Category: Book of Matthew

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Give Your Life Away

Give Your Life Away

In his new book, The Second Mountain, political columnist David Brooks tells about finding personal fulfillment in his involvement with people who are turning around communities through volunteer service. His Aspen Institute program, Weave: The Social Fabric Project, connects him with folks around the country who are “restoring social capital and healing lives.”

He writes: “They don’t have to ask themselves if they are doing anything valuable with their lives. They know.” These are people whose commitments to others give them identity and purpose. “They find joy in the light they bring  others, and they know why they have been put on this earth.”

He tells stories about people he has met all over America (“we are a nation of healers”) who are literally giving their lives away for others. These people have a light in their eyes when they talk about what they are doing. They have renewed enthusiasm for living, a reason to get up in the morning.

This aligns with the teaching of Jesus who said, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). This saying of Jesus is so important it is repeated in all four of the gospels. The Lord is telling us that we find life, real life when we give our lives away. It eludes us when we selfishly hoard the life God has entrusted to us.

Last May, the administrators of Whiz Kids, a local non-profit, honored volunteers, and my friend Laura Love and I were recognized for having completed twenty years’ service. This faith-based ministry is more than a “program.” It is built on relationships, connecting tutors from all over the city with children in inner-city schools for help in reading.

Sure I was busy. As a pastor of a large church, I had plenty to do. But I kept at this because the Lord has been good to me in life and I want to give back to a boy who needs help. I love to read and I want to help him discover the pleasures of reading. This may seem old fashioned in an age of digital short cuts and addictive technologies. But I really believe this is important and I am willing to give a chunk of my life for it.

I want my Whiz Kid to learn to read well so he can improve in his other academic subjects. I want him to read well so he can learn how to be a life-long learner. I want him to learn to read well so he can focus and maintain the concentration necessary to do good work. I want him to learn to read well so he can read the Bible for himself and discover God’s love in Jesus Christ.

David Brooks is right when he says, “Our commitments give us a sense of purpose.” He tells the following story.

In 2007, the Gallup organization asked people around the world whether they felt they were leading meaningful lives. It turns out that Liberia was the country where most people felt a sense of meaning and purpose, while the Netherlands was the place where the lowest percentage of the people did. This is not because life was necessarily sweeter in Liberia. On the contrary. But Liberians possessed what Paul Froese calls “existential urgency.” In the turmoil of their lives, they were compelled to make fierce commitments to one another merely to survive. And these fierce commitments gave their lives a sense of meaning.

I don’t know if it is “existential urgency” that motivates me to be a Whiz Kids tutor. And my life is not in turmoil. But I do believe in making “fierce commitments” to doing what Jesus wants me to do. I guess I am addicted to the joy that follows. I invite you to make this same discovery. Give your life away.

    –  Pastor Randy Faulkner

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In case you’re interested in Whiz Kids 2019-20

  • July 28 — Sign up at Metropolitan Baptist Church
  • August 27 — Tutor training
  • Call for information: Karen Mickle (405-818-1361); Laura Love (405-740-4694)
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Make Room for Doubters

Make Room for Doubters

Graham Johnston wrote about a conversation he had with a man in his thirties living in his hometown of Perth, Australia. He asked him, “Do you ever attend church?”

He replied, “Not really.”

“Do you ever wonder about spiritual matters?”

“Well, yes, who doesn’t?”

Johnston then asked, “If you have questions about spiritual matters, don’t you feel that the church could address some of those issues?”

His response was interesting: “The church is for those who already believe, not for people like me.”

Is it really? is the church only for naive adherents whose gullibility and enthusiasm keep them from thinking deeply? The Bible gives us a different picture.

The Gospel of Matthew closes with Jesus appearing to his disciples in Galilee after his resurrection. Matthew says in 28:17,  “When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.” These were, apparently, disciples of Jesus who had not yet seen him in person. Were they among the five hundred Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:6?

In any case, Matthew includes them among the disciples. They just couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Matthew writes with sympathy toward these hesitant ones. D. A. Carson commented: “Jesus’ resurrection did not instantly transform men of little faith and faltering understanding into spiritual giants.”

Perhaps Matthew had in mind his own skepticism and that of the other disciples about the first reports of Jesus’ resurrection. Or he may have been thinking about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who at first did not recognize the Lord when he appeared to them on the day of his resurrection. Or Thomas, who needed extra confirmation before his incredulity could be dispelled.

“But some doubted.” Surely this tells us that there is room in the church for those with honest doubts. Jesus’ patience with “doubting Thomas” is proof of that. Thomas needed evidence for the resurrection and Jesus gave it to him. What was it that quieted the doubts of these Galilean disciples?

The authority of Jesus’ presence and his words (Matthew 28: 18-20) must have turned some of them from doubt to certainty. Perhaps they prayed, as you and I sometimes pray, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). This is the kind of honest praying that pleases the Lord.

Martin Luther put it this way: “Dear Lord, although I am sure of my position, I am unable to sustain it without Thee. Help Thou me or I am lost.”

One other thing that strengthened the faith of these early disciples, was the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, a few weeks later. This was a  supernatural confirmation because it was a supernatural transformation. Believers today are given the same Holy Spirit who confirms the words of Jesus to us: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

This leads me to the following conclusions.

  • We should talk openly to Jesus about our own doubts. Philip Yancey wrote, “But in honesty, I must admit that even now, after two decades of rich and rewarding faith, I am vulnerable to…doubt.” Jesus shows immense sympathy for our weakness, as he did with his first disciples.
  • Let’s be patient and gracious to others who express doubts. There is a role for the church to play in their spiritual experience. Often it has been the faith and unconditional love of church members that have helped bring skeptics to faith in Jesus.
  • Encourage the doubter to trust the authoritative word of Christ who said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live” (John 11:25). It all comes down to faith in his promise. “Faith comes by hearing the message (in church?), and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17).

“The church is for those who already believe, not for people like me.” Well, it is true that the church is an assembly of believers. But there is also a loving welcome for the doubter who comes with an open mind to hear the word of Christ. Those with doubts “must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 24-25).

    –  Pastor Randy Faulkner

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