Warning Signs

Warning Signs

“But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours
become a stumbling block to those who are weak.”

I Corinthians 8:9

Seeing a warning label on a snow blower the other day to “keep hands away from spinning blades” brought a chuckle. It reminded me of my all time favorite warning sign, found on I-94 north of Detroit:

PRISON AREA: DO NOT PICK UP HITCHHIKERS

While I have no doubt that the sign is well intentioned, it has somewhat weakened my confidence in Michigan’s Department of Corrections. But at least it has the goal of protecting the person reading the sign. Most warning signs are placed on power tools, appliances and other items, not for the safety of the reader but to protect the company from lawsuits arising from misuse of their product. McDonald’s “Contents Are Hot!” warning label on their coffee is a classic example, born out of a lawsuit, filed and won, by someone who burned themselves with “too hot” coffee.

God’s warnings to you and I are quite different; they are placed in the Word for our sake and our sake alone. They have been given to keep us from needless suffering and sorrow and from bearing the fruit of wrong choices and decisions. I Corinthians 10:12 is a great example of that:

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

Paul was writing and warning about the danger of being overconfidence in ourselves and losing that sense of depending and leaning on the Lord. So often, when everything is going good in our lives, we drift from that place of reliance upon God to trusting in our own ability. And it doesn’t take long for us to get in trouble and make mistakes when God is out of the picture. The scripture at the top of the page is a warning to consider the effects our actions will have on others before we act so that we don’t cause someone who is weak in their faith or new in the Lord to stumble and fall. What is freedom for one person can cause real difficulty and trouble for another. Paul’s warning to consider that in our choices and actions was so that we had a right effect on those around us.

As we read the Word, let’s keep in mind that all the “take heed’s” and “bewares” are there for our benefit. God knows our hearts and our predispositions; He knows our every strength and our particular weaknesses. His warnings are always redemptive, strategically placed for our good. God’s only hidden agenda is His incredible love for you and I. Let’s be more open than ever to His Word being a lamp for our feet and a light for our path.



God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Artificial

Artificial

“….so that you can decide what is best, and thus
be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ.”
-Philippians 1:10

Sunday night it was watching “The Fugitive” and the search for the man with the artificial limb who murdered Dr. Kimble’s wife. On Monday, I put out the coffee for the ladies meeting and, of course, had to fill up the bowl with not only real sugar packets but the artificial sweeteners as well, the blue packets of Equal and the pink packets of Sweet N Low, something for everyone. Back to Sunday and we were discussing replacing the Peace Lilies with artificial versions that won’t have to be watered and trimmed and that won’t suffer the effects of the constant temperature change in the sanctuary.

At Christmas time, there are artificial trees which we’ve resisted so far at home (the real 10 footer John brought home this year was just incredible but that’s for another time). We have artificial hearts being developed by the medical profession, artificial teeth as we age (I know that “crowns” sounds so much better), and who can forget artificial intelligence. And then there is the “artificial smile” reserved for those situations when showing our true feelings is totally inappropriate!

To say that something is artificial is to say that it is an imitation of what is real, not natural or genuine, void of life and incapable of growth. And no matter how commonplace the use of artificial items becomes in our lives, we have to be on guard against the same thing happening in our spiritual lives. Paul warned Timothy of such a thing in II Timothy 3:5 when he spoke of those who “maintained the outward appearance of religion but denied its power”.

Let me try and explain: my four front teeth are artificial, the result of an accident when I was a child. They look real to everyone who sees them, with the exception of the dentist, but they’re not. They are real in appearance only. In the same way, it’s possible to have a Christianity that has all the right appearances, but on the inside is empty and void of life. Jesus came that we “might have real and eternal life, more and better life than we ever dreamed of.” (John 10:10 MSG)

The world is constantly telling us that outward appearance is what matters most but God’s message is the opposite: He is concerned about our hearts, about the inner man, and about the flow of life in each of us. God’s desire is that each one of us experiences life in all its fullness. Artificial Christianity will never satisfy the needs in your life. Don’t be fooled by it; don’t settle for it. The real thing, found in a relationship with the Lord, is there for the man or woman willing to seek after it. And you can rest assured that when you find it, you’ll never let it go!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

No Reception

No Reception

"If you remain in me, and my words remain in you,
ask whatever you want and it will be done for you."
John 15:7

Losing the signal to my cell phone during the ride to winter retreat reminded me of our trips through Canada and always losing the signal on Highway 402 as we traveled from Sarnia to London, Ontario. You would be in a conversation and the voice would begin to break up before being lost completely. Or you would be trying to make a call and there would be absolutely no reception, no bars on the phone, no service whatsoever to get through. The term used now is "dead zone", the place where no signal is being received by the phone, and, as a result, no calls can be made and no messages received.

The passage in John 15 where Jesus talks about our abiding in God has always been one of my favorite sections of scripture. Early in my Christian walk, I read the biography of Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China, and of his struggles in Christianity. Taylor continually battled the sense of never being good enough, and never doing enough, until God unlocked John 15 to him. Taylor received the revelation that all he had to do was stay connected to Christ, like a branch to a vine, and God would do the work in his life. That simple yet powerful truth changed the life of a man credited with starting the largest missionary sending effort to China that had ever existed. The realization that it was not our constant trying to be and do better that was the key but our relationship and connection to Christ brought a life long breakthrough.

Many sincere, committed believers go through spiritual"dead zones" in their Christian walk, times of not hearing from God, of losing vision and purpose, and of not feeling a part of what God is doing in His kingdom. And while they make it through that time, the cycle is too often repeated of going in and out of touch with God. Like Hudson Taylor, their seasons of success and apparent victory are soon followed by bouts of frustration and a sense of distance from the Lord.

What then is the answer? It is to make our dwelling and home in Christ, to make our relationship with the Lord the primary focus of our lives, and to allow His life to flow into us just as a branch receives from the vine it is connected to. Jesus made it clear that apart from Him, apart from being vitally connected to Him, we can and will accomplish nothing. If you've been trying to serve God in your own strength and by your own effort, now is as good a time as any to "let go and let God". We are to place our lives in the Savior's hands, to trust Him fully to make us fruitful believers, and to receive from Him the enabling we each need so desperately.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Out of the Rubble

Out of the Rubble

"...Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us
from the present evil age, according to the will of our God"
Galatians 1:4

The pictures this past week of survivors of the earthquake in Haiti being dragged from the rubble of destroyed buildings, by rescuers from around the world, have been both staggering and sobering. With almost all hope gone, teams of experts who refused to give up, despite the slim odds of finding survivors, worked at removing the rubble of crumbled concrete buildings in the hopes of finding someone still alive. Their effort was a tribute to the intrinsic value of life. No matter how poor or battered the person, and despite the difficulties yet to be faced, still every life has value and is worth the all-out effort required to rescue it.

Sometimes I wish the rubble of destroyed lives, shaken by trials of every manner and kind, was as visible to the human eye as that witnessed in Haiti in the last few weeks. If only we could see the devastation caused by sin and addiction, by wrong choices and decisions, and by hurt and rejection, as clearly as we have viewed the newscasts of earthquake damage the past week or so. It may be that we would be moved to greater action. It may be that we would be moved to more sacrificial giving of ourselves, of our time and effort, to help those whose lives are shattered and broken. It may be that we too would give the all-out effort seen in recent weeks to rescue those drowning in a sea of hopelessness.

It doesn't always have to be overseas or in great tragedies that we are moved with compassion and stirred to action. The needs are great on the street you live on and in the families waiting with you to pick up their children from school. The burden may be overwhelming in the life of the student sitting next to you in class or working at the next desk in your office. We have each been called to be rescuers. The command of Jude is very clear:

"Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment"

Yesterday, rescue crews from Denmark, Japan, Britain and the United States packed up their gear and left Haiti, their part of the rescue effort, the search for life, completed and done. The same cannot be said for us; our job is not completed. Our search for the lost is to continue, undiminished by personal agendas, "compelled by love", and with hearts filled with compassion. Having been rescued ourselves, we have become God's rescuers to our generation.


God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Cardboard Check

The Cardboard Check

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in
all things at all times....you will abound in every good work."
II Corinthians 9:8

After waiting many years, I was finally presented yesterday with one of those oversized cardboard checks, complete with smiling faces and a photographer snapping pictures to capture the event. If you're thinking the lottery and a check with lots of zeros on the end, it was bigger than that. Maybe you pictured a check being presented to the winner of a golf tournament (in which case, you've obviously never golfed with me before) but, once again, it was bigger than that. Let me explain.

In the fall, I was asked to share some thoughts on the mission field and the needs that exist in other countries with a newly formed middle school group that wanted to support missions. I shared with the kids the heartbreak of seeing little children on the streets of Manila knocking on the windows of cars begging for change and about the incredibly poor living conditions of so many in third world nations. In response, this little group, composed of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, started to collect pennies, thousands of pennies, to help children in need in other countries.

The cardboard check presented to me yesterday, for me to take to the Philippines when I minister there next month, was for $130.21, collected by the Mission Warriors over the last three months. The skeptic might say "What is that in a nation with such poverty and need?" but I remember a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish who gave what he had and the result was thousands of hungry people being fed. And I seem to recall the story of a teenager stepping out of a line of soldiers, armed with only a slingshot, but being used by God to bring deliverance and freedom to a nation.

It is far more than a trite saying that "we may not be able to do everything, but we can do something". God is looking for those who will be touched, and can sympathize, with the hurts and weaknesses of others. We have to be able, as this small group of middle school students demonstrated, to see beyond the needs and wants in our own lives. But that is only half the equation. John wrote:

"Dear children, let us not love with words
and tongue but with actions and in truth"

The awesome side of this cardboard check is that it represents love in action, a group of children doing what they could to help others in need. Don't ever let the enemy convince you that you have nothing to offer God and that you can't make a difference. Let the example of this cardboard check inspire each of us to use what we have, gifts, talents, and resources, no matter how small or how large, to demonstrate the love of God and to help others in need.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Benchmarks

Benchmarks

"Hold to the standard of sound words that you have heard from
me and do so with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."
II Timothy 1:13

In the field of education, the word benchmark is tossed around quite often, usually referring to a standard of achievement that must be attained in the subject matter being taught. In Michigan, the benchmarks for various subjects, from Science and Math to History and English, have been established by the State Department of Education to help ensure that individual schools "measure up" in their practices and their performance.

But if benchmarks are to be found anywhere, shouldn't it be in the church and in the lives of believers. Benchmarks, standards of excellence, standards to live by and to measure up to, are found throughout the Bible but it's time for a re-evaluation to make sure that those standards are still in place and being adhered to:

* Forgiveness - We have been called to forgive as we have been forgiven. For a Christian to hold on to anything that another has done is just plain wrong. The benchmark is "forgive and forget". The standard is to understand that we all are sinners saved by grace, that we all have issues we are dealing with, and that we are all in need of forgiveness. The prison of unforgiveness, for the one who refuses to forgive another, is somewhere none of us want to be found.

* Holiness - Christians are supposed to be different! Believers are to be different in the way they speak, in the choices they make, in the way they conduct themselves in business, in what they allow in their homes, and in the honesty and integrity with which they conduct their lives. Keeping our word should be a benchmark for others to follow, the excellence of our work ethic should be a standard against which others are measured, and our speech should be the criterion by which sound words are judged.

* Love - The Bible establishes clear benchmarks for how we are to treat others with I Corinthians 13 teaching us that "love is patient, loves does not envy, it is not rude, it is not easily angered, love never gives up on others, and keeps no record of wrongs". If every believer lived up to just those six benchmarks, think of the impact we would have on those around us. We wouldn't just talk about being different, we would live it and display it to the world.

Let's each take the tough step of seeking to discover the benchmarks that the Lord is desiring us to live by, writing them down so we can purposefully live up to them, and making them the measuring line by which we judge ourselves. The goal is excellence; let's use the benchmarks God has given us in His Word to get there!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Glorify

Glorify

"So that with one heart and mouth you may glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Romans 15:6

One of the definitions that the Net Bible gives to the word glorify is "to cause the dignity and worth of some person to become manifest and acknowledged." We glorify God not just by the words we speak or the songs we sing in church but, as the Message Bible adds to Romans 15:6, by our very lives. An example is seen in John 17:4 where Jesus said:

"I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do."

What brought this thought of glorifying the Lord by the way we live to my mind was the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack on the Northwest Airlines plane that was landing in Detroit. The interview with the father of the accused man revealed a father who was disgraced, embarassed and dishonored by the actions of his son. The father, a prominent banker in Nigeria, has gone so far as to warn authorities about the direction his son's life has taken.

We would all like to think that we live in a bubble in the sense that our lives are ours to live as we see fit. But the reality is that so many other lives are affected by the way we live and by the choices and decisions we make. You don't have to look very far to see how parent's decisions affect the lives of their children. And as the recent story makes clear, children's decisions can also affect in very dramatic ways the lives of their parents.

As sons and daughters of our heavenly Father, we are in a place where our lives can honor and glorify the Father or do the opposite, dishonoring Him in ways we would never equate to our relationship with God. Whether we like it or not, our words can glorfiy God when we ascribe to Him goodness and greatness, declaring our trust in Him and being thankful for His provision, or they can dishonor Him when we complain about our circumstances or are negative about what lies ahead in our future.

My prayer for each of you in 2010 is that your lives will glorify the Father by the way you live your life. Using the definition we started with, that your words and actions throughout 2010 will cause the dignity and worth of God the Father to be manifest and acknowledged by many others. Let's purpose in our hearts to glorify God in the New Year we are beginning today!

Happy New Year & God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church