G.I.G.O.

The following are lyrics to a song that the KenoAfield 2010 Team wrote to help teach kids the principles of their Purify to Glorify Vacation Bible School curriculum.  I hope to post a video soon of us singing it.  

Garbage in, garbage out
What comes in is what goes out
Good stuff in, good stuff out
What's poured in soaks throughout

 

Don't take the bad stuff, it's no good
Only the things God says you should
tune your thoughts to God on high
Guard your heart, we'll tell you why

 

Garbage in, garbage out
What comes in is what goes out
Good stuff in, good stuff out
What's poured in soaks throughout

 

Guard your heart so you can see
What an awesome God our God can be
but If you don't you'll someday shout
"How sad I lived that life of doubt"

 

Garbage in, garbage out
What comes in is what goes out
Good stuff in, good stuff out
What's poured in soaks throughout
What's poured in soaks throughout

 

Father, you alone can see how our hearts and minds have been influenced by our intake over the course of our lives.  Open our eyes to help us see the lies, half-truths, and folly that continues to hinder our lives, and continues to hurt those you've placed around us.  Help us see the truth and wisdom that needs to supplant those false and foolish ideas, theories, beliefs, and opinions, that we may clean out our hearts and minds.

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Can Teens be Trusted with Ministry?

Some in today's Church believe that teenagers cannot be trusted with God's work.  They argue points like "Teens are too emotionally immature," or "Teens can't grasp the importance of Bible ministry," or even things like "Teens can't be fully committed to Christ," or "Teens will lead others astray."   While there are certainly teens for whom each of those accusations might be true, there are two logical reasons why such arguments fail:  First, do we assume that all adults in ministry are sufficiently mature to pass the standards against which these folks would measure teens?  And if all teens should be prohibited from ministry because some are immature, then wouldn't all adults be prohibited by the same principle?   Second, is it not grossly unfair to paint all teens with those brushes?  Many students today have committed their lives to God and are struggling, just like you and me, to push that commitment into every area of their lives and ministries.  God has blessed many churches and ministries with many such students, and these students are the foundation of the youth ministry they're growing.   Beyond those logical questions, we must yet ask, "Is such ministry biblical?"  Does scripture ever show God using youth to accomplish His will?  I'd suggest that God has used, spoken through, or lead His people with young people.  Samuel, David, Mark, maybe even Timothy, spoke for God, lead armies, or taught Christians along with their elder counterparts.  God called the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel before they were born, and called them to their posts while they were quite young.  Daniel was a young man when he was promoted to the highest advisor post in Babylon.  Esther and Mary were used by God while quite young.   It seems clear that achievement of age is not the sole requirement for ministry.  The Bible rather insists on a set of character qualities needed for all ministers, no matter how many birthdays they've seen in their past.   One such quality, the Fear of the Lord, is essential to success for any minister, young or old. Every minister must recognize that he must ultimately give an answer to God for the ways in which he serves.  It matters not if he teaches truth or lies, has integrity or lacks it, serves others or manipulates them, or promotes unity or sows dissension, every leader, teacher, pastor, or overseer will give an account to a righteous, holy, all-seeing, all-knowing, peering-into-the-deepest-crevices-of-the-human-heart God.  He will judge with perfect judgment.  Every minister, youth or adult, must submit his service to Him.   In addition to the Fear of God, there are many other qualities to visit in future posts.    Father, give me eyes to see the true calling you have for me, then for everyone around me.  Help me live according to a right and appropriate fear of You.  Then help me help others live according to a right fear of You.

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Grace? According to Performance?

A simple yet profound puzzle in scripture is this:    Grace is a gift, not given for performance or merit.  Yet only the humble can get it.  The proud are instead resisted, seemingly not able to get it.   So if grace is a gift, then how come one must be humble to get it?   I imagine two sailboats. Grace is the wind, continually blowing across the lake toward it's destination. One boat has dropped her sails.  The other has set hers, now billowed out by the wind. One boat moves quickly through the water in the direction offered by the wind. The other is blown grudgingly, sluggishly, barely moving.   What if humility is nothing more than hoisting our sails into the advice, counsel, and will of God?  What if pride is the refusal to do so? Doing the first will surely lead us where God's advice, counsel, and will intend us to go. Doing the other (refusing to do the first) will leave us stuck, floating where ever we dropped our sails, save for the sheer push of God's grace which cannot help but force us along, resisting our commitment to stay stuck.   In a practical sense, each time I am presented with any situation or circumstance, I am given two choices from which to pick:    1.  I can use this situation to live and serve God and His purposes, hoist my sail, follow His instructions for how to live in this circumstance and go where He intends me to go.    2.  I can use this situation to do and accomplish less than above, and have God's grace push my stubborn self along anyway, but have little to no joy in the ride.   How many of us excel at pulling down our sails regularly, hoisting them only in safe, predictable, or "let me not have to grow or change too much" situations?    Father, you know my heart.  You know my tendency to hoist and drop my sails according to my comfort, my fears, and my approval or disapproval of where you'd take me.  Give me the courage, the faith in your goodness, and the confidence in your absolute love, so that I might leave those sails up and commit myself to always catch and live by your advice, counsel, and will.  Always.  Grant that I might to see my pride, my stubborn resistance to you and your advice, counsel, and will.  Grant that I might willingly let it go.  Help me be what you want me to be, do what you want me to do, and go where you want me to go.

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Is it Just Easier? Is that Why We Do It?

Human beings, ourselves given to evil, often make one of four errors in dealing with the tempted and the erring. The first is to not deal at all with the struggler.  The second is to deal with him while avoiding his struggle.  The third is to deal untenderly with him.  The fourth is to fetch someone else after him. 

Of the rebuke that is love,

Of the blow that wounds to heal,

Of the warning that speaks hope,

we all have need to learn.

We cannot read the heart. 

Neither can we know its struggle and pain.

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An Ephesian "Timeline?"

One of the most fascinating practices in Bible study is to take a topic, doctrine, person, or item, and follow its "trajectory" as time passes and as scripture mentions it over that passed time.  One such study is to look at the Church at Ephesus, beginning with her planting and ending with Jesus' letter to her "angel" in Revelation.  After familiarizing yourself with he biblical facts and factoids about the topic, you're then in a position to search the internet for extra-biblical background information.

What fascinates me about this Ephesian study is how the church at Ephesus managed to fare so well, compared to the other churches Jesus wrote to in the 7 letters of Revelation.  To what, in all the prior biblical facts, could one attribute this success?  Paul's two years?  His letter?  The ministry of Priscilla and Aquila?  Timothy's oversight?

I don't believe one can find a definitive answer, but it sure does one good to think on the benefits of all the recorded ministry that God provided the Ephesian church.  Have some fun, as it'll take at least a couple hours to read and note the passages and get some background info. 

Here ya go!

 

Acts 18:19-21

       

    Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila come to Ephesus and begin a ministry there.  Paul stays a short time, then leaves Priscilla and Aquila to manage the work. 

 

Acts 18:24-28

  

    Apollos, a Jew, an Alexandrian, an eloquent, mighty-in-scriptures man, came to Ephesus;  He was familiar with the gospel, but only up to the baptism of John.  He began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the Ephesian brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.      

     

 

Acts 19:1 - 20:1

  

    Paul returns to Ephesus, finds disciples, stays two years.

Acts 20:16-38

    Paul makes his way to meet with the Ephesian Elders at Miletus to warn them of false teachers outside and inside their number, and to say goodbye.   

 

1 Corinthians 15:32

    Paul references his fight with "wild beasts" at Ephesus as evidence that he's not in this apostle business for pleasure or profit.

      1 Corinthians 16:8

 

    Paul writes "But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost" in the close of this letter.

 

Ephesians

    (sorry, but for this study you'd have to read the whole letter,

looking for statements about them (the Ephesians),

and noting what they were taught, either previous to the letter, or in the letter).

 

1 Timothy

    (sorry, but for this study you'd have to read the whole letter,

looking for statements about them (the Ephesians),

and noting what they were taught, either previous to the letter, or in the letter).

 

2 Timothy 1:16-18

 

    An offhand reference to Onesiphorus who rendered service at Ephesus.

 

2 Timothy 4:12

 

    Paul tells Timothy that he sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

 

Revelation 2:1-7

 

    Jesus sends a letter "To the angel of the church in Ephesus," and writes:

"The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you repent. 'Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.'" 

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But, But, He Offended Me!

Is the following statement true or false?

If you love me, you will not offend me.

If there were a perfect lover, that is, one who loved perfectly, then we could test this question by seeing if he ever offended those he loved.

Hhmm, does such a lover exist anywhere?

If you can think of someone, then test this hypothesis:

Someone who truly loves another will not offend him in any way, whether by speech, or by action.

Test it by looking at his beloveds to see if any were ever offended.

(Oh, and if you subtly define your perfect lover as one who doesn't offend, then you mess up the experiment by creating a circular system.)

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An Odd Challenge

Here's an odd challenge, if you dare:

Carefully check out the two verses below, and see if they aren't backwards when compared to the way many of us operate today:

"Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs" (Prov. 10:12 ).

So when someone wrongs you, and you cover his wrongs, that shows what?
But when someone wrongs you, and you stir others up against him, that shows what?

"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault . . . (Jesus, in Mat 18:15 ).

So when someone wrongs you, and you talk to him about it, you're obeying who?
But when someone wrongs you, and you don't talk to him about it, you're disobeying who?

What I mean is this:
Do you talk directly to the person who sins against, disappoints, or otherwise fails you?
Do you talk about that persons sin, disappointing, failing to others?

If you're like me, there is a great temptation to do precisely the opposite of what those verses say. I suspect that we don't talk directly to the one who sins, disappoints, or otherwise fails, is because we are afraid. Afraid of getting into an argument. Afraid of being confronted ourselves. Afraid of having to "remove the log from our own eye." Afraid of . . .?

Father, only you know the extent to which we've gone in stirring up dissension instead of love.  Only you know how often we've handled our discontents with others in the backwards fashion.  Help us to become people who handle rightly the things that we share with others, and the things we keep to ourselves.  Help us promote love, even when we feel slighted.

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