General

I’ve been hearing a phrase quite often lately and frankly it confuses me.  The phrase usually occurs when someone is experiencing something difficult and either they or another person will ask that “good thoughts or good vibes” be sent their way.  I’m not quite sure how one can do this.  How exactly do “good thoughts” get from one person to another and how do they help?

It is amazing how easily the world will so easily believe in some sort of ‘telekinesis’ while rejecting or at least diminishing an all powerful God. When I hear terms like this I am reminded of Acts 17:22-23 “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. ^23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.”  Our society is indeed still religious, but at the same time is so hardened in their heart they cannot accept the one true God.  So they, by choice, remain ignorant of the truth.  Their gut tells them there are spiritual things out there so maybe somehow we can impact someone by sending our ‘good thoughts and good vibes’ to them. However their pride and self , will not allow them to acknowledge the true God of creation and redemption.

Maybe when this phrase is used some may mean we should give encouraging words to the one suffering.  There is certainly benefit in encouraging someone. When the scripture tells us to encourage others we are to do so by sharing the hope and promises of God with them.  While it can be comforting to know someone cares, how much more so to know that He who is all powerful cares? Oh how encouraging to know the truth of “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).  That truth can only be known by knowing God; not substituting some warm and fuzzy ‘good thoughts’ in His place.

The phrase of sending someone ‘good thoughts’ is often mentioned in combination with prayer; again as if to be sure and include all the different possibilities (you never know which one may work). They are not the same and only one of them really works – prayer.  Real prayer is not merely thinking of someone.  Real prayer reaches out to a living God in a personal way. Real prayer is an act of humility and confidence all at once.  It recognizes God for who He is and understands who we are in relation to Him.  Real prayer looks for His mercy and His help.  It seeks both His strength and His comfort. Think about someone all you want with good thoughts, but if their help comes from the Lord.

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ^2 He agreed to pay them a denariusfor the day and sent them into his vineyard.

^3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ^4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ^5 So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ^6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

^7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

^8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

^9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ^10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ^11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ^12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

^13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ^14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ^15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

^16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Matthew 20:1-16

This certainly would not go over today.  All manner of groups and people would raise a fuss, not just those who worked in the vineyard!

Jesus objective was not to give a lesson on free market capitalism (“Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?”).  There is something else to be learned from this story.

Those first approached by the owner of the vineyard were offered a specific wage for the work.  They thought it was a fair wage and agreed to work for that amount.  As the day went on the owner hired more people who worked varying hours.  At the end of the day when the workers were being paid those who had worked the least got their pay first and received the amount the owner had offered those he had approached first and had worked the entire day. Seeing this they figured he was going to pay them more since they had worked longer. That seems fair and logical. After all, isn’t God fair?  Then when they received their pay they were given the same as those who had worked less hours. That doesn’t seem fair; hmm, isn’t God fair?

Our thoughts about ourselves and about God are often completely backwards.  For instance, we seem to think God exists for us.  In our minds we are the center of our universe.  But this is not true and is our corrupt nature at work.  God does not exist for us.  We exist for God.  We are not the center of the universe, God is.  It is this thinking that has caused so much pain and suffering.  We were not created to be the center of our universe or to have everything be about us.  This self-centered, self-serving view causes us to live our lives in pursuit of things to make us happy.  The result is just the opposite because this is not how we were originally built.  We can not fulfill our grand design by being the center of our own universe.  The way we find fulfillment and subsequently happiness is by surrendering to God as the center of all things, including our own personal existence.  We have our position in the world backwards.

God has promised us from His grace that if we come with Him, whether to work in the vineyard or to sit at His feet, He will reward us.  This grace, this reward, is not something we earn from a God who owes, but rather is a gift from the God who loves us.

                Growing up, I was always taught that God was faithful and he would take care of us if only we would trust him. As I sat in Sunday school, I would hear the stories about men of the Bible who stepped out on faith taking a chance of ridicule, suffering and for some of them even pushed in their faith so far that they died for what they believed. I would look at these men and would put them on a pedestal as being examples of someone that I could only hope to be like. But then, I would be told these men were just like me, they had just put all of their trust into God’s plan for their life. Wow, when I heard that they were just like me, I jumped in to that belief with both feet. I knew for a fact that if I trusted God and stepped out on faith he would be faithful and take care of me because that’s what everybody told me. I believed that with all of my heart but I just wasn’t willing to chance it.

                I became a Christian at Jonathan Creek Christian Camp in Western Kentucky when I was 10 years old. I never smoked, I never drank, I never did drugs, and I never really got into any serious trouble. I got into some stuff that I shouldn’t have but overall I was a pretty good Baptist kid. I never was very good in school but I squeaked through and made it to college where my relationship with Christ actually became real. At the age of 21 I truly fell in love with Christ. I got involved with several groups on campus that lit a fire in me for missions. I was ready to go out with the gospel of Jesus Christ and spread it across the campus but fear took a hold of me and I decided I just wasn’t willing to chance it.

                After I graduated from college, I got married and shortly after we started to have children. After the birth of my first child, I decided that I was going to raise him to trust in God and that he would know that God is faithful. But it was the birth of our second child Chloe that really changed my heart for God. She was born with a terminal birth defect that allowed her only to live two hours. I had put my faith in God, that he would perform a miracle and heal her so that we could take her home with us. But he didn’t.  God did not perform miracle that I asked him to perform and humanly speaking I probably had every right to turn away from God but I couldn’t. God allowed my heart to be broken so that He could bring me in closer to His heart and show me how much He truly loves me. Almost a year to the day of Chloe’s birth we found out that my wife was pregnant with my second son. Then 10 months after his birth we got to bring home a little girl. God was faithful. He took the pain of losing Chloe and brought abundant joy with two other children. But with all of this I still wasn’t ready to step out on faith and trust God fully.

                At the age of 35, I hurt my back cutting wood and had to take off work for about six months. During that time, I had just enrolled in seminary for my second semester but had to drop out because I was not able to attend classes. So as I was lying in my bed I started reading and reading and reading. While I was reading I heard a small voice say “Quit your job and go and stand on the corner in Newport. I’ll tell you where to go from there.” As I started to tell people what I believe God had told me they looked at me like I was crazy and would say “How would you be able to survive financially?” I would tell them, “I am going to put my faith in God that he will take care of me and my family.” That got me even more puzzled look. But this time I felt like I was willing to chance it.

                So last Thursday I walked into the office where I had worked for 10 years and told them that I was not coming back. I told them that I was going to answer what I believed to be a call from God to be a missionary in Newport Kentucky. They were sad to see me go but I felt like they supported my decision. I had finally come to the point that I am willing to put my love of God in front of my love for my family, my friends, and myself. Quitting my job was one of the toughest decisions I’ve have ever had to make because we were struggling financially when I had a job, I knew being unemployed could crush us. But I felt that if I went back to my job I would never take the opportunity that I felt God was showing me at this time.

                As I was trying to decide if God was telling me to quit my job one of the stories in the Bible that I kept looking at was the story of Abraham and Isaac. I kept looking at Abraham’s faith in God to be willing to take his only son upon amount and sacrifice him. Abraham’s faith in God was so strong that he was going to go through with the sacrifice knowing that God would somehow be faithful with the promise that He made to Abraham. At times Abraham was unsure of God’s faithfulness (Gen.15:8) but followed through with what God told him to do.

                Another story that I just couldn’t get out of my head was that of Noah. God told Noah to go out into the desert and build a huge boat. Noah was told to gather two of every type of animal and bring them on board as well as enough food to feed his family and the animals for some time. Noah was faithful in following God’s calling even when those around Noah questioned his logic and sanity. But because of Noah’s willingness to step out God was faithful.

                I understand people’s fear, my family’s fear that I’m making the wrong choice. Not that they don’t want me to follow God, but they question if God would really call me to such a radical step.  And frankly I question myself.  Was it really God who spoke to me or was it something I convinced myself of because it would be exciting and I would be able to leave my job where I was at times unhappy. I realized  that I could fall on my face and look like a complete fool and on top of that put my family into the poor house. But I’m just so tired of putting myself before my God. I have been going down to Newport for the last two weeks, completely out of my comfort zone. When it comes to meeting strangers I am extremely socially awkward.  I let some kind of fear psyche me out of getting to know people, but I’m willing to put that aside to follow God. In the last two weeks I have prayed WITH more strangers than I have in the 25+ years that I have been a Christian.

                So is God faithful? ABSOLUTELY! Does that mean that my stepping out on faith will work for me? No! I found out with Chloe that God doesn’t answer all of our prayers the way that we want, but I also found with the birth of our next two children that He is still faithful.  God never promised us an easy life but he does promise us that if we sacrifice ourselves, He will be faithful to carry out His will.

                And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD declared him righteous because of his faith. Genesis 16:5

It seems as if there is almost no limit to what I can have.  Many in our population can remember when it was a big deal to have one TV and one car. Now there are more TV’s in our home than people and we don’t have a clue how many channels we have.

Your phone sat on an end table or hung on the wall, not your belt and it wasn’t smart.  Going out to eat was an event or an occasion.  Now the opposite is true.  The question, where do you want to eat, seldom includes home as a choice.

We can purchase whatever we want, anytime we want; even in our pajamas.  We don’t even have to have enough money to buy it, or even any money for that matter.  If we don’t like something or simply get tired of it, we don’t think twice about throwing it away and replacing it with a new one.

I went on a mission trip to the rain forest in Peru years ago.  To get to the mission station in the rain forest required a ten hour bus ride up and over the mountains from the coast and down again into the rain forest.  Needless to say the further we travelled the more we were immersed into simplicity and poverty.  Some hours into the ride we stopped at a “Peruvian highlands Rest Area”.  It would be best described as a small general store along the side of the road; something you would might see in the early 20^th century in rural America.

Our mission team, all from America descended upon that little store like flies on a piece of chicken left sitting on a picnic table in July. Sitting on the bus as we got ready to head out again I was so struck by the contrast between those of us on the mission team and the nationals at the store.  I wondered what they must think of us.  We purchased whatever we wanted and consumed it as if we had not eaten in days.

We have choices in every area and we expect nothing different from our church.  We consume our religion just like we do everything else.

So now it becomes time to go shopping.  What does the church have to offer my children?  Is there an active children’s ministry?  Are the teens active and doing lots of interesting things?  How big is the children’s department or the teen group?   We have become so cliché that we even have our own terminology.  Notice how the children are part of a department but teens are a group, when in essence they are the exact same thing – some measured number of people in a certain age range.  Is the department or group too big, too small?  What are the qualifications of the leader or staff?  These days we have staff rather than disciples.

And the response from Pastors and church leaders desperate for attendance and membership is to try and satisfy those desires.  Marketing is bigger than ever in the church.

.And what exactly are we marketing?  What is the product of the church?  The answer that seems most righteous and holy to us is “Jesus is the product.” Really?  How can the one who is supposed to be our Lord be a product that we offer to others?  How did we come to be in control of Jesus that we might offer Him as a product?

If Jesus is not our product then what is?  What are we marketing?  We market our church.  Some years ago while driving I noticed a church van.  The van had the name of the church and then of course their slogan underneath.  The slogan said, “The church where you will be loved.”  Finally, I had found the church where I would be loved.  See, as the slogan insinuates, at the other churches I was not loved.  But at this church I would be loved.  As far as they were concerned this is what they had to offer to get you to try them out.

Other churches may offer an exciting teen group.  Some may offer lively, exciting music.  A lot of churches are telling us that we can experience God if we come there – whatever that means.

We bring our boards together and we discuss strategies.  One of the first things we do is write our mission and vision statements.  These are done so we can focus on what our strengths are.   I have been to meeting after meeting where it is stated that the church can’t be a supermarket so we have to be a specialty shop.  What this means is that we have to identify what it is we are good at and start focusing on those things so we can effectively reach people.  From that we can develop our marketing strategy.  Does that sound like a business strategy to anyone other than me?  And that is exactly what we get, a business strategy.  That is why the church all too often looks like a business.

But the church was never meant to be a business.  Jesus tells His disciples that He would build His church, not us.  The body of Christ is not something man can build.  It is different than any organization in the world.

I know that if I were to stand in front of a group of Christians and tell them there was only one sin in the world to conquer, most of them would raise an eyebrow and then list off a multitude of sins that each and every human has or will commit.  That’s true, there are thousands of sins that we can commit as humans that separate us from our Creator God and bring us to the cross in need of salvation. But I believe if we trace the origins of any particular sin we commit each one would bring us to a single source; SELF.

The love of self is the biggest contribution to sin in our lives. Not just the ‘big sins’ that we see in the 10 Commandments but also the ‘little sins’ that we commit each day that we might not even be aware of.

For example, the guy that cuts us off in traffic and we lay into the horn. Not the “hey buddy lookout I’m back here” honk but the; “I wish this horn had seven levels of anger” honk followed up with the stink eye as you pass.

Or the phrase that I’ve heard said by an individual that was married when a beautiful person of the opposite sex walked by, “I can look I just can’t touch.” Really, would you have said that if your spouse was in the room?

Or the “not so pleasant” comment about the neighbor that just got a new and very expensive car and how you would never be seen in something so opulent. But it was the tone of the comment, that made the comment seem envious.

Each of these examples or something like them might be something that we commit on any given day. They may be so small that we don’t even realize we have committed a sin, but they are all driven from that same point of self centeredness. The guy in traffic should have seen me because all eyes should be on me. As long as I don’t cross that line it is okay for me to think whatever I want, about whomever I want, whenever I want. Or I am a much better person than my neighbor – why should they be allowed to have something nicer than me?

Jesus is the mark of excellence. His life on earth was perfect, without sin. Jesus understood that selflessness is what God requires from us, and Jesus followed through fully without wavering from his call. With each miracle that Jesus performed he did so selflessly having compassion for the people that the miracle was performed for but even more important he performed the acts selflessly not in order to gain fame and popularity for himself, but to display God’s magnificent glory.

If we are to become like Jesus, we have to overcome our desire to satisfy ourselves. We have to be willing to give ourselves away at all costs so that we can also display the greatness of God’s glory in our lives.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3: 16

Now that was a selfless act!

Job 5:17 says, ^ “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

God’s discipline is meant for our correction.  The same love that rings true in the song “Just as I am”, that God accepts us just as we are, also will not allow us to remain as we are. It is by love that God disciplines us as He seeks to bring us to perfection in Him.

Remember this also –
For he wounds, but he also binds up;
he injures, but his hands also heal  Job 5:18

Surely you have heard that popular phrase before.  Consider it in relation to this interesting story regarding Peter’s call to follow Christ.

In Luke chapter 5 we read the story of Jesus, while standing by the Lake Gennesarat (aka the Sea of Galilee), preaching from Peter’s boat (Simon at the time).  After finishing His message He told Peter to take the boat on out to deeper waters to do a little fishing.  Peter, a professional fisherman responded by saying, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”  The result was a tremendous catch of fish – so many as a matter of fact that it filled both boats to the point where they were about to sink.

After witnessing this miracle Peter was ready to follow Jesus.  The Bible tells us that he exclaimed, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” When Jesus heard his repentant response He called him to follow Him and become a fisherman of a different kind – “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”  Once on the shore, Peter left everything and followed Christ.

There’s more to this story though.  This wasn’t Peter’s first encounter with Jesus.  It wasn’t even his first encounter with Jesus performing a miracle; not even the first miracle that directly involved and affected Peter.  In the previous chapter we read about Jesus going to the home of Simon.  Simon’s mother-in-law, who apparently lived with them, was very ill with a fever (no mother-in-law jokes at this time).  They asked Jesus to help her and He rebuked the fever and it left her.  Immediately she got up and began serving them.

This miracle did not cause Peter to repent in front of Jesus, resulting in his calling.  Maybe it took more than one incident, miracle.  Maybe it took a different kind of incident.  We do not know exactly how these two miracles worked together in impacting Peter or if they did at all.  What we see though is that different things or combinations of things affect different people in various ways.  God knows this and will work in lives what is needed to draw us to Him.