Grace Notes

I was asked to post a little piece I read last Sunday (July 21), here’s the set up:

I preached on what I called “Paul’s Creds” in Colossians 1:24-2:5.  It starts in verse 24 with this interesting statement about his suffering:

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”

Which led to a discussion about suffering in the church age being the “birth pangs” of the next age (Romans 8:18-25) and while Paul was “taking a bullet” for the believers at Colossae in the form of persecution, suffering takes many forms…

Finally, we would be wrong to think of suffering only in terms of the direct outward persecution that professing Christians sometimes undergo because of their faith. The church must, it is true, always be ready for such persecution, and must support, in prayer and practical help, those who face it. But all Christians will suffer for their faith in one way or another: if not outwardly, then inwardly, through the long, slow battle with temptation or sickness, the agonizing anxieties of Christian responsibilities for a family or a church (Paul knew these, too: see 2 Cor. 1 and 2; 1 Thess. 2:17 – 3:1), the constant doubts and uncertainties which accompany the obedience of faith, and ‘the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to,’ taken up as they are within the call to follow Christ. All of these, properly understood, are things to rejoice in – not casually, flippantly or superficially, but because they are signs that the present age is passing away, that the people of Jesus, the Messiah, are the children of the new age, and that the birthpangs of this new age are being worked out in them. This knowledge about the two ages, as we shall see, forms the basis of Paul’s later appeal in 2:20 – 3:4.  (N.T Wright, Colossians and Philemon. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, p. 90)

Hope it encourages you even as it encouraged me,

Pastor Scott

“He guards the buried seed, and stands sponsor for the harvest. No sigh, no tear, no prayer, inspired by the Spirit of God, can positively be lost or unproductive …you shall yet see the travail of your soul, and be satisfied.” F.B. Meyer

 Truth for when it hurts.  For when you’ve poured out more than you ever thought you could and the little seed of faith that you have left doesn’t seem like enough for you to keep moving forward. For the places in our lives where we know our pursuit is sacred and we don’t want to get it wrong, but at times the striving takes so much effort it hurts a thousand-fold.

What holy pursuit are you sowing right now that is just plain hard? That all but knocks you to your knees with the effort of it? Is it a difficult marriage that you keep tending with love and kindness the best you can, a physical illness that isolates you and yet you want to bear it well, or loving your challenging child completely even though it about kills you some days?

Every step forward, every seed planted, every time you show up and hold space in the hard places you will return with sheaves of blessings in your arms and songs of joy dripping from your mouth. Holy effort is never in vain, friends. It never goes unnoticed.  ~ Kristy Gearhart, Mission Hills Church  

 I found the little piece above on a friend’s blog.  It just made me think about how the evidence of the spiritual warfare Paul wrote about in Ephesians 6 is becoming more and more clear.  Remember what he also wrote? Take God’s armor and, in God’s power, STAND! Wherever God has me, in whatever gap He’s placed me, my job is to STAND.

 Stand strong, my brothers and sisters; He notices!

 Pastor Scott 

As New Testament believers who also happen to be of the “free grace” persuasion (I hate having to describe myself using an oxymoron), we might tend to undervalue the truths that apply to us as His kids.  He did save us by grace, but He expects us to live in a way that brings glory to Him not just for our own pleasure.  Along with that we see, from one of the very first stories in the OT to one of that last stories in the OT, that He is concerned that we bring Him our best.

Consider Cain.  It’s a favored interpretation of modern scholars to say that God rejected Cain’s sacrifice and accepted Abel’s because Cain’s was bloodless; but we only see that because of Leviticus which hadn’t been written yet.  The text, aided by the Hebrews 11 interpretation, would seem to indicate that Able gave his best and Cain simply gave…. something.

Jump to the Priests of Malachi’s day (Malachi 1:6-14) – God says of the blind lamb they lay on the altar, “Why not offer it to your governor?”  Again, God is displeased with our second best in worship.

Permit me one last example.  In 1 Corinthians 11, we read that when the church gathered for the Lord’s Supper they went about it in the wrong way.  Instead of sharing a meal, those who brought the food and wine early ate and drank their fill, and those who came late (presumably the poorer day-workers in the body) went hungry.  For that offense God did indeed discipline most severely.

What’s my point?  He wants my best! Not my second best.  Not my left overs! Not my afterthought!  My VERY BEST! After all, He gave me His very life!

Pastor Scott

(The idea for this piece came from discussion in Discipleship 101 this past Sunday morning – I hope if you aren’t already involved in a class, you’ll consider coming to ours!)

I read about a small boy who was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him one day that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water. He looked at his father’s full plate and then at his father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed.

The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy’s plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in front of the boy, and smiled at his son. When that boy grew to be a man, he said, “All my life I’ve known what God is like by what my father did that night.”

1. 1 Peter 2:24 : Is 53:4, 11; 1 Cor 15:3; Heb 9:28

Pastor Scott

I received a question via text, that asked, “If someone rejects God’s love when they’re young, is the door closed for them, or is it possible for God, through the Holy Spirit, to draw them again?”  An excellent question!

This past Sunday we concluded the series on David’s life by looking at the passing of the torch to Solomon (1 Chronicles).  At one point in David’s address he says something troubling, ESPECIALLY to those of us with wayward family members! 

“If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.”  (1 Chronicles 28:9b)

As much “fun” as it might be to try to demonstrate “seeking and forsaking” by comparing and contrasting David, Saul, and Solomon, we live in the Church Age so we really ought to see what Jesus had to say.  He, through the Apostle John, reminds us that we are all under judgment until that moment of faith. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18)  So the rejector, the denier, and the unbeliever are all in the same camp until they believe – the same camp, incidentally, as the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-31).  I believe rejection of Christ only becomes eternally fatal upon death. So keep praying, keep loving, and keep sharing the faith!

Pastor Scott

Earlier this week, in preparation for another study, I was looking at Revelation 4:11 (Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.)  Which clearly states that we were created by God’s will or, “for His Pleasure.”  Revelation 4:11 brought to mind the “worthiness language” applied to the Son in chapter five.

And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying,

“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

And I realized, that even at the end of ages we will be Praising God for His double ownership of our lives.  He both made us and He bought us back!  I, for one, want to start living that life of purpose fulfilling gratitude BEFORE I get to heaven.  You?

Pastor Scott

This next Sunday we’ll be looking at David’s out-pouring of praise and thanksgiving in 2 Samuel 22.  I ran across a poignant little story that well illustrates a point a want to make on Sunday about verse 29 and the limits of lamp light on a long dark path (the point I’m going for in this illustration is NOT the self-reliance piece)

When a person is suddenly alone, often panic and fear come.  I distinctly remember my mother saying to me after my father’s death, “I cannot go on without him.  I depended on him for everything.”  My mother believed that, but she did go on without him.  In fact, she lived twenty-five wonderful years after my father died.  I remember that one of the things that bothered my mother was that she could not drive a car.  She learned that she could live without driving a car.  I feel that the most creative years of my mother’s life were the years when she was forced to depend on herself.  She had her anxious moments, but somewhere along the way she learned the old expression, “Life by the yard is hard, life by the inch is a cinch.”  Charles Allen, You are Never Alone (Old Tappan, New Jersey, Fleming H. Revel, 1978), 88.

So if we find ourselves twisted up with worry – or to sticking with the analogy – if we keep tripping up – perhaps we’re trying to look too far into the future, while God is only shedding light on our next steps! 

I understand this is the wettest Spring we’ve had since records have been kept.  It’s certainly been hard to keep the grass cut and the rivers and streams are all well past “flood stage!  I’m sure I’m not the only one who has seen some dramatic footage.

I saw one water rescue in Iowa (or maybe Nebraska) caught on a cell phone where passersby were trying to get a family out a car that had started to float away.  The thing that was striking is that they instinctively tied themselves, with whatever they could find, to higher; firmer ground.  As they got the last passenger out, the car swished away, but the passenger was reeled in safely, because the human chain was anchored to an old oak with deep roots.

Chances are I’ll never be floating down a churning river in a car with my family; but my soul encounters churning waters from day to day.  How about yours?  The cool thing is as believers our souls are anchored to roots WAY deeper than an oak’s!

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.  (Hebrews 6:19-20)

The “Presence” behind the veil is YHWH Himself and through His death, Jesus anchored us in Him.  That’s true weather we “feel” it or not.  So next time the waters churn I can act like the baby who doesn’t trust his daddy in the pool and cry and carry on as if He’s going to drop me; or I can relax and rejoice that He’s got this!

Pastor Scott

As we look forward to saying goodbye to our brother in Christ next Friday we, of course, cling to the promise of eternal life for all those that believe in Jesus (John 6:47) and as Paul said, we grieve with hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13)!

Of course the passing of a beloved member of our body ought to remind us of our own own mortality.  Causing us to appreciate again the gift of salvation bought with the blood of Christ and secured by faith alone; but I for one, would also like to be remembered well; and to that end, I offer you this poem I found stashed away in my files.  It’s dated “1992” but sounds a bit older than that, still I think it’s worth a minute or two of your contemplation.

It isn’t the thing you do;
It’s the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you a bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.

The tender word forgotten,
The letter you did not write,
The flower you might have sent,
Are your haunting ghosts tonight.

The stone you might have lifted
Out of a brother’s way,
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were harried too much to say.

The loving touch of the hand,
The gentle winsome tone,
That you had no time or tho’t for
With troubles enough of your own.

The little acts of kindness
So easily out of mind;
Those chances to be helpful
Which everyone may find.

No, it’s not the things you do,
It’s the thing you leave undone
Which gives you the bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.

Pastor Scott

Tomorrow the stock market could crash.

Tomorrow Russia and China could bomb the USA back to the Stone Age.

Tomorrow a 767 could fall on my house.

Tomorrow the sun could come up and the day could go pretty much like today…..

The truth is I CAN’T know.

You CAN’T know.

Worry (overthinking, dwelling on) tomorrow will not change tomorrow.

Do today!

If you think of something you need to do tomorrow, write it on tomorrow’s list and leave it there.  But only concern yourself with today.

Does that sound too simplistic?  

Maybe a little sophomoric?  

If it does, it’s because we’ve been listening to the enemy.  

Our Creator, the Lover of our souls says we can only handle today.  

And if He said it, I imagine I’d be a fool not to believe it! Amen?

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  ~Jesus