Easy So this week has been Spring Break. As a homeschool family, not much changed for us but I have noticed a lot of people on vacations. It is a great thing to get away. It is especially great to have a break, not just from school or work, but from the craziness of this last year. I believe I have noticed that in many of the photos I have seen. People breathing a little easier and worrying less. The Lord did not make our body to exist on high alert all the time. The strain and stress of life can take its toll, and we just need a break. One interesting problem can be that we become so accustomed to our high stress life that taking it easy becomes hard work. In this confused state of imbalance the individual isn’t able to relax even when resting. This propels us into a cycle of never getting truly refreshed, always tired and always needing to take a break even when we just had one. You have probably experienced something like what I am talking about when your mind can’t quit and your heart is racing and you are on an emotional rollercoaster. The solution is not as easy as just taking a break or a breath. We have to learn the hard work of resting. Work Related Much or this kind of stress is work related or derived from the specific responsibilities that we have in our lives. (I’ll let you make your own list.) But would you believe that work is a blessing and that your work as purpose. Notice I didn’t say your work has a purpose. I said your work has purpose. What I mean is that your work has the purpose for which God made you and work. God made Adam and gave him a job. This career path was established before the fall and the entrance of sin into the world. Work was a part of Adam’s purpose as an image bearer of God in the creation. The work involved dominion over the earth and animals as well as care for these things. With the addition of sin and subtraction of spiritual life, humanities relation with the work changed. The work got hard! In Genesis 3, God tells Adam that instead of the earth being his partner it would now be his adversary. Also, instead of the work being pleasant it would require effort (Genesis 3). From now on, if Adam is going to eat he must work. If he is going to care for his wife, he is going to work. If he is going to care for his children, he must work. And it is not just the Old Testament that emphasizes the need for work. In 2 Thessalonians 3 the Apostle Paul says that if someone does not work he should not eat! (2 Thessalonians 3) In this text Paul is referring to those who are able but idle. He wants them to follow the example that he and his missionary companions had set for them of labor and toil. Rest Why would God make Adam’s work hard? Was this just punishment or does it have a deeper purpose? Also why does the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul give such a insistant command to the idle or lazy? I think that God does have a purpose for work and for work being hard in His redemptive plan. Now this is just a short blog and not an exhaustive theology of work, but I have a point to make. I think that hard work serves us and God in His redemptive purpose. I believe that the necessity and intensity of our work is meant to cause us to crave the rest that we need. We all are like little children fighting against the nap that we don’t want to take but work guides us to our time and place of rest. God made us to work and to rest! However, the rest we almost need is not a trip, time off, or even a great nap. No, the rest we really need is a person. The truth is that the impossible task that we cannot accomplish is our own salvation. We cannot work long enough or hard enough to be justified or sanctified or glorified based on our effort and strength. But God has loved us by giving us the rest that we desperately need in the person of Jesus Christ! When God’s people were wandering in the wilderness they needed rest but found none because through their unbelief they could not access the rest in the promised land. But the Hebrew writer in the New Testament tells us that the way to that rest is open by faith. If God gave us lives of ease and relaxation, no doubt it would only be as we went our stubborn and rebellious own way into the fires and flames of hell. Work drives us to the rest that is ours as believes in Jesus Christ. Read Hebrews 3:7-4:13 and consider Jesus' invitation “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
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Results Do you believe that when you speak to God He really listens? Do you believe that He really answers? When asking these questions we are usually focused on the positive aspects of prayer. The focus is on how we can expect God to reveal Himself to us through His word and Spirit. Or we may be focused on how God resolved a difficult situation. Or God was gracious to make clear the path forward when making a difficult situation. This is all great! Our Father who is in heaven loves for us to come to Him with all of these things and even more. But what about when you say something foolish or sinful to God? Do you assume that God disregards those prayers? If we believe that God hears and heeds our prayers, why not those? Actually, I believe that He does respond to those prayers too. Most of the time He shows us grace in helping us to see the error and come to Him quickly with repentance and reliance. But sometimes when those who are hardened by sin and bitterness cry out to God with foolish words, He gives them exactly what they have requested. Silly Congregation Have you ever asked for something or desired something and when you received it you realized it was not satisfying? This is exactly what happened with the Isrealites in the wilderness. Frankly, it is important that we acknowledge from the start the silliness of questioning the plan of God, but to some degree we all do. In Numbers 14:2, the people grumble against Moses and Aaron and since they are God’s representatives the grumbling is against God. They lament that they would have been better off to have died in Egypt. They have believed the bad report of the ten cowardly spies and are afraid to take possession of the promised land. They go on to say that they would be better off to die in the desert. What is so amazing about this is that in an amazing and terrifying way God gives them exactly what they ask for in this foolish moment. The people are so brazen that they are ready to stone Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb but God stops them. Then God tells Moses that He will destroy and disinherit the people and start over with Moses. At this Moses argues for the reprieve of the people for the sake of God’s own glory among the nations. (More on that in a moment) God has shown this people His power and given this people His commandments and provided for their every need. The Lord has shown them kindness, grace, and mercy unmeasurable, but they have proved to be faithless. The Israelites have three problems that have kept them from believing God and resting in His promises and presents. First, their sight seems hindered. They have been overtaken by spiritual nearsightedness. They just can’t see far enough. They are seeking instantaneous gratification which is leading them to overreact to the temporary hardships. Secondly, they are cowards full of fear. Their faithlessness is most evident in their fear of the people of the land. They are literally giving more credit to these strange people than to the God who brought out of Egypt and through the sea! Third, their desires are too weak. Instead of a passionate desire to follow God and receive His best gift, they are content with the slavery of Eypgt or barron waste of the desert. And so that's what God gives them! Faithful In this, God shows that He is faithful even if they are not. Moses had pleaded for the people on the basis of God’s reputation. God, however, knows how to accomplish all His purposes. First, the Lord is faithful to judge. These people have proven themselves to be unbelievers and so God will judge them. They have said that they would be better off to die in the wilderness and so that’s exactly what God does! God says that not one of those who were over the age of 20 during the Exodus will be allowed to enter the promised land. The congregation must wander in the desert 40 years till all the unbelieving generation is dead, except for the faithful Joshua and Caleb. In this way, God both judges their sin and gives them their demented desire. Secondly, God is faithful to save the nation. Through this 40 year wilderness season God saves a people who will enter into the land promised. The nations must marvel at what the Apostle Paul would later call the kindness and severity of God. He both punishes Israel and saves Israel with the same action. Finally, God is faithful to win the glory. Remember Moses' argument for not destroying the people was God’s glory, fame, and reputation. But God was able to demonstrate His grace and judgement and still receive all the glory. And this is the story of the gospel. For this God is the one who is both just and justifier of the one who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! A Fine Line Character is about the kind of person you are and how those qualities are displayed on the outside. Integrity is about the consistency between the outward reflection of character and who you are when no one is looking. Today, social media and the availability of instantaneous communication has made it possible to see into one another’s life in ways that are amazing and sometimes frightening. However, these views are somewhat curated and false personas and secrets are as prevalent as ever. It can actually be a difficult endeavor to calculate what should and should not be shared. Some people are over sharers. These folks tell things that can actually be harmful or information that other people do not need to be burdened with. But there are obviously also those who are harboring secrets. Not willing to allow the sin or the shame to be exposed to the light of public knowledge. Some things don’t need to be public. I believe that Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 18 about the proper course for church discipline would practically mean that the vast majority of offenses would be kept private. However, confession and repentance often does require a public aspect. The fact is that we are all accountable to someone and we need that accountability for our own good and God’s glory. Societal In the greater culture around us we know there is a great need for accountability. In a perverse way that is what the cancel culture is really all about, holding those with unacceptable views accountable. Historically, it has always been true that every community develops some form of system to hold the members accountable whether formal laws and courts or informal norms and expectations. I do not want to be misunderstood to be affirming the cancel culture, only that accountability is not only a good thing but a necessary thing. As Christians we should not expect the lost world, the sons of this age, to behave biblically but we should use scripture to define right and wrong regardless of the norms and standards which are accepted and promoted by the culture. Also we must remember that we are accountable for what we believe and how consistently we live with it. Ecclesiastical (Church) We must also hold each other accountable. This is not out of a desire to judge one another but actually a commitment to love one another. Loving one another means watching out for their good. When we see another Christian in sin it really should affect us and in more than one way. For one we should be concerned for the state of their soul. All sin even in the life of a Christian does damage to your fellowship with God. We should not be ok with watching a brother or sister struggle in their relationship with the Lord because we are too cowardly to lovingly call them to repentance. Another effect, especially if this is someone in your own church, is a concern for the witness for Christ in the community. I’m not even so much meaning that the individual’s sin is a bad witness but rather the permissive and apathic response of the church speaks volumes to the community that we have a low view of both sin and the Savior. Inevitably we also know that sin does more than just hurt the individual's relationship to God and harm the testimony of the church, sin will hurt people. Most likely this sin will hurt the most vulnerable around this person and for this reason alone we ought to confront it. Finally, sin is ultimately an affront to God. We should be on a mission to put to death the sin in our own lives. First and foremost I must nail my own sin to the cross daily and follow after Christ. But sometimes we need help mortifying sin. Accountability isn’t about attacking one another but helping one another kill sin and love God. Pastoral The last variety of accountability I would like to address in this post is pastoral accountability. It can be easy for ministers to hide in plain sight. Which is probably why we see so many high profile men falling into moral failure. On this note, I would invite you to please hold me accountable because I am not foolish enough to think that I couldn’t fall (1 Corinthians 10:12). The other point to make about pastoral accountability and honestly the much more serious and frightening point is that pastors are accountable for how they have shepherded Jesus flock. Jesus’ brother James wrote that we who teach will be judged more strictly (James 3:1). And I must point you to a passage that is ever in the forefront of my mind, Hebrews 13:17. “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” (ESV) In this text we are told that the elders are responsible for keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account. I always have to ask myself which souls I have to account for and the only answer I can come away with is those souls in covenant relationship to the church I am in covenant relationship with. Of course, every teacher and preacher is responsible to proclaim the truth in or out of the church but the overseeing responsibility is meant for the sheep. It is a serious one and not to be taken lightly. Ultimately, accountability is serious and seriously needed! Interaction Do you know Jesus? If the answer is yes. How do you know that you know Jesus? Knowing someone is not a matter of formality but rather of relationship. Of course, some relationships are formal: a wedding covenant, your covenant relationship with the saints in the local church, or even contractual relationships at your job or in business deals. But those formalities are really about defining the nature and obligations of the relationship. The actual knowing is in the quantity and quality of time spent in communication and interaction. No amount of formal agreement or simple factual information can supplement the kind of give and take that forms true relationships. Have you ever listened to someone on the radio, tv, or internet and felt like you knew them? I have and I can note a couple of times where I really felt like I knew someone because of the many hours I had heard from them. I knew all kinds of things about their family and hobbies. I understood their personality and mannerism. But when I met them it was clear we didn't really have a relationship because while they communicated with me I was not interacting with them. They didn't know me. Pharaoh Most people claim to know God or Jesus. Just the other day I saw a post from a lady who openly admitted that she didn't read the Bible but knew God through dreams and impressions. I wonder however what she compared the 'god' she knew to so that she knew he was the true God? Without the sure word of scripture there is no way to know. In Exodus 5:2, Pharaoh says something astounding. When Moses and Aaron come to tell him for the first time to let the Israelites go out to worship YAHWEH, Pharaoh says, "Who is YAHWEH that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know YAHWEH." We must remember that this is the Pharaoh who has risen to power that didn't know about Joseph either. He doesn't understand the wisdom and power of God. In Pharaoh's ignorance he was extremely arrogant. The problem is not just Pharaoh's lack of facts or historical accounts. Pharaoh didn't say I don't know about YAHWEH (which he probably didn't). However, Pharaoh spoke in relational terms, I don't know YAHWEH. In this way the Pharaoh was appealing to his own authority as greater than God's. If YAHWEH was anyone important then the great Pharaoh would have already known. But God is going to demonstrate in Pharaoh who has true authority and power. There is great danger in ignoring the facts about God and even greater danger in not having a genuine relationship with God. Many people simply do not know what they are missing. I mean that literally! They know some stuff about God and maybe even think that they have entered a formal relationship with Him, but we actually know Him through true communication (Scripture, prayer) and interaction (gathering with the saints in a true church, baptism, Lord's Supper). Depart Pharaoh said he didn't know YAHWEH. Jesus told us that someday many people are going to come to Him thinking that they have a relationship with him. They are going to appeal to things they have done and experiences they have had that they were sure Jesus was a part of. But like my 'relationship' with the radio or podcast guys, Jesus doesn't know them. The most frightening words I can imagine hearing are, "Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21-23) He never knew them. I'm sure many that will hear those words will know all Jesus' stats and even be able to quote some of Jesus' words. But they didn't know Him. The only way to know Him is to divorce your sin and self. In the Bible it's called repentance from dead works. Then you must trust Him. Faith isn't just knowing facts or believing principles. Faith is trusting in God (Father, Son, & Spirit). Finally, start interacting with Him. The Bible says, “Call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved!” (Romans 10:13) |
AuthorEddie Ragsdale Archives
May 2024
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