​CAREKEEPERS FOREVER

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.  Matt. 5:5, R.S.V.

I like being at home.  I also love people and fellowshipping with them.  If I had to choose between going to a party and staying home...well, I'd have to choose both: I'd have the party at my house!

There's nothing wrong with loving to be at home.  In fact, there is everything right about it.  And there is everything right about our ties to this earth, in the sense that it is our home.  Indeed, it is the home that God Himself chose for us in the beginning.

We often talk about"going to heaven."  But God knows that we'd probably enjoy the "party" more if we ended up at our house.  Thus, when the great controversy between good and evil is finally over, God plans that we will come home.

Right now our little planet is undergoing terrible stress.  Ecologists decry rapid erosion of the earth's resources.  Cartoonists depict mankind falling off its overcrowded surface.  We are in trouble!  All manner of cruelty infests society.  Why?  To say, "because of sin," is not an incorrect answer, but is it a sufficient one?  Sin is a word that has become almost a cliche in modern society.

I believe that God wants us to be more integrated in our thinking about such problems.  This is the age of advanced technology.  Computers are taken for granted, and the silicon chip may someday make libraries a thing of the past.  Along with these unparalleled achievements, people have tremendous access to information of every dimension.  They expect answers consistent with such availability.  Abstract religious words will not satisfy their desire to understand the world's crisis.

Our world is in chaos because those that were given charge over it have become chaotic.  In the beginning, man reflected the image of his Creator and was nurturing to his earth-home, developing and replenishing it.  Separation from God brought separation from God's methods, and man has hurt the earth ever since.

It will be a wonderful happy time when our friendship with God is fully restored.  Once again we will be like Him who is "meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29).  We too will be gentle and ministering.  God will rejoice with us the day we can come home again to our renewed world.  He'll trust us once again with its care, because we will have learned to trust and appreciate His way of government.

HAPPINESS OUT OF SORROW

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Matt. 5:4, R.S.V.


How does God comfort us?  Does He play spiritual magic and simply remove sad feelings?  And is there more than one kind of mourning?


Even children cannot fully be comforted unless they are reassured in their hearts that everything is all right.  The older we get, the less satisfying a pat on the head or overly simple words are to our bruised and troubled souls.  As Christians, we find comfort in the death of loved ones when we know that their lives are "hid in Jesus."  But what about the father or child who died "unsaved"?

What about all the terribly unfair things that keep happening on this miserable old planet?  Who hears us?  Who can shoulder our griefs with us as we cry silently in the darkened night, "Why?  Why?"

God can.  He knows it all, and more.  Hear the tenderness of His great heart as He speaks to our need: "I hear you!  'I have seen your tears,' and 'I will heal you' " (2 Kings 20:5, R.S.V.)!  That is what the whole plan of redemption is about.  God is interested not in just "getting us out of here."  He is committed to making us whole.  This includes making us more adequate to handle our sorrows while yet on this earth.

Our restoration is top priority for God because He knows that eternity will only be as secure as are the people who dwell there.  And He knows that security is the bedrock of our comfort.  By healing our minds, by giving us understanding and hope, God makes us fit for heaven.  Fit for heaven because we realize that heaven, and subsequently our remade earth, is a fit place in which to dwell.  Fit by reason of the kind of God that is sovereign there.

It is a happy thing to discover that God is so much greater than the sorrows of this life, that He relates to us in the most healing ways.  He not only gives us answers but encourages us to ask more questions.  He offers more than just a change of location at the Second Coming; He offers a change of the quality of life, both now and eternally.  He assures us that He does not wish merely to control the circumstances of our lives; He wants to bring resolution.

It will be good to go home to be with such a wonderful Father God.

HAPPINESS IN KNOWING WE NEED GOD

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Matt. 5:3, R.S.V.


How much better to seek the Giver of salvation than to seek the gift!  If you had a generous, rich uncle, would you value the uncle himself more than his fortunes?  For without the character quality of generosity, his fortunes would be of no benefit.  It would be narrow to value only his fortunes when the greatest of his gifts is fellowship with himself.

The New English Bible puts today's text this way: "Blest are those who know their need of God."  Their need of God; I like that.  So often we become consumed with all the things we need from God: forgiveness, pardon, healing, and so on.  We spend our spiritual lives seeking these things from Him.

When you receive a gift it can make you feel uncomfortably obligated.  Is that God's way of gaining our servitude?  If God were to use His love as a means of obligating us, then to see the full meaning of the cross would crush us.  It is no wonder that so many Christians are somber.  They feel the conflicting emotions of gratitude and entrapment.  On one hand, they know that they should be eternally thankful for the gift of eternal life, yet they feel somewhat horror-stricken at the thought of meeting God face-to-face, unsure if they've fully met the obligations imposed by this gift.

Likewise, how much better it is to know that God is a forgiver by nature than to seek forgiveness itself?  If forgiveness were not a very part of the character of God, we might expect to encounter situations in which He would not forgive.  If examined more closely, what appears at times to be His unwillingness to forgive would reveal the fact that He was no longer being sought as a forgiver.

God has given Himself and all that He is to us, as exemplified in the giving of His Son.  True and lasting happiness comes when we realize that, in giving Himself, He gave us everything we could ever need or want.  If the King is ours, so is His kingdom.  If the Forgiver is ours, so is His forgiveness.  "And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3, R.S.V.).

EXAMINED BY THE JUDGE

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my envious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  Ps. 139:23, 24, N.I.V.


David had a marvelous understanding of his heavenly Father, and it spills out almost automatically in this psalm.  He is fearlessly opening his inner life without reservation for the careful examination of the King of the universe.

We who wish we could hide the secrets of our hearts wonder at his candor, his vulnerability.  The secret, however, is found in his last phrase.  He knows that, were the Father to find any offensive ways within him, the result would be instruction and not judgment.  He knows the Father's heart and His desire to lead David in the way everlasting.

We hide behind our fig leaves when we fear that our nakedness will become the object of derision and scorn.  Adam and Eve hid, leaf-clad, in the bushes of Eden because they had already fallen under the spell of Stan's view of God.  They believed God would harshly condemn them for their nakedness.  But God went in pursuit of them, holding out an animal skin for clothing--not because His pure eyes were offended by their nakedness, but so their shredded self-esteem might not be further torn.

Many people fear the judgment of God because they see Him as one who can evaluate our performance only for the purpose of condemning our failures.  They see Him as bound by a strict legal system, in which the only thing one can do with wrong is condemn it.  But David saw Him as a father, and fathers relate to wrong in their children by nurturing and instructing them beyond such immaturity.

Our greatest need is to admit our great need.  But admitting need is not easy.  We cling to whatever scraps of adequacy we can find to bolster our bruised self-worth; why be "up front" about our inadequacies?  We shall never know God's strength, however, until we own up to our weakness.  And so God Himself has every reason to make it easy for us to admit our weakness, that His strength might be perfectly displayed in us.

David knew God, not as the administrator of an abstract legal code or an offended lawgiver.  He knew Him, as we may, as a loving Father and a wise Instructor in the ways everlasting--in the ways that last forever!

OWNING UP TO DISOBEDIENCE

For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.  Rom. 11:32, R.S.V.

Why is God interested in pointing out the universal disobedience of the human race?  What reason does He have for wanting to make sure that everyone owns up to being disobedient?  Is this so that no one will try to sneak away from the smarting pain of His rebuke?

Paul seems to have another purpose in mind in today's text.  He recognizes a principle in God's dealings with us sinners: Those who admit their disobedience receive mercy; those who do not admit it receive no mercy.  The problem with those who do not receive mercy is not that God has held it back, but that they didn't recognize that they needed it.  Those who do not know they have a disease will not reach out to the Physician.

As priceless as the gift of mercy is to all who know they need it, most of those to whom God has made this offer are still suffering outside its gracious benefit.  It seems stupid to reject healing when the disease is fatal without treatment.  But that reveals the lengths to which all of us go to protect our image.  We would rather die championing our innocence than to risk facing seemingly certain embarrassment and rejection should we show up at the clinic door and whisper our disease.

When we know in advance, however, that our admission will be met with mercy it does make the admission easier.  When we learn that the Physician knows how to keep confidences and that His cures are effective, we are more likely to risk owning up to our great need.

John said of our Father that if we confess our sin, He can be counted on to forgive and to cleanse.  To confess, in this context, means to agree with God's opinion of us--to say, "Yes, You are right in Your appraisal; I am a sinner, very much in need of help."   The interesting point, of course, is that God already knows full well what our condition is; we don't confess for His sake, but for ours.

It is true: the goodness of God leads to repentance.  It can also be said that this same goodness so surrounds us with security that we are able to admit our need to repent.  The personal question for us is How can we stay away from such a warmly drawing Friend?

TAKING SIN SERIOUSLY

In the past he was patient and overlooked people's sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness.  Rom. 3:25, T.E.V.

Members of a congregation were in anguish over their responsibilities toward a member who had fallen into overt sin.  Caught in that usual perceived tension between justice and mercy, one finally spoke: "Well, it's nice to be forgiving, but we have to take sin seriously."  They took sin seriously, expelled the member, and lost touch with him.

The tragedy is that they felt they had to be unforgiving in order to take sin seriously.  They felt that saying "We love you, we accept you; we will not let your failings create a barrier between us" would ignore sin.  Sadly, they did not know just how seriously such a response does deal with sin!

In the Garden of Eden, Satan's lie to Adam and Eve was that sin isn't really all that bad.  "You can sin and get by with it," he hissed.  "You will not surely die."  The truth, of course, is that sin (separation from the Life-giver) should indeed have caused death--the second death at that!  THen God could have said, "See, I told you so.  Sin really is all that bad."  But Adam and Eve wouldn't have been around to hear the lesson.


So God risked holding off the consequences.  For four thousand years Satan taunted, "See, sin doesn't really cause the second death."  But when Jesus cried out, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46) and died the second death, the universe knew forever: sin really is all that bad.  God does tell the truth; He is righteous.

Was God being unforgiving toward Adam and Eve?  Had He withdrawn from the relationship as a form of punishment, protesting their affront to His authority?  Hardly!  The problem of sin is not that they had offended His dignity, but that, through deception, they had departed from Him and from reality.  And such departing from reality would bring its own terrible consequences.

Sin does bring its own punishment.  Its first consequence--eternal death through separation from the Life-giver--Jesus took seriously on the cross.  But the secondary consequences, the broken friendships, the blasted self-respect, the sinking health--these must be taken seriously by the sinner.  And they are so painful that neither God nor church members need to add to the pain by punitive rejection.  Even though expelled from the garden, God held Adam and Eve close as they suffered those results.

MIRACULOUS RELIGION?

On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast our demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?"  And then will I declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers."  Matt. 7:22, 23, R.S.V.

How impressed we are with the miraculous!  We give our full attention to that which makes our heart pound and our breath quicken.  We remember the spectacular and often drop our power of discrimination just for the sheer enjoyment of the event.

Is it any wonder then, that when people come face-to-face with their personal readiness to meet God, they should look to the miraculous to provide the basis for their standing?  Jesus spoke of people who could attest to rather impressive acts: prophetic utterances, demonic deliverances, even miracle working.

Most of us may not be able to boast as impressive a  "missionary report" as theirs.  But we can recall what we might claim as minor miracles.  We think of the flood of feeling we had during a Week of Prayer altar call; it even produced tears.  We think of the time we prayed for God to help us find our glasses, and we found them (in our pocket).  And what about the time we led someone through Bible studies until he was baptized?  Don't all these constitute proof that we are among the elect?

But Jesus warns us that all this just doesn't deal with the problem.  Miraculous power may impress us; but we are changed only by a deep personal acquaintance with a miraculous Person.  We may put off some bad habits; we may preach some pretty potent sermons; we may even lead people to church, where they may find Jesus Christ.  The only one who will be impressed, however, will be ourselves.  What we really need is to be impressed with God.  Otherwise we will still be working on that old myth that salvation is rooted in performance rather than in relationship.

But Jesus says it produces workers of iniquity.  For even good, miraculous, God-tagged works done apart from a personal relationship with Christ are iniquitous works.  Not because the works are sinister, but because they are done by persons who are alienated from God and who, by that fact, are sinners.

Won't it be infinitely better to hear Jesus say on that great day, "Come!  We have been intimately acquainted.  Let's continue that friendship forever"?

​GOD'S NAME IS HIS CHARACTER

I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you my name.  Ex. 33:19, R.S.V.

A multitude of renegade Hebrew slaves was camped in the desert.  Their main activity seemed to be complaining and fighting among themselves.  God had worked marvelously for them, delivering them from Egyptian bondage, but they were in bondage still--to misconceptions about the character of God and His intentions concerning them.

Moses, their leader, was deeply troubled over the nation's lack of confidence in their deliverer God.  Chosen by God to be His spokesman to this simple-minded people, Moses knew that they would be able to comprehend only as much as he himself could clearly explain.  Therefore he longed to know God better.  One day he asked God to show him His glory.

Moses was not seeking a mere display of light and power.  God's glory signified His presence--as in the pillar of cloud and fire.  God understood that Moses desired to be near Him in order to know Him better, both for himself and for the sake of the people he was trying to lead to the Land of Promise.  Moses asked, "Show me now thy ways, that I may know thee and find favor in thy sight.  Consider too that this nation is thy people" (Ex. 33:13, R.S.V.).

Answering his request, God hid Moses in the rock and passed before him, revealing His glory--proclaiming His name.  When Moses described what he had seen, he used words that describe God's character.  He proclaimed his assurance that God is merciful, gracious, patient, abounding in steadfast love, faithful, forgiving, and just (verses 19-22), R.S.V.).  By this, God encouraged Moses to nurture and guide His people.  In essence, God was saying to Moses, "Show them who I am by the way you govern them."

Hundreds of years later, God again "passed before" mankind in the person of His Son.  In that wonderful life "we have beheld his glory" "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14, R.S.V.).  As we go to teach all nations about Him we might well remember that the best way to show who He is, is by relating to others in the same way that He relates to us.  We may be compassionate, long-suffering, constant, and true.  And God's promise to us is the same as it was to Moses: "I will be with you."  We will be in such close relationship that we will be secure enough to act this way.

FRUITLESS BIBLE STUDY

You study the scriptures diligently, supposing that in having them you have eternal life; yet, although their testimony points to me, you refuse to come to me for that life.  John 5:39, 40, N.E.B.

When Jesus chides people for studying the Bible, you can guess He has a large concern on His mind.  In this straightforward appeal He deals with perhaps the most dangerous of all Bible-oriented delusions.  It's the belief that salvation is found in the accumulation of religious data and that the Bible is a warehouse of such facts.

A variation of this belief is that the Bible is filled with requirements that the devout must follow to commend themselves to God.  It is true that the Bible does contain much information about how people should live.  The deception is one of sequence and of motive.

Since Scripture requires the actions of love, only those who have first become lovers can fulfill its commands in letter and spirit.  And people become lovers only by being in living connection with their loving Father.

Jesus spoke later to these very thorough Bible students regarding their evangelistic approach.  He said, "You travel over sea and land to win one convert; and when you have won him you make him twice as fit for hell as you are yourselves" (Matt. 23:15, N.E.B.).  On the surface, that was a harsh thing to say to devout folks whose interest was in imparting codes for right living.

But all such behaviors are ultimately meaningless rituals to those who have not first found their Father to be the natural center of their souls.  Any religion that appears to impose upon its youth or its new converts a staggering list of lifestyle requirements without first leading them into a personal interaction with God is subject to Jesus' same appraisal.

You can hear the tears in Jesus' voice as He says, "You refuse to come to me for that life."  Why should anyone be reluctant to come to Him? to know His gracious welcome? to rest secure in His love?  There can be but one reason: the enemy has succeeded in deceiving that person into thinking he or she will not receive a gracious welcome, that there is no security in His love.  What a tragedy!

The answers we find in Scripture depend on the questions we ask.  If we ask each time we open its pages, "Who is He, that I might know Him, love Him, trust Him with my life?" we shall not be disappointed.

​BECOMING GODLIKE

We know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  1 John 3:2, R.S.V.

Many theological discussions center on how a follower of Christ becomes like Him.  I wonder how many people go from these discussions discouraged.  There are endless lists of outward deeds to do and not to do.  They include food to eat and food not to eat, clothes to be worn and clothes not to be worn.  This might be termed sanctification by lists.

But such deeds do not necessarily make us godlike.  That is evidenced by the passage in Matthew 7:21-23, which tells of those who will someday cry unto God to let them enter the kingdom of heaven but will be told that their deeds are evil.  This they cannot understand, and they cry, "Lord, Lord, did we not...do many mighty works in your name?" (R.S.V.).


Godlikeness will show itself in the way we act, but the things we do can stem from many motivations.  The desire to be saved can be one of the most selfish of motivators--in reality, it might be the quest to please self forever.

Working for the salvation of others can still be selfish.  We might enter into such activity to be well thought of by others.  True Godlikeness goes much deeper, though in fact it is expressed by the way we interface with the world around us.

Our text today offers a real clue to becoming godlike.  It is not just at the second coming of Christ that we may become like Him.  "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory [character] of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness" (2 Cor. 3:18, R.S.V.).  By beholding God and all that He is--just, reasonable, long-suffering, loving, forgiving, healing, friendly, creative, and infinitely more--we find admiration and adoration swelling in our hearts for Him.  And just as basic as the law that makes water flow downhill and balloons float in the air is the predisposition of my heart to copy what it regards.

Our motivations stem from who we are, from our inner values.  When our hearts regard God, this is more than an objective appreciation of His being.  It involves a relationship, because to enjoy relationships is the truest essence of God.

To know God is to love Him.  To focus upon Him is to become like Him, inwardly as well as in outward deeds.