Got Fruit ?

Two are better than one,Because they have a good reward for their labor.For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.But woe to him who is alone when he falls,For he has no one to help him up.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

From the beginning of time, God made it clear that it is not good for His people to be alone (Gen. 2:18). God designed us to cooperate. Throughout the Scriptures He speaks of His people as a community that accomplishes more together than separately. God did not create us as isolated individuals, each seeking to achieve our own goals. Rather, the success of our endeavors depends upon our interdependence. This is why He established the Church and released His Holy Spirit to empower the community of believers to spread the gospel. We are to be a kingdom of priests (1 Pet. 2:9).

During difficult times it is critical that we are walking in fellowship with other Christians. When a crisis hits, it is overwhelming to face it alone. But if we have cultivated supportive friendships, we will find strength in the comfort and encouragement of those who care about us. Interdependence is also a safeguard for us when we are lured by temptation. The consistent testimony of those who have fallen to temptation is that they isolated themselves from other believers and were not held accountable by Christian friends.

If you are not a part of a caring community of believers, you are missing out on what God designed you for. You are also in danger of falling into sin. You must link your life with others who are seeking God’s will. Seek to be a person who willingly joins others in carrying out God’s assignments. Strive to be the source of support and encouragement that those around you need.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

I happened to wake this morning to the sounds and promises of the latest iron clad method to self improvement, you know… somewhere in that time slot where all of those wonderful infomercials air on television.  Usually what’s on is something to the effect of buying foreclosed real estate on the cheap,building a home business by selling someone else’s stuff, selling your own junk on Ebay, or entertaining family & friends with the latest do it all gadget.

What caught my attention as in "that’s odd, peculiar and a bit disturbing" this morning was this infomercial for "Harmonic Wealth".  The infomercial from a visual perspective was put together well, it had the polish of a professionally prepared business pitch (yeah, like I’ve seen a lot of those).  Plenty of smiling and vibrant looking folks (mid 30’s to late 40’s) throughout the 5 to 10 minutes I watched, all with positive "testimonies" about how James Arthur Ray and his "program" (?) had changed their lives.  First red flag.  Don’t get me wrong, sometimes we don’t always articulate well in words what we’re thinking, but….  it’s been my observation that when someone tosses out accolades to and or about another human, about how much they’ve "changed" (influenced) their life, thoughts of Waco or Jonesboro come to mind.

I was just about to flip the channel, since going back to sleep didn’t seem like an option,  when a brief sound bite from the DVD being promoted played.  Ray goes into his "three for three" approach: "Thoughts, feelings, actions - all have to be firing congruently. And, if they’re not…there is something off, something awry there."    What this statement leads up to eventually is that once theses three areas are mastered, one can get (manipulate) the "law of attraction", which then puts finances, relationships,mental,physical, & spiritual aspects in order.  From my short handed knowledge, and what I’ve picked up as being connected to the book titled "The Secret" via the Internet, this "law of attraction" is some cosmic law of the universe.  Ooops there went another red flag.

Anywho, back to these thoughts-feelings and actions that caught my attention.  This little section grabbed my attention, because they are concepts that the Christian deals with in their relationship with Christ, or rather the Holy Spirit deals with the Christian by convicting us when we’re not doing what Christ commands(see Romans 12:1-2).  Thoughts and actions are fairly straight forward.  Take for example what Jesus commanded in Matthew 22:

Matthew 22:37-40
37Jesus replied: " ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

James 1:22
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

1st Peter 1:13
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

As for "feelings", I’m reminded of this past Sunday’s service.  Service was a bit different this week, things we’re done in a different order as for opening songs of worship, the meet and greet time, communion and offering, etc.  There’s normally a routine followed, whereby the sermon follows the above mentioned portions of the service, this week however the sermon was spread throughout in smaller chunks if you will, with the Praise and Worship team leading in more song and praise after these "chunks" of the overall message (sermon) were presented.  Now the back story to this is that for several months there’s been some ruffled feathers over the music selection/style at church as well as who’s leading worship,how loud the music is or isn’t and probably half a dozen other petty things that folks get their holy panties in a bunch over; sometimes to the point of leaving the church.  The message for the day, and reason for the difference in service program as our pastor conveyed to the congregation is this:

"Worshipping God is never about how we feel.  God is supposed to be the object of the worship."

As I see it, "feeling" or "feelings" is another way of saying ATTITUDE, and ATTITUDE can be expressed in one of two ways, obedience to God (Holiness, see 2nd Corinthians 5:17) or disobedience (SIN).  The point to all of this I suppose is to bring to the attention of readers what appears to be just one more example of man-centered "religion".  Harmonic Wealth appears to be another New Age self-help and empowerment philosophy (see Ephesians 5:6-7) that ought to be avoided.

1st Peter 2:1-3
1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Grace and peace be with you.

I’m having trouble coming up with a more intellectually sounding way of introducing this piece, so let’s just go with a plain ‘ole straight to the point approach.  In doing so,I’m going to disclose something about myself that I usually don’t hold in high regard as being of any significant importance to how I truly identify myself which is as a Christian.

In the latter part of 2007 I was nominated for the role of deacon.  Sometime in the early months of this year, I was "officially" designated as such.  The short answer to being a deacon is that he is simply a servant.  Much to my disappointment, there were no funny hats to accompany this new responsibility.

Taking a cue from an elder and friend, I try to not get wrapped up in titles, instead looking at the purpose and of even being honored to be called to serve.  That said, titles can be useful in maintaining an order of authority and accountability, when speaking in terms of a business or conducting business.  The flip side is that people can also go to such extremes in their fascination with a title that they lose focus of the purpose behind the title.   Titles should help affirm what one’s job, duties or responsibilities are.  Titles in general  however; shouldn’t identify who we are. An exception is to follow after this brief sidetrack…

Not quite  a week ago I visited a site by a professing believer.   The site was well put together and had a certain artistic flair to it.  The guy that runs the site has an obvious creative touch, but that’s not really the point of all this.  As I was exploring, I checked out blogger’s snippet about himself, which reads:

Web designer and developer. Loud discerner. Software engineer and programmer coder. Conservative. Musician. Christian-follower. Nuclear engineer. Libertarian. Jovial cynic.

Nothing unusual about using a strike through.  I’ve used it myself to make sarcasm of a situation, or to show that I have revisited a thought and edited accordingly, and I’ve used it to make a point about something by coyly drawing attention to that which is to be "disregarded".  For some strange reason though, seeing the strike through used in the word "Christian" to downplay the word and I assume magnify Christ struck me as an odd thing to do.  Don’t get me wrong here please, anytime we can get out of the way to allow Christ to be magnified in our lives is great!

As I’ve become acquainted with the Christian blogging world I’ve seen "Christ-follower" (minus a strike through of the trailing i-a-n) used several times, and even then the term has always struck me as an odd way to identify oneself.  It’s as if when one goes to the trouble to differentiate, they’re begging for separation not differentiation.  I guess the question I have is, "When did it become "in" to be ashamed to be known by the title "Christian"?"  I mean seriously, the early church thought it an honor to be known as such for whom they identified in (Jesus) to the point of willing to die for the true purpose behind the word.

Here’s something to think about… Did Jesus ever change His message of who He claimed to be or what His message was when it got a little uncomfortable for Him in His association with God the Father?

Matthew 26:59-66
59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 60 But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.  Finally two came forward 61 and declared, "This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’ "

62 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" 63 But Jesus remained silent.
      The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."

64 "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66 What do you think?"
      "He is worthy of death," they answered.

Mark15:1-2
1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

2 "Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.
      "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.

Notice that Jesus didn’t waver in His encounter with Pilate, perhaps replying instead: "King!?!? Hmm , king of the Jews carries way too much implication and discomfort, nah…. more like a historical model for man to "follow". No, I don’t see where Jesus was concerned about how the world perceived Him concerning His claims of who He is.

Acts 11:26
26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

Now, I know that there have been many instances throughout history where people have done things in the name of Christianity that we’re not Christ-like when compared to what Scripture says.  The Crusades for example.  In recent history we have scandals and vandals that have the name Christian attached to them, be it the likes of Juanita Bynum, Benny Hinn, Todd Bentley or the way out in left field Westboro Baptist Churches of the world to name a few.

Acts 26:28
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"

Hopefully I’ve been able to articulate that if Jesus wasn’t ashamed of who He was, then we shouldn’t be ashamed to be known by the very name that the early church founded to identify with its creator.  In closing I leave you with a final verse concerning the word Christian and an invitation take 5 minutes to watch and listen to what Ravi Zacharias has to say (select the Video titled: Postmedernism: is it a new idea?).

1st Peter 4:16
16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

Grace and peace be with you.

As I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment this evening I stopped in front of the mailbox to retrieve my mail from the past few days, prior to going upstairs to my apartment. I’m not sure why I hadn’t checked in a few days, I wasn’t avoiding any bills this month. OH YEA!! The holiday hustle and bustle, that must have been it.

So, I opened up my mailbox, and it’s a good thing that I did check today, not much room left to stuff much else into it. Amongst the usual mailbox filler material of insurance statements & circulars, was my Cyberguys catalog and the local Toyota dealership informing me that they’re interested in selling me a new car since I’ve supposedly paid off my current “Yota”. After weeding through the stuff bound for file 13, I noticed 3 envelopes, two were returned Christmas cards to old school mates, plus one from a school mate that now resides in Tulsa.

Seeing the envelope and card made me think back to just a few years ago, 2005: my 20 year class reunion. When I received the invite to attend the festivities; I initially had my mind set to pass the whole affair. My attitude was funky, and I was becoming a hermit (too tall to be a Hobbit). As I write today’s post, I can’t help but think, even back then, before I had committed to let the Lord right this shipwreck of a life that the Holy Spirit was already at work, prompting me to change my attitude. I wrestled with the decision to go or to not go for several months prior to the big to-do, eventually I either convinced myself or was convinced ( I think more so the latter) to attend.

Attending my class reunion was therapeutic to say the least. I got a chance to interact with some old friends and some old acquaintances, but most importantly; I had taken from the two days of remembering the 80’s, a renewed attitude about relationships, friendships and family. See, once I left town to join the military, I put my school daze & relationships behind me, I didn’t attempt to keep in touch, which eventually become my modus operandi for a lot of future friendships and relationships as well. Having attended the class reunion though was my wake up call, I left with a resolve to at least keep in touch by way of sending Christmas cards to the people I had known so many years ago, some closer than others.

For the past two years, I’ve faithfully cracked open the old address book (it’s really just an Excel spreadsheet) and cranked out CHRISTmas cards with joy in my heart. Fast forward to CHRISTmas 2007.

I started about a week and a half ago getting cards ready for the mail and for local delivery this year . Thank goodness!! In a year’s time the amount of people in my sphere of relationships has grown substantially, specifically from the church I attend, and I’m not talking about people that you give the “Hey!!! How you doing?….” every Sunday as you frantically do a name search through the cerebral Rolodex, because you haven’t a clue who the old guy & his wife with blue hair are. No.. I’m talking about people that I’ve actually become friends with, brothers and sisters, young and old, married and single, frail and healthy. I’m talking about people that I now have, more than a casual acquaintance with, there’s a relationship brewing.

I happened to be going over a devotional from the 14th (took a little break with all of the CHRISTmas parties to attend and what not last week, so I’m playing catch-up again). The devotional by Rick Renner was titled “Be Affectionate to One Another”, which covered Romans 12:10

Romans 12:10 (KJV)
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another.

Romans 12:10 (NIV)
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

I’ll save the dissection of the verse and it’s Greek terminology for another time perhaps.The gist of the message from Romans 12:10 as explained by Renner in his book “Sparkling Gems”, is that Christians ought to embrace the brotherhood, the fellowship of fellow believers in Christ. We should be viewing our “brothers” and “sisters” in the church as just that; brother and sisters belonging to the same family. We should have that love,that affection for each other that resembles family. The love for one another should be sincere, authentic, tender and warm, our desires being only the best for each other.

So often in some of today’s churches, people attend service yet never take the time to get to know their fellow worshipper. We attend service to get the “Holy Checkmark” then bolt from the church like NASCAR drivers heading for the finish line at Taladega, knocking over the old guy and his blue haired wife in the process.

One of the elders at my church uses this analogy about attending and being involved in church: “Church is like a hospital, a place for the sick (spiritually) to come and be healed.” Alright!! I like it, but must we be so sterile toward one another? Much healing yet to be done I suppose.

I’ll leave you with this to consider in light of today’s post from 1st Peter 2:11:

1st Peter 2:11
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

In a strange land with strange customs what could be more welcome than to be among your own kind?

Grace and peace be with you.

I’ve spent the past few days catching up on missed devotionals. The subject of the final few to get caught up dealt with the “Day of the Lord” (See 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-12 and 1st Peter 2:11-12 and 2nd Peter 3). This study triggered a recall. Today’s post comes by way of a recollection of a conversation some time ago that I had with a friend/co-worker on creation and the possibility of evolution. The conversation centered mostly on our respective opinions and understandings concerning God’s 6 days of creation.

I wasn’t in the habit of studying the Bible nor even really investigating back then, so I took at face value if you will; whatever scripture was presented to the conversation as a valid point to my friend’s understanding. My own understanding and belief, being that the 6 days of creation are literal, my friend siding with the possibility that the 6 days are figurative when taken with the following scripture (Hear that? It’s the door creaking open for evolution).

2nd Peter 3:8 (NIV)
8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

The interesting thing about this verse is that I can’t ever recall anyone ever quoting it with the exhortation from Simon Peter “8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends:”. I only recall having heard the scripture as: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”

So during Bible study time this evening, I ran into 2nd Peter 3:8, and given the topic of the devotional a light comes on! This scripture has been taken out of context. The reason for believing that the verse is taken out of context is, as pointed to earlier; Simon Peter’s plea to not forget something.

Peter’s urging to “not forget this one thing” has to do with earlier verses in 2nd Peter 3. Between verses 1 and 8 Peter tells the recipients of his letter that they must understand that in the last days; there will be those that scoff:

2nd Peter 3:4
” They will say, Where is the coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

Peter’s rebuttal to verse 4 comes in 2nd Peter 3:8-9, with the last sentence of verse 9 given as the explanation to the scoffer’s perceived “slowness” of God.

2nd Peter 3:8 (NIV)
8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

The verse, 2nd Peter 3:8 serves to put us on notice concerning the final chapter in the relationship between God and humanity for this age, not a means to shoehorn evolutionary ideas and theory into Scripture.

“God does not play dice.”
- Albert Einstein

C.A. Stallworth

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