“A Cheerful Giver"

 

    Consider the anticipatory joy experienced when we possess a gift for a beloved friend or family member that we must wait to bestow.  Multiply that by an infinite measure regarding how our Heavenly Father must feel as He looks forward to providing grace and goodness for His trusting children in the Lord Jesus Christ.  

    "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Matthew 12:32).

    Many of our Lord's gifts must wait for the ultimate redemption of all things that will usher in our eternal state of blessedness in Christ.  Some, however, flow to us in the present as we trust God for His provision and supply.  "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:5).  We do well to expect such beneficence, honoring our Lord by realizing and affirming that He loves to meet our needs, as well as fulfill many of our desires.  Certainly, we do not sully His reputation or ours by misrepresenting our Father as slavishly subject to fanciful human whims.  He gives according to the glory of His Son, our best interests, and the benefit of those with whom we live our lives.  He gives nonetheless, and we do well to affirm both His generosity and His wisdom in bestowing "every good gift and every perfect gift" (James 1:17).

    Scripture calls us to view God with great anticipation regarding His anticipation for providing for us in both this life and the next.  Moreover, such expectation plays a role in how we experience His generosity.  If we anticipate little, we will likely receive little.  "Ye have not because ye ask not…according to your faith be it unto you" (James 4:2; Matthew 9:29).  Most importantly, we must perceive our Father as greatly desirous to provide far more than we likely expect.  He "loveth a cheerful giver" because He is a cheerful giver (II Corinthians 9:7).  Such assurance, tempered by the awareness that He gives in accordance with His purposes and wisdom in Christ, forms within us confident and reasonable expectation of the goodness  that follows us all the days of our lives, and will greet us far more in the life to come…

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

(Ephesians 3:20-21)

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

(Matthew 6:28-33)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

(Ephesians 1:3)

 

A Light In the Darkness

(Friends: a bit longer than usual, but the seriousness of the subject matter seems to warrant a more involved consideration.  Thanks. )

   I had a message prepared for today, but in light of recent events, I've decided to share some different thoughts with you.

   You may have heard about the child who died of heatstroke this week after being left in the car by his father.  There's some indication that, unlike nearly all other tragedies of this sort, the father intentionally left his child to die.  I'm certain that you feel what I feel, from horror, to heart-wrenching sadness, to rage at the possibility that the child died as the result of malicious intent by the one who should have loved him the most.

   I think also of those parents whose children died accidentally because the father or mother forgot that the child was in the car with them when they reached their destination.  One can only imagine the tortured agony experienced by the child in such horrific circumstances.  One cannot imagine the tortured and enduring agony of the parent responsible for perhaps the greatest tragedy a loving father or mother could experience.  Certainly, we cannot excuse those who make such a mistake.  We can, however, understand how such a thing can happen.  Indeed, no single demographic indicator exists that predicts the profile of those to whom this happens.  Every socioeconomic class, gender, race, personality type, and vocation are included among parents whose children died due to this particular form of unintentional neglect.  Recent events make me more aware than ever of such shattered souls, and I hope to regularly visit the altar of prayer for those fathers and mothers who will live the rest of their lives with broken hearts because they will, through their own actions, live the rest of their lives without their beloved.

   We cannot fail to think of our Heavenly Father as we ponder this difficult subject.  He alone can provide hope and meaning in such temptation to despair.  In this regard, several thoughts come to mind.  

    First, the children do not die alone in the terrible circumstances we reference.

   "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me… Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?  And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Psalm 23:4; Matthew 10:29-31).

   Somehow our Father draws near to these children in their departure from this world.  This does not preclude suffering, of course, but if a sparrow's fall beckons the loving and compassionate heart of God, we can be sure that the cries of a small child draw Him instantly to their side, and to their heart.  "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1).

    We also wonder how the parents endure such loss and grief.  In secular considerations of the matter, the question often  arises, "How do they forgive themselves?"  As we recently referenced in another message, no such need exists in human hearts.  Only God can so completely forgive us, through the sacrifice of His Son and application of such grace to our hearts, that our consciences are cleansed.  "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience" (Hebrews 10:19-22).  A real and living experience of such mercy avails for our conscience, and nothing else does.  Let us pray for the parents we consider, that the Spirit of God will lead them to the Christ of God, and to the faith that realizes the wondrous truth - "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5:20-21).  

   Finally, and most importantly, the terrible possibility that a parent perhaps intentionally consigned his son to a horrifying death solemnly reminds us of another Father who did the same (albeit for monumentally different reasons).  "Jesus of Nazareth… being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:22-23).  It serves as the most foundational truth of the Gospel, that God sent His beloved Son into the world for the purpose of suffering and dying on behalf.  The Father Himself smote the Lord Jesus with untold furies of Divine wrath against sin - "we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:4).  Moreover, the Father and the Holy Spirit abandoned our Savior to die in the most desolate loneliness any soul will ever know - "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?!" (Matthew 27:46).  Foundational truth, yes, but that truth from which we never want to venture too far, and which the sons and daughters of God in Christ seek to perpetually remember within our hearts and affirm among ourselves.  This is the Light that shines most brightly in a blackness so very dark, and so very deep.

    Some child, somewhere will live because the tragedies we consider will motivate the hearts of parents to find ways to be sure it does not happen to their beloved.  And some soul, somewhere today will live because God could not and did not spare His Son.  Even in this moment, the saving grace of the Lord Jesus made possible by His agonized death and glorious resurrection moves upon and within sinners to birth them into eternal life through the grace received by faith.  Oh yes, with God, lights always shine in the darkness He allows for the purpose of magnifying His mercy, as known in His beloved Son.

"The Light shineth in darkness."

(John 1:5)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

(Isaiah 55:1)

 

Permanence and Significance

    The naturalist believes the human race exists as a fairly recent development of the evolutionary process he maintains to be the source of all things.  Moreover, his model projects that humanity will cease to exist when our sun incinerates our being and our consciousness in a supernova (if not before, in some lesser cataclysm).  Thus, the expectation of the naturalist projects annihilation as the ultimate end of the human race.  The natural model predicts we will fade from our brief moment in the universe with little trace that we ever existed.  The implication for humanity: utter meaninglessness and insignificance.

   The supernaturalist, particularly, the Bible-believing Christian, views the universe and humanity from a completely different perspective.  He believes the human race exists as a special creation of God, made in His image, and thus eternal in being and existence.  He maintains that all consciousness endures forever, both in the individual and collective sense.  Joy or sorrow await all in a forever of awareness, our eternal lot having been determined by our response (or lack thereof) to God during our earthly lifetime.  This being the case, everything matters concerning such a race of beings for whom each moment, condition, and circumstance bears vital significance and meaning.

    We presently live in a generation wherein a growing population holds to the former perspective of forlorn fatalism.  This provides great opportunity for born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to “shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).  Deep within the soul of the most ardent naturalist yearns a cosmic longing for permanence and significance.  We all want to be, and we want to be forever.  And, we will.  As Solomon declared, "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him” (Ecclesiastes 3:14).  The human race exists as the primary expression of “whatsoever God doeth.”  We will indeed be, and we will be forever.  We also matter, another sensibility that pervades human consciousness and sensibility.  The Gospel of Christ proclaims that our Creator values us to the degree He became as one of us, experiencing life and death for the purpose of redeeming us from our sins. The person and work of the Lord Jesus thus assigns significance, eternal significance to our life and and being.  “Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ” (I Peter 1:18-19).

    Let us boldly proclaim this truth for which every person longs, and let us do so with both promise and warning.  The matter involves not our existence, but rather the nature and condition of the eternity we will experience.  Everything matters because everything is more than matter.  This is our message of joyful hope and solemn seriousness in Christ.  May our Lord enable our faithful communication of permanence and significance…

“Lead me in the way everlasting.”

(Psalm 139:24)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Ho, everyone that thirtieth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

(Isaiah 55:1)