Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....August 17, 2020
This is the 5th teaching in the series on our God and His Love for us.
The reality that not everyone believes in Christ challenges Christians to stay focused on the good that God is up to in and through the lives of those who belong to Him in Christ.
WE THAT LOVE THE LORD TRUST HIM TO WORK FOR OUR GOOD IN ALL THINGS
As you may know, I am a Hospice Chaplain and recently my sister was in a hospice facility in Arizona while I was praying for her, I was asked if I was praying for her to not die. My response elicited a puzzled look from the one asking the question, as I said: "No, I am waiting for someone to be made alive.
My sister was transitioning "from the land of the dying to the realm of the living” - as a beloved theologian once wrote: "The Christian waits, not for death, but for life" .
The Holy Spirit of God was at work in her situation to turn "groaning into glory"!
To love the Lord and to trust Him to bring to pass that saying “death is swallowed up in victory'' is to be certain of that glorious hope which is ours in Christ Jesus!
Paul said it best (Romans 8:18): "For I am persuaded that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us."
In anticipation of our future glory, we wait in hope for the arrival of the day of our own transitioning. Until then, we carry on and enjoy life as best we can - one day at a time.
As we patiently wait - not passive but active patience - three groanings ought to be evident to those that love the Lord and trust Him:
{1} The whole creation is groaning (yearning for something better) and has done so since 'the fall of man" caused God's perfect creation to be subjected to a curse of devastation, decay, and destruction.
Nature therefore awaits its liberation which will occur when God's promise of new heavens and a new earth is fulfilled {Romans 8:19-22).
(2) If true of nature, such would be so much truer of we who love the Lord - due to the experience we have already had in this life of tasting how good it is to have God as Father, Christ as Lord, and the Holy Spirit as companion.
So! We can hardly wait for our groaning (our yearning, our longing to experience no more suffering and no more of this or that) to be turned into a glorious new existence that includes a new glorified body! (Romans 8:23-25).
(3) In the meantime, as Creation and Christians await that Day when groaning will be turned into glory, yet another form of groaning occurs to help us get from here (our present circumstances} to there (our future glory) - Romans 8:26-27 . . .
Though Christians have the first fruits of the Spirit'" (8:23), the Spirit's presence plus the Spirit's power working within us, we are aware of our weakness.
Oftentimes what we should pray for is far more apparent than how we ought to pray for it. Thus the Spirit searches our hearts to see what we need help with.
As for me, the Spirit searches my heart and finds that I need all the help I can get! Each morning, I pray the 139th Psalm:
"Search me, God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensiv way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
If the Spirit did not help me bring my prayers into conformity with the will of God, I doubt that much of my praying would ever rise above the ceiling.
One thing I know is...that much speaking is far less effective than getting to the point, stating a specific need as you understand it, and asking God to meet that need as He sees fit.
And, you know, sometimes it's better if we just stop talking - and let the Spirit take over and convey to God our Father what we are trying to say!
The Fact of the matter is whatever our circumstances:
The Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf to convey our needs and make our concerns known to God - and, in return, helps us to understand the will of God with regard to the matter, then prompts us as we follow through to do what we now understand to be God's will.
Sometimes, though, we find ourselves objecting to God's will as revealed by the Holy Spirit. We plead dire circumstances. Surely God knows my weakness and therefore will make an exception in my case. Maybe so, maybe not.
Believers! Be aware that the Lord our God often uses dire circumstances to accomplish His will and to make us more like His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ - Romans 8:28-30.
Your personal experiences and mine have convinced us that in and through all things God works to bring about good - with one caveat - to them that love God! And have responded in the affirmative to His call: to come out of sin into salvation plus to become like Christ Jesus our elder brother in the family of God.
It's not that we become equal with Christ but that we now belong to the family of which Christ is the firstborn.
All sinners have been called to come out of sin into salvation, which means that "whosoever will may come . . . However, to be called is the first of two steps...the second being acceptance of that to which we have been called in accordance with God's predetermined plan of salvation.
Prior to creation - in advance - the Lord God "set the boundary" for how to become a member of the family so that only those who are "in Christ,” (who reside in the realm of Christ) will be saved. To be or not to be "in Christ” is left not to chance but to choice! Every person on earth has free will by which to accept or reject.
So, the question: "What will you do with Jesus?"
To respond in the affirmative to God's offer of salvation in Christ is to be declared righteous, a member of the family in right standing with God ... designated as a joint-heir with Christ, to inherit all that the Kingdom of God has to offer.
God promises all who belong to the family of God a new state of being once we enter that heavenly abode prepared by Christ our Lord. We will be glorified!
As children of God, we will share in the glory of Christ in heaven! "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him"! (I Cor. 2:7-9) KJV. God said it . . . That settles it . . . I believe it!
What a promise! What a victory to look forward to! What a hope we have in Christ our Lord! We're left almost speechless - as was Paul - Romans 8:31-32.
Folks: The human mind as magnificent as it is and the languages we speak varied as they may be do not have the capability of rising to the level of the Lord our God's thoughts and ways. We cannot grasp the wonder of it! We will just have to wait and see!
Yet! There are two reassuring takeaways from what we do know concerning what God has done, is doing and will do:
(1) Since God is for us, there is no one or no thing that can or will defeat us and keep us from inheriting all that God has prepared for us. With God on our side, how can we lose?
Think about it! We were so loved by God our Creator that, in order to save us from our sins . . . ourselves.
Our enemies ... evil doers who would "'do us in" and destroy us if they could, God the Father did not hold back . . . abstain from doing whatever needed to be done . . . spare his own Son!
God allowed His one and only Son, though innocent of any wrongdoing, to be delivered into the hands of evil doers, to become a sin-offering sacrifice on our behalf!
(2) Since God our Father did not spare His Son, how can He not, on account of His great love, also freely give us all things, things that we need in the here and now, and things that we have been promised in the hereafter!
"Freely give” = a form of the word rendered "grace” = “unmerited favor"!
Since we undeserving sinners were granted amazing grace by God our Maker, how can we NOT trust Him to work in and through our circumstances to bring about a good result, a result that is in our best interests!
We can trust God to work for our good!
Folks: God has not left us on our own to figure out how to be His children ... how to do His Will. God has endowed us with His Holy Spirit to empower us to live a victorious life in Christ to the glory of God the Father!
To examine God's Story from cover to cover and to be taught by the Spirit is to be convinced that everything is going to turn out okay! God who is in the business of turning negatives into positives will turn our groaning into glory! I love you all:)
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
A Story to Live By.....Ann Wells
My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's bureau and lifted out a tissue-wrapped package. "This," he said, "is not a slip. This is lingerie." He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached. "Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is the occasion." He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician.
His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me. "Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion."
I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister's family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn't seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special.
I'm still thinking about his words, and they've changed my life. I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting on the deck and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.
I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event-such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom.
I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party-going friends'.
"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now. I'm not sure what my sister would have done had she known that she wouldn't be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted. I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food. I'm guessing-I'll never know.
It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good Friends whom I was going to get in touch with-someday. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write-one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives.
And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special.
Every day, every minute, every breath truly is...a gift from God.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
In our journey through the religions of he world, this week, we look at.....
Evangelical Christianity
Evangelicalism is a movement in Protestant Christianity that began in the twentieth century as a response to changes in the beliefs, or doctrines, of some Protestant churches, especially with regard to the Bible’s authority.
Modernism, and more recently postmodernism, have influenced the thinking of many and cast doubt in their minds about some scriptural teachings. While there is a broad range of belief within Protestantism, some see the Bible as an ancient, error-filled human record of religious experience rather than a divinely inspired revelation from God. As a result, they reject one or more foundational doctrines of the Christian faith.
For example, some dismiss “Jesus as the only way to salvation” as arrogance. Some consider the need for salvation at all from “God’s wrath” to be an abhorrent myth. They might say Jesus is a remarkable human teacher, but not the divine-human Son of God. They deny his miracles and his resurrection and, in the extreme, question whether he actually existed as a historical person. And, despite all these denials of historic orthodoxy, many who hold these beliefs still consider themselves Christian and remain active in churches and seminaries. They find the content of Jesus’ teaching to be mostly a useful source of principles for right living.
Catholicism has been impacted by the same philosophical and worldview trends, and many today, including some leaders, hold one or more of the above beliefs. Certainly this has brought dissension and debate into Catholic scholarship and writing. Unlike some Protestant denominations, though, the Roman Church’s official teachings still reflect a more traditional stance with regard to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
How did these changes come about? In seventeenth-century Europe, new ways of thinking produced what is now called the Enlightenment. One key Enlightenment facet was its emphasis on rationalism, the elevation of human reason in determining truth. If something could not be understood by the human mind, it was rejected as false.
There were positive aspects to rationalism—e.g., development of the scientific method—but it also rejected revealed religion and made humankind the ultimate authority. By the eighteenth century, a different way of studying the Scriptures emerged. Biblical accounts of miracles were assumed to be fictitious, since Europeans of that era couldn’t produce miracles themselves. Biblical statements about Jesus’ deity and resurrection were dismissed as the fabrications of “primitive” human minds in the ancient world. The worldview that evolved from these ideas was called modernism. The macroevolutionary hypotheses brought forth by Charles Darwin’s theories further influenced modernism’s focus on the material world and rejection of the supernatural.
Initially, these humanistic ideas were limited to the educated elite and had little impact on the masses of European and North American Christians. But theological education would come to be influenced by modernistic views, and some Christian leaders became convinced that the church needed to change or else the faith would become irrelevant and die out. This process, over several decades, led some entire denominations to alter their doctrinal statements toward a modernist viewpoint.
The reaction by those who still believed in the Bible as God’s authoritative Word was strong. Dozens of new denominations were formed as churches split over belief in Jesus’ virgin birth, miracles, and resurrection. By the 1920s, the labels liberal and fundamentalist were used to identify these two Christian groups. As modernist teachings grew in long-established seminaries, fundamentalists (so-called because they held to the “fundamentals” of biblical Christianity) started a number of Bible schools around the United States.
By the mid-1940s, fundamentalists had become increasingly disengaged from American society, separating themselves even from other Christians who did not believe exactly the same way. Some within fundamentalism became uncomfortable with this rigidity and negativism (fundamentalists, it was said, “were known more for what they were against than what they were for”). While still holding to biblical fundamentals regarding Christ’s person and work, this new movement sought increased cooperation with other Christians, engaged in the pursuit of scholarship (the fundamentalist movement had become strongly anti-intellectual), and generally became more involved in society. Those within this group came to be known as evangelicals.
Today, evangelical has become an umbrella term for Christians who believe in the Bible’s accuracy (the theological term is inerrancy) and full authority. They also believe in the necessity of being born again for salvation (see John 3).
The term is used broadly. It may describe an individual, a local church, or an entire denomination. It’s used to identify subgroups within larger denominations, like the “evangelical wing” of the global Anglican Church. There are evangelical organizations, such as the Evangelical Theological Society. The World Evangelical Alliance is made up of more than a hundred national evangelical associations representing thousands of denominations, hundreds of thousands of churches, and approximately four hundred million Christians.
As the movement has grown, it’s become more diverse nationally, ethnically, and culturally. Since modernist or liberal churches no longer believed in the necessity of faith in Christ for salvation, most twentieth-century missionary work was carried out by evangelicals. Although Pentecostal Christianity had earlier and different origins and for decades remained separate from evangelicalism, the two are often considered part of the same branch of Christianity. Now almost all non-biological growth in Christianity, globally, is in the evangelical-Pentecostal wing.
What’s in a label?
Terms can be perplexing. In contrast to liberal Christians, evangelicals are often labeled conservative. But liberal may refer to politics as well as theology, or it may mean a person is generous. Someone who’s theologically liberal may be politically conservative, and vice versa. Denominations that generally have liberal theology in the sense described above are also known as conciliar, mainline Protestant, and ecumenical. Denominational labels aren’t always reliable guides either. For example, some Presbyterian denominations are conciliar/liberal and others are evangelical/conservative. And despite the name, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S., isn’t evangelical, doctrinally speaking (there are individual ELCA churches that hold evangelical views). It’s more reliable to listen with discernment to the preaching and teaching of a local church than to go by any label.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou