Baggage, Beauty and The Bride

When I awoke this morning I lay in bed and began to pray over a number of requests, my own and also those of others.  One that laid heavy on my heart was the small group of "home missionaries", Christian brothers, who are leaving town this morning to minister to flood-ravaged Denham Springs, LA, as well as their wives and children left behind.  Denham Springs received over 20 inches of rain over a 3-day period last month, more than they normally receive during the entire month of August.

One of my friends, who is also one of those wives, wrote eloquently on her Facebook page late last night that it was 11 years ago today she and her husband moved into the home of dear Christians in Denham Springs, as a result of Hurricane Katrina.  They lived there, in their home, sleeping on mattresses on the floor, for a year.  She spoke of what a blessing it was, because she was able to see firsthand how to "do ministry", how to be a "minister's wife".  Now, eleven years later, her husband is leading the team to go and BE the Body of Christ to them and their flooded church.

Such beauty!

On the morning news program a young singer (14 y.o) I'd never heard of was there to sing.  Her name is Mara Justine.  She is a beautiful child, seems to have a delightful spirit, and can sing like an angel.1 Honestly, this girl has "got it".  Long, long auburn hair, peaches-and-cream skin, huge smile, gorgeous voice....beautiful!

Mankind, God's second most amazing and beautiful creation!  Come on...ask me...."What's the first?"

His People...The Church.  Not the local church, per se.  We all know that the local church can be, but I am referring to the larger Church, what the old-time saints referred to as "The Church Universal". That sounds all "new-agey", now, doesn't it?  But, the term simply means "the total number of believers in Jesus Christ, scattered around the world, including the saints who have gone on before us and those yet to join us".

Jesus calls us His Bride, because He loves us so.  As such, He asks that we love one another.  When we do, we show our incredible beauty!  Don't you know?  It is HIS incredible beauty, at work IN us, and shining through us.

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

The law of Christ is the law of love.

Today, we begin the very short book/letter of Philemon (25 verses), another lovely example of the Body of Christ at work.

The book is titled, Philemon, because he was the immediate recipient, a friend of Paul's who lived in Colosse.  Paul wrote the letter from house arrest in Rome.  Actually, the letter concerns a man named Onesimus, a slave who apparently robbed his master, Philemon, in Colosse and then went "on the lam" to Rome, where he hoped to lose himself in the crowds there, to "disappear".

Providentially, though, he ran into Paul, who led him to salvation in Jesus Christ.  Those of us who know Jesus Christ as Savior understand the supernatural power of God to transform a life forever. This is what happened to Onesimus.   The Body of Christ gained a new member.  I look forward to meeting Onesimus one day, when I join him in Heaven.

We all either were or are the runaway slave, Onesimus.  Christians were, before they met and accepted Jesus as their Savior, lost and owing a debt they were unable to pay.  They realized with joy and gratitude that Jesus paid all of their debt...that all they had to do was to accept and receive it.  ("It is finished!", Jesus cried from the cross...)
Those who are currently firmly planted in the camp of unbelief today are Onesimus, enslaved by their own pasts, shackled to a unshakeable burden of sin, trapped, on the run from God, seeking asylum, thirsting for peace, craving relief from their bondage.

Ah, but like all of us, when we become His, we bring our assorted "baggage" with us.  Onesimus had some serious "junk in the trunk".  Jesus Christ forgave him all his sins, forever; but, Christ's forgiveness did not negate the earthly consequences of his thefts.  The law at the time demanded that he be executed for his thievery; however, it was within the control of the offended master to either hand him over to be prosecuted or decline to press charges.

*****

Can you guess what happened?  We'll explore the story more fully tomorrow.

Father, thank you for the love you show us, in all our life's circumstances.  Thank you for how you demonstrated your love for us most fully, through the gift of your Son, Jesus.  Please give us daily opportunities to share that love with this crippled world, so that they may see You and come to know You.  Please bless my brothers, who are traveling to LA today, and most especially bless the people of Denham Springs and surrounding areas who are struggling mightily to overcome the aftereffects of this terrible flood.  Make Your name glorious, precious Lord! Let Your marvelous, mighty works be known in all the Earth!  In Jesus' name, amen.

Meanderings Concerning Nympha and Archippus

We find ourselves now at the end of Colossians.  The second half of the last chapter, chapter 4 is devoted to personal greetings and admonitions.  These are portions of the Bible that are frequently glossed over.  Case in point:  ever heard of either Nympha or Archippus?

5Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters who are in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house. 16And after you have read this letter, have it read to the church of Laodicea. In turn, read the letter from Laodicea as well. 17And tell Archippus, “See to it that you complete the ministry you received in the Lord.”

Colossians 4:15-17 (NET)

Nympha, a woman of Laodicea, was apparently the leader of the Laodicean church; it met in her house.  This is the only time she is mentioned in scripture.  Nympha must have been a rather wealthy woman, to have a house large enough to host a small church.  There is some disagreement as to whether Nympha was a woman or a man.  Most modern Bible scholars agree that her name was changed to the masculine sometime during the Middle Ages by Catholic scribes who assumed they were looking at an editing error.1  Colosse and Laodicea were small towns, close together, which is why Paul directed that they share letters with each other.  I am fascinated by the apparently missing "Laodicean Letter" from Paul, as it is mentioned in verse 16 but was not preserved in perpetuity, nor was it incorporated into our holy, scriptural canon.

As for Archippus, the admonition from Paul to him is one for all Christians.  You are a Christian, but you aren't in "ministry", (diakonian) you say?  Wrong.  Every Christian is, or should be, a minister (diakonian).  I don't mean in the ecclesiastical, vocational, full-time occupational sense.  But, if we all are given spiritual gifts when we become Christians, how else would we use them, exercise them, except in "ministry"?

Here's the thing:  I don't think the Lord ever expected us to sit around and just be "takers".  A friend of mine's blog today was titled, "A Good Deal".  Salvation through Jesus Christ is "the best deal of all"!  If we really believe that, how is it that we do things like hire a pastor full-time and then expect him to do all the "ministry"?

Certainly, Paul did not believe that such "delegation of ministry" is scriptural!  Otherwise, why would he send that message to Archippus?  And, who was this dude, anyway?  It appears that he was just a "regular dude", not some mega-church leader.  He is mentioned in Philemon 1:1-2 as being a "fellow soldier" with Paul.  The word "ministry" in the Greek is "diakonian" or "diaconate" or "deacon", in the English.  But, it is used in a more general sense, not to indicate that Archippus was an actual "deacon".  Some have postulated that he was the leader of the Colossian church.  That may have been the case, as he is mentioned in practically the same sentence as Nympha, the leader of the Laodicean church.

Regardless of these meanderings and speculations, let's pray for each other, that each of us clings close to Jesus for the remainder of our days and that we boldly, courageously step out to fulfill the callings He has given to each of us.  Brick by brick....building on the Cornerstone, the firm foundation who is Jesus Christ, our Savior!

Sources:

1
http://newlife.id.au/equality-and-gender-issues/stephanas-man-or-woman/

2
http://biblehub.com/text/colossians/4-17.htm

An Essential Work

15For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you in my prayers. 17I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him,18– since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened – so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength.

In verse 15, we see that Paul is commending the Ephesian church for, first of all, their faith in Jesus Christ and, second, for their love for their fellow believers.  This parallels the new "first and second commandments" Jesus enunciated in Matthew 22:38-39.  Paul is commending what he desires to see continue.  He issues similar commendations to the Colossian church (Col. 1:4, Philemon 1:5) and to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:13).

Paul goes on to say that he shows his love for the Ephesians by praying unceasingly for them.  What specifically does he pray?

• That God will give them wisdom as their knowledge of Him increases.  (They are not the same thing, you know -- - wisdom and knowledge.  You can know a lot about Jesus and not have Him in your heart.  You can have Him in your heart as Savior, and know a lot about Him and still not possess but a thimble-full of wisdom and discernment.)
• That they might have hope that His calling is steadfast, firm and sure.  (It's so easy to doubt that God is with us, isn't it?  So easy to doubt that He cares, at times?)
• That they might realize how very rich they are in Jesus Christ! 
• That, as believers, they might realize the extent of God's power (in their lives and in others')

I don't know about you, my readers, who are believers, but this has been my experience:  I don't pray for my fellow believers as much as I should.  There are about 1000 people who attend my church regularly, and while I pray for our church as a whole, I neglect to pray as much as I should for individuals with whom I minister, shoulder-to-shoulder.

See, Paul really believed that God would work, move, demonstrate His glory, in response to Paul's prayers.  Because he believed that so strongly, he prayed "unceasingly".  I have to question my own level of belief when confronted with my own comparative prayerlessness.  My prayers tend to be narrow and more "reactive" than "proactive".  In other words, if someone asks me to pray for them, I will.  But, do I pray for them "proactively", as Paul describes here?  Not so much.

Do you know what happens when we fail to pray for our brothers and sisters (our shoulder-buddies) in this fashion?  We run the risk of loving them poorly.

Let me give you a painful example, painful to me, at least.  I was confronted last week with the reality that I had failed a sister in Christ, one who was most definitely a "shoulder-buddy".  (Get the scene of two people hooked together like two oxen who bear the yoke on their backs in order to pull the wagon.)  She had given clues that she had unmet needs in our local Body of Christ, but I was oblivious.  (If you are now thinking, "This can't end well"....well, you are right.)

When we don't pray for each other, we are not "in tune" with one another.  We become like a wonderful orchestra whose instruments are slightly off-key.  And, as a result, instead of producing heavenly music, what's produced is a ghastly cacophony of sound.  Have you ever gone to hear a live symphony or band performance?  Before it begins, the instruments are all playing....whatever they want to.  Cacophony!  Then, the concertmaster, usually the first chair violin (orchestra) or first chair clarinet or oboe (band) silences the group by giving one long, clear note.  Immediately, the musicians tune their individual instruments to that one unifying note.  When they next start to play a beautiful piece of music it is just that....beautiful!

Prayer does that!  It unifies believers in the heavenly realms.  I don't understand prayer more than just a little tiny bit.  If you are an expert, then please enlighten me.  But, in my view, prayer is like looking through the keyhole....You can see a very limited view, and what you DO see is distorted! You have no idea what else is "out there", on the other side of the door.  Our perspective of prayer is like that! We pray, not being allowed to see all that our prayers accomplish!  That is God's way.
Sometimes, He allows us to see clear answers; a lot of the time, He does not.  Almost all the time, we have no clue as to the effectiveness of our prayers.  Accordingly, we tend to think prayer does not matter.  Many Christians view it as merely a Christian "convention", an archaic trapping of religious gatherings.

How sad, when the Bible makes clear that prayer is indispensable to the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged.

Luke 6:12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
Luke 18:1 And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

The Happy Pastor says this:  "Prayer is the essential work – everything else flows out of it: worship, evangelism, ministry."1

You know, I've noticed that, when I blog about prayer, I don't get many hits.  Christians don't like to read about prayer because, like me today, it stirs their hearts with conviction.  Non-Christians view it as "talking to the sky".  Maybe you are like me and are convicted about your "prayer life".  If so, then let's take deliberate steps to go before God's throne of grace more often.  What a wonderful privilege it is!

Pray your own closing prayer here today.  :)


Source:

1   https://thehappypastor.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/the-centrality-of-prayer/

That Perfect Minister

Good morning,

I had a pastor once who exhorted us, "Every member a minister", meaning that all of us should be exercising his or her spiritual gifts in some ministry or other.  He was exactly right.  It is in this context that I use the term today.  Our text this morning is 2 Cor. 6:3-10 ---

 3 We do not give anyone an occasion for taking an offense in anything, so that no fault may be found with our ministry. 4 But as God’s servants, we have commended ourselves in every way, with great endurance, in persecutions, in difficulties, in distresses, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in troubles, in sleepless nights, in hunger, 6 by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by benevolence, by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, 7 by truthful teaching, by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left, 8 through glory and dishonor, through slander and praise; regarded as impostors, and yet true; 9 as unknown, and yet well-known; as dying and yet—see!—we continue to live; as those who are scourged and yet not executed; 10 as sorrowful, but always rejoicing, as poor, but making many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

NET

If you are involved in ministry, the truth of these verses resonates in your heart, because you have lived it.  Of all people, ministers are held to a higher standard.  Often, they are expected to be "perfect", which is unreasonable.  Jesus demonstrated, as history's only perfect man, that even in the face of perfection, there is opposition.  Furthermore, in the days leading up to His crucifixion He promised the disciples that their ministries would be opposed by people who are controlled by the enemy (John 15, 16, 17).  Paul tells Timothy in 2 Tim. 3:12 that all of us who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus WILL be persecuted.

Still, those associated with a specific ministry, especially one that is faithful to the Word and that God is blessing, seem to be the target of the worst attacks by Satan.  Paul lists some of them in this passage.  He points out that ministers will sometimes experience glory, praise, but will also (even more often) experience dishonor, slander, accusations of being an "impastor" :) (imposter), distresses, harassments, and sometimes even imprisonment, beatings and death.

Some are so discouraged by these attacks they give up, laying down their ministries and walking away.  When this happens, Satan has won a skirmish.  Yesterday morning, in the wee hours, I came upon an article which I shared to my Facebook page.  It was titled, "The Reality of Spiritual Warfare in the Home".  If you are a mom, please go read it.  I'll put the link under Sources: below.  Your primary ministry is now the raising of godly children.  Don't pooh-pooh or disdain your very important ministry, or let anyone discourage you about where God has called you at this time.  It is not up to us to interfere with the callings God puts on other people's lives.  As for me, I have enough troubles with the calling He has put on mine!

In that regard, take care how you view and assess ministers, whether "men of the cloth" or laypeople. I learned this lesson from my father many years ago.  He was far from being a perfect man, but he was a very loving man, one of the two most loving men I've ever known.  (The other is my husband.) My dad would never participate in a campaign to get rid of the man God called to our little church, and he warned us against such behavior. God states that He hates pride, and I imagine He especially hates the kind of spiritual pride which tears down ministers and ministries.  If God gives you a word of knowledge to share with a minister, then share it with him or her . . . in private (Matt. 18:15-17).  Don't go murmuring behind someone's back.  This is unscriptural, because it creates dissension in the Body of Christ.  This kind of behavior makes you Satan's "tool".  Don't be deceived!  It is not up to us to revoke the calling God has placed on a person's life.  That is God's job.

God calls us to "be tenderhearted and forgiving of one another, just as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us." (Ephesians 4:32)

Most ministers are very careful to live by verse 2 of this passage.  They avoid the very appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22).  I have seen this in action and silently commended them for their wisdom.  They realize that they live at the very nexus of Satan's most potent attacks.  

Let's pray for our ministers, anyone leading a ministry.  (I consider this "almost-daily blog" a ministry.  Please pray for me!)  In particular, could I ask you to pray for the youth discipleship weekend we are having through our local church, beginning this evening.  Let me ask that you specifically pray for these:  Brandon (youth minister), Sydney (youth ministry assistant), Taylor (worship leader), the praise band, Ed (the visiting minister who will be speaking), host homes, small group leaders (mostly college aged students), those who are transporting the youth, those who are preparing or who have prepared food for the youth.  Thank you for joining me in prayer for them.

Heavenly Father, I pray this morning for every person leading a ministry or serving in ministry.  Please fill them with Your Holy Spirit and give them patient endurance.  Thank you for the truth of Scripture that you give to them.  May they proclaim it boldly, yet with love.  May their lives be characterized by humility and love for their fellow believers and for the lost.  Fill their spirits with Your power, O Father God, and strap onto their hands Your mighty weapons of righteousness.  Teach them to do spiritual warfare in the matchless, mighty name of Jesus, Lord God!  Please protect them and their families, Lord God!  Strengthen their families and keep them from Satan's plans to harm them.  Father, I lift up to you this morning our D-Now weekend, and pray for all those involved.  Let Your Holy Spirit go forth in power to irrevocably change lives.  Please have Your hand on every minute detail of this weekend, Lord.  Bring forth a mighty harvest of souls and may those who already know You have their love for You deepened.  I ask this for the furtherance of Your kingdom and for Your glory alone, in Jesus' name.  Amen.