socially useful group is offering (and many times using their material) while they deny the gospel call of God in Christ Jesus!

  What is more alarming is the church of our Lord is not in the 'business' to compete with other religious movements which many have sought and pronounced. The 'business' as the one body, the church of Jesus Christ, is to be a bearer of God's story of redemption!! We aren't here to help societies and nations to live up to some moral code. We aren't here to stand for freedom rights and political awareness. Too many in the community around are standing on these issues. These are not what the life of the church is built upon.

  When God made His covenant with Israel, He warned them that this covenant was based on who He is and not on their success of military, economics, government or any thing else. That was not the basis of the God's people. God warned His people not to buy into the nations around about what they worshiped, spoke and followed. But Israel slowly drifted into the mind sets of the nations around, picking up their habits and thinking. God sent the prophets calling His people to repentance reminding them about the Exodus, the Wilderness, the Passover and the Almighty who was their God. In all the commandments given, they were embedded in the redeeming work of God on their behalf. This is why they sang, prayed, studied because they had a story of redemption from the Holy One. The lives they lived were not an attempt to live up to some moral code to be shared equally with the entire human race. It was a life lived in the image of God, a life bearing witness to God! They weren't speaking about themselves but about their God, the God who in holiness created them to be His witnesses to the lost world around (Isa. 43:9-13).

  We as God's children, Christ's church are not to forget our 'Exodus' from sin. We are not to forget our baptism in union with our Lord and Redeemer. We are called to eat His Supper just as Israel was called to eat their Passover. It doesn't matter if the world pokes holes in it. It is our redeeming relationship to Jesus that makes us who we are and we have a story to tell...HIS STORY!

  The NT church is the creation of God and in and through it (even with our many flaws) we are to hold up a life saving message before the face of all people. The church was not to accommodate and sink itself so that we can become another 'nice' moral group, with 'nice' messages on how to make your marriage stronger (but it will do that), or that you will find prosperity in life and happiness in our assemblies! This isn't the message that has been entrusted to the NT church of the Lord. We are not placed here simply for social dynamics! Any hope, joy and happiness that is distinctively found in Jesus rests completely on the Gospel of God. The NT church like the OT church (Israel) fails and grows weaker when this is forgotten. The church will suffer the loss of identity and purpose and the world around us will suffer loss because of it!

  We are here simply because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's how we originated and that's how we are sustained. Our study of Scripture (Bible study) is not about getting more information or merely understand what an writer meant. It is about being shaped and sustained by our oneness with Jesus and Him crucified which results in His body. We must be careful that we aren't swallowed up by the drifts and cultures of the community we find ourselves in. We are in Jesus as His body to teach and speak in the presence of the entire human family God's gospel of redemption found only in Christ Jesus!

"An Empty Life"

  His name was Meriwether Lewis, born in 1774. The man was a man of great success with the admiration of thousands. He was the private secretary of President Thomas Jefferson. He became a distinguished war veteran and President Jefferson asked him to lead an expedition into the lands west of the Mississippi. Enlisting William Clark they began the greatest expedition of what we know as the Lewis & Clark expedition. 

  At the height of his fame, Meriwether Lewis wrote a letter to a dear friend with these words: "I feel all that restlessness, which I cannot help but thinking proceeds from the void in our hearts. Whence it comes, I know not, but certain it is, that I never felt less like a hero than at the present moment." Shortly after this letter, Meriwether Lewis passed away of what was believed to be his own suicide.

  Hopelessness seems to plague so many. People living with no sense of direction or they feel great shame and disappointment over decisions they have made which sends them into despair. How many do we know or maybe its you that feels the void in the heart, an emptiness of life? Judas found the same when he realized he had betrayed innocent blood by betraying His Lord. His answer? Suicide. Yet here comes Peter who denies Jesus, even swearing he never knew the man but what does he find in his dire need? Jesus! One of faith knowing the source and one of hopelessness not realizing the source.

  Jesus spoke these words: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Matt. 11:28-30)

  An empty life, a void in the heart can only be filled by Jesus and nothing/no one else. If we would only stop looking at us and our situation and look to Him we could find rest for our souls. That means we must yoke up with Him. Walking hand in hand, learning from Him knowing He will lead us into life, His life while we walk our journey on this earth. Jesus is waiting!

"Death Changes Everything"

   Death changes everything! The passing of a loved one is difficult even if we know their love for the Lord and His truth. Death changes everything! The memories become dear. The holidays that we once shared aren't the same. Some days you long for the loved one so deeply. With all our advanced medical technology, death cannot be stopped.

  But what about the death of Jesus? Everything changed the day He died! EVERYTHING! The people stood in their insults and tears as they witnessed the elements on the earth change. The words came from the cross: "It is finished!" (John 19:30) From that split second to two thousand years later, everything changed.

  The disciples of Jesus were at a loss. Death changes everything! Their Lord simply passed on in their mind to which Peter responds: "I am going fishing." (John 21:3) That's it! Life is over. The One whom they had set their hope as the deliverer was gone. What would become of His teachings? What would they do with His teachings? All the miracles they witnessed, what was that about? Their hopes were dashed. Death changes everything!

  But the death of Jesus changed everything. He arose and defeated death on Sunday morning. He's alive and is still living. His tomb remains empty. His body that was pummeled beyond recognition was well as Jesus walked among man. "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." (John 20:27) Jesus spoke these words to Thomas. Jesus died and arose from the dead! Death no longer has the final say in the life of Jesus. Jesus holds the keys to death and Hades and is alive forevermore (Rev. 1:18). 

  The apostles stood and watched the Lord of mankind, the Lord of death and over all the earth ascend to the Father. "You shall be My witnesses", Jesus spoke to those men. The death of Jesus changed everything, even death itself! The gospel is a gospel of life, not death. It's a gospel that through death we live because of Christ. "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same, that through death He might He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." (Heb. 2:14-15) Death changes everything! And the resurrected Christ changed death!

"God's Seeking Us"

  Sometimes we have a hard time believing! Especially those who struggle against sin. They get to a point believing that God doesn't want them anymore. While it is true that God cannot and will not walk in the world of sinful living with sinful attitudes, it doesn't mean He doesn't want us. God is opposed to ungodly behavior. He has to be separated from any unrighteousness to protect His holiness and righteousness! That's who He is.

  But do we really believe God wants us? Do we really believe that God delights in forgiveness? The Scriptures say He does! When Jesus explains the heavenly hosts break out into shouts of joy over one repentant one, God wants us! Jesus battled the self-righteous, sinful "preachers" of the first century called the Pharisees and was attacked by the teachers and preservers of God's Law called the scribes. Jesus was run out of districts and ridiculed over and over and then we find Him speaking of the city of Jerusalem wishing, wanting to gather them together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. He was seeking a relationship even with all that. But the bottom line fell on them: "You were unwilling!" (Matt. 23:37) There it is. That's the problem. We are never rejected by God but we reject God. It's our unwillingness to want to leave the paths of sin. We like what we do where we live and do not want to give in to Him whole-hardheartedly. The sin leaves us lonely, empty and hurting. We cry out for help and as this process goes over and over again, we conclude that He wants nothing to do with us. As we harden we believe Lord of heaven and earth wants to cast us aside. Our walking in sin's path has created a conclusion within us that the devil has convinced us that God wants nothing to do with us. That's far from the truth!

  Jesus came seeking and He still is seeking. It's us who will not give in and respond. We think that God doesn't want us because we have failed Him over and over. We do matter to God. I don't understand that either but we do matter and God has made it abundantly clear that He will keep coming after us, telling us what He wants for us and will do in us. The Lord seeks more than just forgiving us. He seeks to make something of us that looks like the image of Jesus. The question is: do we believe it? 

"Compounding Problems"

  They came to me and said, "Why is it that I seem to go from one bad thing to another? I pray about it and yet when one difficulty is over another hits!" I can hear the pain in the life of this individual. What I had difficulty in doing (and it was my weakness) was trying to explain to the individual that it was their personal choices that was causing one difficulty after another. They were having a hard time accepting that. 

  There are trials that come into our lives just because. James 1 points to that plainly that "various trials" can hit at anytime. Things that we have no control over or did not cause. But then there are those who go from difficulty to difficulty because they use little wisdom from above and follow their own course of thinking and decisions which compounds the results in their lives. How many times have we known someone in a financial crunch and in the moment jump to a quick loan that charges 200% interest on a small loan? It's a load to have to get this paid off and many times they end up having to be bailed out. What if we had used wisdom from God rather than seek our want, our desire at first? Our wisdom follows our selfish ambitions. God says that! Instead of following a path from what we think is a quick fix, what if we sought God's help?Paul reminded the Ephesians that when we were dead in our sins, we walked according to the course of the world living in our desires of the mind and flesh. That's why so many make poor choices and those choices seem to follow them from one situation to another.

  The Lord will put us on a path to make wise decisions. Sometimes we need to seek out wise counsel, one that can help us make wise decisions according to the Lord rather than according to our selfish desires. Seek His word. Listen to Him alone through His word. If God rescues us from our sins through Jesus Christ, wouldn't He have the answer for lessor things? (Rom. 8:32) That's where we go off course. Do we really see our sins taken away in Jesus so we can see clearly a better path to walk? Don't fear when faced with a difficulty. If it is something you didn't cause then consider it all joy as the Lord will use it to help your faith. If you made some poor choices then be humble about it and repentant, seeking the Lord's face to make wiser decisions and He will make your path straighter. It might be difficult as we need to learn doing it ourselves causes more pain but the result will free us from following us and listening more closely to Him. That's a better solution wouldn't you say?

"The Message"

  The charge is laid down: "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season..." (II Tim. 4:2) There is a message to preach and that message preached depends on messengers. The messengers of God are instructed what to preach and no matter how it is received, preach the word. There are writers of books and other such forms of communication and they can serve a purpose but if we would be careful and pay attention, few people come to God in Jesus Christ apart from actual contact with an actual person in whom the message is embodied!

  The word of the Lord must be preached! For a man with a message from Jesus or about Jesus that he himself is not taking seriously is being a hypocrite. There can be fine men but with no gospel to tell has little to offer. There can be fine men with merely moral advice and right values but that too has little to offer. There can be fine men that are compassionate and generous but with no message about Jesus Christ is sub-par. What we need to realize is the message of the gospel that raced through that first century wasn't just a lot of nice people saying nice things. It was nice people with a message about Jesus Christ! There is simply too much fluff and not enough substance about Jesus Christ.

  What brought the idol worshipers down in many cities? The word of Jesus Christ embodied in living messengers that were convicted of the message of Jesus Christ. What turned the world upside down? The message of Jesus Christ. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends, slaves, free, Jews, Greeks, Romans all found freedom in the message of Jesus Christ. When the Lord instructed His messengers to preach the word, that word embodied Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's where the majority miss it!

  

  

"Grace and Love"

  There is so much talk about the grace and love of Jesus and there should be. His grace toward us is so deep that I know we cannot begin to understand. The love for mankind is another one of those attributes of our Lord and God that we cannot grasp fully, especially when we sin so often and easy. But there seems to be something in our teachings and beliefs about the grace and love of Jesus that is making some of the realities of the Lord obscure. 

  We as humans seem to go overboard with almost everything. When speaking of grace and love to many have lost the sense of what that means. Grace is God's unmerited favor extended to us and without His grace we would all be lost. The bounds to God's grace is so vast and enormous. The attitudes have developed that grace will cover all and therefore there becomes no boundaries for us to operate within. Many take the grace of God and run to regions unknown in Scripture making it a "believe as you want to believe" or "do as you want to do" because the grace of God outdoes it all! That's an abuse of grace. The grace of God brings salvation to us through the death of Jesus. But the grace of God also is an instructor to deny any ungodliness and worldly desires (Titus 2:11-12). The grace of God is given to teach us how to live sensibly, righteously and godly in our daily lives. Not flippant or believing God's grace will cover everything. 

  The same with love. Love, love and more love of the Lord is poured out and it needs to be. With the very nature of God being love (I John 4:7-8) it is who He is. But again we go overboard in our thinking and beliefs. Love has at its core discipline! Love has at it's core the truth! "For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines!"  That's spoken from Scripture (Heb. 12:6). When we are called to discipline someone for continued ungodly behavior, that's love in action. We seem to miss this side of love. Too many have made love 'gooey' and take it beyond what the Lord shows us. "Love rejoices with the truth, not in unrighteousness!" That too is spoken from Scripture (I Cor. 13:6). We have taken love to places the Lord never takes His character. 

  The result of these two principles of God being abused by so many in our day, grace and love, have led to a place where there is little standard anymore. It has taken us to being less reverent toward God and led us into our worship as more of a show than reverence. Our attitudes have taken on the "coffee and doughnut" attitude rather than reverence for the Lord. We need to refocus on the Lord and see what He teaches in regard to Himself. God is love! God's grace saves us through Jesus Christ! Those are the facts but those facts are to lead us into lives that honor Him and reverentially hold to His word. There is a standard from heaven and we must be careful that we do not blur what His standard has set before our eyes.