Buying Gold

Revelation 3:15-21

There are a lot of ads for gold on TV and radio. The people selling it are trying to convince the rest of us that gold is the solution to our financial insecurity. But God tells us to buy gold from Him. When I think of gold, I think of doubloons or other gold coins, and then I wonder, how can you buy gold when it is the currency you use to buy other things? The answer, of course, is that you need a different currency to buy gold. In our economy, we use paper money to buy it. In God’s economy, the currency is Jesus’ blood which is available to me by faith.

I’m really afraid I’m like the church God is talking to in this passage. It’s the lukewarm church; the one that’s neither hot nor cold. I’m complacent in my faith and think I have everything I need. I think I’m rich, and can’t see that I’m really wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. I think I’m pleasing God, but I’m in danger of having Him spit me out.

But God is compassionate and tells me to buy gold from Him, so I can get the things I need. His gold is purified by fire. It’s what lasts. Some of the golden things in the Bible that last include God’s:

covenant with His people

blessings on His people

love for Israel

Word

justice

salvation

kingdom

and, of course, eternal life.

These are the things available to me when I have God’s gold. 

By faith, God invites me to buy white garments so I won’t be shamed by my nakedness. His blood washes away my sin and clothes me with a robe of righteousness.

By faith, God invites me to buy ointment for my eyes. I’m blind and need His help to see my wretchedness.

Once I’m properly clothed and no longer blind, I’ll invite Jesus in for supper. We’ll talk about the victory we’re going to share when I sit on the throne with Him. 

How can I be complacent when I’ve got that to look forward to?

Worship is God's

Haggai 2:6-9

I’ve belonged to a lot of different churches over the years, with different worship styles. I was raised Presbyterian, which is not liturgical, but has a structured order of worship. We sang hymns, said the Disciples Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, listened to a choir and stood for the reading of the Gospel. In some churches the pastor wore a robe and we called him “Reverend.” 

Methodists and Wesleyans were a little more relaxed, but they had acolytes who lit the candles and the choir wore robes. One of my favorite parts of the worship was the benediction. They also followed the church year by hanging different color vestments on the altar.

The independent churches are even more casual. The last one I attended has a blended service, with both worship songs and hymns and occasional responsive readings. The church I go to now has fewer elements. The service  consists of modern worship music, an offering and a sermon with prayer and scriptures incorporated into it. It always closes with an altar call.

Personally, I’m most comfortable in a more structured service, but I like aspects of all of them. There are also elements of each I don’t like and I’m ashamed to admit I’m sometimes critical of the things I don’t like.

God used this passage to remind me that the church service is His and it takes place in His house. Haggai is God’s message to the Israelites when they were rebuilding the temple after the exile. Although I don’t want to take it out of context, I’m going to focus on verse 8 of this passage, because that’s the one that spoke to me.

Whether I like every element of the worship service is irrelevant. Worship belongs to God. He points that out to the Israelites when He says:

The silver is mine and the gold is mine.

 Everything in worship is for God and belongs to Him.

The music is His.

The offering is His.

The prayers are His.

The scripture is His.

The sermon is His.

The building is His.

The church belongs to God and when I walk into the sanctuary, I’m entering His house to worship Him.

So Many Ways

John 16:1-4

There’s a news story in Christianity Today about the release of almost 70 massacre suspects in Pakistan. They were accused of killing 10 Christians, but a key witness fled the country, so they were given bail. Something about this case that stood out to me, is that the Christians were accused of desecrating the Qur’an, so the killers thought they were defending God. 

Jesus warned His followers that this would happen, but not to abandon their faith. As I sit in my comfortable sun room, having just read my Bible in preparation to go church tonight, persecution for my faith seems impossible.

But it could happen to me, and I pray God will strengthen my faith so I don’t abandon it if I am persecuted.

Romans 10:1-5 

I have some very dear Jewish friends. They are practicing Jews and truly try to live their lives to please G-d. But they reject Jesus as their Messiah and think He is just a Christian prophet/god/teacher.

What makes me sad is that they have all the scripture Jesus and His disciples had, so they could see the truth about Messiah even without reading the New Testament. But they choose to follow the Law. And I know that will not save them because they can’t keep the whole Law.

I’m a bit of a legalist (something I ask God to correct in me), so I have to guard against letting rules and laws creep into my expectations. I need constant reminders that my relationship with God is based on grace, faith and love.

There are lots of ways to turn away from the faith. I have to guard against them all.

Shrub or Tree

Jeremiah 17:5-8

With all the hullabaloo about the debt ceiling and the bad economy, it’s easy to worry. I have friends who have been out of work for a long time. I could worry that retirement is approaching and our investments are losing value or that Social Security won’t be there when we need it. But relying on the government to create jobs or do other things to fix the economy is foolish. Instead, I should rely on God, who is the one who is actually in control.

This passage uses two kinds of plants to illustrate the difference between relying on humans and trusting God. One is a stunted shrub in the desert and the other is a tree with deep roots.

When I was in California recently, I saw both kinds. We stayed at a ranch in San Diego county. That whole area is semi-arid and you have to water if you want green things growing in your yard. The ranch has a little creek that dries up in the summer when there is almost no rain. When we looked out at the hills, we saw a lot of dried up shrubs that had grown up in the winter and now had no water. But all along the creek there were big trees growing. They were green and healthy, even though there wasn’t any water in the creek. They had roots deep enough to reach the water table below the creek.

If I rely on humans to provide my needs, like bosses and government programs, I’ll be like that dried up shrub. I won’t be getting the water I need because I’ve turned away from God.

But if I trust in God and make Him my hope and confidence, I’ll be blessed. I’ll be like the trees planted by the creek with green leaves and constant fruit. I’ll have deep roots that reach down into the Living Water. 

The key to being blessed is to trust God.

The Real Story

Romans 3:5-8

One of the things I struggle with as a writer of fiction, is that a good story has to have conflict. Even a Christian writer has to write about evil. Of course, a good story also ends with good winning. In fiction, good triumphs because it overcomes evil. But in life, is evil necessary for good to exist? Would there be a story - reality - if there were no evil?

Would God be righteous if there were no sin?

Paul points out that this is a strictly human question. People like to think good and evil are two sides of a coin, a yin and yang. The more I learn to know God, the more I know that sin has nothing to do with Him, and He's greater than evil. But the question makes me aware of how centered I am on myself. It’s the problem I have when I worship. I want my mind and heart to focus on Him, but I almost always see Him in relation to me. 

I know He is loving because He loves me.

I praise His grace because He extended it to me.

I know He is Holy because His holiness reveals my sinfulness.

If my sinfulness makes God’s righteousness more apparent, how can He judge me for that sin? I’ve glorified Him by sinning, right?

Whoa! I don’t even want to go down that road to make a point. I don’t get a free pass from anything I do, and especially not from my sin.

The truth is, God is Who He is, all by Himself. 

God is righteous. Period.

God is loving. Period.

God is gracious. Period.

Even if He had never created anything, He would still be righteous, loving and gracious.

And regardless of how He interacts with me, my sin is evil.

So the real story is about how God’s righteousness overcomes my evil by His loving grace. Every good story is based on this and focuses on good, not evil. And as a lover of stories, I look forward to when I will tell God’s story in His presence. Then it’ll be all about Him.

Test or Trust

Matthew 4:5-7

When God told Abraham He was going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham challenged Him to do the right thing. He said, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25) Imagine telling God what to do. Abraham was pretty gutsy.

Wait. I do that all the time. When I pray for a specific thing, I expect God to do it because it’s the right thing to do (isn’t it?) Sure I tack on, “if it’s Your will” but I often believe I know His will because I know His promises.

So what’s the difference between challenging God and expecting Him to keep His promises? 

Jesus put it another way. He said, “don’t test God.”

During Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, Satan quoted a promise and told Jesus to prove God would keep it. The scripture Jesus quoted back was Deut 6:16. Israel was being told to not test God like they did at Massah. I looked at this incident a few days ago. It’s where God provided water from a rock after they complained of thirst. They had forgotten what God had done for them and didn’t believe His promise to provide.

So the question I have to ask myself is, “Do I test God? Where do I ask Him to prove Himself to me?”

Testing God is not trusting Him to keep His promises. It’s forgetting what God has already done.

So when Satan invited Jesus to prove God, he was really challenging Jesus to prove He trusted God. But if Jesus had done what Satan suggested, He would have been testing God, not proving His own trust. 

I don’t have to prove God is Who He says He is. When I trust God, I’m acting in faith, but it’s faith based on experience. When my circumstances are scary, I just need to accept that God’s in control and wait for Him to act on my behalf. 

Remembering what He’s already done will help me do that.

Judgment Day

Zephaniah 1:7-2:3

 God’s judgment is awful and I don’t want to think about it. But if I’m going to read all of scripture, I eventually have to confront it. When I read passages like this one, I want to ask, “What does this have to do with me?” By God’s grace, I’ve been justified, so I won’t face judgment, right?

Wrong. I looked up a bunch of other passages about judgment so I know we will all be judged before the throne of God – even Christians. Jesus talked about the Judgment Day. He told a parable about weeds growing up with the wheat and being separated at the harvest. (Matthew 13:24-30). He said that when He comes back, He will separate the people like a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats. (Matthew 25:3-33). In Revelation there’s a description of the Judgment. The people whose names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life are saved. But in verse 20:12, it says the dead are judged according to what they have done. So somehow, even though I am saved, my deeds will be judged.

That’s a scary thought. But this passage in Zephaniah gives me an example of what not to do and what I should do.

There’s a contrast in verses 1:12 and 2:3.

Like the Israelites, I can sit complacent in my sins, thinking God won’t do anything.

I can not worry about pleasing God and do what I want.

OR

I can humbly seek the Lord and follow His commands.

I can recognize my sinfulness before a righteous God and live my life trying to please Him.

The difference is complacency versus humility; sinfulness versus obedience.

Judgment is a hard subject to understand and accept. I know I don’t begin to understand it. It’s complicated, but one point is simple. Because I’ve been saved by Jesus, I should obey Him.