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Insightful or Inciting: How Christians Should Respond When Other Christians Disappoint

You will be disappointed by other Christians.  Count on it.  The overused adage is true.  Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.

So how should we respond?  Our responses usually fall into two broad categories:  Insightful, thought-filled attempts to solve the problem, bridge the gap, and figure out our differences.  Or…Inciting comments that inflame others in a passionate rant about the problem but make no attempts at solving the problem.

Anyone can call a problem a problem.  Monday mornings are filled with quarterbacks whose limited high school experience has somehow made them experts on what Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck and Tony Romo should have done differently.  Big whoop.  Even I know when my Jeep is acting up.  I have no idea how to fix it, or the exact nature of the problem.  I just know there’s a problem.

Proverbs 15 is replete with instruction on how to respond when others disappoint.

A soft tongue turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  (15:1)

The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.  (15:2)

A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.  (15:4)

The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of fools.  (15:7)

The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.  (15:14)

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.  (15:18)

The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.  (15:28)

Insightful words are directed to the disappointing Christian, not the public.  Facebook isn’t the place to publicly air your problems with other Christians.  You hurt the cause of Christ, cowardly hide behind technology, and incite people who know little of the details of your problems.  Facebook has become the Jerry Springer show of all things controversial.  It is just as wrong to make others who disappoint you into verbal punching bags, as it is to go on national TV and physically sucker punch them.

Insightful words focus on facts, not feelings.  Notice the repeated use of the word “knowledge” in Proverbs 15.  The tongue of the wise commends “knowledge.”  The lips of the wise spread “knowledge.”  The heart of an understanding person seeks “knowledge.”  Just because CNN and FOX can shoot at one another across the bow of their proverbial ships, doesn’t mean Christians are somehow entitled to the same privileges.  When did mainstream media become our model for effective, compassionate communication?

Insightful words build up, not tear down.  A gentle tongue is a tree of life.  Anybody can rip someone to shreds.  It takes a careful craftsman with words to take a fragmented and broken situation and build it into a masterpiece of reconciliation.  Here’s a test:  when I’m finished, will the other person be better for my words, or worse?

Insightful words disagree without destroying.  The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer.  Not answering is not an option.  Speaking up is necessary.  Disagreeing will happen.  Destroying another person must never happen.  Nowhere in Scripture are Christians given the right to destroy someone else.  

Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.  Proverbs 17:9

What if we covered more offenses than we exposed by gently speaking the truth in love.

 

 

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A Different Kind of Fast

“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?  Isaiah 58:6-7

Israel was steeped in sin.  God, through his prophet Isaiah, is calling them out.  He surprises them (and us) by his prescription for revival.  It isn’t a series of sermons.  It isn’t a prayer meeting.  It isn’t old fashioned fasting.  As a matter of fact in verse 4 of this same chapter they point out their fasting to God, and bemoan the fact that he hasn’t noticed it.

So he prescribes a new fast to them.  It’s found in verses 6-10 above.  Is not this the fast that I choose…to share your bread with the hungry?  Israel complained because God didn’t see their fast.  God wanted them to give up food…but for someone else.  He instructs them to bring the homeless into their own homes, to cover the naked (with their own clothes)–in other words he says, “don’t hide yourself from your own flesh (other people).”

What is God saying?  Give up food…for someone else.  Give up a bedroom…for someone else.  Give up clothes…for someone else.

And what will happen when they do what God says?

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.  Isaiah 6:8-10

What is God saying?  Worship me, not only with your words, but with your deeds.  Worship me, not only with your deeds, but with your heart.  Then…(read verses 8-10 again!)

For our First Wednesday fast look for opportunities to feed the hungry, house the homeless and clothe the naked.  Tell us about them.  Without breaking anyone’s confidence whom you help, share them on this blog.  We’ll have a time in the service to share brief stories, to brag on God and the opportunities He has given us.

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A Video Your Friends Desperately Need to See

Yesterday in worship we watched a video…three people’s stories of how they hit rock bottom and God rocked their worlds.  If you missed it, you can find the video here. (http://myhopewithbillygraham.org/lose-to-gain/?)  If you saw it, share it.  Below is a brief explanation of My Hope America. (from their own website:  http://myhopewithbillygraham.org/what-is-my-hope/?).

My Hope America with Billy Graham is a nationwide effort to reach people across the United States with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Following a simple biblical model, My Hope America with Billy Graham combines the impact of videos with the power of personal relationships. Christians across America will open their homes this November to share the Gospel message with friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors using one of several new evangelistic programs featuring life-changing testimonies & powerful messages from Billy Graham.


  • Invite

    Invite your friends and neighbors who don’t know Jesus Christ to your home for a meal or dessert—or gather them at your church or favorite hangout.


  • Watch

    Use a TV broadcast, DVD, laptop, or mobile device to show one of several new evangelistic videos featuring life-changing testimonies & powerful messages from Billy Graham.


  • Share

    Next, briefly share how Jesus gave you hope and tell what He is doing in your life today.


  • Ask

    Ask your friends if they would like to make the same decision you did to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and pray with them.

Please make a list of people you want to invite to your home, or go out for dinner with you and your iPad…so that they can see the video, have an opportunity to talk about what they saw, and turn from their sin to Jesus as their Savior.  If you have family members who won’t come to church, take the Gospel to them. 

Then email Andrew Walker (andrew@graceforall.org) and let us know what God did.  Thanksgiving 2013 will be a celebration of changed lives!

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The Antichrist: The Great Imitator

Introduction

  • Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
  • The Antichrist is an imitation of Jesus Christ.  As a matter of fact, his imitation of Christ serves to reveal even more plainly who Jesus is.
  1. Jesus is a marvel—the Antichrist will be too.
  • The sea symbolizes the realm of evil; always has for the Jews.  They had hundreds of miles of coastline on the Mediterranean Sea which opened them up to constant attack.  The Philistines, their bitter enemies, were “people of the sea” who came from Greece when the Greek dynasty fell apart around 1200 BC.  Even as John is on the coast of Asia Minor watching this, the Romans are moving across the Mediterranean Sea toward Jerusalem.
  • Ten horns and seven heads– In Daniel 7 the four beasts and the ten kings portray nations who attack and persecute Israel.
  • unified with the dragon and yet has a separate role.  The dragon usurps the role of God, the beast usurps the role of Christ.  With the false prophet, the 3 becomes the false trinity in 16:13
    • And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, tree unclean spirits like frogs.  Revelation 16:13
  • These build on the four beasts of Daniel 7:4-7, in which four successive empires are prophesied as resembling a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a beast with iron teeth and ten horns.  The main difference with Daniel 7 is that there the four beasts are consecutive empires while here they describe one being.  In short this beast is a composite of all the beasts or empires throughout human history that have stood against god and his people.
    • And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.  The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings…And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear…After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard…after this I looked and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong.  Daniel 7:3-7 (parts)
  • Gave his power—Satan, trying to emulate God, gave the beast his power.   The strength to accomplish miracles and perform mighty deeds in the eyes of the world.  And his throne—his dominion; And his great authority—Satan delegates authority to the beast
  • One of his heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.  (13:3)
    • Revelation 12:17  Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
    • Genesis 3:15  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
  • The temporary healing of the mortal wound produced marvel and wonder.  Jesus was permanently raised from the dead, after his death on the cross, never to die again.
    • We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  Romans 6:9

II.         Jesus is worshiped—the Antichrist will be too.

  • They worshiped the dragon because of the beast…and worshiped the beast too…just as we today worship God through Jesus and worship Jesus, too.
    • This gives great credibility to the truth that Jesus is God.
    • Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father.  Philippians 2:9-11
  • Was given—divine passive; though the beast clearly thinks he is in control, God is allowing his blasphemous speech
  • Uttering haughty and blasphemous words
    • Against God
      • And the king shall do as he wills.  He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods.  Daniel 11:36
      • Let no one deceive you in any way.  For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.  2 Thessalonians 2:4
    • Against God’s name
    • Against God’s dwelling—his people in heaven

III. Jesus died for his followers, the Antichrist’s followers will die for him

  • It was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.  13:7
  • The irony is that the saints ultimately conquer Satan by their very martyrdom.  Revelation 12:11, “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”
  • And all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.  Revelation 13:8
  • The cross made the book of life possible, for it was the slain Lamb that became the sacrifice for sin and enabled the people of God to have “life.”  Thus the final victory does not belong to Armageddon or the final battle of 20:7-10.  Those are simply the last acts of defiance by an already defeated enemy.

Conclusion

If anyone has an ear, let him hear.  If there is anything in this message that resonates with you, don’t ignore it.

If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain.

If it is God’s will for anyone to be taken captive, then he will be taken captive.

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.  Matthew 24:9

 Here is the call for the endurance and faith of the saints. 

  • The saints in John’s day…Rome was coming fast and furiously across the Mediterranean.
  • You and me…
  • The saints in the Tribulation
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Timeline

Timeline

This is a pre-tribulational view of the end times. Always remember that prophecy is difficult to discern and people more studied than I will have differing opinions. At the same time, it’s important to remember that God finishes what He starts…and that He will one day bring all of creation to a glorious end.

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He Has Told Us What to Do

This summer Daniel Tripp interned at Grace.  A significant part of his internship was to examine the problem of hunger in McDowell County and North Carolina.  Food insecurity is the most broadly-used measure of food deprivation in the United States. The USDA defines food insecurity as meaning “consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources at times during the year.”

So let’s talk about food insecurity in North Carolina…and McDowell County.  This is what Daniel discovered.

  • North Carolina ranks 7th in the country in the national food insecurity rate
  • North Carolina and Louisiana lead the nation with the highest percentage of children under 5 years of age who are food insecure on a regular basis:  1 in 4.
  • Approximately 170,200 different people in NC receive emergency food assistance in any given week.

This is equivalent to the entire current undergraduate enrollment of all 16 colleges and universities that make up the overall University of North Carolina system.

  • McDowell County is the 8th worst county in NC in food insecurity
  • 8,120 people in McDowell County are food insecure
  • Senior adults are also among the most vulnerable…

In the United States, there has been a 32% increase in the number of food insecure older adults since 2007 and a 79% increase since 2001.

We can quote stats until we are blue in the face.

Some of these people live beside you.

A grandmother of two in your neighborhood most likely chose between food and medicine this week.

A 3-year-old girl who loves dolls, lollipops and hugs cried herself to sleep in hunger last night.

A fourth-grader walked into the cafeteria today…and ate the only food he had eaten since he was in that cafeteria yesterday.

Hunger is real.  And it’s real close.

Here’s what we’re doing at Grace.  We’re putting together a task force to figure out what we’re gonna do.  Lunch Bunch is great…but not enough.  Our food pantry is invaluable…but isn’t designed to address the source of the problem.

If you want to serve on this working task force (and it will be work), please email robin@graceforall.org.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

He has told us what to do.

It’s time to do it.

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If I Could Only Read One Book on Parenting

Parenting books abound.  From Dr. Phil to Dr. Dobson, you can find almost any topic addressing any kind of child in any circumstance.  This is both a blessing and a curse.  The blessing is having a wealth of information at our fingertips.  The curse is sorting through the mountain of information.

That reality makes me realize the weight of what I’m about to say.

If I could sort through the wealth of parenting advice and only read one book on parenting it would be The Blessing by Smalley and Trent.  They write,

Some people are driven toward workaholism as they search for the blessing they never received at home.  Always striving for acceptance, they never feel satisfied that they are measuring up.  Others get mired in withdrawal and apathy as they give up hope of ever truly being blessed.  Unfortunately, this withdrawal can become so severe that it can lead to chronic depression and even suicide.  For almost all children who miss out on their parents’ blessing, at some level this lack of acceptance sets off a lifelong search.

Smalley and Trent then describe five elements of the blessing, how parents are uniquely able to bless their children and ultimately how someone who has never received the blessing can give what he or she never received.

Sunday night at 5 pm I will present a one-time seminar on The Blessing.  Please join me.  You can sign up (just so we know space and child care needs) by emailing robin@graceforall.org.  We will meet in the main building.

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At Least Let Them Leap to Hell Over Our Bodies

I can’t get this figure out of my mind.

26,000.

It’s the number of unchurched people in McDowell County.  

26,000

Moms and dads who go to work, pay bills, mow their lawns and watch TV.

Teenagers who play PS3, sleep in during the summer and dread school starting back in a month.

Children who watch the Disney channel, text their friends and play all star baseball.

26,000

Teachers.

Lawyers.

Engineers.

Carpenters.

Stay at home moms.

Sales reps.

Fast food workers.

Doctors.

26,000

Lost.  Wandering.  Deceived.  

Busy.  Good people.

Without Christ and without hope.

26,000

Charles Spurgeon said, “If sinners will be damned, at least them leap to Hell over our bodies.  And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay.  If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.

26,000

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When Church and Culture Clash

Three recent developments raise significant questions and concerns for the church.

1.  The Boy Scouts of America remove their policy banning openly homosexual youth.

2.  The president of Exodus International (a ministry that for years was dedicated to helping people leave the homosexual lifestyle) apologizes to the homosexual community for hurting them and closes its doors.

3.  The Supreme Court rules against the Defense of Marriage Act, giving federal consent to same sex unions.

How should the church respond?  Did Jesus see this coming?  If so, how does He want us to respond?

I am convinced that Jesus’ prayer in John 17 provides a framework for the church when the church and culture clash.  Jesus is praying,

I am praying for them.  I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.  All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.  And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.  Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.  While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me.  I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.  But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.  I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.  John 17:9-19

Jesus’ prayer has several requests.  He asks the Father to keep his followers, that his followers be one, that their joy be full, that they go into the world all the while being protected from the evil one, and finally that they be sanctified (set apart) in the truth.

From Jesus’ prayer we can take heart when the church and the culture clash.  First, Jesus is still praying for us today.  He intercedes for us even now.  He is not caught off guard by recent developments, is not surprised when the world acts like the world.  In His prayer, Jesus makes a clear distinction between his followers and the world.  Recent events make that distinction even clearer.

Second, Jesus prays that we will be one.  Does being one mean that the church acquiesces to every whim of the culture around it.  No!  As the church we rally around the Gospel.  We have one message and one cause.  The message:  Jesus died in our place for our sins so that we might have life.  The cause:  get that message out to as many people as possible.  Inherent in the gospel message is the reality of sin.  If we are not sinners, Jesus died in vain.  Homosexuality (along with a long list of other things) is a sin.  Homosexuals, adulterers, cheaters, gossipers, drug addicts…all are sinners, all need Jesus.  All must forsake their sin if they are going to know the power and the hope of the Gospel.

How then, we can fulfill Jesus’ prayer to be joyful in light of recent events?  The Gospel.  We are joyful because a perfect Savior died for imperfect people.  We are joyful because we have passed from death to life.  The more pronounced sin becomes, the more glorious the gospel!  When the culture embraces and even endorses sin, we have a platform to declare the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul said in Romans 1:16

I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The church’s message will always be counter-cultural.  If it is not, we are declaring the wrong message.  Jesus anticipated the recent events.  He said in his prayer that he has “consecrated himself” that we may be “sanctified in truth.”  This is a play on words.  Consecrated and sanctified are the same words in the Greek.  Jesus sanctified himself so that we would be sanctified.  Jesus has set apart himself for our “set-apartedness” (okay I made up that word).

And what are we sanctified in?  The truth.  Regardless of the Boy Scouts decision, the exodus of Exodus International, or the ruling of the Supreme Court we are anchored in truth.

John Newton, author of Amazing Grace, said near the end of his life:

My memory is nearly gone but I remember two things:  that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.

The hope for homosexuals lies in Newton’s words.  The hope for alcoholics lies in Newton’s words.  The hope for cheaters, for adulterers, for murderers, for gossipers lies in Newton’s words.  They are great sinners.  Christ is a great Savior.

When church and culture clash, the Gospel must ring forth with a clarion call to repentance and salvation found in Jesus alone.

This is the time to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17.

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Why I Think You Should Call the NC Senate Today

Tonight, the North Carolina senate will vote on proposed tax legislation.  If passed, and ultimately approved by the house, this legislation would forever change your ability to give to non-profit organizations and receive tax exemption.

At 1:30 today I spoke with Daniel from Ralph Hise’s office to confirm the report regarding the effect on this legislation regarding non-profits.  He assured me that the tax reform legislation includes removing the ability to claim gifts to non-profits on one’s taxes.

Why does this matter?

Lunch Bunch receives $45,000 annually to help provide food for children who currently receive free and/or reduced breakfast and lunch.  Every gift is tax deductible.  Under this proposed legislation, according to Ralph Hise’s office, gifts to Lunch Bunch will no longer be tax exempt.  Mr. Hise plans to vote for this legislation.

Churches receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts each year in McDowell County.  They use these funds to spread the Gospel through tangible means, such as benevolence and food pantries.  Under this proposed legislation, according to Ralph Hise’s office, gifts to churches will no longer be tax exempt.  Mr. Hise plans to vote for this legislation.

Foundations pour tens of thousands of dollars into McDowell County to help alleviate poverty.  Examples include the Corpening Foundation, the McDowell Foundation, the McDowell Endowment and the Community Foundation of North Carolina.  In addition, we have begun the Grace Generations Foundation to support the “Embracing a Community” arm of our purpose statement here at Grace.  Under this proposed legislation, according to Ralph Hise’s office, gifts to these foundations will no longer be tax exempt.  Mr. Hise plans to vote for this legislation.

While I do not pretend to know all the details of this legislation, according to Ralph Hise’s office, the legislation will prohibit gifts from receiving tax exemption that are made to non-profits.  Mr. Hise plans to vote for this legislation.

Please call Mr. Hise’s office at 1-919-733-4111.  Have an intelligent (and Godly, truth filled) conversation with whoever answers.  You can email Mr. Hise at ralph.hise@ncleg.net.

I love God’s Word in times like these:

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.  Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.  To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.  Proverbs 21:1-3

Pray that our leaders will do righteousness and justice.

And call too.