You Are Doing Well

My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.  For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?  

 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?  But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?  Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called?

If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

James 2:1-8 

I have seen this happen at church.  New people show up driving an expensive car and wearing fancy clothes and the pastor goes out of his way to befriend them.  I could almost see the dollar signs in his eyes because he was thinking they would bring a cash windfall to the church.  Which maybe they did give a substantial gift once, but then they being irregular church goers became, irregular givers.  The same pastor payed little or no attention to a couple who had two small children and volunteered at the church.  Little did he know that they were very generous givers and it was only when they departed for another church did he want to engage with them, but it was too late.  

James' point is that we should not favor wealthy people over poor people.  We should love them all the same and respect their gifts.  Where a wealthy person may bring big cash offerings to the church, the poor person may bring their willingness to volunteer to do the work of the church.  And, God loves the rich and the poor.

We then are to remember Jesus' commandment: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  And, if so, you are doing well.  

 

Birds Of A Feather

 

Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with tax collectors and sinners?”

But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.”

 

"But go and learn what this means: "I desire compassion, 'and not sacrifice,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Matthew 9:10-13

 

My Mother warned me that "birds of a feather, flock together" meaning I should not make friends with kids who got into trouble, lest I become like them.   

 

However, as Christians, these are exactly the people who Jesus tells us to minister to.  I ask, "How is this supposed to work?"   

We are sometimes intimidated by people who are openly sinful.  We may think they are dangerous or we may be afraid that their sin will pollute our lives.  Both are legitimate fears.  However, we can minister to these individuals by following Jesus' model. 

We can take a friend or two along and meet in a public place.  We can stick to our message:  Jesus, Lord, Master and Savior.  We can offer prayer, no matter how the discussion goes.   

 

And, if things start going in a direction that does not look good to us, we can leave and go home.   

 

Jesus associated with sinners but did not imitate them, and so can we.

Fishermen Fish

Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”  

Simon responded and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”  

And when they had done this, they caught a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to tear;  so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, to the point that they were sinking. But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”  For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and likewise also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. 

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching people.”

Luke 5:4-10  

When we read this Bible passage we can understand how keenly interested Jesus is in all aspects of our lives.  The disciples were career fishermen.  That is how they made their living.  So, when they told Jesus the had caught nothing, they were stating that there was nothing to catch, but they still did what Jesus said, and they caught a boat load of fish.  

What this tells us is even if we think we have done everything we can and failed, that God can direct us to do something different to achieve success.  

So, when you are ready to give up, look to God for direction - and follow His leading.  We never know what God has planned and we may be surprised and amazed.   

An Attitude Of Gratitude

When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  And as they were going, they were cleansed.

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.  And he was a Samaritan. 

Then Jesus answered and said, “Were their not ten cleansed?  But the nine – where are they?  Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”

And He said to him, “Stand up and go, your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:11-19

All Jesus asks for all He does is that we say “thank-you.”  We do not need to burn candles or beat pots and pans; all we need to do is humble ourselves and acknowledge His power in our lives. 

An attitude of gratitude can extend into our daily lives. We can give thanks to God, and we can give thanks to people who serve and help us – like the teller at the bank, the clerk at the gas station or a teacher who takes a few extra minutes with our child. 

Giving thanks cost nothing, and does much to further the Gospel.

Be the one to say thank-you.

 

God Is Still Working Today

 

“Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God and that You have turned their heart back again.”

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water in the trench.

When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.”

1 Kings 18:37-39

God sent Elijah with a message to His people to stop worshiping idols and return to Him, the true God.  Elijah spent a whole day watching as people called upon idols to light the fire for the offering and nothing happened.  Elijah mocked them and teased them.  Then when the people were exhausted from their efforts Elijah raised his hands to heaven and called upon the One True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to send the fire from heaven, and He did. Read 1 Kings 18 to get a more complete look at the day's events.

Elijah was not a showman, he was a prophet of God and the miracles which he performed were by the power of God.  Elijah did as he was directed by God, and God answered his prayers and the Israelites returned to God and bowed before Him. 

God, who sent the fire from heaven when Elijah called upon Him, is alive and working in the world today and He wants us to call upon Him.  Take your cares and problems to God. Stretch your hands up to Him and prepare to be answered in a mighty way.         

Comfort Those Who Grieve

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he himself has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.  For John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”  Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded John as a prophet.

But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.  And after being prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”   

And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths and his dinner guests. He sent word and had John beheaded in the prison.  And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 

John’s disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus.

Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself....

Matthew 14:1-13

When John the Baptist was killed, Jesus took time to grieve his death.  This demonstrates to us Jesus' humanness.  

This also is an example to us that people need to have time to grieve the loss of a loved one.  We as Christians sometimes short change the importance of this because "Hey, they are in a better place." We may be critical of people who we perceive as taking too long to process the death of a loved one.  For some the grief process may be a few days, for others it may be years, but we need to respect their sorrow and allow them to grieve in peace without criticism or pushing them to "get over it,"

When we comfort those who are grieving we share the love that God has for everyone.   

 

 

Wise Up

 

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so, be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.  But be aware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.”

Matthew 10:16-18

Jesus warned the Apostles against thinking everyone was on their side.  Everywhere they went they made friends as they preached the Gospel, but they also faced opposition and threats.  And, often they were locked up because of their faith.  

Today, we may not be put in prison because of our faith, but we face people who harass and torment us because of our faith.  

Jesus cautions us to keep our eyes open for signs that some people may not be as they seem, and like wolves wait for an opportunity to wreak havoc on our lives and testimony.   

So, as Jesus said, we should wise up.