A TRUE STORY . . .

I would like to tell a story; I closed a sermon with it a long time ago:
It is a true story, and I assure you that no one asked or in any wayslightly hinted that I should tell it to you. But I just felt I neededto:
John Nielson died alone in a little house trailer in Delaware, justacross the toll bridge from Pennsville, New Jersey. He was an oldman, and he lived alone. He died in his bed, where he had retired toread. On his bed were three or four reference books, and on his chestwere his glasses and his Greek New Testament. You might say JohnNielson died "mining gold in the Word of God."
And John Nielson died a wealthy man. How can I tell you how wealthy?The reason John Nielson died so wealthy was that (1) he had made verywise investments. And (2) he had made investments that went beforehim into eternity, and followed after him after he had gone intoeternity.
Mr. Nielson invested in his family. He put his family ahead ofworldly ambition, or even ambition within the visible kingdom ofGod. At the age of 29 he was elected superintendent of theWashington-Philadelphia district of the Church of the Nazarene, andbeing a DS at that age would seem to indicate that he "had it made" asfar as the church was concerned. But he stepped down and took a homemission charge so that he would not have to be away from his family somuch while they were growing up.
Mr. Nielson did not shirk his duty, wherever it led. He was a loyalhusband even when he had to literally carry his wife into the churcheswith him on preaching assignments the last several years. She had beenparalyzed with a stroke, and was unable even to speak. But Mr. Nielsonwas committed.
Mr. Nielson did not withhold his money. He tithed and gave regularlybeyond his 10%, but also he participated in pledging and special needswhen it meant postponing what others might term "necessities." Yousee, he was a wise man, and he was making eternal investments.
So, when John Nielson died, he died in a little house trailer, and hadjust a little money left over-- enough to bury him and pay all hisdebts and not much more. He came to the end of this part of lifehaving pretty much spent and expended all the resources and gifts andtalents with which God had trusted him. He also left two daughters andthree sons, and grandchildren and now great-grandchildren-- andsomehow he had handed down to them the idea that they had something togive to God and to God's kingdom, and that they could make adifference in this world through faithfulness to God's Word.
One quote Alice Kauffman makes in her book about Mr. Nielson isinteresting to me: In a letter John Nielson wrote," I am an egoist, notan egotist!" I take this to mean that in a thoroughly Christian,sanctified way he was saying: "I do count! I can make a difference!God does use me!"
I want to be humble and Christ-like. But I want to be rich andwealthy like Mr. Nielson, too! I want to live a life that counts. Iwant to come to the end of my life and have invested wisely! I don'twant too much left over!
What is the best-kept secret in the world? What is life FOR? What am Isaving myself for? These are questions I ask myself! And I ask Godtoday: "How may I invest in YOUR kingdom?"
I have some practical suggestions:
1. Re-think your values. Re-order your life if necessary! What does it profit a man or a woman if we make $100,000 a year and lose our children for all eternity?
2. Open your life to the Spirit, and to the Word. There is no short-cut to spirituality! No one else can do your praying and your Bible reading for you!
3. Determine to live for God by loving people-- and start with the people that are nearest you! Be ye kind! is one of the most important verses in all the Bible!
4. Put all your resources at God's disposal.
Please join with me in prayer!

Finding Fellowship

Love is a funny thing.
It is easier to "love" in theory than in nitty gritty practice. It is easier to love an idea or an ideal than people with warts and blemishes. It is easier to love "back" than it is to tentatively reach out and offer love not knowing what the response will be.

I'm not (now) talking about romance. I'm talking about looking people in the eye when you are going into church and on the way out and saying, from the heart, "Hello!" Maybe even with a little smile.

Life in the Spirit: A Holiness Sermon

Life in the Spirit

Romans 8:6 - 9 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the fleshis hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law ofGod, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the fleshcannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in theSpirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone doesnot have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

THE MIND SET OF BELONGING

When we read Romans 8, seeking to find out what it means to know the sanctifying grace of God, it is all too easy to begin anywhere and end up exactly where we want to come out.

There are some strong statements in this opening part of Romans 8 that, taken out of context, contradict common sense and experience. One such statement is: "They that are in the flesh cannot please God."
What this is sometimes interpreted to say is: As long as we are flesh and blood, here in this life, we can not hope to please God. Even Christians are under sin's dominion!
But the very next statement is also easy to misunderstand: "You are not in the flesh if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you."--which is misinterpreted to say that people who are inhabited by God's Spirit are somehow "other-worldly" and so they do not fully enter into life here on earth.
What we can understand immediately is that there is conflict and struggle, tension and even warfare that we experience even as we seek to know God's sanctifying grace.

THE BATTLEGROUND OF THE HUMAN PERSONALITY

Why there should even be a battle of good and evil is a mystery.Occasionally even little children will ask profound questions like:"Why doesn't God just squash the devil?"
Why this battle should continue even after a person has chosen to go with God is beyond our understanding. But the battle continues. And the center of the battle, at least so far as we mortals can understand, seems to be our very minds and souls, the human personality.
Romans 7:21 declares there is a principle that good is alway sopposed: "I find then a principle that when I would do good, evil ispresent with me." God's Word reveals the true extent of thestruggle. Our minds become a microcosm of the mystery of good andevil.
This struggle sharpens with the revelation of a God who IS, andwho is GOOD, and who SPEAKS to us, who challenges us to believe in Him, to KNOW Him, and to come to LOVE Him and TRUST Him.
You are personally involved in this titanic battle.

THE BATTLE OF GOOD AND EVIL INTRUDES INTO EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE AND LIVING
Philosophers and peasants, great men and little children- all of us have tried to understand the dimensions of the warfare of good andevil.
Our society has largely taken the approach to the problem of denying that it exists. With no absolute good and no absolute evil,each individual in our society is free to do as he/she pleases, justso long as no absolute standards are proclaimed.
And consequently we have the tragic enigma of parents berating their children for doing drugs, when they themselves are addicted toalcohol; of public officials whose personal and private lives are full of broken promises and rotten selfishness making pronouncements on what is and what is not "moral" for society; we have liberal church leaders speaking for God who have lost all personal contact with God; we have fundamentalists who know all the answers even before the questions are asked. And the heart of the whole matter is this thing Paul calls "mind set!"
All these failures are merely human solutions to human problems.All these are evidence of lack of trust in a God Whose Word reaches towhere we live!

We cannot be truly good without God! We have forgotten that the One who made us knows us better than we know ourselves. We have forgotten the instructions that come with the Manufacturer's Guarantee. And whatever we may think or say about ourselves, human beings still respond at the deepest level to what is right and what is wrong. Our souls bear witness to a battle that we do not ever fully understand. We are a bundle of contrasts.

So we are called on to choose. This is the message of the Evangelist. God has spoken; His way is GOOD. All other ways lead todeath. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) "I call heaven and earth to witnessagainst you today, that I have set before you life and death, theblessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live... "

This Golden Chapter of the Bible is a litany of the personal fallout of our choosing: (v 1) contrasts of condemnation/freedom; (v 26) ofweakness/attainment; (vv 2,6, 13, +) of death/life; (v 18) of suffering/glory; (vv 35-39) of separation/love.
All of these contrasts come to a focus in what Paul calls "mindset." ( KJV = "carnal mind" and "Spiritually minded".) There are only two ways to think about life, so far as Paul is concerned-- inthe flesh, or in the Spirit.

Several statements are made about THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH.
(1) It has as ITS LIFE GOALS (verse 5) the things of the flesh; temporal things, things that will pass away. It believes that THINGS are the cause of joy.
(2) It has as ITS BASIC TEMPER (verse 7) a hostility toward God. It sees God as the enemy, the One who takes away joy.
(3) It has as ITS LIFE STYLE (verse 7) a law-breaking way of living; in fact it couldn't keep the law if it wanted to.
(4) IT CANNOT PLEASE GOD (verse 8) even though God loves the sinner, and seeks his salvation, the way the sinner LIVES is not pleasing to God.
(5) THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH IS DEATH (verse 6.) Not just "will be" death, nor "leads to" death-- which are both true-- but is NOW spiritually DEATH!

In contrast, here is what is said about THE MIND THAT IS SETON THE SPIRIT:
(1) It is LIFE and it is PEACE (verse 6.)
(2) It has as ITS LIFE-GOALS the things of the Spirit (verse 5.) "But you can't eat "love and Joy and Peace..." Perhaps not, but don't forget Matthew 6:33! (Seek God's kingdom first and all these things will be added unto you!)
(3) The mind set on the Spirit is WHERE GOD LIVES. The Christian is possessed BY GOD HIMSELF! God comes to live in us! (verse 9.)
(4) PLUS ... all the other benefits of this chapter!!
So, how may we come down on the side of God, and of good-- not just on Sunday when we're all dressed up-- but out there on the jobwhere the rubber meets the road?

THE BATTLE BOILS DOWN TO: WHO SHALL BE GOD?!
Is it really possible to be 'Spiritually minded'? Those who are in Christ Jesus HAVE ENCOUNTERED THE LIVING GOD. And so they have aparticular way of looking at God. And because they do, they also havea particular way of looking at all of life.

GOD CAN/MUST BE ENCOUNTERED AS A PERSON If you are a Christian it is not (just) because of WHAT you have believed, but because of WHOM YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED! If you have met the living God who is bigger than all your universe, you have been introduced to the way of the 'spiritually minded.'
If you have a lesser god who perhaps serves to make you healthier and wealthier andwiser, but does not fill all the Universe, then you are still "in theflesh!"
THERE IS NO 'MIDDLE GROUND:'
TO BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED IS TO SEEKTO LIVE IN GOD'S REALITY.
TO BE FLESHLY MINDED IS TO TRY TO SERVE AGOD WE CAN BRING INTO OUR REALITY.

The challenge is to let God truly BE GOD!
THIS IS NOT A NEW THING, THIS "STRUGGLE OF REALITIES."
The First Commandment is still the hardest one to truly keep!
NO OTHER GODS!
Every generation of God's people has had its brand of "secular humanism" under one form or another. It seems so simple to follow Jesus Christ: But there are always logical, attractive, compromising alternatives to following God with all our hearts.
There are many"lesser gods." There always have been.
Jesus said we are to be "In the world but not of the world." One Jewish historian saw it as a battle between the children of Zeus and the Children of YHWH: between the people who saw their gods as super-humans, needing to be placated, but serving to define the ideal Man and the ideal Woman, and the people who saw human beings as made in the image of the Invisible and Holy One who said "I AM THAT I AM"and "BE YE HOLY FOR I THE LORD YOUR GOD AM HOLY!"
IN THE WORLD!
Christians can buy and sell for profit, can run computers, can compete in the marketplace and the arenas of life."All truth is God's truth--" and certainly not all pagans aredeliberately God's enemies, and not all the world outside these doorsis evil.
BUT NOT OF THE WORLD!
Christians are different! They havea different mind-set. They refuse to bow down and worship anyCreature. Only the Creator is worthy of that loyalty.

To be Christian, then, to have one's mind set on God, MEANS THAT WE HAVE A PERSONAL, LIVING, VITAL CONNECTION WITH GOD ALMIGHTY!

THE BATTLE IS WON AS WE CONTINUE TO BE PRESENT TO GOD

To "be saved" is to encounter God. It is to be "present" whenHe calls ... and not just believing a creed or joining a church.

But to be 'being sanctified' is to continue to be "present" to God in the out-living of our lives. [I need to be careful here--careful and kind. I am dealing with some of the finest Christian people I know. People who are highly motivated and actively engaged inthe work of God's kingdom.] WHAT we do may or may not be exactly what we need to be doing. But HOW we go about doing what we do-- the SPIRIT we demonstrate-, and especially WHY we go about doing what we do will reflect whether or not we really know God! That is what "mind-set on God" is all about!

And there simply is no short-cut to "being present" to God. There is no "fool-proof" formula, no ritual that will not dry up and become an end in itself, no "prayer wheels" we can leave on while we go about doing as WE please. We simply have to spend some time with God. If we will take time to "be present" to God, He will dominate our lives and make us like Himself.

When we are "in Christ" the battle is won, but it is not over. There is still suffering to face. There are weaknesses to be endured. There are separations that will come. But be assured: GodIS! God LOVES YOU! If our minds are stayed on the God who transcends, we will find that He is the God who never, ever leaves us nor forsakes us.

I really believe this! It is where I am just now! Amen!