Keeping On Even When It Hurts!

Let's recap, we have been exploring the qualities that are referred to in II Peter 1:5-11, especially verse 8, For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowlege of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have called this study, How To Guarantee a Productive and Effective Life. We have explored several of these qualities, such as, faith which is the regenerational relationship with our Lord as we commit to Him our everything. We are instructed, then, to add to our faith virtue, the "Taking Out of the Trash" of our lives. Then to add to our virtue, knowlege which we addressed as "Christianity For Dummies Like Me!" Then we are instructed to add to our knowlege, self-control which we addressed as, "How to Live a Balanced Life!"
Today, we will look at how to add to self-control, perseverance. Perseverance and patience are often misunderstood. They do not imply a passive sitting and twiddling of ones thumbs while waiting for God to intervene in our situation so as to rescue us. This word really means to keep on even when it hurts. It means that I will not put down the load I am carrying no matter how badly it hurts to hang on. There is a scene in the movie, Facing the Giants where a football coach challenges one of the players to do the "death crawl" for 100 yards with another teammate on his back while blindfolded. It is quite a riveting scene. What are the challenges in your life that tempt you to turn back from the path of the Lord?
Colossians 1:9-12 tell us how to walk worthy before the Lord. Verse 11 reads, strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously. This verse alludes to two main sources of discouragement in life, circumstances and people. The word stedfastness refers to the circumstances of life and the word patience refers to the people in our lives. I don't know if you have noticed, but some people are hard to love. One man said he thought he would like the ministry except for the people he had to deal with. Relationships are a challenge, but a right vertical relationship with the Lord makes it possible to deal horizontally with the people in our families, our co-workers, neighbors, etc.
If you find yourself tempted to turn loose of the load the Lord has assigned to you, hold on, help is already there!

Living a Balanced Life!

As we continue to pursue the theme, "How to Guarantee a Productive and Effective Life", II Peter 1:6 says to add to knowlege, self control. Self control has to do with balance. I have come to believe that one of the most important words in the New Testament is this word balance. I don't know about you, but I have a strong compulsion to eat too much, sleep too much, work too much, etc. You can fill in your particular indulgence of choice. Have you ever noticed that there is a time signature for each musical piece? In the old Baptist Hymnals, you could see these in the upper left corner of the hymn. For instance, the time signature might be 4/4 or 3/4, etc. I am not a musician. In fact, I stood in chapel once with a music student whose response, after hearing me butcher the hymns sung, was to say that I must be a really good preacher because I clearly could not sing.

However, I have learned the difference between noise and music. It is rhythm. God made you with a time signature. It is six and one, six and one. He said to keep the Sabbath. He rested on the seventh day after creating the earth. When you work non-stop without a day off for just one week, you are trying to live life at the time signature of fourteen and one. You can do the math. I have found that He commanded us to follow the sabattical principle for our own good. In fact, I have found that I am much more productive and effective if I build into my schedule regular Sabbath Days. Admittedly, I have workaholic tendencies. Therefore, I am using time management and work to illustrate this point. You fill in whatever tempts you to get out of rhythm.

Let's make music, not noise!

Christianity for Dummies Like Me!

We are continuing to look at the idea of "How to Guarantee a Productive and Effective Life" from II Peter 1:5-11. Faith in Christ is the foundation, of course. Then we are challenged to add to our faith, virtue, which I have described as "Taking Out the Trash!" Then in verse five, the text reads that we should add to virtue, knowlege. Luke 11:24-26 tells of a man whose home was cleansed of a demon and the demon found no place of rest so it returned to the house from whence it had left. It found the home swept clean and in order. Therefore this demon brought seven other spirits and moved back into that house. The Bible says that the latter state of the man was worse than the first. It is not enough to take out the trash in our lives, but we must also be diligent to fill that void with the knowlege of Christ. This word for knowlege is very interesting.

1. It is personal, but not private knowlege. Perhaps you have heard it said that religion is personal and nobody's business but mine. The Bible commands that we gossip the Good News of the Gospel everywhere.

2. It is progessive, rather than static. My favorite verse in the Bible is Philippians 1:6 which says, For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. I'm sure you have seen the shirts worn by expectant mothers that read, "Under Construction" with an arrow pointing downward to the baby being formed within her. I believe that every Christ follower should wear this type of shirt. We have been lied to. We have been told that we are human beings; when, in reality, we are humans becoming.

3. It is experiential, rather than just intellectual facts. The word gnosis which is translated knowlege in the New Testament is the same word used to describe the fact that Adam knew Eve and they had a child. Knowing Christ needs to be experienced through a daily walk with Him. It is possible to know the facts, but never experience the relationship with Christ as one's own best friend. One man read the 23rd Psalm with all the eloquence of his learning. Then later an older gentleman got up and quoted the same psalm and the wise man who followed stated that we have been blessed to hear from one who knew the Shepherd's Psalm and from one who knew the Shepherd.

It is not enough to just take out the trash in our lives, but we must fill the void with the personal, progressive, and experiential knowlege of Christ.

Taking Out the Trash!

In II Petter 1:5, we are commanded to "add to our faith virtue". (KJV) Some other translations translate the passage as "moral excellence", among others. The meaning behind this word, virtue, is to cut away all the impurities in order to leave only that which is pure. It means to be unalloyed with anything impure, leaving only the highest quality material.

Iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17), but aluminum alloy does very little to sharpen another metal. There is a story of a silversmith who was leading a tour of how he got the silver pure. He heated the molten metal until he could spot the impurities floating in the kettle and he would dip them out until he could see his reflection in the silver with no signs of imperfections. Until the master silversmith could see himself in the metal, it was not pure enough. Until He can see himself reflected in you, then He is not finished with us, thankfully! He is not finished with me. (Philippians 1:6)

I have noticed at our house, if we do not take out the trash, it stinks! The same is true in our personal lives. We often do not claim the promise that if we will confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9) We are failing to take out the trash in our lives. Repentance is the lifestyle of the Christ follower. We can often fool many people about being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). However, it is difficult to be filled with the person of Christ when we are half-full of trash. If I produced two barrels apparently filled with water to the top, they both would appear to be so. However, if you could not see that one barrel was half-full of sand, both would look filled but one was not. Appearances can be deceiving. You can fool most of the people most of the time, but you can never fool the Lord! Perhaps your first order of business should be to TAKE OUT THE TRASH!

How to Guarantee a Productive and Effective Life!

I am indebted to Boyce Evans, an Evangelist whom I met in the late 1970's while he was preaching at the First Baptist Church of Hammond, LA, for this idea. He gave me a small paperback book he had written by a similar title. It was, essentially, a Bible study of II Peter 1:5-11. This passage outlines a list of qualities that, if incorperated into your life in abundance, will surely result in a productive and effective life. "For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." II Peter 1:8 This sounds like a guarantee to me. I want to know these qualities and to make sure they are in my life so that I can have the guarantee to be productive and effective. There are several lists in the New Testament of desirable qualities that we, as Christ followers, want in our lives. One is found in Galatians 5:22-23 known as the fruit of the Spirit. There is also a list in I Timothy 6:11-12 in which Paul shares a list of traits worth including in one's life.

For the next several weeks, I want to share with you these qualities in a series of blog posts. In II Peter 1:5, the Scripture states, "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge," The basis of all these qualities begins with faith. It should be known that absolutely nothing can replace a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Certainly this passage does not convey that anything needs to be added to our faith in terms of justification. Jesus paid it all on Calvary. When we accept Him as Lord, we are completely saved. Our sins are paid in full. However, the qualities that follow are growth steps necessary to become as significant, productive, and effective as the Lord would want us to be. We will begin looking at these qualities next week.

Pedal to the Metal!

It is no secret that there are lots of changes going on all around us. The kingdom organization with which I am affiliated is no exception. John 5:17 also reminds us that God is always at work around us. God works in the midst of change!

Elijah found himself in the midst of a rather chaotic situation when he had just witnessed the defeat of the prophets of Bael and then his life was threatened and he hid under a juniper tree. The Lord took him to the mountain and he experienced the wind, an earthquake, and fire; but God did not speak to him through these catastrophic events. However, in the midst of the storm, God did speak to him through His still, small voice. (I Kings 19:11f) God spoke in the midst of the storm. He can and will speak, in the midst of your storm, if you are listening!

The Datona 500 is coming up in a few weeks. When a NASCAR driver is faced with the unpleasant reality of a multi-car collision in front of him, he is taught to listen to his spotter and drive through the smoke. This requires a great deal of trust or faith in the spotter being correct in his instructions. If he does not direct correctly, the driver may T-bone another car in the midst of the crash making the bad situation worse. But if he can trust the direction of the spotter, he can drive through the collision site to take the lead and remain safe in the process.

We cannot always see through the smoke during the storms of our lives. However, we can trust the spotter, the Holy Spirit, to speak to us through the storm and to guide us through to victory in His security. If you find yourself in the midst of one of life's challenging storms, trust and listen to the spotter and keep the pedal to the metal!

Registration open until 3pm, Friday, September 24th!