June 28: The Fruit of God's Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control . . . (Gal. 5:22)

The Secret of Bearing Fruit
For anyone who has ever been brought face-to-face with his or her own shortcomings, Sunday’s message was comforting, reassuring, and full of hope. Nancy began her message by confessing that in the past, whenever she heard a teaching on Galatians 5:22, she always felt discouraged. She knew she did not naturally possess the qualities mentioned as the fruit of the Spirit, and she felt so incapable of rising to the occasion. So in her message this week, she offered a solution to this type of discouragement. The secret to producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit can be distilled into a truth quite simple and fundamental: The traits listed as the fruit of the Spirit are all part of God’s character. In order to have a life full of the Holy Spirit’s fruit, you must first have an intimate, personal relationship with the Lord.

A relationship with the Lord involves getting to know Him -- not just academically, theologically, and intellectually -- but also personally and intimately. In the same way that people have defining qualities within their personalities, God possesses traits too. He has, without measure, the very fruit that is mentioned in Galatians 5:22. He is loving, patient, and faithful. In a relationship with Him, you will get a chance to experience this fruit first hand because He directs it toward you. The kindness is focused in your direction; the patience is extended toward you; the peace surrounds you, and the love makes you feel secure. Because these attributes are part of who God is, there is no way to know Him without being the beneficiary of them. When you have spent time “absorbing” this type of fruit, you will naturally have an abundance of it to share with others, and thus, the fruit of the Spirit will be evident in your life.

Nancy spent a good bit of time talking about the importance of our focus, or where we fixed our eyes. She encouraged us to approach Galatians 5:22 with our eyes fixed on Jesus rather than on ourselves. Scripture also encourages us to focus on the correct person: “. . . let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2). Nancy noted that when it comes to the fruit of the Spirit, “the more your eyes are on yourself, the less fruit you will see.” Conversely, the more our eyes are fixed on Jesus, the more fruit we will experience.

The Fruit of God’s Spirit
Nancy also took time to show that this truth has its basis in scripture. 1 John 4:19 explains that there is a correlation between being loved by God and being able to love: “We love because He first loved us.” This verse of scripture places an emphasis on order: God loved us first, and THEN we were able to love. It underscores the truth that before we can evince the fruit of the Spirit in our hearts and lives, we must first receive it and enjoy it ourselves. Believing that God loves us is the first step to being able to love others. According to Nancy, this will not always be effortless. We have an enemy who works against our faith and lies to us constantly, maligning God. It is also a struggle to battle the unbelief and skepticism in our own hearts. Jesus himself said that believing in Him would be work (John 6:29). For this reason, in her message, Nancy cheered us on in the process of believing, saying, “You have to exercise yourself to believe that God loves you. ‘God loves me’ -- that is what you need to be thinking”

To further illustrate the role that the fruit of the Spirit plays in God’s actions toward us, Nancy read from Zephaniah: “The Lord your God is in your midst. . . He will exult over you with joy. He will be quiet in His love. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy” (3:17). It is so exciting to think that I affect God in that way when He looks down on me. I make him dance and jump and shout for joy (and so do you)! What a great picture! That is definitely a scripture worth remembering and meditating on until it sinks in.

In addition to extending love and joy to us, God also wants us to have peace. Encouraging us to believe in God’s care for us, Nancy reminded everyone, “God is not mad at you; you are not at war with Him. God has peace for you. Seek it just as you would go into a grocery store and walk directly toward the produce section to buy fresh peaches.” Peace is a fruit of God’s Spirit, and it is available to us if we are willing to believe in Christ. In Romans, Paul states it so simply: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1). It is comforting to me to hear that God is not mad at me and that I am at peace with Him. No matter how many times I hear that, it always brings a cool sigh of relief.

In describing God’s patience toward us, Nancy explained that the King James Bible uses the word “longsuffering” for patience, which means “without agitation.” Over and over again in the Psalms, David speaks of the Lord as being “slow to anger.” On Sunday, Nancy reminded us that “God endures anything we send toward him.” He is not a time-bomb waiting to go off and destroy us. His love for us endures long and is patient. “Partake of that fruit,” Nancy said, “and be glad that he is patient with you.”

In her discussion of God’s kindness, Nancy made an interesting point. Reading Romans 2:4, which states that “the kindness of God leads you to repentance,” she reminded us of the way that God deals with us. When we are sinful and deserving of punishment, it is God’s kindness -- not his anger -- that makes us want to turn from our sin. He doesn’t change us with his anger, but with his kindness. “God doesn’t take a stick and beat you until you repent,” Nancy reminded us. He is kind. His kindness invites us to turn toward Him and away from our destructive behavior. His kindness has the power to change our lives. What an amazing fruit to look for when we fix our eyes on Christ!

When Nancy discussed the fruit of goodness, she pointed out that because God possesses goodness and is good, the effect that He has on our lives is beneficial. Being in a relationship with Him and following Him will result in good things for us. We just can’t avoid the goodness. “God is essentially, absolutely, and consummately good,” Nancy declared. In Romans 7:18, Paul dejectedly laments his inability to be good on his own: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” Paul had intentions of doing good deeds; he knew what it was to be good; but he just couldn’t. Like Paul, we are essentially weak and are unable to be good on our own. However, we have the potential for goodness if we first receive it from God, from whom all goodness originates.

Another word for faithfulness, Nancy told us, is fidelity. Fidelity brings along with it connotations of solemnity and absolute trustworthiness. 2 Timothy 2:13 testifies to the immutable, unwavering nature of God’s faithfulness: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself. God’s own nature makes him intrinsically faithful. His faithfulness does not depend on anything we do or don’t do. This is comforting to us since by nature, our faithfulness is weak and tenuous.

God’s gentleness is closely linked to humility. In Matthew 11:28-9, Jesus beckons us to come and sample the fruit of His gentleness. The result, He says, will be rest for our souls and relief from the pressure of pride: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my load is light.”

Self control, Nancy explained, is defined as “the right use of power.” How is this exemplified in God? God never loses control of His power or misuses it. This should bring us comfort and make us feel secure in our relationship with Him. Even though He is omnipotent and even though His power could wipe us away instantaneously, He does not lose control of that power. We can trust Him. During His ministry, Jesus repeated over and over that He was here on earth to do His Father’s will and that He did not have an agenda of His own. He would only use His Father’s power according to His will: “I can do nothing on My own initiative . . . I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me,” (John 5:30).

Even when the Lord was provoked here on earth, He did not misuse His power. When Judas betrayed the Lord and led the authorities to arrest Him, Jesus restrained His power, saying to one of his overzealous disciples, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” Here, Jesus made the point that He had all power and authority, but that He would only use it according to God’s will. He is trustworthy, and we can depend that He will never deal with us in a reckless or thoughtless manner. “God’s not going to get mad with you and squish you like a bug,” Nancy chided us; “He NEVER misuses His power.”

Reflection
I have to say that even in writing this blog entry, I enjoyed thinking about some of God’s fruit. His characteristics are good, and just as we would delight in spending time with someone who has good qualities and extends them to us, how much more can we enjoy time spent with One who possesses those qualities ad infinitum? So don’t be discouraged when you read Galatians 5:22. Rather, take some time to turn your eyes upon the Jesus. He is gentle and patient and will wait with love while we adjust our focus from ourselves to Him.

Scriptures Referenced in Message
1 John 3:1a, 16a; 4:9-10, 16-18
Zephaniah 3:14-17
Luke 10:17-21; 15:4-7
John 14:27; 16:33; 20:19b
Romans 5:1; 15:13
Colossians 1:19-20
1 Timothy 1:16
2 Peter 3:9
Romans 2:4
Luke 18:18-19
Romans 7:18
2 Timothy 2:13
Romans 3:3
Matthew 11:28-30
John 5:30; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10
Matthew 26:51-53

June 21: Jesus, Man of Joy

How Do We Picture Jesus?
This Sunday, we had a once-in-a-while treat: a message delivered by Emil Powella. For his subject, Emil chose something close to his own heart: the part that joy played in Jesus’ personality and ministry. Emil started off by asking us if anyone possessed a photo of Jesus. Ann rummaged through her purse and found a copy of a painting, but of course, we were unable to produce an actual photo. Laughing, Emil said that for those of us who are visual learners and need a picture in order to really understand something, he had something helpful for us. Pointing to the screen behind him, he showed us a clip from The Book of Matthew, a Hollywood-made movie version of the Gospel of Matthew. In contrast to the stern, serious, or even angry cinematic portrayals of Jesus to which the world has become accustomed, this portrayal was refreshingly different: it depicted our Lord as a joyful man. With this film clip, Emil set up his thesis: Contrary to misconceptions illustrated in famous artwork and movies, Jesus did not spend his time on earth as a morose, aloof figure. Rather, He walked the earth radiating a bright, robust, and irresistible joy. Knowing this about Jesus, Emil implied, would drastically change the way we relate to our Lord. After all, a man’s demeanor has everything do with how we approach him.

Old Testament Predictions of Jesus’ Joy
When the Old Testament prophets foretold Jesus’ coming, their prophecies painted pictures of great joy. Isaiah speaks of “the ransomed of the Lord,” a title referring to anyone whom the Lord has saved (that includes us). These rescued and redeemed people will “come with joyful shouting . . . and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” (51:11). How could Jesus bring such joy to us if He were not a man of joy? Isaiah continues his description of the Messiah’s coming in chapter 61, which states that this savior – Jesus – will give people “the oil of gladness instead of mourning”(verse 3). Here again, if Jesus is able to transform people’s mourning into gladness, doesn’t it seem logical that He Himself possesses gladness? And, if He is able to distribute gladness like oil to myriads of people, He must have a measureless supply of it.

The Old Testament book Nehemiah depicts Israel’s battle against fierce opposition to rebuild the temple. During this time, it was said that the people built with one hand and carried a sword in the other in order to battle the enemy that threatened to tear down what they were building. In the midst of this impossible struggle, the prophet Nehemiah encouraged Israel to remember their real source of strength: the joy of the Lord. “The joy of the Lord is your strength,” he reminded them (8:10). Emil pointed out that Jesus’ joy is not merely a flimsy, ephemeral happiness that goes away at the approach of difficulty. On the contrary, it is a substantial, ever-present power that upholds God’s people consistently, even during their most trying times.

Joy in Jesus’ Ministry
The New Testament also speaks of the enormous role that joy played in Jesus’ life and ministry. To help us to see this, Emil read accounts of Jesus’ ministry from the Gospels, encouraging us to think about Jesus’ countenance during his performance of miracles.

“Do you think He was a grumpy man?” Emil asked. “No! He was full of joy!”

Reading through these biblical accounts, Emil paused and emphasized details that we had not noticed before, bringing the well known stories into a new light. Chapter 2 of John describes Jesus’ first public miracle. This miracle was to be the advent and commencement of His public ministry and would set the tone for who Jesus was going to be as a public person. It is interesting that His first miracle wasn’t healing a sick person or raising the dead. Rather, it was an act that heaped more joy upon an already joyous occasion: a wedding. When the wedding host ran out of wine to serve the guests, Jesus transformed clear, tasteless water into exquisite wine. This miracle, Emil hypothesized, suggests that Jesus valued celebration. At the time, Jesus probably had a lot of work that He could have been doing, but He took the time to attend a wedding and to make the wedding even better. This passage also shows that Jesus enjoyed being around other people. After all, if he had been a smug, downtrodden, taciturn individual, he wouldn’t have been invited to the wedding in the first place. The fact that he was invited, as John 2:2 points out, shows that He was someone people wanted to be around. Emil also encouraged us to picture Jesus moments before the miracle took place. In the midst of the worried host and his skeptical disciples, Jesus just may have had a twinkle in his eye, knowing that he was about to turn their worry and skepticism into joy.

At another point during Jesus’ ministry, a foreign, non-Israeli woman came to Him and begged for mercy. Her daughter was possessed by demons and the woman was desperate for help. In response to her persistent cries for help, Jesus remained unusually silent. Finally, in an attempt to draw out her faith, Jesus turned to the woman and said that He could not help her because He had been sent only to Israel and she was a Gentile. “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” Jesus stated (Matthew 15:26). Responding quickly and in desperation, she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master’s table” (verse 27). The Bible teaches that faith pleases God and that God gives grace and favor to the humble. Jesus must have been pleased with this quick response in which the woman both acknowledged her own unworthiness and showed faith in His unmerited favor and compassion. Emil encouraged us to picture Jesus’ countenance when the woman spoke this humble, faith-filled reply. Of course, the account in Matthew does not tell us what Jesus’ expression was, but Emil suggested that it just may have been a look of joy.

“Can’t you see Jesus’ eyes lighting up and a smile peeking through his formerly solemn expression?” Emil asked. “Can’t you just see a grin on Jesus’ face that says, ‘you’ve got me there,’ when He hears the woman’s response?”

The Canaanite woman’s faith saw past Jesus’ initial comments to her, and reached down to the joy and magnanimity inside of Him. As a result, Jesus healed the woman’s daughter on the spot, telling the woman that her faith was “great.”

Jesus, Our Source of Joy
Emil ended his message by explaining that it is important to understand that Jesus was a man of joy because as his followers, joy is a big part of our identities too. If “the joy of the Lord is [our] strength,” then we need it for our own sustenance and endurance (Nehemiah 8:10). Moreover, there are other people that we encounter daily who are searching for Jesus. If we demonstrate the joy of the Lord, they may be drawn to Christ through that joy. This joy, Emil noted, is not something we will ever be able to produce on our own. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit that is produced in us when we “abide in the vine,” which is Jesus. “You get fruit by spending time with Jesus,” Emil said. Based on Emil’s description of our joy-filled Savior, it is hard to imagine not wanting to spend time with Him.

Scriptures Referenced in Emil’s Message:
Isaiah 51:11
Isaiah 61:1-3
Nehemiah 8:10
Romans 14:17
John 2
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 1:9
Luke 10:21
Matthew 15:26-7
Psalm 150
Acts 2
Luke 15:10
James 1:2-4
Luke 15
Matthew 28:9
John 15

June 14: Surrender and Trust

Trust’s Relationship to Surrender
On Sunday, Nancy continued the lesson on surrender. This time, she focused on trust, a small, monosyllabic word capable of transforming a desert into an oasis. “You have to trust God in order to surrender to God,” Nancy stated simply. Trusting God is a decision – a decision to believe in God’s integrity and character according to His word. Nancy elaborated on trust for some time, defining it as a “state of non-anxiety” and describing its fruit as “rest, joy and peace.” She read from a passage in Jeremiah that painted a colorful picture of trust. Jeremiah 17:5-8 contrasts two men: the man who trusts in mankind and the man who trusts in the Lord. The man who trusts in mankind is represented by images of dryness, desiccation, and the “nothingness” that one might associate with a wasteland. In stark contrast, Jeremiah describes the man who trusts in God as “blessed.” This man is “a tree planted by the water,” full of lush green leaves and bountiful fruit. The roots of this tree, according to Jeremiah, reach out to the nearby water source, by which it is continually hydrated. While others might be afraid during a time of drought, this tree “will not be anxious.”

Hezekiah: A Picture of Trust
To continue her sermon on trust and its relationship to surrender, Nancy explained that whenever we begin to trust in the Lord, there will be opposition from our enemy, Satan. She read from the Old Testament story of Hezekiah’s water tunnel to illustrate this point. Hezekiah was a king of Judah who trusted in God. When Assyria’s Sennacherib threatened to besiege Jerusalem, Hezekiah told the Jerusalemites to trust in God because He would protect them. This trust was actively, aggressively, and cleverly opposed by Sennacherib, who taunted the people of Jerusalem, saying that they were foolish to trust in God and in Hezekiah. In those days, it was common for an invading army to cut off the water supply of the city it wanted to capture. This would force the captive city to either surrender to the enemy or face dehydration and death. Anticipating that Sennacherib would use this strategy, Hezekiah acted quickly and decisively to prevent him from cutting off Jerusalem’s water supply. He stopped up the spring from which Jerusalem derived its water and dug a tunnel that would divert the spring’s water from its above-ground flow pattern to an undetectable subterranean channel that emptied out within the city walls. When considering the tunnel today, it seems a miracle that Hezekiah and his men were able to create it at all. Without the use of explosives or sophisticated power tools, they dug through solid rock in a matter of months. Moreover, in digging the S-shaped tunnel, Hezekiah’s workers started on opposite ends and worked their way toward one another, meeting in the middle. I can’t help but think that there was something supernatural in the construction of that tunnel.

So in the end, not only did God rescue Jerusalem by sending an angel to kill the entire Assyrian army; He also made sure that Jerusalem was well watered. This draws a parallel to the passage in Jeremiah, doesn’t it? Hezekiah and Jerusalem trusted in the Lord, and as a result, they were like the tree planted by the water with no need to be fearful or anxious of oncoming disaster.

Dig, Dig, Dig!
Nancy ended her message by pointing out that “our hearts are the place of worship,” just like Jerusalem was the center of worship for Judah. “The enemy wants to cut off our water supply (in scripture, water represents God’s Word and the Holy Spirit). He does this by throwing threats and circumstances in our faces so that we will not believe in God’s promises.” In light of this, Nancy said, “let your faith dig a tunnel to the springs of life so that no matter what besieges you in this life, you put your trust in God and live a life of surrender. You will experience an amazing peace that surpasses understanding that will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.”

Eating the Fruit of Trust: A Reflection
The statement that impacted me the most on Sunday was “You can’t surrender unless you trust; when you trust, you will eat the fruit.” In recent months, I have been able to taste a little of the fruit of surrender, and it really is worth it. The more I taste of it, the more I wish I had trusted God from the beginning. I became a Christian seventeen years ago and gave Him my life then, but I didn’t believe in his goodness enough to really trust Him. I remained anxious and fearful that really, He didn’t have my best interests in mind and that if I surrendered my life to Him wholly and stopped trying to run my life on my own, my life would be empty and I would have nothing. I couldn’t see His goodness; I couldn’t see His plan for me; I couldn’t see anything but emptiness. To be honest, I didn’t really believe He had a plan for me, let alone one that I would like. So I held on to small portions of my life, thinking that if I didn’t, I would be left with absolutely nothing. Not too long ago, I was brought to an understanding that there really are just two options: surrendering everything or nothing at all. Standing in “No Man’s Land,” with one foot in and one foot out really isn’t surrender at all. It is compromise, and in Jesus’ eyes, it is useless. So I stepped out of the middle and put both feet on His side, not looking back. I am so glad I did.

In retrospect, I wish I had trusted Him from the beginning. Then I would have had the fruit of surrender, like the sweet knowledge of His love for me, the cool peace of not having to be in charge of things, and the patience that comes from getting glimpses from an eternal perspective every now and then. So I encourage you to surrender with trust. If I had surrendered with trust a long time ago, I would be full of fruit right now, rather than just tasting it for the first time.

Scriptures Referenced in Nancy's Message:
Jeremiah 17:5-8
Psalm 20
2 Chronicles 31:20 - 32:22
1 Corinthians 10:6
John 7:37b-39a
Philippians 4:7

June 7: Practicing God’s Presence: “Gazing Heavenward”

Don’t Blink!
Last week, I spent some time visiting with Eileen and Kim at a neighborhood pool. Because both of them have young children, we lounged in the baby pool and talked rather than swimming and diving in the real pool. While Kim held Kaitlin and Eileen supervised Emilee’s splashing around, I asked Kim about this past year. That day was Kaitlin’s first birthday, and I knew it was a milestone for Kim, a time to remember an important day not too long ago when her life had changed so dramatically. Thinking it would seem like a long time ago to her, I said, “so much has happened since Kaitlin was born, it must seem like years ago rather than only a year.”

“Actually,” Kim said with wide eyes, it has gone by SO fast! I have never known time to go by so quickly.”

As we sat there and talked, pausing momentarily to laugh at Emilee’s antics, two older boys came and jumped into the baby pool. They were followed by their mother, a middle-aged woman who didn’t seem too pleased with them. “Get out of that pool,” she scolded with a New Jersey accent that somehow made the command seem absolutely nonnegotiable. “You are too old for that!” She smiled at us apologetically and looked at baby Kaitlin with a twinkle in her eye. She then said to Kim, “Don’t blink! You’ll open your eyes and she’ll be grown up! It goes by so fast.” With that, she shooed her sons out of the pool and the entire crew scampered away, leaving us to thoughtfully consider her words.

In the wake of that wise mother’s comments, my thoughts wandered to the Psalms. So many times throughout this collection of songs and poetry, the psalmists are forced to admit how fleeting and finite their lives are in light of the everlasting nature of God. They gaze upon God, and doing so makes them see themselves and their lives with a humbler perspective. In Psalm 144, David exclaims, “O Lord, what is man that Thou dost take knowledge of him? . . . Man is like a mere breath; his days are like a passing shadow” (verse 4). In Psalm 90, Moses contrasts God’s permanence with his own transience. He speaks of God as existing “before the mountains were born” and before God gave birth to the Earth (verse 2). Indeed, Moses notes, God has been God “from everlasting to everlasting” ( verse 2). Man, in contrast, turns back to dust after a brief lifespan of seventy or eighty years.* Even our years themselves, tiny units of measurement that we use to quantify this short life of ours, are miniscule to God. Moses remarks that “a thousand years in Your [God’s] sight are like yesterday when it passes by or as a watch in the night” (verse 4). To one with the infinite perspective of God, Moses theorizes, the span of our lives is like a moment that is over almost as quickly as one can blink an eye.

Numbering Our Days
In his sermon on Sunday, Rich drew from Moses’ Psalm 90 to point something out: because our lives are so short, it would behoove us to consider how to live them so that we don’t miss what is most important – God Himself. Moses, after considering the insignificance of man’s lifespan, prays earnestly, “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom” (verse 12). Here, Moses is literally pleading with God to help him understand the brevity of his own life. Moses believes that if he continually remembers that his days are limited, he will gain wisdom. According to the book of Proverbs, wisdom is knowledge that is founded on an awareness of and fear of God. So when Moses asks God for a heart of wisdom, he is praying for a type of intelligence that first acknowledges God. Having this wisdom will inform Moses’ actions, and as a result, he will act as one who understands how valuable his time is and as one who seeks to use it a in way that pleases God.

Following this prayer for wisdom, Moses asks that God would not be far from him, but that His presence would be palpably evident at the beginning of each new day: “O satisfy us in the morning with Thy loving-kindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all of our days” (verse 14). Here, Moses’ earnest request suggests that God’s favor and nearness are essential to his life’s satisfaction and contentment. After reading these verses to us in his sermon, Rich turned his attention from Moses to us.

Full Plates
In an effort to bring Moses’ ancient prayer to life and to relate it to our daily situations, Rich used a dinner plate. Rich said that if the world is a buffet table with an unlimited supply of food, our lives are like plates. We only have one plate to fill per day, and, as Moses states so categorically in Psalm 90, our days are finite. Each day, we tend to fill our plates high with plans, activities, and agendas. Sometimes, our plates are so heavily laden with “food” that we become overwhelmed. This leaves very little room, if any room at all, for God. Rich pointed out that if we want to live a surrendered life, we must bring our empty plates to God each morning and allow Him to fill them.

Taking the Time to Gaze at God
Rich explained to us that it is important that we give God our attention each day at some point. He said that he likes to get up early in the morning and pray and read scripture before his work day starts. Other people, however, may find that the early morning does not work well for them. Instead, they may find it easier to turn their attention to God at some other point in their day. The time and place of our meetings with God may vary, but what is most important is that we have the “meeting” at some point.

One of the most powerful moments in Rich’s sermon was when he asked us to close our eyes and gaze heavenward. As we sat there in self-imposed darkness, he asked us to look at God and listen to what our Heavenly Father would say to us. At the end of this exercise, Rich postulated that some people may have heard God express His love for them; some people may have heard God say that He wants to comfort them in the midst of the difficulty they are going through; and others may have heard that God is pleased with them. Still others, Rich suggested, were probably afraid to look at God. They were fearful of what they might hear. These people should take heart, because ultimately, our Heavenly Father loves us and doesn’t desire to punish us. The result of gazing at Him in faith can have effects that are both life-giving and life-sustaining.


Gazing at God: Life Sustaining
To the person who already believes in Jesus and has surrendered his life to Him, gazing at God becomes a vital part of nourishing and sustaining that relationship. In John 15, Jesus describes the relationship between Himself and believers as being like the relationship between a vine and its branches. Branches cannot live apart from the vine from which they grow. It is through that vine that they receive nutrients and hydration. The same principle holds true in the relationship between a believer and Christ. If a believer does not have a healthy, well nourished relationship with Christ, he will not flourish. For this reason, we must “gaze at God” often. We may gaze at God to praise him, or gaze at God to hear an “I love you” from Him or gaze at God to receive instruction and direction for a particular situation. Regardless, gazing at God is part of sustaining our relationship with Christ.

In chapter three of Acts, a passage which Rich read to us this week and last week, Peter and John encounter a crippled beggar whom God eventually heals through them. These two men could not have been a part of the beggar’s healing if they had not been taking the time to gaze at God. In fact, when they encountered the beggar, they were on the way to the temple to pray. They were particularly sensitive to God at that moment because they were going to the temple to look heavenward in prayer. Not only did Peter and John have an established relationship with Christ; they were also listening for his voice, taking the time to be aware of him. Because they were, they had an opportunity be used by God to change another man’s life.

Gazing at God: Life Saving
To the person who does not have a relationship with Christ, gazing at God becomes an act of life-saving significance. To illustrate this type of “gazing,” Rich referenced the story of Moses and the serpents. During the Israelites’ forty-year sojourn in the wilderness, there were several points at which the beloved people of God became irritable and complained about their situation. While this may seem like a mild offense, in reality, it was a sign of unbelief in God’s wisdom and goodness. In short, the Israelites’ complaints were positive proof that they did not believe that God was going to take care of them. At one point, when they had been wandering in the wilderness for some time, they became particularly angry at God and at Moses and began to grumble speak out against them. In response to this, God sent poisonous snakes out among them, which slithered around their feet, injecting deadly venom into their bodies with each outstretched fang. The people cried out to Moses for help, and at the Lord’s instruction, Moses made a serpent of brass and put it on top of a pole. Holding the pole up high in the air where it would be visible to all, Moses told the Israelites that if they would turn their gaze upward and fix their eyes on the brass serpent, they would be invulnerable to the snakes’ venom and they would live. Many people did this and were saved, but some people refused to look at the snake and perished.

Like the Israelites, we have been bitten by a serpent, figuratively. Because the craftiest serpent, Satan, tempted Eve so long ago, sin entered the world. As a result, we are born infected with sin’s “venom.” We have a natural tendency to sin, and regardless of how good we try to act, it is impossible for us to fully meet the standard of holiness that is set forth in God’s perfect law. The only life-saving antidote is Christ’s death on the cross. Just as God, through Moses, asked the Israelites to look up to the brass serpent, Christ asks us to look to the cross and believe that He died for us and will save us. But so many people think that such things are foolish, and they would rather perish than to believe that their sin could be wiped away so “easily.” Rich made the point that sometimes, pride can keep a person from believing in the life-saving power of Christ’s death on the cross. He hypothesized that if we had been in the wilderness with the Israelites, certain ones of us may have argued with Moses, saying that looking at the serpent was too easy a solution. Rather than believe that it could be real, many of us would have refused to accept it. The same thing happens with Christ. People don’t believe that their sins have been completely forgiven by Christ because that solution is just too simple to be realistic. Unfortunately, in their stubbornness, those people end up missing out on the opportunity of eternal life and a life-sustaining relationship with God himself. Jesus draws the comparison between Moses and Himself in John 3:14-15: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.” As the bronze serpent saved the Israelites from the vipers’ venom, Jesus’ death on the cross saves us from Satan’s (the infernal serpent’s) venom – sin.

Gazing at God – Another Invitation
At the very end of Sunday’s church service, Heather Hviding led us in a song about God’s love. Strumming her guitar, she sang of a love higher and broader than human love could ever be. The song was another plea, just in case people didn’t hear the plea in Rich’s message, for us to take the time to gaze at God. When beholding God results in a love like the one described in this song, it is hard to imagine not being willing to take at least one look.

His love is higher than the highest of mountains.
His love goes deeper than the deepest of seas.
His love, it stretches to the farthest horizon,
And His love . . . it reaches to me.

His love is stronger than the angels and demons.
His love, it keeps me in my life's darkest hour.
His love secures me on the pathway to heaven,
And His love . . . is my strength and power.

His love is sweeter than the sweetest of honey.
His love is better than the choicest of wine.
His love, it satisfies the deepest of hunger,
And His love . . . in Jesus, it's mine.


Scriptures Referenced in Sermon
Psalm 90:12-14
Acts 3:1-20
Numbers 21:6-9
John 3:14

Other Scriptures to Consider
Psalm 144:4
John 15:1-11

*I think it is ironic and a little funny that Moses is quoted as saying that man’s lifespan is seventy or eighty years at most because Moses himself lived to be approximately one hundred and twenty! :)

May 31: Practicing God's Presence (The Overflowing Life)

How did you do that?
Rich began this week’s message by sharing a personal story with us. While at Trail Days earlier in the month, a magazine reporter interviewed him about his part in the Appalachian Trail ministry. As the interview wore on, the reporter’s questions gradually changed from scripted interview prompts to genuine, heartfelt inquiries. Finally, the reporter said to Rich, “This week, I noticed you having conversations with just about every hiker that came your way. You were talking about Christ, weren’t you? How did you do that?”

How do we minister to others powerfully? How do we find a way to share with others the truths and the love that we ourselves have found in Christ? This is the question that the interviewer was asking. He probably expected Rich to explain a conversation method or a five-step process for engaging listeners. Maybe he thought Rich would teach him a rhetorical technique or persuasive stratagem. Whatever the interviewer was expecting, the answer Rich had for him was quite simple. On Sunday, Rich based his message on that very simple answer.

The Overflowing Life
In last week’s sermon, Nancy pointed out that God calls all believers not only to believe in Christ, but also to surrender their lives to Him. What she didn’t necessarily emphasize is that this type of surrender has life altering consequences – good ones. The natural result of surrender, according to scripture, is what Rich described this week as an “overflowing life,” a life that is full of the Holy Spirit and its fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and discipline (Galatians 5:22). Herein lies the answer to the reporter’s question: when a person has surrendered his life to God, the change that takes place leaves him brimming with excitement and gratitude for what God has done for him. Therefore, it is no difficult chore for him to share all of that with others. It is not a tedious or awkward responsibility; it comes naturally. Divulging the truth about Christ’s love came naturally to Rich because he was so full the Holy Spirit that he was overflowing with it, just as a glass of water that has reached its full capacity overflows when more water is added.

“I am what I am, but I am not yet who I will become”
The idea of an overflowing heart has its basis in scripture. Christ pointed out in the Gospels that whether with goodness or with evil, each person’s heart overflows with something: “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart” (Luke 6:45). Before Christ rescues us from our sin, our lives are not “overflowing” with goodness and truth. Rather, they are often overflowing with hurt, fear, anger, or any number of unfavorable things. Rich stated in his sermon that thankfully, amidst all of the toxic trash that inhabits our minds and souls, Christ comes in and loves us anyway. He loves us so consistently and unconditionally that eventually, we start letting go of some of our sin. When we get rid of some of that trash, it gives Christ a chance to come in and inhabit more space in our hearts. The more surrendered we become and the more old attitudes, destructive behaviors, and lies we let go of, the more God is able to fill us with His Spirit, and over time, He is able to make us into that person that He had in mind when He carefully designed us. Rich made a point to say that when God looks at our unregenerate, filthy state as sinners, He sees us as we are, but He also sees us as the new creations we will become. He knows our potential because He gave it to us when He made us, and He loves us. He loves us with a love as intense as a fire that cannot be extinguished, and He believes in us and in our potential even when we do not believe in either. He rescues us from our sin, takes us as we are, and begins the long, slow, yet careful and loving process of making us into who we will become.

Peter and John: Failures with Potential in Christ
In his sermon, Rich mentioned that he loves reading about successful people who were once failures because it gives him hope for himself. Two such examples of this are Peter and John, two of Jesus’ disciples who, when Jesus found them, had enough flaws to discourage anyone from believing in them. John had a violent nature, and Peter tended to vacillate between overweening pride and shameful cowardice. Would you believe that John, who was latterly termed the “Son of Thunder,” went on to be called the Apostle of Love and that Peter, weak and prideful as he was, went on to demonstrate great humility and courage? These two men were changed by the love and power of Christ. The Lord saw their potential long before it was evident to anyone else because He had created them with it. And through various trials and surrenders, they became the men that we see in Acts 3:1-20.

Peter and John: Prime Examples of the Overflowing Life
By the time of the encounter described in Acts 3:1-20, Peter and John had witnessed Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension and had received his Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Through God’s providential work in their lives and through their own willingness to surrender everything to Christ, they had been changed. What Peter and John demonstrate in this passage is a prime example of ministering not according to a formula or strategy, but out of a life overflowing with God’s Holy Spirit. In his sermon, Rich used Peter and John’s example to point out several principles of “the overflowing life.”

Principles of an Overflowing Life

- Routine Situations Become Sacred Opportunities
First of all, the sacred encounter that Peter and John had with the beggar in Acts 3 was not something they had planned in advance. On that particular day, the two friends were merely going to the temple to pray at the usual time – a routine they probably followed daily. Approaching the temple, they encountered a lame man, whom the narrator tells us was a regular beggar at the temple, known by most. So Peter and John’s situation was nothing unique: they were going to a place they visited regularly and encountered a man they had likely seen before.

What made this ordinary moment special was the Holy Spirit. Because Peter and John were surrendered to God and the Holy Spirit indwelt them, they were open to hearing the Lord’s voice. The Scripture explains that in the moment when the lame man asked for alms, the Holy Spirit seized Peter’s and John’s attention and caused them to “fix their gaze” upon the man (3:4). Rich noted in his sermon that in this situation, the Holy Spirit caused Peter and John to see the beggar as Christ saw him rather than as just another face in the crowd. We are not privy to what went on in Peter’s mind during this occurrence. The narrator only tells us that the beggar had caught his attention. I am guessing, however, that there may have been a quick prayer exchanged silently between Peter and the Lord in which the apostle asked what to do, and the Lord impressed upon him that he was to give the beggar what he had. Whatever his thoughts were at the time, Peter’s response to the beggar’s request for alms was this: “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene -- Walk!” With the word “walk,” the crippled man got up and was healed, his life having been forever changed because he crossed paths with Peter and John and the power of God “overflowed” onto him.

- God Wants to Do More Than We Ask or Expect
What an amazing gift – to be whole again and to be able to walk and function as a regular person. We can only speculate as to how this changed the beggar’s life. One thing is certain, however. We can learn a biblical principle from the beggar’s story: God’s ways are not just different from our ways; they are BETTER. The beggar’s highest aim was to receive money from Peter and John. God’s desire was to give the beggar more than that – He wanted the beggar to be whole again and able to walk. Through Peter and John, God does more for the beggar than the beggar would have thought possible. In Ephesians, Paul echoes this principle when he describes Christ as “Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (3:20)

Uncovering Hidden Treasures
Rich ended his message with an object lesson. He showed us an old duffle bag filled with miscellaneous items and said that the bag represented his life. Reaching down into the canvas tote, he pulled out several belongings, one at a time – a tennis ball, a picture of himself with a huge trophy fish, a book, his wallet, a pocket calendar, and a picture of his family. Each one of these belongings, he noted, represented a different aspect of his life that was very dear to him. He also stated that at some point or another, God had brought him to the point of having to surrender each of those things to Him.

As Rich presented each item, he lingered for a little while, telling us about an experience involving each prized possession. When he got to the book, however, he explained to us that early in his life, books, especially textbooks, had been not a treasure to him but an odious symbol of failure. He briefly referenced his tortuous memories of being in high school and not knowing how to study. At the time, he thought so little of his own abilities as a student that he didn’t even attempt any kind of scholarly pursuits. Then, through a series of circumstances, he was brought to a point where he had to surrender even his failures to the Lord. He saw himself as a failure academically, but God was compelling him to go to college, and in order to succeed in college, Rich had to do something he thought would make him miserable: study. But he surrendered even that to God, and over time, God not only caused him to be a successful student; He also showed Rich that really, he had created him with a love for learning and reading. Today, many of us know Rich as someone who is well versed in the Bible and in many areas of theology. There are even times when his passion for reading and studying “overflows” onto the rest of us as he hands out books and study tools to us to help us get more out of God’s Word. This hidden treasure of scholarship was one that Rich would have never discovered had he not been willing to surrender his life to Christ. So it seems that when we surrender to the Lord’s work in our lives, we sometimes find hidden treasure that we do not expect. And many times, we find that God has created us with hidden potential that exceeds what we would have ever imagined ourselves as being able to do.

Are You Ready Yet?
After Rich’s sermon, the service ended with a song called “More Precious than Silver.” This piece of music is a love song to Christ, expressing his surpassing superiority to anything else on this earth, even the most desirable things that we can imagine. The song mentions gold, silver, and diamonds, claiming that the Lord is still more precious, more valuable and more costly than these, the most prized treasures in the world. We all sang this song, yet I wonder if we are ready to believe it. If God is truly more valuable than even the most valuable of worldly treasures, shouldn’t we feel safe in surrendering our own treasures to him? Rich ended his message by asking us whether we were ready to surrender all that we had to God. He held up his bag to show us the things that he had to surrender. Then he said: “There are three things that God wants: your fears, your failures, and your future. Are you ready to trust that if you give those things over to God, He will take care of you?”

Scriptures Referenced in the Sermon
Luke 6:43-45; Acts 3:1-20

Other Scriptures to Consider
Ephesians 3:20
Colossians 2:2-3