June 10, 2013

Posted on June 13, 2013 by jgarrott

Exodus 6:6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: `I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

With the theme of “Freedom,” it is appropriate to start looking at Scriptures with this one because the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt has been emblematic of freedom ever since it happened. It is also interesting to note linguistically that Japanese has terms, used here where the NIV says “being under the yoke” and “being slaves,” that translate literally to “suffering occupation” and “laborious occupation.” I had not encountered these terms before, but they are standard enough that when I entered the readings into the computer, it came up with the correct characters immediately, which is not always the case for Biblical terminology. Japanese culture understands what is being talked about here! That said, every time I think about the Exodus I remember what has been commented: “It was much easier to get the Israelites out of Egypt than to get Egypt out of the Israelites.” That is very true, and it is seen in human trafficking situations even today. Being a slave can create a mindset that is antithetical to true liberty, that has nothing to do with physical restraints. We speak of “Stockholm Syndrome” when hostages and similar captives start acting as allies to their captors, and the stories of child soldiers, in Africa and elsewhere, are horrific. We see essentially the same mechanism at work in Christians who can’t seem to get free of their pre-Christian behavior patterns. They don’t grasp emotionally that they have been set free from all of that, they don’t have to sin any more. Of course the devil works hard to maintain that deception, so it is vitally important to remember that as Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

This is closely tied in with the sermon I preached yesterday, talking about how those who are in Christ are no longer “mere men.” (1 Corinthians 3:3) We are no longer slaves to the flesh, to have to submit to its whims. That’s a lesson I didn’t learn instantly myself, and I need to have patience and persistence in communicating it to the believers. We will be reading Scriptures on the theme of Freedom for the next couple of months, and I need to help the believers understand how these passages apply, and are to be applied, to their daily lives. God wants to raise us up as a liberating army, and I am to be fully obedient to our Commander in Chief.

Father, thank You for this image, and this commission. Help me follow through faithfully. May we be Your agents so that many may be brought from darkness to light, from death to life, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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June 9, 2013

Posted on June 13, 2013 by jgarrott

Revelation 19:11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.

Sometimes we can forget that this is in the Bible, with the press of all the injustice around us. As Hebrews 11 points out, we may not see all the injustice corrected during our normal lifespans, but we need to remember that a day of reckoning is coming, and Jesus is going to straighten it all out. For those undergoing persecution for their faith, Revelation is comforting reading indeed. However, for the lukewarm pew warmer, it should be pretty scary stuff! It’s important to remember that everyone goes through judgment, and only those who are in Christ, the Righteous One, are declared innocent. (Hebrews 9:27-28) Jack Chick has encountered a lot of ridicule for his tracts that emphasize this, and some of them are very in-your-face, but we forget this reality to our peril. When He returns He will indeed wipe every tear from the eyes of those who follow Him, (Revelation 7:17) but the predominant image we are given is of absolute sovereignty, with total victory in fierce battle. Our images of that battle are distorted by our perspective, just as John’s were, but the important thing to remember is that there is absolutely no question of the outcome. Everyone and everything that exalts itself against the Lordship of Jesus Christ will be cast down. Actually, that begins even now, and we are to be God’s instruments in that battle and victory. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) We are not to be anxious over the outcome, over the timing or any other detail, but remember that God is God and Jesus is Lord, and commit ourselves to loving obedience.

Every once in a while I am reminded that I am not a “hellfire and brimstone” preacher. I’m not to major on that aspect of God’s truth, but neither am I to neglect it. If people don’t understand that rebellion will be punished, they won’t have the necessary respect for God’s laws or appreciation and gratitude for His grace. The whole uproar in the US right now over homosexuality is clear evidence of that. There is no true wisdom without a healthy fear of God! I am to proclaim the whole Gospel, which doesn’t just mean not leaving out the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, it means making clear how utterly in need of salvation every human being is. Many people today are willing to skip heaven if they think they can skip hell. I need to make it very clear that “none of the above” is not an option!

Father, this isn’t an easy subject for me. I don’t have the wisdom to communicate it rightly on my own. I ask You to speak Your truth through me in love, so that Your Spirit may take the words that come from my mouth and my fingers to bring many to repentance and faith. Help me be willing to risk being disliked, for the sake of bringing as many as possible into Your kingdom, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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June 8, 2013

Posted on June 9, 2013 by jgarrott

Revelation 19:10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

I remembered this incident, and the similar one in Revelation 22:8-9, when we had the passage on angels in Hebrews 1:1-14 back on May 21st. It is significant that someone as close to Jesus as John would have even started to worship an angel, but then the angel had just told him he (the angel) was speaking the very words of God. We need to remember that angels are indeed very impressive, on several levels, but they are not God and they are not to be worshiped. That is all the more imperative when we realize that the devil and his horde are fallen angels, and can sometimes appear to people as they were before they fell. (2 Corinthians 11:14) The point to remember is that true angels (those who haven’t fallen) are servants of God, just as we are. They are powerful allies, as Daniel discovered (Daniel 10), but they are no more than that. The next thing the angel says here is very interesting. We sometimes forget that Biblical prophecy is not fortune telling, it is speaking out what God is saying. John had started to worship the angel because he had spoken “the true words of God,” but all who “hold fast to the testimony of Jesus” are just as likely to speak the true words of God. In fact, Paul exhorts us to desire to do so. (1 Corinthians 14:1) In our human weakness we tend to mix our own words in with what we hear God saying, so it is vital that we be immersed in the Bible as a reference point, but we are not to draw back from offering our mouths to God for Him to speak through.

A couple of times I have been speaking what I was sure God was saying, but then God stopped talking, but I didn’t. That’s a horrible feeling! A further experience indicates what I should have done in that case. I was expressing a prophecy in a church meeting, and when God stopped, I did too, in mid-sentence. Without any pause, as I remember it, someone on the other side of the room continued the sentence, to the end of the prophecy. That’s a powerful illustration to me that we are simply part of God’s sound system! My personality and background will color how I say things and the vocabulary I use, but I must never fall into the trap of thinking I originate anything good that comes out of my mouth, or through my fingers, for that matter. When I get in the way, it pollutes the flow.

Father, thank You for the incredible privilege of speaking Your words after You. Help me hear You more accurately and respond more faithfully, not just transmitting but obeying what You say, so that the Body of Christ may be built up in every way, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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June 7, 2013

Posted on June 9, 2013 by jgarrott

1 John 3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

There are many places in the Bible where I am at a loss to say which verse speaks to me most, and this is certainly one of those. John is rightly called “the Apostle of love,” and his Gospel, his letters, and yes, even Revelation, teach us a great deal about what agape love is all about. Not having the distinctions in English (or Japanese, for that matter) between the different kinds of love, it’s very helpful to have not only passages like 1 Corinthians 13, but also this verse, in order to understand just what God’s kind of love is like. The emphasis here is on practicality, on follow-through, much as James stresses in the area of faith. Faith, hope, and love are famous as a trio, courtesy of 1 Corinthians 13:13, and all three are far more practical that we often give them credit for. Hope seems perhaps the most ephemeral of those, but when our hope is as solid as it should be, people around us will take notice and ask us about it, leading to effective evangelism. (1 Peter 3:15) When it comes to love, I think everyone has experienced “love” that was no more than words, and it is empty indeed. The “gold standard” for love is of course John 3:16, from the pen of this same writer. If we ever wonder whether we are loving properly, we need to think of Jesus! So much love is self centered, for what the one loving can get out of it, but that isn’t agape, it’s eros. We tend to associate eros entirely with sex, but it is much broader than that, and it contaminates many of our relationships. This verse should be a good check on whether we are loving properly, allowing God’s love to flow through us.

Of course I need to be careful of this in my own life, and as a pastor and counselor I have many opportunities to communicate it to others. Many people are actually surprised to learn of what God’s love is like, and that He wants to pour it through them. In marriage counseling, most of the problems I deal with come from people operating in eros (in the broader sense) without agape. They are focused on what they see as their own wants and needs, and can’t see that there is far more fulfillment in meeting their partner’s wants and needs. In marriage there needs to be mutuality, but agape love can be entirely one-sided, just as God loved us before we ever cared anything about Him. That’s the challenge for me personally, and how I need to lead the believers in this church: to love others with God’s love, in the most practical terms, even if there is no reciprocity, because we are no more than responding to how God has loved us.

Father, thank You for this very clear Word. Help me not stop with words, but follow through in practical obedience to You loving people with Your love so that they may be drawn to You, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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June 6, 2013

Posted on June 8, 2013 by jgarrott

1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

This verse is important and powerful, but it presents difficulties in translation into almost any language beside Greek. For those who study it, Greek is infamous for having so many tenses for the verbs, and this verse is a good example of why God arranged for it to be so. Greek has a tense that can be called “continuing present,” which indicates an action that starts in the present but continues on into the future. Since off hand I don’t know of any other language that has that, this verse is a challenge to translate both accurately and smoothly. For once, the NIV does a pretty good job, while the Japanese fails miserably. The Japanese gives up and puts it all in present tense, just like the King James translation does, and that leaves the reader with a horribly mistaken impression. Reading through this whole letter, it is very clear that John is not talking about sinless perfection, since he repeatedly talks about the issue, especially in the first two chapters. Rather, he is talking about continuing in sin, being comfortable with it. Any true child of God is going to have an active conscience that is prompted and empowered by the Holy Spirit, so they will sincerely regret, and repent of, sin. This is the fallacy of the “homosexual Christianity” idea. Being physically attracted to someone of the same sex isn’t sin, but fantasizing and/or acting on that attraction is. From the other side, it is not sin when my attention is caught by a physically attractive woman, but it would be adultery if I were to act on that, even in my imagination. (Matthew 5:28) Current society is hyper sexualized, and we are told that we are to act on our sexual impulses, whatever they are. That’s a lie from the pit of hell. Children of God stumble, yes, but they aren’t happy in the mud.

This is something I have walked through myself, in an area of personal weakness. 2 Peter 1:9 (he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins) was powerful in liberating me from that, because the devil was telling me, “You can’t help it, because that’s just the way you are. After all, you’re only human.” Breakthrough came when I realized I’m not “only human,” I’m a child of God, cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Paul took the believers in Corinth to task for acting like they were “only human!” (1 Corinthians 3:3) As a pastor, this is a vitally important message for me to communicate. The devil’s lies are strong and pervasive, and we are so used to them that we fail to recognize them. I need to help the believers wake up to what is available to them in Christ, so that they may indeed live as children of God, and not like those who don’t know Him.

Father, this isn’t going to be an easy message to communicate, because it leaves no room for pride on my part. Help me indeed speak Your truth in Your love, so that people may be set free from the lies of the devil to walk in the liberty of the Holy Spirit, for their great blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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June 5, 2013

Posted on June 6, 2013 by jgarrott

1 John 2:27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in him.

John was present when Jesus promised the Holy Spirit as our teacher, (John 14:26) and that is what this is talking about. The only problem is, most believers aren’t taught how to listen to the Holy Spirit, and that has led to all sorts of aberrations. I remember one Japanese pastor who, when I asked him whether he was more familiar with the Bible or with Karl Barth, (a German theologian) responded, “Barth!” At least he was honest. Being taught by the Spirit as John is talking about here involves first of all opening yourself up to Him, which is why John uses the word anointing. Not every believer is going to have the same particular gifts of the Holy Spirit, (1 Corinthians 12) but all should be baptized and filled with the Spirit. We are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit, (Ephesians 5:18 and several more) so that means our wills are involved. If it were automatic, we wouldn’t need the exhortation. At the same time, it’s not something we can work up on our own. We can’t demand the Spirit, but He will respond to those who are open to Him. That said, the anointing of the Holy Spirit is going to create a hunger and thirst for the Word of God. We aren’t to go around following every impulse and blaming it on the Holy Spirit! (I’ve run into people who lived like that.) He will indeed teach us, but much of how He does that is by prompting us to dig into the Bible and plant its truth in our hearts. When that is the case, we really don’t need any other teachers, just as John says here.

This is particularly timely, when I’ve just heard that a young man in the church has received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and is experiencing some of the gifts. That’s particularly exciting for me because he was in a situation a few years ago when counterfeit tongues were being drummed up by suggestion and emotion, and he was quite turned off. Now he knows what the real thing is like! He is making some real life choices at this point, and they will serve him well, from now through eternity. On his return here, he will indeed be an example to all the believers, because the changes in him will be inescapable. I am to encourage and mentor him, for his sake and so that others will follow his example, and we become a church that overflows with the Spirit, power, and love of God, for His glory.

Father, You are indeed working in many people on many levels in this church. Thank You. Help me fulfill the role You have for me, not pushing my agenda but being fully available to You for however You want to use me, so that all of Your purposes may be accomplished on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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June 4, 2013

Posted on June 6, 2013 by jgarrott

1 John 2:6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

This statement is both completely simple and totally hard-hitting. Properly considered, it answers every question about human behavior. A few years ago there was a big fad among Christians of wearing WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets and the like. The original thought behind it was indeed this verse, and especially a book that was written expanding the idea, but the problem was that it was indeed a fad, “the thing to do,” rather than a genuine commitment to walk as Jesus walked. I don’t think Jesus wore a bracelet to remind Him to listen to the Father! John isn’t talking about externals here, but about heart attitude. Jesus is the only person to perfectly obey what He Himself identified as the first and second commandments, to love God with all you are and love your neighbor as you love yourself. (Matthew 22:37-40) John has just been talking about the impossibility of being a genuine Christian without obedience to Christ, and after this he goes on to say that it’s impossible to be a genuine Christian while hating your brother. These are not casual statements! Abiding in Christ is a matter of total commitment, the farthest thing from “the fad of the day.”

This puts me under the microscope just as much as it does anyone else, and like anyone else, I can’t say that I measure up fully. That’s why I’ve got to depend on God’s grace! However, my appropriation of God’s grace must not be presumptive, but rather in all humility and gratitude. I am indeed to fix my eyes on Jesus, as it says in Hebrews 12:2, both as my goal and as my model, and I am to be honest in evaluating my own attitude and behavior as to how they measure up. That should keep me humble! I am to extend to others the grace and mercy that have been shown to me, letting God’s love flow through me to them. My task is never to generate that love, because I can’t, but to remove anything that hinders the flow of that love through me. I must not think that love is weak, “spoiling” people rather than applying appropriate training and discipline. I must love people enough to risk their not liking me, just as Jesus did.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I wasn’t expecting it! Thank You for Your grace, that is indeed greater than all my sin, just as we sing. Show me today and each day what it is to walk as Jesus did, in every detail of my life, so that in full obedience I may be Your instrument for accomplishing Your will for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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June 3, 2013

Posted on June 5, 2013 by jgarrott

1 John 1:6-7 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

The problem with this passage is our understanding of light and darkness. We do and we don’t understand what they are. In strictly physical terms we can talk of lux and lumens and the like, but that is obviously not what John is talking about. A study of the usage of “light” throughout the Bible is very illuminating, to use what is actually a rather helpful pun. As that expression indicates, “light” means understanding, it means knowledge, it means truth. A great “darkener” of our day is political correctness. It keeps us from speaking and receiving the truth in simple, understandable terms, and often masks great evil with soft language. In our desire not to offend, we stop making sense! What John is talking about here is being honest, with ourselves, with others, and above all with God. We’re afraid to do that! We are afraid that if we expose who we really are, then we will be rejected, not realizing that often the very things we think we are hiding are glaringly obvious. Certainly we can’t hide anything from God! Someone who is walking in fellowship with God is the same inside and out; you can trust what they say because they aren’t out to project anything they are not. That person is a real friend, to people and to God.

This is of course how I desire and seek to live, but I can’t say I’m fully there yet. I still fear how people will react to me, and sometimes fail to speak the truth in love, not out of a fear of wounding but out of a fear of rejection. God’s still working on me! The whole issue is compounded in Japan, with a long and strong tradition of “public image” and “true motivation” (tatemae and honne) as separate things. To a large extent this is behind the image Japanese have had in some circles for being untrustworthy. The Japanese themselves admire someone who is honne all the time, but they also consider them an oddity, and not so easy to get along with. It’s easier for me to “get away with” being that way, or trying to, because I’m not Japanese, but in general, they consider it somewhat rude. That’s a big problem, because Jesus was honne all the way, and we are called to be like Him! All I can do is set an example, and pray that the Holy Spirit will convict and convince as needed, so that all the believers may rejoice in the fellowship that God intends.

Father, thank You for the level of honesty that we currently have in this church. I pray that the “light level” would continue to grow and that none would hide from it. May we be a beacon, so that all who love the light would be drawn to Christ through us, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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June 2, 2013

Posted on June 4, 2013 by jgarrott

2 Peter 3:11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.

As often happens, the English and the Japanese divide the sentences differently, which makes this verse a bit awkward to quote by itself in English, but the point is clear enough. That is, the physical is temporal, and we had better treat it that way. The vast majority of people are quite wrapped up in the physical, whether it’s their own bodies or the things they possess, but that leaves us open to all sorts of temptation that really is unnecessary. That’s not to say that we aren’t accountable for the physical, because we are. However, the physical is merely a training ground for the eternal, and the better we understand that the more peace we will have with the inevitable glitches of life. God could have created us as purely spiritual beings, without bothering with the physical universe, but He didn’t choose to do that. We certainly can’t know everything about His motives and reasons for things, so all of this is training in learning to trust Him. In Hebrews 5:8 it says that even Jesus “learned obedience from what he suffered.” In taking on human flesh, disobedience to the Father became possible for Him in a way that was not possible before, and He learned to choose obedience just as we need to do. The ultimate example of that is in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He prayed, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) We will not have the strength to make that choice ourselves as long as we are hanging onto the material. I’m reminded of the joke about someone who had lived such a good life that he was allowed to take his gold with him to heaven. On his arrival he told someone, who responded, “You brought paving material?!” Everything is going to be reduced to its constituent atoms, neutrinos, quarks, or bosons, and rearranged, if at all, however the Father sees fit. (That, by the way, is why resurrection is no problem for God.) The better we understand that, the more we will be focused on pleasing Him, rather than on hanging onto anything physical.

This is an awareness that I have come to slowly myself. That’s one of the benefits of physical age! I certainly can’t say I’m fully consistent in it, so I have plenty of room to grow, and I must not look down on those who are almost totally focused on the physical. Rather, I am to speak the truth to them in love, exercising toward them the patience God has shown toward me. As Paul said in verse 15 here, God’s patience means salvation, and I am called to be an instrument of that salvation for as many as possible.

Father, thank You for my recent bout with shingles, and for my current difficulties with my arm, to grow me in the perspective You have been speaking to me just now. Help me realize that the time is short for bringing anyone to Christ, so that I may make and keep that as my first priority. Thank You for each opportunity You give me to witness to others, and for the delightful report of Your doctor-confounding grace that came in just yesterday. Help me keep my eyes on Jesus at all times, so that I may be fully available and obedient to You for however You want to use me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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June 1, 2013

Posted on June 4, 2013 by jgarrott

2 Peter 1:1-2 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

As much as I like many of the succeeding verses in this chapter and this letter, the first verse sets the tone for the whole thing. That is, it’s all because of Christ. Just a few verses on, Peter is exhorting his readers, including us, to “make every effort” and “be all the more eager,” so our participation is certainly not overlooked, but it is all on the foundation of Jesus’ righteousness, not our own. Peter even specifies that our faith is received, not earned or generated. He knew that quite thoroughly from his own experience! A Christian lifestyle is not lazy, but neither is it insecure and anxious, because God has already supplied everything we need. Verses 3 and 4 of this chapter are very clear on that point. That’s why in verse 2 here Peter can say that simply knowing God, and Christ Jesus our Lord, is what brings us abundant grace and peace. Those aren’t things we can work up, we simply receive them through knowing the One who provides them.

This is something I’ve got to keep remembering, but then I have a solid foundation for understanding it. A more difficult point for me is helping others grasp it, when everything they have been taught before is against it. There is so little unconditional love in the world, apart from God’s love. Even parents don’t know how to express love to their children accurately, so they grow up with insecurities that are at times downright crippling. My life is to be a demonstration of God’s love, on as many levels as He makes possible. My goal is for people to say, “Knowing you, I can believe in a loving God.” I am far from “batting 1000” in that, but I occasionally hit one out of the park, and that feels good indeed. I am not to forget that discipline is an important part of love, but my focus is to be on so presenting and demonstrating the love of God that people will repent and believe for their salvation.

Father, thank You again for the various opportunities You gave me to demonstrate Christ while I was in the hospital. I continue to pray for all who were touched by that, that they would have a growing hunger for more of You, and would not rest until they find You, for a rich harvest in Your kingdom for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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