revolutionary people (four gracEmails)
The message concerning "revolutionary people" has two prongs. First, God intends for all believers, as individuals and together as the church, to play an integral personal part in his work of redeeming and transforming the world. Second, although our participation in God's agenda is "of the essence" of that agenda (in that sense, "essential" to it), it has nothing to do with our knowledge or practice of salesmanship, psychology, marketing or public relations. "Revolutionary people" are not people who are gifted at "selling Jesus." Indeed, Jesus and his gift of grace are not products to be sold.
revolutionary power (three gracEmails)
Revolutionary power does not refer to our skill at "selling" Jesus. All human power combined cannot produce the spiritual regeneration of even one small person. That result requires the supernatural power of the living God.
The magnificent Salisbury Cathedral in southern England was build over a period of hundreds of years. During the process, an observer watched two workers break large rocks into smaller pieces for the stone sculptors. "What are you doing?" he asked the first man, who boringly replied, "I am breaking rocks." Then the visitor asked the second worker the same question. With a great smile he proudly exclaimed, "I am building a cathedral!"
As a senior in college, I lived alone and off-campus without radio or television in my room. In the resulting silence my mind played some peculiar games. As I lay in bed at night, for several weeks the question kept coming into my head, "How do I know that I am me and that my life is real? What if my entire perceived life is really only the dream of a Chinese peasant living on a sampan in the Yangtze River?" These recurring thoughts troubled me considerably. I was glad when they stopped and I felt comfortably real again.
This past week I attended the 61st annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, held in New Orleans, Louisiana.... The best part of an ETS meeting is the people, which is also the worst part, to tell the honest truth. Most ETS members are humble, open-minded folk who manifest a good attitude and demonstrate the Berean spirit .... Then there are the other kind of scholarly academicians, who will go unnamed here, but whose names will remain in my mind as examples of what Christian scholars and teachers should not be....
Obedience is not a popular topic today. As strange as it may sound, a great many people who call themselves followers and disciples of Jesus recoil at the suggestion that careful daily obedience either matters to God or ought to concern them. Yet according to Jesus himself, discipleship at its core involves listening to him and doing as he instructs.
The following reflections, originally penned in the 1930's, were among the notes and papers left by my maternal grandfather, W.N. Short, Sr., after more than six decades of gospel service in southern Africa beginning in 1921.
One of the most radical notions circulating in the Christian church these days is the idea that those who wear Christ's name ought seriously to devote themselves to following Jesus. This means obeying Jesus' instructions, adopting his attitudes and values, imitating his example, treating people the way Jesus treated them, trusting the Father as Jesus did.
Now and then I read something in the Bible that leaves me positively dumbstruck. Such as those times someone allegedly speaking for God summarizes what God expects from folks.... The rabbis later counted 613 commandments ... expanded into an encyclopedia-sized set of books known as the Talmud. But Micah narrows the list considerably: "to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God." (Micah 6:6-8).
Bible readers know the phrase "Jews and Gentiles," but not everyone remembers that "Gentiles" are literally "the nations," meaning all those who are not Jews. The Greeks of the Hellenistic period divided the world into "Greeks and Barbarians," with "Barbarians" being those who did not speak Greek and who therefore sounded (to Greek ears) as if they said "bar-bar-bar."
A gracEmail subscriber writes: "In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul urges us to avoid even innocent activities if our doing them 'offends' a weak brother or sister. My own relatives and friends include different people who object to using instrumental music in church, celebrating Christmas, playing cards, women wearing pants, wearing clothes with zippers, and drinking alcoholic beverages in moderation. Am I required to cease every activity to which anyone happens to object?"
The August sun beams warmly in Greeley this Saturday morning in 1998, on these outdoor graduation ceremonies of the University of Northern Colorado. Kristy, our new daughter-in-law as of the night before, is graduating from college 14 hours later. It has been a busy, happy weekend for us all. I look at my watch as the commencement speaker walk to the microphone on the field before us.
A friend writes that his business has been down lately, he has been feeling anxious about the future and he has gone through a period of discouragement. He asks if I can offer any encouragement.
"Life seems overwhelming," a gracEmail subscriber says. "I don't know how I can handle another day."
A gracEmail subscriber asks whether it is wrong for him and his wife to drink a glass of wine. His church flatly condemns drinking, with no exceptions. He wants to know what the Bible actually says.
A gracEmail subscriber asks, "In Deuteronomy 14:26, the King James Version and American Standard Version use 'strong drink,' while the New King James and other versions say 'similar drink.' Should the English translation say 'strong drink' with all that implies?"
A dear Methodist couple involved in sacrificial ministry were among several who wrote to say that recent gracEmail thoughts about being "on the shelf" in God's service also expressed their feelings. Perhaps these words to them will also connect with other hearts already joined in human frailty, ambitions and frustration.
Two university students ask: "What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge? How is fear the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7), and what is fear for those under grace?"
A vocational missionary in an Eastern country asks whether the Bible forbids Christians to eat blood. The Jerusalem conference in Acts 15 prohibited it, he notes, but other New Testament texts say that no food is unclean. "This is especially a problem," he writes, "in countries where blood is eaten and then American teachers say it is forbidden."
A Christian sister writes that she has a friend who is dedicated to the Lord. This friend is a "very beautiful woman" who sometimes wears dresses that reveal more of her beauty than the sister thinks is appropriate for the general public.
A gracEmail subscriber writes: "My 12-year-old daughter asked me a question the other day that I could not answer. She wanted to know why some words were okay to say and some weren't, and how 'cuss' words got to be 'cuss' words in the first place. Can you help?"
A husband and wife who are both gracEmail subscribers ask for help in finding a common understanding of the meaning of the Third Commandment of the Decalogue, which says: "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain" (KJV).
A gracEmail reader in Texas writes, "Am I saved if I trust in Jesus, even though sometimes I am depressed and have doubts? My depression is physically based. I don't know if I get depressed because of my lack of faith, or if my faith goes lacking because I become depressed."
A gracEmail subscriber who grew up in a devoutly Christian home is convinced that he is not worth loving, not even by God. His head thinks that this negative opinion is untrue, but his heart cannot shake off its feeling of profound worthlessness.
A gracEmail subscriber in Delaware writes, "Someone in a Bible class recently said that we don't have to forgive everyone because some people are purely evil. I have always thought it our duty to forgive anyone who wrongs us."
A gracEmail subscriber writes, "Does the Bible actually condemn gambling? If not, where does my church get the notion that gambling is wrong?"
A recent event involving an untrue rumor reminded me how quickly gossip travels, and how nearly impossible it is to correct. Someone has aptly noted that spreading gossip is like throwing feathers into the wind. Once launched, there is no gathering them up again.
No personal trait of Jesus Christ is more obvious in the Gospels than his kindness. I am especially impressed with Jesus' kindness to people who did not usually receive kindness -- little children, women, the poor, the sick, the physically or mentally impaired. Jesus was also kind to sinners -- people with a history of failures and flops.
Christianity is far more than a set of beliefs or a compelling intellectual vision; it is also a comprehensive way of life." This premise both motivates and informs author Darryl Tippens, who in his delightful new book Pilgrim Heart presents "an invitation to consider afresh what it means to live like Jesus."
An Advent Christian minister in the Northwest asks a question which he has encountered in pastoral counseling. "Is it ever okay (from God's perspective) to lie?"
Originally the human family consisted of one race and one class. As differences emerged, fallen men and women began to mistreat each other based on those differences. Hatred, envy and pride are the real culprits, and they do not need different skin colors for an excuse.
How quickly perspectives change! There's the news item about a traveler who had a flat tire while rushing to the airport, then didn't perish in the plane crash because he missed the flight. Or that job, or thing, or person we thought we couldn't live without -- but later thanked God that he kept from us.
A gracEmail reader in the Middle East writes, "Someone recently prayed for help in becoming 'poor in spirit.' I want to receive the blessing Jesus promises to those who are poor in spirit, but I don't know whether I am rich or poor in spirit now. What does Jesus mean by this blessing?"