Life Lived With Urgency

Acts 2:17-18 (ESV)

"And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy."

Peter quoted these words from Joel on the Day of Pentecost as his fellow disciples were speaking the Gospel message to the crowd in foreign languages.  What must have been felt by all who experienced the movement of the Holy Spirit that day?  Even those who did not believe the spoken message must have felt the movement of God though they willingly ignored Him.  But Peter's words here cut deep into the hearts of at least 3000 who heard them that day.  And even today his words speak volumes.

Peter understood that the coming of the Holy Spirit was the beginning of the end.  The Day of Pentecost was now a time which marked the end of one age and the beginning of another.  We now live in "the last days" and the next great redemptive act will be the second coming of Christ.  We do not know the day or hour, but He is coming soon.

Peter sensed the urgency that must be had by the disciples.  Peter in essence was saying, "There is no time to waste in speaking the truth of the Gospel message to all who would hear it.  Now is the time to believe because we are living in the last days that the prophet Joel spoke of so many years ago."  And the same can be said for us today.  We are still living in "the last days" and our Savior will come at any moment.  Are we living our lives with urgency?  Do we see those around us who do not know the truth of our Savior and our hearts break for we know the truth of their final destination: the fiery, lonely, torturous pits of Hell?  Or are we comfortable, waiting for Christ to come, take us away, and we never need to think of this earthly home again? 

Now is the time to act.  People all around us are dying to hear the Gospel message.  Are you willing to speak up in these "last days" and like Peter speak the truth no matter the consequences?

Are you living your life with urgency or complacency?

What is Love?

FoxNews.com recently published a short article on Nick Cassavetes', director of the movie "The Notebook", new movie based on incest between a brother and sister.  Years ago I remember a friend saying that the gay movement will never get a foothold in our culture.  We all know where that has ended up.  Where does the line end?  According to our culture, nowhere.  Below is a short excerpt of the article.  Read the whole article here.

"Love who you want. Isn’t that what we say? Gay marriage – love who you want?” Cassavetes said. “If it’s your brother or sister it’s super weird, but if you look at it, you’re not hurting anybody, except every single person who freaks out because you’re in love with one another.”

A Conversation on Bad Christian Art and the Reality of Life

Justin Taylor posted a video of a conversation on bad Christian art.  This "art" includes paintings and music and the discussion speaks of the message of bad Christian art compared to the reality of the cross and the reality of our life.  Scripture is more rated R than many Christians would like to admit and much of the bad Christian art ignores this reality.  (Example: Thomas Kincaid art which portrays a sweet little cottage in surreal lighting giving the impression of complete solace and goodness.)  To view this conversation, go here.  It is worth the ten minutes of viewing.

Reflecting the True Gospel of Christ

Philippians 3:18-19 (ESV) ¹⁸ For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

What does it mean to be an imitator of Christ?  Does it mean perfection or holiness or just doing the best you can?  These questions are not new to me.  From the moment I began to truly live for Christ I have begun to see those areas in my life that are far from imitating Christ.

In Philippians 3:18-19 Paul is encouraging the believers in Philippi to imitate Christ, not the world.  If we were to look deeply into the hearts of those who profess to be believers in Jesus Christ today we would inevitably find some who use the gospel to justify their own sin.  Most predominantly we see this in those who glory in the shame of homosexuality, premarital sex, and other behavior.  Paul encourages us to imitate Christ, not those who pervert the gospel for their own means.

But while it is easy to see the perversion of the gospel in the behavior of others it may be just as easy to see that same perversion in my own life.  Though I do not condone homosexuality do I condone another behavior which does not glorify God?  How do I fight against my propensity for sin?  What type of influence is the gospel revealed by my life having on those who witness my life?  Is what is revealed by my life the true gospel?

The daily devotional TableTalk speaks today on imitating Christ as an encouragement to other believers.

In addition to preaching the true gospel, we must live in a manner shaped by the gospel. As we live in holiness, imitating others who imitate Christ, those whom God is calling to Himself will see the genuineness of our gospel and follow the authentic Jesus (Matt. 5:15-16).

May our lives reflect the authentic Jesus.

Retreat or Reach Out: The Conundrum of Halloween

I grew up torn about Halloween.  As a young child I dressed up as a cowboy and went door to door for candy.  Oh, how sick I was that night.  But as I grew older my parents and my church began to withdraw from Halloween.  We began to see this holiday for what it truly was, a celebration of the demonic forces in this world. 

But as I moved into my college and adult years I began to become torn.  The question I began to ask about my life in general was, "How can the children of God go on the offensive against Satan and his dominion in every aspect of life?"  In other words, how can we reach out to others with the gospel of Christ in every aspect of our lives?

Halloween was no exception.  How can the children of God turn this celebration of evil into a time of gospel living?  David Mathis has a great piece on the Desiring God blog which asks some very good and pertinent questions about Halloween and our reaction as believers.  Check out the small portion of it below and read the entire piece here.

What if we saw October 31 not merely as an occasion for asking self-oriented questions about our participation (whether we should or shouldn’t dress the kids up or carve pumpkins), but for pursuing others-oriented acts of love? What if we capitalized on the opportunity to take a step forward in an ongoing process of witnessing to our neighbors, co-workers, and extended families about who Jesus is and what he accomplished at Calvary for the wicked like us?

What if we resolved not to join the darkness by keeping our porch lights off? What if we didn’t deadbolt our doors, but handed out the best treats in the neighborhood as a faint echo of the kind of grace our Father extends to us sinners?

Perseverence in Suffering

I once heard it said that suffering will either pull you closer to Christ or push you further away.  Tabletalk addresses this in today's reading.

Persevering faith is the type of faith required for salvation.  It is easy to have a fleeting and false trust in the Lord when things are going well for us.  Authentic faith, however, endures even in the most difficult circumstances of life, moving us to trust God even when we are at our wits' end (Matt. 13:18-23; Heb. 11).

Our time here on earth will be filled with trials, tribulation, and suffering.  This is true whether you belong to Christ or not.  But those who truly belong to Christ are able to endure sufferings because of the "faith required for [their] salvation."  The reason for this persevering faith is that we who belong to Christ have hope in the words of our Savior:

Matthew 25:31-40 (ESV) ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Our Divine Vocation

Luke 2:34a-35 (ESV) “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

This past Saturday I officiated over a funeral for a 69 year old man who had been battling cancer for the past two years.  In the end he had lost over 80 pounds, could barely walk, and was so sensitive to light and sound that no one could talk to him and all the lights had to be turned off.  For the two years he took chemotherapy and radiation his body slowly began to deteriorate and suffering became a daily occurrence.

The question begs to be asked: Why would God allow such suffering?  This man was no stranger to God.  He had been a believer most of his life, raised his children in a godly way, and was a great example of faithfulness to Him even unto the end.  Why would God allow his own children to suffer in such a terrible way?

Tabletalk from Ligonier Ministries addresses this issue.  Why do the people of God suffer?  As a child of God, suffering may be my divine vocation.  Here is what Tabletalk has to say about this issue.

Scripture is clear that suffering is one of the many vocations - calls - that the Lord gives to His people.  This may be hard for us to receive, but there are many examples in the Bible of people who were called to periods of pain and difficulty.  God allowed Job, for instance, to experience all manner of trouble. . . When Job asked, "Why?" God answers by emphasizing His sovereignty and , consequently, Job's need to trust Him.  Much of our suffering falls into this category - we do not know exactly why the Lord lets it happen, but we must nonetheless trust His goodness.

Christ was the ultimate example of suffering.  What he endured on the cross is unimaginable and more suffering than any one person will experience in a lifetime.  In Luke 2:22-35, Simeon tells Mary of the suffering her baby will endure.  But that suffering will also have an affect on Mary.  This suffering was the vocation of Jesus and Mary.  It was their divine call to endure such tragedy for the sake of God's glory and great name.

Why did my friend have to suffer so much in the end?  It is truly a mystery.  But to the end he continued to praise the name of God and trust in his ways.  Like my friend, we must trust in the goodness of God.  We may never understand the meaning of suffering and tragedy, but we can understand that God is sovereign over all things.  He is in control and in the end his good name will be lifted high.