Adjusting The Future Today

It is amazing for someone like me to take in all the changes that have occurred in my lifetime.  I remember when folks first started getting TV's in their homes.  Honestly, I can remember some who didn't have indoor bathrooms.  I remember sitting on my front porch in town with a dirt road for a street and watching as an old man named "Will"  rode slowly down the street in his wagon powered by a mule with a big plow sticking up out of the wagon.  He was trying to find someone who might hire him to plow their garden.  I remember life in the hot muggy South without air conditioning in their homes much less their cars.  I remember picking up the phone and a living person would ask, "number please?"  I remember how I felt our family had arrived when we bought a car that didn't have a clutch to change gears.  I remember the race to the moon and then watching with the rest of the world as man stepped out of his safe space craft and touched the mysterious lunar surface for the first time.  Yes, I remember when computers were talked about as something that would change our world one day!  It was also a day of order and decorum.  There were things that were right and things that were wrong.  If you stepped outside the lines you were corrected.  I remember a world where neighbors loved you like Grandparents.  They might invite you on the porch for some homemade "tea cakes".  If they saw you doing something really wrong, they also might spank you and tell your parents later!  I know that sounds crazy but it happened.  In the middle of this perfect sounding world, which it wasn't, there was a penalty for our wrongs.  It was a time when the Bible set the standard for living.  Everyone knew it, even those who didn't confess to being a believer.  There was a atmosphere of right and wrong.  We all knew the difference.  Of course we still did wrong but when we were caught we knew we were getting what we needed in the form of punishment.  It made things, well, righteous.

Today it is hard to find order, right and wrong and a culture of righteousness.  It is frustrating to one who was shaped by an imperfect but yet  righteous order of things.  We don't like the lines being moved.  That may be why the Bible talks about "not moving the ancient boundary markers of your forefathers."  It is easy to loose your moorings for someone like me if we don't really remain focused.  But then I think, "what about those who never knew a solid mooring in the first place?" Thank God we still have the steadfastness of the Church!  That grand old institution established by Jesus to be remain forever a place of Refuge from the storms and shifting sands of decaying cultures.  It is a place where right will always be right and wrong will always be wrong and while God is all loving, His Word promises correction and discipline.  REALLY?!  REALLY?!  There has never been a time in history when so many were comfortable destroying foundations and moving around the boundary stones of thousands of years without an apparent twinge of guilt.  How is this possible?  They don't know they are doing wrong.  They have eaten at the tables of purveyors of the artificial.  It is a diet so close to Truth that it challenges even the most serious disciple.  The problem is not that it is not truth but it is not a balanced truth.  It cries out of the mercy, love and grace of God without a shred of the confrontation over wrong or punishment.  Yes, there is a place for correction in the pulpit.  As a matter of fact if confrontation and correction is absent from our pulpits, where will it be found?

I will end with this story of my Father taking me to my room with an oak switch in his hand.  He sat me down and explained what I had done wrong and then uttered those words, "this is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you."  Was that moment with the "rod of correction"wrong or bad for me?  Absolutely not!  It is impossible to assay the full value of such a confrontation of right and wrong.  In most homes this ancient practice is now obsolete.  Let's not let the Church, the last bastion of righteousness become powerless by our lack of the practice of righteousness.  May we go back to The Book for a fresh look at the balanced view of God and then preach and practice those principles revealed.

Put The Fish In The Boat!(Preacher)

While visiting a church, the preacher was doing a series of messages on being "fishers of men."  I listened to his message waiting to see how he would bring it home to the people.  He never did.  It was simply an informational message but not instructional and certainly not activating the individual to become fishers of men.  There is such cowardice today in all sectors of society regarding making things challenging and personal.  Recently I was listening to an interview by the great singer Linda Ronstadt.  She was asked the difference between a great singer and a great performer.  She said that there were many of her back up singers who were much better singers than she.  She went on to say, "you have to have a story.  Your story might be heartache, loss of some sort or failure.  You have to relate your story to the audience with passion and then all great entertainers at some point make the transfer from themselves to the audience."  Wow, I thought, that is exactly what good preaching should be!  I went back and look at Peter's message on the day of Pentecost.  He told a story to a gathered crowd and he told it with personal passion.  Then at just the right moment he turned the story on the crowd.  Hundreds became converted to the God of his message that day!  Preachers must understand that we are not simply lecturers or instructors.  We must tell the Story, tell it with a personal experiential passion and at just the right moment we must make the hearers take possession of it in their souls.  If we never get from "me to them", we will never be successful.  If we fail to cause the hearer to experience the message then we are not accomplishing New Testament preaching.

May we as preachers review our sermons and honestly ask ourselves if we are making a transfer of ownership to the people?

The Light That Irritates

One of our guest bedrooms doubles as my office.  Upon my desk is a printer, internet connection, wireless router and a cordless phone.  All these devices have small lights of some kind to let you know they are working and standing by awaiting your command or use.  While one of our adult children was staying there on a visit I entered the room to grab something.  There were all kinds of things piled on all my "electronic toys."  I wondered what is that about?  Then they told me later, "oh yeah Dad, I covered all the lights in your office so I could sleep.  It looks like Nasa down there at night!"

Light usually is a wonderful thing and especially when you are trying to see your way in the dark.  Yet, if you are enjoying the darkness like when you are trying to sleep or maybe you don't want to be seen, light can be very irritating.  John 1:5 in the NLT is a very powerful verse.  It says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."  I love that last part, "the darkness can never extinguish it."  The King James version says, " and the darkness comprehended it not."  Both translation are true to the original language but the NLT sheds "new light" on the subject.  More than just saying that the lost or those choosing to live in darkness can't comprehend or understand the light, this translation says that "they cannot extinguish it."  That is like trying to sleep in my office but not being able to cover up all the lights.  That is what it is like once you have been exposed to "The Light" and now you try to shut it off in your heart and head.  

I remember what it was like when I had seen the light but before I fully surrendered to Jesus.  I was living an ungodly life in darkness.  I had two challenges.  One was to plan my little schemes of activities in the darkness while trying to block out the light.  What had been enjoyable when I was totally in darkness was no longer enjoyable.  Why?  That irritating light wouldn't stop shining!  "The darkness can never extinguish it!"  Never!!!

The next time you find yourself sharing your faith with someone who seems to be totally rejecting it or even worse, not listening, remember this.  Bringing light to darkness starts an eternal flame.  They may not acknowledge it or they may not even recognize it but Truth lights the flame.  That may be all you are required to do.  Someone else may make the harvest at another time.  Just be faithful to "let your light shine!"

Community

Community is a basic human need. One of the most dreaded punishments in prison life is solitary confinement. Some may think it would be a welcomed relief but many have found it maddening. From the beginning of time man has formed community. Within community there is safety in numbers as well as sharing of resources and expenses.

To live in community takes a willingness to live, work and sacrifice for the common good. Many of those in prison are individuals often were unwilling to sacrifice for and live with the guidelines of community.

 There are many communities and sub-communities. They all have common characteristics. They all have a distinct culture. Within a culture there is usually a similar dress, a familiar communication and a code of conduct.  In our society today there are fishing cultures, golfing cultures, biker cultures just to name a few. They have their own dress, language and conduct according to what is acceptable within that group.

The Church is a community. It would serve us well to understand that and seek to embrace and build community within the Church. Attending meetings alone does not constitute Community. Quality time must be spent together to form true community. In reality real community in the Church is a sharing of life that impacts and changes us for our own improvement and good. Much of that meshing is pleasant and some is not, but a part of the Lord's building process none the less.

A few years ago there was an emphasis in the church to stop being "religious" in an effort to reach more people.  Religious sounding language was discouraged. The message was to reach them where they were and not to make them feel uncomfortable.  Certainly the motivation was good.  The result in many places was very little life and lifestyle change. I was reminded of the time I embraced the Lordship of Jesus and that relationship brought me from a world centered culture to the Community of Believers, the Church. They acted differently and they certainly talked differently. I was only recently discharged form the U. S. Navy. We had a culture, a dress and a language but not one you would want used around your children. Coming into the Church was one that I welcomed. I wanted something different from where I had been. I was pleased and challenged to learn a new community language, culture and yes, even dress to a certain degree.

Today there is a strong emphasis on doing whatever is necessary to bring new people into our buildings.  Again, the motivation is a good one but when we live inside a culture and decide what we need to do to reach into a different culture our perspective may be skewed.  Along these lines, one word you don't hear much today is disciple.  That is a cultural word, a community word.  Oh, it is used but does our efforts truly make disciples to a new Kingdom?  Is there a culture shift in the life of the disciple?  Let's make sure we are doing all we can to get them incorporated into a life changing revolutionary Kingdom Community.