Can God fix things without changing them?
My “day job” is as a senior IT specialist. As such, I do a lot of technology reading. A post on the IT Project Failures Blog caused me to ponder the question: Can God fix things without changing them?
Yes, He most certainly can, but He doesn’t always choose to do so.
For example, consider Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). Once he was healed, he could no longer beg. He was going to have to get a job. Same for the man at the Beautiful Gate in Acts 3.
Jesus told Peter to wait till he received “power from on high” before taking the gospel to the world (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8). If you read Acts 2, this led to a radical transformation of Peter and the brand-new Church on the day of Pentecost. What if God chose to radically “fix” 10% of the churches in America in 2009?
If we want something in our lives, bodies, families, or churches fixed, we have to realize that change may come with that fix. Are we prepared for that change? Or are we sticking by “We’ve never done it that way before”?
Doug
The gates of hell shall not prevail
Matthew 16:18 (NKJV) And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18 (The Message) And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.
The gates of an ancient city were the legitimate way to enter that city. If your purpose was to go into town, you wouldn’t climb over the wall, you’d go through the gate.
The gates are also the first line of defense, so they have to be sturdy. If you want to keep enemy warriors out of your city, the first thing you do is close the gates. Any other entrance to the city will be more difficult.
The passage from Matthew says the gates of hell “will not prevail”. Gates are a passive defense – they don’t go out to war, they just keep people out. Too often the church acts on the defensive – we hide within our church walls, behind our shields of faith, and hope the devil will go away while he attacks us on our “turf”. We wait for things to happen, then react. Instead, we’re to take the offensive stance and use our swords of the Spirit (God’s word) and prayer to attack the enemy’s acts (See Ephesians 6:10-18)
Is your faith aggressive? Or is it reactive? Or is it passive?
Doug
You wonder if God can use you?
I was talking with a friend who told me things like “There are far more worthy people than me” and “I hardly know the Bible, why would God use me?” I told him that because he’s told God he was willing to be used, God will – regardless of his own limitations.
I reminded him about Peter. Peter was a fisherman. He was probably not a rich man. All he had was the standard training in the Law, psalms and prophets that every good Jewish boy had, and an invitation to follow an itinerant teacher named Jesus, which he accepted.
Peter followed. Peter watched as Jesus taught, healed, and cast out demons. Peter probably wondered if he was capable of doing the same thing when Jesus sent the 12 out in Luke 9. Peter said foolish things like “If it’s you, Lord, tell me to come to you” – what was Jesus supposed to say besides “Come”?
Peter didn’t follow perfectly. We know he argued with Jesus. We know that after walking on the water a ways, he looked at his surroundings and sank. We know he denied Jesus. We know he questioned his own worthiness after the resurrection.
But it was Peter’s willingness to follow and learn – not his natural talents, not his skills, not his education – that set him up as a leader in the early Church. His message on the day of Pentecost resulted in 3,000 conversions (Acts 2).
What’s stopping you? Your circumstances? Fear? Or your willingness?
Doug
Subject to change
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Temporary. That means “subject to change”. Years ago I heard Jerry Savelle preach on this, and it’s been sticking in my mind lately after I heard Paul Wilbur sing Say to The Mountain. Verse 1 says
I will walk by what God says, and not by what I see
For those things are temporal, and they’re subject to be changed.
(Check the link above, or here for guitar tab/words).
If you can see it, hear it, touch it, or feel it, it’s temporary, and therefore subject to change. Not enough resources? God can change it. Empty seats during worship? God can change it. Physical illness? God can change it.
Doug
Overcomers, triumphant and more than conquerors
Our readings for this Sunday (4/19) include this passage:
1 John 5:4-5 (NIV) for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Overcomers. Simply because we believe in Jesus, and because Christ’s redemption restores us to full fellowship with Him.
That passage sounds too good to be true. But Paul said this:
Romans 8:31-39 (NKJV) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Or how about this passage?
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NAB) But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the odor of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are the aroma of Christ for God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to the latter an odor of death that leads to death, to the former an odor of life that leads to life. …
It sounds to me like God intends for us to be on top of our circumstances rather than under them, “the head and not the tail” (Deuteronomy 28:13).
So, how do we get there? Little by little, just as God gave Canaan to the Israelites little by little, and not all at once. But we need to believe that God wants us to thrive, and not just “survive till Jesus comes back”, too.
Doug
Shaking things up
On the GCN “Shepherds of the flock” board, I responded to another pastor’s post. At the end of it, I felt inspired to share this line:
Jesus used just a few men to shake up the world, but they were fairly well shaken themselves at times. Perhaps it’s your turn.
I’m finding myself returning to this thought periodically. It reminds me of a text from Hebrews 12:26 “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven”, and the paraphrase a former pastor used to make of it: “Everything that can be shaken will be shaken.”
Doug
Good Friday, part 2
(continued from yesterday’s post)
Reading 4 – Mark 15:33-34 “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” – “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”. This was the first line of Psalm 22, one of the Messianic psalms that David wrote, prophetically describing aspects of the crucifixion. In the day when Psalm 22 was written, crucifixion wasn’t known as a form of execution, the Jewish people generally stoned people to death.
In John 11:49-50, Caiphas, the high priest, prophesied that it was expedient that one would die for many. He called for Jesus to be crucified on the altar of the cross – to be the Lamb of God sacrificed for our sins.
Reading 5 – John 19:28-29 “I am thirsty.” Another reference to Psalm 22. They offered him wine on a sponge offered from a branch of hyssop. To me, the wine speaks of the wine from the Last Supper a few hours before, which is Christ’s blood. Hyssop was used when celebrating the Passover to put the blood on the doorposts and lintel (Exodus 12:22).
Reading 6 – John 19:30 “It is finished”. The last line of Psalm 22 in several translations is “He has done this” or “He has done it”.
The Passover and the Day of Atonement were both finished. No longer would the High Priest need to take the blood into the Most Holy Place to cover sins for one more year. No longer would they need to put blood on their doorposts. God finished the Law of Moses by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who redeemed us to God by His blood (Ephesians 1:7, Revelation 5:9). Instead of a lamb, God had put man’s sin on Jesus (Isaiah 53:6, 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Reading 7 – “Into Your hands I commit my spirit!” Jesus was trusting Himself to the Father and the eternal plan they’d made to redeem man from the curse. Not only was it necessary for Jesus’ blood to be shed in physical death to cover our sins, but the Apostle’s Creed says “He descended into hell”. Jesus descended into the bowels of the earth, to spoil satan’s forces and lead the Old Testament saints to their reward (Colossians 2:15, Ephesians 4:8). He knew that He was to be abandoned by God, to die spiritually and take on punishment for man, so that we would not have to. He also knew that God would raise Him up on the third day.
Doug
Good Friday, part 1
Tonight we had the traditional “Seven Last Words of Christ” Good Friday service.
The altar of the Cross
Reading 1 – Luke 23:33-34 “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” Jesus was doing – and asking the Father to do – exactly what He had taught His disciples to do – to live in an attitude of forgiveness and to keep relationships paramount – Relationship between man and God, and relationship with each other. This is what the Great Commandment (Luke 10:27) is about.
Reading 2 – Luke 23:39-43 “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus was showing that no matter how bad a person behaved, they were not beyond Christ’s saving and redeeming power. Even though civil law called for punishment, God offers us eternal life – He’s no longer holding our sins against is if we have faith in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
Reading 3 – John 19:25-27 to His mother Mary “Dear woman, here is your son.” and to John, the beloved disciple “Here is your mother.” Even in death, Jesus was honoring his mother. We’re not told what happened to Joseph, but a normal life span in that day was typically 40 years. So Joseph may have been deceased, and Mary would’ve been considered an elderly woman. Mary had a part in the early church, including being present in the upper room on the days leading up to Pentecost (Acts 1:14)
To be continued… Doug
The “what did you build” test
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul describes himself as having laid a spiritual foundation for the Corinthian believers to build on. Then he makes this statement (1 Cor 3:12-15 NLT):
Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.
So the next test I see that Jesus challenges the church with is:
- What is your foundation?
- What are you building on it?
- Will it last when it is tested?
Doug
The priorities test
Matthew 6:33 (NIV) But seek first his [your heavenly Father's] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
This verse lays out where our priorities should be. Notice it says “seek first” – not “seek only”. We shouldn’t be so heavenly minded we’re no earthly good, lest we end up like The Millerites who sold what they had and waited for Jesus to come back. Although we’re in the world, we should conduct ourselves as if our Father is watching us (which He is).
So what are we seeking first? Earlier in Matthew 6, Jesus told us to pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 NIV). Are we doing God’s will? Are we working against Kingdom principles to get ahead or get our own way? Are we living right? Are we being Jesus to others in word and action?
As I’ve said before (including in my message yesterday), if we’re about God’s business, He’ll be about ours.
Doug