Still More of What I’ve Learned from Email
Every now and then, I will receive something via email that has absolutely no spiritual lesson. It may be funny or it may be just interesting. Some of these are kept in my "Keepers" folder (if they are worth keeping), but most are simply discarded to the electronic Recycle Bin to await my emptying the trash at some future time.
The "lesson" for today came from my daughter, and when I read it a spiritual lesson came thundering in. I hope you will like it, and the "moral of the story" that follows:
Life Before the Computer
Slightly Edited
An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano!
Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account
Compress was something you did to garbage, not something you did to a file.
If you unzipped anything in public, you'd be in jail for awhile.
Log on was adding wood to a fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived (in beatnik talk)
A backup happened to your toilet!
Cut - you did with a pocket knife
Paste - you did with glue
A web was a spider's home
A virus was the flu!
What will the new millennium bring to our lives?
Royce’s "Moral of the Story"
I suppose it would be simplest just to say that the moral of the story is that times change. Technology improves. But, there is a larger, better application for a preacher who wants to call it like he sees it.
The fact is, technology is not the only thing that is changing. While God is immutable (not subject to change) and Jesus is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8), this old spiritual world is changing so fast I can hardly keep up!
One of the grandest slogans of the collective heirs of the Campbell-Stone (or Restoration) movement is, "We speak where the Bible speaks, and are silent where the Bible is silent." Unless you are over 40 years old, I suspect you have never heard that! But, it’s a good slogan, nonetheless.
We used to "get onto" the denominational folks for all of their terms and phrases that are without scriptural precedent and support. Along the way, some of them listened and agreeing, came in obedience the gospel. Nowadays, however, "our" language is no better than "their" language. We call things, not by Bible names, but by the descriptive names of human origin.
I cannot tell you how many times members of the church have introduced me to their friends as "our Pastor" or "my Minister." Truth be known, if I am anybody’s minister, I am the minister of Christ and only secondarily the minister of men. Furthermore, I am nobody’s "Pastor" for the Spirit has not appointed me to the work (Acts 20:28).
About 3000 years ago, Nehemiah told about the children of God and the effect of their pagan and foreign spouses upon them and their children. He said, "As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people" (Nehemiah 13:24). When the people of God are constantly and relentlessly subjected to the language of Ashdod, that is the language they are going to speak!
It’s time we stopped currying the favor of denominational apologists and seminary-trained preachers. If we are ever going to turn the tide of language back to the words of Divine origin, we are going to have to start (once again) "calling Bible things by Bible names." Paul said,
"There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning. If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me" (1 Corinthians 14:10-11).
We don’t sound like "Barbarians" anymore, because we are speaking their language (they have never abandoned their language in favor of God’s, so if any movement has taken place, it has been on our part).
It may be true that technology is changing, but it is not possible that the Word of God will do so. He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. He is immutable; He does not change. If we belong to Him, we won’t be changing, either!
Point: What do you think we called things before men devised their own language for spiritual things?
Monday, November 22, 2004
The Moral of the Story - 2
More of What I’ve Learned from Email
Earlier, I told you that computers are marvelous (are you convinced yet?)! Every day I receive email from friends, brethren, loved ones, and acquaintances. I also receive a lot of "spam" (Computer Lesson #2: "Spam" is not a canned meat product; it is the relentless stream of unsolicited marketing garbage that arrives with the other electronic mail. Junk mail comes to your home or Postal Box number, and "spam" comes to electronic mailboxes.)
Still, I get a LOT of excellent information from those who apparently, think I need it. Here is another example with a worthy message:
Fishermen?
Now it came to pass that a group existed that called themselves fishermen and there were many fish in the waters about them. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes and the fish were hungry. Week after week and month after month and year after year the group called themselves fishermen and met in meetings and talked about those called to fish, the abundance of fish, and how we might go about fishing. Year after year they carefully defined what fishing meant, defended fishing as an occupation, and declared that fishing be the primary talk of fishermen. These fishermen built large beautiful buildings for local fishing headquarters and their plea was that everyone should be a fisherman and that everyone should fish.
However, the one thing they did not, they did not fish!
In addition to meeting regularly these men determined to send out fishermen to places where there were many fish. This sending committee was headed by those who had great vision and had courage to speak about fishing and to promote the idea of fishing in far away streams and lakes where many other fish of different colors lived. They hired staff and held many meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing, and to decide what new streams should be thought about. But the one thing the staff and the committee members did not do, they did not fish!
Large, elaborate training centers were built whose original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish. Over the years courses were offered on the needs of fish, the nature of fish, how to find fish, and the psychological effects of fishing. Those who taught had Doctorates in "Fisheology." But the teachers did not fish! They only taught about fishing.
Further, the fishermen built large printing houses to publish fishing guides. Presses were kept busy day and night to produce material solely devoted to fishing methods. A speakers' bureau was also organized to schedule special speakers on fishing. After one stirring meeting entitled "The Necessity of Fishing," two young men left the meeting and actually went fishing, and one of them actually caught two fish! He was honored for his great catch and was scheduled to appear at all the big meetings to tell how he did it. So he quit fishing in order to have time to tell his experiences to other fishermen.
Now it is true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and had to put up with the smell of dead fish. Some had to endure the ridicule of some who made fun of these fishermen's clubs because they claimed to be fishermen but they did not fish.
And they wondered about those who thought it was of little use to attend the meetings and talk about fishing. I mean, after all, were they not following the Master who said, "Come and I will make you fishers of men?" Imagine their chagrin when someone actually suggested that they were not really "fishermen." Yet it did make sense. Can we rightfully call a person a fisherman if year after year he never catches a fish?
Can a person really be following Jesus if he is not fishing?
Royce’s "Moral of the Story"
You know, folks, I am not going to belabor this excellent parable by trying to preach to preachers. Let it suffice to say that if a preacher is not producing results from his efforts, he should not be calling himself a preacher. He might be producing results in baptizing people, or in building up the local church, or perhaps his best talent is in "on the road" evangelism. Whatever the venue and however the results are measured, he must be catching fish or be otherwise engaged in the work of a fisherman. Otherwise, he is no fisherman.
Preacher, preach! It’s not your job to "eld" – that’s the job of the elders. It’s not your job to "deac" – that’s the deacons’ job. Your job is to "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2). Do it here. Do it there. Do it wherever you are. But, for crying out loud, preach!
Earlier, I told you that computers are marvelous (are you convinced yet?)! Every day I receive email from friends, brethren, loved ones, and acquaintances. I also receive a lot of "spam" (Computer Lesson #2: "Spam" is not a canned meat product; it is the relentless stream of unsolicited marketing garbage that arrives with the other electronic mail. Junk mail comes to your home or Postal Box number, and "spam" comes to electronic mailboxes.)
Still, I get a LOT of excellent information from those who apparently, think I need it. Here is another example with a worthy message:
Fishermen?
Now it came to pass that a group existed that called themselves fishermen and there were many fish in the waters about them. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes and the fish were hungry. Week after week and month after month and year after year the group called themselves fishermen and met in meetings and talked about those called to fish, the abundance of fish, and how we might go about fishing. Year after year they carefully defined what fishing meant, defended fishing as an occupation, and declared that fishing be the primary talk of fishermen. These fishermen built large beautiful buildings for local fishing headquarters and their plea was that everyone should be a fisherman and that everyone should fish.
However, the one thing they did not, they did not fish!
In addition to meeting regularly these men determined to send out fishermen to places where there were many fish. This sending committee was headed by those who had great vision and had courage to speak about fishing and to promote the idea of fishing in far away streams and lakes where many other fish of different colors lived. They hired staff and held many meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing, and to decide what new streams should be thought about. But the one thing the staff and the committee members did not do, they did not fish!
Large, elaborate training centers were built whose original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish. Over the years courses were offered on the needs of fish, the nature of fish, how to find fish, and the psychological effects of fishing. Those who taught had Doctorates in "Fisheology." But the teachers did not fish! They only taught about fishing.
Further, the fishermen built large printing houses to publish fishing guides. Presses were kept busy day and night to produce material solely devoted to fishing methods. A speakers' bureau was also organized to schedule special speakers on fishing. After one stirring meeting entitled "The Necessity of Fishing," two young men left the meeting and actually went fishing, and one of them actually caught two fish! He was honored for his great catch and was scheduled to appear at all the big meetings to tell how he did it. So he quit fishing in order to have time to tell his experiences to other fishermen.
Now it is true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and had to put up with the smell of dead fish. Some had to endure the ridicule of some who made fun of these fishermen's clubs because they claimed to be fishermen but they did not fish.
And they wondered about those who thought it was of little use to attend the meetings and talk about fishing. I mean, after all, were they not following the Master who said, "Come and I will make you fishers of men?" Imagine their chagrin when someone actually suggested that they were not really "fishermen." Yet it did make sense. Can we rightfully call a person a fisherman if year after year he never catches a fish?
Can a person really be following Jesus if he is not fishing?
Royce’s "Moral of the Story"
You know, folks, I am not going to belabor this excellent parable by trying to preach to preachers. Let it suffice to say that if a preacher is not producing results from his efforts, he should not be calling himself a preacher. He might be producing results in baptizing people, or in building up the local church, or perhaps his best talent is in "on the road" evangelism. Whatever the venue and however the results are measured, he must be catching fish or be otherwise engaged in the work of a fisherman. Otherwise, he is no fisherman.
Preacher, preach! It’s not your job to "eld" – that’s the job of the elders. It’s not your job to "deac" – that’s the deacons’ job. Your job is to "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2). Do it here. Do it there. Do it wherever you are. But, for crying out loud, preach!
The Moral of the Story - 1
Or, What I’ve Learned from Email
Computers are marvelous! One of the things I enjoy most about them is the ability to save the 33 cents I would otherwise give to the U. S. Postal Service – instead, I just send email (that is a contraction of electronic mail, which is really quite a simple matter of me writing a note and "addressing" it to someone’s unique electronic identification on a large computer system that serves as an electronic Post Office).
The greatest feature of email is that it is (generally) very fast [usually under 30 minutes to literally circle the globe, although it did take about a week for Lee Wolf to get a recent message from me and he lives just across town. It probably got stuck in China, somewhere], and allows us to almost instantaneously contact our loved ones, such our son and his wife, who have been stationed in Germany for over a year. Now that he is going to Kosovo, we will communicate with him via email and his Trans-European cellular phone (ain’t technology great?).
Another feature of email is the ability to send "mail" to large groups of people (similar to a mailing list to which you mail out say, 50 copies of something you want them all to read). Of course, you have heard about all the trash that is also sent by email, but that is no more a condemnation of email than the junk mail in your mailbox is a condemnation of your mailman.
Over the next few weeks, I plan to share some of the great things I have received. This is the first installment, and I hope you will like it:
The Biggest Mathematical Miracle in the World!
With Slight Editing
Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 2 or 3 million people requires a lot of food. According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, it is reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day.
Do you know that to bring that much food each day, two freight trains, each at least a mile I in length would be required! Besides you must remember, they were out in the desert, so they would have to have firewood to use in cooking the food. This would take 4000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day. And just think, they were forty years in transit.
They would have to have water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11,000,000 gallons each day, and a freight train with tank cars, 1800 miles long, just to bring water!
Another thing! They had to get across the Red Sea at night. (They did?) Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through. So, There had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night. But then, there is another problem.
Each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long...think of it! This much space, just for nightly camping.
Do you think Moses figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not! You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of these things for him. Now do you think God has any problem taking care of all your needs?
Royce’s "Moral of the Story"
You and I spend far too much time worrying about how we are going to do what we must do and whether we will have what we need each day. Yet, Jesus told us that each day has sufficient problems without our worrying about it. It’s going to be there, so why worry about it? We cannot change it; we can only react to it.
The scriptures teach that God will care for His people. David said, "I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). Every provision we have in this life has come from God; He is the giver of every good thing that is given (James 1:17).
What on earth are we thinking when we feel we must worry about whether God will do what He has promised to do? Jesus said,
"…do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!" (Matthew 6:25-30)
Our problem, unlike Moses, is the lack of faith. Believe that God will do what He said He would do!
Computers are marvelous! One of the things I enjoy most about them is the ability to save the 33 cents I would otherwise give to the U. S. Postal Service – instead, I just send email (that is a contraction of electronic mail, which is really quite a simple matter of me writing a note and "addressing" it to someone’s unique electronic identification on a large computer system that serves as an electronic Post Office).
The greatest feature of email is that it is (generally) very fast [usually under 30 minutes to literally circle the globe, although it did take about a week for Lee Wolf to get a recent message from me and he lives just across town. It probably got stuck in China, somewhere], and allows us to almost instantaneously contact our loved ones, such our son and his wife, who have been stationed in Germany for over a year. Now that he is going to Kosovo, we will communicate with him via email and his Trans-European cellular phone (ain’t technology great?).
Another feature of email is the ability to send "mail" to large groups of people (similar to a mailing list to which you mail out say, 50 copies of something you want them all to read). Of course, you have heard about all the trash that is also sent by email, but that is no more a condemnation of email than the junk mail in your mailbox is a condemnation of your mailman.
Over the next few weeks, I plan to share some of the great things I have received. This is the first installment, and I hope you will like it:
The Biggest Mathematical Miracle in the World!
With Slight Editing
Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 2 or 3 million people requires a lot of food. According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, it is reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day.
Do you know that to bring that much food each day, two freight trains, each at least a mile I in length would be required! Besides you must remember, they were out in the desert, so they would have to have firewood to use in cooking the food. This would take 4000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day. And just think, they were forty years in transit.
They would have to have water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11,000,000 gallons each day, and a freight train with tank cars, 1800 miles long, just to bring water!
Another thing! They had to get across the Red Sea at night. (They did?) Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through. So, There had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night. But then, there is another problem.
Each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long...think of it! This much space, just for nightly camping.
Do you think Moses figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not! You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of these things for him. Now do you think God has any problem taking care of all your needs?
Royce’s "Moral of the Story"
You and I spend far too much time worrying about how we are going to do what we must do and whether we will have what we need each day. Yet, Jesus told us that each day has sufficient problems without our worrying about it. It’s going to be there, so why worry about it? We cannot change it; we can only react to it.
The scriptures teach that God will care for His people. David said, "I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). Every provision we have in this life has come from God; He is the giver of every good thing that is given (James 1:17).
What on earth are we thinking when we feel we must worry about whether God will do what He has promised to do? Jesus said,
"…do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!" (Matthew 6:25-30)
Our problem, unlike Moses, is the lack of faith. Believe that God will do what He said He would do!
Musings on Y2K...Back Then
Well, it’s finally here. Either I am writing this to those who, overnight, have been vaporized by some great Power beyond our capacity to understand (in which case, there is no one to read what I am writing) or we have all survived the promised "Millenium Bug."
So here we are, "The Day After", secure in our spiritual environment and in the company of one another. Isn’t it great to be alive and in the service of God?
We have all been told about all of the great things in the past year / century / millenium (1999 was all of those!), but what are we going to do in Y2K? This may be Year 2000, but it is also…
Y2-KNOW
This is an excellent opportunity for you to acknowledge the place of God in your deepest longings. There is within normal man, a deep and insatiable desire for the knowledge of God.
It is only when men have seared their consciences by their denial of Divine rule and their obstinate choice of sin’s pleasure that God releases us from His providential Hands. Never forget that your refusal to have God in your knowledge compels His withdrawal from our lives. Where then will you go?
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8, NASB)
If you know God, you already know how great is His love and mercy. The great blessing of Divine forgiveness is ours because of "the riches of His grace which He lavished on us…according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him" (Ephesians 1:7-9).
Surely, we who have been so greatly blessed cannot fail to see just how great is the Divine desire for our every need. Whatever we may confront, it is God’s will that our needs be supplied. Take a few moments to consider the context of the passage cited at the beginning of this section, always remembering that this is exactly how God feels about YOU:
"Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:9-11).
Is it possible that you have forgotten how important it is that you daily knock upon the door of the Divine storehouse? Hear the prophet:
"‘…test Me now in this,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows’" (Malachi 3:10).
Indeed, so great is the mind of God toward His people that He has explicitly promised,
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 29:11-14).
Beloved let this be the year you knock!
Y2-KNEEL
We have now come full circle. Isn’t it interesting that the thing that brings you to God also keeps you there? No man ever came to God standing before Him in obdurate arrogance, and no Christian stays in His presence without bowing before Him.
Just recently, Lee and I attended a showing of the acclaimed movie, Anna and the King (the politically correct and refreshingly moral remake of Anna and the King of Siam and The King and I), and we were reminded that some cultures expect honor to be shown to dignitaries. In one scene, as Anna wondered why she was being addressed as "Sir", she was told "Because no woman stands in the presence of His Majesty, the King." At every turn in the story, we encountered honor: Children bowed before their teacher and the king, and no one stood in the presence of the king without his explicit permission.
Sometimes people wonder why we insist on order and decorum in worship, and why we expect that every Christian will offer to God the very best of his life, his dress and his words. Quite frankly, it is because God is worth it!
Hear and heed the words of Paul,
"But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him" (1 Thessalonians 5:8-10).
So here we are, "The Day After", secure in our spiritual environment and in the company of one another. Isn’t it great to be alive and in the service of God?
We have all been told about all of the great things in the past year / century / millenium (1999 was all of those!), but what are we going to do in Y2K? This may be Year 2000, but it is also…
Y2-KNOW
This is an excellent opportunity for you to acknowledge the place of God in your deepest longings. There is within normal man, a deep and insatiable desire for the knowledge of God.
It is only when men have seared their consciences by their denial of Divine rule and their obstinate choice of sin’s pleasure that God releases us from His providential Hands. Never forget that your refusal to have God in your knowledge compels His withdrawal from our lives. Where then will you go?
- Y2K is the time to know God and His will for your life.
- Y2K is the time "to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19, cf. vss. 17-18).
- Y2K is the time to know how to live in holiness. This means "that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor" (1 Thessalonians 4:4). Without holiness as a daily characteristic in your life, you will not see God (Hebrews 12:14).
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8, NASB)
If you know God, you already know how great is His love and mercy. The great blessing of Divine forgiveness is ours because of "the riches of His grace which He lavished on us…according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him" (Ephesians 1:7-9).
Surely, we who have been so greatly blessed cannot fail to see just how great is the Divine desire for our every need. Whatever we may confront, it is God’s will that our needs be supplied. Take a few moments to consider the context of the passage cited at the beginning of this section, always remembering that this is exactly how God feels about YOU:
"Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:9-11).
Is it possible that you have forgotten how important it is that you daily knock upon the door of the Divine storehouse? Hear the prophet:
"‘…test Me now in this,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows’" (Malachi 3:10).
Indeed, so great is the mind of God toward His people that He has explicitly promised,
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 29:11-14).
Beloved let this be the year you knock!
Y2-KNEEL
We have now come full circle. Isn’t it interesting that the thing that brings you to God also keeps you there? No man ever came to God standing before Him in obdurate arrogance, and no Christian stays in His presence without bowing before Him.
Just recently, Lee and I attended a showing of the acclaimed movie, Anna and the King (the politically correct and refreshingly moral remake of Anna and the King of Siam and The King and I), and we were reminded that some cultures expect honor to be shown to dignitaries. In one scene, as Anna wondered why she was being addressed as "Sir", she was told "Because no woman stands in the presence of His Majesty, the King." At every turn in the story, we encountered honor: Children bowed before their teacher and the king, and no one stood in the presence of the king without his explicit permission.
Sometimes people wonder why we insist on order and decorum in worship, and why we expect that every Christian will offer to God the very best of his life, his dress and his words. Quite frankly, it is because God is worth it!
- Bow before Him in respect
- Bow before Him in obedience
- Bow before Him in prayer
Hear and heed the words of Paul,
"But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him" (1 Thessalonians 5:8-10).
How Sweetly I Sleep
Recently I was reading some posts on one of the Internet email lists, and the discussion turned to spiritual songs that deal with death. Of course, there are many ways in which we deal with our emotional connections with death. Weeping. Singing. Meditation. Each of these has its place in our grieving process.
One of the ways Christians cope with the realities of death is summed in the words of Paul, who wrote,
"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
The point is not that we do not grieve, but that we do not grieve as the rest. Some grieve in hopelessness; others grieve in hope.
Whether we grieve in hope or hopelessness is dependent upon one factor, as Paul continued,
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
Frankly, there are some whose passing I mourn as those who have no hope, for I know the kind of life they have lived and the wasted opportunities for serving God they have allowed to pass. This is what I feel when I am called upon to assist a grieving family upon the death of a family member who has lived-and died-outside of saving grace.
However for others, some of whom I have laid in the ground during our short time in San Bernardino, I have the highest sense of joy and gratitude for the character and ongoing testimony of their lives, even as Revelation 14:13 declares: "And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them." Death can be beautiful.
On her album, "Sweet Rivers" Jean Ritchie sings a song that seems appropriate at this point in our study. One verse of the song is given below:
I came to the place where the white pilgrim lay,
And pensively stood by his tomb.
When in a low whisper I heard something say,
"How sweetly I sleep here alone."
Of the origins of the song, she says, "This is a very well-known and popular hymn in our region [the mountains of Kentucky]. I used to think that the patriarch and founder of the Little Zion Church, Uncle Ira Combs, with his flowing snow-white hair and beard, was the original White Pilgrim, but he assured me that the White Pilgrim had gone a long time before and that he was only following in the Pilgrim's footsteps."
Don’t misunderstand the meaning of whiteness in the song. It has nothing to do with race or gray hair, nor does it have anything to do with Plymouth Rock or painted church buildings. It’s a way of living, "walking in the light as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7).
May God help us all to walk in the steps of the white pilgrim so that ours will be a joyful death.
One of the ways Christians cope with the realities of death is summed in the words of Paul, who wrote,
"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
The point is not that we do not grieve, but that we do not grieve as the rest. Some grieve in hopelessness; others grieve in hope.
Whether we grieve in hope or hopelessness is dependent upon one factor, as Paul continued,
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
Frankly, there are some whose passing I mourn as those who have no hope, for I know the kind of life they have lived and the wasted opportunities for serving God they have allowed to pass. This is what I feel when I am called upon to assist a grieving family upon the death of a family member who has lived-and died-outside of saving grace.
However for others, some of whom I have laid in the ground during our short time in San Bernardino, I have the highest sense of joy and gratitude for the character and ongoing testimony of their lives, even as Revelation 14:13 declares: "And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them." Death can be beautiful.
On her album, "Sweet Rivers" Jean Ritchie sings a song that seems appropriate at this point in our study. One verse of the song is given below:
I came to the place where the white pilgrim lay,
And pensively stood by his tomb.
When in a low whisper I heard something say,
"How sweetly I sleep here alone."
Of the origins of the song, she says, "This is a very well-known and popular hymn in our region [the mountains of Kentucky]. I used to think that the patriarch and founder of the Little Zion Church, Uncle Ira Combs, with his flowing snow-white hair and beard, was the original White Pilgrim, but he assured me that the White Pilgrim had gone a long time before and that he was only following in the Pilgrim's footsteps."
Don’t misunderstand the meaning of whiteness in the song. It has nothing to do with race or gray hair, nor does it have anything to do with Plymouth Rock or painted church buildings. It’s a way of living, "walking in the light as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7).
May God help us all to walk in the steps of the white pilgrim so that ours will be a joyful death.
Some People I Have Known In Christ
Paul wrote an interesting section of scripture in 2 Corinthians 12:2 that gives pause to reflect on some special people I know in Christ. He said,
"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven."
Without taking the time to exegete the context, I will simply affirm that the "man in Christ" Paul speaks of is himself. He was the one who was "caught up to the third heaven" – a figurative way to refer to the Spirit’s revelatory works in Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ (see also Galatians 1:11-12).
Given the context of Paul’s writing, it would be obvious for me to say that one of the special people I know in Christ is me, myself. Of course, one should tread softly on the ground that threatens to swallow him in self-deceit, so it will have to suffice to acknowledge that though I know Royce, there are things about him I do not like.
I want to tell you about some other people I have known in Christ.
A. A. McInroe
Unless you were raised about the cattle range regions of Hereford, Texas or roamed through the churches of West and North Central Texas, you’ve probably never heard of A. A. McInroe. He was my mentor in the pulpit.
Brother McInroe came to work with the church just a few years after my dad died. Brother "Mc", as he was lovingly known by the saints, was a powerful preacher of the gospel. He was the man who first took me under his wing, saying, "Look son, if you’re going to preach, you’re going to have to get some things straightened out. And, you’re going to start by memorizing scriptures. Here’s the first one…"
When I think of A. A. McInroe, I think of the one thing that, in my estimation, makes one man stand head and shoulders over his peers. Brother McInroe truly lived the gospel he preached. He was immeasurably filled with the grace of God, and was a man of strength and forcefulness tempered by kindness and mercy.
If there was only one thing to commend brother McInroe it would be this: Out of the almost 45 years of my knowledge of the faithful church in one West Texas city, only one young man came out as a preacher, and brother McInroe was his mentor.
Judd Strother
You may not realize it, but I’ve told you about Judd Strother many times. Oh, I don’t always mention his name; I just mention the wonderful influence he had on me as an elder of the church where Lee and I were serving God.
Judd Strother was a quiet man. He spoke very little. Some even thought him to be dull (geniuses are that way, you know). Even in meetings of the eldership, he would say very little. He might nod his agreement, or make a stilted and clipped comment, but he was never vocal in the sense that others are vocal.
Like E. F. Hutton, when brother Strother spoke, people listened. His words were filled with the rich insight of a man who has drunk deep of the wisdom of God. When the ship of the Lord was headed for the sandbar of destruction, he would calmly take the helm and steer her back into the safety of the deep. Along the way, all of us who were already writing our spiritual Last Wills and Testaments came to know the assurance of Divine calmness manifest in the words and actions of brother Strother.
Judd Strother is gone now. My last memory of him is from within a few months of his death. He had suffered for years with the ravages of Alzheimer Syndrome and when we last saw him, he was curled up in a fetal position. His precious wife, Minnie (herself sticken with severe rheumatiod arthritis) was always there with him, gently brushing away the hair from his forehead or placing a cool washcloth around his neck. He’s gone now, but I knew him: a man-a real man in Christ.
Dearl Tucker
Several years ago, I was really hurting. I had been in three successive local works that were difficult and disappointing. In one, I had been summarily fired by an eldership that had a corrupting, malignant disease in one of its three legs. The other legs were unable to stand by themselves, so the entire stool fell. My greatest regret is that my own mistakes contributed to the burden that pressed upon that stool, but when it fell, it fell hard.
Leaving there, we went to a place we hoped would help us raise our young children in the Spirit of Christ. Little did I realize just how debilitated I was by that time, and in a short time it was evident that a great cataclysmic event was shortly to take place, an event I was not capable of resolving. I was low and getting lower. I was hurting and feeling every fiery dart from the Evil One.
Then, God brought me Dearl Tucker. I would like to say that God brought me to Dearl Tucker, but Dearl might argue with that!
I first met brother Tucker when I got off the airplane with my new tan slacks thoroughly soaked with the coffee stains from a jostled coffee tray in the hands of a harried stewardess. She had profusely apologized, and we tried to soak up the wetness with three dozen napkins, but the damage was done. When I exited the plane, there against the wall in his khakis, cowboy boots, straw hat and belt-buckle was Dearl Tucker. He chuckled when he saw the stains on the pants of that dude-of-a-California preacher.
By the time we had driven the 53 miles home, we had talked in depth about the needs of the church. Somewhere close to St. Mary’s Cemetery jet lag would not let me continue any longer, so as Dearl drove across the coastal bend of Texas toward his home, I drifted into the land of dreams and sugar-plum fairies.
Thus, began almost nine years of deep, Divinely-provisioned healing. The loving demeanor of good people who loved one another, but loved God more, worked the magic of profound healing in my soul.
It should have been evident that was my destiny, at least for some period of time, after I had told the brethren about every recent trial we had endured and supplied names within the troubled churches of our past. If at that early point in time I ever doubted this countrified "hick", he quickly brought it all to an end when he gathered the church and informed them, with me there, that he had called every person on the list I gave him. He reviewed his notes for the church and then gave his judgment, "In my opinion, brother Bell has told us the truth. He has even told us things that we would never have been able to know without him telling us. I’ve talked with these people, and I can tell you that the Devil is alive and well in California, today."
He never faltered. He never wavered. He never raised his voice. He never shrank from his duty. But, he did tell me off a couple of times. He did straightforwardly rebuke those who deserved it. Most importantly, almost singlehandedly, his were the hands God used to heal my hurting spirit.
I've always thought of Dearl Tucker as the Gamaliel of Refugio, Texas. I was a mess when I got there, but Dearl Tucker helped me become the man to assume the work in San Bernardino, the most important work of my life.
"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven."
Without taking the time to exegete the context, I will simply affirm that the "man in Christ" Paul speaks of is himself. He was the one who was "caught up to the third heaven" – a figurative way to refer to the Spirit’s revelatory works in Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ (see also Galatians 1:11-12).
Given the context of Paul’s writing, it would be obvious for me to say that one of the special people I know in Christ is me, myself. Of course, one should tread softly on the ground that threatens to swallow him in self-deceit, so it will have to suffice to acknowledge that though I know Royce, there are things about him I do not like.
I want to tell you about some other people I have known in Christ.
A. A. McInroe
Unless you were raised about the cattle range regions of Hereford, Texas or roamed through the churches of West and North Central Texas, you’ve probably never heard of A. A. McInroe. He was my mentor in the pulpit.
Brother McInroe came to work with the church just a few years after my dad died. Brother "Mc", as he was lovingly known by the saints, was a powerful preacher of the gospel. He was the man who first took me under his wing, saying, "Look son, if you’re going to preach, you’re going to have to get some things straightened out. And, you’re going to start by memorizing scriptures. Here’s the first one…"
When I think of A. A. McInroe, I think of the one thing that, in my estimation, makes one man stand head and shoulders over his peers. Brother McInroe truly lived the gospel he preached. He was immeasurably filled with the grace of God, and was a man of strength and forcefulness tempered by kindness and mercy.
If there was only one thing to commend brother McInroe it would be this: Out of the almost 45 years of my knowledge of the faithful church in one West Texas city, only one young man came out as a preacher, and brother McInroe was his mentor.
Judd Strother
You may not realize it, but I’ve told you about Judd Strother many times. Oh, I don’t always mention his name; I just mention the wonderful influence he had on me as an elder of the church where Lee and I were serving God.
Judd Strother was a quiet man. He spoke very little. Some even thought him to be dull (geniuses are that way, you know). Even in meetings of the eldership, he would say very little. He might nod his agreement, or make a stilted and clipped comment, but he was never vocal in the sense that others are vocal.
Like E. F. Hutton, when brother Strother spoke, people listened. His words were filled with the rich insight of a man who has drunk deep of the wisdom of God. When the ship of the Lord was headed for the sandbar of destruction, he would calmly take the helm and steer her back into the safety of the deep. Along the way, all of us who were already writing our spiritual Last Wills and Testaments came to know the assurance of Divine calmness manifest in the words and actions of brother Strother.
Judd Strother is gone now. My last memory of him is from within a few months of his death. He had suffered for years with the ravages of Alzheimer Syndrome and when we last saw him, he was curled up in a fetal position. His precious wife, Minnie (herself sticken with severe rheumatiod arthritis) was always there with him, gently brushing away the hair from his forehead or placing a cool washcloth around his neck. He’s gone now, but I knew him: a man-a real man in Christ.
Dearl Tucker
Several years ago, I was really hurting. I had been in three successive local works that were difficult and disappointing. In one, I had been summarily fired by an eldership that had a corrupting, malignant disease in one of its three legs. The other legs were unable to stand by themselves, so the entire stool fell. My greatest regret is that my own mistakes contributed to the burden that pressed upon that stool, but when it fell, it fell hard.
Leaving there, we went to a place we hoped would help us raise our young children in the Spirit of Christ. Little did I realize just how debilitated I was by that time, and in a short time it was evident that a great cataclysmic event was shortly to take place, an event I was not capable of resolving. I was low and getting lower. I was hurting and feeling every fiery dart from the Evil One.
Then, God brought me Dearl Tucker. I would like to say that God brought me to Dearl Tucker, but Dearl might argue with that!
I first met brother Tucker when I got off the airplane with my new tan slacks thoroughly soaked with the coffee stains from a jostled coffee tray in the hands of a harried stewardess. She had profusely apologized, and we tried to soak up the wetness with three dozen napkins, but the damage was done. When I exited the plane, there against the wall in his khakis, cowboy boots, straw hat and belt-buckle was Dearl Tucker. He chuckled when he saw the stains on the pants of that dude-of-a-California preacher.
By the time we had driven the 53 miles home, we had talked in depth about the needs of the church. Somewhere close to St. Mary’s Cemetery jet lag would not let me continue any longer, so as Dearl drove across the coastal bend of Texas toward his home, I drifted into the land of dreams and sugar-plum fairies.
Thus, began almost nine years of deep, Divinely-provisioned healing. The loving demeanor of good people who loved one another, but loved God more, worked the magic of profound healing in my soul.
It should have been evident that was my destiny, at least for some period of time, after I had told the brethren about every recent trial we had endured and supplied names within the troubled churches of our past. If at that early point in time I ever doubted this countrified "hick", he quickly brought it all to an end when he gathered the church and informed them, with me there, that he had called every person on the list I gave him. He reviewed his notes for the church and then gave his judgment, "In my opinion, brother Bell has told us the truth. He has even told us things that we would never have been able to know without him telling us. I’ve talked with these people, and I can tell you that the Devil is alive and well in California, today."
He never faltered. He never wavered. He never raised his voice. He never shrank from his duty. But, he did tell me off a couple of times. He did straightforwardly rebuke those who deserved it. Most importantly, almost singlehandedly, his were the hands God used to heal my hurting spirit.
I've always thought of Dearl Tucker as the Gamaliel of Refugio, Texas. I was a mess when I got there, but Dearl Tucker helped me become the man to assume the work in San Bernardino, the most important work of my life.
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