No, Never Alone. No, Never Alone.

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (Joh 14:18 AV)

This is quite a promise.  We know the LORD is speaking directly to the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  The comfort that will never leave is the presence of God dwelling within our hearts.  The person of the Holy Spirit resides within the heart and soul of the child of God.  But it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit which we wish to consider this day.  The Greek word for ‘…comfortless…’ means orphaned.  It means bereft of parents.  Without guidance, strength, or instruction.  In short, comfortless here is more then the lack of encouragement.  It means and abandonment.  Without comfort here means without the necessary benefits of a relationship with the LORD.  He will not leave us this way.  Ever!

One of the causes of anxiety is ignorance.  When we are caught in a situation and we do not know how to get out, we feel stress and fear.  Anger can rear its ugly head as we become frustrated with the circumstances of life and oft times, things are out of our control so we feel helpless and a victim.  We feel all alone.  I have found myself in an interesting position lately.  As a pastor, we place ourselves in the position of thinking we have to have a solution for everyone’s problem.  We think we have to have the piece of the puzzle that will make all the pain go away or bring things back to where they need to be.  I have found myself saying the words, “I don’t know what I would do is such a situation” more and more.  I used to think that I had all the answers.  I do not.  We all have things that are unique to us, at least at the time, and others cannot understand what we are going through.

I miss my mother.  She was a very unique and special person.  She had the wisdom to know when she didn’t know and at that moment, give comfort with a mere word of empathy.  She didn’t always try to solve our problems.  But, she did make us feel as though she understood.  What we have in the LORD is more than that.  He knows exactly why things are the way they are, what He is trying to accomplish, and what the end of our trials will be.  My mom has passed away.  Every now and again I wish I could call her on the phone for a simple chat.  I cannot.  But my God will always be there.  He will always give me the way through life.  Things will not get better until eternity is my home.  There will be challenges at each step.  I have a God who will never leave me nor forsake me.  The answers are there.  The guidance will never abandon me.  Like a parent who desires my maturity and success in life, the LORD will come, has come, and will never leave!

Silent Friendship

“Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.” (Joh 12:1 AV)

There were six days before Jesus Christ would hang on the cross as Calvary.  There were many with whom He could have chosen to keep company.  He could have returned home to be with his mother.  He could have gotten a private place to enjoy the fellowship he would have with his disciples.  He could have continued His ministry on His way to Jerusalem, making new converts and enjoying the loyalty that would come from it.  However, when the LORD needed a time of comfort and fellowship prior to a major and tragic experience of life, he went to Lazarus.  The man who was risen from the dead just a short while ago now hosted a meal with his Savior and his own family.  Lazarus was a new convert.  He was naive to all that would transpire.  He was simple joy and innocence sitting at the table with Jesus pleased a punch to be a blessing to the LORD.  He didn’t need a thing.  He was not overwhelmed with what was about to happen.  His life was simple.  It was new.  It was full of hope.

The ministry of the fellowship of friendship of under rated.  This ministry is one which we all need.  We need the friendship of someone who is not going to bring up what we are going through as a means of helping us solve our situation.  The friendship of no talking.  Intimacy here is accomplished by the attitude of understanding partnered with respect of privacy.  Men know all about this.  Two friends could go out fishing.  After eight hours on the water, their total conversation could be written on a napkin.  The gentler gender may find fault with this because they believe we are not in touch with our feelings.  But that is just it. We don’t need to be.  We know our friend either understands what we are going through and empathizes without saying anything, or does not know what we are going through and asking about it is seen as an intrusion.  Knowing that someone cares and they are not going to let our situation effect their faith is all that we truly need.  The friendship of empathy is one that is more valuable than words can express.

Years ago, I had a good friend with whom I spent a great deal of time.  He was not in the ministry.  I was.  What made this friendship so close to me was he never asked me of anything ministry related.  He avoided gossip at all costs.  When we spent time together, we were accomplishing a mutual goal.  It wasn’t for the purpose of sharing our feelings.  We didn’t need to.  He has issues in his life which he was dealing with, and I had mine.  We both had enough wisdom that we didn’t need the other’s wisdom.  We simple enjoyed the company as two soldiers fighting the fight of faith, each having their own set of wounds, yet wanting to take their minds and hearts off of them for a bit.  This friendship is more valuable than all the gold in the world.  No problems to solve.  No wisdom to impart.  No focus on what is about to happen or the mess which we might forced into.  Just a moment away from it all with someone who doesn’t have a clue as to what we might be facing is a therapeutic friendship which we all need.  The question really is two-fold.  Do we have those kinds of friends, and, can we be that kind of friend?

Free Indeed

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (Joh 8:36 AV)

I am reminded this morning, and actually quite convicted, that we are free as long as we wish to be.  In my reading, the Apostle recanted the story of the cripple at Bethesda.  Jesus asked him if he wanted to be made whole.  His response was he had no man who would place him in the water when it stirred.  That was not the question.  The question was simple.  Do you want to be free from the disease or don’t you?  Then we read this statement.  If Jesus has made us free, then we are free indeed.  Period.  End of story!

We are not victims.  That is, unless we make ourselves victims.  Not of physical circumstances, mind you.  When my shoulder was locked up, I was a victim of calcium build up on me shoulder bones.  What we are speaking of is being in bondage to sin or how we experience life.  Trials are part of life.  They are difficult.  Sin is a fact of life until we are taken from this sin-sick world.  Sometimes, whether it is health failure, financial struggles, family issues, marriage challenges, etc., there is nothing we can do but wait on God.  However, since we have God in our corner, then we are free indeed.  It is all a matter of how we look at it.

We can choose to face adversity as an opportunity to grow, or we can whither under it wishing it never happened.  Recently, I have been diagnosed with a thorn in the flesh.  Although not life threatening, it will change forever how I have to live my life from now on.  This thorn in the flesh will dictate to me the choices I can and cannot make as well as how I choose to experience life.  It is truly life changing.  However, this thorn is an answer to prayer.  I have been praying the LORD would give me permanent victory in an area of my life and the thorn may very well be the answer.  For this I am grateful.  Furthermore, like Paul, the prayer and hope is the thorn remains so that victory can become permanent.  One affliction may me free from another.  We are free, indeed!  We are not victims.  We are more than conquerors in Christ.  It is too easy to forget what Paul said. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Ro 8:37 AV) And, he said that after he was denied relief from the thorn.

Insoluble Seal

“He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.” (Joh 3:33 AV)

This can become confusing because of how we view a seal.  The speaker here is John the Baptist.  This statement is in response to a quarrel between John’s disciples and the disciples of our LORD.  The argument was over who Jesus was and the relationship between the two ministries.  After John’s dissertation of who Jesus is, agreeing with the Spirit that indeed Jesus is the Christ, he makes the statement above.  In essence, John is saying that he has received the testimony that Jesus is the Christ and has determined that God is true or faithful, sealing this truth within his heart.  The confusion can come when we consider what a seal might be.  In some cultures, a seal is the authority behind what is written within.  Like the seal Daniel’s king placed on the law and the lion’s pit.  Once sealed, the law became to higher authority.  In our case above, John’s seal did not grant the authority over the truth that God is faithful. 

The way in which to look at this is the seal of testimony.  This seal is not a seal of authority, but of unwavering allegiance to that which one sets his seal to.  Think of a important document which one knows will come under scrutiny.  It used to be that before signatures were used, a seal was used.  A signet was often used as one’s legal identification to a document.  Remember Judah?  His daughter-in-law played the harlot.  She received his signet as payment.  This was particularly important because that signet was, for all intents and purposes, his word.  Anything sealed with it bare the honor and word of the one to whom the signet belonged.  Once sealed, the seal cannot be undone.  It was permanent.  Today, we have similar tools.  They are presses with an organization’s seal as the impression.  If an official letter goes out, it is pressed with the seal.  This indicated the contents of the document are genuine and the one sealing binds itself, himself, or herself, to the information therein.  The seal, then, becomes and irreversible identification with what was sealed.  Not the authority behind it, but rather, an unbreakable identification with it.

Which brings us to the statement John made.  John had a brief moment of weakness while awaiting his execution.  He sent his disciples to inquire of Jesus whether He indeed was the Christ.  Jesus sent back word in the form of the witness of John’s disciples of the miracles which He did.  Then, Jesus clearly states there is no greater than John the Baptist in the kingdom of God.  Just because circumstances may cause of to briefly question our faith does not meant he seal is broken.  If we truly have received Christ as our Savior, then we have set to our seal that God is faithful.  We set to our seal that He has forgiven and has saved.  A funny thing about those pressed seals.  One can melt off an ancient was seal.  However, have you ever tried to press out a seal?  Impossible.  One can make it hard to see, but it is there.  It cannot be undone.

So, when times of doubt and fear come – and they will – remember the seal.  It is still there.  If we have accepted Christ; if we have grown in the grace of the knowledge of the LORD Jesus Christ; if we have lived through hard times and seen God faithful; then no matter what we may be feeling at the time, the seal is still there.  Nothing can undo what has been done in the past.  To God be the glory!  That seal will forever be impressed on the table of our hearts that God is true.  He said He would send His son way back in Genesis chapter three.  And He did!  He said He said He would offer salvation to all and He has.  He promised that whosoever would call upon Christ would be saved.  And we are!  Now, we need to remember that God does not change and that He will never leave us nor forsake us.  That seal cannot be removed!

Christ's Prayer for Forgiveness

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” (Lu 23:34 AV)

The prayer request of Jesus could be made for any one of us.  He is asking the Father or forego any additional punishment that might have been rightly meted towards those responsible for He death.  This would include the governmental heads, their servants, and the people of Jerusalem who called for Jesus’ death.  One stops and thinks – why not?  The statement made by Christ as for the reason of this forbearance seems a bit stretched.  At least in our way of thinking.  Surely, they knew they called for and executed an innocent man.  Even the thief on the cross knew that Jesus was not guilty of death.  Of what were they ignorant?  And, why is this request applicable to those of us who were not there at the time?

Thank God for His mercy in understanding our limitations.  The people involved may have understood they were putting an innocent person to death.  Jesus wasn’t the only casualty of a wicked Roman government and a complacent Jewish population.  Surely the knew they were guilt of that much.  However, must have been something of which they were unaware because Jesus Himself stated it as such.  What was it?  Could it be they really didn’t understand who Jesus was and why He had to die for their sins?  Could it be they knew not that Christ would rise from the dead?  Could it be they knew not that all they had to do was reject the leadership of Rome and Jesus would have been the Messiah they were expecting?  There could be one way in which we might apply this truth to our own hearts.

We are all guilty of the blood of Christ in the perspective of Him being our Lamb as well.  Jesus Christ did not die just for Israel at the time of His incarnation.  He died on that Cross that He might be the propitiation, or satisfaction, for all the sin of mankind.  That includes us.  I can tell you one thing that I knew not.  I didn’t realize the depth of my sin and the size of accounts for which Jesus died.  Not until after salvation when reading the word of God became a regular practice did I realize just what His sacrifice meant.  Reading the Old Testament law and the book of Proverbs will put anyone down.  Even the most self-righteous of us all cannot escape a scathing rebuke when reading the law.  All which I was guilty of, and will be guilty of, sent Jesus to that cross.  What I knew not was how truly wicked I was.  And am!  Sure, one must acknowledge one’s own sinfulness and repent of it at the point of salvation.  But we know not exactly the depth of what that means until the ministry of the Holy Spirit takes residence in our hearts and minds.  I, for one, am eternally grateful for this prayer of my Savior. I didn’t know.  Even though culpable, the mercy of the Father forgave my sin.  All of it.  Praise be to God.

Weep Again

“And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,” (Lu 19:41 AV)

The LORD warned us there will come a time when we will be emotionally challenged.  In Matthew, our LORD states there will come a time when sin abounds to the point the love of many will wax cold.  In other words, our own indulgences or even our environment can cause emotional callousness towards the reality of a situation.  Above, we see the LORD weeping over the city of Jerusalem.  Not that things would change anytime soon.  Rather, because of the situation at hand.  He is weeping not that those tears will change the inevitable.  Jerusalem would still reject Jesus and the vast majority will reject Him.  He is weeping because He cares.  He has not allowed the situation and the inevitable to callous Him.  He weeps because of reality.  Not because of a hope or because of a regret.  He weeps because that is what people, and a God who cares, does.

I have been watching documentaries on the Civil war and World War II.  The later is not so much the history of each battle and the demographical changes this war brought.  Rather, this documentary looks at the war through the eyes of three small towns cultures and the people who lived there as it effected their town and lives.  This documentary looks at the history of the war, but it does so as it impacted individuals.  One perspective that really strikes me when I watch things like this is how the men who fought dealt with the realities of violent war.  World War I, and then the second World War are unique in the fact they turned warfare into an ever increasing violent and destructive affair.  In the Civil war, the most destructive of all weapons was the cannon.  There are pictures of dismembered solders.  But they are few.  In the aftermath of both world wars, the extreme of what destruction occurred makes the Civil war look rather placid.  So, the thought continues.  How can those who are living it deal with it?

One veteran who was interviewed simply stated that it was so common, one got used to it.  In one particular reel, there were servicemen laying out the corpses of their fallen solders for processing.  Most were stiff with death.  This comment went back and forth in my mind.  We are getting too used to the reality that most will die without Christ.  We are getting used to failed families and failed health.  We are getting used to destruction from sin to the fact that it doesn’t bother us anymore.  We have lost the ability to weep.  We do not care.  When that happens, we cease to try and help the ones who want to be helped.  We need to do what it takes to care again.  We need to see a city wholly given to wickedness and weep.  May the LORD do a work in our hearts that only the Holy Spirit can do.

Above and Beyond

“So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” (Lu 17:10 AV)

This is a hard saying indeed!  The parable describes a servant who spent all day in the fields for his master and upon returning, was required to fix a meal for his boss.  Upon attending to all the needs of his employer, then and only then was this servant allowed to eat himself.  One might look at the requirements of this servant and see them as harsh.  The point our LORD is making here is not necessarily the details of the required tasks, but rather, the required tasks were the minimum of what was required of his employment.  Doing that which was required satisfied the terms of his employment.  Doing that which was required made things even.  The master supplied room and board.  Profit is above and beyond what is required.  The parable above also suggests the servant expected gratitude for doing that which he was hired to do.  In reality, gratitude was given when he was provided room and board.  If he wanted more recognition, then he needed to do more.

I worked in a factory may moons ago that was fairly well automated.  At least the departments in which I labored.  One of those departments was so well automated, there was some idle time that could be used for other things.  I tended to an extruder.  That is a big piece of equipment that mixes material, combined them, and produced a workable new resource for production of other offerings.  Tending to the extruder meant keeping the line stocked with raw materials, storing the finished product for future production, and tending to quality checks.  This didn’t take a great deal of time.  There were other tasks the extruder operator could have performed if he has a bit of ambition.  There were some operators who wanted to do their eight hours and go home.  Others, like myself, cannot stand boredom so we found tasks to take up our time.  No one would fault the operator who simply did what they were paid to do.  Those who found other tasks to take up their time were promoted.  They were given management level responsibilities.  They were the ones the engineers and master operators would include in other projects.  Those who went above and beyond what was required received gratitude in the form of greater responsibility and keeping company with a more dedicated group of people.

Sharing our appreciation for a job well done is something we should do.  Even if it is the bare minimum.  Those who volunteer to work the work of the ministry should be recognized for it.  They labor without earthly pay that the work of the ministry goes on.  The LORD is not saying the master cannot show appreciation for the servant who does what it was his duty to do.  I am sure he did.  What the LORD is saying is that we shouldn’t expect a pat on the back if we are doing only that which is our duty to do.  Soul-winning is everyone’s duty.  Tithing is everyone’s duty.  Prayer is everyone’s duty.  Coming to church is everyone’s duty.  These things sustain the church.  The profitable servant will go above and beyond what is required and volunteer to serve in areas of need or areas where a need has yet to be expressed.  Like we said at the beginning, this is a hard saying.  We want a pat on the back for doing the bare minimum.  What we need is to go above and beyond the minimum if we desire to be recognized.