Conforming; November 5, 2023

Posted on November 6, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I couldn’t begin to count the number of times I’ve heard this verse used or have used it myself, but that’s all good and appropriate. The pressure to conform can be overwhelming at times. The Japanese doesn’t have it, but I kind of like the NIV saying, “any longer,” indicating that we have all conformed in the past. We all tend to get mired in what we have been, instead of looking forward to what the Lord is enabling us to become. Thinking we can do that on our own is certainly an exercise in self-deception, but trusting that God can and will do it in His grace and power is the best kind of faith. None of us are perfect at any point this side of heaven. We are never to be satisfied with that, but keep pressing in, as Paul so famously wrote of himself in Philippians 4:12-14. The power is not ours but the choice is, and we must be faithful and consistent in making that choice. After all, the world’s pressures to conform never let up. We may have a nonconformist streak, but if that is expressed only in things like hair color or style or tattoos and piercings, that’s simply conforming to a different part of this world, and is a literal dead end. We need to seek and strive to conform to the ultimate model and pattern set out by our Creator, and that is Jesus Christ our Lord. He certainly didn’t have an easy or long life (until His resurrection, that is) and that shouldn’t be our aim either. His biggest distinctive was that He conformed perfectly to God’s will, and that should be our aim as well.

This certainly applies to me. Yesterday we had the very moving experience of participating in the memorial celebration of the life of Phyllis Kaylor, who graduated to heaven five days shy of her 91st birthday. Her official cause of death was Alzheimer’s Disease, and her cognitive abilities had been slipping for several years, but a brief video was shown during her husband’s remarks that was miraculous. She had gradually been losing her ability to speak, but when the “media minister” of the church they were attending asked her and her husband why they kept coming so faithfully to a weekly prayer meeting, she hesitated a moment and then said, very clearly and lucidly, that prayer enriches you. I wish I could remember the full quote, but I’m sure I can find it on the Internet, because it has now been viewed over 20 million times! She was certainly someone who followed the instructions in this verse, and I can do no better.

Father, thank You for the privilege of taking part in that service yesterday, and for the magnificent example the whole Kaylor family has been and is to so many. I pray that, like Leo and Phyllis, I may be increasingly conformed to the likeness of Your Son, for the blessing of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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The Fear of the Lord; November 4, 2023

Posted on November 5, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 11:20-21 Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

This chapter as a whole is confusing to many Gentiles today, but at the very least, it should put an end to “Christian” antisemitism. The fact that God would allow the things that have happened to the Jews, His chosen people, should make us realize that God doesn’t play games, and He is NOT Santa Claus! The sermon that triggered the Great Awakening revival in America just before the Revolutionary War was based on this verse: “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31) It is said that when Jonathan Edwards preached that message he read it from his manuscript in a largely uninflected voice; it was the Holy Spirit who worked the words into the hearts and minds of those who heard them, not tricks of oratory. Likewise, Peter tells us, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17) We tend to focus so much on God’s grace and mercy that we forget why those are absolutely essential! If God were not absolutely serious about dealing with sin, there would have been no need to send Jesus to take the penalty for our sin. He went to the cross, yes, but if we fail to believe and make Him our Lord, then the penalty for our sin remains on us. We take His grace lightly to our peril.

I generally don’t like “hellfire and brimstone” preaching, but failing to express the natural consequences of sin is far from loving toward my hearers. I don’t want fear to be people’s motivation, and all the mess about COVID has only intensified that feeling, but we all certainly need an appropriate fear of God. After all, when even John, the “beloved disciple,” saw Jesus in His glory, the very sight made him pass out! (Revelation 1:17) I too need to have an appropriate fear of God, along with love that drives me to complete obedience. (John 14:15) I grew up surrounded by love from my family, with the awareness that the origin of that love was God, but I must never let familiarity breed contempt in this area. As Paul, Peter, and indeed the whole Bible tell us, I am to be fully respectful in every way, because my God deserves nothing less.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You that we’ll be going to a memorial service today for Phyllis Kaylor, who loved and served you throughout her long life. I pray that everything that goes on would be a comfort and blessing to her husband Leo and all their children and grandchildren, and glory to You. Thank You for the assurance that there is indeed an abundant reward for faithfulness. May today’s events inspire all present to more faithfulness, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Evangelism; November 3, 2023

Posted on November 4, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Just a few days ago I quoted verse 14, which is justly famous. The whole passage describes the mechanics of evangelism, but what strikes me about this verse in particular is the way it specifies “the word of Christ.” The Japanese actually says, “the word about Christ.” In far too many churches today you will hardly hear the name of Christ from the pulpit. Instead you get essentially self-help talks, and that can hardly be called the Gospel. After all, the good news about Christ is that “At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6) That’s not self-help, that’s Divine intervention! In contrast, Buddhism demands that you pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. I have had three different Buddhist priests, of different Buddhist denominations and in different locations, concede that there is no salvation in Buddhism. After all, the “highest good” in Buddhism is mu, nothingness! There are Buddhist denominations that have adopted the idea of “help from an external power,” tariki hongan, but I think they stole it from Christianity! In any case, genuine evangelism has to be based on the incredible reality that God loved us so much He sent Himself, in the Person of His Son, to be born as a human being, suffer and die for the sins of all mankind, and be raised from death as proof that salvation is real, and we can be freed even from death itself. The other side of that, of course, is that faith in Jesus Christ as Savior is spiritual new birth, and we are to grow from there into mature children of God. Quite a few years ago Amy Grant had a very pointed song titled Fat Baby, that talked about the many horribly immature Christians in the Church. We don’t want that, for ourselves or for anyone else, but it all starts from faith that God loved us so much that Jesus died for us. (The Japanese for this verse says explicitly, “Faith starts from hearing.”) In any case, if we want more people to be born into God’s family, and we certainly should, then we’ve got to talk about Jesus!

Since I minister in a nation that is 98% non-Christian, this couldn’t apply to me more! With my Teacher gifting I am most comfortable working to mature people who are already believers, but that doesn’t excuse me from evangelism. I have had people tell me they wanted to hear more of “the Gospel” in my preaching, but I got the distinct impression they were uncomfortable with my continued exhortations to spiritual growth. That said, everything is indeed dependent on Christ, so “the word about Christ” is absolutely essential in everything I do.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me indeed be someone who shares the word about Christ continuously, with everyone and in every context, so that more and more people may be brought to faith, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Salvation; November 2, 2023

Posted on November 3, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 10:10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

This whole section is of enormous importance and is justly famous. However, current Evangelical interpretation of it tends to leave righteous living out entirely, in practice though not in official dogma. Church members tend to live no differently than their non-religious neighbors, and that is a tragedy. That’s what yesterday’s reading was all about. That said, we cannot earn or work our way into heaven; it’s all by grace through faith. At its heart the Gospel is astoundingly simple: recognize that you need salvation but can’t achieve it, that God has provided it through His Son’s death on the cross, and then receive it in total surrender of yourself. It’s that last part that we trip up on so badly. We tend to reduce everything to a formula, whether it’s spoken words like the Evangelicals or following a system like the Catholics, either Roman or Orthodox. There are reflections of truth in both, but neither paints the whole picture. We forget that a verbal confession of “Jesus is Lord” could get you accused of treason in the Roman empire, because they insisted that Caesar was lord. Such a confession could only come from genuine faith; intellectual assent alone doesn’t cut it. In America today we are getting back to a situation where a simple statement of fact can get you into a lot of trouble, as witness the boy who was expelled from school for a shirt that said, “There are only two genders.” Likewise, the furor over the statements of the newly elected Speaker of the House is deafening, when all he has said has been simple Biblical facts. “Jesus is Lord” is again becoming “hate speech!” Maybe the current situation is God’s grace to teach us that our confession of faith really means something.

I occasionally generate some violent responses with my blog, but I don’t “approve” such comments for others to be exposed to them. I have even had Christians essentially accuse me of being hateful for standing firm on issues of sex and morality. However, I have never been in danger of physical martyrdom because of my faith. At the same time, I know that there were more martyrs in the 20th Century than in the previous 19 combined, and the pace has continued to pick up in the 21st. I am to support my brothers and sisters in dangerous parts of the world in prayer, and I am to prepare the believers under my care to stand firm in their faith regardless what happens in society around us. I can’t help but feel we are in the Last Days, and I want us all to be among those who stand firm to the end.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for Your truly amazing grace. Help me live out the faith You have given me on every level, so that Your salvation may be manifested in and through me, drawing others to faith and giving You the glory that only You deserve. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Righteousness; November 1, 2023

Posted on November 2, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 6:13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

I don’t know the Greek here, but the NIV seems a bit better than the Japanese in saying “the parts of your body.” The Japanese is a little too specific with “your hands and feet.” Hands and feet are certainly included, but in modern society, genitals are a major target of what Paul is saying here. I was reading a very accurate and to-the-point article from the Family Research Council yesterday about how we need to go deeper than “pro-life” and “anti-abortion” to “pro-morality,” because there will be little to no demand for abortion if people live by Biblical morality. The devil has used contraceptives as a tool to mount a major attack on morality ever since the 1960s and we are seeing the chaos that has resulted, with countless lives destroyed, and not just in the womb. It is, frankly, not easy to buck the trends of society, and particularly not in this area, where our flesh can be all in favor of the sin, at least in the moment. Human nature actually has not changed since creation, so the Bible is just as applicable today as when it was written. For once the King James seems more hard-hitting than more modern translations: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16 KJV) Those are the categories, and we need to stand against them and offer ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness, just as Paul said.

Of course this applies to me, just as it does to everyone. I wish I could say I’ve been immune, but that would hardly be honest. I too need to be active in my resistance to the devil, because he never gives up. Too many Christian workers have let their guard down and been totally sidetracked, and I must not be among their number. I deal with people of all levels of spiritual maturity, and I am to be an example and a coach in each case, not putting people down, because I’ve been there too, but encouraging them to live as Christ has made possible, both by His atonement and by His indwelling Spirit.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me indeed live as Your child, fully submitted to You so that I may effectively resist the devil (James 4:7) and walk in Your victory, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Joy; October 31, 2023

Posted on November 1, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 5:11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

When we really understand what God has done for us in Christ Jesus, we can’t help but rejoice! The problem is, too often we fail to really understand it, and in practical terms we forget it. We tend to disbelieve what a fix we were in without Him, that we really were destined for hell, and so fail to appreciate what a wonderful thing it is to have the assurance of salvation. Any Christian who lacks joy needs a refresher course in this. The devil does all he can to blind us to this reality, because he hates us and he wants to steal our peace and joy in any way he can. We must not let him do that! As James so famously and practically said, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) We don’t realize that’s the way to joy! The ultimate response to all the junk the world throws at us is meditating on the goodness and grace of God toward us. That will take us from the pit of depression to the heights of peace and joy! As Paul said so clearly, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17) The better a grasp of that we have, the more joy we will have regardless of our circumstances.

Of course this applies to me as much as it does to anyone. I have been described as a person who enjoys living, but I will confess that there are numbers of things in this life that are less than enjoyable. However, I do have the firm conviction that this life is far from the end of the story, and I eagerly look forward to what comes next. I am not “bubbly” all the time, and I do need to consciously remind myself sometimes that “this too will pass,” but starting each day with my Lord and His Word, as I’m doing right now, is a huge help in this area. The older I get, the more I anticipate eternity! At the same time, one of my joys is in serving my Lord right now and fulfilling His purposes for my life. He doesn’t do anything by chance or on a whim, and I am convinced that His plans for me are the best possible thing that could happen. I need to receive the joy that He has prepared for me and let it flow through me to all around me, for His glory.

Father, thank You for all the little trials and challenges You allow me to go through, and for the big ones, too! Help me remember Your incredible grace toward me and rejoice always, giving You the glory You deserve. Thank You. Praise God!

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True Faith in God; October 30, 2023

Posted on October 31, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 4:21 …being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

This one little verse, just part of a sentence, speaks volumes about Abraham’s faith, and thus, about the faith that God desires of us. In the first place, Abraham knew that God had spoken to him and promised him some things. He wasn’t like some people today who ridicule anyone who says they “heard from God.” As I said yesterday, he didn’t have a developed theology, but he knew what he had experienced. We all can have problems distinguishing what we are really hearing from God from our own wishful thinking, or our otherwise twisted imagination. Throughout the Bible we read of people who struggled in this area, so we needn’t feel bad about it. However, we can also struggle with the flip side of this, believing that God really can do what He has promised. A very common problem, though seldom expressed this way, is in believing that God is stronger than our weaknesses and failures. We tend to feel we are too far gone for God to use! (Of course the flip side of that is the conceit of thinking we are so wonderful that God has to use us.) Because we are far from omnipotent, we can’t really grasp what omnipotence looks like. God is absolutely sovereign, and He is absolutely powerful. If He said it, that settles it, period. We actually don’t have to grasp the details of God’s omnipotence, just be fully convinced that He has enough power to accomplish whatever He has said to us.

Of course this applies to me. God has given us the absolutely impossible vision of Omura again being the foremost Christian city in the nation, but the simple fact of His giving us that vision takes it out of the realm of the impossible and makes it certain. I don’t know that I will see it with my physical eyes any more than Abraham saw his billions of spiritual descendants with his, but God said it and that settles it. Recently He has been bringing harvest workers, interestingly enough, from Hong Kong and Taiwan. That was totally outside of my imagination, but He knows what He is doing! He also just brought a young Japanese in her 20s who has been a Christian for three years but has never been planted in a church. I didn’t know those were running around! I’ve had to learn that in a sense, I am essentially beside the point, because it certainly isn’t dependent on me. I am to be faithful, doing each day what the Lord shows me and meeting His appointments, but the wisdom and power are all His, and I get to go along for the ride. Yesterday I didn’t bring a prepared message, but just interpreted for testimonies and gave a short one myself, and I was a little shocked to find out that we will have two people here next week from Taiwan (I think) who will be speaking for about 10 minutes each, so that means no sermon next week either. And yet I have a message that is growing and burning in my heart! I need to grow in the awareness that it is God who has the power to do what He has promised, and He isn’t dependent on me.

Father, thank You for this training. As Cathy has commented, it’s hard for me not to talk! Help me let go of myself in that area, and in every other area, so that I will be fully available to You and not get in Your way, so that indeed, Your promises may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Father Abraham; October 29, 2023

Posted on October 30, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 4:11-12 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

As I read this, the children’s Sunday School song of “Father Abraham” came to mind: “Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you, so let’s just praise the Lord.” Abraham’s genetic sons were certainly limited. We immediately think of Isaac and Ishmael, but he also had five more by Keturah after the death of Sarah, as recorded in Genesis 25. However, these verses, and the song, aren’t talking about biology, but about spiritual reality. Most Gentiles have little to no idea what a big deal circumcision is, for Jews and for Moslems. Jewish boys are circumcised a few days after birth and Moslem boys are circumcised at 13, because that was the age at which Ishmael was circumcised (and Abraham was 99). (Genesis 17:24-25) If circumcision were the way to salvation, then the terrorists who just horribly murdered over 1400 Israelis would be just as saved as, say, Billy Graham was! Paul is making the point that salvation, being put right with God, is by faith and not by some physical action. It is a choice of the will, which cannot be said about babies who are circumcised before they can do much of anything at all. Thinking about it, Abraham didn’t have a very developed theology, either. It’s a little difficult to imagine what and how he thought of God when God first reached out to him in Ur, as recorded in Genesis 12. He didn’t have theology, but he had a relationship, built on experience. Far too many people today try to build their faith on “code words,” on philosophy, rather than on a living, active relationship with their Creator. That’s not faith, that’s intellectual assent, or even superstition, and it won’t save you. Evangelicals today tend to pin everything on “The Sinner’s Prayer,” when sometimes there has been no actual heart change. Genuine, saving faith results in action, in a changed life brought on by a growing relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord. Anything less is a mirage.

Ouch! I hadn’t expected this to go this way, but it is certainly true. I am to be working for initial commitment, certainly, but more than that I am to be working for active discipleship. After all, the Great Commission doesn’t say, “go and make converts,” it says, “go and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:18-20) We become children of Abraham, and of God, by faith, but that is an active, growing faith. That’s why Paul, after making his magnificent statement of salvation by grace through faith in Ephesians 2:8-9, followed it up with verse 10, that talks about doing the things God has prepared for us to do. Saving faith is obedient. I’ve got to remember that for myself as well as for the people to whom I minister. The message God is growing in me is about knowing Him. That’s exactly the sort of faith Abraham had, with no theological trappings at all. Theology and philosophy aren’t bad in themselves, but I must not let them distract me from a personal relationship with my Creator.

Father, thank You for this strong reminder. Help me not just agree with it but live it out, as Your agent for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Antisemitism; October 28, 2023

Posted on October 29, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 3:22-24 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Verse 23 is often quoted, but rarely in context, and depending on the translation, that generally divides sentences, not to mention thoughts. The principle that everyone has sinned is certainly important, but the Bible is generally very careful to present that reality in the context of God’s grace. That is certainly true of the equally famous verse from a little later in this letter: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Some people like to stress the negative stuff about our guilt, and some like to make everything all “sweetness and light,” but the Bible itself is very balanced. The most important factor in this particular passage is the fact that everyone is on the same footing. The issue of Jews and Gentiles was big in the early Church and it still is today. (Actually, Paul deals with it extensively in Romans.) Where the NIV says “there is no difference,” the Japanese says, “there is no discrimination.” The blessing of being born into the covenant people of Israel does not obviate the requirement for personal faith and obedience. Antisemitism ignores this out of a jealousy toward the covenant, thereby placing antisemitism firmly on the side of sin. The war that is going on even as I write is certainly a demonstration of that. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:4, it is only in Christ that the dividing wall of hostility is torn down. There is plenty of hostility on both sides, but in Christ that evaporates. There are plenty of testimonies of Jews who hated Arabs and Arabs who hated Jews who, when they encountered Jesus as the Savior of all mankind, discovered they loved their brothers and sisters in Christ of whatever background. Organizations like Hamas indeed need to be dealt with very firmly, but the ultimate solution is and can only be Christ in individual hearts.

I am very blessed that I don’t think there was ever an iota of antisemitism in my family. My father got his Master degree in Hebrew, and from the time I became aware of it, I have always been proud of the fact that I was born in the same year, 1948, as the current State of Israel. Frankly, antisemitism has always been something of a mystery to me, because I couldn’t imagine how it could exist. I now have the intellectual understanding of its mechanics, but no emotional connection to it at all. At the same time, I have to concede that I have irrational responses to some racial groups in general, but even there that rarely intrudes on a personal level with individuals. “The ground is level at the foot of the cross” is a truism I learned a long time ago, but I still need to apply it consistently in my own life.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I do pray for the peace of Jerusalem – a far more pointed and practical prayer at this point than sometimes! As much as I pray for political and military solutions, I know that only the Lordship of Jesus Christ will solve the situation, in Israel, in Ukraine, and everywhere else. May indeed Your rule and reign be established as Your will is done, as perfectly on earth as it is in heaven, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Laws; October 27, 2023

Posted on October 28, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

I have read that America, and indeed most countries, has such a tangle of laws that everyone in the country is in violation of something. That is due to human failure, politicians deciding what behavior they wanted and thinking they could legislate it. By the time of the New Testament, Judaism had descended into the same morass, with all sorts of human interpretations and additions to the actual Law of Moses. Even today, in Israel on the Sabbath elevators will only move one floor at a time, to avoid their “doing work.” That is why Israel’s enemies have consistently attacked them on the Sabbath, or even High Holy days, as they did this year, to force them to break their own religious laws. They have not accepted the truth that Jesus spoke, that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27) Paul’s point here is that we cannot be perfectly obedient to a written code; it only serves to let us know that we are out of line. The following verses (tomorrow’s reading) begin the process of explaining God’s solution to this problem, but Paul needed to start by expressing the problem clearly, which he has done here. He himself, as well as various other people in the Bible, are said to be “as for legalistic righteousness, faultless,” (Philippians 3:6) but he called himself “the worst of sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:16) Laws are very important, because our “internal compass” isn’t very accurate, but laws by themselves will not get us to God.

Of course this applies to me. In terms of human law I have gotten one speeding ticket in the US (after Nixon dropped the national speed limit to 55) and one parking ticket in Japan, but I have done various things for which I never got caught. I’m not necessarily proud of them, but they certainly prove that I’m at heart as lawless as the next guy. I need to remember that at all times as I look at those around me, realizing that we are all equally in need of the grace and mercy of God. I have long tended to be sensitive to legalism in the Church, but that doesn’t mean I’m less of a Pharisee in ways that I may not recognize. In need of grace myself, I need to extend it to others.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the book I’m reading by Frank Viola that points out the dangers of being judgmental, among other things. May I indeed be blameless, not by my own power or righteousness but by Your grace, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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