Soul Food
A volunteer firefighter in Indiana recently had the surprise of a lifetime. Charles Calvin, of New Chicago, Ind., told WGN 9 he withdrew $200 from his checking account at an ATM on April 13th. Calvin glanced down on his receipt and noticed just a few more zeroes than usual. His bank account balance was now a cool $8.2 million!
Calvin was supposed to receive $1,700 from the stimulus payments going out to Americans to help assist those impacted by the corona-virus. The volunteer firefighter said he ran his card through the ATM again to make sure it was accurate, and there it was: BOOM. He was a millionaire. Can’t you wait to get your stimulus check!?
Calvin told the station that he called his bank to report his newfound wealth, but by the time they investigated, the money was gone. His bank did inform him that his $1,700 stimulus payment was deposited, although he’s still wondering if the mistake was a fluke or if taxpayers in the U.S. aren’t receiving the right amount. Probably it’s the latter. Wouldn’t you agree?
“It kind of sucks,” the volunteer firefighters told WGN 9. “Here we are in quarantine and you go from being a millionaire one second then back to being broke again. But hey, once you’re poor you don’t have anywhere else to go but up, if life ever gets back to normal that is.”
Welcome to living life in, what many a Christian writer has called, the “in-between.” This is us as Christ-followers basking in the glow of our celebration of the risen Christ and yet still sheltered in by COVID 19 eagerly awaiting life as normal. We are people living in-between.
“He is risen!” “He is risen indeed!” Don’t you feel like a millionaire in hearing that? But don’t go see your loved ones yet. Don’t share the risen Christ personally with a neighbor yet. Will the money run out if I don’t keep my job? Is there even enough money for stimulus checks? For that matter will there ever be a “normal” again as we knew it?
We live in-between the virus and the cure, a dark world and glorious heaven in light of the empty tomb. It’s easy to believe we aren’t really millionaires because Jesus is alive. The deposit was phony or at least not for this life. How do you live hopefully in-between? Well, here is one Scriptural life line for a hope filled life living in the in-between.
A. Remember your hope is as alive as Jesus - always! Writing to beleaguered Christians of Asia Minor living in-between Peter says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Peter 1:3).
Mel Blanc was the voice behind all the cartoon characters in Looney Tunes. At the end of every show you would see Porky Pig pop up with the same send-off: “That’s all, folks!” Porky was saying, “If you live only in-between sooner or later the show’s over. A futile end is coming.” Mel Blanc died over 30 years ago. Know what his family put on his tombstone? Yes, they did.
Peter is reminding us, by God-given faith in Jesus, we never have to say, “That’s all folks.” We really are millionaires in a fully alive Jesus who gives us up to the minute hope. THE BEST IS YET TO BE. This personal, fully alive hope, is grounded in the objective reality of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is the crowning point of his redemptive work and the valid foundation for all of God’s saving work, both present and future. Believe Jesus got out of the grave and you have hope fully alive for the future.
This “living hope” is also a lively hope for us here and now in any crisis. A man drowning at sea, no matter how near death, always perks up when he sees the shore. Normal may never return. Self-sheltering may continue. An economy may tank. These waves may pummel us but Christians keep striking out toward the heavenly shore with hope in their hearts in the Risen Christ. Let’s keep swimming and save as many along the way as we can! After all, he lives.
Eugene Lang, the self-made millionaire, will be best remembered for his impulsive gesture in June 1981, when he was invited to deliver the commencement address to 61 sixth graders at Public School 121 in Manhattan. What could he say to inspire these students living in the poverty of in-between, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly African American and Puerto Rican children even to look at him.
Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. “Stay in school,” he admonished, “and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.” He told them that he would earmark $2,000 for each of them toward college tuition and that he would add more money each year that they stayed in school. There was stunned silence, peppered with a few audible gasps. Then students, parents and teachers cheered and mobbed him. Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school!! Why?
Kids felt like millionaires. Hope came alive in the heart of those living in the in-between. And they lived hopeful lives. How much more explosive the living hope will be in our lives as Christians remembering what is ours in the Jesus who is alive. He is risen! And hope is alive.
Carpe Diem
There is a story that goes with the painting of Theodore Roosevelt by John Singer Sargent that hangs in the White House. Sargent had been waiting about the mansion for several days, wanting a chance to see the president and talk to him about doing his portrait. One morning the two met unexpectedly as Roosevelt was descending the stairway in his usual bullish manner.
When might there be a convenient time for the president to pose for him, the artist asked. “Now!” said the president. So there he is, the Hero of San Juan Hill, standing at the foot of the stairs, his hand on the newel post. It’s an amazing painting, capturing more of the subtleties of the TR personality than any ever done of him.
And in the story there is a great lesson for us in these days of quarantine and terror. You have this time now, friend, and are promised no other. Seize it. With your hand firmly on your own newel post opportunity today do your very best in light of Christ’s best!
The Preacher puts it like this: “You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 10 - So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless. 12:1 - Remember your Creator…” (Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:1a).
Do you see four groupings of imperatives here? Relish joy in youthful vigor (9a). Live fully knowing you answer to God (9c). Cast away cares (10ab). Honor your Creator (1). Let’s take only the first and last briefly to encourage us to always do our best in light of his best.
A. Relish joy in youthful vigor. Doris Kearns Goodwin writes that one of the reasons the American public loved Teddy Roosevelt was the irrepressible exuberance with which he went at life. He never entered a door or a commitment halfheartedly. If he was in - like stopping suddenly to pose for a picture - he was all in. A contemporary of his remembers that “he even danced just as you’d expect him to dance if you knew him. He hopped.”
Hopping is what kids do. You can walk one step at a time, but hopping is something you do with your whole self. Hopping is what even adults do in moments of great joy, when they pop the question and she says yes, or get the raise, or their team wins the World Series. God says through Solomon if you are going to be young, and you are only once, “Hop!” Choose joy.
Sure that’s hard to do when the grandchild won’t be consoled, the economy literally shuts down, or melanoma reaches stage 4. Yet, you actually can choose to find gladness in the Lord of time and eternity, in his promise to work all for good, and his love for you in Christ in any and all situations.
Earlier in Ecclesiastes 5:19 Solomon reminds us that in life when we enjoy both the bounty and the capacity of what God gives us be it good or bad this is a gift from God. “Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil - this is a gift of God.” God gave the greatest grace in Christ to win us salvation. We are his own and are forgiven by grace. We can trust his grace for choosing joy too. So in all the drama of COVID 19, when all the chips seemingly are stacked against you, choose to still rejoice. Believe this choice is empowered and made possible by his grace. Hop. Hop to help others. Hop to share burdens. Hop to point others to joy in Christ. Seize the day joyfully.
B. Remember your Creator. Long before the travel restrictions, Harvey Kidd, vacationed in the Rocky Mountains with his grandson Richard. One day they were admiring their grandeur, and after a few minutes of thoughtful silence Richard broke out, “Just think Pee-paw- God did all this with only one hand!” Grandpa puzzled over this for a moment, then asked his grandson what he meant. “Oh, you know, Pee-paw,” he replied, “the Bible says Jesus was sitting on the right hand of God.”
With one arm being sat upon our great Creator could have called it all into existence – effortlessly. Listen to this: “Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? 14 - When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future” (Ecclesiastes 7:13, 14).
How small are we finite creatures really? We are ignorant on our own of the future. But the Creator is in charge, composing all and knowing all. His purposes are not being stopped by a pandemic. He was on the throne before it started and will be there after it is gone. So with the choice for joy remember your Creator now. Don’t think of him only as someone who created and is resting as it all falls apart like a Goodwill sweater. No, he is right now making. He is right now sustaining, upholding all things by his powerful Word, orchestrating for kingdom advancement and our good.
Therefore, with your hand on this newel post opportunity of frightening times share your faith. Respect social distancing but let others know they’re loved by a God who came the distance. Replace panic with prayer, putting the prevailing power of God into play for others. Love, serve, worship and do your very best in everything in light of his very best. Carpe Diem.
What Did Jesus Do? Vs. What Did Judas Do?
Did you possibly wear a W.W.J.D. bracelet or wristband in the late 1990s? They were the bee’s knees for a time among Christian youth groups. My twin brother Tom and I wore them to the gym for a time. A leather “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelet looked kinda cool glazed in weightlifting chalk laying over your wrist wraps while benching. “Cool” being a relative term!
We’d witness but not be nerdy about it, or so we thought, by wearing our “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelets while working out. Any moral imperative to motivate others or yourself to honestly ask “What Would Jesus Do?” in situations at our gym was soon lost, however.
The gym comedian among the guys we trained with, Tyler, boldly asked one day, “Hey, you look-a-likes where do we get some of those, ‘Who Wants Jack Daniels?’ bracelets from? The women talk to you a lot easier if you’ve got one of those on in a bar. Hook us up man!”
No amount of theology or threat was going to rescue what W.W.J.D. was intended to stand for from then on. In fact, we became the “Who Wants Jack Daniels?” twins. A powerful testimony for the Lord. We somehow felt that we had betrayed Jesus once again but couldn’t really put our finger on how we had done it this time.
I sometimes wonder if Judas thought the same thing in his relationship with Jesus. He committed history’s most despicable act. Judas sold the Savior for thirty pieces of silver. But was it about the money? Or was he weary of waiting for Jesus to bring about the destruction of Rome? Maybe his betrayal was more forcing Jesus’ hand to act mightily than a money grab.
Judas knew he betrayed Jesus but perhaps somewhere along the way, as we often do in our sin, he didn’t even know why he was really betraying Jesus. Coins clanked across the stone walkway in the temple having become blood money. Jesus climbed up the hill of Calvary. Judas climbed up the hill of regret. So close to Christ’s cross Judas was but so far away in his heart.
Maybe we do well this Lenten season to resurrect the question “What would Jesus do?” only change it that we might learn from Jesus how to avoid what Judas did. Don’t have a bracelet made but what if W.W.J.D. was W.D.J.D.? “What did Jesus do?” The sad reality was that a lot of people who wore “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelets in the 90s acted like Judas because they first of all didn’t know what Jesus had done or remember what he had done. So think with me a bit about this: “What Did Judas do?” vs. “What Did Jesus Do?”
What Did Jesus Do? Jesus lovingly made it clear you can’t worship two gods at once. "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). Loyalty is indivisible. You can’t parcel out pieces of ultimate allegiance. Notice how insightful Jesus is. Adoration for one feeds contempt for the other. Love one god and you will hate the other. If you love money - value money and what it can buy above all else - you cannot love God. You will hate him - perhaps quietly or privately or hypocritically but you will hate him.
What Did Judas Do? Judas loved money more than Jesus. “Then one of the Twelve - the one called Judas Iscariot - went to the chief priests 15 - and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?’ So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver” (Matthew 26:14, 15). Randy Alcorn writes, “Satan works on the assumption that every person has a price. Often, unfortunately he is right. Many people are willing to surrender themselves and their principles to whatever god will bring them the greatest short term profit.” This Judas did.
You, however, know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich yet for our sake he became poor! Take the world but give me Jesus. Lost but found. Blind but seeing. Dead but fully alive and forgiven by faith in him. This also is what Jesus did and now the power to not love money more than God as Judas did is ours thanks to Christ’s redemptive work.
Instead of surrendering our cravings for more we now love to give of our treasure to Jesus and his Kingdom. After all, he so loved the world that he gave and it was his joy to do so. Bob Hope once said, “Laughter is an instant vacation but giving is a two week cruise without pay.” Never is this truer than when the Holy Spirit inspires us to believe what Jesus did to save and cleanse us by his grace.
This silly well-worn story never gets well-worn. A mother was preparing flap jacks for her boys, Kevin, 5, and Ryan, 3. The boys began to bicker over who would get the first flap jack. Mom saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. “If Jesus were sitting here, he would say, ‘Let my brother have the first flap jack. I can wait.’ Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, ‘Ryan, you be Jesus!’
When Ryan knows, remembers, and believes in what Jesus did he doesn’t Judas his brother Kevin. No, he says enough to the monster of more and gives selflessly, lavishly, and joyfully to his brother. “Go ahead you have the first flap jack. I’ll be Jesus.” You and I my friend will lovingly give in the same manner with far more than flap jacks when we remember, believe, and live out what Jesus did for us.
I take it back. Get bracelets made. Hand them out as you wear yours proudly. Choose a color that pops. Have them say: WDJD vs. WDJD. When someone asks you what that means you already have your opening line to share the gospel. Let me tell you “What Did Judas Do as opposed to What Did Jesus Do.” God bless your witness.
Thinking with God’s Guardians
Thinking with God’s Guardians by Pastor Tim
“What were you thinking?” Ever been skewered by that question? It is, of course, especially convicting because often when someone asks that of you the answer is, “I wasn’t.” Or at least I was thinking incorrectly or in a way that led to an action that now needs an explanation. Psychologists call it a “mindset.” It’s amazing the difference a mindset makes in one’s life. It can be that which liberates or mindlessly enslaves. Here’s a light-hearted way to look at it.
EXCERPTS FROM A DOG’S DIARY
8:00AM - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30AM - A car ride! My favorite thing!
12:00PM - Lunch meat! My favorite thing!
3:00 PM - Walk in park! My favorite thing!
5:00PM - Ears rubbed! My favorite thing!
6:15PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
8:00 PM - Watched The Bachelor with owner! My favorite thing!
9:30PM - Dog food! My favorite thing!
11:00PM - Sleeping on bed! My favorite thing!
EXCERPTS FROM A CAT’S DIARY
Day 984 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre, little dangling little objects. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. I may purr but I am independent. I will be free!
Does God give us help in his Word and by his Spirit for capturing the right mindset? Yes, he does. Notice first of all how God celebrates right thinking in his Word. You just cannot blow off how important it is to think rightly if you want to be a difference maker for Christ. Paul encourages a young Timothy in this way: “Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this” (2 Timothy 2:7). So thinking is precious as a prelude to divine illumination. As one mulls over the Word of God the Spirit begins to form right thinking in the head from which Christian character might flow. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
In fact, godly thinking is a mark of maturity in the Christian faith. “Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults” (1 Corinthians 14:20). I have much to learn in this area as often my answer to the question “What were you thinking?” is “I wasn’t.” Or “What I was thinking was tawdry or self-centered!” Even more frequently I have an American mindset of mere entertainment which reflects a depth similar to the mindset Yogi Berra credited for his insight as an adult when he quipped, “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been a real deep thinker and stuff.”
Graciously, God gives us what might be called “gatekeepers” to guide our thoughts and give us a Christ-like mindset. Paul names eight “gatekeepers” that a wise person has stand in the gateway of their thinking in Philippians 4:8. I challenge you to put this mindset forming passage to memory. Live by it. Set the citadel of these “gatekeepers” frequently in the forefront of your mindfulness throughout the day. Here they are with a brief breakdown of six of the guardians below. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).
TRUE (God’s Gatekeeper) - First, as our mind is fed information, we should ask ourselves, “Is it true?” God’s own truth is to be our measure. Most of all live in this truth, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Never surrender this certainty in your mind. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus …” (Romans 8:1).
HONORABLE (God’s Gatekeeper) - Then ask, “Is it honorable?” does that which I have just heard have a noble ring to it? Is the action I am asked to take respectable in Christ’s sight? “The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them” (Psalm 25:14).
RIGHT (God’s Gatekeeper) - Is it just and fair this what I am thinking? One can search the Gospels and see if Jesus addressed the issue. In the end he defines what is right and what is wrong. “Feelings come and feelings go. And feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the word of God. Not else is worth believing” (Martin Luther).
PURE (God’s Gatekeeper) - When one considers what they watch on Netflix we want to inquire, “Is this holy and lovely - pure?” Will this Facebook posting I am feeding into my mind result in godly love and beautiful actions? Among those artificial ingredients in Twinkies is cellulose gum, which gives Twinkie cream its amazing smooth feel. Another place you can find this cellulose gum is in rocket fuel. Is there any doubt Twinkies are pure rocket fuel!? Eat more for a purity mindset (or not).
ADMIRABLE (God’s Gatekeeper) - What’s more we need to ask, “Is it admirable?” Literally, “Is what I’m thinking about of good repute or well reputed?” Does it sound attractive? Is it kind and is the reputation of others protected by what I am thinking should I say it? “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). The goal in life is to put jewels in the crown of King Jesus. Admirable thinking helps beautify him.
EXCELLENT (God’s Gatekeeper) - Finally, we want to consider, am I thinking what is “excellent and worthy of praise?” Here again if you are like me I often reflect a thought life that does not include an excellence that honors God and inspires others. Reach for a star. Refuse mediocrity. You can’t go any higher than the goal the writer of Hebrews puts before us. “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 - Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2, 3).
In his classic film The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Clint Eastwood says to a villain with a heart as dark as midnight under a skillet, “There are two kinds of people in life, those with loaded guns and those who dig.” Since Eastwood has a loaded gun he says to the villain, “You dig.” A friend of mine, whose nationality you will soon be able to guess, says, “There are two kinds of people in life. Those who are Irish and those who wish they were.”
So in keeping with this theme, “There are two kinds of Christians in life. Those who muster a Christian mindset with God’s guardians and those who wish they had.” The first kind wield a loaded gun against Satan and his forces all their days. They do less digging. Be among them. Think, my friend, think with God’s guardians!
Design Not Despair
Want to wreck your week? Get a cup of Joe each morning and listen to the news. Here’s a small slice from the last 4 days for me. “Trump Impeachment Imminent.” “Dark Days for Everyone “Racism Fully Alive.” “Winter Storms Affirm Climate Change Erosion.” “Trump Impeachment Imminent.” “Burmese Genocide a Reality.” “Famine Strikes.” And in case I missed it. “Trump Impeachment IMMINENT!”
This last one apparently we cannot escape. It was like I was Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, except when my clock-radio went off, instead of Sonny and Cher singing “I Got You Babe,” I heard even more talk of Trump Impeachment - IMMINENT!
Listen to the news these days and it surely leads to despair. With doomsday dictators, damning drugs, deteriorating schools, drive-by deaths, and the national debt - our country, if not the world, is like a school bus careening out of control. Does someone have a hand on this steering wheel? Has the driver bailed just as we came in sight of Dead Man’s Curve? Where’s the hope?
Believe it or not, a Christmas message of hope for the despair we all experience at one time or another with the chaos of the world is found in Matthew 1:1-17. Yes, this is the family tree of Jesus. Yes, it can be a bit of a slow read. But give it a try. Focus especially on the conclusion with Matthew 1:17. “Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.”
This historical summary is not a mere testimony to man’s biological productivity. Matthew is actually revealing something astounding in the lineage of Jesus. He says that Jesus’ birth is the climax of three groupings of fourteen. You see, Matthew’s gospel was originally written to Jewish Christians to help them understand, in part, the hope of Christmas. Seven or any multiple of seven symbolized to the Jews perfection or completion.
What Matthew was declaring then in his summary was this: “My fellow Jews, this Old Testament history, from Abraham to Christ is a perfectly planned carefully choreographed flow of history. Nothing just fell together by chance. God orchestrated with meticulous and mathematical care the birth of the Christ of Christmas for the salvation of all mankind.
Matthew wanted the Hebrews and us to understand that God made sense out of nonsense. He wants us to understand God does the same today. The very God who perfectly carved the family tree of Jesus to save us from our sin, beginning with the birth of his Son in Bethlehem and concluding with his death and resurrection in Jerusalem, this is the same God who will still sculpt art to his glory from our lives. And this Maestro even did this with some pretty unlikely branches in that family tree, like Tamar, and Rahab, and Uriah’s wife.
President Trump may be impeached or not. Climate change may be real or not. Famines, wars, violence, and all other forms of chaos will be real. The world will go to hell in a handbasket. And on a personal level this Christmas, chaos may even break out for you. Family may be lost. A job may be lost. Someone won’t be home for Christmas. The engagement ring won’t be given.
My friend, it’s okay. Don’t despair. Part of the hope of Christmas is that a loving all powerful God is still in control. See his design. The Bus driver, with a capital B, still has his hands firmly on the steering wheel of your life and the whole world. After all, “When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 - to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to son-ship” (Galatians 4:4, 5). Want more proof? Read the last name on the list of this genealogy again. “and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah” (Matthew 1:16).
In spite of all the despair all the people experienced in this family tree the last name on the list is Jesus. God cups his hands to his mouth and shouts to a distraught world, “See?! I did it! I controlled the flow of human history so that salvation is found in my Son. Famine in Egypt couldn’t stop my plan. Four hundred years of slavery couldn’t shackle my plan. Even a decree by an emperor to butcher babies couldn’t prevent my Son from being born.” This gives hope. When we see his design we lose our despair.
Back in 1997 the Windy City had one of its most brutal winters. Most days an onslaught of heavy snow covered everything. On one of those days Robert Mcgrath saw his wife go into the backyard garage to fetch some boxes to wrap presents. Two minutes later Mcgrath heard a sickening crack accompanied by a deafening crash. Looking back out the kitchen window McGrath saw that the roof of his old wooden garage had caved in. He went white with fright.
Without hat or coat he ran to his neighbor’s back porch grabbing their shovel and shouting, “Help - help Billy! Anybody! Billy - call for help. Come help. Garage caved in on Maggie!” Mcgrath started frantically throwing snow with the shovel and pulling away boards and yelling, “Maggie you okay? Talk to me! Maggie? Hang on we’re coming!” “Please, yell honey!”
With sweat freezing on their faces he and several neighbors frantically shoveled snow and removed sections of roof for about 15 minutes. Then he saw Maggie’s hand. He kept digging and throwing and pulling and within minutes, sobbing like a baby, he had his wife in his arms.
By the grace of God, she was fine.
Paul Harvey originally told this story. You can imagine one of his planned pauses. Then the voice of Middle America said, “Now folks…I would not tell you what I am about to tell you except a neighbor snitched.” You see, Mrs. Maggie McGrath had gone into the garage through one door and out the back door, boxes in hand. She was safe in the house when she looked out and saw her husband shoveling for her rescue and calling out orders to others.
So she put the coat and hat back on. She went out the back door of the house, down the back alley, around and into the still standing back door of the collapsed garage on the other side of the fallen rubble. She sat on the back side of the collapsed snow drift waiting patiently for her husband to find her. When he got close she messed up her hair, covered herself in snow and debris and extended a hand to be found. If this sounds like the wife is always in charge in marriage it’s because she is, right?! But Mrs. Maggie Mcgrath just wanted to show love for her husband by letting him experience some trouble in a loving effort to be the “rescuer.” However, the whole time she was in complete control.
Yes, the analogy limps in many ways but you tell me. Isn’t it great to know there really is someone who loves us and allows trouble or even brings it at times while we get to seek the rescue of others with the gospel? And all along the way no one is more in charge than he! After all, “… and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah” (Matthew 1:16).
Thessalonian Thankfulness
Thessalonian Thankfulness
A Christian writer named Robert Roberts wrote, “There’s a uniquely Christian frame work for gratitude.” Isn’t that true? By the way, how grateful would you be growing up if your name was Robert Roberts? In the Spirit of Johnny Cash perhaps his parents wanted to make him tough like a boy named “Sue.” If you get nothing else from this article, Lord willing, you’re more grateful for the way your parents named you!!
But Roberts is right. “There is a uniquely Christian framework for gratitude.” Christians say “Thank you,” to God knowing if we lost everything in this life but still had Christ as our Savior we are opulent paupers. Think of how uber wealthy in spiritual treasure we’d still be. Grace, sin atoned for, shalom, a heavenly home, purpose, and all the promises of God “YES” in Jesus. Paul put it like this, “… sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (2 Corinthians 6:10). Thank you heavenly Father for heaven’s greatest jewel Jesus as our Redeemer.
Thessalonian thankfulness believes Jesus is the pearl of great price.
But, you see, this is part of the uniquely Christian framework we give thanks from. Let’s call it, for lack of creativity, “Thessalonian Thankfulness.” Thessalonian thankfulness realizes first of all that if I have nothing in this life but Jesus then I have everything. Adversely, if I have everything I want in this life and no Jesus, I really have bupkus. “Take the world,” Crosby taught us to sing, “but give me Jesus!”
We might call this uniquely Christian perspective Thessalonian thankfulness because Paul taught the Thessalonican Christians to be thankful from this “come what may with Christ as my treasure perspective” and they believed it. Listen to how Paul bragged about what God had done in the Thessalonians’ hearts in his second letter to them: “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 - Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring” (2 Thessalonians 1:3, 4). Clearly in the worst of trials these young Christians, by faith, loved their Jesus more than the comforts of this world. So Thessalonian thankfulness involves believing in Jesus as the greatest treasure of all.
Thessalonian thankfulness thanks in all things with a future focus.
In his old age, President James Madison suffered from many ailments and took a variety of medicines. It is said that a longtime friend from a nearby county sent him a box of vegetable pills, one of his own home remedies, asking to be informed if they brought relief. In time this friend received one of those gracious and carefully worded letters for which Madison was noted. It went something like this: “My dear friend, I thank you very much for the box of pills. I have taken them all; and while I cannot say I am better since taking them, it is quite possible that I might have been worse if I had not taken them.”
Paul actually wrote this to the Christians in Thessalonica. They are words written for us as well: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). President James Madison offered a mere pleasantry to a man who probably did nothing to help him in all his suffering. But this is not what God was asking of the Thessalonians or us as Christians. Give thanks simply means give thanks - even when distressed and suffering. No platitudes or pleasantries but rather a sincere “thank you” to God in, yes, everything is to be offered. So how do we as Christians honestly do this?
One Scriptural answer is to focus on future joy. Jesus modeled this best while he was at his worst. “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). This is the Jesus way to give thanks in all circumstances. In all the ignominy of the cross, all the shame and suffering of our sin Jesus found future joy. The genuine joy Jesus had in his heart was there as he focused on the salvation that would be ours and the greater glory that awaited him in heaven.
If the future joy Jesus promises is real and you believe him, there is no circumstance that can steal your thanksgiving. Focus on it. Thessalonian thankfulness will be yours as you fix your eyes on the future prize. It is little wonder that after commanding the Thessalonians to be thankful to God no matter what a few verses later Paul offers them these future blessings: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 - The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24).
A final challenge for Thessalonian thankfulness.
Try this experiment for more frequent Thessalonian thankfulness. Writer your own benediction for one week with the above two perspectives. Put it on a post it notice and proclaim it each day all week. In good times in bad times, put your benediction to the LORD. Use the phrase the Hebrews loved: “Blessed are you, O LORD…” Then finish it with either future focused gratitude in Christ or a recognition that he is your greatest treasure no matter what. I leave you with this sample and challenge you to do the same for greater gratitude.
SAMPLE: Pastor Tim wakes up rushed and grumpy. (Two kinds of people in the world. People who love to wake up in the morning, and people who hate people who love to wake up in the morning.) So for Thessalonian thankfulness he says out loud slowly: “Blessed are you, O LORD because Jesus will see my faithfulness today in light of his faithfulness and what I don’t get done I can leave in his capable hands as the one who loves me most.” “And blessed are you, O LORD because one day soon there will be nothing more to grump about only and ever all that makes us glad.” Now, might that not increase my gratitude quotient for the rest of the day? Give it your own try and see. And have a happy Thessalonian thankful Thanksgiving.
A Beauty That Is Better Than Looks
She entered the train with the winter snow billowing around her skirt. Most did not pay attention to her beauty but the color of her coat. Burnt sienna has never looked so wonderful on a woman. Any copy of GQ would gladly feature this elegant lady. She sat down and immediately began sizing up the people around her in the cabin.
“An ugly man,” was her brutal conclusion about the guy hunched down across from her. “Here’s a guy who fell out of the ugly tree and sadly hit every branch on his way down.” No one else in the cabin was particularly stunning to her either. “Pretty ho-hum people she’d be surrounded by for a little over an hour.”
As they were travelling for a while, people started talking about various subjects. Then it happened. The “ugly man” opened his mouth, or as she originally thought “his pie hole.” Amazingly, his words were full of wisdom and great knowledge. They made others seem valued and listened to.
This guy created a wonderful atmosphere that captivated everybody around him. “There’s beauty in being a good listener, someone who seeks to make connections and joy and sees things from new perspectives,” the elegant lady thought.
So free this ugly man also was to be in love with Jesus, seamlessly giving him credit for blessings in life and assurance to others of encouragement in Christ’s name. The lady watched in amazement how the man's ugliness was simply disappearing. Moreover, his facial features were becoming pleasant. Before her very eyes inner beauty made outer beauty immaterial.
By the time the trip was over, she and the other travelers knew they were going to miss that man. Everybody wanted to be around him more. They all were so impressed by the goodness that radiated from within him and rendered Jesus, yes, Jesus someone they would all like to get to know better along with this man.
How do we cultivate an inner beauty that reveals Christ-like qualities from within - guy or gal? Peter’s Spirit inspired words were meant originally for women but let’s apply them across the board. “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” (1 Peter 3:3, 4).
This can’t mean we are to give zero attention to our hair. It cannot mean that it’s wrong to wear an earring, a subtle bracelet, or even get inked on an ankle. It can’t mean this because, in Peter’s sequence of hair, jewelry, and clothing, with that meaning it would also mean a woman couldn’t wear clothing or at least not any clothes that are fine. Not Peter’s intent. Nor is Peter promoting an Amish pietism.
Believe Inner Beauty Is More Attractive Than Outer Beauty
What Peter is saying is the Lord loves it when yes, godly wives, but also all Christians captivate others with a Spirit given life of holy beauty from the inside out. Never move this beauty from the front burner of your life to a back burner.
There is a winsomeness to Christ’s holiness. There really is. Cultivating an inner beauty, the gentle gracious kind that God delights in, starts there. You have to believe that this is really true or it is doubtful you will make it a priority, especially in a day and age where almost all the noise says the exact opposite. Do you believe this? Reflecting Christ from the inside out is the real beauty and exceedingly more attractive than physical outer beauty?
Consider these two courageous statements.
Number 1 - “No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God"(Genesis 39:9).
Number 2 - “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish” (Genesis 4:16).
Believe by the Spirit that an inner beauty of Christ far exceeds an outer physical beauty. Then as one takes on this inner beauty through the gospel Jesus will surely help you to join Joseph and Esther at times in displaying a steely-eyed courage that gladdens God and inspires others.
Invest In Your Lasting Inner Beauty
Notice also that Peter says this kind of beauty is lasting “.., the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet Spirit…” (1 Peter 3:4). I am at an age now where seemingly no matter how I bust my abs the weight is shifting from the poles to the equator. Hair has long stopped growing where I want it to and seeks “to boldly go where no man nor hair has gone before.” One morning I heard a scream from the master bathroom from my wife Gretchen. “Honey, what’s wrong?” Looking at her hands and trembling she shrieked, “What are my mother’s hands doing at the end of my arms?”
I made that up. Don’t we all, however, come to that day where we think like that? My dad’s name was Paul. It is not meant as a compliment when I am in shorts and loved ones say, “You got your Paulie legs in your old age. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Sooner rather than later the outer beauty wastes away.
So make your biggest investment in the “you” that lasts - your inner beauty in Christ. Take time to be alone in God’s Word. Just get in the car and go to church. On the way home discuss the sermon out-loud with family or friend. “Here’s my take away, how about you?” Sing Christian hymns out-loud. Speak God’s Word out-loud. Dawson Trotman used to say, “Thoughts disentangle themselves as the pass across your lips.” Put your arm around the loved one next to you while receiving the Lord’s Supper. Return to your places and pray together a prayer of gratitude for faith, forgiveness, and salvation in the sacrament. Physical beauty fades but your inner beauty blooms in the faithful use of the gospel.
Mickey mantle always expected to die very young. When he turned sixty, he commented, “If I had known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.” You - your grace renewed inner you - will live for eternity. Now is the time to start taking better care of the inner you and you watch, with this means of grace care will come a beauty that causes others to see the beauty of our Lord. And who, my friend, is more beautiful to behold than our Jesus?! For in him is a beauty better than looks.
Playing Through
Doing battle with a twenty-two-knot wind! It’s what a Lieutenant Colonel from the Special Forces Group Airborne found himself doing after parachuting from a helicopter over a drop zone inside Camp Dawson, West Virginia. This 25 mph storm force drove the Lieutenant Colonel, like so much laundry put out to dry, onto a nearby golf course.
On landing the Green Beret fumbled for the release but another gust drove the chute and its struggling captive down the fairway. Three now very attentive golfers about to tee off shouted, “Can we help you soldier?” Sliding by them the officer clung to his sense of humor as well as his paratrooper pride. “No, thanks,” he called out. “I’ll just play through.”
When life’s winds gust, and they will, how exactly do you “play through” to the glory of God? Well, here are two soul steadying reminders from Psalm 46. By the way, why not memorize this fortress Psalm? These Spirit-given words from the Sons of Korah can make you fearless in living for the LORD irrespective of any storm.
1. DECLARE TRUST IN THE LORD AS YOUR PROTECTOR.
“God is our refuge and strength an ever present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
When you feel gale force winds have made everything uncertain and when mountains might crash into your sea we first remember our protection is not in better circumstances. Our refuge ultimately is not in avoiding problems or for that matter anything on this earth. Instead, our protection is the very present Holy Spirit and the rock-solid work of Jesus on our behalf to save us and make us his own. He died for us. He rose for us. By God-given faith in Jesus we are guaranteed God himself is always our safe place. After all, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:22)?
Now trusting, that is different than just believing that, right? Uncle Oscar was apprehensive about his first airplane ride. His friends, eager to hear how it went, asked if he enjoyed the flight. “Well,” bellered Uncle Oscar, “it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, but I’ll tell you this. I sure never did put all my weight down!”
Ole’ Uncle Oscar never actually trusted his seat. The very thing that would help his flight be enjoyable no matter how strong the winds he just couldn’t lean fully on. Are you trusting your seat? Are you? Declare your trust in Jesus in the wind and then, for heaven’s sake, sit down. He actually is present in your present you know. He’s got this. Be still and know he is your protector.
2. DELIGHT IN THE RIVER OF THE LORD’S PRESENCE.
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells”
(Psalm 46:4).
Have you noticed? We love to catastrophize when gale-force winds strike. Surely the worst scenario is going to happen. The cancer won’t be cured. The insurance won’t cover it. Another job won’t be found. She won’t forgive me and if she does surely it will never be the same. Maybe the LORD has forsaken me? If we are not careful we become the wet blanket in the linen closet of life and we even doubt the very promise of God to never leave us or forsake us.
But the Psalmist says, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God …” (Psalm 46:4a). The city of God is undoubtedly you, believers of all time in Christ, and me. But what is the river? Even in Jerusalem back when God inspired this Psalm to be penned there was no river in Jerusalem. Egypt had the Nile, Babylon had the Tigris and the Euphrates, but Jerusalem had only the trickling Spring of Gihon connected to the Pool of Siloam. Not much too really delight in.
As many scholars suggest the river of God, I believe, is his very presence to us. Twice the Psalmist assures us, both in verse 7 and 11 of Psalm 46, “The LORD Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:7). The God of the Angel Armies is the “with us God” - always. We really do live every moment of our lives in the warm arms of a fully loving, all knowing, all competent God. Recalling this in the storms of life often teaches us to play through for the glory of God by finding our true joy in him. As the late Ben Patterson said, “Adversity teaches us to ask the right questions, ‘What is the deepest root of our joy? What God gives to us? Or what God is to us?’” Genuinely believe “the river of delights” for you in any storm is the LORD himself and you will be amazed at how the Spirit inspires in you faith based optimism in the LORD to play on through the storms of life to his greater glory.
Permit a new twist on an old story. A young man applied for a job as a farmhand in Bridge Creek, Oklahoma. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, “Man - I can sleep when the wind blows. I can sleep when the wind blows.” This puzzled the farmer. But he liked the young man and hired him.
A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The young man slept on like a winter black bear.
The farmer and his wife then inspected their property. They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The barn was properly locked. Even the animals were calm and tied down. All was well.
The farmer then thought he understood the meaning of the young man’s words, “I can sleep when the wind blows.” Because the farmhand did his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke. So when the wind blew, he was not afraid. He could sleep in peace.
So the farmer asked him about it the next morning, “Son, you can sleep when the wind blows because you’re faithful in your work, no?” The young man laughed, “Nah, no matter how faithful I am I can’t stop the force of a bad wind and you know how bad they can get in the Sooner State. ‘O-o-o-oklahoma where the wind comes kick’n in your door,’ he sang.”
“No sir, I can sleep when the wind blows because, God, God is my ever protecting safe place and my ever present river of delight. Believe that with all my heart I do. So I pillow my head and sleep well fully prepared to play through the next day by his grace either here or in heaven.” Jesus give you the same kind of faith, my friend, a faith that says, “I can sleep well when the wind blows.”
Handling More than We Can Handle
A soldier hovers deep in an underground bunker. Like a human rabbit in a warren he’s avoiding “heat seekers” but he can’t last much longer. You open the letter and your heart is leaden. The insurance didn’t cover a pittance of what you thought. Your Eighth grader got a sexually laced text but wasn’t the least bit bothered. You’re on your way upstairs to have the talk.
We all face adversity. Someone might come alongside us in those times to encourage us by saying, “You got this! You can prevail! You are gifted!” Then, if they are Christians and know your faith, they may add the rocket-booster. “Besides, we know anything that comes our way is not beyond our ability to cope.” After all, the Bible says, “God never gives us more than we can handle.” But - does it say that?! Is that an actual Biblical rocket-booster of encouragement?
It sounds really good. It’s like a promise. If you just trust God, things will not get too bad. They will not be unbearable. Your life will somehow be manageable. More than we can handle will never come our way. Here’s the problem. God never says that in the Bible. In fact, isn’t the Bible largely the story of people given things, even many things they can’t handle?
Take death for example. Grandpa Ned would read through the obits at the counter of the Mishicot Variety store he owned back in 1968. When done reading each name out-loud (he knew every single person) he’d look up, smirk, and say to us boys with our orange Fanta’s, “Usehay - boys isn’t it funny how everybody seems to die in alphabetical order?” My friend, someday you will die in alphabetical order too. So will I. Isn’t that part of not being given too much to handle - not dying?
“Don’t worry about your brother Cain and his anger issue!” This is never said by the LORD to Abel. “God has your back like a chair Uriah the Hittite. David will do you no harm, because God never gives us more than we can handle.” Not said either. Dying is more than we can handle and the general rule in Scripture was people died. In actual fact, those who lived most nobly and fully for the LORD before death in Scripture were often those given by God way more than they could handle. So let’s just state this definitively. “GOD WILL NOT GIVE YOU MORE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE.” This statement is a lie.
Here’s the actual text people pull this lie from in the Bible. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Notice what God says and doesn’t say through Paul. He does not say that he will minimize suffering by not giving you anything you can’t bear. The context is temptation. God is saying, “No course or temptation you face is beyond the course of what others have faced. Just remember God is faithful and will not let you down. He will even be there to help you by providing for you a way out.”
Top Donuts is less than ten blocks from our house. They have a sign in the window one tends to agree with. “You deserve a donut.” Just in case you didn’t know, inside they have a “hot now” neon light. Their pecan pine cone clusters are so caramel they are nearly sacramental. Taste and see that the LORD is good. Can you tell this tempts me?
To make matters worse my LDL’s are not getting a “BZ” from any commanding doctor these days. So God won’t give me more than I can handle, right? “Jesus if you don’t want me to have a donut, when I drive by Top Donuts this morning do not let there be an open parking space in front of the store.” But alas - seventh time around there was an open parking space. Did God give me more than I can handle or was I just sinfully caving in to my temptation? At any rate a text taken out of context is a pre-text which is what this is from 1 Corinthians 10:13: “GOD WILL NOT GIVE YOU MORE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE.”
So how do we handle the adversity that comes our way? ”But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). We all do well to take our adversity in stride with a 2 Corinthians 12:9 humility. This is not to deny any pain or problem. This is not to downplay anyone’s suffering. Rather it is to say with Paul and Luther of old, “Here in this trouble I will ‘Let God be God.’” That is to trust that his undeserved love, his kindness and mercy is enough to sustain me.
After all, God’s Son died for me. He rose for me. I’m his and he is mine in his redeeming love. Cleansed, justified, forgiven all these and many more blessings are mine. Surely now he will give me sufficient grace to endure in this trial. “He who did not spare his own Son but graciously gave him up for us all, how will he not together with him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32). In your worst trial truly believe God’s grace really is enough.
Finally, Paul declares that at times God’s purpose in allowing or even bringing our suffering is that Christ’ power be made perfect in our weakness. ”But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:9a). If God wills to show the perfection of his Son’s power in our weakness rather than by our escape from weakness, then he knows best. Again, let’s trust him. Abuse, accidents, bad breaks, caves - all can become moments where when I get weaker Christ’s power in me becomes stronger and more glorious in the eyes of others.
Hebrews 11 is a good guide here. It says that by faith some escaped the edge of the sword (Hebrews 11:34) and by faith some were killed by the sword (Hebrews 11:37). By faith some stopped the mouths of lions (Hebrews 11:33), and by faith others were sawn asunder (Hebrews 11:37). Glorifying the kind of power that moved Christ to the cross was seen in the faith of those who escaped death and those who died by faith as Christ’s power was made perfect in weakness all through their trials. This is how, by his grace, we handle more than we can handle. We trust his grace is enough and his power is made perfect in weakness.
Booth-Tucker preached in Chicago one day, and out from the throng a burdened heckler came and said to him, before all the audience, “You can talk like that about how Christ is dear to you, and helps you; but if your wife was dead, as my wife is, and you had babies crying for their momma who would never come back, you could not say what you are saying."
That very year Booth-Tucker lost his beautiful wife in a railway wreck. The body was brought to Chicago and carried to the Salvation Army barracks for the funeral service. After others had conducted the funeral service a humbled and beaten Booth-Tucker stood there by the casket, looked down into the face of the silent wife and mother, and said, “The other day when I was here, a man said, I could not say Christ was sufficient, if my wife were dead, and my children were crying for their mother. If that man is here, tell him that Christ is sufficient. My heart is all broken, my heart is all crushed, but there is a song in my heart and Christ put it there; and if that man is here, I tell him that, though my wife is gone and my children are motherless, Christ comforts me today.”
Don’t you know that man was there!? Down the aisle he came, and fell down beside the casket, and cried, “If Christ, can truly comfort like that I need to hear more. I need to hear more.” So do we - about how his grace is enough and his power is made perfect in weakness.
Built Up -vs- Puffed Up
Christianity is about being right, right? Someone recently implied this of me as a Christian, in a not so complimentary way. Face grim like a carved mask she said to me, “Oh, you Christians always have to be right, because of course, Christianity is always right!” I pretended it was water off a duck’s back but it wasn’t. The salvo stung. Was I giving her the smug impression that I do always have to be right? … that I am, in fact, always right? “No one knows more than me. Leave your ignorance lady and believe what I am telling you about Christianity.” But then again true Christianity is right, right? And in the end being right in spiritual matters is the most important thing of all. So being right is actually a blessing.
Make no mistake about it being right is a good thing. It helps you deal with the way things really are. And in the economy of God, by his Word, if you are not right in believing in Jesus as “the truth and the way and the life” you will be wrong forever. Simply put - this is true and right and the best blessing of all.
So again, being right is good. But being right is not always the best thing. It can actually be kind of a dangerous thing. When you were in school, did you ever sit next to a kid in class who was right all the time? How fun was it to be around this kid? Could you trust such a person to love you and get you as a friend? Perhaps you could but the know-it-alls I knew who were always right, and usually they were right, were often very wrong at friendship, love, and compassion. A really smart guy once said, “It’s actually hard to be right a lot and not hurt other people with it.”
Part of the winsomeness of holiness that Jesus lived perfectly was that he was always right but never hurt anybody with it. His words often caused discomfort, even pain, often deliberately but they were never words of a puffed-up wise guy ego who belittled people with lower IQ’s. Jesus hung out with prostitutes, children, tax collectors, children, slaves, beggars, lepers, and the uneducated and the illiterate and he never made them feel slow. He never made them feel stupid. They just were not that to him. Rather they were loved by him.
One of the main reasons real Christianity has a ring of authenticity to it is it understands the relationship between knowledge and love so deeply. The church at Corinth was chucked full of people with the smartest-guy-in the room syndrome, just like so many we see on the news these days, sometimes just like that person we see in the mirror every morning. So Paul wrote these intriguing words to them in 1 Corinthians 8:1, 2. “Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that ‘We all possess knowledge.’ But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 - Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.
What Paul is saying in verse 1 is this: There is a kind of KNOWLEDGE that leads to PRIDE that leads to LOVELESSNESS that leads to DESTRUCTION. It is an imaginary knowing Paul says in the first part of verse 2, “Those who think they know…” The puffer fish, the blow hard who actually doesn’t know owns this imaginary kind of knowledge. Ole’ Rhythm Jaws Louis Armstrong loved to say: “There are some people that if they don’t know - you can’t tell ‘em.”
Paul calls these people, “Those who think they know…” And this leads to pride and lovelessness and destruction. That knowledge puffs up. You aren’t this kind of person in your knowledge of Christ, are you? Notice that Paul says, “This is not right knowing!” In the last part of verse 2 he says that they, “do not yet know as they ought to know,” because love is missing in their knowledge. My friend, there is a “knowing” that only puffs up because it lacks a love that builds up. You may be right but lacking love that builds up makes you wrong.
In Corinth the knowledge the Corinthians were using to puff up was the given that everybody knows that meat sacrificed to idols was nothing. Hence the NIV 2011 in verse 1 puts the phrase “We all possess knowledge” in quotes. It was actually a slogan in Corinth meaning “Duh, who doesn’t know meat offered to idols is just meat.” You see, the Corinthians had come out of pagan backgrounds. They once worshiped idols. They believed that meat was inhabited by demons, so they would offer the meat before their idol. The idea was that the idol would cleanse the meat of the demons, so when they consumed the meat, it would be clean and inhabited by their god rather than by demons. It was an act of worship to their idol. They had grown up doing it this way and some of them were still affected by this way of thinking.
But some of the Corinthian believers who were more knowledgeable were saying, “Idols aren’t real. Now that we’re Christians, we know that idols are a farce. Get over it. Eat the meat. It’s not a big deal.” But the weaker Christians who spent their whole lives thinking another way, having not yet reached a certain Christian maturity in thinking, were sensing in their consciences, I can’t eat that meat. It’s been offered to an idol. That’s like worshiping an idol. Meanwhile the more knowledgeable Christians were saying, “Wimp. Just eat it. There’s no such thing as an idol.” Christianity is about being right, right? So listening to this informed but unloving counsel, the consciences of the less knowledgeable were being wounded.
So Paul addresses the problem. “Yes, you’re right; the idols are not really gods. But that’s not the point. The point is that in using your knowledge, you weren’t thinking about your sister or brother. You were the puffer fish bloated and prickly to your weaker sister and brother. They didn’t yet feel right in their conscience about taking the meat, and yet you unlovingly pushed them toward it because of your knowledge. You wounded their consciences. Why would you do that? Kill your pride in being right. Seek to know in a way that edifies in love without sacrificing what is true. Be right without a knowing that puffs up but with a love that builds up.
There was a dad who was a really, really smart guy - a rocket scientist - and he had a three year old, a little boy. It was the weirdest thing. That little guy didn’t really care at all how smart his dad was. With sheer genius he built rockets that sent men to faraway places but the boy was not impressed. This dad was at Pick N’ Save one time, and the three year old was fussing and whining and super upset and obnoxious. Three year olds do this. He wouldn’t stop his tantrum.
His dad kept whispering quietly in his ear, “It’s okay, Lucas. We’ll be done soon, Lucas. You can handle this Lucas. You are dearly loved, Lucas. We don’t know what to do Lucas, but it will be okay with Jesus, Lucas.” It was beautiful, like this dad was the baby whisperer even though the tantrum continued. A lady behind him in the checkout lane was impressed. “You’re so patient and knowledgeable with your son Lucas,” and the dad said, “Oh, No! My son’s name is Wendell madam. I’m Lucas and trust me I do not know what I am doing.”
A really smart guy who got into a situation where he didn’t know what to do. Sooner or later it happens to even the smartest of us who are usually right and know it all. As Lucas mercifully makes it out into the parking lot he sings a song that he makes up to Wendell who is still wailing away in his arms. At this point in desperation it was a made up two verse dad song with made up dad words sung to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me This I know.” It went like this.
Vs. 1 - “Jesus loves you this I know. ‘Cause the Bible says it’s so. I’m so thankful he loves you. Please, stop crying before I do. Yes, Jesus loves us! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves you! And I don’t know what to do. Vs. 2 - I will never be so proud. When I get into a crowd. A little boy taught me to love. Wisdom’s good but love’s above. Yes, Jesus loves us! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves you! Help me know what to do.
Wendell gets really quiet in hearing these words sung to him. His eyes get really wide. His heart gets really calm. He listens to that wonderful song all the way to the car. He knew it was just a father’s love that was meant to build him up. His daddy puts him in the car seat in the back and then gets behind the wheel to drive off. Wendell pipes up, “Sing it to me again daddy! Sing it to me again! We all need to hear that song more often!”
Christianity is about being right. However, none of us is so bright we are always, at all times, knowing what is right to say and do. We get humbled like Lucas and yet God still loves us. God grant our humbled hearts check our prideful minds so we offer Christ’s truth with a love that builds up. And that is a song we need to hear more often.