15 Minute Lesson From Last Night

(I apologize for the formatting.  The structure of the lesson came from here.)

Tonight is a continuation of last Sunday’s lesson on “The Seasons of Life” inspired by Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and Genesis 1:14-15.  Last Sunday J______ and D_____ discussed the Spring and Summer of life which encompassed childhood and early adulthood.  Tonight I am the opening act and will discuss the Fall of life or mature adulthood.  And S______ will close the show discussing the last stage of life using the metaphor of Winter.    

What got me interested in this topic was one afternoon I was visiting my parents and I realized that I was married, realized I am still a student, realized my wife was in San Antonio, realized my school was in Blacksburg, realized my parents were getting older, realized my dog was getting old, realized I didn’t have a real job, realized that we live in a dangerous world, realized my thick comforter was in San Antonio and realized that we had a church picnic starting in an hour, and there was an interesting professional development seminar starting in an hour and a half in Blacksburg, and I was two and half hours away in Crozet.  I kind-of freaked out.  My life was getting complicated, my life was spiraling out-of-control, my life was changing rapidly, and I questioned how well I was handling it.  I remembered 1 Peter 5:7: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”  Other translations use the word “anxiety.”  “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”  I am not supposed to worry or harbor anxiety.  I am supposed to cast all my anxieties onto the Lord.  I needed to pray, but I realized I was still learning how to pray.  In other words, I wasn’t where I wanted to be.  I wanted to be better.  And I wanted it right then.  Even today, I want to be better right now.            

The next morning I made it back to Christiansburg and KW was telling a story in class about having to eat with and receive an award from a 3 star general, and how he was so nervous, but how in the end he got through it.  And I realized that my current situation was just life, that we find ways to get through things, and some day relatively soon my wife and I will live together, and I will have a job and that will lead to a whole new set of realizations and challenges.  This is just a season in my life.

In the context of this lesson, even though I am the old man of this class, I am still in and really just beginning the summer of my life.  I haven’t learned all the things I need to learn.  I haven’t learned patience.  I haven’t developed the habits needed to be a mature “man.”  I haven’t really learned what it takes to be a husband much less a father.   

And that is okay because the important thing for me is to continue growing, especially as a Christian. God designed us to grow.  1 Corinthians 3 is a powerful chapter in so many ways.  Paul is addressing a community of people, but his metaphors of moving from drinking milk in infancy to solid food and building on the foundation of Christ also applies to us as individuals today.  We as individuals must grow and build upon the foundation of Christ, and this requires time.  “For everything there truly is a season.”  There is comfort in the fact that we get to grow, we get to mature, and our past mistakes can be left behind.

The Bible gives us great examples of this principle.  Abraham, Moses, and David made mistakes, but they grew and became men of God.  Peter and Paul made mistakes, but they developed in to worthy disciples who spread the Word to the ends of this Earth.  Their growth didn’t happen overnight.  It took time.  They all went through tough times.  They all sinned, but they came out the other side as true Men of God.  If they can do it, why can’t I?  Why can’t we?  I found this idea of growth to be very comforting.  It doesn’t take away our personal responsibility to deny temptation and avoid sin, but it does help us appreciate more fully what Christ’s sacrifice really meant for us.  James 1:2-5 tells us:

² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

 ^{We will go through trials, but if we hold on to faith and ask God for wisdom, we will receive the greatest gifts.}

Now, finally, getting to the meat of tonight’s lesson, with all apologies to D_____ and summer, I think the most fruitful season of this growth is fall.  It is when we get to reap the rewards of summer.  The shift from young adulthood into mature adulthood is the point where individuals start to understand more precisely what God requires of them and also understand the habits needed to meet these requirements.  It is the point where priorities are permanently established.  As one grows older, some strength and energy leaves, but wisdom increases.  Habits become refined, and the mistakes of the past that required extra strength and energy are avoided.  There comes a time in a person’s life when they know what to do, how to do it, and still have the ability to do it.  This is the fall of life.  This is the mature adult.

An example comes from working with my Dad.  He has always sold fruits and vegetables.  Banana boxes come in 40 pound boxes.  When I was young I would always lift two at a time and carry them to the display.  My dad always used a cart.  Let’s just say, as I have gotten older I understand the multiple benefits of using a cart. He could always fill up the bananas faster than I could.  Now the last time I was home he admitted that when he was young he always carried everything too.

Being a mature Christian also carries increased responsibilities.  The responsibilities center on continuing to build and share knowledge.  Now that one finally “gets it” they have to continue “getting it,” share what they know, and start to broaden their concerns and perspectives.  

Besides better habits and skills to deal with life, a mature adult continues to build knowledge.  He continues to build better habits.  He learns from failures.  He more fully trusts God, and this trust leads him deeper into Christ and the Bible.  By this time in life, the primary lessons of the Bible have been learned, and a mature adult moves to secondary lessons.  It is not enough to superficially know the Bible.  A mature adult must appreciate the deep lessons of Christ and the living God.  Last week, J____ implored us to read the Bible every day.  I am ashamed to admit that I have only recently learned how to do this effectively.  But mature adults in the fall of their lives have no problem with reading the Bible every day.  They not only read the Word, they live the Word.  We read this in Colossians 1:10: 

  10 rthat you may walk worthy of the Lord, sfully pleasing Him, tbeing fruitful in every good work and increasing in the uknowledge of God; 

 The Fall of life also requires the mature adult to take what they have learned and to share it.  This is another big difference from young adulthood.  A husband and father who has young children is rightfully limited.  His first responsibility is to grow and provide for his family.  A young wife and mother has similar and probably greater commitments to family.  But older men and older women have to take the next step to grow the Kingdom of God.  They have to begin to mentor others and teach classes and be involved in the church.  As Hebrews 5:12-14 tells us:

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the 2oracles of God; and you have come to need qmilk and not solid food.  13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is ra babe.  14 But solid food belongs to those who are 3of full age, that is, those who by reason of 4use have their senses exercised sto discern both good and evil.

Similarly, the Fall of Life also has to be a time when mature Christians broaden their concerns.  They have move away from themselves and their families and move towards greater selflessness.  The selfishness of youth disappears and the selflessness of Christ must start to appear.  Leadership qualities must develop.  Mature adulthood is the time when we can go on mission trips, where we can begin to really spread the Word and Good News of Christ to the ends of the Earth.  It is a time where we must go beyond our comfort zones. As Philippians 2:4 states:  

4 gLet each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of hothers.

And it is in everyone’s interest to hear about Christ and the Living God.

To conclude, mature adulthood is about developing a toughness, an emotional toughness that prevents the foolishness of young adulthood.  It prevents one from losing sight of our heavenly home because of the ugliness of the world.  It is a certainty that comes with age and wisdom.  It is a peace and patience that allows mature Christians to be true lights to the world.  As Proverbs 20:28 says: 

“The glory of young men is their strength,

And bthe splendor of old men is their gray head.”

As a young man, I am comforted by the fact that if I study and pray, and cast all my anxieties onto the Lord, I will reap great rewards.  And this comfort and perseverance is something we really have to hold onto in the latter stages of our lives, the winter of our lives.

Weak Decisions

I have always had this concept of weak decisions.  The idea being that some times we make decisions based on safety, decisions that keep us from challenges and growth.  Notice these aren't necessarily bad decisions.  They are just safe decisions.  Decisions that are made so we don't have to grow and knock down our pre-concieved boundaries.  There are some Biblical examples of these types of decisions.  Most notably Peter denying Jesus (Matthew 26: 69-75) and Thomas doubting Jesus (John 20: 24-29).

But weak decisions don't doom us.  We still have the ability to grow and learn from these decisions.  The peace and forgiveness of Christ frees us from past weak decisions.  It also implores us to make stronger decisions. 

Heavenly Father,
Help us to make strong decisions.
Help us to grow.
You are always with us, because You are the one true Living God.
Let this give us the courage and power to go out in the world and do Your Will.
It is in Jesus' name,
Amen.

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.