Physical Bodies; February 20, 2022

Posted on February 22, 2022 by jgarrott

1 Timothy 4:8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

People everywhere tend to be obsessed with their bodies, either to indulge them, leading to obesity, or to “get them into shape,” with sculpted muscles, strict diets, and even plastic surgery. Neither is ultimately healthy, even the manifestation that focuses on physical health itself. As Paul says here, an exercise regime does have benefits, but it doesn’t change the fact that these bodies of ours are temporary, wearing out in a few dozen years at best. In his second letter to Timothy Paul very reasonably calls his physical body a tent that is subject to wear and tear, (2 Timothy 5:4) and just about everybody can relate to that. We’re to take care of our physical bodies as good stewards, but we’ve got to remember that they are strictly temporary. It is when we manage to gain an eternal perspective that everything falls into place. Even if we live past 100, that’s just a “flash in the pan” compared to eternity! However godliness, that is, living in harmony with and obedience to our Creator, prepares us for that blessed eternity, and even gives us a taste of it here and now. Focus on the physical only leads to deception, frustration, and ultimate destruction.

I’m still in the process of learning this myself, so I’m preaching to myself here. Our bodies can be very adept at grabbing our attention! I’m still learning, on the emotional level, that I’m not a physical being who has a spirit, but rather a spiritual being who currently inhabits a body. Knowing that in my head doesn’t necessarily help with a stubbed toe! It’s not that I’m not to enjoy this body while I inhabit it, but that must not be my focus. It’s kind of like cars. I like having a comfortable, dependable car for transportation, but I’ve never felt like cars were more than tools. It’s nice if my car is reasonably attractive, but that’s not a major issue. I try to be careful, avoiding accidents and performing maintenance, but I don’t expect to drive the same car for, say, 50 years. My body should be the same way. I need to “change the oil” and “fill up the tank” as appropriate, but at the same time look forward to the ultimate “trade-in” that awaits me, and in the meantime, use my body as the Manufacturer intends, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this body and for keeping it going for over 73 years so far. Thank You that I’ll be able to go to a dermatologist tomorrow to check on my “paint job,” and that I’ve got a “safety inspection” scheduled for a week after that. Help me indeed be a good steward of this body without obsessing over it, using it as You desire and intend for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Prayer; February 19, 2022

Posted on February 22, 2022 by jgarrott

1 Timothy 2:8 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

I have quoted the first part of this chapter more times than I could count, but this verse also is very worthy of meditation and application. This is very specifically addressed to men, and not just to people in general. It is a fact of human nature that men tend both to be more argumentative than women, and to be less likely to pray. Paul hits both those weaknesses here. I have even seen men get offended at what someone else prayed! Arguments and disputes do not build up the Church, but that’s not to say we are to abandon truth or compromise on everything just to avoid them. Paul himself had quite a few arguments and disputes, particularly with legalistic Jews who tried to insist on rituals as necessary for salvation. However, there’s nothing like fervent prayer, led by the Holy Spirit, to generate unity! It’s also interesting that Paul specifies “everywhere.” The Japanese makes it clear that this isn’t just talking about men who happen to be in different places, but rather that wherever you are, you should pray. We are too prone to relegate prayer to specific locations, and particularly to the church building, and Paul is specifically countering that. The first several verses of this chapter certainly give us plenty to pray about, so we are to be sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit at all times and in all places to pray under His guidance, as God’s agents for accomplishing His will.

As I’ve commented before, I grew up in a home where prayer was as natural as breathing, and I couldn’t be more grateful. That said, I’m still not the prayer warrior my wife is. I am grateful to pray freely in any location or circumstance, but I can’t say I spend as much time in focused prayer as she does. As a pastor, one of my headaches is how hesitant men in particular are to pray. I don’t have an easy answer for that, but I’m not to give up. Men in general aren’t as vocal as women, but that’s not an excuse. Some men (like me) are very vocal! I am to be very careful that my teaching and coaching on prayer are genuinely encouraging, and not accusatory or discouraging. Feeling guilty for not praying isn’t likely to make anyone pray more consistently! I am personally grateful for the gift of tongues to enable me to pray when my brain doesn’t know how. I need to pray that all the men of the church would be similarly gifted, so that together we may be “shock troops” in God’s army, defeating in prayer all the tricks of the enemy.

Father, thank You for this reminder, just as You have given Cathy a plan for churches to start being knit together in prayer. I pray that vision would catch fire and spread to all the churches, not just in this area but all over the nation, answering Paul’s prayer in this verse and tearing down the walls the devil and human pride have erected, for a massive move of Your Spirit in this nation, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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God; February 18, 2022

Posted on February 20, 2022 by jgarrott

1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

It is significant that when writing to Timothy, from whom he probably had no secrets, and specifically in writing about himself, Paul couldn’t hold back from a doxology. This verse has been memorably set to music, but the important thing is that this be the attitude of our lives, the unfeigned exclamation of our heart. The musical version follows the King James and inserts the word “wise,” but that was in all probability a scribal error. God is the only God, period. He takes no qualifiers, even though many descriptive terms, including wise, may rightly be applied to Him. There is not a group of foolish gods, and He being the only wise one, unless you count the myriads of idols that people claim as gods. Everything in existence is in some way defined by its relationship to the Creator, certainly including us. Paul has just been talking about how he was a blasphemer and a persecutor, (verse 13) and you can’t really be those things if there is no God to blaspheme. It is only when we live our lives in awareness of God, understanding that everything relates in some way to Him, that we begin to make sense of things and steer correctly. The problem is that we tend to flip that around and think of everything in relation to us, as though we were the reason for the universe. That leads to countless unforced errors (to use a sports analogy) and is the foundation of sin. To be happy, we have to accept that everything doesn’t exist for us, but we exist for God, to please Him and do His will. The blessing is in God’s character, because He really is love, (1 John 4:8) and as it says repeatedly in the Old Testament, “slow to anger and abounding in mercy.” The devil tries to tell us it’s a bad thing that God’s in command, but that’s a lie just like everything else he says. The better, the more accurately we see God, the more we will respond as Paul did, in overwhelming gratitude for God’s mercy and grace.

Of course this applies to me, just as it does to every human being. I’m all too familiar with the negative of this, having walked in stupid pride, all the while thinking I was a fine Christian. I keep coming back to it, but I couldn’t be more grateful that God tapped me on the shoulder and showed me a mirror, giving me a glimpse of the blackness of my soul. I wish I could say I have walked in perfect humility and obedience since then, but sadly that’s not the case. I’m still daily in need of His grace and mercy, but praise God, He gives it! Like Paul, I am in awe of the fact that God chose and uses me. I desire to help every believer grasp that He has chosen them and wants to use them as well. We are so slow to grasp that! We cling to Ephesians 2:8-9, but forget 10, that says God has already prepared good works for us to do. One of my good works is helping others understand that He has things prepared for them as well! It is absolutely incredible that the Creator has planned for us to spend eternity with Him, in fellowship of a kind and a degree that is beyond our grasp at this point. I am to rest in that assurance and rejoice to communicate it to others, so that they too may move into all that He has planned for them.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You that I can call You Father! That in itself is downright incredible. Help me indeed live as Your child, being increasingly transformed into the likeness of Your Son, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Overcoming Fear; February 17, 2022

Posted on February 19, 2022 by jgarrott

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

After delivering a rather scary and perhaps disturbing description of things to happen in the Last Days in the first part of this chapter, Paul now comforts and encourages his readers. Life is rough and in some ways it’s going to get rougher, so we need to keep our focus on God, receiving from Him the encouragement and comfort we need. It’s interesting to me that where the NIV says “encourage,” the Japanese says “comfort.” Those are greatly related, so I don’t doubt that both are probably valid translations. The point is, no matter how rough things get in this life, we have the hope of eternal life in Christ and with Christ, so we have no reason to despair. Meanwhile, we’re to be doing and saying the good things God has planned for us. (Ephesians 2:10) The past two years of pandemic panic have shown us that living in fear accomplishes no good thing, but is rather destructive, period. Appropriate precautions are advisable, but a climate of fear has been hyped and utilized by some to gain personal and political power. In past generations such techniques have been used many times to generate religious cults, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are certainly cultish features to some of the current mandates and the like, and those are destructive indeed. Those who have genuine hope of eternal life have no business allowing fear to control them. I personally believe we really are in the Last Days, and I have no reason to doubt that things will get really hairy before we actually see Christ return, but in the mean time we have no reason to live in fear. Particularly, we aren’t to let fear keep us from saying and doing the things God desires of us as His representatives. There are many more people to be brought to repentance and faith for their salvation!

This of course applies to me too. I am active in seeking to maintain my health through diet, exercise, and a generally healthy lifestyle, but that isn’t my primary focus. I am to keep my eye on the prize, as Paul said, (Philippians 3:14) and seek constantly to know and do what God desires and intends of me. Whatever that is, I know that He will enable me to do it. (Philippians 4:13) As a pastor, a big part of that is teaching and encouraging others to do likewise, so that the lying traps of the enemy may be defeated.

Father, thank You for this Word of encouragement. Today looks to be a pretty full schedule. Help me recognize what You have for me to do each moment and do it, not hesitating or giving in to distractions. May I indeed say and do what You desire of me in every detail, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Answered Prayer; February 16, 2022

Posted on February 19, 2022 by jgarrott

2 Thessalonians 1:3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.

I forget who it was years ago who pointed out to me that this verse records the answer to a prayer Paul wrote in his first letter to these believers: “May the Lord make your love increase and over­flow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12) Sometimes we need to be reminded that God answers prayer! Prayer for specific things like healing is easy to credit when it is answered, but sometimes we fail to pray for things like increased love, as here, because it seems too amorphous. However, God cares about everything, and He delights to answer prayers of this sort. He also answers prayers for things like wisdom (James 1:5) and guidance, which appear throughout the Bible. The devil fears our prayers, so he does everything he can to keep us from praying. He tells us God doesn’t care, that He isn’t listening, and why would He answer us, anyway? Every one of those is an absolute lie! God cares because He loves us perfectly. That is His character. (1 John 4:8) Our love is imperfect, which is why we need to keep growing in it, as Paul prayed, but His is perfect right off the bat. That means that He knows exactly what we need and what is best for us. That doesn’t mean handing us everything on a silver platter, because then we wouldn’t grow and mature. That wouldn’t be best for us. That’s a truth many parents need to learn in relation to their own children. However, He delights to be good to us, just as Jesus said. (Luke 12:32) So when we pray we shouldn’t be demanding, but we should pray with the expectation that God is going to answer our prayers. It might not be in the way we expect, or even the way that our flesh would like, but it will be in the way that is best for us, for His glory.

This passage is particularly poignant to me today, because today is the 53rd anniversary of Cathy’s and my first date. The very next day I wrote my parents that I had found the girl I wanted to marry, and I’m sure my parents prayed for us much as Paul prayed for the believers in Thessalonica. Since we got engaged 11 days after that first date, and Cathy had been engaged to someone else up until that point, the Japan missionary whom we asked to perform our wedding in May later told us he was very hesitant to do so, thinking it might all fall apart. However, he agreed to do it, saying “If Max Garrott is praying for them, then it will work out.” Indeed it did, and Cathy’s and my relationship was a source of joy and satisfaction to all four of our respective parents. Love can grow, and praying for it to do so is very much in line with God’s heart. As a pastor I have plenty of reason to pray that way, for couples, for congregations, and between congregations. Right now Cathy is being led into a prayer ministry to knit believers together across the various social and organizational barriers that tend to divide the Body of Christ. Praying for love to grow is integral to that. We need to pray with the expectation that God is going to answer, for the blessing of many and for His glory.

Father, thank You for this Word, and particularly for its timing. Thank You for how You have grown Cathy’s and my love, and for our parents who prayed to that end. Thank You for the prayer ministry You are opening up right now. May we indeed pray and share with joy and expectation, so that all of Your plans for us and for this nation may be fulfilled, on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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God’s Faithfulness; February 15, 2022

Posted on February 17, 2022 by jgarrott

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

This whole section is loaded with dearly-loved practical instructions, but from the middle of verse 23 through the end of verse 24, the Japanese translation I use has been set to music verbatim in a way that really blesses me, so I can’t read it without that echoing through my mind and heart. That said, verse 25 is an absolutely vital statement of faith that applies every time we read the Bible, and for that matter, live as a Christian. With this assurance, we can weather any storm. Without it, we are devastated by essentially trivial things. I am a member of a Missionary Kids group on Facebook, and believe me, we who were raised on the mission field run the whole gamut. Some have come through with unshakable faith, whereas others seem to be in the group just to try to tear down the faith of others. It is at turns encouraging and sad. I think the problem comes when we define what “God needs to do” to “prove Himself faithful.” The very fact that we think that way displays our foolishness! We need to be like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking to be spared the cross but still submitting Himself to the Father, whatever it meant for Him personally. In that moment He was just as human as we are. That’s why, as it says in Hebrews, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) In the middle of our trial it can be hard to believe that the joy is coming, and it might not even be on this earth, but when our focus is on God Eternal, we can have peace and joy even in the trials.

I have had moments of wondering if my faith was just a philosophical/emotional construct, but I have also had times of being more sure that God was real than that I was. I have learned through experience that I’m not trustworthy in myself, but God is, and as I abide in Him I become more and more trustworthy too, as it says in verse 23. Back when I was first aware of the Charismatic Movement a famous saying was going around: “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” I have come to the conviction that it is better to say, “God said it. That settles it.” God is faithful whether I believe Him or not! I need to believe in order to enjoy the benefits of His faithfulness, because He is also faithful to fulfill His warnings to those who refuse to believe and obey. As I deal with others, I need to communicate God’s faithfulness in every area, helping them see that their choices have set them on the road to hell, which is not what God wants. It is because God is faithful that the universe exists and we have reliable laws of physics and the like. I need to maintain that perspective, and communicate it as God gives me opportunity.

Father, thank You indeed for Your faithfulness. May I indeed allow You to work in and through me to manifest Your faithfulness, drawing many to You for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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A Reason to Live; February 14, 2022

Posted on February 17, 2022 by jgarrott

1 Thessalonians 3:8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.

I like this verse for two reasons. The first is that it displays a true pastor’s heart. As I wrote yesterday, pastoral ministry isn’t something for the faint-hearted. It can be really hard work, but the rewards can also be rich. Knowing that your spiritual children are doing well goes a long way toward making all the effort worth it. And that brings me to the second reason I like this verse. It is a perfect illustration of a Japanese expression that doesn’t really translate well into English. Ikigae means, “a reason to live, a reward for living.” The NIV tries to express that with “really live,” but I think the original Greek idiom must be a direct equivalent of the Japanese. We all need a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to keep at the mundane and often thankless tasks of life. For a parent, that is often seeing your children do well, particularly if they are grateful to you in the process. The same is certainly true for spiritual parents and children. Whatever “bucket lists” we might have, we all have to come to the place of realizing we will never accomplish everything we had dreamed of. When our children go on to accomplish things we could never have done, that is more than enough accomplishment for a true parent, biological or spiritual.

Naturally, this applies to me as well. I am genuinely proud of and pleased with my daughters, and I get immense satisfaction in seeing spiritual growth in them and in my strictly spiritual children. Yesterday was a really good day, even though we had technical difficulties in the recording of the service. That sort of thing can really put me in a bad mood at times, but it faded to unimportance as I was aware of the good things God is doing in this congregation, in those He is bringing in and in those who have been here a long time. God is faithful, and participating in what He is doing is more than enough reason to live.

Father, thank You indeed for yesterday and all it held. Thank You for Your plans for today as well. Help me rest, relax, and rejoice in You, accomplishing Your will on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Pastors; February 13, 2022

Posted on February 15, 2022 by jgarrott

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

Paul was not a conventional pastor, staying in one place and building up a specific body of believers, but God enabled him to have that sort of relationship with group after group in place after place, and here he expresses a true pastor’s heart. As he himself realized, God kept him from having a biological family so that he could concentrate fully on his spiritual children. (1 Corinthians 7:29-35) Few people have that specific calling, but a father’s heart, as an expression of the Father’s heart, is vital for effective pastoral ministry. What complicates that is that we learn how to be fathers from our own physical fathers, and that example is flawed by definition. Every pastor should consciously seek the Father’s heart, knowing that he himself is a child, and he has much to learn. Pastoral ministry is not something to decide on as a career choice, but rather an assignment from our Creator. Pastors are given by God to the Church as shepherds, and their goal is never personal ambition. (Ephesians 4:11-13) It isn’t an easy job, but then, being a father to physical children isn’t either. Becoming a biological father is very easy, but being a good father is a lifetime of work. Pastoral ministry is much the same way. A Japanese pastor once told me that the unbelieving husband of one of his members told him accusingly, “Being a pastor is an easy way to become a Teacher.” (That’s a high honor in Japanese society.) Nothing could actually be further from the truth! It requires a level of submission and commitment that actually breaks some people, and it must never be taken lightly.

I frankly didn’t really want to be a pastor, but rather just a teacher, and the Lord has had to work on me a great deal over the years. Public speaking has never been a burden to me, but dealing with person after person as if they were my own children has been exhausting at times. Of course, at times it has also been a source of great joy, just as my biological children are, but frankly, that joy is earned! I was talking with someone recently whose heart is more in the specific area of evangelism, to the point that he gets restless when he always sees the same faces in his congregation, and I cautioned him in this area. He is a good biological father, but he also needs to be a good spiritual father to those who aren’t his biological children. God has been patient and faithful with me, and I know He will do the same for others. There is a real lack of good pastors, just as of good fathers, and we need to seek Father God for the solution.

Father, thank You for Your incredible grace toward me. Thank You for giving me the privilege of being a father to some of Your children. May I fulfill Your calling on my life as You desire and intend, so that Your children may be built up and strengthened, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Response to Suffering; February 12, 2022

Posted on February 14, 2022 by jgarrott

1 Thessalonians 1:6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

The Japanese and the NIV reverse the order of the elements of this sentence, which gives a change in perceived emphasis. I need to check the order in the Greek! In any case, the believers in Thessalonica were in a very difficult situation, but the Holy Spirit gave them joy as they received the Gospel. Their response was to imitate Paul, and by extension Jesus, who endured suffering without complaining. Our response to suffering is a pretty clear indicator of our faith. If we have full assurance that God will eventually turn our suffering around for good, (Romans 8:28) then we can endure almost anything. That’s in stark contrast to the natural, physical response of focusing on the suffering. Actually, such a focus makes the suffering be all the more intense, and we are totally miserable. It is when we can look past the suffering to the God who is capable of giving meaning to that suffering that we are able to have the joy of the Holy Spirit. The current generation, and young people in particular, have experienced so little genuine suffering that they fall apart at the smallest things, earning them the appropriate nickname of “snowflakes.” The Thessalonians were certainly not snowflakes! In the past, Christians often studied the lives of believers of previous generations. I remember we had a thick volume titled Fox’s Book of Martyrs, if I recall correctly, but I seldom hear of that today. Actually, there are more martyrs by number today than in any past generation, but the average Westerner is completely unaware of them. However, websites like persecution.org are depressingly informational. We would do well to learn from the Thessalonians and other believers, past and present, and view all suffering in the perspective of Christ’s sacrifice and the eternity it purchased for us, and rejoice!

This of course applies to me as much as it does to anyone else. I don’t feel I have had to endure much suffering, though I have had some rough patches in life, but my wife is in a daily dance with pain of all sorts. She deals with it remarkably well, though she would probably not grade herself that way. However, neither of us have been made to suffer specifically for our faith. That’s not to say that some people haven’t treated us badly because we insisted on following God, but such incidents haven’t been plentiful. We have no idea what suffering might await us down the line, but we do know that God is more than able to deal with whatever comes our way. With Paul, we have assurance that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Father, thank You for the grace of suffering. Help me not take anyone’s suffering lightly, but at the same time view it all in the perspective of eternity, so that I and they may be enabled to rest, relax, and rejoice in You, just as You have told me, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Slavery; February 11, 2022

Posted on February 14, 2022 by jgarrott

Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

This passage takes on extra weight when we realize it was addressed to slaves. It wasn’t that Paul approved of slavery, but it was certainly a fact of life. It’s only been in the past few hundred years that there have been any serious efforts to outlaw slavery anywhere in the world. Sadly, there are more slaves today than there have been at any time in history, only we call it “human trafficking.” This is in no way to excuse slavery, but it certainly squelches any sense of entitlement to complain about our employment! If every employee were to take this to heart, any company would succeed amazingly! There are a wide variety of bosses and managers, as well as of work conditions in general. This isn’t to say that poor bosses aren’t to be called to account or that working conditions aren’t to be improved, but it is a powerful reminder that temporal things ultimately aren’t that big a deal, since they are temporary. The NIV simply says we will “receive an inheritance,” but the Japanese says we will “inherit the Kingdom.” Keeping your eye on the prize can help you get through just about anything! An example in point is Yeonmi Park, who escaped North Korea as a young teenager only to be sex trafficked in China before finally escaping to the West. Today she lives in America and is a powerful voice against the lies that are being pushed on us daily, but you would never imagine her horrible history if she didn’t tell you, because she is beautifully bright and cheerful and optimistic. She found out about Jesus Christ while she was in China, in the middle of being sex trafficked, and that has made all the difference. Dennis Prager interviewed her, and he says she is one of the most incredible people he has ever met. She applied this passage before she even read it, and she is already reaping the benefits of her faith.

I’ve generally been blessed by my employment circumstances. The closest I’ve come to slavery was when I was in the Army, when full obedience was demanded, but that was still no comparison. As I have grown older, my perspective on the temporal has certainly changed. Complaining is no longer particularly attractive! Yesterday I conducted the funeral of a family friend. Most of her relatives are not yet Christians, nor was she, and I was struck by the emptiness of the Buddhist trappings that were there simply as custom. At the crematorium, as the bones were retrieved from the refractory table and placed in the urn, I thought again about how our physical bodies are simply something we use for a while. I know I’ve got a much better model waiting for me! I am not to complain about anything, but indeed serve my Lord Christ with all my heart, so that His purposes for me may be fulfilled for His glory.

Father, thank You for having that family reach out to me, after they were so disgusted by the response of the Buddhist temple when they consulted with them. Thank You for Your anointing and the things You said through me. I pray that every word of Yours would remain in the hearts of those who heard, drawing them to You in repentance and faith, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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