My backyard neighbor diagonally from me in 1976/77 was the organizer of the 1977 National Collegiate Power-lifting Championships hosted in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He talked me into trying to compete in the championships. So, he became my mentor as he taught me how to train for the novice division of the championship. I began the rigors of trying to develop my skinny body. Several times he took me to the local power-lifting club meetings. I have never felt so out of place in all of my life. These guys had muscles on their muscles. Men often make jokes about women being vain in their make-up and clothing, but I have never met anyone so vain as the bodybuilders in this club. It was obvious when I walked in that I was not one of them. Their attitudes exuded exclusivity. I never fitted in. I never had the muscle definition or the strength that was needed. I was out of place.
What’s the point? I was out of place; I never fit in. In verse two of chapter nine, the Nethinim are mentioned. Who are the Nethinim? The word literally means ‘the givers’. They were the temple servants. For what were servants needed in the temple? If you can imagine all the sacrifices that were going on, someone needed to find and cut wood. With all the blood being shed, someone needed to haul water to the temple to clean it all up. With all the priests washing themselves in the great sea, someone needed to haul water to replenish it. The Nethinim did it. Who were they? They were Gentiles, who had become part of Israel. They were probably descendents of the Gibeonites. In the beginning they were forced servants. But eventually, they served out of choice. The Psalmist said, “I’d rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” They were out of place, but they found a place even if it was hauling wood and water. But they were near the glory!
I was out of place in my trespasses and sin. I was alien to the family of God. But my Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice in my place. Yes there are others who have more spiritual muscle than I, but who cares? Yes there are others with more talent and accolades than I, but who cares? I am privileged to just be a servant of His because now I can be near His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 137
In Psalm 135 we learned that God treasured His people, Jacob, Israel. In Psalm 137 His treasured people are in exile. This Psalm is written in the depths of despair by an exile. What had the exiles experienced? Their whole land was invaded. City after city was sacked and destroyed. Refugees, probably by the thousands fled to Jerusalem, the capital, for protection. The city was laid under siege for more than a year. Running out of food and strength, the king tried to make a break for it. It was unsuccessful. The city wall was breached. Many were raped, killed and pillaged. In ancient wars, it was not uncommon for even babies to be purposely killed. Many were taken on a 900 mile (500 as the crow flies) forced march to live the rest of their lives in in exile. Only the poor of the land were left in the land. I am sure that many were thinking, “If this is God treasuring us, I’d hate to see what He does to His enemies.”
In their day, the fate of the city was considered to be tied up in whether or not your god was stronger than the god of the invading army. The captors demanded songs of their captors in order to rub the noses of their captors in what they supposed to be the fact that their god was stronger than the captive’s god. How can you sing a song of praise to a god who is either impotent or does not treasure you? And so, this is the position in which the captives found themselves. How could they be anywhere but in the depths of despair?
This is where faith must step in. Faith is not a Pollyanna approach to life that colors the darkest of circumstances in rosy color hues. It recognizes the dark circumstances, but it refuses to believe the enemy’s lie that they are not treasured by God or that God is impotent. It looks beyond attendant circumstances. It trusts that God does indeed possess a reason for leading one through the horrible circumstances, and that reason is ultimately for my good and His glory. In the midst of those circumstances we must continually refuse the taunts of the enemy’s lies that he forces into our minds. We must take those thoughts captive by the power of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must tear down the strongholds of those taunts. He has given us weapons that are indeed powerful for tearing down those strongholds, but we must tear them down! That does not mean that He will change the circumstances. It means that He will change our mindset as we cooperate with Him! The exiles probably died in Babylon. Some of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren returned to rebuild Jerusalem and see better circumstances, but for the most part, they died in Babylon.
Did God treasure the exiles? Yes He did, but He was seeking to cure them and their seed of their idolatry, and he was somewhat successful! Israel has had little problem with literal idolatry since then. The things that I treasure, I want to keep them clean and pure. He was seeking to make them clean and pure. In His goodness He designs circumstances of our lives to cure us of our spiritual idolatry. In the midst of those circumstances we must not allow ourselves to succumb to the lies of the enemy, but we must look beyond the circumstance to what He is trying to accomplish. Even when we do not know specifically what He is working to accomplish, we must cling to the truth that it is for our purification for the praise of the glory of His grace. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
HAGGAI 1
“Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody care?” Maybe you recognize the lyrics from the classic rock song by Chicago. Do you know what time it is? The people of Haggai’s day didn’t. They were part of the first return to Jerusalem from their exile in Mesopotamia. About 50,000 of them had arrived about 538 B.C. under Zerubbabel’s civil leadership and Joshua’s priestly leadership. Their purpose was to rebuild the temple. They laid the foundation, became discouraged and quit. Haggai comes along about 520 B.C., about 18 years later. They were not even working on the temple. Haggai exhorts them that it is past time to finish and complete the temple, the house of God. For the Old Testament saints, it was the place where God’s glory dwelt! Instead of building the glory of the Lord they built their own houses. Their commitment to their own dwelling had become greater than their commitment to the dwelling of the Lord! It was past time to build the temple of the Lord.
Now God is not against us building houses, but He is against us making our houses more important than His house. That is exactly what they had done. As He puts it, “My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.” What a picture of the American Church! Does anyone really know what time it is? For the New Testament believer, it is not physical buildings in which the glory of Jesus dwells. His glory is found in the building of His body, the spiritual house of the Lord Jesus Christ! Peter put it this way,
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.He is the chief cornerstone and we lay the foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith toward God, of doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. Are we more committed to the building of His body, His spiritual temple, than we are to our houses?
I spend a lot of time working on my house. The average American spends 30 years of his work life working to pay for his house, not to mention the hours of upkeep. For those who do not buy, they spend hours working to pay their rent. When I come to the end of my life, will I have spent more time working on my house or the Lord’s house? Is that not an indicator of where my priorities lie? Again, God is not against us building houses, He knows that we need good shelter. Do I really know what time it is? Do I have an over emphasis on my house? Why is this an issue? It is all about where God’s glory dwells. He does not dwell primarily in my house but rather in His church. He has gifted you and me to build up His temple for His glory to dwell. Am I exercising that gift to His glory? Those gifts are interdependent upon each other. When I do not pursue the exercise of my gift, the body suffers. When I control someone else’s gift, the body suffers. Let us pursue the building up of the body in love, submitting to one another in the fear of God! Does anyone really know what time it is? It is time to glorify the Lord! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
HEBREWS 12
We have seen how there are so many people who have gone before us who have had faith in this glorious Lord of ours. He has enabled them to trust Him in the midst of insurmountable odds. He is the author of their faith. In other words He is the One who brought their faith into existence. He is the One who gave it direction. He is the One who brought it to a glorious conclusion. He is the Finisher of their faith! So also with us, we may think we are solely responsible for our faith in Him, but no beloved, He is the one who began that work of faith in us. He began it by being worthy of our trust! He will bring it to a glorious conclusion. He will finish it. It will not go undone.
So in the meantime, the time between when our faith began and when it is brought to a conclusion, it is so appropriate to fix our thoughts, our eyes, our everything upon Him. In doing so, we will be able to resist sin, even to the point of bloodshed. He will bring discipline into our lives to aid us in that process. Discipline is not fun, but it is necessary. When I played football in high school, there were many practices when we thought the coach was trying to kill us with the rigors of exercise that he made us go through. But it was those horrible rigors of exercise that made us better football players. Even so His discipline is for the purpose of making us more like Himself.
His discipline is to burn away all that is not beautiful in His sight. He is a consuming fire. His fire destroys the ugly but enhances the beautiful. Let Him shake our world. Let everything that cannot stand fall! When He is done, only the beautiful remains. I want to be part of what remains. That happens as I keep my eyes fixed upon Him in the midst of the fire and the quake. In the midst of all that, I receive glimpses of His glory. His beauty sustains us! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
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