Groceries From Jesus

I began trusting in Jesus Christ as a child.  When I look back on my childhood, I can see how God worked to provide, protect, and bless our family.  My faith was not primarily built in a church classroom, but at home by parents who were faithful in trusting God and leading us kids to do the same.

By worldly standards we were not rich by any means, but our home was rich in love and faith in Christ.  I never felt poor or deprived in any way, though money was tight.  God always provided for our needs.  When family, friends, or even total strangers needed a place to stay, my parents opened our home to visitors who stayed for years.  During one of these seasons, we had a family of four staying with us.  I remember having two bunkbeds side by side with a roll out mattress in between.  Construction work had taken a big downturn in the 80's, and my dad worked hard to support his family and guests.  We had to put the dresser in the closet because the room was full of beds!

Years later I was told the whole story of what became a defining moment of God's faithfulness in my life.  My mum opened the cupboards one afternoon and came to the startling discovery there was no food on hand for dinner.  She talked with the other mum and prayed for God to provide for us.  As hungry people do, they started talking about the things they would love to eat.  One suggested a spot of tea would be wonderful.  The day continued on, and nothing was said about dinner.

I was in the kitchen about an hour later when I heard a knock at the door.  I can't recall who opened the door and greeted the two smiling African American women at the door, but I remember vividly I had never seen them before.  They held in their arms brown paper grocery bags.  One of the women said through a broad smile, "We've got groceries from Jesus!"  And in they came.  I watched as the joyful strangers brought in bag after bag of groceries, placed them on the bench (counter), and left.  We never knew their names, where they came from, or how they could have possibly known our dire need - a need I didn't even know we had!

It was like Christmas when we started taking the food out of the bags.  I remember there was syrup bought from a store, something we never had at that time.  My mum was deeply touched to find in the bounty there was even some tea, a special personal touch from the God who loved us so much.  I have always been thankful to those beautiful women I never had an opportunity to thank or express how important their generous gifts were to us.  I have thanked and been profusely grateful to God who loves us, hears prayers, and answers miraculously right on time.  The same Jesus who healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, cleansed lepers, and fed 5,000 men plus women and children with five loaves and two fish, sent me groceries when I was hungry.  He has refreshed my soul when I have been weary, swallowed up my fears with His love, and proved Himself faithful without fail.

Jesus willingly went to the cross, died, and rose from the dead to make a way for sinners to be saved.  He is alive today.  He has done much more for you than giving you a meal but has provided Himself as Living Bread from heaven.  All who trust Him will be forgiven and have everlasting life.  Do you know Him?  I find it fitting to close with John's remarks in John 20:30-31:  "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹ but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."

Feeling Sorry for God

At the Calvary Chapel Senior Pastor's Conference in 2005, Bob Coy delivered a message called, "Loving God First."  One of the questions he asked made me think:  "Do you ever feel sorry for God?"  God did so much for His people.  He heard their cries and delivered them from slavery and bondage.  Yet they forsook the LORD and went after idols.  Pastor Bob read from Jeremiah 2:2-5:  "Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. ³ Israel was holiness to the LORD, the firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; disaster will come upon them," says the LORD.' " ⁴ Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. ⁵ Thus says the LORD: "What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, have followed idols, and have become idolaters?"

In a sense, I do feel sorry for God.  He deserves only the best, and sometimes His people can do the worst.  But unlike men who have been wronged, God does not feel sorry for Himself.  He does not have divine "pity parties" when we do not meet expectations because nothing surprises Him, nor is He self-focused.  He is altogether loving, gracious, and good.  He hears our cries and forgives the repentant and contrite.  Jesus Christ is God made flesh, come to earth to demonstrate God's love for sinners.  This fallen, cursed world cannot be redeemed, but every person in whom God has breathed a living soul can - through repentance and trusting in Jesus.  Some look at the suffering on this earth and think in some way it reflects badly upon God.  The exact opposite is true.  This world is under the curse of sin and will surely perish, and only in God can we be made righteous and saved for eternity.  God stands in holy contrast to all the wickedness, injustice, and pain of this earth.

God allows suffering, and did not insulate Himself from the worst.  Jesus suffered like no man before or since, especially since He was completely righteous and without sin.  God allows people to experience the severe consequences of sin - pain, suffering, sorrow, disease, sadness and death - to bring them to their senses so they might repent and find rest and comfort in Him.  Unfortunately, all the suffering in the world cannot force a person to see their need for repentance and salvation.  The book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ speaks of great plagues people on the earth will face and how their hearts will only be hardened against God and hate Him even more.  Revelation 9:29-21 says, "But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. ²¹ And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts."  God chastens those He loves, and it is awful so many of the souls Christ died to save will ultimately refuse and reject His atoning sacrifice to their own destruction.

It is one thing to feel sorry, but another thing altogether to take intentional steps to do what is right.  Feeling sorry is an exercise in helplessness if that is where it ends.  Feeling sorry is not enough.  Because of what Jesus has done - not because of what we or others have not done - we ought to love God completely, serve God faithfully, speak of Him boldly, obey Him faithfully, and trust Him loyally.  Ten good things which happen to us in a day can be easily overthrown by one bad thing.  Yet God is not so inconstant.  His delight in those who love and obey Him is not tempered by the fact many have and will reject Him.  He is not looking for sympathy, but hearts responding positively to His love.  When we walk in the way which fully pleases God it does not right all wrongs.  Jesus has already done that!  Our response is to be compelled by the love of Jesus, not guilt or sorrow that God has been slighted.  We are not responsible to change others, but we are responsible before God to cooperate in being transformed according to His perfect will.  Rejoice believer, not in your progress or efforts, but in God who loves you, has delivered you, is saving you, and He will be faithful to complete the work He has begun.

A Heart United

When Christians think of unity in the context of church, it is natural for us to assume this means unity among people.  That is an aspect of unity, but that is not where unity begins.  As each person in the church is made part of Christ's body, we first must be united with Him in faith.  When a person repents and is born again, the Holy Spirit unites us with God by dwelling within us.  Yet placing our faith in Christ does not mean we are wholly united with Him.  Our minds may be in agreement with the truth of His Word, but that does not ensure we are walking in light of that truth.  We can be in two minds over something, and our own hearts can be divided.  If our hearts are divided within us, uniting perfectly with others will prove impossible.

This fact hit me as I read Psalm 86:11-12:  "Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. ¹² I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore."  The psalmist asked God to "unite his heart to fear God's name."  This illuminates the fact our hearts are not always united within us.  Even as our beliefs and actions do not always agree, our hearts can be strangely segmented and stand at odds with each another.  After David asked God to teach him His ways, having firmly decided he would obey, David asked God to unite his heart to fear God's name.  Verse 12 combined the answer and result:  David praised the LORD his God with all his heart.  No man can know his own heart, but God does.  In faith our hearts are united to praise God and glorify Him forever.

Is your heart united in the fear of the LORD?  Praise Him with all your heart, for only God can make us whole, united, and join us in sweet fellowship and victory with others.

Threshing and Declaring

"Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you."

Isaiah 21:10

There is a good application from this verse for all who preach the Word of God.  The role of a teaching pastor is much like that of a chef, in that the preparation of a sermon is similar to preparing a meal.  Quality ingredients are prepared, mixed in the right proportion, and cooked or baked to make nutritious, hopefully delicious dishes.  The audience is considered, even as a chef would adapt his fare to appeal to children or a gourmet critic.  A preacher would be wise not to approach a class of year-three children the same way he would a lecture in seminary.  The truth of the message must not be changed, but the presentation should be altered slightly to communicate the truth of scripture in a way it can be easily understood and received by the listeners.  Appropriate illustrations and applications tailored by the Holy Spirit shed light to illuminate profound spiritual truths in simple ways.

After wheat or other grains are harvested, they must be threshed before they can be eaten or ground into meal.  Threshing is the violent process of separating the inedible husk and stalk from the wholesome grain.  If you are interested for an amazing transcript of a sermon on the subject of threshing by C.H. Spurgeon, follow this link!  A preacher's job is not to read the Bible and thresh the good from the inedible, for all of God's Word is spiritually wholesome, nutritious, and good.  A preacher's own thoughts, motive, and words, however, must be thoroughly threshed.  There are plenty of inedible, coarse, and empty words naturally found in me which must be threshed from my discourses.  We must carefully weigh our interpretations and applications of the text according to the leading of the Spirit to cull our own opinions so we might faithfully hold forth the wholesome Word.  A bushel of chaff is not as valuable as a few kernels of good grain.

May all preachers of the Word be able to say, "That which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you."  We are to preach the Word, not ourselves.  My opinions and words of my crafting are chaff, but the Word of the LORD will endure forever.  God's Word is good seed which has the potential to transform, cleanse, grow in the hearts of willing hearers, and be fruitful.  Preachers must allow God's Word to thresh us of errors so we might faithfully preach as the scripture exhorts in 2 Timothy 4:1-4:  "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: ² preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."

Let us declare faithfully the truths of God's Word, and also strive to be doers of the Word.  We cannot expect our sermons to have any lasting effect on anyone if we ourselves are not transformed.  God designed men with two ears and two eyes, and there is little value in a preacher who is all mouth.  We must hear from the LORD and submit to God's truth before we have anything of value to say.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear.  Praise the LORD for the effectual life in His Word, and those who hear it and obey will be established and fruitful for God's glory!