Category Archives: church

Let Love

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flower

12.1

I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies…

It is by God’s grace and mercy that we can even approach Him.  Just think about the Holy of Holies. No one but the High Priest could go beyond the curtain.  Jesus Christ is now the High Priest for all who believe (Heb. 4:14) and the work of the cross was successful in that it made the Way for us (Read: Hebrews 10:19-23).

To fully understand Paul’s intentions and thought in writing the statement: by the mercies of God, lets look back a few verses to see in context, what the ‘therefore’ in 12.1 is there for (if you’ll forgive the pun).

11.32-36

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.  Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgements and how inscrutable His ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?

Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.

You could even go back further and see that Paul is desperately writing to help us understand the magnitude of the mercy of God via the nation of Israel.  Look carefully at chapter 11 and you will see phrases like ‘remnant’, ‘elect’, ‘hardened’, blind eyes, deaf ears, ‘cut off’, ‘grafted in’, ‘calling of God’, ‘consigned’, and ‘disobedience’.  You also should be quick to note the underlying theme: salvation.  Paul is revealing God’s mercy!

In v.36 we see that God is affirming His supremacy – from, through, and to Him are ALL things.  At the beginning of Romans in chapter 3 (Read: Rom. 3:23-26), Paul makes a statement that is one of the most important that you will find in the entire Bible if that is even possible.  Paul says about the cross: ‘it was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus’ (emphasis mine).  God’s own glory is everywhere and is eternally “continuing back” to Him.  Jesus prayed in John 17: ‘glorify Me!’, God glorifying God.  The glory of the Father is wholly in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 4:6) and belongs only to God forever.

So how then do we present our bodies?

12.1

…as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship *or rational service.

Jesus is the sacrifice and no other sacrifice is necessary (Heb. 9:26) or desired (Heb. 10:5-10); no other sacrifice is acceptable to the Father hence John 14.6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”(emphasis mine) Notice the corresponding terminology.  God is Just and the Justifier.  Jesus is our High Priest and the spotless Lamb of God – the sacrifice, offered once and for all.  He is the only sacrifice that is eternally sufficient and furthermore He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).

As we continue on, starting at verse 3 of chapter 12, we see Paul’s appreciation of this gift of grace and how we horizontally walk out this vertical truth. In other words, Paul says here is the practical application of this spiritual reality.

12.3-13

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,  so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:  if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.  Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.  Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do one another in showing honor.  Do no be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.  Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Let love be genuine (or without hypocrisy).  Notice what it doesn’t say: make or force or even strive, for love to be genuine.  Outside of Christ we are in blatant rebellion, active enemies of God who are working against Him with every breath drawn.  Romans 14.23 says ‘For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.’  Our striving, outside of faith, even if we are a believer in Christ, is sinful rebellion against the Holy Spirit, against our new nature.  For the believer we may reap wages or consequences for our rebellion or lack of trust but in God’s grace He will not allow us to be utterly lost or forsaken but rather like a loving father, He disciplines those whom He loves and He is faithful and will persevere us to the end.  For the non-believer they will eternally incur the wages of their labors (Rom. 6:23, John 15:6).  When we are working we can expect wages which is death but when we are abiding (trusting) in Christ we can expect fruit which is love (John 15:5).

If you haven’t already realized, Paul’s practical application absolutely cannot be accomplished by us, unless it is God who work in us (Phil. 2:13).  The moment i try and make love be genuine is the moment that it isn’t.  Love will either be genuine or it won’t be love.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, the mercies of God.  That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Now from Him, through, Him and To Him are all things, present your bodies that way! To Him be the glory forever. Amen

The Gospel and Forks

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Q: How do you teach immature children the truth of the Gospel and a Christian life?
A: The same way you taught them how to use a fork.

I recently inherited my brand new baby sheep. With the start of every school year i get all the new 6th graders. It is always culture shock for them as well as for myself. They are used to children’s church and now they are being forced out of their proverbial nest into a whole new world of “mature” youth group. I know as adults looking back it is much harder to see the difference in maturity levels from children to youth but for those stuck in the middle, it is night and day. Last night was youth group and i remembered quickly that i am now entrusted with these special treasures, full of energy and short of attention spans. The initial split second re-action to the constant wiggling and whispering is first to pause and wonder what that noise is, then silently question why they can’t act like all the older kids (well not all the older kids) but that thought quickly dissolves in the wonderful memory of the elation when i was in 6th grade and getting to graduate up to the youth group. I love my 6th graders and honestly it isn’t at all hard for me to be patient with them. When it comes to teaching the immature, let’s face it, there is a right way and a wrong way, just like everything else, there is life and death. At times, this task may be overwhelming, difficult and/or frustrating, however, i like to think of it in these terms…

When your child didn’t at all know how to use a fork or use it very well, did you lower your standards for your own fork use? Did you make a mess on purpose and use your utensils poorly to teach them the proper ways or to make them feel better about where they were in their forking abilities or lack there of? No!

We, as shepherds, and as parents both biological and spiritual, are to walk uprightly and teach a true, whole gospel to our children; the generation that is following in our footsteps. Not water it down for the immature thereby prolonging the ignorance and adolescence. We are to meet people where they are just like Jesus did for us; becoming all things to all men. Now think for a moment what exactly that means, what shape that takes, when it comes to teaching a child how to use a fork.

There are the tricks, we had the mutations of the fork into wonderfully imaginative representations, we did the songs, and the games etc. It is made fun at times but the fun is always kept in a well balanced perspective to what was really important – teaching them how to feed themselves and greater yet, them eating! Eventually they were able to hold it on their own for a little while even if it was just to spread their mush around on their tray, and eventually in the course of the meal revert back to using their pudgy little fingers all the while making a wonderfully cute, yet inconvenient mess of the food provided them. More time goes on, and what do ya know, they are getting better and better at this whole fork business! All the while as parents and adults we never stopped eating properly how we know to eat, mostly mess free and yes we drop our forks at times, but in retrospect we have come a long way from where we started, making a mess now is the exception not the rule…

Let us eat well, and teach well! Amen.

Litany of Praise #1

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One: Thank God in my weakness You are Strength

All: Praise God You are Strength

Thank God in my shadow You are Light

Praise God You are Light

Thank God in my sorrow You are Joy

Praise God You are Joy

Thank God in my struggle You are Peace

Praise God You are Peace

Thank God in my guilt You are mercy

Praise God You are Mercy

Thank God in the grave You overcome

Praise God You overcome

Thank God through the cross i must cease

Praise God it’s You who live

Thank God through the cross i am freed

Praise God it’s You who live

Thank God through the cross it’s You who live

Praise God it’s You who live

©2009 Caleb Ripple

Fishing License (aka) To kill or not, my choice, my right.

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Fishing is not necessarily something that i would say i love doing although i enjoy it. Probably more so for the evoked memories and reminiscent experience rather the the actual practice of ‘tricking and killing’ as Mr. Martin so eloquently phrased it.

As i was preparing to fish in something other than our tiny pond, for the first time in a good while i was reminded that i being older than seventeen must have a fishing license… whatever. So i went to Wal-Mart where they can be obtained, and just as i suspected the theiving, greedy, wicked america showed her true colors… Now you may think i am just really upset about having to pay thirty-five dollars for a ridiculously large piece of paper that has completely make-believe value seeing as this public water belongs just as much to me as it does to the ignorant game warden enforcing the preposterous rules i.e. the fishing license and it’s included restrictions, but that is not it at all. In fact when the kind sir behind the counter told me how much it was i politely turned around and walked away without purchasing one.

The reason behind my righteous indignation is that the supposed ‘christian nation’ that is america puts more value on the life of a fish or a sea turtle, or some freaking salt grass than it does on the invaluable life of an unborn child. So lets get this straight, i can pay the thirty-five dollar fee for a license to kill a fish but of corse only if it is within the proper restrictions. And if i am caught without one of these licenses’ then i am entitled to a citation for violation of the law of the state put in place to protect the right of the fish that is otherwise perfectly legal for me to kill, or better yet even if i have a license and i kill a fish that is under the ‘legal length’ aka to young (ironic i know) as deemed so by our thoughtful authorities or any variety of special species, then i am violating the right of nature via the fish, to properly run it’s corse. But abortion as Mr. Wilson articulately referred to as, “this sick war that adults have declared on children” is completely legal just because it is my so-called choice or right?!? Says who… oh yea the same people who gave me my fishing license.

Oh the wretched state she is in! Know this, the wickedness is not due to or proceeding from a singularly Democratic or Republican party, for the blood of the innocent is very much bipartisan and judgement will come to the unjust where ever they may lie. We the people… must urgently embrace repentance and turn from our wicked ways individually and corporately knowing that judgement will begin in the house of the Lord. Amen.