God's Masterpiece

YOU are God's original Masterpiece. The main verse from Sunday's message was Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV): "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." The Greek word for 'workmanship' means something intricately created, woven, or composed. We get our English word poem from it. Just as God masterfully created the heavens and the earth, He also created you. And not just physically; His desire is to weave you into the greatest masterpiece of all: the image of His Son Jesus.

But it is a long process, not unlike a marathon. God does the work over time as we discipline ourselves to cooperate with Him. There is work for us to do, that God will use to transform us into His masterpiece. I will write about some of the basic steps this month. For now, review the video below that was shown in our January 1 worship service. There are more comments below.

So, are you tired of "doing the dance to get the hug"? Are you ready to surrender total control to God? Why not take a moment right now to breathe a prayer to God and express to Him your total surrender? Tell Him that you want to become all the He desires for you, and that you are willing to embark on the journey. Commit to Him, and to yourself, to cooperate in every way with His transforming work. Now, share your commitment with a friend and ask them to hold you accountable. I would love to know of your commitment also. Please write to me at pastor@araratbaptistchurch.com and let me know of your decision. I would love to pray for you and offer any assistance I can. May God bless you as you begin this journey!

Musings on 2011

Me working while in CT with Adrian for testing at Yale University, February 2011. Yes, it’s been a while since my last posting. Many things have happened since I wrote here. Too many things to spend lots of space writing but suffice it to say, life has been busy in the Stover household, the West TN branch as well as the East TN division. In fact, reflecting on the entire year of 2011, it has been one of the most trying years to date. Multiple health crises and life changes have kept us all near the breaking point. Many personal and ministry goals have gone unreached, even un-attempted, as we have found ourselves in survival mode. I found myself just trying to hold my family intact and invest a great deal of time in them to provide some stability in the midst of turmoil. However, to do this, other things were left undone. I am sure many have been and are displeased; but none of them know the depth of despair and anguish our personal crises have caused. I have learned that I cannot measure the trials and circumstances of others by my own experience because each one’s trials are unique to them. Similarly, no one else can judge our lives or actions by their own desires or opinions, having never been where we are. Being in the public eye, or as some call it “living in the fishbowl of ministry”, I have learned to let others form their own opinions while we stay true to our Lord and to one another. Some will understand; a few will reach out to help shoulder the burden; most will stand at a distance with a critical eye. We will each render an accounting to our Master for ourselves alone.

What has been learned? At the end of every year, indeed at the end of every experience, that is the question to consider. What have I learned through the experience and how can I be better because of it? How can I be different and how can God get more glory through me now? I have learned to love more and to give more grace. Everyone struggles, just like me. They will not benefit or see God through my critical spirit or condemnation. They will see Him through me as I offer grace, love, understanding, patience, and help. Instead of placing more demands on them, I should offer to come alongside where they are, link arms with them, and help to pull the load. This is not to say that people should not be challenged or held accountable; we all should and must. However, Jesus never stomped on those who were hurting but sincerely making an effort. He lovingly and patiently challenged them while at the same time offering the assistance they needed to move ahead. I am not the Lord Jesus or His Holy Spirit. But I am His instrument for working His kind of ministry, when I allow myself to be used. I firmly believe now more than ever before that when I stand to render an accounting before God, He will not condemn me for not being legalistic enough; but I fear He will say I should have given more grace.

So what will it be like in 2012? I cannot say. I can only look at the scars that 2011 has left behind: a heart-healthy diet, more gray hair, a wife who still cannot eat and battles health issues every day, a son whose seizures daily seem to change for the worse, a daughter who increasingly becomes more independent as she grows into the woman God has created her to be, another son facing college, parents with serious long-term health challenges of their own, 7 hours away, and the usual collection of bumps and scrapes accumulated by walking through a world of fallen humanity. It is my hope that lessons learned through this past year will transform me into a better disciple, husband, father, son, pastor, neighbor, citizen, and human being. Only time will tell; but the future looks bright. The Light of the World is my lamp!

Washing Feet

Last Sunday our lesson in Sunday School dealt with the subject of Humility. We examined three Scripture passages dealing with the subject, including Philippians 2:1-4; Luke 14:7-11; and John 13:3-5,14-15. The last passage records Jesus washing His disciples' feet. You can read my comments on this lesson in the Tennessee Baptist & Reflector newspaper online here. At the end of our class, I challenged the learners to look for ways they could practice humility and wash someone else's feet by serving them. I further asked them to share their efforts with me, and with the class. One learner sent the following details of her week of humble service, and granted me permission to share it.

Hey Mike....

 

So I decided rather than just do the "washing someone's feet" deal once this week, I would try to do it once each day this week.

 

Sunday: My mother was worried about us not having enough groceries for the snow and she can't stand grocery shopping so I bundled up and went to wally world for her.

 

Monday: We were off work on Monday but I still have to water our plants in the greenhouses and stuff. There is a guy from another crew who comes in to water stuff in the afternoon. But he has kids and I knew he would rather not have to come in. So I took his afternoon watering shift.

 

Tuesday: My crew from work went to Ames Plantation to tour the mansion and stables down there - really cool stuff. We all went out to lunch at this little mom and pop place and they didn't take anything but cash and one of the ladies didn't have cash. So I bought her lunch.

 

It's really cool to help out and serve people. :)

I have continued with the washing the feet thing...

 

Wednesday: My dad and I are a lot alike. We both always have a "to do list." I peeked at his list and did some of the things that were on his list like vacuuming, taking out the trash, etc.

 

Thursday: I got a postcard in the mail from the bloodbank that they were low on blood. So I went and donated blood.

 

Friday: My best friend had surgery on her nose a week or so ago. So tonight, I am going to take her and her mom dinner.

 

Saturday: I am going to movie/dinner night with a friend of mine. I am going to do something for her I just haven't decided what yet.

It has been fun to come up with ways to help out people this week. I am going to try to keep it up.

I was so blessed and encouraged by this learner's practical application of what was taught in class that I had to share it. How have you washed another's feet by humbly serving lately?

Sacrifice

The discipline of sacrifice is a long-lost concept to modern Christianity. Personally, I am forced to admit that I have sacrificed little to follow Jesus. Someone once said that the measure of a sacrifice can only be accurately made by the one making it. In other words, what may not seem a great sacrifice to me, you may view as an extreme sacrifice. In any case, living a lifestyle of sacrifice will cost us.

Our Lord Jesus made this perfectly clear when He set forth the requirements for being His disciple in Luke 9:23-24. It is a life of self-denial and cross-bearing. To Jesus' first-century hearers, the cross was clearly a reference to death. It meant a one-way journey. When a person took up a cross, it meant they were not coming back. This is the essence of denying one's self. When we confess Christ as Savior and Lord we surrender the right to make final decisions for our own lives. We now belong to Him. Some practical applications of this truth are given in Luke 9:57-62 where some came to Jesus intent on making a bargain about following Him. One hadn't counted the cost, and Jesus pointedly shared with him that He essentially lived life as a homeless person, dependant on the benevolence of others. Another wished to wait until parental obligations were finished. A third wished to maintain ties with his family that would have hindered his commitment. Jesus' challenge to them and to us was to lose ourselves in living for Him (Luke 9:24) and find total fulfillment, and not to lose our lives in lesser pursuits.

Later, in Luke 21, Jesus pointed out the sacrifice of a poor widow who came to give her offering at the Temple. As others around her were loudly and lavishly pouring in great amounts, and drawing much attention to themselves, she slipped by unnoticed but by Jesus. He drew attention to her and her meager gift. While others gave from their abundance, she genuinely sacrificed to give "all she had to live on". Can you remember a time when you sacrificed to give to Kingdom causes? Have you ever gone without for the cause of Christ? Does your love for Jesus and His Kingdom work compel you to sacrifice conveniences or even necessities so that others may hear and believe?

We can only consider such a sacrificial attitude and lifestyle if we have first given ourselves fully to Christ. In Romans 12:1-2 we are commanded to offer our very bodies, our very lives, as a sacrifice to God. It is to be a living, useful sacrifice. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote that this type of surrendered life is only reasonable in light of all Christ has done on our behalf. It is a life of worship and service to God, and not characterized by selfish desires and goals. Such a sacrificial offering transforms our thinking and therefore our living. Making sacrifices of temporal things to further the cause of Christ is not so unusual or extreme when our thinking parallels Christ's thinking. After all, He sacrificed much more than we ever could, and He did so willingly, out of love for us.

Sacrifice demands a radical shift in thinking, in living, and in our priorities. Christ must come before anyone or anything else. All other considerations become secondary when He is Lord. Corrie Ten Boom, the World War II holocaust survivor, wrote that she had learned to hold everything loosely. Then it didn't hurt so bad when God had to pry her fingers from around what He demanded. Is there anything you would not be willing to give up for Christ? If so, what do you need to do?

BSFL Sunday School Commentary for the week of September 27, 2009

The Results of Knowing Jesus        Mark 8,9,10

How long does it take to grow a disciple? John Mark, author of the gospel that bears his name, is known for his frequent use of the word "immediately" (some translations use 'straightway'). However, you won't find it anywhere near a teaching on discipleship. Disciples are not born (they ARE born again!), they are made. Discipleship is a deliberate process of following Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us into His likeness. It is no coincidence that 'discipline' and 'disciple' are similar words. One concept is inseparably linked to the other. Discipleship requires lifelong discipline.

Jesus did not paint an easy picture for those who would be His disciples. He set the bar high, and we in the modern church have no authority to lower it. Although this lesson includes teaching passages from Mark 8,9, & 10, Jesus' statement in Mark 8:34 contains the complete recipe of discipleship. The illustration of the cross is an all-encompassing image of self-denial, service, and suffering. Jesus explicitly said that to be His follower was no picnic. How much of that is hidden in modern-day evangelism and church-growth philosophies?

Jesus taught in Mark 8:34-38 that self-denial is the only path to a life worth living. How else do we "find our life" but through spending it for the cause of Christ? We do not find it in wealth, possessions, escapism, physical gratification, popularity, business, worldly success, family, or even church. (Let's face it; we do not deny ourselves much at church.) Jesus modeled self-denial as no one else possibly could. He denied Himself many of the prerogatives, and even the very presence of, Deity. The passage in Philippians 2:6-11 is the landmark description of just how low Jesus stooped to reach our level of living. But in stooping to our physical level, He boosted us to His spiritual level, as evidenced in the latter portion of the Philippians passage mentioned earlier. In like manner, our life of self-denial in following Jesus is the pathway by which we find ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction in this life, and in the life to come. We "find our life" (Mark 8:35).

In Mark 9:33-37 Jesus sets a child in the midst of His disciples and challenges their willingness to serve. In the culture of that day children held no status and few rights, viewed almost as property by their families. Jesus declared that the greatest among us is the one ready to serve the least among us. Again, Mark 8:34 challenges us to serve unselfishly like Jesus by following Him in a cross-bearing manner of living. What is cross-bearing? It is sacrificial service to all, even the least in society's hierarchy.

In Mark 10:32-34 Jesus warns His disciples for the third time about His impending arrest, abuse, and crucifixion. Jesus was obviously fixed on this series of events that lay just ahead. Although not relishing the prospect of suffering, He was able to accept it as the will of the Father. Again, this is brought out in Mark 8:34. Taking up the cross means a willingness to accept suffering for the cause of Christ.

I continually wrestle with these burdensome concepts. I find that I deny myself little, like being served, and avoid suffering at all costs far more often than otherwise. I have also discovered that when I do seek to follow Jesus with a Mark 8:34 devotion I realize more peace, fulfillment, passion, joy, and contentment than ever before. The battle rages between my stubborn flesh that desires to be happy, and the Spirit within, Who desires that I be holy. Momentary happiness from self-gratification in between struggles, or lasting contentment and peace that prevails through all of my circumstances. It seems this would be an easy choice. At times it is; other times it represents the greatest of struggles. But one of the supreme results of knowing Jesus is experiencing progress in the struggle. Over time, I see myself choosing to follow Jesus more and myself less. I relish more victory over self; I enjoy greater peace; I begin to understand settled contentment; I see more Kingdom usefulness. And in these things I "find my life".