Spending Our Lives For Noble Purpose

The Smothers Brothers discovered Pat Paulsen many years ago when they heard his night club act. They brought him on board and used him first as a writer for their variety show, and then as a part of the comedy cast. Part of Paulsen's "schtick" was his six campaigns for president. He gave us several memorable lines.

"I am neither left wing nor right wing. I'm middle-of-the-bird."

"In America, any boy can grow up to be president. Or, if he never grows up, vice--president."

"I am against welfare for poor people. All they'll do is pay rent and buy food."

Well, yes, money is only good if we can spend it for something valuable.

This is the basis of one of Jesus's most well-known stories. He told of a woman who had ten coins and lost one. The homes in first-century Palestine most often had earthern floors covered with stalks of flax as a primitive carpet. How easy it would be for a single coin to roll underneath the flooring and be lost to good use.

The point of Jesus' story is that someone apart from God is like a coin lost to usefulness. This doesn't mean that a non-believer can't do good things. Many do. They're good citizens, good neighbors and good Americans. But a non-believer is not exercising the greatest usefulness--investing their life in God's work.

The God of the Bible is fully capable of doing his work alone, but he offers us opportunity to partner with him in this work. The work of God has value and is eternal. In some way that we may not understand at the moment, his work has eternal consequence.

I remember one weekend many years ago. We'd only been back shortly to Alabama from the seminary in Kentucky, and I became friends with a neighboring pastor in Jacksonville. This man, in his early 30s, succumbed to cancer and his funeral was the same weekend that a plane crashed in Mississippi killing three members of the band "Lynyrd Skynyrd."

The attention of the media was on the crash, and it was a tragedy, to be sure.

But the media paid no attention to the Saturday funeral I attended where we honored a brother in the Lord who served faithfully and was taken from us too soon. But as John said in Revelation, our deeds follow us into eternity (Rev. 20: 13).

We do know that this young pastor's preaching of the gospel and bringing people to faith was a sterling example of a coin used for noble purpose.

Those who don't serve the Lord through his church forfeit their birthright. They're a coin lost to finest use.

How Then Should We Worship?

It was a strange comment. He was with a group who came to our church to use our facilities for a civic event. I was fairly new at the church and he told me he went to a neighboring church. "We don't worship like you do," he said with a smile.  I got the impression he was making a judgment about our worship.

His comment, however, reminded me that every church I've known worships differently. Every church is a unique mix of folks with unique social and denominational traditions.

I've been to a few Episcopalian services over the years and I appreciate the grand reverence of their worship. The readings and prayers highlight the majesty of God and their services remind us of the holy God Isaiah saw in his call experience (Isaiah 6).

I had the happy experience of being stated supply at a PCA (Presbyterian) church for nearly four years. The Book of Church Order prescribed how services should be conducted. I was forced to think through the prayers I offered since the pastor prayed four or five times in each service. I appreciated the mandated petition to God for forgiveness and the assurance of pardon spoken to the people as we confessed our sin. The PCA minister ends the service with a blessing instead of a benediction, and a kind lady gave me a document with several blessings on it after seeing my unfamiliarity with this tradition!

Donna and I served an American Baptist church in Indiana when I was in seminary in Louisville. The folks there enjoyed putting her on the piano bench and singing the gospel songs of the South. They loved gospel preaching, too, and told me their best pastors always came from Alabama and Georgia!

I have a cousin who preached in Africa and he showed a film of the people dancing and celebrating when one of their number accepted Christ. He said the celebrations sometimes would last an hour. I've wondered how this would go over in our time-conscious American services!

When I was a child my mother's only sister took us with her to a revival service one night in her Nazarene church in Georgia. I still remember my aunt running down the aisle testifying of God's goodness to her.

Another unique phenomenon in the South is the cowboy church. Ranchers and rodeo folk enjoy worshipping together and the music is most often sung with guitar rather than organ or piano or synthesizer.

So many worship styles, yet all offer praise to the same Lord.

If we bring people into his presence, welcoming all without partiality, and if we offer a word of hope and encouragement, I believe we've worshipped well.

A FRIDAY TO REMEMBER

The wind in my face was bitterly cold in downtown Dallas a few years ago. My continuing education classes had ended at the seminary in nearby Ft. Worth, so the afternoon was free for some sightseeing.

A chill came over me independent of the temperature when I walked onto Dealey Plaza and saw firsthand those sights emblazoned in my memory: Elm Street, the triple overpass and the sixth floor window.

I thought back to that terrible Friday in November, 1963. Our class had just returned from lunch when Mr. Vines, our principal, made an announcement on the intercom.

“Boys and girls,” he said, “some of you may’ve heard already that our president’s been shot. Let’s try to finish out the day in school and I’ll let you know the latest news when I hear more.”

Nevertheless, the senseless death of President Kennedy so paralyzed us that I don’t remember our doing much work in school that Friday afternoon. I remember being glued to the television throughout the weekend and during the funeral on Monday.

That Friday in November will live in the bad memory section of my brain forever.

This week the world remembers another bleak Friday on which Jesus of Nazareth was murdered.

His death was senseless, too, for he’d done no wrong. In fact, bribed witnesses had to be brought in to lie about him at his trial. One of the thieves who died with him realized Jesus' innocence: “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong" (Luke 23: 41).

British writer Richard Jefferies told of a little boy who gazed at a graphic painting of Calvary and exclaimed, “If God had been there, he would not have let them do it!”

But God was there! He wasn't removed from the event at Calvary. Paul insisted “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19).

God was present at the cross, and he showed us that he loves us in spite of disobedience, that he offers forgiveness to all and that he wants to be our partner in building a life filled with hope.

God’s redemptive plan wasn’t completed on Friday. The Father was faithful to his son and raised him on the third day. Now God promises to welcome all his children on the other side of death.

In light of God’s ultimate plan we believers have renamed that awful Friday. 

We call it Good Friday. 

And so it is.

Because He Lives!

It was April 19, 1992. First Baptist Selma’s choir, under the direction of Gordon Welch, was to sing “Symphony of Praise,” and a large crowd gathered on Easter evening to enjoy the music.

The choir had begun only a minute or so when there was interruption.

Laurie Manderson was first to react with a shriek when her father, Billy Driggers, clutched his chest and fainted. He was having a heart attack. Fortunately Dr. Park Chittom was also in the choir. He and Selma dentist “Blue” Howell administered CPR while waiting on the EMT crew. Billy spent time at Vaughan Hospital and then at Carraway Hospital in Birmingham.

The cantata was rescheduled for May 24. It was a great night when Billy walked out with them to a standing ovation. Billy Driggers came back from the dead!

Next week we'll celebrate even a greater miracle when Jesus rose from his grave in Jerusalem. His resurrection ensures new life for those who follow him.

Because of Easter, we have life with the living Christ.

The Christian life isn’t a solo, but a duet. We live it in partnership with Christ. As the apostle Paul wrote, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

There is a sense in which the old life of disobedience dies when we come to faith in Christ, and the son of God takes up residence in our lives. Some insist, “I can’t live the Christian life.” This may be true, but Christ can! Others say, “I’m afraid I can’t hold out.” This may be true, but Christ will strengthen you. We don’t live the Christian life alone.

Because of Easter, we have a life committed to mission.

The risen Christ gave the blueprint in Acts 1:8. The disciples were to take the message first to the Jewish nation, for “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). But then they were to take the gospel to the hated Samaritans. Jesus’ blueprint speaks to our prejudices for he insisted redemption is for everyone: black and white, rich and poor, prisoner and free.

Modern believers accompany Christ into a world of need and pour out our lives in service.

Because of Easter, we have life eternal.

Columbus sailed into the unknown in 1492, but returned with a message: “There’s nothing to fear. A new world awaits!”

Jesus crossed into the realm of death and returned with a similar message. Death for the believer is a portal to a new world.

Bill Gaither’s song is correct, “Because he lives, I can face tomorrow / Because he lives, all fear is gone.”

Baptizing Our Pocketbooks

Giving has always been an important way to worship the Lord, and an important way to invest in the Lord's work. It's also a spiritual barometer that measures our love for him. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there is your heart also" (Matthew 6:21). The principle is that our hearts follow our treasure....

How might we determine our life priorities? For most of us it would be with our checkbook. I've found that younger people don't write many checks anymore, and some don't own a checkbook. Great Britain will stop using paper checks in 2018, so the USA is probably not too far behind the move to electronic banking.

I saw Metro riders in D.C. swipe their wallets on the turnstile to ride the subway. Someone explained the readers could see the fare card inside the wallet. Maybe we'll do this at the supermarket one day soon.

However we spend money, our money is a solid indicator of our priorities.

March 6 was a memorable day as we commemorated 180 brave Texans who died at the Alamo in San Antonio. The commander-in-chief of the Republic of Texas was Gen. Sam Houston, who turned the tide and defeated Santa Anna on April 21 at San Jacinto.

Gen. Houston was a hard-living man who finally came to Christ about 10 years before his death in 1863. His conversion was in large measure the result of his wife Margaret's witness.

Margaret Lea grew up in Marion, Ala. and was schooled at the Judson Female Institute, now Judson College. Her father, Temple, had been a circuit-riding Baptist preacher, and her mother, Nancy, has the distinction of being the only female delegate to the meeting in Greensboro in 1823 when the Alabama Baptist Convention was founded.

Houston met Margaret in Mobile and married her in 1840. Margaret was his third wife, and by all accounts, his favorite!

On the day he trusted Christ, Houston came forward and took the hand of the pastor. "I give you my hand and with it I give my heart to the Lord," he said. Houston was baptized in a local creek the same day. When the pastor raised him from the water he said, "Sam, all your sins are washed away." To which Houston replied, "God help the fishes!"

Another interesting fact is that Houston found he'd mistakenly left his wallet in his baptism clothes. "Preacher," he said, "you baptized my pocketbook!"

This was prophetic, for Houston gave generously to his church for the rest of his life, and also supported a new Baptist school in Waco that was to become Baylor University.

On the day of our baptism, we all should've baptized our pocketbooks, too.

All Satan's Apples Have Worms

All Satan's Apples Have Worms
Michael J. Brooks

We've just come through the Christmas season after which many of us made exchanges. We took something back that didn't fit, or something back that didn't work, and got a replacement. Jesus talked about an exchange in Matthew 16:26: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

The soul is the part of us that communes with God. Humankind is unlike the plant and animal kingdoms since our Creator invites us to fellowship with him. And according to Jesus, it's never been beneficial to exchange our soul for something less.

Our first parents did in Eden. Adam and Eve listened to the voice of the serpent who promised they could be their own gods. However, they were banished from paradise and the presence of the Lord.

The prophet Jeremiah warned King Zedekiah of Judah that God would use Babylon to punish him. The king made an alliance with Egypt to save himself, but Egypt fell. Zedekiah then turned to the idols of Canaan and erected false images in his palace. But he didn't turn to God. The king lost his throne, his sons and his freedom.

Jesus met a young man and loved him, as he still loves all young people whose lives are filled with promise. He told the young man to sell his possessions and follow Jesus. But the young man loved money more than he valued his soul.

It's foolish to trade anything in exchange for one's soul because nothing we get in exchange is ultimately worth it. Of what value is a little money, prestige or power if we're living beneath the privilege of knowing, loving and serving God?

A fable tells of a lark whose beautiful song filled the forest, but who was hated for this attention by a crafty rat. The rat hatched a plot to destroy the lark. He came and praised the bird's music, telling him it was such a shame that he had to search for food instead of singing all day. Then the rat offered to provide food for the lark.

"How much will it cost?" asked the lark.

"One worm for one feather," the rat replied.

At the end of the day the lark was so full of worms that he couldn't sing, and had no feathers left to fly away. The crafty rat destroyed him.

An evangelist of another generation, John R. Rice, used to preach a sermon entitled, "All Satan's Apples Have Worms." And so it remains a great tragedy when people choose things of lesser importance over the opportunity to commune with God.

Godly Sorrow

Godly Sorrow
Michael J.Brooks

Hollywood actress, Zsa Zsa Gabor, who was also Miss Hungary 1936, offered some advice for Valentine's Day: "Marry for love. Keep marrying 'til you find it." Accordingly she's been married nine times! She's obviously had some troubled relationships.

The apostle Paul had a troubled relationship with the Corinthian church. He founded the church, along with his friends Aquila and Priscilla, but critics arose to poison the relationship. They said he wasn't a genuine apostle since he wasn't in the original band of 12, and they insisted he was only after their money. This trouble relationship caused Paul to write a stern letter to them--he called it a "painful letter." He defended his calling and chastised them for daring to criticize a man of God so unjustly.

Paul referenced this painful letter in 2 Corinthians 7 telling the church it made them sorry, and he was glad (vs. 8-9)! He rejoiced that their sorrow brought repentance and a changed life. Then he explained that their sorrow was "godly sorrow" as opposed to "worldly sorrow" (v. 10).

Worldly sorrow means that one gets caught with hands in the cookie jar, regrets to be so exposed but does not change one's lifestyle. We've seen this often in the lives of celebrities who are scorned, allegedly renounce their wrong but really don't forsake it.

I think of one political leader who put together a support group of three leaders to hold him accountable. I met one of these men at a conference and talked with him about this work for a few minutes. But by all accounts, this political leader never left his deviant lifestyle.

In contrast, godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance and a changed life.

Charles Colson, a tough-talking ex-Marine, was known as President Nixon's hatchet man. Colson reportedly said he'd run over his own grandmother if it helped the president. For his Watergate-related crimes, he spent six months in the federal prison at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery.

During this time Colson found Christ and wrote about his experiences in his book, "Born Again."

The critics said he was only sorry he'd been incarcerated and doubted his commitment. But Colson proved his sincerity by going back to prison, time and again, telling inmates about the love of God.

Prison Fellowship counters recidivism--the fact that the majority of inmates return to prison. The organization teaches faith, honor and character so that inmates aren't just punished, but rehabilitated.

President George W. Bush awarded Colson the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2008--interestingly, a medal first authorized by President Nixon. Colson went to prison for one president and was honored by another.

His godly sorrow brought repentance and a change of life.