God’s Grace; February 23, 2023

Posted on February 24, 2023 by jgarrott

1 Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

I have long used this verse and the one following in talking about spiritual gifts, appropriately enough, but what strikes me at the moment is the awareness that God’s grace takes various forms. It’s not just that spiritual gifts differ, it’s that God’s grace itself looks different to different people at different times. Sometimes it’s “tough love,” sometimes it feels like a bed of rose petals with no thorns. God is not a “one size fits all” God! The thing is, we seldom have the wisdom to know what is the right form at any given moment. That’s why we have to stay humbly listening to the Lord at all times, in order to administer God’s grace faithfully. (The Japanese says, “being a good steward.”) If we are honest with ourselves, we can look back over our own lives and see how widely differing circumstances were all expressions of God’s grace toward us. When we have that understanding we can see that we aren’t always to do the same thing in every situation. If we tend to do that, it probably means we’re in a spiritual/emotional rut we need to get out of. Some things, such as love, need to be constant, but even there the expressions aren’t going to always be identical. God is big enough to handle it all, if we will listen to Him!

Of course this applies to me as much as it does to anyone. Right now I’m in the very unfamiliar position of recovering from a broken wrist, making it unwise for me to do a number of things I used to do almost automatically. That too is God’s grace to me, and to those around me, forcing me to ask for and receive help when I’m very used to being a do-it-myself kind of guy. Even such simple things as typing these notes has changed, half of the time typing feely as I’m used to doing and half the time typing with one hand while resting the injured wrist on a cooling pad. That makes me think more about what I’m writing! This morning I will be counseling a couple who will have their wedding next month. I know nothing about them. They may well have been legally married for some time, with one or more children, or they may be a genuinely new couple. I need to be sensitive to the circumstances and not just give them a “boiler plate” lecture. They are individuals, and God has His individual grace for them, which He desires to pour through me. I indeed need to be a good steward of what God has poured into me, for the blessing of those around me and for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. You are doing so many things all around me! Help me not get bogged down trying to figure it all out, but rather be flexible and responsive to whatever You want me to do or say at any given moment, so that Your will may be accomplished for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Blind Faith; February 22, 2023

Posted on February 23, 2023 by jgarrott

1 Peter 1:8-9 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The world uses the expression, blind faith, as something of a pejorative, saying that believing without seeing violates reason and logic. However, everyone operates constantly on the basis of things they can’t prove ahead of time. Life is impossible without a degree of trust, and that is what this is all about. We sit in chairs trusting that they will hold us up. We use electronic equipment trusting that it will function as advertised, whether we have any idea how it does it or not. Why would it be any different in interacting with our Creator? I don’t think any theologian could fully explain the mechanics of redemption, of how Jesus’ suffering and death atoned for the sins of mankind, but countless people down through the centuries have experienced it, and that is precisely what Peter is talking about here. If you don’t have the joy he is talking about, the probability is high that you haven’t really surrendered yourself fully to Jesus as Lord. In English we separate the terms, “Savior” and “Lord,” but in Japanese the term for Savior is written as “saving Lord.” I like that. If He isn’t your Lord then He isn’t your Savior, and you have no reason for the joy of salvation that Peter is talking about. None of us obeys Jesus perfectly on earth, which is one reason the joy of heaven surpasses anything we can experience here. However, I have always liked the hymn that says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey,” Call it blind faith if you like, but the results are certainly worth it!

I grew up in a very intellectual family that at the same time was foremost a family of faith. I can’t imagine a better home environment! I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know about, believe in, and love Jesus, but that doesn’t mean I was always obedient to Him. I have had to learn obedience like everyone else. That said, I have had a taste of the joy Peter is talking about that I can never forget. I was in a small prayer meeting with an Augustinian friar, a Jesuit priest, and  Pentecostal pastor, and joy washed over me to a degree that I literally thought, “Lord, if you have more work for me to do here, then you’d better back off a little.” I felt like one more drop and my body would give up and I would go straight to heaven! (Incidentally, the other people present were American, German, and Japanese. Nationality is irrelevant to heaven, as Revelation 7:9 makes clear.) That experience certainly erased any fear of death I might have had, and it made me want to be more obedient, more in step with my Lord, so as to flow with His Spirit in His joy for His glory.

Father, thank You for the faith You have given me and for the various experiences You have arranged to strengthen and reinforce that faith. May my spiritual eyes be open so that it won’t be blind faith at all, but rather seeing what my physical eyes can’t perceive, so that I may walk in full obedience, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Confession of sins; February 21, 2023

Posted on February 22, 2023 by jgarrott

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

This is another of the Scriptures I heard repeatedly when first introduced to the Charismatic Movement, and with good reason. The concept of confessing sins was virtually lost from the denomination in which I was raised, and that is a major loss. Prayer was certainly taught, but I don’t think there was much expectation of healing. The thing is, my father was exposed to the Shantung Revival in China when he was a new, single missionary, and public confession of sins was certainly a characteristic of that revival, as it has been of virtually every major revival in Church history. From what I have heard, it is also happening in the current Asbury Revival in Kentucky, though the press coverage has tended to gloss that over. I was distressed yesterday to hear that the university administrators are trying to “get back to the academic calendar,” even though they did cancel classes initially. Man wants to control the Holy Spirit! Now there you have a sin that needs to be confessed! The last half of this verse is often quoted independently of the first half, and we lose sight of what it is to be righteous. As Paul wrote, quoting Psalm 5:9, “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one.’” (Romans 3:10) However, as John wrote, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) The only way to be righteous is to have our sins confessed up-to-date. However, when our sins are confessed, we are from that moment righteous, and should have every expectation of being welcome in the throne room of God. The Catholic Church formalized confession, which is probably better than ignoring it like some groups, but between the formality and the idea that it had to be done to a priest, it degenerated into almost a works-based salvation, which is a major reason other groups avoided it. Both sides of that pleased the devil! If we want the Holy Spirit to move freely, as He has been doing at Asbury, we’ve got to be honest with Him, with ourselves, and with each other. If we will do that, our prayers will progress to another dimension.

This of course applies to me. I do have some close friends to whom I confess sins, and I try to be specific in asking forgiveness of my wife or others against whom I might sin specifically, but at the same time I’m not to be picking at myself, looking for sins to confess. The Holy Spirit is quite faithful to point out things I need to confess, if I will keep my heart open to Him. That really is the key to it all. I desire intensely that the Holy Spirit be poured out on this church, this city, this nation, and to that end I’ve got to be completely open to Him myself. My track record hasn’t been terrible, but it has certainly been spotty. I’m never to think “I’ve got it all together,” because only Jesus has it all together! I’m feeling I’m to speak on the Holy Spirit this Sunday, but I certainly can’t make anything happen on my own. I’ve got to be humble before my Lord and follow His directions, allowing Him to use me however He desires, for His glory alone.

Father, thank You for Your incredible grace. Thank You that Your forgiveness and cleansing are real, and are available to all. Help me be fully up-to-date before You so that I won’t be a hinderance in any way, but fully available for whatever You desire to do, for the sake of the Body of Christ and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Humility; February 20, 2023

Posted on February 21, 2023 by jgarrott

James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

These 10 verses contain some very famous truths. The section about asking and receiving in verses 2-3 is often quoted, as well as the words about being a friend of the world that follow. I couldn’t begin to say how many times I’ve quoted verse 7, about submitting to God and resisting the devil. However, thinking about it, this verse seems to encapsulate it all. The devil’s sin was pride, and that was what he used to tempt Eve and Adam with her. The way to counter pride is through intentional humility. This isn’t the same as a poor self-image. Rather, it is recognizing that our value and our abilities come from the God who imparted them to us. He must value us very highly to have sent His Son to die to redeem us! However, that value is imparted by Him, not something that we generated on our own. We say that objects are valuable, but if no one wants to purchase them, their “value” is meaningless. That is easily seen in the area of art. Some artwork is sold for astronomical prices, when I wouldn’t want it cluttering up my house! It is only when something is desired that it becomes “valuable.” That applies very broadly. There is a Japanese proverb that says that only the ill understand health. We tend not to recognize value in something until we lose it. Humbling ourselves before the Lord is acknowledging that we have a very shaky grasp of value and purpose, and submitting everything to the only One who genuinely understands it all. When we come right down to it, it is a mystery why He would value individual humans at all, but it is evident that He does. The wisest thing is to let our pride be replaced with gratitude for God’s incredible grace.

As I have written frequently, I was almost destroyed by pride. Intellectual pride, spiritual pride, I thought I was “a cut above.” That is so foolish! God has shown me I have no “high horse” from which to look down on anyone. That’s not to say that His gifts to me aren’t real, and that I’m not to be a good steward of them; quite the contrary. However, it does mean that those gifts don’t make me any more valuable than someone with entirely different gifts, which gifts might be invisible to me. Place and position aren’t to be issues for me, but rather availability to my Lord to fulfill His purposes. Whatever my IQ, comparing my understanding to that of God is worse than comparing an ant to Einstein.

Father, thank You for Your incredible grace and mercy toward me. Had it been up to me, I would have squashed me like a loathsome bug a long time ago! Thank You for the privilege of serving You, of seeing You work through me, hearing You speak through me. May I never forget that the value comes from it being You, and not from the tool You are using. Thank You. Praise God!

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Response to Trials; February 19, 2023

Posted on February 20, 2023 by jgarrott

James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

When the same writer repeats things you know they think they are important, but when two completely different writers write the same thing, it adds special emphasis. This passage is a close parallel to the more famous one by Paul: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:3-5) It boils down to something I tell people frequently: God isn’t mean. He never allows anything in our lives that He can’t use for good. Joseph the son of Jacob in the Old Testament went through horrible trials, and his own brothers were the agents, but as he eventually told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20) One of the delicious things about God’s plans is how He turns the devil’s plans around to accomplish the opposite of what the devil wants. The cross of Christ is the ultimate example of that. When Christ went through all of that to accomplish the provision of salvation for all mankind, we shouldn’t hold back at the idea that our trials, and yes suffering, can produce good that we can’t see at the moment. As someone has said, God is far more interested in our character than in our comfort. He doesn’t want to spend eternity with a bunch of selfish, entitled brats! “Pie in the sky by and by” has been ridiculed by those focused entirely on the here-and-now, but it gives perspective and moral strength that shames those with less faith. That’s not at all to say that we are to ignore the world around us, failing to correct injustice and striving against sin. As this church’s verse for the year proclaims, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) Thinking that our actions in this world don’t matter is spiritual blindness. However, we are also not to be blinded by forgetting that God is always greater than our circumstances, and what we experience physically is never the final answer.

As I am talking about in this morning’s message, I am going through some of this right now, with a broken wrist. It’s certainly not fun, with pain and inability, but I have already learned some things and I can see good things happening. I’ve gone through a lot in 74 years, but I’m more like Christ now than I was even a few years ago. I am to receive each lesson the Lord gives me with gratitude and look forward to the next, however easy or difficult it might be, because “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Father, You’ve pointed this out to me many times. Help me remember it! Thank You that I have grown to the point that when I slipped and fell my first, honest response was to thank You, even though I was instantly aware I had broken my wrist. I do pray that all of Your purposes for all our trials would be fulfilled, for our blessing and the blessing of the people around us, and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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The Sacrifice of Praise; February 18, 2023

Posted on February 19, 2023 by jgarrott

Hebrews 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that confess his name.

This is one of the first verses I became aware of when I was introduced to the Charismatic Movement. Choruses like We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise still echo in my heart and mind, and that was just over 50 years ago. The principle of praising God has never vanished entirely from the Church, but it has certainly had its ebbs and flows. I have seen skits that made fun of it, saying that God is egotistical to require praise of His subjects, but that misses the purpose of praise entirely. God, being infinite, doesn’t require anything at all, much less ego boosts. However, we have a fundamental need to acknow­ledge Him in all His magnificence, and that is what praise is all about. There are two facets to the “sacrifice” part. The first is that this is a replacement for the Old Covenant sacrificial system, since Jesus has given the ultimate sacrifice of His own body and blood. This letter was written to Jews, after all, and the temple in Jerusalem possibly hadn’t been destroyed yet. “Sacrifice” was certainly a significant term to Jews of the day. The other facet is that it’s not always easy to praise God, and doing so requires a genuine sacrifice on our part. At that time in history, confessing “Jesus is Lord” could get you killed for treason, for disloyalty to Lord Caesar. To this day, totalitarian regimes of all stripes hate genuine Christians, because our loyalty is to a power higher than any government. Sadly, we see that going on full force in the US even today, though thankfully the Constitution still hasn’t been abolished. Praising God is seen as an act of sedition by statists of any label, because they want the State to be our god. Praising God is all the more essential in such circumstances.

I grew up in a family that loved to sing, and some of my best memories are of being gathered around the piano, singing through the hymnal. There are some magnificent praise hymns, but they aren’t in the majority. Today, a sad percentage of “Christian” music is simply emotional, man-focused instead of God-focused, and would be hard to classify as praise toward God. As a pastor, I am responsible for what we sing here, and I seek to be careful about such things. I ascribe to the view that the pastor is to be the “chief worshiper.” If I am not worshiping in spirit and in truth, how can I expect others to do so? Sundays are very busy for me, and distractions abound. Sometimes it really is a “sacrifice” of praise! My goal is for every aspect of my life, public and private, to confess Jesus as Lord, both in word and in action, so that others may join me in repentance and faith and receive eternal salvation, for the glory of God.

Father, thank You for allowing me to express that so clearly. I do pray that I would continually offer You the sacrifice of praise that is due You, and You alone, so that I may be fully available at all times for however You want to use me, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Thinking about Jesus; February 17, 2023

Posted on February 18, 2023 by jgarrott

Hebrews 12:3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Often emotional exhaustion is worse than physical exhaustion. (The Japanese here doesn’t just say “weary,” but “exhausted.”) The two things necessary to overcome that are perspective and hope, and thinking about Jesus should provide both of those in abundance. When we compare what we are experiencing with what Jesus went through in order to provide salvation for us, our struggles look pretty small. At the same time, the result of His suffering should give us a transcendent hope that will eclipse everything else. Paul put it this way: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17) Most Christians know that in theory at least, but in our daily lives we are all too prone to forget it. That’s why we need to think about Jesus! As a carpenter, Jesus was certainly familiar with physical labor, but His emotional and spiritual labor on our behalf was far greater, far more taxing. That awareness has strengthened believers down through the centuries, and we need to let it do the same for us.

This chapter is one of my favorite in the whole Bible, with virtually all of it underlined, and I quote it frequently. However, even I could benefit from thinking about Jesus more frequently and deeply. As I am often reminded, familiarity indeed breeds contempt, and I must not gloss over any part of God’s Word simply because I can quote it without thinking. It’s the “without thinking” that’s the problem! I have wide interests and think about an almost infinite variety of things, but I would do well to consciously think about Jesus more. After all, I want to be more like Him, and thoughts often develop into action. That’s why “premeditated” murder is judged much more severely than a “crime of passion.” I’m not going to keep growing more like my Lord without thinking about Him, submerging my thoughts and feelings into Him, to the point that He’s the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night. That is my desire, and I need to be active in my pursuit of it.

Father, thank You for this clear Word. I do think about an incredible variety of things every day, which isn’t bad in itself, but Jesus needs to be front and center. Help me indeed think about my Lord so that I will gain the physical and emotional strength and purity I need for all that I encounter, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Angels; February 16, 2023

Posted on February 17, 2023 by jgarrott

Hebrews 1:14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Evidently there was an issue, back in the 1st Century, of some people worshiping angels instead of God. This sort of thing has been a problem throughout human history, with people worshiping all sorts of impressive things that were less than God. It’s where animism comes from, where people worship impressive things in nature, and is the source of such things as Baal being “the storm god.” Actually, the devil loves this sort of thing, because he seeks to steal the worship that belongs only to God, and as Paul cautions, he can appear to us as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14) It is sadly the source of people praying to saints, instead of to the Trinity. Why pray to anything less that the Godhead? If we think we’re too unimportant for God Himself to care about us, we don’t understand God. Jesus said He cares about even how many hairs we have on our head! (Matthew 10:30) We fall into this sort of trap precisely because our concept of God is too small. We think, “How could the Creator of the universe care about me?” He’s big enough to care about each one of His children individually, and He does. That’s why He created the angels as ministering spirits to serve us!

I would be the last person to say that angels aren’t impressive. Every time the Bible records their appearance, the people involved have to be told not to be afraid. I’ve never seen one myself, but my wife has on several occasions, and she says they are bigger than the room they are in, mighty warriors. At the same time, they can appear as normal human beings, as Hebrews notes. (Hebrews 13:2) I’ve read reports of “people” who appeared at accident scenes, helped people out, and then disappeared. My wife prayed for a man at a traffic accident and he later wanted to know who the man was who was standing beside her, when there were no men present. I am convinced of the reality of angels and am grateful for them, but I never want to fall into the trap of worshiping them. Any angel of God wouldn’t want that anyway! There are many things I will never understand fully in this life, and angels are one of them. I need to focus on my Lord, with full gratitude for all that He provides, angels included!

Father, thank You for Your incredible, gracious love. Help me not be distracted by anything less, so that I may be fully obedient to You in all purity. Thank You. Praise God!

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Human Distinctions; February 15, 2023

Posted on February 16, 2023 by jgarrott

Philemon 1:10-11 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

Paul could at times be diplomatic to the point of being manipulative, and this letter is probably the prime example of that. It would be hard to fault any detail of it in terms of Paul’s goal of freedom for Onesimus and reconciliation between him and Philemon. This letter is clear evidence that there was nothing racial about slavery throughout most of human history. I’m reminded of a song from the musical play Finian’s Rainbow that says, “When the idle poor become the idle rich, you’ll never know just who is who and who is which.” In the US we have the image of Black slaves from the Civil War period, but race was simply not an issue in the 1st Century. Regardless, here we have the matter of Paul asking Philemon to accept Onesimus not as his slave, but as his brother in Christ. It is quite possible that One­simus was born into slavery, because “Useful” seems like an odd name to give a child, and that’s what “Onesimus” means. Regardless, relationship with Christ as Lord and the resulting status as a child of God clearly trumps any previous distinctions. That’s important to remember today, when people deceived by the devil are trying so hard to divide people on the basis of anything at all. Actually, slavery today is more widespread than it has ever been, though it’s not technically legal in the vast majority of countries. Whatever previous distinctions might have existed, in race, income, social class, or anything else, they become meaningless when covered by the blood of Christ. It has become a cliché, but the ground is truly level at the foot of the cross.

Growing up as a Caucasian in Japan I was both aware of race and aware that it was unimportant. On my first visit to the US, just before I turned four, I encountered my first Black person, and am told I insisted on speaking Japanese to them because in my experience, anyone who had darker skin than my parents had to be Japanese! In the over 70 years since then I have encountered people of many races, not to mention social distinctions and everything else. It is my continuing conviction that however real those distinctions might be at any given moment, in the final analysis they don’t matter at all. The Japanese language has many social distinctions built into it, depending on whether the person addressed is “above, equal, or below” the speaker, as well as interrelated degrees of formality. The fact that I ignore most of that makes my Japanese distinctive, but I think most people find it attractive. Everyone is my equal, which they find refreshing! The thing is, my desire is that they all become my siblings in Christ, just as Paul was trying to do with Onesimus and Philemon. The world is a much better place when we are all family!

Father, thank You for how much this church is indeed family, as various visitors and observers have noted. May we be an accepting, ever-growing family, bringing more and more into the eternal salvation given to Your children alone, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Words; February 14, 2023

Posted on February 15, 2023 by jgarrott

2 Timpthy 1:2 To Timothy, my dear son:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

This chapter has several verses that are long-time favorites, but it struck me just now that this verse, which from our perspective seems like a somewhat stylized greeting, was actually anything but that. The Biblical evidence is that Paul had no one who was more “family” than Timothy, just as he calls him here his beloved son. You don’t write platitudes to someone like that! And that means that Paul didn’t consider his blessings, spoken or written, as formalities but as genuine impartations of the things mentioned. We take such things so lightly! How many people really think they are imparting blessing when they say, “Bless you,” after someone sneezes? We are not at all on the scale of God, who spoke the universe into being, but our words are not without meaning and impact. There are some who take this too far and get all hyper about “negative confessions” and the like, but the fact remains that God has given us the privilege of speaking His words after Him, and His words certainly have power. What we say and write to people is important. Recently social media have made it all too easy to broadcast our words to the world, but rather than considering the weight of that we tend to “run off at the mouth” and do all sorts of damage. It is very true that as James pointed out rather forcefully, words without actions are meaningless, but that doesn’t mean our words are unimportant. The old saying, “Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is actually quite untrue. Sometimes wounds from words last far longer than physical injuries. We need to speak and write intentionally, to convey the grace and love of God rather than anything less.

As I have written multiple times before, I am a man of words, and so this strikes very close to home. Frankly, I need to be reminded of it all too frequently! I have certainly hurt people with my words, at times intentionally, and I have no excuse for that. Growing up I felt very inadequate in sports and socially, and I covered that up with words. Now, as a pastor and teacher, you could say that I make my living with words. I need to be careful that my words impart value, yes, blessing, whatever the context. When Facebook notifies me of birthdays I seek to respond with genuine blessings, and the feedback indicates I often succeed. Even there I need to be careful I don’t just use “boiler plate” blessings, but sometimes, as Paul wrote to Timothy, even those can be genuine. In my preaching and my teaching I need to be open with all that God has poured into me, so that it may in turn accomplish God’s purposes in the lives of those who hear me. I have no power for good in and of myself, but God can use me as His agent, and that is good indeed.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for the gift of words. May I make the use of that gift that You intend, communicating Your grace and love without distortion, for the blessing of all and for Your glory Thank You. Praise God!

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