Bob Kauflin- Disability

http://theworksofgod.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/song-for-those-with-disabilities.mp3

This is a link to a song by Bob Kauflin that ministers to those with disabilities by pointing them to all loving, all wise, all powerful God!  Love it!

Follow the Leader

I love the Scriptures.  I love when you come to a passage that you have read a thousand times and never "gotten it."  This happens a lot for me, I will humbly...and honestly...admit.  I love the moment when some clarification comes along and the passage opens up and a nugget of truth is revealed.  One of these passages for me was:


Joh 12:20-26  Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.  (21)  So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."  (22)  Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  (23)  And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  (24)  Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  (25)  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  (26)  If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

This passage always had me scratching my head because it seems like horrible storytelling or that Jesus just missed the opportunity in a big way.  What I mean is that these Greeks come to Jerusalem to worship and they go to Philip; he sounds approachable.  they tell him they want to see Jesus.  Phillip takes their request to Andrew who takes it to the Lord.  Jesus answer then apparently shoots out some other direction like he never heard the request that was made of him.  He starts talking about his own death and the fruit it will bear, he challenges his followers to do just that...follow him.  I can picture Andrew thinking "so...what should I tell Phillip to tell the Greeks?"  "Is that a yes or no?"

I know that the story is told just as it needs to be told and I know Jesus is not missing anything, so I was praying and asking God to show me how Jesus response is answering the request the Greeks brought to him.  Then, there it was.  Jesus came for the Jews.  Sure, he shared some crumbs that fell from the table to gentiles like Greeks, but his ministry was to the Jew first.  The gospel has always been  God's promise for all the families of the earth and gives hope to all peoples and nations, but Jesus personal earthly ministry was primarily among the Jewish people.  

His answer then goes something like this.  "It is time for me to be glorified.  That is, to be seen and worshiped by everyone, just like these Greeks.  My glory will be seen amazingly in my suffering and death.  This is the most magnificent display of my glory.  But my death won't be alone, it will like a seed grow up and bear more fruit.  That fruit will also be willing to follow me in suffering and death. It is those disciples who will be showing Jesus to the Greeks."  The Greeks will be killing Jesus "body" just like the Jews killed Jesus.  In both cases Jesus would be magnified.  

Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?  Really?  You realize that to follow Jesus is to choose a road of suffering.  He did say "If anyone would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me."  You can't follow Jesus and seek a life of comfort and ease.  "You can't serve God and Mammon."  I think as modern Christians we hear words like that from Jesus and we wouldn't say it out loud but we think "oh yeah, watch me."  We think we can follow Jesus and serve our own desires.  

Here is the call, ringing from the keyboard of a convicted hypocrite...let us follow! Choose the road that requires self denial and crosses.  Let these difficulties seem light and momentary as we hope in eternity with Christ.  Let us lay aside every sin and hindrance and let us run with endurance the race that has been set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith! As we follow him down that road the Greeks (and every other tribe and tongue) will see Jesus in us.

Does God ask you to do hard things?

As a pastor I have the opportunity to do a lot of different kinds of counselling.  I counsel with husbands and wives who are struggling with their marriage.  I struggle with parents who are struggling with their children   I counsel with children striving to make the right decisions.  I counsel with the grieving.  I counsel with the recovering.  I counsel with the addict.  I counsel with the offended.  I counsel with the offender.  All of these situations, and the many specific situations that arise, are so varied and different that each case must be handled carefully and individually.  No pat answer is a one size fits all answer.  I have noticed one theme that runs throughout each of these situations however.  Before I can tell you what it is I have to give a little ground work.

I may meet with an unbeliever, in fact I often do.  I can not do Biblical counseling with someone though, who has rejected or remains undecided about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I will meet again and again and again with an unbeliever, but it will always be to seek their salvation in Jesus Christ.  I will always seek to evangelize that person.  I can't move on to tell someone how to live who has no life.  It is hard to "pretty up" a corpse.  The Bible describes our condition before Christ as "dead in our trespasses and sins."

So that said, know that whether I am counselling a husband, wife, parent, child, offender, offended, or anybody else, I am counselling someone who has acknowledged that they are alive in Christ and that they are seeking do walk obediently with Him.  When we look at the scriptures in their very different situations, the common thread is revealed by the common response..."but that is hard."  I hear these words in almost every counselling session.

It is hard to forgive.  It is hard to love sacrificially.  It is hard to submit.  It is hard to seek forgiveness.  It is hard to... fill in the blank.  Often this is an excuse leveled against me in our discussion as to why the counselee could never be expected to do what I am describing to them the Bible says.  In all honesty, I too seem to lean on the excuse "it is hard" as a reason why God would not really expect me to do the things He makes clear in His word.

Here's the shocker.  God often times calls us to do hard things.  In fact it is rare that doing the right, God honoring thing, is easy. This does not excuse us from doing it though.  Hear the promise:

Deu 30:9-14  The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers,  (10)  when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.  (11)  "For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.  (12)  It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'  (13)  Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'  (14)  But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

Did you hear that promise?  Believer, you are a new creation.  You are a child of God walking in the newness of life.  The Holy Spirit is with you.  Do not believe the lie that would say "obedience to God is too hard."  The life of blessing is near to you today!  Take hold of it.  Do the hard thing God is setting before you!

Is your church a thermometer or thermostat?

I have been reading the book by John Piper "Bloodlines."  I can't review a book that I haven't yet finished, but I have thoroughly appreciated the book thus far.  I have wept.  I have been convicted.  I have been challenged to understand things I have never considered.  I can't recommend this book highly enough...for having not finished it yet.  Early on in the book Piper begins with a representation of Martin Luther King Jr.  The book is dealing with race and the gospel...where else would you start?  Piper squishes these two quotes by Martin Luther King together and I think the point is clear.  

"There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed in. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society."


"If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will."


Turns out to be a pretty prophetic voice.  Many churches today are obsesses with developing the best techniques to know what will be the least offensive message to bring and the most inoffensive way to present it.  MLK was right.  The gospel transforms societies.  The church that stands on the gospel will stand against those who would disregard God and his standard for purity and holiness.  When the church wants to befriend these people they forget the words of James "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?"  


God has not been unclear in His declarations for our modern day.  Emperor worship and infanticide, were acceptable and popular in the days of the early church.  The early Christians died, standing against it.  Racism was clearly wrong even though some churches argued for its institutions.  Whatever argument is made today trying to validate abortion, homosexuality, or a myriad of other issues, the church is called to stand (and keep standing) for truth!  


If your church is a thermometer that is just reflecting back the values that are popular in our society, it may be big and popular...but it is not really a church.  It has become a social club that has lost moral authority.  That authority is grounded in Gods word...depart from it, and there is nothing left.  But it is not enough to simply refuse to mimic the values of a godless society.  We must strive to engage and change.  I am convinced this change will not be accomplished in the voting booth.  It will come by Jesus Christ and his glorious gospel.  that is why the church must be bringing the message.  A thermostat works to understand the temperature of society...and then works to bring it where it needs to be.  

Would You Dare Ask God for Something?

The story I am about to tell is not my original thought.  I can't however remember where I read this illustration.  It has impacted me powerfully, but I am sorry I can not attribute the story to the source.

Imagine with me that you have a really wealthy rich uncle who loves you very much.  He calls you on the phone and invites you to a home that he has had built for you.  That's right, he has built a home with you in mind.  No strings attached, he wants you to come and receive the home.  You travel to his, well..., your new home and it is amazing.  It is everything you could hope for in a home.  Your uncle has spared no expense.  When you enter the home you see that he not only built the home, but he has furnished it.  He has taken great care to know your preferences and the whole house is furnished better than you could have done it yourself.  You tour your new home with amazement and come finally to the dining room.  When you come in you find that your uncle has prepared a celebratory meal to welcome you.  All your favorites are on the table, it is a grand feast.  As you sit to enjoy the meal you reach for the salt and pepper.  Now you realize that your uncle has forgotten one detail.  There are no salt and pepper shakers on the table.  Then you ask, "Uncle, can you please provide me with a salt and pepper shaker?"

This imaginary uncle may respond in one of two ways.  Maybe he will be offended.  Maybe he will call you a discontent ingrate and lecture you about counting the blessings he has provided instead of focusing on the one detail you are without.  You will appreciate the gift he has given even as you flush with the embarrassment of having been shamed with your inconsiderate approach to your uncle.  Or perhaps he will respond differently.  Maybe he will survey the table and with a chuckle in his voice he will say, "I failed to get the shakers?" He will will say I have given all these good things to you, of course it would be my joy to add such a small detail to the gift.  You will enjoy your meal and realize you have a good uncle.

With all stories, you can't make all details into direct parallels.  I want to ask you to consider which kind of uncle best represents your view of God.  Obviously God is not the kind of God to forget any detail, however small, so it doesn't carry straight across, but I want you to consider how you view God.  Do you think God receives our approach to make a request of him with resentment or with joy and grace?

Can I suggest that the God of the Bible seems better represented by the second uncle's reaction. Romans 8:31-32  "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  (32)  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"  He has given his best, what would he now withhold?  He invites our requests.  Luke 11:9-10  "And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  (10)  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."  He goes further to say Luke 11:11-13  "What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;  (12)  or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  (13)  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!""  If sinful fathers can lovingly bless their children see how a sinless God blesses his children with all good things...and best of all, he gives himself.

I hope you will approach with confidence God's throne of grace.  I hope you will come as His child through Jesus Christ.  Yes come humbly, but because of God's goodness you don't have to fear you are being presumptuous to ask.  You have been invited!

Stinkin' Thinkin'!

Jesus was walking out of the temple when he came across a man who was born with a disability.  He sees a man who has been blind from birth. John 9:1  "As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth."  That is in itself, remarkable.  Jesus saw a man.  I was just visiting with a friend whose son is paralyzed with cerebral palsy who was discussing the joy it gives him when someone sees his son and engages him instead of looking away or looking through him.  Jesus saw this man.  He saw him as a man.

The disciples didn't so much see a man, they saw an opportunity for a theological discussion.  They didn't necessarily even care who it hurt. John 9:2  "And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?""  That's what the good ol' revival preachers used to call stinkin' thinkin'.  They assumed his disability, his blindness, must be a result of his or his parents sin.  Jesus gives a quick refuting of this thought process which still wields a great deal of destruction for many in the church today, and shows why this suffering had come into this mans life. John "9:3  Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him."  Wow, this man's suffering is a unique opportunity for God to display his glory!  It has been a hard privilege.

In fact Jesus does a Christ exalting miracle in this mans life.  He gives him eyes that can see.  Then he gives him spiritual eyes that begin to see more and more.  By the end of the story this man is worshiping Jesus.  John 9:38  "He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him."  Even as this miracle was in the works we see the influence of the stinkin' thinkin' that has marred this mans psyche.  He has the same understanding of God as the disciples when he responds to the Pharisees back in John 9:31  "We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him."  The implication of that statement is blind worshipers get to see while blind sinners stay blind.  If you are blind or suffering then you must be a sinner.  You or your parents?

My hope is that Jesus rescued him from those scars.  I hope he was given eyes to see the glorious Jesus who came and died for us while we were yet sinners.  I hope his eyes were opened to see not his own approach to righteousness but the miracle of Jesus declaring him righteous.  My hope and prayer is that you, reader, might come to see and worship Jesus this way too.  


 

A Disabled Person's Great Need.

Until four months ago I was (I am ashamed to say) almost completely unaware of the needs of the disabled people in my community and their families and caregivers.  The horizon of my world expanded a bit when my my son was born two months premature.  For weeks we had been at our local hospital trying to stop my wife's contractions but nearing the end of June nothing was to be done.  We awoke early in the morning, my wife was flown to the nearest large city that had a NICU that could provide the care a baby born so early would need.  The concern was his lungs.  When a baby is born that early, it is hard to know how developed their lungs will be.

I can remember the day clearly.  By the time I got to the hospital my wife was under an hour away from delivering our son.  As he was delivered the room sprung into activity.  Nurses and doctors were caring for my wife and for our baby boy.  I tried to find my peace in the Lord as we waited to hear how he was breathing and how everything else was looking.  The next few moments were incredible.  His lungs were healthy, he was breathing fine.  His heart looks good!  the reports came in one after the other in a matter of minutes.  The doctor relayed the news, everything looks good.  And then, without even looking up she said "And you know we think he has Downs Syndrome right?"  No, we hadn't done any screening, I was floored by the news.  All the good news was rolling in and then this seemed to come crashing in like some joke that I didn't get.

Over the next few days I sought to bless my wife, bless our other four children, and try to read as much information as I could get my hands on about Downs Syndrome.  Most of the medical information I read was pretty bleak.  I thought it could have been written by Rabshakeh outside the walls.  One percentage after another was given to describe the heart defect I should expect, the intestinal issues that would probably require surgery, the hearing issues, the developmental difficulties...on and on it went.  I had to come to a place where I recognized that the God who delivered my son safely into this world, would see him through this life, whatever difficulties lay ahead.

These were the words I tearfully read in the NICU as I watched my son sleep under the lights and hooked up to all the equipment.  Psalm 71:5-6 " For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.  (6)  Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you."  I know hard times may lay ahead, but we will trust the Lord in them.

As I mentioned, my horizon expanded that day.  I have the hope of Jesus Christ to walk through this season.  Many organizations reached out to us, some were very gracious and much appreciated.  None offered the hope of Jesus Christ; the hope and help that comes in the gospel.  So God has allowed us to begin a Disabilities ministry through our church.  I am excited for the opportunity to see Christ magnified in the disabled community.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a disabled persons greatest need.

I think that is made evident in Luke 5.  Some men bring to Jesus a paralyzed man.  Jesus has compassion of the man and speaks his grace to meet his greatest need.  Luke 5:18-20  "And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus,  (19)  but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.  (20)  And when he saw their faith, he said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you.""

Jesus forgave his sins.  of course he wasn't done, he would also bring healing to his body, but if the story had ended right there, Jesus would have given the paralyzed man the best he had to offer.  He removed his sin, no barrier remained for him to walk with God for all eternity.  A few years of laying paralyzed would become "light and momentary affliction" in the eternity with almighty God.  I don't make light of his disability or anyone else's.  I mean to highly exalt the glory of Jesus Christ over any of the trials of this life.

I hope you know this Jesus. I hope you have found in him the forgiveness of your sins that you might walk with him forever!