Let 'em see the light!

Day 2 Casper Serve Devotions:

Let 'em see the light!

Mat 5:14-16  "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  (15)  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  (16)  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

This passage is quoted from what is commonly called Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount."  In the same sermon Jesus would later say this Mat 6:1  "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

He is warning in chapter six against the danger of giving, praying, or fasting in such a way as to elevate others view of us.  If we do these things we might receive the reward of their respect and such but will miss the heavenly reward and they will miss the heavenly blessing.  Sure, recognition feels good and it is gratifying to have our sacrifice noticed and appreciated.  Yet we are a peculiar people.  We are a people who labor as unto the Lord.  We are not seeking the applause and approval of others. We seek the reward that awaits us, the reward that the good Lord deems us worthy of, in Him.

This does not mean we must not be seen serving, giving, praying, or fasting.  It means we must do these things in such a way that people who are watching us are not so much impressed with us as they are with the God we are serving.  The Lord shines in the life of his people, not just to enlighten them, but through them to shine his light into this dark world.

Let us labor today with a recognition that we are pointing to the Lord in this labor.  Let us point every praise past ourselves to the God whom we serve.  Look at that crew your working with and look past them to the God who brought them

to work shoulder to shoulder with you today.  Let their faithfulness bring you even in this moment to appreciate and worship the Lord.  Labor this afternoon in such a way as to help them look right past you to the glorious Lord. 

Remember "If you Believe, you will see…"

Today's devotional for the "Casper Serve" Ministry:

Believing is Seeing

John 11:40  Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

You have probably heard it said "seeing is believing."  Some things are so hard to grasp or wrap our minds around that we are unwilling to accept them unless we have seen them for ourselves.  We will be unable to accept certain truths as reality until we have personally witnessed them for ourselves.  Some people approach God this way.  They say, "I won't believe unless he shows himself to me or if he will audibly speak to me.  When I see his power displayed in a helpful way in my life , then and only then, will I believe."  Seeing is believing.

Jesus has a way of turning things upside down.  In John 11 he completely turns that idea on its head.  He says Believing is Seeing.  The chapter begins with Jesus being told that his good friend Lazarus is ill.  Though he has healed many, Jesus delays several days before travelling to be where Lazarus has by that time died.  Jesus arrives to minister to Lazarus' grieving sisters. He promises them hope and life eternal and he is going to demonstrate that life by raising Lazarus from the tomb.  When he commands those standing near to remove the stone from the grave, Lazarus' sister Martha objects "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days."  That's when Jesus says it: "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

The crazy thing is that everyone standing around witnessed what happened next, but they did not all see the same thing.  They all witnessed Jesus pray and command "Lazarus, come out." Everyone witnessed a man who was dead walk from his grave.

What they saw though, is revealed in John 11:45-46  "Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,  (46)  but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done."  Some witnessed the miracle and believing saw Jesus as worthy of their faith. Others witnessed the same miracle but unbelieving saw a troublemaker who need to be reported to the religious leaders.

This week our aim is to see the Lord Jesus Christ exalted in our community.  We will all witness houses being repaired and restored by volunteers.  Please don't miss it though. I hope that is not all you see.   Lift your eyes up to see the Lord glorified in what he is doing in this work.  He is glorious.  Believe in him that you might see him like you have never seen him before.  Realize that he is providing for his those he loves, both those receiving the labor and those doing it.  He is demonstrating that He is enough!  Believe, See, Trust, worship!  

We may not like them but we're glad they're there!

I am reading Jerry Bridges "Respectable Sins."  I think this book deserves consideration from everyone in the church.  This book has really caused me to ponder sin within my own life.  It is easy to spot in others, that's for sure, but we don't easily see sin hidden in our midst.  Jesus told us to be aware of the log hanging out of our own eye before dealing with the speck in another's.  That is a scary word for me.  I realize that I have the tendency to minimize my own sin, and though it is glaring at me like a huge log hanging out of the front of my face, I can be completely oblivious to it while looking at others failures.  We tend to look at the sins of others through a telescope.  It makes even the smallest sin look huge.  Then we turn the telescope around and look at the vague image of sin at the other end and feel really good about ourselves.

It is easy for us as Christians to hide our little sins behind the massive sins of others.  Our gossip is tolerable when held next to the other guys adultery.  Our worry and anxiety is harmless next to the homosexual sin in our community.  I don't have to address the ungodliness in my own life as long as I decry the sin in your life loudly enough.  But this is not the gospel.  The gospel is for sinners.


Luke 18:10-14  "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  (11)  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  (12)  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'  (13)  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'  (14)  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

So there is hope for the adulterer and the homosexual.  Equally there is hope for the gossip and godless.  That hope is that "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."  We all come to Christ the same way, "nothing in my hands I bring, only to thy cross I cling."  

Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord.

If you had been born blind and could ask God to see something...what would you ask him to be able to gaze upon? 

Apostles, Believers, and Sinners

John the Baptist declared his view of himself as compared to Christ with the famous words "He must increase, but I must decrease."  He saw a need to esteem himself with less honor and Christ with increasing honor.  I think this is the natural flow in the Christian life.  Not just as we compare ourselves with Christ but as we consider ourselves at all.  The more mature you grow with Christ the more aware you become of the deceitfulness of sin and you realize how truly dark the darkness was that Christ shone in upon.  You begin to recognize the dryness of the bones that Jesus breathed life into.  This is humbling,,,and it is healthy.... and it is good.

Consider the Apostle Paul.  We would all esteem him very highly, I assume.  See how he esteemed himself as he matured in the faith.  Below are three verses, all written by Paul,with the approximate date they were written:

1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (53-55a.d.)
Eph 3:8  To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, (62a.d.)
1Ti 1:15  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (64-65a.d.)

Paul considered himself least of the Apostles, then least of all believers, then as foremost of sinners.

I encourage you to esteem yourself as God does.  Not to make you feel guilty and sad but that you would really appreciate the goodness of Jesus.

How Much Do You Love Her? Him?

While providing premarital counseling to a couple before marrying them we look at the Biblical expectations  in a marriage.  I love the day when we come to the question that I pose to the prospective groom, "If given the opportunity to save the life of your bride, even though you know it will cost you your own life, would you do it?"  My question follows the Biblical instructions for "husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life..."  I have asked this question dozens of times to dozens of grooms and I have never had anyone even hesitate a little bit before answering in the absolute affirmative.  "Of course I would die for her!"  I will then ask them, "Are you sure she is a person worthy of the ultimate sacrifice of your very life?"  "Yes, I would lay down my life for this woman" he will respond.  I then charge him to remember that when he is arguing over some lesser sacrifice that marriage to this woman is going to require of him.  I charge him to consider that saying you would die for someone and even giving your life up for them (I assume) is easier than living day after day and year after year like you believe that to be true.

That can be true of our walk with Jesus Christ as well.  As I mentioned in yesterdays blog I was looking Sunday at Stephen and his brutal death by stoning in Acts chapter 7.  We have a few short verses that bring his life into view and hold his death in perspective.  He is described as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.  He was a man full of grace and power.  The church had entrusted him with the distribution of resources among the widows and he did this while teaching in the Greek speaking synagogue(s) and performing miraculous signs and wonders.  He was a man of wisdom, courage, endurance.  I am convinced that Stephen was able to follow the Lord into death because he had followed him in life.

Do you recognize the call that Jesus has placed on your life?  Do you remember that to follow him is going to mean denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following him?  There are many many Christians losing their lives today for their faith in Jesus Christ.  They are living their lives in such a way as to warrant that death.  At least consider this reality today as you decide how you will live this day.  Redeem the time, the days are evil!

Joseph Salvation is Jesus Salvation

I taught last Sunday on Acts 7.  We read and discussed the declaration Stephen made before the high priest before he was brutally stoned to death for preaching and healing in Jesus name.  I was amazed to consider the address he gave.  In it he mentions Abraham, who walked faithfully with God thought he never had a place to worship.  He mentions Moses who was rejected and the law he wrote down was also rejected.  Before Moses though, Stephen mentions Joseph.  He doesn't give the whole account of Josephs life but he gives enough to communicate this thought:  Joseph was rejected by the Patriarchs.  The Fathers had sold him as a slave into Egypt.  Yet God used the rejected son to bring salvation upon the chosen people and the other nations.

I think it is meaningful to realize that Stephen is talking to the very same men who had falsely and murderously killed Jesus.  The Israelite leadership had rejected the one God sent to them.  And yet, salvation is still available for them through the very one they had up to this point rejected.  Salvation is still not out of reach for those who had plotted against Jesus.  If they would turn to him even now, they could be saved.

It was not to be though.  They ground their teethe together in a rage shoved their fingers in their ears and led Stephen out of the city.  There they brutalized him with stones.  He died gazing into heaven and was received by the Lord Jesus even as he prayed for the forgiveness of those in the act of stoning him.

I don't know who reads blogs like this one.  My hope is that someone might read this who has rejected Christ, even violently at times.  My hope is that you would unstop your ears, lay down your anger, bring your guilt and sin before the perfect savior and be washed clean.