Love Does Not Envy

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

AGYG-mainspotwebThere are two words in the language of the New Testament that can be translated by our English word “envy.” One is always used in the negative sense – it means to begrudge someone their success and want to take away what they have for yourself. The other is the word we find in 1 Corinthians 13:4 where we read “Love does not envy.” Believe it or not, although it is an ancient Greek word, you know it! The word is zelos; or, as your spell-checker might suggest, “zealous.” But what does the Bible mean when it says that “love is not zealous?”

Unlike the other New Testament word for envy which is always bad, “zelos” can be either a good, aspiring passion or a bad, jealous passion. The bad, jealous passion is what we find here in 1 Corinthians 13:4. This envy, or jealousy, does not involve wanting to deprive another person of some good in their life, rather, it wants to surpass all of the benefits and accolades, successes and strengths that the other person enjoys. At its heart, it is the spirit of competition that always wants to “one-up” your neighbor, colleague, friend, or spouse. It is never enough to simply glory in the fact a person you love has accomplished something great. Deep down, you know that you deserve at least as much credit or glory as they have received. This passion say to itself, “Fine, they have done something good; but I will do something great.”

In reflecting on this description of love, the famous song from “Annie Get Your Gun” comes to mind. In this Irving Berlin classic, the careers and love story of Annie Oakley and Frank Butler are set to music. The story is simple. Annie and Frank are both marksmen in a Wild West Show when they fall in love. But then Annie becomes wildly popular because of her incredible marksmanship and is adopted into the Sioux tribe. Frank is jealous and leaves for another Wild West Show. They meet again in the last act and profess their love for each other, but the same spirit of competition flares up again. Annie and Frank sing a duet that sadly reflects too many relationships today: “Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you.” They compete with each other not only in shooting, but who is the better shopper, dresser, singer, speaker, even safe-cracker! In short, they envied one another. And their love is almost ruined. It is only when Annie decides to intentionally let Frank win their last shooting contest that the show ends on a positive note and genuine hope is felt for the unlikely couple.

Consider for a moment a Biblical alternative. You see, that song “Anything You Can Do” should never have been sung! It is very cute and funny on the stage, but in real life it betrays a heart that refuses to simply rejoice in how well the other person shoots, shops, dresses, sings, etc… (let’s exclude safe-cracking please!). Love delights in whatever good comes to or from our loved ones. Take some time to evaluate your relationships, especially your marriages, and “put your guns away.” Let’s stop ungodly competition and simply rejoice at how God has gifted and blessed one another.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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Love is Kind

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

lOVE 2 OF 15“Love,” Sinatra and others tell us, “is a many-splendored thing.”  I think this captures much of the Hallmark sense of what love is: love is made up of many splendid virtues and attitudes.  If you think back to the Valentine’s Days cards you have given and received you will see that love is passionate, it is pure, it is constant in faithfulness, it is liberal with praise…  But the very splendor of such things might make it more difficult for us to see the true love for in one of the things that fundamentally defines it: love is kind.

You might say, “but wait a minute, kindness is splendid in itself as well!”  And in a sense you are right.  But consider how 1 Corinthians 13:4 begins it’s definition of love: “Love is patient, love is kind…”  Patience indicates a capacity for long-suffering.  When is the last time you opened a glossy, red card with hearts and roses on it in the middle of February and read the inside message: “I will graciously put up with your short-comings.”  Similarly, and more to the point for this reflection on Christian love, when is the last time you opened up a Valentine’s Day card and read the announcement: “I am going to start being nice to you.”  Not quite the splendid profession of love we might have looked for?  In fact, everything about this word suggests a common, normal, everyday kind of attitude.  The word Paul uses in the original Greek he was writing in, chresteuetai, is literally translated “suitable,” or “serviceable.”  It was a common name for slaves.  It implied a general capacity and/or willingness to do the right thing at the right time.  When applied to relationships, it requires civil, polite, acceptable behavior – in Acts 27:3 it is sometimes translated “courteous!”

Kindness, you see, is not an idea we immediately connect with the highest aspirations of love – whether we are talking about the love of a husband and a wife or of a father and a son.  We tend in our poems and greeting cards to focus on the “always trusts, hopes and perseveres” ideas.  But by its inclusion at the front of this definition of love, we should be reminded that just as a building when shaken from it’s foundation will surely fall, the highest aspirations when removed from the everyday, universally required etiquette that we associate with mere kindness, will prove to be nothing – just words.

So often we find our words and actions are actually less kind – less civil or courteous, when directed at the people we supposedly love the most!  Resolve to think about love in a different way.  Remember that in as much as we are not kind, we by definition are not loving.  Love is first of all an everyday civility that we are commanded to direct towards everyone that must produce everyday, garden-variety decencies.  May we focus on being kind to all in imitation of the Most High who is himself “kind” even to the ungrateful and wicked. (Luke 6:26).

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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Poetic Advice on Arguing Well

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

political debate

We live in fractious times.  There seems to be no end to the scornful and snarky memes, disrespectful dialogue, and ad hominem attacks that are thrown about in rants that concern everything from politics to… theology?  Yes, sadly, even followers of Christ struggle with this particular form of ugly vanity.

Several years ago Tony Woodlief, a blogger for World Magazine, shared a quote from George MacDonald that echoes much biblical truth.  MacDonald said:

“When I am successful in any argument, my one dread is of humiliating my opponent.  When a man reasons for victory and not for the truth in the other soul, he is sure of just one ally – the devil.  The defeat of the intellect is not the object in fighting with the sword of the Spirit, but rather the acceptance of the heart.”

This would be easy to do if all parties in an argument or debate equally dreaded humiliating their opponent.  But that is not the case.  In fact, it seems that in public discourse, the goal is rather to humiliate one’s opponent than to persuade them of what one believes to be true.  And the public roars with approval like so many Romans in the Coliseum when our ideological champion draws blood from his opposite.  This is how public and private, political and even theological discourse is often shaped in this world gone mad.

MacDonald offers us a poetic prayer that may be of use and comfort when we find ourselves in a debate in which there exist no civil or moral restraints.  In his devotional book, Diary of an Old Soul, his entry for February 18 is worth committing to memory:

“Keep me from wrath, let it seem ever so right:

My wrath will never work thy righteousness.

Up, up the hill, to the whiter than snow-whine,

Help me to climb, and dwell in pardon’s light.

I must be pure as thou, or ever less

Than thy design of me – therefore incline

My heart to take men’s wrongs as thou tak’st mine.”

Take some time and consider this godly reflection in light of James 1:19-21; Colossians 3:1-17; and Matthew 18:21-35.  You will have many opportunities over these next months to enter some amazingly trenchant debates – on top of everything else life offers it is an election year!  We live in a society that argues to win and doesn’t bother to count the bodies afterwards.  Make it your business to seek to preserve and strengthen relationships and trust by how you argue.  Those with whom you disagree should at the very least respect you for the manner in which you argued.   Argue well in public – and especially in your homes!

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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Chevelle vs. Fire Truck – Another Day of Ministry

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

k2-_d3b3fdbb-adf1-4520-b70f-bcd72f7ddadb.v1chevelle

I had completed my morning pastoral routines and had ten or fifteen minutes before a lunch appointment.  Have you ever been in a situation where you have a couple of minutes of time to redeem but don’t want to start something too involved or important in the event that your next appointment arrives early?  Well, as it turned out today, upon wandering out of my office into the administrative area I got caught up in something that was both involving and important.

Chris and Kirsten were working hard at putting together Children’s Church and VBS materials and their son Johann (just turned four) was sitting on the floor in front of the office photo-copier.  He rolled a Hot-Wheels fire truck towards my office.  Then he jumped up, ran to my office door, sat down and rolled the fire truck back towards the copier.  Then he jumped up, ran back to the copier, sat down, and rolled the fire truck back towards my office…  Naturally, I sat down by my office door and we commenced rolling the fire truck back and forth.  At first it was quiet – we had a sort of gentleman’s agreement I think.  He would roll it to me, I would offer encouraging commentary: “Awesome,”  “Good one,” or, “Oh, it crashed!”  After a while he started sharing some of his own observations: “I wiped out,” “that was fast,” or, “that one curved!”

After a few minutes he and I got to talking about Hot-Wheels in general.  I got one out of my office, a 1970 Chevelle SS, and then we would roll them simultaneously towards one another.  Sometimes they crashed, which was particularly exciting.  Then he came and sat beside me and we raced them.  In all of this, I learned several things I had not known before.  First, you can tell a car is a Hot-Wheels if it has some red on it.  Second, the trash can under my administrative assistant Mrs. Goehring’s desk is actually a gas station – the gas comes down from her HP Laser Printer and drips into the can and cars fill up on the kitchen-side of the trash can.  Third, if you spend time with people doing what they like to do they begin to open up and share with you.  In other words, you win the right not only to be heard, but just as importantly, you win the right to hear.

In Matthew 18:5 Jesus says, “And whoever receives (dechomai in the Greek) a little child in my name receives me.”  That word dechomai has a great definition: “to receive by deliberate and ready reception of what is offered.”  Do I want to receive Jesus and what he offers?  Do I receive a newly minted four year old by deliberately and readily receiving what he offers – even if what he is offering is a turn to roll his Hot-Wheels fire truck?  These questions are not unrelated.  And who knows what ministry opportunities will open up for us if we make the effort to meet people on their terms, deliberately receiving what they can offer, in order that we can know them and share our knowledge of the Lord Jesus with them.

In case you are wondering, neither the Chevelle nor the fire truck ever made it to the finish line, which was somewhere underneath the copier machine.  I assumed this was because of the cars’ small plastic wheels and the friction of the carpet; Johann informed me that this was actually because the cars kept running out of gas. Even though neither car ever managed to win a race, there were two winners: me and my young friend Johann.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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What Counts in Living for Christ?

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

math-chalkboard-300x225This month as we watch our kids returning to school or are beginning classes ourselves, let’s do some divine arithmetic!  There are three passages in the New Testament in which the Apostle Paul tells us “what counts.”  These passages bear a remarkable similarity to one another:

“Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing.  Keeping God’s commands is what counts.”  1 Corinthians 7:19

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”  Galatians 5:6

“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.”  Galatians 6:15

In these three passages, Paul is talking about the exact same thing.  He is saying, on the one hand, that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision (mere external conformity to the law of God) means anything.  He says this in three different ways: whether or not one is circumcised in outward conformity to the form of the old covenant, is (1) nothing, (2) has no value, and (3) doesn’t mean anything.  Paul has found three different ways to express the single idea that if we want to pursue life with God through formal, ritual obedience, we have missed the point of the gospel.  He writes in Galatians 5 that doing so would make “Christ of no value to you at all.”

But consider the other half of this equation.  What counts is:

  1.  Keeping God’s Commands
  2. Faith expressing itself through Love
  3. A New Creation

What interests me more than the parallel statements about the worthlessness of going through the motions of being religious (circumcision and uncircumcision) is the way Paul finds three different ways to state “what counts.”   If he had only said that what counts is keeping God’s commands, I might be a legalist.  If he had only said that what counts is faith expressing itself through love I might be a libertarian, or an antinomian (someone who is against the law).  If he had just said a new creation is what counts I might be some kind of extreme pietist who simply chose to “let go and let God” since he does the creating – I am just along for the ride.

But instead the whole testimony of scripture says that this “one thing that counts” can be described – in fact must be described, in these three terms.  To put it another way, if one of these three things is not present, neither are the other two.  For example, faith expressing itself through love cannot truly break God’s commands.  Breaking God’s commandments reveals that you love someone/something more than God.  And you cannot genuinely keep God’s commands with an unbelieving heart or bitterness towards others.  When one is truly present, so are the other two.  In mathematic terms:

 keeping God’s commands = faith expressing itself through love = a new creation.

Too rarely, I think, do we think about these things this way.  The thing that counts in expressing our life with God is shaped and defined by these three things: (1) a moral standard – God’s commands, (2) an affective motive – our faith “proving” or “demonstrating” itself through our love for God and others, and (3) a humble dependence on God – we know that it is God who is at work in us (Philippians 2:12-13).

The school year has begun!  I hope that you will join me in taking this lesson to heart.  Do we fall into a rut of thinking about what counts in only one or two of these terms?  Do we find ourselves frustrated and discouraged by our constant failures, our cold obedience, or the prevailing of old patterns in our life?  Let’s commit ourselves to prayerfully pursuing this great thing that counts: keeping God’s commands as our faith expresses itself lovingly because we are in fact new creations through the life we have with Christ.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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“Logic on Fire” – Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

Lloyd-Jones eyes nly

“You must have light and heat, sermon plus preaching.  Light without heat  never affects anybody; heat without light is of no permanent value.  It may have a passing temporary effect but it does not really help your people and build them up and really deal with them.  What is preaching?  Logic on fire!  Eloquent reason!”[1]

If one thousand preachers were asked who famously said that preaching was “logic on fire,” I suspect that one thousand preachers would say one of two things: either, “I don’t know,” or, “D. Martin Lloyd-Jones.”  Lloyd-Jones did in fact say those words.  He offered this description of preaching  in his lectures on homiletics delivered at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia in 1969.  But he was not the first to describe preaching that way!

The trailer for the Media Gratiae film, “Logic on Fire: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones,” begins with a head shot of R.C. Sproul saying that, “Martyn Lloyd-Jones was to 20th century England what Charles Spurgeon was to 19th century England.”  I think, especially given the title of the biopic, that a more apropos introductory sentence would be difficult to find.  It is likely the case that the very phrase “logic on fire” evidences the influence of Spurgeon on Lloyd-Jones.

Lloyd-Jones held Spurgeon’s work as a preacher in high regard.  In his Westminster lecture “The Preacher,” he recommends three men whose sermons should be read: Spurgeon, Whitefield, and Edwards.[2]  Lloyd-Jones’ distinctive habit of preaching an evangelistic message every Sunday evening finds its antecedent in Spurgeon’s own practice.  In his Lectures to My Students, Spurgeon notes his practice of seeking “the edification of the saints in the morning discourse” but recommends that his pupils vary that on occasion and “let the unconverted sometimes have the chief labour [sic] of [their] preparation and the best service of the day.”[3]

Here is something else that Spurgeon said in that very same lecture:

The class requiring logical argument is small compared with the number of those who need to be pleaded with by way of emotional persuasion.  They require not so much reasoning as heart argument which is logic set on fire.  You must argue with them as a mother pleads with her boy that he will not grieve her, or as a fond sister entreats a brother to return to their father’s home and seek reconciliation: argument must be quickened into persuasion by the living warmth of love.  Cold logic has its force, but when made red hot with affection the power of tender argument is inconceivable. ..Brethren, we must plead.”[4]

Is the original source of this great definition of preaching important?  Perhaps – it is certainly interesting to me!  But the lessons that can be drawn from it are of far greater significance.  Every Lloyd-Jones has his Spurgeon.  Great artists, scientists, teachers, athletes… all have their influences.  Sometimes the degree of the mentor’s influence is not noted by the successor – or even noticed by others.  But it is nonetheless real.  And who knows what God will use in the context of that relationship – whether it is mediated by personal interactions or literary remains?  One gets the impression from reading Spurgeon that the phrase “logic set on fire” as the antidote to cold or merely warm preaching is yet a another example of his literary brilliance – a passing metaphor that occupied its two seconds of time and one inch of type, after which Spurgeon may have never given the phrase another thought if he remembered it at all.  And yet for some reason Lloyd-Jones culminates a one hundred page, three lecture long definition of preaching with that very image.  And the hearts and minds of preachers around the world have been more humbled and inspired by Lloyd-Jones’ echo than by Spurgeon’s first shout.

Speak carefully.  Who knows what someone might hear from you that they will later repeat to far greater effect than you could have imagined!  Whatever ministry you are called to, remember that on this side of heaven there are no throw away lines.  And use the entire repertoire (Isaiah 40:1-2) of human communication in your efforts to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Your Pastor

Bob Bjerkaas

[1] Llod-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1971), p. 97.

[2] Ibid. p. 120.

[3] Spurgeon, “On Conversion As Our Aim, “ Lectures to My Students: Second Series, Lecture X (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, p. 187.

[4] Ibid., p. 185.

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Love Is Patient

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

 

Love 1 15“Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy…”  This description of love from 1 Corinthians is familiar to most of us.  Maybe too familiar!  Have you ever thought that it is odd that the most well known definition of love begins with patience?  I have.  I think it is strange for two reasons.  First, patience requires the passage of time and the experience of difficulty in a relationship.  And second, patience requires other attributes to be a virtue.

We often hear about “falling in love” and “love at first sight” – as if love is something that explodes upon the landscape of our feelings in some irrepressible and irreversible manner.  It is certainly the case that often various “somethings” do cause us immediate and significant emotional responses.  The teenager sees a pair of shoes and she “loves ” them – she simply must have them…  But that “love,” whatever else it may be more aptly called, is by definition not the love described in 1 Corinthians 13.  It is not biblical love.  It may be attraction, or desire, or approval… but it is not love.  You see, if 1 Corinthians 13 gives us anything like an authoritative definition of love, love cannot truly exist until some passage of time has been endured because by definition, love is patient.

We cannot begin a relationship with this kind of love any more than we can begin a relationship with patience.  Consider a puppy or a new car.  You may have strong feelings for that new puppy or new car.  But you have not needed patience until some reasonable grounds for dissatisfaction is introduced into your relationship with that puppy or car and you choose to willfully persist in your commitment to them anyway.  Until then, it is not love in its highest, fullest sense.  You love your puppy when you continue to appreciate her even after the second pair of shoes and the third couch cushion have been chewed beyond recognition.  You love your car even after the new smell has gone away and you realize that the Stow-N-Go feature is not all you believed it would be…  In order for a commitment to another to aspire to the biblical definition of love, it requires the passage of time and the experience of difficulty.  Love is what lays beyond the period of attraction when you merely saw what you desired and desired what you saw.

In addition to that, think about what patience is.  The dictionary on my shelf says “capable of bearing affliction with calmness; capable of bearing delay; not hasty.”  Machiavelli was great at those things!  So were countless other tyrants who could, with cold, calculating hearts, patiently endure what they perceived were obstacles to their happiness.   We say that “patience is a virtue,” but we should really say that “patience in virtuous attitudes and endeavors is a virtue!”  Patience alone is not necessarily either good or bad.  But patience in being good is good!  So why does God begin his wordiest description of love with patience?  I think that love, to be a distinctively Christian love, requires a demonstration of other virtues beyond the crush of instant affection common to the world in general.  Until we persevere in kindness, trust, and hope, our love is really nothing more than the anonymous goodwill that has marked every secular humanitarian effort the world has ever seen.  This means that as Christians we must not assume that we have embarked upon an authentic Christian love for one another and the world until we have genuinely persisted in loving others despite prolonged reasons not to.

Throughout the scriptures we are called to begin obedience in the toughest of places – our own homes!  Will you resolve to love those God has placed in your lives and homes?  With patience?   We have all heard of “tough love.”  Instead of reminding yourself that “sometimes love must be tough,” make it a point to remind yourself frequently that “sometimes it is tough to love.”   And despite the great need for patience, resolve to love more and better – even as Christ loves you.  And rejoice brothers and sisters!  Because Jesus Christ’s love for you is patient!

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

 

 

 

 

 

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“Know When to Walk Away…”

Posted on August 4, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas


thin poker chipsThe Gambler in Kenny Rogers’ song offers sage advice when he turns to his fellow traveler on a train bound for nowhere and tells him that he needs to “know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run.”

Like many of you, I had a bout with gambling – craps was my game.  And when you have put a lot of money on the table, there is a strong compulsion to keep playing the game until you get that money back!  Also like many of you, I make other kinds of poor decisions as well.   I invest a lot of time, energy, emotion, and sometimes money in things that I should not be involved in.  There is a sense in which every time we sin (and we all sin every day), we are investing at least some resources in something ungodly.  And, like so many gamblers, we have trouble leaving our investments behind.

Several months ago I spoke with a young lady who was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a married man.  She was a Christian and this troubled her greatly.  When I counseled her to turn from that and to trust God in her desires for companionship, her response was, “but I have invested so much in him.”  A couple of years ago I asked a man at the Starbucks up the street, “What could possibly keep you from accepting Christ as Savior?”  His response was honest: “If I did that I would have to admit that the things I have spent my life doing are sinful.”  In both cases, these dear people, like the gambler and like you and me, could not repent (literally “turn from” sin) because of the difficulty in leaving investments behind.  Like them, we too need to think well of and make good on our time, energy, emotion, and money – even when spent on unworthy pursuits.  And in as much as that is the case, we are very great fools.

In 2 Chronicles 25 we have an account of King Amaziah making an investment that demonstrates a culpable lack of faith.  As the king of Judah, he appears to have gotten his reign off to a good start, but in verse six we read that during a period of war with the Edomites he was not certain that his forces were strong enough to prevail against the men of Seir, so he hired a mercenary army from Israel.  At this time Israel was unfaithful to the LORD and so a prophet rebukes King Amaziah and informs him that if Amaziah puts his trust in hired soldiers, he will certainly fail.  If, on the other hand, he puts his trust in God, he will succeed.  Amaziah’s response is the same as those listed above: “But what about all the silver I paid to hire them.” (2 Chronicles 25:9).

It is hard to accept that our investments of our precious resources must sometimes be left on the table.  Sometimes we spend great amounts in pursuit of some felt or real need that we try to satisfy our way instead of trusting in God.  In those situations, we must be prepared to simply write off the silver (literally tons of it in Amaziah’s case!) and recommit ourselves to seeking the Lord’s will for our lives – his way.  For those of us who are called to that difficult obedience, the words of Amaziah’s prophet should bring great comfort and hope: “The LORD is able to give you much more than this!” (2 Chronicles 25:9).

Are there areas in your life where you need to discern “what to throw away and what to keep? “  Kenny Rogers’ Gambler again!  Are there investments you have made that God is calling you to walk away from, trusting that he will himself make up more than what you have lost?

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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Who Needs Preaching?

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

2012-04-30-Preaching-is-Pastoral1

Recently I read something that gave me pause for thought.  The book was old, actually printed in 1877 – with a taped spine and crumbly-yellowed pages, and I wondered as I turned to the first chapter of Phillips Brooks’ Lectures on Preaching how different it might be from a more modern classic like Lloyd Jones’ Preaching & Preachers.  This is what I read:

“Every now and then we hear some speculations about the prospects of preaching.  Will men continue to preach and will other men continue to go and hear them?  Books are multiplying enormously.  Any man may feel reasonably sure on any Sunday morning that in a book which he can choose from his shelf he can read something more wisely thought and more perfectly expressed than he will hear from the pulpit if he goes to church.  Why should he go?”

Why indeed!  The reasons not to go to church might be seen to mount up in terms of both media and medium!  Not only have we added any number of pulpit giants to the menu over the past 138 years (men like Lloyd Jones, Barnhouse, Stanley, Piper, Macarthur, and Keller), but today we have streaming video feeds on the internet and televised services – podcasts and mp3’s!  You can read, watch, or listen to any of these “one in a million” preachers you choose on any Sunday morning – so why come listen to your “one of a million?”

One short answer could be: “Because of the Protestant Reformation.”  Typically we think of the Reformation as a time in which the church grew in its understanding of beautiful, biblical doctrines that we summarize with phrases like “grace alone,” or, “to God alone be glory.”  But the Reformation was more than that.  Among other things, it was a reformation of preaching.  Preaching would no longer be the anonymous travelling Dominican passing through town and delivering a stock, usually moralistic sermon calling strangers from vice to virtue.  And Bishops would no longer be remote, privileged strangers who might see their flocks once a year.  Instead, Pastors would preach to their congregations, and congregations would know their preachers.

This Sunday you have an opportunity that many Christians have not been privileged to enjoy.  You can get in your car, go to your local church, and hear a pastor preach to you. He might be a stranger the first time, but keep going Sunday after Sunday.  You will find yourself hearing God’s Word read and preached by a man who, like the Apostle Paul, has let you “know all about his teaching and his life!”(2 Timothy 3:10).  And what is more, he will know about your life.  His messages will not be mere expositions of scriptural texts that may or may not have any bearing on your current experience.  Rather, they will be specifically written and delivered for the particular benefit of the church that is gathered before him – of which you are a part.

Your preacher may not be a Keller or Piper.  Few preachers are.  Most of us minister ‘in the wings’ as it were.  We do not have international followings and none of our sermons are published.  But your preacher has two things no world-class preacher has.  He knows you. And he loves you.  May we be blessed with the personal, pastoral preaching that can only come from the pastor down the street who carries you in his heart as he prepares the messages God gives him.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

PS  Keep listening to great preaching on the radio and internet!

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Nevertheless…

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

cropped-istock_000015212999medium1Following Christ and seeking to be faithful to him in your family, your career, and in your neighborhood can be daunting.  Sometimes we feel that the challenges we face are simply too difficult to overcome.  Often we begin some great project with high hopes of glorifying God and blessing others only to, like Peter, allow the winds and waves of “reality” to cause us to sink in discouragement and fear.  That wind can roar and those waves can crash – pretty loudly sometimes.

I think that David had a daunting challenges too.  When he became king, one of his first priorities was the capture of Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was the  unassailable fortress of the Jebusites.  It was situated right in the heart of Israelite territory and had been a strong point of resistance to Israelite rule for generations.  In 1 Chronicles 11:4 we read that David, upon being anointed king, mustered his forces and attacked the city.   Once within earshot of the city, both 2 Samuel 5:6 and 1 Chronicles 11:5 make it clear that the Jebusites were quite confident that David could not possibly succeed – and they told him so.  In our text from 1 Chronicles, an emphatic negation is used; their statement could be translated, “Never will you come in here!”

Have you ever felt that the world is looking at your plans and efforts and saying, “Never?”  Or perhaps you have never attempted to do anything for the Lord that was so audacious that the world would even trouble itself to oppose you?  In either case, we have in this verse a strong encouragement to attempt great, even seemingly impossible things for the Lord.

Immediately following the boast of the Jebusites that Jerusalem would “never” be captured, we read a word that is translated from the Hebrew by the NIV with the words, “Nevertheless… he captured.”  Adding the next Hebrew word, we read, “Nevertheless David captured…”  Nevertheless!  Despite the reality that from the world’s perspective the task cannot be accomplished, David succeeds.

Attempt great things for God.  Often we only attempt things that we believe are perfectly reasonable and are likely to succeed in light of the exact same principles and values that inform the plans and actions of the secular world.  Often we stop far short of attempting anything that cannot succeed unless God is in it.  What is God calling you to do and to be?  Will you listen to all of the voices that shout “Never” and scale back your efforts to something that can be reasonably accomplished by the most pragmatic pagan in Los Angeles?  Will you only attempt those things at which the world shouts, “Probably Not…” Or will you take risks!  David ended up sending one of his valued leaders, Joab, into the city through a small aqueduct.  This was not a fail-safe strategy!  Whether or not it was expected, it still pitted a handful against the city’s entire garrison (2 Samuel 5).

In those areas of your life and ministry where you hear the word “Never!’ being hurled at you again and again, remember that “nevertheless” we can succeed.  As Paul writes, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13).  If God is calling you to take a step (or leap?) of faith into some new arena of ministry or chapter of life, pay no mind to the “nevers” that echo down from the world’s walls.  Even if what God calls you to is so audacious that for it to succeed, God himself must strengthen you, make the attempt.  Say to the world “Nevertheless…” and take that step!

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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