"Faith, Hope and Love"

"Conservative belief spurs church growth" was the headline that captured my attention in yesterday's Dallas Morning News as I sat browsing the paper during my regular Saturday morning breakfast after my 2 hour workout at our local health club. After reading the article twice, I was struck with the stark reality that for a rapidly escalating population in the English-speaking world, actual belief in the Jesus I read about in my Bible, is fast becoming a dim reality, a holdover relic from a distant past.
The author of that article, David M. Haskell an associate professor of religion, culture, and digital media and journalism, along with a group of colleagues, "surveyed more than 2,200 congregants" of the mainline Protestant churches in the English-speaking world, half from growing and half from declining churches and their clergy. They learned that churches with a "liberal theology, with it's metaphorical reading of scripture, leads to decline" while those whose emphasis is a more "literal take on the Bible" clearly demonstrate a relation to church growth. The two examples of that type of literal theology the article cites are "the belief that Jesus rose physically from the grave and that God answers prayer".

Several months ago a gentleman I met and occasionally have conversations with at the health club told me he is an atheist. I asked him one simple question, "WHY?" He thought about it for about a minute and said, "I just can't believe in a god who would create us and then destroy us." So, I asked him where he had learned that, who had taught him that about God. His reply is still kind of percolating in his mind I guess. We still greet each other occasionally but he doesn't seem to want to continue our conversation. However, at some point, something will happen and he will open the door to want to know why I believe what I believe. 

Paul wrote these words at the close of a simple but poignant statement about the love of God:
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Cor 13:13 NIV

After all the wars and hate and political turmoil and fear and destruction and human arrogance and dire prediction of any real future for human society, THESE THREE REMAIN. All three are part of the same thing, the love of God our Father. But, all three are a choice each of us must make for our own life and others around us. Love is the greatest because it is the result of faith (absolute belief in the love of God and what He has done FOR us) and hope (absolute expectation of a future that is far better than anything we have ever experienced). If you have never done so, may I humbly suggest that you take a moment to Google "The Apostle's Creed" and read it carefully several times. Then ask your heart, "can I without reservation, sign my name to this statement of faith?"

Here is the bottom line from the referenced article above:
"With a nod to the season, mainline clergy and congregants with a conservative outlook are more apt to be singing 'Silent Night' this Christmas and in future years; theological liberals risk a different kind of silent night."

"Christmas Country Ham 2014"

All of my growing up years in rural west Ky were with filled adventures and challenges that were common to life in the country. Hog killing was some of both and lots of hard work. My Pa Sutherland always wanted to kill hogs on Thanksgiving Day if the weather was right. Most years we would butcher at least six hogs sometimes more. When I turned 14, Pa presented me with a special butcher knife he had made and informed me that he and I would be the official butchers for hog killing from then on. I was so excited because one of Pa's neighbors had always helped with that chore. But he had aged to the point Pa was not comfortable with his skills. So, I got the job until I left home to go to college and later the US Navy. Pa taught me how to cut the meat and cure it for the winter.

Country ham has been a Christmas morning staple for our family until we moved to Texas in 1977 because finding real cured COUNTRY ham in Texas is a rarity. And of course none of it came even close to Pa Sutherland's carefully cured ham. I loved just sitting in his smoke house as a kid and watching him pack the hams, bacon sides and ribs in his big salt box. He was very protective of his meat and rarely agreed to part with it except to his family.

The Rose and I have some really special friends/family who live just across the Ky/Tn state line near Paris, Tn. We passed through Ky on our way home from NC just after Thanksgiving and met our friends for dinner in Murray, Ky. As we were leaving Scott Owens said, "Hold on a second I have something for you." He went to his car and came back carrying a whole Tennessee country ham. My eyes lit up and I said, "Oh wow. I haven't had one of these in a long time. My Dad always sent me one for Christmas when we moved to Texas." Actually the delivery guy always wanted to know what that was when he brought it to my home because of the aroma it radiated.

Yeah, I love country ham and this year we have just now enjoyed a really special Christmas Country Ham breakfast thanks to the Owens family of Buchanan, Tn. We waited until this morning to cut it but I'm sure we will enjoy it for many breakfasts to come.

Country ham is an acquired taste because it is very salty compared to sugar cured ham, but once you get that second taste there is nothing like it in the whole world. This morning I had to explain the real history of country ham to my grandson, who is the age I was when Pa Sutherland tapped me for a very special challenge. Hog killing will always be a ritual that I will never duplicate but will always appreciate. It usually lasted well into the night with the very last job - cooking out the pork fat in a huge iron kettle over a wood fire in the back yard to make "cracklins".

Today my family is scattered and we were weren't able to all be together this Christmas but that country ham breakfast with our son Michael, his wife Annette and his son Gabe, coupled with that beautiful Tennessee Country Ham has put my heart right again and taken me back to my Old Kentucky Home for some very special memories.

God has blessed the Rose and I over our 50 years together. We stay connected daily with all of our family of 14 thanks to computers, the internet and social media - and Country Ham! I am a very blessed husband, father and grandfather. I'm also grateful that my doctor told me last week when I went for my annual check-up that he will see me again in a year. Now that I'm knocking on the door of 74, I take nothing for granted in life. Even small blessings like breakfast with family this morning and memories that keep me connected to who I am. HALLELUJAH!

"Tidings of Comfort and Joy"

Many good people struggle with sadness during this holiday season. If you are among those please give yourself some grace and realize that you can't help how you "feel". I've never been one given to depression and dark thoughts but have walked with many through some dark days and learned to not judge them for how they feel because that is their reality. I may not understand it nor identify with it but my responsibility is to be a voice of hope. Case in point -

Jesus was challenged by a group of Sadducees (Jewish lawyers) who posed a question to him that they probably thought would paint him into a corner. Their question turned on a point of their interpretation of the Law regarding a widow who married seven brothers in succession as each previous one died. They wanted to know which of the seven would be her husband at the resurrection of the dead. In his characteristic way, Jesus ignored their legalistic question and left us a word of absolute hope:

     "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered
     worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry
     nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They
     are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the
     bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord, 'the God of Abraham,
     and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is not the God of the dead, but of the
     living, for to him all are alive." Luke 20:27-38 NIV

Grieving isn't a bad thing, it's a healthy way of absorbing and ultimately dissipating sadness over the death of a loved one. Those Sadducees were too educated and intelligent to believe that dead folks can come back to life. I so appreciate Jesus' final comment in the above account and have shared it with thousands of grieving believers over the years - "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Please don't allow the enemy to rob you of the comfort and joy of the holiday season - celebrate the Son of God for the gift he has given to all who believe. We are "children of the resurrection" because through Jesus we are part of God's eternal family. AND to him "all are alive"! And that isn't just for this Christmas season alone but for every hour of every day of every year. HALLELUJAH!

"On Veteran's Day 2014"

On this day all freedom loving Americans pause to honor our military men and women for their bravery and heroism in service to our country. Having served four years in the US Navy, I consider myself to be one of those freedom loving Americans, but have never thought of myself as any kind of hero. To me those men and women who are in the thick of the battle right now and those who have returned from battle with life-long physical and mental wounds are the heroes. And they more than deserve all the ways a grateful nation can honor their service and sacrifice.

After spending the first year of my enlistment aboard ship, the Navy sent me to an electronics training center near Washington, D.C. Those eight months were a wonderful education for this country boy from rural west Kentucky. I was fortunate to spend many weekends wandering around the monuments and museums of our nation's capitol and feel the power of that great city and all that has gone on there since the Civil War. As much as I truly was awed by the Capitol Rotunda, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institute etc. nothing was more inspiring to me than Arlington National Cemetery. Since I was a young teen I have been interested in visiting old cemeteries just to ponder what I learned about people I never knew. In fact, I have visited most of the Civil War battlefields and cemeteries to try and get a sense of the enormity of that senseless struggle where thousands of men lined up facing each other at close range and shot their own countrymen.

The war continues except today there is no mandatory draft or involuntary conscription into service but all kinds of brave men and women actually willingly put their lives on the line to preserve what has been won at great cost. The last time I stood in the midst of those many thousands of reminders at Arlington National Cemetery I felt a sense of the presence that permeates much of Washington, D.C. Our nation's capitol is much, much more than the politicians who fight each other to win another election and the huge army of political lobbyists who go to great lengths to achieve often selfish goals for some special interest group. That's all part of the risk and process of democracy. And, it's never been very pretty, not even as our Constitution was being hammered out by a small group of men who fought over what they felt was right and good for the national future. But it all worked out!

Here is where my faith lies - "Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him." Ps 115:3

Regardless of who sits in the Oval Office or in the Congress, the one constant presence is what pleases our real Father who is still and always committed to seeing HIS will done for the good of the human family.

So my prayer is this - God be with our military men and women who fight to keep freedom a possibility for all Americans and the entire human family. Be with our nations leaders and policy makers to see beyond personal ideals and realize that ultimately YOU control it all and the day will come when they must answer to YOU. HALLELUJAH!

"Nearing The End ?"

From his depressing second imprisonment in Rome, Paul wrote these words to Timothy -

"Mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." 2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV

Who are these "people" he is describing? Take a moment to re-read what he wrote, carefully!

Are they Jews? If you look at the last statement, the Jews certainly professed faith in God and his written revelation in their Holy Scriptures. But their rejection of Jesus as the promised Messiah in the face of prophetic and miraculous evidence, would identify them as the "people" Paul describes.

Are they Greeks/Romans? Even though modern American society owes much to the Greco/Roman world for a lot of the ideas and principles that became true democracy, you don't have to do much critical research to see how aptly Paul described those ancient societies. Although their philosophers and teachers talked much about deity that discussion was always tied to some non-existent entity that had been invented by those philosophers to attempt to explain what they couldn't explain.

Actually we could probably profile every nation of people that existed then and find apt parallels to Paul's description of "people". Maybe we could even go further and simply affirm that all of the human family, even believers in God and especially many professed followers in Jesus, fit Paul's description from then to now!

Disagree if you wish but to me Paul uses that word "people" to generally describe human society at large. There is no way we can get inside his head here, but I get a sense that he is also warning Timothy about false followers of Jesus who mouth the right words at the right times but their actions proved  false to the core.

Today every newspaper and TV newscast is filled the ugliness of human ignorance about God and his truth, but it's been that way a very long time. If Paul could foresee all that he describes about human behavior and every ugly thing he details confronts us today, what should we conclude?

THE END IS NEAR!

Well maybe not. I doubt there has been a millennium or decade since Jesus ascended back into heaven that some people somewhere weren't looking at the same circumstances of human society and predicted the end. We're still here and still in the same moral quicksand that was evident in first century Rome. People are people in every generation and geography. That's why we need God's grace poured out on us through the blood of his Son.

I could bore you with the Biblical evidence that even though we truly are living in "the last days" the end isn't something any human, any angel, not even Jesus himself could ever predict. That event is at the sole discretion of our Father in heaven and only he knows. (Matthew 24:36)

So pay attention and don't get caught up in the hysteria of the modern day "prophets" who keep trying to get Jesus to come on back and end all this madness. Hear Paul's encouragement to Timothy -

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 3:14-15

That's good enough for Paul, for Timothy and for me too! HALLELUJAH!

"Arguing Never Works"

Every Sunday morning we begin our Bible class by reading in unison these words of Paul -

"Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." 2 Timothy 2:23-26 NIV

Although our studies are currently centered in the book of James, quite often we never get past the words of Paul and spend the entire time talking about how this passage has spoken to various class member in the past week. Personally, I like doing that every week. This intentionally brief discussion usually lasts only about 8 to 10 minutes, but sometimes one of us will open up about a specific incident during the week that ignites a discussion that just has to happen. Maybe that is exactly what the Holy Spirit intended to happen when he inspired the weary Apostle to write these words.

Paul's words spotlight four players - (1) "the servant of the Lord" (2) "the devil"  (3) "God" (4) "those who oppose him". Obviously Timothy had encountered some stiff opposition to his ministry, maybe even to the point, like Paul, of incarceration or worse. Paul's wise words should instruct all of us who see ourselves as God's servants to view opposition through God's eyes.

Over the years I have had to step back, take some time to reflect and approach a specific situation with Paul's instructions in my heart. Learning to see God as the major player in this scene has been eye opening for me. I am a debater by nature and have quickly risen to the occasion when opposition has shown itself in my ministry.

Quarreling never achieves the will of God. Gentle instruction is sometimes really hard to get to, but it is ultimately the only way to defeat the devil. He has no defense against kindness, gentleness and a refusal to resent another's opposition. Overcoming the instinct to react defensively and prove my own superior knowledge or position or whatever, has been a pretty long journey for me. Timothy seems to have been struggling with that too, just as Paul had in his early years of ministry.

Maybe this will help -

"God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands." MSG

People all around you need the good news of God but most of them either don't know it or have some specific reason why it's just not for them. Pick out just one of those people in your life and begin to pray for the guidance of God's Spirit to give you better words than ever before. Prepare your heart for battle because that is exactly what it is but use the weapons of kindness and gentleness without even a hint of resentment. Then allow God to do the rest. He's really good at it!

"Silver Platters and Trash Cans"

As the prisoner Paul continues to encourage and instruct his son in the faith, he urges Timothy to keep teaching the brothers and sisters to hang on to their faith and live it out in a very obvious manner. At that time, doing so was not only risky but often a death sentence as in Paul's case and the tens of thousands of other Christians who were summarily executed for doing the very thing Paul is urging Timothy to do and teach. The vicious campaign by the Romans and the Jews to obliterate the words and life of Jesus from the earth was focused on the church all over the Empire. This caused many to turn away from following Jesus and the teaching of the Apostles. Hear Paul again -

"God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription, 'The Lord knows who are his', and 'Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.' In a large house there are articles of wood and clay; some for noble purposes and some ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work." 2 Timothy 2:19-21 NIV

Which type of vessel/bowl am I? God knows! Am I honest enough with myself to actually know? I love the way this same thing is stated at Hebrews 2:1 -

"We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away."

Drifting away is never an intentional result of faith. I've met a few people who went away from Jesus and his church by intention, they just became angry or disillusioned or whatever, and walked away. Maybe they never really were people of faith or maybe their lifestyle would not allow such a drastic shift as Jesus demands and they saw no reason to pretend. However, most of those I have met who went away from Jesus did so gradually. They drifted off a little at a time. Satan is really skilled at distracting us away from the life of faith. I cannot recall one person I ever talked with who is away from Jesus and his church who planned to be in that place from the beginning.

Maybe Peterson's interpretation will be helpful -

"In a well furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets - some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing." MSG

God's obvious intention for me is to use me to present his pure love, shown in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, to his human family wherever I go in life. He wants to make me into a silver platter on which to serve his feast.

I realize there are those who have interpreted Paul's statement to mean that you and I become either a silver platter (acceptable to God) or a trash can (rejected by God) by God's own purpose and design and we have no option either way. If someone chooses to believe that God creates both vessels and neither has a choice in the matter, that is their business and God will deal with it in his own way. But, to me that violates everything the gospel is designed to do. I believe we all are sinners in need of forgiveness and that is exactly what God offers to all  of us through Jesus Christ. Paul is simply using common household items as an illustration of who God is and how he accomplishes his will in us.

So, am I functioning in God's kitchen as a beautiful serving platter or a trash can to hold the garbage?
Kinda makes you think don't it!