Whatever Happened to Church?

As I survey the condition of the church in the United States I can’t help but ask the question, “What is going on?” There seems to be a huge disconnect in lives of the church people. We claim to be Christian but apart from Sunday our lives are extremely secular. We come to church hoping to hear a word which speaks to our condition, a word that will help us to live the lives we long for. Christians long to live lives in intimate communion with God. Most sermons are not helpful because they have become more like homilies than sermons. Pastors reach out and teach us to be kind or to be patient but those topics, as needful as they are, do nothing to deepen our vertical relationship with God. The reason people tend to be unkind or impatient or whatever is because their relationship with God is shallow or non-existent. When a people’s devotion to God is waning the following verse would never be true of them.

• They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common. Acts 2:42-44(NASB95)

Whatever happened to this concept of a robust, society challenging church? It is not as though Christian people are living disappointing lives on purpose; they know that something is wrong. I realize that some in the church have no desire to change, but I believe most are hungry for someone to lead them into a close and personal day to day relationship with God. What Christian wouldn’t desire this?

• Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Galatians 4:6 (NASB95)

I am not bemoaning the condition of the church from a desire to see any church grow larger. Our church is a small congregation and the temptation is always to do things to bring about growth in numbers. As any pastor will tell you the only sure thing about churches growing bigger is that troubles usually grow at about the same rate. My concern is not with getting churches to grow in size but in spiritual maturity. You can see the immaturity in congregations by their lack of concern for the lost and the utilitarian way they view the church. What do I mean by an utilitarian view of the church? A utilitarian view of church is one that sees the church simply as a resource. Most Christians go to church to get something that they are missing during the week. They go wanting a word from God, an experience that somehow will awaken within them a sense of connection with God. Their week has been ordinary with no real sense of God’s presence and they crave what they do not have. So the majority go to church to “worship.” We should not be coming to church for the purpose of worship, because worship should be our every moment experience as Christians. To say we go to church to worship is like saying we go to church to breathe. Well, breathing (worshipping) may be one thing that we do at church but hopefully you don’t wait till Sunday to breathe (worship) and you any breathing (worshipping) we do on Sunday is just an outgrowth of our natural daily desire to praise God and live in His presence. If we have not been breathing all week there is no way just going to church will start that process we are dead. Going to church to worship when worship is not a normal activity during the week is like being rushed to the emergency room and being placed on life support. As soon as the life support is disconnected the breathing again stops. When I ask people why they go to church I get many different answers but rarely do I get a Biblical one. How about you? Why do you go to church? Do you go to church? If not, and you are a Christian, why not?

The saddest reason people give for going to church is to go looking for a connection with God. It is not sad  because it is a bad motivation, after all wanting a connection with God is a good motivation, but it is sad because everyday should be lived in connection with God.  It is also sad because the state of most churches is so dire that they no longer know how to help people live life of communion with God out side of their four walls but instead they foster an attitude of come here and know God is near.  The old adage “feed a man a fish, feed him for the day, teach him to fish, feed him for a life time” is true, but most churches are feeding men not teaching them to fish. Another concern is that if most people are not worshipping God during the week, can what they experience on Sunday really be worship or just something generated by the atmosphere of the service?

• Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, Isaiah 29:13 (NASB95)

Most people going to church are in the same boat, they are looking for something more and even most pastors seem clueless as to how to help. When I ask most pastors why they go to church, apart from it being their place of work, I get the same answers from them as I do from their parishioners. Churches are big on bible studies, VBS, skits, programs, praise bands, short pithy sermons, but most of these just reinforce the fact to all who attend that there is a God and they really don’t know Him. But these things do not, on their own, answer the question “How can Christians grow up and walk daily in the presence of their God?” Understand that none of the things I mention that churches do are wrong in and of themselves but they are not geared specifically to answer this crucial question unless those in charge focus them to do so. When most leaders don’t know the answer, how can their sermons speak to the issue?
I also used to struggle with my intimacy with God. I studied the Bible, went to church, sang, and taught but still it all seemed to be just “going through the motions.” I knew the rest of my week would be spent with a realization that God was still a mystery and distant. My relationship with God was shallow at best, certainly not what I knew was possible from a relationship with the God of the Universe, the Creator of all things. I did not see Paul’s words to the Corinthians coming true in my life.

• Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

How about you? Are you a Christian looking for a deeper relationship with God? Do you desire to know His will for your life as surely as you know your favorite flavor of ice cream? Do you desire a relationship with God that can carry you through the toughest of situations with a peace that passes understanding? If you do, begin by reading 1 John chapters 1&2 and go to God and tell Him of your struggles. Then catch our next blog entry.
Yours in Christ, Jeff

Is the Devil Real? Part 2

The Devil is real and he is as close to pure evil as one can get. We saw last time that he is a spiritual being that operates in the spiritual realm. He desired to be like God and for his pride he was cast down. He now spends his time hindering God's plans for the redemption of a people thereby overturning the rebellion started by Satan in the Garden of Eden. How does he try to hinder the redemption of God's people?

The Devil accuses God's children before the throne of God.

Not only does the Devil oppose God's plan for redeeming men but he also opposes God's right to redeem those whom He has already saved. The Devil constantly brings before the throne of God the sins of His people and trying to undermine our relationship with our heavenly Father.

Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

How is it that the Devil is able to bring accusations concerning us before our Father? Let's face it none of us are without sin even after becoming a Christian. The Devil is actively involved in our lives to undermine God's plan of sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which God make us more like Jesus. God's plan in a Christian's life is to make him into the image of His Son. We are being transformed from what we are to a perfectly righteous us. This sanctification is not ultimately completed in this life but when we are brought into the presence of the Lord.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

The Devil is a Christian's adversary.

Throughout the Bible the Devil is seen as an agent of darkness ruling over a realm of darkness in a cruel manner waiting to destroy the lives and testimony of God's children.

1 Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

This should give us pause to consider the path we are currently going down as Christians. Is your path one of righteousness or one of sin? Have you allowed the Devil or your flesh to get the upper hand? Are you indulging in sins that allows the Devil to bring an accusation concerning you before the throne of God? We should be resisting the devil and not helping him in his cause. Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil and we can join in that cause.

1 John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

James 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

The choice is ours. The Devil is a powerful evil being, but he is powerless when he is resisted. The choice is ours.

Is the Devil Real?

Is the Devil still alive and well? Does he even exist?

 In most churches the topic of the Devil either never comes up or it comes up far too often (Think of Flip Wilsons the “devil made me do it”). But is there a real Devil and if there is does he have an impact on our lives? I will spend a couple blog postings working out these questions.

 Is there a real Devil? Well just asking the question puts one into the Judeo-Christian realm. Sure other religions have “baddies” but the name Devil or Satan is distinctly Judeo-Christian. The Bible informs us about many persons, some of which are God the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and yes, even the Devil. If the Bible is true and it is, then they all exist. The Bible tells us quite a bit about each. We learn what each one is like and what our relationship to them is. The problem is that most of them are not beings like us with bodies that can be seen so it is hard to believe in their existence not to mention our sinful proclivity to want to deny the existence of the God of the Bible and therefore the other spirit persons the Bible tells us about. The Bible does not try to prove their existence only to inform us that they do exist and what they are like. Does the Devil exist? If the Bible is the Word of our Creator about Himself, our world, and us, and it is, then yes he exists. What then is he like?

 The Devil is a spirit being.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians says that the Devil and his minions are spiritual forces.

•  Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 The Devil and his demons are spiritual beings that occupy the spiritual realm. The reason then that the Devil is not normally seen is that he and his demons are spirits and that is the realm in which he normally works.

 The Devil is an evil being.

What do I mean by evil? Jesus said that the Devil was the father of all lies and a murderer from the beginning.

•  John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

 How did the Devil become so evil? As Lucifer, which is the Latin translation of the Hebrew word for “star of the morning”, one of God’s angels, the Devil sought to elevate himself above God and was therefore cast out.

•  Isaiah 14:12-14 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning (Latin: Lucifer), son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

Since his prideful fall the Devil has ruled over a kingdom of darkness.

•  Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 The kingdom of darkness that the Devil rules over is seen over and against God’s kingdom of light manifested in the redemption His Son Jesus brings.

• Colossians 1:13-14 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 The Devil works against God and His plans.

 Consumed by pride the Devil is constantly trying to thwart God and hinder His people. One of God’s plans is to save souls. The Devil is actively at work to hinder that plan.

 The Devil opposes God’s plan of redemption.

•  2 Corinthians 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world (the Devil) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

 While it is true that the Devil blinds the eyes of the lost so that they cannot see, the power of the gospel is in the opening of eyes that have been blinded. The Devil tries to thwart God and His plans, but God is greater.

•  Acts 26:18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

 The Devil also opposes the saving of souls by creating false religions and doctrines to muddy the water and make the truth harder to find. The Apostle Paul in speaking about false teachers said this,

• 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

 In his opposition to God, the Devil disguises himself as an angel of light (which he used to be) to bring false teaching or another gospel entirely or even another religion to try to deceive the lost and keep them from the truth and therefore from God. He did this type of work with Adam and Even in the garden when he was able to deceive Eve into questioning the commandment that God gave Adam concerning the fruit.

•  Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 We can see from this passage that the Devil not only got Eve to question what God said but even God’s motive for saying it. The Devil has not deviated from these tactics even to this day. The Devil is very good at what he does and he has no remorse or any other redeeming feature. Next time we will see how the Devil interacts with God’s people.

Joy Discovered

Joy for the Christian can no longer be found in the things of the world. He understands that the world is passing away.

1 John 2:17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

 And so he understands that there is more to this life than indulging the flesh looking for joy. When he tries to find joy like his neighbor does, with the things of this world, he finds them to be only temporary and hollow. He has become a new creation and there is no going back.

 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

 A Christian's joy now consists in following Jesus. He finds joy in trying to be in this world what Jesus was. A Christian finds joy in what Jesus found joy in. Jesus found His joy not in immersing himself in the things the world had to offer but in setting himself apart (sanctification) for God and His will. In His prayer toward the end of His earthly ministry Jesus prayed these words.

John 17:13-21 "But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. ¹⁴ "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.  ¹⁶ "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.¹⁸ "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. ²⁰ "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

In this prayer there are a couple of points that speak directly to the issue of joy that we are dealing with. The first is that Christians are a different breed of person. Christians are, in Jesus' words, "not of the world." Christians do not live in the world like those who are "of the world." The second is that there is a sanctification or a setting apart that happened at the time of conversion through the Word of God and that continues to progress as the Christian lives his life. Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth," and also "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth." These things Jesus spoke in the world so that our joy made be made full in each and every Christian.

So how do we experience joy? We do so by immersing ourselves in the life of Jesus. We do so by loving what He loved, by doing the will of the Father. Most of us find doing the will of God difficult and so we don't try. We are then forced to try to find joy in the world like our unsaved friends and we are surprised when this kind of compromise is ultimately unsatisfying. Paul boiled his life down like this,

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

This is nothing new, but it is a type of death. The Christian has to be willing to pick up his cross and follow Jesus, which means to die to self and begin to live first and foremost for God. It is a leap of faith as well, to lay aside the things the world says brings joy and take up a life that the world laughs at and scorns. To follow Jesus, to talk about Jesus, to exhort and admonish others to live the crucified life, to be willing to die if necessary seems almost too much to ask. The issue is a matter of faith. Is this so surprising? The world tells us that living for our flesh is the source of joy and God says that joy comes from living for Him and for our neighbors.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷ casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Who will you listen to? Who will you place your faith or trust in? As for me and my house… Who cares for you? The choice is before you now. What kind of joy do you want? Do you want a lasting deep joy or a shallow fleeting joy? May the Lord guide and strengthen you as you determine to live for Him.

Joy

Joy. Why is it so elusive? First, as we saw last time, joy is elusive because we tend to place our trust or desire in things that do not last.

Jeremiah 2:13 "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.

We have a choice. We can pursue joy through the things of this world which can give no lasting joy, or we can pursue God as our delight and when we find Him we will have a joy that never fades. The Israelites forsook God and started to trust in things, they were digging "cisterns" for themselves and those "cisterns" could hold no water, the water they put in them would leak out leaving them dry.  It was a picture of finding joy or sustenance in anything else other than God.  Anything else is a faulty cistern. If our delight is in the Lord then our joy is assured because God never changes, He never fails, and He is always present. Some may well respond, "Wait just a minute! I believe in God and put my trust in Him and I am constantly disappointed and let down, I do not feel joyful." This reaction is quite common among Christians today. The problem is one of perspective and faith it is not God's fault. Jesus said that His followers could have the same joy that He had.

John 15:11
"These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Jesus even prayed to the Father that we would be able to experience the fullness of His joy.

John 17:13
"But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

To have and experience the same joy that Jesus had we need to have the same focus and desire that Jesus had. What was His focus and what was His desire?

A Focus that Leads to Joy

Jesus had a singular focus. Everything in Jesus' life was focused on accomplishing one thing, the Father's will. Jesus did not have to pray for His Father to reveal His will. It was obvious to Jesus what His life was all about. From before His birth the will of the Father for Jesus' life was plain.

Matthew 1:21 "She will bear a Son; you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

Jesus lived His life with this focus. He wanted to fulfill throughout His life and even in His death, the will of the Father.

Matthew 20:17-19
As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, ¹⁸ "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, ¹⁹ and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up."

Even when the going got tough Jesus held steady. He, it seems, would rather have accomplished His Father's will by some other means than crucifixion and having the His Father's wrath poured out upon Him, but even in the face of such a terrible experience and death He held steady and prayed this prayer.

Matthew 26:39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will."

Why was this focus on God's will important for Jesus?

A Desire that Keeps Us Focused Leading to Joy

Jesus understood what God's will was for His life and that understanding coupled with a desire to fulfill it allowed Him to succeed. It is one thing to know what God wants you to do; it is an entirely different thing to have the desire to see it through.

John 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.

John 5:30
"I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

John 6:38
"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

When a person knows God's will and then seeks to fulfill it with all of his heart there is nothing more powerful. God has great and wonderful promises for a person like that.

2 Chronicles 16:9a "For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

As we learn about God we begin to understand that even when the going gets tough, staying the course is the best policy, God is always at work, bringing everything we endure to impact us for good. And that understanding lets us pray like Jesus, "if possible let this cup pass from me but not my will but yours." I want God's best for me, sometimes that leads through the valley sometimes on a mountain peak.

Romans 8:28-32 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; ³⁰ and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. ³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

God is working strongly to support those whose hearts are His. The people who share the same focus as Jesus, who have the desire as Jesus to carry out that focus, those people who want to live out God's will, find themselves a strong ally in the God of their delight. How does this impact joy?

Remember the definition of joy we looked up earlier, "an emotion of keen or lively pleasure arising from present or expected good; exultant satisfaction; delight," If our delight is the same Jesus' we will find that delight always fulfilled and have joy. You see, joy comes from delights being fulfilled. Our joy comes in pursuing our delight. If our delight is the will of God being fulfilled then we will always have our joy.

Psalm 1:1-4 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! ² But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. ³ He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. ⁴ The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

God has not promised to give us everything we want in this world, but He has promised to give us all things that would accomplish our delight in being like Jesus and glorifying Him. This idea of our delight being in God's glory and in our transformation is captured in what we call the Lord's prayer.

Matthew 6:9-10
"Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰ 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

This focus on delighting in God and His will is what Jesus meant by taking up our cross and following Him. By taking up our cross we die to our own transient desires, desires which can never really satisfy, and take up His desire, we lay down our life and take up a new life. This new life is a life that can be filled with joy as our new found desires are fully satiated.

Can we do this? In order to experience a fullness of joy we need to know the will of God for our lives so we can pursue that with the same vigor that Jesus did. Can we know God's will for our lives? Aren't people praying to know God's will precisely because it is hard to know? Not really, people pray for God's will because they don't know any better. God's will can be known in every circumstance. Sometimes we just need a little help in carrying out what we know we should do, or resolve not to do what we know we shouldn't.

Matthew 6:10
'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

Next time we will find God's will for each of us so we can begin living it out and having the fullness of Christ's joy in our lives.

Got Joy?

Do these words of Jesus seem to apply to everyone except you?

• John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
• John 17:13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

Jesus says that His followers could experience His joy. He said that they not only should have His joy but also that they would experience His full joy. How are you doing? Does your joy seem to come and go? Do the worries of tomorrow rob you of your joy today? With the tough economic times and the social upheaval it is not really unexpected that most people would find it tough to live a life full of rejoicing. But this is in fact the command of God to His children.

• 1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice always;

Can this be possible? As hard as it is to believe, it is possible to rejoice even in the toughest of times. From the beginning of Creation God has given men the option of finding a joy that transcends financial hardship and other distresses.

• 2 Corinthians 8:1-2 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, 2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.

• 1 Peter 1:6-8 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

In the next few weeks let us look into this joy and begin to make it our own. If you spend any time talking to Christians it is obvious that this kind of joy is elusive but even so, the important thing is to realize that it is possible to have the joy of Jesus in its fullness. Not only is it possible but it is promised to His followers. In order to realize Christ’s joy in our lives it is necessary to understand a few things about the promise of joy and also a few things about ourselves. Let us begin.

Why is a lasting joy so hard to find?

 The American College Dictionary defines joy as, “an emotion of keen or lively pleasure arising from present or expected good; exultant satisfaction; delight.” All people have an innate desire to be happy, to find joy in this life. We live in a world that takes this natural desire for joy in life and funnels it towards the pursuit of things which only give a passing joy or happiness. The Bible warns us against looking for joy in the things of this world.

• 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Even in the United States, a Christian nation, there is a concerted effort to remove God from all segments of society further removing from its people the source of lasting joy leaving only the transient joy given by the things of this world. The world offers many types of temporary joys. People find their joy in things they eat and drink. They find joy in their job or in their success. People even find their joy in entertainment, or material possessions.

What is wrong in finding joy in these temporary things? The problem is that people were created to enjoy God.

• Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

God is not a temporary source of joy. He does not change; the gifts that He gives are always good and perfect and He will always be there for us.

• James 1:17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

He is the Northern star for our joy. Since our joy was built to be placed in a constant source, when our joy is placed in a temporary source and we begin to rely on it, when it disappears our joy goes with it. We experience feelings of depression, of helplessness, and of isolation which for us becomes intense wiping out any joy we had just a moment ago.

Wonder why it is so tough to find a lasting joy? Are you placing your joy in the things of this world? Have you made God your joy? If not, it is the place to start. More next week.

Christian Ideals?

Most Christians tend to live their lives with certain ideals in their heads, standards by which they desire to live their lives. When you look up “ideal” in the dictionary this is what you find.

A conception of something in its highest perfection,

an ultimate object or aim of endeavor, one of high or noble character.

Is this tendency for Christians to live for an ideal a good thing?  Should Christians have ideals that they aspire to?  For example, is it an ideal for the Christian to love God more than anything? Is it a Christian ideal that our love towards our neighbor should be like our love for ourselves? It is true that these things should be true of Christians. But are they ideals?  Herein lies the problem. Let me ask you a question. What is the wrong with coming up short of an ideal? Maybe one might feel a disappointment, a sense of weakness or a realization of a lack of discipline. These responses are exactly the problem. These responses come up short of the reaction that God requires because God does not hand down just simply ideals to shoot for, but commandments to obey.

Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment.  “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Christian love is not an ideal to be lived up to but a commandment to be obeyed. When we come up short it does not call for simply a feeling of disappointment or a commitment to try harder it requires repentance and an asking for forgiveness.

I believe it is this transformation of commandments into ideals that has led to a famine of confession and humility on the part of Christians. Let the Scriptures speak concerning the thing that God looks for in His people.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (If) My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Most of us will continue to live the Christian life as if it consisted merely of ideals to live up to with no real consequences if they fall short instead of commandments to be obeyed needing confession and repentance when disobeyed. Are you one of those or are you ready for God to hear you and forgive you and heal you? The choice is yours.