Archive for November, 2020

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Matthew 4:4

“One of the things I fear most as your pastor is that out of fatigue or sloth I end up going through the motions, substituting professional smoothness for personal grappling with the life of the Spirit in our life together. The demands of pastoral life are strenuous, and there is no respite from them. There are not many hours in any day when I am not faced with the struggle of faith in someone or another, the deep, central, eternal energies that make the difference between a life lived to the glory of God and a life wasted in self-indulgence or trivilization in diversions. I want to be ready for those encounters. For me, that is what it means…to be in touch with the Lord’s Word and presence, and to be ready to speak and act out of that Word and presence in whatever I am doing…to maintain the central springs of compassion and creativity lest all be flattened out into routines.”

Eugene Peterson in The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989) 145-46.

At the Bridge Church at Bear Creek, our pastor, James Hoxworth, announced the theme of Advent at our church is “A Weary World Rejoices.” Perfect theme for Christmas diring COVID-19! Everyone is exhausted.

The challenge is that we can’t minister with compassion and creativity if we are empty. Life at a hurried pace has little time for God. We must be still. It’s the secret to ministering generously with compassion and creativity.

I am off to Egypt tomorrow. My goal is to carve out time daily for stillness this Advent. I am learning that it is the best way to prepare my mind and heart. I plan to feed on the Word so I am filled to minister richly.

Care to join me in getting refilled to dispense generously this Advent?

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Acts 20:35

“Let us not use bombs and guns to overcome the world. Let us use love and compassion. Peace begins with a smile. Smile five times a day at someone you don’t really want to smile at. Do if for peace. Let us radiate the peace of God and so light His light and extinguish in the world and in the hearts of all men all hatred and love for power. Smile at one another. It is not always easy. Sometimes I find it hard to smile at my sisters, but then I pray.

God loves the world through you and through me. Are we that love and that compassion? Christ came to be His Father’s compassion. God is loving the world through you and through me and through all those who are his love and compassion in the world. There is much suffering in the world—very much…In these times of development, the whole world runs and is hurried. But there are some who fall down on the way and have no strength to go ahead. These are the ones we must care about.”

Mother Teresa (1910-1997) In the Heart of the World: Thoughts, Stories, and Prayers (Novato: New World Library, 1997) 13-14.

As I make final preparations for traveling to Egypt I am asking God to prepare my head, heart, and hands to serve others with love and compassion, I am also asking God to help all readers of the Daily Meditations to do the same thing this Christmas season.

Father in heaven, fill us all with love and compassion and love to help the weak with all the strength and resources we can marshal! Do this by your Holy Spirit. Make us people of peace who shine like lights in the world. Hear my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts—no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. Matthew 10:9-10

“The disciples were to travel light so that they could get on with the task and not worry about material provisions. This sense of urgency may have come from Jesus’ own sense of the shortness of his time on earth. Yet perhaps all those who engage in mission should have this sense of urgency, for we do not know when the end will come. The Twelve were not to worry about their material needs, for those who benefited from their ministries were expected to support them by supplying what they needed so they could concentrate on their work. This principles still applies today.”

Joe Kapolyo in Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars, edited by Tokunboh Adeyemo (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 1157-58.

This next week I am heading on GTP trip to Egypt from 1-17 December 2020.

God has opened some fantastic doors of opportunity with NABLA Initiative to help representatives from 20+ ministries understand the biblical and practical value of standards and start the pathway toward accreditation. I will also co-facilitate four other sets of meetings over that timeframe. It’s a really good kind of busy.

While traveling, I will also be praying that those I have invited to support GTP will do so before year-end.

Perhaps you can identify with this feeling? God has opened urgent doors for ministry, and you could be tempted to focus on raising resources instead of ministering. Or maybe you are a supporter? Many are asking for gifts and you are not sure which efforts to support.

Sure, I’d love for each meditations reader to give to GTP, but do so only from this perspective.

Think about all the people that minister to you, starting with your church and others. Look at what you have and deploy resources to all those areas. Don’t hold back. Give generously so God’s workers can concentrate on their work and trust God to supply your needs. He wants all of us to travel light through life.

Soon I will start packing once I hear I have negative COVID test and a GO sign to travel.

Then he said, “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.” And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God. Luke 12:18-21

“The wealthy farmer, who thinks that he need not fear shortage of harvests for many years, is a man who wants to live without God and his fellow humans. But God’s comment to him is you fool, reminding us that a fool is a person who lives without God. Instead of sharing his blessings with God and humanity, he decides to store the crops as a security for an early retirement and a life of ease. So he tore down his old barns and built new and bigger ones. The treasure in the barns would be his lifelong security.

He is completely self-centered, separated from God and others by his love for earthly possessions. He falsely assumes that human life can be measured and secured by wealth, and regards his life and property as his own. In doing this he fails to honor the doctrine that tress, rivers, mountains, forests, birds, night and day, and everything within the creation speaks a godlike language, praises God, and should be used with awe and reverence.

God has created us as human beings who are meant to be interdependent, to live in a fellowship. By his actions, this man denies the principle, which is well illustrated in the following story:

‘There once was a man who was a staunch churchgoer and a deeply committed Christian. He supported most of the activities of the local church. And then, for no apparent reason he stopped attending church and became just a hanger on. His minster visited him one wintry evening. He found him sitting before a splendid fire with red glowing coals, radiating lovely warmth around the room. The minister sat quietly with his former parishioner gazing into the fire. Then he stooped with the tongs, removed one of those red glowing coals from the fire and put it on the pavement. The inevitable happened. That glowing coal gradually lost its heat, and turned in a while into a grey lump of cold ashes. The minister did not say a word. He got up and walked away. On the following Sunday, the old man turned up in church.’

A solitary Christian is a contradiction in terms. As human beings we are meant to live harmoniously with God, with our fellow human beings, and with the rest of God’s creation. Artificial barriers that separate human beings on the basis of economic status, gender, race, or age are contrary to God’s will. Our souls can only relax, eat, drink, and be merry together with all other human souls in the presence of God.”

Paul John Isaak in Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars, edited by Tokunboh Adeyemo (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 1255.

It’s Black Friday. Merchants in the USA and many other countries will try to entice us to buy many things. They will tell us that life consists in the abundance of possessions. They will say that security is found in independent living, and that storing up treasures for ourselves is the wise course to take in crisis.

Don’t be fooled. Instead, I pray this powerful story convicts everyone to put their coal back in the fire. I pray each of us chooses sharing and interdependence. And I pray our Friday is filled with sweet fellowship with God and people, and that our lives exhibit gratitude and generosity.

If you have been blessed in this hard season, please pull out the stops and give generously. Do this remembering that we serve a God who administers justice for the the generous and He will enrich the supply of those who empty themeselves in service to others.

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of Him to whom you belong? If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. James 2:5-9

“What James has to say in this passage may be stated succinctly as: “Riches are worthless in the face of death and judgment.” This truth has contemporary relevance, especially in a country like India, where we have a minuscule minority of people who are very wealthy, and a vast majority of people who are impoverished. But a careful consideration of what James says indicates that the problem is not with wealth in itself, but with the attitude of people in possession or lack of wealth.

Wealth leads the wealthy to arrogance, pride, ruthlessness, and to have faith in themselves instead of God; it works against their citizenship in God’s kingdom. Wealth can lead a poor person to envy, sycophancy, and obsequiousness. It is not, however, wealth that is the problem; rather, ti is the rich person’s attachment to it and the poor person’s lust for it, a confidence in it rather than in God, and a rich person’s self-exultation above the concerns of the poor.”

Brian C. Wintle in James: An Exegetical and Contextual Commentary (India Commentary on the New Testament; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2020) 35.

This statement from a professor who is writing from North India rings true globally. The problem is not wealth, but rather, the attitude of people toward wealth. It leads us to the sin of favoritism rather than faithfulness in our treatment of others.

We must ask ourselves some tough questions. Do we working to gain advantage over others in our dealings or to serve them and care for their needs ahead of our own? Do we act proudly? Are we living dependent on God and showing love to our neighbor?

In America we are approaching a season of spending. If you are reading these posts daily, you will notice I’ve been inviting people to give to GTP regional efforts around the world. If you have been blessed, consider making a gift to build up others.

Thanks to all those who have made one or more gifts!

Today I want encourage your support of the South Asia campaign which includes India. The funds will be used to help kickstart efforts in Nepal. I was just speaking with the CEO of Bibles for the World yesterday who aims to assist us there.

God has used His Word to raise up believers in difficult places who need stewardship instruction and help to set up ministry standards. Support this effort in South Asia or any other region in the world during this season of spending.

As of today we are 25 days into the 60 day campaign to help build regional capacity around the world. To support a region, click here. By God’s grace we have received $20,576 toward the goal of $50,000. Give according to your ability as God leads.

Let us together resolve to be rich in faith and generosity.

With regard to the collection for the saints, please follow the directions that I gave to the churches of Galatia: On the first day of the week, each of you should set aside some income and save it to the extent that God has blessed you, so that a collection will not have to be made when I come. Then, when I arrive, I will send those whom you approve with letters of explanation to carry your gift to Jerusalem. And if it seems advisable that I should go also, they will go with me. 1 Corinthians 16:1-4

“Paul gave the Corinthians six principles concerning offerings: (1) gather the money in an orderly fashion—on the day they all meet together, (2) each person must contribute to the collection, (3) each person must contribute from everything he or she treasured, (4) the gifts must be what he or she deemed a ‘blessing’ from God, (5) collections must be taken before needs arose, and (6) collections must be handed over to trustworthy people. These were the same principles Paul taught all the churches, including the Galatian churches and the Corinthian church.”

Andrew Spurgeon in 1 Corinthians: An Exegetical and Contextual Commentary (India Commentary on the New Testament; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017) 185.

Spurgeon serves as a professor at East Asia School of Theology in Singapore. In this piece he provides six solid principles concerning offerings. They are fantastic! Let’s look more closely at three of them.

Firstly, every person received the same directions and was instructed to contribute. To give or not to give is NOT the question for followers of Christ. We must all make margin for giving.

Secondly, I like the NET translation of this text which brings out the lingustic nuance of ‘blessing’ as Spurgeon notes. When God blesses us with resources we are to set aside a portion to bless others.

Thirdly, collections must be handled by trustworthy people. That’s what the work of GTP is all about: multiplying stewards and mobilizing peer accountability groups to build trust and grow local giving.

Singapore is part of the Southeast Asia region of GTP. Our work in this region serves Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

To support GTP’s work of growing stewards and helping ministries follow standards this region, check out the Southeast Asia Regional Campaign. It has 8 givers so far and is at $1,682 toward a goal of $5,000.

If you have been blessed, consider blessing brothers and sisters in that region by making a gift today.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:17-19

“Many no doubt think that true life is experienced in the acquisition and selfish use of material possessions. Here the opposite is said: true life is experienced in the generous sharing of our possessions. We grasp the life that really is life by acting in tune with the character and will of God. To be truly alive is to be like God; as He generously provides humans with all things for their enjoyment, so we are most truly alive when we act in the same way.”

Graham Simpson in The Pastoral Epistles, 1-2 Timothy, Titus: An Exegetical and Contextual Commentary (India Commentary on the New Testament; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017) 120.

Simpson has taught New Testament in India since 1977. He articulates a powerful biblical idea from India which is particularly relevant in the States during this season.

The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday. Already the marketers have started to bombard us with messages that life is found in buying all the things they have to offer at the lowest prices.

Don’t tune to their messages or your life will be off key. If you want to be most truly alive, act in tune with the character of God. Imagine instruments tuning for a Christmas concert.

Tune yourself to the character and will of God and take hold of abundant life. He will lead you to a place of enjoyment and sharing that you never dreamed imaginable rooted in His faithful provision.

Want to practice. GTP invites you to join our work in South Asia. To help us strengthen stewards and set up a peer accountability group in Nepal, make a gift to the South Asia campaign. It’s at $205 toward a goal of $1000.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s gracewas so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Acts 4:32-35

“There was more ot the economic koinōnia of the early Christians than meets the eye. If the outsiders saw just their seeming sense of oneness in heart and mind and their willingness to sell and share everything they had, to the extent that there was no needy among them, they would have thought of it as the microcosm of an ideal society. However, there was something in the interiors of the members that was not public knowledge: a cognitive dissonance or a mismatch between motives and actions.

Ananias and his wife Sapphire, being true to the spirit of their community and emulating Barnabas, sold a piece of their property intending to contribute to care for the needy. But they had second thoughts. They colluded with each other to keep part of the money from the property for themselves, and brought the rest to the apostles. It is not possible to pinpoint from the narrative the motive Ananias and Sapphira had.”

Babu Immanuel Venkataraman in Acts of the Apostles (India Commentary on the New Testament: Primalogue, 2015) 57-58.

This scholar from India helps us see that even when people are following God’s design, there can be more going on than meets the eye. There is always more going on in the “interior” of the members.

What’s going on in your interior? Are you enjoying and sharing God’s blessings richly? Special thanks to those who shared with the GTP South Asia campaign to build up God’s workers there.

Whether or not you give to this effort, attune to what God is doing in your interior. Is He nudging you to a deeper level of trust and generous giving because He wants you to depend on Him?

So far the South Asia campaign effort is at $0 toward the goal of $1000. Consider a gift today. And to watch any or all of the four trainings we’ve done at GTP to help grow God’s workers in South Asia, check out this list.

Please, of give to ministries in India or Nepal, don’t feed the dependency for outside funds. Give capacity building gifts to entities like GTP to grow disciples who can to raise local funds through effective ministry.