The Architect's Plan
For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
It is imperative that we understand this simple truth, God has a plan for each one of us. It is in our own best interest to seek that plan and follow it. We will not be disappointed!
The problem we experience is that we tend to see our spiritual growth as a "Do-It-Yourself" project. We value our wisdom, talents and abilities, and assume that we are to find our own way in the path of faith.
God may use the gifts we possess to grow us up, but He is much more concerned with the subjugation of those gifts to His purposes. His gifts are for His purposes in His time. We are not to use them for our personal gratification.
It is a beautiful thing when His plans come together through obedience in our lives. We need to be careful that we are not in a hurry to use the building materials He gives us without consulting the plan!
Several years ago I began a gazebo. I carefully looked at the plans and ordered the necessary materials. I tend to work from memory and what seems right, and that often works better than following man's flawed instructions.
This time I goofed. I came to the place where I needed some 2 x 8's and realized I had used them in a place that called for 2 x 6's. Although I had over-engineered the project, I still had to buy more material and the cost was higher because I did not pay attention to the plan.
God's message to us is to pay attention to the plan!
The Scripture tells us that God had a plan before the foundation of the world. From the moment He conceived of this creation, He knew its history from beginning to end.
He knew every victory and every failure of every life. In spite of all the pain and grief it would bring, He still ordained this creation. Why?
We only get glimpses of the reason in Scripture, but there is a spiritual battle raging around us. In His creation, God is once and for all demonstrating His supreme reign, His might and His power.
Following His plan is essential because there are only two sides in this struggle: good and evil. Either we are, by choice, on His side, or we are, by default, His enemy. If we believe the scripture is true, we need to heed how He deals with those who oppose Him. And yes, we oppose Him more than we like to admit.
Jeremiah 10:23 says, "I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself; Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps." Anytime we follow our own will, we oppose the plan of God in our lives.
The prophet graces us with real wisdom. If we would know God's plan, we must 1) prayerfully dedicate ourselves to the diligent study of His Word, 2) be sensitive to the instruction of the Holy Spirit Who leads us to all Truth, and 3) be faithful to do, with all our might, what He shows us to do.
If we are not doing what we already know to do, it is absurd to believe God is going to entrust us with more!
God knew before hand the dear price that following through with His plan would cost, but His purposes would not be thwarted by our failure. Let's follow His perfect plan!
The Carpenter's Corner
"For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish." (Luke 14:28-30).
If there is one aspect of the Christian life that is overlooked more than any other, this is surely it! This is particularly true in our culture where the cost of professing faith in Christ has been relatively little for most believers.
The lack of significant persecution in this country during its first 200 years of existence, has resulted in a "fuzzy gospel" which results in a "fuzzy faith." It is the church's embracement of the world's credo, "If it feels good, do it."
The result is appalling. In a recent poll by George Barna, Christians were compared to the world on 152 different items. The findings should be a wake up call to the church.
According to Barna, you could not tell the difference between Christians and non-Christians by looking at their responses. They both look the same, act the same, and think the same. "Christians" simply give lip service to Christ.
The consequence is found in the verses above: the church of Jesus Christ is mocked by the world. The Name of the Lord God is slandered in the streets and broadcast media and fuzzy Christians rarely take a stand.
They sing, "We will trust in the Name of our God" but they refuse to protest those who mock His Name. We aren't called "Protestants" because we are of a heritage which accepted whatever evil ordained!
There is a huge disconnect. Why? Because the church has been overrun by those who have only a professed faith. They heard the fuzzy gospel and it made them feel good so they accepted it. No one told them there was a price to be paid. No one told them they had to make a commitment to change.
"Jesus loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life" is true but there is much more to the proclamation of the gospel. The church has failed in this regard and many "Christians" are stillborn.
Many of those who fill our pulpits today are to blame. Dwindling church rolls have ministers and church leaders scampering to find new ways to hold the attention of the people.
A recent broadcast of a church service in the Houston area boasted of the 123 new programs they were adding and of course it came with the sales pitch to raise the money for them. To a large degree such programs are self-serving and have little, if anything, to do with spreading the good news.
The church must reclaim the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a price to be paid and only those who are willing to have their lives changed and pay the price are worthy to wear His Name.
The Foreman's Forum
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2:15)
Paul's instruction to Timothy is familiar to us, but how well do we heed it? So many of the things which divide Christians today would be resolved if we would heed this simple advice. Many Christians act as though they can wield the sword of the Spirit effectively without ever going through basic training!
Often they end up wounding themselves or others in the process. Carelessness with God's word presents a great danger to our spiritual well being, to say nothing of the havoc it wreaks in God's plan for our lives.
No Christian wants to stand before God ashamed of how they handled His Word. Nevertheless, many will be. They will be saved but their garments will smell of smoke from the Refiner's fire.
Proper handling of God's word is absolutely essential to building our spiritual houses according to His plan. If we interpret the plan wrongly, what we build will be unacceptable. There is no such thing as "outcome based" faith.
Either we follow God's plan as fellow workers with Him, or our work will be burned up. He will not say, "I know you meant well" or "It was a good try" or "You could have done worse". God does not reward shabby workmanship, He destroys it. (continued on page 3)
How sad judgment will be for those who have devoted their lives in labor to God on the basis of their plans rather than His. It does make a difference.
Like the Pharisees of old, many Christians have come to rely upon the "form" of obedience but have forgotten the spirit of obedience. They believe that if they do Christian things, God will reward them. Their motive is reward, not pleasing Him.
Still others profess to keep the spirit of His word but neglect the clear instructions of scripture regarding their behavior. This is equally destructive. The spirit which neglects the teaching of scripture is questionable at best. The fruit is clear evidence of the nature of the tree. If our lives are not yielding the fruit of obedience, we should ask serious questions about our standing before God.
While I accept the reality that God can speak to us in ways outside the written word, I do believe that the scripture is the first and primary way He communicates with us regarding His will.
Unless and until we are diligent about His Word, we should not anticipate that there will be much communication in other ways, except as a matter of discipline.
Those who ignore the written Word and speak of special revelations, visions, words of knowledge and all the rest should be viewed with much caution.
A life not founded in God's Word will sound an uncertain tone and bear questionable fruit. May we join the psalmist in delighting ourselves in God's Word. When we do, we become like children anxious to show their father what they have made. We will be anxious and delighted to present the work of our hands and lives as an eternal offering of sacrifice and praise!
The Carpenter's Toolbox
"Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the
righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be
multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His
divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and
excellence.
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in
order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
"Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:1-8)
Faith in our Lord is only the beginning of our walk with God. We must add to our spiritual toolbox those things needed to conform our lives more and more to the image of Christ.
In the passage above, Peter lays out the plan. Notice that five of the seven steps are internal and only two are outward. This should tell us where we will spend most of our time!
This isn't a process you go through once and call it good. Think of it as a logical process by which we cover the same territory time and again but spiraling to a higher plane each time. Let's look at it more closely.
The very first supplement our faith needs is moral excellence! How many of us can honestly say that our lives are morally any better than they were a year ago (don't forget your thought life!)?
The more our mental and physical beings are brought under control, the more clearly we see the things of God. But there is a danger here. Moral excellence (or virtue as the KJV has it) depends upon knowledge. An untaught conscience will accept things it should not and be sincere about it. Paul's persecution of the church is a classic example. Knowledge is required and we'll take a look at it next month.
Just knowing what is require is not enough, obedience demands self-control. Does that mean our faith is a "do-it-yourself" project? Stay tuned!
Self-control gets old! We grow lazy and careless about our faith. Peter says we need to add perseverance to faith in order to continue our pursuit of truth which conforms us more to the image of Christ. This lifts us to the next level: godliness.
As we become more like Him two things happen. First, we find ourselves exhibiting brotherly love toward those with whom we share a covenant relationship in Jesus Name.
Second, our right relationships with the family of God edifies us and overflows to the world at large as we become more like our Father and exhibit His divine nature: love.
At this point, something wonderful happens. When we arrive at a fuller awareness of His love, our faith grows and the process starts anew. Deeper faith gives greater vision enabling us to see our deeper need for moral excellence and so on.
If you have been diligent about your faith, chances are you can look back over your life and chart this cycle. Each "love" step is likely to be a pivotal or major step in your Christian walk.
These points are so obvious, because the "wow" is quickly followed by "oops." The new vista we enjoy is awe-inspiring; but being more exposed to the light, we are able to see ourselves more clearly through God's eyes.
The picture isn't as pretty as we though it was and our upward climb continues with greater resolve to live in purity. It takes faith to keep on walking knowing that even more housekeeping needs to be done, but....
The Apprentice's Journal
Building can be a frustrating experience. If you've tried your hand at carpentry, you know that even the best materials and the best equipment and the best plans never assure a project with no problems. You know the frustration that comes when everything seems to be right, but things still don't work!
Our walk with God can be the same way. When we get frustrated, it is always a good idea to go back to the basics and see what we overlooked or what silly mistake we made. No matter how skilled we become as craftsmen, we will always need the basics. Rehearse them often!
"Holy Father, may your vision of me in Christ become the reality of my life."
Introducing...The rebirth of Star Wars has reintroduced us to Luke Skywalker. In Acts 1, we read about two men in white who chide the disciples about standing around watching the sky after Jesus has told them to hit the road to Jerusalem. In coming editions, you will read The Chronicles of Christian Skywatcher who suffers from the same type of problem...perhaps you know him!