All That Matters

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!

Psalm 133:1 (NIV)

During the span of my 18 years in ministry, I have had the honour of sitting with people in their final hours. As the curtains draw their brief lives to a close, nothing except the vital remains. And each time, without fail, everything else pales in comparison to their desire for healthy relationships.

In the end, our vertical relationship with Christ and our horizontal relationships with people will be all that matters.

Sometimes we don't recognize what's most eternal until we are face to face with it. But why wait?

Jesus reminded us that the greatest commandment in Mark 12:30 is to love God with all we've got, and then do the same with those around us. He then concludes with these words: "There is no greater commandment..."

Living in unity...

It doesn't mean we always agree. It does mean, however, that we always support. We always speak well of. We always love, and we always stay on the same team. We're one body.

My heart doesn't do what my liver does. Nor do my kidneys do what my lungs do. They can't really get together and just chill. They don't compete. They don't try to be like each other. Instead, "unity" in my body is defined by each part doing what it is assigned to do to the best of its ability, and the other parts? They cheer and support!

When God sees that happening in His family, He leans over the banister of heaven, and with a sigh of delight, says, "It just doesn't get any better!"

What can you do today that will promote unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ?

Dealing With Divisive People

Scripture

"But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned." (Titus 3:9-11)

Observation

Leadership requires us to make some hard calls, and here's one of them...

"After settling that, have nothing to do with him."
Ouch.

End of the line. Final curtain. End of the story. Curtain call.

This lesson is less about cutting someone off and much more about the importance of unity versus divisiveness. God is very serious about us getting along with one another! And when someone chooses to be about dividing rather than uniting, God says let him cut himself off before he cuts people off from one another.

Can't get much stronger than that!

Application

I need to look more for opportunities to unite and bring together. I don't think I spend enough energy in the area of uniting people. I need more epoxy and less thinner, more pull and less push. When juicy opportunities arise to speak disparagingly, I must be very careful of my words. I know as a pastor and leader, I cannot whitewash everything lest I become gullible to Alexander, the coppersmiths who in 2 Timothy 4:14, did Paul "much harm. Therefore, be on guard against him yourself." But for the most part, I can avoid needless speculations and wranglings that only lead to disunity. Even as juicy as the opportunity may be to get in a jab, refraining may save me from finding myself outside the gates.

Prayer

Father, thank you for reminding me (and please do this often!) that You feel VERY strongly about the unity of your people. Help me to have the same heart as you have in these matters, and in doing so, I can be a part of answering one of Your prayers!

".... that they [the Church] may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me" John 17:22-23

(Jesus' final priestly prayer)

Conquering Coveteousness By Looking At Others

"Israel has sinned, and they have transgressed My covenant which I have commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursedthings, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff."

Joshua 7:11

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This is about Achan’s stealing and lying in Joshua 7:11. Jericho had fallen before Israel. The riches of the city were not to be taken. But Achan took garments and silver and gold. He hid them and tried to deceive the leaders.

Why did he do this? When he was caught, Achan gives the answer: “I coveted them and took them” (Joshua 7:21). Covetousness. He desired the silver, gold, and garments more than he desired fellowship with God.

There is no difference between the Hebrew word for desire and the Hebrew word for covet. Coveting means desiring something too much. And too much is measured by how that desiring compares to desiring God. If desiring leads you away from God rather than closer to God, it is covetousness. It is sin.

I suspect that the reason the Ten Commandments begin with the commandment “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) and ends with the commandment “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17) is that they are essentially the same commandment. They bracket the other eight and reveal their source.

Not coveting means not desiring anything in a way that reduces God as your supreme treasure. And not having any gods before God means the same thing: Don’t treasure anything or anyone in a way that competes with God’s supreme place in your life. Idolatry is what we call disobedience to the first commandment. And idolatry is what Paul calls disobedience to the tenth commandment (Colossians 3:5).

So the reason Achan stole and lied is because God was not his supreme treasure. He was not satisfied in all that God promised to be for him. That is probably why Joshua said to Achan, when he was found out, “My son, give glory to the Lord God” (Joshua 7:19). It demeans the glory of God when we prefer anything above him. That was Achan’s chief sin. Desiring gold more than God equals covetousness—which equals idolatry.

How we can keep our lives free from this dreadful condition—desiring other things more than God, coveting, being idolaters.? In Philippians. Paul describes the condition we all want to be in. He says, “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:7–8). That is exactly the opposite of covetousness. That is the opposite of idolatry. That is supreme satisfaction in Christ. That is freedom.

But how, Paul? Do you have a practical suggestion that we can use to fight for this satisfaction in Christ? Here is what we see in Philippians 3:17, and it is striking: “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us” (Philippians 3:17).

Here is amazingly practical help for us: Pick out some people whose lives show that they treasure Christ above other things. Then “keep your eyes on them.” Watch them. That, Paul says, is a good way to conquer covetousness.

There are some folks i my life whose maturity and wisdom and spiritual fruitfulness in their marriages, for example, is so admirable that I look at them and think about them quite a bit. This past week I spend four days in the company of pastor friends, spiritual giants in the faith who inspired my walk with God. Looking at them keeps me from desiring anything else other then God. I think Paul means something like that.

I would only add that it is good to have some dead saints to “keep your eyes on” as well. That’s what biographies are for.

So we as pastors would exhort you all to flee covetousness. Topple all your idols. “Count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.” Be in the word every day. But also find those who live this way and “keep your eyes on them.” What you will see, if you look carefully, is the power and the beauty of Christ. This sight will satisfy your soul. And your satisfied soul will keep you from stealing and lying. And your life will make God look supremely valuable.

A Rising Addiction

Scripture

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires" (2 Tim. 4:3)

Observation

The times they are a changin'!

There is coming a time, and it may be even right now for the Body of Christ here in Singapore, when our overwhelming desire will be to accumulate teachers who confirm what we already believe, who speak our language, who affirm our opinions and who affirm our lifestyles.

We need to feel better about ourselves. That is our highest aim. And teachers and preachers in this category, we will hold in high esteem. Especially in Singapore today, we seem addicted to a "feel good" mentality. We don't like to be corrected nor do we look with eager anticipation to those to tell us we need to change and allign ourselves to biblical principles.

We have the tendency to trade affirmation for obedience, and feeling good for growing up, and applause for discipline.

Why?

Because, for the most part, we need to feel better about ourselves.

Poor trades, but still in vogue.

Maybe it is due to a permissive upbringing, or an overly regimented school syste, but in either case, we have become jaded to change and addicted to affirmation.

So what is the answer?

Paul said it in Philippians 3:13 ... "I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
We're not there yet. I must keep reaching forward to what lies ahead. That is where "potential" is found. There is no potential in the past. No potential in trophies for races already won. It is only in what might be tomorrow.

Potential is all the things I can do but have not done yet. It is everywhere I can go, but have not gone yet. It is everything I can be, but I have not apprehended it yet.

Application

And I need people who can see that for me, and usher me into that more and more. I need to be surround by those who will challenge me, and not just make me feel good so that I can become all I was created to be and to settle for nothing less.

Tribute To RAYS
I was so very blessed at the Youth Sunday service yesterday where the testimonies from the youths in Agape bore the fact that these young people are not in church just to feel good. There are there because they want to grow and therefore they are prepared to be challenged by the Word of God and to obey His Word so that they secure their future!

Bravo RAYS!

Prayer

Dear Father:

Please help me to never be afraid of change for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Strengthen me to be willing to suffer for the sake of growth until I become more and more like You!