Just the Word

Something To Think About, It's Living and Powerful:

I'll give you a warning up front.  This STTA is preacher-oriented.  I think it is relevant to you non-preachers, but I'm a preacher.  I'm prejudiced.  You have been warned. Over my years of preaching there have been a few times--as I look back, way too few--when I have, instead of preaching from the Bible, read or recited the Word.  It's more work than you might think.  Anyone who is thinking about just showing up and reading should stay home.  Reading the word well takes preparation and effort.  But, that's not my point today. What impresses me, every time I share "just the scripture" with a group of people, is I see the power of the Word of God reflected in the faces and body language of the audience.  Last night was one of those occasions; as someone said, "You could hear a pin drop."  We ought not be surprised at that response. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.   (Hebrews 4:12–13, NLT) Not everyone has the privilege of standing before a group of people and reading the Word of God.  All of us, though, have the opportunity to read or listen to the Bible.  It is something that we ought to do on a daily basis  Here is a good place to start:  Biblegateway.com.   There you'll find searchable copies of the Bible in many languages, including a number of English translations.  I'll share some recommendations on translations, tomorrow.  A number of the translations even have an audio option available, so you can listen to the Bible being read aloud.  There are reading plans and various other features.  Whether you get into the Bible online, or by the more traditional method of turning the pages in a book, if you open your heart to God's Word, you will find it to be powerful, so powerful, that if you open your heart, it will change your life. It's STTA.   Here is a link to a message I've been privileged to share several times that uses only the words of Scripture to share God's Story, in His Own Words. For you preacher-types, here is an article about that message and about preaching "just the word," in general.

It Tolls for Me.

Something To Think About, The Tolling of the Bell:

(Please forgive the lateness of this email.  I wrote it yesterday when these events were even fresher than today.  The reality is ongoing.) They weren't really neighbors, but Alison Parker and Adam Ward used to appear on the local news, the same news that sometimes included stories about my little town nestled in the lovely Alleghany Highlands.  A friend of mine--almost a relative--had recently been shopping at the mall where the reporter and the cameraman were gunned down by a former colleague seeking some warped vengeance. A friend from another part of the world but familiar with the area where the crime took place commented, "If you aren't safe there, where are you safe?"  His question was rhetorical, but the answer is, "No where." John Donne observed, No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thy friend's Or of thine own were: Any man's death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;  It tolls for thee.  (Emphasis added) I pray for Alison and Adam's families. I pray for the family of shooter.  Their sorrow must be profound. I am aware, though, that what happened this morning in a lovely resort area does not only impact those directly involved.  It has to do with us all. I am reminded that life is short, this world is full of wickedness, and people need the Lord.  Lord, as I hear the bell tolling, announcing that two more children of Adam have been ushered into eternity, help me to hear it not only as a bell ringing the grief of loss, but as an alarm calling me to service.  Lord, You have made your children ambassadors for You.  We get to proclaim that there is reconciliation in Jesus Christ.  There is peace, there is hope, no where else. Oh, faithful and true one, make me faithful to your call. Amen It's STTA.   You can find out about hope in Christ on this page.

Replacement Parts I Won't Need Any More

Something To Think About, Scrap Metal I'll Leave Behind:

My Siblings and I are accumulating quite an array of new parts.  My little brother is having a new hip installed this morning.  Among the four of us we have a couple of bionic knees--with at least one more highly likely--a bunch of screws, some parts for thumbs, and some pieces that look a lot like strips of plumbers strap to me.   I'm thankful.  My mind goes back to my childhood when one of the chores of being on vacation was going to see some of my older relatives.  Several of them were bed-fast with broken hips, others walked with great difficulty.  I figure I'd be there were it not for the wonders of modern medicine.   I pray that my brother does as well with his hip as I have with my knee. The fact is, though, that we Merrells will be done with these various high-dollar after-market parts in just a short time.  We have children and grandkids in need of college tuition, not to mention shoes and backpacks.  Maybe someone would be interested in investing in Merrell spare parts futures.  I'm thinking you could pay us now, for the privilege of selling all this scrap metal later.  Just make sure you have a big truck before you bid.  Obviously, we won't deliver. My wife doesn't even know I'm writing this, yet somehow I can hear her yelling, "No!"  So don't bother to send your bids.  Instead let me give you a tip.  Everything about this life is temporary.  It won't last.  With poetic beauty James reminds us, "[Y]ou do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."  (James 4:14)  It is likely that my titanium will go to the grave with me.  If the Lord takes me without sending me to the undertaker, He'll deal with the scrap metal and plastic as He sees fit.  Vaporize?  Let it hit the ground where I used to walk?  I don't know.  I just know I won't need those parts anymore. When you see a gray haired guy with a long scar on his knee or an athletic lady with her arm in a sling, recovering from shoulder surgery, be reminded that just like those bones and sinews wore out, so is everything else in this world.  If my life consists only of what is down here, I am sure to be disappointed. If you need a new part, or need an old one fixed, go get it taken care of.  But know that all that is part of this world is passing away  (here, here, & here), so make sure you prepare what lies beyond. There is more! It's STTA. You can find out about that which is eternal on this page.

The President, A Little Boy in Africa, & Thousands More Doing God's Work

Something To Think About, Sunday School:

Yesterday a faithful band of folk all around the world stepped up and served the God of Heaven and people all around them with great effectiveness.  One of them is a former President of the United States. Sunday School teachers, what a powerful force they are.  Sunday School began in England.  Robert Raikes began teaching children who worked in the sweatshops.  It was the only education they received.  Sunday was the only day they could attend class.  Raikes' tradition was continued by Thomas Jackson.   Long before he was known as "Stonewall" he was breaking barriers.  Though it was against the law he met with a group of black children each Sunday afternoon.  Among other things he taught them to read. In my time Sunday School has been more spiritual than academic. I look back more than half a Century at people like a sweet lady in Harvey Illinois, though I don't remember her name, she was the first Sunday School teacher I remember.  With her encouragement l memorized the 23 Psalm and received a stapler as a prize.  The little stapler is long gone--though I remember I did cherish it--but the reminder I've carried with me for six decades that the Lord of heaven cares for me has been priceless.   Woody Hanson taught Sunday School when I was in elementary School.  A group of us used to meet in a '49 International bus, where Mr. Hanson taught us.  He helped give me the base on which my faith is founded.  My pastor, who later became my Father-in-law patiently answered questions, often offered not because we wanted to know, but in an attempt to make him squirm.  The fact that he loved us enough to put up with us made a great impression on me.  Sunday SchoolTeachers like Marrieta Sizemore, Sue Livick, Wendy Hinkle, and Tim Morse made a profound difference in the lives of my sons.  Last night I heard my two-year-old granddaughter recite her memory verse.  Even though they don't call it "Sunday School" at her church, she's learning about God and life in Sunday School.  Thanks to her teacher. A friend of mine, a single mom, serves the Lord at an orphanage in Africa.  Recently her son came rushing up to her,  "Mommy Tom, I need a Bible and an Eli Uyo (hymn book). The nursery's teachers are not there, so we are teaching them!"  The News media has made a big deal out of President Carter's faithfulness in teaching Sunday School.  It's not a task that most former world leaders take time for.  That Carter continues to teach though he is being treated for brain cancer is commendable.  What President Carter does in Plains Georgia is no more or less commendable than what a dedicated band of women and men, and at least one little boy, do every week in places big and small all around this globe.  I doubt that one of the President's class members ever honored him as one of my late Mother's students once honored her.  The little guy named his dog, Mrs. Merrell.  It doesn't get any better than that. If you and/or your children have a Sunday School teacher, take time to thank them.  If you don't, why don't you check in this coming Sunday.  From the plains of Africa to Plains Georgia, young and old, unknown and famous, faithful folk are sharing God's word, love and hope. I think we could use some more of that. It's STTA.   You can find several ways on this page to learn the greatest lesson taught in Sunday Schools that are true to God's word.

The Right Way Might Look Wrong

Something To Think About, The Right Way Looking Wrong:

I was traveling on a Pennsylvania highway doing about fifty-five when I saw ahorse and buggy approaching, going in the wrong direction.  Since I don't live in an area that has an Amish or Mennonite community I was a bit surprised to see the horse-drawn vehicle going north on the same side of the road on which I was travelling south.  I'm not sure what is legal at that particular place.  I do know there is a wide paved shoulder there, the places for crossing the road to get on the other side are few and far-between, and both the buggy driver and we who sped by in the opposite direction had plenty of room. I couldn't help but think, though, about the illustration the driver, of what most of consider an outdated rig, gave concerning the way all God's people ought to live.    “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.   For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14) The Amish and some other groups have chosen to live lives that are markedly different than the world around them.  When they dress in the morning, when they light their lamps at dusk, when they go out in their non-motorized vehicles, and in many far more important ways they are continually reminded, and they make clear to others, that they are not going in the same direction as others around them. I'm using a computer, sitting in an air-conditioned house, having just run some errands in my Honda.  I don't believe our faith ought to defined by what we wear or how we travel.  Still, in the ultimate sense, I need to be reminded that God has called me to a different life.  He wants me to be His in a particular way, dedicated to doing good deeds (Titus 2:14).   The Bible tells me that this world is not going they way God wants it to, I need to beware, andI'm not love it.   Last Saturday, it was very obvious that someone had chosen a different direction for their life.  I wonder, today, as people watch me go from place to place, and task to task, will there be anything that indicates to those around me, "Here is a man who has chosen to follow God?" It's STTA.

Putting Others First:

O Henry's wonderful little  tale, The Gift of the Magi, about two people in love has amused, encouraged, and challenged folk for over a century.  If you haven't read the delightful short story, I don't want to spoil it for you.  You might want to stop reading this STTA and come back to it after you read this classic.  You can find a copy, here.  No doubt it is, at least in part, because of William Sydney Porter's--O. Henry's real name--

skill, but in part it is because of what I'm about to tell you, that before I got to the little tales closing lines, my eyes were moist.

 " But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi."  
 

If the temperature is below 99 my wife is convinced that one should open the windows and make-do with the breeze from the ceiling fan.  (A slight exaggeration, but cut me some slack.  I'm

competing with a master, here.)  I, on the other hand, if left to my own "judgment" would run the air conditioner anytime the temperature is above 55.  Yesterday Kathy and I went on an errand of mercy.  We knew we'd be gone six to eight hours.  I didn't know it, but before we left my Lovely made sure the windows were closed and set the AC at a level that she judged would be a good compromise between comfort, primarily mine, when we returned and economy, something at which she excels, while we were gone.  When we returned, while I was occupied in some pre-going-to-bed business, she adjusted the thermostat downward to a temperature she figured would be more to my liking.  Having just heard the weather, and knowing that the night's forecast was a bit less hot and humid than an equatorial rain-forest, and in deference to my wife's economical spirit, I, on my way to joining my bride in bed, turned the AC to off and opened the windows.

You'd think that after forty-three years we'd have it figured out.

I've seen a lot of marriage trouble in my time as pastor, but I've yet to have a wife tell me "I'm leaving him because the house is too cold, or a husband confess I had the affair because we couldn't agree on how to set the thermostat.

When we try to apply the Biblical injunction, "Outdo one another in showing honor." (Romans 12:10, ESV) we might get it wrong, and end up laughing at one another.  But, if more of us were like the James Dillingham Youngs we'd be laughing together.

It's STTA.

Mutually Beneficial Provocation:

Something To Think About, Comfort--It's Over-rated:

There is a cluster of exhortations in Hebrews 10 (you can read here).   At the end of these "Let us . . ." statements is one that can lead to considerable discomfort.   Hold on.  I'm going to start a verse later and back into it. Verse 25 of Hebrews ten is a favorite of preachers.  Any verse that tells people that they ought to come to church has to be popular with those of us who try to fill the pews.  Clearly, though, this verse is about much more than upward-trending attendance numbers.  When we come together we are to be those who are called-along-side-to-say-and-do-what-is-needed.  That is a very lame attempt to get at the basic meaning of the word that is translated, "encourage," or "exhort." The word is a very empathetic term.  A search of its use in the New Testament will reveal a wide range of meanings: to request, appeal, plead, or urge, as well as to exhort, encourage, or comfort.  Perhaps we best get at the meaning of the word by meeting two persons who are known for their ability to do what this word says.  Barnabas, who gave away his resources, reached out in kindness to the newly converted Saul of Tarsus and wanted to give John Mark one more chance, was called a "Son of this word."  Jesus promised that after He went back to heaven, He would send another basically this word.  The Didache, an early Christian book contains an encouragementsimilar to what we have here.  Perhaps it was drawn from this very text. “[B]e frequently gathered together seeking the things which are profitable for your souls." That brings us to this rather uncomfortable exhortation.  Working back from Hebrews 10:25, and clearly that is appropriate here, we find this:   "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works."  (KJV) We Jesus-followers are to be mutually provocative.  Just be sure you are provoking in the right direction.  By nature that is not a comfortable process.  It would appear that in modern church-world we have it wrong.  We come to church to feel good.  I ought to show up to be provoked. It's STTA.