07

Jump Start # 277

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 277

Romans 12:11 “Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving  the Lord”

  Here at the end of Romans 12 the apostle Paul gives what we call today a series of “bullet points,” about our duty as Christians. One will find 13 of these short admonitions in this section. Our verse today, contains three of those bullet points.

  Paul’s point throughout this chapter is to illustrate and define that as Christians we have responsibilities to both God and the church. We forget that sometimes. We do that in our marriages. At the wedding we make all those promises to our new mate, but then after a few years, a few kids, we start thinking about only about self. We get bored, tired, and unhappy. We think, I didn’t sign up for all this. A cartoon illustrated this well when a lady was telling a marriage counselor, “I got married for an Ideal, it became an Ordeal, now I want a New Deal.” And in a marriage, we tend to see the mistakes of our mate and their failures and either over look ours or worse, use their failure to stop doing what we should.

  Paul’s words in our verse are not about marriage. It’s about our relationship with one another in a church, but often we treat it the same. Some look for a church that will give them what they want. I want a fun church. I want an exciting church. I want a church that does this and that. But in all of this, what are they planning on giving the church? That thought doesn’t enter our minds much these days. It’s like the old image of a guy hitch hiking. Today, we’d never stop and pick someone up for fear he’ll kill us, but years ago, many hitch hiked. They’d stand along the highway with their thumb sticking out, wanting a ride. They want you to go the direction they are wanting, you to drive, and you to use your car and gas, and when you have taken them as far as they want to go, they want out. That is the thinking some have with the church—they want to church to give, provide, be there, do this and that, without being counted upon or adding anything in return.

  Paul’s wonderful Roman section shows that God excepts us to be dependable, and responsible to one another. Our verse today hits at the motives or the spirit in which things are to be done. Notice the words Paul uses here:

  • Not lagging behind…you get the image of a group traveling and there is always a straggler, someone not keeping up. Don’t do that, Paul says, Keep up. Stay with them.

 

  • Fervent in spirit…we get the word “fever” from this word fervent. James uses it to talk about prayer, “the fervent prayer of a righteous man.” Paul is talking about our passion and our intensity. Hot. Burning. Passionate. Excited. Thrilled. The Psalmist said, “I was glad when they said ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” (122:1). You can tell when someone is glad to be at a place and when someone showed up because they had to. I’ve done both. I’ve attended my wife’s high school reunion—I wasn’t a happy camper. Didn’t know anyone, felt out of place and went because she wanted me to. Wasn’t one of the highlights of my life. Then I have been to my kid’s weddings—WOW. You couldn’t keep me away. If my car had broken down, I’d of walked there. Big difference in spirit and attitude. This is what Paul is talking about spiritually. Passionate preaching…passionate singing…passionate praying…why? Because we love the Lord.

 

  • Serving the Lord…this is his third bullet point. We serve the Lord by serving one another. We are to do this, not lagging behind, like we hate it, but fervent in the spirit.

  All of this shows us two important thoughts. First, we have responsibility toward each other. In a church, we are connected to each other and what we do has an effect upon one another. What are we supposed to do? Read this section of Romans 12. Paul lists many things. It is summed up in “serving the Lord.” Jesus said in Mt 25, the way we treat one another, is how we treat Him. This tells us that church isn’t about me—it’s about God and my helping others. Now that’s different! You don’t hear people talking that way much these days. They leave because, “no one talks to me,” or, “no one invited me,” or, “no one will be a friend,” which I always find strange. Those that generally say that, are the first to leave as soon as services are over, never stick around, and rarely allow themselves to get connect to others. You miss when that happens. We need each other. We need prayers from one another. We need to get kicked in the pants once in a while. And we need hugs and encouragement. It’s tough out there and we need each other. Paul’s words remind us that I need to serve my church family.

  Secondly, Paul drives at the attitude or spirit of this. Be passionate, don’t lag behind. Those words show the excitement and the charge in our batteries.

  We sing, “Bless be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love…” I love Sundays. My favorite day of the week. I wish everyday was Sunday—and one of the best reasons is that I get to be around my church family. Amazing people. Incredible people. God’s people. Get that connection…you need it to get through life!

  Roger

04

Jump Start # 276

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 276

Proverbs 22:2 “The rich and the poor have a common bond, the Lord is the maker of them all.”

  Our passage today shows the similarities in things that do not seem to be similar. The rich and the poor—every culture and every generation has them. Often the rich control the poor and in some cases take advantage of the poor. The rich likes being rich and the poor hates being poor. The rich has doors opened to him that the poor does not. The rich can afford food that the poor can only dream of. The rich lives in a larger and nicer house than the poor. The rich can afford trips that the poor can not. The poor struggles just to survive.  

  The N.T. gives us a vivid description of the difference between the rich and the poor in the example of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man wore purple, which was extremely expensive to make in Biblical times. The rich man ate well every day. Lazarus seems to have run out of luck. Someone, probably, his family, laid him at the gates of the rich man’s estate. That was his only hope, that the rich man passing to and fro would have some compassion upon him and care for him.

  The rich and the poor. So different in life. Our passage pulls them both together by reminding us that God has made them both. I suppose, one way to look at this passage is to say that it was God who made the rich man rich and the poor man poor. But looking at this more, it is God who simply made them. It would be easy for the rich to have no association with the poor and to view the poor with contempt and disgust. Little does he realize that God made him as well as the poor man. He really isn’t different after all. They come from the same source and that is God.

  Now, thinking about this more, we see just how similar the rich and the poor are. Both have souls made in the image of God. Both have sinned and are in need of salvation. Both need Jesus. Both have only one way to get into Heaven and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. The rich man’s money may open many doors on earth, but it will not open the gates of Heaven. He, like the poor man, must bow to the God of Heaven if he wants to get in there.

  Paul would define some of these cultural differences in the book of Galatians. There he lists, Jew and Gentile; slave and master; male and female. Particularly, I like the slave and master contrast. What a contrast it is—one person owning another. Yet, in Jesus, in the church, they were equals. I can imagine on a given Sunday, that the master would share the Lord’s Supper with the slave he owned. That would be different. The master handing the slave bread. It is the slave, at home, who feeds the master, but in Christ, those difference do not exist.

  The book of James addresses the poor man and the rich man. James rebukes the brethren for favoring the rich man and ignoring the poor man. That was wrong then and it is wrong today. The poor man may be dirty. He might smell. His clothes worn and old. It’s easy to ignore that. Invite the rich man to your home, maybe he’ll bring a gift! Be friends with the rich. Spend your time with the rich. It is easy to get caught up in that type of thinking. Our verse today reminds us that God made us both. That not only goes for the rich and the poor, but the black and the white, the republican and the democrat, the American and the Iranian, the college grad and the flunk out, the success and the failure, the famous and the nobodies, those who seem to be able to do it all and those who can’t seem to do anything, the good guy and the bad guy, the saint and the sinner, the man with money and the man who is broke. God has made us all.

  We suffer the same fate and that is death. The rich man’s money may buy him medicine that puts it off for a while, but it is appointed for all to die, that includes the rich and the poor. And often in the same cemetery they are buried. The rich man under a huge monument and the poor man in a paupers grave.

  We also learn from our study of the Bible, “that to whom much is given, much is required.” The rich man with his resources will have more opportunities than the poor man. God expects the rich man to do more. The same goes with ability and talent. The same goes for those in this country compared to a “poor nation.”

  Rich or poor—can be blessings or curses, either way around. God wants us to realize that we are connected to Him and each other. Being mindful of that will help us be generous as God is, and it will tend to make us thankful and humble.

  In eternity, what will matter is being rich in God and having a faith that made a difference.

Roger

03

Jump Start # 275

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 275

Proverbs 25:20 “Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda, is he who sings songs to a troubled heart.”

  One thing I’ve learned about Proverbs, I may not understand the full meaning of some of the expressions but if I can get part of it, generally I can understand all of it. This is true of our passage today. When you and I read the expression, “like vinegar on soda,” I tend to think of Pepsi or Coke. Those are sodas. I know that is not the meaning because those weren’t around back then.

  • KJV: “as vinegar upon nitre”
  • Zondervan  Encyclopedia of the Bible says that “nitre” is lye—a kind of soap

  I understand taking off a garment on a cold day. That’s easy to understand. Uncomfortable, miserable, unpleasant and something you just don’t do. On a cold day you reach for your garment, not take it off.

  The writer is giving us two illustrations of distasteful and unpleasant experiences to help us grasp the principle—singing to a troubled heart isn’t good. Now that seems odd to us. I’d think singing would put a troubled heart in a better mood, unless it was my singing they were listening to. We’d think that singing would help a person get their mind off their problems, change their mood and help them to see the brighter side of things. But that’s not the way it is. It’s like taking off your coat on a cold day. It’s like vinegar on soda. A newer expression would be, “It’s like pouring salt into a wound.” It doesn’t seem to help much and boy, does it burn!

  Don’t sing to a troubled heart. That’s the point. We are not told details. Why is the heart troubled? Has a love been lost? Are they grieving? Are they hurting over a broken marriage? Are they in trouble financially? Are they worried about the kids? Are there health problems?  Has someone wronged them? Have they wronged someone? Are they in trouble with the law or worse, with God?

  I expect the answer to all those questions could be “Yes.” All of those things cause a troubled heart. Now, we may not know just what the writer had in mind when he said that, but we do know what a troubled heart will do to a person. First, it just knots up the insides of a person. They have trouble eating, sleeping and focusing. The trouble consumes them. They can’t get it off of their minds. It seems to go with them everywhere. Can’t work effectively because of the trouble in the heart. Can’t go home and relax because of the trouble in the heart. Even worshipping God becomes a chore and being around others doesn’t help much. And please, don’t sing, that doesn’t make a person feel better. That’s the point of this Proverb. All singing shows is that you are happy and I’m not. You have your problems corralled and I don’t. You can smile and I can’t. Don’t sing. That won’t help.

  So, what do we do for a troubled heart? Proverbs says “don’t sing.” How about listening? Or, how about saying a prayer? How about sitting with them for a while? How about reading some verses to them?

  Next door to a troubled heart lives hopelessness and loneliness. Paul told the Galatians to bear one another’s burdens. Helping someone carry their load prevents loneliness and hopelessness from taking over. They realize that they don’t journey this dark road by themselves. You are there. You will help. They can count on you.

  Some troubles are hard to fix. Some are very complicated and they take a long, long time. We can sure make a mess of things. Cleaning up those messes, including hurt feelings, addictions, and broken promises takes more than we’ve got. You have to invite God into all of this. His word, His grace, His power can make a difference. He knows how to get us out of a ditch. He has a way of believing in us. It’s up to us to believe in Him and trust Him and follow Him.

 Troubled hearts are all around us—at work, in the neighborhood, in the church and even at home. Don’t sing them a song—help them out. That’s what they really need. A friend who cares. A parent who hasn’t given up on them. A mate who will forgive. And a God who is there.

Roger

02

Jump Start # 274

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 274

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”

  What a wonderful verse and an absolute declaration! Justified, is the past tense of being just or justification. That is a legal expression. It means to be declared “not guilty.” Our legal system often abuses the expression, “Not guilty.” I’m not an attorney. My brother is. And I’m sure there are reasons to protect rights and so forth, but from my side of the fence, it sure seems odd, when someone has shot several, like the Tucson shooting, and was caught in the act to stand before a judge and plead “not guilty.” That’s not the concept here in our verse. We may say we are not guilty, when we are. The passage says, “having been justified.” We have been made innocent, or not guilty. Someone else made us just.

  The situation Paul has in mind is our standing with God. Because of sin we are guilty. No blaming parents, the baggage we carry, or the stress we are under or we just couldn’t help it. None of that stuff. We sinned, we are guilty. Through the blood of Jesus, forgiveness has been extended. The crime has been removed from the books. We stand innocent. We have been justified. God will not separate Himself from us. The result is that we have peace with God. We know the opposite of peace, it is war. We don’t consider fussing and fighting with one another as “war” but it is. With God, it is more so. Lacking peace, our sins drive a wedge and destroy our relationship with God. He is not our friend, because of our sins. He may not acknowledge our cry for help or answer our prayers because of our sins. Our sins have destroyed our relationship with Him. Saying “you’re sorry” is only a band-aid. The sins remain.

  Only through the blood of Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, can the sins be taken away for ever. Forgiveness restores the relationship. The basis and the drive behind all of this is our faith. Our faith in God. Our faith in His word. Our faith in Jesus, our Jesus. It is the same faith that compelled Noah to build the ark and made Abraham leave his home and cause Joshua to march around Jericho for seven days. Faith in God, not fighting what He says, but believing Him and obeying Him. The next chapter of Romans says that these people had been baptized into Jesus Christ so they could walk in the newness of life—a new life. Peace with God.

  You’ll notice that Paul includes himself in these verses. He says, “we have peace…” “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We and our. We are in this together. This is how everyone finds peace with God.

  You’ll also notice that Paul says, “Our Lord Jesus Christ.” He’s not just the Lord Jesus Christ, but He is Ours. He is our Savior, our Lord, Our Sacrifice and here, Our Justifier. There is a connection between the believer and the Savior. Faith, emotion and connection are all found in that expression, “Our.”

  Two thoughts. First, why? Why does God do this? Why does God give the guilty a second chance? If we did the crime, why don’t we do the time? Why does He allow us off? The answer is because He loves us and because of our faith. Without the love, even the faith wouldn’t do it. He opens the door. It was God who sent Jesus. We didn’t climb a mountain and capture Him back for us—God gave. God sent. Those are acts of love. Here in Romans 5 Paul says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Remarkable. Not after we quit sinning. Not after we promised never to do it again. But WHILE we were sinning Christ came. We are made innocent because God loves us.

  The other thought is, how should this make us feel? What does this do to us? You’d think we’d be the most thankful, grateful, people on the face of the earth. I think Christians are. We know our past. We know what should have happened to us. But it changed because we were justified through Jesus. Our songs, our prayers, our lifestyle, our worship ought to reflect thankfulness to God. We are released prisoners. We are forgiven sinners. We are a people that God did not give up on.

  That is the salvation message! You have been justified! It just makes you look Heavenward and say a heartfelt, “THANK YOU.”

Roger

01

Jump Start # 273

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 273

Philippians 1:1 “Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.”

  This is the opening sentence of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. New Testament letters are called, “Epistles.” We read these letters differently than any other form of letter. Maybe we should, because they are inspired by God, but then maybe we miss the flow of things because of the way we read them. Typically, in a Bible class, a teacher will guide the class through a book like Philippians, looking carefully at every word, often only covering a few verses a week. Do you know of any other letter that you read that way? If you got a letter from the I.R.S. would you spend six weeks before the letter was completely read? I wouldn’t. First thing I’d do is to read it very fast to see if I was in trouble or owed money. Then I’d read it a second time, more carefully. There is a place for verse by verse Bible studies, but in doing that, don’t forget you are reading a letter – so read the letter!

  I have found that the beginning and the ending of Paul’s letters are skimmed over quickly and not a lot of thought is given to them. For instance, our verse today is a powerful expression of God’s arrangement and organization of His church.

  Three elements are identified. First, saints. Do you notice that they happen to be alive. It’s hard to write a letter to dead people. Saints is just a shortened version of “sanctified.” This letter was written to God’s people—the saved at Philippi. The church is made up of saints. Now, when we say that, some folks get the immediate impression, “Oh, they’re better than everyone else?” Or, “I know some of them and they’re not that perfect.” You’re missing it when you think that way. These people belong to God. Christ is the only one you’ll ever find that is perfect in the church. The rest of us are trying but on our best days, we’re not there. All of us need grace, need to apologize and need to keep on with the Lord. But we belong to Christ. We are his. When I was a kid, I’d take a crayon and write my name on the bottom of my toys, mostly so my two brothers couldn’t claim them. It meant ownership. God’s got His name written on us. Often, we feel like we’re nobody. Not true when you are a saint—you belong to God.

  Second, notice in the church at Philippi, with the saints, were overseers. This is the same word for bishops. In 1 Peter 5, the terms, elder, bishop, shepherd are used of the same people. Elder, meaning spiritual experience. Bishop, meaning given the charge of watching the sheep. Shepherd, or pastor, meaning feeding and nurturing the flock. These men are there within the church. Peter shows that. They are in a plurality, Acts shows that. They don’t run things—God does that, they watch out, care and tend the sheep, the saints, us. Imagine a home without parents, bad news. Imagine a flock of sheep out on the hill, far away from any barns, homes or people. No one around. When the thunder of a coming storm pops, off they run. When a wolf sneaks off, off they scatter. The flock would not remain a flock very long. Sheep need help. They can’t run very fast. They can’t turn and fight like a momma bear. They can’t rattle their tail like some snakes. Sheep can’t do much of anything. They need the shepherd. His job is sheep. That’s the way God designed it. They are specially qualified Godly men who have the heart of service. They care for God’s people. They are watching for wolves. They are seeing that the sheep are eating. They are looking for friction and diseases among the flock. Their attention is to the local church and that church only.

  The third element here are deacons. This is from the word “servant.” They serve. They are qualified men, from 1 Tim 3 who serve God’s people. They are trusted, dependable and able to do the things that help shepherds.

  Did you notice something? First of all, how simple this is. Some would say, well there’s no way that would work today. God said it would. We want structure. We tend to want big. Mega stores. Mega size soft drinks. Mega movie theaters. Mega churches. Big is in. And with that thinking comes a super structure to run it. Layers and layers of managers, supervisors, every kind of minister, except one that preaches. From that way of thinking it is not uncommon to find churches run like a franchise. Money, personel, flowing between the franchises, and all of it run by a board that oversees the whole operation. That may work for McDonald’s or GM, but not the church. That’s not the way God ordered it nor designed it. It’s time to get back and accept God’s simple plan. Have you noticed how simple the gospel is? The words aren’t hard. What’s hard is the doing part, not the understanding part.

  We need to see the wisdom of God’s ways. Saints, overseers and deacons. That’s it. That’s all that’s needed. God knows what He’s doing. He knows what works. Instead of trying to improve upon God’s way, we just need to improve upon us!

Roger