On Remembering

It’s among the shortest verses in the New Testament, and it’s also filled with some mystery. Jesus said, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). Mrs. Lot is a minor figure in the Old Testament. We don’t even know her name. We only know she looked back at the burning Sodom and died.

Some believe this word is about disobedience; that is, God told Lot’s family not to look back and that’s all we need to know. In this regard, it would be like our first parents in Eden who were told not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We don’t know exactly why, other than it was a matter of obedience to God.

Others see this as a warning about second thoughts. This interpretation is that Mrs. Lot looked back with sadness. She left Sodom, but Sodom was in her heart. This is akin to Jesus’ word about putting our hand to the plow and refusing to look back.

We should remember many things, including those whose fingerprints are on our souls. So many men and women invested themselves in us by being patient and teaching us about life.

I recall teachers in junior and high school who did this for me. Mrs. Carlotta taught me to love history and Miss Petty taught me to love good grammar and good literature. Dr. W.T. Edwards taught us Greek at Samford University. We’d say, “Dr. Edwards, this material’s over our heads!” He’d reply, “Boys, raise your heads.”

I had Sunday School teachers who taught me to love scripture. I’ve never met a Sunday School teacher who was paid. These men and women volunteer to study the Bible and communicate its great truths to us week by week.

I remember godly deacons and pastors who loved me and encouraged me to find God’s will for my life. These men would sacrifice anything to support the youth ministry, and this is true in most churches. And deacons were always in their place as helpers to our pastors.

A man in a pensive mood thought of a favorite teacher in high school. He found her address, took pen and paper and sent her a note of gratitude. A few days later he discovered a letter in his mailbox with a familiar penmanship.

“Dear William,” she wrote. “Your note came on a cold, dreary day, and cheered me as nothing else had done in so long. You’ll be interested to know that in my 40 years of teaching, yours is the only note of appreciation I’ve ever received.”

Many of us are fortunate to have some folk around who invested in us. Perhaps we ought to take time to say thanks.

A Basket of Deplorables

We’re taught not to identify people with potentially hurtful descriptions nowadays, such as “she’s blonde,” or “he’s got a big nose.” It’s interesting that one of Israel’s judges, Ehud, was identified as left-handed. This is unusual since many ancient people thought left-handedness was a physical imperfection.

The French word, gauche, has come into our English usage to describe one who is uncultured or socially awkward. The word literally means “left,” and the implication is that a leftie is awkward or even nefarious. As I remind my left-handed friends, Jack the Ripper was a leftie.

Well, all in good fun. Ten percent of us are lefties, and this group claims such notables as seven U.S. presidents, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, Ringo Starr and Bart Simpson!

God used Ehud’s left-handedness to deliver Israel from the cruel dictator Eglon of Moab. The story is told in Judges 3.

The Bible is filled with stories of others who likewise had imperfections. Think of Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samson, Saul and Peter. Even Billy Graham raised a prodigal son until Franklin was thoroughly converted at age 22.

The truth is that all of us have imperfections. There’s no such thing as a perfect servant of God. To quote a well-known politician, we’re all a basket of deplorables.

But our imperfections aren’t surprising to God. It’s interesting that we often respond to God’s call to serve with excuses. “Lord, you don’t understand. I have a problem. It’s (fill in the blank).” The very idea that we think we’re informing God about something he doesn’t know! He’s the one who made us and knows us intimately.

And this is true in confession as well. When we confess sin, he doesn’t say “Really?”; he says, “Finally. You’re being honest.”

But it’s also true that God’s promise is to invest in his willing servants so that we’re equipped for ministry. Paul wrote, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Like a hand in a glove enables the glove to be used effectively for its purpose, so Christ in us equips us needy sinners to serve him with effectiveness.

The Healing Power of Forgiveness

Presidents' Day was established to honor George Washington, and later to honor both Washington and Lincoln whose birthdays are in February. There isn't general agreement on whether the holiday honors two presidents or all of them.

I admire another president whose birthday is likewise in February. Feb. 6 was Ronald Reagan's 106th birthday. I've met three U.S. presidents but never got to meet Reagan. The closest I got was visiting the Reagan Library and the former president's gravesite.

Reagan displayed great courage on March 31, 1981 when he sustained a gunshot wound. The actual X-ray is displayed at the library and one can see the bullet lodged one inch from the president's heart. The alert Secret Service agent saw the president's lips turning blue, knew this was indication of bleeding in his lungs and ordered the limo to speed to George Washington Hospital in the nation's capital.

Reagan spurned the waiting wheelchair believing walking into the building on his own power was important for the nation. As aide Michael Deaver wrote, the president "hitched up" his trousers, straightened his tie, threw back his shoulders and walked into the hospital before fainting inside due to shock and blood loss.

It was a moment of great triumph less than a month later when Reagan addressed the nation from the U.S House of Representatives. He'd stared death in the face and walked away.

Deaver said that the president was unusually pensive one day during a hospital visit. "I began to pray for Jim [Brady] and Tim [Delahanty], but I realized if I had peace, I'd need to pray for the boy who shot us, too."

Reagan joined a select group of notable forgivers.

After the attempt on Reagan's life in March, Pope John Paul II was shot in the Vatican in May. It's well-known that the pope visited his would-be assassin in prison and prayed with him two years later. A recent memoir revealed that en route to the hospital the pope prayed his forgiveness for the man who shot him.

John F. Kennedy Jr. interviewed former Alabama governor George Wallace in the inaugural issue of "George" magazine. Kennedy asked Wallace his feeling toward Arthur Bremer--the would-be assassin who put him in a wheelchair.

"I never hated him at all," Wallace said. "In fact, I prayed for him--let God touch him, forgive his sins."

Courageous stories like these shame the rest of us who so often nurse grudges and harbor animosities toward those who hurt us. The apostle Paul declared that we're to forgive others just as God forgave us (Ephesians 4:32). We can be grateful that God doesn't harbor grudges but is merciful to us sinners.

Superman Vs. Clark Kent

Superman was my boyhood hero. After all, he was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings at a single bound. We all know, however, that he had a weakness. The Planet Krypton, where he was born, imploded, and the resulting kryptonite fragments transformed the man of steel into Clark Kent.

It’s striking that the first two Supermen were felled as if by kryptonite.

George Reeves was the Superman of my boyhood. He filmed 104 TV episodes, and then died of suicide at age 45. Christopher Reeve was the Superman of the 70s and 80s, making four appearances at the man from Krypton. Reeve was paralyzed in 1995 and died in 2004 at age 52.

I’ve always thought of the Apostle Paul as a spiritual Superman. He was indefatigable and a “tramp for the Lord” many years before Corrie ten Boom claimed the title. He was unafraid when drug before councils of inquisition and joyful as he faced death. But Paul sounds more like Clark Kent in Romans 7: “For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do” (v. 19, KJV).

Paul understood that his sin nature, or “old man,” continued to dog his steps when he tried to serve the Lord. We all have this sin nature because we’ve chosen to sin (Romans 5:12). And every Christian knows the struggle Paul articulated.

I was taught that the sin nature died when we become Christians, but I now see this as error. Perhaps the best way to understand the matter is to realize the sin nature is under the condemnation of death, but the sentence won’t be carried out until we meet the Lord in heaven. Until then we wrestle, as did Paul, with bad choices in our lives. In other words, we want to be Superman, but we find more often we’re Clark Kent.

The same writer explained we must seek a fresh filling of God’s Holy Spirit each day (Ephesians 5:18). And at the same time, we step down from the throne, or control center, of our lives and ask the rightful sovereign to be enthroned there.

Edward VIII became king of England in January 1936. He fell in love with an American divorcee and wished to marry her. However, political and church leaders said this would be improper. Accordingly, Edward abdicated the throne in December and was named Duke of Windsor. He declared, “I must marry the woman I love.” He and Wallis Simpson lived happily for 35 years.

Christians must abdicate the throne of our lives daily, allowing Christ his rightful place as sovereign Lord of all.

Sola Scriptura

The National Day of Prayer this week reminds us to pray for America. The scripture exhorts us to “pray for all those in authority over us,” not just the ones for whom we voted (1 Timothy 2: 1-2) Every believer has a God-ordained responsibility to pray for our political leaders. In our state, we pray for our former governor as he reorders his life, and we pray for our current governor as she navigates a new path.

This year is the 227th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution. It became the law of the land in 1790 when the final state, Rhode Island, voted approval. Our president makes one pledge to the people of the nation: to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Impeachment is effected when the president falls short of this Constitutional-mandated duty.

I learned recently that one U.S. president was buried with the Constitution! President Andrew Johnson asked that a copy of the document pillow his head as he lay in his coffin. Whereas this might be seen as a way to honor the document, historians believe he did this as a final thumb in the eye of Congressional Republicans who bedeviled his unhappy time in office!

It occurred to me that just as one singular document serves as the guide stone for the nation, one single document serves as the guide stone for the church. The reformers’ motto was “sola scriptura,” or “scripture alone.” No document, book or opinion takes superior position to the Bible in the Christian church.

In his second letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul told the young man that the “sacred writings” had shown him the way to salvation, and would continue to guide him in doctrine.

It’s certainly true that not all churches agree on doctrinal issues. Baptism is a case-in-point.

Last year the student pastor at Alabaster’s First Methodist Church phoned to ask about using our baptistery. He said some young people had professed faith and wished to be immersed. Of course we agreed, and I then had a little fun with him. “You can bring the whole church over to be baptized,” I said!

Our Methodist friends reciprocated recently when they loaned us their kneeler that we used in ordaining a Baptist deacon.

Whereas, Christian churches may not agree on every issue, we do agree on the major doctrines in scripture. When scripture is clear, there is no doubt. There is no confusion over lifestyles to avoid: we must not lie, cheat or hurt others. And there’s no confusion over lifestyles to emulate: we are to fill our lives with love, kindness and forgiveness.

The scripture points the way for all things God wishes us to be and to do.

God Has The Fried Chicken

I first heard the story years ago on Christian television when the
author, Bob Benson of Nashville Christian music fame, told it. He
called it the baloney sandwich story. And it's still a good one.

A man had to work half a day one Saturday and belatedly remembered the
church picnic was that afternoon at City Park. Since he lived alone
and didn't cook much, all he found in the refrigerator was a crinkled
piece of baloney and just enough mustard in the bottom of the jar to
get it all over his fingers as he fished it out with a knife. He put
the sandwich in a paper bag and set off for the picnic.

A large crowd gathered that day for the festivities. Families joined
in the three-legged race, the horseshoe toss and the traditional
softball game.

Later in the afternoon it was time to eat. The man found himself at a
table next to a family who'd brought a large picnic basket. As they
unpacked the basket, he saw fried chicken, potato salad, homemade
rolls, lemon meringue pie and what we Southerners call "sweet tea."
(The late Grady Nutt used to call this syrupy stuff "40 weight tea"!).

So there the man sat all alone with his baloney sandwich.

Sensing his plight, the family beckoned him to join their table.

"Let's put our food together and share," they said.

"Oh, no, I couldn't do that," he said.

But the family insisted there was plenty of fried chicken, potato
salad and rolls.

"And our family just loves baloney sandwiches," they said.

And so the man sat there eating like a king when he came like a pauper.

I told this story to a friend years ago who had a different take. He
began to use it to put pompous Christians in their place by saying,
"Hush! God doesn't need your baloney--he has the fried chicken!"

But actually the story is best used to describe what the Christian
life is all about. We come to Christ bringing what we have: hopes,
dreams, failures and sin. God comes to the relationship bringing what
he has and shares with us. And we're the better for this.

What does God bring to the table? He removes guilt by bringing
forgiveness of sin. He gives a new family. We join other forgiven
sinners--the church--who love and encourage us on our spiritual
journey.

And he also brings eternal life. Our greatest fear is death, but Jesus
is the pioneer of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He safely navigated the
valley of the shadow of death and now promises to be our guide when
death comes for us.

God Bless Our Senior Saints

I attended a conference last week at our Baptist assembly in Talladega. The weather was picture-perfect and it was a great several days of instruction and fellowship. An added bonus was the senior adult group that met last week also. We shared meals and were invited to their evening activities, including “Doo Wop Night.” It was a lot of fun singing the songs of our youth along with our entertainer.

Mr. Taylor, camp director, had a little fun with the group when he noted that though the seniors were a smaller group than the campers who met the week before, the seniors had the distinction of draining the ice cream machine every day!

It’s common in today’s churches to provide a children’s service apart from the adults, and youth services, too. Though I can understand the dynamics of worship tailored to an age group, I do lament the loss of corporate worship. Seniors are important in our churches since they serve to encourage the rest of us about God’s faithfulness.

We do commonly segregate ourselves in small group Bible study, and we do this purposely. Teachers are better able to tailor their remarks to specific age groups, and we have more focused outreach with age-grading. For example, we say to a class of 40-year-old men, “You share your faith with the world, but your special assignment is to share your faith with 40-year-old men.”

Seniors who have served the Lord for many years have stories to share with us about God’s leadership in their lives. This is what we miss when we segregate worship by decades.

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” A more modern philosopher, the late TV preacher Rex Humbard, said the same thing in another way: “We sometimes understand the will of God better through the rear-view mirror.”

I’ve lived long enough to realize the truth of this in my life. I can recall a number of disappointments along the way, and my questioning of God’s plan. But with the passage of time I’ve seen he had a better plan, and the disappointing experiences helped me grow. As a mentor once told me, God doesn’t waste any experiences in our lives.

I know we sometimes roll our eyes when seniors tell stories again we’ve heard may times, but I hope they keep on telling their stories! We need to be reminded of God’s goodness, and learn to trust him as they have.

Seniors echo the triumphant word of King David, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread” (Psalm 37:25, NIV).

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 wouldn’t 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.

Is Conflict The Will of God? Part Two

I’ve read and preached about Paul and Silas singing praise to God at midnight in the Philippian jail for many years, but I had a new thought lately; namely, that it should’ve been Paul and Barnabas singing in jail. These men had been partners on Paul’s First Missionary Journey. When they determined to go again and visit the new churches, the men had what Dr. Luke called “a sharp contention” (Acts 15:39). Paul and Barnabas, as far as we know, never worked together again. 

Anytime sharp objects are around, people are liable to be hurt. I am living testimony to this fact. I have scars on two fingers due to handling sharp objects. Sharp contentions can do damage to people. And sharp contentions can do damage to churches.

Churches get conflicted over a variety of things.

I remember Betty who got very upset when we decided to remove two small rooms and enlarge our fellowship hall. Betty’s teacher was fine with moving her Sunday School class, but Betty angrily told me she thought she could never come back since we were removing the room where she met God. We know in our heart of hearts that a church is more than a building—a building can be destroyed but the church will live on. A Sunday School class is more than a room, too. But it’s always been interesting to me that Betty’s faith was room-centered!

Incidentally, we ended up using portable dividers and putting four classes in the enlarged room.

When churches face conflict, we must remember the priority of obedience to God and scripture, to be sure, but we must also underscore the priority of people. The church is in the people business. If we fail here, we’ve failed utterly.

Sometimes pastors joke about “blessed subtractions” rather than additions. They mean that some old codger moved to another church and the church he left is better off. I’ve never believed this. I believe everyone is valuable, and sincere believers can work out differences and remain family.

For seven years it was my privilege to stand in the pulpit of the First Baptist Church in Selma, Ala. I would look up to the balcony area and see two beautiful stained glass windows. One depicted Jesus as the Good Shepherd. He carried a lamb on his shoulders, reminding us that the Good Shepherd left the ninety and nine in search of the one who was lost. And the second window depicted the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. She was lonely and despised, but Jesus saw her as valuable to God and the kingdom.

There’s no question Jesus taught us to value every person. People are too valuable to discard.

Where Is God?

The ancient patriarch Job felt all alone in his suffering. He said, “Oh, that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat (Job 23: 2)!

I’ve heard people echo Job’s lament over the years. “Where is God when I need him?” or “God doesn’t hear my prayers!” or “What did I do to deserve this?” We’re human and forsakenness is a common emotion in our humanity. “Nobody knows the sorrow I’ve seen,” the old spiritual says.

But we find an interesting take from the apologist C. S. Lewis. He knew pain when his wife, Joy, died of cancer. In “A Grief Observed,” he wrote about his sorrow and his questioning of God. But he came to trust God once again and wrote some tantalizing words about pain: “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

The sufferings of life get our attention and make us see we’re not self-sufficient. We often feel so when things are going our way--when there’s health and money and all the attendant pleasures of life. But when we lose any of these things we’re reminded of our humanity and vulnerability to loss.

The apostle Paul knew pain as well. He called is a “thorn” in his body, but never explained what it was. My favorite theory is the stoning he received in Lystra where he was dragged out of the city and left for dead. Without emergency medical treatment we’re accustomed to, I can imagine he had internal organ damage and broken bones that never completely healed. Whatever his pain he cried out to God for its removal. It wasn’t removed, but he did get something from God: the promise of God’s presence and the promise of God’s grace.

This is why many faithful saints became so through suffering. Many of our hymn-writers wrote from personal pain, but also about the comfort they found in partnership with God. I’ve known many senior saints over the years who’ve wrestled with pain, but who, nonetheless, have developed an unshakeable confidence in the goodness of the Lord.

Scripture asserts that no one of us is truly forsaken despite our feelings that we are. The psalm writer said, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

Some of our pain is inexplicable this side of heaven, and we’re promised an accounting one day. Until then, we’re exhorted to trust in the goodness of God and his ultimate plan of fulfillment in our lives.

He is not an absentee deity!

Is Conflict In The Church The Will Of God?

Most Bible readers know the story of Paul and Silas singing praises to the Lord in their Philippian jail cell at midnight (Acts 16). Pastors and other Bible teachers use this story to illustrate the difference Christ makes in our hearts and minds despite the adverse circumstances we sometimes face in our lives.  

An inmate told me once about the screams of “newbies” on the first night of incarceration as they felt the full weight of what they faced over the next years. But I’ve heard something entirely different in prison chapels when inmates with renewed hope praise God in worship.

But one thing we often overlook is that Silas was an “accidental tourist,” to borrow a movie title from several years ago. He probably never dreamed about the adventures he’d have as a companion to the greatest missionary who ever lived.

The Antioch church sent Paul and Barnabas on a Mediterranean mission that we remember as Paul’s First Missionary Journey. John Mark, a relative of Barnabas, accompanied these two gospel warhorses for a time. Then he decided to go home in midstream. The two missionaries faced disagreement when they determined to go again and encourage the new churches. Barnabas wanted to give Mark another chance, while Paul believed him to be unreliable. Accordingly, Barnabas took Mark with him and Paul took a new partner, Silas.

If two great leaders like Paul and Barnabas had conflict, it’s no wonder modern Christians sometimes face disagreement, too.

But is conflict the will of God? Some argue that this disagreement resulted in two mission trips and this was good. Others insist if the two men had worked out their differences it would’ve been much better.

I’ve known several congregations over the years that have parted ways due to conflict. One church did so when a majority of the members voted to ask a former pastor to return, but a sizable minority thought the church needed new leadership. The majority group, however, fell short of the mandate required in the by-laws, so the motion failed. Those who voted to ask the minister to return formed a new church with him as their pastor! The mother church was left behind, hurt and wounded.

We know the God of the Bible specializes in turning our failures into successes, and he can and does bless work founded on less than optimum circumstances. But I've always believed there is a better way to do God's work. If Paul and Barnabas had agreed to disagree, but nevertheless supported and prayed for the other's work, the outcome would've been better.

God is pleased when his people live together in harmony while serving him.

Two Great Questions

Most presidential campaigns have moments of humor, but the campaign of 2016 was tops in every regard! If it weren’t for the seriousness of the task, choosing a Commander-in-Chief, we’d have tuned in every day just for stress relief.

Many of us remember another moment of levity in 1992. Texas businessman H. Ross Perot threw his hat into the presidential ring and selected Admiral James Stockdale as his running mate. The vice-presidential debate was on Oct. 13 at Georgia Tech University. Right out of the chute, Stockdale’s first words to the nation were: “Who am I? Why am I here?” He became fodder for late-night comics for many months to come.

This caricature of Admiral Stockdale is unfortunate since he was a decorated Naval officer, a Vietnam veteran and a former POW.

But his two questions are good ones for followers of Christ.

Who am I?

As a Christian, I am a minister in the church of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul makes this very clear in Ephesians 4: 12. He said that the pastor’s job is to mature the saints for the work of ministry. Every Christian is a minister, or servant, and every Christian must busy himself or herself in the work of the Lord. Our ministries are varied, but each has significance.

I think it’s unfortunate we often categorize laypeople as being somewhat less in the pecking order than the vocational minister. Paul likens Christians to parts of a body, and insisted the body is impaired if one or more body parts refuses to function. I’ve often told congregations that the validity of ministry is never determined by the spotlight. Some ministry is very public, but most is outside the view of the masses. This doesn’t make such ministry any less valid.

Why am I here?

This question is more esoteric than the first. Why was I born in America and in the deep South in the year I was? It’s the stuff of science fiction when people travel back in time, or forward in time, and consider how their lives would’ve been different had they lived in that era. Believers affirm that our lives aren’t results of chance. God, the giver of life and the foundation of all wisdom, determined in some way that we be placed where we are in the era we’re born to fulfill a noble purpose. As Mordecai told Queen Esther so long ago, “Who knows that you’ve come to royalty for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

God placed us where we are because he knew it was the best time and place for our lives to have purpose.

Admiral Stockdale’s questions are good ones for us to ponder.

A God Who Speaks Our Language

I don’t know if C.S. Lewis originated the concept, but he at least popularized the idea that Christianity isn’t a religion, but a relationship.

His reasoning was that religion is what humanity does in order to please God, and Christianity espouses that we can’t do anything to earn favor with God. As Paul wrote: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy . . .” (Titus 3:5).

Humanity has done some strange things in order to please God over the years, and some terrible things, too.

James Michener’s “Hawaii,” published in 1959, has been called a “hit piece” on Christianity and Christian missionaries. The charge is that the missionaries corrupted the native Hawaiian culture. What Michener downplays is that some Hawaiians were sacrificing their infants to the fire god, Oro, when the Christian missionaries found them. The Hawaiians did this in order to earn the favor of their god.

Paul himself was very religious when he took up the cause of persecuting the church. He was a Pharisee which meant he’d been through pretty rigorous training for God’s work. But he met Christ on the road to Damascus and found something that had been missing in his life. He found new faith and a new life purpose in partnership with Christ.

It’s always been striking to me that Dr. Luke specified in Acts 26 that Jesus spoke to Paul in Aramaic on this occasion. Aramaic is not pure Hebrew, but a conversational version of it. Mel Gibson chose to use Aramaic in his film, “The Passion of the Christ.” Most of the biblical films I’ve seen have God or Christ speaking British English, which is different from American English. The only exception is Johnny Cash’s 1973 film about the life of Christ called “Gospel Road” in which the actors spoke Southern English!

I think the point is that God speaks our language, no matter what it is. American Gideons have published the Bible in some 100 languages. God speaks to everyone through his word, and he has also called pastors and missionaries to preach the gospel in the language of all people throughout the earth. So, the God of the Bible finds a way to communicate his love to everyone.

In a unique way, God summons us to himself. We come to him for forgiveness and salvation, find ourselves “in him” in relationship and one day will be with him in eternity. The Christian faith is from top to bottom a relationship with the risen Christ. We celebrate his gift of fellowship with us not based on our goodness but on his initiative. He’s a seeking God.

Mephibosheth and Me

Christian author Max Lucado popularized the Old Testament character Mephibosheth for our generation. Mephibosheth was King Saul’s grandson and apparently the last of Saul’s lineage when David became king. David could’ve sought revenge and had him killed, but instead decided to show kindness to Mephibosheth since he was the son of David’s friend Jonathan.

I’m sure Mephibosheth dreaded his audience with the king, but was surprised at David’s announcement. The king said he would restore Saul’s property to Mephibosheth, adopt him as his ward and provide a place at the king’s table for him forever (2 Samuel 9:6-9).

Lucado insisted Mephibosheth is us. He was crippled from a fall he suffered as a child, just as we’re crippled by our fall since we’ve all fallen short of God’s plan (Romans 3:23). And through no merit on our part, a king has invited us into his family and to dine at this table. What a beautiful picture of salvation!

I think this is also a story of forgiveness. The Old Testament has many bloody stories of revenge, and David would’ve been within his rights to abolish any threat to his kingdom. But instead he put old difficulties with Saul behind and moved on in renewed relationship.

Nobody said forgiveness was easy, but it’s commanded of us by our heavenly father. Every time we pray The Lord’s Prayer we’re reminded to forgive others.

I met David Azbell two years ago at a political items collectors’ show in Plains, Ga. David was press liaison for former Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace. While cataloguing items for the state archives, David found a copy of a letter Wallace wrote in 1995 to Arthur Bremer, who at the time was an inmate at the Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown. David discovered only the governor’s secretary who typed it knew about the letter, and that it wasn’t for public reading.

Following is the text of the letter:

Dear Arthur:

Your shooting me in 1972 has caused me a lot of discomfort and pain. I am a born-again Christian. I love you. I have asked our Heavenly Father to touch your heart, and I hope that you will ask Him for forgiveness of your sin so you can go to Heaven like I am going Heaven.

I hope that we can get to know each other better. We have heard of each other a long time.

Please seek our Heavenly Father because I love you, and I am going to Heaven, and I want you to be going, too.

Sincerely,

George C. Wallace

P.S. Please let Jesus Christ become your Personal Savior.

If Gov. Wallace could forgive the man who shot him, the offenses I struggle with seem so trivial.

The Greatest of These Is Love

Karen Carpenter was the preeminent voice of the 70s. Along with her brother Richard she sold 160 million record albums. Karen sang love songs. “We’ve Only Just Begun” has been used at countless weddings over the years since she introduced it to the world.

But in his book, “Little Girl Blue,” Randy L. Schmidt revealed that Karen Carpenter searched for love and never seemed to find it. Another of her songs is autobiographic: “I'll say goodbye to love / no one ever cared if I should live or die / time and time again the chance for love has passed me by / and all I know of love is how to live without it / I just can't seem to find it.”

Carpenter died on Feb. 4, 1983 at age 32. Hers is a story of supreme sadness.

The 1980 movie, “Urban Cowboy,” featured the song, "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places." This is a good summary of our world.

In our search for love, we need to start at right place, and the Bible says, “God is love.”

The Greeks had more verbs than we do. We use the single verb “love” when we say, “I love my wife,” “I love my cat” or “I love yogurt.” The Greeks had “philos” for brotherly love and “eros” for passionate love. But they also had “agape” used exclusively in the New Testament to describe the love of God. 

The Apostle Paul wrote that God demonstrated the depth of his “agape” by sending Christ to die for us, and now God has placed his “agape” in our hearts (Romans 5:12, 5). So the progression is that God, who is love, showed his love for us and now has placed his love in our hearts. And it is this love that demonstrates to the world that we are Christians according to Jesus (John 13:35).

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 describes God’s love in the heart of Christians. Paul insisted that love doesn’t focus on itself, love values others, love is kind to others, love is not angry with others and love doesn’t seek revenge.

Christian art has used three symbols for the three abiding principles Paul wrote about. Faith is represented by the cross, hope by the anchor and love by the heart. All are important. Without faith, we couldn’t become Christians since salvation mandates we have faith in God’s work through Christ. Hope gives us the will to endure when things are tough. But Paul concluded that the greatest of these is love. God’s agape in our hearts roots out the things that shouldn’t be there and molds us into the image of Christ who is our greatest example.

On Birthdays

I was the new pastor at the church, and a deacon took me to meet a senior saint. She greeted us at the door and said, "I've been wanting to meet the new preacher, and my, you're just a boy!"

I shared that story with the congregation and later at her funeral when I reminisced about the first time I met her. But, it's been a long time since anyone's mistaken me for a boy!

There are a number of lists that make it to Facebook from time-to-time about the advantages of getting older. One is there are no more lessons to be learned the hard way, and another is in a hostage situation, you're among the first to be released!

Another advantage is that other aging baby boomers appreciate the illustrations I use in preaching.

Last Sunday I commented about the time we collected furniture for a family whose apartment burned, and how someone decided the collection point for the furniture should be the parsonage yard! I told our folks our house looked like Sanford and Son. The seniors remembered this program that featured a junk yard in Fred Sanford's front yard, but the younger people had a blank stare in their eyes. On another occasion I told about the prophet Amos, the Southern farmer who went to the North to preach in the city, and likened him to "The Beverly Hillbillies." Again it was an effective illustration for the old.

But there are a number of more serious advantages to growing older. One is wisdom. We seniors gained wisdom from making foolish decisions as young people. Seniors can be a source of knowledge and guidance to the young. The position of elder was important to ancient Israel and to the new-founded church in the New Testament. The recent Christian movie, "The War Room," featured a senior saint who taught a younger lady how to be a good spouse.

Another advantage is that seniors have learned the primacy of family. Many of us look back with some regret we were so busy climbing the corporate ladder that family time so often took a back seat. And the time we now spend with our grandchildren and the way we overlook the messes they make sometimes reminds us how short we were with our own children when they made messes. We can apologize to our adult children, and we can exhort them to cherish the moments with their small children at home.

And seniors can echo the triumphant testimony of King David about the faithfulness of the Lord: "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread" (Psalm 37:25).

On Self-Image

I wouldn't call it a "God thing" as our church kids say sometimes, but rather a coincidence. I picked up a book on the life of Karen Carpenter when I took my grandson to the library a week ago and began to read it last Saturday. I saw that her untimely death was on February 4, 1983--34 years to the day I opened the book. Hers was the voice of a generation. At times it was described as a voice with a smile, and at other times a voice dripping with sorrow. Her short and tragic life was filled with pathos, and her music remains a favorite of my generation.

Carpenter became the poster child for eating disorders. We didn't know as much about anorexia and bulimia in those days, but we've made some progress in this area, though it's estimated some five million Americans yet suffer from this disorder.

Filmmakers produced a documentary called "Thin" in 2006. The film follows several months in the lives of young women with eating disorders after they checked in to a Florida clinic.

In one scene the counselor affixed butcher paper to the wall and asked a patient to draw her image. Then she asked the patient to back up to the wall where the counselor traced her image inside the previous image. The two images were dramatic. The real image fit neatly inside the projected image. In other words, the anorexic patient saw herself as overweight and unattractive, though she clearly was not.

We talk about self-image a lot in the church, and we often find ourselves betwixt two polarities.

On the one hand the Bible is quite clear that we're all sinners and have fallen short of God's plan (Romans 3:23). We follow the example of our first parents in Eden and willfully step aside from the will of God. St. Augustine once remarked that "every man is the Adam of his own soul." He meant that we have Adam in us and have a propensity to make bad choices as he did.

Our Presbyterian friends include a time of confession in every worship service. I think we ought to follow their example and be given opportunity to reflect on our sinfulness and on God's mercy every time we worship.

On the other hand, the Bible tells us that we're "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). Unlike the animals we're made in God's image and we're people of value for whom Christ died. So we are worth a great deal to our Creator.

Finding the proper self-image as Christians is often a challenge. Somewhere between these two polarities lies a golden mean that makes for a balanced spiritual life.

Body Life

The late Ray Stedman was in Birmingham several years ago and I had opportunity to speak to him a few minutes.

Stedman wrote "Body Life" in 1972, and he told me he was surprised this little book had been translated and distributed all over the world. In it Stedman related how he tried to administer a church uniquely--he led spiritual gift discovery and asked church members to use their gifts in ministry. Often our tact is entirely different. We decide what ministries we need, or our denomination decides for us, and then we go about persuading Christians to populate them. Inevitably we generate unhappy campers.

The biblical doctrine of spiritual gifts is refreshing and liberating. It declares every believer is a vital part of the body of Christ, the church, and has a function to perform. This doctrine does away with church being a spectator sport in which the majority do little or nothing. Someone likened the church to a football game: 22 men on the field desperately in need of rest, and 22,000 in the arena desperately in need of exercise!

Part of our misunderstanding is based on the "heretical comma" in Ephesians 4:12. There Paul wrote about the work of the pastor in apparently three respects. The comma after "saints" makes the verse seem to divide naturally into these three functions: the pastor is to mature the saints, do the work of ministry and build up the body of Christ, the church. But the punctuation was added by the translators since New Testament Greek had no punctuation. Here it does a disservice. When the comma is removed after "saints," it's clear that Paul exhorted pastors to mature the saints so they--the saints--can do the work of ministry. Then the body of Christ, the church, will be strengthened.

We perpetuate this misperception when we call the pastor "the minister," as though there is only one. Some churches have addressed this in their newsletters or websites by writing under the heading, "ministers," the phrase "all members," and then listing as "equipping ministers" the pastor, music minister and others.

Wise pastors see their role as teaching gift discovery, and encouraging Christians to step out in faith and use their gifts in service.

Motivational speaker and pastor John Maxwell often teaches pastors this concept in his seminars. He insists one simple thing pastors might do is take laypeople with them when they do ministry, giving laypeople opportunity to see it done and perhaps realize they can do it, too. Then the pastor steps aside and actually gives church members opportunity to try (or fly!) on their own.

The doctrine of spiritual giftedness could start a revolution in modern-day churches.

A More Excellent Way

He was deacon chairman in the church when I became the pastor. I was young and impressionable, and he made an impression on me. I still quote Horace, though he's been in heaven for many years, when I jokingly refer to the Sunday worship guide as the "bullington" as he did. Horace had a sense of humor, but everyone knew he loved the Lord and his church.

One day his wife Ruth told me the season of the year we were in at the time--summer--was particularly hard for Horace. I asked her what she meant, and she reminded me it was nominating season in the church, and Horace often found himself on the nominating committee. Then I understood.

Baptist churches begin their new church year in September or October, so the middle-to-late summer is the time we busy ourselves trying to staff organizations for the new year. And it can be a frustrating time. Some treat their volunteerism like a prison sentence: "Preacher, I've served my time," they say. What they mean is something else is now more important than this job. Then we try to "guilt trip" them into working one more year.

Nevertheless, I often lament that we do God's work in this way--putting square pegs in round holes--as the church is often accused of doing. There ought to be a better way.

The Apostle Paul insisted in 1 Corinthians 12 that God has given a "charismaton" to every Christian (v. 4). The word is based on the Greek word for grace, and it's translated "spiritual gift." Sometimes we equate the charismata with the tongue-speaking gift, but Paul labeled all gifts "charismaton." Thus all Christians are charismatic since all have spiritual gifts for service to the body of Christ, the church.

And it's in this context that Paul used two familiar analogies. He imagined a civil war in the body when the ear decided it wasn't as important as the eye, so it stopped working. And in the same way, the foot grew weary of playing second fiddle to the hand and decided to stop working (vs. 15-17). His point is that every member of the body is important and without every part in operation the body is impaired. And this is true in the spiritual body, the church.

The better way to operate might be to help people discover their gifts and to encourage them to obediently use those gifts in ministries. After all, serving the Lord is not only a privilege, but it's also designed to bring fulfillment and joy.

The better question might be, "How we can effectively use your spiritual gift in the advancement of God's work through our church?"

Set A Guard Over My Mouth

It's fun to watch a baby grow. They begin to pull on the furniture and stand up, to smile when they recognize a parent or sibling, and to say words for the first time while we good-naturedly argue over what we thought they said! The ability to communicate is one of God's best gifts, but the older I get the more I see the harm done by words. And followers of Christ aren't immune from causing harm.

Sometimes we say things we shouldn't and violate the privacy of others by calling it prayer concern.

I remember a lady who used to probe me in prayer meetings with questions like, "Now who is this?" and "What kind of surgery is it?"

Really it's not our prerogative to go into minutia like this. I've tried discreetly to call for prayer without going into details, all the while assuring attendees that God is aware of the need to a greater degree than us, and has promised to give grace to those in need and to those who care enough to humbly pray for them. The apostle James wrote, "But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble'" (James 4:6).

I knew a pastor who sponsored a gossip chain years before we had e-mail chains. One of his ministries was to write letters of encouragement to those he met in itinerant ministry. His handwriting was distinctive and he wrote in beautiful language. But I got a letter from him once that was photocopied, so obviously he'd sent it to at least one other person. The letter explained in detail the charges leveled against one of our brothers who'd stumbled in ministry and been embarrassed in the media. I thought this gossipy letter very inappropriate no matter the status of the writer.

Another way we gossip today is through social media. Now I suppose it's harmless, though cruel, when someone takes a picture of the steak they're about to eat in the restaurant and posts it for the rest of us to see! But sometimes believers in Christ share feelings and emotions in public that would best be shared over coffee with a trusted friend. It's true all believers struggle at times, and this is why we need a close group of friends such as a prayer group or Sunday School class. Those in spiritual turmoil should be wary of putting these matters out in public where those with no faith can read and perhaps misunderstand.

The psalmist's prayer is good one: "Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3).