Remember - God is Guarding You

A few years ago, Kathryn and I, along with our daughter and grandchildren, made a visit to the Louisville Zoo, and while we were there we visited the orangutan exhibit. The only thing separating us from these awesome creatures that possess the strength of at least five men were panes of thick glass, each 20-feet tall. My grandson, Trevor, 2-years-old at the time, was amused at first by the orangutans' antics. Then one of the hairy beasts suddenly began to beat on the glass. Trevor leapt into the arms of his mother, crying, "I scared! I scared!" His mother tenderly took him, placed his little hand on the glass, and showed him that the glass shielded him from the animal, so there was nothing to fear. Afterwards, any time Trevor seemed uncertain, his mom would simply say, "Remember the glass."

The first-century church faced persecution at the hands of a powerful government bent on snuffing out her message, her influence. The fact that some had been beaten, imprisoned, even killed for their faith made them feel as though there was nothing at all that stood between them and the enemies of God's kingdom. Into these trying times the apostle Peter wrote them with a reminder that though it might not seem to be true at times, they were ultimately shielded by the eternal power of God that surpasses the temporary power of any other powers and principalities:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials… (1 Peter 1:3-6; ESV)

Perhaps it was Peter's way of saying, "Remember the glass. Remember the glass."

However, someone might say, "If God is 'guarding' His people, then why do they suffer?"

First, it's obvious that Peter doesn't interpret God's guarding as producing a life without suffering, for he mentions their current trials and grief.

Perhaps some thoughts from Paul David Tripp might help:

"But guarded doesn't mean that God gives me a ticket out of difficulty and pain.  No, this promise of protection addresses a deeper danger than the physical and circumstantial difficulties that we all face in this fallen world.  Guarded doesn't mean that God will protect me from trouble, but rather that God will protect me in the middle of trouble until my troubles are no more.  It means that God is with me, and in grace he gives me all I need to face what I am facing with courage and hope.  To do this, he gives me all the grace I need to fight bitterness, doubt of God, and the temptation to run away from my faith and give way to panic and fear, bombarding myself with questions no human can answer…Guarded means that in my moment of suffering, God provides me with protective grace, and because he does, I can have 'living hope'". (From the book: Forever: Why You Can't Live Without It; by Paul David Tripp)

Remember the glass.

Pastor Van

 

Tiatanic Calmness?

Why do many people seem so calm in light of God's coming judgment upon this earth?  I'm sure many answers could be offered up.  However, there was something I read today from NPR, an article concerning the sinking of the Titanic , that set me to thinking:

As the Titanic was sinking and women and children climbed into lifeboats, the cellist and violinist from the ship's band stood and played. They died when the ship went down. Men stood on the deck and smoked cigars. They died, too.

This behavior is puzzling to economists, who like to believe that people tend to act in their own self interest.

  "There was no pushing and shoving," says David Savage, an economist and Queensland University in Australia who has studied testimony from the survivors. It was "very, very orderly behavior."

Savage has compared the behavior of the passengers on the Titanic with those on the Lusitania, another ship that also sunk at about the same time.

But when the Lusitania went down, the passengers panicked.

There were a lot of similarities between these two events. These  ships were both luxury liners, they had a similar number of passengers and a similar number of survivors.

The biggest difference, Savage concludes, was time. The Lusitania sank in less than 20 minutes. The Titanic took two and a half hours..

"If you've got an event that lasts two and a half hours, social order will take over and everybody will behave in a social manner," Savage says. "If you're going down in under 17 minutes, basically it's instinctual."

The writer seems to be suggesting that the longer the time span building up to the event, people will be more inclined to behave in a social manner – "a very, very orderly manner."  But perhaps this is the proverbial calm before the storm.

This may at least be one answer as to why many seem so calm; so unconcerned in spite of the scriptural warnings of God's judgment. (The Titanic received 6 iceberg warnings).  I must say there was certainly a time in my life when I lived quite comfortably with the wrath of God hanging over me.

But I was misinterpreting the delay – something the Scriptures warn us not to do:

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

I'm almost certain – in fact I'm absolutely certain – that if I had been on the Titanic, and did not have a seat on a lifeboat, I would not have been calm.

There is, however, one reason that a person could remain calm in the face of the coming judgment of God.  That is, by having a guaranteed deliverance from judgment.  This is exactly what God graciously offers in Jesus.  In fact, to believe Jesus is to trust Him for the deliverance that God offers through Him.

Might there be a false calm and a real calm?

Pastor Van

 

Don't Leave Fleshly Debris on Someone's Road to Faith

It is estimated that road debris causes 25,000 accidents per year, as well as nearly 100 deaths. Road debris can be caused by various factors, including natural disasters and weather, specifically wind, storms, tornados, hurricanes etc., or objects falling off vehicles. 

On November 8, 1994, Ricardo Guzman, a Mexican native, was driving a truck on I-94 near Milwaukee. A bracket over a mud flap assembly dangled from the rear of his truck. Other truckers tried to warn him over their CB radios, but Guzman understood no English. Next the metal assembly fell. Reverend Duane "Scott" Willis, his wife, and six of their nine children were behind him. Debris from Guzman's truck punctured Willis' gas tank causing an explosion that killed the children and seriously burned Willis and his wife.

As this story so sadly illustrates, obstacles in our path can be deadly.  Imagine the horror of being responsible for such a disaster.  May that never happen.

As Christians, we need to beware of leaving any obstacles in the path of those who may be on the road to faith.

Recently I was in one of my local convenient stores and I overheard what sounded like a disagreement between a customer and a young lady behind the counter.  I wasn't paying much attention till I actually came to the counter to pay for my item.  The patron, a man, had already left when I heard the young lady say to her co-worker, "You know, he's a preacher."  To which the co-worker responded, "He sure has a dirty mouth for a preacher!"

My heart sank.  Fleshly debris had been left in their path. I grieved because of what had been left in their way, and shuddered at the thought that I would ever be responsible for such a disaster.  O Father, may that never happen.

Pastor Van

I Can't Get No Satisfaction

During our last period of heavy rain I made a disappointing discovery.  While making my way across the parking lot at church I felt a damp sensation inside my shoe.  On inspection I found a hole about the size of a dime in the sole of my black dress shoes.

For some reason or another dress shoes don't seem to last me a long time.  It could be that I am somewhat of a fiscal conservative (another way of stating that is to say that I often by cheap shoes).  You see, I find dress shoes at less than $50 quite tempting.  Of course the down side is they seem to wear out entirely too soon.

As soon as I discovered the hole I thought: That's it!  I'm tired of these cheap shoes that don't even last me a year. 

A few days later I was standing in Dillards - in the men's shoe department.  I must say, Dillards has some of the finest looking men's shoes I have ever seen.  However, they cost a bit more than $50.  The pair that I spotted certainly did.  They were black slip-on's - brand name Brass Boot.  On the sole was a sale price of $99.99, certainly not the most expensive shoe but more than what I usually spend. 

I thought: It's time I get some good shoes; dependable shoes; shoes that will last me longer.  So I bought them.

When I got home, I took one last look at my old shoes.  I turned them over to inspect the hole one last time, and to my utter amazement I saw the words Brass Boot.  Yes!  The shoes I had been wearing ( and complaining about!) were the very brand of shoes that I was craving.

It was then that I remembered the words of Solomon:

All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.( Eccl 1:8,ESV)

I had been blessed to be wearing a quality pair of shoes - shoes that still developed a hole in them - and I had failed to appreciate it, nor be satisfied.

So here's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to take my old black shoes to the cobbler (shoe repair) and see about getting a new sole put on.  Then I will take the new shoes back and exchange them for a brown pair.  And then and only then will I be perfectly satisfied.

Yeah, right!

Pastor Van

Inequality - A Fact of Life In a Fallen World

With all the protest in our society concerning economic inequality, I thought that perhaps some thoughts from over one hundred years ago might help us as we think this issue through.  Enjoy!

Inescapable Inequality?—J. C. Ryle (1816 – 1900)

J. C. Ryle was an evangelical Bishop who knew how to apply the teaching of the Scriptures to the society in which people lived. In this extract from his work Practical Religion he challenges the developing ideology which claimed that all men should be equal in wealth. Ryle countered such arguments by demonstrating that inequality is a fact of life in a fallen world and can be an instruction toward challenging character development in the poor and the rich.

Many in every age have disturbed society by stirring up the poor against the rich, and by preaching the popular doctrine that all men ought to be equal. But so long as the world is under the present order of things this universal equality cannot be attained. Those who speak against the vast inequality of men's fates will doubtless never lack an audience; but so long as human nature is what it is, this inequality cannot be prevented.

So long as some are wise and some are foolish-some strong and some weak-some healthy and some diseased–some lazy and some diligent-some prudent and some careless; so long as children reap the fruit of their parent's bad behavior; so long as sun, and rain, and heat, and cold, and wind, and waves, and drought, and plague, and storms are beyond man's control–so there will always be some rich and some poor. All the political order in the world will never erase the fact that, "There will always be poor people in the land." [Deuteronomy 15:11]

Take all the property in our country by force this very day, and divide it equally among the inhabitants. Give every man above the age of twenty an equal portion. Let everyone share and share alike, and begin the world over again. Do this, and see where you would be at the end of fifty years. You would have just come back around to the point where you began. You would find things just as unequal as before. Some would have worked, and some would have been lazy. Some would have always been careless, and some always scheming. Some would have sold, and others would have bought. Some would have wasted, and others would have saved. And the end would be that some would be rich and others poor.

Let no one listen to those vain and foolish talkers who say that all men were meant to be equal. They might as well tell you that all men ought to be of the same height, weight, strength, and skill–or that all oak trees ought to be of the same shape and size–or that all blades of grass ought to always be the same length.

Settle it in your mind that the main cause of all the suffering you see around you is sin. Sin is the great cause of the enormous luxury of the rich, and the painful degradation of the poor–of the heartless selfishness of the highest classes, and the helpless poverty of the lowest class. Sin must first be cast out of the world. The hearts of all men must be renewed and sanctified. The devil must be locked away. The Prince of Peace must come down and take His great power and reign. All this must be done before there can ever be universal happiness, or the gulf filled up that now divides the rich and the poor.

Beware of expecting a millennium to be brought about by any method of government, by any system of education, or by any political party. Work hard to do good to all men. Pity the poor, and help in every reasonable endeavor to raise them from their life of poverty. Seek to help to increase knowledge, to promote morality, and to improve the earthly condition of the poor. But never, never forget that you live in a fallen world, that sin is all around you, and that the devil and the demons are everywhere. And be very sure that the rich man and Lazarus are emblems of two classes, which will always be in the world until the Lord returns.

 (Cited from Kairos Journal)

Pastor Van

Four Reasons to be Thankful

 

A Christian brother in another part of the country sent me Four Reasons to be Thankful.  I wanted to pass them along that others my benefit as I did.

 

1. First, you can be thankful for what God had done for you through Jesus Christ! "For God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8 Thank you, God!

 

2. Next, you can be thankful for what God is doing for you now! "I am come that they might have life and have it abundantly."  John 10:10 Thank you, God!

 

3. Third, be thankful for what you know God will do because of His promises! "I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me."  Philippians 4:13 Thank you, God!

 

4. Finally, you can always be thankful for what He is doing that you are not even aware of!" ^"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" Ephesians 3: 20-21 Thank you, God!

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

Pastor Van

 

I Believe!

"In order to have faith, we must know certain facts about ourselves and about Jesus, who he is what he has done for us.  Thus the Apostle Paul asks rhetorically, 'How are they to believe in him whom they have never heard?' (Romans 10:14).  You cannot believe in something you know nothing about.  Saving faith must have an object.  You don't just believe, you believe something.  And throughout Scriptures we find essential truths that must be believed.  Paul writes that we are saved through 'belief in the truth'(2 Thessalonians 2:13).  There are certain doctrines people must hear, understand, and affirm if they want to become true Christians."

Citation: Am I Really a Christian?  (By; Mike McKinley; Crossway, 2011)

It's not just I believe!  What do you believe and whom do you believe in?

Pastor Van