“Swallowed up by Life”

What is the purpose of life? Who are you? Why are you here? How did you get here? Where are you going? What are you supposed to be doing while you’re here? Those “basic questions” have puzzled and tantalized people throughout the ages and most people never find the answers because they are looking in the wrong place. But God gives us answers in Scripture. There are many “purpose statements” in various places in scripture. One of the clearest and one of my favorites is in 2 Corinthians 5:4 ESV “For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened--not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”

The Greek word is katapino and it means “to drink down, i.e. gulp entire (literally or figuratively).” The reference is Isaiah 25:8 ESV “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.”

Death is the entry into eternal life. We will no longer be “pilgrims and strangers”; we will be “home at last”!

“Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose. . . .” That’s why God created you in the first place, to share the glories of eternal life with you in fellowship with Him and with those whom you love. Jesus prayed to the Father, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3

The Westminster Catechism has it right: “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever!” Let’s do both–right now!

2 Corinthians 5:1-9 ESV

For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. [2] For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, [3] if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. [4] For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened--not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. [5] He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. [NIV: He has “made us for this very purpose.”]

[6] So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, [7] for we walk by faith, not by sight. [8] Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. [9] So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

[What is your ambition in life? Always to “please Him”? Ironically, that’s where you will find true happiness–as a by-product of pleasing Him, you will “please” yourself! That’s just another example of God’s grace! But if you focus on yourself, you will never find true happiness or “fulness of joy”–which is what Jesus prayed for His disciples: “so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” John 17:13 NIV]

The Pleasure of Reminiscing and the Comfort it Brings

The Pleasure of Reminiscing

and the Comfort it Brings

Have you ever noticed when you haven't seen someone for a long time how much the two of you or several of you talk and laugh about what happened to you a long time ago? Do you remember this or that? And the warm-hearted memories cheer the conversation. That's because when you love someone, you want to share the good things of life with them—and the good memories. And Minnie often quoted Elisabeth Elliot's book “All That Was Ever Ours. . . .” [Still is!] That's because you carry those things in your heart and in your memory and they have become a part of who you are. Whatever was yours, still is. The memories remind you of your love for one another and the faithfulness of God. They are an intrinsic part of who you are.

But have you also noticed how quickly our wonderful experiences slip from the present into the past? I'm presently on another very rewarding project. During the 1970's and 1980's Minnie and I took pictures mostly as slides and only had a few of them printed to put into our photo books. So I'm going through hundreds of slides—probably 2000 or more—and having many of them transferred to CD's or DVD's. The resulting resolution is excellent and the whole family can now have copies to see on their computer screens what had been only a sampling of small photos in the photo books. So I'm thankful to the Lord for technological improvements making it easy to share with others.

And yes! There's an important theological and practical lesson to this experience. Those wonderful pictures of happiness and joy with all those sweet grandchildren the Lord gave to Minnie and me can be enjoyed again in our memories while seeing them again on the screen. But—and this is profound! And should be pondered—those sweet little children are not sweet little children anymore! They've grown into adulthood and have their own families. And yes, we still love them and are close to them. And yes, they're still a joy to be with! But the little ones are not there any more. And yet we haven't lost them! And there's where the deep profound theology comes in! In a very similar way, I haven't lost my wife either—and you can make the application to your own life. She is with the Lord and all the wonderful growing together and building into each other's lives has taken fruit and made us both into the kind of persons we actually are. And through it all God was working out His purposes in our lives and gradually transforming us more and more into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to the next. (2 Cor. Chs. 3 & 4)

Now for Minnie, she has actually seen the Lord face-to-face and has become like Him! just as scripture promised. And we have the reassurance that we will see her again someday! What an enormous comfort it is to know where she is and with Whom and that we will see her again not many years from now. And all the good things God has poured into our lives in Christlike character is still there and always will be. Time doesn't erase, it just adds on more of God's blessings for us to enjoy in eternity future.

--Pastor Burnside

Rejection--how to deal with it

How to Deal with Rejection

           When I was a pastor of a little Baptist church and my wife was suffering with pancreatic cancer, I told our congregation that one of Satan's principal weapons against us was discouragement. As a roaring lion he seeks to devour us with discouragement so that we will throw in the towel and say, “Oh, what's the use?” He works on our motivation. I didn't realize it but C.S.Lewis said the same thing many years ago, “If Satan's arsenal of weapons were restricted to a single one, it would be discouragement.”

          And Steven Lawson described it this way: “A discouraged person loses all sense of perspective, choosing to believe the worst rather than the best. At the center of a discouraged heart is always an ungrateful spirit—one that has lost sight of God's blessings and focuses instead on the burdens.” “A thankful spirit is never overcome with despair.”

          And then he showed how to deal with rejection, which is one of the principal causes of discouragement.   “How does a person overcome being rejected? We are all subject to discouragement and despondency. How do we rise above such a low spirit?

“1. Rest in God's greatness. No matter how great our trial or suffering may be, God remains greater still. As Jesus came walking on the waves to the disciples, so He comes to us as sovereign over our storms. Even in the midst of life's greatest strugglews, God remains infinitely greater as Lord over all. Nothing is beyond His control. 

“2. Rest in God's goodness. Faith must remain confident in God, who is always working for the good of His people. Never will God deviate from His eternal purpose. Even when times are tough and difficulties are many, we must remain unwavering in the assurance that God is working all things after the counsel of His own will. Eph. 1:11 No matter how threatening the circumstancesor how painful our losses, God remains enthroned in the heavens and is committed to working through our trials. . . .

“3. Rest in God's grace. In the midst of life's threatening storms, know and believe that God gives a greater grace. In our weakness His strength is made perfect. It is when discouragement threatens to overwhelm us that God's grace is multiplied in lives that are yielded to Him. No matter how great our disappointments, God's grace is greater still.

         “Prayer. God, our Father, we praise you for your sovereign, providential watchcare over every detail of our lives. Thank you for your infinite love that carries us through the refining fires of affliction as you purify us and present us faultless to stand in your presence. In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.”

                           --Steven Lawson, Commentary on Job, pp. 64-65

"Therefore . . . we do not lose heart"

“Therefore . . . we do not lose heart”

           We have a large extended family and many friends from all over the world. So I talk to a lot of people and exchange e-mails with many more. It burdens me that so many of them seem discouraged much of the time and dissatisfied with so many things in their lives. And of course we all have to contend with “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” But you should be able to do that without losing heart and getting discouraged, shouldn't you? After all, “we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” and “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:37, 28 We have the Holy Spirit who indwells us and Jesus has promised, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” And the anticipation of the glories and joys of heaven that await us should fill us with awe and give us a desire to know more about that which is yet to come.

           So why do we get discouraged? “Why art thou cast down, O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me?” Psalm 42 And more importantly, what can you do about it? As with so many other everyday practical things, scripture has a lot to say about the problem. One category of verses are those which say, “Therefore . . . we do not lose heart.” Let's look at about 4 of those today. 1- Jesus' words in Luke 18:1 esv are so simple and so practical:

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” When we are tempted to be discouraged, we should automatically go into the prayer mode, talking to the Lord as we go our way in a sort of unbroken conversation with the Lord, even while we do our daily work. You're focusing on Him and His glory and what He can do about your problems rather than stewing about the problems themselves.

2- 2 Corinthians 4:15-16 (ESV) For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. God is at work extending His grace and working in and through us and for that we should be thankful to be servants of the Most High God, using us for His glory.

And then he goes on to tell us in verse 17 what our problems and afflictions are bringing about, what they are accomplishing: ^'For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. . . .” They are doing something, they are accomplishing what God set out to accomplish.

3- Hebrews 12:3 (ESV) “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” Keep your focus on Jesus and think about Him and what He did and how He acted and reacted so that you do not lose heart.

4- Isaiah 40:31 (ESV) “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Wait on the Lord. Look expectantly to Him. Expect Him to renew your strength because though our body is getting older, the Holy Spirit renews our inner person day by day.

So hold onto those 4 principles to deal with discouragement:

1. Pray always. Always pray.
2. Realize God is accomplishing something of value through your afflictions.
3. Focus on Jesus and set your mind on things above
4. Wait expectantly on the Lord, expecting Him to give you renewed strength.
5. And add a 5^th principle: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
6. And a 6^th: “Rejoice in the Lord always!”

The Man Born Blind

The Man Born Blind

John Chapter 9

In the story of the man born blind Jesus gives us one of the major reasons why you and I and all of us in this fallen world have so many afflictions, tribulations, and suffering. He doesn’t answer all the questions. He didn’t intend to. But with this passage and many more in scripture the answer begins to form and take shape. God in His grace has revealed in the pages of scripture many reasons for the suffering that is so much a part of human history and life.

We pick up the story after Jesus has been teaching in the Temple complex during the Feast of Tabernacles and walked away from the hostile Jewish leaders who actually picked up stones and tried to kill Him. But God would not permit them to harm Him because “His hour was not yet come.” It was not yet God’s time for Him to die. So Jesus simply walked through their midst and left the Temple grounds. That account is in John chapter 8. John 9 begins this way: “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, ‘Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”

          The disciples understood from the Old Testament why there exists sickness and suffering and pain and death in the world. It is because of the Fall and the Curse which followed as a result when God pronounced His judgment on the world in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and chose to do that one thing that God had prohibited: they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and immediately died spiritually and brought into existence physical death. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12 “The wages of sin is death. . . .” Rom. 6:23

We all share in the suffering brought on by sin and God’s judgment. The Fall of Man and the curse of God on the world was basic truth that the disciples well knew, but they were confused on the application of the truth that we are fallen creatures in a fallen world. Sin and sorrow, pain and death come as a result of sin in the world, and if a person is sick or infirm, he/she is sharing in the fallenness of this world.

In the situation before us the disciples wanted to know, “Who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus’ answer is dramatic and sweeping and greatly reassuring to us: “Jesus answered, ‘Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.’” John 9:3

Jesus is obviously NOT saying that they were sinless (for that would contradict scripture such as “All have sinned” “There is none righteous, no, not one,” etc.) His point is very clear: this man’s blindness was NOT the direct result of his own sin or that of his parents. He was born blind; he hadn’t done anything good or bad before he was born while he was in his mother’s womb.

But what was the reason for his blindness, then? Jesus gave us the answer!

“that the works of God might be displayed in him.” That answer gives all of us a very important reason why God sends affliction and suffering our way. To be sure, we must all share in the suffering of this fallen world, but God is doing much more in your affliction. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 2 Cor. 4:17 And in the NIV: “for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” So God is doing something, producing something through our sufferings. Elsewhere in scripture we are told many of the things He is doing. Just one example: He is making us more like Christ as we share in His sufferings and He strengthens and comforts us in our sufferings.

And what was the means–and this is very important!–that God used to bring the man to Jesus? A terrible affliction–he was blind from birth. How many times do you suppose he told others, “Once I was blind but now I see” –and realized what happened to him spiritually as well as being given his physical sight. (Which was unheard of since the creation of the world!) That man surely was thankful that he was born blind because that was the way God gave him his spiritual sight and salvation in Christ and eternal life.

The means God uses to bring countless people to Christ is affliction and problems and troubles so that they will realize their inadequacy and lostness. Then when they hear the gospel, they can repent of their sins and turn to Christ with their empty hands of faith and Christ will receive them.

And once the Lord succeeds in bringing a person to Himself–usually through “much tribulation” and reaping the results of their folly, then the lost sinner falls on his face before a holy God and repents and cries out to Him, “God, be merciful to me a sinner and save me for Jesus’ sake.” When that happens, then God has begun His good work in you. So we are back to the work of God being manifest in us.