Month: August 2017

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 8:1-15 (day four)

As I write this blog, it is Tuesday, August 8, 2017.  It is our 36^th anniversary…also, our second granddaughter was born today.  Jordyn Nicole made her arrival just before noon.  It is amazing!  The gift of life is absolutely amazing.  Just to sit and look at her in your arms causes an overflow of joy and gratitude!  I cannot imagine after receiving this amazing gift of life, of offering it to save someone else’s life.  Yet, that is what God did for us.  Out of His great love for us and by His limitless generosity, He gave His only Son to die in our place.  What an amazing gift!  How could He have that much love for us?

Love causes us to want to give.  Paul is encouraging the church at Corinth to think of others and give out of their supply.  Generosity grows out of a loving heart…service to others grows out of a loving heart.  From God’s richest possession, He gave to our need.  How can we do any less?

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 8:1-15 (day three)

“Now finish the work.”  The world suffers not nearly so much from the evil deeds that abound as from the good work that men leave unfinished.  Jesus warned us in a story he told not to become like the young man who told his father he would work in his father’s vineyard, then failed to make good on that promise.  A desire, a dream, a passion, an aspiration—none of those things by itself will bring an idea to fruition.  Jesus’s brother James taught us that action will complete design.  He warned that paying attention in Bible study is no substitute for letting the Bible affect the way you pay attention to actual people in your actual life.  What work have you left unfinished?  It’s not too late to get back to it.

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 8:1-15 (day two)

…and this, not as we had expected, but they gave themselves to the Lord, and to us by the will of God. Vs 5

It is 2:40 AM and I have just arrived home from the U.K. after traveling with the Sanctuary Choir for 12 days. Many of you know that prior to that the Chapel Singers toured the Mid-west. It has truly been a month of missions, not only for the music ministry, but for our whole church. My prayer before every service project or concert was that we exceed the expectations of those we were serving. The people we were serving surely had reasonable expectations of what a group of young people could do, or what a church choir sounded like. What was most important to us was that we were there as Christ’s Ambassadors, like our text last week reminded us. Our prayer was that they would see the truth and love of Jesus in the way we served and sang. That they would be drawn toward him by the sweet savor of service. Nothing we did or said was to our benefit or glory. It is my prayer now that we live each day striving to exceed the expectations of those we serve.

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 8:1-15 (day one)

“There are many hearing me who now know well that they are not Christians because they do not love to give.  To give largely and liberally, not grudging at all, requires a new heart.”–Robert Murray McCheyne.

“And Zacchaeus said, ‘Look, Lord!  Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor’. . .Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house.’ “–Luke 19:8-9

“In a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their generosity.”–2 Corinthians 8:2

The Macedonian miracle is not unusual in Christian history.  It is, in fact, the norm!  God gives!  Joy comes!  Recipients become givers!

Generosity is a learned virtue.  A proof of new life.  For God so loved the world He GAVE. For the church so loved God that we GIVE in response.

He does not fail in His generosity.  We dare not fail in ours.

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 5:11-21 (day seven)

It is a clear and happy memory from my childhood. Christmas morning. Gifts under a tree. On each brightly wrapped package a tag indicating the recipient. “FOR Don” or “FOR someone else”.

Each day of salvation life should have a similar feel. In gratitude and hope, my time and choices and goals should be marked with a tag that says, “FOR Jesus”. ” He died for all that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but FOR Him!”, says Paul in v 15.

For Christ-followers, our morning-by-morning privilege is to embrace a new ruling passion. Not safety or success or personal significance. Our new purpose is His kingdom, His will, His people, His glory, His approval. “Our ambition. . .is to be pleasing to Him”–v 9. Here is a gift, Lord, I hope you like it!

He died for me. I will live FOR Him!

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 5:11-21 (day five)

Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away;

When he surrendered his life to Christ, Paul’s heart changed dramatically. He felt new and clean. He began to think in a “new and clean” way. Paul’s words for his old heart and thoughts, they “passed away”. One of the application points was his view of people- Christians and non-Christians. He began to see unbelievers in the light of the Gospel as “lost”- people who needed to find and have Christ. His heart was burdened for them. He also began to see Christians as important and viable for the Christian faith.  He loved and treasured them (completely different than before).

Does our view and perspective of people indicate the ruling presence of Christ in our hearts?

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 5:11-21 (day four)

Verse 21 is the Heart of the Gospel!  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

It was certainly not an even exchange…His righteousness for our unrighteousness.  We were the great beneficiaries.  Our lives were purchased by God.  As a result, we have a new responsibility to be an ambassador for Christ.  It is not an option…we don’t get to choose.  We have been bought with a price…His blood and His righteousness!

So what is the result or aftereffect of this exchange for us?  (Besides forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.)  Self-centeredness is gone, unforgiveness is gone, pridefulness is gone…anger, a judgmental spirit, lack of love, and more.  Our lives should begin to look like Christ’s–after all, we are bought.  Our unrighteousness gives way to His righteousness!  Can the world recognize that your life is no longer yours?

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 5:11-21 (day three) 

“From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.”  Did Jesus “network”?  Did the fledgling church scrape by without the ubiquitous pseudo-invitation “Let’s do lunch?”  Such pursuits can easily become a way to use people to serve an agenda.  We often insist on fueling a worldwide missional movement on ideas and vision, but Jesus taught us that our presence with each other is the church’s strength.  Jesus said, “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  This isn’t putting up with each other on the way to the dream.  It’s dreaming of living with one another.  The next time you wonder what God’s will is for your life, consider that you are God’s will for your brother’s life—and then act accordingly.

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 5:11-21 (day two)

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. vs. 20

When I was a college student one of the ways I earned a scholarship was as a student ambassador. My job was to give campus tours to prospective students and their families. It was my job to learn a lot of information about my school so that I could answer questions should they come up. Part of what I did was to put the university in the best light and to share my love and personal experience with the school. We were never allowed to disparage another institution, but only speak well of ours.

We are Christ’ Ambassadors, and our role although similar, has much more at stake than a potential alma mater. Learn all you can. Spend time in prayer and the Word so that you are ready in season and out to give an account for your faith and the testimony of Christ’s work in your life. Draw people to you by your love for Jesus and for them, not your disdain for the world and its emptiness. Our hope has ever been for the world to be reconciled to God.