Revelation 3:7-13
“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars – I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
How does Jesus describe himself?
For what does Jesus commend this church?
What does Jesus have against this church?
What promise does he provide?
How do you think this letter applies to our church?
Sunday, November 30, 2008
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How's it going? Did you have a good Thanksgiving?
We had a great time with our kids. We had a meal with our 5 kids Friday night. It was so nice.
Lester and Maddie left yesterday to go to her folks, and Luke left a few minutes ago. It's kinda hard to say goodbye, but they are all doing well and enjoy where they are in life. So it's OK.
We had a wonderful feast this evening in FLC! The food was amazing, and I guess there were about 120 present to honor our older folks.
Two ladies were recognized for their faithfulness and their sweet dispositions: Juanita Johnson and Noni Baer. They are both north of 90 years and are such wonderful examples of simple faithfulness.
Been thinking a little more about what I said yesterday. Essentially I said that we rely on duty, discipline, obedience for all aspects of our lives. [Hopefully you enjoy most of what you do, but I'm sure there are a lot of things you do that you would like not to do.]
We were talking about this because of what Jesus tells the church in Sardis to do: remember the original teaching and OBEY it.
A lot of people don't like the word obey; sounds cold and harsh.
"Following God shouldn't come down to doing his will because we have to. We should follow God because we want to."
I agree, but the reality is that there are times (maybe a lot of them) when we don't really feel like doing the right thing. What do we do then?
This idea came up recently in the context of discussing the church gathering to worship and commune with Christ. Should you go if you don't feel like it?
What happens when you don't feel like going to work? What happens when kids don't feel like going to school?
What if we treated our responsibilities in other areas of life like we treat our responsibilites to the Lord? [Should they even be separated?]
What are the most important things?
We had a nice Men's Bible Study last night at Jay's place. There were 8 of us; pretty diverse group.
We are studying James. We are looking at the teaching of James through the frame of how to be Men of Wisdom (wise men, not wise guys!).
We began by looking at these verses (James 3:13-18):
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
For James Wisdom is shown in practical ways in relationships. Did you notice that?
Having established our way of looking at James we noticed that the first thing a wise man does is have a good attitude toward problems.
James 1;2-5
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
As the study progresses and unfolds we'll continue to see what James says about how wise people live.
I've been struggling with corporate worship for a while now. I've been obedient as my human condition allows; I'm definitely not perfect. I see the corporate worship as our honor to the Lord. But in that setting is also fellowship with other believers. There are two goals there: 1) serve others as they need (including instruction and encouragement) and 2) be refilled as you need in order to continue your service.
That last part hasn't happened for me for quite some time. I've allowed too many burdens to be put on me within the body, and I've run my tank completely empty. I made the hard decision to back away from the body here because it won't let me "dial it down" a notch. Or I'm not strong enough to say no because no one else steps up. I am seeking to be refilled now, but that is going to happen through much solitude and hopefully fellowship elsewhere (yet to be determined where).
My goal in writing all of this is to encourage balance in our lives so we don't get to that point. Blind obedience doesn't produce joy. Ignorant joy doesn't produce wise servants.
Some may accuse me of forsaking the assembly. But if the assembly is disfunctional and doesn't honor God, what am I forsaking? The Hebrew word that we get forsaking from also is not a "one time" thing, it is a trampling of the law of God, turning your back completely. I am far from doing that.
Thoughts? Advice? Much prayer needed...
Pp, hmmm, sorry to hear that. You are so right about balance, and you do have to be careful not to take too much on. The joy of worship becomes a burden if we are not careful. That’s the battle those of us who work full time for the church fight.
Have you talked to your church leaders about how you feel? My guess is that they would never intentionally burn you out. They probably see you as a very talented young man who has a lot to offer. They are eager to use you (in the sense of allowing you to serve).
I think taking a sabbatical is a good approach; I’m not sure about leaving the present body to seek another. If you are not careful you could end up in the same situation in another place. All churches are messed up to some degree because they are all made up of humans. All churches have a level of dysfunctionality; some worse than others of course.
I think one of the true tests of God's love in our hearts is how we respond to our brothers and sisters in the Lord. God could have easily had a Gentile church running parallel to a Jewish church, but he chose to stick natural enemies in the same body. Why? To prove, in part, that his love and grace and forgiveness, when applied horizontally (human to human), can overcome any obstacle to unity.
I wish I had more wisdom to offer you... Maybe others will jump in.
Pp’s situation is not really the one I am addressing. Don’t take me wrong: I’m glad he wrote and shared his situation, and I hope some of you can offer him encouragement.
What I am addressing is more of an attitude that worship is less important than other things I might choose to do. Or the attitude that I should only attend worship when I feel like it. I guess my point is that even when you don’t feel like it you should assembly anyway.
Here is an excerpt from an old sermon I preached:
What if you don’t feel like coming or worshiping?
I would say, “Come anyway.” Do not come for legalistic purposes. Rather come because of duty, decision, commitment, covenant, loyalty, and the Lordship of Jesus.
Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline (page 172) says:
Many times I do not feel like worshiping and I have to kneel down and say, “Lord, I don’t feel like worshiping, but I desire to give you this time. It belongs to you. I will waste this time for you.”
Today was an unusual day for me; wasn’t planned that way but went that way.
I spent some time studying this morning, preparing for my Revelation class on Sunday morning and my Afterlife class on Sunday evening. What was I thinking, taking these on at the same time?? Oh well...
I went for a run and then made my way to the church office.
Today we had a lunch for our Bread of Life folks. Only 2 showed up, but that was fine. We had a nice meal together. One of the ladies who came was really struggling with grief. She poured her heart out for quite a while. I had to excuse myself to call a couple of people to let them know I was not going to make a meeting with them. I was going to help move a display case from Hoosier Uplands to the ReGeneration store. They got it moved without me; I was glad. It was heavy!
Anyway, the lady talked for a long time about lots of things. While we were talking Melissa knocked on the door and said that someone wanted to see me. I told her to have him wait for a little while. I prayed with the woman and made my way over to meet Michael.
Michael has come by a few times over the years. He never needs a whole lot, and today was no exception. He works down around Huron and needed a ride to work. He also needed a few minutes on his cell phone so he could call his family, and he needed some lunch. I was happy to take care of him. I always think he is Jesus in disguise.
After all that it was nearly 3 p.m., and I still hadn’t started on a lot of the stuff that I had hoped to accomplish today. Another guy came by for a discussion about how we can really help the poor in our town. It was good, and I really think we are making some major progress in presenting a coordinated effort to truly helping people. I’ll have lots more to say about that as the future unfolds.
So here I sit this evening looking back over the day examining what happened and what didn’t happen. The life-changing quote of Henri Nouwen in Out of Solitude was lived out today (and in fact one of the friends I stood up quoted it back to me as I apologized):
I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work. This is the great conversion in life: to recognize and believe that the many unexpected events are not just disturbing interruptions of our projects but opportunities to do ministry. It’s at those times that God molds our hearts and prepares us for his return.
Amen.
Here's an interesting post from Mike Cope:
Stay in the boat
Three gospels tell the story of Jesus walking on water, but Matthew’s account is unique (14:22-33) because it adds something: Peter got out of the boat, started to walk to Jesus, began to sink, was saved by the Savior, and then got in the boat with him.
There is an interpretive history that makes Peter a hero for his attempts. The other eleven stayed in the boat; at least Peter got out. As John Ortberg wrote, If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat. It’s a wonderful book on faith, courage, and risk-taking.
I’m just not sure about using this text.
Here are some reasons:
1. Read carefully and you see that it wasn’t Jesus’ idea. He’s coming to his frightened disciples, out in the dark, enduring a storm in a Galilean fishing boat. Jesus doesn’t say, “If you have courage, come to me”; rather, he’s going to them.
2. This is the first of five stories that will focus on Peter. Those stories don’t tend to tilt in his favor! (Think: “Get behind me Satan!”)
3. Peter says, “Lord, if it’s really you . . . .” Later Jesus challenges his doubt. The interpretive tradition is that this refers to his sinking. But perhaps it refers to that original doubt: If it’s you! As Barbara Brown Taylor has written, Peter needed to take a couple steps to cure his doubt; then he needed a noseful of sea water to cure his pomposity!
4. The point of most of Jesus’ miracles wasn’t for the disciples to repeat the miracle but for them to recognize who he is and to respond to him. The goal of the water-to-wine story isn’t to produce lots of disciples who can repeat the sign; the goal is to recognize the one who did it, to believe in him, and to find life in his name. There’s no indication that the early church thought that water-walking was a sign of faith, courage, or discipleship.
The high point of the story is Jesus’ coming. It’s not about Peter; it’s not about US. He comes to them in their terror. And when he gets in the boat, they worship him.
One Messiah is enough. He can walk on water. He’s coming to you.
Having a tough period with the economic downturn? Facing challenges with your children, with your relationships, with aging, with depression?
“Surely I will be with you always, even to the end of the ages,” he says in the last words of Matthew’s gospel.
Stay in the boat. You don’t have to walk on water. He can. And he’s coming to you.
HERE is a great article about Don Meyer, Lipscomb's former basketball coach. Wow!
I think this way too: "Come anyway.” Do not come for legalistic purposes. Rather come because of duty, decision, commitment, covenant, loyalty, and the Lordship of Jesus.""
And sometimes its that thought that gets me in over my head. Because of my love, devotion, commitment and loyalty to God I often find myself volunteering to things I dont really feel like doing. They are always things I enjoy but just at the moment dont feel like doing or dont have the time to do. I'm also a people pleaser and want people to be happy and happy with me.
PP - I'm not sure what the balance is but I do agree that balance is needed. I would encourage you to stay where you are but practice saying no and finding that balance. Saying no can be hard, but if you explain your situation to your fellow brothers and sisters, I would have to believe that they would understand your need to rebalance your priorities and adjust how you devote your time.
I think satan gets us when we are over scheduled/over devoted to doing things because we are being obedient.
While it is important to be obedient, I also think God wants us to balance our time so we dont get burnt out. Its far better, in my opinion to say no to a couple of things, than to end up stoping everything. I struggle with this so often and often think, isn't it better to say yes knowning i'll miss or only be able to give 50% of myself. But the more I think about it, i think maybe saying no and being able to give 100% to a few things is better.
Still, I dont know what the answer is, but I hope that you find encouragement.
We had a good class last night. We talked about the church in Philadelphia and how they were faithful. Evidently they were doing what they could do.
Do what you can do.
Not a bad way to live; not a bad way to be.
We ended talking some about the Afterlife and the hope we have. Our future is so exciting!
I am looking forward to our Sunday night class. We'll begin our discussion by talking about the Second Coming. This, of course, will lead to all kinds of questions and discussion regarding Hades, Heaven, Hell, and lots of other things.
Will we know each other in Heaven?
What kind of body will we have?
What's it all going to be like?
I heat my house with wood. I have a large wood furnace in the basement, and I sometimes use a fireplace upstairs. The fireplace, which is an efficient insert, is supplemental but creates a nice cozy atmosphere.
I enjoy cutting and processing wood. This year I have more than usual thanks the donations of logs from 3 different sources. We hauled them in and cut them up.
Burning wood is an art. Really. You choose different varieties depending on how much heat you want. You mix moisture content for the same reason; some wood is more seasoned than other.
I have really good wood this year, and it is more seasoned than I sometimes have. I guess that's why I woke up this morning and found my family room sitting at 82 degrees!
You should know that this is quite a contrast with our bedroom. There we shut off all the heat and actually open the window a little; last night it was open about 2 inches. We learned this in Australia and New Zealand where they do not heat their bedrooms. I sleep so much better when the room is cold.
Why am I telling you all this?
I have no idea.
Well, this is interesting and caught my eye:
Church Uses Devil To Rebrand Prayer Channel - TV and radio spots will feature the devil as an "anti-spokesperson"
Actually that seems rather clever. I have two thoughts about it:
Is it trivializing Satan and his work?
OR
Is it reminding people that there is a force of evil that comes from Satan which tries to keep us from doing good?
I think we often forget the latter, probably because of the former.
Lest we forget:
Ephesians 6:10-12
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Did you know that by the time you read this that this blog (and its pages), which is a little over 2 years old, will have been viewed 50,000 times?
You people really need to get back to work! ha ha
I saw/read an article this morning about how fear as a motivation actually works. Duh. The article wasn't really worth linking you to, but I thought its point was worth noting.
Motivation by fear is clearly, by far, an inferior motivation. Yet it is there and works when love and inspiration fail, I suppose.
It's pretty clear to me that Jesus uses fear as a motivation in the letters to the 7 churches, and he uses it the gospels as well.
What do you think about that?
Talking about fear as a motivator is probably worse than talking about obedience as a way of doing the right thing! (ha ha) Yet it is there.
Well talk about Hell in a couple of weeks on a Sunday night. What's Hell all about? Whatever it is, Jesus uses it to motivate people to do the right thing.
Matthew 5:30
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
I wish the motivation for all people and all things was inspiration and love. And sometimes, a lot of times I would like to believe, we do do things because we are inspired and love doing them. Yet there are times when we do things because we know we need/have to, even when we don't feel like it.
And then there are other times we do things because we are afraid of the consequences of not doing them.
YOU can talk now...
I am continuing to prepare for Revelation and the Afterlife.
Both classes start on Sunday.
[I hope you caught the word play.]
Actually the way to prepare for the afterlife is to pay attention to revelation.
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