DAY 114 - Going Public or Staying Private?

Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV) ²⁴"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

I Corinthians 2:9-10a, 11-12, 15-16 (NIV) ⁹ However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"— ^10a but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. ¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹⁵The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: ¹⁶"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

We live in a society that gives strong support to the pride that tells us we have got to go it alone. We like our privacy and may build a kind of invisible wall around our life and prize our independence. And yet, God surrounds us with different people with a variety of gifts who help us in many different ways.

Jesus is sympathetic to the need to be alone, and understands and affirms the importance of getting away from people to regroup in strength and to regain a right perspective on life. Jesus valued privacy. But, He knew not to make privacy a permanent retreat from the world, from people, from the difficulties that faced Him, and from the work He had been called to accomplish. He warned those who wanted simply to study His teaching privately and analyze it.

If we only hear the Word, if we simply study the Word and never attempt to do what we are clearly told, Jesus says we are mixing a mortar of sand to hold our life together. It will not stand when the pressure comes. The house that stands is the one that has been made rock solid by years of acting on what we have heard, however faltering and failing we or our actions may have been, sinking the anchors of our life into the very life of God. We are called by Christ out of the privacy of our inner world into the world of action. We are to risk doing with others and for others as Christ directs us. We all have the mind of Christ to inform and inspire us in the attitude we are to have and the actions we are to take.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 22, 1991

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 113 - Lose to Win

Genesis 32:22-31 (NIV) ²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak^{. 25} When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." ²⁷ The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. ²⁸ Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." ²⁹ Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. ³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." ³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

Galatians 6:2-3 (NASB) ²Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. ³For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Jacob is one of the great achievers in the Scriptures. Born the disadvantaged younger brother of Esau, Jacob connives to take the blessing from his older brother, and he succeeds. Later, to escape Esau’s revenge, Jacob finds refuge with his Uncle Laban. Jacob prospers and even out swindles his uncle for just about everything Laban has. But then a restlessness sets in. Jacob was not entirely satisfied. He wants to return home.

What happens when an achiever like Jacob meets Jesus who seeks success as ardently as any high achiever? Jesus gave Himself tirelessly to the task of accomplishing God’s will for His life, a mission some people deemed impossible. He even built up an organization to carry on His work after He was gone. Jesus had a different understanding of success than most achievers. For Jesus, success meant in every circumstance to choose the will of God and to choose it regardless of the results. For Jesus, success was sought with a yielding spirit, a commitment to be sensitive to the voice of God, a willingness to decide in the face of doubt with an obedience of heart, mind, and will.

One night, by the Brook of Jabbok, Jacob met the spirit of Christ in a confrontation with a mysterious Stranger. The wrestling match between himself and the Stranger brought to a head Jacob’s life long struggle to get the blessing. "I will not let you go unless you bless me." When Jacob was broken of his striving, the gift of the Blessing was given, a sense of wholeness, health, and well being that nothing in life can take away or ultimately destroy. In his striving to achieve, Jacob was resisting the gift he could not earn and did not deserve. The Blessing is a gift, and the Blessed are a gift to others.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 15, 1991

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 112 - Living to Please or Pleased to Be?

Luke 10:38-42 (NIV) ³⁸As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" ⁴¹"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴²but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

We might easily imagine what must have been going on in Martha and Mary’s home the day of Jesus’ visit. Martha began the day by getting the house ready. Mary got herself ready. Martha began preparing the meal for Jesus. Mary began preparing herself for the visit. Martha was excited over the opportunity to be a gracious host. Mary was excited about the opportunity to visit with Jesus. Martha worried if things would get done. Mary wondered at the things Jesus said.

As the mealtime grew closer Martha’s efforts to please put her in a place of anger because Mary had not done anything to help her. She was caught between the guilt of saying no to all she was trying to do, and the anger for having said yes. That is not a happy place to be. What happens when Martha comes to Jesus with these feelings? She found someone sympathetic to her plight who offered words of warmth, not a cold rebuke or fiery rebuttal. But, what He does say to Martha is that what He needs most from her right then was her time and attention. In a gentle, caring way, Jesus asks Martha to give up her need to please for the one need of listening to Him, learning of Him, and being willing only to do what He asks of her, nothing less, and nothing more.

Jesus still asks those of us who are frayed and frantic to come to Him, to give up our need to Him, to receive from Him a daily list of people we can help and a daily menu of people who can help us. In the presence of Jesus we lose the need to please and are pleased to be and to do whatever Jesus asks. This is what Jesus was doing with Mary and what He wanted to do with Martha. He wanted to invest Himself in them, that they might invest themselves in others.

When we think back on the people we feel most indebted to and grateful for, are they not the ones who somehow were able to share themselves with us, whether by the hospitality of their home, or work done together, by time spent together? We need people whose own needs have been met well enough that they naturally invest themselves in the lives of others. Do we help others out of a need to please, or because we are pleased to help? Do we often have so many things going that we are really not doing justice to any of them? Let us bring our need to Christ, give up the need to please, and receive from Him the orders for our life.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 8, 1991

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 111 - Perfectly Right or Rightly Perfect?

Psalm 119:129-130,133-134 (NIV) ¹²⁹ Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them. ¹³⁰ The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. ¹³³ Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me. ¹³⁴ Redeem me from the oppression of men, that I may obey your precepts.

Matthew 5:17, 19-20, 48 (NIV) ¹⁷"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁹Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Perfectionists are hard working people always ready to put in great effort to do things well, especially in giving attention to detail. Perfectionists may be demanding of other people, but usually they are equally, and sometimes more, demanding of themselves. They carry with them an inner critic who constantly tells them what they must do and how they can do it even better if they just try hard enough. And that is where the problems begin. Perfectionists are continually frustrated by their own failure, and the failure of others as well.

What happens when a perfectionist comes to Jesus? Jesus said outright “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” and demanded conformity to the Scriptures. Now we begin to see some light. We must be as right as our Father in Heaven, we must be as perfect as our Father in Heaven who makes it rain on the just and the unjust, the good and the not so good people of this world.

The Rightness and Perfection of our Father in Heaven refers to the wholeness of God’s compassion for people, compassion that can be expressed as being against what is evil and destructive, and for what is good and healthy and whole. Jesus brings us face to face with a whole new meaning of the word perfect. It means whole-souled commitment to do what we are told in Scripture. It means a complete keeping of the promise that with God helping us we will never betray others, will not do anything to hurt or harm others, we will not lash out in anger, nor faithlessly slip away, nor speak deceitful words. Of that kind of rightness and that perfection we can always use more. Jesus spoke of a perfection that makes the will of God the pinpoint focus of what we are to move toward. Nothing less will do, but that is enough.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 1, 1991

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

Day 110 - Tough and Tender

II Samuel 12:15-16, 19-23 (NIV) ¹⁵ After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. ¹⁶ David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. ¹⁹ David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" he asked. "Yes," they replied, "he is dead." ²⁰ Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. ²¹ His servants asked him, "Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!" ²² He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.' ²³ But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."

Psalm 51:1-4, 17 (NIV) ¹ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. ² Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. ⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

When we rationalize that our actions can’t possibly hurt anyone, the truth is that they hurt Jesus Christ. In Psalm 51 David confesses the wrong he has done: the iniquity of distorted thinking, the transgression of deliberately going against God’s gracious will, and letting his life be sabotaged by powers bent on destruction. He accepted the hurt, but he did not stay stuck. The servants were shocked and disturbed that David got over his grief so soon. People who take their sin to God, honestly acknowledging them and humbly accepting God’s work will sometimes appear almost callous to those who have never experienced grace and forgiveness, removal and restoration.

If it takes a certain kind of tenderness to ask for God’s help, it also takes a certain kind of toughness to believe that our sins are forgiven and then to get on with the responsibility that is ours. For it is God’s will and desire to fill us with joy and gladness so that the life that has been broken by sin may once again report for duty to God. This is the life we see in Jesus. He lived under the shadow of the Cross, yet called life good. He was surrounded by the blundering confusion of the disciples, yet called them His very best friends. He was beset by temptation, harassed by opposition, yet uttered no complaint. And Jesus told us about a God who saw His child returning home beaten and bruised and empty in soul, and had compassion for the child who had chosen to come home. This, too, was the spirit David brought to God, a broken and contrite heart still confident in a God of steadfast love and tender mercy.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope August 4, 1991

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

Day 109 - A Hole in the Soul

II Samuel 12:5-7, 9a, 12-13a (NIV) ⁵ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity." ⁷ Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ^9a Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own… ¹² You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.' " ^13a Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin.

Matthew 16:26 (NIV) What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

King David did not want “the whole world.” He only wanted one woman, Bathsheba. Unfortunately, she was married to another man. But never mind, where there is a desire, there is a way, and David found it. He’d let Uriah make a valiant sacrifice for the army, then comfort the grieving widow. Sure, it bothered David at first – the lies, the trickery, the hypocrisy, the treachery, and the fear of being found out. But all of that was behind him now and Bathsheba was his wife. Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. David condemns himself and finds that in his headlong desire for Bathsheba he had lost his sense of compassion, his sense of mercy and pity for underserved affliction he caused to come upon someone.

Compassion is a saving attribute of God, and describes the caring of Jesus for people. Compassion is to hurt with someone else’s pain. When we lose the ability to hurt with the hurting of others we invariably cause harm, becoming tuned out to the needs of wife, husband, children, friends, parents. We simply do not see the needs in others we care about, and we do not see the hurt, whether caused by ourselves or by vagrancies of life. We also become turned off to what is happening inside us, handing over our soul to deceit and compromise.

When compassion is lost, God in compassion sends a Nathan to crack the concrete that has grown slowly but surely over our heart. How many of us have had a Nathan come into our life? How many of us welcome him or her with regular visits? Do we recognize these agents of God’s goodness and saving grace to us? Jesus not only forgives sin but raises awareness of sins that we have successfully anesthetized in our soul. Repentance is the honest recognition of the wrong we have done. It is the cracking of the concrete, the recovery of the hurt we have caused others and the harm we have brought on ourselves. It may not be a very pleasant experience. Surgery of this sort seldom is. But it is necessary if we are to remain sensitive to God and compassionate toward one another. And, most of us are not very good at doing surgery on ourselves. Will the Nathans that God sends find us ready and willing to recognize the wrong we have done?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope July 28, 1991

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 108 - What Is the Meaning of This?

Matthew 9:35 (NIV) Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

Matthew 10:1, 8 (NIV) ¹He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. ⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Matthew 12:22, 24 (NIV) ²²Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. ²⁴But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."

Miracles were part of the mission of Jesus, but the Pharisees were skeptical, thinking Jesus was the devil in disguise trying to trap the people into believing He was the Messiah. Can we blame the Pharisees for their skepticism? Do we not often do the same? What we call the Fall of man and woman from the Garden of Eden not only alienates us from God, making God seem unreal and irrelevant, but infects all of life with the destructiveness of sin. Physically, we are subject to disease and death. Emotionally, we are driven to do things that bring hurt and harm to others and to ourselves. Intellectually, our minds distort the truth and feed our pride or brand us with low self-esteem.

As Jesus walks down the back roads of Palestine healing the blind, feeding the hungry, and raising the dead, we are given a sneak preview of God’s intention for human life. Whenever Jesus makes a twisted body whole with His touch, or releases one possessed with a demon of destruction, whenever He forgives a sinner, we see what God desires for human life. But, why do we get only a glimpse of the way God wants life to be? Why doesn’t God go ahead and restore the whole thing so that there is no more sickness, disease, hurt and harm between people, death and destruction?

For right now Jesus wants to give us the responsibility to be agents of the power of that Kingdom and calls us to be co-workers with Him. Jesus gives us modern day disciples the authority to do something about all the suffering and pain and distortions of life. He gives us the authority to be what He has been. You and I have been vested with the power and the authority of the Kingdom of God. What exactly are we supposed to do? We are to exercise the authority Jesus has given us, to bring healing to relationships, to raise dead hope into new life, to break through the paralysis of present disappointment and past regrets, to set the prisoners free from pride, greed, and fear, whatever Jesus gives us to do by opportunity, by promptings, by a community who cares for us, by power within us. We limit ourselves only by our refusal to accept.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 3, 1991

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles