November 8, 2013
“There are three things that last — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)
What is the greatest thing in the world? The Apostle Paul sifts his answer down to three things: hope, faith and love. Hope is the conviction that there can be good in life. God plants hope in the hearts of human beings. People sometimes commit suicide because they lose that conviction.
On the positive side, hope gives birth to faith, and faith is one of the greatest things because faith brings us to God. However, when Paul compares these two great concepts with love, without hesitation he concludes that love is the greatest thing in the world. This is true because love is not something that brings us to something that brings us to God. When we experience the special love Paul describes we are in the Presence of God. There is a particular quality of love that is God and God is a particular quality of love.
To acquaint us with that specific quality of love, in the middle of this chapter he passes this quality of love through the “prism” of his Holy Spirit inspired intellect. It comes out on the other side as a cluster of 15 virtues. All these virtues of love are others-centered, unselfish ways of expressing unconditional love. If you study these virtues you will find in them a cross section of the love that is God–and is the greatest thing in the world.
One reason Paul presents these three concepts as the greatest things is that they are the things that last. Love is the greatest of the three because one day we will no longer need hope and faith when throughout all eternity we will love.
Therefore, pursue the greatest thing in the world – love.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
November 5, 2013
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11: 28-30)
Jesus loves to give invitations. He addresses this one to people who are loaded with problems and are working themselves to exhaustion trying to solve their problems. Jesus promises that if we come to Him He will give us rest. If you look closely at this invitation He is inviting us to come to Him and learn about His heart, His burden and His yoke. It is what we learn that will lead us to this rest.
Jesus wants burdened people to learn that His burden is light, His heart is humble and His yoke is easy. There is a sense in which Jesus had the weight of the world on His shoulders and yet He claimed that His burden was light. His burden was light because He let the Father carry the load.
The most important part of His recipe for rest is what Jesus wants us to learn about His yoke. A yoke is not a burden. It is an instrument that makes it possible to bear a burden. When a cart is piled high with cargo it is the yoke that makes it possible for an ox to pull a great load with ease. It is the yoke of Jesus that shows us how to pull our heavy burdens of life.
The yoke of Jesus was that He let His Father carry the burdens. We take His yoke upon us when we let the Holy Spirit carry the load.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
November 1, 2013
“… fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love… being of one accord of one mind. In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out… for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2: 2-4)
As Paul writes to his favorite church he is burdened that they experience oneness. He wants them to be “like minded…of one accord” and “of one mind.” To that end he gives them two keys to oneness.
One key is humility, what Paul calls “lowliness of mind.” He instructs and challenges the Philippians to esteem others better than themselves. C. S. Lewis told us that pride is the mother of all sins. As a pastor I learned that when there is a dispute among two disciples you will often find somebody’s pride at the bottom of it. Humility is an antidote that resolves disputes and restores oneness.
The other critical key is love. When Paul writes of “the same love,” I believe he means the love of Christ in us. At least one application of that love is when we “look out for the interests of others.” We might call this love “other centeredness.” We must realize and remember that this love is the fruit and evidence of the Holy Spirit living in us. It is not natural. It is supernatural. We can’t do it. Only He can.
So, Paul’s keys for being like minded are humility and love. By application you will find his keys bringing oneness to your marriage, family, church, ministry and any relationship.
Our greatest challenges are relationships. I challenge you to insert these keys into your most challenging relationships and watch God bring oneness.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 29, 2013
“… that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:3)
This Scripture is an excerpt from one of the greatest sermons of Moses. Moses preached that the more we understand the Word of God, the more we understand life. And the more we experience life, the more we understand the Word of God. The two throw light upon each other.
After studying the Word of God in the classroom for seven years I took a job as a social worker. While being on call every night for a year I not only learned a lot about life, I greatly deepened my understanding and appreciation of the Word of God.
For example, we are told in the first Psalm that one of the greatest blessings of the blessed man is that he does not stand in the way of the sinner. As a pastor having picked up the pieces with sinners for many years I know that the way of the sinner is very hard indeed.
I have also enjoyed the benefits and blessings personally and with many others that are the result of building life on the teachings and the value systems of the Bible. We who build our lives on the Word of God are not only saved from sin but for a life that is rich with meaning and fulfillment. We live lives that are filled with meaning and a sense of accomplishment in this life and in the life to come.
Experience is a convincing teacher. That’s why our loving God will make us know that the Word of God shows us how to live.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 24, 2013
“I fed you with milk and not with solid food…” (1 Corinthians 3:2)
The Apostle Paul believed that when a person becomes a believer they are like a newborn baby who critically needs milk and formula to survive. Babies need to be fed milk before they are ready for solid food. Since a baby does not have a fully developed digestive tract we feed them milk. Paul uses milk here as a metaphor for spiritual truth a teacher feeds to believers. When we find spiritual truth without human help that is meat and solid food.
The bottom line is that new believers, like new born babies, critically need their milk and formula if they are going to progress to solid food that makes them grow into spiritual adults.
What is the nutritional formula for a new believer? A primary part is the Word of God. Peter writes that as new believers, we should earnestly desire the Word of God the way newborn babies go after their mothers’ breast knowing that survival depends on what is received there. Prayer is another vital part of that formula. When we pray we talk to God, and when we open God’s word He talks to us.
We must add spiritual community and fellowship to this formula. We need the inspiration and encouragement we receive from other believers. Witnessing and sharing our faith with secular people is another important part of our spiritual diet. So are service and acts of love and charity.
Are you getting your spiritual nutrition? Or are you suffering from spiritual malnutrition, barely surviving because you are not getting your formula and milk? Although we always need the truth we receive from teachers, we should also hunger for the solid food truth we receive directly from the Lord.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 22, 2013
“No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.” (1Corinthians 2:11 NLT)
Our thought life is like a private chamber. Nobody knows what we are thinking and we do not know what others are thinking. Only the spirit within each of us knows our private thoughts.
In the same way, only the Holy Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God. When we therefore receive the Holy Spirit of God we can know what God is thinking. One translation writes that “incredible as it may seem we actually have the mind of Christ” when we receive the Holy Spirit.
When you study the rest of this profound chapter you will find that Paul applies this reality to teach us a great truth about the Holy Spirit. It is a lesson in what we might call “spiritual educational psychology.” We learn through the eye gate, which means everything we read and observe. And we learn through the ear gate, what we listen to and hear. He also references the heart gate, which means our volition and will to apply the truth we are learning.
He then makes the point that when it comes to learning spiritual truth we need another gate: the gate of the Holy Spirit. When we have received the Holy Spirit we have access to the greatest learning experience possible in our lifetime. Think of this the next time you spend time in God’s Word. When you open the Bible, you have access to the very thoughts of God.
Through God’s Holy Spirit and His Word are you learning the thoughts of God?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 18, 2013
“Exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for…the life that now is and of that which is to come.” (1Timothy 4:7, 8)
As a young man Timothy was probably very interested in physical fitness. If he lived in our culture he would be the type to join a gym and work out regularly. Paul agreed with Timothy that physical fitness was profitable. But, he declared that godly fitness was more profitable. Paul reasoned that physical fitness improves the quality of our life here and now, but godly fitness improves the quality of our eternal life.
How real and practical is our faith in the life to come? I am intrigued with this question: what is godly exercise? The word “godly” means “like God.” What is God- like? We are told in the Word that God is a Spirit (John 4:24.) To exercise ourselves toward godliness therefore means to submit to disciplines in the spiritual dimension that grow us spiritually.
We also read in the Scripture that God is love. To exercise toward godliness means to commit ourselves to a study of the love that is God. At the heart of the love chapter (1 Corinthians 13), Paul passes the love of God through the prism of his Holy Spirit inspired intellect and it comes out on the other side a cluster of 15 virtues. Pursue intentionally what the 15 virtues are and what they will look like when you apply them in all your relationships.
God is light. Exercise yourself in this dimension of God likeness by filling your mind and heart and life with the truth (light) you find in God’s Word. Walking in that light will profit you in this life and in the life to come.
Do you have a routine for spiritual fitness?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 15, 2013
“… Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress…” (Psalm 4:1 KJV)
Just about every emotional challenge we experience today was faced by the psalmist many years ago. If we will observe what he did when he struggled, and receive from God the grace to respond as the hymn writer responded, we can often overcome our emotional challenges.
In Psalm 4 the psalmist faces the emotional challenge of distress. If you drop the first two letters, the word becomes stress. We all have stress. If we do not have stress we atrophy. I have not put stress on my legs for 30 years. Consequently, my legs are the size of your arms. “If you don’t use it you lose it” is the way the physical therapists describe atrophy.
Our loving Father God knows that what is true for our bodies is also true in our spiritual life. God is fiercely committed to the proposition that we are going to grow spiritually. If we have no spiritual stress we will experience spiritual atrophy. He therefore will not only permit, but direct into our lives any stress that will grow us as He gives us the grace to cope with that stress.
God tells us through the prophet Isaiah: “I create calamity” (Isaiah 45:7). Many of us can trust God for the good things that comfort and sustain us. But do we have the faith and the knowledge of God to see Him in the challenges that make the difference for us between spiritual growth and atrophy?
The Greek compound word hupomone, translated as “perseverance” in our English Bibles, literally means “to abide under.” To apply hupomone, we should ask God for the grace to abide under stress, grow spiritually, and not atrophy.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: atrophy, emotional challenges, faith, hupomone, persevering faith, Psalm 4, stress, stress management, trusting Divine Providence, Trusting God | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
October 11, 2013
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ…” (2 Corinthians 5:20)
The third level of commitment to Christ is identified by the preposition “for Christ.” Paul concludes that when we understand all that we have available to us “by Christ,” and we fully appreciate what it means to be “in Christ,” we are therefore ambassadors “for Christ.”
Paul writes:“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18) According to Paul, everyone who has been reconciled to God by Christ has been given the message and the ministry of reconciliation. This means every believer is a minister. The seventh beatitude “blessed are the peacemakers” is another way of saying the same thing. As conduits of God we should plead with people to be reconciled to God.
There is another application to this third level of commitment as demonstrated by the legendary missionary David Livingstone. On one very hot day in Africa, he faced a stream he had to cross. Holding his gear over his head he waded through sewer-like water that had a terrible odor. Covered with decayed plant life up to his chin, when he reached the other side he laid down his gear. Falling prostrate on his face, David Livingstone cried out, “Father I thank you for the privilege of going through this putrid jungle stream for You!”
I was once asked as a pastor to visit a missionary couple who returned after 48 years in China without any welcome or appreciation. Although living in tenement housing and in poor health, they were in wonderful spirits. When I inquired about their attitude they said, “You have to know Who you are doing it for.”
Do you know Who you are doing it for?
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: 2 corinthians 5, ambassadors for Christ, commitment to Christ, David Livingstone, faith, Faith in action, Jesus Christ, living the Gospel, missionaries, The Gospel | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
October 9, 2013
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
I’m indebted to E. Stanley Jones, a missionary who served in India for 50 years, and his superb daily devotional, In Christ, for showing me the importance of this phrase in the New Testament. I highly recommend his book which highlights the use of this phrase by all the New Testament authors.
According to Dr. Jones, when we think about being “in Christ,” we should realize that Paul was not talking about being in religion. Few people have been more into religion than Paul before he met Jesus. Paul was so religious he fervently persecuted followers of Jesus, sure that he was pleasing God by trying to snuff them out.
It is possible to be in religion, but not be in Christ. It is possible to be in church, and not be in Christ. We can be in doctrine, or theology, and not be in Christ. We can be in the ministry and not be in Christ. We can be committed to Christ, and believe a lot of things about Christ, and still not be in Christ.
To be in Christ locates us in a Person, right now.
Unless we are ‘in Christ’ it’s like we have a powerful engine in our automobile but we cannot find our ignition key that turns the engine on. Being ‘in Christ’ is the ignition key, opening us up to experience “all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:3) Paul essentially writes: I live because Christ lives in me and I live in Christ.
Just as you sometimes cannot find the keys to your automobile, have you misplaced this critical spiritual key – are you living by and in Christ?
4 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: 2 Corinthians 5:17, E. Stanley Jones, faith, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, religion, Saint Paul, spiritual blessings, spiritual keys, theology | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
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