Every Need – February 10, 2009

Every Need

Acts 17:24-25

Jim Stephens

02-10-09

 

Scripture:

 

24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.”  (Acts 17:24-25 NLT)

 

Observation:

 

The city of Athens was very cosmopolitan and people from all nations had come there to live.  They had brought their religions with them and the open-minded nature of the city made room for all.  Athens was full of temples and the streets were lined with shrines and altars to every god they could think of.

 

Just in case they missed one, there was even an altar to “An Unknown God.”  Paul introduced the Unknown God to the people of Athens.  He is different from all the other gods in that he alone has no needs.  He is the All-sufficient One.

 

Application:

 

Through faith in Jesus Christ, the Unknown God becomes the Knowable God.  He wants to be known by us as a loving Father is known by his children.  He does not seek our worship for the purpose of placating his anger, nor serving his needs.  In fact, he who has no needs loves us unconditionally and satisfies our every need.

 

Prayer:

 

Father, I honor you and worship you as the true and living God.  You alone have no needs.  You alone can satisfy every need.  Amen.

 

Altars – January 27, 2009

Altars

Exodus 20:24

Jim Stephens

01-27-09

 

Scripture:

 

“The altars you make for me must be simple altars of earth. Offer on such altars your sacrifices to me—your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Build altars in the places where I remind you who I am, and I will come and bless you there.”  (Exodus 20:24 NLT)

 

Observation:

 

God’s people were in a very intense learning phase of their relationship with God.  He was demonstrating his power to guide, to provide, and to protect them.  He was teaching them his ways, so they could live good lives in healthy relationship with him and with others.  He was teaching them to worship and to trust in him and him alone.

 

Here God taught his people a very important principle, one that had already been practiced by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God told them to build altars in all the places where he met with them and reminded them who he is and to worship him there.

 

Application:

 

In this season of life, God is reminding me that he and he alone is my shepherd and defender, protector and provider.  Each time and in each place or circumstance he reminds me of who he is, I can build an altar to offer him the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise.  Each time he reminds me of who he is, I can bow my knee in submission to his good will and great grace and lift my hands and heart in surrender and praise.

 

Prayer:

 

Father, thank you for each reminder of who you are.  You have been so gracious to Jean and me in this season to remind us in so many ways that you are Shepherd and Redeemer, Protector and Provider, and that you alone are worthy of our worship and praise.  Today I worship at this altar of remembrance.  I bow in submission and I lift my heart and hands in thanks and praise.  You alone are God.  Amen.

 

God’s Place – December 25, 2008

God’s Place

1 John 5:21

Jim Stephens

12-25-08

 

Scripture:

 

Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. (1 John 5:21 NLT)

 

Observation and Application:

 

I can’t read through John’s first letter without being impacted by the simplicity and the seriousness of faith in Jesus Christ.  The simplicity:  He has paid the full price for all my sin and I have only to believe and trust him.  The seriousness:  If I do believe and trust, I will love God and I will love others.

 

I must keep away from anything that might take God’s place in my heart.  God’s place in my heart is to be the only one I worship, the only one in whom I place my ultimate trust, the only one I adore, the only one I serve.

 

Prayer:

 

Father, I worship and reverence you alone.  I trust you as my source, my strength, my provider, my God.  Forgive me for letting other things crowd you.  This morning I clear the area of my heart that belongs to you alone.  Amen.

 

Extravagance – November 27, 2008

Extravagance

Matthew 26:6-13

Jim Stephens

11-27-08

 

Scripture:

 

6 Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. 7 While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head. 8 The disciples were indignant when they saw this. “What a waste!” they said. 9 “It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, replied, “Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me? 11 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. 12 She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. 13 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.” (Matthew 26:6-13 NLT)

 

Observation:

 

“What a waste!”  I was raised to look with disfavor on extravagance and waste.  My folks lived simply and frugally and I was taught to hold the same values.  “Make it do, do without.  Use it up, wear it out.”

 

This woman – we’re told in another place that it was Mary – extravagantly wasted a very valuable bottle of perfume on Jesus.  Disciples criticized her.  Jesus praised her.  Jesus promised that wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world and through the years, what she did would be remembered and discussed.

 

I’m fulfilling Jesus’ prophetic promise by thinking about this and writing about it today.

 

Application:

 

I’m not very extravagant.  Not by upbringing.  Not by experience.  Not by personality.  I want to learn from Mary and Jesus to be extravagant in the right way at the right time.  There’s no good reason I can’t waste something valuable on someone I love.

 

Prayer:

 

Father, help me learn appropriate extravagance.  I am surrounded by so much love.  I so love the people you have surrounded me with.  Teach me how to extravagantly express my love for you and others.  Amen.

 

When You Meet – November 13, 2008

When You Meet

1 Corinthians 14:26

Jim Stephens

11-13-08

 

Scripture:

 

Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.  (1 Corinthians 14:26 NLT)

 

Observation and Application:

 

The main focus of 1 Corinthians 12-14 is how believers conduct themselves in their regular meetings.  There are other important truths here about the many-membered Body of Christ and about the centrality of godly love, but the core issue is public meetings.

 

Some things I see here:

 

·        Paul had in mind relatively small groups of Christ-followers, meeting somewhat informally, to strengthen, encourage, and grow in relationship with Jesus Christ and each other.

·        Paul expected the members of the group to participate according to their giftings, but with orderliness and mutual respect.

·        Paul expected some aspect of Holy Spirit-prompted spiritual gifts activity to be common in believers’ meetings.

·        Paul didn’t foresee a time when Christianity would be formalized, organized, and denominationalized.

·        Paul didn’t foresee a time when the culture would change to the point that men and women would have equal rights and an equal voice in society.

 

Some things I can learn from Paul’s instructions to the Corinthian church about meetings:

 

·        Paul was writing to a specific church with specific circumstances and needs, but we can learn principles from what he wrote to them.

·        These chapters have very little to do with the issue of “seeker-sensitivity” or how mega-churches operate.  This is about believers’ meetings.  Seeker-sensitivity in public meetings of churches in America in the 21^st century is a completely other matter.

·        We have the right and the responsibility to take timeless principles from Paul’s corrective instructions to the Corinthians and interpret and apply them in light of our culture.

·        We should remember that the original context of Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians was meetings composed almost entirely of Christ-followers, meeting in groups small enough so that almost everyone could exercise spiritual gifts, and more informally led by an “elder” and not a “staff person.”[1]

·        One pattern of public meeting the church has pretty much universally adopted is the order of Sing, Teach, Share from 1 Corinthians 14:26.

·        We should have at least some meetings that are primarily for the edifying of believers.  Whether these are public or in homes is open to discussion.

·        It’s good if some of these meetings are small enough to permit most or all of the members to actively participate.

·        Mutual submission for the sake of mutual benefit would be best.  This requires that the meetings be conducted in a “proper and orderly manner, for God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.”

·        These “believers’ meetings” can be of value to pre-Christians if they are properly conducted.

·        When we’re developing something like our monthly Kurios meeting, we need to look at this and other scriptures, derive universal principles, and apply them in light of our doctrine and practice, our local and national culture, our church size, the technology we have available, and the fact that we have a mix of Christ-followers who are on some level of discipleship path and also some pre-Christians in each meeting.

·        For each type of service we have, if we can clearly visualize our desired outcome, our objective, we can then reverse-engineer the elements of the service to achieve that objective.

·        If our objective is to have a substantial element of Holy Spirit spontaneity, we have to make the space for it and then let the Holy Spirit create the content to fill that space.  Rather than fill that space with rules and restrictions, I think it best to establish simple guidelines and then have mature, gifted, and experienced pastors to shepherd the flock through that space.  Each experience the Holy Spirit creates in that space then becomes a teaching moment and an experience of the supernatural.

 

Prayer:

 

Father, thank you for the practicality of your Word.  I want to learn practical today truths from your long-ago words.  Guide us in interpretation and application by the same Holy Spirit who inspired the writing of these long-ago but here-and-now truths.  Amen.

 

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[1] The Corinthian church was more Presbyterian than Episcopal in its government.  There’s no indication that they had anything like a church staff as we understand it.

It’s God’s World – September 6, 2008

It’s God’s World

Revelation 11:15-16

Jim Stephens

09-06-08

 

Scripture:

 

15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: “The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” 16 The twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones before God fell with their faces to the ground and worshiped him.  (Revelation 11:15-16 NLT)

 

Observation:

 

Revelation 11 tells of judgment to come upon the wicked world in the last days.  Our parallel reading in Ezekiel 29-32 from Ready, Set, Go is a prophecy written hundreds of years earlier about the decline and fall of Egypt’s Imperial power and of other strong nations and powerful empires crumbling under God’s judgment, never to achieve world power again.

 

Then, ultimately, the world becomes the Kingdom of our Lord and Jesus Christ will reign forever and ever.

 

Application:

 

God uses powerful leaders to build powerful nations and kingdoms and then he uses them for his purposes of advancement or of judgment.  But they’re only instruments in God’s hands and they’re only temporary.  All human power and wealth and influence and wisdom and glory and pride is temporary – only temporary.

 

And only Christ and his Kingdom is forever and forever.

 

Prayer:

 

Father, this morning I bow before you and I worship you with the words of the twenty-four elders who fell on their faces in your holy presence…

 

17 “I give thanks to you, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who always was, for now you have assumed your great power and have begun to reign. 18 The nations were filled with wrath, but now the time of your wrath has come. It is time to judge the dead and reward your servants the prophets, as well as your holy people, and all who fear your name, from the least to the greatest. It is time to destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth.” (Revelation 11:17-18 NLT)

 

Glory, Honor, And Thanks – August 30, 2008

Glory, Honor, And Thanks

Revelation 4:9-11

Jim Stephens

08-30-08

 

Scripture:

 

9 Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), 10 the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say, 11 “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”  (Revelation 4:9-11 NLT)

 

Observation:

 

I love the Bible!  Here we are reading from Ezekiel, who wrote over 600 years earlier than John, and from John who wrote from Patmos, nearly 1000 miles from where Ezekiel was exiled on the Kebar River, and they see the same things.

 

The Spirit took Ezekiel 500 miles to Jerusalem and showed him the glory of God and the things the Jews were doing in secret.  The Spirit took John to heaven and showed him the glory of God and the things that were going to happen in the future.

 

They both saw cherubim and living creatures with ox, lion, human, and eagle faces.  They both recorded what they saw in the most descriptive and colorful language and concepts they had.  They were both affected physically and emotionally by what they saw and experienced.

 

Every time I read these accounts, I wonder how I would describe my experience of seeing what Ezekiel and John saw.  I’ve got a whole range of concepts and experiences they didn’t have.  What would I see?

 

Application and Prayer:

 

I know I would see the glory of God.  I know I would be affected physically and emotionally.  I know I would fall down before the throne in awe and that a lot of things that are big issues to me now would fade into insignificance.

 

I would hear something like, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty— the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”

 

I would say something like, “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.  Amen.”  

 

God’s Place – August 24, 2008

God’s Place

1 John 5:21

Jim Stephens

08-24-08

 

Scripture:

 

Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. (1 John 5:21 NLT)

 

Observation:

 

The Greek version of this verse says, “Keep away from idols.”  An idol is something other than the living God that is worshipped.  An idol can be worshipped because it is feared, because it is adored, because it is considered a source of provision or protection.

 

God is the only one who rightly occupies the place of reverence, adoration, ultimate defender and provider in the human heart.

 

Application:

 

I’m thinking about some of the things that can take God’s place in my heart.  (Molech, Ashtoreth, Baal, Thor, Odin, and the other gods of legend and myth are not really the dangers here!)

 

Paul said greed is idolatry.  If I look to my ability to earn as my source, if I adore a hobby or a toy, if I place a person in the shrine of my heart, if I live in fear of sickness, loss, or death, these things have taken God’s place in my heart.

 

25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water.  I will take away sickness from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land.  I will give you long, full lives.  (Exodus 23:25-26 NLT)

 

Do not fear anything except the Lord your God.  He alone is the Holy One.  If you fear him, you need fear nothing else.  (Isaiah 8:13 NLT)

 

Prayer:

 

Father, please forgive me for allowing other things to take the place only you deserve to occupy in my heart.  I love you.  I fear you.  I know you are my protector and provider.  You alone are my God and you alone will I reverence and worship.  Amen.