TELL US NICE THINGS

One of the Elders in our church, Bob, shared some thoughts with us the other evening. One of the scriptures he mentioned struck a cord with me. It is several thousand years old, but it speaks clearly to our society. We live in a world where far too many have dismissed the idea of moral or ethical values or constraints.

We live in a world where more and more people feel they have “A RIGHT” to do or say whatever they want, whatever feels good to them without restraint. They teach, “Have sex with whoever you want, we’ve made abortion clinics available for everyone”. “Have homosexual relations, we changed the laws and it’s legal now”. “Cheat just a little on your taxes, or anywhere you can, it won’t really matter.” “Speak your mind, as crudely and as loudly as you want, no one can stop you”. “Participate in all of the worldly things you want… drink just a little, gamble just a little, party just a little… it’s your right!”

The problem is that the world has tried this before, (more than once), and it always has the same results. Notice what God says about this through his spokesman, Isaiah.

“Now go and write down these words. Write them in a book. They will stand until the end of time as a witness that these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s instructions. They tell the seers, "Stop seeing visions!" They tell God’s spokesmen: "Don't tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies. Forget all this gloom. Get off your narrow path. Stop telling us about your 'Holy One of Israel.'" 

Notice how God responds to this line of reasoning: This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel, Jehovah God: "Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies, calamity will come upon you suddenly; like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down. You will be smashed like a piece of pottery; shattered so completely that there won't be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well." (Isaiah 30:8-14).

I’m convinced that the reason some of the “Modern churches” are growing today is because they no longer speak for God. I visited a church awhile back and sadly I never heard the scriptures read or mentioned during the whole service. The preacher instead gave a book review of the latest motivational book. Tell us lies the people said, Tells us only nice things, Forget all this gloom. It’s surprising that so many “Church Leaders” are listening to people like that. It has become all about numbers and money, not the truth.

Let me suggest to you that just because the government approves of something doesn’t make it right. Just because something is now socially acceptable doesn’t make it right. If we don’t begin to follow God’s word, “The Holy One, Jehovah God’s” instructions for our lives we will eventually be broken into pieces just as he did to Israel. Could it be that you need to make a change, maybe take a stand for what is right in God’s sight?

Motivate Yourself

As I have become “more mature,” I have found that often I find home more inviting than something that is “not home,” especially on these cold winter days. I sometimes find it harder to motivate myself to get out of my warm comfortable space and do things, even if I know they need to be done. But of course if we don’t motivate ourselves then perhaps God will allow our motivation to come from somewhere else.

I’m reminded of an incident that happened when I was about 18 years old. I was helping build a house with my dad and others in one of the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio. There was an old stray dog that showed up on the job site. He was really skittish and afraid to get too close to us, probably he had been mistreated by someone. Anyway, I kept trying to win his confidence and even shared some of my lunch with him. He finally seemed to become a little more trusting and even took some food from my hand. He backed off and sat down and then surprisingly he yelped loudly, jumped up and took off running. I was mystified until I went over and looked at where he had sat down. There was an electrical cord with two frayed wires just where he had sat down. He received an unexpected shock and a lot motivation to vacate the premises.

What is it that you know you should be doing and are not? I’m convinced that there are a great many people who don’t begin to use their talents or God given abilities. They are comfortable and don’t want to get out of that comfort zone. Sometimes we enjoy the comfort of hearing others teach, but perhaps we should be teaching ourselves. Isn’t the church always asking (sometimes begging) for those to help teach? What about serving? Do we ever really have enough people to do the many things that need to be done within our church family? That takes a lot of forms such as cooking, cleaning, visiting, sharing, comforting, encouraging just to name a few.

There is a parable told by Jesus meant to motivate us to do what we should be doing. It is about three men who are given talents (in this case money) and told to use them for their Lord. Two did, but one buried his and gained nothing for his master, (Matthew 25:14-30). In the end Jesus said, “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (vs 29-30)

Let’s hope that God doesn’t have to give us this kind of “shocking” motivation to get us to use our talents. Don’t think you don’t have any, God gives them to us all, it’s up to you to discover them and develop them.

DEATH IS INCONVENIENT

It seems that our lives are constantly coming into contact with death and whenever they do it is never convenient. Plans that have been made suddenly cease, trips that have been planned suddenly seem unimportant. All of those things on your “to-do” list can wait a little longer while we focus upon this seeming tragedy in our lives.

Yes, I said, “seeming tragedy”. Death is always a loss, many times it is a surprise, but it is not always a tragic thing when it happens. You know that some folks are ready to face death; they have prepared themselves spiritually and are ready to go and be embraced by their God.

I have been involved in somewhere around 100 funerals in my preaching career, (and I realize that is not a lot compared to some ministers), but it is enough to learn some things about people. The simple truth is that unless it is an immediate family member, death is more of an inconvenience than anything. It disrupts their plans. It’s not that they are not truly concerned and sorrowful, but the truth is that often the ones involved in the death are soon forgotten. Simply because in life, there are goals to meet, plans to complete, things to do… death is inconvenient.

There is actually a record in the bible of someone who felt that way. In Luke 12:16-21 Jesus tells us about it: “And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'  "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."' "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'  "This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God."

I believe that the man in this story found death to be very inconvenient to say the least. He had his plans made, his future planned out, his retirement prepared and death intervened. What about you? If you knew that you would be facing death soon, would your priorities suddenly change? Would your lists and your plans really matter any more? I would think that for many things would change a great deal. We don’t like to be reminded of it, but death is a reality and it is the one thing we will never escape in life. All you can do is prepare in advance for that which is coming to you at sometime whether it is convenient or not. An old hymn asks, “Are you ready, are you ready, are you ready for the judgment day?” Are you?