A
Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken in right circumstances.@ (Proverbs 25:11)We
=ve all had the experience of being in situations where we just didn=t know what to say. So we muddle through and sometimes end up saying things that later seem silly or ridiculous and we think, AI can=t believe I said that!@While there are occasions for which there are no words, I do believe that for most occasions and in most situations, there is a good or best choice of words. The problem is, we sometimes just don
=t think about what we are saying and how it will be heard. Of course, preparation and practice (which tend to come with age) go a long way in helping us to avoid serious trouble in this area. Still, most of us find ourselves searching for words at times. In my experience, one of the things many Christians fear most is having to defend their faith. That often happens because they have never equipped themselves to be able to share the substance of their faith. They can talk about feelings all day long, but when it comes to heavier lifting, they just aren=t able. As sad as that is, in view of our mission of spreading the kingdom, the real tragedy is that many just don=t want to take the time to study. That mindset breeds fear of confrontation.This is rather basic stuff and yet many Christians tremble at the thought of having their faith called to account by others because, in our time, we have largely lost the Christian apologetic. This isn
=t a new problem, but it must be addressed. Peter is a great example of what often happens to us. Remember the story of the transfiguration in Mark 9? Jesus= appearance changed before their eyes and Moses and Elijah appeared with Him. In verse 5 Peter blurts out, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah," and verse 6 goes on to say, AFor he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified.@The Greek word for
Aanswer@ in this passage is apokrinomai and it means to speak on the basis of one=s own conclusions or judgment. Notice that Peter didn=t know how to interpret what was happening before him; like the others, he was terrified. Nevertheless He speaks, and the admonition he got from heaven is recorded for our enlightenment. Of course, we know that this was a learning experience for Peter (and the others). It is Peter who writes in 1 Peter 3:15, A... sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear....@The Greek word for
Aanswer@ in this passage is apologia: Aa plea ("apology"):--answer (for self), clearing of self, defense.@ It is a combination of two Greek words literally meaning Afrom the word.@ The word Aword@ is a pregnant term in the Greek. In common usage it is simply the idea of speaking from reason or logic. But the root of the word in the original language is Alogos@ which is the title John gives to the Messiah in the opening of his gospel narrative: AIn the beginning was the logos/word....@Peter learned the hard lesson of shooting from the hip under pressure. He has gone through boot camp and is a seasoned veteran by the time he writes his first epistle. His experience has shown him that God will equip those who make the effort. And it is an effort! He understood what it involves for he writes in the opening of his second epistle:
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. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
We have talked about these verses before, but it is good to revisit them. I believe Peter is showing us a process here which describes Christian growth. It begins with faith which brings virtue, which leads to knowledge and so on. We won
=t take the time to develop this process here, but be aware that it is an ongoing process.Notice that he says
Aif these qualities are yours and are increasing@ you will be useful for God=s purposes. When you arrive at love, your faith is increased and the process begins anew at a higher level. What does Peter say the process makes us fruitful in? The Atrue knowledge@ of our Lord! The word here is epignosis, Arecognition, i.e. (by impl.) full discernment, acknowledgment:--(ac-) knowledge (-ing, -ment).@ Again this is a combination of two Greek words. The preposition Aepi@ which implies a superior position (above, upon, etc.) and Agnosis@ which means knowledge. Hence true knowledge.One of the issues Peter was addressing was Gnosticism. It teaches seven levels of development which transform a person from material to spiritual. Peter=s response has seven steps leading from unbelief to Atrue knowledge@ and usefulness. This is a direct affront to the pop theology of his day. If you don=t know it already, Gnosticism has made a huge comeback in our day in the New Age movement. Having come through a period of history when we lived in a Christian nation and pagan teaching had to defend itself, we are now faced with the reality of needing to confront error. I enjoy Ain house@ debates, but Christians must equip themselves to confront the pagan culture in which we exist.
We must not shy from confrontation with the world, but meet its godless challenges head on: confident that God is able to make us stand and knowing that is possible in Christ alone. The uninformed might think that the Son of God was perfectly capable of speaking His own mind, but the man Jesus was subject in every way to the will of the Father, even to the words He spoke (John 12:50). That is why the people heard Him speak Aas one who has authority.@
When we speak the word of God, our words are perceived the same way. Whether it is the gospel preached at Pentecost, the defense from Mars Hill or a sidewalk encounter we have, the authority of God is evident to those who will hear, if we are equipped. If we are not, our biblical platitudes are hollow and empty. They are words without life. We can recite all the Scripture in the world but it will be fruitless. The right words at the right moment with the right motive are called for, and that only happens when we are prepared and sensitive to God
=s voice in every situation.As Jesus concluded His time with the disciples He told them in John 14:25-26,
AThese things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.@ That is an incredible comfort if we are prepared. Some think God will just magically fill them with knowledge without them making any effort. The disciples were taught face to face and received the word of the Master. We have His word written that we might be diligent students.It is wishful thinking to believe that God will
Abring to remembrance@ what we have not studied. The very idea of bringing to remembrance is that God uses the resources of His word that we have allowed His Spirit to teach us, to accomplish His purposes. Our world needs fully equipped saints! Paul writes in Ephesians 4:10-16:He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
That admonition had special significance to first century Christians but the message is clear, we need each other. God desires to use each of us as instruments in one another
=s lives. Our lives are so busy and it seems that one of the first things that suffers from that busyness is the time we spend together. The gifts that each of us possess are tools that God would use to equip the body for service. The ultimate expression of Christian maturity is Christian love which sustains us and supplies our every need. Praise God for the riches we have received in ChristFirst Lady Fouls Out
If I were to suggest that a recent First Lady talked of watching ADesperate Housewives@ and described herself as a desperate housewife, you might think I was talking about Hillary Clinton. You=d be wrong. It was Laura Bush, and had she shut up and sat down after that remark Christians would have avoided an embarrassing situation and a poor testimony of faith. I won=t repeat her other remarks, but you should have no trouble finding them. They are not family fare.
As much of a story as that is, it is not my primary concern. You see, had Hillary Clinton made the remarks instead of Laura Bush, the Christian media and its audience would have expressed its outrage in every venue possible. Not so with Laura Bush. There has been a deafening silence in the Christian community regarding this matter and it belies an hypocrisy that should make thinking Christians squirm. Only the secular media has given it any attention.
My big issue isn=t with the First Lady=s speech, it is with those who hear about it and consider it a non-issue. As Christians, we all have our weaknesses and that should cause us to deal graciously with one another. At the same time, there could hardly be a more public figure than the First Lady and her conduct puts the Christian community at large in a less than favorable light. Rather than defend her conduct, we should be challenging it. This was a public act and it must be addressed openly in public. Mrs. Bush needs to apologize to the Christian community and make it clear to all that her conduct was most unbecoming of her station as First Lady, and her faith in our Lord. Join me in asking her to do just that. >Nuff said.
Land of the Free?
We recently had the opportunity to listen to a report from Child Evangelism Fellowship in Kenya. This was the latest in a string of such experiences over the past couple of years and each time I hear what is happening in other places around the world I can=t help but be grieved at how far our beloved land has fallen. The contrast between what is permitted in other parts of the world and here in the former Afree world@ are striking.
Imagine being allowed to enter the public schools and teach the scripture. No, imagine being asked by the government to come to the public schools to teach the scripture and share the good news of life in Christ. Imagine the government seeing the positive impact your Christian ministry is having on children and giving you land to use for facilities to make your effort more effective, and imagine those same leaders making public comments about how the effort helps children.
I don=t know about where you live, but one schoolteacher here has no problem seeing the contrast. She works with AGood News Clubs@ in the local school system. Of course these must be student organized affairs held after school hours and, of course, participation is voluntary. Though it is illegal, the group has to pay to use facilities, while secular student organizations are not charged,
That is hard to reconcile with what this country was founded to be. Few Americans today are even aware that the Continental Congress approved the purchase of 20,000 Bibles to be distributed among the colonies so the people would know how to govern themselves: first as individuals and then corporately. Most Americans have forgotten that Apublic schools@ primarily started in churches with the Bible as the primary textbook!
The Lord warned Israel through Hosea, AMy people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.@ (Hosea 4:6) As Christians, we should not overlook the principle contained in this warning. Rejecting knowledge is the recipe for disaster.
What knowledge do I mean? The knowledge of the centuries which the founders of this country weighed heavily as they sought to establish just government and balance liberty with law. They were well prepared and did a good job, a really good job. We reject their wisdom at our own peril. I encourage you and plead with you to make the effort to recover that knowledge. If you need help finding quality material, let me know and I=ll point you in the right direction.
Become the person in your local fellowship and community who reclaims the truths our founders knew to be Aself-evident@ and start sharing them with others. Those who follow us will be glad you did. So will you.
A
For This Purpose@Contemplating what was before Him, Christ said,
ABut for this purpose I came to this hour.@ (John 12:27) When He appeared to Saul of Tarsus, He said, AI am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you . . . .@ (Acts 26:15-16)Converted, the Apostle Paul wrote,
AAnd we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.@ (Colossians 1:28-29)Peter admonished his suffering hearers with,
AFor you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps . . .@ (1 Peter 2:21) and John told his readers, AThe Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.@ (1 John 3:8)There are several directions we could go with this collage of scripture but let
=s focus on the title of this section. Take a little time and think about completing the following: AGod has given me life in Christ for this purpose, . . . . A It is tempting to look at the passages above and conjure up images of some mighty work that gets lots of attention and impacts a lot of lives. That is, perhaps the calling of some of us, but it is not what we should seek. Those things sometimes come as the consequence of faithful living (as in lives like Mother Teresa), but they are not things to be sought.In some way, our
Afor this purpose@ confession must be grounded in daily living out our faith in the most practical ways - ways which many Christians consider mundane and secondary. It is so tempting to look past the ordinary and be drawn to the extraordinary, and many do. Perhaps all of us do at one time or another. What our Ain group@ praises is what is most likely to be emulated among us. My experience with Christian fellowships suggests they tend to pour out buckets of praise for those who engage in highly visible service and offer only token praise for faithful fatherhood, sacrificial motherhood, fidelity in daily living (business, community affairs, marriage, etc.). We need to remember that what we encourage with our praise and thanksgiving will grow. What we neglect will tend to decline.So, in the circles where you move, honor faithfulness in the
Aordinary@ because that is where most of us spend our lives and we all need to be encouraged to take each moment captive to obedience in Christ.Afor this purpose.@As an exercise for the next month or so, consider beginning your day by thinking of it in the context of
The Apprentice
=s JournalEvery month, I am amazed at how quickly the days pass. I still remember the sense of anticipation I had as a child when a special day was approaching and how slowly the time passed. It
=s slow passing was only accentuated by how the much anticipated event was over long before I wanted it to be. Maybe you can identify with those feelings.On a broader scale, those feelings have a way of translating into life as a whole in a way which depends on our understanding of who we are. This is certainly an area where faith in Christ provides me a rich blessing! Once we understand who we are in Him, our sense of purpose becomes clearer as we walk on with Him. The glorious part is that the walk will be long enough to accomplish what He has prepared for us to do. Faith gives me the joy of knowing that today really is special because it is a day God has granted to me to live for Him in this world for His purposes. I can
=t tell you how much that delights me, regardless of what those purposes today turn out to be. I know some of you understand what I=m trying to say here.While I don
=t have any sense that I=m near completing all He has planned for me in this life, if this day is my last to walk this planet, I am equally delighted to know I will have been transported to eternal service in God=s kingdom with my spiritual eyes wide open. Such glory is too much to contemplate! So, I content myself to observe the many ways it expresses itself before me daily and rejoice to know that what I see here is nothing more than hint of what waits just ahead. Really living in this moment is true preparation for what is yet to unfold.The story of life plays out daily in our yard and as an observer, I ponder its mysteries. The bluebirds finished their nest and had two hatchlings. When I checked on them earlier this week, only one remained and it was dead. Other birds almost certainly killed them and one has to wonder why. Nevertheless, I cleaned out the house and noticed just this morning that the male was back checking on the residence. I hope they
=ll rebuild and have another go at it. They are such beautiful birds and I love having them around!Several weeks ago, I took the vinyl cover off the smoker and wadded it up in a chair on the gazebo. Last week, I noticed the wrens had started a nest in it. Just this morning (05/21), I noticed mother on the eggs near the entrance in the folds of the cover. As she huddled over them in a defensive pose, I had to wonder again why she built in such a vulnerable location. I
=ll be on a special watch for cats until her work is done.The August gardenia is in full bloom already, but we seem to have two or three blooming seasons a year for some things. We have a few volunteer sunflowers from the seeds I put out for the birds and squirrels. Lilly pads now cover the ponds and the frogs are in fine form. The toads appeared again this past week and drove me to the front bedroom a couple of nights. How Sharon can sleep through that racket still amazes me. I guess my toad problem has gotten the attention of a few family members of friends. I routinely received gifts of frog figures now. A stuffed frog sets atop my monitor and just this week, it
=s giver presented me with a ceramic frog planter and plants which Sharon put in the kitchen. Thanks Sue!The garden looks like I should be able to plant it within the week. It is terribly late, but I
=ll make the effort anyway. I do love fresh tomatoes and okra! The backyard was still too wet to mow with the riding mower last weekend. I=m hoping it has dried enough this week that I don=t have to use the Weedeater again. My old back just doesn=t do that very well these days.I
=m still getting adjusted to a new routine, but I=m slowly finding my way. Trying to reorder things to somewhat fit my natural rhythm is a bit of a challenge. Maggie (our 15 year-old Yorkie) is getting used to the routine too, but she doesn=t like it. Most mornings she just goes to lay on her pillow in the front window and pouts but at least once a week she makes it known she is really not happy about being left alone.On the grandson front, Geren, our oldest, called all excited one evening to tell us he could ride a bicycle without training wheels. I still remember my first attempts a riding a bicycle and understand what the excitement is all about. A few days later he announced he
=d lost one of his front two teeth and the other one followed soon thereafter. What reminders we have that life is full of new experiences and changes. Not all are pleasant at the time, but somehow, in God=s grace, they all work to mold us into the people we are.Take delight in what the Potter is doing in your life today, and remember that firing is necessary for the finished work!