Is God Enough? -- 1 John 2:15-17

1 John 2:15-17


"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." (NKJV)

I tend to do one of three things in my car. I either sing to music, bemoan my current situation, or talk to the Father. Yes, usually I’m driving alone, particularly these days. Twice a day, like most Americans, I commute to and from work. I’m fortunate in that my commute is short (about 30 minutes), but it is a rather mundane drive, not from the scenery (which is beautiful), but from the repetitiveness. Because there’s only one road from my house to my school, whether I want to or not, I take the same route everyday. Consequently, during the trip, I either sing to music, complain about my current state of affairs, or talk to the Father.

This particular day I was complaining about what I thought might be the rather permanent loss of a relationship I cherished. I’m old enough to know that sometimes people move apart for any number of reasons and sometimes there’s not particularly anything one can do to stop that. But that didn’t comfort me in the least. I’m rather a loner of a person, so the loss of one relationship leaves a big hole in my social life. Regardless, I was complaining and feeling rather sorry for myself. In the middle of my diatribe, the Lord interrupted me and said, "Robin, aren’t I enough?" To be honest, His question to me took me very much by surprise! Not because intellectually I couldn’t answer the question, but because what came crashing was the reality that I do often try to fill my life and my happiness with more than God, with things other than Him.

It was an eye opener for me.

We spend our lives looking for solutions, for amusements, for ambitions to satisfy our desires. We run around thinking that what we see with our eyes and experience with our lives will somehow, someday make us content. Meanwhile, the Lord waits, wondering when we will realize that He is enough!

In 1 Samuel 13, the prophet Samuel was rebuking the Israelites. The Lord had delivered them from Egypt and established them in the Promised Land (what is, today, the lands of Israel and Palestine). He had created, as a form of government, a theocracy; the Lord was their ruler, their king. But the people had disobeyed Him (multiple times) and had left living in the land Gentile peoples who constantly made war on the Israelites. So the Israelites got the grand idea that what might bring them peace would be to have a king like the other nations. This is what Samuel says in the middle of his sermon to them:

"You came to me and said that you wanted a king to reign over you, even though the Lord your God was already your king." (1 Samuel 12:12 NLT).

"The Lord God was already your king." "Robin, aren’t I enough?"

The Hebrew word for peace is "shalom" and it means much more than the absence of conflict. It means having peace with God. If we want to be content, we have to take our eyes (and our love) off the world and turn to God who wants to be our king! We have to surrender fully to Him and allow Him to order our lives. We have to turn away from loving the world and begin to love God with our whole mind, heart, and strength. God needs to become enough for us.

The things we run after in this life, all of them are temporary! They are passing away. It doesn’t matter how much money or power or fame we can accumulate, things are temporary: relationships, possessions, achievements, even ministries! None of it is lasting. Only the Father and His will are eternal. If we do His will, we will live with Him forever. If we run after the things of this world, we will run forever, without ever reaching, without ever fully achieving, without ever finding that peace and contentment we so desire.

"Do not love the world or the things in the world." When we love, we throw our complete and total commitment to that person or that thing. Think about "falling in love," those first few months of lust and hormones and complete enthrallment with that person. It’s hard to think about anything else and all we want is to be with them. That is how the Lord wants us to think about Him. He wants us to turn away from the temporary things that surround us and to fully throw our commitment, our pleasure, and our hopes on Him!

He is enough! And He has waited patiently for us to discover that truth.

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. 

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Spiritual Maturity -- Hebrews 5:11-6:2

Hebrews 5:11-6:2


"About this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us go on toward perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith toward God, instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment" (NRSV).

If I have to listen to one more "come to Jesus" sermon, I think I will fall over and die.

Don’t misunderstand me. I believe that we, as Christians, are called to witness, to evangelize, to tell others about the saving grace of Jesus. I believe every nonbeliever needs to hear the message over and over until they accept it. I believe in tent meetings and crusades and street witnessing. I believe in sharing the gospel with anyone and everyone who isn’t saved.

What I don’t believe in is giving the message of salvation over and over to the Body of Christ. What I’m tired of is hearing the same, threadbare sermons about "coming to Jesus" week after week from a multitude of pulpits. What I’m tired of is pastors believing that their only job is to get people saved.

There is so much more to being a Christian. Surrendering to the Lord Jesus is only the first step.

We have, I think, become the victims of bad doctrine. Everyone has doctrine because doctrine is simply what we believe and how that works out in our lives. That’s why I believe so strongly in people actually studying and becoming wise about Christianity, what they believe, and what they are being taught. And I believe we have become victims of bad doctrine, not because the doctrine itself it necessarily so bad (or so wrong), but because it has propelled us as a nation in a direction that is spiritually unhealthy.

What is that doctrine? It is the doctrine of the sinner’s prayer (which, by the way, is not in the Bible). There is a belief that says that all a person has to do is "say the sinner’s prayer" and they are automatically and forever saved, regardless of what happens after that event. It’s kind of like getting people vaccinated. Once you’ve received the vaccination, you don’t have to worry about your health anymore because you’re "protected." The problem is, there is so much more to being a Christian. But we have, as a Church, "become dull in understanding." Even our pastors—the vast majority of them—are preaching pablum (baby food) from the pulpits. I believe they are doing it with every good intent, believing that this is what their congregations desire. And meanwhile, the Church is falling asleep every Sunday, only awake for the musical entertainment that masquerades as worship.

Are these harsh words? Absolutely! But we are dying as a Church and we are losing the next generations because we are failing to become mature and real in our faith! Think about it. We have lost Sunday School and Sunday evening services where instruction in basic Biblical values and knowledge were taught, trading instead for weekly coffee klatches and gossip sessions in members homes. We don’t carry our Bibles to church anymore because the snippet of scripture that has been chosen for the weekly sermon is posted on the big screen. We have replaced pews (which actually kept us awake) for big chairs with cup holders and we are amusing ourselves during the really boring sermons with Facebook and Twitter on our cell phones. Meanwhile, pastors, in a desperate attempt to keep the seats full and the offering baskets overflowing have convinced us that the Church’s only job is to "get people saved" and we are done.

We are dying! And the young people around us are honest enough to recognize that the emperor’s new clothes are simply red long johns. (Who wants to live like that?)

The writer to the Hebrews explained why the Church continued to be satisfied with baby food:


"Solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil."

"Who have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil." Do you know that many Christians, whether they will admit it or not, really don’t know what actions are sinful? They look at their "leaders" and see them drinking alcohol, gambling, having adulterous affairs, growing rich (usually on the backs of much poorer people in the congregation), getting speeding tickets, watching very inappropriate television shows and movies (even talking about them from the pulpit), and other various nefarious things. Based on these role models, many Christians don’t see what the problem is, so they choose to engage themselves in the same sins. They haven’t been trained by practice—or even by example—to distinguish good from evil.

We are losing the Church, and the Lord Himself, through His Word, lays the fault directly at the feet of every man and woman who is, in any capacity, a leader of a church.

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love" (Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV).

The Lord Jesus Himself has created leadership within the Church for the sole purpose of teaching believers how to mature in the Lord so that they are fully prepared to do the work of ministry. Leaders were not created (or called) so that they could have the best parking spaces or choose the songs they like to be sung or play golf on Thursdays or tout their favorite ideologies. Leaders were not given to the Church so that they could be on national television or make lots of money from books and conferences and CD’s or get paid for speaking on Sunday mornings. Leaders were given to the Church solely for the purpose of making sure that every believer in their congregation matured to the point in which that believer was prepared to do the work of ministry, to the point in which that believer could distinguish good from evil.

That. Isn’t. Happening. And because it isn’t, we, as a Church, are dying.

What did the writer of the Hebrews consider to be "baby food" teaching?

• Repentance from dead works

• Faith toward God

• Instruction about baptism

• Instruction about the laying on of hands

• Instruction about resurrection of the dead

• Instruction about eternal judgment

These are, according to the writer of Hebrews, the basic no-brainers of the faith. These are the things that every believer should be well versed in by the end of the first year or so of living as a Christian. And yet, many (I might even say most) Christians in America aren’t versed in a number of these things at all. Otherwise, they wouldn’t vacillate about the surety and eternity of hell every time some obviously unsaved celebrity dies. In fact, my guess would be that there are a hefty number of "saved" believers in our midst who have never even been baptized and others who can’t explain why they themselves submitted to baptism.

And this is the baby stuff!

"Solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us go on toward perfection . . ."

The word translated here "perfection" is teleiosis which denotes "an end accomplished as the effect of a process" (Vines G5050, emphasis mine). Salvation isn’t—can’t be—a one-time event. It is a process in which the believer matures in the knowledge, understanding, and lifestyle of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is a process that our leaders are commanded to teach us both through their words and their life models. That being said, it’s high time that leaders themselves begin to learn how to distinguish good from evil by purging the junk from their own lives and starting to live as humble servants of the Most High God, rather than as CEO’s of successful (and sometimes unsuccessful) companies. As leaders, we need to get rid of the titles (Senior Pastor, President, Chairman, etc.), the trappings (big offices, expensive cars, expense accounts), and the lifestyles (expensive homes, vacations, and other privileges) and begin to live like Jesus really mattered to us. We need to begin to get rid of the cultural trappings in our services and dig into prayer. We need to begin to get aggressive about the junk (Can I say "sin"?) in our own lives so that we can teach others how to practice distinguishing good from evil. We need to get serious about what we need to do in order to mature our Church. It’s going to be uncomfortable, it’s going to be a sacrifice, and often it’s going to hurt. But if we don’t do it, we are signing our own death warrants.

And those of us in the pews (or big chairs with cup holders) need to start demanding that our leaders do this or find a church where the leaders are serous about being Christians! WE NEED TO GROW UP! We need to "choose this day whom [we] will serve" (Joshua 24:15 NRSV).

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Changing What Is Right -- Amos 6:11-12

Amos 6:11-12


"The Lord has given the command; the large house will be broken into pieces, and the small house into bits. Horses do not run on rocks, and people do not plow rocks with oxen. But you have changed fairness into poison; you have changed what is right into a bitter taste." (NCV)

Morality is the set of beliefs that a person or a culture embraces that determines what is right and what is wrong. Morality can be set outside of oneself by a religious system or by cultural practices or it can be established inwardly by what one decides.

Everyone has morality. Even the worst criminal has morality. The question isn’t whether or not we, as people, have a moral code, but rather if that code honors what God wants or honors what our own inward impulses tell us. In other words, what establishes our morality?

Amos accuses the Israelites of changing their moral code. Originally their morality was established by God and outlined in the first five books of the Bible, called the Tanakh by the Jews. That morality detailed how the Jews would worship God, what was a sin and how sins would be forgiven, and how they would interact with each other and with those who weren’t Jewish. But Amos now states, "You have changed what is right into a bitter taste." In order to justify their choices and actions, the Israelites had changed their moral code. Now, what had been wrong was now considered right and it was a bitter taste to the Lord God. They no longer obeyed and honored God, but established a moral code that was against His laws.

Does this sound like America? Things that were considered "the right thing to do" are now being acclaimed as discriminatory and wrong. What has become the ultimate judge of morality in America isn’t what is right, but rather individual rights. (Two totally different things.) Everybody gets to do what makes them happy, what they want to do . . . and because of it, America is falling apart, literally imploding from the inside. Why? Because we have chosen a system of morality based on other than God’s character. And since only God is good and righteous, any other moral system is the opposite; it is sinful.

So what moral system should we embrace? If we want to obey the Lord Jesus, He summed up all of what the Bible teaches in two short commands:

"But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’" (Matthew 22:34-40 NKJV).

It will likely take eternity for us to truly understand all that is spoken in these two commands:

• You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

• You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

To love as God loves. The Greek word here is agapeo which is sacrificial love, the love that puts aside self to give all and do all that the other person needs. God loves us with agape love; it was this love that compelled Him to come down from Heaven, to take the form of a man, and to die on the cross for our sins. It was this love that compelled the Lord Jesus to live without wealth or resources or power, but rather to allow His own creation to abuse and torture Him. It was this love that provided the only means that existed to reconcile us with the Father. And it is this love that lives inside us in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, without the Spirit, we cannot love God this way. It is only through His Spirit that we can love Him as we are commanded and it is only through His Spirit that we can then reach out to a hurting, sinful world and love them as we are loved.

What’s also interesting is the Greek form of what the Lord Jesus said. It doesn’t say: "You shall love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself," but says rather "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Do you catch the difference? It isn’t about loving yourself at all, but is rather all about loving your neighbor as if your neighbor was you! Even that has been turned around backwards in so many churches. In fact, so much of the false teaching in churches today is based on this one turned-backwards doctrine . . . that we have to learn how to love ourselves . . . and that wrong doctrine is based on a misinterpretation of this scripture. Scripture never said we have to love ourselves; it is enough that God loves us! His valuation of us is enough; it is sufficient. Rather, we are to love others as if they were us! This is why Paul teaches:

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself" (Philippians 2:3 NKJV).

The two Greek words here are very revealing. The first, translated "selfish ambition," is eritheia and means "seeking to win followers" (Vine’s G2052). Thus, we can say that it means seeking to be popular with others. It also contains the connotations of self-seeking and ambition. It is all about self, how we can manipulate others for our own purposes.

The second, translated "conceit," is kenodoxia, means self esteem (Strong’s G2754). The very thing we are told to run after, to find, to develop! And yet Paul tells us—the Holy Spirit commands us—to let nothing be done through self-esteem. Why? Because our value does not—can NOT—come from how we think or feel about ourselves, but must come from the value that God places on us. And that value was already determined at the Cross. Our price was the Lord’s death. We were bought and paid for by His blood. There is no higher price anywhere in creation! And that is our value.

So when we discard God’s morality to embrace our own, when we slough off the price the Lord Jesus paid for us to have "self esteem," when we try to learn to love ourselves before we love those around us, we are trading what is actually right for what is bitter tasting. What we have to decide is what we want to believe. This day, either cling to what you think is right or choose to believe that the God of the universe has established right and wrong and then trust Him to order your life accordingly.

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

God Made This Promise -- Amos 6:8

Amos 6:8


"The Lord God made this promise; the Lord God All-Powerful says: ‘I hate the pride of the Israelites, and I hate their strong buildings, so I will let the enemy take the city and everything in it.’" (NCV)

I have to admit that by the time I got to this verse, I didn’t know what to think or what to write. I mean, after going this far through Amos, the warnings from the Lord were repetitive. Over and over and over again, the Lord warned that if Israel didn’t turn from their sin, He was going to punish them. I sat yesterday at my computer screen and didn’t write anything. I just didn’t know what to say. And then the Lord spoke.

"Robin, you’re a teacher. Do you ever say anything just once to your students?"
Well, to be honest, I wish that I could (say things just once) because I feel like I often sound like a Chatty Cathy¹ doll. Just pull my string and I’ll say it one more time. But the Lord was right. I never say something once to my students, but rather over and over and over again until they get it. You see, as a teacher, much of what I say is important, but my students aren’t very interested in hearing it. What I have to say, while important, is often boring or challenging or a precursor to hard work and my students would much rather play and talk and avoid anything difficult.


Isn’t that true of all of us? Today I have to go to a two-hour meeting at work. I know it will be boring and I’m dreading going. I’m already trying to figure out ways to cognitively space out so that I can tolerate just sitting there and listening to someone drone on and on. And while I’m writing this, I’m realizing that I’ve failed before I’ve begun unless I change my perspective. You see, this meeting isn’t about me because nothing of what I do in life is about me. This meeting—and every other opportunity I have today—is about how I can minister the fruit of the Spirit to those around me. And part of that fruit is kindness, gentleness, patience, and self-control.

The Lord gave the warnings—multiple warnings—to the Israelites and to us because we never hear Him the first time! If we heard Him the first time—if we truly believed that what He says is the truth—we would immediately put aside our sin and line up our lives and choices with His commands.

But we don’t!

Instead, we fudge and we whine and we look for ways of escaping, even if we do believe that God is God and will do what He says He will do. Why? Because we are self-indulgent and egocentric. Because we want what we want, regardless of whether or not it lines up with His commands and His will. Because we really don’t trust Him to take care of us completely.

Let’s look at the two beginning phrases of this verse:

• The Lord God made this promise

• The Lord God All-Mighty says

The first title "Lord God" is Adonai YHWH.

"Adonai is the plural of Adon, meaning ‘Lord, Lord, LORD, master, or owner. . . . The plural form of Adonai, like the plural form of Elohim, is regularly used with singular verbs and modifiers, so it is best to construe the Name as an ‘emphatic plural’ or ‘plural of majesty.’" (from http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Names_of_G-d/Adonai)

So we get two things from Adonai. First, God is our master, our owner. As the Creator of the universe, that makes sense. God made us; we are His by ownership. And understand when I say He made us. He made us from nothing. Usually, if someone makes something, they take already existing materials and then use those materials to make something. Even those of us who write (or compose music) take existing materials like words or notes to create something "new." Nothing existed before God created us. He made the atoms (or smaller particles of the universe). He made the laws of science and nature that hold things together and allow them to interact without destroying themselves. He made time itself. When we talk about God owning everything, He owns it because nothing that we know existed before He spoke it into existence. Quite obviously, it’s His playground and He has the right to make any rules He wants. Secondly, from Adonai we understand the nature of the Trinity: one God, three Persons. God as a singular God Who is also plural in existence. Even in Amos—long before the earthly birth of Jesus—the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost existed in harmony together.

The second part of the this title "Lord God" (or Adonai YHWH) is His name, YHWH. YHWH, from the Hebrew, is the intimate name of God, the name that God gave Himself so His people. Within it lies all the promises, provisions, and characteristics of God that exist in His relationship with us. Pronounced in the English either Jehovah or Yahweh, this name promises that He Who began a good work in us will complete it (Philippians 1:6).

The second title "Lord God All-Mighty" is YHWH Elohim ‘Tsaba.

Elohim is God’s name that means ruler, judge, or true God (Strongs H430). ‘Tsaba means the God of the angel armies. Thus, just in these two titles, we see that God is establishing Himself with His people . . . with us! He is our owner, our master, but He is also the master that longs for an intimate relationship with us. The master Who has promised that He will provide, He will make a way. Where He commands perfection, He also perfectly provides! Where He desires righteousness, He also makes a way for us to be righteous. And then Amos follows with the next title: The God Who is the judge, the true God in control of the angel armies, the God Who is able to bring about judgment should mercy be rejected.

God warned Israel again and again because they refused to listen. Even when they listened and turned to Him, it was usually only briefly and then they would return to their creature comforts. The Israelites firmly believed that if they ignored God, the judgments would never come. But they were wrong! The God of the angel armies loves us enough to bring judgment upon us for the purpose of continuing to try to compel us back to Him! He never stops warning; He never stops loving! But He will also never stop being the God of justice and judgment. His sinless perfection doesn’t allow it.

He is, even now, providing a way of escape for all those Who would care to listen, Who would trust Him enough to throw themselves on His loving mercy. He is, even now, calling, calling, calling for us to repent, to turn from our sins, and to willingly obey His commands. He is even now the Lord God All-Mighty, Jehovah of the angel armies, YHWH Who came and died to provide us with salvation and everlasting life if we choose to trust Him.

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. 

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Just this Once -- Philippians 3:13-14

Philippians 3:13-14

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (NKJV)


"Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead." Paul wasn’t just talking about the past and the future. He was talking about sin and spiritual growth. How do I know this? Because he starts by saying that he doesn’t count himself to have apprehended. What hasn’t he apprehended? The "prize of the upward call of God" which literally means the benefits of salvation. Paul clearly is stating that while we cannot earn the gift of salvation, once we have received the gift, there are things that we must do in order to continue in that gift.

We are either moving toward God or moving away from Him.

Our relationship with God cannot be static; it cannot ever remain the same. We cannot think that we have matured spiritually to the point where we can rest on past experiences or fully live for Him based on what we learned yesterday. We are either moving toward Him or away from Him. Each day, each moment is an opportunity to decide whose we are. Do we belong to ourselves? Then we may choose to indulge our flesh, to do something which is neither physically nor spiritually healthy. "Well, it’s just this once," you say. One candy bar . . . one order of fries . . . one R-rated movie . . . one sexually-charged date . . . one pencil taken off someone else’s desk. "No one is really hurt. It was just this once."

"Just this once." Is there such a thing? I don’t think so. We are either moving toward God or moving away from Him. There is no such thing as "just one sin" because even that one sin moves us away from God and once we are moving in that direction, changing directions becomes difficult. Think about it. Have you ever driven in San Francisco with its horribly-inclined streets? It’s almost impossible to stop mid-block because the slope is so severe. And, many times, if you do take a chance and stop (or have to stop due to traffic), you find the car sliding backwards even if that’s not what you want it to do.

In our relationship with God, there is no static motion. We cannot stand still spiritually. We are either moving toward God or moving away from Him. We are either choosing righteousness or choosing sin. We are either pressing toward the goal of the upward call or we are disqualifying ourselves. Paul wrote:

"So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:26-27NKJV).

"So that I should not be disqualified." The word here is adokimos which translates also as "reprobate." It is the same word used in 2 Corinthians 13:5 where Paul says, " Examine yourselves to see if your faith is really genuine" (NLT). It is the marker between being truly saved and simply thinking you are. It is literally the difference between heaven and hell. Rather than believe that, because of God’s mercy and grace, we can sin over and over and still serve Him, we need to begin to live our lives as if we couldn’t even do the sin "just this once." In this fight between God and Satan, between good and evil, between righteousness and the lust of our flesh, there is no "just this once." We are either moving toward God or moving away from Him. This needs to become the litany of our lives, the decision of each moment. Are we moving toward God? Each moment needs to be lived pressing upward to His high calling.

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. 

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

You Are Worth It! -- Philippians 1:20-26

Philippians 1:20-26


"It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again" (NRSV).

"To remain in the flesh is more necessary for . . . your progress and joy in the faith."

Paul had learned that, if someone is truly a committed Christian, is truly serving the Lord, being alive here on this planet is always hard work and often suffering. In another passage, Paul lists the litany of sufferings that he had experienced as a result of being a missionary:

"In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches" (2 Corinthians 11:23b-38 NKJV).

And yet, he concludes in Philippians that to "remain in the flesh"—to experience those sufferings here on earth—were more important for the believers he loved so he would continue here for their sakes rather than go to heaven (at this point) to be with the Lord Jesus. What would make Paul feel this way? Why would he make this decision, to continue to face suffering for someone else? "[It] is more necessary for you . . . for your progress and joy in the faith." Why would the Lord Jesus allow Himself to be tortured and murdered through the crucifixion? Because it was more necessary for you—for me—for our progress and joy in the faith.

We were worth it to Him! The churches were worth it to Paul. There was placed in Paul’s heart and soul the love of the Holy Spirit. Paul was allowing the Holy Spirit to live out the fruit of the Spirit in his life, the fruit of which the characteristics are "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV). And because Paul had the Spirit’s love working out through his life, he was able to say "I will remain in the flesh for your sakes. You are worth it!"

You are worth it.

Paul could say that, live that, breath that, because to him, living was Christ and Christ loves us, each and everyone of us with a love we cannot begin to understand. When we become Christians, we begin to experience the outpouring of that love through us to those around us. If we want to be sensitive to the Spirit, we will begin to want to sacrifice so that those around us can understand that they are worth it, not because of who they are, but because of Who Christ is and what He did for us. We can become like Paul who was willing to continue living his litany of sufferings for the churches. Paul wasn’t a masochist. He didn’t like to suffer, but he embraced that suffering as necessary so that the people in the fledgling churches to whom he was writing would continue to grow spiritually. "To remain in the flesh is more necessary for . . . your progress and joy in the faith."

You are worth it.

This concept of embracing suffering for the sake of someone else is often rejected. "We need to protect ourselves and our personal time and space." "We need to practice ‘tough love’ and not allow people to abuse us." "We need to love ourselves and take care of ourselves first." Paul wouldn’t have understood any of these as being Christian values or lifestyles. He only understood pouring out his life—facing, even embracing suffering—for their sakes. If we are going to become the kind of Christians who, like Paul, change the world with the power of the gospel, then we are going to have to become the kind of Christians who can embrace suffering, saying to those around us, "You are worth it!"

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. 

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Trust Riches or Trust God -- Amos 6:4-7

Amos 6:4-7


"How terrible it will be for you who sprawl on ivory beds surrounded with luxury, eating the meat of tender lambs and choice calves. You sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and you fancy yourselves to be great musicians, as King David was. You drink wine by the bowlful, and you perfume yourselves with exotic fragrances, caring nothing at all that your nation is going to ruin. Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives. Suddenly, all your revelry will end." (NLT)

In the past several years, a number of prominent Christian leaders have lost their ministries due to personal activities that involved sexual sin. Even this week, a young pastor who has one of the largest mega-church ministries in the Northwest has been asked to step down, at least temporarily, while he is investigated for inappropriate relationships and demeanor toward his staff and congregation. Even some others who were brought low and have been "restored" either completely or partially are still having reported about them that they act arrogantly with those around them.

There is an arrogance that comes from power, a self-indulgence that is almost impossible to ignore. Amos condemns the rich Israelites who, because they were rich and powerful, surrounding themselves with the accouterments of luxury, complementing themselves on how wonderful they were while at the same time ignoring the fact that their nation—that for which they were responsible—was going to hell in a handbasket. Wealth and power, those things which make it possible for us to insulate ourselves from the cares of the world, make it very difficult for a person to depend on God. It is possible, but it’s also very difficult.

"Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’ So Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not bear false witness," "Do not defraud," "Honor your father and your mother."’ And he answered and said to Him, ‘Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.’ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.’ But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, ‘Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, ‘Who then can be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.’"(Mk 10:17-27 NLT).

"How hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!" This story isn’t about being rich; it’s about trusting in riches, trusting in money for our future.

I’ve often wondered why so many American Christians are so focused on money. They are either spending it or saving it. In fact, there are churches in America that have large savings accounts and investment portfolios. Many Christians I know have large investment portfolios; they claim they are saving "for the future." What future is that? A future without God? Because our Father has promised to take care of us each day. And what does it matter if we live in riches or poverty? What would it matter if we had to turn off our phones or our cable TV? Would it change our relationship with the Lord Jesus? (Well, it might change it . . . for the better!) What are we so afraid of?

The Israelites in Amos ignored the reality around them and created a false reality built on this earth’s wealth. Christians in America ignore the reality around them and live in a false reality built on this earth’s wealth. How do we do that? What do we ignore?

We ignore the fact that our children should not be attending public schools. We protest about what’s happening in those schools, but we keep sending our kids so that we can either go to work (and continue to bring in money) or so that we can have that time to ourselves. And we are losing that generation completely! According to one study, 75% to 90% of church members of the mainstream churches in America believe in evolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_of_support_for_evolution). In a separate study, 44% of American Protestants believe that homosexuality is either not a sin or isn’t a moral issue (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/09/southern-baptists-confront-a-third-way-on-homosexuality-and-sin/). With just these two issues alone, this is a huge turnaround from 100 years ago and it is, many Christian theologians believe, due to the influence of public schools.

We ignore the fact that television and the media is changing how we think and how we react to life around us. If we ignore the conspiracy issues of whether or not there are imbedded messages in media, there is definitely an influence that occurs when we surround ourselves with secularism through fictional media. For example, one of the things I’ve heard repeatedly from Christians is that no parent should have to outlive their child. Do you know that is an idea from Hollywood? Children have been dying before their parents since the very beginning of time (Cain was murdered long before Adam and Eve died). While the loss of a child is very sad, we make it worse when our expectation of life is unrealistic.

We ignore the fact that we use fiction (movies, television, video games, books, etc.) and entertainment to insulate us from life’s pain rather than turning to the Lord Jesus Who is our only hope in times of trouble (Jeremiah 14:8). When life is overwhelming, we turn to liquor, smoking, drugs (both prescription and illegal), partying, watching TV, going to movies, going on vacation, rather than face life head on.

We ignore the fact that we have been blessed with material riches in other to bless others, not to indulge ourselves. We don’t need fancy cars, expensive houses, delicious food, new clothes, or varied entertainments to live. We need the Lord! And so does the world around us.

I have a dear aunt and uncle (who are now with the Lord) who, in their older years, listened to a new call of God on their life. This was a couple who, except for a time in Florida with a traveling evangelist and a time in Ohio with a church there, had lived in Southern California their entire lives. They had ministered some across the country and a few times in Europe, but for the most part, stayed where it was familiar; this was were the Lord had put them. They didn’t hold down jobs, but trusted God to supply. They had been able to buy a small house in a poorer neighborhood, but were happy there and continued to minister up and down California in the churches that knew them.

Then one day all that changed.

The Lord took them to Asia. It was there they saw the abject poverty of mothers and children, children who were the offspring of American and European soldiers, soldiers who had sex and left, left the women with children who were reviled and rejected by their Asian cultures. Amer-Asian children. This couple began to pour themselves and every dime they could raise into a group of homes for these children, many of whom had been abandoned even by their mothers. My aunt and uncle limited their own meals to one or two a day (and half of that usually being saved to share with their own grandchildren who were living in poverty). They often neglected their own health in order to make sure these homes were adequate for these precious children. They began trying to find homes in America for some of the abandoned children, and even at their own older age, adopting two themselves. Meanwhile the publishing company which held the copyrights on my aunt’s music never paid her a dime of royalties. It didn’t matter. They trusted God and the ministry thrived. They trusted God and people donated money for dental bills. They trusted God and He would provide another used car for them to drive. They trusted God and they always had food and a roof over their heads. They didn’t need a portfolio or savings account. They knew God would take care of them.

I often wonder, in our obsession to plan for the future and to insulate the present, if we miss those precious ministry opportunities. Is God calling us to something greater and we are ignoring Him because we can’t miss the next edition of "The Simpsons?" Are we too insulated from life that we have also insulated ourselves from God as well?

The fact is, whether in judgment or in death, suddenly our revelry will end. The Lord Jesus will come for us. What will we say to Him? More importantly, what will He say to us? I hope He will say to me, "Well done, good and faithful servant." (Matthew 25:21 NKJV). Nothing else matters.

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. 

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com