Exhaustion and Heart Health: The Letter to Pergamum – Revelation 2:12-17

Male runner silhouette, running into sunset
Male runner silhouette, running into sunset

I have discovered the trick behind getting my body to run is learning not to listen to it. A few strides into the run, my heart and my stomach both claim I must stop or they will revolt…I must ignore the voices inside and keep running. In the same way, we have to ignore the nagging voice that beckons us to quit when we are doing right. It is possible to grow weary in well doing, and that is why Scripture warns us concerning it.

Key Principle: When we join the corps of the unfaithful because we feel they are stronger – we lose our distinctive call.

An hour and a half’s drive north to the impregnable high cliff city of Pergamum, where the tolerance of error was eroding the truth to a dull and compromised lump.

Revelation 2:12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this: 13 ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. 15 So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’

The church of Pergamum had some critical issues of compromise of purity. Some supported seductive teachings that drew the weak away in forbidden food and immoral practices. These appear to have been focused on Christian “liberties” without restraint. Not everyone was involved, but a few dominated the many tolerated. That is the temptation now – to allow the voice of the world to become accepted as the voice of God’s people.

Habits for a Healthy Heart:

First, renew your hunger for the Word of God – it will make you resilient when you are getting worn out.

Jesus explains Who He is in Revelation 2:12 “The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this…” Why does He use this title of Himself? In Scripture, the image of the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is well known both in this book and in the rest of the Christian Scripture. John used the title “Jesus is the Word” in the opening of His Gospel account, in the same way that he called Jesus the Lamb. Think about Jesus as the Word for a moment…As such, He is sharper than any two-edged sword, and which lays bare the thoughts and intents of the soul (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12). Literally that means that Jesus as the Living Word and the written word both share the capacity to cut into us with truth and divide “why I say I do something” from “why I really do something”. I have in my hands a tool that can do surgery upon my heart and expose trouble I cannot see without the help of this Word.

At the same time, this is the weapon with which Christ will subdue His enemies; a weapon that is provided to no carnal weapon is needed (2 Corinthians 10:4). Those who attempt to stand with any other sword in hand than this to advance His kingdom will perish with the weapon to which they have appealed (Revelation 13:10; Matthew 26:52), which reminds us the church’s growth and advance is to be thoroughly Word-soaked and Word-based. I mention that because there are many ways to draw a crowd and seemingly grow a church – but none that will sustain them like the careful and systematic teaching of the Word of God. The Scripture claims that those who arm themselves with this will find the Word mighty through God. In fact, Scripture is clear that with this weapon Jesus fights against His adversaries (Revelation 19:15, 21); and and makes deliberate wounds that He may heal. The One Who is the Word of God is the Living Incarnation of God’s powerful sword – both a weapon and a tool that brings victory, protection and correction to His followers.

He is the One Who was reaching out to the compromised and exhausted church. What do erring believers need? They need to be lovingly confronted with the Word – Who is personified in Jesus.

Dorothy Sayers wrote, “If men will not understand the meaning of judgment, they will never come to understand the meaning of grace.” This is why GUILT is being slain in our culture by accepting that none of us can be expected to do right. What does a 55 speed limit sign mean? “You can go 60 without getting stopped! What is April 15th? “The day you file for an extension!” Why do we not teach abstinence only in our classrooms? “Because young people cannot be expected to overcome their urges with the will to do right!” The only way to resolve the issues of sin without a Savior is convince our culture they aren’t sinners after all – they are normal for violating standards and the actual problem isn’t them – it is the judgmental people who have standards.

We must remember that if Jesus is clearly explained – He will be offensive to the world, but He will draw men to Himself. If Jesus is carefully examined in the Word for all His claims and His expectations – most will recoil at the idea of bowing before Him – but some will choose to drop to their knees in response. Our job is to clearly show Jesus to the world by exposing what God has revealed in His Word. For that reason, the enemy has pounded away at the deliberate transmission of the Word. Academics question its veracity. Scholars speak with such great complexity about its pages so as to confuse the convinced. Yet those who know its pages well have come to trust it MORE, not less.

We live in a time when new methods – one after the other – have been promoted in the local church to make it more relevant to people. We must look again at our past. In the Book of Acts, the disciples learned to speak the Word; and when they were persecuted, they went everywhere preaching the Word. It wasn’t just from pulpits, it was from Christians, as the Word says: “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). As they preached, the Word increased, prevailed and multiplied. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7). So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed (Acts 19:20). But the word of God grew and multiplied (Acts 12:24). The Word and its sharing was the hallmark of the church as it grew.

They didn’t make their reputation on fellowship – but they had sweet time together. They didn’t become known as a vibrant weekly concert followed by a self-help seminar – they presented, explained and applied the Word of God. That is what they were known for, and that is how they grew. Any church or outreach that doesn’t recognize the need for the Word to be at the center of its transformation power will end up pressing further into gimmickry. We must be careful – for the tool for growth and change has been given by God!

Second, trust completely that Jesus is well aware of where He placed us and the conditions in that place.

Jesus said in Revelation 2:13a: “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is…” There was no sense is which Jesus was unaware of the problems we face in our time. When I got in last night, I got a call from a broken-hearted family member of a young girl who grew up here in town. She was a young lady who came faithfully to church as a child, had a Christian education, and came from a solid Christian family. She was not abused, nor was she mistreated by the people of God. She went to a Christian college before creating a disturbance and leaving it in turmoil. She plunged downward and went from one bad situation to another on her own, one man after another – three children and disease and drugs later. She became every Christian parent’s nightmare. If you met her, even now, she would have the ability to speak “Christianeze” with fluency – but the ravages of a sin-filled, rebellious life have taken such a toll on her, it is hard to believe she is the little girl that bopped around the fellowship hall of one of our churches. It was hard to listen to her story – and it was a stark reminder that right under our noses, Satan is staking out a claim on our weak ones. We must be wise and warn them how close His angry hoards truly are.

God KNOWS WHERE WE ARE and because of that, He provided weaponry to stand. We know it well, but may not use it daily. The FIRST TYPE was that armor which must always be at the ready. If there was a lull in the battle, the fighter was not to remove the first three implements. He indicated that in the verb form “always having” the:

Belt of truthfulness: (alethia: truth as content) vulnerable area, carefully protected (14); Paul was not addressing the truth of salvation (as in v. 17 and the sword, Word), but rather the commitment to truthfulness of the believer!
Breastplate of righteousness (holy choices): covering heart, able to take direct blows when positioned correctly (14b), breaks your heart when not maintained. In the Hebrew world, the “heart” is the mind! (Prov. 23:7; Mark 7:21). Paul does not refer to self righteousness (Eph. 2:8-9), nor of imputed righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21), but of a life practice of righteousness, or holy living.
Sandle guard straps fixed in position to provide a firm stand with the Gospel: metal tabs that protected the surface of the foot with cleats to hold the soldier in place. Paul refers to the unmovable faith in the Gospel to bring peace in the life of the lost.

The SECOND TYPE of armor was indicated in the poor translation of “Above all” (v.16). The grammar was NOT indicating the shield is more important, but is linked to the verb form of all of the next three items. They were to appropriate at the time necessary the:

Blocking shield of faith (theuron; large shield to block arrows; 4.5 feet by 2.5 feet., cp. Psalm 18:30). His reference is not to “belief” as such, but to “trust” that changes our view of ourselves and the world around us. When the battle rages, use the shield. 1) they were effective when locked together; 2) they were effective when held tightly and trusted and all remained in place.
Helmet of salvation (refers to the protection of the transformed mind) when we understand that our salvation has a PAST aspect: justification; a PRESENT aspect: sanctification; and a FUTURE aspect, our eventual glorification. We must see things through God’s eyes and learn to call the battle by His Word!
Sword of the Spirit: the WORD (RAMA: From the word “to pour, an utterance”) of God. The “machaira” dagger is not the broad sword, rhomphaia). A specific Word from God that He gives to take a direct shot at the enemy!

Truths we must remember: First, failure to put on the armor is an open invitation for the enemy to shoot at you. You WILL be hit and undefended. You will be wounded because you have not chosen the defensive armor. Second, there is no armor in the back, so don’t turn to run away. Stand up to the enemy with your armor on, resist him, and he will flee from you.

Third, take heart that no resistance against the enemy in the name of Jesus will be forgotten.

Jesus noted in Revelation 2:13b “…and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

You represent the most experienced and qualified servants of Jesus in our town. I am not flattering you, I am laying at your feet the weight of responsibility to be an example of a believer in your words and manner of life. You believers are watching. Churches are noting the behavior of senior saints who have served. Faithfulness on your field includes faithfulness at home in these days and at this place. You must make every attempt to be the winsome representatives of Jesus you needed to be on deputation and on the field. You have not yet completed your assignment. You must be the encouragers – for you have seen God’s faithfulness in startling and unique ways. Whatever your physical limitations – you must use what you can to serve God in prayer, example, encouragement and faithfulness – to whatever degree you are able.

Fourth, don’t let your eyes adjust to spiritual darkness as though it was now normal.

Jesus noted in Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. 15 So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

When you walk into a nice restaurant, it is often dark. In time your eyes adjust to the darkness, and after a time you see it as normal. This is one of the things that made re-entry to your home country difficult when you returned from the field. People’s eyes adjusted to the increasing darkness and they say the degraded humor, the flaunting displays of sensuality as NORMAL. Because you were away, you missed the change and it didn’t seem normal to you at all. Now that you have been here awhile, the temptation can be to allow the darkness to creep in.

You are familiar with the stories of Balaam in Numbers 22-24, where the Word revealed how Balak sent for Balaam, and God used Balaam’s donkey to see what he did not see – the angel of the Lord was preparing to strike him down for his hard and unyielding heart . The story ended in Balaam’s sharing the right words about Israel in spite of himself. Jude 1:11 mentions that story in the context of overtures to sexual sin, and if you read the Numbers account you know why. Because Balak couldn’t get Israel cursed, he plotted to tempt the nation away in lust. It is one of Satan’s very old ploys – to get the people of God drawn into sexual compromise.

Let me be honest with you. I am not expecting you to be caught in sins of sensuality. I believe that many of you – the vast majority of you – have wrestled with the surrender of your will to Jesus and are on good ground in this fight. At the same time, the issue of our heart health in this letter isn’t tossing aside our testimony for a fleeting fling with the neighbor- it is allowing our heart to be enticed into accepting perversion as normal and acceptable. Don’t give up the expectation that believers would walk in purity.

Fifth, taste the sweetness of God’s renewal often.

Revelation 2:16 Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

Don’t be angry with God’s call for repentance and His discipline – He loves whom He chastens. I think of the boy…who hated the outhouse and decided he would push it over.

It was hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and always smelly. The outhouse was located near the creek so the boy decided that he would push it into the water. After a spring rain, the creek swelled so the boy pushed it in. Later that night his dad told him that he and the boy needed to make a trip to the woodshed. The boy knew this meant punishment. He asked his father why to which his dad replied, “Because someone pushed the outhouse into the creek and I think that someone was you. Was it?” The boy responded that it was. Then he added, “Remember when George Washington’s father asked him if he had chopped down the cherry tree? He didn’t get into trouble because he told the truth.” “That is correct,” the dad said, “but his father was not in the cherry tree when he cut it down.”

I LOVE that God is the Author of second chances!

Michael Breissen was a new father, and he was not about to let his wife’s first Mother’s Day pass uncelebrated. But she was a nurse, and on that particular Sunday was working at the local hospital, and they weren’t able to celebrate together at home. So Michael plunked his new son, Jason, in the baby carrier, drove to the hospital, and in front of all the patients and co-workers he surprised Miriam with candy and flowers and balloons that said, “World’s Greatest Mom.” It was a great Mother’s Day. But after celebrating, it was time for Miriam to go back to work, and Jason and Michael to go back home. Michael gathered all the things that had been part of the celebration: the candy, flowers, and balloons. It wasn’t as much fun taking those things out to the car as it was taking them in to the hospital for the surprise. He begrudgingly tossed the candy on the front seat and got the flowers arranged on the floor where they wouldn’t tip over. He pulled the balloons in out of the wind and got everything arranged, and headed home. On the way home, people began to honk their horns and flash their lights at him. He didn’t realize what was going on until he hit 55 miles per hour on the highway. He heard a long scraping noise go down the roof, followed by a loud thump. He watched in horror in the rearview mirror as the baby carrier bounced off the trunk onto the highway and began to slide along behind the car. Michael screeched to a halt. He ran back down the highway to the baby carrier. Jason was okay. As the waves of guilt and fear and relief began to wash over him, Michael fell on the highway and began to sob, which did not stop a passing policeman from writing him up, nor the local newspaper from writing a story about it. A reporter interviewed Miriam, who showed amazing understanding. She said, “It’s so unlike him. He really is a good father.” How many times a week could you just kick yourself for failing? Like Michael Breissen, even though you knew better, you did the stupid thing. And now all you feel is stupid, filthy, wretched to use the language of Paul. But hear where Paul goes from that wretched place.. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” When God looks at you, He doesn’t see a wretch, He sees a son or daughter..

Jesus told the people of Pergamum to repent, and the Word-sword would do its work on those who opposed His holiness.

Sixth, celebrate what God provides for those who don’t give up.

Revelations 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’

I love that God reminds us often of His promises! Now God’s promises aren’t like a flawed parent’s promises – they are clear and reliable.

A little girl crawled up in the lap of her Grandpa and cuddled close. Then she looked into Grandpa’s face with those big blue eyes of hers and said, “Grandpa, can you please make a sound like a frog?” Grandpa thought for a moment, then smiled and said, “Ribbit. Ribbit.” Suddenly, the little girl leaped from his lap and ran into the kitchen yelling as loud as she could, “Mommy, we are going to Disney World…we are going to Disney World…we are going to Disney World!!!” The young mom hushed her child and said, “Honey, why do you think we are going to Disney World?” The little girl, gleaming with joy, blurted out, “You said we can go to Disney World when Grandpa croaks!”

Here is the truth! Every jockey pictures being in the winner’s circle. Every football player envisions the Superbowl ring on his hand. Every Olympic participant imagines standing on the highest box and getting their gold medal… and every believer should learn to savor the promises of God for those who endure and serve faithfully.

• He has promised you a “Well done!”
• He has explained a reward that you will be able to cast at His feet.
• Here He reminds you that you will be given a stone of acquittal and face no condemnation.
• He also promised something more…HIDDEN MANNA. Sustenance that will get you through that no one who does not walk with Him will know. It is hidden, because you must follow Him clutching tightly to discover it. It is manna because it will fill you in a world that offers food that does not satisfy.

Remember, when we join the corps of the unfaithful because we feel they are stronger – we lose our distinctive call.

Don’t lose your distinctive call…I want you to picture the biggest stadium you have ever seen. You will be surrounded by people of every tribe and tongue. Worthy is the Lamb! Heaven was promised for you. Don’t be weary or overwhelmed. There is more with God than against Him in the Heavens – and if there wasn’t – yet He is greater!

Confident Christianity: Now Concerning Stewardship – 1 Corinthians 16

steward 2Back in 2002, Pastor Rick Gillespie-Mobley shared this illustration and I believe it will be perfectly understood by parents today:

One day James wanted to do something special with his five year old son Jimmy. He asked: “Son, is there anything you’d like to do right now?” Jimmy said, “I want some McDonald French Fries.” His father said, “If that’s what my boy wants, then that’s what my boy gets.” [The father and son] got into the blue and white Chevy truck and headed toward McDonald’s [Restaurant]. Jimmy’s lips and tongue were silently moving as he could taste the fries before they even reached the store. His Dad made the order, and Jimmy’s heart pounded when his Dad said: “Make it a ‘super-sized’ fry. James took the money out of his wallet to pay for the fries and a drink. Jimmy’s little teeth were ready to sink into those hot golden fries, before they made it to the table. When they sat down, grace consisted of “God bless this food amen”, but it seemed like way too many words to Jimmy who was eager to delight himself with this huge blessing of French fries. James was happy to see his little boy so happy over something so simple. He decided to join in the fun. He reached over to get a couple of Jimmy’s fries for himself. To his surprise, his son quickly put his arms around his fries as though building a fort and pulled them toward himself and said, “No, these are mine.” His dad was in a state of shock for a moment. He could not believe what had happened. James pulled back his hand and began to reflect about his son’s attitude toward the fries.

He was thinking, “My son failed to realize that I am the source of those French fries.” At the counter, I was the one who gave the cashier the money from my wallet. I did not give him the size fry he was expecting, but something twice as big. Yet here he is talking about his French fries. Not only was I the source of the French fries, he has forgotten that at 6ft 1 and 195 lbs, I have the power to take all the fries despite his little arms surrounding them as a fort. Or that if I wanted to, I could go back to the counter and bring him so many fries that he could never eat them all. He also does not understand, “that I don’t need his French fries. I could go back to the counter and get as many fries as I wanted.” As the Dad thought about it, one or two fries really would not have made much of a difference for him that day. What he wanted was for his son Jimmy, to invite him into the wonderful little world he had made possible for his son. He wanted his son to be willing to share the very blessing that he had provided.

steward 3It seems an instinctive part of our fallen nature as human beings for us to deeply believe we have earned things that we have clearly been given. When we realize we didn’t somehow earn what we have without assistance, some of us start to be willing to generously share what we have.

That little picture is what stewardship is all about. That is the subject of the last chapter of 1 Corinthians. In that portion of the writing of the Apostle Paul, God offered a model of how we are to steward our time, talent, wealth and opportunity. His example of a simple collection reveals a broader principle…

Key Principle: God provides wealth, opportunities and people to allow us to steward His resources in ministry, and to help us invite Him on the journey of life.

That principle reveals what God does, but the real question is: “How can we use what He provided in a way that pleases Him?” Paul offered some help by the Spirit of God.

The Stewardship of Money Used for Ministry (16:1-4).

First, Paul challenged the people of Corinth concerning their giving of an offering to other believers who were in trouble and needed help (at Jerusalem). Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. 2 On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. 3 When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem; 4 and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.

There are four details Paul offered in what he wrote that will help us as we steward the “things” God put within our lives.

Detail One: He said their giving had a defined purpose.

The projects were directed from the priorities established by leaders who were responsible before God not to misdirect the funds (16:1). It appears that Paul’s real goal was to unite the Gentile givers and the Jewish recipients in love, a task that was not easy to accomplish!

Detail Two: He instructed their provision be set aside in a systematic way.

Setting aside the funds for the giving was to be a deliberate venture (not haphazard), but at the same time it was not a sterile one! This was an intentional act of worship (i.e. Phil. 4:18 “spiritual sacrifice”) as an organized collection for specific and measurable goals (1 Corinthians 16:2a). They were helping and they KNEW they were helping. They saw the planned use of the funds. This wasn’t a “blind taxation” but a deliberate sacrifice for others.

Detail three: He told them giving was responsive to God’s direction:

Let’s take a few moments on this point. The people were directed to give as God provided for each of them (16:2b). There was no simple formula, but it was scaled according to the blessing God offered them individually.

The simple fact is that we have nothing without the help of another, and even our very lives came from God using the body of others. We are nothing on our own and never have been. Truthfully we possess nothing permanent of ourselves. All that we are, all that we have, all that we will ever become is tied up in the good gifts of God to us. Here is how you can verify this truth: If you really think something belongs to you; die and try to keep somebody else from taking it.

A Note on TITHING and the Believer

Let’s take a moment, since we are in a passage about giving in a planned way, and deal with the age old question: “To tithe or not to tithe!” Many believers were raised to believe that we owe God a tenth of our increase. That isn’t true. We owe God everything, but that doesn’t necessarily instruct us on how much to give in our local church, or to ministry needs in general. Let me unpack that idea a bit.

In terms of those who teach “tithing”, they will cite the record of giving in the “tithe” extending back to the first book of the Bible. In Genesis 14:18-20, Abraham, after rescuing Lot, met with the enigmatic priest of the Living God name Melchizedek. After Melchizedek offered Abraham a blessing based on his rescue of people and goods, Abraham gave him a tenth of everything he has obtained from the battle. “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” —Genesis 14:18-20

Take a moment and consider this, not simply as a pattern, but as an event by itself. Did the inclusion of the story by Moses show that he intended the passage to teach believers to give to their Temple? If it did, was this to be later inferred in giving to their synagogue and after the advent of Jesus by believers in the church? In other words, are there any indications that Abraham’s act was to be instructive to us in an amount to give at our place of worship?

Consider this: Abraham wasn’t at Temple or church, and there is no internal instruction in the passage. In fact, there is a widely promoted theory of the passage that “tithing” in this text existed “before the conditions of the Law of Moses” and therefore superseded the Law. Yet, that reasoning is deeply flawed. While it is true that Abraham gave BEFORE THE LAW, his tithe was NOT from Abraham’s own wealth (Gen 13), but from the spoils of war. There are NO passages that indicate Abraham took anything from his own wealth at that time or any subsequent time. If we followed the pattern of that passage, we would give things taken from others and keep our own stuff. We would also learn to do it only one time.

“Wait!” some would argue. In Genesis 28:12-22, Jacob, after his visionary dream of Jacob’s Ladder (or stairway) and his reception of a blessing from God, promised God a tenth: “12 He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the Lord stood [h]above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have [m]promised you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” 18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, 21 and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God. 22 This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”” —Genesis 28:12-22

It is true that is exactly what Jacob did. Here is the issue: There is no wider command in the passage that showed any broader application to other believers nor is there a record that God required this of him. He simply said that he did what was customary for a guardian king. In the period, a tithe was something you gave to a king or chieftain of an area in order to guarantee safe passage through their territory on a journey. You didn’t do it unless you passed through their property. Is the teaching of the tithe in this case a “deal with God”? Are we saying you should offer God “safe passage money” in a reciprocal agreement? I don’t think so.

It is also important to recognize the tithe was specifically in the Torah provisions mentioned in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:26; Deuteronomy 14:24; 2 Chronicles 31:5). At the same time, most Christians don’t understand the tithing system was organized in a seven year cycle, (part of what is called the “Shemittah cycle”).

• Every year, the Bikkurim (or first fruits in the Bible) and the Terumah (called in the Bible a “heave offering”) were separated from the grain, wine and oil.

• The Ma’aser Rishon and the “Terumat Ma’aser” were specific gifts of a tenth of new agricultural produce, accompanying the gift to the priests of the Tabernacle for service compensation (Deuteronomy 14:22).

The idea was that these priests were cared for like “God’s princes” who “covered the people with protection” as a chieftain would when you passed through his territory. Unlike other offerings, where eating was restricted to consumption within the tabernacle, the yearly tithe to the Levites could be consumed anywhere as part of their compensation (Numbers 18:31). The “tithe” wasn’t a simple formula where people brought a tenth each week to worship, as is sometimes implied.

In fact, it was much more complicated. In years one, two, four and five of the Shemittah cycle, God commanded the priests to take the tithes to the “storehouse” where it would be distributed. This was likely NOT a command for a second tithe, but for tithe within a tithe, as seems clear in Nehemiah 10:38 (10% of 10% -or 1%, for the priestly charges).

In “year three” of the Shemittah cycle a “year of tithing” was called for from Deuteronomy 26:12-14 in which the Israelites set aside 10% of the increase of the crops and they were to given to the Levites, strangers, orphans, and widows. These “tithes” functioned like our taxes for the people of Israel and were mandatory, not optional giving. This tithe was distributed locally “within the gates” Deuteronomy 14:28 to support the Levites and assist the poor.

After many years in churches, I have heard the many reasons some simplified the “tithe system” and then argued to make it the pattern of giving in the church. Often these voices went to passages like Malachi 3, and argued for “consistency” in light of the idea that “God never changes” (Malachi 3:6). While God’s changeless nature is true, consider this: To move the tithe to the church because of the consistency of God’s nature is not a move to preserve faithfulness at all:

• Churches change when to give the tithe (Deuteronomy 26:12- The tithe was only given at certain times of the year).

• Churches change who receives the tithe (Nehemiah 10:38- the tithe could only go towards the Levites the poor, or festivals; not towards buildings or pastors).

• Churches change what was given as a tithe (Deuteronomy 14:22- The tithe normally only consisted of food and animals).

• Churches change essential uses for the tithe (The tithe was never used for initial building construction).

It seems clear the only thing the church has tried NOT to change is HOW MUCH is given – and even that is changed when one considers that tithing was not a “weekly deal” in the Bible.

Let me be clear: I am not trying to get you to give less money to your local church. I am trying to correct the mishandling of the Word and get you on a path based on consistent and obedient following of the text. There ARE passages on giving in the Bible. You should be giving to the work of your local church and its outreaches. I am not disputing that. Yet, the discussion by the Apostles in the various letters promoted giving but does not mention tithing. What IS mentioned are things of this sort:

• 2 Corinthians 9:7 talks about giving cheerfully,
• 2 Corinthians 8:12 encourages giving what you can afford,
• 1 Corinthians 16:1–2 discusses giving regularly (although this is a saved amount for a special Jerusalem offering),
• 1 Timothy 5:17–18 exhorts supporting the financial needs of Christian workers,
• Acts 11:29 promotes feeding the hungry.
• James 1:27 states that pure religion is to help widows and orphans.

In my life, the value of speaking of a “tithe” as a tenth was a way to help me get into the pattern of giving.

I started with it, not as a law, but as an easy way to calculate personal giving.

It was a means of offering me a starting place in obedience to a systematic giving. I don’t have to tithe; I must give as God directs in a sacrificial, systematic and deliberate way. I must seek God as I ask what amount to give of what He has provided. Yet, I found a tenth an easy starting place for me – and you may as well. Pastor Mobley reminded me of this when he wrote:

A tithe is nothing more than a penny out of a dime, or a dime out of dollar. If God sat with you at a table, and gave you 10 dimes, what would cause you to say no if God asked for one of them back? Yet 90% of all people who say they love God will say no God, this is mine. We get upset about paying 10% when God is entitled to the full 100% to do as He pleases. The moment God puts money into our hands, “we declare this is mine. I’ll only give what I want to give.” Up goes the fortress around our fries. We have no idea of how blessed we are and of all the things that God has done for us.”

Some are afraid to begin to give regularly and systematically. They need to grow into this obedience. Perhaps it will help to understand there are a few things we should know about God and how He will meet our needs financially if we obey Him in systematic giving.

The first issue deals with God’s power and ability. Five thousand can be fed from a few loaves and fishes, because little is much when Jesus touches it. God knows how to meet needs – we need to trust that fact of Scripture.

The second issue we need to face concerns God’s willingness to provide. Jesus said the Father is willing to give you what you need, as a good father would. Is there any good dad you know who would ask their child to go to the store and purchase some milk, knowing that the milk would cost $2.99 but you only gave them .50 to purchase it? Not at all! If you expected them to bring home milk, you’d give them enough money to do it, and you aren’t a better father than God is.

There are people always wanting to give God something they don’t have. Lord If I had a million dollars, I would…..most of us would start lying. You see tithing is never an issue of amount, but rather of attitude. God says, you keep the $500,000 you would have given if you had a million, but let’s talk about the $450 check you do get every week or every two weeks or once a month. I’d rather have that $45 which tells me, go ahead and eat some of your fries.

The third issue of beginning to trust regards what we should know about God’s history and desire to work in partnership with us in reaching people. God could have sent a full grown Savior, but He implanted a baby in Mary. God could have sent an angel to preach the gospel to the people in your workplace, but God didn’t do that – He left YOU and I here.

The only time God asked His people to test Him was specifically in relation to trusting His provision and giving back to Him in obedience. God didn’t command we become poor. He told His people in Malachi 3:10-12 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Detail four: Paul made clear the handling of the funds must be transparent.

In addition to believers learning to regularly and sacrificially give, Paul noted something else that was very important: The leader distanced himself from the handling of the money (16:2b-3) and the congregation chose the leaders that handled the money (16:3). Their leader gave credibility to the collection team, but had no other objective in being a part of the collection (16:4).

The Stewardship of Time and Opportunity in Ministry (16:5-9).

clock1 Corinthians 16:5 But I will come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia; 6 and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go. 7 For I do not wish to see you now [just] in passing; for I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; 9 for a wide door for effective [service] has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

• Planning: The stated plan of the letter (16:5-7) reveals it is not unspiritual to make a plan when we rely on the Spirit to guide us (cp. Proverbs 3:5-6). We must be careful of two extremes – Self reliance (rushing ahead and not checking with God); Fearful indecision – we will make mistakes (we must desire to do His will – John 7:17).

• Sensitive Correction: Even Spirit led leaders had to constantly reassess the direction of God (16:8-9).

• Priorities: When given the choice between solving the problems between believers and defending new believers, the leader chose the latter (16:9). This decision was later criticized at Corinth, but believers must choose, in part, based on the recognition of opportunities God is presenting to them!

At 12:55 pm the “mayday” call crackled through the speakers at the Flight Service Station on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. The desperate pilot of a Piper A22, a small single-engine plane, was reporting that he had run out of fuel and was preparing to ditch the aircraft in the waters of Cook Inlet. On board were four people, two adults and two young girls, ages 11 and 12. They had departed two hours earlier [to travel] a distance of about 150 miles. Under normal conditions it would have been a routine flight; however, the combination of fierce headwinds and a failure to top off the fuel tank had created a lethal situation. Upon hearing the plane’s tail number, the air traffic controller realized that his own daughter was one of the young passengers aboard the plane. In desperation himself, he did everything possible to assist the pilot; but suddenly the transmission was cut off. The plane had crashed into the icy waters. Four helicopters operating nearby began searching the area within minutes of the emergency call, but they found no evidence of the plane and no survivors. The aircraft had been traveling without water survival gear, leaving its four passengers with even less of a chance to make it through the ordeal. Fiercely cold Cook Inlet, with its unpredictable glacial currents, is considered among the most dangerous waters in the world. It can claim a life in minutes, and that day it claimed four. …For reasons we will never know, the pilot of that doomed aircraft chose not to use the resources that were at his disposal. He did not have enough fuel. He did not have the proper survival equipment. Perhaps he had not taken the time to get the day’s weather report. Whatever the case, he did not use the resources that were available; and in this instance the consequences were fatal. I wonder how many other people have died needlessly like these four people did. … I also wonder how many have died without Jesus — spiritually speaking from others being poor stewards of the resources God has placed them in charge of. …The stewardship of resources is a serious business; and God’s will is that we give it serious attention. This demands that we have the right perspective on our resources, and that is possible only if we have the right focus on our source.” (Story from Kirk Nowery: “The Stewardship of Life,” Page 118. From a sermon by Michael McCartney, 12 dollars a changed life, 6/20/2012)

The Stewardship of People Encounters in Ministry (16:10-24).

fitting people 21 Corinthians 16:10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without cause to be afraid, for he is doing the Lord’s work, as I also am. 11 So let no one despise him. But send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brethren. 12 But concerning Apollos our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brethren; and it was not at all [his] desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity. 13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love. 15 Now I urge you, brethren (you know the household of Stephanas, that they were the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints), 16 that you also be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors. 17 I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have supplied what was lacking on your part. 18 For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men. 19 The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. 20 All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 21 The greeting is in my own hand– Paul. 22 If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha. 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Paul included instructions on the handling of various people on the team as an act of stewardship!

The Missionary’s Younger Helper (16:10-11):

1) Don’t hurt the worker – he is NOT simply a means to an end (10);
2) Respect him though he may have obvious faults (i.e. fear; 11a);
3) Do not corner him but allow him to do his job (11b).

The Missionary’s Colleague (16:12):

1) There can be no competition nor envy on the team.
2) There will be differences, yet we must graciously allow God to lead others!

The Local Church’s Ministry Team (16:13-20):

1) Everyone is responsible for their own growth (1 Cor. 3:1ff) and their vigilance in following Jesus (16:13).
2) Everyone must act and respond in love (16:14).
3) We must respect the people that minister faithfully under the auspices of the godly leadership of the work (16:15-16).
4) Even those who are leaders in the work enjoy the refreshment of fellowship (16:17-18)
5) We are only as strong as the love we have for one another! (1 Cor. 16: 19-20).

Elizabeth Dole, former Secretary of Transportation & Presidential candidate said: Life is not just a few years to spend on self-indulgence and career advancement. It is a privilege, a responsibility, and a stewardship to be lived according to a much higher calling.

God provides wealth, opportunities and people to allow us to steward His resources in ministry, and to help us invite Him on the journey of life.

The film Schindler’s List chronicled the heroic efforts of a German industrialist named Oskar Schindler. Through his unselfish activities, over a thousand Jews on the trains to Auschwitz were saved. After Schindler found out what was happening at Auschwitz, he began a systematic effort to save as many Jews as he could. For money, he could buy Jews to work in his factory which was supposed to be a part of the military machine of Germany. On one hand he was buying as many Jews as he could, and on the other hand he was deliberately sabotaging the ammunition produced in his factory. He entered the war as a financially wealthy industrialist; by the end of the war, he was basically financially bankrupt. When the Germans surrendered, Schindler met with his workers and declared that at midnight they were all free to go. The most emotional scene of the film was when Schindler said good-bye to the financial manager of the plant, a Jew and his good and trusted friend. As he embraced his friend, Schindler sobbed and said, “I could have done more.” He looked at his automobile and asked, “Why did I save this? I could have bought 10 Jews with this.” Taking another small possession he cried, “This would have saved another one. Why didn’t I do more?” (James Forlines, Men’s Beat of Free Will Baptist Foreign Missions, April 1999, 4.)

The Believer’s Circle of Truth – 1 Corinthians 15

resurrection 11 Corinthians 15 offers at least three important lessons concerning the Resurrection of Jesus and the future of His followers. These notes may be helpful to teachers of the Bible on this important topic…

Lesson One: Our message is based on very specific reported facts of history that define the family of faith.

The Apostle offer Ten Facts concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-11) that caused the formation of a body of “believers”.

1 Corinthians 15:1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then [it was] I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Look closely at the specifics from the verses above:

1. It was brought to them in content and ANNOUNCED (euangellion – cp.1). It is found in a good message that can be verbally communicated. The Gospel isn’t a harsh message that brings condemnation – but a liberating message of full payment. We aren’t sharing RULES with people – we are declaring their bondage ended!

2. The hearer had to CHOOSE to “take it along with them” (receive is the term “paralambano” – 1b). It was an active reception. The Gospel requires response and grasping. It is an active and deliberate process – not a passive one. No one gets to Heaven by accident, stumbling in the pearly gate. They must decide to receive the message.

3. The choice caused the recipient to “take their stand” or “FIX THEIR HOLD” on it (stand is the term “histemi” – 1b). It changed the recipient in future action. Having decided on the veracity of the message, they must cling to that message. The life perspective changed, they are not fickle – but cling to the Cross.

4. The choice to receive the announcement and fix hold on it SAVES the recipient (save is “sozo” – from to rescue or cure – v.2a). If sin is the sickness, the Gospel is the cure. One must understand that without the Gospel a man or woman is not simply “impaired” but LOST. In John 14:6 – “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” The issue of SAVED and LOST is technically separation from the Father in Heaven.

5. The salvific effect occurs only for those who POSSESS the Gospel (the terms “hold fast” are a translation of “katecho” – to firmly bind to). This is not a casual acceptance of the concept – but a binding to the life of the recipient. A second emphasis of the BINDING nature of the recipient (after #3 above) should help to clarify that it must be a serious and real choice to be effective.

6. The Gospel was the HIGHEST PRIORITY message for the Apostle to bring to the Corinthian people (the term “protos” is translated “of first importance” – 3a). He taught them much over the one and one half years he was with them – but nothing was of higher importance in the public ministry.

7. Paul POSSESSED the Gospel before he shared it with them (the term “received” is again the term from verse one – “paralambano” – or choose). Though this isn’t essential, it shows that it was intentional on his part. The Gospel, because of its importance in HIS LIFE, was a burning message in the face of lost men and women.

8. The message includes DEFINED HISTORICAL FACTS: the “substitutional” nature of the literal death of Jesus for SIN (not political realities), the fact of His physical burial in a tomb and the literal understanding of the physical body’s Resurrection from the dead (15:5,6). A message without the components is a different message.

9. The facts were PROPHESIED from the Scriptures – the very Word of God (15:5). The narrative of Jesus’ ministry was drawn from the Prophets of old – and not some contrived story. In fact, without an understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures, one could not grasp the judicial terms of sin’s separation, and a sacrifice’s atoning nature.

10. The facts of the case were VERIFIED by many in the early community, and in Paul’s personal experience (15:8-11). Peter offered (2 Peter 1: “16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”—18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 [So] we have the prophetic word [made] more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is [a matter] of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Without predictive prophecy, the Gospel is just a story made by men. Because God made promises, and God keeps His promises, and the Bible contains His promises – we can see that Jesus fulfilled God’s promises. No Bible – no salvation.

Lesson Two: The Message hangs together or falls together!

To make the argument clearer, Paul argued that NO COMPONENT of the message of the Gospel can be extracted without collapsing the whole – because the veracity of the account hangs together. A truth shrouded in lies comes from no source you can trust for your eternal destiny:

1 Corinthians 15:12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

In the case of the Corinthians, it is clear that some were struggling with the notion of the life after death for the BODY. They may have believed in HEAVEN, but saw no reason to elevate the physical body to a place that required literal resurrection. Paul rejected this out of hand. Look at his reasoning:

• If there is no resurrection – the message we told you of Christ included a claim that was not true! 1 Corinthians 15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised;

• If there is no resurrection and the claim concerning Jesus was fabricated, you have believed an empty story of corrupt liars in the place of real faith! 1 Corinthians 15:14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found [to be] false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.

• If there is no resurrection, you are not God’s people – but are still separated from Him! You are being persecuted for lies! 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

The point is that if the elements of the Gospel are not all present and true, then the message is not the good news at all! The message of the Bible is either TRUE or it is a terrible book of deception that has offered false hope to billions. One cannot simply argue that the text has “elements of truth” with occasional “misstatements” and “fabrications” without thereby implying the faith of Christ to be BOGUS.

The argument applies even more broadly! Consider for a moment how many other teachings hinge on the truth of this one. One such teaching is the place and work of Jesus now (John 14; Rev. 4 and 5). Martyrs like Stephen were NOT men of God if Christ is not Risen, but deceivers justly killed for their deception.

Lesson Three: The message of the Resurrection is also the beginning of a very PERSONAL promise of God to you!

The acceptance of God for the sacrifice of Jesus is found in the Resurrection. The FUTURE of the believer is also hooked to this truth as Paul made clear in the verses that close the chapter. Paul dispensed with the argument about the Raised Messiah, and simply showed the IMPLICATIONS OF THAT TRUTH TO BELIEVERS:

Messiah is the BEGINNING of a pattern. 1 Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. Christ is the first sample of what will become of the believer! He was the model; His resurrection an example of what God intends for men.

Look closely at the choice of the terminology of “ap-arche”: the term “first fruits”. This is a play on time in Lev. 23:9-14).

The earliest followers of Jesus were Jewish. Paul spread the message first in the synagogues, then (after being removed!) he opened his preaching to others. The “common knowledge” of the Jewish believer may not have been extremely deep, but every Jew had knowledge of the feasts of the Jews.

The feast that God commanded every Jew to celebrate on the Sunday following Passover was a “shadow” of Messiah’s resurrection (and eventually OUR resurrection!).

Lev. 23:4 These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD’S Passover. 6 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. 8 But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.'” 9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD. 13 Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths [of an ephah] of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD [for] a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. 14 Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 15 You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD.

You may recall that tucked between the command for Jews to celebrate Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentecost) was a “Feast of First Fruits”. This feast involved taking the un-ripened grain THE SUNDAY AFTER PASSOVER and bringing it to the priest at the Tabernacle (and later the Temple) to wave it before the Lord, make a lamb offering. The offering included a meal offering, a wine offering and special dietary commands for the day (Lev. 23:9-14). Since the earliest believers were Jews, the significance of this feast that they were commanded to keep “as a statute FOREVER throughout all their generations” (23:14) was not lost.

The most interesting thing about the Feast of First Fruits is the fact that it was NOT commanded to be on a counted date, as in the case of Passover – Lev. 23:5. Rather this is the only feast in the chapter to ALWAYS be celebrated on the same day of the week – Sunday! Remarkably, all of the other feasts are all based on a calculated DATE (Lev. 23:4,15,24,27,34).

The point of John 20:1 “On the first day of the week” was to REMIND EARLY FOLLOWERS OF THE SPECIAL DAY on which Messiah was raised. It was the Feast of First Fruits! This was the beginning of the “countdown” to Pentecost (Lev. 23:15), but it was much more. This was the day they celebrated the COMING OF A GREAT HARVEST! What a spiritual picture! This was the lesson of Paul to Corinth (1 Cor. 15:20-32), that the resurrection of Jesus was the CLEAR answer to the shadowy symbol of the waving of the sheaf commanded so long before!

In the ancient Hebrew mind (based on literary evidence) harvest and judgment are linked together concepts. One is usually expressed in the terms of the other. This is true in the terms of the prophets as they express God “treading out the grapes of wrath”, in the same way Jesus used it (Mt. 13 “reapers” that were angels). To the Hebrew mind, God does not judge man. Man grows his fruit, and God harvests that which man grows. What YOU sow, YOU reap! It is man’s own doing that causes his rotten fruit in the end. It is this same connection that evoked the link between the Jezreel Valley (the largest growth and harvest area in the country) and the “Valley of Armageddon” (Rev. 16:16- the valley of God’s judgment of the nations).

In the Feast of the First Fruits, God intended that Israel would understand the offering to be about things to come. He wanted them to make a special time to thank God for the harvest that was ahead. It was an incomplete stalk, but God would bring the whole harvest in. Herein is the lesson of Paul to Corinth. He argues:

15:21 For since by a man [came] death, by a man also [came] the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then [comes] the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

• As a man he conquered death, for the actions of a man brought death! (15:21-22). He took back in body what Adam lost in the garden!
• Jesus was raised as the first fruits offering (15:23), then the end comes, eventually destroying even death! (15:24-26)

The early church celebrated the Sunday of the First Fruits, and began early to understand that this was the great symbolic show that God would bring about our resurrection as sure as the spring harvest follows the winter rains!

After the Jewish significance of the feast was forgotten (sadly) the Council of Nicea (325 CE) struggled to bring conformity to the timing of the observance of a “Resurrection Feast”, but division in the Apostolic Fathers remained for hundreds of years. Had they simply understood the Hebrew Scriptures, they would have understood the significance of the Sunday after Passover Sabbath (John 20:1)!

Is the resurrection for everyone? If so, when and in what order? (15:22-28).

1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27 For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. 28 When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.

It IS for everyone (22).
The order is specific (23-28):

1. Jesus first.
2. Believers at Jesus’ return – 1 Thessalonians 4 or Daniel 12 both sides of the Tribulation – one for Church and one for earlier Jewish believers.
3. Unbelievers before Jesus’ total victory – Rev. 20:11-15

On Feb. 27, 1991, at the height of Desert Storm, that Ruth Dillow received a very sad message from the Pentagon. It stated that her son, Clayton Carpenter, Private 1st Class, had stepped on a mine in Kuwait & was dead. She later wrote, “I can’t begin to describe my grief & shock. It was almost more than I could bear. For 3 days I wept. For 3 days I expressed anger & loss. For 3 days people tried to comfort me, to no avail because the loss was too great.” But 3 days after she received that message, the telephone rang. The voice on the other end said, “Mom, it’s me. I’m alive.” Ruth Dillow said, “I couldn’t believe it at first. But then I recognized his voice, & he really was alive.” The message she had received was all a mistake!

She said, “I laughed, I cried, I felt like turning cartwheels, because my son whom I had thought was dead, was really alive. I’m sure none of you can even begin to understand how I felt.”

Perhaps not, but some who walked the pages of the N.T. would have understood how she felt because they experienced the same emotions themselves.

One day they watched their best friend & teacher being nailed to a cross. They witnessed His pain as He cried out, “I thirst!” & “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” They listened as finally He bowed His head & said, “It is finished!” & “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” They watched as His body was taken from the cross & buried. All their hopes & dreams were buried with Him. Friday & all day Saturday they mourned, until finally, on “the first day of the week, early in the morning,” the scripture says, some women made their way along the path that led to His tomb, wondering who would roll away the stone for them.

But when they arrived, they found that the stone had already been rolled away. And an angel there told them, “You’re looking in the wrong place. You’re looking for Jesus among the dead. He is not dead. He is alive. He is risen, even as He said!” “He is Risen!” That is what we celebrate this morning. When all the evidence is in we’re convinced that Jesus is alive. He is risen from the dead, & what a difference His resurrection has made!

Dale Evans once said, “I spent most of my life searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Then I finally found it at the foot of the cross.”

Fear and Heart Health: The Letter to Smyrna – Revelation 2:8-11

fear and heart health 1I hate Halloween, but it isn’t for the really spiritual reasons you may be thinking. I know its history, but what truthfully bothers me much more is the fact that people think that at that time of year it is ok to scare people – and I hate being scared! People jumping out from behind bushes in the dark is not something I find funny. Call me crazy, but I have been in war in the Near East twice, and had a man die in my arms – and I don’t really think most of the gory stuff is the least bit funny – but I admit that I am a bit of a prude.

Let me ask you: “Have you ever been scared nearly to death?” I have had a number of very bad flights that were quiet scary, and that made my work in missions quite difficult for a few years before I found ways to manage the fear. It is true, what they say, “Sometimes the Lord calms the storm. Sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms his child.”

Fear does strange things to people.

Louis Pasteur is reported to have had such an irrational fear of dirt and infection he refused to shake hands. President and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison were so intimidated by the newfangled electricity installed in the White House they didn’t dare touch the switches. If there were no servants around to turn off the lights when the Harrisons went to bed, they slept with them on. – Jane Goodsell, Not a Good Word About Anybody, Ballantine.

Some fear is irrational:

Five-year old Johnny was in the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go in alone. “It’s dark in there and I’m scared.” She asked again, and he persisted. Finally she said, “It’s OK–Jesus will be in there with you.” Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave when all at once an idea came, and he said: “Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup?” – Charles Allen, Victory in the Valleys.

The problem is that not all fears are unfounded. I have personally known people in the Near East who were brutally killed because of their faith – and that is always a nagging concern in the back of my mind when I travel to some areas. Those who have served near ISIS, Boko Haram and Hizb’allah know that some fear probably yields prudent behaviors. It can also play tricks on your mind. Michael Pritchard was the one who said: “Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed.”

In this lesson about heart health, we want to talk about fear – and the devastating effect it can have on our witness when we let it drown our faith. We want to look for a few minutes at the church is Smyrna, now modern Izmir on the eastern edge of the Aegean Sea. It was to that church that Jesus wrote a truth…

Key Principle: When fear presses us, it can have a chilling effect on our faithfulness.

It is possible for even long time believers to show more care for comfort than for Christ – and that is a devastating choice! Drive forty miles north from Ephesus to a port city that sat upon a cliff above the sea, with a long slope of land down to the port. The upper city appeared as a crown above the harbor of Smyrna. There was a first century church there, and they were afraid of the rising tide of persecution, so Jesus addressed their heart condition:

Revelation 2:8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: 9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’

The church of Smyrna was gripped with apprehension – that much is very clear from the letter. Jesus made clear that He knew their physical troubles and material needs (2:9). He knew the persecution by other religious people (2:9). Instead of promising the church a FREE RIDE in the coming days – Jesus warned the people of greater coming persecution. He said:

• New imprisonments will be ordered (2:10)
• New troubles are ordained to arrive (2:10)
• Some would be martyred (2:10)

Let’s face it, none of us wants to be trapped in a village with no way out as ISIS advances on us. The sheer brutality of the group terrorizes people even before they arrive! Yet Jesus told the church to prepare for trouble, and yet do it with a healthy heart.

We aren’t on the field now, and the enemy isn’t beheading believers in the next village. We hurt knowing that some are facing that, but it isn’t us. How will a letter like this help us if we are not in that kind of persecution? In short, it will help us hear from Jesus on the subject of confronting fear with faith. Before we look at Jesus’ response, let’s set our mind on truth – away from the distractions of the fallen world.

My God is on the throne. Jesus is the All-powerful, unstoppable King. His reign is assured and His power un-assailed. He cannot be defeated and His cause cannot be thwarted. With a mere nod, He opens doors no man can close and closes doors no man can open. Myriads of the Heavenly Host stand ready for His command. He faces the wicked one without even a fleeting moment of doubt and fear. He has no equal. His love has no bounds. His mercy pierces the darkness and His kindness can turn back His enemy’s advance. In other words: Because My Savior is alive and in control – to live by worry is to live against the facts of reality. It is to live the lie swallowed by a fallen world – that God is somehow equaled by and unable to stop evil. He is not. It will last until He has finished allowing it to show whatever facet of Him He desires creation to see through this complex self essay. A day will come when God will blow a trumpet from Heaven and shout “Stop!” and the reign of evil will be permanently ended. That is the truth. That is reality.

John covered that ground in Revelation 1 when He introduced the Savior, and we should as well. When John saw the Risen Christ, and heard His command to write, Jesus’ description was as follows:

Revelation 1:5b “…To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. 7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

With His power and coming clearly in mind, listen to what Jesus said to answer the problem of FEAR in heart health…

Heart Health Practices:

First, as we mature we must train to face all of life with a good sense of the history from whence we have come.

Our history will lend us a story of courage. We have to learn carefully that any persecution with the understanding that we serve the One Who suffered even death and then defeated it – so be courageous in Him (2:8). 2:8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this…

Suffering changes people. The persecution of Alexander Solzhenitsyn left him better, while the suffering of Elie Wiesel left him godless, and many would say, embittered. Alexander suffered horribly in the Gulag, but left with statements like:

• Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.
• A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.

He learned from his troubles that there was a purpose to life. Even as Joseph of old, life came together in the darkness of a prison.

Wiesel learned the men are cruel and must be throttled by other men. He said: There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

The difference between the two men wasn’t simply the lessons they took from unfair mistreatment and suffering. The difference was in who they met in their imprisoned state. One of them faced Jesus from his Orthodox past, the other never met Him.

Listen to Solzhenitsyn:

It is true that millions of our countrymen have been corrupted and spiritually devastated by an officially imposed atheism, yet there remain many millions of believers: it is only external pressures that keep them from speaking out, but, as is always the case in times of persecution and suffering, the awareness of God in my country has attained great acuteness and profundity. It is here that we see the dawn of hope: for no matter how formidably Communism bristles with tanks and rockets, no matter what successes it attains in seizing the planet, it is doomed never to vanquish Christianity.

If you were to read the middle of God’s speech to Habakkuk in chapter 2, you would notice something strange. In chapter 1, Habakkuk told God He was unfair to make the prophet watch the demise of his society into lawlessness and immorality. God answered by telling the prophet that He was paying attention, and that He was outfitting the cruel and heartless Chaldeans to come and crush the people. Habakkuk couldn’t understand how God could use someone as evil as the Chaldeans to discipline Israel. God told a story and then showed an example in a violent desert storm. The story was about utter destruction and terror the invaders would bring. Out of the ashes of that destruction, picking through the rubble, God made a startling claim. In that very context, He said:

Habakkuk 2:12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice! 13 Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

What? God’s glory will somehow be identified from the ashes left by invaders and butchers? Yes. You cannot stop God. You cannot crush His message among men. You cannot dismiss from the human mind the possibility that there truly WAS a Creator of us all. His after image will still linger after He has been dismissed from the room.

We must make disciples that recognize the Jesus faced death and defeated it. Paul told Timothy as he faced his own that God “rendered inoperative” death. It didn’t mean what it used to mean. It wasn’t an exit from LIFE, it was an exit from the PHYSICAL STAGE into the spiritual – into the place where reality can be seen and understood without the encumbrance of the fallen flesh. As long a physical life is the prize, people will abhor suffering and feel beaten by it. When Heaven is larger than earth, and the prize is walking with the Savior through it all – the reality of suffering will give way to the realization that the prize cannot be take from a follower of Jesus.

Second, we must learn and we must train young believers to recognize that suffering is not beyond the radar of God.

Don’t forget that whatever we go through, Jesus is fully aware of it – so consciously include Him in ever moment of the journey (2:9). 9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich)…

We must get back to the basic truth that God is working to make His people ready to be the Bride for His Son. His preparations are deliberate, and His goal is certain.

If you believe God exists to make you comfortable, then you will find Him very absent in your discomfort. If you believe God exists to make your life run smoothly, then you will find God very absent when your life hits a rocky patch. If you believe God exists to make you happy, then you will find God very absent when your heart is broken and your tears are flowing. BUT, if you believe (as the scripture teaches) that God’s goal is to make you holy, so you can bring glory to Him, then in the midst of a trial you will feel His arms around you! ~James MacDonald.

I would add to MacDonald’s list this truth: If we believe the prize is physical life, we will be terribly disappointed as we see God step back and allow martyrdom for the faith. If we recognize the true prize is intimacy with Jesus – a deliberate and profound inviting of His presence to go through every moment with us – we will see their deaths as powerful and painful reminders of the darkness of the lost world, the depth of the snare that has scarred men with such cruelty in their hearts. At the same time, we will note the depth of faith and reward for those who invited Jesus to take their lives and invite them into Heaven – even as His Father did Him.

Note that Jesus told the people of Smyrna that feared the coming suffering and persecution they were, in fact, quite RICH. We must recognize that we have exchanged, even among quite mature Christians, the notions of blessing and curse. A blessing is not that which makes the physical world my friend and life here easy. Rather, it is that which drives me toward an intimate walk with God. A curse is that which allows the illusion of self-dependence – a life where my successes bear me along on their shoulders of victory. With each step of self-dependence, I am being drawn deeper into the delusion and curse that I can “do life” on my own.

Here is a truth that requires spiritual maturity and depth to comprehend…Troubles that drive us to our knees, when they cause us to open up and invite Jesus into our painful and momentary walk, are the doorway to a deep blessing from God and are His gift. It is not the suffering that is the gift; it is the door to response to pain that shows God working in us, the beckoning of His Spirit to open anew to God’s innermost touch to sustain us. That is a blessed moment. That is where the seeds of pain yield the fruit of blessed embrace of God. The prize of life is that deep connection. At the end of life, that is Heaven’s embrace. In our sojourn on earth, this is the closest experience to Heaven. It often comes at first during times of pain and suffering, not times of “victory” in the physical world.

Third, we must learn to be wise and perceptive about the claims of men.

We must learn to perceive times when we encounter the Father of Lies who has planted those who will claim life and relationship with God when they have none – so be wise (2:9b). 9b “…and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”

Many claim spiritual life and heritage. They can show in their long institutional past the hand of God – but not in the present of their life and movement. Yesterday’s victories don’t guarantee today’s surrender, nor do they yield today’s intimate walk with God. Let me say it plainly: Some people, denominations and groups are faking it. They HAD a walk with God – a time in their past when they were led by men and women of real and sustained faith – but that was THEN. Now they are simply rehearsing the old days and hoping God won’t notice.

Jesus said some claimed to represent the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – but they didn’t. They were storefronts from Satanism and used God’s name blasphemously, rather than out of a pure heart to honor Him. We must be wise – for the storefronts are still open and many of them have steeples on them. The way to see what people are is not their ads, their facades or the doctrinal statements leftover from a previous generation – but by reckoning where they are TODAY in their grasp of the truth of God’s Holy Word. Some of the greatest schools in America once stood for the Gospel, and now will not allow the Gospel to be spoken. At the same time, we must recognize and be vigilant – for no man suddenly becomes base and no organization suddenly walks away from God. Be wise.

Fourth, we must learn to focus on today’s journey and trust God for tomorrow’s appointments.

When we hear trouble will come, it somehow dominates our thinking and leaves us unfocused about today. Suffering will come, but we must not be consumed with the anticipation of it – but rather walk in prayer (invitation for Jesus to walk beside us) without constant worry (2:10). 10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested…”

Are you surprised that God didn’t hide that suffering was coming? He didn’t tell them to pretend it wasn’t. We cannot prepare for what we don’t reckon could come to us. At the same time, preparation doesn’t require worry. It doesn’t require obsessing over the future. God isn’t trying to coax us to follow Him because we will get rich, have success in the physical world or somehow live out daily lives of bliss. That isn’t His point.

He is the prize – and nothing else. If we forget that, trouble will overwhelm us and nothing else will make sense in life. He will seem CRUEL and UNCARING instead of always good and always loving.

Fifth, learn to view all of life as TEMPORARY. That makes some things more precious and other things more durable.

Hold on to the truth that any suffering of this life is temporary – so do not despair (2:10b). 2:10b “…and you will have tribulation for ten days…Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Paul noted in Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. … 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Looking at both the words of Jesus to Smyrna and the words of Paul to the Romans, we see that the church must constantly reinforce Heaven as our home and spiritual warfare this side of Heaven as our constant nagging companion. A church that is focused on creating the kingdom on earth will be tempted to lose its edge in seeing this as a temporary situation.

Jesus spoke of it in terms of being FAITHFUL to the point of physical death. Paul spoke of it as something we were to wait eagerly for with endurance of the present. How does that match what we said about prayerfully facing today in #4 above? The issue is this: I am not to look for Heaven simply as an escape from the problems of today. I am to look for today to be a practice of Jesus’ presence so that as I look ahead, I see the final prize will be unending intimacy in the presence of Jesus.

Paul wrestled about staying on earth, because he longed to take the next step with God and be in His unending presence. Phil 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if [I am] to live [on] in the flesh, this [will mean] fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. 23 But I am hard-pressed from both [directions], having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for [that] is very much better; 24 yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. The longer I live, and the more I meet Christians of our day, the fewer people I know who think like that. I don’t see a longing for Heaven. I see a longing to make Heaven their earth experience.

We must remember that at the end of the Bible there is a NEW DAY that God has prepared for us. I love this way of looking at it:

A Sunday School teacher asked her class of children, “Tell me what you think heaven will be like.” She got all kinds of answers, but I especially like this one from a third grade boy who said, “Heaven is going to be the happiest part of my dead life.”

Yes, it is true. The best of my life, and your life as a believer hasn’t even been seen yet. We need to spend time here, because our world is NEGATIVE but our future is VERY POSITIVE. Life here is but for a moment. One day, Revelation says : 21:5 “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new” …and 21:6 “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…”

Sixth, we need to know suffering isn’t a mistake.

You didn’t take a wrong turn if suffering for your faith comes. The Spirit’s leading WON’T BE AROUND SUFFERING – but through it (2:11). 11 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches…

Finally, trust you were given promises for well beyond the physical world.

We don’t know what life really means this side of Heaven. Stand on the promises of God for the time after time (2:11b). 2:11b “…He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’

Mr. Holland’s Opus was a movie about a frustrated composer in Portland, Oregon, who takes a job as a high school band teacher in the 1960s. Although diverted from his lifelong goal of achieving critical fame as a classical musician, Glenn Holland (played by Richard Dreyfuss) believes his school job is only temporary. At first he maintains his determination to write an opus or a concerto by composing at his piano after putting in a full day with his students. But, as family demands increase (including discovery that his infant son is deaf) and the pressures of his job multiply, Mr. Holland recognizes that his dream of leaving a lasting musical legacy is merely a dream. At the end of the movie we find an aged Mr. Holland fighting in vain to keep his job. The board has decided to reduce the operating budget by cutting the music and drama program. No longer a reluctant band teacher, Mr. Holland believes in what he does and passionately defends the role of the arts in public education. What began as a career detour became a 35-year mission, pouring his heart into the lives of young people. Mr. Holland returns to his classroom to retrieve his belongings a few days after school has let out for summer vacation. He has taught his final class. With regret and sorrow, he fills a box with artifacts that represent the tools of his trade and memories of many meaningful classes. His wife and son arrive to give him a hand. As they leave the room and walk down the hall, Mr. Holland hears some noise in the auditorium. Because school is out, he opens the door to see what the commotion is. To his amazement he sees a capacity audience of former students and teaching colleagues and a banner that reads “Goodbye, Mr. Holland.” Those in attendance greet Mr. Holland with a standing ovation while a band (consisting of past and present members) plays songs they learned at his hand. His wife, who was in on the surprise reception, approaches the podium and makes small talk until the master of ceremonies, the governor of Oregon, arrives. The governor is none other than a student Mr. Holland helped to believe in herself his first year of teaching. As she addresses the room of well-wishers, she speaks for the hundreds who fill the auditorium: “Mr. Holland had a profound influence in my life (on a lot of lives, I know), and yet I get the feeling that he considers a great part of his life misspent. Rumor had it he was always working on this symphony of his, and this was going to make him famous and rich (probably both). But Mr. Holland isn’t rich and he isn’t famous. At least not outside our little town. So it might be easy for him to think himself a failure, but he’d be wrong. Because I think he’s achieved a success far beyond riches and fame.” Looking at her former teacher the governor gestures with a sweeping hand and continues, “Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each one of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony, Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. And we are the music of your life.”

I want you to know that Heaven will be even better. Some of you will see faces you haven’t seen for fifty years – but your work helped them find Jesus – and your Savior doesn’t forget… you should look forward to that day.

Neglecting Heart Health: The Letter to Ephesus -Revelation 2:1-7

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Heritage USA Auditorium Remains

A few years ago I was speaking in a church in Charlotte, North Caroline, for a Pastor friend of mine that I love. He has a great congregation, and it is always fun to go up there and see what God is doing there. Because it was a conference like this one, where I was speaking a number of times over a period of days, we had time to go to some local attractions between sessions on some of the days. We went downtown and looked at some of the inner city section. One morning we went to see the Billy Graham Library and his old home. I really enjoyed reading the displays and looking over what God had done with him through his unexpected career. One of the men with me took the time to take me privately to the old “Heritage USA” ministry center of the “PTL” club not many miles away. What I saw really made an impression on me. I cannot recall ever being in a place so eerily abandoned and left for nature to crush. It was a picture of “Ichabod” – the glory had departed. I don’t know much about the ministry that was once there, and I was a child in the seventies when they were a big deal on TV, but I do know this: property left abandoned will be quickly overtaken by the natural world around it.

It is an important principle for any believer to recall, a fallen world is a hostile place to the created works of man. Let’s face it: If you neglect a home it will collapse around you. If we don’t keep applying enormous effort in upkeep, our lawn, our driveway, our homes, our streets – indeed our entire infrastructure – will become overgrown, worn out, and eventually collapse. It isn’t ONLY our houses…Who doesn’t know that a BODY that isn’t maintained will eventually collapse? I remember learning a lesson in my twenties. Avoid the dentist for a few years to save money, and he will get back every penny in your thirties when you have such pain you have to go and get the “catch up work” done!

Let’s say it clearly: things require maintenance to remain useful and healthy. What is true of teeth, lawns and houses is also true about relationships. They cannot remain healthy without constant tending – expressions of love and communication that keep people connected. Now, stop for a moment and think about the ONE relationship that is most important – the one you cannot afford to be without – the one with your Creator. As believers, we have a relationship with the Living God through the work of Jesus Who died as our substitute. He paid the price of our sin, and bridged the gap between God and I. Knowing Christ gave me live – and UNION with God. Following Christ gave me COMMUNION with God. Remember, about fifteen percent of the Bible is about “finding God” (salvation and rescue), while the other eighty-five percent is about “following God” (messages to believers on life and their walk in the world with God). Our series will be entirely based on the idea of maintaining our heart health, and learning to keep working at a deep and intimate daily walk with the Savior.

Let’s begin with the letter in Revelation 2:1-7 that sets up the whole series – the letter to Ephesus that sets up the MAIN CAUSE for an unhealthy heart – NEGLECT.

Key Principle: When we neglect our walk with God, our heart becomes more steadily unhealthy.

When we open the text, we find ourselves at the main port of Asia Minor in the waning years of the first century. The sun was setting on the prosperous port of Ephesus, and all that was left was a trinket trade and tourism to the “Wonder of the Artemission” shrine on the cliff above. Jesus pulled John to collaborate on the book of Revelation, and in chapters two and three he was commanded to write to seven churches. This is the first of the letters:

Revelation 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lamp stands, says this: 2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lamp stand out of its place—unless you repent. 6 ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’

Even the quickest survey of the text exposes the church was not walking with Jesus in fullness – because something came up between them.

In some ways, He made it sound like the drift that occurred was not only reversible, it was predictable.

Several years ago a couple was on vacation in Florida and they were floating in the ocean on inflatable rafts. The husband decided to head into the shore but his wife wanted to stay out on the raft and continue to catch some rays. After a short time the woman lost herself in floating along on the raft. What the woman failed to realize was that she was slowly drifting out to sea. As she simply relaxed and let the gentle current take her with it, her situation was becoming more and more dangerous. By the time that she noticed what was happening to her, it was almost too late. She saw that the shore was much farther away than she expected and she began to panic. Fortunately the lifeguards were able to rescue her but the whole situation was created just by being careless. If you look at it another way, she wasn’t being careless at all – she cared about her CURRENT COMFORT more than she cared about what was pulling at her CURRENT LOCATION – until she realized she was in peril. That is more the problem of Ephesus. They were diligent about MANY THINGS – they just weren’t paying attention to the RIGHT THINGS.

Someone has said the great mistake of our lives is trading what we WANT for what we WANT NOW.

Here is my question: In a room full of people, many who have known Jesus as long as I have walked on the planet, how can we keep the Lord’s pleasure first in every situation? How can we redirect the currents that pull strongly to self-satisfaction? How can we re-gain former passion for God and restore a measure of heart health?

Removing an excuse:

Before I can dive into the text, let’s take off the table one of the spiritual arguments for passivity. Occasionally I hear even more mature believers make the argument that “we cannot grow” since it is a work of the Spirit. There is a tricky form of “spiritual victimization” that goes on in our church world, where people make commands of God fuzzy in their mind, as if they are not responsible to maintain heart health. It simply isn’t true. God never commands in His Word idly. If God calls for response from a believer, it isn’t in vain – we must be able to deliver what He has told us we are to do. Yes, certainly we rely on the Spirit’s strength, but we are not passive. Holiness cannot come by osmosis. Distinctive living isn’t haphazard. A spirit-filled walk isn’t by happenstance. Spiritual heart health is a responsibility of the believer, as physical heart health is the responsibility of each man or woman in society. In the same vein, when we don’t work at heart health, it affects both OUR performance in life, and the rest of the community. People who don’t maintain their physical heart end up occupying a bed in the local hospital, while people who don’t maintain their spiritual heart end up needing spiritual nursing from others in the body of Christ. Let’s talk about what Jesus told the Ephesian believers about heart health…He told them they suffered from the single most pervasive problem among believers…neglect of priorities. They simply failed to “keep first things first”.

Why we drift:

Second, let’s think of some of the reasons people get distracted and drift from keep their heart healthy:

Sometimes they settled on a shallow walk of solutions, rather than a Savior. They lacked depth from the beginning, like the soil in Matthew 13:5-7, 20-21 – where they had a specific problem and brought it to Jesus – but they actually didn’t want Jesus… only a solution to the current issue. When it was fixed, that seed that seemed to be taking root in shallow earth seemed to wither away.

Sometimes they felt pressured by the world to please those around them rather than the One over them. Maybe they live with the kind of denial we see in Simon Peter (in John 18). It may have come from fear of reprisal to save self at a momentary difficulty. Maybe it comes where we are supposed to speak up for Christ before those hostile to Him.

Sometimes the sheer level of distraction or hunger from wrong things can cause the mettle of our faith to buckle and we drift away from the reality of God’s power in our lives. Like a shorn Samson, we don’t protect the holy promise of God, and we find ourselves powerless, bound and blind.

How were they to restore Heart Health (and how can we when we are distracted from our first priority)?

To discern God’s answer to the heart problem, we need to dive into the words of the letter we are reading. Jesus offered the following prescriptions in His letter:

First, believers have to recognize we aren’t in our own hands; we are in the hands of the Almighty Savior.

We should be encouraged (2:1a). Jesus is not disconnected from the realities and needs of His people – for He walks in the midst of their faith community and observes their lives. We must learn to speak to Him as One Who knows intimately the work and its needs (2:1b).

Revelation 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:

Jesus holding His church is a picture of an ENGAGED SAVIOR. That has two stunning implications:

• We live in an age when even Christ followers have lost much of their view of reverence for God, and with it any real fear over the consequences of sin. Our society wants us to believe that God is benevolent and good and would never hold us accountable for our actions – and that thinking has impacted many believers. For that to be God, they need a disengaged Savior. They need a “once a year Santa” figure Who isn’t involved intimately with His people. That isn’t the Jesus described in Revelation 2:1. He is holding the church, and you normally don’t forget things when they are right in your hand.

• For the praying and seeking follower, we should see that Jesus doesn’t need a long reminder when we talk to Him about things – He knows where we are, what we are doing and what has wounded us. We need to see Him as engaged. Sometimes we pray by reading our list and “informing God” as if He doesn’t know all about it. That isn’t the point. We can take courage – we have a Savior Who is engaged and ready to listen!

Second, consider that Jesus knows much more about our labors than we may think. He said:

Revelation 2:2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance… 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.

It is clear he knew exactly the amount and type of labor they did for Him. He knew the steadiness of that labor when it became difficult. He knew about every ounce of pressure on their shoulders. The term “perseverance” used here is “hupo-meno” – one of my favorite words in Greek.

He knows what we can bear. He knows when we have endured faithfully, and when we have buckled under pressure. He knows our frame and what load is excessive for us. This should encourage us to press forward in our walk, and in our ministry life of service (2:2a,3).

May I take a moment and talk about “what you can bear”? This is important, and I don’t want to distract from our topic, but I would be remiss if I let this opportunity pass…There is a poem of Solomon that tells us something about each of us as servants of God who have less days ahead of us than behind us. As we age, fear increases. Fear of moral slide. Fear of government failure. Fear of slipping on a wet pavement or in a slick shower. Fear of a doctor’s report or a cell phone company’s bill…FEAR – because we feel weaker and less in control. Solomon said it this way:

Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”; 2 before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain;”

The difficult days of life will soon come and only those who prepare with a walk with God will face them well (12:1b) – because our minds will eventually fade – and our “brightness” will slip, as well as our bodies ability to recoup quickly (12:2). Cloudy times will come more rapidly and clarity will slip away quickly.

• Growing too soon weaker and our hands trembling, our bodies are stooping, our teeth coming out and our eyesight failing (12:3). “3 in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim;”

• “Gumming” our food when the teeth fail (12:4a), failure to sleep well (12:4b) and failed hearing (12:4b). 4 “and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly.”

• Fears of difficult physical challenges becoming very real (12:5) as our hair turns white. Limbs will grow stiff and sexual drives will fail (‘abiyownah: ab-ee-yo-naw’ – a stimulating taste), as a man yields this life and passes to eternity – and is remembered (12:5b). 5 “Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street.”

• The spinal column weakens, the mind becomes dulled and the bowels become unpredictable, in addition to the accompanying heart problems (12:6). 6 “Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed;”

• In the end, the body is laid to rest and turn back to dust and memories, while the spirit is whisked into eternity (12:7). 7 “then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”

• It all passes quickly, and much that appears to have meaning, really doesn’t! (12:8). 8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”

Why mention all this? Because we live in an aging community, we must learn not to feed fear and be often reminded that things aren’t happening outside of God’s control. We can feed on news designed to victimize, and we will not add maturity to the community. It is a natural temptation, but one we must think through and guard against! HOW? Stay close the Master, He isn’t shaky or worried…

Third, Jesus affirmed believers who stood on truth and against error even when the world rejected them.

This should spur us to recognize the value of friends that call us to faithfulness and push us to be active in support of that kind of church (2:2b).

Revelation 2:2b “…and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false.”

Hebrews 2:1 gave early Jewish believers, well versed in the Word, a specific warning to pay careful attention to what they heard, in order that they would not drift away from following the Savior. Verses contextually misused by one generation disarm the next generation.

Fourth, Jesus made a distinction in our heart between walking intimately with God and serving God actively, for they are not the same thing (2:4).

Revelation 2:4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

He knew their work. He even knew their endurance… That tells me that He saw them as hard workers FOR God. Yet, Jesus also knew those who worked so diligently had replaced intimacy with busyness… and it is easy to do. Some people try to make up in volume what they lack in intimacy – and we need to be careful. It isn’t just doing right that God desires – it is doing right TOGETHER with Him. Love for God is often best shown in the conscious invitation of participation in the daily.

Fifth, we must become mature and understand the testimony of the church is at stake not primarily based on its activity, but on where it places its priority (2:5).

Revelation 2:5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lamp stand out of its place—unless you repent.

The issue was NOT a lack of vigilance against error (2:2), it was NOT a matter of endurance (2:3), and it was NOT acceptance of popular trends (2:6) – the issue was a healthy heart for God. Without that heart – God’s church set aside the essential fiber that held His close to her. On first glance, Jesus offered a three-fold prescription:

1. Remember – recognize what you have left behind (2:5).
2. Repent – change your mind in a way that leads to a change of action (2:5).
3. Return – restore the old works by turning back (2:5)

Jesus simply told cold hearted believers to go back on the road where they left Him and invite Him to continue on the journey through life with Him. The goal ISN’T how far you get… but that you walked with Him for more and more of the journey!

Sixth, believers must prudently recognize the constant call for sensual license in the church.

We must be ever conscious such thinking is ordered in the wrong life- a fleshly pursuit to define an organization of “eternals” (2:6).

Revelation 2:6 ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

We are going to pick this theme up in later lessons, but make a note of this: In every generation of believers, there are those who argue to lessen the standards and loosen the reigns on purity. Yet, Paul’s very first epistle (1 Thessalonians) argued for purity as the hallmark of the believer. Don’t think this pressure is new or recent – it was here since the beginning.

Seventh, believers should recognize the world cannot make sense of what we believe without God opening their ears and hearts.

We must not be disappointed when we see the rapid erosion of all things Biblical in our current culture – this is to be expected (2:7). In short, we have to stop being surprised when lost people act like lost people.

Revelation 2:7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’

Jesus called on believers to listen with spiritual discernment. We have to desire to hear truth from the gentle wind of the Spirit’s blowing. We are called to overcome, again and again. Look at the words in Revelation 2:7 “To him who overcomes”. You will find them again in verse 11 to the church at Smyrna “He who overcomes”. You will see them yet again in letter after letter. Here is what you should remember: IT IS POSSIBLE to overcome, and some will – but many won’t. Loving Jesus and living for Him instead of the instant gratification of the physical world will be too hard for some to embrace.

When we neglect our walk with God, our heart becomes more steadily unhealthy.

Has there ever been a time in your life, when you were more dedicated to Christ? Has there ever been a time when you were closer to Jesus than you are right now? Have you ever been more surrendered in your life than you are at this moment? Has there ever been a time that you were more committed to living for Christ than you are right now?

Edmund Burke said that very seldom does a man take one giant step from a life of virtue & goodness into a life of vice & corruption. Usually, he begins his journey into evil by taking little steps into the shaded areas, areas tinted & colored just a bit, almost unnoticed by those around him….It isn’t the giant step from virtue into corruption that we need to fear. It’s the little steps that ultimately lead us away from God.

No man suddenly becomes base – but every man becomes that way by the same path, beginning with a step away from intimacy with God.