Luke 12:22-34 - A Christian does not retire

Luke 12:13-21 ASV And one out of the multitude said unto him, Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me. (14) But he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? (15) And he said unto them, Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness: for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. (16) And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: (17) and he reasoned within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where to bestow my fruits? (18) And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods. (19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. (20) But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? (21) So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

The title in this Bible I am looking at is "Jesus warns against selfishness". Perhaps so.

Another way of selfishness is this idea of retirement. I think many of us have this rosy picture of being retired someday. Retirement means no worries, "hakutamatata" or whatever that animal said in the movie Lion King. I am guilty of that and still am really.

But as I approach an age when retirement is looking more real there is some fear too. What am I going to do with myself. So I have been research retirement jobs. I cannot be idle. The fear, based on examples I know, is that retired people quickly die. I do not want to die of boredom, surely.

But it's more than that, based on this warning of Jesus. I think Jesus called him a fool because of his selfishness yes. Also he was blind to his mortality. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he thought thinks were going to continue indefinitely.

In view of that we have to take a view that includes what happens after we die. Laying aside for our physical needs in not enough. We must work to develop spiritual riches as well.

Now that I am typing all this I cannot easily communicate what this directly has to do with not thinking of ourselves as retired. The foolish man in Jesus' story surely is doing that, taking early retirement. I have always thought that a commendable goal but God has seen fit never to allow that for me, despite much planning and thinking about it.

But I refuse to give up being as honest as I can and being generous. Not that all who can retire early have been dishonest or ungenerous. I know some either happened into a great situation or had amazing gifts, much more than I. I am glad for them, not jealous. But I know that all that brings responsibilities. Major responsibilities, that is one reason why I am not jealous. I have enough worries. I do not think I could handle more.

Some how this did remind me of not retiring. I do not think God ever wants us to retire in the sense of ceasing to do good. He always has works for us to do no matter how old we get. I believe thinking like that, that we can somehow cease to serve or do good, can be a debilitating trap. It would be for me. Fortunately God is on me to change my mind on all that. As I keep seeking him he keeps working to make me more in his image.

That's a good point, God did not retire after making the universe, as some might think. God is still actively working to help his people. Praise God, he loves to do it. He does it with a good will. It is not a burden to him. We are to be like him.

last Sunday at 6 PM the scripture were about riches, and laziness

Well that's my angle today.

We start out with Amos who speaks of ease. "Alas for those who are at ease in Zion." ... "Are you better than these? (the kingdoms around you)" "O you that put far away the evil day, and bring near the reign of violence? Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall; who sing idle songs to the songs of the harp... who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of loungers shall pass away."

When we think that prosperity is always from God, we need to think twice. These people were not responsible. Prosperity without responsibility is laziness. And it will inevitably going to bring ruin.

Then we move on to 1 Timothy: "As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life."

This is so great. Read it over again. The rich are not to be haughty because it is God that gives every good gift. We quickly lose the mark when we start thinking we deserve all these luxuries, after all we worked hard for them. But God gave you the abilities that allowed you to succeed and the healthy to carry out all the work. He gave you people to help you, people to teach you along the way. He gave you clients or patients or whatever to pay you so that you could earn your income. No we must never forget how God is the source of all the good we have, give him thanks, and stay humble.

So then we should give back by doing good works and being generous. This is not the same as paying taxes and expecting the government to do the good works. They are very inefficient and impersonal in their handling of services. We must be involved as much as we can personally.

Finally true life, true riches are spiritual in nature. The riches of this earth are only temporary. Spiritual riches, spiritual blessings are forever. We minimize them because we cannot see them with our eyes. It takes faith to see them. We must have faith.

The last scripture is from Luke the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This is the only parable using the name of someone mentioned elsewhere. At least I guess Jesus is using the name of his friend who he raised from the dead.

We probably know this parable. The rich man is doing the opposite of when Paul tells Timothy. He is not generous. He is like the people of Amos' time. He is enjoying his riches while ignoring all those in need around him.

Jesus is warning that it will all be reversed in heaven. And he tells them we have sufficient warning now. We have Moses and the prophets. We have Jesus and Paul. If we do not repent now we can expect judgment.

Having all we need and a lot more gives us an opportunity to help others. Let us not think we deserve to rest but take time, go out of our way, to help others in need.

being bold

I think I missed out as a younger man on some adventures because I was terrified of failure. The one that I remember right now is my attempt to play baseball. I was so scared to play Pony League that I did not try out until the last year I was eligible. I worked out to try out for high school baseball but never could get myself to actually go out. I probably would not have played but I think in retrospect I could have practiced with the team and sat on the bench. They never had a large team even though the team did pretty well.

I have regrets about roads I did not travel.

I speak of this because I see some of my children doing the same thing, sometimes. They have to make their own decisions, they are grown now. But i hope they will not be sorry they did not attempt things simply because there was some risk of failure.

I do not want to overstate this. Fear can be a good thing. It can keep us out of dangerous situations. We do not need to try everything. Some are really dangerous. you have to weight the risk/reward.

But some things, like education or hobbies, will teach you some great things and involve you with interesting people. Even if you ultimately fail to completely succeed you will still have gained. If nothing else you learn you cannot do it. You never know until you try. You only have your fears.

If you aim for the stars you may not make it but you may hit the moon. You may succeed in an important way that you could never have envisioned if you did not try.

My dad went to law school with the idea of having a career in politics. That did not work out but he found that he really loved practicing law. He had a successful law practice and he helped many people along the way.

God loves a cheerful giver

Two things make me think of this again. First I am reading 2 Corinthians 9 where this quote originally comes from. Secondly I am following a young starlet (so shoot me, my wife thinks I need my head examined) who is constantly pushing her followers to give to her favorite charities.

Give to charities that you think are worthy. In giving cheerfully we learn dependency on God. We find God is generous. Paul promises God's blessings but he never mentions financial blessings.

But in giving we break our bondage to a love of money and the security we feel in having it. Our security should be on God, not on money. Giving to good causes helps us to break that dependency.

All of us should practice charity. It should hurt a little. It will bring a new sense of freedom. Practice cheerful giving. If we give begrudgingly we have not allowed God to free us from our bondage.

I contrast this to my starlet who promotes giving by auctioning off signed posters of herself or even a persona phone call. How much does that hurt her? It may help some of her younger followers to actually develop a habit of giving. I imagine some of these kids have never actually given to anything. I hope and pray that they learn to give to less politically correct issues, but that is for later I guess.

I am not saying to give instead of paying your bills or even instead of saving. All of us who have excess should practice saving too. No this is for those of us who have the luxury of eating out or buying the latest gadgets. If you are having trouble actually covering essentials you should be responsible.

Paul was raising a sum of money to carry to Jerusalem to help the Christians there who were having trouble eating. Perhaps their decision to follow Christ was causing them to lose their jobs and livelihoods. He is switching between encouraging and shaming. He is doing a pretty hard sell here. While telling them to give cheerfully he also is not against it "hurting" a bit. He wants them to give generously. But I don't think Paul is taking food out of anyone's mouth. But he does not want them to take money already set aside and spend it on themselves before he comes to get it.

Be sure to practice cheerful giving to favorite charities. I tend to give to charities that include work to directly forward the gospel though I do give to some local homeless shelters. I limit myself to charities run by people I have actually met. I find it helps to plan my giving. It does not have to be any less cheerful for all that.

no pain no gain

We would not hesitate to apply this phrase to the benefits of physical discipline. They also apply to the spiritual disciplines: "No pain, no gain."

We would think nothing of going to the gym and working out hard. We do it to see improvements, loss of weight, greater muscle and bone mass. And we keep it up in order to not lose the gains we have made.

Spiritual disciplines are no different. And they return eternal gains plus the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

MP spoke yesterday of our church being a missional church. This take intentional spiritual discipline. That's what he expects. He expects that we will determine to be intentional. We will have to put ourselves out there, doing things like Turbo Tuesdays at Hogg. (We meet and eat lunch with junior high student every other week during lunch for the school year.) Also we could be a presence in Heights activities. We will be involved in a Futbol Festival at Hogg one Saturday and cheering Houston Marathoners by our church in January.

All these things involve being present in body and spirit, working hard, and praying to God for the fruit. There is spiritual discipline involved in these activities. We do not do them for personal growth but there will be growth.

DW works with Living Waters, a year long Sunday afternoon commitment. She does it to help but she certainly experiences spiritual growth in the process. This God's discipline and it is for our spiritual gain.

Block walking

Saturday I volunteered to block walk for a candidate running for the state representative job from a district that includes much of the Heights.

We spent the last hour of our walk encouraging a very down and out and depressed man.

I know I am pretty bad at speaking to people. I was hoping to fan out from the central location and pass out circulars, put them on doors, etc. But they have already done that on previous weeks.

This week they wanted us to drive to various places and ask local business owners to place signs for the candidate in their windows or on fences that would be seen prominently from the street. That I know I would be bad at. But we were paired together.

We got Long Point from 290 to Bingle. We maybe got one third of the way in two hours. We spent from 9 to 10 getting oriented and encouraged. For the few of us who had no been before or were not veterans of block walking this was time well spent.

Fortunately for me two other newbies needed a partner and so I drove the three of us out to 290 and Long Point. The lady who was with us was new to this campaign but a veteran block walker and actually an elected official somewhere else. I did not get from where. The third man was a tall good looking man, hispanic looking, who could easily be Pancho Claus. He seemed new to this but was a great friendly speaker who had a good testimony.

Later when we knocked on the doors of a couple of houses that fronted on Long Point, people would peek out the window and promptly lay low waiting for us to leave. Our lady worker immediately recognized that we two scary looking men were the reason they would not open. But she would not openly demand that we hang back and let her knock alone. However we respected their feelings and moved on.

The local businesses we found were receptive when we spoke of how tough things are for the small business owner who is going to be inundated with new rules and penalties. We got four businesses to agree to place signs up on their premises. So I believe our mission was very successful.

I tried to give the opening speech twice. The lady was critical that I opened with "Republican". When she gave it, smooth and word for word by the way, she said Mr. Hernandez was an Independent running on the Republican ticket and quickly noted we had a lot of Republicans who needed to be replaced. So these people were Tea Party or at least influenced by the Tea Party. But the word "Tea Party" was never used.

I was sent because I got word of this block walk by the Republican leadership in Harris County. Despite the rhetoric from the Tea Party people the powers that be have decided to receive these new activists with open arms. That was certainly clear the last executive meeting where all the new candidates were introduced enthusiastically along with everyone else.

We ended up spending an hour talking to this man who was depressed and down and out. He blamed his plight on the lack of incentive in the construction industry right now because of Obama's promises. He would be glad for the biggest sign we had to be put in his front yard. The lady with us led us in prayer for his financial situation and later offered to give him money. He firmly refused money and even had to walk off for a second to fight off tears.

The other man spoke of getting a job driving an HISD bus, they prefer men, as a stop gap job while he looked the rest of the day. This man is a expert tile installer. He has worked in big commercial buildings. But no one is doing the buildings right now, at least that he knows.

He is hispanic, his dad was American. He was conceived in the USA but born in Mexico. When he came back from Mexico he was homeless for a while. But he got on his feet and for a while made $4,000 a week as a sub-contractor installing tile. Now he is making $600 a month and has this house almost paid for. But he is afraid of what will happen if he is five days late on a payment.

We finally had to pull ourselves away and get back to the finishing place. This was at a little pocket park, well kept up, at 800 W. Temple, just north of the Vineyard Church. They cooked us hot dogs and had cokes.

It was wonderful to meet and be joined with two such excellent block walkers. It was best that I acted in a supporting roles. They were so kind and considerate. But the lady, once she got going, was great at closing the sale and asking for more, in a friendly way of course. Those people that we met were all left with a better feeling about the Republican party.

Tea Party victories

I want to write a lengthy commentary but wonder if my mind can get around it enough to do it real justice.

When the Tea Party started it seemed like a grassroots reaction. It did not really have a party affiliation. My first tea party had lots of booths, NRA types, John Birth types. But there was no Republican party booth.

In contrast the leaders of the Republican party have had a disconnect with the rank and file for a long time. I see that at the meeting called Harris County Republican Executive Committee. The members are the precinct chairmen. We are mostly active in running elections and primaries. We are supposed to work to get out the vote. Most do not do much along those lines.

Those who lead this party have as their main goal working for electability. We, on the other hand, are always passing resolutions that would never fly with most candidates or elected officials. They are mostly working to get along and not rock any boats. They do not want to alienate any prospective voter. The party platform that we pass at the state convention is not even read by candidates. The disconnect is great there. No leader or candidate would ever consider seriously what we fight for over a whole week.

But we let it go, thinking that the leaders must know best. We are tired of fighting. The Tea Party people have brought in new energy. They see that Bush, no matter how nice a guy and how much he succeeded in Texas, looked pretty much like the liberals when in Washington. The Tea Party stands for a Republican Party that is different than the Democrats.

Now with Obama we found the Dems can be truly different, adding a massive new entitlement. But Bush never lifted a finger to reduce entitlements. Or so it seemed. If he did it escaped my view, and that of many others.

I think there is still an elephant in the room. The Tea Party have come in energized by the large taxes on the middle class. They think we are taxed too much, that capitalism is being destroyed. I tend to agree. But they are short on solutions. They can complain but they have no fixes to suggest. So in this way they are really no different than the older Republicans who have lost steam. Without some solutions they are doomed to quickly fade away.

They have latched on immigration as a big issue. This is true in Texas certainly. But while they have complained about the problem I have heard no solutions except to kick them out and keep them out. As a solution that is not new and it has not really worked. Maybe it has not been really tried but no one has the stomach for that.

I think the elephant in the Republican room is that no one on the Republican side has offered ways to actually reduce government. We can talk about waste, I'm sure there is lots, but how to actually make things more efficient has not been truly addressed.

Cuba just fired 500,000 government workers. Shouldn't we think about following their lead? Polls firmly say people are for smaller government and less taxes. But they are against actually cutting services. Someone is going to have to lead by explaining what services can be cut or eliminated. They are going to have to show that to truly reduce spending services must be cut and job eliminated. This will be a War on Spending. No one truly likes the leader during a war.

People like the idea of government helping them. They just do not like paying for it. Republicans had a few years in power to try to limit and/or reduce government. However nothing happened. Neither the Congress nor Bush had the bravery to actually try to do something about it.

In Europe there is some effort actually being made to reduce government. Of course they have gone much further towards socialism/communism than we have. But I think we can, as a people and a government, works towards limiting middle class entitlements and working to make sure poorer have incentives to work and improve their lot.

We could start by making more people pay taxes. Too many people pay no taxes at all.

Unity for service

MP's sermon last Sunday had a major point that we are as a church get together to do ministry. It is not, or should not be, the other way round. We do not join a church group and then decide maybe we will do ministry. We would not be together except for our common interest in serving Jesus Christ, our Lord.

As a church sometimes this is hard to see since there are different ministries going on in the church. We cannot participate in all of them.

That concept is more evident in smaller ministry groups for example the evening choir. We share little in common but that we sing and lead worship. That is our goal and reason for being. But in that as a bonus we get to meet new interesting people that we would not otherwise meet.

A church is like that too. There are many different types of people. Hopefully we all get along for the purpose of more effective ministry. In a bigger group that is not always comfortable.

It may be less evident in Life Group where many groups may have as their main purpose social interaction. Social support is great but it is best if it has a purpose. For me that is true, because the social is not always easy for me.

Certain for fellow Life Group leader CL this is very evident. She has formed this Life Group for a specific ministry purpose: to disciple former Muslims, help seeking Muslims to find Christ, and to ministry to Kurdish people in particular. She is very motivated to reach international students.

Two other ministries I am involved with, Kegan's Alpha and Hogg Turbo Tuesday also fit MP's model. A group of disparate people meet to do a specific ministry. We have unity in our service. Our common interest is to help people for the glory of God. And as a joyful bonus I get to meet some wonderful people. It is a great blessing.

We have favorite anthems at 6 o'clock. Our leader is great about finding anthems with good lyrics. We do happy clappy but we also do anthems about sin and the human condition (i.e. desperately needing a savior).

One of my favorites of the latter kind is "Were It Not For Grace". We did it just recently. It features a tenor solo. Here is a contralto doing the song.

"Were it not for grace, I can tell you where I'd be. Wandering on some lonesome road to nowhere with my salvation up to me. I know how that would go ..."

Yep, I'd be lost and I would be hopeless.

"Forever running and losing the race, were it not for grace!"

Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 speaks of his heavenly home. He is here serving but he would prefer to be with God in his eternal body. For now he is in this earthly body. He is limited.

Even as an already saved Christian I feel like I am still wandering on some lonesome road. Fortunately my salvation is not up to me. Certainly the unspoken Good News is that the work has already been done for me. It was not up to me. I needed a savior. Fortunately there was one. Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Any good works I do I accomplish with others and certainly not as the lead dog. That is best for me. I need support from others. I need help from others. That is really how God intended for most of us. That what the church is for.

Paul himself was one of those rare leaders, mostly on his own, a self starter and very self motivated. But he preached to his churches about unity, working together, each person having his own part. He used the metaphor of the human body with all the different parts, each necessary for life. We each have different roles in the church and in the world wide church. There are no unimportant Christians to God.

God's blessings

Paul went through serious affliction in his life having been stoned twice, left for dead, jailed in chains at least twice, reviled, beaten, ridiculed even by supposed Christians.

Yet in a clear moment he could write, "For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison, when we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Cor. 4:17-18

So no matter how hard I may feel that I have it (and Paul had it much worse, obviously) for God's sake, the glory of his gift given as a reward, which God is glad to give, will be so immensely much greater.

"Who is like the Lord our God? Who enthroned on high? Who humbles himself to behold the things that are in heaven and on the earth?

"He raised the poor from the dust, the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes. He makes the barren woman to live in the house as a joyful mother of children." Psalm 113:5-9

The unadulterated gospel

2 Corinthians 4:1-8

Paul states in more than one place that he is preaching the pure unadulterated gospel. He is contrasting his message with that of others who were willing to alter it, if only a little, in order to gain something for themselves.

It could be simply more approval of men. Or it could be to gain money or power. In any case Paul got very upset when he felt that other evangelists were changing the message to make it easier for seekers to accept.

I think the temptation to change our message to make it more acceptable is strong. We can even rationalize doing it as a good thing. As we relate to the culture we are tempted to deemphasize things and emphasize others.

For example sin and repentance. We emphasize accepting Jesus and forget to mention asking God for the forgiveness of our sins. Or we imply that all life will be worry free from the point that we accept Jesus. That has not been my experience, how about you?

People need to know the whole truth. They will not thank you later if they accept Jesus by you ministry and later discover you did explain sin or discipleship.

I am further reminded that God is the one who inspires the one who receives. We do well to tell the gospel truthfully. This will make it easier for the seeker to accept it, not harder, in my opinion. We use our reason, but our reason is flawed. So as I tell people the Good News, God, who wants them to accept Jesus much more than I do will touch their hearts and minds, confirming the truth to them. I do not know all that is going on in them, all the foundation that God has already built up in them.

I am also concerned that though I think I know the gospel purely and am fairly bold to tell it completely I will be wrong. My understanding or the life I lead will distort the gospel message. Those we know who might be seeking certainly at us to be a model of how a Christian should live. Our worldview is mostly picked up by those around us by how we act. I may be able to speak it correctly but do my actions conflict with what I speak?

Nevertheless I pray that God give me boldness and make up in me deficiencies in my life to be a conduit for people coming to know Jesus. The world needs the Savior, Jesus.

BTW: Saturday I will be grilling. If you want to get in on it we can spare some, come on by. Bring some more meat if you want to do you own grilling and take some home. We always have hot coals left at the end that go to waste. I always hate that. If need be we can always add some more.

I can get excited after Sunday but then loss interest as the week goes on. My Greek studies are getting overwhelmed mostly by my Facebook addiction. Sigh.

Let me just comment QUICKLY on MP's sermon because I need to get to the gym. And maybe some Greek homework.

MP started out by talking about movie: Searching for Bobby Fischer. I suspect half the crowd had never heard of it. As a chess player (?) and Chess Life reader I loved it. I know Bruce Pandolfini as a columnist in Chess Life (magazine). He gets a little cameo as an onlooker in the crowd. Of course an actor plays Pandolfini in the movie. This movie does have a nice moral and its cool.

MP mentioned the scene where Pandolfini sweeps all the pieces off the board and exclaims, "Do you see it better now?" He doesn't mention earlier scenes where he playing his dad and is getting bored so he goes about the house doing other things while calling out his moves from the other room. His dad say for him to come back and he declares checkmate. So they set us up. Natural chess players usually can see the board and prospective moves in their head without needing to actually see the board. I once played a blind player. He beat me badly. He had a special board but of course he could not see it. He could feel it but still he has a disadvantage unless he is good, and he was.

Anyway the hero Josh Waitzken is given a balanced education. They contrast that with another child prodigy who is just given chess work. He does not get to play or learn other things. So under pressure he does not know how to lose. You have to learn to deal with losing, no one wins every time.

I am looking forward to Hogg Middle school "Turbo Tuesday". I always meet a nice kid and hope it helps some. I know I have a good time.

Sermon highlights

In the morning MP stopped and said he was going to get into trouble for saying this. He said listening to talk shows was problematical. So many of the talk show hosts were jerks. They got listeners by riling people up. So now I am thinking, why is this so especially controversial? Is it? If so how? And does it directly effect me?

Now at the time all I could think of was political talk shows. I was getting sensitive and trying not to feel defensive. But hey, I figured, if he is talking about me he's got me wrong. I don't listen to political talk shows. But I am still defensive about Rush Limbaugh, I like what he does but find it too boring to listen, certainly for three hours a day. Sometimes if I am traveling I might listen for fifteen minutes. For me Limbaugh is not annoying, I agree with most everything he says. No he keeps repeating himself, that's why he is boring. So I figure I get out of this one.

But the jokes on me. I mention this at lunch at the Chinese buffet. My wife and daughter immediately thought of sports talk shows. Oops guilty as charged. I listen to them at home and the girls have the noise pollution. Often they listen more closer than I do, I keep it on for background noise. They immediately pointed out what jerks the talk hosts are and how they are working to rile people up. They manage to succeed with me. So the sermon point hits me square. I was thinking along the wrong lines. Leave it to my loving family to point out the truth.

Daughter mentioned that for the things I agree with I don't listen to. Limbaugh is like that for me. At first he was fresh. I listened for a few years. But now I can go months without ever hearing his show at all.

At night we have Greg Buffone for preacher. He discussed the Greek concept of disciple which is not found in the Old Testament culture. For example Elisha is never described as anything other than a servant to Elijah. He had a couple of other examples but I have forgotten them. The word that we often translate as disciple he said was "aceite". I think that is how he pronounced it, I'm not sure the spelling either in English or in Greek. That word is what we describe as disciple or maybe more accurately apprentice. He spent a lot of time speaking of examples of apprenticeship, that Abe Lincoln did not go to school to become a lawyer, he apprenticed under another lawyer who assigned him books to read. But nowadays even trades, such as carpentry and electrician are taught in trade schools. We have almost totally gotten away from apprenticeships. Anyway that was the important idea I got out of the evening service.

Neither of these points was the main points of the sermons. Maybe I can grab my notes and cover that some other time.

Sunday worship

Yesterday was full with three services and three communions. I did not take it at Brighton since there was only enough for the residents. But I made up for it by taking twice at Vineyard. (hehe) We always take communion in the evenings.

I spoke at Brighton about trusting God for your daily needs. It morphed a little into ways we are tempted to compromise in this world. DW thought it was good and that is high praise. We were both on a high when we got to Vineyard.

We helped with communion at Vineyard. Those highs I told you about probably made us freer to stick our necks out a little bit when we prayed over those who came up for prayer. We always pray a prayer of blessing over them after we take the elements. We got specific in a way that was hopefully prophetic. If not I pray they immediately forgot what was prayered.

My tooth was killing me last night so I really did not get to sleep until about 4 AM. I ended up taking about five aspirin.

I needed to take a morning walk but I got out fairly late at 7 AM. Then I got back late, around 8:30 AM so with cool down and shower we were 20 minutes late to Brighton. We arrived about 9:20. The Jones' expressed perfect faith that we would show up. I wonder how much of that was ironic. But it went smoothly.

After church and lunch at a favorite restaurant I was pretty sleepy. And my tooth was hurting again. But by faith I got up at 4 PM and drove to SJD for choral group practice. It went well. I have learned that room temperature water is best for my tooth. Coffee with aspartame seems to make my tooth hurt. So I drank nothing during our rest time between practice and the service. All they had was coffee and iced water. Both would likely cause my tooth some pain.

I should be using this to eat and drink less. But I'm not really. However Sunday may have been the closest to doing it. I certainly felt hungry a few times. But I may have made up for it at lunch. Yeah I did.

Two things were amazing in the day was how well the anthem we sang fit in with the sermon given by our deacon, GB. I mentioned it to our director JF afterwards and he too had noticed and called it the Holy Spirit's direction. Praise God. I also felt that, at least for me, the sermon by MP in the morning fit in well with thoughts I was having after my talk at Brighton. I felt the Holy Spirit's leading there too.

I decided to come this week on the week of the communion service at Brighton, something I never do. That might have been the Holy Spirit's leading too since I found out after the service that SJ was going to be out of town visiting his mom next week. His wife NJ will give the sermon. It was probably good that we did not confuse the issue by offering to come next week, the week we usually come to help.

So after the day I felt good about all that had happened. Praise God.

Secular compromises

As this world goes more secular, the U.S.A. anyway, that's where I live, we as intentional Christians are tempted to make moral compromises in order to not be ridiculed or marginalized.

A big one with some people is accepting homosexuality as something other than sin. It's just sin. There is nothing normal about it. We have not discovered something new. It's is awful. It is often caused by the sins of our parents or others around us. Our culture has not all of a sudden discovered something overlooked by all the cultures that came before us over thousands of years. People who feel abnormal sexual cravings of any kind can get help. But some would ridicule you if you do decide you want a normal family with children and you have been formerly labeled a homosexual or lesbian. I know several people who have resisted sin and gone on to have normal families with children.

Others will make "green" or environmental issues into something of a religious cause, worthy of persecution if you do not agree. In some circles you can lie, overstate, make outlandish, unproved (and often unprovable) statements in the name of the environment and be applauded for your care. There is nothing wrong with being environmentally friendly. I hope I am. But we do it out of love for God and the wonderful world he gave us to take care of. Nature is not a god or gods in and of itself. We have a wonderful God who created the world. The world itself is not to be worshiped for itself alone.

Others will allow the business of making money to be all important. Any tactic goes it seems with some people. You can get ridiculed for not accepting the adage, taken from sports, "You ain't trying if you ain't cheating." This might be amusing when applied to sports but it is dangerous and sinister when applied to financial markets.

Governmental rules will never stop all cheating. We in business must be self-policing or the whole structure of capitalism will fall apart. Much of the reason for the horrible morass we are in now economically is because too many people are cheating, trying to beat the system, trying to find a loophole.

After the fact people will create more rules. And in so doing it will make life harder for the many people trying to follow the rules, trying to do the right thing. Others ridicule those trying to do business ethically. One can apply many proverbs here. But we trust that God will reward those who do ethically, who do try to keep honest weights, to use an old analogy found in the prophets.

It is good for a businessman or woman to look at the spirit of the rules and not just the letter. Some encourage us to look for the loopholes but we know that doing as they advise will be immoral. Some will ridicule us for taking a higher road. But often later the rules that looked OK will be reinterpreted by regulators as illegal causing you financial harm. We can look at the Enron debacle as a case in point. Many of the men who were prosecuted here were active Christians who allowed themselves compromises. I can just imagine them thinking, "Well, everyone else is doing it." This is not good enough. One must think for himself. Because of the financial ramifications for others their actions were found criminal.

Christian businessmen must take their faith to work with them. Trust God for the increase. Be patient, do it right, you will get there. Do not be tempted with short cuts. Pray for your business dealings. Ask God for wisdom in your decisions. Think of the proverbs. God will ultimately judge even when he looks like he is tarrying. He can judge through government regulators later.

1 Peter 4:17-18 - Let Us Share our Faith

I keep remembering the adage, "It is better to be a Christian than not to be a Christian." I guess it's not confirmed in me, sadly. The world tells us all paths are equal. Let people do their own thing. Alternative lifestyle is a buzzword these days. But it is not true! Allowing people to stay in their sinful ways without at least offering them a better alternative is wrong. It is wrong headed to think we do not have something to offer. WE HAVE THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. Let us rejoice.

And let us offer it to those of our friends who have not accepted Christ. They are worse off. God will use them after they decide to accept him. It is not for us to make them little clones of us. Heaven forbid. But if they do accept Jesus they will be better off in so many ways. They will be more blessed in this life and have the promise of a place in God's kingdom afterward.

I was reminded of this in reading 1 Peter 4:18. Peter is quoting Proverbs 11:31. "And it is with difficulty that that the righteous one is save, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?"

Do you feel that it is with difficulty that you are saved? I do. I know my flesh, my emotions still struggle. I still squirm.

But remember we are righteous, not because we are perfect but because we are saved. It is not because we always act correctly or perfectly Godly. But we are found innocent by the basis of Jesus' testimony. He has already promised us our reward.

1 Peter 1:17, the verse before, says "Judgment will begin with the household of God." It will begin with us first. We are the easy cases, we will be dealt with first. Then those "who do not obey the gospel of God" i.e. those who do not believe. It will be judged against them.

So we need to share the good news as we are able, as we find opportunity. Pray for the opportunity.