Well Said Fred!

I get a weekly installment of wisdom from the files of Fred Smith. This particular was worthy of sharing on the blogosphere.

Responsibility of Privilege

Gibbons listed one of the elements of Rome's fall as "getting to the point where they craved excitement. This ultimately led to moral abuse." I am convinced an unbridled craving for excitement leads to moral abuse - - - always. it seems to me we need more Horatio Algers and a whole lot less Supermen. Any time our longing for thrills outdistances our urging for accomplishment, we are in trouble. Whenever we trade entertainment for attainment, we are headed down.

Recently, I was debating at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. In a dramatic moment, he rose to a grand crescendo and declared, "Communism moves forward on an empty belly." I had to refute him. "Communism doesn't move forward on an empty belly --- it moves forward on an empty soul." If it were empty bellies, then our forefathers in Jamestown would have given up hope of democracy. But they didn't. They had something to build for --- they had something in their souls.

We must watch that law remain prohibitive, and not permissive. Our freedom is at risk when the law tells us what we can do, not just what we cannot.

We, as Americans, must not sacrifice freedom for security. I like the difference between the American oyster and the American eagle. When God made the oyster, He put a big thick shell around him, put him deep in the water, and provided him constant nourishment. Whenever he gets hungry, he just opens his mouth, sucks in food, and then shuts his jaws. When God made the eagle, He put out in the mountains and said, "Build your own nest and fight your own enemies, and raise your own young, and provide your own food, and stand against the wind and the rain. But I will give you the great blue sky to fly in and the strength to endure." I am so thankful we are Eagle, not oyster, people.

It seems to me people are talking more about rights, than about responsibilities. The 19th century focused on responsibilities --- we are creating a century of rights. I think difficult times follow the emphasis on claiming our rights rather than recognizing our responsibilities.

Gibbons was an infidel. Yet, as a true historian, he gave this reason for the fall of Rome: the decline of religion. As I travel, I see people who are afraid, yet turning to faith for answers. What happens when people become afraid? Panic breaks loose. What's the cure for it? Faith. Faith in ourselves, each other, and in God.

If there is any lesson I would like to leave with you, it is this: people fail through fear, not inability. We in America must keep our faith. It's our great privilege to be an American. It's our great responsibility because there is the responsibility of privilege.

To that I say, "Well said, Fred!"

Wiersbe on Worship Watching

"Whatever we watch on television, including a religious service, we watch in an entertainment context. No matter what the program is, even a devastating documentary, we don't take it too seriously. Why? Because the world of television is not 'real'

"Now we can begin to understand why television is a threat to Christian ministry: ministry isn't supposed to be entertainment, and a preacher isn't supposed to be a performer. True ministry implies involvement: We're worshiping in the holy presence of God, and we're obligated to hear God's Word and obey it. When we put religion on TV, a subtle force goes to work that transforms everything. The viewer does not attend the same service as the people in the sanctuary or in the the TV studio."

Warren Wiersbe, The Integrity Crisis

Monday Morning Message - Getting Your Feet Wet

Faith has a starting place. There is a moment when we first believe.

Faith has an end. There will come a day, for those who have placed faith in Jesus, when faith will no longer be needed. We will see Him face-to-face.

There is a middle place. It is in the middle where you find the action, the tension, the events that make a story worth telling.

We are in just this kind of place - the middle. This is where the story gets interesting.

Scripture is full of these kinds of stories but we all too often rush right by the middle to get to the resolution of the moment of faith. I hope to explore just a few of these over the next few weeks. Today we simply need to get our feet wet.

In Joshua 3:1-6 & 14-17 is this wonderful story of faith in the middle. The beginning of the story we are familiar with, we're even acquainted with the ending of this chapter of faith, but it is this moment on which it all depends. Decisions are made at this point that set into motion everything that follows. It required a few priests to get their feet wet. Be sure to take a moment to read the story.

Taking a quick look back we recall that at this moment in the biblical story we are keeping company with the second generation of those who had been delivered from slavery in Egypt. These are the children of the folks who experienced the Passover and crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. These are the children of those who woke up each morning to find bread on the ground and who had seen water come from a rock at a moment of great need. These kids have grown up on the stories of God's faithfulness and probably went to bed many nights thinking, "I wish I could see God do something like that!"

This people of faith had a destiny to fulfill but there was something standing in their way, namely the Jordan river at flood stage. This 2nd generation had ample proof of God's power from their past, however their past tense faith was not adequate for their present tense needs. They needed someone to put their toes in the water.

Mark Batterson, in his book Wild Goose Chase, makes this statement "You know why some of us have never seen God part a river? Because our feet are still firmly planted on dry ground. We're waiting on God while God is waiting on us."

The question standing smack dab in the middle of this story is, "Would the priests trust God?" These guys took a risk. They laid in on the line. You see, if God doesn't come through here, these guys carrying the ark of the covenant are just going for a swim. Pretty foolish looking possibility for a dignified priest. They took the lead with everybody watching them.

Think about this for a moment. The first priests socks get wet and nothing really noticeable happens. It takes a little bit for all that flood stage water to drain off. It took a lot of faith to step into that river in the first place. I believe it took even more to keep on standing there. The question the priests had to answer standing there with their wet socks was not whether or not it made sense for them to be there with wet socks but the question they had answer was, "Has God instructed us to do this?" They answered in the affirmative. Their actions clearly display this truth.

A little while later in the story the last person from the people of Israel walks across the Jordan with their dry shoes and socks. The only ones who have not crossed all the way over are the priests standing in the now dry river bed with soggy socks and soaring spirits. They, like no one else in all of Israel, had one incredible story to tell. The story about the day they were the only ones who got their feet wet. Sure, everybody experienced the walk across the Jordan, but there were only a few whose faith made a difference on that day. After all, it doesn't take much faith to walk on dry ground. Getting your toes wet while expecting God to dry the water up is a different story.

Anybody out there ready to get their feet wet?

A Pedantic Pronouncement on Profanity

The prolific profusion of profanity presents a profound purgatory for any who pursue purity of phraseology. This is no puny peccadillo. Poverty of pensiveness is reaching pandemic proportions perpetuating pitiable practices of pondering. The resulting penury projects a pallor across the palette of polite people.

Paucity of propriety promotes the prosperity of pernicious progenitors of problematic products. While I can pardon the patchy presentation I am piqued by the persistent perpetration of pubescent parlance. This paradigm is perpetually pushed upon a populace prostate from the parade of phonetic pap.

Perhaps pressure properly presented can prevent prevailing patterns from proceeding. Alas, I predict a pariah's popularity is my probable prospect. Some will perceive me as paranoid or pessimistic, others a peevish parent when, in principle, I am pussycat. I am persuaded that I am not partnerless in this pursuit. Please provide me proof positive of this postulation.

Rather than protract this palaver I present my precious Papaw who perspicaciously proclaimed, "Profanity is simply a weak mind trying to express itself forcefully."

Preach on Papaw.

Monday Morning Message - The State of the Church

Rather than rehash the photos and observations about our local church family from yesterday I want to share some thoughts on the state of the church in a broader sense. This is a totally off the cuff, stream of consciousness post. What follows has not been thoroughly thought out or researched. These are simply my thoughts and observations about the state of the church as a whole.

We've gotten side tracked and in so doing have been hijacked by our own thinking. Secondary issues have taken on primary importance. This must be corrected. The world knows what we are against, they are not so sure what we are for. We spend more time and energy bashing the latest beast to appear in the culture war than we do loving the smallest and the least among us. I fear we reflect the character of the Pharisees of Jesus' day more than we reflect the character of Jesus. Perhaps it is time for the church to drop its weapons and embrace a fallen culture with the love of Jesus, remembering that we too were once enemies of God.

This in no way implies we should apologize for the truth we uphold. Sin should be revealed for the destroyer that it is. We should never apologize for speaking the truth. However, I believe we have many apologies to offer for the times we have spoken the truth in anything but a loving manner. As the writer of Hebrews states, "The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword..." (Heb. 4:12). Handle it carefully. It cuts both ways.

There is a marvelous renewal of missions. Our Baptist missions sending agencies report an increasing number of individuals engaged in short and long term missions, both close to home and far away. The world has shrunk and I can now be in contact with all kinds of people from all kinds of places. Exhibit A, this humble blog has been accessed in 34 nations recently. From the Philippines to France people have had the opportunity to have an encounter with an unapologetic follower of Christ. I have had the privilege of personally watching individual's view of the world change as they worked side by side with believers from another country. Suddenly the family of God becomes a little bigger in their minds and foreign countries don't seem quite so foreign. They are nations of people who need to hear that Jesus offers them salvation, free of charge!

The 'Emergent Church' has emerged, and surprise, surprise, it looks a lot like a lot of other churches. Physically, sure it's different with very little stained glass and nary a pew bench in sight, but structurally its not much different at the end of the day. There is a pastor (teaching, senior, vision, lead, etc. - a pastor by any other name is a pastor), some staff members with some wonderfully creative names (Associate Pastor of Prayer and Desperation Ministries), a group which has responsibilities of accountability, and a veritable army of volunteers to carry on the work. After a whole lot of semantics wrangling we've arrived back at church.

Opportunities abound. I have shared with the flock I shepherd that the culture in which we live looks like and sounds like the culture in which the early church existed. Does this list sound familiar? "Repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved;divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable additions; ugly parodies of community." It's Paul's description of the world found in the letter he wrote the church in Galatia. Kinda' eerie isn't it?

Rather than fall prey to despair and become angry over the changing culture let us rejoice that now, more than at any time in our lives, the world stands ready to listen to good news, euangellion, the gospel. In a world seeking meaning the church offers purpose for living. In a world weary of death the church offers life. In a world worn and torn by hatred the church has the opportunity to offer grace filled, unconditional, Christ-like love. May it be. May it be.

Monday Morning Message - Thoughts Count

"The ultimate freedom we have as human beings is the power to select what we will allow our require our minds to dwell upon. We are not totally free in this respect. But we do have great freedom here." - Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart

The first, and according to Jesus, the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37) This may be the most disobeyed commandment in all Christendom, particularly that last bit about loving God with all our mind.

I fear we have entered an era of lazy Christianity which is content to let others do their thinking for them. A believer who does not think about their faith is in danger of believing just about anything. Some prime examples of this kind of lazy thinking are:

1. "God wants everyone to be healthy and wealthy." - How do you reconcile this with the fact that Jesus had no place to lay his head?
2. "God hates fags." - How about the liars, the arrogant, the immoral, the gossips, and the hypocrites, just to name a few?
3. "It doesn't matter what I believe, just as long as I believe something sincerely." - Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6).
   

Dr. Fisher Humphries states in his book Thinking About God, "The single most important thing about an individual is what they think about God." I must agree wholeheartedly as one's thinking about God shapes everything they do. If we insist on being lazy in our thinking about God we will likely insist on being lazy in our living for God.

The thoughts count. Many will say I've thought about God and there's just not much there. May I invite you to take a second look? Mark Batterson relates an experience one of his church members had in thanking God for the miracles he was receiving at that moment. With a degree in biology this member's list began to run long with things like the unique properties of the amino acids which form the basic building blocks of life. He says, "By the time I was thanking God for the fact that all organisms that form amino acids have the same chirality so that my body can reuse the mutrients and cellular building blocks of the food I break down, I found myself in absolute awe of His creation."

J.B. Phillips wrote a now classic work entitled, Your God Is Too Small in which he states, "We can never have too big a conception of God." It is time to put our minds to work, as those sainted ones before us have done, and consider again the greatness of God and the marvel of His grace toward us. It will result in a life of continuing praise and purpose.

A Shepherd's Intent

"Sermons, rightly understood, are primarily forms of food. They are articles of diet. They are meals served by the minister for the sustenance of spiritual life...When I preach, am I doing a shepherd's work? Am I feeding the lambs or am I elevating myself? Am I playing with words or am I breaking bread? Am I building beautiful pyramids or am I drawing water? Am I soaring like an eagle or am I satisfying hunger? Am I a hireling, preaching for applause, or am I a herder and feeder of souls?"

Charles Jefferson, The Minister As Shepherd

Jefferson's series of lectures continues to be a significant source of guidance and encouragement. I pray that I am doing a shepherd's work, feeding lambs, breaking bread, drawing water, satisfying hunger, and feeding souls. This is my intent.