For the past four weeks we have been studying the seven churches Jesus addressed in Revelation chapters two and three. The first letter was addressed to the church at Ephesus. If you are familiar with this text you know Jesus commends them on several points but he has one major thing against them, they have left their first love. That is, Christ no longer holds the first place in their hearts. If you continue to read all seven letters you can also conclude that the churches at Sardis and Laodicea suffered from the same spiritual problem, that somehow Christ had been replaced by other things and was no longer first in their hearts and lives.
Any true student of scripture knows God's word is timeless. It is relevant to every age. As I have given myself to study these letters once again I realize that congregations are still wrestling with many of these same problems today. The churches of Asia Minor were faced with the task of living faithful lives unto the Lord in the midst of a pagan society. Is this not our challenge today?
The greatest ache of my heart as a pastor is to see so many people continue to reject the good news of the Gospel and continue living in sin. The second greatest ache of my heart is to see so many people profess Christianity yet live lives that obviously do not love Christ first and foremost above anything else. I witness this loss of first love on a daily basis.
This is not a new problem. We know from scripture it has existed for at least two thousand years. I have witnessed it personally in my walk with Christ for the past twenty nine plus years that I have pastored. People profess their love for God but they find every excuse imaginable why they can't render service unto the Lord. They say they love Him but they would rather play or sleep than worship Him.
As a pastor I have no recourse. I can express my concern. I can even go so far as to admonish someone for their lack of faithfulness but my experience is that people don't generally accept such criticism very well. I cannot spank someone or put them in time out. I can't fine them. I can only remind them of God's love and pray that the power of His love will draw them back. But it is very obvious from the letters sent to the seven churches Jesus knows all things and He is keeping score. I do not pen these words to sound harsh. I pen these words not so much as a warning but a reminder in love, some day we will give an account of our decisions and deeds. It is within our power and ability to love Christ first, before all other things in our lives.
I too am a human being. I know how easy it is to let "things" and "stuff" take a priority in our lives. I battle this temptation everyday. I have had my failures. But I have also learned that Jesus must be first in all things. He must be considered and consulted in every decision and action of life. Some view this as restrictive and suffocating. I have come to learn the opposite is true. I have found that putting Christ first in all things is the safest and most liberating choice we can make. Think of all the trouble you might be in today. Who got you into that trouble, you or God? I think of Jonah. Jonah did not get into trouble by doing what God asked him to do. He got in trouble when he DID NOT DO WHAT GOD TOLD HIM TO DO!!!!! Has your life been any different than Jonah's? Mine has not!! My experience has been the same as Jonah's.
So who, or what, is your first love? You don't need me to tell you what the signs are if you are not where you should be in your relationship with Jesus. The still small voice of the Holy Spirit lets you know if you are where you need to be. That is His job and He does it far better than I ever could. So again I ask, who is your first love.
Just something to think about.
Pastor Jordan
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
I QUIT!!!
I would imagine all of us think the the words, "I QUIT", from time to time. We may even utter them under our breath. Or perhaps we go so far as to confide in a spouse or close friend and inform them of our frustration by saying those two words to them. In some cases we may even follow through and do just that, quit.
There are certainly some things in life we should quit. Things that are sinful. Things that are destructive to our selves or others. Things that bring question or suspicion upon our christian witness.
But there are times quiting is a way to escape responsibility. Or even worse, it is an attempt to turn our back on God's call upon our lives.
My father taught me a lot of good life lessons. For instance he always told me not to borrow something from someone unless I absolutely had to and when I did borrow something to return it as soon as possible in as good or better shape than I found it. Another important life lesson was this: quiting is the easiest thing to do. Quiting means we no longer have to fulfill an obligation. Quiting means we can walk away from our responsibility. Quiting means I don't have to fulfill someone else's expectations of me even if that someone is God. Quiting means I can dump my load on someone else. Quiting means my time is more important than the person who has to take up the burden I have walked away from.
Of course there are times when change in leadership or personnel is needed and called for. There are also times when we are called to another task and we must lay down one responsibility for another. Life changes also necessitate a different path in our lives from time to time. There will come a time when we will have to quit many things we have been accustomed to doing.
The quiting I am talking about is the quiting that allows us to walk away from a commitment or calling for our own convenience sake. For instance, I see this type of quiting in a lot of divorces. Marriage is sometimes hard work. It calls for genuine effort and perseverance. Commitment to the Church is another area that I see people walk away from for convenience sake never giving a thought to those they disappoint, or even hurt, often times out of selfish motives. Sad to say but I have seen many of my colleagues in ministry walk away from God's call on their lives believing that some how life will be better outside of God's will for their life.
We live in a day and age where everything is about "ME". Self gratification is what life is all about for most folks these days. In reality everything is not about "ME". In reality everything is about "HIM", about God and His will. Many Christians have forgotten the fact that we are no longer our own when we come to Christ. We have been purchased by Christ through His blood shed on Calvary. We forget, sometimes for convenience sake, the fact we are to die to self daily so that we might more conform to the person of Christ. We ignore the doctrine of the Lordship of Christ. We love the idea of Him being our Savior but there is no way we are going to relinquish the reigns of leadership for our own lives and let Him truly be Lord of our lives! If we truly allowed Him to be Lord then the "I QUIT" option would not be an option at all. Rather we would go deeper and deeper into prayer and fasting and ask, "Lord, what are you trying to show me through my difficulties and how should I proceed from this point on that your will might be accomplished in this matter and in my life?".
I will confess to you there have been many times when I have wanted to quit pastoring. Dealing with one's self can be frustrating enough but dealing with the attitudes and opinions of 200 other people can seem impossible at times. But where do you quit on God's call upon your life? Where do you quit loving God's people?
Life is not easy. Every decision has consequences that must be dealt with at some time in the future. Walking away from responsibility may sound like a respite today but that decision many times becomes tomorrow's nightmare.
Let me give you an alternative to quiting. Let me suggest to you that you pray and fast every day for 30 days before ever making a decision on an important matter in which you are tempted to say, "I QUIT". Fast at least one meal each day for 30 days and spend the time you would normally spend in eating that meal in praying over this specific matter. It may be the Lord is leading you to quit whatever you are doing. If that is the case then you had best quit. But it could be that in that period of time God will allow you to see , or at least glimpse, the bigger picture of what you are dealing with and you may come to realize that quitting is no longer an option.
The next time you are tempted to quit something out of mere frustration remember what my daddy used to say, "Quitting is the easiest thing to do." In all reality quiting may not be the easiest thing to do once we are faced with the consequences of our decision.
Just something to think about.
Pastor Jordan
There are certainly some things in life we should quit. Things that are sinful. Things that are destructive to our selves or others. Things that bring question or suspicion upon our christian witness.
But there are times quiting is a way to escape responsibility. Or even worse, it is an attempt to turn our back on God's call upon our lives.
My father taught me a lot of good life lessons. For instance he always told me not to borrow something from someone unless I absolutely had to and when I did borrow something to return it as soon as possible in as good or better shape than I found it. Another important life lesson was this: quiting is the easiest thing to do. Quiting means we no longer have to fulfill an obligation. Quiting means we can walk away from our responsibility. Quiting means I don't have to fulfill someone else's expectations of me even if that someone is God. Quiting means I can dump my load on someone else. Quiting means my time is more important than the person who has to take up the burden I have walked away from.
Of course there are times when change in leadership or personnel is needed and called for. There are also times when we are called to another task and we must lay down one responsibility for another. Life changes also necessitate a different path in our lives from time to time. There will come a time when we will have to quit many things we have been accustomed to doing.
The quiting I am talking about is the quiting that allows us to walk away from a commitment or calling for our own convenience sake. For instance, I see this type of quiting in a lot of divorces. Marriage is sometimes hard work. It calls for genuine effort and perseverance. Commitment to the Church is another area that I see people walk away from for convenience sake never giving a thought to those they disappoint, or even hurt, often times out of selfish motives. Sad to say but I have seen many of my colleagues in ministry walk away from God's call on their lives believing that some how life will be better outside of God's will for their life.
We live in a day and age where everything is about "ME". Self gratification is what life is all about for most folks these days. In reality everything is not about "ME". In reality everything is about "HIM", about God and His will. Many Christians have forgotten the fact that we are no longer our own when we come to Christ. We have been purchased by Christ through His blood shed on Calvary. We forget, sometimes for convenience sake, the fact we are to die to self daily so that we might more conform to the person of Christ. We ignore the doctrine of the Lordship of Christ. We love the idea of Him being our Savior but there is no way we are going to relinquish the reigns of leadership for our own lives and let Him truly be Lord of our lives! If we truly allowed Him to be Lord then the "I QUIT" option would not be an option at all. Rather we would go deeper and deeper into prayer and fasting and ask, "Lord, what are you trying to show me through my difficulties and how should I proceed from this point on that your will might be accomplished in this matter and in my life?".
I will confess to you there have been many times when I have wanted to quit pastoring. Dealing with one's self can be frustrating enough but dealing with the attitudes and opinions of 200 other people can seem impossible at times. But where do you quit on God's call upon your life? Where do you quit loving God's people?
Life is not easy. Every decision has consequences that must be dealt with at some time in the future. Walking away from responsibility may sound like a respite today but that decision many times becomes tomorrow's nightmare.
Let me give you an alternative to quiting. Let me suggest to you that you pray and fast every day for 30 days before ever making a decision on an important matter in which you are tempted to say, "I QUIT". Fast at least one meal each day for 30 days and spend the time you would normally spend in eating that meal in praying over this specific matter. It may be the Lord is leading you to quit whatever you are doing. If that is the case then you had best quit. But it could be that in that period of time God will allow you to see , or at least glimpse, the bigger picture of what you are dealing with and you may come to realize that quitting is no longer an option.
The next time you are tempted to quit something out of mere frustration remember what my daddy used to say, "Quitting is the easiest thing to do." In all reality quiting may not be the easiest thing to do once we are faced with the consequences of our decision.
Just something to think about.
Pastor Jordan
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