Utah Grace

Go here to listen to Pastor’s Phil’s sermon on giving up fear.

11.13

10.30

This comes from a friend serving the Lord in a Muslim country, and a place where confidence in the gospel is vital.  I thought I would post it out of my respect for this person, and the encouraging words he always writes:

One of my favorite Bible accounts twice uses the phrase “windows in heaven” (2 Kings 7:2,19). It’s a phrase used by a skeptic who, in this case, doubted God’s ability to create a total economic recovery in 24 hours. To be fair, this skeptic – a royal officer – only voices what most people must have thought. Samaria was under a siege so harsh that some had resorted to cannibalism just to survive (2 Kings 6:24-33). Honestly, I can’t even imagine how bad conditions must have been. Could the situation really revert to complete normalcy in just 24 hours?!

Well, yes… when God says so (2 Kings 7:1,16).

The account is extraordinary! Four lepers – outcasts with nothing to lose – discover that the Aramean (Syrian) army has fled in terror, leaving behind all their plunder and wealth. This, of course, was totally the Lord’s doing. They revel in the blessings procured through God’s victory over their enemies. In their delight, they suddenly realize, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news [gospel], but we are keeping silent… let us go and tell…” (vs. 9; parentheses added).

Their news is met with some doubt and skepticism, but a quick verification confirms their report. The city gates are opened and the enemy camp plundered – completing the fastest economic recovery in history.

And the doubting royal officer… saw it but never tasted it. He was trampled to death at the city gate… just as God spoke through His prophet Elisha. Ouch!

Multiple lessons can be gleaned from this account, but I want to focus on just one that we find both challenging and encouraging in this setting. Namely: Never doubt what God can accomplish through the proclamation of the Gospel. Yes, the situation in which we live and work seems impossible – like it will never change. Yes, we’re but beggars who want to share the good news of God’s victorious work with other very needy people. Yes, our report is not believed. But yes, God has spoken… and He has said that on the cross Jesus “purchased men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Rev. 5:9).

Do we doubt that He could totally transform this place in 24 hours? (Gulp!) Do we doubt what He can accomplish through the faithful proclamation of His Gospel? Paul reminds us that the Gospel is the “power of God for salvation…” (Rom. 1:16). Do we doubt God’s power?!

Honestly, at times I do. Like the royal officer, I look at the situation and can’t imagine things could change… much less change quickly. O God, help my unbelief! Thankfully, God hasn’t dealt with me the same way. Hopefully, I’ll learn from the poor fellow’s example. In the meantime, we also want to emulate those nameless lepers and faithfully share the good news.

All Warrior fans feel like this after Steph Curry dropped 40 points in the seasons opener.  But hopefully he will find his stride by Christmas (?!?!)

10.28

From last Sunday’s Sermon on the Book of Titus:

He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. –  Titus 2:11-14

How zealous – enthusiastic, passionate, obsessed – are we to do good works? I wonder sometimes if we shy away from good deeds for a couple of reasons.

First, I hope we don’t shy away from good deeds because we live in a place where the LDS religion relies so heavily on human effort and works to be right with God.  We don’t do good to save ourselves, to make ourselves worthy, or for the sake of merely being good.  We can’t.

…when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. – Titus 3:4,5

The good we do is just a response to what God has done for us.  Our treatment of others – helping the helpless, being a loving neighbor, serving the poor, forgiving the hostile – is because of how God in Jesus Christ has treated us.

Second, I think a fear of being “good” or “virtuous” has subtly crept into our Christian thinking.  We’ve been put on the defensive by those who say Christians are “too good”, “angelic”, even “self-righteous” and we don’t want to appear that way.  So we show that we can swear, drink, party, tell the off-color joke, just as well as the next person.

Sometimes we have cloaked this with the terms “authentic” or “real”, when all we are doing is just trying to fit in so that there is no rub or cost for being distinct because we belong to the Lord.

We spend more time maintaining our image in a world that could care less about God, than seeking and honoring the God who has come to claim us.  At some point, “no, we aren’t like everyone else.” Yes, there is that thing of being in the world but not of it.  But don’t forget the “not of it” part.

It’s true, some have made Christianity into things we don’t do: don’t smoke, drink or swear and you are OK.  Of course, this isn’t the faith of Jesus Christ at all.

And then there are those who profess to be people of Jesus Christ but live totally contrary to a life with him.  Paul called this out in Titus.

“They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions.  They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.” – Titus 1:16

  Strong stuff.

Real Christianity is about an event – the coming of Jesus Christ.  And real Christian living is about how we respond to that.  It is living lives that reflect the character of God.

We are to say “no” to the dominant values of a culture that does not recognize God.  It takes courage and spiritual guts to say “no” in our culture.  “No, I am not going to watch that, I’m not going to participate in that, I’m not going there.”

 I think it took courage for those Christians in Crete to say “no” to things there. But we aren’t just saved from something.  We are saved for something.  Being Christ’s people is to be a people who do and live certain things.  We are to say “yes” and be zealous for good works, “energetic in goodness” , eager to do good.

Nun 1: We went to this instead of staying home and watching the Mets?