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“Standing Down” to Pray

Several years ago the secretary of the navy ordered what he called a two-day stand down for the entire United States Navy. There had been too many accidents at naval installations and ships in a short period of time. He instructed that all officers and enlisted personnel spend two days reviewing all procedures and safety policies. An entire military service stopped what it was doing to look inward and evaluate itself.

It might be a good idea if the churches of America would slow down and do the same thing. Many congregations are busy with activities, most of which are well-intentioned. But what if we stopped what we are doing long enough to think deeply, to repent of worldliness, and to pray for the spiritual wellbeing of God’s church?

The church of which I am a member has been doing this. Our pastors have initiated a weekly time for folks to come together for no other purpose than to pray for the health of the church and its witness in our community.

I have been attending church prayer meetings all of my life. It seems that many, if not most of the prayers that are offered have to do with people’s physical ailments. Prayers for health and healing are appropriate. But when I read the prayers of Paul in the New Testament, I notice that they put the emphasis on spiritual, not physical health.

An example is found in Ephesians chapter 3. There is nothing in Paul’s prayer about material prosperity, nothing about physical healing, nothing about earthly success, or deliverance from difficult circumstances. It is a prayer for the church to experience God’s love, power and fulness. When was the last time you were in a prayer meeting when somebody asked God for these things?

Here is an example of how we could be praying for ourselves, and for fellow believers in our churches.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and upon earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power through his Spirit in your inner being, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled  to the measure of all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Strength

Here is a prayer that the church may receive and experience God’s power. This is the strength that comes from the Holy Spirit who lives in the hearts of believers. The prayer that Christ may “dwell” in our hearts is a prayer that he may make himself at home. He is not to be treated as a visitor or a guest, but is to be the master of the house! This is where our spiritual strength comes from.

Stability

Pauls’ prayer mixes agricultural and architectural metaphors. “Rooted” means deeply planted into Christ. “Established” means built solidly on the foundation of Christ. The New English Bible translates this “deep roots and firm foundations.” What a prayer for us to pray for one another!

Knowledge

Once we have been planted and built, the result the Lord desires for us is that we may comprehend, or understand by deep experience a knowledge of Christ’s love. His love is wide enough to encompass people of all nations, long enough to last for eternity, deep enough to save the most hardened sinner, and high enough to bring us to God in heaven.

Fulness

This is a prayer that the church may experience  the fulness of God in Christ by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Surely after the rapture, when we no longer battle besetting sins and human limitations, we shall see Him face to face and live in the fulness of his presence. But this is a prayer for our lives now. This is a prayer for the church’s sanctification and growth toward maturity.

What a bold, audacious prayer! It is worth “standing down” to pray this way. It is an example to us of how we may pray for spiritual health in our churches and for revival in our nation, not to mention the experience of Christ’s love for ourselves and others in all its dimensions.

Pastor Randy Faulkner.

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Why Can’t I Get Through to God?

I pulled up at an intersection hoping to turn onto a thoroughfare only to discover that the street looked like a parking lot. Traffic had been diverted through our normally quiet neighborhood from a freeway several miles away. A truck accident was blocking the roadway and rush hour traffic was backed up for miles. My route was blocked.

Did you ever have the feeling that your prayer life was choked by spiritual grid lock? That no matter what you tried, you didn’t feel that you were getting through to God?

Isaiah the prophet put his finger on this condition when he wrote, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). In the New Testament  James understood this problem: “When you ask you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” (James 4:3).

There are hindrances to prayer that must be cleared away if we want to get through to God. I will mention three of them.

Unbelief

There is an old story of a midwestern town that was suffering from an extended drought. The townspeople decided it was time to gather to pray for rain. When they came together only one small girl had faith enough to bring an umbrella! That’s how it is too often for some Christians. They pray without expecting that God will answer their prayers.

James 1:7 says that unbelief is a major obstacle to prayer. What can we do about our doubts? First, we should keep on praying. We should not let our anxious misgivings keep us from coming to God out of sheer obedience. When our faith is wavering let us pray the prayer of the helpless father in Mark 9:17-24: “Lord I believe; help my unbelief!”

Second, we should remind ourselves of God’s promises. It is said that George Muller kept a careful record of his prayer requests — and of God’s answers. His prayer journal was a reminder to him of God’s faithfulness to his word.

Once I was praying with a Christian man who was unemployed. He was distressed and desperately needed to see God supply the needs of his family. I heard him pour out his heart to his heavenly Father, reciting one after another of God’s promises. My own faith was strengthened as he prayed.

Weariness

It is easy to identify with the disciples of our Lord. The hour was late. They had just eaten a big meal. They were exhausted.

The gospels record how they fell asleep at the very time Jesus needed their companionship in prayer (Matthew 26:36-41). Three times the Lord found them sleeping. His words, “The spirit is willing but the body is weak” show how patient he was with their physical limitations — and with ours.

Prayer is not easy. It is not always enjoyable. It requires dedication and persistence So, we should set aside some good time for prayer when our minds are alert and our bodies are rested. King David made it a point to meet with God in the morning. “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you” (Psalm 5:3).

The prophet Elijah was physically and emotionally drained. He was so depressed that the only prayer he could manage was for death to take him (1 Kings 19:4-7). Before God began to use him again, he sent an angel to minister to his physical needs. After Elijah had slept for a while and had taken nourishment, God sent him back to an effective ministry. Sometimes the best aid to a spiritual life is a good night’s sleep.

Marital conflict

Some folks make the mistake of trying to develop a relationship with God while ignoring their relationship with their spouses. The apostle Peter says they are connected. Christian wives are to adapt themselves to their husbands’ leadership and husbands are to treat their wives with consideration and respect (1 Peter 3:1-7). This, he says, is so that nothing will hinder their prayers!

The Bible says that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:23). How can we husbands love our wives as Christ loves the church? Christ laid down his life for the church. Most husbands would react instinctively if their wives were in danger, sacrificing themselves if necessary. But in addition to the heroic moments that may come once in a lifetime, there is the daily sacrifice of one’s self-interest in little ways for the benefit of the wife.

How does Christ love the church? Christ intercedes for us (John 17; Hebrews 7:25). A husband who loves his wife will pray for her. Christ is building his church (Matthew 16:19). Christian husbands are to build up their wives instead of cutting them down with criticism (Colossians 3:19).

How does Christ love the church? He listens when we pray to him. A Christlike husband will pay attention when his wife talks to him. If we husbands want the Lord to hear us when we pray, perhaps we had better learn to listen to our wives.

Christ promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  A husband or wife who wants an unrestricted prayer life must promise the same thing.

Here, then, are three of the ways our prayers may be hindered. If we deal with them according to scripture,  our confidence in prayer may be restored and spiritual power renewed.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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The Life Everlasting

The Apostles’ Creed has been the theme of this blog for many weeks. It is a concise statement of some of the foundational beliefs of Christians. The grand finale of the creed is the statement, “I believe in the life everlasting. Amen!”

“Amen” indeed. “Let it be.” “I agree with these truths.” The life everlasting is described in the book of Revelation in visions, symbols, and metaphors that depict heaven as exhilarating and adventurous. Revelation 21 uses word pictures to describe a massive cosmic remodeling, a renovation of heaven and earth that will make it fit to be the eternal dwelling of God and his people. The old universe will be reconstructed and God is going to make everything new.

John the apostle wrote, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . . And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away'” (Revelation 21:1, 3-4).

I suggest that sometime today you take your Bible and read Revelation 21 with this phrase in mind: “I believe in the life everlasting.” There you will read about the new heaven and earth as a place for us to live close to God. John wrote Revelation as an exile on an island penal colony called Patmos. He was far from home, surrounded by the sea. In the ancient world the sea represented danger, distance and separation. Maybe that is why he was inspired to write that in the new heaven and earth “there was no longer any sea.”

This home with God is called the New Jerusalem, a vast city teeming with life and pulsing with meaningful activity in the service of our Creator. You may remember how Jesus wept over the old Jerusalem because of her sin and disobedience. She rejected the prophets and persecuted the apostles and crucified the Lord Jesus. The old Jerusalem will be replaced by the new one, described as “a bride beautifully dressed for her husband,” the holy city of the future.

This heavenly home will be free of tears, death, crying and pain. There will be a new order, a higher order of life that is not possible now because of human sin. Evil is in our world because there is an enemy on the loose in our world. He knows he has but a short time. Jesus, through his death on the cross, defeated the devil to “free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:15). Revelation tells how Satan will be judged and death will die.

“The spring of the water of life” is for those who are spiritually thirsty. God will satisfy their thirst. This is offered “without cost,” freely. Those who believe in Jesus are called “those who overcome,” and God’s sons and daughters. They will “inherit” eternal life, eternal satisfaction. Their names are “written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

I read about a hymnwriter named Natalie Sleeth. She wrote “Hymn of Promise,” with this message: “In our death, a resurrection / at the last, a victory / unrevealed until its season / something God alone can see.”

She wrote the hymn for her husband as he was dying. From the date of diagnosis of a malignancy to death were just twenty-one days. She presented it to him just before he died.

She herself had battled an illness which ultimately took her life. Before she died she wrote a statement to her young grandchildren in which she told how she began to realize that she was growing older and her body was beginning to wear out. She talked to God about the situation and asked him to help her.

She said God answered her and said, “My child, when I made the world and filled it with people, I had a plan. I wanted my people to have life for as long as they could, but not forever because then my world would be too full with no room for anybody. I planned it so that when it was time to leave the earth, my people would come to live with me in heaven where there is no pain or sickness or anything bad.”

Natalie was claiming one of the central truths of the Christian faith: “I believe in the life everlasting.”

Amen.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Catholic with a Small “c”

The phrase, “I believe in the holy catholic church” in the Apostles’ Creed has raised more questions than any other part of the creed. This troubles some people because they think it has something to do with the Roman Catholic Church. Protestant pastors find themselves explaining to parishioners that the word “catholic” simply means “universal.”

When we say, “I believe in the holy catholic church,” we are affirming our belief in the worldwide family of God, all Christian believers everywhere. Jesus left us with the commission to make disciples in every part of the world. He said that “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:47).

Those who believe in Jesus as savior become a part of a new humanity called the church universal. This is what the New Testament calls “the Body of Christ” (Ephesians 1:22-23). This term is used 13 times in the New Testament, always in the singular, never plural. There is one Body of Christ and Jesus is its head. It is not a denomination. It is not a local assembly. It is the universal and spiritual Body of Christ.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he is teaching about the universal, or “catholic” church.  Ephesians does not give instructions about local church order or polity. In Ephesians, rather, the emphasis is on the Body of Christ of which Jesus is the head. The terms “church” and “Body” are used interchangeably. Christ is said to fill the church with himself just as he fills the whole universe (Ephesians 4:10).

This is not to diminish the Bible’s teachings about the importance of local churches. Every believer should be an active participant in a local assembly. It is in the fellowship of local assemblies that we are taught the scriptures, pray for one another, serve our communities, unite in worship, and support worldwide missionary advancement. Each local church, if it is faithful to the gospel, is an outpost of the church universal, the Body of Christ.

Maxie Dunham wrote, “There is no Christianity apart from the church. This is true because there is no such thing as solitary Christianity. Although our Christian faith and experience must be personal, they can never be private.” I think he is right. Jesus loves his church, he promised to build his church, and he is present whenever his church is gathered in his name.

The word “church” comes from the Old English, related to the Scottish word kirk, or German kirche. These are derived from the ancient Greek word kuriake, which means “belonging to the Lord.” A Greek word translated “church” in our English Bibles is ekklesia, which means a “called out assembly.” That is precisely what Paul has in mind: a group of people called out from the world and belonging to the Lord.

We may stumble over the word “holy” in the statement, “I believe in the holy catholic church.” This is because we who are in the church know how unholy we can be at times. Saints are not always saintly. The people of God are not always godly. That is why we are taught to regularly confess our sins to God.

The church can only be called holy because Jesus Christ is holy. The church is made up of unholy sinners who, by God’s grace, have been reckoned as righteous through the merit and sacrifice of Jesus who died for our sins. Thus the church is holy in the sight of God because we are “in Christ,” clothed in his righteousness. Bumper sticker theology puts it this way: “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.”

We have no right to despise or neglect the local church. This is because it represents the universal church. Anyone who turns away from the church turns away from Christ’s Body. Loyalty to Jesus includes being loyal to the physical, visible expression of his universal Body on earth.

Will you join me in affirming, “I believe in the holy catholic church?” If you do, I expect Jesus will want to see you with his people in church on Sunday.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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A Picture of Love

My father was a pastor,  college administrator, and a teacher. In his early ministry he was an artist who used colorful chalk drawings on Christian themes to illustrate spiritual truths. People loved to watch him depict biblical scenes with artistic skill. He would draw a large picture during a church meeting accompanied by background music.

Ahead of time he had traced the faint outline of his picture in pencil. Then when he drew the colored rendering in chalk, the depth and richness of the picture appeared, especially when illuminated with colored lights. The effect was almost magical.

1 Corinthians 13 is an outline of a Christ-controlled life, a life of of love. The description given there is like my dad’s preliminary sketch, made visible when the full drawing was completed. It is a description of Jesus’s love in the life of a believer who is surrendered to him.

For example, it says that love is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4). There may be occasions when righteous indignation is in order, but a loving Christian will seldom reach that point.

I read an illustration of two mountain goats who met on a narrow ledge. There was no room to pass. They both reared and bucked, but neither one gave way. Repeatedly they backed up, charged and locked horns. Each one held his ground and stood unmovable. Finally the more sensible one knelt down and let the other climb over him. Both of them went happily on their way.

Love is kind. This is another aspect of Christ’s love. It is a word which means “mellow,” in the place of harshness and severity.

An anonymous poet wrote: “Let us be kind; the way is long and lonely, and human hearts are asking for this blessing only — that we be kind.

“We cannot know the grief that man may borrow; we cannot see the souls storm swept by sorrow; but love can shine upon the way, today, tomorrow — let us be kind.

“To age and youth let gracious words be spoken; upon the wheel of pain so many weary lives are broken; we live in vain who give no tender token — let us be kind.

“Let us be kind; the setting sun will soon be in the west; too late the flowers are laid upon the quiet breast — let us be kind.”

Love does not envy, does not boast, is not proud. Jesus said of himself, “I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). The loving person is a humble person. The loving person is like Jesus.

Love is unselfish. Love seeks the good of others. We always see this in the life of Jesus.

Love is trusting. “It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” The loving person does not keep a tally of offenses. Love commits the list to the Lord and does not bring it up again.

Love is truthful. It “rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). Those who are infused with Christ’s love have no difficulty affirming the truth wherever it is found: in others, in oneself, in the scriptures, in Jesus who said, “I am the truth” (John 14:6).

Love is optimistic. Love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Christ’s love never fails. It is durable, resilient, and it refuses to accept defeat.

If someone could draw a portrait of Christ, it would look like the outline of love we see in 1 Corinthians 13. If we want to be like Jesus, ours will be lives of love.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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More Than Turkey Day

A man received a parrot as a gift. The bird had a bad attitude, and every word out of its mouth was rude.

The man tried to change the bird’s attitude by speaking politely, playing soft music, and teaching it a new vocabulary. Nothing worked. Fed up, the man yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. He shook the parrot, but it became more rude.

In desperation, he shoved the bird into the freezer. For a while, the parrot squawked and screamed. Then it was quiet. Not a peep was heard for more than a minute.

Fearing he had hurt the bird, the man opened the freezer door. The parrot calmly stepped out and said, “I believe I have offended you with my rude and crude language. I am sincerely remorseful and I intend to do whatever I can to correct my bad behavior.”

The man was stunned. As he was about to ask the parrot what had so dramatically changed its behavior, the bird continued, “May I ask what the turkey did?”

With “turkey day” approaching, our thoughts turn to those quintessentially American traditions: football and feasting. Most of us have good memories of gathering around a table laden with sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and of course, roast turkey.

When we were young, my brothers and I would spend the afternoon playing touch football with boys from the neighborhood. Pro football games were on tv, usually featuring the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys.

And there was “black Friday” shopping. People went to the malls to see and be seen. Movie attendance was up.

Maybe you have noticed. I have been able to write about the holiday without naming it. I do that to make a point. It is possible to enjoy Thanksgiving Day without expressing thanks. The media steer us from naming “the holidays.” Maybe that’s because “Thanksgiving” implies that there is One to whom we should be thankful.

With everything else we enjoy that day let’s call it what it is and use our freedom of speech to “praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Let’s teach our children the art of appreciation.

Let’s take time on November 28 to give thanks for America’s heritage of freedom and to pray that it will continue.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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God Bless America

During the seventh-inning stretch at some Atlanta Braves baseball games, a tenor soloist sings “God Bless America.” The beauty of the song and the sight of thousands of fans joining in, puts a lump in my throat. I too want God to bless America and I pray for that every day.

The moral decline and divisions in our nation have prompted a renewed urgency in many people of faith. Pray for America yard signs, Facebook posts and church prayer gatherings indicate that there are believers who are looking to God for his guidance in this contentious election year. But the thought remains: why should God bless America?

Are we entitled to his blessings when over half of the adults in America claim no membership in any church or religious institution, and the number of adults who say they believe in God is on the decline, according to Gallop polls?

Should God bless an America where in all but thirteen states it is still legal to kill a human baby inside his/her mother’s womb? Can God bless an America which legitimizes sexual behavior that his word says is abominable? Will he bless racial hatred, internet misinformation (lies), mass shootings, the breakup of families, and a political culture of cruelty and incivility?

It is chilling to read the writings of the prophet Jeremiah. Recently I read chapters 6-9 in which he declared God’s intention to punish his chosen people for their sins. (Maybe the Jews heard Jeremiah preach and wished God would choose somebody else!) He prophesied judgment on the surrounding nations too, but Judah and Jerusalem were not spared.

Jeremiah told them why. Falsehood, greed, violence, theft, murder, adultery, idol worship, and child sacrifice were among the sins for which God’s inevitable judgment was coming, Added to these was Judah’s stubborn refusal to repent and to obey the word of God. This reminds me of America.

As I pray for America I sometimes recall the words of President Thomas Jefferson: “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.” President Abraham Lincoln said that the war between the states was a judgment on America by the Almighty as punishment for the wickedness of slavery.

History confirms what Jeremiah predicted. The nations of Edom, Moab, Syria, Assyria and Egypt were overrun by the powerful and cruel Babylonian army. Jeremiah’s prophecy about Judah also proved true: “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there” (Jeremiah 9:11).

If God judged those nations, can we be so glib and complacent as to assume that God will overlook America’s offenses against him? The election won’t solve the problem of America’s moral decline. Neither presidential candidate can effect the spiritual renewal we need. Politics is not the solution. It simply holds up a mirror to America and shows us what we have become. When we look into that mirror, we want to cry, “God help us!”

Well that’s what we need to  be saying. It is time for prayer, desperate prayer. Our intellectual power, military power, and economic power cannot save us. Only God can restore the soul of our nation. It’s all right to sing “God Bless America.”  But we also ought to be praying prayers of repentance and begging God to be merciful and to forgive our sins.

Jeremiah, speaking for the Lord, put it this way: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

Vance Havner wrote, “There is a weird and sinister movement of the powers of darkness all over the world today. One of its major objectives is to destroy America. It will not be necessary to do that from without: we are allowing it to be accomplished from within. . . . It is time for holy desperation because it is too late for everything else.”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Safe in the Storm

A friend smiled at me and said, “I have two words for you: hunker down!” He was right. The third hurricane to hit our town in just two years was headed in our direction. Longtime residents of Valdosta, Georgia, tell me that the force of these storms this far inland is unprecedented. Last year Hurricane Idalia devastated our little city. Hurricane Debby hit us in August of this year.

Friends of our daughter Carrie invited us to ride out Hurricane Helene in their spacious and beautiful home in the country. They had a generator with enough power to provide electricity for several days. Their big, strong house was like a fortress. We felt welcomed and we are grateful to our friends for providing that safe haven for Connie and me.

Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area the evening of September 26. It marched north and hit Valdosta about midnight. The next morning uprooted trees  and downed power lines blocked roadways. My son-in-law and grandsons hoisted chainsaws and helped our host clear fallen trees and debris near his house. All day we heard reports of widespread damage and power outages throughout Valdosta

Since we knew it would be a while until electricity would be restored to our neighborhood, Connie and I decided to evacuate to our daughter Mary’s home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We stayed there for a week until we got power again at home. During that week we followed the news about the terrible effects of flooding in Appalachia caused by the hurricane.

Coincidentally, we had visited friends just a few weeks before in Asheville and Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and in Connie’s hometown of Damascus, Virginia. Like the rest of the nation we were saddened by the stories of catastrophic destruction of property and loss of life throughout the region.

I have been without internet service from September 27 until the date of this writing, October 14. That is why I have been unable to write new entries for hiswillblog,com.

Connie and I are thankful to the Lord for his provision and protection. The words to a gospel song by Mosie Lister have been on my mind.

“In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face / While the storm howls above me, and there’s no hiding place. / ‘Mid the crash of the thunder, precious Lord hear my cry. / Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

“Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more, / till the clouds roll forever from the sky; / hold me fast, let me stand, in the hollow of your hand. / Keep me safe till the storm passes by. ”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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The Church at its Best

Some people are disappointed in the institutional church, and not without reason. Church life can be messy, with denominational differences, power struggles, theological compromise, misplaced priorities, and leadership scandals. There are as many faults in churches as there are sinners in churches, and we are all sinners in need of God’s grace. Churches are as imperfect as the people in them.

A friend once told me he had given up on organized religion. I asked him if he preferred disorganized religion!

It would be easy to get discouraged if it were not for the fact that Jesus Christ is the head of the universal church, which is his spiritual body. If local churches are unfaithful, or divided, or unwelcoming, or hurtful, the remedy is to remember that the true church is the body of Christ. Local churches are at their best when they are centered on him. They can descend into disfunction if they ignore or forget the headship of Christ.

When Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, he emphasized this fact. “He (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18). A body without a head is powerless, grotesque and dead. William Barclay wrote, “Jesus Christ is the guiding spirit of the church; it is at his bidding the church must live and move.”

Some practical implications are spelled out in Colossians chapter 3. Jesus is to be central to everything in the life of the church. That is why the letter to the Colossians is filled with references to Jesus. Believers have been raised from spiritual death with Christ (3:1). Our lives are hidden with Christ in God (3:3). Christ is our life (3:4).

“Christ is all and in all” (3:11). Because the Spirit of Christ indwells all believers, there is no place in the church for division, discord, rivalry, and cultural, racial, or social barriers. When the head controls the body, it will be what it was designed to be. That is why Paul wrote, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (3:15). He added, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (3:17).

The author Rita Snowden wrote about her visit to a small town near Dover, England. She was having tea in the late afternoon, when she became aware of an overwhelmingly pleasant aroma filling the air. She asked the waiter about the source of the scent, and she was told that it came from the people passing by. He explained that those people worked in a perfume factory down the street and were on their way home. When they left the factory, they carried the fragrance that had permeated their clothing during the day’s work.

That is an illustration of what the church could be like when it is centered on Christ. We church members should be people who allow ourselves to be permeated with the attributes of Christ. Then when we go out into the world, the fragrance of the Lord goes with us. When the church gathers for worship, everyone will sense the aroma of his presence.

That is the church at its best.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Fear and Trembling

To teach the Bible is a sacred privilege and solemn responsibility. James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” I know I am accountable to God for my ministry and that produces in me a deep reverence not unlike fear and trembling.

Having written that, however, I confess that it has been a joy to be a pastor who was and is dedicated to the teaching of the Bible. I was fortunate to serve in healthy churches, among people who valued Bible teaching Sunday after Sunday.

I worked hard at it. I studied the Bible many hours every week. There were other pastoral duties, of course, such as administration, counseling, personal evangelism, and visitation. But I gave priority to the hours for study and preparation for preaching. I believe that most of the people in the churches I served understood and appreciated that fact.

My preferred method was Bible exposition, teaching the Bible verse by verse. I sought to teach the meaning of a biblical passage, as best I could, in accordance with the intention of the human author and the Divine Author. If I wanted to teach on a particular topic, such as the Holy Spirit, or family life, or what the Bible says about the future, I selected a Bible passage that emphasized that subject and simply taught what the Word of God said about it.

For most of my pulpit ministry I taught through books of the Bible. In this way I taught most of the books of the New Testament. Verse by verse Bible teaching required me to give attention to all the major themes of the Bible comprehensively, not just my favorite subjects. I also taught through many of the books of the Old Testament, especially the psalms, wisdom literature, and the prophets, as well as the study of prominent biblical characters. I explored foundational themes such as creation, highlights of Israel’s history and prophesies of Christ.

In addition to teaching the content and interpretation of the scriptures, I sought to show their relevance to the lives of people today. I tried to illustrate my messages with stories and examples from contemporary life. This was to try to help people apply the teaching to their lives as Christians.

Believing that Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of the Bible, I wanted to include the gospel in every message in some way. The Bible’s main theme is how human beings may be in a right relationship to God. This is only possible through faith in Jesus the Son of God, his sacrificial death and his glorious resurrection.

In view of the eternal importance of this subject, it is clear why those of us who teach the Bible will be held to a higher standard of accountability. Let every pastor and Bible teacher approach this task with fear and trembling.

Pastor Randy Faulkner