TOPIC: Models of Concern

There are two paragraphs in Philippians (2:19-30) which describe men who are rich in concern for others.

Notice what Paul says about Timothy:

There is no one else here like him who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

He is distressed because you heard he was ill” and “because he almost died for the work of Christ risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.”

Whom you sent to care for my needs” and of himself “I am confident that I will come soon” and “therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.

In the Lord Jesus Christ,
Jim Wilson

Community Christian Ministries
516 S. Main
Moscow, ID 83843
www.ccmbooks.org

TOPIC: No Form

When the Ten Commandments were first given, that is, before the first set of stone tablets (and certainly before the second set), they were not given in pageantry. They were given in terrifying first person reality. These events are described in Exodus 19 three months after the Israelites left Egypt. Thirty-nine years later Moses recalls these events that surrounded the oral declaration of the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 4 & 5); again in Hebrews 12:18-28 the events are described in contrast to something far more wonderful.

Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of
words but saw no form. (v. 12)

You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. (v. 15)

You were shown these so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides Him there is no other. (v. 35)

Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in Heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. (v. 39)

1. He isn’t like any of His physical creation, so no creation could be like Him physically: “No form.”
2. He isn’t like any other god, because there is no other God.

When we think of God, let us think of Jesus Christ (and not physically):

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. (II Corinthians 5:16)

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being. (Hebrews 1:3)

He is the image of the invisible God. (Colossians 1:15)

Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. (John 14:9)

"Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." (John 12:21) [Jesus replied,] “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” (John 12:23)

Father, I want those you have given Me to be with Me where I am and to see My glory. (John 17:24)

Community Christian Ministries
516 S. Main
Moscow, ID 83843
www.ccmbooks.org

(Reprinted by permission.)

509 Auburn Ave
Monroe, LA 71201

Our phone number will remain the same and should be hooked up quite soon. If you get the voicemail (VM) and don't hear back from us soon after, that probably means that we don't have the phone hooked up yet, because we only check our messages on the VM every couple or three days or so. But feel free to leave a message anyway. If it's in emergency, beware, however, that we probably won't get the message in time to take you to the hospitol to have your finger sewed back on. Sorry in advance.

That's the news from Lake Huntington.

What do You Want First?
The Good News or the Bad News?

Probably the two greatest religious motivations in the world are fear and reward.

1. Fear: Animism everywhere is motivated by fear—fear of the spirits in the trees and rocks, fear of dead ancestors, witch doctors, or demon priests. Some of this fear is based on a lie, that is, there is no reality behind the fear. Some of it is based on another kind of lie, that is, that there is a reality (real demons) behind the fear, but this reality is not the truth of the great God. I have talked with people from many parts of the world and have read first-hand accounts of demonism in many other parts of the world. Animism is called primitive religion; however, it might be the end result of bad theology.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1)

There are other major problems; I will speak of them in pairs. First, hedonism and fertility cults: one is simply worldly and the other has made sex a religious rite. In both cases, sex and other forms of pleasure have been prostituted. These are often mixed with animism and the established religions. Another pair found in established religions is asceticism and mysticism. The Sufis and Dervishes in Islam and the mystic monks in Roman Catholicism are examples of mystics. Hermit, priests, and nuns who take the vow of abstinence are examples of ascetics; some of the Pietists were as well. Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy; Catholic nuns take a vow of chastity.

The final two are money and power. I am not going to dwell on these two other than to quote Jesus. “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matt. 6:24).

So far, I have mentioned Protestantism (liberalism and legalism), Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, and Animism. There are others like Hinduism, New-Age religions, and Judaism. Although some of these are dead, some are alive, but false. Is there any truth anywhere?

What I am going to tell you about now is not some tiny, splinter, exclusive group that says it is right and everyone else is wrong. It is very widespread; it encompasses many peoples and many languages, has thousands upon thousands of teachers and millions of adherents, and is the only inclusive religion of the world. Although it is inclusive, it is not syncretistic.

This religion is now called Christianity, though the adherents were once called “disciples,” “believers,” or “followers of the Way.” Disciple was short for disciple of Christ, believer short for believer in Christ, and followers of the Way because Jesus said, “I am the Way.” In every historic Christian church there were very likely real believers; there are also real unbelievers in the same churches.

Are not Protestants and Catholics Christians? Yes—many of them, but not all.

Let’s start at the beginning.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27)

In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9)

But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. (Genesis 1:17)

Man now knows good from evil, but he no longer has the spiritual life of God. He has lost the real likeness to God. A few generations passed and man wondered where he came from, why he is here, and where he is going. After an impatient, short search, man created gods in his own image.

Man’s gods now look like man; there are also many gods. They have different names, but they have one basic thing in common—they look like man. Man is selfish; the gods are selfish. Man needs praise for his effort and works, so he creates a god who will praise him for his works. Man is good and evil (good in his own eyes); he creates gods who are “good and evil.”

These gods created in the image of man do not look like and are not the same as the God who created man in His own image. Why not? Because man no longer had the likeness of God once he had created his own gods.

Why do the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. (Psalm 115:2-8)

Man looks to and prays to his created gods rather to the Creator God. This Creator God has other characteristics besides omnipotence and the origin of order and design.

But let him who boasts, boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in thee I delight. (Jeremiah 9:24)

Here is another expression of this characteristic of God from the New Testament.

Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that it is God’s kindness that leads you toward repentance? (Romans 2:4)

St. Paul, in his first visit to Athens, had a marvelous experience. Paul was seeing Athens in its grandeur, not as we see it today, destroyed and decayed. Even with this splendor, he was not impressed.

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, ‘What is this babbler trying to say?’ Others remarked, ‘He seems to be advocating foreign gods.’ They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, ‘May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.’ (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. “For in him we live and move and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.” Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by art and man's imagination.

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.’ When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, ‘We want to hear you again on this subject.’ At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. (Acts 17:16-34)

1. Man cannot do anything to please God by his own effort, so the first thing to do is quit trying.

2. Man should have at least a small view of the holiness of God. He will then recognize his own extreme wickedness in the light of God’s holiness. Man is already guilty; he will now feel guilty. Sin and guilt for sin are not relative values.

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7)

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:10-11)

By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:2)

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (II Corinthians 5:21)

Let me illustrate the difference between “good advice” and “good news.” The goodness in the advice has to do with the hearer agreeing with it and working to perform the advice. Good news has nothing to do with performing anything. It simply is!

Suppose I am in a class where I do not understand what is going on. It is called “Differential Equations.” Like many students, I study the subjects I like, but do not study the subjects I do not like and do not understand them. The professor suspects this is true of me and calls me into his office in order to encourage me. He gives me good advice. He says, “Study.” I do not study. He calls me in again and says, “Study hard.” It is more good advice which I do not take. He calls me in weekly to advise me to study. The semester comes to an end; I am now looking at a blank piece of paper in the final exam. The professor passes my desk and sees that I do not know what I am doing. He says, “Get up. I will take the test for you.” My reply is, “Professor, you have been giving me good advice all semester, but this is the first good news I have heard.”

Many of the religions of the world give “good advice” to their adherents, but the people do not take the advice. They will not, and cannot, be good. God is the only one who gives good news. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. He took our final exam for us. We get a free 4.0 when we deserve to flunk. This is grace and mercy. Grace is giving to us what we do not deserve. Mercy is not giving us what we do deserve.

How do we respond to this good news?

There are several expressions which are different, but talk about the same events. Most of these words are verbs or verbal nouns.

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead…I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. (Acts 17:30-31, 20:21)

To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (Acts 26:18)

That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:9-13)

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life…Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him…I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (John 3:16, 36, 5:24)

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)

There are three steps to this salvation:

1. recognition of great needs (sin)
2. a spiritual understanding of the good news as a solution to that need
3. the response that brings a person into the experience of life in Jesus Christ

1. All of our past sins and the state of sin are forgiven. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (II Cor. 5:17)
2. There is now power to live a life of victory over sin. “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness…But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:18, 22).
3. There is now a new character. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22).
4. There is in the future a complete salvation, including a resurrected body. “Who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).

1. Thank Him for your salvation.
2. Tell another Christian of your new belief.
3. Let me know and I will send you some instruction on your new life in Christ.
4. Talk to a friend and request baptism.
5. If you have questions, you may write to me.

Dear Friends,

And now, go write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness for ever. For they are a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who will not hear the instruction of the Lord; who say to the seers, ‘See not;’ and to the prophets, ‘Prophesy not to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more of the Holy One of Israel.’ Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, ‘Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on them; therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a break in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant; and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel which is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shred is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern. (Isaiah 30:8-14 RSV)

How does this apply today? We as Christians have two temptations. We want to hear smooth things so we seek teachers who speak of pleasant things. It is something that Paul warned Timothy of in II Timothy 4:3-4:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but, having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. (RSV)

In the Lord Jesus Christ,
Jim Wilson

Community Christian Ministries
516 S. Main
Moscow, ID 83843
www.ccmbooks.org

(Reprinted by permission.)

What happened to real surrender?

DOLGELLAU, Wales — Thank goodness for those history channels that bring back the generals and politicians of the past who, by contrast, make many of today’s leaders look indecisive.

I saw President Harry Truman on one of them last week. In a speech to the nation near the end of World War II, Truman rejected suggestions that the Allies seek accommodation with Japan, rather than victory. Truman would have none of it, saying only Japan’s “unconditional surrender” would be acceptable.

Contrast that with the conciliatory blather of today. Prime Minister Tony Blair invited British and Muslim leaders to a meeting at 10 Downing Street where he would urge worldwide action to uproot what he has called the “evil ideology” and “twisted teaching” that lay behind the London bombings.

Here’s what Blair should say to the Muslim leaders: “The onus is on you guys. You find and shut down the terrorists and their network. You turn those who incite, plan and encourage violence over to the authorities. If you don’t act, we will by closing and bulldozing the mosques and schools that incubate and instruct the killers, prosecuting the terrorists we find and deporting them and their clerics, and closing our borders to anyone from countries that harbor and teach terrorists. Those who are British citizens will be stripped of their citizenship.”

Just who are these spots designed to influence? Does CAIR wish us to believe the jihadists in America will see them and convert to democratic ideals, or is this Tokyo Rose propaganda designed to keep our guard down?

It is helpful to quote what two prominent senators have said about CAIR: “(CAIR is) unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its associations with groups that are suspect,” said Richard Durbin, Illinois Democrat. “We know (CAIR) has ties to terrorism,” added Charles Schumer, New York Democrat.

The problem with the cluttered Western contemporary mind is there is little room for anyone or any philosophy based on absolutes and convictions. The terrorists benefit from Western self-indulgence, ignorance about history and aversion to war. If we think of depravity at all, it is in the Michael Jackson vein and not religious fanatics, who kill school children, behead “infidels” and seek world domination.

Western secularists cannot comprehend people who link their private faith to public actions. Too many think terrorists can be dissuaded from their bloody goals by using Western logic and trying to “understand why they hate us.”

I don’t want to understand why they hate us, anymore than my father’s generation sought to understand Nazis, or the ideological slaves of Hirohito. Like that generation, since the jihadists have declared war on us, I want to kill them before they kill me.

To make us feel better and allow us to “get on with our lives,” we make believe the jihadists are a tiny minority and not “mainstream Islam.” But what if they are mainstream — part of an elaborate conspiracy designed to dupe the West while the infiltration of Britain, America and all of Europe continues unabated?

What if the “moderates” are too intimidated to speak out for fear they will be killed? If that is the case, it is all the more reason to declare total war on the jihadists, because that is what they have declared on us.

Would it not be a clever strategy to put insurgents among us who dress and speak as Westerners, work in our schools and restaurants (as one of the bombing suspects did in London), but are secretly plotting the death of total strangers?

They know they don’t have the power of a conquering army to defeat us from without, but they believe the virus they are spreading can weaken us from within until we surrender because we favor “peace” over conflict.

Wake up, America and Britain! The jihadists are after us and they will stop at nothing until we all live under the banner of Islam, either by fear or by force.

Where have you gone, Harry Truman and Winston Churchill? Our nations turn their lonely eyes to you. Boo-hoo-hoo.

Copyright 2005, Cal Thomas & Tribune Media

My Friend Hallie
a bone marrow drive inspired by Hallie Gravelle

This drive also supports the Allums' search for a bone marrow donor for their son, James Christopher.

Date: Saturday, July 30
Time: 7 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Location: Weber Center at the First Baptist Church of West Monroe (500 Pine Street - West Monroe)

Coordinators of the event are Lisa and Randy Cory, Tonja and Frederick Huenefeld, & Heather and Clint Gulde.

For more information or to sponsor the bone marrow drive, contact the Corys at (318) 396-1779.

Everyone tested will be added to the National Registry for eveyone awaiting a bone marrow match

For more information about the bone marrow drive go to:
www.caringbridge.org/visit/myfriendhallie

Last night was different. We got to BAM, I grabbed HP, and I read Popular Science Magazine. Then I read HP. We were only there for a little while, so after reading PS Mag, I only had enough time to read three chapters of HP. The end of Chapter 3 finds the Wursley's (?) at their new island retreat, when the door is beaten down by . . . Well, you know the story, probably as well as I. So far the book matches the movie quite well. And what's more, I'm enjoying the book. Not every book can make such a claim about me reading it.

Human Predicament, Divine Solution

This week I am passing on a sermon by one of my younger brothers, Everett.

Matthew 11:16-30
By Everett Wilson, Pastor

On May 2, 2003, a Colorado newspaper said, "With no water and as little hope of survival, Aspen mountaineer Aron Ralston, 27, used a pocketknife to amputate his own arm and free himself from a boulder weighing 800-1,000 pounds that fell and trapped him for five days in a remote desert canyon in eastern Utah." You probably don't need to be told that this is a lot harder than it sounds. About fifteen months later Aron Ralston took Tom Brokaw to the place where it happened and told the story for Dateline. I won't go into the details, but this is what he did:

• He cut off his arm below the elbow;
• He made his way to the edge of the cliff;
• One-handed, and bleeding around the tourniquet, he rigged his rappel equipment;
• He rappelled sixty feet to the canyon floor;
• Then walked through summer heat for many hours to reach his truck. On the last leg of his journey, a rescue helicopter saw him.

Like every other human being in the world, Christians are called upon every moment to do what we can with what we have to solve whatever fix we happen to be in. There are many who think that the gospel is God's call for us to do the best we can with what we have.

The Gospel is about the predicament Aron Ralston would have faced if he had not succeeded in severing the last tendon that kept him attached to the forearm pinned under a boulder, if he had exhausted all his resources as well as his last energy in his attempt to save himself. The gospel addresses the predicament of facing death when you have run out of resources to forestall or delay it.

That, of course, is the human predicament we are all in, eventually. It doesn't matter how strong we are, or how good we have been. Eventually, even Aron Ralston will meet his match, and he will die-of old age, if nothing else-unless Jesus returns before that.

The Responses of Unbelief
You would think that belief in God would be the first requirement of those willing to listen to Jesus, but there is a requirement that comes even before that. You have to believe in your own predicament, that you are going to die.

In one way we all know this, but that doesn't mean we believe it in relation to ourselves. The one place where young men and women see it is a real possibility is a battlefield, where they must face the fact that people with guns and bombs want to kill them. But on prom night, when teenagers routinely die, I doubt that many of them say to their parents before leaving in the evening, "If I don't make it through the night, you'll find a letter in my underwear drawer about what to do with my stuff." Probably none of them do. Some kids die on prom night, but not me! There are 181,000 references to prom night death statistics on the Internet. People are sort of interested, but not enough to make a difference.

Jesus came with a warning and a command: the kingdom of heaven is at hand, so you had better repent! To update his illustration about the children in the marketplace: He is like a child who comes by on a bright Saturday morning, looking for playmates. He will play whatever game they choose. But it's Saturday morning; they want to watch the children's programs instead of going out to play. "We piped to you and you did not dance. We wailed to you and you did not mourn."

Jesus could not get the attention of his generation. So if you think that any church with Jesus himself as the pastor would be on fire for God, don't count on it. He was pretty good at drawing a crowd, but he would not force them to become participants. They wanted to watch instead of play, and any excuse was good enough.

[18] For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he has a demon.' [19] The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'

Why can't they say that if it's their opinion? It's their life, isn't it?

Yes, it is. My point is, it is also their death. Jesus came to them and he comes to us with the divine solution for the human predicament of death. We are all in that predicament, and only he can get us out of it. Death is a foe beyond any of us. Jesus alone must hold the narrow way for us.

If you wonder what part of the Bible that's from, it's not from the Bible at all. It is from The Lord of the Rings. Gandalf says it when a hideous creature of great power attacks the fellowship of the ring. In the fellowship are two mighty men who seek to help him but Gandalf commands them to retreat. He will face the enemy alone. "This is a foe beyond any of you. I must hold the narrow way!"

• If you don't believe there is a foe that is too much for you,
• And don't believe there is a narrow way that must be defended,
you won't repent. You plan to muddle through one way or another. And are more likely say at Sunday dinner, "The preacher got carried away a bit this morning, don't you think?" That must be what the unrepentant cities said about Jesus.

The Invitation
Only those who repent, who want to get rid of their sin and guilt, will take Jesus and his invitation seriously.

Taking it seriously means recognizing it as the only way, not as one option among many. In the next verses Jesus makes a huge claim about himself.

He introduces it by saying that being smart does not bring you to Jesus "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will."

Then he claims that God has given him charge over everything, so that the only way to know God is through him."

Finally, he gives his invitation. It doesn't resemble much an invitation to join the Marines (the few, the proud) or a professional association (if you can past the test) or a business (if you can survive the interview). It's an invitation to the tired. It is an invitation to Sabbath rest.

He has told you who he is. He is the Son of God, the King of creation. You can trust him to do what he says. And when he says to take his yoke, he doesn't mean to share his burden, He means that he wants to share yours.

Someone who knows says that in a team yoked together, the stronger can go no faster than the weaker, or they will be working against each other. Jesus is not so much inviting us to walk with him; he is telling us that if we share his yoke he will share our burden and walk with us. He does not expect us to match his step. He is saying that he will match ours!

Second, do not see the that burden simply as the cares of this life. See it is as the burden of sin that leads to death and the burden of guilt that we take with us to judgment. See Jesus taking your sin and guilt upon himself. Only when you are free from them will you see how bad the human predicament is, and how wonderful the divine solution. Amen.

Community Christian Ministries
516 S. Main
Moscow, ID 83843
www.ccmbooks.org

(Reprinted by permission.)

The way up is down. The way down is up. Contradiction, paradox, or simple truth? In Luke 14 at the conclusion of a parable about taking the place of honor Jesus said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will exalted.” Jesus came to the same conclusion in Luke 18 after telling the story of two men who prayed in the temple: “I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” In the second parable the first man thanked God that he was not an extortioner, unjust, or an adulterer…that he tithed and that he fasted twice a week. Jesus did not say that it was not true! What was wrong? He also thanked God that “he was not like other men,” or even “like this tax collector.” He exalted himself. The other man was bad and he admitted it. Jesus did not say that that was not true either. What was right? He humbled himself. Humility is apparently a character thought and acted independent of, and senior to, any other merit of right or wrong. The first man could have humbled himself and the second man could have exalted himself.

We have a supreme example of self-exaltation in the Bible. It was Satan himself, and it was his way down.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. . . . For thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.’ (Isaiah 14:12, 13)

Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. . . . (Philippians 2:6-9)

Christ, in glory with the Father, did not insist that His rightful place in Heaven was more important than humbling Himself. It wasn’t! When He was an innocent man on earth He did not “protest His innocence;” He humbled Himself still further and died for our sins. He made Himself of no reputation. Humbling Himself was more important to Him than His equality with God, His reputation, His innocence. The same paragraph in Philippians says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” If we allow this mind to be in us then our “rightful place,” our “Reputation,” and our “innocence” is not as important as humbling ourselves. How can this be? Jesus said in Matthew 11: 28-30, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.”

In the Lord Jesus Christ,
Jim Wilson

Community Christian Ministries
516 S. Main
Moscow, ID 83843
www.ccmbooks.org

(Reprinted by permission.)

Steve Thomas
236 S. Third St. - #266
Montrose, CO 81401

Harry Potter and His Critics

I learned this morning that Debbie Thomas has slipped into a coma. She has been battling cancer for several months that we know of and probably for several months before she was diagnosed. She has been a stalwart through it all, never complaining. She's been herself, you might say. Her husband, Steve, has had good spirits, as well, trusting in God's goodness. And good He has been. According to the Doctors' initial estimates, she shouldn't have lived past March or April at the latest. Please join the family and many others in praying that the Lord will heal her miraculously or take her quickly.

If you would like to send cards or letters, their address is

236 S. Third St. - #266
Montrose, CO 81401