Things Do Not “Just Happen”

Arturo G. Azurdia III recounts this story of Kent & Barbara Hughes:

[S]ome years ago [now] … Barbara checked into the local hospital for the purpose of undergoing a very simple surgical procedure. And while she was in surgery, Kent waited patiently in the lobby. During that time, much to his surprise, he was greeted by a friend of his wife’s niece, a young girl by the name of Suzanne. Suzanne hardly knew Barbara, had no idea that Barbara was undergoing surgery that afternoon. She was a lab technician in the hospital who rarely, if ever by the way, walked through the waiting area of the hospital. After a brief conversation, she wished Kent and Barbara the best and went on her way. A little while later, the doctor came into the waiting area and told Kent that the surgery had gone well and that he would be able to see Barbara in about an hour and a half. And so, Kent decided to run home and get some things and come back to the hospital. When he arrived back at the hospital, he found his daughter there totally distraught, only to discover that Barbara had been rushed back into surgery. She had started to haemorrhage and the doctors didn’t know why. This went on for five and a half hours, late into the night. Finally, after doing everything they could to stop the bleeding, without success, the doctors closed Barbara back up. At two in the morning, the entire pastoral staff from the church showed up at the hospital to pray and uphold the family. Barbara continued to haemorrhage, however, throughout the night. They continued to replace her blood but they couldn’t find a way to make the bleeding stop.

           On the morning of the next day, with the family still gathered in the waiting room, Suzanne walked by, altogether unaware of what had transpired through the night. She decided to bring Barbara some magazines to read. And while she notices the family gathered together in crisis, it dawns on her, it probably is inappropriate for me to be here and so she very quietly turns around and begins to walk away when she hears Kent’s associate pastor say to him, “You need to go in to encourage Barbara, Kent. She knows her blood will not clot. She knows she’s dying.” Suzanne hears that little phrase, “her blood will not clot,” and her memory immediately goes back to an occasion ten years earlier when she was in med school with Barbara’s niece. One evening, while they were in the lab, with nothing else to do, out of sheer boredom, they decide to take each other’s blood test. And, in so doing, they found out that Barbara’s niece had a rare condition that prevented her blood from clotting properly. She runs back to her lab, looks up the data on Barbara’s niece, prints it out, and runs it to the nurse overseeing Barbara’s care. The nurse looks at it, takes it to the surgeon. He, in turn, has it immediately sent to a pathologist who compares Barbara’s blood to the blood condition of her niece. He determines that they have the very same problem and thus orders a course of treatment that proves to save Barbara’s life.

It just so happened that ten years earlier two medical students were so bored with their day that they decided to do blood work on each other? It just so happened that one of these same lab technicians would walk through a part of the hospital that she very rarely frequented on the very same day that Kent and Barbara happened to be there? It just so happened that this same young girl returned the next morning only to overhear the words, “her blood isn’t clotting”? It just so happened that her memory was sufficiently jogged to remember the apparently meaningless event ten years before?

Story recounted by Arturo G. Azurdia III in a sermon entitled “It Just So Happened…?” available online.

Final Reflections of John Newton: It Was All of Grace

John Newton, the slave ship captain turned pastor, is famously known for the hymn of faith, “Amazing Grace.” It was grace that sustained Newton in life and would sustain him in death. Some of his final words were recorded by the English minister, William Jay.

“I saw Mr. Newton near the closing scene. He was hardly able to talk; and all I find I had noted down upon my leaving him was this: ‘My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.’” (The Autobiography of the Rev. William Jay: With Reminiscences of Some Distinguished Contemporaries, 1855)

Do You Exalt Yourself Over Others?

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he warns against false teachers and lays out a laundry list of sins:

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. (1 Timothy 1:8-10 ESV)

Yes, Paul says there are sins that people commit which are contrary to God’s law. But then Paul says this about himself:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent(1 Timothy 1:12-13a)

Do you see how Paul portrayed himself as a sinner? Paul, a godly man who was “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6)

But he says he was a “blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.” We may want to ask Paul, how can both things be true?

But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 1:13b-14)

O what hope this gives to us who could not even reach the level of Paul’s Phariseeism. Then Paul finishes with this phrase that has been quoted by many faithful men and women (and as the King James translates):

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)

Give Out Of The Wealth That God Has Given Us

As we think about Philippians 4 and how we ought to give, consider the words of English scholar and Christian apologist, C. S. Lewis:

I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. If our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them. – C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1952), 81-82.

Here are some other helpful thoughts and strategies to consider:

Graduated Tithe: A Giving Strategy

Practice of Tithing as the Minimum Standard of Christian Giving

Ten Principles of Christian Giving

 

Matthew 6:25-34- Good for the soul

Friends, today simply be encouraged by Jesus’ words displaying God’s loving care for his people. Read Matthew 6:25-34 below.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Do not be anxious. Instead, trust the Lord.

God’s glory in human situations- Part 2

Israel was not guiltless in the Exodus account in Exodus 14-15. In reality, Israel was just as guilty of rejecting God as Pharaoh was. Even while God was saving Israel, they complained and said it was better to be slaves of God’s enemies than to trust God even when it seems dangerous. I wonder if you have every thought that way. I wonder if the thought of “It is better to live worshipping yourself, knowing it is not truly fulfilling or life giving, knowing that it is against God, rather than it is to trust and follow God because it is difficult” has ever crossed your mind. We certainly even saw Pharaoh have the opportunity to let God’s people go and his response is “Who is the Lord that I should listen to him?” Israel is saying the same thing!! Israel is saying, “Who is the Lord that we should listen and trust him?”! You, have probably also voiced the same thing.

When we begin to think that way, we forget something so important: IT WAS GOD WHO BROUGHT YOU INTO THAT SITUATION!! It is in these times that we often feel like God has abandoned us, but he actually has not at all. God is using this situation for your good, and for God’s glory.

The Egyptians were coming after Israel because God changed their hearts to do so. God had not abandoned Israel! God was with them the entire time. God lead them to the Red Sea, and not by accident. God works so that the world will know that He alone is God. He does that through situations in your life where you are called to trust God, even when it seems dangerous and difficult. God shows his glory in this world through the lives of his followers. And that is not a bad thing, that is a glorious thing!! Even when you are facing difficult circumstances, know that God does not abandon his people in difficulty! God delivers his people through difficulty, for the good of his people and for God’s glory. We do not need to return to sin, like Israel wanting to return to Egypt, we need to follow God. We need to trust him, especially when life is quite difficult.

We have a choice. We will either respond in anger towards God, or we will respond, like Israel in this situation, in fearing God and believing in him. This situation was not simply to show God’s power and faithfulness to his people, but it was “written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope,” (Rom. 15:4)

Maybe your life is falling apart before your eyes and everything you hold dear is falling away. And you begin to wonder, “Where is God in my circumstance?” I’ve been there. Perhaps your circumstance is so bad, I cannot relate. But I know someone who can. Jesus has been there. Jesus has faced more difficulty than you and for those who would trust in him.

Jesus says in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. That Jesus calls you today, in the midst of your difficulties, to trust him, even when it seems dangerous and scary, and to say, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

The result we see, is that it turned out for the good of Israel. They grew in their fear of the Lord. They grew in their trust in God and of his servant Moses. They trusted God more in this situation as the result.  Today, see the goodness of God by trusting him despite your circumstances, despite your temptation to reject him because it is dangerous, and then know that in trusting God, you will be better for it. I promise.

God’s glory in human situations- Part 1

Often times prayers of the saints will include things like, “God get your glory,” or “be glorified in this situation O Lord,” and a host of other phrases that use the words God and glory. But I often wonder how God actively accomplishes his glory in specific situations. It is a phrase that is used but I often wonder if people understand how it is applied.

This past week with the youth group, we considered God miraculous delivery of Israel through the crossing of the Red Sea. In Exodus 14-15, we considered verse 4 and v17-18 pretty seriously.                                                                                                                                                                 Exodus 14:4, “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.”   Exodus 14:17-18, 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

The questions we started asking we perhaps difficult questions to ask, and yet essential to understanding the character of God. To summarize it easily, God acts for his glory and calls us to himself to worship him, all for his glory.

But HOW is God glorified in this particular situation? When God says he is going to get glory, how does he do it?                                                                                                                                                                We could certainly see how God gets glory by delivering Israel through the Red Sea. That is certainly powerful. God gets glory in his even bigger deliverance of Israel from Egypt all together, and Exodus 14-15 is a culmination of what has happened for 14 chapters. Even the end of Exodus 14 describes that God’s people Israel when they saw all that had happened and saw the power of God, “the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord…” Then in Exodus 15 Israel is worshipping God. God is glorified in the situation through Israel’s worship of God himself. And yet while all those are certainly true and worthy to consider, the text gives a more specific way in which God glorifies himself. God is glorified in the destruction of Pharaoh. In verse 4, God is comparing his glory over something, specifically, over Pharaoh.

It is appropriate to ask, “In what way is Pharaoh attempting to get glory over God here?”  That will begin to shed light on how God gets glory over Pharaoh. God’s people are being taken out by the hand of God for the worship of God. Pharaoh, by stopping God’s people and taking them back to be slaves in Egypt, would no longer be God’s people in his mind, but his own people. And if Pharaoh can stop God’s people and take them back and make them Pharaoh’s people, Pharaoh could easily say he is more powerful that Yahweh.  By trying to reclaim God’s people, Pharaoh is in fact saying that he can defy God Almighty and take what is God’s and make his own.

It does not take much reading in Exodus 14 to see that that does not happen. Pharaoh does not win. Pharaoh does not succeed in taking God’s people back. We see quite the opposite. God allows Pharaoh to to come after Israel by hardening Pharaoh’s heart and then in being destroyed by the waters in the Red Sea.

God through Moses parted the Red Sea, and God’s people walked across dry land! The New Testament picks this idea up and talks about how Israel was baptized through the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10). And we know that baptism, at its heart is a sign of judgment, by going under the water. That is the very thing that happened to Egypt, except that they did not come up victorious.

Exodus 14: 28-30                                                                                                                                                        “28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.”

 How does God get glory in this situation?

God hardened Pharaoh’s heart for God’s glory. God brought salvation to God’s people through the judgment of Pharaoh for God’s glory. In saving His people and defeating their enemies, God’s glory is displayed.

God’s name was furthered, it was honoured, it was praised, and it was exalted, not simply at the saving of Israel, but also in the judgment of Pharaoh and his army.

Sometimes God is glorified in the saving of his people and their worship of him. In the same situation, God is glorified in the destruction of Pharaoh, to show his power, his might, and his holiness. While some are immediately offended by this, we should first consider why this matters. It matters because we need to face the reality that says one day we will die and face accountability for each thing we have done. But in that judgment, there will either be one on our side saying, “All his sins, I have already covered,” or “I do not know this person.” God, in his mercy, has provided the blood of Jesus to cover us so that we are no longer headed for destruction but headed for a place at the table of God. Either there will be deliverance or there will be destruction, and God will get his glory either way. Our question we must deal with individually, is what side we will be on? Will we be on the side of God or counted as his enemy? Will we be delivered or will we be destroyed?

There are other reasons why it matters, but if we do not tackle this one first, the rest will be lost. It matters because there is a powerful God who we cannot put in a box, but we must bow to. We cannot contain God, and it matters how we respond to him and his power. Will we be delivered or will we be destroyed?

 

 

Discernment: A Factor in Applying Philippians 4:8-9

This past Sunday morning, Pastor Bruce spoke about things that have the power to mould and shape our thinking. One of those areas was the multiple messages put out by the media, especially in regards to music. In a quote from the book, Soul Searching the Millennial Generation, he read:

We need to be wise and prayerful about all music intake. We must move beyond the naïve view that “Christian” equals good and “secular” equals bad. All types of music and media require discernment. (L. David Overholt and James Penner, Soul Searching the Millennial Generation: Strategies for Youth Workers (Toronto, ON: Stoddart Publishing Co. Limited, 2002), p.75.)

“So let’s be discerning. And let’s take to heart the children’s song which says, “O, be careful little eyes what you see!” and “O, be careful little ears what you hear!” because the things we see and the things we listen to shape what we think about. And Paul is concerned that we think about whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is commendable. … So, the command, here, ultimately, is to think about Jesus. … Think about Jesus and all unworthy thoughts will perish in his presence.” November 2014 Sermons

Is Ordinary Boring?

In Michael Horton’s latest book,  Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World, Hoton makes a case for the ordinary. He says that people have begun to see ordinary as boring and is therefore not worth doing. But is ordinary boring? Does it have to be boring?

If you pick up Horton’s book, you will quickly see that ordinary actually looks a lot more like faithfulness. Week in and week out consistency, that over time, pays deep dividends. It is a wonderful call to be faithful. Faithfulness is much greater than extraordinary. But Christians often fail to realize its importance.

Not certain if you want to read Horton’s book? Check out this very helpful interview done by our friends at 9marks. In this interview, Michael Horton gives an excellent  overview of his book and makes it enticing to go out and read.

I hope you grab the book for your own soul.

Enjoy your day. Look to be faithful over extraordinary.