Holiness!

Holiness adorns Your house (Psalm 93:5, NKJV).

            What kind of impression does your house make?  What strikes people when they first step inside your house?  Millions of dollars are spent by homeowners trying to achieve that just-right impression.  What if your home is a former church?  Lee Eclov writes about an actual real estate listing in Dallas, Texas about a home converted from a church:

It was an online description of a real estate listing in Dallas. The headline just said, "Converted church." Once it had been a church, now it was somebody's house. According to John Whiteside, the realtor showing the house, "De-sanctified churches are the number-one type of building converted to residential use." Whew! That's something of a mind-bender for Christians who call each other brother and sister, and talk about their church home.  The article said, "The altar has been adapted for use as a granite and stainless steel themed kitchen, in homage to the cooking gods." That's the words they used—"in homage to the cooking gods"! It went on, "The choir loft has been rewired for a home theater." There was no baptistery, but there was a soaking tub—and, among other things, a game room, a music room and an exercise studio. All this for about $2 million!

           

            I don’t know about de-sanctified churches, but I do know about sanctified homes.  Is your home a place which reflects the presence of the Lord?  If holiness adorns the Lord’s house, what about your house? For many of us, our home is the biggest investment we will ever make.  Why not let it make a statement for the Lord?

His!

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36, NKJV). 

How much of this world, even universe, belongs to us?  How much of it belongs to God?  Creation usually belongs to the Creator.  Since God created it all, shouldn’t all rightfully belong to Him? Abraham Kuyper, a towering theologian, journalist, professor and pastor who was elected Prime Minister of the Netherlands at the end of the nineteenth century, once remarked on the sovereign right of ownership of Christ over His creation when he wrote:

Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry:

“Mine!"

If all belongs to Him, shouldn’t that impact how we live?  Do we praise Him for His grace expressed to us?  Paul counseled the Romans: For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.  Amen!” (Romans 11:36).  Will you ascribe praise to Christ and acknowledge His Lordship and ownership over your life?  You’re His!

Praying Times

But [Peter], seeing that the wind was strong, feared and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:30). 

Recently, I preached a message entitled, Whitewater.  My text, Matthew 14:22-33, focused on Jesus walking on the water to meet His disciples who were caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee.   The text highlights Peter walking on the water until he began to fear.  His fears weighted him down like lead.  What did he do?  He prayed.  Charles Spurgeon writes,

Sinking times are praying times with the Lord’s servants. . . .  Heaven’s great harbor of refuge is prayer; thousand of weather- beaten vessels have found a haven there, and the moment a storm comes on, it is wise for us to make for it with all sail. . . .  Short prayers are long enough.  There were but three words in the petition which Peter gasped out, but they were sufficient for his purpose.  Not length but strength is what is important.  A sense of need is a mighty teacher of brevity.  If our prayers had less the tail feathers of pride and more wing they would be all the better. . . .  Our extremities are the Lord’s opportunities. . . .  At the last moment we appeal to our Master, but His swift hand makes up for our delays by instant and effective action.

Are you in a whitewater time?  Pray!  Our Lord will lift you up. 

Let it go!

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:12, NKJV).

Are you carrying any excess emotional weight around now?  It can be crippling.  The emotional weight of ruptured relationships and vengeful attitudes can isolate and enslave.  Your attitude makes all the difference.  A variation of a story told by Norman Wright highlights the difference that attitude can make in life.  It is an old legend about a man and his two sacks:

There is an old legend about a man his two sacks. One was tied in front of his neck and the other tied on his back. When the man was asked what was in his sacks, he said, "The sack in front is great. There I keep all the positive thoughts I have about people, all the blessings I've experienced, all the great things other people have done for me. The weight isn't a problem. The sack is like sails of a ship. It keeps me going forward.  The sack on my back is empty. There's nothing in it. I cut a big hole in its bottom. In there I put all the bad things that I can think about myself or hear about others. They go in one end and out the other, so I'm not carrying around any extra weight at all." 

What’s in your sack?  Grace responds by relaxing its grip and letting the offense go. Do you need to cut a hole in your bag?  You must cut a hole in your bag before God cuts one in His.

Choice Conversations

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver (Proverbs 25:11, NKJV).

The following account by Rico Tice about an English couple who did not communicate really communicates to us about the need to engage those around us in meaningful conversation.  This true story seems unbelievable, but it’s true.

The story, published in a British newspaper, began with the following sentence: "Heartfelt commiseration to Dorothy Naylor of Plymouth, whose recent daytrip to Bridgewater was spoiled when her husband, Oliver, left her on the forecourt of a garage … and drove 17 miles before noticing his wife was not in the car."  "I couldn't believe he'd gone without me," Mrs. Naylor told the Western Morning News. "I usually sit in the back because I can move around more, but normally we talk to one another." The couple, both in their 70s, had pulled into a garage to change a tire. Mr. Naylor drove off and didn't notice his wife's absence until he had arrived in Bridgewater. After stopping in town, he asked his wife, "Where do you want to get out?" When she didn't answer, he turned around and discovered that he had left her behind. The paper added that the couple had been married for 40 years.

If you are married, do you engage your spouse with loving, significant communication?  If you’re not, do you affirm others with your words?  Perhaps that is what Solomon had in mind when he compared choice, precious speech to “apples of gold.”  Are you enriching those around you with your “golden” discourse?  You can.  Have the “Midas Touch” when you speak.    

True Humility

Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3, NKJV).

What does true humility look like?  How would we recognize its presence?  Perhaps an example will help.  John Dickson writes about an incident that captures the profound humility of Sir Edmund Hillary.  You might remember him as the one who became famous as the first successful mountain climber of Mt. Everest in 1953, along with his Sherpa friend and guide, Tenzin Norgay.  Dickson writes:

On one of his many trips back to the Himalayas he was spotted by a group of tourist climbers. They begged for a photo with the great man, and Hillary obliged. They handed him an ice pick so he would look the part and set up for the photograph. Just then another climber passed the group and, not recognizing the man at the center, strode up to Hillary saying, "Excuse me, that's not how you hold an ice pick. Let me show you."  Everyone stood around in amazed silence as Hillary thanked the man, let him adjust the pick, and happily went on with the photograph.  It doesn't matter how experienced that other climber was; his greatness was diminished by this intrusive presumption. We are repelled by pride. Edmund Hillary's greatness, however, is somehow enhanced by this humility.

How would you score on a humility test?  Would you be proud of your score?   Hillary’s humility should serve as an example for all of us to avoid thinking too highly of ourselves.  He modeled humility like Moses.  Will you?

America, We Have a Problem!

Some of you will recognize those words as a slight alteration of the rather famous phrase, “Houston, we have a problem!”  The real-life drama of Apollo 13 transfixed a nation when commander, Jim Lovell, alerted NASA of serious trouble aboard the space capsule, after one of the oxygen tanks in the service module exploded.  Those five words—“Houston, we have a problem”— have lived on in our memories.  Thankfully, the crew returned to earth safely.  Unplanned hardships were overcome through the blessings of God and the tenacious ingenuity of our NASA engineers and astronauts.

Why do I reference those words and that incident?  Because, “America, we have a problem!”  Ours is not a problem in the far regions of space; ours is a problem close at home, in our own beloved nation.  Should we not proclaim?

America, we have a problem—when over 33 percent of our youth (more than 25 million kids) are fatherless and searching for dad.[1]  When the United States has achieved the dubious distinction of having the highest divorce rate among Western nations.[2]  When an estimated 905,000 children were victims of abuse and mistreatment.[3] 

America, we have a problem—when the indebtedness of our federal government has reached $14.3 trillion dollars (that’s a stack of $1 bills that would stretch to the moon and back—twice).  Congressional leaders are now asking that our debt ceiling be increased to $16.7 trillion so keep us from defaulting on our international loans as early as this August.[4]

America, we have a problem—when Social Security insolvency is predicted in two short decades, thus guaranteeing that those who are paying in now will almost never receive what should be rightfully theirs at a critical period in their lives.[5]

America, we have a problem—when confusing immigration laws waver between declaring amnesty to those illegal immigrants already in this country and protecting the rights of Americans from a further influx of immigrants over porous, unprotected borders.

America, we have a problem—when our economy has flattened out, jobs are being lost and unemployment has reached double digits.  The cost of living continues to increase, thus depriving many Americans of peace in the present moment as they continually worry about the quality of their lives in the future. 

America, we have a problem—when billions of dollars are being spent to protect American citizens from terrorist threats.  Our freedoms and way of life would be violently snatched from us, if the cowardly terrorists have their way.

So if we have a problem in America, what can Americans do?  The words of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah help us as we face the unknowing future:

Jeremiah 7:1-7

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ‘Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!”’ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.  Do not trust in these lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. 

“For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

America needs both righteousness and patriotism.  Righteousness supplies the proper foundation for patriotism—“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34) and patriotism provides a powerful expression for righteousness—“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psa. 11:3).

As Americans, we hold the flag high, but as Christians, we hold the cross higher.  Daniel Webster said it best, “What makes men good Christians makes them good citizens.”  Our founding fathers knew that any lasting form of government must be built upon the righteousness and truth of its citizens.  John Adams wrote:

We have no government armed in power capable of contending in human passions unbridled by morality and religion.  Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.  If our people become immoral and unrighteous, then our constitution would have no more power to restrain us than a net would restrain a whale.

The flag must acknowledge the cross, as Americans must recognize God as the Source of our freedoms (and not the government).  We can be both righteous and patriotic!

God speaks to His preacher and commands him to Stand and Proclaim His Word:

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ‘Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!”’ (7:1-2).  Jeremiah knew that the foundations which support the interest of true faith (which ultimately came to be expressed in Christ) and a free and equal government like our own are inseparable; they are one and the same.  Will we hear the Word of God once again?

Alexis De Tocqueville, a French scholar and admirer of America, came to the United States in 1831 and toured the length and breadth of our nation.  He recorded his reflections of our nation in his book, Democracy in America:

Moreover, almost all the sects of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity and Christian morality is everywhere the same.  In the United States the sovereign power is religious. . . but there is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.

The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in the minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.[6]

I sought for the greatness and genius in America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there. . . .  I sought for greatness and genius in America in her democratic congress and her matchless constitution and it was not there. . . .  Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.  AMERICA IS GREAT BECAUSE AMERICA IS GOOD, AND IF AMERICA EVER CEASES TO BE GOOD, AMERICA WILL CEASE TO BE GREAT.[7]

The Lord commanded Jeremiah to stand and proclaim His message.  The prophet thundered his message to the people: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place (the land).  Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these’” (7:3-4).

The people of Judah sought refuge in their famous landmarks and traditions.  Surely, the temple would protect them from foreign invaders.  What they failed to realize, we must never forget: THE NATION DOESN’T PROTECT THE PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE PROTECT THE NATION!  The Word of the Lord through Jeremiah offered hope if the people would change their ways: “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger,  the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause  you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever” (7:5-7).   We protect our nation by repenting of our sin before a holy, righteous God.  Our nation’s founders believed in the concept of both individual and national accountability before God.  They acknowledged a temporal distinction between the two.  Whereas, individuals would answer to God in the future, nations would not.  When would they face judgment?  Here and now!  George Mason, the Father of the Bill of Rights, wrote: “As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this.  By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities.”[8]

Yes, America, we have a problem!  But America, we have a Provider!  The words of President Lincoln should resonate with us today:

Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.[9]

God stands ready to unleash His omnipotence to help anyone who calls out to Him: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Will we turn and seek the Lord while there is still time?  Will we recognize that God is our only hope? 

America, we have a problem.  Yes.  But America we have a Provider who stands ready to respond to the repentance of its citizens.  In the seventeenth century, Pilgrim John Winthrop, spoke of America and its bright future in which he said,

For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill.  The eyes of all people are upon us.  So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in the work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a byword throughout the world.[10]

May we shine brightly once again, a beacon of righteousness and freedom for the whole world.

Poem—Can He Count on You?

Today we face another war

Fought not upon some distant shore.

Nor against a foe we can see

Yet one as ruthless as can be.

He’ll take your life and children too

And say there’s nothing you can do.

He’ll make you think that wrong is right

‘Tis but a sign to stand and fight.

And though we face the wrath of hell,

Against those gates we shall prevail.

In homes and schools across our land

It’s time for Christians to take a stand.

And when our race on earth is run

The battles over, the victory is won,

When through all the earth His praise will ring

And all the heavenly angels sing.

‘Twill be enough to see the Son

And hear Him say, “My child well done,”

You kept the faith so strong and true;

I knew that I could count on you.[11]

America, we have a problem, but America, we have a Provider!

---

[1]John Sowers, Fatherless Generation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2010), 19.

[2]Brian Haynes, Shift: What It Takes To Finally Reach Families Today (Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, 2009), 28.

[3]Haynes, Shift, 28.

[4]Doug Carlson, “Analysis: Debt Limit Raise Hits House Ceiling,” Baptist Press, June 3, 2011 and Mike Huckabee, A Simple Government (New York: Penguin Group, 2011), 49-53.

[5]Huckabee, Simple Government, 52-53.

[6]Alexis DeTocqueville, Democracy in America (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 343.

[7]This quote has been attributed to DeTocqueville, though it cannot be found in Democracy in America.  Some scholars believe that it is an authentic quote from DeTocqueville written by him subsequent to the publication of his work on Democracy.

[8]David Barton, America’s Godly Heritage (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 2007), 45. 

[9]Richard G. Lee, ed. The American Patriot’s Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2009), 832. 

[10]Cited in Huckabee, Simple Government, 184.

[11]Roy Moore, So Help Me God (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2009), 260.