The Centrality of Truth

A Nigerian friend shared this information in a recent newsletter. He wrote,
“When the late Wendell Broom paid his last visit to Nigeria, he made this statement, ‘NIGERIA IS GOING TO BE THE CENTRE OF RELIGION.’ That statement has become a very big challenge to me and many others.
1. Would it be a Religious Centre and a place of worshiping God ignorantly as the people of Athens?
2. Would it be a Centre of entertainment in the name of worship?
3. Would it be a Centre or a place to worship God in vain because of teaching the doctrine of men?”

To many people, religion is all about stirring the emotions. But for Jesus, a saving faith is grounded in revealed truth. Those who do not have, or are not interested in the truth, are lost – even though they may worship enthusiastically. Jesus said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8-9, ESV).

Ignorance does not save. Sincerity does not save. Those who “know not God” are not saved by not knowing him; they are lost thereby according to the scriptures (2 Thess 1:8). Saul of Tarsus was as sincere as he could be when he clung to Judaism, but he was still in his sins until baptized into Christ (Acts 22:16). It is not any and all forms of religion that will save. If we are saved, we are saved “by obedience to the truth” (1 Peter 1:22).

A church should be many things. The church is pictured as the bride of Christ, the family of God, and as the kingdom of heaven. There are emotions involved in our work and our worship; and there certainly should be enthusiasm involved. But the revealed truth of God’s word must always be central.

Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. (Proverbs 23:23, ESV)

Expecting the Best

Many years ago, I heard an old friend ask his son a simple question. The father was looking at the son’s report card. I do not know if the grades were high or low. I did not see the report card. All the father said was, “Did you do your very best?” The son admitted that he had not done his best all the time. The father then replied, “Well I expect you to do your best.”

I had a father like that too. He did not expect of me what I was incapable of doing; but he did expect me to do my best, every day, at every task.

Some people, who did not really know him, thought that my father was an angry and overly demanding person. Perhaps he was not what would be called handsome; and his looks may have contributed to the impression that he was angry. But I think that the impression came mainly from the fact that he expected people to do their best – and let them know that he was not happy if they failed to do their best. People do not accept that approach these days. The old saying, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well, is rarely heard now.” That is a shame.

It is the father who accepts second best who is failing his children. The father too lazy or disinterested to call for the best from his children is the one who lacks love. The father who expects their best effort is the one who truly loves his children.

We should expect the best effort from our children. Church leaders should expect the best efforts from church members. Friends should call upon friends to do their very best. We should not expect of people what they are incapable of doing. But neither should we ever accept half-hearted effort.

Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him (Proverbs 13:24, ESV).

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24, ESV).
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16, ESV).

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall (2 Peter 1:10, ESV).

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace (2 Peter 3:14, ESV).

Seasons

I took a brief walk a few minutes ago. It is a beautiful day. Perfect weather for late Spring. A question occurred to me as I walked.

It is well-known that modern Americans (and Westerners in general) are fighting levels of depression unknown in previous generations. Could it be that the lack of seasons in our lives contributes to this? Now, you may be tempted to ask, “What do you mean ‘lack of seasons’? Don’t we have four seasons, just like we always did?”

No, I do not think that we do have four seasons, just like we always did. Our houses are kept at about 68 to 72 degrees, year-round. We still have snow in this part of the world, but with our cars, plows, and snow blowers, winter is no longer the battle it was. It gets hot in the summer, yes, but we retreat indoors, turn on the air conditioning, get ice from our freezers and are soon quite comfortable. Food comes from the supermarket, not from the garden. They cycle of seedtime and harvest has been broken for most of us. From the point of view or our ancestors, we no longer have yearly seasons.

Emotionally, we tend to reject the seasons of life. Children are forced to face grownup decisions too soon; they react by then acting like children once they become legally adult. We often see grandmothers dressed like schoolgirls, and hear grandfathers talking like teens.

Could it be that the lack of seasons in our lives contributes to our instability, uncertainty, to many of the social and emotional problems of this generation? I am not going to claim to know the answer. Somehow, I think just asking the question might be enough.

The Everlasting Future

Rudyard Kipling was not, and did not claim to be, a Christian. But occasionally he said things that Christians cannot help but admire. Here is one such gem.

“And since he cannot spend nor use aright
The little time here given him in trust,
But wasteth it in weary undelight
Of foolish toil and trouble, strife and lust,
He naturally clamours to inherit The Everlasting Future"

We are saved by grace, not works (Eph 2:1-9). We are saved by what Christ has done for us, not by what we are doing. But we were created for good works (Eph 2:10); and are commanded to use our time wisely (Eph 5:15-16). How are we doing? Is it reasonable of us to expect an everlasting future when we waste so much of the time given to us here?

If we have given our children watermelon and found that they waste it by throwing it at one another, what will we do when they later cry for something cool to eat? Will we waste more watermelon on them? Why would God grant eternal life on those who have wasted the limited life that he has given them? Only because of his grace. Only because of his grace. Only because of his grace.

None of us will enter glory having perfectly used our time down here; but could we not get into a little better practice? Could we not spend a bit less time on “weary undelight of foolish toil and trouble, strife and lust” and more time in “working heartily as for the Lord and not as for men” (Col 3:23)?

The Ikea Effect

A recent BBC article spoke of “the Ikea effect.” To sum the article up, people value things more if they put some effort into the items. In fact, research seems to indicate that many people will pay more for furniture they must assemble than for a similar item already assembled. That into which we put little or no effort will normally be dissatisfying to us. That into which we have put significant effort, we will value.

It is also true that, when we put significant effort into something, other people are more interested in it.

Last Thursday a man named Dean Oliver came by my office. I had not seen Dean in forty-four years. As we talked the clock on my desk chimed the hour, which led to a question and to a walk across to the house so that Dean could see the first clock that I ever built. He was not interested in seeing a clock purchased at Walmart, but something I had worked on with my own hands interested him.

How valuable is the church to you? How interested are your friends in knowing about the church? There may not be a simple and direct correlation, but the answer to those two questions will relate closely to the question of how much effort we put into the church.

Araunah the Jebusite offered to give King David a piece of land, and some animals for sacrifice, but David replied, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing” (2 Sam 24:24). What are we offering to the Lord? Do we have any “sweat equity” in the church? If we are not satisfied with the church, could it be because we have put little effort into it?

A New Home

In the summer of 1968 my family moved. It was the first of many moves I would experience in life. For the first eleven years of my life, home had been in the little frame house with the big yard. Now it would be the big brick house with the very small yard. It took some time to get used to the new place. Since we moved again five years later; I cannot say that I ever felt completely at home in the brick house. In the last 43 years, Chery and I have lived in 16 different houses (in five U.S. states and five other countries). It is not always easy to feel at home. In some of these places we never did feel at home.

I mention this for a simple, practical and spiritual reason. The church is called the household or family of God (Gal 6:10; Eph 2:19; 1 Tim 3:15; 1 Pet 4:17). Some people who have been in the church for a long time feel that it really is. But for some, when they first come to Christ, it takes a while to feel at home with the church. For some, the world has been their home, their biological family has been their family, and they do not feel comfortable with their new brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember, it takes time to feel at home.

Those who have been in the church a long time, and who feel at home here, must learn to reach out to newcomers and try to help them feel at home. I think that we do a pretty good job of that at Flanders Road, but let’s stay alert for anyone who seems to not feel at home. Let’s try to help them.

Those who are new to the congregation must realize that it may take some time to feel at home. Do not be unreasonable in your expectations. The new brick house seemed strange to me after all my previous life had been spent in the little frame house. But mom and dad, grandma and grandpa were there, so I tried to think of it as home. [Some days I wished that we had left my brother and sisters behind at the old house – but that is another story for another time.]

The church is God’s household. Because he accepts people by grace, we have members in this family who are far from perfect. Sometimes we might get on one another’s nerves a little, but out of respect for our heavenly Father, we learn to get along. For the most part we enjoy one another’s company. Little by little we begin to feel at home; and that is good. The Father’s plan is for us to be together forever; so it is good if we learn to think of the church as our family, our real home.

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:50, ESV).

"And That's The Way It Is"

I grew up watching the CBS Evening News. We knew not to trust what Walter Cronkite said. We noticed, even back then, intentional warping of the facts. For example, my dad noticed that they cut his uncle’s house out of the film footage when they ran a story about Four-States, West Virginia. A successful miner did not fit their storyline, so they cut his house out and showed only the houses owned by drunks. But we liked to hear Cronkite talk. Maybe I should not say it, but the truth is the way that man lit his pipe at the end of every program was almost a work of art.

While we applauded Cronkite’s abilities, we did not feel obligated to tune in every evening. If the lawn needed to be mowed, or there was a ball game to attend, we would miss his broadcasts. He was a good talker, but not that good. We could miss his show without much regret.

I thought of that recently. Someone praised my morning sermon, but did not bother to come in the evening. My morning sermon was good, but not that good. This does not really surprise me. I do not claim to be as good at talking as Walter Cronkite (nor am I much good at lighting a pipe). So obviously, those who come to hear someone talk, or who come because they like acapella singing, will feel no obligation to come back again on Sunday night. That makes sense if, and only if, the purpose of our assembling is to sing and to hear a professional speaker.

If on the other hand, the purpose of our assembling is to honor a Lord to whom we are infinitely indebted … I will leave it to you to finish that sentence.

It hurts me deeply when someone praises my sermons but wilfully misses our assemblies. It does not hurt me because I think their praise insincere. It hurts me because I feel certain that they have missed the whole point. It is not about me; it is about the Lord. If you are out there doing something that honors him more than being in our assembly would honor him, then by all means do it. But when someone praises a sermon, and then stays home to watch a ballgame, the sermon is being treated as the main show, and the Savior is being treated as a sidelight.