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Written by Pastor Jim Keatley
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Monday, 26 July 2010 13:25 |
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In the early 1990s, newspapers across America carried a story with these words:
A flurry of recent survey research has found that, contrary to the secularism of popular culture, Americans believe in God and identify themselves as strongly religious. But analysts who have studied the data say that the spirituality of many Americans might be only skin-deep. “Our biggest problem is not secular humanism, but interest in religion that doesn’t turn into commitment in every day life,” said Martin Marty, a prominent US church historian.
Lack of commitment could also be seen as lack of obedience or lack of service, and the Bible speaks to these issues. James said, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” [Jas. 2:26].
Jesus said, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great” [Lk. 6:46-49].
A Christian is not one who is “interested in religion,” but one who is in love with Jesus Christ ... and that love controls and compels us ... “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” [2 Cor. 4:14-15].
Pastor Jim
Above quote taken from The Lost Virtue of Happiness, by J.P. Moreland, p. 57
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Written by Pastor Jim Keatley
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Wednesday, 26 May 2010 10:17 |
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We read about Abraham, David, Daniel, Esther and others who inspire us as heroes of the faith ... we read about men and women who have accomplished great things for God in church history ... we know of modern day people like Billy Graham and many others who are not so well known who have made a great impact for God through their service and faith. The example of these lives can encourage us as we see what God can do through a human being ... and they can discourage us when we realize that we will never accomplish as much as they have. But God has not called us to do great things ... He has called us to be faithful to Him in the routines of an ordinary life.
In his book, The Call, Os Guinness writes:
... calling transforms things by reminding us that drudgery is part of the cost of discipleship. No one has written on this more persistently and bluntly than Oswald Chambers. Repeatedly he hammers home the point that “drudgery is the touchstone of character.” We look for the big things to do – Jesus took a towel and washed the disciples’ feet. We presume the place to be is the mountaintop of vision – he sends us back into the valley. We like to speak and act out of the rare moments of inspiration – he requires our obedience in the routine, the unseen, and the thankless. Our idea for ourselves is the grand moment and the hushed crowd – his is ordinary things when the footlights are switched off.
After all, Chambers continued,
Walking on the water is easy to impulsive pluck, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is a different thing. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he followed Him afar off on the land. We do not need the grace of God to stand crises, human nature and pride are sufficient, we can face the strain magnificently; but it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God, but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.[1]
God does not call us to greatness, but to faithfulness [1 Cor. 4:2 niv; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:2, 7, 4:7, 9; 1 Tim. 1:12]. God calls us to be faithful followers of Jesus in the routines of ordinary lives. Through our faithfulness God will bear fruit for His glory in our lives.
Pastor Jim
[1] Guinness, Os, The Call, pp. 201-202 |
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Science - Friend or Foe of Faith? |
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Written by Pastor Jim Keatley
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Thursday, 22 April 2010 13:59 |
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The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all it contains, You have founded them. [Ps. 89:11]
Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them. [Ps. 111:2]
It has been said by secular scientists that God is a God of the gaps. In other words, where we had gaps in our knowledge of how the world and universe worked, we attributed the workings of these incomprehensible phenomenon to an omniscient and omnipotent God who had created a universe so amazing that it was beyond our comprehension. For example, before Benjamin Franklin dared to investigate the phenomenon of lightening, it appeared to be a supernatural display of divine power and fury. It was a mystery – therefore God was the only explanation. There were so many things that we didn’t understand that God must be great indeed to create so much that was so far beyond our understanding.
But, according to some scientists, as we learned more and more, we filled in the “gaps” that formerly amazed us and required God to “explain” ... thus the more we learned, the less we needed God to explain the world in which we live.
Our discoveries regarding the make-up and workings of our world do not eliminate the need for God ... they show us more and more of His glorious wisdom and power! Furthermore, our growing understanding of our world does not really narrow the “gaps” ... because every new discovery only opens up new mysteries we never knew existed ... or new evidences of God’s glory to be discovered. Benjamin Franklin may have explained in an elementary way the nature of lightening and existence of electricity ... but rather than closing the “gap” on the subject of electricity, his discovery opened up many new avenues of research that have led to digital watches and cameras, hybrid cars, home computers, cell phones ... and something called the Hubble Telescope which has opened up still more discoveries and mysteries in astronomy and cosmology. As our discoveries keep growing so do the “gaps” ... or our wonder over what God has made.
God is not a God of the “gaps” ... He is the God of all creation ... He is God of everything we have come to understand and everything we don’t. As we grow in our understanding of what God has made, it doesn’t eliminate the need for God but rather reveals more of His glory. And the realization that our growing understanding only reveals a growing realm of additional mysteries to investigate also shows the glory of our God who has created a universe of such complexity and wonder that we never seem to come to the end of discovering all He has created.
The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. [Ps. 19:1]
Pastor Jim
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