Christian living, discipleship, Uncategorized

Why do I Suffer?

Saturday, May 30

7:35 AM “Why? Why me? Why this?” Ah, the questions we ask when we are suffering. But God has the answer to each. Notice the three occurrences of “so that” in 2 Cor. 1:3-11 (NASB):

Verse 4: ” … so that we are able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God.”

Verse 9: ” … so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”

Verse 11: ” … so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.

As usual, Paul combines simplicity and depth. When we invite God into our world of suffering, he walks right in. He brings a host of gifts — resilience, hope, patience, joy — but also understanding. He wraps us in his arms and says, “My dear child, here is why I allow you to suffer affliction. That you might be prepared to comfort others. That you might not trust in yourself. And that you might learn to give thanks in everything.”

Simple? Yes. Easy? No. If we are suffering, this is a time to examine ourselves, as Paul suggested in 1 Cor. 11:28. In the first place, suffering brings us closer to reflecting God’s own empathy. Who best knows how to comfort a man who’s lost his wife than someone who has lost his own? Who better knows how to comfort a couple who has lost their infant child than another couple who has lost a baby? Who understands cancer better than someone with cancer? Think of dominos bumping against each other: God comforts us, we comfort others, they comfort still others, and the domino effect goes on and on.

Then too, when we suffer we’re forced to look up. We abandon reliance on ourselves and become utterly dependent on God alone. We have to surrender. We have to give in. And when we do, God wonderfully comforts us. “I’m right here,” he says. “I never left. Just lean on me. Let me comfort you. The One who pulled off the resurrection will see you through.” He may not bring back the wife or baby you lost, but he will being back your soul, your hope.

Finally, maybe it’s time we gave thanks for the situation we find ourselves in. To be honest, it took me years to give thanks after Becky’s passing. Years. No one and nothing could bring thanksgiving out of my mouth. Finally, God brought it out. The silence had lingered for 5 years. Four Christmases had come and gone. Then one day, it was like a light broke into my life. Finally I was able to say, “Thank you, Lord, for what you have taught me in the midst of all this pain. I would never have gotten so close to you. In the mystery of your will, it’s not only what you give us but what you take that is a vital part of the plan. You lovingly and sovereignly rule over me, shaping me into the image of your Son. Thank you for your comfort, your grace, your mercies. Thank you.”

The three lessons of suffering?

  • Empathy.
  • Humility.
  • Gratitude.

We aren’t victims of circumstance. In fact, the very suffering that Satan intends for evil, God intends for good.

Believe that today.

(From Dave Black Online. Used by permission. David Alan Black is author of a number of Energion titles including Running My Race and The Jesus Paradigm.)

discipleship, prayer

Chuck Swindoll on Prayer

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

4:58 PM Been rummaging through my old sermon notebooks and stumbled on the wise words of Chuck Swindoll in one of his messages on prayer. He concluded with “Four relevant reminders”:

1) Prayer is to be continuous. It’s not limited to Sunday, or to when we go to bed, or to when we eat.

2) Prayer is designed for every part of the Christian life. Prayer fits — no matter what the situation. You’re walking into a business meeting? Pray. You’re making a decision? Pray. Nothing is too insignificant or too overwhelming for God. He cares about it all.

3) Prayer is not a substitute for our responsibility. It’s not an excuse for laziness or passivity. It’s okay to pray, “Lord, give us safety through the night,” but you still have to lock the door and turn on the burglar alarm. Every night. Otherwise you’re being irresponsible. Yes, you should pray for good health — but are you eating properly, exercising properly, listening to your doctor? “Prayer in place of those things is wrong,” said Chuck. 

4) Prayer is not for perfect people, but for the imperfect, needy person. The only perfect person is the Savior, and he’s praying for us! Prayer is simply remembering you’re nothing and calling on the one who is everything, and then getting out of the way.

I’m glad I found those notes today. I needed these four reminders. Everyone has an “insurmountable obstacle” in their lives. It’s got “impossible” written all over it. I know I do. So I’ll make a deal with you. For the next two weeks, I’ll pray about my obstacles every day. Preferably several times a day. I’m going to take the obstacle and give it to the living God and leave it in his hands, trusting him with it. Will you do the same? I’ve got a feeling that within a week or two, we’re all going to have some pretty wonderful things to share with each other.

From Dave Black Online. Used by permission. Dave Black is author of Energion titles The Jesus Paradigm and Seven Marks of a New Testament Church.

Books, Christian living, discipleship, Uncategorized

Paul’s Core Convictions about Christianity

Monday, May 18

10:32 AM It’s become clear to me that Paul’s letter to the Philippians (which I have the privilege of teaching every year) summarizes many of Paul’s core convictions about Christianity. These include:

1) Christians aren’t just to study theology but are to follow the example of Jesus and live the way he lived — in selflessness and humility.

2) Followers of Jesus are to put the needs of others before their own needs.

3) Christianity is a matter of ethics as much as theology.

4) Suffering is a normal part of the Christian life.

5) Believers are called to pursue a kingdom that is radically different from all versions of the kingdoms of this world. This kingdom is always cross-centered and countercultural.

Perhaps this pandemic is giving us the opportunity to reexamine our priorities, to learn humility the hard way, and to choose to help one another as we pursue Christ’s upside-down kingdom.

From Dave Black Online. Used by permission. Dave Black is the author of Energion titles The Jesus Paradigm, Why Four Gospels, and many others, as well as co-editor of our Areopagus Critical Christian Issues series.

Ministry

Ordinary People

Sunday, May 17

7:48 AM While reading through Mark’s Gospel this morning I was again impressed with the way Jesus chose ordinary people to follow him. He sees Simon and his brother Andrew, commercial fishermen, and says, “Come, follow me! I will make you fish for the souls of people!” A little farther up the beach he sees Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat mending their nets. He calls them, too. It’s easy to forget that two of these plain fishermen later wrote two of our Gospels. With God there are no ordinary people. Think about that when you meet (vicariously) with your church family today. Most of us are ordinary folk. But God specializes in taking “nobodies” and making them “somebodies.” The only question is: Are we willing to be used by him?  I am, though I am keenly aware of how short I fall of loving and serving him as I ought. I come to him daily asking for a renewed heart and a renewed desire to follow him as his disciple.

This is a challenge each of us must face daily.

(From Dave Black Online. Used by permission.)

Uncategorized

Billy Graham on Racism

Friday, May 8, 2020

8:15 AM Racism is in the news again. That’s why I was glad to stumble on this video of Billy Graham’s 1965 crusade in Honolulu. How might we as a society overcome the scourge of racism? Listen to Dr. Graham as he preaches the Good News with a grimace and a fresh resolve to display Jesus Christ as the only solution to our need.

P.S. In that ethnically-mixed audience that evening was a 13 year old young man singing in the crusade choir behind the speaker’s dais. It occurred to him then, as it occurs to him now, that Satan, the master deceiver, wants us to think that one race is superior to the other. He wants to leave our society in a swarm of unresolved racial tension. But if we are facing the perfect storm as a culture, Jesus offers the perfect solution. I’m so thankful for Billy’s message. May it resound throughout the internet today as it did so long ago in an island melting pot.

From Dave Black Online. Used by permission. Note: Dave’s blog does not include separate posts that can be linked. As his publisher, Energion Publications posts selections here.

Christian living

A Generous Disciple

8:40 AM My reading this morning was in what is probably my favorite letter in the New Testament. Perhaps no human being is less into writings that are too wordy, but the author of Hebrews doesn’t waste a single syllable. His point in the final chapters of his message (a letter, true, but more of a transcript of a sermon spoken to a group of Christians audibly) is that the way we love each other, serve each other, and live our lives with each other really matters. It’s a big deal to Jesus. One little snippet jumped out at me:

Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to him (TLB).

This reminds me very much of Rom. 12:13 (which, by the way, is my life verse):

When God’s children are in need, you be the one to help them out (TLB).

Generosity ranks terribly high on Jesus’ list of required attributes for His followers. Back to Hebrews for a moment:

Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never, never fail you nor forsake you” (TLB). 

The Greek here seems to be even stronger: “I will never, ever leave you, nor will I ever, ever forsake you” (5 negatives). But the promise is tied to the command: Be satisfied with what you have. Once again, I can’t help but think about Paul: “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6).

You know, friends, a person may have an abundance of things without an abundance of life. We can be poor in the midst of plenty. Has there ever been a generation who surrounded themselves with more things to make their lives enjoyable only to be the most bored and unhappy generation of all time? I remember watching the kids of rural Ethiopia playing with their toys. No, these gadgets didn’t come from Wal-Mart. The kids would find scraps of discarded plastic or metal and fashion toys for themselves. These kids had practically nothing yet were the happiest kids I think I’ve ever seen.

Here’s what I’m learning. Dave, life does not consist in the presence or absence of things. You are rich and have an abundance beyond the fluctuations of the stock market. “We have nothing and yet possess everything” wrote Paul (2 Cor. 6:10). I am both a pauper and a plutocrat! I have nothing because it all belongs to God and I am only its steward. I have everything because I am a joint-heir with Christ. I have all the advantages and none of the disadvantages of being both poor and rich.

Believe me, I’m still working on this generosity thingy. I am hardly immune to the feverish selfishness of this age. Yet the earliest Christians “had everything in common” and “gave to anyone as they had a need” (Acts 2:44-25). I’ve been reading a book by an author whose church gives more than half of its income to the needy. “We won’t spend more on ourselves than on our poor neighbor” were the author’s words. Think about that while looking at your church’s budget! Bottom line: Generosity has always been a characteristic of the society of Jesus. That’s because God is a generous God. And His Holy Spirit gives His people a tender conscience for the needy.

This is the kind of kingdom man I want to be and the kind of kingdom students I want to raise up. The extent of our generosity is but a whisper of our devotion to God.

Christian living

Master It!

(02/22/2020) 7:18 AM Just as Kobe Bryant’s helicopter got lost in the fog and needed to fly by instrument, sometimes we’re caught in conditions of low visibility. All ordinary guidance seems to fail us. We can’t make sense of anything. Yet we aren’t left without a compass. The Word is a light and a lamp, and it never changes. It reads the same no matter what, even when all is hazy. To all my students: Our best navigating gadgets may fail, but His Word is settled both in heaven and on earth. Read it. Study it. Master it. Let it master you.

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discipleship, Ministry

Romans 15 and stages of ministry

(12/22/2019) 7:46 AM In Romans 15 this morning. Reminded that Paul’s ministry went through stages. This happens to us as well. We all grow. We all mature. We all develop. We all move from one stage of life to another. In Romans 15, Paul looks back on his ministry and, in effect, says, “I have fully proclaimed the gospel in the East. It’s now time to finish the great task of planting the gospel in the remainder of the Roman Empire, that is, as far as Spain.” There are two principles of life that occur to me:

1) Paul was being true to himself. Paul wasn’t a local church pastor. Paul was a missionary/church planter, a trail-blazer for the gospel. If he has planted, let others water! I must move on! Paul had one and only one ambition in life: to establish new congregations, not to build on someone else’s foundation.

2) What enabled Paul to say that it was time for him to move on? It was the fact that he could entrust his previous work into the hands of helpers like Epaphras (who established the church in Colosse) and others. Paul left no orphans behind!

I spent many minutes in prayer this morning asking the Lord to make clear to me His path in the coming years. As I write this blog post I am planning my international travel for the next two years. To the Greek mind, time was a circle imprisoning life until the soul was released through death. To the Hebrew (and Christian) mind, however, life was more of a line from past to present, the line of God’s redemptive purposes. Life was therefore meaningful. God has always been beside us on the road and is even now in charge of the route.

Of one thing I am sure. God leads His dear children along, as the old song puts it. Since 2004 Becky and I were involved in ministry in Ethiopia, where she was raised as an MK. This meant 14 trips for her and 17 for me. It’s been several years since I’ve been back. This was not unintentional. If Becky’s parents planted, Becky and I watered. Our work in Ethiopia was a most wonderful thing. But our work there is now completed. It’s time for others to carry it forward. Our ministry there will either rise like the Phoenix or go down in flames but we leave that in the hands of God.

In recent years I’ve made 13 trips to Asia to assist in the training of pastors. It was an unavoidable call. As we all know, in much of the world there has been much numerical growth without very much depth. There hasn’t been sufficient growth in discipleship that is comparable to the growth in members. Into this situation I found myself teaching Greek. I saw myself as a clay pot — common stuff, replaceable, but holding a priceless treasure that I was eager to pass on to others. That has now been done, and I sense it is time to pass the baton.

What’s the next place in God’s plan for my international ministry? What is my “place,” after all? What was our Lord’s place? It was that of a servant. A lowly slave. Can it be any different for those of us who claim to follow Him? Christ’s servants must be humble enough to be flexible. Paul certainly was. His obedience to the Father enabled him to do anything, go anywhere the Spirit sent him. No wonder he wrote, “There must be no room for rivalry and personal vanity among you, but you must humbly reckon others more important than yourselves. Look to each other’s interest and not merely to your own.” If we think of others before ourselves, everything else will fall into place. God will never disappoint us. He has a good purpose for every one of His children. Is there any joy more exhilarating than the joy of knowing He will help you maneuver through the stages of life? He cares about these things and more. You’ve got His word on it.

(From Dave Black Online, used by permission.)

The Jesus Paradigm: A Book that will set you on a downward path