Specks and Logs

As the Righteous Judge--the only one who is qualified to judge others--Jesus didn't mince words when he spoke about us judging others. In Matthew 7, he warns us not to judge others and that we will be judged on the measurement that we judge others (v.1-2). Now listen to the salvo he fires in verse 3: Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Really hits home, doesn't it?

Just as there is a big disparity between a speck and a log, there is a wide gap in where we should be focusing in on sinfulness. Even though it is much easier to focus on other people's shortcomings, Scripture reminds us that the log in our eye keeps us from seeing things as our Righteous Judge sees them. We probably can see the specks in others because of our own familiarity with sin in our lives. Either way, our Savior goes on to tell us that we must deal with our own sin issues and we are actually hypocrites if we focus first on another person's sin: first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye (v.5). Pastor Greg Laurie says it best, "Forgiven people should be forgiving people."

Our Lord doesn't want us to have unresolved sin in our lives; nor does He want our brothers to continue to stumble and fall. We need to take care of first things first. We need to deal with the log--the spiritual blindness that is caused by our own unconfessed sin--and then allow our unclouded spiritual awareness to deal with the specks and help restore others.

Reasons to be Thankful

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays of the year. You don't have to spend too much time around me to know that two of my favorites things are eating and watching football! I loved playing in Turkey Bowl football games in the morning (until my body began convincing me that it was no longer a good idea!) and spending the rest of the day with family and friends.

Many people don't know this, but Thanksgiving Day started in 1789 by then President George Washington as a national day for giving thanks to God. The unique and abundant blessings that we as a nation enjoy are divinely provided by His hand. Scripture is filled with praises of thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father. Psalm 107:1--Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever is also found in eight other places in the Bible. His everlasting love, mercy and grace is reason enough to obey the commandment of 1 Thessalonians 5:18--give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

I could write for days recalling the many ways God has blessed me. Allowing Christ to pay my sin debt so that I can live with him eternally, my beautiful wife and daughter whom I love with all my heart, my extended family, my church family, my friends, my ministry to the men of Ogletown, my heart for sharing the good news of God's Word, the beauty and majesty of the world He spoke into existence are just a few that quickly come to mind. Remembering these and countless other blessings certainly makes Thanksgiving Day a day worth celebrating.

The Righteous Judge

As believers, we probably don't consider God being the Righteous Judge as often as we should. Maybe it's because we know that Christ's sacrifice paid our sin debt and we've escaped eternal punishment in hell. Maybe it's because we compare ourselves to others and bask in our own self-righteousness. Or maybe it's just too uncomfortable to think about God judging our thoughts and our actions because of unrepentant sin in our lives.

Whatever the reason, we should be eternally thankful that God is the Righteous Judge. Psalm 7:11 is our assurance that He is righteous and is indignant toward wrongdoing. Ecclesiastes 3:17 is our assurance that God will judge all and that He sees all so that nothing escapes his knowledge and awareness. Jeremiah 11:20 is our assurance that because of God's righteousness, we can trust that He will deal with the unrighteous in a manner that they deserve--removing any need we would have to seek revenge. And finally, 2 Timothy 4:8 assures us that the Righteous Judge will reward those who love him and serve him for his glory.

We still need to apply biblical truth to our lives so that we have discernment in making God-honoring choices; which is vastly different from judging others. God's Word makes it crystal-clear that we are woefully unqualified to assume the title of Righteous Judge. Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:37 remind us not to judge others unless we want to condemn ourselves from the same judgement. It's sad to think about how much joy and peace we sacrifice because we fail to just let the Righteous Judge be the Righteous Judge.

Bitter, Party of One

A few years ago we use to have a saying at one of my former workplaces for times when somebody complained about an unfair situation. The complainer would be chided with this not-so-sympathetic comment: "Here comes bitter, party of one".

Face it, no one enjoys being around a bitter person. Nothing kills a festive occasion or a positive experience like a person with a sour disposition or someone who is constantly whining or complaining. And for the bitter person, the worst thing is that they almost always are oblivious to the damage they cause themselves--relationally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Charles Stanley once said, "Bitterness is a poison that we concoct for someone else that we wind up drinking ourselves." Hebrews 12:15 reminds us that when the root of bitterness springs up, it causes trouble and defiles us. Since God's mercy to us is unconditional, how can we ever justify harboring any bitterness toward others?

This is serious business for God's men. There are over 300 warnings in Scripture about anger and bitterness and probably the clearest one is found in Ephesians 4:31--Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Allowing any of these emotions to take up residence in our heart has the spiritual effect of rolling out the welcome mat for Satan to enter in. Our testimony to others is too important to allow this to happen. Make "bitter, party of one" an invitation we always decline.

Obtain the Prize

One of the key lessons to be learned in growing spiritually is that God works all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). This can be a difficult lesson; especially when adversity seems to destroy the very things that we work hard for and strive to accomplish.

I had the opportunity to witness something special last Friday night. My daughter's school, Red Lion Christian Academy http://www.redlionca.org/ completed their football season with a 51-0 win over a local rival. An impressive win, but what I saw was much more impressive than the final score. Coming off a very difficult and painful week in which they had to forfeit an opportunity to continue their season in the playoffs, these kids and their coaches represented RLCA as true champions in their season finale.

Rather than wallowing in self-pity and lamenting what could have been, the RLCA football team chose instead to go out as winners; playing hard with dignity and class. Rather than speak poorly of those who contributed to the adversity they endured, they chose instead to enjoy the culmination of a great season and celebrate with their fans, friends and family on the field after the game. Among the post game highlights, the team gathered as one facing their fans in the stands and in unison chanted 1 Corinthians 9:24--Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

Obtaining the prize involves exercising self control (v.25), not running aimlessly (v.26) and disciplining ourselves so as to not disqualify ourselves by damaging our testimony to others (v.27). God never promised us this would be easy, but he promised to never leave us or forsake us (Joshua 1:5) and that his plans for us are to give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

It's Okay to Shout

I can't think of anything that has caused more division in good churches than worship style. I grew up in a church with a traditional style of worship; signing age-old hymns which I still enjoy. But my preference is contemporary worship with guitars and drums. Thankfully, we have both styles at Ogletown; giving us a cross-generational appeal that should be a cause for praise.

While we worship corporately as a church family on Sunday, we should never pass judgement on a person's worship style or preference (as long as it doesn't disrupt the service!). I've worshipped with hands held high toward my Savior in heaven. I've worshipped with my eyes closed in prayerful remembrance of what he's done for me. I've worshipped with tears streaming down my face in sorrow for my sins or in need of intervention from Him. In every case, it is me in my sinful state coming to worship a loving, gracious and merciful Father who allowed his only son to die so that I may live.

During Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Luke records that the disciples were praising God in loud voices. The Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke the disciples for making so much noise, to which he responded, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out (Luke 19:40)". Psalms 95, 98 and 100 all speak of making a joyful noise to our Creator. There is no need to question whether God is offended by exuberant praise directed toward him.

Whether your desire is to sing out Rock of Ages or Hail to the King (two very different worship styles!), what matters most are the words of praise to Him and the heart of worship we bring as we lift our voices toward heaven. God would rather hear our joyful noise than the stones any day.

Making Disciples

Jesus' final words to his disciples before he ascended to heaven included this command: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). Although this instruction seems pretty clear, I often wonder if we really understand the concept of making disciples.

While this command clearly calls us to share the Gospel and witness to unbelievers, I believe the idea of making disciples goes much deeper. A disciple isn't just a believer or a person on the church membership roll. A disciple is someone who commits to serving Jesus as his Master and Lord. A disciple is someone who pours his God-given gifts into the lives of others for God's glory. A disciple is someone who views his life as an opportunity to advance God's Kingdom. A disciple is someone who disciples others and encourages them to make disciples and disciple others.

If we observe the lives of Jesus' disciples, we see a group of men who learned from him and watched him minister to others. The disciples learned by seeing Jesus meet human need with divine resources and they learned life lessons that our Savior taught them through parables and real-life experiences. Once we recognize that our life experiences have value and can be shared with others for the purpose of discipleship, we begin to fulfill Christ's final earthly command.

A person who witnesses and shares the gospel can certainly add to Christ's church, but a disciple who makes disciples actually multiplies the church; which will make heaven a much more populated place.

God's Character

In response to Moses' request for God to show him his glory, (Exodus 33:18) our Heavenly Father instead chose to reveal to him his character. As sinful people, we cannot fully see his glory. We can only know him by what he does and how he acts.

Accordingly, God's response to Moses was "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means will clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 34:6-7).

The message here is clear: God is faithful and merciful. He stands ready to forgive us. He is abundantly patient with those who seek him. But make no mistake, God hates evil and will not overlook unrepentant sin. As God's men, we must keep our sin accounts short and confess and forsake known sin in our lives. Our sinful actions, as well as our godly influence, impact our children and generations to come.

The bottom line is that we cannot comprehend God as he is apart from Jesus Christ, who promised to show himself to those who believe (John 14:9-21). The only way we can clear our guilty status before the Father is by claiming the shed blood of Jesus Christ, who paid our sin debt and reconciled us to Him.