Author: imikemedia

FROM THE ANNISTON STAR, Religion Roundtable, March 13, 2020:

QUESTION:  “What is the most major concern facing you as a pastor?”

While I do not hold the office of “pastor” (cf. 1 Tim. 3:1ff; Tit. 1:5ff; Acts 20:28), I do claim the role of a gospel preacher (2 Tim. 4:2).  My one, over-arching concern is for people who are lost in sin (Rom. 3:23; 6:23; Lk. 19:10; 2 Thes. 1:7-9).

I’m not primarily concerned about:

• CORONAVIRUS because, until the Lord comes, all people eventually get sick and die (1 Cor. 15:21-22; Heb. 9:27).

• SOCIALISM because God is in control our world and promises to provide me with all that I need (Job 38:41; Luke 12:24; Mat. 6:33).

• TERRORISM because even if I die at the hands of a murderer, I still have Jesus’s guarantee of life eternal (Mat. 10:28; Jn. 3:16; 1 Jn. 2:17), and I’m certain He’ll know how to deal with an evil-doer (Rom. 12:19).

• GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION because God has been using wicked rulers for millennia, and He raises up and removes kings to fulfill His divine purpose (Dan. 2:21, 44).

• CLIMATE CHANGE because God spoke the universe into existence (Gen. 1-2), He makes the sun rise and fall (Mat. 5:45), and He currently upholds the earth by His Word (Col. 1:16-17).

• MEDICAL COSTS because my body will eventually return to dust (Gen. 3:19; Job 20:11; Eccl. 12:7).

• CRIME because Scripture tells me evil men will grow worse and worse (2 Tim. 3:13).

• POLLUTION because the earth belongs to God and one day He’s going to burn it up any way (2 Pet. 3:10).

Jesus asked, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul…” (Mat. 16:26)?  His main concern is my main concern.

THE NAMES HAVE been changed, but the story is real.

Young ladies, please read this thoughtfully and prayerfully.  You could be Tracy some day:

     When they first started to date, Grant told Tracy he wanted to be “just friends”.  Tracy was happy with    the arrangement.  But then, after about a month of going out together, their relationship began to change.  It happened slowly and seemed natural enough…  Grant first put his arm around her shoulder and kept it there.  Later that evening Tracy wondered again what was happening between them when Grant gave her a good-night kiss…the question crossed her mind: Weren’t we going to be “just friends”?  But then, in the warmth of the moment, she put the thought behind her.  Within a couple of weeks, Grant’s and Tracy’s physical relationship had moved…  They weren’t merely pecking each other on the mouth.  Their kisses lingered.  And Grant’s hand, which he’d been so careful that first night never to let stray from Tracy’s shoulder, now began gliding down to the small of her back, to her side, to her hips…  At the end of a date about seven months into their relationship, he remarked, “Well, Tracy, I’ve really enjoyed our relationship, but this is going to have to be the last time we see each other for a while.  I’ve been seeing Brenda.”  “Huh?!” said Tracy, startled.  “What?!  What are you saying?!”  “I told you six months ago that I wanted to be your friend,” Grant pleaded.  “I told you I was making no commitments.”  “No commitments!” Tracy shouted.  “No commitments!  You…!”  Tears welled in her eyes as Tracy felt the bitter sting of betrayal.  How natural and innocent Grant made it sound: “I never said….”  And yet he had, hadn’t he?  By his actions (John Holzmann, Dating with Integrity, 59-60).

Like many of her peers today, Tracy made a costly mistake.  She sacrificed her virginity for the companionship of a selfish and immature young man.  She may have also relinquished the success of her future marriage by being intimate with Grant.1

I wish I had a quarter for every tear that has been shed by young Christian women who have lost their purity.  Like Tracy, their hearts have been broken, their reputations have been tainted, and the most precious gift they own has been surrendered—not to a loving and devoted husband, but to some self-indulgent interloper (1 Thess. 4:6).

Those of us who counsel try to offer comfort.  “God is forgiving” (2 Chron. 6:21; Psm. 25:18; 32:1), we promise.  The words are true and need to be internalized, but often they are marginally helpful at best.  Words, no matter how well-intentioned they may be, cannot reclaim cherished innocence and virtue.

I appreciate the guidance of one father and how he communicates moral values to his family.  Like me, he wants to protect his daughter from the pain and consequences of promiscuity.  He writes:

     Before a young man took out my daughter, he usually would come over for dinner.  Before he came I would ask my daughter, “Would you like to tell him the three nothings, or would you like for me to tell him the three nothings?”  Usually my daughter would tell him the three nothings before he arrived at the door.  However, that gave me a good opportunity when we met to merely ask the young man, “I am sure that my daughter has told you about the three nothings.”  “Yes, sir.”  “Good.  What are they?” I would ask.  “Nothing below the neck.  Nothing comes off.  And nothing lying down.”  “Super!” I would reply.  “I just want you to know that I know them.  My daughter knows them and [now] you know them” (Douglas M. Cecil, The 7 Principles of an Evangelistic Life, 125-126).

Young ladies, God’s plan for your happiness requires that sex be kept pure and beautiful (1 Thess. 4:3-8; Gen. 2:24-25; Prov. 5:19-20; Song of Solomon).  This doesn’t mean the complete absence or denial of passion, but rather the proper directing of such within the boundaries of a lifelong, committed, Christian marriage (Heb. 13:4).

Can you remember the three nothings?  “For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality” (1 Thess. 4:3).

1/ “Couples who strongly believe that sex outside of marriage is wrong are…31 percent more satisfied with their sex lives” (Bethesda Research Group, quoted by William R. Mattox Jr., “The Hottest Valentine,” Washington Post, 1994).  “Those who cohabitate or live together before marriage have a 50 percent higher possibility of divorce than those who do not” (M. D. Newcomb and P. M. Bentler, “Assessment of Personality and Demographic Aspects of Cohabitation and Marital Success,” Journal of Personality Assessment 44, 1980, 21).  “Researchers at UCLA discovered that not only do those who cohabitate have a higher level of divorce, they are more likely to commit adultery once they get married” (Chip Ingram, Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships, 2003, 147).  A study conducted by the University of South Carolina suggests that those who abstain from sex before marriage have the highest rates of marital fidelity (Ibid).  “The introduction of sex in a dating relationship is almost always the ushering in of the breakup of that relationship” (Les and Leslie Parrott, Relationships, 1998, 138).

PHILIP WAS ONE of the twelve.

He may have been the apostolic administrator (i.e., the guy responsible for pre-church fellowship meals), somewhat like Judas was the accountant (John 13:29)?1

Ponder this for a moment and then step into the biblical story:

“Lifting up His eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward them, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?’  He said this to test him, for He himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered him, ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little” (John 6:5-7).

Call it an impromptu exam.  Rabbi Jesus offered Philip a quick faith quiz.  “How are we going to feed everybody since it’s so late in the day (Mat. 14:15; Mark 6:35; Luke 9:12)?”

It’s possible Philip may have already looked over the crowd and made a few estimates in his head.  “Let’s see—five thousand men plus woman and children.”  “Lord—we can’t feed this kind of massive crowd with what little money we’ve in our checking account.  Two hundred denarii won’t be near enough.”

Fortunately, Andrew then stepped into the scene and mentioned something about a boy’s lunch (John 6:9).

Now watch what happened next:

“Then Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down…’  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted” (vv. 10-11 NKJV—emphasis mine, mb).

I’ve got to tell you that I’ve read those verses time and time again, but until just recently I had missed the import of one particular phrase, “He distributed them to the disciples…” (cf. Mat. 14:19).

Ya’ll catch that?

Jesus asked Philip a question, performed a miracle, and then got the disciple involved in the answer.  Let that rattle around in your frontal lobe for a minute.

• Just how many trips did it take from Jesus to the groups of fifty and hundred (Mark 6:40) before it dawned on Philip that this was yet another sign from heaven?
• How many times did Philip reach out and grab an armful of bread before his brain kicked in and he thought, “Jesus is the One—HE’S the Messiah!”?
• How many fish delivery runs did Philip make before he finally said to himself, “I can be so dense sometimes!  I’ve watched Jesus perform miracle after miracle before this occasion, and yet all I can think about now is what can’t be done!”?

McArthur comments:

“Philip was obsessed with mundane matters and therefore overwhelmed by the impossibility of the immediate problem.  He knew too much arithmetic to be adventurous.  The reality of the raw facts clouded his faith.  He was so obsessed with the temporal predicament that he was oblivious to the transcendental possibilities that lay in Jesus’ power.  He was so enthralled with common-sense calculations that he didn’t see the opportunity the situation presented.  He should have said, “Lord, if You want to feed them, feed them.  I’m just going to stand back and watch how You do it.  I know You can do it, Lord.  You made wine at Cana and fed Your children manna in the wilderness.  Do it.  We will tell everyone to get in line, and You just make the food.”2

You see—every trip, every delivery, every act of bread and fish distribution was designed by the Lord to remind Philip that he was looking at the crowd by sight and not by faith!  Every copious load of groceries he carried to a group of hungry Jews had to have screamed into his consciousness that the Son of God was not only present, but working yet again (John 6:14-15; 20:30-31)!  The man in charge of food distribution, who was asked, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”, was being trained by the Master Teacher to stop thinking about “can’t” and start thinking about “can” through Christ (cf. Phil. 4:13)!

I sometimes hear brethren say, “We’ll, we don’t have enough money…”  “Our city is much too big for us to evangelize…”  “Times are tough—we obviously can’t afford to support a missionary…”  Really?!  Really?!

If we’re not very careful, we too can parrot Philip’s sentiment about what can’t be accomplished and fail the test just like he did (cf. Jer. 17:10; Job 23:10 1 Pet. 1:6-9).  Feeding everybody with the Bread from Heaven has never about banking figures or the size of our communities, but the size of our faith in the risen Lord!

Let’s stop wringing our hands over ledgers and headcounts, and let’s start delivering the Bread of Life to those around us.  Let’s stop deliberating the limitations of two hundred denarii, and instead focus on the Prophet who has come into the world and how He offers, and provides, real sustenance for all (John 6:26ff)!  Let’s stop stumbling over the flesh and start feeding hungry souls!

Dear Christian, are you counting heads and denarii, or are you taking the feast to the masses (Mat. 28:19-20)?  Are you Philip?  Think about it.

1 John McArthur, Twelve Ordinary Men, 125

2 Ibid

“God loves you and I love you and that’s the way it’s gonna be!” – Mike