A Holy Charge (20)

 

“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18).

 

Rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in all things, in all situations, is a three-cord way of life in Christ. This speaks of communion with our Lord Jesus, our holy Father, and the Holy Spirit. These are manifestations of our Nature in Jesus Christ, expressions of our sonship, demonstrations of our identity as the Father’s Family, the Son’s Bride and His Body, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

 

There are two other passages, in the context of thanksgiving, that may help us capture the essence of our life of communion and worship in Christ, passages that may help us see that unbroken intimacy with God is our calling and our inheritance in Jesus Christ.

 

“Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Ephesians 5:18 – 20).

 

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Colossians 3:15 – 17).

 

Being drunk leads to extreme behavior, whether boisterous, quiet, extroverted, or introverted. Being “under the influence” of drink can lead to sorrow and death (many of us have known people killed or maimed by a drunk driver), it can lead to violence and other unspeakable behavior and damaging results.

 

Shall we live “under the influence” of drink or of the Holy Spirit? Shall we live under the influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil or of the Holy Spirit? Shall we be filled with anything other than the Holy Spirit?

 

I wonder if Paul had the Day of Pentecost in mind when he wrote to the Ephesians about not being drunk with wine but rather filled with the Holy Spirit?

 

“Others were mocking and saying, ‘They are full of new wine’” (Acts 2:13). Some observers thought the filling of the Holy Spirit was simply the work of alcohol in the believers, others realized that it was the work of God. The filling of the Holy Spirit can lead to extreme behavior in the eyes of the world (and the professing church). 

Praising God, singing to one another, giving thanks in all situations, truly following Jesus Christ, self-denial, laying down our lives for others, loving our enemies, seeking that City whose Builder and Maker is God, spending time in prayer, living a life of prayer, not loving the things of this world, sharing Jesus…this is all extreme behavior in the eyes of the world and…sadly…in the eyes of much of the professing church.

 

Giving thanks in all things simply doesn’t make sense…unless we are worshippers of the True and Living God, assured that our lives are in His loving hands, assured of our eternal future, knowing that the things that are seen are temporal, but that the things that are unseen (but seen in the eye of the Spirit) are eternal.

 

Our hearts are to be an altar of continuous worship, where the fire of God burns and praise and thanksgiving ascend day and night.

 

In Colossians 3:15 – 17, note the thread of thanksgiving in each verse. Thanksgiving is to be present in our life in the Body of Christ (v. 15), thanksgiving is to permeate our worship and our giving and receiving with one another (v. 16), and thanksgiving is to be an element of all that we do as we do it in the name of Jesus.

 

And what is thankfulness but being filled and overflowing with thanksgiving? Thank-full-ness.

 

Thanksgiving is a matter of the will, it is a decision; yes, of course it can be joyful, but it begins in the will and is sustained in the will – our feelings will mislead us, our feelings cannot sustain thanksgiving because when we face hard times or have “down” times, the last thing we may feel like doing is giving thanks to God.

 

Yet, as we practice thanksgiving, making it a daily decision, an hour-by-hour decision, a circumstance-by-circumstance decision, as we exercise our will (by the enabling grace of God) and choose to be thankful to God, offering thanksgiving sacrificially when necessary – thanksgiving becomes a habit of the heart and mind and soul – it is woven into our nature.

 

The threefold cord of rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in all things, is a cord not easily broken – it is a life not easily unraveled.

What does thanksgiving look like in my life today?

In our congregations?

What does it look like in your life today?

Thanksgiving 2026

 

Thanksgiving 2026

The measure of our marriage

 

This has been quite the year for us, and while we have been shaken to the core of who we are; our core, our foundation, Jesus Christ, has remained unshaken, steadfast, and our refuge. Life is not touch football, or flag football, life is full-contact football and we all can be blindsided at one time or another.

 

On the morning of March 30, 2026, at breakfast, Vickie and I were talking about how long our parents and grandparents had lived, and how many more years we might have together, by God’s grace. That very night Vickie was admitted to ICU with a massive bilateral pulmonary embolism, with the right side of her heart shutting down. Do you think there is a lesson here?

 

With the above as a backdrop, an image recently came to me of our marriage that I’d like to share with you, it is an image of the way we’ve endeavored to live in Christ, and an image of the way I hope we will die in Christ.

 

Thanksgiving has wonderful memories for us, while also being bittersweet in that my dear brother Jim went to be with Jesus on Thanksgiving as did our beloved friend Gloria. We’ll have a Greater Thanksgiving when we are with them again, never to be parted.

 

One of our memories, which we were just talking about, was a Thanksgiving in Beverly, MA in which our home was filled with friends from England, Spain, Greece, Germany and the U.S.A.

 

After the cleanup, after everyone had left, as we were decompressing from a beautiful day, our thoughts turned to that most delicious of delights, turkey sandwiches. After all, is this not why we roast turkeys? Are leftover turkey sandwiches not the true dessert of Thanksgiving? Turkey on white bread with mayo, salt and pepper, and maybe lettuce, and maybe some cranberry. Yes, some may use dinner rolls instead of white bread, that is acceptable, let us not quibble about bread, let us not have schism over bread.

 

I don’t recall if Vickie or I looked in the refrigerator first; first one of us did, then the other. No leftover turkey. While it pains me, I’ll write it again, no turkey.  As we verified the complete absence of leftover turkey, that delicacy of delicacies, as we discussed the dire situation we were in, we realized what had happened. Between the two of us, we had given all the turkey away as we were distributing containers of leftovers to our dear friends.

 

All the turkey had been carried out the front door of our home and whisked away to be enjoyed by guests, our friends, our dearly beloved brothers and sisters.

 

There was not a piece of white meat, not a piece of dark; other than the carcass there was no proof that there had ever been a turkey in our home that Thanksgiving.

 

We laughed and we are still laughing. We rejoiced, and we are still rejoicing.

 

Our friends had given us the gift of a loving and memorable Thanksgiving. They had graced our home, petted our dogs, laughed with us, rejoiced with us, bathed us and one another in love and peace – and created a wave of God’s Presence that still carries us along. What is a little turkey among friends?

 

As Vickie and I approach this Thanksgiving, and as I give thanks for the miracle of Vickie’s healing and recovery – all through the grace of God – (a recent scan showed no evidence that she ever had the bilateral pulmonary embolism, no evidence of the myocardial infarction) – I am reminded that Jesus tells us, “Freely you have received, freely give.”

 

I am grateful for another Thanksgiving with Vickie (the Lord willing!); I am thankful for every day with her. I am thankful that I am married to a woman with whom I can give all the turkey away. Because you see, our lives are not measured by what we have accumulated, but by what we have given away. They are not measured by what we have experienced, but by what we’ve helped others experience.

 

My hope is that this will always be the measure of our marriage in our Lord Jesus.

 

My prayer is God’s blessing on you and yours this Thanksgiving.

 

Love…much love…

 

Bob

A Holy Charge (19)

 

“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).

 

Recalling that rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in all things are woven into the essence of our koinonia with (and in) the Trinity, that they are expressions of our life in the Vine – how might we think about this admonition to always be praying?

 

(Can we see the continuous element in verses 16 – 18? Always rejoicing, always praying, and always giving thanks; if we give thanks for everything then we are always giving thanks.)

 

For sure prayer takes many forms. Paul urges that “entreaties [intercessions] and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men…” (1 Tim. 2:1). We pray for others; we also pray for ourselves, we give thanks on our own behalf, we make petitions. The one prayer we cannot pray on our own behalf is the prayer of intercession, that requires another to stand in our place before God; Jesus always does this (Heb. 7:25), but hopefully there are others who also intercede for us…well…let us hope there is a least someone who does.

 

Praying for someone is not the same as interceding for someone. To intercede for someone (or a people) means that we stand in that person’s place before our Father, it means that we identify ourselves with that person, it means that we bind ourselves to our prayers of intercession until an answer comes and our souls are released from the burden of intercession. Intercession may be for a short season, but it may also be for many months or years; indeed, it may be for a lifetime. Intercession is intensely sacrificial.

 

Praying for someone may morph into intercession…or it may not. When we pray for someone on a regular basis we may find times a sense of special prayer for the other person is placed on our hearts by the Holy Spirit – responding to the Holy Spirit in such times often leads us into a season of intercession.

 

I tell many people that I will pray for them, but seldom do I tell others that I will intercede for them. While all prayer is holy ground, intercession is a particular holy ground with a commitment and a cost – it is usually long term. The Lord hears our words, He knows whether we have made a commitment to intercede…and I do not think He takes these things lightly. After all, His intercession for us cost Him His life…and to one degree or another our intercession will cost us our own lives. “Death works in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:12).

 

It has been said that prayer is conversation with God – this means both speaking and listening. I believe this, I strongly and deeply believe this; I believe conversational communion is at the core of our life in the Trinity. If we spend our days and nights in Jesus the Vine, it is natural that we’ll be enjoying listening to Him and speaking to Him – mutually sharing thoughts with each other.

 

It we spend our days with a spouse or a friend; there will be times we engage in conversation and there will be times we are both silent; every day will probably not be the same. The absence of verbal conversation does not mean that we are not together, it does not mean that we are not thinking about each other, it does not mean that our presence has been withdrawn from one another. There may be days when one spouse talks more than another. Ought we not learn to be natural with our Father, with our Lord Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit?

 

Yet, while prayer is conversation with God, we know from Scripture that prayer takes many forms and some of those forms have a special “voice” to them – such as intercession. Other forms can include petitions for oneself or others, thanksgivings, confession of sin, a plea for wisdom, prayers for healing, prayer when making a decision (Jesus spent the night in prayer before choosing the Twelve).

 

I am making this point because as much as I cherish the image of prayer being conversation with God, and as much as I have endeavored to practice this as the fabric of my life, prayer can also require much work and sacrifice, it can require wisdom as it is based on the Word of God and the Promises of God as contained in His Word. Prayer often requires discipline, in fact, we may fail to engage in forms of Biblical prayer because we are not living lives of discipleship – therefore we do not have a foundation upon which to build and practice a life of prayer.

 

Many years ago, when I was pondering my prayer life, I sensed the Father speaking to me, “Bob, why are you pondering your prayer life, when you should be thinking about living a life of prayer?”

 

We are called not so much to have “prayer lives,” but rather to live in intimate relationship with God, an intimacy in which we live lives of prayer.

 

I suppose I need to address the question, “Is this possible? Is it possible to pray without ceasing?"

 

O dear friends, to live in deep relationship with Jesus and with one another is our calling, and when we focus on Jesus we will (I think) stop asking such questions for we will realize that we are abiding in the Vine – in good days and bad, in sorrow and in joy – and we will be going deeper and higher in our dear Lord Jesus. Why, even should we sin we will still be praying…prayers of confession, of repentance, of consecration – there is always something to talk about with Jesus, our Father, and the blessed Holy Spirit – always!

 

Jesus calls us and He keeps us…and O my…how patient He is with us.

 

I suppose I should also mention that praying without ceasing is something we all need to learn from our Father and Lord Jesus. We can see it modeled in others, we can learn some things from others about prayer in its many forms, but there are places where only you can go in our Father – I cannot go there for you and you cannot go there for me. The Scriptures give us many expressions of prayer, many forms, many images, and the Holy Spirit can draw us into them and can plant them within us – and so we ought to know His Word – I think this is critical.

 

On the other hand, I do not think teaching others “techniques” and methods is generally helpful. Yes, perhaps for a time they can be as training wheels on a child’s bicycle – and if they are treated that way it is one thing, but to think that certain forms and techniques are for adult bicyclists is…I think…not wise. Our relationship with the Trinity is organic, therefore our lives of prayer are organic. Let us remember that the Word of God, the Scriptures, are organic – they are living in Christ, displaying Christ, and drawing us into the Trinity.

 

Praying without ceasing is a charge to us as individuals, as husbands and wives, as families, and as congregations.

 

How are we responding to this holy charge?

 

Postscript: The longest book of the Bible, Psalms, is a book of prayers; so let us not be so foolish as to discount the value of written prayers, including those embedded in liturgies. Written prayers can be a framework in which we commune with God and can give us freedom to go ever deeper and higher in Him – as individuals and as His People. Those who are accustomed to written prayers often forget what they have in Christ because the prayers are familiar, and those who discount the holiness of written prayers miss riches that they could have in Christ. Psalm 23 is more real to me today than yesterday and I have known it since I was a young child. If you are a pastor, elder, or teacher – have you written a prayer for your people to pray together? If not, why not? Some of us can bake cakes and cookies, you can bake a prayer for others.

A Holy Charge (18)

 

 

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:16 - 18).

 

What do you see in verses 16 – 18? How do you see what you see? That is, how do you read what you see? Often, how we read determines what we see.

 

Is there a difference between reading verses 16 – 18 the way it is written above, and the way I’ll write it now?

 

“Rejoice always.”

 

“Pray without ceasing.”

 

“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

 

Read both ways aloud and see if you sense a difference. You might or you might not.

 

There is a sense in which perhaps we ought to read these verses in stereo in order to “see” the fulness of the image; there is a sense in which these verses are a trinity, with three in one and one in three. If we look at them one way we’ll see one thing, if we look at them another way we’ll see another image, a similar image to be sure, an image with the same elements; but nevertheless a different image – we really can’t separate the two images, but we can distinguish them.

 

Now you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about, and I appreciate your patience. Perhaps our primary tendency is to read verses 16 – 18 as a list of three things we ought to be doing: rejoicing, praying, giving thanks. When I hear folks talk about this passage I hear them taking in terms of a list. “What is it to rejoice always?” “What is it to give thanks in everything?” And of course, all of my life I’ve heard people discuss what in the world Paul means by “Pray without ceasing.”

 

For sure these are reasonable questions; questions that ought to be explored, commands that ought to be obeyed, practices that ought to be nurtured and cultivated and passed on to others. But is there more? Is there another way to read and “see” this passage?

 

Is this passage more than a list that is to be read number 1, number 2, number 3?

 

I think so. I think these verses are an image of the woman or man or young person who is living in communion with Jesus Christ, in intimate fellowship with Him. To live in intimacy with Christ, and in Christ, is to know, experience, and manifest rejoicing, praying, and thanksgiving as a Way of Life, for it is to live in Christ and to know Christ living in us.

 

We might think of rejoicing, praying, and thanksgiving as a threefold cord which is not easily broken. These three elements of the Christian life are not so much things we do, but rather who we are as we live in the Holy Trinity. Yes, of course, we “do” these things, but we do them because we are them in Christ. Yes, when we begin this journey we may very well do these things because they are commands, but we may find that as we “do” them we become them, and as we become them we do them and find they are embedded in our Nature in Christ.

 

This is what I meant above when I suggested that we have a trinity in these verses, we can see them as a unity while also seeing their individual characteristics – we see the one image in the three (rejoicing, praying, giving thanks), and we see all three in one (the woman or man or young person living in Jesus Christ).

 

Are not rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks what we ought to experience as our Way of Life abiding in the Vine? Ought this not to be our normal Way of Life?

 

When Peter writes of us having “joy inexpressible and full of glory” he is writing of our love for Jesus and our trust in Him (1 Pt. 1:8). When Jesus is the heartbeat of our lives we will know His joy and will be “rejoicing night and day as we walk the pilgrim way.”

 

When Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4), he writes from prison – and is this not what the Philippians might have expected? After all, it was in Phillipi that Paul and Silas sang praises to God in prison after having been beaten with “many blows” (Acts 16:22 – 30).

 

The Thessalonians themselves “received the word [of God] in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 1:6).

 

Jesus desires that His joy may be in us and that our joy may be made complete (John 15:11), and He has given us His Word so that we “may have My joy made full in themselves” (John 17:13).

 

This is the Jesus “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).

 

Have we forgotten that the Kingdom of God “is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17)?

 

Where is our joy today? Where is the joy of the professing church? Where is the joy of the Bride? Where is the inherent joy in Jesus Christ that ought to be flowing from us day after day…at home, in friendships, at work, at school, in our communities…and of course, as we gather as His People?

 

Our joy is greater than this present age, it is greater than our sufferings, greater than our anxieties, greater than the news, greater than economic forecasts – for our joy is in Jesus and it flows from Him, into our souls…and hopefully outward to others.

 

Can we hear the words of Nehemiah?

 

“Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh. 8:10)?

 

O dear friends, Jesus Christ has given us Himself – is He not the sweet fat of life? Is His Spirit and love and forgiveness not the sweetest waters anyone can ever drink from? Ought we not to be sending the fruit and love and grace of Jesus to all those around us? Wherever we are, wherever they are?

 

The joy of Jesus is indeed our strength – it makes no sense, anymore than does the peace of God keeping our hearts and minds and souls (Phil. 4:6 – 7). O dear ones, we are speaking of something that is supernatural, something we can only know and share in and through the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit living within us can bring forth the fruit of rejoicing, praying always, and giving thanks in all things.

 

Rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks are at the core of our intimacy with Christ Jesus – they flow from the throne of God – they do not make sense to the world and to much of the professing church – man cannot produce them, but in Christ we can experience them as our Way of Life…and let us make no mistake…rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks is at the core of credible and life-changing witness…for it is so other-worldly that the hungry and thirsty of the world are drawn to it.

 

Shall the joy of the LORD be our strength today?

A Holy Charge (17)

  

Now we come to another “movement,” that is, we catch our breath after verse 15, ponder what we’ve read, and then jump into verses 16 – 22; while this passage moves quickly, there is much to consider; if we read it quickly we should go back and slowly work through it – if we read it quickly we’ll catch the rhythm, if we read it slowly it will sink into us and permeate our souls, both ways are fruitful, they complement each other.

 

“Rejoice…pray…give thanks…do not quench…do not despise…examine…hold fast…abstain.”

 

Or…

 

“Rejoice…pray…give thanks…

 

“Do not quench…do not despise…

 

“Examine…hold fast…abstain.”

 

Note that we have two “do nots” in the middle of our list.

 

Note also the tenor of the first three and the last three commands, note their contrast.

 

That is, compare “rejoice, pray, give thanks” with “examine, hold fast, abstain.” In the first triplet we are focused on God, our attention is vertical; in the second triplet our attention is on the horizonal, on discerning things, teachings, and actions in this life.

 

Reading the passage aloud may help us capture its flow, its voice, its rhythm, its tenor; after all, it was written to be read aloud among the believers, it was written for the ear and not so much the eye.

 

While “rejoice” is in the indicative in Greek, which is the way most of us speak, the other seven verbs can be read in the imperative – it is as if Paul transitions from verses 12 – 15 (which also contains imperatives) with an indicative, only to confront us with seven imperatives in quick succession. Paul is closing his letter (5:12 – 28) with imperative after imperative, emphasizing to the Thessalonians that they must obey these commands, they are not optional; just as it was imperative that they “turn from idols to serve a living and true God” (1:9), it is imperative that they follow Him in obedience in their life together.

 

In other words, Paul closes his message with a punch – not a whimper, but a punch – he is jolting his audience to attention, he is calling them onward and upward. Paul wants his audience to “excel still more” (4:1).

 

If we will read our entire passage (5:12 – 28) aloud, again and again, we will begin to get a feel for the music, the rhythm, the cadence of Paul’s closing. If we will read it aloud as if we are reading it to others, we may be able to visualize what it was like when the letter was actually read to Christian gatherings in Thessalonica and beyond.

 

How does your voice sound when you say, “rejoice always”?

 

How does it sound when you say, “abstain from every form of evil”?

 

Practice reading this passage aloud…what do you see?

 

How does it feel?

 

What thoughts do you have?

 

How is the Holy Spirit speaking to you through this passage?

A Holy Charge (16)

 

 

“See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people” (1 Thess. 5:15).

 

As I write this it is early morning, the sun has yet to rise, it is dark and quiet on our cul-de-sac. There are nine other homes on our street, and on the dead-end street that leads to our cul-de-sac are seven other homes. An element of our morning prayer together is, “Lord, help us to be a blessing to others. Please make us a blessing to others.” As we make this request to our Lord Jesus the people who live in these sixteen homes are very much in our hearts and minds, we want to do good to them, we want to be a blessing to them and others in our neighborhood.

 

One of the things I miss about the workplace is the opportunity to do good to others; to coworkers, customers, suppliers, and vendors. In the workplace I engaged with people throughout the day, people to whom I could seek to do good.

 

When my friend Bruce Harrison moved from Fredericksburg to Richmond, VA, he visited a number of dry cleaners, looking for one to which he could take his shirts. He had one question for each one, “What business are you in?”

 

One after another the response was, “We are in the dry cleaning business.” At each of these responses Bruce left the establishment, knowing that was not the one for him.

 

Finally he found the response he was seeking, “We are in the service business. We are here to serve our customers.”

 

In much the same way, are we not in the “doing good to others” business? That is, are we not to live our lives seeking to do good to others, to bless others, to encourage others, to give to others?

 

“So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal.  6:10).

 

Since we are to live in koinonia in Christ as His People, since we are to share life together in Him, it is natural that we will especially do good to those with whom we are in intimate relationship; just as a husband ought to especially do good to his wife, and the wife ought to especially do good to her husband, and parents ought to especially do good to their children. A fruit of the members of the Body of Christ doing good to one another is that they also do good to all people, that blessing flows from the People of God to the people of their street, their neighborhood, their broader community, to the ends of the world.

 

What would it look like if churches sought the good of other churches? If churches sought the good of their communities, and sought the good of those beyond their communities?

 

Paul writes, “Let us not lose heart in doing good” (Gal. 6:9). We give because our heavenly Father gives. We do good because our heavenly Father does good, “causing the sun to rise on the evil and the good, sending rain on the righteous and the unrighteousness” (Mt. 5:45). We cannot control what others do, but we can control (by God’s grace) what we do, we can decide (by God’s grace) to do good to all people.

A Holy Charge (15)

 

 

“See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people” (1 Thess. 5:15).

 

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).

 

I suppose there is no better commentary on 1 Thessalonians 5:15 than the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:38 – 48.

 

“Do not resist evil…love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…for if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

 

It is quite the passage (Matthew 5:38 – 48), a passage we rationalize away, a passage we seek justification to violate, a passage that is simply not practical; it makes no sense…at least to the “natural” man or woman.

 

And yet, in the Cross we see that it leads to victory over sin, death, and the devil. Yet, in Revelation we see that the Lamb and His followers are victorious as they lay their lives down, not as they take the lives of others (Rev. 7:9 – 17; 12:11).

 

You see, dear friends, you and I are to participate in the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ. The Cross is an event in time and space, but it is also an event in eternity. It is an event in eternity, but it is also a Way of Life in time and space. It is a Way of Life in time and space, but it also reaches into eternity and eternity reaches into our hearts, minds, and souls.

 

In our koinonia in the sufferings of Christ, we participate in the filling up of Christ’s afflictions for His People, His Body (Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:24). We simply cannot understand this, but we can experience it.

 

“For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats; but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:20 – 23).

 

“Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right” (1 Peter 4:19).

 

Not returning evil for evil often involves suffering; suffering the wrong, suffering the effects of the wrong. It also involves blessing those who are propagating the evil – praying for them, sharing Jesus with them, forgiving them. We can only truly live this as we abide in the Vine, our dear Lord Jesus Christ, for without Him we can do nothing (John 15:1 – 5).

 

Not returning evil for evil is a testimony that we will trust our Father to care for us, for He is righteous and He is ever faithful. Not returning evil for evil means that we relinquish control of our lives, of the situation, and that we do not attempt to control others.

 

Not returning evil for evil is anything but passive, for it requires an act of the will, enabled by the grace of God, to surrender ourselves to Christ and to actively seek the good of those who inflict evil upon us.

 

Jesus teaches us to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Mt. 6:12). We might also pray, “Forgive us the evil we have done, as we have forgiven others the evil they have done to us.” Or “Forgive us the sin we have done, as we have forgiven others the sin they have done to us.”

 

We are to always be “forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32).  

 

When the Thessalonians first met Paul and Silas, they had come from being beaten and imprisoned in Philippi. As Paul and Silas shared the Gospel in Thessalonica persecution again broke out, with the cry, “These men who have upset the world have come here also” (Acts 17:6). Nowhere do we see in Acts that Paul and his friends returned evil for evil during persecutions and hardships they endured. The Thessalonians knew, as they read Paul’s words about not returning evil with evil, that Paul lived what he preached; Paul not only talked the talk, he walked the walked.

 

Nowhere in Acts do we see the followers of Jesus returning evil for evil.

 

Nowhere in the storms of persecution in Revelation do we see the followers of the Lamb returning evil for evil.

 

Nowhere in the life of Jesus Christ do we see Him returning evil for evil.

 

This is not a natural way to live, but it is the way we are to live in Christ, if indeed Christ lives within us. Let us remember that “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His son” (Ro. 5:10). As the death of Christ is manifested in us, as we participate in the sufferings of Christ, others can also be reconciled to God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

If this is the way we are to live toward all mankind, it is most especially the way we are to live in Chrisian community.

 

What does 1 Thessalonians 5:15 look like in our lives?

 

We’ll continue with this verse in our next reflection in this series, the Lord willing.

Mythical Identities

 

 

I love the early morning, spending time in communion with our Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit; meditating in the Word of God, praying for friends, family, and others. I love listening to creation awake, the birds singing. I love watching the first hint of sunshine reflecting off trees and flowers.

 

As I write this I’m reminded of a morning in Daytona, Florida in February quite a few years ago. I arose early that morning, as I normally do, and decided to walk around Daytona International Speedway. In just a few hours the racetrack would roar to life as the command, “Gentlemen start your engines,” was given, then, after some warmup laps the green flag would wave and the Daytona 500 would begin – NASCAR’s premier race. At the beginning of my walk all was quiet around the outside of the track, but by the time I returned to my father-in-law’s RV where we were staying, the racing community around the track was waking up and I could hear stirrings inside the facility.

 

The capacity of the speedway is listed at 101,500, and it seemed as if all those people were in RVs and campers parked around the track, though I knew Daytona’s hotels were also full of race fans, as were accommodations in surrounding towns and cities. The thing about race fans in campers and RVs is that virtually each vehicle has at least one flag flying, a flag representing the race car driver whom the occupants of the RV identify with and want to win the race. Many vehicles have more than one flag because often a husband identifies with one racer and a wife with another. Some of these flags are modest; others are huge.

 

NASCAR fans not only fly the flags of their favorite racers, they wear shirts and hats with the racers’ car numbers and names – and they speak of them as if they know them personally, generally using their first names, even though most fans have never met those whose flags they fly, and if they have met them, it was only for a brief moment – perhaps to obtain an autograph.

 

Whether it is a fan of a race car driver, the fan of a singer or musician, or of an actor, or of an athlete in another sport – when people strongly identify with someone popular or famous they often derive a measure of their identity from that person. People can become obsessed with details about a celebrity’s life, thinking that they personally know the celebrity. The same can be true with identifying with sports teams. It can be true with politicians. It can be true with ideologies. It can be true with cultural practices. It can be true with our view of history.

 

In one way or another, much of what we identify with is myth and image, it is not real, it does not match the reality of the person, the political movement, the history or the culture or region or country – when we idolize others, when we idolize images, we gloss over the fallenness of mankind, we ignore sin, and we look to others and images as our saviors and redeemers and source of wholeness.

 

College sports is a particular reminder of this for me; in Virginia many of my friends identify with either the University of Virginia or Virginia Tech – and when their team is winning all is right with the world. They wear hats and have stickers on their cars indicating that they identify with the Cavaliers or Hokies – this is part of the “identity culture” in Virginia. However, this uncritical identification ignores the reality that much of what transpires in these universities is hostile to the image of God, the Gospel, and the commonsense moral and ethical health of their students. Parents and grandparents don’t really want to know what is taught and practiced in the colleges they send their children to and pay tuition to - they would rather subscribe to mythical images. The same is true for our public schools – it is easier to root for the high school football team than it is to critique what is being taught in classes and to evaluate the (a)moral and (un)ethical practices inculcated in our children.

 

Because of the media tools at our disposal, the power of myth and image is so much stronger today than it has ever been in history, it is what a friend once called “electronic cocaine.” Our attention spans are shorter than previous generations and our capacity for critical thinking is diminished more than they have probably ever been.

 

When we have culture clashes and disputes over the reading and interpretation of history, much of it is about mythical identities rather than the truth – for the truth puts us on our faces, for when we see the truth, as fragmented as our vision may be, we have to acknowledge deep moral and ethical failure in humanity. We are angry when others challenge our myths, we are afraid to see our myths for what they are, and we are most afraid to question our mythical identities – whether they are cultural, ethnic, racial, regional, national, political, or having to do with religious tradition.

 

For sure we should beware of seeking to unmask the mythical identities of others while leaving our own untouched – for unless we know something of the pain of confronting our own myths, it is unlikely that we can communicate with others in such a way as to help them see their own.

 

Perhaps this is one of many reasons why the message of the Bible gives us hope, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God – this means, in part, that none of us is measuring up to God’s original intention for us. The Cross is the great leveler of humanity, “there is none good, no not one.” That means me and it means you, and perhaps more importantly in the context of mythical identity, it means “us.” We are all infected with mythical identities. It is only when we discover our true identity in Jesus Christ that we can begin to shed the mythical identities that have encumbered us.  

 

By God’s grace I have encountered mythical identities in my own life, and that is one reason I refuse to use words such as liberal, conservative, progressive; it is why I don’t care for the words clergy and laity; it is why I much prefer Mere Christianity to a franchised brand that would distinguish me from other Christ-followers; it is why when people do coalesce around labels, or attack labels, that I try to understand what they really mean…and have found that often they don’t know.

 

I have been appalled at the mythical identities that I have worn without question.

 

Can you identify mythical identities in your own life?

 

Galatians 2:20; 6:14

The Second Story

 

The second story

Ephesians 1:1-12

 

 

 

               When I have the big picture, when I know Christ, and know who I am in Christ, I can live life confident of His love and acceptance and I can be a blessing to others.

 

              

               Last week I asked two homework questions, the first was “How many wise men came to see Jesus?”, and the second was, “Where was Jesus when they found Him?”  Now, those of you who did your homework know that the Gospel of Matthew, where the account of the wise men is found in chapter two, doesn’t tell us how many there were.  However, it does tell us that when they found Jesus that they found Him in a house…and when we take into consideration some other information that Matthew supplies us with it seems fairly clear that Jesus was not a newborn when the wise men encountered Him.  Yet, were we to take a poll of the average man on the street and ask how many wise men there were, the likely answer we would get (from those who have an inkling of what we’re talking about) would be three, and the follow up would be that they found Him in a manger.

               Now you may wonder what we’re doing talking about the birth of Jesus and wise men as we begin our adventure in Ephesians…before I share that with you I need to make as certain as I can that you please understand that seeing three wise men in a nativity scene is perfectly fine with me…it doesn’t bother me one bit…I think a nativity scene would be lacking something without them…so please don’t leave here and tell folks that I’m against having three wise men at nativity scenes…

               In 1977 or 78, I can’t quite remember which year, I was teaching a Sunday School class of young adults and older teenagers.  I think that without exception all of these students had been raised in the church…and had therefore been exposed to preaching, teaching and the Bible all of their lives…it was my first class with these young people…though I knew them all pretty well…and I asked them these same two questions…and the answer I got, without exception…was that there were three wise men and that they found Jesus in a manger…and by the way…my point in doing so then was my same point in doing so this morning…

               So I had a student read the second chapter of Matthew aloud, and I asked my same questions and got the same answers.  So we read it again…and had an instant reply…same answers…and this went on for a few minutes…until the light dawned on Rachel Turnage and she excitedly said, “The Bible doesn’t say how many wise men there were…and it says they found Jesus in a house.”  The power of inherited and taught image was so great in those students that even though they were reading the words of Scripture…the images that they had within them of the passage overrode their understanding of the passage.  Let me repeat that, the power of inherited and taught image was so great in those students that even though they were reading the words of Scripture…the images that they had within them of the passage overrode their understanding and reading of the passage.

               And my point is that if this is so when it comes to material things…concerning how many men and what location the passage is referring to…how much more can this be true when it comes to the way we view ourselves, the way we view each other, and the way we view God?  Does our image of who we are in Christ measure up to what Jesus Himself taught, does it measure up to what the Bible teaches?  Does our image of the Church match that of the Bible?

               Could it be that we have taken negative images, received from family, other people, perhaps even religion, and superimposed them onto our reading of the Scriptures and the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  What does the Bible really say about who we are when we believe in Jesus Christ?

               When I have the big picture, when I know Christ, and know who I am in Christ, I can live life confident of His love and acceptance and I can be a blessing to others.

               Let’s do a quick survey of our passage.

               Verse one, Paul calls the people he is writing to “saints”.  Well, there’s a roadblock isn’t there?  The fact that most of us have an image that a saint is a spiritual Michael Jordan, in a place unattainable by most of us, demonstrates how far removed the original idea of saint has become from what it is today.  It also demonstrates how self-centered we’ve become in our approach to the Scriptures.  For being a saint has nothing whatsoever to do with our ability…but it has everything to do with what Jesus Christ has done for us…and you see…that’s the Gospel…the Gospel is not about us…as we saw in our journey through the Gospel of Mark…but it’s about Jesus Christ.  Well, let’s keep going…

               Verse 3 – we’ve been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ.

               Verse 4 – we’ve been chosen in Him that we should be holy and blameless.

               Verse 5 – we’ve been adopted as His children.

               Verse 6 – God has freely given us grace in Christ.  Please notice…that nowhere in the Bible do we earn mercy or grace…it is always…always…without exception…a gift of God.

               Verse 7 – in Christ we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.

               Verse 8 – God has lavished His grace upon us.

               Verse 9 – God made His will known to us.

               Verse 10 – our destiny is in Christ…we’re not accidents looking for a place to happen…but we are people of purpose and destiny.

 

When we have the big picture, when we know Christ, and know who we are in Christ, we can live life confident of His love and acceptance and can be a blessing to others.

A couple of weeks ago I was over at Dave Mitchell’s house, and Dave and the kids showed me a gallon jar…and in it was a Monarch butterfly in the process of metamorphous…when I first saw it that morning there was a thin membrane surrounding the butterfly…but when we looked at it about an hour later the butterfly had spread its wings and would be released from the jar as soon as its wings dried…

Now just suppose when I looked at that butterfly with its wings unfolded I had said to Dave and the kids…”That’s a nice looking caterpillar.”…what do you think their response would have been?  Maybe Dave’s daughter Marley would have tried to explain to me that what was once a land bound creepy crawly thing called a caterpillar had been changed…and that the new thing is called a butterfly.  Maybe Dave would have wondered how soon he could get me out of his house.

Maybe after hearing Marley’s explanation I would have revised my opinion, and called the thing a “converted caterpillar” or a “good looking worm”. I still don’t think that would have cut it with the Mitchell family…for the butterfly is a new creature…

Notice that Paul never addresses his letters to sinners…or even to converted sinners…he addresses them to butterflies…to saints…to new creatures in Christ…not on account of anything that they’ve done…but because of what Christ has done…we’ve had a change of identity when we believe in Jesus Christ…

Sure there may be times when we forget who we are…and we may imitate caterpillars now and then…but that doesn’t change our identity…we may be butterflies acting like caterpillars…or saints acting like sinners…or new creatures acting like old creatures…but it doesn’t change our identity in Christ…

When I have the big picture, when I know Christ, and know who I am in Christ, I can live life confident of His love and acceptance and I can be a blessing to others.

The thing is…many of us live on the first floor of a two-story house…those of you this morning…who live in a two-story house…how would you feel if…when you got home today…you found that someone had come into your house and taken away your stairs?  Would you simply accept the loss of your stairs…and of your ability to access the second floor of your home…and learn to live solely on the first floor?

Suppose when Vickie and I were doing our house hunting…and we found a two story house that looked great from the outside…but upon entering found that it didn’t come with stairs…that zoning laws prohibited stairs…and that we’d have to confine our living to the first floor… would we have gone along with that deal and purchased the house…would you have purchased the house?

Yet…we think nothing…as a society…and all too often as God’s people…of living in a two story house without stairs…we are conditioned to live with a consumer mentality in which he who dies with the most toys win…we are conditioned to view life economically…we are conditioned…as a society…to believe that there is no absolute truth…no absolute right or wrong…we are conditioned to be caterpillars…things crawling around on the ground…

And when we get a peek of what’s on the second story of life…maybe a glimpse of unselfish love…or of hope…perhaps of comfort…maybe of God…well…we’re told that all of that is conditioning of one type or another…that there’s nothing really up there on the second floor…

When I have the big picture, when I know Christ, and know who I am in Christ, I can live life confident of His love and acceptance and I can be a blessing to others.

Christ is our ladder to the second floor…Christ has restored the image of God in us that sin fractured…Christ has restored us to fellowship with our heavenly Father…

Did Dave Mitchell have to give that butterfly a lesson in how to fly?  Did he have to enroll it in a course to teach it how to be a butterfly?  Was Dave afraid that when he let the butterfly out of the jar that it would crawl around on the ground and act like a caterpillar?  I don’t think so. 

What do you say to the idea that when we look at each other this week that we see new creatures in Christ Jesus…and that when we look in our mirrors…that we see ourselves in Christ…as new creatures…transformed to worship Him and love others?  What do you say to the idea that we venture up on the second story of our house and live life in the perspective of the big picture?

A Holy Charge (14)

 

 

“Be patient with everyone” (1 Thess. 5:14).

 

Let’s look at the flow surrounding “be patient with everyone,” what do you see?

 

“Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people” (1 Thess. 5:13 – 15).

 

Peace is married to patience; patience is married to peace. Without peace we have no patience and without patience we have no peace – and without Jesus Christ we have no true peace or patience. The patience and peace of which the Scriptures speak flow from the Person of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Father.

 

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…” (Gal. 5:22).

 

“Love is patient, love is kind” (1 Cor. 13:4).

 

To “admonish, encourage, and help” requires both peace and patience.

 

Paul writes to Timothy, “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting…” (2 Tim. 2:24 – 25).

 

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2).

 

We can be an agenda-driven people and miss the Presence, Person, and Character of Jesus Christ. We can “do things” without the Holy Spirit. We can pressure one another, manipulate one another, and “convince” one another that we should do this or that, without loving one another, finding joy in one another, having peace with one another, being patient with one another.

 

Paul writes that we are to have “all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing longsuffering for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:2).

 

What do you think? Is our tendency to look at what we “do” as a people, or is it to consider who we are as a people? That is, do we tend to look at our actions and not so much at our character in Jesus Christ? Do we look at the outward and not at the inward?

 

Is our admonishing done in peace and patience?

 

I have included, “See that no one repays another evil for evil” in our reflection because if we are not living in the peace and patience of Christ the possibility of responding to evil with evil is greatly increased – our tendency is often to strike back at others when we are hurt, to give others the evil they have given us.

 

The life of the Body of Christ which Paul describes in our extended passage (1 Thess. 5:12 – 28), is only possible as we are at peace with one another and are patient with one another; this peace and patience must be the peace and patience of Christ.

 

Perhaps, in some ways, we are all in too much of a hurry to know peace and patience. Perhaps we are so agenda driven, so insistent on producing programs, increasing membership, raising money, becoming “bigger and better” that we have no patience with patience and can’t be still long enough to know the peace of Jesus Christ. What do you think?

 

Should Mary come into our gatherings and wish to sit at the feet of Jesus, or should the woman who “wasted” the precious ointment on our Lord appear in our mist, would we have patience with them?

 

For myself, as much as I honor those who practice the Presence, peace, and patience of Christ, I admit that I have not only often fallen short of the command and ideal, but I have grievously erred and done damage by violating the peace and patience of Jesus Christ. My foolishness and sinfulness have caused much pain from time to time. My decisions outside the patience and peace of Christ have been terrible and I live with their consequences.

 

Why, O why do we violate the patience and peace of Christ? Why do we pollute our relationships?

 

For myself, I think fear and anxiety and insecurity play a large part. If something or someone is a threat to me, do I rest in Jesus? Do I seek to bless the other person? Am I willing to offer myself on the altar of the Cross of Christ? Do I believe that Jesus will always be with me and care for me?

 

If you have ever been through hard times, really hard times, then you may know the temptation to fear that it will happen again in some way, shape, or form. Whether those hard times are emotional, mental, material, spiritual, or all wrapped together, the scar tissue often remains and when similar situations arise we may indeed fear what lies ahead. But once again, Jesus is not only with us, but He has also gone before us and He will never leave us nor forsake us.

 

If our security is based on our production, on us measuring up to standards by what we do, by being useful and necessary, then things that threaten our “value” can elicit anger and defensiveness and we can soon find ourselves outside the Presence, peace, and patience of Christ Jesus.

 

Perhaps at the entrance to our church buildings we ought to have a sign that says, “Be patient with everyone.”

 

Perhaps as I begin each day, I ought to remind myself, “Be patient with everyone.”

 

What do you think?