Watch....In!?

AW Tozer once said, "A third of bible vocabulary would be absent if we lived in a sinless world."  Because of sin in this world, God has warned us to watch out, as discussed in a previous blog entry.  Watch out for thieves, deceivers, false teachers, division, destruction, greed, and many other things.  God instructs us to look out for the snares, and trappings of this world so that we will be useful to Him.  He tells us to watch out for things that we'll have to encounter on a regular basis.  But God doesn't only tell us to watch out; he instructs us to watch in....

No one has ever mistaken me for Bob Villa.  Most of my attempts at home improvement end with a professional muttering to himself after repairing my attempts at home improvement.  Even with my limited skills, one thing I can do is demolish.  Recently, I demolished my kitchen and the floors on the first level of my house.  Before starting the job, I went to Home Depot and bought a bevy of new tools including a new hammer.  After a few days of effort and a few buckets of sweat I looked around and saw floors, cabinets, walls, and counters that had been destroyed.  I also saw in my hand a hammer that bore the marks of smashing, chopping, wedging, and well more smashing.

My hammer, while still useful, was no longer new.  It was no longer emerald blue with a pristine shine.  There was no luster to speak of.  My hammer, shown above, bore the scrapes and scars to accentuate the stories I told regarding the kitchen demolition.  My point is that useful tools are often scratched, scraped, dented, and well, ugly.  To me however, that hammer is sturdy, and dependable.  In it's current state, it is worth more to me than the $34 I originally paid for it.  

Much like my hammer, battle tested Christians bear the marks, scrapes, scars and dents associated with God's use.  Much like my hammer, battle tested Christians can be seen by God as dependable, sturdy, reliable, and valuable.  The difference between the Christian and the hammer is the human element.  Pain, fear, hesitation, fatigue; none of these factors have to be considered when wielding a hammer.  With Christians however, our battle scars are far deeper than scratches on a metal surface.  Our scars can affect us.  They can affect our walk, they can affect our attitudes, and they can affect our usefulness.  Our scars can cause us to hesitate or even resist when God sees fit to use us.  Even with our Spiritual armor, God prompts us in scripture to examine ourselves.

Let a man examine himself

In I Corinthians 11:28 Paul exhorts Christians, stating that each man should examine himself before partaking in communion.  When we examine ourselves before communion what should we be looking for?  In order to really understand this, I think we have to forget the image of the Lord's Supper being a morsel of cracker and swig of Welches Grape Juice.  In actuality, this was a meal, patterned after Jesus' last meal.  What this had become to the Christians in Corinth was an opportunity for the fat to get fatter.  It was an occasion in which the different divisions kept to themselves.  In this passage Paul is telling the Corinthians to examine themselves before eating for divisive spirits and greed.  

Communion in Corinth had become the opposite of what Jesus ever intended.  We see from Paul's letters that some were getting stuffed and drunk while others went hungry.  That would appear to contradict Jesus' edict on banquet etiquette.  Moreover, in John's account of the Last Supper, Jesus got up to wash the feet of his disciples and instructed them to wash the feet of others.  

The humble path is not an easy one to walk.  Most times in life, it seems easier to fight pride with hubris.  Pride and hubris often lead to feelings of entitlement, which often leads to division.  Our pride, our greed, and any sense of entitlement we may have are factors that work in directly oppose our ability to give all glory to God.  In addition, pride does not allow us to keep focus on God when we are called to suffer for his namesake.  

We as people often mistake humility for weakness.  Like my trusty hammer, our humility in God's hands can be used to knock down and destroy the lofty and prideful.  Humility puts us in a position where we can be exalted by God; glorified in a way that is not fleeting.  Sitting at the table prepared for us in the presence of our enemies is rarely an easy assignment.  Examine yourself for pride and feelings of entitlement that may manifest itself through division, greed or anything else that opposes unity. 

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves

We are to examine ourselves that we can know that we are righteous even when it appears that we are clouted in failure.  Paul tells us that we can do nothing against Truth but do things for Truth.  Paul tells us that only a Spirit of God testifies that Christ in the flesh is God.  We should be testing ourselves to ensure that our words and our deeds testify to that fact.  

In order to pass this examination, we must live a life that shows that we belong both to the Son and Father who sent him.  We are not allowed to pick and choose the portions of the bible that we wish to accept.  Either the bible is true or it is not.  Either God is fully sovereign or He isn't.  The most valuable thing we can share is our testimony.  We need to keep and cherish our testimony as a record of our lives that brings honor to God.  We need to examine ourselves to and test our faith to show that Christ is real and is able to keep us.

As dependable tools of God we need to be sure that we are always ready and willing to do his work.  We need to be ready, in season and out of season to be an ambassador of God.  

When Greed is god

I never wanted to be a pastor growing up.  Never entertained thoughts of being an elder, a bishop, or any other evangelical title.  I wasn't interested in preaching, speaking, teaching or leading.  As titles go, I figured that I may peak at deacon; maybe.  Things changed for me one Sunday afternoon in a large empty sanctuary in Camden, NJ.  This church was located in a maze of boarded up houses, and corner dwelling loiterers.  This was not an affluent neighborhood.  Elderly people fanning themselves on front porches as small children hung their heads from bedroom windows was reminiscent of scenes I had seen long ago growing up in Baltimore.  I didn't, nor do I judge Camden's residents, but I knew where I was and it wasn't Dorothy's Kansas.  My wife, my newborn son and I turned into the church's parking lot where a Mercedes Benz with a vanity plate caught our eye.  It seemed out of place, but was of no concern of ours.  We were visitors, a young family in a new state in search of a "church home".

We parked the car and walked the steep stairs to the foyer.  Much to my chagrin, we were ushered to the second pew, where we squoze into a tight confining space.  Standing well over 6 feet and tipping the scales at that time in the 270 lbs range I was not a fan of squeezing into anything.  I looked around at a sanctuary full of empty pews and wondered why my left knee was awkwardly strewn into the aisle so that my right knee would have enough space to not bang the first pew every time I shifted my weight.  Soon after the pastor took the stage I realized why I was herded into tight quarters.  As he continually motioned toward an empty balcony and pointed to pews with much more space than compacted pew number two I looked up and noticed two cameras pointed directly at the stage.  I purposely call it a stage because the word pulpit, by definition implies divine worship.  This was not worship.  This was a show.  My leg had fallen asleep, and my bible was in the lap of a toddler to give the appearance that the pastor was performing in front of a packed house.  As it turned out, we had no need for the bible.

The pastor stood in the front of this church on his stage and quoted biblical fragments, and his own interpretations based on these fragments centering around the phrase, will a man rob God?  "I know it's summer time ya'll and that means time for vacation *a huck*, but I wouldn't get on a plane ya'll if I had God's money in my wallet.  It's summer time ya'll and it's hot outside, but I wouldn't get in a pool *a huck* with God's money in my wallet.  Ananias and Sapphira couldn't even go into Peter's tent with God's money in their pocket."  (Side note:  If you've ever been duped into believing that Ananias and Sapphira died because they held money back, read Acts 5:4.  Peter tells them in no uncertain terms that the land, and the money was theirs and in their control.  Their sin was lying.)  When the preacher took a seat, after preaching two sermons on giving, his wife went to the microphone and spoke about giving to extreme levels.  "If you want to feel God, you have to make him feel you", she started.  "Make him feel your pain.  Give till it hurts.  Give $5,000 because in giving that it will hurt you and God will feel it."

She didn't know it, but that woman inspired me.  She inspired me to study the scriptures so that I would not be duped or mislead.  She inspired me to empathize with a group of people, burdened by misuse of bible.  Most importantly she inspired me to pray for a group of people that I never knew because I believe that all people who want to know the truth about God should have a resource to aid them in their walk; with no concern as to what is in their pocket.  That prayer opened the door for God to ask me, "What are you doing about it?"

I don't want to be a pastor.  I don't want to be a bishop, an elder, a prophet, or an apostle.  I don't even want to be a deacon.  All too aware of my own missteps, I hesitate spiritually to lead.  I don't dare repeat after Paul when he tells Corinth to follow him as he follows Christ.  I simply desire for people to follow Christ.  I want to help people find the Truth's truth.  I want people to understand the relationship to God that became available when Christ died and the curtain was torn.

This world is perishing, and they don't even know it.  In the midst of this, the church as a whole has prostituted itself to prosperity doctrines, and Sunday morning shows.  We chase money, power fame and standing and are left wondering why God won't spark revival on our terms.  God won't spark revival on our terms.  We've traded broken hearts and contrite spirits for haughty hearts and lustful eyes.  Then we expect God to pour out blessings into those things that he has already told us he hates.

When greed is God, there's no room for God to be God.  If we're searching for God, it's time to let go of the greed.