 This post was originally posted on Pastor Karl's old blog. You can find that blog here.
It is an insidious trap built by Satan himself. He dangles temptation in front of us and fans the smouldering embers of our fallen nature with a sweet hypnotic voice. Like Eve of old, we see the forbidden fruit and it appears pleasant and good. The ancient serpent, having stoked our fallen nature to a brilliant blaze, whispers encouragement and so we partake...again. There is a moment of pleasure followed by searing guilt. The voice that was so sweetly encouraging us to sin becomes the voice of the accuser. "Guilty! Filthy! Failure! You claim to be a Christian but you are not! A Christian would never do that! It's too late...there will be no forgiveness this time!" It all sounds true. You feel so alone. So terribly horribly alone. Somehow another voice begins to whisper that the pleasure of sin will make the loneliness more tolerable. Another forbidden fruit appears, more tantalising than the last. In your loneliness it seems like an oasis. And the cycle plunges you ever deeper and feelings of loneliness separated by fleeting moments of pleasure seem to become your way of life. The cycle is a trap all too familiar to the followers of Christ. How do you move on? Of course the best was to get out of any trap is to avoid it altogether, but I want to address those who are in the trap. You are in the quicksand. You feel like an athlete who is about to be cut from the team for making too many bad plays. Are you there? I've been there. Let me share a secret with you: The ending of the story is glorious. You think that story began with a decision to follow Christ and is ending with your failure. But the story didn't begin with you. It began with Him. He called you. He picked you. The One who sees the end from the beginning chose you to belong to him. Look at the ground, then look at the sky. He chose you before those things even existed. He knew all about your weaknesses and your failings and he chose you in spite of them. He wants you. He desires you. You feel lonely. The Lord of the Universe loves you. He overwhelmed your defences and you said yes to him. But he did the overwhelming. He knew what you had done and he wanted you. He also knew that you would fail. More than once. He called you anyway. It really is incredible, isn't it? The story is about him. You are involved, but the hero isn't you. It's him. Paul tells us in the first chapter of Ephesians that God lavished on you the riches of his grace. Grace is something that you don't deserve, cannot earn, and can never repay. Where you sit right now, feeling alone and guilty, is the exact moment that you need to know his grace. He knows that. He understands that and in his wisdom he gives you his grace. He isn't a miser who looks at you and tries to figure our just how much grace you need. "Let's see, yesterday he needed 14 millilitres of grace but today he really screwed up so I guess we'll have to give him 27." No, he is lavishing it on you. He is opening the floodgates of heaven and pouring his grace and forgiveness on you. You are standing under the Niagara Falls of his grace. Right now. Before the foundation of the world he knew that this moment was coming, and he wants you to know know that your cries for forgiveness have been heard. You have been forgiven. John writes, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). His grace is poured out because of his wisdom and understanding. He knew and knows and he loved you and loves you still. His grace joyously flows over you abundantly. And the greatness of the grace poured out on you causes angels to worship in awestruck wonder. The story ends in a wedding. Remember that. You are the bride of Christ. He has chosen you. In spite of what you feel at the moment, you have an engagement ring on your finger. You are his. You are on your way to a glorious wedding: yours (Eph 1:13-14; 5:25-32). The story is not about how well you perform. It is about his grace. You love him. He knows that. And the story is about his love and his lavish grace. So put the focus back where it belongs: on Jesus. So what next? Here are some things that you can do:
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Reflections on LIFE 2019 Conference
Thanks, Word of Life family for all the prayers, fasting, and support for our youth! We put so much of ourselves into one week of the year that it is weird for it to be over. There is almost a post-Life conference shock. We are still processing through everything that we saw and heard, adjusting to living in our contexts again, and, personally, I feel like I have to adjust back to doing normal pastoral things again. No more double-checking logistics and communicating airline regulations! Yay! As all that is happening, there are some key points that are getting thought through right now: Our group opened up and grew as a family in Christ. We opened up about the pain of injustices in the world. We opened up and shared how Jesus was at work in us. We opened up and shared even what some would say are trivial facts about ourselves. But the sum of all this was greater than the parts. Through all Christ was doing through the week to build our relationships, we grew as a family in Christ. Tied to this, it seems like Jesus made our students (even leaders) braver. Brave to say what they are feeling, thinking, and sensing. Brave to let people into their world, to speak up, and speak out. Brave to rest in the promises and truth of Jesus and not the labels of the world. Lastly, Life conference made it obvious that we have not lost a generation. I never thought we had. God is too faithful. I read the articles and hear the noise of all the negative views of the next generation. There is a difference however, between seeing the grimly spun statistics and experiencing God at work. The people hitting the panic button haven’t seen what we just saw. There were more than 4000 students worshiping Jesus with everything they’ve got. There were 34 first-time confessions of faith, 108 rededications to Christ. There were more than 300 students who heard a call to vocational ministry, whether missionary or pastoral. The more than 5,400 people in attendance gave over $200,000 (between cash gifts and online giving) for an orphanage ministry, called Silver Lining, in Myanmar. Let that sink in. Let the reality of what Jesus is doing in and through teenagers sink in deep enough so that it is louder, more convincing, and truer than the latest complaint about them in media. So, let’s have the youth do it! Sorry, I am not saying the youth should do manual labor, all the dirty jobs, or valet park cars on Sunday. Let’s have the youth do the work of the ministry! Let’s let them loose to teach English to Bhutanese refugees, lead community outreaches, guide prayer times, preach and teach, disciple others, help with agencies that are working to end human trafficking, and do all this for King Jesus, the advancement of the Gospel, and the growth of the Kingdom. Will you still support them in this by sharing your time, your wisdom, and your encouragement? Will you still support them by humbly stepping aside, handing over the keys, and then watch to see what Jesus does? I had the unique privilege of attending LIFE 2019 as a student leader. Before I left for the LIFE conference, when it came up in conversations that I was going to Orlando, people would ask me why I was going. I tried to explain that it was a youth conference for the high school students in our congregation, but I found myself struggling to define it to people who had never heard of it before. I had never been to a LIFE conference myself, so I really only knew about the seminars, worship time and service projects. As I tried to describe this conference to people outside of the CMA, I found myself sometimes questioning why we were going all the way to Orlando for some seminars, some worship and a service project.
What I experienced at LIFE 2019 is difficult to describe in just a few sentences, but one of the major messages I heard from our leadership within the CMA is that we - as followers of Christ - must invest in the next generation. As followers of Christ, we must invest ourselves to spread the gospel to regions beyond, and we must invest ourselves in the next generation. Nobody ever said those words, per se - it was just clear in everything that we heard, in the way everything was planned, in the quality of everything they did. Our young people are important, and we need to invest in them. And the investment they need most is our time. I also experienced the joy of getting to know these young people at a level that simply is not possible during a once-a-week service on Sunday mornings. These young people have dreams, fears, plans, challenges, pursuits, hurts and hopes that are unique to each person and can be used as their greatest tool for beauty and kingdom growth in the hands of our God. Or those same things can be used as the enemy's greatest weapon against them. We must commit to do everything we can to walk with them, listen to them, seek to understand them and then share with them what we know about who God is and how He has worked in our lives. What better investment could we make? Angie Stanislowski The Psalms are a treasure chest full of riches. Some, like Psalm 23 are well known while others are obscure. One of the most famous psalms is Psalm 119. Its notoriety comes from being the longest of all the psalms. Weighing in at 176 verses, it has derailed many Bible reading plans. It is the longest chapter in the Bible and has over twice as many verses as the next longest psalm! You may be surprised to know that it has become one of my go-to psalms in the Bible.
My love of the psalm started when I was going through a dry time in my devotions. My bible reading had become somewhat routine and perfunctory. At the same time, I was reading Ancient Paths by Corey Russell. I was startled to discover that Psalm 119 was one of his favorite psalms. He caused me to take a fresh look at it. But I don’t want to teach you about the psalm. I want you to encounter what I did as I began looking at the it. Let me encourage you to start your devotional time with Psalm 119. Don’t read the whole thing, but read it a section at time. The psalm is an acrostic poem broken down into 22 sections following the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each verse in a given section starts with the same letter of the alphabet. Even though you cannot see this in the English text, it provides handy bite-sized sections to meditate on. So read a section, then pause and reflect on the what it says. Perhaps you will want to underline different subjects. Say a prayer based on what you see and then move on with your regular bible reading. I think you’ll be surprised at the results. The psalm is a reflection of David’s passion for encountering the Lord through the Word. As you work your way through the psalm over 3 weeks, you will find his passion to be contagious and your heart will soon be ablaze for Jesus and his word! -Pastor Karl Yes, the title is "Faith Popcorn and a Proverb". No commas are needed because Faith Popcorn is a real person, not something you eat while watching Christian movies. In 1981 she coined the term “cocooning” to describe what she perceived to be a trend for people to stay at home away from perceived danger. This was twenty years before 9/11 and before the mass shooting epidemic. It was before the internet both amplified the perceived threats and gave a pleasant way of escaping while in the safety of your home. In 2013, in an issue of Fortune magazine, Faith Popcorn said that cocooning had become the normal lifestyle and that “uber-cocooning” and “bunkering” were now becoming trends as people had even greater fear of engagement with what was perceived to be an increasing threatening world. This trend is increasing. Our homes really have become our castles where we retreat and avoid interacting with those around us (except via social media). This has taken place even though since 1981 the crime rate has dropped significantly for almost every category of crime. It is getting safer outside, but we are retreating more and more. We live in a “hide behind the walls” culture and reinforce our beliefs by what we watch on our screens.
We need to hear the words of Scripture: Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? Proverbs 24:11-12 ESV We are not called to cocoon. We are called to be salt and light in a world that desperately needs Jesus. When we retreat into the safety of our homes and ignore the cries for help around us, we are placing our light under a bushel basket. We, though we might claim to be Christ-followers, wind up much like those who walked right past the man who had been robbed on the road to Jericho. When you read this opening line of this Proverb, who immediately came to mind? Who are those being taken away to death and led to slaughter? This passage places a responsibility before us: we are to rescue those being led away to death. It warns us against closing our eyes against what we have seen and to become active in saving those who are heading for destruction. There are those who are being led away to destruction by their addictions. The opioid crisis, alcohol, heroin and other drugs are enslaving people and destroying lives. Pornography and sexual sins are keeping people in bondage and devastating marriages to the point that marriage itself is becoming an afterthought. This is one of the reasons that we have a Celebrate Recovery program. This is an effective way to lead people to freedom in Christ. Know someone who is struggling? Invite them Celebrate Recovery on Friday night. It starts with a meal at 6:15 on Friday. If they are hesitant, offer to pick them up and attend with them! Or if you don’t know anyone who is struggling, you can always volunteer to help on Friday nights. Did you know Coon Rapids made Rolling Stone a few years ago? They carried a story about a young girl who went to a friend's house after skating at Cheap Skate. It was at her friend's house that she met the woman who talked her into going on a road trip. A few days later she found herself being prostituted in Texas. Human trafficking is a major issue that hides in the shadows all around us. Evil networks have learned that humans are much more profitably trafficked than drugs. Perhaps this is the issue that immediately popped into your mind. There are organizations that are actively fighting this evil…why not get involved? One of the great tragedies of our lifetimes is the number of abortions that are performed in the United States. This practice obviously affects the unborn child, but it also leads to great harm to the mother who often deals with the emotional trauma of the decision for the rest of her life. This may be the issue that Jesus wants you to get involved with. You may have a someone that the Lord is calling you to help. Or perhaps you want to get involved with a ministry that deals with the issue. New Life Pregnancy Center is an effective program here in the Twin Cities that you might want to check out. Issues like addiction, trafficking, and abortion grab the headlines. These are the manifestations of a deeper problem: sin. The Bible tells us that people are enslaved to sin and are headed toward an eternity in hell. They are all “being taken away to death” and “stumbling towards slaughter.” We cannot close our eyes to this reality. The gospel is the only hope of saving those around us who are headed towards hell. We are all called to be witnesses of the death and resurrection. We are ambassadors and representatives of Christ. Our neighbors, co-workers, friends and relatives need to hear the gospel. How can we be content with cocooning when eternity is at stake? May the Lord lead us out of our comfortable patterns and into the center of his will. May we be ones who take seriously the call to be his witnesses and to lead people to freedom in Christ! Not long ago, I was babysitting my grandkids and I was trying to play a song on my phone for them. The speakers on my phone were a little feeble even though I had it turned all the way up, and my five-year-old grand-daughter said, “Just put it in this coffee cup, Mémé, and it will get louder.” Huh?? Did you know that if you put your cellphone in a cup or bowl, with the speaker down inside the vessel, it will amplify whatever you’re trying to listen to? I had no idea.
The type of cup will determine the amplification you experience. Cups of different structures, shapes, weights, and materials will produce a slightly different sound quality and volume. I thought of this little techy trick last week when we were at the Christian and Missionary Alliance’s General Council. During the course of the seven-day conference, we heard messages from God’s Word from a variety of speakers, who were chosen to reflect the multi-cultural nature of our movement. One night we heard from an African-American preacher, and the next night a Korean-American pastor preached. We heard from a couple who are of Puerto Rican descent, and also from a Cuban pastor. We heard from C&MA leaders who are white. Our worship leaders and singers were both male and female, black, brown and white, and young and old. The whole conference was a great experience, but the most touching thing to me was the way that God used His vessels of different ethnicities, cultures and ages to transmit to us different aspects of the same beautiful message. They challenged and encouraged and taught us in different ways. The heart of our Gospel “song”, with its melody, its lyrics, and its message, does not change, but the tone, the key, the timbre and the tempo of the song changes with the style and cultural experience of the vessel who is sharing the Word. I loved each and every one of these messages, words spoken by servants of our Father, coming from many different cultures, but united in Him, simply doing their part to be the best amplifiers of his Word that they can possibly be. How can you be the kind of “coffee cup” that He has called you to be, to be a vessel that takes the Song of the Savior and amplifies it so that those around you can hear its life-giving melody? - Janet Emerson "They packed their belongings in a casket."
I remember reading about the first Alliance missionaries and their deep commitment to go to dangerous places. They didn't think they would be coming back alive. Perhaps they would serve overseas for years, but it was likely that they would be martyred for their efforts to shine the light of Jesus in the Congo. I was reminded of this last week when Janet and I attended the General Council of the C&MA in Orlando. It was a week of business meetings, worship, reports and challenging messages brought to a climax on the final day when 62 new Alliance workers were commissioned for overseas work. While there was much to celebrate during the week, I couldn’t help but feel an undercurrent of the seriousness of the work to which we are called. For several decades the work of Alliance missions focused on reaching the responsive peoples of the world. We sought to plant churches and train leaders among those who were ripe for harvesting. Networks of churches formed and Bible schools were started as these efforts matured. But in recent years we have shifted to taking the gospel to those who have never heard. In most cases, a large part of the reason they haven’t heard is because their culture, and perhaps their government, is hostile to the message of Christ. It is dangerous work. Many of our new workers are heading to those places. Getting kicked out of countries is likely. Imprisonment, physical violence and even death are possibilities. There will be no newsletters or Facebook posts from these unsung heroes of the faith. In our hyper-connected world an email or Instagram post can mean deportation so they rely on the prayers of those who are sensitive to the voice of the Spirit. Often in America church life is marked by entertainment and socializing. “Fun, Friends, and Jesus.” The gospel is presented as a means to make life better. Relationships can be healed, addictions can be broken, and blessings can be enjoyed. This is true, but what if accepting the gospel meant losing your job or your family? What if instead of healing it meant torture? What if it carried with it a death sentence? Would you share the gospel with a co-worker if you knew that becoming a Christ-follower would mean losing his family and perhaps being killed? Would you be willing to go somewhere to share the gospel if the penalty for doing so was jail? Is it worth it? Yes. Heaven and hell hang in the balance. The New Testament church experienced all of these things and continued to grow in numbers and in the power of the Spirit. In the same way, the Alliance is seeing people come to faith in the darkest regions of the world. The work is difficult and daily difficulties must be faced, but seeds are being sown and frequently a harvest is being reaped as well. This Council made me glad to be a part of C&MA, a bunch of irregular people filled with a desire to know Jesus and make him known to ends of the earth. Oh, that pioneering work in the Congo that started back in 1884 has born fruit. Those Spirit-led risks have resulted in over a million and a half people in the DRC worshipping Jesus today! May the Lord use us in the same way today. - Pastor Karl Emerson I recently received an email from Ron asking a great question. Here is the question and my response:
"Hello Pastor: I have from time to time encountered people in jail and elsewhere who are concerned that they can lose their salvation. My discussions from Ephesian and Romans are somewhat convincing, but these folks still have lingering doubts. They seem to understand that we have been made alive; salvation is a gift we could never earn and did not deserve, God chose us, and etc. I always tell them that if my salvation in any way depended upon me or my performance, then I would be skeptical. What are your thoughts that you would direct toward these puzzled individuals?" Ron: Thanks for the question. It is a common struggle, not just for those who are in prison. I would begin by digging around a little to discover their understanding of what it means to be a Christian and what happens when one becomes a Christian. Often it is that basic foundation that needs to be addressed. Has the person been born again by the Spirit of God? This is an important issue and one that is essential to helping a person with questioning whether they can lose their salvation. Often evangelistic approaches are geared in one of two directions. First, they talk about the guilt of sin and its eternal consequence of hell. Christ is then presented as the sacrifice for sins and people are called to repent and believe in order to escape the consequences of their sin. So they “decide” they will be Christian because they don’t want to go to hell. They pray a prayer and then are told that they are saved, born again, and heaven is guaranteed. Many think that praying a prayer is all that is required. The other approach is to offer Christ as a means of helping people build a better life. “Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. He forgives you wants the best for you: follow him!” Who doesn’t want to have a good life? You’ve messed up, now follow Jesus and you’ll have the best life possible. So they decide to use Jesus as a means to get the good life. Perhaps in the case of prison ministry that could mean as a means of getting out earlier. Perhaps for the addict it means getting clean of drugs. People who respond to these approaches may not be born again. Who wants to go to hell? If someone says that to get to heaven I just need to feel bad about the rotten things I’ve done and repeat a prayer, why not? It’s cheap insurance! If getting clean from drugs is the goal, any guru who promises freedom will be followed (any boat in a storm!). Once the storm has passed, there is no need for the boat. If one wants good business contacts, “getting saved” may open up new networks of people eager to do business. In all of these cases, a person’s “salvation” must be seriously questioned. What is Regeneration? Jesus told Nicodemus that a man needed to be born again to see the kingdom of God. Regeneration is the essential thing we need, but what is it? Simply put, regeneration is an act of God whereby God implants a new nature in a person. The Holy Spirit comes to reside within a person and they are connected to Christ. Once dead, they were made alive by God. They were in darkness, but now they are flooded in light. Paul writes that this shining of the light is no less powerful than miracle when God said, “let light shine out of darkness” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Regeneration is a great supernatural action of God that blows apart every defense and every objection to the gospel. The work of regeneration is a weighty life-transforming thing. It cannot help but have an impact on a person’s life, any more than something could have stopped light coming into existence when God commanded it. And like creation itself, it is totally a work of God (Ephesians 2:1-10). This is why it is so critical in answering your question to know whether the person has been born again. I don’t know of a foolproof way of figuring out whether a person has been born again. Many people claim to have had an experience they call “getting born again” but whose lives show no signs of walking with Jesus. There are many biblical indications that a person is twice-born, but these are not guarantees. We cannot see into the heart. There will always be those who appear to be believers but are not (1 John 2:19), but these signs are helpful in dealing with people. Here are three major things that are signs that regeneration has taken place. If they are not present, then the person has not been born again. They repent and believe the gospel. If someone does not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that he died and rose again for our sins, they have not been born again. Those who have been born again forsake their sin, bow in allegiance to Christ, and seek to follow him. Of course, as a practical matter, many can outwardly respond to the preaching of the gospel and not be born again. As I mentioned, there are many motivations for responding and saying the right words. But all those who have been born again have repented and believe the gospel. They have a deep and enduring love for the Lord. Keith Green, the popular Christian singer from decades ago, used to have a simple definition of a Christian: Someone who is bananas for Jesus! The person who has been born again loves the Lord with their whole heart. Jesus has become their greatest treasure (Matthew 13:44-45). Like Paul, they say “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). They have a profound hatred for sin, particularly in their own lives. 1 John 3:1-10 is clear: those who have been born again do not make a practice of sinning. God’s regenerating seed has been planted in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. Sin has become offensive to them because it affects the most important relationship in the world to them: their relationship with the Lord. As a result, they strive to live a holy life. Those who are lackadaisical about sin are at best seriously ill in their faith. They may not even be born again. Sometimes people want to know if they can lose their salvation because they want a license to sin all they want! That’s a sign that the person may not be born again. Of course, we do not achieve perfect sinlessness in this life. The regenerated do sin. But when they do, the Holy Spirit will put increasing pressure on them to lead them to repentance. I John 1:9-10 will be a cherished passage, not because it is perceived to be a license to sin, but because it is a means of cleansing when one does sin. There are more characteristics, but those three will help diagnose where a person is at spiritually. Do they love Jesus and his word? Have they repented and believed the gospel? Do they hate sin and live lives of quick repentance? These are signs that a person has truly been born again. If they aren’t then you need to go over that ground with them and truly lead them to the Lord. Can a Regenerate Person Lose Their Salvation? But let’s assume that the people you are dealing with are born again as far as you can tell. Can a regenerate person lose their salvation? No. Regeneration is an act of God that he promises to carry through to its completion. The central issue then becomes God’s faithfulness rather than our ability. “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and my your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who called you is faithful and he will surely do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in your will carry it to completionat the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6). “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14). These passage in Paul’s letters point to God’s commitment to saving those who have been born again. There are also the words of our Lord: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:38-40) “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29) Perhaps one of the most useful passages to understanding how this works in the life of the person who has been born again is found in Jeremiah 32:40. The prophet describes the new covenant this way: “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they will not turn from me.” God promises not to turn away from doing good to the believer. He is committed to this relationship! He isn’t fickle. He doesn’t turn away at the slightest misstep. But there is more. He also implants the fear of the Lord in the believer’s heart to keep them following him. This fear is an love-filled awe of him that desires to please him, honor him, and obey him. It views his great glory and yearns to be close to him and disdains things that would lead away from him. So we can rest in his faithfulness. He is fully committed. We have the fear of the Lord, so we take the warnings against falling away seriously. All of this is a gift of God’s grace and goodness. For the person who is questioning whether they can lose their salvation, this more robust understanding of the nature of regeneration is often very helpful because they begin to see that it is God’s work and God will be faithful to finish it. All they need to do is keep following him and they have been given the Spirit and the fear of the Lord to keep them on the right track. So stay in the word and prayer (which they should hunger for), develop healthy relationships with other believers (whom they should have love for), and strive to live a holy life (because they have a hatred for sin). If they are afraid of falling away, they need reassurance of the faithfulness of God. Perhaps they need to ponder the fact that the reason that they woke up a believer this morning is because of God’s sustaining work in their lives. He has promised to be faithful until they reach heaven. He will carry his work to completion. Hope that helps. Pastor Karl Word of Life is part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. But what does that mean, practically speaking?
It means that we are taking the Great Commission seriously. Matthew 28:18-20 tells us that Jesus expects us to make disciples of all nations on earth. This is a fundamental aspect of what it means to be his follower. His love compels us to take the gospel to those who do not know him. This includes taking the gospel to our neighbors, but it also means that we are committed to taking it to the darkest places on the planet. Missions isn’t an add-on program: it is part of our DNA. It is our middle name! It means that we recognize that cross-cultural ministry is hard. Being an effective worker in a foreign land is difficult. Language mastery takes several years. Learning local customs takes just as long. This means that there is considerable investment that must be made before productive ministry can be expected. Alliance workers are thoroughly vetted so that we send workers that have both a clear calling and capabilities in handling the challenges of long-term international work. It means that we value strategic planning in missions work. The C&MA has some of the best minds in the missions world planning how we can most effectively reach the nations with the gospel. This multiplies the effectiveness that individual churches could have on their own. Our missions leaders target places with the goal of establishing churches that reproduce. When churches have been established, leaders have been developed and multiplication is established, we move resources to other places. For example, we have pulled resources away from the Philippines and invested them elsewhere because there are more Alliance churches there than there are in the United States! Sure, more work that could be done, but the network of Alliance churches in the Philippines is self-sustaining and growing. The US Alliance can take the gospel to new places. It means that we value working together with other churches to support missionaries. The Great Commission Fund is a key means of supporting workers so they do not have the burden of raising funds for their work. This frees our workers to do that which they were called and equipped to do rather than spend countless hours figuring out how to raise funds to stay on the field. It allows them to minister in ways that are effective in establishing churches rather than finding photo ops for fundraising letters. It means that we are praying, giving, and sending in obedience to our Lord. Fueled by the Spirit, we are committed to doing whatever it takes to see the gospel taken to the ends of the earth. We pray regularly for the nations. We give sacrificially to fund our common effort, and we send others to complete the work God has given us. To find out more, check out resources and opportunities online at cmalliance.org. The April snowstorm made national news. It made me a little depressed. It was my birthday and I had plans that involved being outside. Why did it have to snow on my birthday? Many would say that snowstorms are the result of high and low pressure systems which in turn are caused by the uneven heating of the planet. Meteorologists saw this storm system coming for days before it happened. While weather can be studied and predicted with increasing accuracy, there still seems to be a certain unquantifiable amount of chance mixed in. In searching for answers, science eliminates “God” from the answer, but only because they are looking for immediate rather than ultimate causes. God reigns supreme in the universe. There is nothing that is beyond his control. The weather is not random. It moves at his command. In his wisdom, the elements behave in certain predictable ways, but they are held together and react the way he planned. He can rearrange physical laws or move elements at his will. We see this in the great flood, the plagues of Egypt and even the calming of the storm. While meteorologists predicted this week’s snowstorm, there can be no doubt that it snowed because God willed it to snow. These things are not contradictory. I didn’t want it to snow. God did. And in the midst of my mild disappointment I needed to remember that God and his ways are always good and always best, even when they don’t line up with my preferences. From my perspective, the snowstorm was bad, but from God’s perfect perspective it was good. This is true not only with inconveniences like snowstorms, but with the more difficult things in life. Let’s say that storm caused a tree to fall and land on the roof of my house. Was that outside of God’s control? No. God reigns over the trees that fall. He could have stopped it from falling, but chose not to. No one wants a tree to fall on their home. But even in this circumstance we are to remember that God is good. If the tree fell on the house and killed me, it would not be an accident or simple chance. God already knows the date, time, and circumstances of my death. It is in his control. There is no rival for his sovereignty. Rebels against it, yes. Rivals to it, no. And in his sovereignty God uses the actions of evil rebels for good. This was the testimony of Joseph after being sold into slavery (Genesis 50:20). When God allowed Satan to test Job, he did not wonder what was going to happen. He knew what Satan was going to do. And Job responded the way God knew he would. In the suffering of Job, we see God’s sovereignty at work. He is refining Job and drawing him closer to himself. Even the worst of actions fall under his sovereignty. No greater crime has ever been committed than the execution of Jesus, yet we are told that this apparent horror happened in the will of God. Here is Acts 4:27-28: “Truly in this city they were gathered together and against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” God’s sovereignty holds firm even when we wonder how and why circumstances could possibly be good. Adam and Eve sinned. This was not a surprise to God. And yet it is clear that he created Adam and Eve knowing that they would rebel against him. Sometimes, for His own glory, God permits things to happen which He hates. The majesty of his mercy and grace would remain hidden were it not for rebellion and sin. God is not morally responsible for sin, but he created the world knowing that we would sin. And he will use the actions of sinful men for his glory. How should we respond to the sovereignty of God in our daily lives? 1. Rejoice that there is nothing that will ever happen to you by chance. Everything that happens has the ultimate purpose of bringing God glory. And living to the glory of God needs to be our goal in every circumstance. Whether life is working out according to our plan or whether things have become difficult and chaotic, we need to focus on bringing God glory. So, if the snow falls, we are to give him glory. If the sun shines, we give him glory. If catastrophe comes our way, we are to give him glory because he is always good. 2. Pour out your heart and complaint to God. There is reason a third of the psalms are lament: Life is often hard. Tragedies happen. We don’t see how things that have happened can possibly be turned to good. We weep and despair. The psalms give voice to this and are a means of expressing how we feel to the Lord. Lament is not the absence of faith. Instead, it is a cry to God because of the difficulties that we are facing. Lament, like grief, is natural and healthy. The joy of the Lord does not exclude lamenting when things are hard and circumstances unpleasant. 3. The ways of God are often past our understanding. We grasp some of God’s character and have insight into the reasons he does some things, but Job reminds us that “these are but the outskirts of his ways and how small a whisper do we hear of him!” (Job 26:14). We simply cannot comprehend the tapestry God is weaving from our perspective. We need to remember that God is good in all that he does. The disciples trembled at the sight of Jesus on the cross. It seemed to be the ultimate defeat, yet it was the greatest victory. 4. Remember God didn’t promise an easy life, particularly for his followers. The basic call to follow him was a call to pick up a cross. Paul wrote that we are children of God, provided that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:17). Recalling that life is marked by suffering makes it easier to endure pain for his glory. 5. Remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God. The Lord told Paul when he was converted that he would suffer for him. Paul experienced tons of trauma in his life. He was put in prison, people tried to kill him, he was shipwrecked, and went for days without food to eat. He discovered that through all of these trials, nothing could separate him from the love of God. In fact, these trials were part of the plan of God for taking the gospel to the Gentiles. |
Word of Life Staff
A place for the Word of Life staff and guest writers to share of themselves in writing with the Word of Life family. Archives
July 2019
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