a humbling admission

Truly God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

my steps had nearly slipped.

For I was envious of the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Psalm 73:1-3

This psalm of Asaph opens Book Three of the Psalter with a candor worth considering. I think it would do most Christians a lot of good to admit that this same struggle occasionally grabs our own hearts. I know I have been there. I remember once a few years back, as I drove to the church office to do the Lord’s work in my vehicle of the time, a 20+ year old Jeep SUV closing in on a quarter million miles, out of nowhere an obnoxious Audi comes behind me at full speed, crosses the double line, and passes me, flipping me the bird with a grin as he did so. I remember angrily praying out loud something like this: “Lord, why do the wicked get to have the good cars? The way this dude drives, he doesn’t deserve it!” My feet were stumbling. I was envious.

We live in a world that pushes materialism and the good life on us as the only measure of success and happiness. And Christians, if we aren’t in a worship perspective, we can fall for this. Our feet can almost stumble; our steps can nearly slip. That’s why a true worship perspective as described in Psalm 73 gets us back on track.

Outwardly the wicked can seem to have the good life. Read Psalm 73:4-15 for Asaph’s sketch of those observations. It looks like we should be envious of materialism. We can end up feeling defeated. But the perspective of God’s power, punishment of sin, and provision for His people changes everything! In worship in God’s sanctuary, Asaph perceives the truly big picture and repents of his envy:

• God judges the wicked and none of their material success saves them (Psalm 73:16-20).
• We are wrong to envy materialism (Psalm 73:21-23).
• God is always with us, protecting, guiding, and holding us eternally. That is priceless (Psalm 73:23-26).
• God settles it all in the end… we don’t! (Psalm 73:27)
• The faithful righteous have much to testify to concerning God’s great work on their behalf. That is the true treasure (Psalm 73:28).

all of you agree

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

1 Corinthians 1:10

Division in the church is nothing new. In the city of Corinth, a church that was planted by the apostle Paul himself became split with quarrels. The main issues involved celebritizing past leaders as well as an unwillingness in the church to take action on immoral behavior. They were starstruck but not sin-sick. The result was shattering to the unity of the Body of Christ and this ultimately took the eyes of the members of the Corinthian church off Jesus and on people.

There were camps of disciples. Some claiming to follow Paul’s teaching… others liked Apollos. Still others claimed Peter or Cephas as their guru, and then there was this super-spiritual sanctimonious group that just said, “Ahem…. We follow Jesus.” It was all a big mess. Paul chides the church for this childish bragging and points out how all of them have got their eyes completely off the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:11-17). After chastising their childishness, Paul again points to the wisdom and power of God in the cross of Christ to refocus all of them away from their infighting divisions and to the unifying salvation found only in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18-35).

Petty disagreements are always a problem among Christians. And today is no different. We still divide over Christian celebrity and consumeristic ceremonies. And some ministries place character on the back burner in order to attract consumer Christians. Then this becomes a temptation for all churches. But disciples are made not by showtime pageantry, fog and laser lights, and hipster motivational speakers. Disciples are made by individual commitment, clear gospel preaching, sound doctrine, accountable living, and honest connection in community with believers. It is anti-consumeristic to follow Jesus because He requires we deny self and load up a heavy cross on our backs. It is an inconvenient truth.

Oh that we would hear the call in our Lord Jesus Christ to agree together! Oh to end petty divisions over people and personal preferences so that the gospel brings us again into unity!

transcending trouble

Your righteousness, O God,

reaches the high heavens.

You who have done great things,

O God, who is like you?

You who have made me see many troubles and calamities

will revive me again;

from the depths of the earth

you will bring me up again.

Psalm 71:19-20

These two verses are strangely paralleled in a song of praise. They capture the tension that a life lived long with God will inevitably come to know. On one hand, we praise God for His transcendent and unique holiness. Only God is God. Only He is truly righteous. And His power and might are displayed to us. We worship His majesty, power, holiness, and glory. No one is like God.

And then, on the other hand, God will bring us to experience difficulties. Yes, we worship a transcendent God. But we also live in a broken world. And so God may lead us to know trouble and hardship as we experience our sin-marred lives. He calls us to trust and worship Him even as difficulties and tragedies hit our lives and leave us whirling emotionally and spiritually. We need God’s transcendence even more in the depths of such suffering. Thankfully He is still the God of wonders even as we live in a world of blunders!

O Lord,

I have seen, and continue to see, many troubles and calamities in a world that You are still going to make new. Yet even in these hardships, You are better… perfect… and powerful! You revive the soul overwhelmed in crisis. You raise me from the depths of difficulty to again praise Your greatness! And in the tension there is great glory given to You for Your works of power. Thank You for being great, even in the grittiness and grime of rough times!

Amen

refreshed in a culture of joy

…so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.

Romans 15:32

One of the great life experiences comes to those who will give themselves to Christian ministry. It is the mutual ministry, true joy, and meaningful fellowship that binds hearts together in service to Jesus Christ. For Paul it was found everywhere he went. He had not been to Rome, but knew the church both by reputation, and by knowing some of her members that he had encountered along the way in his missionary travels. In fact, virtually all of the last chapter of Romans (16:1-23) is a long list of familiar names to both Paul and the believers already in Rome.

Paul unveils his itinerary to the Roman church. First, he was traveling back to Jerusalem in order to deliver a large monetary gift to the suffering saints there. The Gentiles were helping their Jewish fellow Christians who were under intense persecution. Once that gift was properly delivered to the apostles, Paul had a priority one trip to Spain in the works… to bring the gospel where it had yet to make an inroad. On the way to Spain, Paul planned to visit Rome, encouraging the church there to strategically support his Spanish mission trip. He trusted the redemptive work of the gospel to prepare the church to receive him, support him, and join with him in bringing the gospel where it had yet to be preached. This is the kind of commitment that you ask of your friends. Paul was confident that in Christ, his Roman friends would serve the advance of the gospel with him.

This led Paul to anticipate two things from Christian fellowship with this church: joy and refreshment. When Christians are in Christ we enjoy being together. We laugh! We love each other well. We rejoice in our God. It is a great time. It is truly a lot of fun. And we are also refreshed. Spiritual and emotional batteries should recharge in Christian connection! If the opposite ever happens, we have lost our way! The expectation should always be that even in the hard tasks to which we are called, as we mutually labor, the joy of the Lord is our strength. In true Christian fellowship we know joy and refreshment together. And this leads to committed, strong, faithful mutual ministry.

my God Who knows

You know my reproach,

and my shame and my dishonor;

my foes are all known to you.

Psalm 69:19

Never do I face a difficulty alone when I am God’s child. In this psalm, despite having the pain of a broken heart caused by personal attacks against him, David persevered in worshipful prayer to God. He knew God knew how he felt (Psalm 69:20). In this imprecatory song, David lamented his pain to God, called to God for justice, begged God to act on his behalf, knew God was well aware of all that was happening, and ultimately praised God Who had always delivered him (Psalm 69:30-35).

And so I take hope in God. I’ve never had the dire situation David faced, where enemies literally sought to kill me. And so David’s emotional intensity encourages me to be unafraid to let God know my own feelings during rough events. I have been overwhelmed before. I have felt hurt by my own mistakes as well as the misunderstandings and sometimes deliberate ill-will of others who were not fond of me. God knows all of that. He even knows things of which I am completely oblivious. And so I am encouraged to trust the God Who knows.

Lord,

I am kept because You know me and You keep me. And You know my hurts, my heartaches, my shame, and my dishonor. And you have kept me safe in You. I know that You will continue to do so! You know, You save, and You lead!

Amen

a primer on Christian conscience

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Romans 14:12

This is a good reminder that I answer to God for my actions. The context of this stern sentence is relationship with other Christians in matters of conscience. The temptation in these issues is to judge others, defend our own positions even if others disagree, and inevitably divisions in the church are the result. But the apostle Paul reminds us we are not the judge of hearts… God is. Furthermore, we should remind ourselves that God holds each one of us individually accountable. I believe He starts with my heart first!

2021 now makes it two REALLY HARD YEARS in a row. 2020 was all about uncertainty with a pandemic. 2021 has been all about disagreement over the new normal. This year, in my over 33 years of ministry involvement, I have seen the most divisiveness ever in churches… not just in my church home, but every church… every pastor I speak with is experiencing it. Christians aren’t getting the Bible’s message on how to handle conscience issues. A conscience issue is a concern that doesn’t have direct biblical commands to direct it. Se we are left to apply principles from scripture as we best can, and we also utilize our own comfortability and sense of right and wrong to navigate the issue. These sorts of things have become societal land mines now buried everywhere in the church: masks, vaccines, politics, and racial justice are probably the biggest right now. All these controversies are creating explosive chaos because conscience-honoring biblical truth is scarce among us. We have forgotten that God sees us.

From Romans 14 then, a short primer on loving one another while understanding differences of conscience:

• If I can only hold one position over another, I AM A “WEAK BROTHER”. (Romans 14:1-2)
• It is wrong to pass judgment on conscience issues. (Romans 14:3-11)
• God holds each of us accountable to Him for our conscience. (Romans 14:12)
• It is wrong to force a conscience issue position onto another person. (Romans 14:13-16)
• God is actually glorified when each person, in conscience and in faith, holds a different view! (Romans 14:16-19)
• Recognizing valid positions and refusing to fight actually builds up the church. (Romans 14:19)
• If I truly have the ability to understand and respect differing views, limiting my opinion actually grows the church. (Romans 14:2-23)

A Prayer to the Awesome One

Awesome is God from his sanctuary;

        the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.

    Blessed be God!

Psalm 68:35

O Awesome One

God in Your Holy Place

now making us Your dwelling

we worship You.

O Faithful One

God of Your people

now living with us

we come before You.

O Powerful One

God of all miracles

Who protects, heals, restores

we need You.

O Strong One

God of all ability

Who parted seas and shook the earth

shake us too.

O Blessed One

Who gave desert manna and water

provide always for us and

bless us now.

Amen