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A Lesson Learned

March 4, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Life affords us with numerous opportunities to learn its monumental lessons. Some are learned easily; others can humble us to the core. This is one of, if not my most humbling lesson learned to date. I offer it to you, in hopes that you don’t travel down a similar road.

I graduated from preaching school in July of 2000 and began my first preaching work in August of the same year. That first month afforded me with a wonderful occasion to do what I would years later regret. I had heard that a well-known brother, a seasoned and veteran preacher among churches of Christ was coming to town to hold a meeting in our community. He was a published author, and while I had never read one of his books, I had read critiques of them by others. I’d seen his name “published,” in a not-so-positive light in a couple of periodicals over the years, but I was going to hear him for myself. So I donned a suit, my bible, and with an attitude headed for the meeting.

I listened with the most critical of ears. My radar was attuned to certain words and phrases that I knew were signs of heresy. In my mind, I wasn’t let down. He offered the signs both in word and deed, and now with evidence in hand, I could confront him and put him in his place. So I did. I told him who I was, where I was from, and what I thought about what he had to say. I’d made my “defense of the gospel” (Philippians 1:17). I walked out of that building proud, as if the apostle Paul himself would’ve patted me on the back in affirmation.

Over the years, I’d used the story of that experience as fodder for my own ego, as well as for those who listened. I’d bravely confronted a “false teacher,” a well-known one at that. My friends in the faith would be jealous.

Years later, I would come to understand that back then I had serious issues with respect to motives. In fact, there is no other word for them but “impure.” The kind, gentle man I confronted years before was as gracious as could be to me. After my defining moment, he would send me his materials free of charge. I never even replied with a “thank you.” I later, critically and prejudicially, read one of his books, but that’s not how you give someone an “honest” hearing. I was right; he was wrong; the case was closed.

God has an amazing way of showing us our folly. If ever there is a real and practical reminder that we would think before we act, it is the fact that “Hindsight is 20/20.” Eventually, my wife would serve as the catalyst to help me look back at that occasion with clarity. I was all wrong, both about the man I confronted and what he was saying, as well as in my motives. 

Several months ago, I located his address and wrote him a letter apologizing for my ignorance and immaturity. I didn’t really listen to him, and not doing so caused me to reach unjustified conclusions. I was in no place to do what I did. It was a painful letter to write, but it was also bittersweet in that it was as liberating as it was excruciating. Confession of fault is the pathway to healing (James 5:16).

I mailed the letter on January 15th of this year. On Saturday, January 17, I received an email from this brother acknowledging that he’d received with appreciation my letter. He was as gracious in that email as he’d been the night I’d gone to put him in his place. Later that night, he would take the time to write me once more, encouraging me to,

“Preach the Word – the living Word!  ”I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” (Paul.  Acts 20:24)  I’m praying for your message tomorrow.

Little did he know that the following day I was preaching from the very text he cited in his word of encouragement. God has an amazing way of letting us know when he is pleased with us! I’ve seen the error of my ways, but at the same time have seen the hand of God in sweet delight, as if to say, “Well done,  good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23). That really makes two lessons learned.

 

Quote of the Weekend

February 28, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

In response to the question, “How can one keep the law?”, Dallas Willard suggests,

Jesus well knew the answer to this question, and that is why he told those who wanted  to know how to work the works of God to put their confidence in the one God had sent (John 6:29). He knew that we cannot keep the law trying to keep the law. To succeed in keeping the law one must aim at something other and something more. One must aim to become the kind of person from whom the deeds of the law naturally flow. The apple tree naturally and easily produces apples because of its inner nature. This is the most crucial thing to remember if we would understand Jesus’ picture of the kingdom heart given in the Sermon on the Mount.”


Dallas Willard

The Divine Conspiracy

Risk

February 26, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

The internet is a wonderful tool and an excellent medium through which to communicate. Web sites, blog sites and the like open doors for world-wide expression. But with open doors comes also the potential for people to freely come in and out as well. And they do. That’s the risk of utilizing a venue like this. People can come in, express affirmation or dissent, and then walk away. Often they do so under the protection of anonymity. 

That there are those who scour the internet, looking to dig up dirt on others, is difficult to deny. I have had to deal with them and so have many others. Once again, that is the risk that’s taken in utilizing a venue like this.

In the past, I have been relatively sporadic in my usage of my own site, for this very reason. Why bother when all you draw are hecklers hiding in anonymity? Now others with whom I am very close are experiencing the same. It’s embarrassing on a number of different levels.

But I refuse to let a commiserable minority exercise that kind of authority over me. Base tactics are for base people. That’s the kind of thing the Pharisees sought to do to Jesus. It’s what happened to the infant church. So we shouldn’t be surprised when similar treatment is received by those striving to be His disciples.

A Glad Reception

February 25, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

“When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers gladly received us” (Acts 21:21).

The life of Paul, as told through the book of Acts, is a life of hostility (from and into), hope and hardship. That the New Testament church didn’t have it all together is evident in its treatment of people like Paul. It should seem odd for Luke to publish upon their return to Jerusalem what to us would be expected, but given the history of the early church, that Paul would necessarily receive a warm at Jerusalem upon his arrival, wasn’t a foregone conclusion. 

Upon his conversion to Christ, he spent time in Damascus honing his skills at nearby synagogues, but now seen as a traitor, he faced immense difficulty at the hands of the Jews (Acts 8:19-25). Eventually he would venture to Jerusalem, but the other disciples were reluctant to associate with him (v. 26). So at this juncture, he more than likely departs to Arabia (Galatians 1:17). Despite his role and reputation as a Jewish “strong arm” prior to his conversion (Acts 8:1-3; 1 Timothy 1:13; Phil. 3:4-6), his migration to Arabia and work away from Jerusalem proper left him a relative unknown to the Judean churches (Galatians 1:22).

Consequently, I think it is safe to suggest that his later confrontation with Peter over hypocritical treatment of Gentile converts (Galatians 2:11ff) would’ve earned him no rewards points in the minds of a not so insignificant number of the Jerusalem church. Paul had little issue with verbalizing his frustrations to his Jewish Christian critics (Romans 2; 1 & 2 Corinthians), neither was he afraid of apprising others of how wrong it was to hold brethren with contempt (Philippians 4:2-3).

So Acts 21:21 is fascinating. That the glad reception of the Jerusalem brotherhood warranted mentioning only goes to show that there was real grounds for concern and that their return was rather controversial. I can’t help but believe that Paul and Luke made the trip to Jerusalem with a sense of uneasiness about how the church would respond to them.

Paul was going back with a purpose though. He explicitly declares it to the Ephesian eldership. The Holy Spirit had testified that hardship was in store, although Paul admits that he doesn’t really know the particulars of what to expect when he arrives at Jerusalem. Undoubtedly, the non-Christian Jewish powerbase was at the forefront of his mind. They had before made attempts at his life, but given his difficulties with churches with which he was associated, Corinth for example, he more than likely would’ve been thinking similarly about Jewish Christians in Judea!

Have you ever been to a place but not been welcome there? We’ve all heard stories or even possibly seen for ourselves, first hand, the kinds of racial prejudices that would lead a person to post on the door of their convenience store, “No Blacks Allowed!” Many blacks can attest to what it means to not be well received. Of course, non-racist whites have their stories of not being “gladly received” in black communities as well. Regardless of who is on the receiving end, no one likes to not be welcome!

Acceptance is one of the great human needs. We long to be accepted both by God and by brethren. What could be worse, though, than being accepted by God, but not by brethren? God hasn’t been silent about this matter either. “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions” (Romans 14:1).

I would like to think that Acts 21:21 is a testimony to the fact that by the power of God’s Spirit, people can be changed, prejudices can be surrendered, and poor attitudes can be replaced with the attitude of Christ. Can a once partial and prejudice people be shown the error of their ways? I would hope that the answer can be gleaned from a simple sentence from the book of Acts.

Fruit

February 24, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

The other day Tisha told me that a certain passage was really bothering her. Specifically, it was Matthew 7:20, “Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” Most of us know it well. It’s a statement that makes all the sense in the world, but it doesn’t necessarily sit well with a person when thought about introspectively. That was Tisha’s point. Her concern was about what, to her was a lack of fruit, might say about herself. Of course, I had been thinking the same thing about myself. What was my lack of fruit saying about me?

What kind of fruit was Jesus getting at? Was it about bringing souls to Christ or could it be about something else? Could this be a foreshadowing reference to how the fruit of the Spirit is the defining element to a person’s Christian character? 

I sense that both can be in view. Seeds of evangelism do not always grow. This we learn from the parable of the sower, as well as from the very ministry of Jesus. His message didn’t affect change in everyone with whom he spoke, but he touched the lives of many nevertheless. He made a difference. He wasn’t fruitless, but why was that?

One of my concerns is that we so rest on the fact that we are merely seed planters and waterers, trusting that God will give the growth(1 Cor. 3:6), but when that growth doesn’t necessarily develop, we simply say, “Well it wasn’t meant to be!” That’s convenient, but what if we’ve been the problem all along? What if it was the way we went about it that produced the end result? Or even worse, what if on the outside everything seemed proper, but that it was nothing more than a facade that God saw through, and because of our disingenuousness our efforts fell on infertile soil?

Could it be that evangelism without the fruit of the Spirit in us is futile?
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