”Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up.  It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful.  It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-7

All this quarantine stuff has really made me think.  Not being around the family as much has made me realize how easily we can take things for granted.  I can tend to overlook that God has given me such wonderful blessings such as a house, church, safety, friends, and a wonderful family.  Especially family.  If you are like me, I often forget how special that is.  There are those that have no one, and that is not Elaine and me.  We have family to share our laughter and our burdens, and that is a wonderful thing.  The above verse from the love chapter in Corinthians explains how important it to love one another.

Someone once said we should write the good that others do on a rock and the bad they do on the sand to be washed away.  I think that good advice.  If we are not forgiving of others (and especially our family)  for their inadequacies (of which we all have many) the good they do will be overlooked (and there is much good they do)  and the negative will be accentuated (and will cloud our  feelings).  Because we expect more out of those closest to us, we are sometimes much more forgiving of non-family than family; often in the same way that we are more forgiving of non-Christians than Christians (another type of family).

The closer people are to each other, the more they can become irritating.  Porcupines find that out!  Our pokiness will be most apparent to those who get closest to us.  As most of you know you know I don’t shave as often as I should.  To often I let my half beard reach the yucky-pokey state. (When I do that, passers-by drop quarters in my coffee cup!)   When I was telling the grandkids good bye, my beard poked their cheeks and they usually react with an “ouch.”  No other people are particularly  bothered by my beard (well, maybe the looks, but not the feel) because I don’t get that close to anyone else.  When we get close to people like we do in a family, that pokiness is the chance we take, but that is why it is doubly important to remember that  “love is patient.”

Paul tells us in Galatians 5 that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.”  A young Sunday schooler whose vocabulary was not quite developed  read the last part of these verses and said, “poking” one another instead of “provoking” one another.  But is that not accurate?   Many a family back seat has become a rumble-tumble seat because of poking.  If I had a quarter for every time I have heard, “He is poking me”  I would be in the top 1%.  By the way, kids are not the only ones who poke.  

 Notice the key in the above verse-  Living by the Spirit.  There is nothing more frustrating than trying to do all the above things in our own strength.   The problem with us is that we so often do that-  We know what the Christian walk is all about and we try to walk it on our own.  As Barney Fife used to say, “Not goin’ to happen.”

We have all been in the situation where the people that we love most anger us the most easily.  It hurts much more later because we know that “A joyful heart makes the face cheerful, but by a painful heart the spirit is broken” (Proverbs 15:13) and we hate breaking the spirit of those close to us.  God calls us to be more Christ-like and to see what Christ was like when He was sent by God.  Even though we have rejected God, rebelled against God, He is patient with us, and  ”isn’t easily angered” (Exodus 34:6).  Instead of giving us what we deserve, He sent Christ to die for us.  He made a sacrifice; He gave his only Son on our behalf  (John 3:16).   That is the kind of love we need to strive for through the spirit.  Sacrificing love that puts others needs before our own.  Love that looks beyond the negative and looks at others through the eyes of God.   We need to put others before ourselves even if they’ve hurt us or angered us,.  We need to be patient with them because love is patient and we are called to patiently love.

Most of us have so much less drama than many families, and we should be thankful (ever watch Jerry Springer, Dr. Phil, or Judge Judy? Wow!).  We need to be there for each other always.  Sometimes we marry into the better or worse covenant, but families have a covenant they are born into it.  We sometimes pick our extended family but God chooses our close family.  Thank you, God, for giving us family.

Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. ~Psalm 55:22

“May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”  Colossians 1:11-12

When I played football for the Pacific University Boxers back in the old days there was a campus tradition called the Boxer Rebellion.  There was a small metal replica of a dog that would appear someplace on campus and everyone would fight to try and get it to their fraternity, dorm, club, or team.  It was like a giant melee and there was no telling when it would happen.  The group that had it would figure out some ingenious way of making it appear and a battle would immediately ensue.  Once, the boxer appeared while I was crossing campus, and I actually got to run a few steps with it before I was crushed under a host of other students. My football coach, who was watching the proceedings, started yelling and pulled everyone off.  (He had told the team that we could never be in a boxer rebellion).  He took the dog from me and tossed it to someone else who was immediately chased down and disappeared in a pile of arms and legs.   This was the last time a boxer rebellion took place at Pacific University.  It was the volatile 60’s-70’s era and the boxer that was taken that day in 1969 was never seen again.  Some say it was melted down in protest of Vietnam, but only those who took it really know.

Our boxer rebellion was an aggressive but fun event on a college campus. But there was an historic boxer rebellion in 1900 China that was very violent and very cruel.  In that year insurgents captured a mission station, blocked all the gates but one, and in front of that one gate placed a cross flat on the ground. Then the word was passed to those inside that any who trampled the cross underfoot would be permitted their freedom and life, but that any refusing would be shot. Terribly frightened, the first seven students trampled the cross under their feet and were allowed to go free. But the eighth student, a young girl, refused to commit what she saw as an act of denying Christ.  Kneeling beside the cross in prayer for strength, she arose and moved carefully around the cross, and went out to face the firing squad. Strengthened by her example, every one of the remaining ninety-two students followed her to the firing squad.

We will probably never be asked to face a firing squad, but every day we must face series of decisions regarding our relationship with the Lord.  Everyday there seems to be a story in the news about how believers are expected to go against their convictions about homosexuality, abortion, prayer, even Christ Himself.  As we get closer to Christ’s return, our challenges will grow more and more difficult.  In our country we are almost isolated from the rest of the world in the area of persecution, but it could come some day.  Voices of Martyrs tracks the world-wide attack on Christianity and we are in a bubble here in the US compared to the rest of the world. It makes a person wonder how the softened Christians in America today would react in the face of true persecution.  In Romans Paul tells us to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)  The people in the countries around us are probably stronger than we are because tribulation strengthens us and prepares us for greater trials, and we don’t go to the spiritual gym as much as the rest of the world.

A while back I came across an poem by an unknown author.  I think it catches some of the truth about our tribulations.

“Lord, I’ve never moved a mountain and I guess I never will. All the faith that I can muster wouldn’t move the smallest hill.

Yet, I’ll tell you, Lord, I’m grateful for the joy of knowing Thee, and for all the mountain moving through the years You’ve done for me.

When I needed help you lifted me from the depths of great despair. And when burdens, pain and sorrow have been more than I can bear,

You have always been my courage to restore life’s troubled sea, and to move these little mountains that have looked so big to me.

“Many times when I’ve had problems and when bills I’ve had to pay, and the worries and the heartaches just kept mounting every day,

Lord, I don’t know how you did it. Can’t explain the wheres or whys, but I know I’ve seen these mountains turn to blessings in disguise.

“No, I’ve never moved a mountain, for my faith is far too small. Yet, I thank you, Lord of Heaven, you have always heard my call.

And as long as there are mountains in my life, I’ll have no fear, for the mountain-moving Jesus is my strength and always near.”

The Bible is full of mountain-moving promises from God.  We just need to rely on Him and realize that after every storm, the sun will return.  How we act during difficulties shows what is inside of us. If we fill a sponge with water and press down on it the water comes out.  If we are filled with Christ and are put under pressure, He should appear.

“We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.” 2 Corinthians 6:3-10

As we face our daily difficulties, we need to lean upon Jesus.  Shortly after missionary Joe Scriven’s fiancé died in a terrible accident, he penned these words: “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.”  Joe was on his way to healing.  We can be, as well.  We tend to be a stiff-necked people.  Just as the blacksmith heats the shoe to make it more malleable, sometimes we need to be heated so that God can shape us.  Let’s let Him do His work.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”   Joshua 1:8

I read a Christian fiction book a couple years ago that was very good.  It is one by a less-than-well-known author and it was on sale for free, a price I sometimes have a hard time passing up.  The book was intriguing and revolved around about twelve people, all of whom had incredible conflicts going on in their lives.  The way their lives intertwine is fascinating, but what I really like about the book is the writing style.  Some of the characters give wonderful insights and I remember reading a gem that I thought I would share.  One of the characters talked about his grandfather who was a godly man and explained the grandfather’s philosophy of life.  He had what he called a “top-button” view of life.  When someone buttons up his shirt, if the top button’s right, all the other buttons fall right into place.  If the top button is off, no matter how a person tries to get things lined up, it can’t be done.  Our relationship with God is our top button.  If it is right the rest of our life will align.  If it is not, the effort to try to get things right in the rest of our life will be a constant battle.

I think one of the the things that can “get our top button right” is cherishing God’s word.  As we get older, we often see less  need to read the Word because we know so much of what it says. But if we don’t stay in the Word, we will actually lose those memories of what it says and how it can help us.  We can start taking what it says for granted and don’t really feel the need to consult it any longer.  Although the Word never changes, our lives do and we need to stay up with how the Word functions differently for us in different times in our lives.  

As you know, I am not much of fashion aficionado.  I am always about three years behind the latest trends.  My ties are fat when they should be skinny and skinny when everyone else is wearing fat.  Unfortunately, when we stop reading the Bible, we are often pulling out fat ties during a skinny-tie time in our life. In other words, a verse we read in 2005 probably has a different meaning in 2020 not because it has changed, but because the times have changed and because we have changed.  In Joshua 1:8 it says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”  The words “for then” presuppose that we are doing the first part of the verse which is reading the word daily.

If we do not stay “current” in the Bible by reading it often, we will not really know how it can serve us and how we can serve God.  The great preacher Alexander White, when he was too old to mount the pulpit, would rise every morning to prepare a sermon, even though he never preached them. He did so until the day he died. He was convinced that study of the Word was essential to living life completely.  We often say that we can’t read because we don’t have enough time to read.  Martin Luther used to say that he was so busy and his upcoming day was so full, that he could not afford not to read the Bible.   We seem to find the time to do less meaningful things, so it makes sense that if we truly believe the Bible is the most precious book in the world and contains value for us every day, we would find time to read it. We all prioritize our daily lives.  Although part of our day is structured, there is much of the time that is left up to us, to use as we please. We decide when we will get up and what we will do with that time; we decide how we will use our empty moments; we decide how we use our breaks, and we decide how late to stay up and what our late night activities are.

George Mueller, after having read the Bible through one hundred times with increasing delight, made this statement: “I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God.  Friends often say, ‘I have so much to do, so many people to see, I cannot find time for Scripture study.’  Perhaps there are not many who have more to do than I. For more than half a century I have never known one day when I had not more business than I could get through. For 4 years I have had annually about 30,000 letters, and most of these have passed through my own hands. Then, as pastor of a church with 1,200 believers, great has been my care. Besides, I have had charge of five immense orphanages; also, at my publishing depot, the printing and circulating of millions of tracts, books, and Bibles; but I have always made it a rule never to begin work until I have had a good season with God and His Word. The blessing I have received has been wonderful.”  

I don’t think any of us can describe our days as full as George Mueller’s, but yet he prioritized his day to include the Bible. When Dr. David Livingstone started his famous trek across Africa, he had three packs of 180 pounds of books. Those carrying the baggage were so fatigued that he was obligated to jettison some of his books.  By the time he finished the journey, he had one left, his Bible.  He had prioritized his bible over all the scientific, medical, and scholarly books he had taken.

If we think we can grow in the Lord just on our past knowledge of the Bible, we are sorely mistaken.  We forget, things change, we age, but if we stay in the Word we will be amazed at how it can stay new.  It doesn’t matter how much we ate this morning, we will eventually have to eat again.  A meal last week does not fill us up today.  Good News Club is not meant to be enough Bible for us for the rest of our lives. There is no better way to “get our top button straight” than to remain in the Word.  If we don’t , we will spend a lot of time trying to get everything else squared away and no matter how much we try, we will still be a mess.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”  II Timothy 4:3

“Did not your hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures?”  Luke 24:32

These two verses stand juxtapose to each other in describing where we are today
compared to where we should be.   Many sit in pulpits wishing to be entertained by popular preachers whose sermons are a mile wide and an inch deep.  Many endure false doctrine because they do not know true doctrine.  Even the few that might recognize sound doctrine struggle with its application and flit from church to church, preacher to preacher, and denomination to denomination.  We substitute entertainment for edification and showmanship for sower-manship.  We accept anything and  ignore many things.  Rather than discerning evangelicals we have become undiscriminating evan-gullibles.  It is a day of itching ears.

When the two strangers are walking along the road to Emmaus and they are joined by the resurrected Jesus who they did not recognize, He spoke to their hearts.  Though their eyes were not opened until the end of their conversation, His words were strong and powerful and meaningful.  After they recognized Him and He took leave from their presence, they spoke of the way His words affected them.   They did not want Him to leave.  They ran to others to share the good news.  Their hearts burned within them.  They did not listen with itching ears to be told shallow truths, but desired to know the true depth of Christ.  Once we have concluded to hear the truths of God Word, we will not settle for fluff.  Our hearts will burn for more truth, for more scripture, for more knowledge.  We need an outbreak of holy heartburn, that moves us from hearers to doers.  We need hearts that wish to be touched rather than ears that wish to be scratched.  God needs to move us from itching-ear lemmings to burning-heart leaders!”

Over 1900 years ago Paul warned Timothy that, “the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Tim. 4:3). We have things being preached in well-known churches, by well-known figures that skewer well-known verses.  They are able to lead us astray because we don’t question what they say.  In Israel the people cried out to the prophets, “See no more visions! Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” (Isa. 30:10-11)  The people did not want to know the truth.  As was said in a famous movie, they “could not handle the truth.”  So instead of hearing it, accepting it, and using it, they ask the prophets to quit saying it.  Tickle our ears they cried, just like many do today.

Today many who attend church say, “We’ve heard enough of this judgment message,” (but the judgment is now at the door). They cry out, “We’re tired of hearing so much preaching on repentance,” (but too many have not truly repented).  They shake their heads and say,  “We’ve had it with all this talk about holiness,” (but the holy God is the only one who can change an unholy world).  So pastors listen to their cries for pabulum.  Those in leadership soften their words to fill the seats.  They preach. a compromising gospel instead of the promising one.  They don’t talk about the “one way” to God, but the multitudinal pathways that all lead to the same place. They ignore truth because it is too narrow and spread lies because they are less offensive- and offensive doesn’t fill the pews.

We might think that this cannot happen.  People are too wizened to these things.  They cannot be fooled by pulpit puppeteers.  But remember, it was the people of Israel — not Babylon, not Assyria, not Canaan, not Egypt — but God’s own chosen nation that “made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy” (Amos 2:12). They told those who were set apart as holy to the Lord to lower their standards, to quit being extremists, and to to soften their tone.  We don’t want to take all of this too far.  We don’t want to be seen as extremists accepting the Bible for what is says about sin and repentance and salvation.

There is a great little illustration of today’s church in 1 Kings 22. King  Ahab of Israel was trying to convince King Jehoshaphat of Judah to join him in battle against  Ramoth  Gilead in Syria. All of   Ahab’s “prophets” were yes-men who said what he wanted to hear rather than tell the truth. They told him to go and make war against Ramoth Gilead, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand” (1 Kings 22:6).  King Jehoshaphat was cautious, however, and asked if all the prophets had been consulted.  Ahab said,  “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah’” (1 Kin. 22:6-7).  The king’s messenger went to Micaiah and told him to agree with the other prophets because the king would like it.  Instead, Micaiah told the truth and was thrown into prison.   Ahab went into battle (the battle he was not supposed to enter) and his army was routed and he was killed.  We can tell preachers to say what we want them to say, but changing God’s Word does not change the consequences of disobeying it.

A newsboy was standing on the corner with a stack of papers, yelling: “See it here first. Fifty people swindled! Fifty people swindled!” Curious, a man walked over, bought a paper, and checked the front page. Finding nothing, the man said: “There’s nothing in here about 50 people being swindled.”  The newsboy ignored him and went on, calling out: “See it here first. Fifty-one people swindled!”  A funny story, but unfortunately we can be fooled, as well.  We need to be cautious or we will easily become swindled by fake messages from false churches.

How do we keep from being deceived?  By knowing God’s word and not being fooled by charlatans in the churches.  Right now, if someone slips heaven in to the title of a book or makes a movie that talks about God in it, we flock to the bookstores or movie theaters and accept things that are theological train wrecks. We must not be deceived about that which we have received.  Pastors should  not be cooks trying to cook food that just tastes good, but food that really is good.  The Word needs to be nourishing.  Man does not live by chocolate alone (see, a twisting of scripture to fit my point!)

If we are man-pleasers we will surely be God-insulters.  We need to listen to those who bring challenging, convicting, life-changing messages on the word of God rather than wimpy mouthpieces for the devils deceptions.  Check out what is said in the pulpit with what is said in the Word.   Joel Osteen, a popular “preacher,” has a big grin that hides a deceptive message.  Just because someone is popular does not make him right.  Be aware.  Be careful.  The way to heaven is narrow.  If the way that is painted is too broad, it is probably not headed for heaven.

“Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in [God]”    Ps. 56:3

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control”    2 Timothy

In light of the current world panic concerning the coronavirus, I thought it might be a good time to revisit what the Word says about fear…

Fear can be a debilitating emotion. It can paralyze us and keep us from doing anything about the fear.  Fear can be a disease that prevents us from seeking a cure.  If I am afraid of heights, one ways conquer that fear is to go someplace that is high, but the fear keeps us from taking advantage of that cure. There was a  man who was so fearful of the Nazi concentration camps that he did not come out of his sister’s farmhouse for 32 years after the war. His sister could not convince him that the “coast was clear,” and he remained there until outsiders got wind of his situation and virtually made him come out into the world. “I would have remained there until my death, had they not intervened.  In my fear of concentration camps, I had created my own.”  We sometimes are not dissimilar to this man.  Our fear of one thing puts us in a place that is worse than what we fear.  Over the past few weeks the world has been caught up in the fear of the coronavirus.  We need to be cautious that our fear does not lead to more damage than the virus itself.  One of the years I coached the players word t-shirts that read, “Respect All, Fear None.”  That might be a good thing to keep in mind now.  We must respect the power of this insidious disease, but not fear it to the point of panic.

I have never counted all the “fear nots” in the Bible, but I read once that there are 365 (a year’s worth) of them in the Bible. I would think if that if phrase is there that many times, God might be trying to tell us something.  Fear is not bad in itself, but fear that controls us is.  Any man who enters battle will have fear, but when fear controls the person, that is something to be worried about.  When I was a kid, there was a very popular movie called “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid.”  In one famous scene the two main characters were trapped on a cliff with a river flowing far below.  Butch wanted to jump because the alternative was to stay and die.  Sundance wanted to fight it out.  Butch could not understand why Sundance was so intent in dying on that cliff.  Exasperated he said, “What’s your problem?” and Sundance answered, “I can’t swim.”  Butch laughed and said, “Well, the fall will probably kill you anyway,” and they jumped.  Fear becomes a problem when it keeps us from moving forward to a place we need to go.

Some fear is perpetuated by the “author of fear” Satan himself.  God asks us to have faith and Satan hands us fear.  Some people fear Hell so much that their fear leads them to a belief that it does not exist.  There are two choices that they have, believe and avoid it through a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, or deny its existence.  Unfortunately, many choose the latter.  Faith opens the door to God and fear can open the door for Satan.  That is why God instructs so often to “fear not.”  God tells us, “Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)  It is clear.  He is with us and wants to help us. Trusting God’s faithfulness dispels our fearfulness.

A couple of years ago a co-worker Jodi Hutchins shared a cute story with me. Jodi gave a little second grader and her kindergarten brother a ride to school every day.  She heard a conversation taking place in the back seat. The little girl said to her brother, “Did you know that Jesus is right here with us?  Did you know that He is sitting right here between us?  We can’t see him but he is here.  Mrs. Hutchins did you know that Jesus is right here with us,” and Jodi told her that she did.  The little girl went on, “Do you know how I know He is here?  Well, sometimes late at night, I will say, ‘Jesus come cuddle with me’ and He does.  That’s how I know.”  We can’t forget in this story’s cutefulness, its truthfulness. Jesus really is with us.  

President Benjamin Harrison and his wife were so afraid of electricity because of its newness that they would not touch the switches.  If there was no servant around to switch off the lights, they would just leave the lights on all night trying to sleep by putting their heads under the blanket. Their fear of switches made sleep almost impossible. What a difference between them and the little girl who cuddles with Jesus when feeling alone!

Another reason for us to overcome fear is that we have a testimony to those around us.  If we are the first to “man the lifeboats” in any crisis situation, people wonder how big this God of ours is.  As we all know, God has the power to calm the seas, but much more often He wants to calm us instead.   I heard once that we should share our courage with others and keep our fears to ourselves.  I don’t know that that is always true, but I do think that if we say we walk hand in hand with the mighty warrior who created all we see and then act like Barney Fife most of the time, people will not question us as much as they will question God.

Again, fear in itself is not bad. When it becomes bad is when action is needed and fear negates that action.  Our first response to fear should be to pray.  We should come clean to God and rely on His verses of courage. In Psalms it says: “I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4) This is a great verse to quote when we are controlled by fear.  I like to quote it out loud so the devil and his evil cohorts know that I’m taking my stand and they can take their fear someplace else.  Jesus used the Word to combat Satan when he was tempted in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11), and we should follow His example.

We need to fight fear with the power of Christ so we can teach others the same, especially young people.  When I was young, research out of Johns Hopkins University found out that the greatest fears of grade school children were: 1) Animals, 2) Being in a dark room, 3) High places, 4) Strangers, 5) Loud noises. Today, kids are afraid of the following: 1) Divorce, 2) Nuclear war, 3) Cancer, 4) Pollution, 5) Being stolen.  I guess it is time that we took hold of our fears so that we can assure others that fear need not be permanent.

Once we take a stand it gives our faith “legs.”  Our obedience strengthens us.  David said, “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.” (Psalm 18:3)  Victory begats victory and defeat begats defeat.  Little victories lead to larger ones.  I used to tell my players that if they could not win battles in practice where the only enemy was themselves, how could they hope to win  when they were facing their opponents.”  In our lives we can start with the little battles by saying, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid!” (Hebrews 13:6)

I will end with a practical example.  Let’s take two facts that many of you probably know.  One, I have no desire to fly (not sure if it’s fear, but it is certainly not desire) and two, I am a bone marrow donor.  If I got word that someone in Chicago needed my bone marrow or would die, would it make sense to say, “That’s all well and good, but I don’t fly.  I don’t mind driving, however.”  I would probably just get there in time for the funeral!  That would be allowing my fears to stop me from helping someone who desperately needs help. We like to think our fears affect only us, but that is seldom the case.  Even Phobophobia which if the fear of being afraid is something that would not only change our lives, but those around us.  We too often fear things around us because we don’t fear God above us.  By fearing Him we draw courage from Him to face everything else. Be not afraid!

Into His hands I lay what haunts me,  the fear that stands, a massive wall

Into His hands I lay what taunts me,  and take his hand defeating all.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

We often ignore the concept of team when thinking about the Christian life.  After all, our decision to follow Christ is an individual one; no one can make it for us.  Our growth is up to us as well, no one can make us grow.  No one can force us to pray, read the Word, or memorize scripture.  Ultimately, those actions are up to us.  Others can suggest them, even demand them, but no one can make us do them.  So everything about the Christian life is individual, right?  Wrong.  The Christian life needs teamwork, just like almost every other activity in life.  As the poem states, “No man is an island,” and that is especially true in the Christian walk.

I found out in coaching a long time ago that having good players is only part of the ingredients for a good team.  Getting them to play together was just as much of a key.  The body of Christ is, in essence, a team.  We have members who should have individual goals that will help us reach our team goals.  One of our main team goals is to further the kingdom of God.  Anything that takes us away from our main goal should be unacceptable to every individual of the team.

How then do we cooperate with others in the body so we can reach our goal? Christianity is a team sport. It is not like wrestling or boxing  where we are taking on someone by ourselves, but more like football and softball where participants are dependent on each other.   A while back we had a surprise house-warming for a couple in the church.  Mom sent out an email  to the entire church describing the plan. Of course,  the honored couple was left out of the loop.  Amazingly, no one let the plan slip, even though everyone saw the couple at church earlier in the day. The key to the surprise was everyone working together!

We all know what kinds of things can hinder a good team.   Pride and selfishness both stand in the way of good teamwork. The Apostle Paul understood the value team, that is why we wrote to the Philippians about the need to put others before themselves.   One time I gave a talk to my football team about teamwork.  I told that to win we needed teamwork and their was no “I” in team.  Later in the week I brought the idea up again and wanted to check to see if they understood it.  I asked one of the players to summarize what I told them earlier in the week.  He proudly stood and said, “Teamwork is important, Coach, because as everyone knows, there is no “I” in Win!”  We obviously had more to worry about than winning.

Paul pointed out in our verses for today that selfishness is destructive.  If we focus on ourselves, our work as a team will be ineffective.  Selfish ambition asks, “What is in this for me?”  That attitude will derail anything positive that any team, including the body of Christ, will try to achieve.  Each of us has a special set of gifts that will help the body function better.  If we use those gifts for ourselves, the body will not function better.

At an annual picnic between two rival companies they got access to two boats from the local college that were used for intercollegiate rowing contests.  The companies arranged to have the picnic end with a big race.  One company fell behind quickly and lost by 11 lengths.  It was such a sad effort that they put together a committee to study the problem so that the following year would not be an embarrassment.  After two months the task force determined that “the other team had eight people rowing and one coxswain steering and shouting out the beat. We had one person rowing and eight coxswains.” The task force then came up with a recommendation for the rematch. “Our guy has to row faster.”

Sadly this humorous story has more truth than fiction.  In the church today there are a lot more coxswains than rowers and our solution to growing the kingdom is to have the rowers work harder. This is not what we are called to do; we are all called to do our part and if we don’t that, the kingdom of God will not grow.

Christ was the perfect model of unselfishness and that is what He calls us to be. Back in my middle school years  during the 1964 Olympics a story of unselfishness emerged in the two-man bobsled competition. The British team had just completed its first run and was in second place. Tony Nash, the team’s driver, made a disheartening discovery. They had broken a bolt on the rear axle of their sled, which would put them out of the competition.  The great Italian bobsled driver Eugenio Monti, who was in first place, heard of their plight. He removed the bolt from the rear axle of his own sled and sent it to them. The British team placed it on their sled and then raced down the mountain, winning the gold medal. Monti’s Italian team took the bronze medal for finishing in third place.

When asked about his unselfish act of sportsmanship, Eugenio Monti modestly replied, “Tony Nash did not win because I gave him a bolt. Tony Nash won because he was the best driver.”  Because of his unselfishness, Monti was given the first De Coubertin Medal for sportsmanship. The award, named after the founder of the modern Olympics, is one of the highest honors an Olympian can receive.

God too honors unselfishness. Although the coxswain may receive more accolades, the team will not win without the rowers. God is calling us to “Pull, pull, pull,” our weight in the body of Christ.  No one else can sit in our seat.  It is for us to occupy. If we do not do our part for the team, it will not get done because other rowers can only row so hard.  When we put others first on the team, we are really putting God first and there is no greater act than that.

“Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” Psalm 32:2

A Sunday School teacher had just concluded her lesson and wanted to make sure she had made her point. She said, “Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?” There was a short pause and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up. “Sin,” he said.  That is certainly true, but it is not something we must try to do.  It is something we naturally do.  As Paul tells us in Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Sin is a burden. Whether it is sin from the past or sin of the present, it loads us up and takes away the joy that we can have in Christ. Some of us spend years dwelling on our past sins, living in regret of those things that cannot be changed. Many of us have hurt others and even ourselves and replay our mistakes over and over and allow them to keep us from accepting the healing that Christ can give us. There is something inside of us that keeps telling us that we do not deserve God’s forgiveness, and we must hang on to our past mistakes to fully pay for them. That, however, is not the way God sees it.

Clara Barton, the wonderful founder of the American Red Cross, was reminded one day of a vicious deed that someone had done to her years before. But she acted as if she had never even heard of the incident. “Don’t you remember it?” her friend asked. “No,” came Barton’s reply, “I distinctly remember forgetting it.” Many of us can forgive others in that way. We put their offense behind us. We truly do forgive and forget. But then we use a different standard of forgiveness for ourselves. The trifecta enemy, consisting of the world, our flesh, and satan’s minions, happily remind us of our past sins. The remembrance of those sins cling to us like barnacles on a ship slowing our progress and finally growing to unmanageable proportions.

When we accept Christ He forgives us. We have told Him about our sin and asked Him to pardon us. He did, so why can’t we accept the freedom of His forgiveness? Today’s verse reminds us that it is possible to put our sins behind us. This can be a hard thing to accept for many of us. It sounds all well and good, but in reality, the weight of our sin makes it difficult to believe a perfect God can forgive.  

There are two reasons why it is so hard for us. First of all, we may have accepted Christ without truly understanding the need for Him. The weight of our sin might remain because we don’t recognize that it is our sin that is weighing us down. We don’t realize how our past is affecting our present because we have never truly dealt with our past. We accepted Christ and understood the depth of His forgiveness, but not the depth of our sin. Second of all, we might realize the depth of our sin, but see it as so deep, so dark, that we feel it can never (nor should be) forgiven, thus cannot accept the depth of Christ’s forgiveness. Only when we realize the depth of our sin and the depth of God’s forgiveness can we let go of our pasts and live in the freedom of God’s mercy.

God assures us that He does not count our sin against us so we must take some intentional steps to make this truth a reality in our lives. So, the first step is to acknowledge our sin: to ourselves and to God. After we have done that it is time to fill our hearts and minds with truth. Only in the Bible is it revealed how God can soften a hard heart to accept His forgiveness. In the Word we learn about the freedom from condemnation: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 We learn about the freedom from sin: “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14 We learn about freedom in newness: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 As we look at verses like these we see our sin, but we also see God’s plan to put that sin behind us.

How can God do this wonderful, miraculous thing of complete restoration? In the book of Isaiah he makes some very specific promises to us. “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’” Isaiah 1:18 and “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25 Okay, but how does He do this? Surely like a large renovated building, there will still be signs of the old building there. Surely the configuration will be similar or maybe the number of floors or maybe the outside is changed, but the inside is the same. But God does not want to renovate us.  He wants to tear down the old and rebuild an entirely new person. He just want the site.

There is no resemblance to the old. All the flaws have been erased in His eyes. We are finally brand new.  We are finally free.  “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36  God says that if we let Him have us we will not just be refurbished, we will be totally rebuilt. All those sins of the past are torn down and hauled away out of our sight and the sight of God. If we continue to search for them, we will not be able to enjoy the trueness of our newness. We need to put our sins where God as put them- as far as the east is from the west. We are forgiven! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

“Dead flies putrefy the perfumers ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.” Ecclesiastes 10:1

Every once in while I will just throw a couple of bags of  garbage in the garage instead of the garbage can because I will be going to the dump in the next few days. That is almost always a mistake, especially in the summer. By the time I get around to taking the garbage, it invariably has gathered flies, maggots, and an atrocious odor.  Not very pleasant.  Especially when I have to lift the disgusting bag from garage to truck and from truck to the landfill.

I make a mistake by putting the garbage anywhere but where it belongs- in a garbage can. Awhile back, after a visit from the kids, I completely cleaned the garage and it looked good.  Unfortunately, I performed my “all to frequent habit” of throwing some garbage in the corner.  In a matter of a couple of days, not only did the garage look bad, it smelled bad as well. Stench tends to do that- it is more powerful than perfume.  You can’t have a bunch of garbage that reeks and spray enough perfume to cover it up. (the same principle applies to arm pits which already have reached the reeky stage!) Stink always seems stronger than sweetness.

What does all this garbage talk have to do with us? There is a true old adage that says “we may often be the only Jesus that a fallen world may ever see.”  We should keep that idea in mind as we go through our daily lives.  Some of us, as believers, are not overly concerned with our actions around others. We put our garbage out there for all to see.  We refuse to restrict our anger, our language, our habits, our worldly behavior in any way. After all, we are saved by grace, so what does it matter?  The Christians in Rome felt the same way, so Paul addressed it in his book written to them. “What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?  Absolutely not!” (Romans 6:1,2) The Romans had even decided that by sinning more they were revealing God’s mercy more.  After all, He was forgiving greater sins, so He was showing greater mercy. What muddled thinking this is!

These Christians were completely forgetting that their actions are supposed to reflect the Lord Jesus Christ. We serve a risen Savior who cannot be seen visually at this moment in time. We have become conduits to show Christ to this world. God wants to encourage, comfort and save non-believers through His Son Jesus and He uses us to help accomplish these tasks.  What they see in us might be as close as they get to Jesus that day- so what are they seeing in us?   That is why it is important for us to be conscious of what we say and do. As believers we have to realize that the world is constantly watching us, studying us even, in order to see if the Jesus we preach is real, not only in His own right, but in our lives as well.

He is the perfumer of our lives. We want to be able to tell others about the sweet smell of salvation and how it overcomes the stench of the world and brings a undeniable and wonderful aroma to our lives. Our tendencies to act out of unrighteousness in our lives overcomes the sweet aroma of Christ.  When I perform the small act of putting a bag of garbage in the garage, I negate anything good about the garage. As soon as people walk in, their sight and smell is drawn to something disgusting and the pleasant neatness of the garage is lost.  Acts of unkindness, legalism, sinfulness, can all damage other’s view of God. It is a fact of nature. No matter how much we say we are believers if we carry garbage around with us, the bad smell will overcome the good smell every time. How can we influence anyone to step into salvation if it smells that bad!

Here is a test that each one of us can do.  Let us say that someone we know decides  he wants to know Christ, but was not sure how.  We should ask our selves this, “Would I be someone this person would come to.”  If we put off the sweet aroma of the gospel  we could probably expect a call.  If I am a hundred pounds overweight I don’t believe I will get too many questions about fitness, if I live a smelly life, I doubt too many people will request the cologne I wear.

There is an interesting story about a time the queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon.  One day she decides to test him. She brought artificial flowers so perfectly formed that no human eye could detect them from real flowers. She put them in a vase on Solomon’s table, in his throne room next to his flowers. As he came in, the queen of Sheba is reported to have said, “Solomon, you are the wisest man in the world. Tell me without touching these flowers, which are real and which are artificial.”

It is said that Solomon studied the flowers for a long time and spoke nothing, until finally he said, “Open the windows and let the bees come in.”

There are ways to tell the artificial from the real—let the bees come in; they will know where the real is.  If we are Jesus real it will draw people.  Even in the face of rejection by many there will be others who will be drawn to the sweet perfume of the gospel.

None of us are perfect, and we will all make mistakes until the day Christ returns. But we must be aware that our actions have consequences. We must understand that others are affected by who we are. We must realize that those who know that we know Christ will be not just judging us by our actions, but Jesus, as well. We are ambassadors of Christ whether we like it or not.  We cannot just live like we want any longer.  Whenever we join a group, we become associated with that group, whether it is a team, town, or troop. If we believe in the Word and the gospel message we belong to the group called Christians.

In the midst of our imperfection, we should always be trying to improve our character. When we do fail (which we will) and a fly does show up in our perfume, the God- inspired aroma we give off, we need to deal with it and move on. The one thing we should not do is take it lightly.  Our actions matter and we never know when our actions will help someone to meet Christ face-to-face when He returns. Let’s do everything we can to make sure that our actions convey the sweet aroma of Christ’s love.