Brothers building Brothers - 12/27/10

Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.  To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.  Colossians 1:28-29

A friend of mine sent me these two verses a few weeks back as an encouragement and as often happens to me, when I am encouraged I am also challenged.  In this passage (the paragraph begins in verse 24) Paul is reviewing, and I cannot help but think, marveling in his call to gospel ministry.  As an act of His stewardship and to fulfill His word, God has called on this “chief of sinners” to make known the mystery, which is “Christ in you, the hope of glory”.

The Apostle Paul was a man who had come to that most satisfying and rewarding place of knowing his purpose; that idea, that focus, that all consuming mission for which God had saved him.  As a minister of the gospel I realize that this mission to which Paul was called is also my mission and my call and I am just as amazed as Paul that I am part of God’s plan to fulfill His word.  But I must point out something about verse 28.  Paul writes, “Him we preach.”  This is a collective effort.  No matter whom you wish to include in that pronoun “we”, Paul is clearly indicating that he is not on this mission alone.

We are all on this mission together, we should all be preaching and warning and teaching and presenting new believers, perfected in Christ to our God.  But lest we get any idea that God actually needs us we must read verse 29.  Our labor is “according to His working which works in us mightily.”   It is comforting to know that the mission is first of all God’s mission and I am His tool.  Once again words cannot express the wonder I feel at the awesomeness of our God’s plan for us.

Humbled by his wisdom,

Your brother Jack

Brothers building Brothers - 12/6/10

“but speaking the truth in love, (we are to) grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. Ephesians 4:15-16

I am becoming more and more convicted that in many ways the twentieth century church seriously lost its way in the area of discipleship.  I really don’t remember being taught that discipleship was one of my primary responsibilities as a “church member”.  I knew that I was to pray and study God’s word, I knew I was to give and support the ministries and programs of the church, and I even knew that I was to witness of my faith in Christ and invite people to join me at church; but teaching was all done in the church building.

The picture painted by Paul in Ephesians 4 is vastly different than what is happening in much of today’s church.  Love, of course is the key.  We are instructed to speak the truth in love so that edification can happen in love.  But the interesting thing to me is that although Paul begins this lengthy sentence by speaking of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers; by the time he addresses the actual, “on the ground” discipleship he has included the whole body.  Every joint is to be supplying something to the growth of the body and every part is to be doing its share to cause growth and self edification.

I suppose you might be able to interpret this passage to include sitting a pew week after week but I rather believe that Paul has something a bit more active in mind.  Who are you discipling?

For the cause of Christ

Your brother Jack

Brothers building Brothers - 11/29/10

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.  For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:  “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your heart as in the rebellion.”  Hebrews 3:12-15

Beware is a word designed to get our attention.  Most of us are tuned to words like, CAUTION, ALERT and DANGER.  In the bible, “beware” is one of those words.  Caution, there is something dangerous that you need to (be aware) of; beware!  So what is it that is so important that we need to be startled to attention?  The writer of Hebrews is warning us about the dreaded heart of unbelief.

I fear that most of us are not as keenly aware of this problem in our lives as we should be.  Being bombarded by media as we are in this generation, our minds are constantly at work accepting and rejecting information as worthy or unworthy of belief.  The news media, education, religion and even science have proven to be unreliable and even, it seems, deliberately skewed to distort the truth.  So when we come to the bible many times we are still picking and choosing what we will believe and what we will reject.

The problem in our lives that causes us to reject those difficult parts of the bible is sin.  The text calls it deceitful and warns us of a hardening effect that it can have on our heart.  It’s a gradual thing that can start with something as simple as hurt feelings at church.  It is amazing how unfulfilling the worship experience can become when someone has rubbed you the wrong way; or how dry and long those sermons can get when the pastor hasn’t lived up to your expectations.  Sin is deceitful and it is the source of the evil heart of unbelief.

So what does the writer say is the solution?   Because sin is so deceitful and because our hearts are desperately wicked; (so wicked in fact that sometimes we can’t even know them), God has given us each other.  The unclouded eye of a brother is sometime all that stands between us and shipwreck.  “Exhort one another daily while it is called “Today”.  Of course if we would do it daily we wouldn’t find so many of our brothers broken on the rocks of unbelief and despair.  Exhort someone today in love and, O yes, remember to accept exhortation humbly yourself.

Your needy brother,

Jack