Time Usage; March 19, 2025

Posted on March 20, 2025 by jgarrott

Ephesians 5:15-16 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Careless living is risky indeed. Whether we realize it or not, we are surrounded by the works of darkness, and we are not to be tripped up by such, much less get involved in them. However, this isn’t just about protecting ourselves, it is about being useful to God. In these evil days God still desires that people repent and turn to Him for salvation, and He uses His children to accomplish that. We need to “have our antennas raised” to recognize the encounters He prepares for us, so that we may speak His words and work His works for the benefit of those around us. This isn’t anything we can accomplish on our own, but we still need to be willing participants. The very person you despise – or who despises you – may be someone God wants to use for His glory! We are to pay close attention to our own level of obedience, never descending into a holier-than-thou attitude but lifting each other up in love. We need to remember what miracles God had to work to save and use us, and never think He can’t do the same for someone else. Our time on earth is limited, and we need to seek to use it as God intends.

This is something that is coming into sharper focus as I get older. “Killing time” doesn’t seem particularly attractive at this point! That’s not to say that I’m to be obsessive, but rather that I am to seek God for what He wants me to do with each moment, even if I’m waiting for someone else to do something. Prayer is always an option! That’s not to say that I’m to be obsessive. He told me personally to rest, relax, and rejoice in Him, and He certainly hasn’t rescinded those instructions! I’m not to worry about “am I being productive,” but rather “am I doing what God wants me to do in this moment.” As always, my goal is to hear Him say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Father, thank You for this clear reminder. Thank You for all the things You have prepared for me to do today. May I do each one in turn with peace and joy, so that those around me may be blessed and Your name glorified. Thank You. Praise God!

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Gentiles; March 18, 2025

Posted on March 19, 2025 by jgarrott

Ephesians 4:17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

There is a great deal of rich content here, but this struck me just now. Paul is writing to largely Gentile believers, yet he tells them not to live as Gentiles! The point is, once we believe in Jesus as our Messiah, we become descendants of Abraham by faith. (Romans 4:16) Accordingly, we are no longer to live like God’s law has no relation to us, but rather in respectful, grateful obedience. (Romans 6:1-2) Today there are thankfully many Messianic Jews, just as Paul was, but the vast majority of believers are Gentiles. As came up a few days ago, we who were once Gentiles have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13) Accordingly, we are to live as those who are close to God, and not as those who want nothing to do with Him. As it says in verses 22-24 following here, we’re to “change clothes,” metaphorically speaking, take off and discard our old selves and put on what God has created us to be in Christ. That can seem scary, because we’re very used to how we have been, and the familiar is comfortable, but what God has prepared for us is glorious! The devil does all he can to hinder this, so that is why we are to submit ourselves to God and resist the devil. (James 4:7) We can’t receive and enjoy all that God has for us until we let go of the lies with which the devil has tied us down in the past. It’s not that the devil has any actual power to keep us from it; we just have to choose to let go of the one and take hold of the other.

This is something I have been a bit slow to grasp fully, because I was raised as a “cultural Christian” at least, and never got into some of the more destructive behaviors I see around me. That doesn’t mean I always walked as a child of God! It does mean that my sins were more hidden, more internal, if you will. That’s why God had to bring me up short and confront me with my spiritual pride, which is a deadly thing indeed. Pride is as bad, if not worse, a thing to walk in as drunkenness, for example. Having been a “tea-totaler” for most of my life means nothing if my heart isn’t humble before God. As a pastor, I am not to run around condemning people for their behavior, but I am to let them know then they are being unwise and/or deceived. I must do that, however, in love and humility, knowing that I’m as much in need of the grace of God as they are.

Father, thank You for this Word. I feel like it’s a message I need to share, but I’m not preaching for the next two Sundays! Help me remember it and share it when and how You intend, so that we may all be liberated from the traps of the devil and walk in all that You intend, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Body Life; March 17, 2025

Posted on March 18, 2025 by jgarrott

Ephesians 4:15-16 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Ephesians is so incredibly rich! What many consider my maternal grandfather’s greatest book, The Glory of God in the Christian Calling, was written on Ephesians, and I use Ephesians so often that a page of it literally fell out of the bilingual Bible I used prior to my current one. These two verses describe what could be called Body life, the normal, healthy state of the Church. Many things conspire to hinder this, of course, directed and encouraged by our enemy, the devil.  I think the chief of those is pride, along with its companion, self-centeredness. When we operate in and communicate God’s truth in His love, both of those things are completely defeated. We need to remember that Christ is both our goal and our Head, the one from whom we take our directions and whom we emulate. It is very significant that this passage speaks of each part doing its part. When we think, “Someone else will do it,” or, “My part isn’t important,” we are swallowing the devil’s lies. Paul explained very clearly in 1 Corinthians 12 how each part is essential, and how the whole body suffers when any part of it is compromised. That said, we’ve got to remember that the guiding principle is love, and not go around accusing others of not doing their part. We are to encourage one another, rejoicing to be part of the Body of Christ and delighting to be used by Him to bless one another and give Him glory.

This is very timely, because the Japanese fiscal year starts in April, and we had a board meeting yesterday to start preparing for the business meeting we’ll have April 13th. God has been saying a lot to us recently about unity, and the board meeting was a good practicum in how that works out. There were differences of opinion, from different life experiences, and we were presented with the need to learn from each other, while letting the Holy Spirit be the arbiter of what we are to do as a local church. That takes more wisdom than any of us have naturally, so we need to ask God for that wisdom and exercise it as He gives it to us. (James 1:5) There are many signs that God is working in and around us, and we need to be sensitive and obedient at all times so that His plans may be fulfilled in and through us for His glory.

Father, thank You for how You are guiding and teaching us. I pray that we would have an ever clearer vision of who we are in Christ and what You want us to be, in this city and this nation. I pray that each person would rise up in the gifting and office You have assigned to them, so that all of Your plans may indeed be fulfilled for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Ministers; March 16, 2025

Posted on March 17, 2025 by jgarrott

Ephesians 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

For once, the NIV and the Japanese agree, and are different from the ESV. The ESV says, “a minister,” whereas the other two say “a servant,” or “one who serves” (Japanese). That is actually the original meaning of “minister,” but current usage has shifted considerably. Ministers are seen as holding a special office, and in the case of government ministers, a very high office. I don’t think that feeling is in the original at all. It is indeed a privilege, and actually high honor, to serve the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it is something to be grateful for and not something to inflate our pride. I’m reminded of what has happened on some of the Fox News shows, because the majority of Trump’s cabinet have at least been guests on those shows, if not hosts. Those still at Fox have trouble using the formal titles, because these people are friends! That’s actually how it is to be in the Church. The ground is indeed level at the foot of the cross, as has been said for many years. There certainly is such a thing as spiritual authority, but it’s never to puff us up. It’s like I tell couples in marriage counseling: the husband being head of the wife, as Paul explains in Ephesians 5, in no way means that he is more valuable or more precious than she is. A minister, particularly in the sense of a local church pastor, has authority and responsibility, and had better be mature, but that doesn’t make him or her “better” than the members of the congregation. We serve Christ through serving His Gospel, which means serving the people God brings our way. Jesus explicitly set the example by washing His disciples’ feet. (John 13:12-17) Sadly, many “ministers” don’t see themselves as servants at all. When that is the case, repentance or removal are the only options.

I am very grateful to have been raised by my father. He was not only a pastor and missionary, at various times he was a university chancellor and chairman of the board of Seinan University and the Japan Baptist Convention. However, I can’t recall a single time of his demanding that he be served. He literally worked himself to death, not waking up on this earth after heart surgery at 64. I’ve passed him in longevity, but not in any other respect! I too am a missionary pastor and my function is to serve, not lord it over anyone. At 76, I am having to learn how to allow others to serve me! I need to focus on gratitude, both toward those who serve me and for the privilege of serving. I need to remember Jesus’ example and follow it gladly.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the various ways You have allowed and continue to allow me to serve. May my only goal be to hear You say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” So that You may receive all the glory as Your will is done. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Unity in Christ; March 15, 2025

Posted on March 16, 2025 by jgarrott

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Racial and ethnic divisions have been around at least since the Tower of Babel, but God reversed that through His Son, as it says here, and through His Spirit, as described in Acts 2. Some kinds of division are necessary, as it says in Hebrews when speaking of the Word of God as the Sword of the Spirit. (Hebrews 4:12) However, God is generally much more interested in unity, as has come out several times recently. The devil is a divider, but God is a unifier! The devil wants us to focus on differences, but if our focus is on Christ, all those differences fade into insignificance. After all, Revelation makes it clear that heaven is populated with people “from every nation, tribe, people and language.” (Revelation 7:9) God gives us differences to enrich us, since no individual can have everything, but if our focus is on Christ, those differences don’t divide us at all. As this verse says, the blood of Christ washes away all the things that might separate us and brings us together in Him.

I have lost count of how many people of other nations I have felt deeply bonded to in Christ, even several with whom I had no common language. I remember one man from Taiwan who, when I saw him here I immediately knew he was my brother in Christ, even though he couldn’t speak English or Japanese and I couldn’t speak Mandarin, or any other language he might have known. I remember also two Russian brothers whom I ran into in Hong Kong who got very excited because I could say “thank you” in Russian, but I couldn’t say anything else! My wife, who has been to heaven and come back, says that there are no communication barriers there, and I have no trouble believing her. While I am here, I desire to be a unifier, sharing the grace of God with all, regardless of whatever differences might seem to get in the way. As the song says, “Though we are many, we are one body; we are one body in Christ.”

Father, thank You for this further reminder. You’ve been saying a lot about this recently! Help me be Your agent to draw people into the unity in Christ that You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Purpose; March 14, 2025

Posted on March 15, 2025 by jgarrott

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We had this as our Verse for the Year not long ago, but I still can’t resist writing on it. So many people seem to feel purposeless in life, but this takes care of that completely. Once we accept that we are created beings and not mere chance, all sorts of things fall into place. Creativity is one of the ways in which we are created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:27) We create things for all sorts of reasons, and occasionally by accident, but I don’t think God has accidents! I do think He has a sense of whimsy and humor. After all, why else would He create birds like the toucan or animals like the panda? For that matter, I’ve long maintained that I myself am proof positive that He has a sense of humor, or He never would have created someone like me! The point is, He really does have a purpose in everything He does, so we, His creatures, do well to seek out that purpose and strive to fulfill it. We aren’t to be paranoid or obsessive about it, but there is a deep comfort to knowing you aren’t an accident (whatever your parents might have thought). The problem is, the devil does all he can to corrupt God’s plans for each of us. The whole question of sovereignty and free will is a very deep one I won’t go into here, but for example, I don’t think God created Adolf Hitler to commit genocide, or all the other horrendous things he did. We can’t answer that question, but we can seek God for His purposes in our life, and rejoice to see them fulfilled. Those purposes include such simple things as being kind, encouraging, lending a hand, and so forth. They probably also include much bigger things, but we often don’t recognize what we have done that was big until much later. The whole point is that we aren’t pointless. We have purpose, and that purpose is good.

This is an issue I have seen in many people around me, but I don’t think I’ve ever really been troubled by it myself. I was raised by parents who loved me, loved each other, and above all loved God, and I benefited greatly from that. That didn’t keep me from trying to commit suicide while I was in college, so I certainly don’t have any high horse from which to look down on others, but I have always felt that I had something to do. Retiring from school teaching a year ago has definitely changed my schedule, but it hasn’t made me a whole lot less busy! It is always a special blessing to me to realize I have been God’s instrument in some way, and thankfully, those times aren’t rare. As I mentioned, I am convinced God was displaying His sense of humor when He created me, but He does use me for serious things as well. I’m grateful for however He uses me! As a pastor, I seek to help others recognize God’s purposes for them, so that they too may delight in their Creator, who delights in them.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for bringing me through the “human dock” physical yesterday. The gastroscope was no fun at all, but I was surprised and grateful that my esophageal stenosis seems to have largely disappeared. I didn’t know that happened! Thank You that my other results showed very few issues either. May I be a good steward of this body so that I will indeed be able to fulfill all our Your purposes for me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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The Body of Christ; March 13, 2025

Posted on March 14, 2025 by jgarrott

Ephesians 1:22-23 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Most of this whole passage, from verse 15 on, is one sentence, which makes translation challenging! The Japanese breaks it up more than the English does, but that requires repeating “Christ” to keep it all straight, rather than using pronouns, since Japanese is weak on pronouns to begin with. Likewise, some of the things Paul says in this break our convenient little boxes, and nowhere more than right here. We are familiar with the terminology of Christ as the Head of the Church, and it is indeed a very important concept, but I think we overlook something else here that is really quite astonishing. Paul says that the Church is “the fullness of Christ!” Part of our astonishment comes from our misunderstanding of “church.” Our usage of the term is generally at variance with the Greek ekklesia, even though that is most often translated as church. We confuse it with buildings and organizations, when gathering or assembly or even congregation would be more accurate. That said, the idea that the Church isn’t just the Body of Christ, it is His fullness, is truly mind blowing. That shows us we need to know more of God’s heart concerning His Church, since our current mental framework obviously isn’t sufficient. Our current human organizations and structures cloud the picture more than they illuminate it. Paul’s mention of the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5 is illuminated in Revelation, and it’s for sure denominational tags have nothing to do with it!

A: This is an area in which I have been growing over the years. I just got a copy of the new edition of The Untold Story of the New Testament Church, by Frank Viola, and just the first few pages have really whet my appetite! My attitude toward denominations has been impacted by my interaction with them. My parents were Southern Baptist missionaries, and I attended a seminary and pastored a US church in that denomination, but their exclusion of my wife and me from consideration as missionary candidates because of our experience of the Holy Spirit really opened my eyes to the intellectual and spiritual corruption that can creep in so easily. Some denominations seem to have abandoned the Bible entirely! I am not to exclude anyone on the basis of labels, but I must remember that the Body of Christ is a far cry from the organizations that we see. Frankly, I still don’t know what “the fullness of Christ” really means, and I desire to find out. I do know that in every area God’s plans are far greater and more glorious than we can imagine!

Father, thank You for continuing to grow my understanding. Thank You that I was able to get the book, and for the timing of it arriving yesterday when this was the reading for today. At 500+ pages it is a little intimidating, but the taste I have gotten gives me great anticipation. Help me grow in every area as You desire, so that I may be useful to You in building Your Church for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Boasting; March 12, 2025

Posted on March 13, 2025 by jgarrott

Galatians 6:14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

We’re still on the same theme as yesterday, with a little more explanation and enlargement. Now Paul is talking about how he relates to society around him, and he is certainly worthy of emulation. Different societies treat boasting differently, with some, like Japan, frowning on it completely, while America seems to take it for granted, or even find it admirable. Donald Trump is certainly a case in point there! Politicians in general see a need to list their accomplishments, but a lot of people find that very off-putting. What Paul is saying is that the only thing worth bragging about is that Jesus loved you enough to die for you – but that is actually true for every human being. Our accomplishments don’t affect our value, which is a very hard thing for us to grasp. That said, there is a wide variability in how useful we are to our Creator, which is a slightly different kind of value. We can’t make God love us more, but we can certainly make Him enjoy us more! It is when we realize that, when we are in Christ by faith His death was our death to the world and the world’s death to us, we can cling to Christ alone and really live with His resurrection life. That is a truth that we can hear with our ears and even understand in our heads, but it has to be worked out in our hearts to really be operative. Our time on this earth is a practicum for us to be able to grasp this. I don’t think anyone ever gets it perfectly, but the further we progress the more peace and joy we have.

For the past several months, at least, I have been increasingly impressed by the grace of God toward me. I haven’t earned any of the good stuff I see all around me, and I still get hung up on little irritations. I still have plenty of room to grow! However, I’m a long way from where I once was, and I’m deeply grateful. I see indications all around me that God is doing marvelous things that we can only imagine at this point, and I’m looking forward to their being revealed. I have no idea how I might be included in those things, but I want to be fully available and yielded to Him, whatever He wants to do with me. At the moment medical issues are a little bit of a distraction, but that’s only from my side, and they are no problem for Him. I need to remember that I’m already dead, so big deal!

Father, thank You for this reminder. It’s a bit hard to categorize, but I think I hear what You’re saying. Help me indeed live out what You say to me, not deceiving myself, (James 1:22) so that those who see and hear me may be drawn consistently to You, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Alive in Christ; March 11, 2025

Posted on March 12, 2025 by jgarrott

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is a justly famous verse, but I think we don’t really grasp it fully. For one thing, we don’t have an emotional connection to what it means to be crucified! (Interestingly, the Japanese translation puts the “crucified” part in the previous verse. Why, I’m not sure.) The point is, we’re dead. Dead people are perfectly uninterested in the physical world. In Romans 6 Paul expounds on this, to stand firm against temptations of the flesh. The thing is, our flesh is currently manifestly not dead, so we have to be reminded of the truth in this verse with sometimes depressing frequency. Two days ago I wrote on the subject of physical death, and the better we understand both the truth in this verse and the glory of what awaits us, the more attractive death becomes! That’s not at all to say we are to be suicidal. Our lives here are a sacred gift from God, to be used in getting to know Him and doing His will, and discarding that is sacrilege. That brings us to the question of how we are then to live in the here-and-now. Paul answers that here very simply: by faith. How that is to be expressed is fleshed out in all the rest of his letters! The thing is, it all starts from this point of faith, that God created us for a purpose, that purpose is good, and He sent His Son to die for us so that we could enter that purpose. If we keep that awareness in focus, then we can indeed spend our time here dead to the flesh and alive to Christ.

I must be quick to confess that I don’t do this perfectly myself. I never said it was easy! In some ways the closer to physical death I become the easier it is to follow through with this, but there are still countless temptations to “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” (1 John 2:16) I am still quick to place myself ahead of others, or even of my Lord, in various ways, and that isn’t what God desires of me. I need to awaken each day with, “Thank You, Lord, that I’m dead to the flesh and alive in You.” That has to be a conscious choice until it’s completely automatic, and I don’t think it becomes completely automatic until after the heart stops beating! However, in this I need to walk in the assurance that God is working it out in and through me, and not think that I have to do it in my own strength. God is totally faithful, and that’s enough for me.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all that You have done in and through me over the years, and for all You will continue to do until I’m before Your throne. I pray that I would so live that I would hardly notice the transition! Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Paradoxes; March 10, 2025

Posted on March 11, 2025 by jgarrott

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

The Christian life is filled with paradoxes, because though we are in the world, we are not of it, and there is a fundamental disconnect there. From the Sermon on the Mount on, Jesus regularly said things that conflicted with human logic, and here He is doing it again to Paul. Thankfully, for us and for Paul, he received it, not hanging on to human reasoning but accepting that God is above all of that. The thing is, God is so far above our experience and our ability that there is no comparison. That’s why faith is essential. God doesn’t tell us to discard logic and intellect, but He does tell us to submit those things to Him in the understanding that He is far above them all. After all, He is the Creator, who spoke the universe into being! That’s why, in the final analysis, letting go of our claims to strength and ability in order for His strength and ability to be manifested is the most logical thing in the world! As has been pointed out, in the Kingdom of God the way up is down, and those who lead or rule must serve. It is only when we grasp how much more powerful God is than we are that we can let go of all our pride and allow Him to operate through us.

I keep coming back to how mired in pride I once was, but at the same time I keep realizing that I have vestiges of that pride still left. I have never been what I considered a “muscle man,” but I have generally been able to do everything that I was called on to do. At 76, I am finding that I can’t necessarily do everything I call on myself to do! Just recently my younger daughter was pointing out that the first step in “12-step programs” is to realize that you are powerless. I’ve never been involved in such a program, but that’s very much in keeping with this verse. Up until now my pride issues have been largely intellectual, but now the Lord is dealing with physical presumption that I didn’t realize I had. This particular verse is in connection with what we would call a medical issue. Those are never fun, but they are certainly reminders that we don’t control our own destiny. I am to be a good steward of the body I have been given, taking in only what I need and is good for me and declining both excess and unhealthy things, but in the final analysis, God is in control. At the moment I am still under treatment for a kidney stone (ureteral calculus), and this week I will have a full physical exam, which the Japanese call a “human dock,” as in putting a ship into drydock. I have already outlived my father by over a dozen years, so I want to be as available as possible to my Lord for as long as He has work for me to do here. If His power is flowing through me, then anything is possible!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all You’re allowing me to experience, and for the good Japanese medical system and insurance system that are benefiting me at this point. Help me truly rest, relax, and rejoice in You as You have told me to do, so that Your power may indeed flow through me for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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