Monday Morning Music Ministry

7-1-19

Two different things, faith and faithfulness.

We can generalize and say that Faith is what you believe, and faithfulness is how you act.

As with most generalities, we can go deeper than that. Both concepts are two-way streets, at least. In the matter of God Himself, I reckon that we don’t always think of the implications that God has faith in us, not merely the necessity of our belief in Him; in Christ as His only Son; in Jesus’s death for out sins and His resurrection and ascension to the Heavenly throne.

With Jesus in our hearts, that completes the requirements for salvation… but only begins the duties of Children of God. We need to be versed in the Word, and attentive to the leadings of the Holy Spirit. “Imitators of Christ.”

Saying “Yes” to Jesus is more than a “Get out of jail free” card. God has faith in us – you and I individuals of the flock – to do His will. He has faith in us: what an awesome concept… and responsibility.

Faithfulness is, perhaps, an easier concept to grasp. We can make resolutions, and establish purposes, and try our hardest, to be faithful to God. To trust Him; to share His love; to do His will. “It is meet and right so to do,” the old liturgies say. And it is a matter of belief that God can only act faithfully on His words and promises and gifts.

So, that’s that. Right? Not really. Sometimes the most well-meaning Christians can substitute their own versions of what they think is faithfulness. Maybe some people you know –

* Thinking that infant baptism seals their souls into Eternity?
* Believing that church membership satisfies God, with no other factors?
* That charitable works, or giving, is a step toward Heaven?
* Trusting that welcoming sinners, and accepting their sins, is doing God’s will?
* Assuming that God’s rules for life are not for today; only other people, other times

… and so forth. We are nation – our Western civilization is a culture – where the Bible probably still is the best-selling of books. Almost every home has one, somewhere; and every Walmart and Barnes and Noble has stacks of them. Where churches are on many street corners, and dot the landscape.

But those are not signs of faithfulness; nor, by themselves, of faith. How many Bibles remained stacked in super-stores? In how many homes is there “dust on the Bible”? How many churches are closed, or merging, or converted to community centers for Jazzercise?

Such “relative” proof of faithfulness or, God help us, faith, may grieve the heart of the Lord.

However we can be – we are – secure in the knowledge that God’s faithfulness is not relative; does not change; and is something we can hold to.

May that knowledge, and profound gratitude for such a loving God, have us cleave to Him… to exercise our faith… and blow the dust off our Bibles whenever it settles.

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul; ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’” (Lamentations 3:22-24)

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Click: Great Is Thy Faithfulness

6-24-19

Let’s get a couple things straight.

God is a sovereign God. He is all-powerful; omni-present; omniscient (all-knowing). He is the Creator of all things, the Great “I Am” – present in time before there was time. Regarding things we cannot understand, that’s OK. He understands. That’s part of Him being God, us being mortal, and a perspective-point of our proper relationship with Him.

God’s Word and God’s Will are immutable. That means that His nature is such that He will not, cannot, change His Word. The Bible, therefore, cannot contradict itself. His promises, ordinances – and warnings, threats – are eternal. What about mercy? Mercy never vitiates God’s standards, but rather affirms His love. And His justice. Mercy tends to lead back to the wisdom of His commands.

Examples of God’s loving-kindness, and belief – maybe sometimes a blind trust – in episodes of mercy in the Bible, can lead Christians astray. Closer reading of many acts of God’s mercy should teach us that. Nothing is in a vacuum in the life granted to us.

We can think of times when people yearn for “revival.” Consider the French Revolution vs the American Revolution. The French rebels (to grant some of their higher motives) saw 1800 years of Christianity as having led to corruption and oppression bereft of spiritual purpose; and they followed their desperate hearts.

The American Revolution, also considering its higher motives, trusted the brains and maturity of its rebels: enlightened self-interest. A nation built self-consciously on Biblical principles (also as if by blueprint, harkening to the Old Testament) trusted an educated citizenry that would always make rational choices. Human nature finally had its unfettered path to heaven on earth.

Instead, each system allowed human nature to prevail – the French to passions, the Americans to rationalism – with different results. Each generally opposed and sublimated rules and orders and arbitrary laws, but in my view each led to the worst aspects of human nature’s dark sides. The French Revolution merely arrived at that state after several short years and much misery; and then demanded an Emperor.

The United States took centuries to slide into moral decay, and has virtually demanded dictators, masquerading as crony capitalism, a corrupt political system, subversion of the educational culture, hostility to religion, a media oligarchy, and the epidemic of drugs and illegitimacy and abortion and crime and the dissolution of the family unit. Human nature, triumphant.

Christians (some Christians) more than other groups recognize this slide. They have clarity about the slippery slope down which we have slid. They recognize that God is the source of our deliverance. But too many of us, I am sorry to say, stop short of spiritual consistency and the proper Biblical responses God clearly requires of us.

Many times have I heard Christians pray, “Lord, send a revival to this land.”

In similar (micro-version) pleadings, I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, bring my [son, daughter, spouse] to faith in You.”

I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, hear our prayers for world peace.”

… and a thousand similar prayers. “Lord, hear our prayers.” I know such prayers because I occasionally have prayed them myself. And I remind you that I stipulated at the beginning that I know God is sovereign. He can do anything. But so can we do things!

Even the examples in the Bible where God spared a people, or a city, or an individual, it never came without a “lesson” for then and for us, now – punishment, banishment, exile, scars like thorns in the flesh or a lame leg, scattered diaspora, rejection by friends. Forgiven, yes; but seldom what we would call a “pass.” Should God reward our sins?

Do you want revival in this nation? Pray for it… and work for it.

Do you want a loved one come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ? Pray for it… and work for it.

Do you want world peace? Pray for it… and work for it.

Prayer is not a magic incantation. God hears what we want, but what we need is a different matter. God does not stand up straight and salute, in response to our orders. It should be rather the opposite.

There is a middle ground between Mercy and Vengeance – in humanity’s actions, not only God’s responses. That middle ground is Justice. And God’s Justice, especially in America at this time in our history, is something we should fear!

The only “pass” we can ever receive from a Just and Merciful God is the forgiveness forged at Calvary. Even that was not free – technically not a “pass” – because it was purchased at a fearful price, the death and resurrection of the Messiah. By that pattern, everything we pray for, everything, must be subject to the Will of God, not presuming to write the script for God’s response.

We play a role, after all, in the desires of our own hearts. It is a matter of Justice that we exercise that role; and we should expect Justice, never whining for a “free pass,” from the Lord in response.

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Click: To God Be the Glory: My Tribute

6-17-19

Let’s get a couple things straight.

God is a sovereign God. He is all-powerful; omni-present; omniscient (all-knowing). He is the Creator of all things, the Great “I Am” – present in time before there was time. Regarding things we cannot understand, that’s OK. He understands. That’s part of Him being God, us being mortal, and a perspective-point of our proper relationship with Him.

God’s Word and God’s Will are immutable. That means that His nature is such that He will not, cannot, change His Word. The Bible, therefore, cannot contradict itself. His promises, ordinances – and warnings, threats – are eternal. What about mercy? Mercy never vitiates God’s standards, but rather affirms His love. And His justice. Mercy tends to lead back to the wisdom of His commands.

Examples of God’s loving-kindness, and belief – maybe sometimes a blind trust – in episodes of mercy in the Bible, can lead Christians astray. Closer reading of many acts of God’s mercy should teach us that. Nothing is in a vacuum in the life grants to us.

We can think of a time when people yearned for “revival.” Consider the French Revolution vs the American Revolution. The French rebels (to grant some of their higher motives) saw 1800 years of Christianity as having led to corruption and oppression bereft of spiritual purpose; and they followed their desperate hearts.

The American Revolution, also considering its higher motives, trusted the brains and maturity of the rebels: enlightened self-interest. A nation built self-consciously on Biblical principles (also as if by blueprint, harkening to the Old Testament) trusted an educated citizenry that would always make rational choices. Human nature finally had its unfettered path to heaven on earth.

Instead, each system allowed human nature to prevail – the French to passions, the Americans to rationalism – with different results. Each generally opposed and sublimated rules and orders and arbitrary laws, but in my view each led to the worst aspects of human nature’s dark sides. The French Revolution merely arrived at that state after several short years and much misery; and then demanded an Emperor.

The United States took centuries to slide into moral decay, and has virtually demanded dictators, masquerading as crony capitalism, a corrupt political system, subversion of the educational culture, hostility to religion, a media oligarchy, and the epidemic of drugs and illegitimacy and abortion and crime and the dissolution of the family unit.

Christians (some Christians) more than other groups recognize this slide. They have clarity about the slippery slope down which we have slid. They recognize that God is the source of our deliverance. But too many of us, I am sorry to say, stop short of spiritual consistency and the proper Biblical responses God clearly requires of us.

Many times have I heard Christians pray, “Lord, send a revival to this land.”

In similar (micro-version) pleadings, I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, bring my [son, daughter, spouse] to faith in You.”

I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, hear our prayers for world peace.”

… and a thousand similar prayers. “Lord, hear our prayers.” I know such prayers because I occasionally have prayed them myself. And I remind you that I stipulated at the beginning that I know God is sovereign. He can do anything. But so can we do things!

Even the examples in the Bible where God spared a people, or a city, or an individual, it never came without a “lesson” for then and for now – punishment, banishment, exile, scars like thorns in the flesh or a lame leg, scattered diaspora, rejection by friends. Forgiven, yes; but seldom what we would call a “pass.” Should God reward our sins?

Do you want revival in this nation? Pray for it… but work for it.

Do you want a loved one come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ? Pray for it… but work for it.

Do you want world peace? Pray for it… but work for it.

Prayer is not a magic incantation. God hears what we want, but what we need is a different matter. God does not stand up straight and salute, in response to our orders. It should be rather the opposite.

There is a middle ground between Mercy and Vengeance – in humanity’s actions, not only God’s responses. It is Justice. And God’s Justice, especially in America at this time in our history, is something we should fear!

The only “pass” we can ever receive from a Just and Merciful God, is the forgiveness forged at Calvary. Even that was not free – technically not a “pass” – because it was purchased at a fearful price, the death and resurrection of the Messiah. By that pattern, everything we pray for, everything, must be subject to the Will of God, not presuming to write the script for His response.

We have a role, after all, in the desires of our own hearts. It is a matter of Justice that we exercise that role; and we should expect Justice, never whining for a “free pass,” from the Lord in response.

+ + +

Click: To God Be the Glory: My Tribute

6-10-19

It is hard to hear the voice of God when we are stressed.

This is something most of us know, especially in these days when stress is blamed – probably correctly – for myriad ills from emotional problems to actual physical afflictions. It is the epidemic of contemporary life in many societies.

My son-in-law Norman McCorkell recently delivered a sermon on this message. At moments of high stress, we can not only miss the wisdom of God, but the words of those around us, and even that “still, small voice” of our own convictions. Stress can be like the moon in a full eclipse, blotting out the sun.

There is a frequent reaction among the faithful who occasionally feel abandoned that God has grown distant. Well, He does not grow distant – we move; He doesn’t – but when stress somehow keeps us from hearing God, the problem is not God’s voice, and maybe not even our internal “ears”… but our eyes.

We can seek God, not only in prayer, but by reading His Word.

It is human nature (which we must try to fight) that we seek God less when things are going well. When challenges, problems, crises – stress – comes, then we despair. Do we blame God? We pray and seek Him in those times.

If that is true, then short of physical sickness, should we not think, or fear, that God might allow those things, even stress, to cross our path… if that is a trigger for us getting closer to Him? It should make us shiver.

My late wife Nancy used to say that the devil is not really after our minds. After all, through life we believe this and that, learn and forget things, follow old or new theories. But the devil is after our hearts. He hates us not because we have pulses, but according to the amount of Jesus that exists in our hearts.

Head-knowledge is nothing when compared to heart-belief.

When your heart is serene, you will find that frustration over “hearing” the voice of God, or of friends, or of your own feelings, is less demanding.

And. Less. Stressful.

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Click: Till the Storm Passes By

6-3-19

You have heard the question a hundred times in your life, asked by anguished parents or victims, from wise-guy atheists to anti-religious bigots.

Maybe you have asked it yourself at times.

The quick answer is that mankind has chosen sin and rebellion – distilled as evil. Whether you believe in the literal account of the Garden, and Adam and Eve; or people’s individual free will and exercise of liberty in our daily lives, every human being commits evil. To a greater or lesser extent? Surely, but… we permit evil in the world, because we all exercise it.

The deeper – but just as profound – response is that God is not the culprit. He is the answer, but not the source. None of us is God, so we should stop drawing up a to-do list for Him, or scribble out a better Job Description.

If He gives His children free will; and we, His children, choose to transgress… that is why there is sin, and evil, in the world.

You think He should create a place where sin and evil do not exist? He has created such a place: Heaven. In the meantime we live on earth, and our job descriptions include serving God by serving our fellow men and women. By avoiding sin and evil, sharing God’s love, and telling of forgiveness in Christ.

Perhaps you are impatient, or virtually so, waiting for Heaven. Do you realize that we are slightly above the angels? Angels cannot experience redemption, or forgiveness, or the glories of a born-again life. No angel can know what it means to sing “Amazing Grace.”

There is a more logical question – more pertinent, more pressing – than How can God permit evil in the world?

I suggest to you that asking this question frames the spiritual challenge in the clearest terms:

How can My children, with all things I do permit and gift them with – the sacrificial death of My Son; forgiveness; fellowship divine; My promise of eternal paradise – how is that My children still sin and rebel and reject Me every day?

Questions, questions. But that is one question to which we all have the answer.

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Click: Amazing Grace