The LORD's Anointed

I have been reading through 1&2 Samuel over the last few weeks and the phrase, "the LORD's Anointed" has been sticking in my mind.

The Old Testament records three types of positions that the LORD anoints: Prophet, Priest, and King. God anoints those who will speak on His behalf to the people (prophet), those He calls to minister his word and worship before the people (priest), and those He sets apart to provide special leadership in His kingdom...

In 1&2 Samuel David is found running from King Saul, who intends to kill David. Several opportunities are given to David to take the life of Saul, but David refuses to end or stop that which God has begun and set apart for His own service.

I have heard the term, LORD's anointed, used many times to describe those in specific roles of service in God's kingdom - specifically Pastors, Deacons, and Missionaries... Those that have been called and ordained. I don't want to belittle any of these offices in the kingdom, but I also don't want to leave out the truth.

The truth is this: every person who has repented of their sin and received forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ is a Priest in the kingdom of God. Every person. Every father who is a disciple of Jesus (see Priest) has been anointed by God as Prophet to his children. It is his role to speak the truth of God to his children's hearts so that they may know their sin and fear God.

The point that struck me this morning is simple: Believers in Jesus are all anointed. We are all called to be set apart and live lives of worship and ministry before a sinful world. Wow. Jesus has not only saved His disciples, but He has anointed them as priests in His kingdom!

So the next question I asked was, how long? How long are we to be Priests? How long was David King? How long was Saul King? How long was Samuel a prophet? For life... Until you die. Here is the interesting part: Believers, true disciples of Jesus, will not die - the bible teaches that they have already passed from death to life and will live with the LORD forever.

How long are we to be holy, set apart, living lives of worship and ministry before the LORD and others? Forever.

Is this exciting to you? Are you like me, energized by the idea of living eternity in worship and ministry - loving others the way that Jesus loves... Does this news put a huge smile on your face and a sense of longing to be with the LORD?

Here is the problem: Many of us approach our faith like it is a huge burden that we have to carry for a time if we want to make it to the kingdom. Living a holy life, attending worship, reading and studying the word, edifying others are all things that some of us view as a hindrance and crutch that we have to deal with in order to escape from the torment of Hell... The problem is that eternity is not going to be filled with lust and greed and selfishness. It can't, because those things are sinful and there is no sin in heaven.

Are you struggling to find the joy in holiness and the fun of the Christian faith. Are you looking back to your life before Christianity with longing? You are not alone in your struggle. Take the time right now to pray to God and tell Him about your struggle. Ask God to help you to find the joy in your faith.

Hypocrisy: A lack of true conviction

Hypocrisy is one of those catch-phrases in a church... but what is hypocrisy?

Web Definitions defines hipocrisy as, "an expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction." In other words, hypocrisy is is pretending and proclaiming to believe something that is not lived out.

One of the requirements of my undergraduate degree was several classes of advanced math and physics. I like both subjects, but I was not the best student at either. In one of my physics classes I met a young man, that I will call Kevin, who was so different from anyone else I had ever met. Kevin seemed to always be on the positive side of bipolar, if that makes sense... Nothing ever seemed to drag him down and every day seemed from my perspective like it was picture perfect for him.

I had several conversations Kevin over the course of the two semesters we had physics together. Over time I learned that Kevin had a very difficult life. He has serious problems at home and work that he had to deal with and ultimately overcome. He struggled along with me in school and was desperately trying to win the attention and affection of a girl he had fallen in love with. Kevin's life was not perfect at all.

Towards the end of the Fall semester Kevin invited me on a skiing trip over a weekend. He said that a bunch of guys from his church were all going to go skiing and offered for me to come along. At that instant I realized what was so different between me and Kevin. I was trudging through life, trying to make something out of nothing and struggling every step of the way. I continuously felt overlooked, frustrated, aggravated, and out numbered. I was trusting in myself, Kevin was trusting in Jesus.

In Luke 12:1b-6 Jesus teaches his disciples about faith,

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!
Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

All to often, we proclaim that we know Jesus and that we trust in God, but fail to live that out in our lives... We say that Jesus is our Lord, but as soon as trouble strikes we act and speak as though God has forgotten about us...

Luke 12 teaches us that God knows us intimately. He is not only fully knowledgeable of our needs, but of every aspect of our being... even down to the number of hairs on our head. When God is so closely watching over us, how is it possible to ever believe that He has forgotten us?

Kevin lived out his faith everyday. He gave me an example of what a living, breathing, walking, talking, true believer looks, talks, and acts like. He didn't have to tell me about Jesus, because He was showing me Jesus in his every move.

I am giving my every moment to Jesus. I am living like a child, trusting that God knows and is able. I want someone else to catch a glimpse of true faith when they see me, instead of another whiff of Christian hypocrisy.


-dRo

The invisible God

The fish and the loaves. Haven't we all heard this parable many times? This morning I read this parable in Mark 8:6-10 and I was reminded of a very certain truth, sometimes we don't know when God is blessing us until the blessing has been fulfilled.

In this parable, there were 7 loaves and a few small fish used to feed four thousand. Think about that... four thousand were "filled", according to verse 8, from 7 loaves and a few small fish. What really struck me this morning is how the multitude, as they were taking and eating, observed God at work.

Did they see Him moving about them? Did they see a wand wave over them? Each of them, seeking to be with Jesus ate, out of His compassion, and were filled.

The interesting part about all of this is that the miracle and work of Jesus was not fully realized until the end... until the collecting of the leftovers. Jesus was working the whole time. Jesus blessed and fed. Jesus filled and provided.

Sometimes I think we find ourselves in a similar situation, don't we. God is blessing us, providing for us, filling us... and many times we don't even realize what Jesus is doing until the end.

Did they consume it all? No. The disciples collected the leftover fragments and there were 7 large baskets full. Wow. Jesus has enough compassion to not only feed all of those who come to Him, but will have leftovers!

Thank you, Jesus for your compassion. Thank you, Jesus for your provision. Thank you, Jesus for the security I have in you, knowing that you will not run out.

-dRo

Theology Matters

I have recently resigned from a loving church where I have served for over a year, and upon resigning I received many gracious comments regarding my pastorate, my behavior, my family, and my preaching.

One comment that stood out regarding my preaching was a nice compliment of how I preach both the New Testament and the Old Testament. As I considered this I began to ask myself if all preachers preach the Old Testament and the New Testament... and more specifically, why would a preacher not preach the Old Testament - which was the focus of the compliment.

I have started to wonder why someone would not preach the Old Testament with the same fervor and passion as the New Testament... and then this morning I believe I discovered one of many possible answers: Dispensationalism.

To be clear, I am not attempting to explain the concept of dispensationalism in this posting; however, when I read a posting from a church looking for a Pastor that believed in dispensation a light bulb went on in my heart that shed some light as to why the compliment may have needed to be said. I believe that the commenter has experienced ministry from churches that hold to dispensational theology and their experience exemplifies the incorrectness of that position.

In my theology, and in my worldview, God is unchanging. His Word is eternal and He Himself is not influence, changed, or coerced in any way by anything. God is as He has always been: Perfect, Holy, Just, Loving, Patient, Full of Mercy, Quick to Forgive, etc. I further believe that God's expectations for His people have not changed either. God still expects for His people to act, behave, think, and live as He does. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament.

This morning as part of my bible study I read Exodus 22-23. There are a lot of laws and rules in these chapters outlining what justice looks like, but verses 4-6 really hit home for me:

If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it. Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

What really struck me is that God has always been full of compassion and mercy. God is not simply laying down examples and rules of justice in these chapters, God is giving examples of how His people should behave, think, and act in life. Does God want you to be kind to only those who are kind to you? Does God only want you to exert effort to help those that you like and who agree with you? Does God assume that poor people are poor because they are lazy and deserve it? Read the above verses again, and then read what Jesus says in Luke 6:

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Same God, Same expectation.... Theology Matters.

Living Behind Walls

I am a person of privacy. It has taken me a long time to accept this idea, and it is with much distaste that I make this confession. For years I have tried to convince myself that I am an open book, outgoing, and public in all parts of my life. The often used adjective, "transparent" comes to mind when I picture how I want to be described... but transparent is not even close.

If I were going to try to describe myself and my personality through images and pictures I would be a block wall, or at least a person living behind one.

I love the Word of God, I love Jesus, I love spending time with God, and a like people. I like them, not really loving many of them.

This is one of the differences between me and Jesus: Jesus loves all the people (Romans 5:8). Jesus loves them all so much that He gave up His blood for them on the cross. Jesus did this out of love, to save all of the people that come to Him in repentance and faith trusting in Him. Wow. Jesus did all of this, and I struggle with wondering if, "like" is too strong of word to use to describe my feelings.

The issue is sin. My sin and their sin. As a believer, I know that human society is affected by sin, it has become polluted by it, distorted by it, corrupted by it; and now we must live in it. So my answer, in many ways, is to isolate myself from it. This is wrong.

Our mission on this earth is not to build a great utopia where everything is perfect. The mission of the disciples of Jesus is to alleviate suffering and to strike at the root cause of injustice, prejudice, violence, and poverty by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the whole world.

Matthew 9:36 says that when Jesus saw the crowds he was, "moved with compassion." Jesus is concerned about all people, the whole person, and the society in which that person lives. This is the heart of Jesus. What is your heart?

I am tearing down the walls, and lifting up my voice. What are you doing?


-dRo

Waiting for Change

I am not sure why, but I have been thinking about the beach a lot lately. I have found myself wondering, considering, even investigating if it is possible for my family to go to Bermuda for a short holiday.

The more I have examined my thoughts and my motives, the more I am convinced that my motivation is my desire for change. I want change in my life. It isn't that I detest my life, but that I find myself in a situation where I am too busy and I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed.

The funny part about all of this is that, I don't have to go to Bermuda to change my life and situation. All I really need to do is give it all to Jesus, and depend on Him to lead me, guide me, care for me, and put my life back together the way it belongs.

That is what Isaiah 61 is all about - Rebuilding, Returning, and Rejoicing.

Isaiah 61:3 reads,

To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified

This is the ministry of Jesus and His church. This is what He does. He takes our heavy burdens, the ashes that we have made by burning our life at both ends and destroying all that has been given to us. When we seek His will and give our life to Him, he brings beauty from the ashes, exchanges joy for mourning, and covers our heavy, weak, down-trodden spirit with a garments of praise.

Will you join me in standing stall and strong like the mighty oaks in the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ? Let's give everything to Him together, for His glory, and for our restoration.


-dRo.

An Eternal Vision

I have been reading, "Preventing Ministry Failure" by Michael Todd Wilson and Brad Hoffman for the last couple of weeks. The first few chapters challenge the reader to understand their calling, manage their time, and protect their relationships. Reading these chapters was a true wake-up call to me. As I read these chapters and thought about their significance, God led me through a progression of experiences over the last week that are truly God-moments.

The first experience was a planned vacation with my family (Protect My Relationships). This was not a major vacation, but a small weekend getaway to retreat and recharge after a very busy semester of school, work, and ministry. As we vacationed, I realized that I was not retreating, relaxing, or recharging. I was exchanging. I exchanged one group of activities that consumed my time and thoughts for another group of activities that consumed my time and thoughts. Halfway into the "vacation" I realized that scripted vacations are not compatible with my personality type. A true vacation for me is a vacation with nothing planned. In order for me to relax and not feel pressured to "keep a schedule" I must not have an itinerary of any sort. To me, this is something strange and a little scary. The idea of not being productive with my time seems inherently wrong to me, and is something to which I am resistant; nevertheless, the conclusion I reached is that this is a requirement for me to rest.


The second experience was total lack of cellular service and communication with the rest of the world: no phone, no internet, no newspaper no TV, no radio (Manage My Time). Initially I found this extraordinarily irritating, however, about midway through I stopped missing the technology and started appreciated the simplicity of communicating to those around me, rather than trying to reach those involved in separate activities. This spoke to me on a very personal level. My wife and I spent a significant effort pursuing the vocation of foreign missionary. We had a heart, and still do, to move overseas and join another people and share the saving gospel of Jesus Christ with them. God has revealed to us in His way that for now, our calling is stateside. In my love for missions I have found that I frequently read and focus on foreign missions, eventhough I am aware that God has closed that door for a season. What a waste of time this has been - spending countless hours lusting after other ministries instead of embracing the ministry God has called me to and equipped me for.

The last experience was truly a God-moment. We stayed at a campground at Roosevelt Lake that had a playground for children. During our vacation my children were playing with another couple of children who were also there on vacation at the playground. The played on a slide and teeter-totter together and had a wonderful time. The last night of our vacation at the campground I spoke with the Father of the children my kids had befriended and was pleasantly surprised to discover that he was an Assembly of God minister. Tim is a friendly, kind man who was gracious to share part of his journey with me. In his journey with God he and his wife reached a point where they decided they would move and go wherever they were called. He sent out quite a few resumes and received one response; that is where they moved and served. Tim's story is not unique, but the timing and conclusion of his story was unique. God used Tim at that church as a youth minister for several years and then Tim was called to Pastor another church. God called Tim, God used Tim, then God used Tim more in a different way.

In a sermon I preached recently over Isaiah 7, I spoke specifically about verse 4:
Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah. (NKJV)

I used this passage of scripture to describe the struggles and fears in the world as two burnt-out matchsticks from the perspective of God. To God, these two mighty armies coming to take Jerusalem were nothing more than two brittle, burnt-out matchsticks.

What I didn't discuss was why. God has an eternal vision and perspective. God understands how things look to us today in there here and now, but He also understands their significance from an eternal perspective. Rezin and Remaliah had powerful armies that were positions to take Jerusalem. They would kill King Ahaz and establish a new King and then lead Judah into war. Can you imagine something like this today? Two great powers uniting to come against your country to kill the leadership and place their own people as leaders over you and then force you into war?

Then in verses 7-9 God says that none of what they (Rezin and Remaliah) attempt will be accomplished. He sees their efforts and understands what fuels their work and labels them burnt-out matchsticks.

To contrast this event of insignificance, God describes an event of incredible eternal significance in verses 14-15:

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. ^15 Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.(NKJV)

Armies approaching to kill and rule, burnt-out matchsticks. Virgin gives birth to a baby who is, "with us is God", eternally significant.

Our goal is to be fully in the moment we find ourselves in. To be attentive, aware, and focused on the relationship we have, the time we have, and the eternal significance of the events around us. Battles will come and go, but Immanuel is constant and eternal.

Will you join me in turning off the browsers, turning off the phones, and focusing on those around you, sharing with them Immanuel.


-dRo