Focus; May 19, 2018

Posted on May 20, 2018 by jgarrott

Matthew 19:29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

It has become a horribly misused cliché, but you can’t out-give God. It is very sad that some preachers have twisted this verse into a “give to get” philosophy. It is very telling that in such cases, it’s generally “Give to me so you will get.” Such people receive their judgment from God Himself. However, such misuse doesn’t negate the truth of what Jesus said. The sticking point comes in what we have actually left, and whether we have really done it for Christ. When someone was praising my mother for “all you have given up to be a missionary,” she replied that the only thing she felt she had given up was physical proximity to family. Our problem is that we tend to fixate on the material and the temporal, rather than really seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness. “Giving to get” materially speaking does us no good at all. However, it is manifestly true that “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” That was originally stated in terms of physical vs. eternal life, and puts this whole issue into perspective. As Jesus said elsewhere, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” (Matthew 16:24-27) We need to hold everything loosely, and leave our reward up to God.

In a sense this is close to home, since Cathy is in the process of liquidating her share in her family’s farm so that the funds may be used for ministry here. However, I’ve never felt like God was stingy. The longer I live, the better I understand the difference between temporal and eternal. Most of what consumes the world is strictly temporal, that is, limited to time and space. That is by very definition temporary, and God offers us what is eternal. I certainly live in the flow of time, and temporal things do matter to me, but their hold on me diminishes as I sharpen my focus on Christ. I don’t know what my eventual reward will be, but I am absolutely confident it will be more than worth it. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Father, thank You for this reminder. It can be easy to lose focus! Help me seek Your kingdom and Your righteousness on every level, not being distracted by the material, so that I may bring as many eternal souls as possible with me into Your presence, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Little Children; May 18, 2018

Posted on May 20, 2018 by jgarrott

Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Thinking about it, Jesus had no children of his own, but children evidently liked being with Him. Children are often sensitive to the attitudes and even character of people, even more than adults are. The striking characteristic of children is that they hide nothing. I think that’s at least part of the reason Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like them. Adults work at giving specific impressions, but with children, what you see is what you get. God can see through any front we might put up, so it makes far more sense to be open and honest with Him and with ourselves. That’s the point of Jesus’ famous story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. (Luke 18:9-14) The tax collector was completely open and honest, and God received him as he was. It’s not at all that we are to revel in our sins, even being proud of them as some people seem to be, but it is that we are to come to Jesus as we are, just as these little children did, trusting that He will receive us and do for us what we need.

A couple of days ago I had something happen that I take as a huge compliment. I was sitting in my study when the doorbell rang, and it was our new neighbors’ 1st grade son. He said that he’d just gotten home from school, but his mother wasn’t at home. I happily went out and sat with him for a few minutes, talking about various things until his mother arrived. (When his mother arrived, very flustered, it turned out she had been at the dentist and it had taken longer than expected.) They’ve been our neighbors for less than two months, but I have spoken to them any time I’ve seen them. To me, that’s “organic evangelism,” and I’m thrilled to see some feedback. They haven’t come to a service yet, but I’m trusting that God has already chosen them for His family. I desire to be the sort of person anyone, child or adult, would not hesitate to approach, so that in the process they may draw close to the One who created them and loves them and died for them.

Father, I so often over-think things. Help me be as a little child before You, so that I won’t get in the way of others seeing Christ through me, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Who is Jesus?; May 17, 2017

Posted on May 19, 2018 by jgarrott

Matthew 16:15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

This is the single most important question for any human being on the face of the earth. How it is answered determines the eternal destiny of the one answering. It is the ultimate test of whether someone is a brother or sister in Christ or a deluded heretic. There are groups that use the name of Jesus and would like to be accepted as Christian, but their answer to this question exposes the devil’s schemes. Recently a prominent Mormon politician got publicly upset with the statements of one of the pastors who prayed at the dedication of the US embassy in Jerusalem, claiming he was a bigot for not accepting Mormons as Christian, when Paul said strongly, “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8) The Mormons teach that the angel Moroni revealed the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith, and that book claims that Jesus and Satan are brothers! There’s a lot more I could go into, but right there we have a disqualifying answer to Jesus’ question. Likewise, Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus was not the eternal Son of God, but rather was accepted as the son of God because he lived such a good life. There are many people who say that Jesus was a great teacher, but unless He is the Son of God to you, His cross was insufficient to take the penalty for your sins. Actually, there are probably members of groups like the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses who are saved, but it’s only because they deviate from the standard teaching of the group. Right in line with this is Paul’s statement that “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) There are many who have gone through the motions of baptism and the like without ever making Jesus their Lord. That’s not a different category of Christian, it’s part of the definition of Christian, and sadly, there are many who don’t meet it.

This is of course of vital importance to me, as it is to everyone. As a pastor, and particularly one serving in a largely non-Christian nation, it consumes my life. (If you read all of Romans 10, you see that it consumed Paul as well.) As Jesus said to Peter, who He is has to be revealed to us by God. However, as came out a few days ago, the big issue is whether we receive the revelation God offers us. I can’t save anyone with my own powers of persuasion. I know; I’ve tried! Even so, God can use me to open people’s eyes to Himself, so I’ve dedicated my life to being available for Him to do so. Knowing who Jesus is isn’t enough for me. I want everyone else to know Him too! All I can do is walk in faithfulness, speaking the truth in love so that the Holy Spirit may take my words and use them to touch people, so that they too may be brought to Peter’s confession, for their salvation and the glory of God.

Father, this is my eternal struggle. I so want those to whom I minister to open their hearts to You, submitting to Jesus Christ as Lord, but I can’t make it happen. I ask You to pour Your Spirit out on this city and this nation, so that the lies of the enemy may be exposed and people set free to repent and believe, for a mighty harvest in Your kingdom, for Your glory alone. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Trusting God; May 16, 2018

Posted on May 19, 2018 by jgarrott

Matthew 15:33 His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”

The disciples were being humanly logical, but they were forgetting that they were with the Son of God. Actually there are many examples of that recorded in the Gospels, and we are no better. If anything, we do it even more, because we don’t have the physical Jesus we can see with our eyes. The specific irony here is that this followed Jesus walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33), which came immediately after Jesus having fed an even bigger crowd than this on one boy’s lunch. (Matthew 14:13-21) What is encouraging about all of this to me is that it shows we aren’t necessarily worse than the apostles! However, that’s not an excuse for lack of faith. We all need to be more consistent in remembering that we can do nothing on our own, (John 15:5) but if we are abiding in Christ, He can do anything at all through us. Material provision can be a real test of our faith, both because it is so measurable and because it is something the world focuses on a great deal. Most church budgets are set the same way a secular company would set their budget, that is, examining anticipated income and then deciding what should be done with it. What churches need to do is prayerfully seek God for what He wants them to do, and then know that He will provide the funds and other resources necessary to do that. That’s not to say that we are to be passive. Here, just as in the earlier instance, Jesus asked His disciples to give everything they had. If we are unwilling to let go of what we have, we will be unable to take hold of what God wants to give us. Too often we fail to believe Jesus wasn’t just blowing smoke when He said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

I have certainly experienced this in my personal life, and this church has just gone through a very rough experience of people failing to grasp this truth. All sorts of things were and are at play, but we have not moved forward as I believe God desired, and people have left the church in the process. Part of that was in my failing to cast the vision properly, helping the people own it, but the biggest issue seemed to be total panic at the large sums of money involved, when God was making it clear that wasn’t a problem for Him. I’m still having to deal with forgiveness over it all. That particular project is now on a back burner, but I don’t believe God has given up on it, so I’m not to do so. Currently, God has given us another project, and that seems to be moving along fairly well. There are many unknowns involved, but God is leading. The whole point is that if God says to do something, we do it, and He will supply everything necessary.

Father, thank You for Your patience and mercy toward us. Keep me from condemning others when You have forgiven me so much. May I personally, and the church as a whole, grow in fixing our eyes on You and trusting that You can and will do anything at all through us, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Our Concept of God; May 15, 2018

Posted on May 17, 2018 by jgarrott

Matt 15:28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

I have always heard this story told as the woman being praised for her persistence, but just now I had a slightly different flash of understanding. Persistence may or may not come from faith, but Jesus acknowledged that this woman realized that delivering her daughter would be a trivial thing for someone with Jesus’s spiritual authority. Comparing exorcism to crumbs falling from a table seems like a far stretch to us. Such movies as The Exorcist put far more focus on the power of the demon than they do on the power of God. That’s why the devil is delighted in such movies! We forget John’s very succinct statement: “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) Most of us have far too small a concept of God. We quote Genesis about how He spoke the universe into being, but we have trouble grasping that absolutely nothing we face is any sort of big deal for Him. That was what Jeremiah was going through when God was telling him Jerusalem was going to be rebuilt and land bought and sold, when he saw the Babylonian army filling the land and God had told him they would destroy Jerusalem for the sins of the people. That’s where this church’s Verse for the Year comes from: “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27) When we get it through our heads and hearts that anything we could ask of God is comparable to a crumb falling from a table, our faith will be much more what God wants it to be.

I think I have a larger concept of God than many, but it’s not big enough yet. Even so, I struggle more with why God doesn’t do some things than with whether He could do them. The biggest item in that category is the matter of pouring His Spirit out on this nation for repentance and faith. I and my parents before me have labored many years seeking to communicate the Gospel to the Japanese people, with heartbreakingly little response. I am not to give up, but it can be hard to trust God with His timing. I’ve got to accept that I’m not smart but God is, and trust Him to do what is best. I have lived long enough to see that things He allowed in my life that were painful at the time were for my good, just as it says in Hebrews. (Hebrews 12:11) That gives me far more peace about whatever else might come up. At least I know there’s nothing He can’t do!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me keep growing in faith and gratitude. Thank You for what You enabled me to do yesterday in putting in the gutter, and that I don’t have time pressure for the final steps. Thank You for projects like that where I can see the results of my labors, when that’s not the case for so much of what I do. It’s very refreshing! Help me trust You with the results of everything You have me do, so that it may indeed accomplish Your purposes for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Giving to God; May 14, 2018

Posted on May 16, 2018 by jgarrott

Matthew 14:16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

This is an extremely famous story, but this little detail is sometimes overlooked. Jesus didn’t say, “I’ll give them something to eat,” His said, “You give them something to eat.” That was patently impossible, but when the disciples surrendered what they had – five loaves and two fish – to Jesus, He returned it to them multiplied for them to give it to the people. So it was indeed the disciples who gave the food to the people, rather than Jesus directly, but the supply wasn’t there until they surrendered all they had to Jesus. We tend to think of God’s supply as being like winning the lottery, when far more often it’s a matter of His making what we give to Him go far further than we could have imagined. It’s quite probable that the disciples had been worried about what they themselves would eat, but considering how many baskets of leftovers they gathered, there’s no question they were filled as well. This is actually a very practical demonstration of what Jesus had said not so long before this: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33) The disciples needed food, but when they placed obedience to Jesus ahead of their perceived needs, not only were their needs met, they saw a notable miracle. When we hold things back from God they wither, dry up, and blow away. When we give them to Him, they are invigorated and multiplied with His life and many are blessed.

This is something I’ve learned from experience as well as from the Bible, but I find real resistance to it in many people – and I can’t say I’ve been consistent in following it myself. I have a lot of trouble with preachers who tell people to give them all they have so that God will multiply it. If God is telling you to empty your wallet into the offering, by all means do it, but I have strong doubts about people who tell others to do that. I have sought to be faithful in my own stewardship for many years now, but as a pastor I am also responsible for encouraging such faithfulness in others. When I receive a percentage of what is given, that can be awkward indeed. Awkward or not, it needs to be done. I have seen too many people who have essentially shut off the flow of God’s supply for themselves by failing to trust Him enough to let that supply flow through them to others. I have found that this principle applies to far more than finances. When I allow God to speak through me to others, I never lack for hearing Him speak to me. I don’t think that would be the case if I refused to share. I am to recognize God’s supply to me and realize that I am no more than a transit point, and allow Him to pour that supply through me as He sees fit, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I do pray for an infusion of faith in each of the believers here, so that they may experience Your limitless supply in every area they need it, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Receiving God’s Revelation; May 13, 2018

Posted on May 16, 2018 by jgarrott

Matthew 13:11-12 He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

This is one of the several Bible passages that some people claim are unfair. And frankly, on the face of it, it sounds that way to human reasoning. However, this follows verse 9: “He who has ears, let him hear.” God doesn’t force us to receive or reject His revelation, but He knows in advance who will and who won’t. Those who receive what God says to them in all humility and gratitude will indeed receive more and more, to the point of genuine abundance. However, those who hear God’s words as unimportant to them don’t get further revelation, and whatever spiritual understanding they might have soon leaves them. In a sense, we all start out with equal opportunity to know God, because the world itself testifies of Him (Romans 1:20). God holds us accountable for what we do with whatever degree of revelation we have received. That’s what’s behind the stories we hear of people in Islamic countries having dreams of Jesus, drawing them to seek out Christians and get their hands on a Bible. They are surrounded by religious teaching that would separate them from the God of Creation, but He knows their hearts and He gives them opportunity to know Him as He is. On the other hand, there are many who grow up in “Christian” nations who take it all as “cultural myths” and never respond to Christ in repentance and faith. Sadly, that even includes some who are “professional Christians,” just as Judas was one of the original 12 apostles. We are not accountable for what we have not been given, but we are very much accountable for what we have been given.

This certainly applies to me. I was given a great deal right off the bat, growing up in a strongly Christian home, but I very nearly blew it all, falling into the trap of pride. I thought I was a “super Christian” when I had no personal relationship with Him at all. God in His mercy tapped me on the shoulder, and when I turned, He had a mirror for me to see myself. I could only fall to my knees and weep, “My Lord and my God, my Lord and my God.” I wish I could say I’ve been a faithful steward ever since, but at least I have had a growing awareness of my responsibility for stewardship. At this point, I love to teach and share the abundance the Lord has poured into me, but I find an extreme range in people’s reception of what I share. I have a bad tendency to presume more foundation than people have, and people never really hear what I’m saying. I need to meet people where they are and walk alongside them, rather than demanding that they run to catch up. I can’t get it right on my own, but God can do it in and through me, so I’ve got to listen and obey accurately.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the past two days of being involved in the national meeting of the Early Morning Prayer Association. I met some sweet brothers and sisters in Christ, but I also was saddened by some of the deception I recognized. Help me be faithful to whatever part You have for me to play in Your plans, so that more and more people will open their hearts to receive Your genuine abundance, and not any counterfeit, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Words; May 12, 2018

Posted on May 14, 2018 by jgarrott

Matthew 12:36-37 “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

It is at times fascinating (or depressing) how often people are caught doing the very things they tend to condemn – in others, at any rate. Just in the past week a politician was exposed as being/doing the very things he had loudly been accusing the president of. For that mater, I can think of a number of preachers who have been exposed as being guilty of the very things they preached against. This hits a lot closer to home as well, because we are all quick to see our own faults in others, whether or not we recognize them in ourselves. On top of that, Jesus went so far as to say, “every careless word.” The Japanese says, “wasteful word,” and I’ve seen it translated as “unprofitable word.” I think that hits everybody! It’s a scary thing to be accountable for everything we say! This is just another reason we are all totally dependent on the grace and mercy of God. The flip side of that is that simply not talking isn’t the answer either. My wife just gave me an audio teaching series on marriage counseling (since I do a lot of it) entitled Speech Therapy. When I first saw the case, I thought it was related to the fact that I also teach speech therapists! I haven’t listened to it yet, but reading the blurb I see that it’s talking about how essential it is to communicate, and words are the major tool we’ve been given to do that. What Jesus is saying here is that our communication needs to build up and not tear down, giving praise to God rather than giving people reason to curse Him, and us.

As a person who essentially makes his living by words, this hits close to home! I enjoy words, both as tools and as toys, and doubtless use too many of them. I will confess to an advanced case of “pun disease,” which is unique among diseases in that it makes the people around the individual suffer more than the individual himself! That is of course a joke, but I do need to be very careful that my words don’t wound. My father once pointed out to me many years ago that I had a gift for words, but that whereas words must sometimes be used as a scalpel, to cut away malignancy, they must never be infected with pride or malice. I have used words as weapons far more often than I like to think about. I’ll have to answer for that! My words are to bring light and life and laughter, whether spoken or written, for the glory of God.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the opportunity You gave me yesterday to bless people through a public prayer, and for the feedback I got that I had done so. Thank You for the Internet, through which I can share Your words with many. Help me be more and more like Jesus, who only spoke what He heard You saying, (John 14:24) so that the works of the devil may be destroyed (1 John 3:8) and people be brought to life in Christ, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Legalism; May 11, 2018

Posted on May 14, 2018 by jgarrott

Matthew 12:7-8 “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus had a running battle with the Pharisees over legalism. It was eventually what they killed Him for, because they derived their authority and sense of moral superiority from the very laws that Jesus said were secondary at best. We forget that they were the church leaders of the day, the best of society, as it were. There were certainly some genuinely good people among them, such as Nicodemus, but the typical Biblical record shows them as self-righteous hypocrites. The problem is, they still exist today, just without the organizational name of Pharisee. Different groups have different rules, which in itself isn’t necessarily bad. The problem comes when those groups condemn each other for those different rules. We do have to be on our guard against genuine heresy, as Paul, James, Peter, and John all make clear in their letters, but at the same time Paul devoted the entire letter to the Galatians to attack the idea that external rules of behavior, such as Jesus was dealing with here, are a way to gain favor with God. This particular example is fairly extreme, because observance of the Sabbath is commanded in the 10 Commandments. The problem was in the rigid interpretation of what it means to “observe the Sabbath.” When we make our faith into a rigid framework of rules, we have lost our faith in the process.

I will confess to having been startled to read that Barbara Bush sipped bourbon during her final hours on this earth, because I grew up in a strictly tea-totalling family. That I don’t drink now is not simply from that background, but because I feel no need of ethanol in my system and because my position as a teacher and pastor causes a lot of people to look at me as an example. They probably don’t have the abundant supply of liver enzymes I discovered I have, the one time I decided to get drunk as an intellectual exercise. (It didn’t work.) However, I find I do tend to set my personal habits of piety up as a standard in my mind, and judge others as to how they meet that standard. That makes me something of a Pharisee, too! I am not to adopt an “anything goes” attitude, but I am to apply the standard Jesus gives here: mercy, not sacrifice. I am convinced that the way I live is the path of greatest blessing, so I am to recommend it to all, but I am not to sit in judgment over how closely they follow it. After all, I don’t follow it perfectly myself!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Today and tomorrow Nagasaki is hosting the national convention of the Early Morning Prayer Association, with people of many denominations gathering. I pray that I would exercise what You have just reminded me of here, in my official function and in my private interactions, so that the Body of Christ may be built up in love, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Intellect; May 10, 2018

Posted on May 11, 2018 by jgarrott

Matthew 11:25-26 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

Intellect alone will not get you to God. That’s not to say we aren’t to use the minds God has given us, but it is to say that those who take pride in and depend on their intellect are going to have a hard time finding Him. Just yesterday I was talking with one of our members who is a school teacher, and he was telling me about a couple he had met. They were both retired pharmacists, and so qualified as fairly highly educated. The wife’s parents had been dedicated Christians, and she was pleased that our member was one, but they said, “We are agnostic.” Our member commented that “Intelligentsia have a hard time being Christian.” (The Japanese use “intelli” to refer to such people, as an abbreviation of “intelligentsia.”) We spent some time talking about the irony and tragedy of that. He and I are both in the top 1% of the world’s population in terms of formal education, but thankfully we have avoided that trap. The attitude expressed by the couple is essentially a worship of intellect, reinforced by a feeling of superiority because they have it. That is simply one of the more subtle forms of idolatry, and it’s all the more pernicious because it’s not obvious that’s what it is. Sadly, even theologians can fall into that trap, leaving the simple truths of the Gospel in their pursuit of “deeper knowledge.” That was a problem even in the 1st Century, and such people were called Gnostics, from gnosis, the Greek word for knowledge. Paul wrote extensively against such teaching, and John turned the very terms the Gnostics used right around and applied them to Christ, in the first chapter of his Gospel. Intellect is not bad, but when it is relied on and coupled with pride it can be a horrible trap.

I come from a very intellectual, educated family. My father earned his PhD at 23, and I’ve lost count of how many advanced degrees there are among my immediate relatives. Even both my grandmothers were college graduates, which was rare at the end of the 19th Century when they were in school. With that kind of background, school work was generally pretty easy for me, and I was snared by the trap of pride, partially as a defense because of my lack of athletic ability. God was more than gracious to me, drawing me back to Himself in genuine repentance when I was already a married father, but it was actually only a few years ago when it finally got through to me that God’s smart and I’m not. I had always thought of it in terms of “God’s much smarter than I am,” but that still leaves room for my “smarts.” As I started out saying, I am to make full use of the mind God has given me, but I’ve got to realize my intellect doesn’t even get into the room, so to speak, when it comes to God. As Jesus says here, God reveals Himself to those who come to Him as little children, not in the pride of what they can discover with their superior intellects. I have been blessed in the IQ department, but I must never let that come between me and God, or even between me and other people. We are all equally valuable in God’s sight, regardless of how differently gifted we might be.

Father, thank You for Your grace to me on so many levels. Thank You for what You enabled me to do yesterday, for the mind to grasp what needed to be done and the skill to follow through and do it. I ask for Your guidance today, not only as I continue that project this afternoon but also as I prepare sermon notes now and then go teach my Speech Therapy students. May I make the full use that You intend of all that You have placed in me, in full submission and obedience to You, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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