Two People in a Pew…

May 1, 2015

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:9-10)

As Jesus profiles what makes a disciple salty light and His solution to the problems and the problem people of this world, He declares that they will be peacemakers who get persecuted in His fourth pair of Beatitudes.

A synonym for “peacemakers” is “reconcilers.”  Paul writes (in Second Corinthians 5:13-6:2), that every believer who has been reconciled to God through Christ is now committed to the message and the ministry of reconciliation.  Today many people are alienated from God, from themselves, and from other people.  The acute need today, therefore, is for reconciliation.  To quote a theologian, who was interpreting the passage referenced above, “It is the will of the Reconciler that the reconciled are to be the vehicles of reconciliation in the lives of the un-reconciled.”

Since reconcilers go where the conflict is happening they are often in great danger.  Such is the case with disciples who are living the fourth pair of Beatitudes.  You would think that if a person had the eight blessed attitudes in their lives others would gather around him or her and sing, “For he’s (or she’s) a jolly good fellow!” But the opposite is often true.  They attack and persecute such a person.

The reason being when they meet such a person they have two choices: They can realize that this is what I should be like, or they can attack that person and try to prove that they’re really not what they appear to be.  Those who are the salt of the earth irritate and burn the moral sores of those who are lost.

So let me ask you, two men (people) in a pew, which one are you?

Dick Woodward, 16 April 2010

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The Third Level of Commitment to Christ

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?

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The Second Level of Commitment to Christ

October 5, 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)

The Apostle Paul’s favorite description of committed disciples is found in the two words “in Christ.”  Paul uses this expression just under 100 times in his inspired letters.  “By Christ” means that by faith we are saved and have access to many blessings. “In Christ” means we are not taking Him into our plans but He is taking us into His plans. It means we can have a relationship with Christ, be united to Him, and draw strength from Him.

Paul also wrote that we have “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3) The heavenly places refer to the spiritual dimension of this life.

While living in Palo Alto, California, I had a friend with a Ph. D in paleontology from Stanford University.  He told me that, as a devout believer, when he finished his master’s degree and started work on his doctor’s degree he surrendered to those teaching him by agreeing that there is no God.

He did not want to live if there is no God.  He therefore decided to commit suicide.  Just before he drank cyanide he bowed his head to pray.  He then laughed at himself.  He was taking his life because there is no God and the last thing he wanted to do was talk to Him.  He then remembered a verse: “God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

He realized we do not find God in a fossil or a test tube.  We find God in the spiritual dimension of this life, “in Christ.”

Are you seeking God in the right places?

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Three Levels of Commitment to Christ

October 1, 2013

“And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.”   (2 Corinthians 5:18 KJV)

In the fifth chapter of Second Corinthians we find one of the most profound passages of Scripture in the New Testament.  In this chapter we have a window into the heart of the Apostle Paul as he writes about what motivates him.  It is a passage that clearly defines the Gospel.  Paul gives us here the vision absolutes that defend why he lived like a madman.  He then clearly writes that every believer who has been reconciled to God by Christ has been commissioned with the message and the ministry of being a peacemaker and a minister of reconciliation.  The passage concludes with a very clear description of the meaning of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

This profound passage also describes three levels of commitment to Jesus Christ that are identified by prepositions.  In the verse quoted above the first ‘entry’ level of commitment to Christ is described as Paul uses the preposition “by Jesus Christ.”  We are saved “by Christ.”  When He saves us He often fills our life with good things the way He filled Peter’s boat with fish (Luke 5: 1-11). It doesn’t take us long to realize that the changes taking place in our lives are by Jesus Christ.  We also discover there are many things we can only do by Jesus Christ.

Study this passage (verse 13 through 21), and see if you can identify two more levels of commitment to Christ.  What are they and what would they look like if you applied them to your walk with Christ?

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Openness

May 29, 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)

STEP NUMBER FIVE:   Be completely open and unbiased about what the will of God for your life might be.

A well paid consultant told me that much of the time when he earns large fees, his clients do not want his consultation.  They simply want him to affirm what they have already decided to do.    The will of God is often just out of our reach because we have our agendas in place when we come to God seeking His will.  If our minds are set like concrete before we converse with God regarding His will for our lives, we are not really seeking His will when we pray or open His Word.  We are actually asking God to bless our will, our agenda, and the way we have decided to go.

We must have the faith to believe the verse quoted above. It is tragically possible for you to miss the will of God for your life because you do not have the faith to believe that God can make you a new creation in Christ.  Your extraordinary potential as a new creation in Christ is one reason why you must be completely open and unbiased as to what the will of God for you may be.  Seeking  God with your mind already made up could rob you of the will of God for a life that is good, perfect and the only life acceptable to your God.  God loves you too much to let you live a life that is only a fragment of the life He has planned for you.

 

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The Best Deal Ever Offered

March 26, 2013

“God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.”   (2 Corinthians 5:21, the Message)

So what is the biggest weekend in the Church year all about?  What does it mean to you and me personally?  The Apostle Paul put it in a nutshell. What it amounts to is the best deal ever offered.

Because of what happened on Good Friday God has offered to put all of our wrong on Jesus and in exchange put all that is right with Jesus on you and me.  That’s the best offer we ever had.  All we have to do to close on the offer is believe it!

In 1949 while I was doing social work in Pittsburgh, late one night a man asked if he could speak with me.  As we talked in the darkness outside a closed recreation center he told me he was wounded in the great Battle of the Bulge toward the end of World War II.  While still under fire he saw a chaplain crawling from one wounded man to another.  This chaplain apparently had something very important he said to those men.  He hoped the chaplain would make it to him but after taking several hits the chaplain didn’t move anymore.

He said he had been wondering for several years what it was the chaplain had to say to those men.  He said after watching me for a couple of month he told his wife he believed I could tell him what that chaplain was telling those wounded men.  I told him about the greatest deal ever offered.

This Easter do you have a message for dying people?  Do you have a message for people who are going to live?

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