Church

P 2185 Hard questions.

/ DVH

Jesus preached on the theme of the Master and His servants, so many times in the bible.  Here are a few FYI: Matthew 25:14-30, Luke, 19:11-27, Luke 16:1-13, Matthew 21:33-46, and Luke 12:43-47. It is easy to read these parables as separate individual stories, and challenges, but, today, I think the Lord wants us to look at them, AS A THEME. BTW – there is a pretty awful result if we are found to be unfaithful servants!

Here’s what I mean when I call these things a theme. Things like God’s love, eternity, redemption, they are all themes. A thread runs through the entire bible about those subjects. Themes are even stronger than the individual stories because of the repetition, so we need to take particular notice of them. It hit me the other day that when I am reading the parable of the unjust servant;  or about the shonky manager of a vineyard; or even those servants with numerous bags of gold – the thing these parables had in common was THE MASTER WAS ABSENT. 🧐 Yes, I know Jesus comes to your church. But here’s a question … do the people around your church know that?

Here is something else I have learnt over the years – if the Lord says something three times or MORE, then we need to pay attention. The theme in these parables is about still being faithful – when the Master is not visibly present but He has left clear instructions. I realised that there are times, in our churches and our own lives, when we cannot see the Lord at work. When the Word of the Lord is scarce in the land we can end up concentrating on maintaining our own lives. But let’s look at this another way –  what happens in our church groups when we’ve been left in charge?

Today, the Holy Spirit’s question to me was this: “Will you be faithful to what I’ve told you in My book when it seems like I am not there watching over your shoulder? That’s what these parables are about. They are about the servants remaining faithful to what the Master told them to do … the way they should live … even when they cannot easily access Him.”

Do you know I had never noticed how many times He talked about US being faithful? I have become so used to being spoon-fed by what the people-much-smarter-than-me said – that I just didn’t see it. That shocked me. Because faithfulness is part of His Character and He wants it to be a part of ours. So when He asks us to think about our faithfulness, He is actually asking us if His character is being formed in us. Now there’s another good place to pause and think!😳

Faithfulness can also be said like this – Full.Of.Faith. The Lord Jesus wants His servants to be so full of faith every day, that there is no room for doubt, unbelief, or disobedience. That sounds like a good aim to me!  Here’s another parable for thought: in the one about the Master going on a journey – those servants have been left in charge of the Master’s riches! We all need to think on that for about 20 years or so – I know I will!

There is an old saying: “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.” Perhaps we’ve accidentally been doing the same old same old at church rather than stewarding and multiplying what Jesus has given us? Maybe we think going to church is the same as being active at church? The result could be that we are allowing those pesky little foxes to spoil our vines. If our meetings do seem the same week by week, then maybe it is US who got stale? Routine is great for maintenance – but forward movement is better for advancement and momentum. Plus, we all need to obey the word collectively, not just individually. 

Being faithful means we are increasing our faith from where it is, up to, and including, FULL. It looks like this – have we got more faith today than we had yesterday? Last week? Last year?? Are our churches growing and producing strong trees like the mustard seed parable? And I don’t mean in numbers, I mean in dedication. AND lastly … “Are we catching any fish, boys?” Maybe someone needs to show me in the book where it says we have to be inactive. Instead of waiting for revival – perhaps we all need to be one. Otherwise we are like the guy who buried what he was given in the dirt because he was too scared.

We pray for revival, but maybe we need resuscitation? You know, we simply must stop expecting our poor pastors to pull the rabbit out of the hat week by week. The pastor is not a magician! If we all want to be found to be faithful, then we need to collectively, and prayerfully, do something about it  …ourselves. 👋🏻

P 2150 Shame is no longer welcome in our lives.

/ DVH

Some of my very favourite people on this planet are perfectionists. Oh boy! That kind of trait will dig a hole and bury you in it!  Unfortunately, when you can’t meet your own inner standards, shame can be a constant companion. Shame damages the recipient and accomplishes nothing, spiritually speaking, because it has its roots in fear of failure. Actively absorbing perfect love will chuck all sorts of fear out of the window!

Shame also makes you disappointed and angry at others, because many other people give up their efforts to change, w-a-y too quickly, and people driven by shame often struggle with making comparisons. We are adults, and we are responsible for our own actions and choices, so we need to watch out for shame, resentment, anger, fear, pride etc. before they grow into trees with bitter roots. Meanwhile, any perfectionists I know are always pushing themselves to meet some sort of imaginary impossible target, and wondering why they feel exhausted every day of the week.

Sadly they don’t make any room for their own weaknesses and humanity, and they end up feeling disappointed with themselves, out of sorts, and wondering where their God-declared peace went! They can get cranky at this person or that system. They are the kind of people who would easily score 100% on a test and wonder why they didn’t get 110%! 😱 They are most probably fans of Superman because he can do anything! Yet the very thing that pushes them on, is also their kryptonite.  And that is  … shame. The shame that assails them with ‘not good enough.’

This trait is one of the larger blights on Christianity because in the past the church has used – and sometimes even still uses – shame, to change people’s behaviour. Transformation comes from renewing our minds, and staying in a close relationship to the Lord – not from hating yourself – that BTW is the other guy. 

Perfectionists like to accentuate perceived faults and ignore the normality of humanity’s weaknesses. These people may be tough on you – but, believe me, they are even tougher on themselves! You will never feel completely satisfied with anything when you walk with shame. It can feel like self defence when you attack others for no reason. I’ve read a little bit on this subject over the years, and I found that people who allow shame to push them around can have a form of inverted pride. That’s a big clue with dealing with this issue. You can repent of pride, inverted or not! Pride, BTW, refuses to accept reality, which is we are all sinners saved by His GRACE. The only Person who is totally right is Christ and He gave us His rightness. (Or righteousness) We live there by faith.

We can get rid of those things that mess with our mind like these things do – stuff that easily weighs us down – (please note the word easily). We do that at the foot of the cross. At the cross Jesus bore all our sins, burdens, shame, hypocrisy, spite, pride and anger … just to mention a few things! The point is to off-load them there and leave them there, then exercise your faith that what He said He did He did. And then, we REPENT – we cannot leave that bit out – so with His help and guidance, we choose to challenge and change our behaviour.

So today I have a couple of diagnostic questions. If you were to look at Jesus what would you see? Would you see SomeOne Who did everything perfectly and set a standard you cannot possibly attain … OR …

… would you see the CROSS first? Ya might want to selah on that for a couple of months or so. 🧐

The Lord’s death took care of our weaknesses and infirmities, and I believe that shame etc. is both a weakness, and an infirmity.  “Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].” Isaiah 53:4. So please don’t be ignorant when you look at the cross! Understanding what happened there will absolutely change your life. An exchange was made. Our sin for His right standing in the Father’s eyes – it would be a shame if we knew that but never lived it out. Please excuse my terrible pun!

Jesus took shame and everything else to the cross by hanging there naked, subject to everyone’s inappropriate, self-serving lies and abuse. People misunderstood His very motivation. They attributed evil things to His Godly, passionate, unselfish act. He finished the job that day, so we don’t have to carry shame for our past, or even what we did yesterday – or who we were before we met Him. Today is a brand new day and His mercies are new every single morning. We have no excuse however, for not seeking and pursuing change, because what Christ did made permanent, life-time changes freely available for all of us. We were reborn to be transformed into His likeness.

When Father God sees us now, He sees us IN Christ, covered with the Lord Jesus’ blood. Our part in this new life is to realise Jesus’ blood was costly to the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Sin, shame, weaknesses are not stagnant things, they grow like fungus and mould. So let the light and fresh wind of the Holy Spirit blow across your mind, will, and emotions, every single day!  On purpose. Let Him stop you in the middle of a sentence if that sentence is not helpful to your new life in Christ. We will stagnate spiritually if we do not pay attention to what is happening inside us. That’s where things like shame grab a foothold. 

You and I have no excuse for staying in the past, or letting it control us, and we have no excuse whatsoever for allowing the past to dominate the present. We have a Saviour Who conquered all the stuff that seeks to trip us up. We simply must watch where we put our feet and give our enemy nothing to stand on – like Jesus did!. 👋🏻

P 2148 The Body of Christ must learn to deal with itself.

/ DVH

There have been some articles in the press lately, about this sin in this church and another sin in that one. I believe that our churches need to be a well-cleaned window into the ways of our God. Nothing inside our lives together should be offensive to God or man. However, that does not mean we won’t make mistakes but it does mean keeping our lives clean, honest and open, is essential.

1 Corinthians 5: 1-3 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this…” 

Please note Paul is not just saying: “Give this man a smack on the wrist and tell him to stop.” He is telling the church to deal with these things, swiftly and decisively. This guy’s sin has affected their church. Our God has tied His reputation to ours, and that should mean something to us. Jesus Christ made Himself of no reputation – He had to – to identify with us! Sadly, we ferret about trying to hide this thing and that circumstance, and hope it will all just disappear into the ether. It won’t. The church at large has a terrible reputation because we keep sweeping stuff under a rug. That pile under the rug has started to smell and, guess what? Other people have noticed that we are drowning in our own hypocrisy.

However, let us not just dismiss stuff as being some other denomination’s problem … because … whisper whisper … we always knew they were a bit off. The bible says we are members of each other. In other words my sin is your sin and your sin is mine! I get spasms in my hands sometimes, but that does not mean that my hands don’t belong to me, just because they keep doing stuff without my permission. Some denominations have been highlighted in terrible ways … but we can’t just write that stuff off as not being our particular church’s problem! Or say things like: “Our denomination is not like them.” That’s pride, judgment, and a huge lack of love. And if we don’t have love we are bonging away like Big Ben. The Lord is telling us to deal with our own garbage out of respect for Himself and the Body of Christ … not to mention caring for the souls of the people committing these sins. 

Just because some stuff is tolerated in our societies, that does not mean we should live in hope that it will fade away. Or maybe stay hidden. We need His heart, He loves the sinner, and hates the sin. Our problem seems to be the way we deal with things, not just the stuff going on. What’s wrong with repentance, whether we belong to that denomination or not? Plus supporting our brothers and sisters in prayer until they have His plan for dealing with things. Paul reacts here with swift discipline, and then compassion.

I admire Pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz from Argentina – his books are terrific. In one of them he tells the story of someone at his church who was caught cooking the books  – this person stole a heap of money. Pastor Ortiz’ immediate reaction was to put him out of the church, sending the man and his innocent family into jail and abject poverty … a-n-d … serve him right! However, Juan is a man who listens to God, and so the Lord began to deal with him about what he had done with the thief. 

To make a long precious story very short – in the end after much prayer, he went to the thief and said: “I will not put you out of my church, your disgrace will be my disgrace I will stand right beside you and bear your shame with you.” The thief was immediately deeply convicted of his sin, and suddenly he understood that what he had done had affected everyone else. That story sounds just like Jesus to me. The Lord came and owned us before we even knew we were sinners. He stood beside us and said to the world: “They are with Me!”

I am not talking about dismissing sin, or disregarding its consequences, or even feeling sorry for the sinner. I am talking about being His love in action. I think the reason we often take the supposed high moral ground is because we have absolutely no idea what love looks like and we are not living close enough to the Lord’s heartbeat to hear what He thinks. Sadly, we care more for appearances.  Here is the second half of that story in 1 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 2:5-8 “If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.  I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.”

The Body of Christ world-wide needs the kind of wisdom that Paul exhibits here, to manage those things that are remaining hidden inside our churches. We also need to make it clear to the world around us that our churches are full of forgiven sinners. For too long the Body of Christ has avoided confronting the things that need to be confronted. We simply must learn to deal with ourselves, because one day… the book says …we will judge the angels. 👋🏻