Speaking of Texas...

I can't help it -- regardless of the fact that I haven't lived there in decades, "Texas" still oozes out of my pores. When we crossed the Red River last Friday, I threatened to make everyone get out of the car and kiss the ground (their lips were saved only by the fact that it was over 100 degrees outside). I boldly stated that the Red River existed to protect Texas from the rest of the country, whereupon Steve (who had been my friend until last Friday) suggested that the Red River existed to protect the rest of the country from Texas. Such ignorance!
To add insult to injury, Steve recounted the conversation before the church when he made the announcements before worship service on Sunday... whereupon Terry, when he came up to lead the first prayer, muttered something like, "let's pray the river continues to run." Such ignorance! But what can you expect when you get this far north...?

Oh, the word for the day is: whereupon... (further proof that Texans are not ignorant rednecks...)

Have a good 'un, ya'll!

Marriage Enrichment

Last weekend we travelled to Texas with another couple from the church here to attend a Marriage Enrichment Seminar. Carl Brecheen and Paul Faulkner have been doing these seminars several times a year for over 3 decades, and all the while they have continued to teach university classes, preach, lead churches, counsel thousands of people, and raise families. This is the last year they will do these seminars, so I'm glad we were able to attend this one.
It's hard to objectively evaluate the influence these two men have exercised in my life. Paul taught Freshman Bible (New Testament Survey), and I sat "at his feet" for two semesters. I suspect that his approach to teaching and his own philosophy of Christian living have been an unrecognized framework for my own. Carl Brecheen taught (and still teaches) Family Relations. That course helped me gel a philosophy of marriage and relationships that permeates all my own teaching today. I guess that listening to the two of them this past weekend reminded me again just how much I - and probably thousands of others - owe to the work of these two men.
Lord, help me to imitate their commitment to excellence in teaching and living the faith.
Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Carl.

Through the Church

…that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known…

Ephesians 3:10

Our secularized society has little use for the church. “Church” is seen by many as little more than a social organization, a club where older folks get together and visit, go through some strange rituals, and maybe help out a few needy persons. Even some who claim to believe in Jesus see the church as irrelevant, arguing that their faith is a personal matter to be lived out without involvement (read “interference”) from others. “Give me Jesus,” they say, “but you can keep your church.”

The same New Testament that tells us about Jesus also tells us about the church – his church. Jesus said that he would build his church (Matthew 16:18). In the Ephesian letter, Paul speaks repeatedly of the church, which is Christ’s body. The message is pretty clear – there is no association with Christ unless there is association with the church. Consider, for example this statement in Ephesians 5:29-30: “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.” The underlining points out the connection – anyone who is a member of Christ is a member of the church.

It must also be observed that the church is important to God. It was part of his design from the beginning (see Ephesians 3:11) because he intended the church to be the agency through which the world would learn about salvation. Did you see it in the passage quoted at the beginning of this article? “Through the church”, it says, the world will see “the manifold wisdom of God”. To be part of the church is to participate in revealing God’s nature and will to all mankind.

Who then could think that the church is unimportant? Perhaps the more significant question is this: What is your attitude toward the church that God designed and Jesus purchased?

Bobby Wheat

Web Browsers

Something happened to this page when I started doing copy & paste to add bulletin articles as posts.

When viewed in IE, all of the sidebar information only shows up at the bottom of the page, after all the posts. However, when viewed with Mozilla Firefox it appears as it should.

I hate to admit that Ian is right, but it may be time to start using Firefox.
Take that, Microsoft!

Comfortable, or Lukewarm?

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

Revelation 3:17

The city of Laodicea, located in the Lycus River Valley in the Roman province of Asia, had a water problem. The city’s water was piped in from several miles away, and it was so tepid by the time that it arrived that the natural reaction of most people was to spit it out of their mouths. After all, who wants to drink water that is not either hot or cold?

Jesus used Laodicea’s well-known water problem to describe the spiritual quality of the church in that ancient city. Those Christians were neither hot nor cold, and the tepidness of their faith led Jesus to threaten to “spit” them out of his mouth (Revelation 3:16). That’s probably one of the more graphic images used by our Lord in all of scripture to speak of his reaction to the lifestyle of those who claim to wear his name. What caused the Christians of Laodicea to arrive at this point of dubious distinction?

In his letter to this lukewarm church, Jesus pointed out that its members did not even realize the depth of their spiritual trouble. They were “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked,” (Revelation 3:17) but they thought themselves to be rich and not in need of anything or anyone. They thought themselves to be self-sufficient because of their wealth when, in fact, they were worse off than homeless beggars who could not even adequately cloth themselves. Why were such physically successful people seen by Jesus to be so lowly and helpless?

One answer to the questions about the Laodiceans may lie in the fact that their riches had led them to become comfortable with themselves. Once a person achieves a certain level of comfort, it seems that he or she is unwilling to do or say anything that will threaten to remove or destroy that comfortable situation. It’s not unusual for a person to be willing to compromise an entire belief system in order to achieve or maintain physical comfort. Perhaps the Laodiceans, faced with the loss of their riches and comforts if they spoke too loudly about their faith in Jesus Christ, chose to remain quiet about their faith in order to maintain their precious status quo.

I want to suggest that it is very possible for us to be exactly like the Laodicean church. In fact, we live in a society today that effectively rewards “lukewarmness” on the part of its members. This is true because, as soon as a person begins to speak out and suggest that any behavior of any other person is aberrant or sinful, the person who speaks is barraged with charges of slander and intolerance. Those who try to stand up for truth are often marginalized by those who have convinced themselves that there is no such thing as “truth,” and who have decided that “absolute” is, in fact, a dirty word. Therefore, if a Christian wants to be accepted by his or her peers in society, it is necessary to “tone down” any talk of moral correctness, to take a “middle position” on controversial issues. If you want to be comfortable, you simply can’t afford to be “hot” or “cold” about much of anything.

To those who allow their desire for “comfort” to cause them to draw back from declaring and standing for truth and morality, Jesus says two things. First, “I will spit you out of my mouth,” and second, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”

We can’t afford to be lukewarm and comfortable.

Bobby Wheat