Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dart of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six- year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him, by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

That is a terrific mindset isn’t it?! That’s a mindset that is worthy of being emulated. I want to share just a few of his 70 resolutions.

• #1 – Resolved, That I will do whatsoever I think to be most to the glory of God, and my own good, profit, and pleasure 
• #5 – Resolved, Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can. 
• #6 – Resolved, To live with all my might (One of my favorites!)
• #14 – Resolved, Never to do any thing out of revenge. 
• #16 – Resolved, Never to speak evil of anyone 
• #20 – Resolved, To maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking.

At least half of those selections are fairly typical resolutions, whether one is a believer or not, especially #20. So many people are always making a New Year’s resolution to “get fit.” Health clubs and gyms always see a spike in memberships at the start of the year, and diets are usually started near the beginning of January.

In fact, I think it’s safe to say that America is obsessed with fitness: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins, South Beach, sugar-busters, carb-counters…all of you here are familiar with, at least some of, those terms, maybe even involved in those programs. Curves is one of the top franchises in America, right behind Subway, which has its own claim to fitness fame in “Jared”, Mr. Subway. The whole food industry is scrambling right now to crank out “low-carb” alternatives to your favorite foods. Many people scan the nutrition labels for “0 Trans-fat.” Sports nutrition stores are booming, and Wal-mart, never one to miss the opportunity of turning a huge profit, has their own nutrition section.  There is a plethora of products available that will enable you to “maximize energy, minimize fatigue, and accelerate recovery” (supposedly).

Fitness is big business.  Americans are obsessed with fitness, but America is also obese!  It’s unreal isn’t it, that the same country can be obsessed with fitness, counting carbs, being thin, and worshipping beauty, but at the same time be populated with the heaviest people in the world.  According to statistics, we are the overweight nation, the land of lard, the bastion of freedom and flabbiness.  Baptists have not always been positive examples of physical fitness, even though we believe the body is the temple of God, and through it we give expression to our service for God, we don’t have a strong track record in this area.  Most of our fellowships and gatherings revolve around food; often fried food, followed up with lots, and lots of desserts. AMEN!

Now, there is certainly nothing run with physical fitness.  If you are saved, after all, your body is the temple of God, your body is the one instrument you have for worshipping and serving God.  The body is not to be worshipped, but it is the instrument for worship.  Still, all of us should realize that a healthy body with a sick soul is a tragic thing.  For everyone, the ultimate issue should not be the physical, but the spiritual.

In my brief 36 years of living I have learned this one inescapable truth: discipline is the necessary key for accomplishing anything in this life.   And that is true whether we are talking about being physically fit, playing an instrument, learning a trade, etc.  The apostle Paul states this to his young protégé Timothy, and to us, in 1 Timothy 4:7-8:

“But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”

The word translated “exercise” in our Bibles is the Greek word “gymnazo”. The word basically means discipline. Believers need to be disciplined as we make our pilgrim trek through this world.  We must discipline our behavior, our emotions, and our thoughts.  Disciplined hearts will produce disciplined attitudes and behaviors.  Please don’t have a negative picture of discipline or exercise in your mind. They are not cuss words.  Discipline and exercise are good and necessary things; not only physically but (especially) spiritually.

Now, there is a reason why Paul uses the language of athletics, among other things, in several of his letters. The reason is this: sermons without illustrations are akin to houses without windows.  It often takes a good illustration to crystallize a truth that we have heard.  Jesus always employed vivid, relevant illustrations when He preached, and theapostle Paul was no different.  Paul regularly used three illustrations: soldiering, athletics, and farming.  He even used all three in 2 Timothy 2.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27:

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they [do it] to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring [it] into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

In this passage Paul utilizes an athletic allegory.  The Greek culture was huge on games.  You all know that the Olympic Games have their origins in Olympia,Greece, but are you aware that the city ofCorinth also hosted a popular sporting event that occurred every three years known as the Isthmian Games?  Much like the Olympics, the Isthmian Games boasted a variety of competitions ranging from foot races to the javelin throw, discus, wrestling, boxing, and even gymnastics.  The culture was so consumed with sports that one commentator I read made this remark: “the masses only demanded two things from their government: bread and games. By day they stood about idle; in the evening they watched sports.”  I guess some things just never change!  But one thing is for certain, the Corinthians understood Paul’s illustration of athletics, and this is the true test of a good illustration.

In v. 24 Paul asks a rhetorical question. Don’t you know that of all the people who start a race, there is only one winner?”

Determined Running – v. 24

“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.”

“Of course they understood that, as do we, so, Paul says, “Run to win!”  I’m talking about determined running. Now, one thing of which you can be certain is that Paul is not teaching Christians to compete with one another.  This is not a call to proselytize members of other churches, or keep a ledger of who brings the most visitors to church, and who has led the most people to the Lord.  We compete not against each other, but against physical, practical, and spiritual obstacles that would hinder us.  We are not competing with one another for a reward, but we are to serve Jesus Christ with everything that we have!  Run to win, not just to be in the race.  Don’t present Christ with a half-hearted effort!

Do you know what separates must winners from losers?  It’s not always superior talent, superior coaching, superior intelligence, or giftedness.  What separates winners from losers more often than not is sheer effort and determination.  Listen, Jesus Christ endured death for you! He who was sinless, took upon Himself your sin, so that you may become the righteousness of God in Him.  Beloved, Jesus Christ desires and deserves your best effort, not a lazy, half-hearted, mamby-pamby, effort!  Run in such a way as to win the prize!!

Disciplined Training – vv. 25, 27

“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible…²⁷But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. ”

Here Paul is describing disciplined training, and he is arguing from the lesser to the greater.  If individuals are prepared to go into strict training and deprive themselves of justifiable enjoyments all for the sake of a laurel wreath, how much more should we be concerned to run the race of the Christian life in order to gain heavenly rewards?  Now, it’s obvious that those ancient athletes, much like their modern counterparts, were not competing just for that laurel wreath, or in our day, a gold medal.  They competed for fame and acclaim, to be hailed a hero, to be famous, to be profiled on ESPN, or to be “immortalized” in some Hall of Fame.  But that “immortality” is just as mortal as a laurel wreath or a gold medal.  None of that stuff will last forever, not even a bust in Canton or Cooperstown will last forever; they are corruptible, perishable.

But think about all that athletes endure to gain acclaim, or rewards that won’t last.  They endure strict training; they must exercise extreme self-denial and self-discipline in order to be in shape to run the race.  Athletes limit their freedom and liberties, they discipline their minds and their bodies, they restrict their diets, they sleep when others are partying, and they are awake and training when others are asleep, their training is tough and demanding, they sacrifice everything as they pursue their goal of winning the prize, and their financial, mental, emotional, and physical commitment to winning is unrivaled.  And they do all that for a laurel wreath, for their bust in a Hall of Fame.

Now one thing is obvious, it was obvious to the Corinthians in the 1^st century, just as it is obvious to us here in Texas 20 centuries later; no one wins the 400m at the Olympics coming straight off the couch, or after a brief period of training.  Those athletes train their whole lives, in many cases, their training is their life!  They discipline their minds and bodies; they bring their appetites into subjection, and this dedicated training is a continual thing, so that they will be prepared to run the race so as to win.

They can’t start training the night before, and there are no shortcuts!  That’s the kicker, that’s where it hurts, especially in our high-speed, fast-food, microwave, society of convenience.  We want all the end results of a life-time of disciplined training, but without all the disciplined training.  That’s why products which promise “instant abs” have such appeal.  Have you seen those ridiculous commercials of people putting electro-shock belts on their bellies that will work your tummy onto a flat, appealing shape while you watch TV?!?!  It’s ludicrous, but it’s apropos of our society.  People want the perfect body with the minimum of effort, and the same is true in the spiritual realm.  People want a quick fix and an easy route to godliness; a 12 step program, 40 days of purpose, whatever.  Quick fix offers are useless, because the Bible does not offer a shortcut to spiritual fitness.

Church, the athlete’s disciplined self-control and strict training is a rebuke to half-hearted Christians who do not discipline themselves for the race.  Our race, our fight, is much nobler and deserves far greater effort than the Olympics, the Isthmian Games, the BCS Championship, or any other game.  We strive for an incorruptible crown, a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award, on that Day, to all those who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8).  Ours is “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,” (1 Peter 1:4).

We live and work for eternity.  Keep your eyes on that prize! Run to win with determined running, disciplined training, and finally, dedicated reasoning.

Dedicated Reasoning – v. 26

“I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: ²⁷But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

Athletes train for a reason; they have set goals for themselves to reach.  Did you notice that in verses 26-27 Paul switches from “you” and “we” to “I”?  We witness some transparency from the Apostle here. Paul has a dedicated reasoning, a clear purpose; he doesn’t aimlessly run. He doesn’t run with uncertainty.  His purpose has been stated throughout this chapter, specifically in verses 19-22, that his goal was to win as many people to Christ as possible by any means possible.

“¹⁹For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. ²⁰And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; ²¹To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. ²²To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

Paul is not shadowboxing; he’s not flailing around with his eyes closed.  He’s not just working up a sweat, his right there in the mix of things!  There is a dedicated reasoning to the race he’s running and the fight he’s engaged in.  He has disciplined himself; he has brought his body under subjection so that he won’t become a hypocrite, and so that he may win souls to Christ.

Now understand this, Christianity is not about law but liberty; it’s not about rules and regulations, but about holy discipline, because liberty and freedom require self-control.  And do not misunderstand, external rules and asceticism will not make you holy, will not provide the training that we have spent this evening talking about.  And just so you are not sitting here this evening saying, “I know what you do, you do all these external things and then it all fits”; no, that’s not the case. Turn with me to Colossians 2:20-23:

“²⁰Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, ²¹(Touch not; taste not; handle not; ²²Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; – promoting self-made religion in other words – not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh – they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Now here is the key to spiritual discipline, it’s found in the first verses of Colossians 3:1-2,

“¹If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. ²Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

You’ve been raised with Jesus, positionally seated in the heavenly places, so let your practice match your position.  Get your heart there, get your mind there, get yourself there, and as v. 5 says, “Chuck out all the garbage!” Put to death that which is earthly (sinful) nature: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth, and lying. Why?  Because you’re now in tune with Jesus, and He doesn’t like that stuff, He knows it’s no good for you, He doesn’t want you to be a part of it, and you’ll never win the prize if you’re clinging to that stuff. Let loose of all that junk. Cast it aside so that you may run the race. As Hebrews 12:1-2 says:

let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us] – so easily clings to us –, and let us run with patience – with endurance – the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross

Beloved, we need spiritual fitness in this flabby generation.  Spiritual fitness, much like physical fitness, is begun and maintained, not on the basis of emotional surges and New Year’s proclamations, but on the basis of disciplined commitment, and also with a little, actually a lot of, “I get by with a little help from my friends!”  We need training partners, sparing partners (don’t read too much into that!)  The journey to spiritual fitness is not a series of sprints but a cross-country run that lasts the rest of your life!  Let’s run it together.

See you at the finish!

]]> http://freshlyground.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/running-to-win/feed/ 0 32.946332 -96.625441 32.946332 -96.625441 freshground Running to Win Boomer Sooner! Run to the Finish http://freshlyground.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/the-end-of-the-matter-at-the-start-of-the-year/ http://freshlyground.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/the-end-of-the-matter-at-the-start-of-the-year/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 06:00:43 +0000 Travis http://freshlyground.wordpress.com/?p=3049 Continue reading →]]> Ecclesiastes is a very modern book in the sense of speaking to the dilemmas and frustrations that strike us as so contemporary to our own experience while providing very practical and pastoral answers to those dilemmas.

The thesis of the preacher, that’s what he calls himself, is that life lived apart from God is empty; that life in this world is frustrating and void of delight apart from a relationship with the living God. He’s put the life of unbelief, the life of indifference, life apart from God in the scales alongside the life of faith. He’s weighed them and he has found the life of unbelief and indifference lacking. It’s lacking intellectually, it’s lacking rationally and logically, it’s lacking spiritually, it’s lacking emotionally, it’s lacking practically; it doesn’t work.

In chapter 12 he sets forth the alternative: a life of trust in the living God, a life that is a full life, a life of joy despite all the difficulties of life in a fallen world.

We’ll parse this chapter into three sections.  First, serve God early.

Serve God Early – vv. 1-8

In verses one through eight, the preacher challenges us, exhorts us to serve God early. That doesn’t mean that older people cannot serve. It means don’t wait, serve God right now. Serve Him early. Serve Him from your first days. This life is brief; therefore we ought to serve God with joy and energy from the very first of our days, and if the first of our days are over start serving Him now.

In these eight verses the preacher is putting before you two realities that we all face in one way or another: the deterioration of our bodies and the death of our bodies. Those two things he presses home, and vv. 2-7 vividly – and a bit humorously – describes the deteriorating human body.

This section points out to us the grand finale of death. In light of the fading body, and in light of people who have come to the point that they no longer desire to live, and in light of the ultimate certainty of death, he presses home this call to live for God now. Live for God with joy and energy now!

Remember, behind this call is the assertion throughout the book of Ecclesiastes that the life of joy and fullness and happiness and true blessedness is the life of faith. The world doesn’t believe that. The world believes that if you’re really going to have fun you’ve got to ditch this God stuff. You’ve got to be free to do what you want in order to get pleasure and satisfaction and meaning in life, you have to ditch God. That’s where you find the real marrow of life. When you leave behind this oppressive, strict religion and you’re free to do whatever you want.

Ecclesiastes proves that philosophy to be one of the biggest cons that has ever been perpetrated on humanity. No solid joys and lasting treasures are found in departing from God, in neglecting God, in living life for self and not worshipping the living God. In fact, the only solid joys and lasting treasures that are to be experienced in this life are experienced by the children of God. That’s the life of joy, that’s the life of fulfillment, that’s the life of meaning.

The preacher says, “Start that life now! Don’t wait until the peak of your capacities and energies and abilities have left you; start now living that life of joy with God.” This exhortation is illustrated in vv. 3-7 as he pictures for us old age.

• V. 3 – You’re losing your strength, your teeth, and your eyesight!
• V. 4 – Now your hearing is gone! You’re always up early, and the voice is weak.
• V. 5 – There’s increased anxiety and fear, maybe even paranoia. If you have any hair, it begins to turn gray and white. Movements are slow and awkward, and appetites and desires wane.
• V. 6 – illustrates a sudden death
• V. 7 – the deteriorating body and finally death.
• V. 8 – All is vain and empty unless you live for God before you get there.

Live for God now. Live for God from the very earliest days. A full life must be lived in light of these coming realities. We’re going to get old. We’re going to die. Live for God now. If you won’t live for your Creator in the days of your youth, chances are you’ll never, ever live for Him.

This is a timely word for us, isn’t it? The current attitude is to sow your wild oats when you’re young. Go ahead, act like pagans while you’re in high school and college. Go ahead, do all those things that you know are dishonoring to God. Get it out of your system. Live it up. Have some fun. Sow your wild oats now. Later on in life, when you’re in your mid to late 30’s, you can become a respectable, upstanding citizen and marry a nice girl and have a family and settle down.

The Preacher is saying the opposite: “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” Worship Him now in the way you live. Worship Him by honoring Him with the care of your body. Worship Him by honoring Him in living as an upstanding young woman or young man. Worship Him in all areas of life:

• Colossians 3:17 – “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” 
• 1 Corinthians 10:31 – “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

Live your life in light of the ugly realities to come, trouble and death; the difficult realities of life in this fallen world. Serve God and delight in Him now and thus experience the fullness of what this life can be. You’ve heard the saying, “youth is wasted on the young.” The Preacher is saying, “Waste your youth on God.” Don’t waste it on something that’s denigrating to Him and to your own dignity.

Before the famous journalist, writer and editor Malcolm Muggeridge came to Christ, he was for years a dedicated Marxist and atheist, a left-wing columnist for the liberal media. When he wrote his biography he titled it, Chronicles of Wasted Time. And the Preacher is saying, “Don’t waste your life. Live if for God because the life lived for God is the only life of delight in this world and if you won’t live for God then you will neither experience delight in this world or the next. But if you’ll live for God now you’ll know the only solid joy and the only lasting delight that can be experienced here or hereafter.

Verses 1-8 teaches us to serve God early, and verses 9-12 admonishes us to use knowledge wisely.

Use Knowledge Wisely – vv. 9-12

Use knowledge wisely. Use knowledge rightly. Understand the use and the purpose of knowledge. Knowledge isn’t just there so that you may know a few more things, or to make you smarter, or so that you may be considered to be wise. It’s there to be put into practice, it’s there to work, and it’s there for life. The Preacher says that the believer must understand the right use of knowledge if they are to effectively wield that knowledge.

Wisdom and folly are contrasted at numerous points in Ecclesiastes, but vv. 9-12 point out the practical purpose and function of truth. In v. 9 the Preacher provides a brief bio of himself. It’s not just that he was considered a wise man; it’s that he had pursued wisdom in order to teach people knowledge. The reason that he weighed diligently and arranged carefully his teaching is so that people’s lives would be changed. He didn’t learn what he learned just so that he could be considered smart. He didn’t learn what he learned so that he could know a few more things.

He learned it because he wanted to impact people’s lives with the truth. He knew that God’s truth is for God’s people, and so he tells us in v. 10 that he chose His words carefully in order to have a maximum effect. The Preacher sought to find acceptable, upright, and true words because he knew that well considered words were more apt to have the maximum effect as opposed to ill-considered, unprepared words. So he was careful with the words, but the reason that he was careful was not to tickle our ears, but because he wanted our lives to be changed by the truth conveyed in those words.

Verse 11a proves that His words were designed to do two things: to be goads and nails. Goads are prods. Not only to prod you in the right direction but to prick your conscience, to goad your conscience, to convict the conscience and nails help to anchor the truth. Prods point you in the right direction. The prods convict and direct. Nails keep things in place. The nails anchor you in the truth.

The end of v. 11 confirms that ultimately these words were not the Preacher’s, or this preacher’s words. They came from where? They came “from one shepherd.” The Preacher’s father had said, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Here Solomon said “my words are not my words, they’re the Shepherd’s words.” This is the doctrine of inspiration – the doctrine of God’s good breath – every word of this book proceeds from the mouth of God. It’s all given by inspiration. They are ultimately God breathed words!

The warning in Ecclesiastes 12:12 may at first appear strange, “be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” Is the Preacher admonishing us to not read and to avoid study?  NO!  Is this a practical observation about how writing and reading books is hard? No. The Preacher is warning his young son, his student, his disciple; he is warning us about one of the dangers of study.

Ecclesiastes 12:12 does not condemn a genuine search for truth, and it is not a contradiction of 2 Timothy 2:15. The former verse is a warning for the individual who is always inquiring yet never finding answers. The type of person whose favorite song is U2′s “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” That person’s life is one long search for truth but never any discovery of it. Paul describes this person in 2 Timothy 3:7. Instead of asking questions to get answers and apply what is learned, they ask questions because it has become their way of life. in 1946 C.S. Lewis masterfully described this type of individual in his fantastical book on heaven and hell The Great Divorce. The “Episcopal Ghost” is on the very edge of heaven, but he wants to enter by his own agenda. He is told by the White Spirit (Harper Collins, pp. 40-41):

W.S.: “I can promise you none of these things. No sphere of usefulness: you are not needed there at all. No scope for your talents: only forgiveness for having perverted them. No atmosphere of inquiry, for I will bring you to the land not of questions but of answers, and you shall see the face of God.”

E.G.: “Ah, but we must interpret those beautiful words in our own way! For me there is no such thing as a final answer. The free wind of inquiry must always continue to blow through the mind…to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.”

W.S.: “If that were true, and known to be true, how could anyone travel hopefully? There would be nothing to hope for…Listen! Once you were a child. Once you knew what inquiry was for. There was a time when you asked questions because you wanted answers, and were glad when you had found them. Become that child again: even now.”

E.G.: “Ah, but when I became a man I put away childish things.”

W.S.: “You have gone for wrong. Thirst was made for water; inquiry for truth.”

The preacher is warning us. Calling us to be careful how we pursue the reading of books, and to be sure we know why we’re learning.” God’s word is meant to change our lives. God’s words are not meant to interest or amuse us but to change us. True knowledge of God is fellowship knowledge. It is both personaland propositional. It comes in a personal relationship with God, and God speaks it in words and sentences which are objectively true. It comes from God. It is spoken by God. It is therefore objectively meaningful and true but it can only be fully understood in a relationship with Him because it is designed not simply to bemind-expanding but life transforming. That is what the preacher is saying in his warning in verse 12. But he’s not done.

Live Life Joyfully – vv. 13-14

According to vv. 13-14, the life of joy all boils down to the realization of the greatness of God and obedience to the word of God. “Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Be in awe of God’s justice and power because He will judge one day.

In Acts 17:31 Paul said that we know that God will judge because He’s raised His Son from the dead.

“Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

God will judge. All men know that; they have God’s proof. He will judge the world in the resurrection of His Son. He’s promised it, and we’re to fear, to be in awe of this God who will judge and who will bring about everything which is hidden under His judgment. We’re to be in awe of His power and justice; as well as His hope and mercy; grace and forgiveness. We are to walk by His word because that is the key to the blessed life in this fallen and frustrated world. The Preacher’s main message is that life apart from God is empty, but the happy life, the blessed life is realized here by everyone who fears God.

What does it mean to fear God? It means to be in reverential and grateful awe of God and to know and to obey God’s Word. Fear God and keep His commandments, that is the mandate we are given, and the cultivation of an abiding fear of God leads to obedience.

But there’s a big difference between truly fearing God and cowering in a corner for fear of Him. C. S. Lewis illustrates this wonderfully in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Lucy, Susan, and Peter are asking Mr. and Mrs. Beaver about Aslan, and Susan asks,

“Is he…quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe but he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”

Then Lewis adds this:

People sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time. If the children had ever thought so they were cured of it now. For when they tried to look at Aslan’s face they just caught a glimpse of the golden mane and the great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes and they found that they couldn’t look at him and they went all trembly…His voice was deep and rich and somehow took the fidgets out of them and they now felt glad and quiet and it didn’t seem awkward to them to stand and say nothing.

Hear the prophet Habakkuk (2:20), “the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.” That’s the fear of God. Awe and reverential respect for His majesty and this fear of the Lord is the soul of religion and the soul of godliness. This controlling sense of the majesty and holiness of God and the profound reverence which this apprehension elicits is the thing that drives and brings joy to life in this fallen world; a joy-filled reverence and awe for the one true God which shakes you to the core and brings forth a response of faith and love and obedience.

This is the only solution to an empty life. It is the only solution to any life, and it is only found in Jesus Christ. He is the King, I tell you.  If you will trust Him and love Him you will know not emptiness but fullness twice, in this life and the life to come. This is the end of the matter at the start of the year.

Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and where we should be going.

The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

In addition to these ten questions, here are twenty-one more to help you “Consider your ways.” Think on the entire list at one sitting, or answer one question each day for a month.

11. What’s the most important decision you need to make this year?
12. What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what’s one way you could simplify in that area?
13. What’s the most important need you feel burdened to meet this year?
14. What habit would you most like to establish this year?
15. Who is the person you most want to encourage this year?
16. What is your most important financial goal this year, and what is the most important step you can take toward achieving it?
17. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your work life this year?
18. What’s one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year?
19. What’s one thing you could do this year to enrich the spiritual legacy you will leave to your children and grandchildren?
20. What book, in addition to the Bible, do you most want to read this year?
21. What one thing do you most regret about last year, and what will you do about it this year?
22. What single blessing from God do you want to seek most earnestly this year?
23. In what area of your life do you most need growth, and what will you do about it this year?
24. What’s the most important trip you want to take this year?
25. What skill do you most want to learn or improve this year?
26. To what need or ministry will you try to give an unprecedented amount this year?
27. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your commute this year?
28. What one biblical doctrine do you most want to understand better thisyear, and what will you do about it?
29. If those who know you best gave you one piece of advice, what would they say? Would they be right? What will you do about it?
30. What’s the most important new item you want to buy this year?
31. In what area of your life do you most need change, and what will you do about it this year?

The value of many of these questions is not in their profundity, but in the simple fact that they bring an issue or commitment into focus. For example, just by articulating which person you most want to encourage this year is more likely to help you remember to encourage that person than if you hadn’t considered the question.

If you’ve found these questions helpful, you might want to put them someplace—in a day planner, PDA, calendar, bulletin board, etc.—where you can review them more frequently than once a year.

So let’s evaluate our lives, make plans and goals, and live this new year with biblical diligence, remembering that, “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness” (Proverbs 21:5). But in all things let’s also remember our dependence on our King who said, “for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5).

I also know that a “preacher”, a man called by God and set apart by His church for the formal proclamation of the Bible, is prone to preaching mistakes. I know that, and so does everyone who has ever heard me preach. I came across this post – “Top 10 Preaching Mistakes” – by David Murray. (Incidentally, Murray has written an excellent book entitled Christians Get Depressed Too. I highly recommend it. Not suggesting that preaching and depression are linked! Just making you aware of a good and available resource on a prevalent and painful subject.)

I’ve linked Murray’s post, but I’ll list his “top 10″ here, along with his comments.

1. Cramming: Squeezing all you have ever studied about the Bible over the years into 30 minutes.
2. Skimming: Taking too many verses and simply skimming over the surface of the text, teaching nothing that someone with average intelligence would not have themselves have got from the text.
3. Floating: The preacher says many things that relate to the text, floating or hovering above the text, but fails to show how they are anchored in the text.
4. Proof-texting: Including lots and lots of texts from all over the Bible, and sometimes diverting hearers by expounding the proof texts as much as the sermon text.
5. Quoting: Too many quotes from commentators, theologians, and other preachers from the past and the present.
6. Lecturing: It’s difficult to define the difference between preaching and lecturing, but you know it when you see it/hear it. It’s about passion, eye-contact, persuasion, urgency, etc.
7. Assuming: Our own over-familiarity with the text results in us assuming that our hearers know the background of the text, the meaning of basic key words and concepts, etc. May also result in Mach 7 preaching speeds. And don’t assume your hearers are all converted either.
8. Confusing: Hearers are left confused usually because of a lack of structure or too complicated a structure (main points, sub-points, etc.); or sometimes there is a good structure, but it’s not sufficiently highlighted and emphasized so that hearers know where they’ve been, where they are, and where they are going.
9. Spraying: Lots and lots of data, but no single dominant thought; it’s the difference between a shotgun and a rifle.
10. Complicating: Instead of explaining the text, a preacher can actually make it more obscure. Usually involves words too big, sentences too long, concepts too abstract, language too philosophical/theological.

“Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.” Psalm 84:6

This teaches us that the comfort obtained by one may often prove helpful to another, just as the springs would be enjoyed by the company who came after. When we read some book that is really helpful and encouraging, we recognize that the author has gone ahead of us and discovered these refreshing springs for us as well as for himself. Many books have been like wells drilled by a pilgrim for himself but have proved quite as useful to others. We notice this especially in the Psalms-for example, 42:11: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” Travelers have been delighted to see the footprint of man on a barren shore, and we love to see the marks of pilgrims while passing through the vale of tears.

The pilgrims dig the well, but, strangely, it fills from the top instead of the bottom. We use the means, but the blessing does not spring from the means. We dig a well, but heaven fills it with rain. The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but safety is from the Lord. The means are connected with the end, but they do not produce it themselves. Consider here how the rain covers the ground with pools, so that they become useful as reservoirs. The endeavor is not wasted, but still it does not supersede divine help.

Grace may be compared to rain for its purity, for its refreshing and energizing influence, for its coming from above, and for the sovereignty with which it is given or withheld. May our readers have showers of blessing, and may the springs be filled with water! What are the means and ordinances without the smile of heaven! They are like clouds without rain and pools without water. God of love, open the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing!

At his blog Jeff Bullas asked the question: “Do you wonder why your productivity has dropped over the past 2 – 3 years?” He answers it for us with his following two sentences: “There is a time sink and it’s not Television! Those of us who are connected to the Internet and that is 2 billion of us, have been distracted by social multi-media publishing machines that are pumping out staggering amounts of content with enticing high definition images and videos!”

Bullas provides what he calls “20 Stunning Social Media Statistics.” They truly are stunning, and not a little sickening; especially when I consider how guilty I am of contributing to these numbers. These figures reveal the huge black hole into which our time disappears when we visit Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or other social media sites.

1. One in every nine people on Earth is on Facebook ( This number is calculated by dividing the planets 6.94 billion people by Facebook’s 750 million users)
2. People spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
3. Each Facebook user spends on average 15 hours and 33 minutes a month on the site
4. More than 250 million people access Facebook through their mobile devices
5. More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook
6. 30 billion pieces of content is shared on Facebook each month
7. 300,000 users helped translate Facebook into 70 languages
8. People on Facebook install 20 million “Apps” every day
9. YouTube has 490 million unique users who visit every month (as of February 2011)
10. YouTube generates 92 billion page views per month (These YouTube stats don’t include videos viewed on phones and embedded in websites)
11. Users on YouTube spend a total of 2.9 billion hours per month (326,294 years)
12. Wikipedia hosts 17 million articles
13. Wikipedia authors total over 91,000 contributors
14. People upload 3,000 images to Flickr (the photo sharing social media site) every minute
15. Flickr hosts over 5 billion images
16. 190 million average Tweets per day occur on Twitter (May 2011)
17. Twitter is handling 1.6 billion queries per day
18. Twitter is adding nearly 500,000 users a day
19. Google+ has more than 25 million users
20. Google+ was the fastest social network to reach 10 million users at 16 days (Twitter took 780 days and Facebook 852 days)

Moses, the man of God, instructs us through his own prayer in the 90th Psalm to be wise stewards of our time. He prayed, as I certainly must, “Teach us to to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Of course, Paul commands us to make the best use of our time, “because the days are evil.“

I really enjoy my iPhone. I really want to enjoy an iPad. I have fun and even benefit from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and occasionally (but carefully), YouTube. (I even have a Google+ profile, for whatever that’s worth.) I also am prone to wander for far too long in these bypath meadows. I pray that my good God will  teach me to number my days that I may have a heart of wisdom, so that I may make the best use of my time, because the days are evil.

]]> http://freshlyground.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/well-look-at-the-time-spent-on-social-media/feed/ 1 32.946332 -96.625441 32.946332 -96.625441 freshground Social Media (funnily) Explained http://freshlyground.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/go-to-the-cross-first/ http://freshlyground.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/go-to-the-cross-first/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:21:23 +0000 Travis http://freshlyground.wordpress.com/?p=3019 Continue reading →]]> One of my favorite books is the classic Pilgrim’s Progress written by the Puritan John Bunyan. I’ve read the book more than once. I have read it to my children, and had them read it for themselves. References from the book regularly creep into my sermons, often extemporaneously. I recommend the book to all, but that does not mean I’m in agreement with all parts of the book. My former pastor was fond of comparing the reading of books to the eating of fish. “You have to spit out the bones,” he says. The great thing about Pilgrim’s Progress is that the bones are few and the meat is substantial. There is, however, a bone or two.

While reading the Between Two Worlds blog this morning I came across a post quoting C.H. Spurgeon’s (another of my heroes) comment on one of the few bones to be found in Pilgrim’s Progress. Spurgeon admired John Bunyan. He was especially fond of the Puritan’s most famous work, but he did have one qualm with the great book. Here are Spurgeon’s comments, which are taken from his sermon “The Dumb become Singers” (I found both the sermon and his comments from the blog linked above):

I am a great lover of John Bunyan, but I do not believe him infallible; and the other day I met with a story about him which I think a very good one.

There was a young man, in Edinburgh, who wished to be a missionary. He was a wise young man; he thought—”If I am to be a missionary, there is no need for me to transport myself far away from home; I may as well be a missionary in Edinburgh.” . . .

Well, this young man started, and determined to speak to the first person he met. He met one of those old fishwives; those of us who have seen them can never forget them, they are extraordinary women indeed. So, stepping up to her, he said, “Here you are, coming along with your burden on your back; let me ask you if you have got another burden, a spiritual burden.”

“What!” she asked; “do you mean that burden in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress? Because, if you do, young man, I got rid of that many years ago, probably before you were born. But I went a better way to work than the pilgrim did. The evangelist that John Bunyan talks about was one of your parsons that do not preach the gospel; for he said, ‘Keep that light in thine eye, and run to the wicket-gate.’ Why—man alive!—that was not the place for him to run to. He should have said, ‘Do you see that cross? Run there at once!’ But, instead of that, he sent the poor pilgrim to the wicket-gate first; and much good he got by going there! He got tumbling into the slough, and was like to have been killed by it.”

“But did not you,” the young man asked, “go through any Slough of Despond?”

“Yes, I did; but I found it a great deal easier going through with my burden off than with it on my back.”

The old woman was quite right. John Bunyan put the getting rid of the burden too far off from the commencement of the pilgrimage. If he meant to show what usually happens, he was right; but if he meant to show what ought to have happened, he was wrong.

We must not say to the sinner, “Now, sinner, if thou wilt be saved, go to the baptismal pool; go to the wicket-gate; go to the church; do this or that.”

No, the cross should be right in front of the wicket-gate; and we should say to the sinner, “Throw thyself down there, and thou art safe; but thou are not safe till thou canst cast off thy burden, and lie at the foot of the cross, and find peace in Jesus.”

Spurgeon is correct. The cross must be front and center. This is a great reminder to me. Go to and point others to the cross first and foremost, because, as the Scottish lady rightly said, it’s better to wade through the slough of despond with the weight off your back than on it.

A Clear Conscience

“All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.” Numbers 6:4

Nazarites had taken, among other vows, one which debarred them from the use of wine. In order that they might not violate the obligation, they were forbidden to drink the vinegar of wine or strong liquors, and to make the rule still more clear, they were not to touch the unfermented juice of grapes, nor even to eat the fruit either fresh or dried. In order, altogether, to secure the integrity of the vow, they were not even allowed anything that had to do with the vine; they were, in fact, to avoid the appearance of evil. Surely this is a lesson to the Lord’s separated ones, teaching them to come away from sin in every form, to avoid not merely its grosser shapes, but even its spirit and similitude.

Strict walking is much despised in these days, but rest assured, dear reader, it is both the safest and the happiest. He who yields a point or two to the world is in fearful peril; he who eats the grapes of Sodom will soon drink the wine of Gomorrah. A little crevice in the sea-bank in Holland lets in the sea, and the gap speedily swells till a province is drowned. Worldly conformity, in any degree, is a snare to the soul, and makes it more and more liable to presumptuous sins. Moreover, as the Nazarite who drank grape juice could not be quite sure whether it might not have endured a degree of fermentation, and consequently could not be clear in heart that his vow was intact, so the yielding, temporizing Christian cannot wear a conscience void of offence, but must feel that the inward monitor is in doubt of him.

Things doubtful we need not doubt about; they are wrong to us. Things tempting we must not dally with, but flee from them with speed. Better be sneered at as a Puritan than be despised as a hypocrite. Careful walking may involve much self-denial, but it has pleasures of its own which are more than a sufficient recompense.