Healthy Fellowship

            No doubt you’ve heard of the story concerning a race that took place during one of the Special Olympic competitions.  One of the boys fell while running and the others stopped, helped him to his feet, and then arm-in-arm the whole group crossed the finish line together.  A reporter asked one of the runners why he didn’t finish the race and win.  The boy answered (as best he could) that his friend fell and was hurt.  He needed to help his friend.

            It usually takes a touching story like this one to teach us “healthy folk” about what is really important in life.  Accomplishment and Achievement are not the important things.  Winning is not the only important thing.  Success comes from helping each other through the experiences of life.  Togetherness; Fellowship (Greek = Koinanea); Unity; these are the special traits that bring joy and meaning to life.  They are the components of a healthy and thriving life.  Everything God created us for is based on growing in these attitudes (Matthew 20:26-27). 

            The early Christians grew (spiritually & numerically) because they made their togetherness, fellowship (koinanea) and unity a priority.  A look at Acts 2 and 4 clearly shows that these brothers and sisters had what was needed to face some very difficult opposition because of the strength they willingly gave to each other.  Their love and support was evident in every facet of their lives due to the quality and quantity of time they spent with each other.

            Christians today need a healthy fellowship with each other in order to combat the evil influences that are so prevalent in our world.  Satan is attacking from all sides.  Those who make every effort to build loving relationships with their fellow Christians have the extra strength needed to fight off Satan and keep his temptations at bay.

            How involved have you been in the life of the church?  Have you made it a high priority or do you have to be prodded to attend?  Do you come to encourage and to be encouraged by others?  The only way to counter the influences of sin is to surround yourself with others who are also striving to be like Jesus.  You get the help you need; others receive help from you.  Together we are able to provide the healthy fellowship (koinanea) needed to be holy and live with God forever.

Doug

The Worship of Forgiven People

            The worship of forgiven people is dramatically different than those who haven’t yet experienced God’s forgiveness.  Forgiven people are able to enjoy the abundant life that Jesus came to provide and their devotion to God shows their gratitude. 

            An incident from Jesus’ ministry beautifully illustrates this (see Luke 7:36-50).  It takes place in the house of a Pharisee named Simon who has invited Jesus and his disciples home for a meal.  Picture yourself as one of the guests at this party.  The table is full of the choicest foods and drinks.  Everyone is happy.  The conversation is informal and mixed with periods of friendly laughter.  Every so often there is a question for Jesus and a hush falls over the room as he answers in a gentle voice.

            Suddenly, everyone’s attention is drawn to a lonely figure slowly making her way toward Jesus!  From the smell of her perfume and the way she is dressed it is obvious that she is one of the prostitutes from town.  In horror and embarrassment you check the reaction of the host and notice that he is shocked, yet is watching to see how this self-proclaimed “expert of the law” will respond to her.  The only sound in the room is that of her crying.  Every eye is fixed on the two of them as she washes his feet with her tears, dries them with her hair and anoints them with her expensive perfume. 

            Then Jesus speaks and teaches the beauty of forgiveness with a parable.  Now you realize what has just taken place here.  This is not a woman who has come to Him with a request, but to say “Thank you” for healing her soul.  She was so overwhelmed with emotion that she couldn’t even speak.  Lovingly, He reassured her that her faith had brought her forgiveness. 

            This is a perfect description of how forgiven people act.

            Without a word, this “sinner” taught a room-full of religious “experts” how it feels to be forgiven.  They didn’t act the way she did because they had not yet come to realize their own need to be forgiven; they hadn’t yet come to know The Savior (but she had). 

            Have you allowed yourself to express your true feelings to God regardless of what others around you think?  Take stock of the blessings God has bestowed upon you; build the relationship He created you to share with Him; and feel free to show your gratitude for the forgiveness you have received.

Doug

Human Value

            Auctions are interesting events, not just to see the odd items that are being sold, but also to witness what some people are willing to pay for certain things.  Boxes full of miscellaneous house decorations would sell for a dollar or two and then a full-blown fight would erupt over an old rusty squirrel gun.  The fun part would always be in finding out the value people would place on what I personally considered to be junk.  And I know full well that they were thinking the same thing about the items I chose to bid on.  It would all be based on what the person was wanting or thought would be fun or decided to collect at that time period.

            Unfortunately, many people act the same way when it comes to their lives (or the life of someone else).  Values are placed on other humans using very strange reasoning and standards.  A person’s worth is usually based on their looks, or their ability to play a game, or the balance in their checkbook, or the car they drive, or the clothes they wear, or their willingness to participate in certain activities – and the list goes on and on.  And what’s worse, is that everyone’s opinion as to what is expected or important is different based on what they are personally looking for in their own lives.

            Jesus had a unique view of human life.  It was far different than man has come up with in all of history.  To Him, others were not valued based upon their usefulness to get what He wanted.  They were not “items” to be dealt with to build His sense of worth and value.  No, to Jesus, all people had a value that was priceless.  He saw them (us) as souls that were to be sought after, helped and cared for.  Therefore, His mission and purpose was to help all of us increase in value using the standard we were created to live up to – God Himself.

            With that in mind, the value you place on yourself and on others is sure to increase as well.  You will feel special.  You will view those around you as blessings to seek, nurture and praise God for.  The competition for attaining to the cruel standards of the world will vanish.  You will know that you are loved and that you are surrounded by the loving arms of God Himself.

            Can anything be more valuable than that?  So when you doubt about your value and your worth, just remember back to that dark day thousands of years ago when Jesus willingly hung on the cross so that God could remove your sins and have you back with Him.  That is the real standard of your worth.  God thinks you’re “priceless.”

Doug

The Real Enemy

            People are continually trying to fight the wrong enemy (see Ephesians 6:12).  Instead of standing against Satan and his forces, we are often influenced to combat our fellow man (flesh and blood).  We build walls and keep the very people at bay who can be our greatest asset in our struggle against the devil and his schemes.  And, even though the Bible is full of examples and instructions on how to love, serve and treat others, we continue to struggle with accepting “outsiders” and others we are uncomfortable with and suspicious of.

            One example of this involved the Samaritan people.  They were descendants of the surviving Israelites from the northern kingdom who intermarried with the aliens deported to the region by their Assyrian captors.  Though they worshiped the same God (YHWH) and based their religious authority on the same five books of Moses that the Jews did, they also incorporated pagan practices in their worship rituals (2 Kings 17:24-41).  Thus, to the Jew’s minds, they had mixed both the race and true religion with worldly and idolatrous influences. 

            The Jews returning from Babylonian exile refused the Samaritan’s request to help rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.  This created a hatred and animosity between the two groups that lasted for some 500 years – right up to the time of Jesus and the early church.  Yet, Jesus had great success among the Samaritans who were anticipating the arrival of the LORD’s Messiah.

            Note how Jesus used a Samaritan as the hero in His well-known parable (Luke 10:25-37).  The self-righteous religious expert couldn’t even bring himself to say “the Samaritan” when asked who had acted like the real neighbor, but he definitely got the message Jesus was teaching.

            And notice the reaction of the disciples when they returned from buying lunch and found Jesus talking to a woman – and a Samaritan woman at that!  His interview with her brought out the hostility felt by the Samaritans for the Jews, but also revealed God’s love for everyone – even those considered “outsiders.”  A whole town learned this important lesson as a direct result.

            And when the gospel went out into all the world, it had a great reception among the Samaritans (Acts 8), probably because of Jesus’ acceptance of them and the disciple’s eagerness to fulfill the mission of His kingdom.  Peter and John no doubt remembered the incident recorded in John 4 and were inclined to see Jesus’ work among the Samaritans fulfilled.

            Do we really have time to be fighting, arguing, quarreling with other people?  Can we really label anyone as being unnecessary or avoidable?   Satan wants you to think so.  Don’t let him.  Fight the real enemy by listening to Jesus and using His example to include as many allies into your life as possible.  Defeat Satan by seeing everyone as “insiders”, “allies” and as “fellow workers” in Christ.

Doug