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All posts for the month August, 2013

Undeniable

Posted by Jim Thornber on August 25, 2013
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

“The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John . . . . They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.” – Acts 4:13

calvaryI want to live an amazing life. That doesn’t mean I want to be a superhero or win a championship ring or accumulate a shelf full of awards for writing. It means I want people to be amazed at all the things that happened through me because they recognize me as one “who had been with Jesus.” Wouldn’t that be amazing?

At the end of my life I want everyone, the people who like me and the people who wished I would just go away, to say “You can’t deny Jim loved Jesus.” The religious leaders looked at the life of Peter and John and could not deny that a miracle had taken place. Acts 4:16 says, “We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.” Try as they might, there was no way they could talk themselves out of seeing a miracle standing before them – a man who had been lame for more than forty years. That’s what I want. I want saints and sinners alike to be able to look at my life and say, “There’s no denying it – the way Jim lived was the way His Savior taught him to live, and everybody who knew him knew it was true. He wasn’t perfect, but you didn’t have to wonder about where his heart and mind was.”

I encourage you to live your life so that when the end comes, people cannot deny that you lived your life for the One who gave His life for you. There will always be people who won’t like you and a few who won’t respect you. I’m sure the Sadducees felt that way about Peter and John. But they couldn’t deny the results of their life. Because they’d spent time with Jesus they were able to give the healing power of Jesus to a lame man and the miracle was undeniable. It wasn’t popular with the rulers and elders, but they couldn’t dismiss it, either. The best they could do was command Peter and John not to speak or teach in Jesus name. Well, good luck with that. Continue Reading

Got Character?

Posted by Jim Thornber on August 18, 2013
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (Hebrews 1:3)

 GOT-CHARACTERA few years ago, a church I attended in Arkansas hosted a Thanksgiving service to raise money for the ministerial alliance. The alliance asked our church to lead in the praise and worship, and I played the piano on the worship team. Looking over the congregation, I noted a pastor from another church who, no matter what we sang, refused to either clap his hands or raise them in worship. He simply sat in his pew with his arms folded.  That struck me as strange, because outside of church he was a happy, vivacious, demonstrative man.

I have never been known for my extreme subtly or bashfulness, so as we gathered for refreshments after the service, I questioned him his about posture. “Why, when Scripture instructs you to lift up holy hands to the Lord, and you have a chance to do so in a public service, did you sit with your arms folded across your chest?”

“Well, you see,” he began to stammer and laugh, “I’m a . . . .” and he named his denomination. I cut him off and said, “Are you a denomination first or a Christian first?”

At this point, he began to look around for help from the people who had gathered, including my pastor. He asked, “Is he always like this?” to which my pastor replied, “Hey, he’s going easy on you.” Everybody gathered around laughed.

It is sad that many church members (or goers) around the world are more concerned with offending their denomination and the people in the next pew than they are in obeying the Word of God. The congregation led by the pastor in my story will have trouble obeying Scripture because he was not setting an obedient example. In a simple sense of the word, this pastor lacked character. Continue Reading

Would I Worship Or Would I Whine?

Posted by Jim Thornber on August 11, 2013
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , , , . 5 Comments

“Jesus said to the woman, ‘I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.’ But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, ‘Lord, help me!’”­ — Matthew 15:24-25

 

Worship & Praise - OrangeA few weeks ago a pastor in my town brought this passage to my attention. It is the story of Jesus leaving Galilee and going north into Tyre and Sidon, which was Gentile territory. A woman who lived there came to Him and pleaded for Jesus to heal her daughter, who was tormented by a demon. As a response to this request, Jesus remained silent.

Today, silence is a most hated concept. With iPods, the internet, radio and television blaring everywhere we go, we’ve learned to distrust the sound of silence. Silence is wrong. Silence means something is broke. Silence makes us wonder if we’re still alive if all we hear is our own breathing.

Add to that silence the fact the people hanging out with Jesus urge Him to send her away and you have an emotional breakdown in the making. But she doesn’t go away. She just stands there and waits for the Son of David to answer her request. And when Jesus does speak, it is not as the meek and mild Jesus we sing about in church.

“I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel,” He says. Great. Not only is Jesus treating her with silence, now He says he wasn’t sent for her. Apparently, there are people whose needs are greater or better or more deserving than a mother with a child possessed by a demon.

At this point in the story, I’d be ready to tell the Son of David what He can do with His Messiah complex. I mean, if God is going to be that callused as to tell me that others are more deserving of His mercy and grace, then it’s time to find another god.

But what this woman does next just astounds me. Verse 25 says, “But she came and worshiped him.” Is that what I would do? Would I worship God after He has been silent, after the church folk have suggested He send me away and finally after God says He’s not here for me? I’d be more tempted to whine about how life is all against me than to worship a God who intends to ignore me.

But now this woman challenges me again, for in her humility she acknowledges that everything Jesus said was true. She was not an Israelite, Jesus was not here for her first, and she shouldn’t get the meat from the table. All true. It is only the proud people like me who think Jesus’ arrival on earth was all about meeting my personal needs according to my personal timing. When will I learn that even the scraps from God’s table are richer fare than any five star meal the world has to offer? Isn’t it better to be a dog in God’s kingdom than a king in the realm of Satan? This woman has seen how the demons treat people like her daughter, and she knows there’s more compassion in the crumbs of God than in the lies of the loftiest fallen angel.

Now, let’s look at this passage from another angle. Yes, Jesus was silent, but He was there. He was in her presence and He didn’t leave. In fact, He came to her town; she didn’t travel to him. There is always hope when God is present.

Next, we see that silence isn’t a refusal. He was silent but He didn’t say no. In silence there also is hope. Don’t let the silence of God or the quick answers of the critics send you away from what you need most.

When Jesus replied He was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel, there is still hope. For if that was true, what was Jesus doing in Gentile territory? Sometimes we think God is only going to help the good people who are worthy. But this scene reminds us that God came to save the world, because the entire world is as unworthy as this Gentile woman. God is increasing her faith – and that is something we could all use a bit more of.

So, the next time God is silent to my requests, I need to remember that His silence doesn’t mean “No.” I need to remember that Jesus came to me before I came to Jesus, for that reminds me how important I am to Him. I need to remember that the critics who want me to disappear have forgotten that Jesus chose to be with me, and I’ll stand in His presence as long as He’ll have me.

Finally, when God tells me the truth about who I am, I need to remember that even a mutt like me has a place at theMutt Banquet table of God. Sure, life may not always go as I’d like it, but Jesus has entered the room and where He is, there is hope.