Not All About Me

“Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” —Philippians 2:4

Last week I wrote about taking a vacation and Jesus telling His disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31). Actually, I didn’t tell you the whole story. In Mark 6, Jesus did take the disciples by boat to a solitary place, but a large crowd had run ahead and awaited their arrival. Jesus’ response is both inspiring and challenging for us. “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34).

Upon seeing the crowd, Jesus didn’t say, “Woe is Me.” Instead, Jesus put their needs before His own and began to teach them as their shepherd. When the time came to eat, the disciples wanted to send them away, but Jesus said, “You feed them.” Through our Lord’s compassion and the disciples’ obedience, they fed 5,000 men not counting women and children. One of Jesus’ most famous miracles came through a group of exhausted men in desperate need of a day off.

Jesus’ reaction to the crowd demonstrated His sacrificial nature. Philippians 2:5-6 further describes how Jesus put our needs before His own welfare. Jesus, who was God (meaning it is really all about Him), emptied Himself and became a servant. When God created human beings, He knew the price Jesus would have to pay. When Jesus came to earth in the incarnation at Christmas, He had already counted the cost. When praying in the garden, “Not My will, but Yours be done,” Jesus willingly gave His life and was separated from His heavenly Father for you and me.

As I prepared for vacation this year, many people encouraged me to get away and rest. I usually responded, “Oh, it’s going to be an exciting family vacation.” Darlene and I, her mother, and my daughter’s family including our two grandchildren (a seven-year-old and an almost two-year-old) will load into a seven passenger van and travel eleven hours to South Carolina. We’re going to have an exciting time. “Exciting time” is code for I will come home exhausted looking forward to two weeks back at work in order to get rested up.

I remind myself, it’s not all about me. I thank God (really I do) for the awesome privilege of spending two weeks at my brother’s lake house in the mountains of South Carolina and using all his water toys for free. I praise the Lord for having Darlene’s mother with us in Johnstown and for healthy grandkids. God is so good. I praise Him that as a father, a son-in-law, and a pappy, I can look to the interests of others and bless them. It really is not all about me.

What are you wrestling with in your life today? What troubles you? Are you living for yourself or for others? Are you allowing the attitude that Jesus Christ had to be yours, or are you continually asking, “What’s in it for me?” If you want to be truly refreshed in the Spirit, put on the attitude of Jesus. Allow someone else’s needs to come before your own and serve them in the power of the Lord. You never know, a miracle might just happen. And in the meantime, bless someone and take them on a vacation with you. 

Take a Vacation

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work."    —Genesis 2:2

Have you ever heard church leaders complain about low summer attendance? Invariably, someone will say, “What if God took a vacation?” I am not really much for using guilt to get people to serve the Lord. The first time I saw a church sign that read, “CH—CH, What’s missing, UR” I was amused. But now when I read such a sign, I am reminded of the critical cry of a dying ministry. Rather than browbeat the Church for low attendance on a summer Sunday, encourage people to take a vacation. We all need some time off.

A day off or a vacation as ordained by God should be a time for recharging our souls, replenishing our minds, and refreshing our bodies. If your body needs exercise, then a vacation should be a time of exertion. If your body needs rest, then time off should be spent recuperating. Jesus told the disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31). But a vacation should never be an escape from morality or a time to forget about the Lord.

What if God did actually take a vacation? Well He did! At least, God took a day off. The scriptures tell us that not only did God take a day off, but He institutionalized the day off. The fourth of the Ten Commandments reads, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8-10).

Some may wonder why most Christians observe Sunday, the first day of the week, as their Sabbath rest and not Saturday, the seventh, as prescribed by the Old Testament. The Jews observe Saturday as their Sabbath, and a few Christian denominations still do, but the early Church began meeting on Sunday calling it the Lord’s Day, the day of Jesus’ resurrection. Each Sunday became a celebration, an anniversary of Easter. John writes in Revelations 1:10, “On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.” Several places in the New Testament we read about the Church gathering “on the first day of the week” (John 20:19, Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 6:2).

If God took a moral day off, then prayers would not get answered. Our sins would not be forgiven. If God completely severed Himself from any relationship with His Creation, the world might fall apart. Colossians 1:17 tells us that “in him all things hold together.” A vacation may be a break from one’s responsibilities at their local church but not from the spiritual responsibilities of being a Christian. You may miss a Sunday with your home church, but why not check out a new ministry at your vacation setting. You may miss Sunday School or your home group but take a moment as a family to have devotions and pray together.

This year, take a vacation. You may stay home because of finances, but change your routine. And remember to make your time of rest holy unto the Lord. Don’t forget the three Ps of a godly vacation: Play, Pray, and Pay. Play and refresh your soul, mind, and body. Pray and draw close to God. And Pay—don’t forget to continue to support your local church and the ministries you sustain. Have a great summer!

High Cost of Freedom

“It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed…but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”—1 Peter 1:18-19

Celebrating Independence Day, known by many as the Fourth of July, has come to mean eating picnic lunches, watching fireworks, and traveling. Along with the traveling we may also complain about the high price of gasoline, but few of us take the time to consider the high cost of the freedom we enjoy. Try it just once. Read over the Declaration of Independence.

The last line of the Declaration of Independence reads, “For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were not radical wild-eyes ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security and possessions, but they valued freedom more. Many of them lost their lives and their fortunes, but not their sacred honor.

This Independence Day, let us pause and remember those men and women who paid dearly for our freedom. On Memorial Day, we remembered those who gave their lives for our freedom. We remember the 618,000 who died in the Civil War and the nearly half a million who died in World War 2. World War 1, Korea, and Vietnam deaths totaled over 200,000. In recent years and even today, although the numbers do not compare to those of earlier conflicts, we hear reports of young soldiers who pay the ultimate price for freedom. The death toll from Operation Iraqi Freedom is nearly 4,500 and from Afghanistan’s Operation Enduring Freedom over 1,600. The high cost of freedom includes the sacrifices made by military families as well.

Jesus signed our spiritual Declaration of Independence on the Cross with His blood. Just as the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence declared the colonies free from England, so Jesus Christ declared human beings to be free from sin and sin’s punishment. John 19:30 records, “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” Another passage declares, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

What have you done to live out Jesus’ Declaration of Independence for you? Just as the American Colonies had to live out or live into the declaration they had made, so each of us must decide if we will receive Jesus’ offer of salvation. Our freedom from sin and death cost Jesus Christ, God’s Son, God Himself, His life. The scripture rightly asks, “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3)

How did you celebrate Independence Day this July 4^th? A better more eternal question might be, “How will you respond to God’s offer of salvation and freedom from sin and death?” God loves you so much that He gave Jesus Christ to die in your place. God’s Holy Spirit is calling each of us to respond and receive His love and forgiveness. Let us consider the high cost of our freedom this day and invite Jesus Christ into our hearts and lives.

Holiness and Love Meet

Be holy, because I am holy.—Leviticus 11:44

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.—1 John 4:11

The absolute cutest thing my granddaughter does is to put her hands together at mealtime and questioningly look to me and say, “Pray?” I wrote about that last week. The second most touching thing is when she reaches her arms up to me and says, “Hold you?” She actually means please hold me, but that’s what makes it so cute. This week, God has been showing me another pair of His attributes: God’s holiness and God’s love. Whenever we see holiness and love come together, we notice.

I attended a memorial service last week for a dear friend. This man died at age 87 and lived and worked right up to the last few weeks of his life. The community and his family and friends knew him as a man of integrity. His word was better than any signed contract. As I spoke with the family in preparation for the memorial service, I learned that among other things, he was known to the family as the baby guy. Anytime relatives would visit, they would give him the babies to hold. Even the extended family remembers him holding the babies, everyone’s babies. What a contradiction for my mind to grasp. He was a respected man of character and wisdom but also known as the baby guy. Holiness and love come together.

The same tension of holiness and love describes God’s character as revealed to us in Jesus Christ. God is our Heavenly Father who loves everyone, but God is holy and just. If God is to be holy, sin must be punished. I am reminded of the lyrics of the old hymn, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross by Isaac Watts. We sing in the third stanza, “Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown.”

Sin both angers and breaks the heart of God. The Genesis flood passage records, “The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I created, from the face of the earth.’” (6:6-7)  

In Jesus Christ, God reveals His ultimate plan for dealing with sin. Sin, personal and corporate sin, your sin and the sin of the world, still angers and grieves God. Sin still must be punished, but the Cross of Jesus Christ becomes God’s solution. “Sorrow and love flow mingled down.” Oswald Chambers writes, “The Cross is the exhibition of the nature of God…The center of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much. The Cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened—but the crash is on the heart of God” (My Utmost, April 6).

My friend, God dearly loves you, but God terribly hates sin. Your sin separates you from God and prevents you from experiencing God’s best for your life. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, took the punishment for your sin. Jesus is God; therefore, God actually punished Himself for your sin and mine. Romans 5:8 records, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Call upon the Lord today. Let Him hold you in His loving arms. God’s holiness and love meet at the Cross. In some sense, as Jesus hung on the Cross with His arms stretched out, God was saying to you and all the world, “Let me hold you.”

God is Great and Good

“One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving.” 

—Psalm 62:11-12a

Teaching my almost two year old granddaughter to pray has been interesting and instructive. She is now programmed to pray before meals. Addi’s version goes something like this, “Goddie great; Goddie good; thank Him, for food, AMEN!” In the same way I used a celebratory clapping reward to teach her to say “Pappy,” (which she says regularly with great affection) we cheer and clap wildly after she closes each mealtime prayer with “Amen!”

Probably because of all the excitement and cheering, Addi likes to say grace several times during the meal. She puts her hands together and questioningly asks, “Pray?” Pappy is a big pushover. When I hear her pray so innocently, I cannot refuse her multiple requests even if the rest of the family is thoroughly annoyed.

At first I felt embarrassed that, as a seminary trained Bible scholar, the best I could do in teaching my grandchildren to pray is “God is great; God is good.” But when I think deeply about it, the two main things we need to know about God is God’s greatness and God’s goodness. Steven Furtick, founding pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC, writes in his book, Sun Stand Still, “If you overlook the way good and food don’t really quite rhyme…this prayer is actually a remarkably elegant summary of the character of God (97).

I didn’t realize this childlike grace paraphrases Psalm 62. “Two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving.” There it is—a fortune worth of theological training summarized in a child’s prayer. God is strong (great) and God is loving (good).

We may believe that God is able to do far more than we think or imagine. God can heal, God can deliver, God can open doors, God is able, but we question whether God will do it for me: in my life, for my family and in my circumstances. Is God good? Is God loving? Jesus revealed God to us as our Heavenly Father. In teaching on prayer, Jesus says if human fathers give good gifts, “How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matt. 7:11).

Which truth about God do you struggle to believe? God’s power or God’s goodness? This simple affirmation from the mouth of babes declares both. God is able to overcome whatever challenge you are facing today. Lean upon God’s divine power. The Lord is more than able.

God is also good and will meet your needs. God is loving and will fulfill His promises in your life. Romans 8:31-32 says it powerfully, “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Yes, my friend, you can trust the Lord. God is great and good.

Pride and Humility

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”   —Romans 12:3b

As I write these words, I am attending the annual gathering of our denomination. During the second week of June, every United Methodist clergy from western Pennsylvania and an equal number of laypersons (nearly 2,000 delegates in all) meet at Grove City College for worship, legislation, and fellowship. The conference ends with the Bishop ordaining new ministers and “fixing” the appointments (that is where the Bishop officially tells us where to go).

Each year at Annual Conference, I experience what I call the yo-yo syndrome. As I begin to greet my colleagues leading different-sized ministries from all over western Pennsylvania, I feel intimated in one moment and puffed up the next. As I observe eloquent and charismatic pastors from large innovative churches, I feel very small and insignificant. Down I go. Then I hear about pastors serving declining churches in depressed areas of the state, and I lift my head a little higher and think, “We’re not doing so badly.” Back up again. I know pastors are not in competition with other churches and ministries, but it’s human nature to look around and compare ourselves to others. We all do it with our children, school, and work.

The Scriptures urge us to think of ourselves with “sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given.” To think of ourselves soberly means in a serious and restrained manner. When seeing someone we look up to, we must not minimize our gifts and maximize their strengths. Likewise, we dare not compare ourselves to someone who is struggling. We may be tempted to overlook our own faults and fail to recognize the other person’s strengths.

I seek to think of myself soberly by comparing myself to no one but Jesus Christ and judging my successes and failures according to the gifts God has bestowed upon me. By remembering not to make human comparisons and by understanding my God-given Spiritual gifts, I have been able to break free from the yo-yo syndrome.

This eliminates two problems we often face in the Christian life in particular and everyday life in general. The first is the “I can’t do anything problem.” Because someone around us is experiencing some measure of success, we think we have nothing. We are all uniquely gifted with a certain measure of faith by God. Unique means God has special plans and opportunities that only we can experience.

The second problem is the “I can do everything problem” with its two corollary problems: “You can’t do anything” and “I must do everything.” If we look at our own life soberly according to the grace of God we have received, we will find our place in life and will more readily accept ourselves and others.

Christian, you are a child of God. You are uniquely gifted by God for a life and ministry just suited for you and needed by others. Keep your eyes on Jesus. You will avoid the dreaded yo-yo syndrome and will find a healthy balance between pride and humility.

Holy and Pleasing Worship

 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”           —Romans 12:1

I have always been inspired by heroic stories whether they are in the Bible, movies, or real life. The British movie, Chariots of Fire, portrays Eric Liddell, a college athlete and Christian. Liddell was a son of Chinese missionaries and a very fast runner. He told his sister and ministry co-worker, “Jenny, I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast and when I run I feel His pleasure.”

Liddell competed in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. He was slated to run the 100 meter dash and join his fellow Englishmen in the 4 X 100 and 4 X 400 relays. Because some preliminary heats were on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, Liddell refused to run. He withdrew from the 100 meter dash, his best event, and from the relays. He did, however, win a bronze medal in the 200 meter race and gold in the 400 meter race. Before running the 400 meter, not his best event, a paper was given to him that quoted 1 Samuel 2:30, “Those who honor me I will honor.”

One of my favorite scriptures and powerful description of worship is Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices.” A living sacrifice to me is someone who surrenders their life, talent, time, and will to the Lord to be used as God chooses. Further on, Romans 12 urges Christians to consider who they are in Christ and how the Holy Spirit has gifted them for service. Eric Liddell knew God created him for a purpose but also knew God created him to run. By running Liddell glorified God.

The movie does not tell the entire story. After winning medals in the 1924 Olympics, Liddell gave his life in missionary service in China from 1925-1943. He died in February of 1945 at the age of 43 in an internment camp five months before liberation. While in the camp, Liddell taught the children and organized the distribution of food and medicine that were in short supply.

In his last letter to his wife, written on the day he died, Liddell wrote that he was suffering a nervous breakdown due to overwork. He actually died from an inoperable brain tumor. Overwork and malnourishment probably hastened his death. In 2008 near the time of the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese authorities revealed that Liddell had refused an opportunity to leave the camp insisting a pregnant woman take his place. The news of his act of sacrifice came as a complete surprise to his family members.

We have been uniquely created and gifted by God. Holy, God-pleasing worship involves surrendering our talents and gifts to God to be used in blessing others. Each of us has been made for a purpose. We have special God-given gifts that make us best in some particular area. Surrender is not merely giving God our best efforts, but allowing God to use what the Spirit has given us for His glory. If Eric Liddell would have competed and won all his best events, people may have simply thought, Eric is very fast. But because he competed and won in races he was not expected to win, people gave glory to God.

True worshippers acknowledge our Lord’s gifts in their lives and give themselves totally to God’s purposes. Will you allow God to be glorified in your earthly body? Will you become the hands and feet of Jesus to a lost and hurting world? This is acceptable and pleasing to God.