2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Our Lord has put it on my heart to recall a wonderful sermon that the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, CA, gave at least 20 years ago. His name is Earl Palmer, and he used to have a radio broadcast of his Sunday sermons of which Peter and I had become regular listeners. Rev. Palmer spoke of the three steps one must take to be a Christian in an effort to encourage us to examine our lives and the condition of our practice of the faith.
The first step is to decide that we are not satisfied with our spiritual status quo. We need to ask the question: Do I feel spiritually nourished, or is there something missing in my life? Anyone considering conversion seriously is asking that question. However, those of us who have been in the faith for a long time still need to ask it every so often. That kind of continuing self-evaluation is always a healthy way to assess what areas of our spiritual lives may need improvement. I shared in an earlier devotion how just this year, my Lord guided me to realize I needed to make improvements in my own prayer life. I’m working on that as I speak. When we are being spiritually nourished, our Lord lets us know that without question. So, if there is any question in your mind about that, you can be sure that your loving Abba is guiding you to make changes to more closely conform to His will. Remember, He never commands us to do anything without also equipping us to carry out that command. God initiates this hunger for His Word in us, wants us to seek Him out for direction, and sacrificed His Son on the cross so that we could be freed from slavery to sin and be “fed” by His Word.
The second step is to recognize that Jesus Christ is your Savior and the Lord of your life. As a Jew, I consider myself enormously privileged to know that He is not only the Messiah of the OT, but He is my Messsiah. RO 11: 25 uplifts me, because it tells me that when all the Gentiles who have been called to faith come to it, then the veil will be lifted from the eyes of a remnant of Jews. Then, they too will stop rejecting Christ as their Messiah. For now, I must accept God’s will that a relatively small number of Jews alive today are as blessed as I am to know Who Jesus Christ really is. My opinion is that Jewish believers in Christ are no more special than any other believer in Christ. We are all called to accept the great commissions of IS 42:6 IS 49: 6, and MT 28: 19-20 to spread the Gospel and “be a light to the nations.” In case there is any question in our minds about Who Jesus Christ really is, God speaks to us in JN 1: 1-4 to clarify that question once and for all.
JN 1: 1-4 “In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. Through Him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without Him. The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to humanity.”
Step three is often the most difficult to take. We are not to be “Christian Lone Rangers.” In other words, once we come to faith in Christ, we are to share that faith with others. If you have been unhappy because of your circumstances, whether it be illness, thoughts of failure, natural shyness, alcoholism, drug or nicotine addiction, insecurity, credit problems stemming from materialism, concern about your ability to provide for your family, or whatever reason, the fleshly way is to keep it all to yourself. Those people who have the wisdom to reach out to others are better able to deal with their problems. That is why so many support groups are available in today’s society to help people cope with the troubles of their lives. However, think about how much more effective these reaching out efforts can be when they encourage faith in others. In PHIL 4: 13, Paul tells us, “I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.” My own experience in writing these daily messages to you has demonstrated that when you reach out to others in faith, you are also served. There is also the issue about growing in faith from being exposed to that of other believers around you. I believe that is why our Lord put the idea in human minds to organize into places of worship to further our opportunities to spiritually interact with each other and encourage faith. In RO 14: 3, Paul reveals God’s attitude that we should never do anything that would harm the faith of another person or lead that person to sin. That’s how important this is. You will remember that at the time of the early church, the group was quite heterogeneous. There were believers formerly from traditional Judaism and others formerly pagans. The differences in their life styles on such issues as whether or not one should stay in a Kosher regime or on which day of the week should the Sabbath be celebrated led to a debate on these matters. Paul’s comments were designed to put God’s perspective on these matters. Non-salvation based issues can have more than one correct way to believe and practice. It was only on the issues related to salvation that Christians were not to disagree.
Nicodemus, a respected Pharisee leader in Christ’s time, had to wrestle with these issues. You probably remember the story in JN 3: 1-21 of how he came under cover of the night darkness to Jesus’ rooftop to discuss the growing faith that God was initiating in him. At this point, Nicodemus was risking the loss of his friendships and even his livelihood in doing this. You can read about this in JN 3, particularly verses 1-3. It was then that Christ responded to Nicodemus’ question by saying, “No one can see the King of God without being born again.” I hope you will read this in your Scriptures and all of the citations I give in these messages for yourself. For that is how our Lord can “transform you by the renewal of your mind.” (RO 12: 2).
We have been told that by taking these steps a wonderful thing will happen to us.
2 COR 5: 17-18 “Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come. All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making other his friends also.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we come to you as imperfect beings, complete with foibles and troubles which are man-made. You offer us Your invitation to come to faith and share that faith with others, because of Your love for us. You gave us Your Son on the cross, so that the freedom that comes from being in union with Him and saved is available to us. Help us to overcome our fleshly selves and make You the Savior of our lives. We praise you and honor you by obeying You. Amen.
Let me close with one very comforting thought that sustains me through troubled times.
S 46: 1 “God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” Folks, we are not alone and there are Godly shoulders broad enough, willing, and able to take on our burdens. God bless each and every one of you today and always.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn