Our Blog

Spare Change June 2018

Prepared for Everyday Ministry

Everyone has been called to minister to those in their sphere of influence.  Maybe for you it's your co-workers, your family, your neighborhood or all of the above; however, people often feel inadequate to minister to others.  They don’t know how to serve them, how to share their faith, or even how to pray for others. This unintentionally leads us to be closed off and ineffective as believers.  This is not from a lack of want-to but from a lack of preparation. Recently I finished reading 1 Kings in which David is told he will not be the one to build the temple because he was a man of war.  That privilege would be passed on to his son, Solomon; but that did not discourage David, instead of sitting idling by he started making preparations for the temple. He gathered all the supplies that Solomon would need such as wood, stone, gold, and silver.  He had it all ready for when Solomon started building. Solomon’s ministry to the people of Israel was easier because of the work that his father had done for him.

This reminded me that I also have a great calling in my life-- to minister to those around me.  This is only made possible because of the preparations that Christ has made for me. Like David, who gathered the supplies for the temple, Christ became the cornerstone for the new temple of God.  Only this temple was not built with stone, as Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:19-22, rather it is built with God’s people joined together by the Holy Spirit. This is only possible because Christ prepared us for this work.  We join in the work of building up this  holy temple of saints by ministering to others, by pleading with them to believe in Christ, and by encouraging saints to persevere in the faith. Christ has laid the foundation, or rather become the foundation, all we have to do is be willing ministers.

So, with all the preparations made possible by Christ what is holding us back?  Lack of knowledge, fear, what is it that holds you back from investing your life in those around you?  Ultimately there is nothing really holding us back, however we do have perceived barriers that cause us to shrink back from our calling as believers.  I want to share three very practical things that have helped to prepare my heart to minister to others.

Spiritual Disciplines – You were probably hoping for some amazing truth that would rock your world, however the reality is that spiritual disciplines are foundational for believers.  You will NEVER grow in your faith unless you invest your life in spiritual disciplines. There are several, but the main ones are Bible intake, prayer and fasting.  If we are not doing these things on a regular basis we will not grow and we will never reach out and minister to others like we need to. Spiritual disciplines help us to commune with God’s spirit in a personal way that changes and challenges us.  Don’t neglect spiritual disciplines.

Listen and Read – Find spiritually encouraging things to listen to and read.  Find encouraging sermons and podcasts to listen to. There are too many to mention here, but they will help fill your time gaps with things that will encourage your affections for Christ.  The same is true for reading. When choosing something to read, don’t always pick up the newest book. Find something old. We have 2000 years of amazing books that will challenge you in your faith.  If you don’t know where to start, find a biography of a missionary or reformer. The main thing is to fill your down time with God honoring things.

Face Your Fears – As David is passing the torch to Solomon he tells him to be brave and stand firm.  This is    echoed as a challenge throughout the Bible, from God to Joshua, from Paul to the Church; this is a common directive to God’s people.  What scares you when it comes to God’s calling? Stand firm and do that thing which fills you with fear, by the power of God’s spirit be brave.  If talking about the gospel fills you with dread, work to stand up to that fear. If serving others is uncomfortable for you, face that fear and get your hands dirty.  It’s not easy and takes a lot of courage, but that is our calling as believers. Minister in your sphere of influence, do the good works that you have been called to do.

Spare Change May 2018

Surprised by Justice?

Do you ever find yourself surprised by the swift justice of God?  Hopefully you have been taking the journey through the scriptures with the rest of the church.  If so, you are currently reading through 1 Samuel and Acts; both books have examples of swift justice.  We have read about how Saul’s line was cut off for his disobedience in offering a sacrifice himself instead of waiting for Samuel.  In Acts we have seen how Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead after lying about the price of land they sold. Both examples, and many more in the Bible, show that God’s justice can sometimes be swift.  I remember when I first read these stories I was troubled by them. Why would God be so cruel to these people? I remember having similar thoughts as the Israelites were commanded to slaughter the Canaanites or when God sent poisonous serpents through the Israelites’ camp as a punishment.  How can you be so mean, God?

Often our view of God is skewed by the expectation of God being merciful in all things.  We want on-demand mercy. We not only expect it, we think we deserve it. What’s wrong with that kind of thinking?  It assumes we have done something to earn God’s mercy and it also doesn’t take into account God’s true character. In actuality we have done the    opposite-- every sin is a rebellion to God and brings us closer to receiving God’s justice.

In R.C. Sproul’s book The Holiness of God he paraphrases a quote by Hans Kung, a Roman Catholic theologian, “the most mysterious aspect of the mystery of sin is not that the sinner deserves to die, but rather that the sinner in the average situation continues to exist.”  Did you notice how he took our regular way of thinking that we deserve God’s mercy and flipped it around?  He wonders why we don’t get God’s justice, why do we continue to live in spite of our sinfulness?

Sproul says about this subject, “[God] is indeed long-suffering, patient, and slow to anger.  In fact He is so slow to anger that when His anger does erupt, we are shocked and offended by it.  We forget rather quickly that God’s patience is designed to lead us to repentance, to give us time to be redeemed.  Instead of taking advantage of this patience by coming humbly to Him for forgiveness, we use this grace as an opportunity to become more bold in our sin.  We delude ourselves into thinking that either God doesn’t care about it, or that He is powerless to punish us. The supreme folly is that we think we will get away with our revolt.”

Are we more surprised by justice when we should be surprised by mercy?  We should be shocked that a holy God wants to redeem us and used His own son to accomplish this task. We should be appalled that we have another breath, considering the rebellion that has formed in our hearts.  This is why we must throw ourselves at the mercy of God delivered through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Christian should thank God every day that God has made us righteous by the sacrifice of Christ, that he is now in Christ, and adopted into the family of God.  This is the true reality of both   justice and mercy in our lives-- God showing His great mercy by not giving us the swift justice that we are owed so we can come to Christ and receive the fullness of God in Jesus Christ.

We must not forget this truth and we must not get complacent in our faith.  This truth should drive us to share the gospel and tell everyone about Jesus.  Peter reminds us of this very truth in 2 Peter 3:9-10, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach   repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

There will be a day of ultimate justice and we must not forget that, but until then we must not be surprised by God’s swift justice, rather let’s be thankful for His great mercy!