Month: October 2020

“For I am the Lord, I change not.” Malachi 3:6

Changes in our lives are difficult.  There has been no time in recent memory that has had so many changes as we have seen  in 2020.  Covid, wildfires, riots, and unrest have all been crammed in a single year.  Now we are on the verge of an election that could further change our lives.  How we handle these changes will say a lot about us. If the changing world around us controls what goes on inside us we may need to look toward the Changeless One for strength. Some people don’t want to accept their need for change. The story is told about a doctor who told a man to give up red meat, so he stopped putting ketchup on his hamburgers.  That is not the way to handle change.

We get used to a certain routine and to suddenly have that altered is not without its accompanying stress.  The world is an ever-changing place that we have little control over.  It is a road full of potholes and obstacles between times of smooth driving.  People say that “The only thing you can predict about the weather in Oregon is that you can’t predict the weather in Oregon.”  Well, that is true about life.  Just when we think we have it figured out, along comes something new- it might not be particularly good or bad, painful or wonderful, or it might be one or all of these things.  What we do know is that it is different.  What we do know is that it is change- and that is something that can be difficult.

In our verse above God tells us that He does not change.  Isn’t that great to know.  In this ever fluctuating play called life, the playwright is unchanging.  The nature of God and His great love for us do not change. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life.”   God loves us.  That does not change.  He willingly made the greatest sacrifice so that our lives would not have to be as up and down as the roller-coaster world we live in.  As unknowable as the world is, God’s love is knowable. The canvas on which our lives are painted is evil, but God owns the paints.  He can cover that evil with a life that is beautiful.

The word tells us, “So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence”   (Hebrews 6:18) .  That word confidence is a nice one to hear in this uncertain world.  God cannot lie.  He loves us and wants to do what is best for us. We can read books on philosophy or self help, but these can’t be read as “gospel” because there is only one gospel.  The
scripture is the only perfectly reliable book that has been written.  If we want to feel confidence in change, we need to read the book authored by the only consistent author the world has ever known.

If we read something like, “For the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance” (Psalm 94:14), we can get excited because amidst change God gives us a never-changing inheritance.  But what good does it do to hear this truth if we don’t know what the inheritance is?  How do we know what the inheritance is?  By searching the Word.  There was a story of a man that who had two little boys.  One little boy who was so pessimistic that he was miserable all the time and the other who was so optimistic that his father felt he was dangerously unrealistic.

The father felt he needed to bring them to some sort of middle ground by teaching them that things are not always good or always bad. He told them he had a surprise for them. For the pessimistic boy, he had filled a room full of toys that he knew would have to make him happy and with the other son he filled the room with manure so that the boy would at least be able to accept the reality that not all things are positive.

After a while the father checked the toy room and the boy was
sitting in the middle of the toys crying.  “There are too many toys here.  I can’t figure out where to start.  Please let me out.”  The father was blown away, but knew that at least his other son will have learned a lesson.

He went into the manure room and was astounded to see his son digging through all the manure. “What are you doing!” he shouted.

His son looked up with a big grin and said, “With all this manure, I know there has to be a pony here somewhere, and I going to find him.”

Optimism is good, but optimism in God is better.  There is value to being realistic and that realism can be based on the unchanging promises of God.   In this time when loyalties are as fragile as crystal and today cannot be used to predict tomorrow, it is wonderful to realize that God has promised to never leave us nor
forsake us.  …“for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” Hebrews 13:5   So let the changes come because He is with us and we do not need to walk in fear because we can walk in faith! We can trust God with all the changes, and know that He is more than able to help us and that He even has plans to bless us.

With God as our anchor, the winds of change need not toss us to and fro.  So often what seems an awful change is remolded by God’s hand to be a change that changes our lives for the better.  Remember, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.”  It is God who can take changes and make them into something special.  The way for us to handle change is by leaning on Him Who does not change.  The more we let God control the changes in our lives, the less the changes in our lives will control us.

“For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we were among you for your benefit,”  1 Thessalonians 1:5

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle captured the essence of persuasion in a book called Art of Rhetoric.  He presented a very cogent description of the three foundational pillars necessary in persuading others.  Each of these pillars appeals to a different part of our “humanness.”  If we are going to persuade others, we will usually appeal to the ethos, pathos, and logos receptors of the person we are trying to persuade.  Advertisers, philosphers, coaches, conmen, salesmen, and politicians, in fact, anyone in the persuasion business, taps into the power of these three aspects of human nature.

 Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address has been  broken down regarding ethos, pathos, and logos ever since he scratched it on a napkin and delivered it over a hundred years ago.   Although his speech was very short it is one of the most powerful speeches in history. It touched on all three principles of Aristotle’s philosophy of persuasion- thus it touched us. 

Many of us unknowingly make appeals using these principles in our everyday lives.  Anytime we try to sell a product, idea, or service we will use techniques that will tap into ethos, pathos, and logos.  I believe that we should always keep these things in mind when we are presenting the gospel message to those around us.

Essentially, ethos means character.  It has the same root as ethics.  It appeals to others not so much through the message, but through the person presenting it.  We often judge a message first by the credibility of the person delivering it.  If we have qualms about the deliverer, we will have qualms about the message.  Our first impression of the message will always be the messenger. How many times have we heard the comment, “You can’t believe that.  Look at the source.”  No matter how fine the message, it can be negated by an unreliable giver.  Conversely, some are persuaded by a good messenger with a lousy message.  The optimal situtation, of course, is a good communiqué delivered by an honest communicator.

Paul was one of the greatest evangelists of all times.  He had that critical credibility through his consistent Christlikeness.  His message was accepted by many because people saw an honesty in him that made his word honest. We know that two people could say the same words, but one set of words could carry more weight because the person giving them has more character. When Paul spoke to King Agrippa in Acts 26, he was able to get an audience because of his integrity, courage, and character.  In other words, his ethics. His life pointed to something more than what others have and that made people want to listen to him.  It made a powerful king want to listen to him. Do we have that part of the persuasion formula?  Do people look at us in positive way that will make a message of God’s love seem logical coming from our lips?  If they don’t, we are fighting a uphill battle trying to give the gospel to others.  Our lives should point people to Jesus before our words or few will even listen to the words.

Pathos means feelings and emotion.  It is the passion that we express and it is passion that others feel.  We appeal to others emotions with our own emotions.  That well-known saying “people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care,” is true.  That is the Pathos portion of our message.  If we don’t love those to whom we are presenting love, they will have little love for what we are presenting.  If we live our Christian lives looking like we are sucking on lemons, we will have a hard time persuading others that our life is the life they want to experience.  One way of showing we care is by being excited about who and what we care about.

Agrippa was moved by the emotion and enthusiasm with which Paul spoke. He was passionate about Jesus and everyone he met knew it.  The old camp song, “If you’re happy and you know it… clap your hands…stomp your feet…etc.” is sending a message.  If we are happy in Jesus, it should show.  Paul did what we should do- he told Agrippa what Jesus meant to him personally and that special relationship showed in his words and actions.  He told what kind of impact Jesus had on his life.  He told Agrippa the same things that we can tell others about our own lives.  It is not wrong to appeal to that emotional part of people.  It is a hole that they want to fill.  Emotion is not wrong.  Passion about Jesus is not wrong.  In fact, without passion for Jesus, we will have a hard time persuading anyone to step into a relationship with Him.

Logos means word of reason or logic.  Some believe that believing in God is illogical.  I find that it is just the opposite.  If I believe believing in God is logical,  I should be ready to express that. 1 Peter 4:14 says, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” Paul did not just make an emotional appeal to King Agrippa.  He appealed to the reasoning part of the king as well.  Some of the most intelligent men in history have accepted the reasonableness of the scriptures.  Yes, there are intelligent men on the other side, too, but the case for God is not one without support in the creation around us.  We must, with confidence, be ready to point out the trueness of the Word whenever the opportunity arises.

The gospel is emotional, but it is not all about emotion.  The gospel is reasonable, but it is not all about reason.  The gospel is the perfect blend between feelings and logic.  Neither rules, but neither is lost.  A faith built on just one will be lacking and will not hold up when under attack.  And of course, the gospel is built upon the character of Christ.  We cannot allow our lack of character to come in the way of sharing the great character of Christ.  We need to live holy lives (ethos) so that we can take the Holy One to others.  When others see our passion for the message (pathos), they will listen to the message.  When we then give them the reasons for believing (logos), they will begin to think. For many that is the first step in the acceptance of the God of this universe.

We are all called to be lights and share Christ with those around us.  If we think about all that God has done for us, why would we not share?  We should think about ethos, pathos, and logos and ask ourselves if our message reflects all three.  In 1 Thessalonians  1:15 Paul puts it well, “For our gospel did not come to you in word only (Logos), but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance (pathos). You know what kind of men we were among you for your benefit (ethos).”   People use persuasive principles every day for nefarious reasons; we have the greatest truths about life to share, and certainly, we should do all we can to make the message clear to everyone we can.

There was once a preacher who was upset because a mere actor drew bigger crowds than he did.  He asked the actor why that was so.  The actor responded, “because I present fiction as truth and you present truth as fiction.”   That is the key for us as well.  We have the truth.  The way we present that truth is key to its receptiveness by others.   No other message we can give is more important than, “(He is) the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but by Him.”  Like the fearless Paul in front of a powerful king, let us stand boldly in front of a skeptical world and give “the reason for the hope that lies within us.”

Part 2

If you have not read last week’s devotion, you might want to check it out (or review it).  This is a continuation of the same theme and it might not make sense without a quick revisiting of last week…

…So the only way to properly look at ourselves and the world around us is by looking at the Word before looking at ourselves and others.  If we know the Word, we will not put things in it that are not there.  We will not take our pet peeves and create verses to support them.  We will be able to see what things are breaking God’s Word and what things are just breaking our hearts.  We won’t let irritations become foundations to our beliefs.  Secondly, we need to check our own behavior to see if it could adversely affect others.  Is what we are doing so important that we would risk another person in the process?  If our actions can hurt others who are less mature in the faith, maybe the deed is not worth doing.  Lastly, we should be slow to judge others.  When we impose our list of personal dislikes onto others in relation to spirituality, it is wrong.

Can we look at murder and say that it is spiritually wrong?  Yes, scripture plainly states that it is.  Can we say that playing electric guitar for worship songs is spiritually wrong?  No, I am pretty sure that is not in the Bible.  Can we not like certain things? Sure, but we can’t build false doctrines on these things.  We can’t condemn someone to eternal fire because they don’t do everything we do.  We should not stumble ourselves or others, bottom line.

I heard a story one time about a man, we will call him Ed, who hated long hair on a man, so much so, he questioned whether a man with long hair could even be saved.  While out of town he visited a church and met a man in the lobby that had his hair pulled back into a long pony tail.  He had an immediate dislike for the man, who he had assumed was immature in the Lord (if he was in the Lord at all).  When the service began, the pastor called the man with long hair forward and thanked him for playing Jesus in the Easter play the week before.  Ed squirmed a little in his seat. The pastor then spoke of how the man had lost his sister to cancer and had agreed to grow out his hair for the play if people would pledge so much per inch for the local cancer center.  The pastor had him lean his head back and measured his hair.  It was 14 inches long.  With all the pledges from the church and community, the man raised almost $15,000 for the center.  That day Ed was changed.  Whenever he found himself judging others for inconsequential things, we would close his eyes and picture the man with his head tilted back, hair being measured, and instead of being critical Ed would measure his own actions against the Word of God.

So let’s not make doctrinal mountains out of spiritual molehills.  There have been church splits  and even family splits over things that don’t matter.  We get upset at little things and turn our backs on the big.  That seems to be the norm in every part of the world right now.  We pick and choose what to be enraged about and what to be accepting of, and we most often choose wrong.  Look at some of our own country’s stances on world issues.  We picket because of a single shooting of an individual, but accept the killing of thouseands of innocents in the womb.  We change laws to give women in our country free birth control, but ignore that over 90% of women in some countries go through forced mutilation.  We get all bent out of shape if we don’t give more than equal rights to homosexuals, but in some countries that we support homosexuals are being executed daily.  I could go on and on to show the unbalanced views that exist in this world.

Unfortunately, we do much of the same in the church.  We get upset at the attire that someone wears to our church and then listen with glee to a dynamic pastor on TV who blasphemes the Word of God but does it with charisma.  There is a pastor named Mark Driscoll who started what was called the Mars Church about ten years ago.  He is a good speaker and I listened to a few of his sermons quite a few years back.  I even subscribed to his podcast which was one of the most popular on iTunes.  One day while driving I listened to a sermon on his thoughts on sanctification and I was blown away by what he said.  As soon as I got home, I unsubscribed to his podcast and erased everything I had by him on my iPod.  What he said was completely unbiblical and crass on top of that.  Yet he had and continued to have a loyal following of thousands and had hundreds of churches in his network.  That was until a few years ago when it all came tumbling down. A whole lot of his weak theological beliefs, questionable personal decisions, shady economic moves, and unethical behaviors  were exposed and he was  asked to step down under a very dark cloud.  Yet, he still has his followers.  Many have jumped on the anti-bandwagon, but many of those are the same ones who accepted his teaching for years and just didn’t listen to it.  Pastor Driscoll once told one of his elders to step down because his “fatness” embarrassed him and the church.  He was worried about the “fatness” of others rather than the “leanness” of his preaching.

Here is the point of this.  Pastor Driscoll has been way off from the beginning, but he snookered even well-known pastors into supporting his efforts because his efforts were “cool.”  He was a hip new pastor who was bringing in numbers.  His church growth and church planting was on fire.  Unfortunately, much of what he said about the word needed to be tossed in the fire.  Yet, people flocked behind him.  Many of those people probably had really strong feelings about the stilted services of the past.  Their new approach to worship was the “right way” and the funky ways of old were not only passé, but probably unbiblical.  His was the new blue-jean worship leader that brought in enthusiasm and fervor.  So people accepted him and rejected the Word.  Now everyone is in repair mode.  My point?  We should spend more time worrying about truth than we do about peripherals that mean little in the kingdom.

So let’s not get our spiritual undies in a knot over what doesn’t even matter at the expense of what really does matter.  The truth of God’s word matters.  There was a Methodist church that split over the color of the pews.  A Methodist church which accepts every liberal cause and slant in today’s society.  A Methodist church which has homosexual pastors and will not allow the blood to mentioned in their hymnals.  A Methodist church which is on the cutting edge of every anti-spiritual activist cause and has founder John Wesley spinning in his grave.  That same Methodist church is worried about the color of its pews.

We need to prioritize our lives and especially our spiritual lives.  2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that,  “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”  Only the scripture should be our standard for how we look at the world.  When we get caught up in the petty it will almost always be at the cost of the important.  As Christians we should take stands for Truth and Christ is Truth.   It is too exhausting to get caught up in the minor and we won’t have enough strength to take on the major.

“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on the one who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.”  Romans 14:1-3

In Romans 14 Paul addresses a variety of issues that deal with gray area issues made black and white in the first century church.  Ironically, the same kinds of problems plague the church and Christians today.  First century Christians would hang their hats on such issues as eating meat or sabbath days and it would cause dissension in the ranks. They would take things of little consequence and make them cornerstones of their beliefs.  They would even take things that were not specifically addressed in the Bible and make them doctrine.  We do the same kinds of things today.

Our main concern should be for others.  That is hard for us to grasp.  We are in a day that promotes looking out for Number One.  We are encouraged to look out for ourselves first and if along the way we can help someone else, so be it, but we should never sacrifice our own wants to meet the needs of another.  It is this kind of thinking that causes division in what should be unity in the Body of Christ.

It is said that when the British and French were fighting in Canada in the 1750s, Admiral Phipps, commander of the British fleet, was told to anchor outside Quebec. He was supposed to wait until the British army arrived and then support them from the sea.  Phipps arrived early and became irritated by the statues of saints that dotted the harbor’s shoreline.  He told his men to target practice on statues.  No one knows how many rounds were fired or how many statues were knocked out, but when the land forces arrived and the signal was given to attack, the admiral was of no help. He had used up all his ammunition shooting at the “saints.”   That is what we are in danger of doing in the church.  We fire so much upon each other, that we have nothing left to face the enemy with.  We get caught up in fighting one another on small battles and ignore the true war that is waging around us.

My uncle was on of the most well-known Apostolic Faith ministers in the country, maybe in the world.  Apostolics had some very specific ideas that kept my uncle and me from having the kind of relationship that Christians should have with each other.  Little things like the wearing of jewelry and modes of dress were essentials in their doctrine. They were very outspoken on all issues regardless of whether they were gray areas or not. What we would consider personal preference they would consider doctrinal truth.  Thus if someone wore rings (even though they could wear incredibly expensive watches), they were in disobedience to God.  If one was in disobedience to God, their salvation was in great jeopardy.  It was very legalistic.  The very unfortunate part was that my uncle’s church had little to do with any other churches.  After all, the others were all wrong.

We all have our list of “preferences” that we make bigger than they should be.  In Paul’s time the people argued over eating meat that was sacrificed to idols.  Some said it was sacrilegious and others said that since idols were non-gods, the meat was just meat.  Both had their points and neither was wrong.  But neither should have built their church on that rock and some tried!  Here was what they should have kept in mind according to Paul.  It might be fine to eat the meat, but examine whether eating would cause another to stumble.  So, in other words, it might be legal for us to eat the meat, but is it profitable?  Will it affect my walk or another’s walk negatively.  Before we do something, we should examine the possible consequences of our actions to us and to others.  So, let’s take it a step further.  We should watch our own actions for the sake of others, and should also avoid being too critical of the actions of others.  Our actions and how they affect others should be a priority rather than how others actions fit into our priorities.  We often get these two mixed up.

Moms are much better at pointing out possible consequences to their children than men are (oops, that might be sexist).  They might be heard saying something to their kids like, “Don’t run with that stick or you will poke both your eyes out.”  (I have often wondered how they could poke out both eyes unless they got up after they poked out one and fell again or were carrying a forked stick, but that is not for me to question.)  We need to scrutinize the situation as closely as moms do when they add up stick plus child plus ground plus running.  What will our actions possibly add up to?  What are the consequences of our behavior.  We too often scrutinize the behavior of others, while ignoring the consequences of our own.

I am not big on guys wearing ear rings.  Not sure exactly why that is, but I have never liked it for some reason.  Maybe my mom was insulted by a man wearing ear rings when I was in the womb, I don’t know, but it has never invoked a positive feeling in me.  I think I see it as juvenile.  But can I use ear rings to judge others by.  Is there scripture I can use for questioning someone’s spiritual maturity?  Can I doubt someone’s salvation because “no ear rings go to heaven.”  Of course not.  In some cultures that is the norm.  But unfortunately Christians too often use other peoples taste in dress, music, activity, food, etc. as a basis for judgement.  According to the Word, we are not to do that.

C.S. Lewis wrote about this in Mere Christianity.  He said, “One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting everyone else to give it up. That is not the Christian way. An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons—marriage, or meat, or beer, or the cinema; but the moment he starts looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning.”

I am really making four points here and am trying to pull them together.  1) We make too big a thing about the insignificant things that those around us do.  2) We often ignore much more evil things that go on around us.  Things that we should probably get upset about.  3)  We don’t worry about how our own actions affect those around us and don’t keep that in mind as we should. 4) The only true way to judge ourselves and the world around us is by looking through the lenses of God’s Word.  Trying to cover this much in one devotion is way above my ability, so this is the…

…end of part one!