"Give me umption in my gumption; keep me functionin', functionin', functionin'. Give me umption in my gumption, I pray." We used to sing this ditty when I was a much younger man, and thought that my gumption would never need a divine infusion of umption, so I'd never have to ask!
Countless dozens of battles later with one member or another of the unholy trinity – the world, the flesh, and the devil – have taught me differently. They've relentlessly so encrusted my heart and motivations, that I find myself often too weary of struggle to go on.
"O Lord, knowing physician of my beaten up soul, heal me, re-invigorate me, forgive my sorry efforts at holiness and understanding. I can't go another step, or at least it feels that way. I'm so thankful your mercies are new every morning. That promise gives me hope for tomorrow, and a longing for bed."
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
O LORD, ALWAYS SO NEAR
Wherever we are; whenever we are; however we are - You are there! How forgotten we feel - an emotional lie we too often believe. As You fill up the universe, You fill up our lives. The eyes and ears of our bodies give us no help in seeing You or hearing You. You are beyond the touch of our hands. By your Spirit we see the Invisible, hear the Inaudible, and are touched by the Untouchable.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
PRAY WITH ME!
Our Powerful Ruler of the Universe,
You have stooped to draw us to Yourself with a strong, yet tender, embrace of compassion and kindness. By your Son's blood, You have removed our sins from us, removing them from us as far as the East is from the West, burying them in the deepest sea. By His endless life, You have infused our dead spirits with life. By uniting us with Him, You have united us with Yourself. Our spirits are one with Yours - a thought most blasphemous, except You have told us its truth. You have poured out upon us staggering blessings. By your Spirit, help us to draw near You with our hearts, when we draw near You with our lips. Separate us from our darling sins as you draw us near to Yourself. The glorious light that surrounds You, clearly shows us the blackness of our sins, but we are powerless to rid ourselves of them. You, and You alone, can cut them away without killing us. Move our hearts to seek You as You let us lay hold of Omnipotence with our weakness. Amen.
You have stooped to draw us to Yourself with a strong, yet tender, embrace of compassion and kindness. By your Son's blood, You have removed our sins from us, removing them from us as far as the East is from the West, burying them in the deepest sea. By His endless life, You have infused our dead spirits with life. By uniting us with Him, You have united us with Yourself. Our spirits are one with Yours - a thought most blasphemous, except You have told us its truth. You have poured out upon us staggering blessings. By your Spirit, help us to draw near You with our hearts, when we draw near You with our lips. Separate us from our darling sins as you draw us near to Yourself. The glorious light that surrounds You, clearly shows us the blackness of our sins, but we are powerless to rid ourselves of them. You, and You alone, can cut them away without killing us. Move our hearts to seek You as You let us lay hold of Omnipotence with our weakness. Amen.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
IN HEAVEN GOLD IS JUST PAVEMENT
The joke says, "A rich man who died and went to heaven complained that he wasn't allowed to bring his wealth with him, so he was encouraged to return and bring back just one suitcase full of his possessions. Our rich man was smart and filled his one suitcase with the gold bars into which he had converted his extensive wealth. When he returned to heaven he was asked to show everyone what was in his sutcase. Upon revealing its contents, one of the inhabitants of heaven asked the man, 'Why did you bring back pavement?'"
The obvious point of this story is that our greatest earthly treasures are worth nothing in eternity. The poet Anne Bradstreet wrote, after watching a fire destroy all her possessions:
And when I could no longer look,
I blest his Name that gave and took,
That layd my goods now in the dust:
Yea so it was, and so 'twas just.
Jesus said, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
The obvious point of this story is that our greatest earthly treasures are worth nothing in eternity. The poet Anne Bradstreet wrote, after watching a fire destroy all her possessions:
And when I could no longer look,
I blest his Name that gave and took,
That layd my goods now in the dust:
Yea so it was, and so 'twas just.
Jesus said, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
Friday, August 21, 2009
A CHURCH COMMAND
At the time of William Carey, the Church limited the directive of Matthew 28:19 to the Apostles. Since Carey's day the Church has tended to view this "commission" as a personal one. But I think we should consider the possibility that it belongs to the Church.
Only the Church can go to every nation. Only the Church exists to "the end of the age." Only the Church should baptize. The Church is where both Evangelism, Discipleship, and teaching flourish. And only the Church can teach "all things."
I'm only being suggestive, but it seems worthy of consideration!
Only the Church can go to every nation. Only the Church exists to "the end of the age." Only the Church should baptize. The Church is where both Evangelism, Discipleship, and teaching flourish. And only the Church can teach "all things."
I'm only being suggestive, but it seems worthy of consideration!
Monday, August 17, 2009
THE IDOLATRY OF THE CHURCH IN THE WEST
Don't get me wrong! I love the Church, but I love Christ more. I believe that Christ is building His Church, even out of the blemished blocks here in the West. The "block" that is the local church I have the privilege of co-pastoring, is, at very least, "marred" (I say this with the utmost humility and regard, but I am including even the best of us) with some of the contemporary blemishes I abhor.
"Blemishes" (plural), I say, because there are many. But for the moment, I am going to mention only one – the tendency to manufacture an image of what God is like partly from the Scriptures and partly from our cultural preferences – an image of God that has no stumbling-block for 21st century man
My mind was immersed in such thoughts this morning as I was reading from The Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin. Let me give you a taste:
"…they think that any zeal for religion, however preposterous, is sufficient…[but] God ever remains like Himself, and is not…to be transformed according to anyone's whim."
We live in a day of evangelical "zeal." It is a zeal that is often born of "preposterous" notions about God and his ways. It is easy to construct an image built of sentimental notions that appeal to the fallen religious instincts of men of our culture. Their worldview can embrace a God that nearly approximates their idea of a "good" human.
Again, reference Calvin:
"Unless they had first fashioned a God to match the absurdity of their trifling, they would have no means dare trifle with God in this way."
I fear for the West! I even fear for the Church hammered out in the West's cultural image. This Church holds out to the culture a God unlike Himself, but Who hates being misrepresented. The anger fueled by this hatred would have cosmic dimensions, if it could be measure at all.
God calls upon men to repent of the idols of their heart, but also the idols that go under the name of Gospel. False prophets say "Peace, Peace, when there is no peace." Get to know and love the God of the Scriptures, who has been made known by the Christ, about whom it was said after He turned over the tables in the temple and threw out the money-changers, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."
"Blemishes" (plural), I say, because there are many. But for the moment, I am going to mention only one – the tendency to manufacture an image of what God is like partly from the Scriptures and partly from our cultural preferences – an image of God that has no stumbling-block for 21st century man
My mind was immersed in such thoughts this morning as I was reading from The Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin. Let me give you a taste:
"…they think that any zeal for religion, however preposterous, is sufficient…[but] God ever remains like Himself, and is not…to be transformed according to anyone's whim."
We live in a day of evangelical "zeal." It is a zeal that is often born of "preposterous" notions about God and his ways. It is easy to construct an image built of sentimental notions that appeal to the fallen religious instincts of men of our culture. Their worldview can embrace a God that nearly approximates their idea of a "good" human.
Again, reference Calvin:
"Unless they had first fashioned a God to match the absurdity of their trifling, they would have no means dare trifle with God in this way."
I fear for the West! I even fear for the Church hammered out in the West's cultural image. This Church holds out to the culture a God unlike Himself, but Who hates being misrepresented. The anger fueled by this hatred would have cosmic dimensions, if it could be measure at all.
God calls upon men to repent of the idols of their heart, but also the idols that go under the name of Gospel. False prophets say "Peace, Peace, when there is no peace." Get to know and love the God of the Scriptures, who has been made known by the Christ, about whom it was said after He turned over the tables in the temple and threw out the money-changers, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."
Sunday, August 16, 2009
MY STAKES ARE DRIVEN - B. HAYS
I will believe; I will submit;
I will adore the Son,
Who can alone my guilt acquit,
And turn me into one
Of the redeemed, the chosen few,
Who shall receive the gift
Of eyes that see the world’s true hue,
And heav’n’s eternal bliss!
I will adore the Son,
Who can alone my guilt acquit,
And turn me into one
Of the redeemed, the chosen few,
Who shall receive the gift
Of eyes that see the world’s true hue,
And heav’n’s eternal bliss!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
IN JERUSALEM
When the Lord gave us the Great Commission in geographical form in Acts 1:8, He told his disciples to begin "in Jerusalem." What mercy! "Why," you say? Only a few weeks earlier, our Lord had wept over a Christ-rejecting Jerusalem. He had endured a Christ-killing Jerusalem. He had listened to the cries and disgusts of a Jerusalem mob shouting "Away with this man!" He had to contend with the superficial, fickle adoration of a Jerusalem crowd who would bless Him in the name of the Lord on a Sunday, and call for His crucifixion on Friday. And now this same Lord tells his disciples to begin their evangelism among these people. If that isn't mercy, what is? If the Lord would condescend to give inhabitants of this city, that crucified the Prince of Life, an invitation to life, who can believe themselves to be beyond his mercy?
LOVE IS NOT A WARM PUPPY
I. The inclination of the soul toward God that causes it to:
Seek His exaltation with all its powers
With all its strength -
With all its heart -
With all its soul -
With all its mind -
Ii. The inclination of the soul toward some person or object that causes it to:
Seek the exaltation of God in and through that person or object
Love does no harm
Love edifies
Love spends and is spent
Seek His exaltation with all its powers
With all its strength -
With all its heart -
With all its soul -
With all its mind -
Ii. The inclination of the soul toward some person or object that causes it to:
Seek the exaltation of God in and through that person or object
Love does no harm
Love edifies
Love spends and is spent
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Newton Again!
True religion is not a science of the head, so much as an inward and hearfelt perception....Here the learned have no real advantage above the ignorant; both see when the eyes of the understanding are enlightened; till then both are equally blind.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Blessed Wretches
The ability to enjoy much of the Christian Life comes as the result of God showing His children how to hold together in their experience seemingly opposing conditions. For a clear example of this, let's consider joy and sorrow. The Christian Life is neither one of nothing but joy nor untempered sorrow. I Pet. 1:6 & II Cor. 6:10 bring these two Christian Life Realities together into a Christian Life Experience. We are "rejoicing sorrowers" who experience both of these realities, and often simultaneously!
What instruction does the Lord give us to keep us authentically experiencing both at the same time? We find our answer in Ja. 1:2-4! When we find ourselves in the midst of saddening, uncomfortable, painful, constricting, convicting, etc, trials, we are to "count it pure joy" (NIV) by understanding their purpose ("testing of your faith") and end ("that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing").
The "rejoicing sorrowers"-experience presents us with a model that will also apply to the "blessed wretches"-experience. Let's break it down a bit!
The initial task we have to accomplish is to truly lay hold upon each of these two Christian Life Realities - "wretchedness" and "blessedness." One at a time!
First, as believers, the Bible assures us that in Christ we have received "every spiritual blessing" (Eph. 1:3) and have "riches" we may not yet even be aware of (Eph. 1:18). Our saved condition is considered "glorious" (Ps 45:13). We are called "oaks of righteousness" (Is. 61:3), "jewels" (Mal. 3:17), "lights" (Eph. 5:8). And hasn't the blood of Christ "perfected" us (Heb. 10:14) even while we are being "sanctified" (Heb. 10:14)? Our blessed condition certainly gives us permission to experience joy!
Second, before God saved us, the Bible taught us that we were wretches, using words or phrases like "maggot" (Job 25:6), "worm" (Job 25:6), "vile" (job 40:4), "corrupt" (Titus 1:15), "desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9), like an exposed and untreated body full of "wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores" (Is. 1:6). The thought of this condition, and the condemnation under which it brought us, drove us to Christ.
Some Christians believe that these descriptions no longer apply to the saints. They think they have been freed them from this pitiable condition. Now, if we saw the saint as being 100% renewed (as will be true in the New Heavens and New Earth), perhaps we could have some sympathy with this thought. But, the truth of the matter is that our regeneration has still left us wretches in our flesh. The penalty, power, and pleasure of sin is gone, but not its presence in us or around us. Rev. 3:17 is written to a church that Christ says He loves and, therefore chastens. At the same time, He tells them that (in some sense) they must see themselves as still "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
How can this be, given the "blessed" description of them that we wrote about earlier? Here's where our model gives us help.
We can "rejoice" in our trials and in our experiences of unworthiness, because:
First, we are to count, reckon, or regard these distressing times as also "blessed." Faith and the Holy Spirit are always helping us to see beyond what comes to our attention through the senses – to see the unseen (Heb. 11:1)!
Second, we are to understand the purpose and end of such distressing times. Their purpose (or intent) is to prove and stretch our faith. Their end is to make us like the Christ who found joy in His humiliation (Heb. 12:2.
Typically, Christians have one of three responses when they are either going through distressing times or feeling the weight of their ongoing depravity and remaining sin: 1) the "triumphalist" response of glossing over or eliminating their negative feelings, as if to have them or speak at all of them is unbelieving and ungodly – a denial of their joy; 2) the "realist" response, which sees authentic Christianity and true humility in putting their pitiable condition or circumstance at the forefront; 3) the "biblical" response which knows something that to hurt is okay, but there's more to consider than just that.
Something is wrong with the first two of these responses. #1 exalts the positive at the expense of the negative. #2 exalts the negative at the expense of the positive. Only #3 is where we should find ourselves! It is here that our faith is to fight for our joy, against the onslaught of our flesh and trials, without denying the felt experience of either!
What should the right response look like? Even if we acknowledge a range of diversity due to personality and maturity differences, is there a "norm" we can strive for? Yes!! Both are to be held onto simultaneously, with our perspective being dominated by our "blessed" condition.
It's like a camera! If the little "r" realities and experiences (temporal realities and experiences) of our wretchedness dominate, it is like the zoom lens. The pictures of our lives taken this way are up too up close and personal, detail accentuated, wanting to dominate our attention. If our big "R" Realities (spiritual blessings) dominate, it is like the wide angle lens. Now those pictures of scenes in our lives give us "true" pictures because they are now inclusive of those (big-R) Realities that form the grand context of any given (little-r)reality. Any given picture now includes the landscape that adds a biblical perspective on what would otherwise look only morose and painful.
With #3, the picture doesn't gloss over or eliminate the negative experiences, as it does with #1. With #3, the personal tragedies, disappointments, failures, etc. aren't given the dominate place as in #2. With #3 there is always hope that the Holy Spirit will help us to join together the joy and the sorrow, but the joys that are attached to our spiritual realities will dominate the horizon!
Moving from analogy to actual experience, Holy Spirit empowered faith doesn't actually make the positive bigger or the negative smaller. It shows us how big our "blessed" condition truly is, giving it the greater personal significance it deserves! It puts our spiritual blessedness and blessings "in our face" where they should be. It allows us to see what is really going on versus what just appears to be happening. We still know we're wretches – just blessed wretches! We still know we're under duress, but gloriously so!
The result of the proper combining of these two elements, "blessedness" and "wretchedness," yields a very interesting by-product – biblical humility. Always remember, if there's a "biblical" humility, there are counterfeits ready to pounce. With #1, the counterfeit is pride disguised as "happy-all-the-time in the Lord." With #2, the counterfeit is pride calling attention to its misery, or calling attention to the self as it puts the self down. #3 embraces the "toughness" of humility, because it requires us to experience blessing in-the-midst of the humiliations of life – fully feeling the eroding effects of flesh and curse, but feeling our spiritual heritage more!
With the faith-way, the more intense the negative, the more pronounced the positive will need to be. Big "R" Reality must increase in our experience as little "r" realities increase in them, but that's what faith does. When our feelings of distress or wretchedness are mixed with faith in the unseen, they give us a joy that is deeper, and a humility that is truer!
At one and the same time, we are "blessed wretches!" We must live with the tension this brings as we seek to hold them together. During the days of our flesh, the one should never be separated from the other! The precious fruit of holding these two together is HUMILITY!! Humility comes when a believer faces ALL of his/her reality, then walks away personally puzzled, yet thankfully stunned to be grace's recipient.
Pastor Bruce Hays
What instruction does the Lord give us to keep us authentically experiencing both at the same time? We find our answer in Ja. 1:2-4! When we find ourselves in the midst of saddening, uncomfortable, painful, constricting, convicting, etc, trials, we are to "count it pure joy" (NIV) by understanding their purpose ("testing of your faith") and end ("that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing").
The "rejoicing sorrowers"-experience presents us with a model that will also apply to the "blessed wretches"-experience. Let's break it down a bit!
The initial task we have to accomplish is to truly lay hold upon each of these two Christian Life Realities - "wretchedness" and "blessedness." One at a time!
First, as believers, the Bible assures us that in Christ we have received "every spiritual blessing" (Eph. 1:3) and have "riches" we may not yet even be aware of (Eph. 1:18). Our saved condition is considered "glorious" (Ps 45:13). We are called "oaks of righteousness" (Is. 61:3), "jewels" (Mal. 3:17), "lights" (Eph. 5:8). And hasn't the blood of Christ "perfected" us (Heb. 10:14) even while we are being "sanctified" (Heb. 10:14)? Our blessed condition certainly gives us permission to experience joy!
Second, before God saved us, the Bible taught us that we were wretches, using words or phrases like "maggot" (Job 25:6), "worm" (Job 25:6), "vile" (job 40:4), "corrupt" (Titus 1:15), "desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9), like an exposed and untreated body full of "wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores" (Is. 1:6). The thought of this condition, and the condemnation under which it brought us, drove us to Christ.
Some Christians believe that these descriptions no longer apply to the saints. They think they have been freed them from this pitiable condition. Now, if we saw the saint as being 100% renewed (as will be true in the New Heavens and New Earth), perhaps we could have some sympathy with this thought. But, the truth of the matter is that our regeneration has still left us wretches in our flesh. The penalty, power, and pleasure of sin is gone, but not its presence in us or around us. Rev. 3:17 is written to a church that Christ says He loves and, therefore chastens. At the same time, He tells them that (in some sense) they must see themselves as still "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
How can this be, given the "blessed" description of them that we wrote about earlier? Here's where our model gives us help.
We can "rejoice" in our trials and in our experiences of unworthiness, because:
First, we are to count, reckon, or regard these distressing times as also "blessed." Faith and the Holy Spirit are always helping us to see beyond what comes to our attention through the senses – to see the unseen (Heb. 11:1)!
Second, we are to understand the purpose and end of such distressing times. Their purpose (or intent) is to prove and stretch our faith. Their end is to make us like the Christ who found joy in His humiliation (Heb. 12:2.
Typically, Christians have one of three responses when they are either going through distressing times or feeling the weight of their ongoing depravity and remaining sin: 1) the "triumphalist" response of glossing over or eliminating their negative feelings, as if to have them or speak at all of them is unbelieving and ungodly – a denial of their joy; 2) the "realist" response, which sees authentic Christianity and true humility in putting their pitiable condition or circumstance at the forefront; 3) the "biblical" response which knows something that to hurt is okay, but there's more to consider than just that.
Something is wrong with the first two of these responses. #1 exalts the positive at the expense of the negative. #2 exalts the negative at the expense of the positive. Only #3 is where we should find ourselves! It is here that our faith is to fight for our joy, against the onslaught of our flesh and trials, without denying the felt experience of either!
What should the right response look like? Even if we acknowledge a range of diversity due to personality and maturity differences, is there a "norm" we can strive for? Yes!! Both are to be held onto simultaneously, with our perspective being dominated by our "blessed" condition.
It's like a camera! If the little "r" realities and experiences (temporal realities and experiences) of our wretchedness dominate, it is like the zoom lens. The pictures of our lives taken this way are up too up close and personal, detail accentuated, wanting to dominate our attention. If our big "R" Realities (spiritual blessings) dominate, it is like the wide angle lens. Now those pictures of scenes in our lives give us "true" pictures because they are now inclusive of those (big-R) Realities that form the grand context of any given (little-r)reality. Any given picture now includes the landscape that adds a biblical perspective on what would otherwise look only morose and painful.
With #3, the picture doesn't gloss over or eliminate the negative experiences, as it does with #1. With #3, the personal tragedies, disappointments, failures, etc. aren't given the dominate place as in #2. With #3 there is always hope that the Holy Spirit will help us to join together the joy and the sorrow, but the joys that are attached to our spiritual realities will dominate the horizon!
Moving from analogy to actual experience, Holy Spirit empowered faith doesn't actually make the positive bigger or the negative smaller. It shows us how big our "blessed" condition truly is, giving it the greater personal significance it deserves! It puts our spiritual blessedness and blessings "in our face" where they should be. It allows us to see what is really going on versus what just appears to be happening. We still know we're wretches – just blessed wretches! We still know we're under duress, but gloriously so!
The result of the proper combining of these two elements, "blessedness" and "wretchedness," yields a very interesting by-product – biblical humility. Always remember, if there's a "biblical" humility, there are counterfeits ready to pounce. With #1, the counterfeit is pride disguised as "happy-all-the-time in the Lord." With #2, the counterfeit is pride calling attention to its misery, or calling attention to the self as it puts the self down. #3 embraces the "toughness" of humility, because it requires us to experience blessing in-the-midst of the humiliations of life – fully feeling the eroding effects of flesh and curse, but feeling our spiritual heritage more!
With the faith-way, the more intense the negative, the more pronounced the positive will need to be. Big "R" Reality must increase in our experience as little "r" realities increase in them, but that's what faith does. When our feelings of distress or wretchedness are mixed with faith in the unseen, they give us a joy that is deeper, and a humility that is truer!
At one and the same time, we are "blessed wretches!" We must live with the tension this brings as we seek to hold them together. During the days of our flesh, the one should never be separated from the other! The precious fruit of holding these two together is HUMILITY!! Humility comes when a believer faces ALL of his/her reality, then walks away personally puzzled, yet thankfully stunned to be grace's recipient.
Pastor Bruce Hays
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