DAY 242 - Should We Enlist in the Culture War?

I Thessalonians 2:4 (NIV) ⁴ On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.

I Thessalonians 15, 19-22 (NIV)  ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.  ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.

I John 4:1-3a (NIV) ¹ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

Paul’s word to the church in Thessalonika is basic: TEST EVERYTHING. The mind of the Christian is not meant to be soft. Faith is not gullibility, but neither is it to see if everything agrees with our opinions, our views, or our faith. Our culture has a strong Religious Right and a Religious Left. The two groups differ in their views about everything from abortion to euthanasia, from what is taught in public schools to what rights people have in their private homes. Who or what really causes us to say yes or no to what we hear?

The traditional source of authority for Christians is the written word of Scripture and the living word given by the Holy Spirit. When we turn to the written word, we hear John tell by what standard we should test everything: test the spirits to see if they are of God; and, this is how we will know if the spirit is of God: confession that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and is of God.

The history of the church is replete with voices confessing that Jesus is a reliable standard to help us decide what is truth and what is not, what is right and what is wrong. We test what we know of Jesus Christ against what is being said, and what we believe. Do we find this too narrow? Can we trust One person who lived 2000 years ago to give us the answers to complex issues today? Is the test too subjective? Is it too easy to confuse our own prejudices with the words of Jesus Christ? Test everything to see if they make public the mind and spirit of Jesus Christ.

There is one more part of this test we need to know, and here is our hope. While we are testing to see if beliefs and statements are of God, God is testing us. It may be that we say, “I had always been taught, but when I actually read the Bible I found out … “ Or, “I was raised to believe and then one day I discovered that God…” The church fathers called this “a holy disturbance.”  Convictions tested by God in Jesus Christ come through to us clear and strong. We are to test what we hear and what we believe against Jesus Christ. And equally important is to know that God is testing us.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 17, 1995

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 241 - The Peril and Promise of Self-Denial

Luke 9:23-25 (NIV)  ²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

James 4:1-3, 5-10 (NIV)  ¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

The value of self-denial has always been difficult, but it has been made more difficult by the increasing value our culture has put on self-fulfillment. The notion is that we should affirm ourselves. We should express ourselves, actualize ourselves and assert ourselves. The values of duty, obligation and self-sacrifice are seen as being repressive and a severe limit to our need to be free and expressive and full of satisfaction in life. So, for example, love as sacrifice or as subordination to another is seen as offensive, as unhealthy, and as an affront to common sense.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God,” James said, and that is what Jesus meant when He said we should deny ourselves and take up our Cross. And, here are some of the things we will need to do: resist the devil who tries to make us think that denying ourselves is groveling and derogatory; cleanse our minds of the clutter of wanting so many different things that we are left feeling strained and stressed; purify our hearts and focus our minds and hearts on what God wants for us.

And then James says God gives grace. God gives both the responsibilities that are ours and the wisdom to say “no” to those that are not. God gives us the pleasures we need. God gives the relationships and success that we need, and God gives the gift of orchestrating our inner desires and our whole lives so that everything finds its place and it just fits rights. When our lives have been touched by the love of God in Jesus, when we have discovered a small portion of God’s fierce commitment to us in Jesus, then submission to God becomes our most pressing need and our highest value.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 24, 1995

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 240 - Exam Time

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Psalm 139:1-8, 11-12, 17-18, 23-24 (Good News Translation) Lord, you have examined me and you know me.  ² You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts. ³ You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions. ⁴ Even before I speak, you already know what I will say. ⁵ You are all around me on every side; you protect me with your power. ⁶ Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding. ⁷ Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence. ⁸ If I went up to heaven, you would be there; if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there. ¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night, ¹² but even darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you. ¹⁷ O God, how difficult I find your thoughts; how many of them there are! ¹⁸ If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. ²³ Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. ²⁴ Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.

 

I Corinthians 11:23-28 (NIV)  ²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. ²⁷ So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.

Whether we want it or not, whether we like it or not, the Lord knows us inside and out, knows every thought that flits through our minds, knows every step we take, every plan we make, every word we speak. Sometimes that is comforting, sometimes it is frightening, but it is always beyond our comprehension.

There is no way to escape God’s examination of our life. As the Psalmist ponders this fact, his resistance begins to melt away and a sense of wonder and of awe begins to flood into his soul. Desire replaces his hesitancy. And, that is faith and repentance all rolled up into one great commitment – a complete, carefree casting of our life into the hands of God.  That is the spirit we are invited to bring to the Communion Table. It is one thing to believe God knows us inside and out, and quite another to desire it, and to seek God’s verdict on our life. When we desire His examination, we are able to accept our sins without self-abasement and our strengths without pride, and we will judge others with the same magnanimous spirit with which God has judged us.

Examine me O God … test me … find out if there is any deceit in me and guide me in the eternal way.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope August 4, 1985

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 239 - Believe It … Or Not

Luke 4:40, 42-43 (NIV) ⁴⁰ At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. ⁴² At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. ⁴³ But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

Colossians 3:1-2, 5, 8-10, 12-13  (NIV) ¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  ⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

The kingdom of God is the invasion of God’s world into this world, and the supernatural of the gospels is always tied in with this kingdom. The miracles are illustrations of life in God’s kingdom. Angels are ambassadors of that kingdom. The devil is opposition to that kingdom. Hell is the judgment of that kingdom. And heaven is the promise of that kingdom.

When the church has proclaimed and sought the supernatural apart from the kingdom of God, the supernatural has degenerated to superstition. The miracles become personal favors. Angels become good luck charms. The devil becomes something feared hiding under every rock. Hell becomes coercion to conformity. And heaven becomes wishful thinking. The key to understanding the supernatural is the kingdom of God. The key to recovering an awareness of the supernatural is Jesus Christ.

Paul is not saying that we should not give a thought to how we spend our times, earn our living, or carry out our responsibilities on earth. Rather, he is talking about a frame of reference, a point of view. To set our minds on things of earth is to focus our attention only on what can be seen. It is to be dominated by immediate needs, desires, or problems. To seek the things above is to see beyond the immediate show of things, it is to feel beyond the pressures of our own desires until we become aware of another realm where Christ is enthroned as king of kings and Lord of Lords. To set our minds on things above is to learn how to take our cues from Christ in the details of every day living.

One night, worn and frazzled, I visualized in my mind that I was giving my life to Christ in a small box, and as I looked upon this scene going on in my mind, He did a strange thing. He gave it back to me. There is an eternity of difference between living my life self-possessed, and living my life as a gift from Christ. May we find the daily horizons of our life stretched with the perspective of eternity.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope 1985

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 238 - Will Success Spoil Ol’ Joshua?

From Joshua 6 and 7 (NIV)  ² Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. ¹² Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. ¹³ The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. ¹⁴ So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. ¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶ The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! ¹⁷ The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. ¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. ²⁰ When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. (Joshua 7) ² Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” ³ When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai.” ⁴ So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai… ¹³ …for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them ²⁰ Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. ²¹ When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them.

Success and victory are sometimes harder to handle than opposition and overwhelming odds. Success has a way of pushing our confidence in God to the periphery. We believe we can get what we want if we just play our cards right. Have you found that to be true?  After the heady experience of overcoming the overwhelming odds of Jericho, Israel fell before the puny power of Ai. At Ai, the Israelites demonstrated no trust in God, no hearing of the promise or command, just the naked belief that the city could be had if the cards were played right.

“When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them.”  When we covet, life begins to resemble a huge game that we must play to win. The command is, “you must maneuver and manipulate.” The promise is, “if you do it right, you will win.” This way of thinking always does damage and finally brings defeat.  But, here is the good news of Ai: the defeat restored their faith.

The point of the story is not simply to open our eyes during a time of defeat. The story is given so we might be vigilant in our success. Success is not the end of the fight. Success brings the fight against the erosion of our confidence in God. The question is the same, “do I battle on my own or do I fight in the confidence of God, listening for the promise and obeying the command?” It was faith that brought down the city of Ai, confidence in the unseen power of God based on the promise, and a response to the command.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope, 1985

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 237 - The Morality Gap

Romans 1:18-20 (NIV)  ¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 

In past centuries and in most societies, moral rules have often relied on the sanction of the holy, whether it was the Greek mind discerning the divine order, the Romans assenting to the divine commands of the Emperors, or the founders of the USA declaring that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. And, if any of us have found ourselves looking over our shoulders thinking God is going to “get us for that,” then we have had some first hand experience of living with rules sanctioned by the Holy.

But, another dominant thought is that all moral rules are relative, are man-made and differ greatly from group to group depending on the varying needs and understandings of each group and place. This way of thinking has brought some positive benefits to move people beyond blind obedience to inherited traditions, and to no longer accept authoritative statements of any person or group as the last word. This way of thinking undercut the Divine Right of Kings. It stripped church and government of its ability to declare holy wars. There have been benefits in believing that all rules are relative, but these benefits have been a mixed blessing at best. Where there has been gain, there has also been loss. Ironically, the belief that rules are man made has not led to a lessening of laws, but to an increase of lawful control over people to preserve order and to prevent chaos.

What then is the Christian response to the belief that all rules are relative? Certainly we acknowledge that many rules are man-made and not God given. But, we also assert that God does have a way He wants us to live in this world, and He does have a will for us that is expressed through His laws. What we are given in the commandments of God is affirmed in what we discover in our life together when we seek to bring honor to and among all people. Against the chaos, we assert the order of God’s creation. Against all the brutalities of human life we assert God’s way of justice. Against all distortions of human relationships we assert God’s care and love.

The Creator is also Commander. His commands fit what He created us to be. His rules are not unjust restrictions on our wishes and desires. They are constructive channels for our energies to accomplish His purpose. His rules are not burdens that bury us in a sea of responsibilities. His rules are guides to a grace filled life.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 15, 1985

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 236 - None of Us … All of Us

I Corinthians 12:12-14, 17-26 (NIV)  ¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

The digital clock has become a symbol of modern life. With the analog clock, every minute is seen as part of the whole. With digital time, each minute stands alone. Isolation and independence is a common characteristic of many lives today. Understandably, many people want and need some privacy. Yet, the desire can become so consuming that it undermines our life together.

The church is not simply an activity we attend. It is not a loose association of individuals who are interested in religion and moral conduct. It is not a program of helps and hints on how to live. It is not simply a discussion forum on life’s problems. Above all else, the Church is the body of Christ. The church is a community of people where we both experience the life of Christ with one another and seek to make that life visible to the world.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer said, “God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man … Therefore the Christian needs other Christians who speak God’s word to him. He needs other Christians again and again, for, by himself, he will belie the truth … This is the goal of all Christian community: that we meet Christ in one another.”

That is what we are called to be and to do. Some of us may feel that is a tall order to fill. We may wonder how the life of Christ could be made visible through the imperfections and problems of our lives. Alone, as one person, it is difficult to impossible. It takes a community. It is in the blending of our lives, in the contribution of our distinctive gifts that the life of Christ literally rises up in our midst. The whole is greater than the imperfections of the parts.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope, October 20, 1985

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell