Rejected and Resented

Luke 15:30 (New King James Version, NKJV).

But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

You and I have been raised in a culture that places emphasis on winners and losers. We even call those who we think have no chance of winning underdogs. Under – dogs? Really?  I mean, does that term represent someone who is lower than a dog? Anyway, the gist of this message today as I believe God would have me focus on is rejection. Losers are rejected by the majority of winners. Other terms like success and failure are also associated with winners and losers. Our culture goes even further and distinguishes between rich and poor as being winners or losers. Some even think what you look like determines whether you are a winner or a loser; or else we would not have beauty pageants. It is all about acceptance and rejection. Most of us like to be accepted. We did not want to be chosen last to be on a team. We generally do not want to be looked upon as uneducated or ignorant. A person’s worth should not be determined by categorizing them as a winner or a loser. Jesus went right to the heart of rejection by men in His parable of the rebellious son, the resentful son, and the father that loved them both.

“My brother does not deserve all this attention. You are making him out to be some kind of hero. Have you forgotten he took money out of your bank account and wasted it? Now he comes crawling back smelling like a pigsty and you make over him like he is royalty! He made his bed, let him lie in it! He chose his path, leave him to walk in it! He’s a loser!” That is what the resentful son is really saying to the father. Jesus drew a contrast between the love of God for sinners and the love of man for them. The resentful son should have felt the same way about his brother coming back as the father did; if he really loved him.

What a story. This is a story of acceptance and not rejection. A story that many need to hear today. They have been rejected and resented by everyone from parents, to siblings, to neighbors, to schoolmates, to coworkers, and yes, even by churches. They are the wrong ethnicity, or the wrong gender, or they dress wrong, or they smell wrong, or they are to smart or to dumb, or they have tattoos, or body piercing, or they have blue hair or gray hair, or they are not pretty, or they are to pretty, or they are to old, or they are to young, or they come from the wrong side of the tracks, or they are to fat or to skinny; get the picture? Jesus wants them; He accepts them; and so should we if we love them as He does.  

Air Comes With It

1 Corinthians 2:12 (New King James Version, NKJV).

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

We have an eight year old niece that is the daughter of my wife’s brother. She recently went shopping with my wife and wanted to buy some balloons that came with a small pump to inflate them. When she got up to the counter my wife gave her the money to pay for them. As the cashier rang them up she asked him, “Does the air come with this pump?”

Have you ever stopped for a moment and thought about all the things that we take for granted that God has freely given us? You more than likely have at some point. Life itself is the free gift of God. Everything that has life is of God. He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity (John 1:4 GODS WORD Translation, GWT). From the microscopic life forms to the giant Redwood trees and from ladybugs to giraffes; God gave life to it all. There is no life that He did not create; All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:3 NKJV).

Aren’t you glad today that God does not charge us for the food He provides, the water He gives, and the very air we breathe? We pay people for access to it but they did not pay God for it. Compressed air can cost money but air itself is free. Take away air and living things die. If you have ever had breathing problems you can appreciate a deep breath but if you have never had issues then chances are you have taken each single breath for granted.

The cashier was stunned when our niece asked him if air came with the pump. He had never thought about it apparently. If you are ever asked that question you can now answer it confidently; yes, yes it does, and it is free!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! (Psalm 150:6).

He Is Hallowed

Luke 11:2 (NKJV, New King James Version).

“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.”

 The word for today is hallowed. The word means high above, set apart as holy, reverence. I would say it means “better than us; far better than us.” Our idea of hallowed is an egotistical maniac. One who thinks of himself better than anyone else. A know it all that thinks he is it! Someone that thinks he should be worshiped. Most of us have issues with people that think that way. However we should realize that God is that way; He knows He is better than we are, He is a know it all, He wants to be worshiped! If we have an issue with that then we have slipped into the pool of pride.

Here is why God is hallowed. Even though He is far above us in every way, He still wanted to have a relationship with us! Not in the sense that He sees us as just pawns that He can use and abuse; certainly not. He considers us His greatest creation. A species so special to Him that He breathed a part of Himself into! In all His Greatness (Glory) His desire was to love us, even before we came to know who He is. The Hallowed God that thinks so much of His created beings that He would go as far as making Himself a Servant in order to show us His sincere love for us. Even to the extent of taking upon Himself the blame for our sins. Doing the unthinkable for a species of beings that are so unthankful, uncaring, and so undeserving of such an action. The only One True God which said that He, “Did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

Therefore Jesus said to call Him Hallowed. He created us, He provides for us, He protects us, and He gave His only Begotten Son to die for us so that we can be with Him forever. Why wouldn’t we want to worship Him? So the next time we pray let's acknowledge Him as being better than we are; because He is!

Professional Prayers Not Needed

We started up a Teen Church last week at our church. It meets in our Fellowship Hall during our main worship service in the church. The service is being structured to be led by teens. We will have teen musicians, ushers, leaders, speakers, etc. Today during the prayer time one of the preteens volunteered to take prayer requests and lead the prayer. The leader told me that the young man got several requests from kids whose grandmothers needed prayer. When he started to pray it was obvious he could not remember all whose grandmothers needed prayer so he stopped and said, “Lord . . . ., just bless all the grandmothers in general.”

Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7 NKJV). That is sure not the case for this young man! Prayer is the Christian privilege to converse with God. I think sometimes we take it for granted and at other times we really do not understand its impact upon our lives. It could be because it seems that prayer is not the same as a verbal conversation. Prayer sometimes gets mixed in with other thoughts; or maybe mine just do. Then there are the public prayers. Some are long and drawn out and are eloquently spoken. Others are loud and animated. Some are whispered and some are just thoughts directed to God. However one chooses to pray the aspect we must keep in mind is that the only rule Christ gave us was in regards to how many words we use. Don’t waste words and don’t try to impress Him with words; He knows what we are going to pray before we ever initiate it (Matthew 6:8). The Apostle Paul urged us to pray without ceasing! That simply means never quit and not continually praying a particular prayer. I believe the Lord would say that we do not need to be professional prayers.

One of the most powerful prayers ever prayed was spoken by a condemned criminal directly to Jesus as they both hang on Roman crosses. “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). He only used eight words and they gained him eternal life! He got right to the point because his breath was limited. It was enough for Christ. The next time you decide to pray; just do it. You do not have to be in a special place, at a special time, on a special occasion, or in a special pose. Make your petitions known to God. Prayer is a Christian privilege; do not abuse it but use it. My prayer is that all who read this will pray; in general.

Reconciled To God

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  (Romans 5:10 NKJV)

I told the church of Draper Valley on Sunday that until we are able to fully grasp that we have a personal relationship with the Father by way of the Son we will never fully experience the benefits of such a relationship. I went on to explain that once we are able to lead someone to Christ we must ensure that they understand they have now entered into a personal relationship with their Creator.

At one time in our life we were actually an enemy of God. Some may think that because they have nothing against God they are not His enemy. Unless we have placed our belief in Christ and opened up our heart and invited Him in, we are enemies by Gods standards. Once we make the decision to accept Christ, God will accept us into the family and will no longer count us His enemy. Only God could offer to reconcile. You and I had nothing acceptable to offer God in order to gain salvation. God would only drop His enmity toward us when our sin was forgiven. Christ’s death for our sin was acceptable to God on our behalf. Therefore the Apostle says, “Having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” It was the life of Christ that saved us; the life He gave up on the Cross.

For God to take such a drastic step as to sacrifice His Son in order that I would no longer be His enemy speaks volumes of how much He loves me. It is obvious that He does not want us to be apart from Him. If we are His enemy it is by our choice and not His.

Don't Be Fooled: The Devil Does Not Play

Psalm 14:1 (New King James Version, NKJV).

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.

April Fool’s Day started a long time ago and has become a nationally recognized day in America, even though it is not a national holiday. People play pranks and hoaxes on each other in the name of fun. Some who are pranked or fooled laugh, others get angry. Everyone that is fooled is not necessarily a fool. The Bible defines a fool as one who says in their heart, “There is no God.”

Why would anyone say that? Because they have been fooled into believing there is no God. Jesus said a person that would build their house on sandy soil is foolish. The Apostle Paul wanted to know who it was that fooled the Galatian church. A fool is not just one who has a trick played on him but rather one who refuses to believe it was just a trick. If someone says your shoe is untied and you look and it is not, you were just tricked. If your shoe is untied and you look at it and refuse to tie it believing in your heart it is not really untied it just looks like it is, is a fool. Can you imagine anyone being that way? Not if they are in their right mind.

The same principle applies to the one who says there is no God in their heart. They see His creation; they see His works all around them and yet still believe in their hearts that He does not exist. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans that because there were those who did not like to retain God in their knowledge, which means to think about Him and give Him serious consideration, that God would “give them over” to their thoughts. Simply put; if you do not believe there is a God then you do not believe you will be judged one day.

The devil will fool you if you let him. He will convince you, as he did Eve, that God is not who He says He is. The devil will fool you into believing that the Bible is not true, that Christ does not exist, and that this life is all there is. Don’t fall for it. Take a serious look at the Bible and give serious thought to what it teaches. Take a moment to pray about it; God will hear you. The devil is not playing April Fools; he is not playing at all.

Not Just Forgiven, But Cleansed Also!

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 New King James Version, NKJV)

Having written these letters several years after the others had written the gospels, I tend to think that John believed people were in need of being reminded of the complete work of Christ on the Cross. Have you ever thought about what John may have envisioned when he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to pen these words on the parchment?

He may have been thinking about the time Jesus met the woman at the well in Samaria. Remember her? She was the one who was living with a man and had lived with others even before him. John may have remembered how that Jesus dealt with her.

Perhaps the time came to mind when Jesus was teaching in the temple and the religious guys brought in a woman caught in adultery and threw her down in front of Him; wanting to see if He would follow the Law and call for her to be stoned. Only to be surprised when He told them in a roundabout way they could be stoned for sins they had committed as well. Jesus then told her He forgave her and did not condemn her. Or it may have been what he remembered Jesus saying as He was dying on the Cross; “Forgive them Father, for they do not know what they are doing.”

I think you believe that Jesus will forgive sins; the sins of others. The hardest thing it seems for any of us to do is to believe in that forgiveness for ourselves. That is why I believe that John went a sentence further and added the words, “and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.” John wanted us to know that the work of redemption was not just for a moment in history. Forgiving and cleansing go hand in hand. There cannot be forgiveness if there is no absolution of sin by the High Priest of Heaven. Sin that is present in one’s life is not absolved. Jesus cleansed (absolved) us of sin with His Blood. Today when we stand or kneel and ask God to forgive us for our sins we are also agreeing to allow Him to cleanse us from it. As the song Jesus Paid It All says, “Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

The reason many feel they are beyond forgiveness is because of the residue left behind in their heart from sin and unrighteousness. With their minds they attempt to put the sin behind them but in their hearts the stains remain. That is why the Apostle Paul told us to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” If you have asked God to forgive you He has; and Christ has cleansed you. Your sin stains have been bleached out by the Blood of Jesus!