Virtual Vitamins

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

Ephesians is such incredibly condensed grace, wisdom, and truth! Fully lived out, it results in a glorious life in Christ indeed. We see people all around us who are manifestly not wise in how they live, ignoring God and choosing trash over the riches that God offers them. That’s not how we are to live! Recently I’ve preached a couple of sermons on how everything God gives us has a purpose, all the way down to life itself. It is certainly the course of wisdom to find out the purpose of each thing in our lives and make the best use of them. Sometimes we see people doing things with their lives that could be compared to trying to use a hammer to turn a screw! God will give us all the wisdom we need, if we ask Him with faith (James 1:5). The thing is, we need to exercise the wisdom we have already been given! Just as muscles that aren’t exercised won’t grow and faith that isn’t tested won’t grow, so wisdom that isn’t used won’t grow. We sometimes put ourselves down, saying things like, “I’m so stupid,” or, “I’m not wise like they are.” That accomplishes nothing good. We have a strong tendency to live up to our expectations, whether they be good or bad. If we see ourselves as God’s children, led by the Holy Spirit to do His will, for our good and the blessing of those around us, then that is how we will live. That’s wise, because that’s what God desires and intends. That’s not at all conceit, because it recognizes that the power and ability lie in God, not in us, and it gives Him the glory. If that is how we see ourselves, then we will be expecting opportunities to bless people and communicate God’s grace and love to them, and we will recognize and make the best use of those opportunities.

I would certainly not be wise if I taught this to others and failed to do it myself! People tend to expect this sort of thing from me because I am a “professional Christian,” but it is fully applicable to every believer in Jesus Christ. When we create tiers of Christians – clergy, laity, and many subdivisions within those – we are creating expectation of mediocrity for the vast majority of believers. As Paul, James and others stressed, God doesn’t play favorites; He wants us all to be vibrant, joyful, victorious, fruitful believers! As a pastor, I am to communicate that to as many people as possible, with all the grace and wisdom He provides, because that is His will.

Father, thank you again for Your grace. It can be terribly frustrating when people refuse it. Keep me from taking such refusals personally. Help me rather intercede for them, administering Your grace in its various forms, as Peter said. (1 Peter 4:10) May I accept and exercise the wisdom You give, making the best use indeed of every opportunity, so that Your name may be hallowed, Your kingdom come, and Your will be done, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

2 Corinthians 11:14-15 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. [15] It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

Reading this immediately calls to mind various New Age gurus in the US and similar teachers in Japan. The amount of satanic deception in the world is staggering, and it calls for a level-headed commitment to the Truth. It is very important that Jesus didn’t just say, “I am the way,” He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) Likewise, it is significant that the very first piece of armor mentioned in Ephesians 6 is the belt of truth. Jesus said that we are to evaluate teachers on the basis of the fruit of their lives. (Matthew 7:15-20) We have the enormous advantage today of having the Bible readily available to most people, but you have to be familiar with the truth in order to spot falsehood, and many people never read the Bible for themselves. Sad to say, there are false teachers who spout Scriptures, and that’s what Paul is particularly warning about here. If we don’t study the Bible for ourselves and get the help of the Holy Spirit in understanding it and implanting it in our hearts and minds, then we are more easily deceived. We have two scales by which to measure teaching and teachers: “is it Scriptural?” and “what is the fruit?” Some Biblical teaching is true enough in itself, but binds people in legalism, so the fruit is not the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

As a teacher myself, I need to be very careful that everything I teach is God’s truth spoken in love. I am not to run around as a heresy hunter, but I am to ground the sheep, that are in my care, in the truth, so that they may recognize falsehood and not be deceived. I see little benefit in being an expert in various heresies, but I see enormous benefit in being firmly grounded in the truth! As 1 Corinthians 13 makes clear, everything I teach and do must be motivated by and permeated with love. Removing love from the equation makes it come out wrong every time (to use a mathematical analogy).

Father, thank You for the incredible privilege of being a pastor/ teacher in the Body of Christ. Help me be true to You, Your Word, Your love, and Your Spirit, so that those I teach may be built up in Christ and not deceived. Thank You for the Internet, that makes the teaching I do available to so many more people. For most of those, I don’t have the opportunity to make corrections, so help me get it right the first time. Thank You for continuing to grow and shape me. May I be fully useful to You in every way You desire to use me, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Praise God!

2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

True Christians don’t live holy lives in order to become children of God, they live holy lives because they are children of God. That distinction escapes many people, including many church members. Most human religion is an effort to get God, or the gods, to like us. The Bible says that God already loves us enough to die for us! Nothing we can or could ever do could change how much God loves us. The only question is how we are going to respond to that love. Paul rightly tells us that the appropriate response is to get rid of everything we know that is not pleasing to God, to rejoice in the riches of glory that He has provided for us. The better we grasp all that God has done for us, the more holy we will want to be. Many people have a distorted idea of what holiness looks like. It’s generally the same people who think we have to earn God’s love. They think holiness requires long faces and sour dispositions, with hardly a glimmer of joy and laughter, when nothing could be further from the truth. If they are familiar with the Bible (which most aren’t), they fasten on James 4:9 to the exclusion even of the rest of James 4:7-10, not to mention the many, many passages throughout the Bible on joy. It is very true that repentance is serious business, but repentance brings forgiveness, and being forgiven is joyous indeed, and tremendously liberating. After all, God’s Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17).

This is a message I must not neglect. Thankfully, I was raised in a family that both loved the Lord and loved to laugh, so this isn’t so hard for me to grasp, but most people haven’t had such a head start. I need to be patient and gentle with people, but be persistent in speaking the truth in love. I am not to neglect solemnity when it is called for, but I must never mistake solemnity for holiness or intimacy with God. At the same time, I must be careful that my humor is not wounding. Laughter at the expense of another is not expressing God’s love. I need to be quick to laugh at myself and recognize the absurdity in situations, which is the basis for much humor, but I am to avoid ridicule and belittling. Those pollute the spirit, as Paul talked about in this verse. I need to communicate to believers the truth that God will enable them to live holy lives if they will allow Him to, and that being holy is fun!

Father, thank You for the degree to which this church seems to grasp this truth. We still have plenty of room for growth, even in this area, but most of those attending really seem to enjoy it. However, there are those who don’t attend regularly, and part of that is that they are believing the lie that life in Christ isn’t fun. I ask Your grace and mercy on them. Speak Your truth to them, through me or however You choose to do so, so that they may be set free from the lie to walk in the joy and liberty of Your Spirit, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

This pair of verses seems extremely appropriate in light of the recent disaster in Northeastern Japan. We have such trouble believing that any troubles we could possibly have on this earth are “light and momentary.” (The Japanese says “our light troubles at this time,” but verse 18 is unequivocal in saying “momentary.”) Even a life-long disability, for example, is “light and momentary” when viewed on the eternal scale. That’s hard enough to grasp even intellectually, and emotionally it is absolutely huge. However, that was the secret of Paul’s happiness and contentment (Philippians 4:11-13), and it produces that result in believers today as well. This is not the same as the Buddhist teaching that, since everything is transitory, we are to empty ourselves of all desire. In Buddhist philosophy, the ultimate good is nothingness. There is no hope in that, only fatalism. There is no loving heavenly Father in Buddhism, much less a Savior who took all of our suffering on Himself and died for our sins. Christian focus on eternity is not to denigrate the present, but to say that much better awaits us. Here, Paul speaks of “weighty eternal glory,” because we really don’t have the words to express it properly. The better we grasp that, the more easily we put up with things on the way.

Not only do I need to be active in applying this in my own life, I also need to have wisdom and anointing in getting this across to the believers. I don’t have a very good batting average in this area! I have experienced active backlash at times, when I have tried to help people understand that their troubles are light and momentary, and have been accused of being uncaring and worse. However, I must not let that stop me from trying to communicate this vital principle. Leaving people to wallow in self-pity is hardly loving!

Father, I do pray for the survivors of the disaster. Most of them have no inkling of this principle, because they don’t know You at all. I pray for the people there who do know You, both survivors and those who are there to help, that they may radiate the hope, peace and joy that are in Christ alone. May those who don’t know You be bold to ask about that hope. It’s not usually polite to ask personal questions in Japan, and religious faith is considered intensely personal, but these are desperate times. May people all over the country be desperate enough to seek You and find You. May those who know You already, trust You enough to be willing to share what they know, not being silent because they aren’t trained evangelists, but allowing You to use them far beyond what any training could accomplish. May this disaster bring about a mighty harvest in Your kingdom indeed, for the salvation of this nation and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

1 Corinthians 4:7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

Human pride is a strange thing. In many ways it is a substitute for a genuine sense of self worth. Human beings are incredibly valuable, but only because God places that valuation on us. God has equipped each of us in various ways, and we will have to answer to God for what we have done with what He has placed in us, as it says in verse 2. One person being more gifted in some area than another person does not make them more valuable. We have such a hard time believing that! However, the other side of that is that differing gifting does make one person more appropriate for a specific task or function than another, and sometimes we have trouble with that idea, too. We are forever comparing ourselves with one another as though it made a difference in our intrinsic value, when it makes no difference at all. A person with genuine humility recognizes and exercises the gifts they have received, and at the same time encourages others to do the same. When we really understand that God considers each one of us worth dying for, then it really changes our perspective on ourselves and others.

Some people might say, “That’s easy for you to say because you’re so gifted.” It is true that God has been very gracious toward me, but that doesn’t make me the least bit more valuable that someone else. I haven’t always understood this, but my misunderstanding has been more from the other direction. One area in which I am certainly less than gifted is athletics, and that can be very important in the self image of a young boy. Looking back now I can see that I was very much a geek. A few years ago a friend saw a picture of me from Middle School and said, “Why Jack! You were a nerd!” To be honest, that hurt, because in school I was very conscious of fitting that stereotype, and at times I desperately wanted to be athletic and popular. And that was in spite of a warm home environment that did all the right things to encourage my sense of self worth! I remember that pain, and it has been valuable to me in seeing others as being as worthy – or as unworthy – as I am of God’s love. I feel that a major element of my pastoral ministry is helping people understand how loved and valuable they are in God’s eyes, not to be superior to anyone else but to rejoice in God’s love together.

Father, You have indeed been incredibly gracious toward me, and that grace is extended to every human being. Help me be more effective in communicating Your grace and love to those around me, so that they may open their hearts fully to You and respond in obedience and love, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

English has a handicap in that there is no distinction between second person singular and plural, and it makes a big difference in this passage. I have heard this passage used many times in exhorting people to take care of their bodies, but that is a complete misuse of it. Chapter 6 has plenty to say on that subject, but this passage, with a plural “you,” is talking about the Church. Through the centuries many people have sought to destroy individual churches, and some have sought to destroy the Church as a whole. Naturally, the Church cannot be destroyed, but individual churches have been destroyed by the thousands. This passage is very clear as to the fate of those who do so. Local churches have been destroyed through gossip, infighting, immorality, and even simple neglect. All of those are in one way or another manifestations of pride, a failure to see Christ as supremely worthy of worship and obedience, and a failure to see brothers and sisters in Christ as equal heirs of the grace of God. Sometimes church splits happen because of the sins of the pastor, but more often they happen because of the pride of the leader of the splinter group. This does not include church planting in which members of the mother church go to support the new group, so we should be slow to accuse, but when there is a lack of mutual love and respect, correction is called for.

As the pastor of a local church, this matter is close to my heart. I have had people leave this congregation, but they haven’t generally tried to take others with them. Probably I have done far more damage to this church by the last thing I mentioned above: neglect. All too often I have failed to be earnest in building up the church, and that has stunted its growth. As James said, those who teach will be judged by a stricter standard than those who don’t (James 3:1), and that comes from the principle expressed in this passage. I must be very careful that my attitudes, words and actions build up, and not tear down, not just this church but the churches of this area and the Body of Christ as a whole.

Father, I’m being tested in this area right now. Guard my thoughts, words, and actions, so that individual believers and individual churches may be built up and not torn down. May I speak only what You are saying and not let my pride interfere, trying to defend myself or build myself up. May Your kingdom come as the Body of Christ is built up in its various manifestations, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Romans 13:14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

This is enormously practical advice, but sometimes we don’t realize it. Putting on Jesus is the same thing as putting on the armor of light, as it says in verse 12. Paul explains that in a little more detail in Ephesians 6, and this verse in turn helps us understand what Ephesians 6 is talking about. As a child I read a science fiction book that included some sort of energy field that the young hero could put on that gave him assorted special powers. From antiquity people have put on various things to protect them in special circumstances, and even today we speak of a “knight in shining armor.” Even uniforms, such as police or military, convey a special authority. The ultimate for all of that is Jesus Christ Himself. We have trouble grasping the imagery, but Jesus talked a lot about being in us and us in Him in the Upper Room Discourse (John 13-17), and at that time He told us to pray in His Name. We can’t effectively pray in Jesus’ Name if we aren’t lined up with who He is, and that means submitting fully to His Lordship. Every bit of the armor mentioned in Ephesians 6 is an expression of who Christ is to us and through us. Submitting to and abiding in Him means we accept who He is and allow Him to express Himself through us. The second half of the verse is actually practical advice in how to go about this. When we are using our minds to think about how to gratify our bodies, we aren’t abiding in Christ! Our focus betrays our priorities. As Jesus said clearly in Matthew 6, God knows our physical needs even better than we do. If we will focus on God and put Him first in every respect, not only are our needs met, we discover that we are indeed “wearing” Christ, expressing Him in our daily lives.

This of course applies to me as much as it does to any believer. My childhood fantasy has indeed been fulfilled, because putting on Christ is far better than any alien energy field! The part about not using your mind to gratify your flesh reminds me of advice I give to couples before I perform their weddings. The more I am focused on my happiness in marriage, the less happy I am. The more I focus on making my wife happy, the happier I am! The same principle applies, and even more so, in making God happy. Jesus pleased the Father perfectly, as He said more than once. The best way for us to please God, and really the only way, is for us to put on Christ and be like Him. When we do that, we discover joy and satisfaction far beyond anything that can be achieved any other way. I know this in my mind and even in my heart, but I still have room to grow in applying it, and I need to communicate it effectively to the believers.

Father, thank You for Your incredible grace. The very idea that such an imperfect, foolish, sinful person as I am can put on Christ, in all His purity and power, overloads human understanding. Help me walk in Your grace, not struggling to figure it all out but receiving it gratefully, not only to be pleasing to You myself but to lead many others to do the same, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Acts 26 “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.”

This is Paul’s own description of his ministry, spoken to a king who was not a Christian but should have been. It is interesting to see the direct echoes of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and John the Baptist (Matthew 3:8). Some things are certainly true for eternity! Down through the centuries some preachers have tried to please their hearers and some have tried to be faithful to God and His Word, regardless of how they were received. Guess which is pleasing to God! There is nothing wrong with being culturally relevant. This is an issue that came up a few days ago in relation to cross-cultural missions. However, there is no culture on earth that agrees completely with Biblical truth, which means that faithful proclamation of the Gospel will always be counter-cultural, at least to some degree. Antiquated vocabulary (“King James English”) is hardly helpful, and Biblical concepts need to be explained in words the hearers can grasp and apply, but hard truths must not be avoided simply because they are hard. The message of repentance isn’t at all popular with the world, but it is at the very core of Christian faith and proclamation.

As a Pastor/Teacher this naturally applies fully to me. My personal difficulty is in being so familiar with the formal terminology for Biblical concepts that I often fail to explain them simply enough. I’ve got to gauge my listeners hearing capacity very carefully, as Paul did, and present the truth in bite-sized pieces that are as digestible as possible. However, I must not hold back for fear of offending. I am to fear no person, but be faithful in fulfilling the commission God has given me.

Father, You have been speaking to me of harvest, and that is exciting. Thank You for also making it clear to me that if I am to see the harvest, I’ve got to be faithful as Your messenger. Help me indeed communicate what You want me to, when and to whom You want me to, in words given by Your Spirit that will pierce their hearts and cut off their chains, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Acts 22:16 “‘And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.'”

Baptism has many functions, not the least of which is being a clear step of commitment for the believer. That actually is a major reason why some people do hold back, because they are afraid of commitment, either because they think they’ll miss out on some favorite sin or because they think they won’t be able to live a life worthy of being called a Christian. Either way, it’s a deception of the devil. No sin can possibly be even close to equal to the blessings of being in Christ, but the devil and our flesh conspire to tell us otherwise. Likewise, no one can possibly live a life fully pleasing to God in their own strength anyway; we are all dependent on the help of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, thinking you couldn’t live a life worthy of being called a Christian is a hollow excuse. It’s true on the face of it, but it’s true for everyone, and God helps all who are committed to Him. As a corollary, this also shoots a hole in infant baptism, because an infant is not capable of the commitment involved. Parents can’t be saved on behalf of their children, as much as they might like to be. Parents need to do their utmost to teach their children God’s truth so that the children will be ready to make that commitment at a young age, but it still must be the personal commitment of the one being baptized.

This is good ammunition for talking to people who are hesitant about baptism. I need to be sure of their commitment, and then I need to encourage them to follow through so as to make it less likely that they will back down. A non-Christian society like Japan offers many temptations for people to act like they never made the commitment. That’s why there are so many modern “hidden Christians” – people who have confessed Christ but are not currently active as Christians, either personally or corporately. I need to do all I can to see to it that new believers are nurtured and trained in discipleship, both so that they may stand firm in their own faith and so that they may be effective in communicating it to others.

Father, this makes two days in a row You’ve talked to me about baptism. I hope that means we’re going to have a lot of them this year! I pray for an anticipation among the believers that You are going to bring many into Your family this year, and a willingness to be Your instruments in the process. The events of this month have shaken many people emotionally, even though we didn’t have physical shaking down here. May we speak to people in this time of felt need so that they may discover Your perfect supply, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Acts 16:33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.

This verse has been at the foundation of my policy of not waiting to baptize someone when they make a profession of faith, but the situation bears close examination. In the first place, the jailer had a strong sense of crisis. Someone who is actively considering suicide is not playing around! In the second place, there had been a supernatural manifestation, in this case an earthquake that had freed all the prisoners. In the third place, there was an awareness of personal guilt/sin, because the jailer had treated Paul and Silas harshly. These three things combined to make the jailer very open to life-changing commitment. However, his whole household was included in this. Some of them were doubtless weaker in some areas of motivation than the jailer was, but they had all felt the earthquake and seen the results, and they heard the Gospel presentation along with the jailer. Also, Paul and Silas had gained considerable spiritual authority, so to speak, by their response to their suffering. Their attitude and actions as they were mistreated probably made quite an impression on all who saw what was going on. All of this generated a group dynamic that swept everyone into the kingdom of God and made baptism very appropriate.

From my failure to consider all the conditions surrounding this particular story of baptism, I have been overly hasty in baptizing some people. In particular, I have failed to confirm awareness of sin and repentance. That is particularly important in Japan, where shame is more in people’s awareness than sin is. I need to be very careful to explain personal sin and get acknowledgment and expression of repentance, at least, before I baptize someone. At the same time, I must not fall into the trap of thinking anyone’s salvation is my doing, in any way. That would certainly produce false converts at best! Likewise, I have some shining examples of people whose baptism was certainly not premature, including the youngest person I have ever baptized. Even at 5 years old, she had a clear knowledge of sin and her Savior, and her life since then has certainly born that out. I need to be very sensitive to the Holy Spirit, not throwing my mind out the window but not depending on formulas, either. In particular, I must not baptize people to gain numbers or otherwise stroke my ego. That does no good for anyone!

Father, thank You for this reminder. There are several people who seem close to making a commitment, and I would certainly like to see the baptistry busy this year, but I’ve got to be sensitive and obedient to You. Help me not rush to baptize anyone, but also not hold back when You say to go ahead. Help me trust Your Spirit to teach and guide them, but also be faithful in teaching and discipling them myself, so that together we may grow strong in Christ, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!