To the Letter (Radio Broadcast)

But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
(Luke 10:29)

The parable of the Good Samaritan has been taught on countless times, and it has much to show us with regards to the presumption of faith. There are several things that we need to point out here. First, the lawyer obviously had the wrong motive for asking Jesus this question anyway, as it says he tempted him and that he wished to justify himself.

Don’t be too quick to dismiss yourself from this aspect of the passage, however. Many times we presume upon what God means by the law, pouring our own righteousness into it. We also may at times question the rightness of what God seems to be saying, or twist the text to mean something it doesn’t by trying to read into it, like this lawyer was doing. This lawyer, in trying to justify himself, sought an exact meaning of “neighbor”, so as to have a formula for righteousness.

Imagine him at the judgment: “But I loved my neighbor, just like you said to; I followed your commands to the letter”. Of course, this shows that what he was really trying to do was get a license to be able to love only those he must in order to inherit eternal life, and to necessarily exclude all others, at his personal discretion. Again, we see the results of trying to develop an exact method using the scriptures in an overly literal, all encompassing way.

Think about the child whose mother tells her that she cannot ride her bike to the park; she goes anyway, and when her mother scolds her, she cries, “I didn’t ride my bike, I walked”. Can you see how childish and utterly ridiculous this lawyer is being in this passage now?

Still, we see that today many have not taken this lesson from Jesus. They will take one or a few verses, and then dogmatically assert that this is the prescription for righteousness, instead of comparing these verses with others, using the clear, overall teaching of the Bible as a guide. All this is doing is the same thing the lawyer (and all religions apart from true Christianity) was attempting: to bring a measure of works to the kingdom of God. Christians have been deceived into jumping through spiritual hoops. Place your faith in Christ alone as your hope, not only of salvation, but also of sanctification. Only a justified sinner can battle effectively against sin. Overcoming sin comes from a relationship not for a relationship.

Salvation is not a process, where we do this, then achieve that type of deal. There is no must do order of salvation, it is of grace alone. This does not mean that we will not do these things that are evident in a true Christian life. Yes, we repent, get baptized in water, read our Bibles, pray, and pursue sanctification. But these are measures of obedience, not means of saving grace. These things are a result of salvation, not a requirement for it.

This fact points beautifully to the next aspect of Christ’s teaching here in this parable: the idea of duty. By showing us the priest and the Levite specifically, Christ was definitely trying to convey something even more than the fact that being a neighbor means more than your own kind.

Imagine the priest; he was on his way to the service; he had no time to help; he was already going to go help his parishioners, and there were hundreds of them, not just one man. Besides, how can he be expected to care for everyone he came across that needed help, he had his own flock to care for, and God put him in charge of these people, so God would want him to take care of his own? He had a prior commitment: there will always be people that need help; his job was to help those already entrusted into his care. Christ is putting his second commandment above prior duty. Those parishioners will still be there; this man may have died, and he needed help immediately.

Imagine the Levite; he was heading to the temple; no way could he touch this man, he had consecrated himself. The temple service he was going to happened only once a year; God would be furious if he defiled his hands just to help one soul, he was sacrificing for the sins of a whole community. Again, obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22), and Jesus destroys the self-righteous lawyer’s, and many believers’ attitude.

Never are we to presume that we have the right way; we must continue to seek God, not trust in our own inventions, justified by our own pathetic knowledge of God gained by scripture twisting. Duty and prior commitment, even about church matters, can be no excuse to ignore the calling by God to demonstrate Christ-likeness.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Worldwide Ministry (Radio Broadcast)

…among all the nations…
(Romans 1:5 – ESV)

The Gospel is for all people (1 John 2:2 / Revelation 7:9), not just Jews but Gentiles as well, not just men but women and children, not just whites, but blacks, browns, yellows, reds and anyone and everyone else who calls on Jesus to save them (Galatians 3:26-28 / Colossians 3:11).

In context this is also Paul telling us that he had received an apostleship that was to be world wide, he knew his mission was to be obedient to the vision no matter what (Acts 20:22-21:14). Paul was to show the crucified with Christ life in all the nations of the known world.

We apply this by saying that through Jesus Christ and only through Him we receive grace for everything we need to be obedient to the faith anywhere and everywhere we go. Our mission is also “world-wide”, we are to live the gospel throughout our world to all the people we encounter or whom see us in action.

Your ministry, no matter how big it gets, will ever have a chance to be as effective, in terms of percentage of people reached, as it is right now. Think about it. If you were on television throughout the whole world, and were able to reach a billion people, how many would actually be tuning in? Even if half of those people watched, which is a near impossibility, this would only represent 50% of the people you could reach being reached with the gospel. However, in your little world, right now, you can live and speak out the gospel to every single person you ever come across – in other words 100% of the people you could reach, you can. There is a lot to be said for that sort of spiritual economy.

People want a big ministry, one that is world wide, but it must start with your own world now. If you are faithful in this world, perhaps God will expand your borders, but how can He trust you with more if you will not be faithful in a little? You must live prophetically, as if your ministry is worldwide right now, because in truth, it is; you never know the reach of God through what you do right here in your little arena.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Use All the Tools (Radio Broadcast)

…but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.
(Exodus 4:10)

Play to your strengths, says the world, and by “the world” we mean not only the secular world, but the church world as well. We try and make up for our lack of tools, not ones that we think we don’t have, but ones we think aren’t good enough to use. Instead of learning to use them more effectively and maximizing their use, we relegate them to the bottom of the toolbox, hoping no one will have to see them. We overcompensate and underestimate what God is trying to do with us as preacher, leader, layman, husband, wife, employee, and so on.

Lets put this in the context of the preacher first. It is like the preacher who may have the right message but delivers it with no passion at all, because he is “just not into that sort of thing”. Or like the preacher who can rev up the engine, but who spends no time in the study. Content and delivery, you can have both, it is much harder, but a preacher with no passion in his voice is patently ridiculous in this day and age. Yes, it makes a difference today, and it should. It might not have back then, but today it does, and yes, it really bothers and bores people to hear someone read the bible in a choppy, no inflection, monotone, metronome way.

The passion rises up out of the preacher when he is most passionate about God. When the preacher prizes God most, the passion about it comes out. The great preachers of today wouldn't hold my interest as much as they do if they had a passionless voice and staid delivery, no matter how good the words were. You can and you must have both content and delivery power.

Of course we must realize that God's Spirit can and will work through non-passionate, monotone preaching. Meaning, IF (not that a preacher should) a preacher/missionary was NOT a great non-monotone teacher, God's Spirit could work through his words regardless. The Spirit can and often does, but it is in spite of not because of their style, and vice versa, of course.

This is simply a matter of preference, mostly, but for many, they ought to give heed to their delivery. We often have this tool in the box but fail to sharpen it because, sinfully, we compare our gift to someone else's, and think it less, and so being prideful we don't share what we have. I may never have the exegetical prowess of John Calvin, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't do exegesis (God forbid!)...

Moses said his voice wasn’t good enough, but God asked him just who did he think made that mouth of his? You may not have the voice of a great singer, but God made your voice, so sing out loud the praises of His name. No matter what it sounds like to others, it sounds wonderful to Him, exactly as He designed it to be. You may not be able to do something as well as the next guy, but work at it, strive to be excellent for the glory of God and He will reward your diligence.

Using all the tools is being as God would have you to be, like Him. Think about it. God uses all the tools; some are more gifted speakers but God uses less gifted ones, some are more gifted in this or that area but God uses less gifted ones as well. How many times have you heard or seen someone with all their sophisticated argumentation, sincere pleading, and scriptural knowledge try and get someone to come to Christ, and then some supposed half wit talks to them once and they immediately fall to their knees in submission to Jesus?

God uses all the tools. So should you.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Pleading, Pouring & Power (Radio Broadcast)

Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
(Philippians 2:17 – ESV)

The people that pray with passion are the people that stay in His presence. Not a false, worked up energy or showy emotionalism, but a heartfelt knowledge of His will and a willingness to lay out the case before Him in passionate prayer, in faith. It isn’t simply the volume or the amount of tears but if we are truly pouring out our heart it will often be accompanied by increased emotion. This isn’t faith in our fervor, but faith in our God. It isn’t a demonstration of a lack of faith; it is a demonstration of the power of it.

Sometimes it isn’t pouring out what you have extra, it is pouring out from what you need. Not like some seed faith thing, that is still selfish thinking, but something you have and you need. You have it and you are willing to lose it, and go without, to give to someone else, but in the name of God and knowing Him, not to look good, and not making a deal with God, not “I’ll do this if you do that”. If you want to get poured upon you must be poured out.

A man came from a town that was in severe drought and people were dying. He went to look for water, got lost and was near death. He would need to drink just to make it back to town, let alone get any water for anyone else. He pleaded to God for water. Soon he came across a pump with a canteen hung on the handle and a note. The note read: “This pump is routed directly to the neighboring towns, and below is a supply of all the fresh water they could ever need.” He was elated, and went to take a drink of the canteen when he read the rest of the note. “The canteen contains exactly enough water to prime the pump.” It takes great faith to pour out the whole contents of the canteen for a promise of unlimited water. Will you use the water to fill yourself or to prime the pump? Will you take the risk?

In Philippians 2 we see that Jesus Christ had enough but He gave up the comforts of heaven and gave His life to the cause. The Bible says therefore God has exalted Him. You may not be recognized, you may receive no earthly blessing, and you may actually be ridiculed, but will you pour yourself out then? Would you, will you, pour yourself out to someone who will hate you? Jesus Christ did, He died for us when we still hated Him, and God has poured out His love, that same love, by the Holy Spirit in us (Romans 5:5-8).

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

The Sweetest Sound

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.
(Proverbs 18:22 – ESV)

On our anniversary day, I think back to a time when I came face to face with the reality of my love for my wife. Oh yes, certainly I did love her and I knew it, and I knew that she knew it too. We have a great marriage, and we go through the ups and downs and “all arounds”, and we grow through it all, to the glory of God, we pray.

Now I don’t want to sound all pious about our “picture book” relationship, I want to be real, and to help you with some hope. The truth is that sometimes things don’t work out like we want them to, but the Lord of Life has a way of helping you regain a true focus and rediscover the depth of devotion when the shallow waters of situation come roaring into your mind.

You may be distracted, disappointed, disgruntled, or in despair, but I hope God will help you apply this to your situation. He can turn any situation into a celebration of Him and those good things He allows us, even if only for a season.

You see, we were in church one Sunday, and my wife had a sudden, intense attack of pain, and she couldn’t tell if it was just some muscle thing or something much more serious, because it was near her heart region. She was in incredible agony, and she had that look of “ultimate concern” on her face as tears were streaming down her clothes. The church had the look of horror as we ran her out of the building as fast and as calm as we could.

We rushed her to the emergency room, and they were able to stabilize her quite quickly. Thank the Lord, it didn’t seem serious, but even after several visits to other doctors, no one could ever tell us what actually happened or any root problem there might be. In any event, we were relieved, as was the church when they found out she would be okay.

A few days later, my wife and I were sitting around the house in the morning hours. I was doing some writing at the computer, and she was eating breakfast. Now my wife and I both have these little “noises” we each make, and I won’t go into all of them here, but it can be quite entertaining to say the least. However, sometimes our little “noises” become nauseating to us, ourselves and to each other. Some noises we can “appreciate” more than others, if you know what I mean.

One such noise that was bothering me to no end on this day was that all I could seem to hear from the other room was my wife crunch, crunch, crunching her cereal. Munch, munch, munch, crunch, crunch, crunch, I was about to scream out, I tell you the truth. This was one of those little “noises” that could really get to me, especially when I was in the middle of doing “important work” like writing my sermon.

All of a sudden, it would seem as if God crunched right down on my head and munched right into my heart. It was then I realized that while I had always detested the sound of the crunching of cereal before, to be able to hear it now was sweet music to my ears, for it meant that she was alive, and she was here. I now did more than “appreciate” it; I relished every little noise, every little wonderful sound! Crunch, crunch, crunch – It was her! Munch, munch, munch – My baby was still with me! That munching became the melody of love to my heart.

Now I am a lover of classical music, and I have heard many live orchestras perform many great works of music in my life, but no Bach, Beethoven, or Brahms could have lifted me to such heights as I felt that day.

I hope you find the joy I found…the day I heard the sweetest sound.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Risky Prayer (Radio Broadcast)

Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
(Philippians 2:17 – ESV)

Paul took a risk; he didn’t want to labor in vain (vs.16). Timothy risked it all on serving Jesus single-mindedly. Epaphroditus risked his health for their wealth, his life to fulfill the ministry (he agonized for people in prayer – Colossians 4:12).

The even if is in the present tense, not talking about his death so much as his life right then, he was even now being poured out, in other words, since I am being poured out. It wasn’t his death he was speaking of, it was his life, he was a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2), and his death was only the culmination of that. It wasn’t that he was saying that his martyrdom was the drink offering, but his life was. It wasn’t just that he was willing to die for the cause, but that he was willing to live for it. The sacrificial death was only the end of a sacrificial life. Paul is saying since I am being poured out, and it is upon your faith, I rejoice. He rejoices because his labor isn’t in vain, they have faith and are sacrificing and serving God themselves, and his being poured out is the “cherry on top”, as it were. The Philippians were making the greater sacrifice, says Paul, because their sufferings were multiplied. This shows Paul’s true humility. He considers it all as a sacrifice, unity, everyone playing his or her part.

It is not joy in spite of; it is joy because of, counting it joy to be counted as worthy to be poured out. Do you consider what God has poured in you worthy to be poured out? Paul’s greatest joy came when giving the greatest sacrifice. Now only God can make us to be like that. Paul says I am rejoicing, you are also being sacrificed, so also joy, let us all joy together for one another. We love one another, and our joy is made full. Obedience is greater than sacrifice, but if you are obedient you will sacrifice, it is the sacrifice of obedience. Ultimate sacrifice produces ultimate joy. What have you said no to in order to say yes to God, to His will, to His kingdom, to His Church?

Paul was fully poured out, now to the point of his very life. His heart was spent on them in service to Christ. People talk about pouring in to someone’s life but you cannot pour in unless you pour out, and you can only pour out what has been poured in. I am not talking just about giving advice and mentoring someone, I am talking about taking risk; giving up things you need for what they need, like a parent does for a child (1 Thessalonians 2:8), doing it as if something of yours was at stake. When someone pours themselves out like that you know it, you know them in a way that resonates with your own soul. This is why I call Martin Luther my friend, good and bad, he poured out himself in his life and it shows in his writing, and in those things written about him. He didn’t leave anything in; he poured it all out. Sure he made mistakes but he took risks and he left a legacy still felt to this day.

The great heroes of the faith have the heart of a humble servant, selfless, one who was willing to give himself up in the simplest task not for his own fulfillment or his own gain, but for the sake of the Lord he loves. God is the end not the means to an end. That would be just pouring to get something, not to give something.

One key way we pour ourselves out is in and through prayer. We need to pray like it means something, like we have a stake in it, like we are taking a risk. That is how you seek God; that is the place where He works. If it doesn’t cost you anything it doesn’t benefit anybody.

F.B. Meyer – "It was because Moses was prepared to be blotted from the book of God for his people that he carried them for forty years through the desert and deposited them on the very borders of the Promised Land. It was because Jesus wept over Jerusalem that He was able to send a Pentecost on that guilty city. It was because Paul was prepared to be accursed for his brethren according to the flesh that he was able to turn so many from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God." "No heart pangs, no spiritual seed."

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Poured Out (Radio Broadcast)

Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
(Philippians 2:17 – ESV)

In chapter two of this epistle Paul exhorts the Philippians to pour themselves out to one another. You live out the faith, you pour out what God has poured in with humility and without complaint. He says Christ was poured out, Paul himself was being poured out, Timothy was being poured out, and Epaphroditus was nearly all poured out.

I want to relate being poured out specifically to prayer. You are pouring out yourself to something every day already, time, money, effort, thoughts, deeds, words, every minute of every day your life is being poured out. If you pour it out in prayer and service to God He will keep pouring His Spirit within you and upon your sacrifice of faith.

Being poured out is the path to joy. Paul was poured out as wine upon their sacrifice. The wine was to symbolize joy indicating that the sacrifice was done with a joyful heart and with the intent to bring joy to the Lord. Paul is saying, “Even if I have to die it is a small thing, a little sacrifice compared to the far greater sacrifice and service coming from your faith. I am going to die but it will make the sacrifice complete.” He rejoices that he was counted worthy to make a sacrifice and that they were also. His tireless effort helped lead to their true faith.

You can be poured out the wrong way. The world speaks of pouring yourself out as well, but it is in the sense of pouring your life into what you do. A recent country singer captures this idea in his song, “Live Like You Were Dying”. Now the song is a nice sounding sentiment, to pour it all out, to live with intention, but all he talks about is thrill seeking and actually selfish things for the most part. It is a humanistic motivational idea. The video looks like it is supposed to be all spiritual or whatever, but it isn’t giving glory to God, it isn’t what being poured out means in the biblical sense. When compared to what Christ would have us do, we see that the sentiment to live with passion and intention can be perverted into getting the most for us out of this life instead of giving to God's glory as much as we can in this life. Indeed we ought to live like we were dying, dying to self, that is.

Christians want to be poured on or poured in but they haven’t yet poured out. We should be poured out, but people don’t want to take the risk of being poured out. People only want to serve the way they want to serve; they want to choose their altar of service. They need to realize that if they cannot pour themselves out in prayer then how could they ever in practice.

God takes a person who is truly filled with the Spirit and uses tough situations to spill them over, so that His power and presence can flood onto others’ lives, and then He fills the vessel once again. He doesn’t fill us with His Sprit just so that we can feel full. If you try and hold it all in you will get nothing but a spiritual stomachache. No, it is not about the fullness in our bellies but the overflow of His life out from our bellies. Christ promised rivers of living water to come forth from our hearts (John 7:38), but how can we expect to see this power if we won’t allow ourselves to be poured out?

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©