What Remains Matters – A Simple Mission of Love – Purity 746
Purity 746 06/01/2022 Purity 746 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the geological wonder known as The Sugar
Loaf at sunset comes to us from Dave Baun Photography (https://www.facebook.com/DaveBaunPhotography/)
as Dave visited the Hallett Cove Conservation Park in Adelaide South Australia on
May 27th. The Sugarloaf,
named for its resemblance to a mass of hard refined sugar is said to have been shaped
due to wind and erosion. The red layer is made of boulders and sediment
deposited on the bottom of an ancient glacial meltwater lake. When the lake was
drained, white sand blew over it and settled https://www.walkingsa.org.au/walk/find-a-place-to-walk/glacial-hike-hallett-cove-conservation-park/)
Well, it’s Wednesday again and I couldn’t think of a better photo
to represent “hump day” and the process of gradual change than this picture of the
Sugar Loaf. Even though some sources say it took Sugar Loaf 280 million years
to form from the gradual shaping of wind and water, the beauty of Sugar Loaf
lies not in what was lost but in what endured the test of time and remained. As I often say regarding our journey of life,
it is not where you start that matters but where you finish that will define who
you are and what you stand for.
And like the Sugar Loaf, it won’t matter what was lost over
the years and through the winds of change, but what will matter is what remains.
Yesterday, one of my jobs sent me to a senior couple who had
been married for 70 years! The husband, a WWII veteran who had enlisted in the
Marine Corp at 17 years old, still had a strong hand shake at 97, and his wife
of 90 years was still proud of and in love with her hero. Why these two were still in such good health at
such an advanced age is anyone’s guess, but I would hypothesize that it could have
something to do with their faith, as I happen to notice several pieces of
tangible evidence of their devotion to Jesus Christ in their home.
Proverbs
16:31 (NLT2) says
31
Gray
hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life.
And this
couple’s kindness and love for one another would reflect Christ’s statement
about his disciples:
John 13:35
(NKJV)
35
By
this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another."
This simple example
of love and a prolonged commitment to God and one another inspires me for the
years ahead for my beloved wife and I.
In my
journey of faith over the last twelve years , I have continuously sought the
Lord and His will for my life and have always imagined that my journey would
lead me to some epic mission or some great work of ministry, and I realize now
that I have found it as my marriage to TammyLyn is something that Lord has
provided me with that gives me love, meaning, and purpose.
Ephesians
5:25-33 (NKJV) says
25 Husbands, love your
wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify
and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
27 that He might present her
to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but
that she should be holy and without blemish.
28 So husbands ought to
love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his
own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the
church.
30 For we are members of
His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
31 "For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh."
32 This is a great
mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless let each
one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see
that she respects her husband.
As I was
saved and delivered from my personal darkness and chose to be faithful to the
calling of following the Lord’s will for my life and decided to live according
to God’s word, I found the peace, love, and joy of the Lord.
But let’s
keep it real when you decided to live a lifestyle of a Christian disciple, the
rest of the world and even other “Christians”, can think you have gone off the
deep end. Living according to Biblical Christianity with discernment and
balance is not common at all and the convictions and moral discipline it
requires separates you from the rest of society as there are many things that are
acceptable in our society today that Christians really shouldn’t do, at
all.
My
conviction to remain sexually pure, unless I was married, after my divorce was challenging,
especially considering I wasn’t sure I would ever get married again! So when I
decided to remain celibate unless married, I was fully prepared to go through
the rest of my life without sex, of any kind, as the Bible convicted me that
all sex outside of marriage was sin and bondage to the flesh.
But
amazingly, sexual purity was possible and a great relief once I had a degree of
freedom in it. So, I was okay. In fact, despite the occasional temptations
to consider going back to my old ways, I was great.
Anyway, the
point is not that wow, I get to have sex again.
The point is that I never thought that I would enjoy the love and
intimacy of a Christian marriage. It
seemed to be something that just was not going to be in the offering for me
because frankly, there are some rather worldly women calling themselves Christians,
and my level of commitment to follow the Lord was not exactly lining the ladies
up at my doorstep.
But the Lord
used my podcast, to introduce me to TammyLyn and in less than a years time we
became friends, fell in love, and were married with our faith and the Lord at
the center of our marriage.
So I take
those verses in Ephesians 5 about loving my wife like Jesus loved the church as
my continual mission and purpose for the rest of my life. I don’t know if TammyLyn and I will live to
be 97 and 90 like the couple I saw yesterday, but if we do, I plan on honoring
my wedding vows and endeavoring to love my wife like Jesus loved the
church.
I think one
of the great problems of the Christian faith in America is the lack of understanding
and commitment people have when it comes to knowing what the Bible says and
applying its wisdom to our lives. Christ’s great commandments would have us
love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds and to love our neighbors as
ourselves.
So God comes
first. Love Him by getting to know who He is, by seeking His presence, and by
knowing and living by what His word says.
Then, if you
are married, you first neighbor is your spouse! So love them sacrificially and
make sure that you are both in tune with that first commandment, to keep God at
the center of your relationship to maintain the proper balance. If you are both
accountable to follow the Lord, neither one of you will seek to dominate or
abuse the other and your love will be bult on mutual love, trust, and service
to one another.
I know I am
only at the 5 month mark of my marriage with TammyLyn, but my marriage to her
represents part of God’s plan for my life and I plan on being faithful to
follow The Lord’s direction and to let Him live in the center of our marriage
to guide us in loving one another and to show His love to everyone we
encounter.
______________________________________________________________
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book
for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
2
Thessalonians 1:6 (NLT2)
6
In
his justice he will pay back those who persecute you.
Today’s Bible verse reminds us that God is sovereign, and no one is free
of the consequences of His judgement and that those who persecute Christians
will be paid back.
As Creator, God sets the standards for what is right and wrong
behaviorally but in truth our behaviors really are a reflection of whether or
not we understand and respect God’s authority, as Creator and Righteous Judge
of the universe.
If we believe the word of God is true and Jesus is who He said He is we
will put our faith in Him as Lord and Savior and then seek to follow what the
Lord instructs in His word.
But as much as this world like to profess tolerance, those who deny the
truth of God’s word are often not content to just “live and let live” and will
actively mock, deride, condemn, and persecute Christians for what they believe.
Darkness has no place in the Light and the darkness of men’s hearts
will cause them to persecute Christians.
But today’s verse assures us that those who persecute Christians will be
repaid.
Even if they deny God’s existence, they are still subject to His law
and His judgement. The only good God has
to be a just God and the Bible speaks of the how the wicked will be punished
for their sins.
We are to endure persecution and love our enemies in hopes that they
will put their faith in Jesus because we know that we were worthy of God’s
wrath too but we found mercy and grace. As much as we can be relieved that
justice will be done, we should seek to save that which is lost while there is
still hope that they can see the light and leave their darkness behind.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and
sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today
we continue sharing from John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life”.
As always, I share this information
for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase John Pipers’ books
for your own private study and to support his work. This resource is
available on many websites for less than $5.00.
If You Come With No
Interest or Knowledge
Not everybody comes to
this chapter with a clear and driving passion for the glory of Christ among the
unreached peoples of the world. Most of us are pretty parochial and
ethnocentric and narrow, and even sometimes self-centered and racist, in our
way of life. We hardly ever even think about the global, multinational,
multiethnic, multi-linguistic cause of God, and what God’s passion and purposes
are for Guinea and Indonesia and Tanzania and Thailand and Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan and Turkey and Czechoslovakia and China and Siberia and Japan and
Cameroon and Myanmar and the Somali or the Hmong or the Dakota or the Ojibwa of
Minnesota.
So
I don’t assume that you come to this chapter with a clear and resounding
interest in the really great news of the world—which the media never
report—namely, the spread of Christian truth and faith among the peoples of the
world on the way to a God-wrought consummation that will make all of world
history look like what it really is—a brief prelude to the everlasting,
all-glorious kingdom of Christ. I don’t assume you come with your heart
enthralled with God’s great global purpose. So I simply want to let God tell
you, in his own words, about his priorities.
All
the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship
before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations. (Psalm 22:27–28)
Then
there are Old Testament prayers:
Let
the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations
be glad and sing for joy. (Psalm 67:3–4)
Then
there are Old Testament commands:
Declare
his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! … Say
among the nations, “The Lord
reigns.” (Psalm 96:3, 10)
Then
there is the great New Testament Commission
from the risen Christ:
Jesus
came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of
the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20)
Then
there is the apostle Paul’s great life of
utter dedication to this mission:
I
make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been
named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those
who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will
understand.” (Romans 15:20–21)
Then
there is the magnificent picture of the
final outcome of God’s purposes in history:
And
they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you [O Christ] to take the scroll and
to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people
for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made
them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
(Revelation 5:9–10)
A Summary Statement of Faith on Missions
From these and many other
Scriptures, I have been impelled over the years to think and preach and write
about Christ’s great global purpose called missions. Several years ago the
elders of our church drafted a statement of faith to guide us in the education
of our apprentices and in the selection of new elders. Paragraph 13 of that
document summarizes our sense of what missions is:
We believe that the commission given by the
Lord Jesus to make disciples of all nations is binding on His Church to the end
of the age. This task is to proclaim the Gospel to every tribe and tongue and
people and nation, baptizing them, teaching them the words and ways of the
Lord, and gathering them into churches able to fulfill their Christian calling
among their own people. The ultimate aim of world missions is that God would
create, by His Word, worshippers who glorify His name through glad-hearted
faith and obedience. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. When this age is
over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the
throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But
worship abides forever. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and the goal of
missions.
Even Civilians Love to Follow the Triumphs on the
Front Lines
This is the big picture.
Christ came and died and rose again in order to gather a joyful, countless
company for his name from all the peoples of the world. This is what every
Christian should dream about. I say this carefully, in view of what I wrote in
Chapter 8 about secular vocations. It is crucial that millions of Christians
fulfill their life calling in secular jobs, just as it is crucial that during
wartime the entire fabric of life and culture not unravel. But during wartime,
even the millions of civilians love to get news from the front lines. They love
to hear of the triumphs of the troops. They dream about the day when war will
be no more. So it is with Christians. All of us should dream about this. We
should love to hear how the advance of King Jesus is faring. We should love to
hear of gospel triumphs as Christ plants his church among peoples held for
centuries by alien powers of darkness.
This
is God’s design in world history—that people from all nations and tribes and
languages come to worship and treasure Christ above all things. Or as Paul put
it in Romans 15:9, “that the Gentiles [all the peoples] might glorify God for
his mercy.” There can be no weary resignation, no cowardly retreat, and no
merciless contentment among Christ’s people while he is disowned among
thousands of unreached peoples. Every Christian (who loves people and honors
Christ) must care about this.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join
our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in
Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can
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(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The
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These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You
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Email
me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class
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My
wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group:
Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask,
Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
