Snowy Sunday Mornings

I have always been intrigued and challenged by Matthew 18: 1-4, especially "unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  I think it is one of those verses that you spend your whole life studying, but here are two events that I think provide some answers.

I sit behind this family in church.  There is a grandfather, a grandmother, a mother, and her children.  The children love their grandparents.  I don't think the children get to see the grandparents that much.  And the grandparents probably spoil the children.  Well, one day the grandfather got up to take one grandson to the bathroom.  The other grandson watched his grandfather walk away, and his eyes showed how much he loved his grandfather.  They were big and empty and devastated.  When the grandfather came back, the eyes were filled with joy.  That is love.  It is innocent and unconditional and overwhelming.  It is overpowering.  If I could love Jesus and God like that, then I would be truly welcome in the kingdom of heaven.

The other day before the real snow there were flurries.  I saw this eighteen-nineteen year old freshman or sophomore sticking her tongue out to taste the snow. She didn't care how she looked.  Her passion and her innocence and her zest for life were on full display for the world to see.  That lack of caring for convention and the world is another quality befitting someone focused on the kingdom of heaven. Young children don't care how they look.  And neither should we.    

Lord, help us to remain childlike.  Help us to innocently love You.  Help us be righteous in your eyes and not follow the devil's whims.  Help us to be passionate and stop caring about how we look.  Help us to stop caring about the Jones next door.  Help us to remember that if the kingdom of heaven is our goal, then we must follow Christ like young children follow their parents and grandparents, unconditionally.  It is in Jesus' blessed name we pray.  Amen.  

Anger

Our Wednesday night lessons have centered on different types of anger and what the Bible says about anger for the last few weeks.  It has been an interesting study.  Last night we talked about the Diotrephes in 3 John and his inferiority complex.  His desire "to be first" caused him to be envious of other Christians.  It caused him to be angry.  The anger ruined his relationship with other Christians and Christ.  It ruined him.  

Heavenly Father,

Help me move away from anger and move towards love.
Help me to recognize that you are the Living God, and I am only your servant.
Help me to accept my limitations while appreciating and capitalizing my strengths.
Guide me to peace.

It is in Christ's name I pray.
Amen.

The Ordeal of Life

Recently I came across this paper written by an economics professor about medieval ordeals. Ordeals were how medieval Europeans decided guilt and innocence. An accused person had to "thrust his arm into a cauldron of boiling water and fish out a ring. If his arm was unharmed, he was exonerated. If not, he was convicted. Alternatively, a priest dunked the [accused] in a pool. Sinking proved his innocence; floating proved his guilt."  The paper spends 37 pages explaining that if everyone was a faithful believer, then the guilty would confess and never face an ordeal. And only the innocent would face an ordeal.

The author concludes that in a believing society (and a society without modern "CSI" technologies), ordeals were an efficient mechanism to separate the innocent from the guilty. He goes on to cite evidence about how most recorded ordeals found people innocent and suggests priests understood that only innocent people faced ordeals and "rigged" them to find most people innocent.

After I read the paper, someone was telling me about an "ordeal" they were going through. I think it had something to do with an Email program or a computer virus. This got me thinking about these medieval ordeals. It made me think about the early Christians in Acts, especially Stephen and Paul. I realized that I am pretty lucky. The ordeals that I face today are pretty tame and insignificant. Email just isn't that important in the grand scheme of things. But the paper did make me think about what it means to be a faithful Christian.

The author starts his paper with a quote from Hebrews 10:31: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." This verse is what drew me to this article. It reinforces the underlying faithfulness that must have been required for any person who submitted to an ordeal. It also reminds us of the faithfulness required by us to be a Christian today.

There are really two scenarios to an ordeal or most of life. In an ordeal, the accused person is either guilty or innocent. In life, we are either wrong and in sin. Or we are righteous and following God. And no matter what side of that line we are presently standing on, if we are faithful and true believers, our options are clear-cut. If we are wrong we must admit our guilt; we must repent; we must pray for His forgiveness, and accept God's will. If we are right, we have to have faith in the living God, we have to accept the ordeals of life fully trusting in the ways of the Lord. And if we are truly faithful and submissive to God, there are no real ordeals, no extremely tough decisions. By believing and loving the Living God, we are truly blessed.

At this time if you have any need before the church, you are invited to come forward as we sing.

Scanning The Radio Dial

A while back, I was commuting back and forth to Richmond. When I am driving, especially when I am stuck in traffic, I have this tendency to scan the radio constantly. I listen to something until a commercial and then scan again. I listen to a song I like, then press scan when one comes along that I don't like. As I have gotten older, I prefer talk radio. I can never seem to find a station that consistently plays the songs I like. So I listen to talk radio. And there always seems to be preachers on some station. Some are good. Some are wrong. And most of the time I only get a snippet. But here are three snippets I listened to:

1. The first preacher was discussing the story of Elijah in (1 Kings 19). He discussed the story of Elijah sitting under the tree asking God to take his life. Sitting under a tree feeling sorry for himself, questioning why God had given him so much trouble even though he had been so faithful, even though he carried out all of God's difficult demands. The preacher talked about how we all feel this way some times, but I went out of range before he reached his conclusion.
   
2. And then I scanned to another radio preacher as he said that we have to "Throw away the filth." We get so caught up in the world, the everyday life, that we are trapped by own rebellion against God. As an example, Elijah became so focused on the world, on his everyday life, on filth, that he fell into a paralyzing depression. And to grow he had to throw away the filth. Unfortunately, I lost the signal before I could get to the preacher's final conclusion about how we, in practice, could "Throw Away the Filth."
   
3. Then one older preacher brought it all together for me. He said he always had difficulty fully trusting God, fully giving Him control of his life, fully submitting to God's will. For most of his life, he was afraid of flying, then one time he was flying on a flight from London and he was going through rough turbulence, and he started to pray for God to lead him and to take his control of his life. He prayed for submission, and he fell asleep "in God's love" even with the turbulence.
   

That was what the story of Elijah and "throwing away the filth" was telling us. Most of our daily worldly frustrations are unholy filth that we need to throw away. And the way to throw away the filth is to trust in Jesus, trust in the savior, trust the Bible and trust that He will never give us anything we can't handle. Like with Elijah, God will get us through if we submit.

To throw away the filth in our lives we have to submit. And for this submission we get the comfort of the Lord, we get to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), we get the comfort of being away from the filth and depression that the world presents. To submit, we have to hear, believe, repent, be baptized, and live faithfully. At this time, if you have any problems with submission, or if you have any needs before the church, please come forward as we sing.

Father Longenecker Does It Again

He discusses why he isn't political. The first priority is always self-change. Politics by its very nature can't survive with this priority. Politicians by their very nature don't do well with this priority.

I can't imagine Jesus as a Republican or a Democrat.

A Prayer

Lord, help me find what I want
Help me find life
Help me find love
Help me find peace
Help me find forgiveness
Help me find thoughtfulness
Help me find passion
Help me find patience
Help me find respect
Lord, help me find You
Help me do what is right
Help me be confident in my righteousness

It is in Jesus' blessed name I pray,

Amen.

"Pray Without Ceasing" Or "Pray Continually"

I wish someone would remind me of 1 Thessalonians 5:17 every day. It is a tough verse. But if we can hold ourselves up to the "pray without ceasing" standard, we will be able to walk with Jesus. If we can meditate away from the anger of the world and into the peace of God, we will be saved. If we can bring our problems to the Lord instead of internalizing or avoiding them, we will be filled with joy. If we can listen instead of speaking without reflection then we will be truly blessed.

Great things come from continual prayer. Mediocre things come from partial prayer. Nothing comes from no prayer.

Lord help us to pray.