Money Talks, God Talks

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

It is the great catch-22 of expository preaching: you preach where the text leads, no matter what.  And, on weekends like this past one, that landed us in James 5, and brought on a subject one isn’t supposed to mention in church: Money.  You can access the sermon, entitled “Money Talks”, here: http://www.capebiblechapel.org/media.php?pageID=5.

Some great questions were raised, with perhaps the most convicting being this one: You’re willing to open your Bible, but are you willing to open your wallet?

As Christians, we tend to run from the subject of money.  We tell ourselves that it isn’t a topic for church or that the church is just trying to get rich or that our money is our business or that we worked hard for it, we can do what we want with it.  There are all manner of excuses.  But often these rationalizations are like little bunkers we crawl into, toting whatever idol has a current hold on our hearts.  We enter these hidey-holes, our pet sin attached, and hide from the chiseling truth which seeks to free us.

In truth, money belongs to God.  He entrusts us with it to use toward His glory through giving it away, using it wisely, investing it in His future.  We are not to be defined by our money, but rather declare our money as His.

So what is your mindset concerning money?  Is it no one’s business, including God’s?

We need to get our view of money in line with God’s view of it.

Here are some money questions to consider today:

–Do you give to your local church, joyfully and regularly? (Be a member of a trustworthy church and give to that church!  It will grow your faith, your trust, your hope, and your love for Christ’s Bride!)

–Do you give to any missionaries or missions organizations? (We are all called to take part in delivering the gospel to the ends of the earth.  That mandate includes local projects and global ones.  And all of these take funding!)

–Are there causes you believe in enough to give to? (Examples include: the war against sex trafficking, orphan care, clean water projects . . . in a broken world, options abound.)

–Are there individuals you are using money to bless? (One way of doing this is by visiting this site:  https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/7PsAa  Here funds are being raised for a young Cape Girardeau family who had a difficulty pregnancy.  Through this trial, they have brought much glory to God, and as medical expenses pile on, there is now an opportunity for others to get involved and heap even more glory out of what could have been a bleak situation.  God has leveraged this situation for His glory, and we can take part by opening our wallets and purses!)

Money talks.  It is calling to you even now.  It awakens our greed and our materialism.

God talks, too.

What voice are you tuning into today?

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Inseparable Love

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

Yesterday I spent my evening driving home from a funeral.  While in transit, my thoughts danced away from the departed and landed on a sweet, young family that had had complications in child birth; their little girl was in a bad way, so I did what I could: I prayed.  With that going on, I checked my cell phone to see several texts from my sister chronicling an illness that had landed my one-year-old nephew in the ER.  During all of this, it rained through the fog.

It was a night like that which has me questioning Christianity.  Not Christ, mind you—this is a church blog after all, right?—but the way we follow Him.  It had me thinking about how cold we can make God at times.  We say that man exists primarily for God’s glory and that God’s major purpose in things is to bring glory upon Himself: like a black hole of praise.  And, of course, while these things are true, sometimes we paint them in a way that is very black indeed.  It makes God seem detached, disinterested, unfair, and even a little cruel.

If we look a bit closer—perhaps by stepping back from our theological loftiness—we may be able to witness a primary way, in God’s dealing with man, that He brings that glory upon Himself.  And that way is this: He glorifies Himself through His love towards us.  He looks on at soiled, spoiled beings, and He loves us anyway.  He looks at the broken and bruised, and He loves us anyway.  And it is out of this love that He pours out His unending wave of grace, a very thing that saves us, comforts us, gives us peace, brings us hope, fills us with joy, unites us in our grief, and ultimately enables us to witness who He truly is and glorify Him all the more. He is attached, interested, just; and He is love.

Often, I apply “Immanuel: God with us” to worldy circumstances I deem to be “good.”  But, in truth, God is with me always, pouring out His love and faithfulness.  He is a good God, even when things seem wrong or bad or hard.  He is a good God always.  He is very goodness itself.

And, today, as it is with God, the fog was gone and the rain had stopped.  The sun had come out.  The thing with following Christ isn’t that it will always be sunny.  Most times it won’t be.  But it will be in the end, for He is the light that will not fade.

Whether this Friday finds you in the sun or in the fog of this life, we pray you will rest and hope in Christ.  And perhaps we’ll see you this weekend.

For I am convinced that neither death,nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

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Playing the Game

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

What game are you playing?

If you missed it, Sunday brought a convicting message (don’t you just kind of hate those!) on the games we all seem to play (http://www.capebiblechapel.org/media.php?pageID=5).

I played a game Sunday, too.  It was a new game we received for Christmas and it was a terrible experience.  Don’t get me wrong, the problem wasn’t the game itself; no, that was fun and exciting.  The problem was how brutally my wife pummeled me at this game.  We decided to play to ten points, and, after letting me win three points in a row, she finished off the rout by a score of ten to five.

All in all, it was pretty crummy.  No matter what adjustments I made, what techniques I tried, how I attempted to cheat . . . none of it was any use: she was in control.

But at some point, I needed to realize the game would have been much better and more fun if I had just let go.  I was so bent on having my way (winning), well, in the end, I didn’t get my way or have any joy either.  I turned what could have been a great afternoon escape into a stressful nightmare.

I do this with God, too.  My life is His to determine, to plan, to advance, yet I battle Him for the control I can’t have.

Many of us play this game with Him.  Our way is Option A; His way, a reluctant audible when all other options fail.  And the irony of it is that sometimes we want the very thing that God is going to move us toward, but we want it without Him: our proud hearts won’t allow us the path we desire, sometimes the very one He desires for us, too.

No, we need relinquish the game.  We need to play by His rules, for they are the rules that are effective, beneficial, and true.  What plans, what dreams, what schemes are you keeping from God?  It is like having the option of playing one-on-one against LeBron James (a frustrating, losing proposition) or teaming up with him.  Well, that would be an easy decision!  So why is it so hard for me to team up with the all-powerful Creator on issues of much more importance instead of futilely fighting against Him?

It is maddening, indeed, this heart of mine.  And likewise maddening is the other game we play.

This game is much like the day in Kindergarten when a pupil gets to bring in his father or mother for show-and-tell.  I remember doing this.  My dad was a professor and he came in and gave a talk and it was great.  But what if instead of having my father come in, I would have dressed in his clothes, said what I thought he might have said, and played the role of my father?  Well, it would have been laughable and silly.

And that is what Christians are so prone to.  We take the place of God, and we judge EVERYTHING!  Rather than being known for what we love (Jesus and goodness and humility), most “believers” are known for what they don’t like: the music is too loud; he’s a drunk; the pastor’s boring; that dress is, kind of, you know; she’s really gone off track . . . we could go on and on.  We cloak our spiteful judgments in double-minded prayer requests, backhanded compliments, and feigned concern, and sometimes we don’t cloak the gossip and slander at all.  Really, there is no need to hide it: we aren’t fooling anyone, save ourselves.

And somehow we think that if we become the pinnacle of virtue and the judge upon the hill, somehow no one, including God, will see us for what we are: broken, sinful, and desperately in need of help.

Oh the games we play!

So what games are you playing?  How are you deceiving yourself?  Are you ready to quit playing your own selfish, prideful game and jump into God’s game?  It is truly the only game we have any hope of winning in this life, and not because of our MVP status or wondrous skill set.  We win because Jesus Christ has already won for us.  He is our Victor and our prize, now and forever.

Luke 6:24

Matthew 7:3-5

James 4:11-17

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A Strong Finish Today

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

Fridays are great on a stand-alone basis.  But sometimes I get to Friday and I look back at my week and think, “Hmm . . . what just happened?”

In 2 Timothy 4:7, Paul is having his own time of reflection, only his is covering much more than a week.  His thirty year trek down memory lane leaves him with this assessment: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”

When I think of looking back in thirty years, it is daunting, indeed.  I mean that is a long time to put a good fight!  How can I be sure I’ll have the energy to finish strong?

And viewing it that way, I think I know the answer: if I live thinking about thirty or forty years down the pike, I’ll lose heart.  That is like trying to build a house in a day.  No, this fight of faith must be fought day-by-day and week-by-week.

So whether your reflection at the close of this first week of the New Year leaves you with question marks or exclamation points isn’t really the question.  Sure, it matters. But also it is gone.  The real question is how will you finish strong today?  How will you begin a weekend worthy of looking back on? What eternal pursuits will you make?  How (and who) will you love?

And in this way, little-by-little, we’ll press on toward the goal of the ultimate strong finish; by finishing strong each day.

We hope to see you this weekend and God bless.

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We’ve got a blog!

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

You think you are the only one with resolutions for 2013?  Think again.

The Chapel had a resolution to have a blog, and well, here we are!

So for the rest of this year (Lord willing), you can expect a Tuesday post (“The After Word”), a Friday post (“The Weekend Word”), and any number of posts and updates in-between (“In Other Words”).

The After Word will feature a re-cap of the weekend’s sermon.  This may be a key point, an illustration, or an application step.  We hope this will keep our day-to-day lifestyle in step with our corporate study of Scripture.

The Weekend Word will be a small gust of wind in your sails, pushing you toward the finish line of another week and encouraging your weekend pursuits.

And the rest, like this, will land in “In Other Words.”

We hope you will like the site and that it will be just another tool in our pursuit at “Knowing Him and Making Him Known.”

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Clearing the Clutter

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

This weekend (http://www.capebiblechapel.org/media.php?pageID=5), we glanced rearward at 2012 by looking back thousands of years at a man named Saul.  Saul was good-looking and . . .  Well the positives sort of stop after good-looking.  It reminds of my teenage forays into the world of dating, when looks were all that mattered.  My mother would ask me about the girl I had taken out and if all I could excitedly say was, “She is really good-looking!”, my mom knew this was nothing but trouble.  For Saul it was much the same, nothing but trouble.

You see, Saul had a repentance problem.  What I mean by “repentance problem” is that Saul would rather live an unhappy life and die a gruesome death before admitting–truly admitting–that he had some flaws and needed change.  His pride would not let him repent as the quote from Robinson Crusoe so aptly describes of mankind: “Not ashamed to sin, but are ashamed to repent.”

Part of this tragedy is the way we let our sin pile up, like paper clutter upon a messy desk.

I was talking about the messiness of my own desk with a wise man the other day.  He told of his former company and its absolute disdain of clutter.  The rule there was, “Pick up a piece of paper, do something with it, throw it away.”  By doing this, one’s desk was clutter-free each evening before heading home.

What if I viewed my “little sins” more in this light?  Sure, it is just a little shred of a thing, but piled up it can make quite a mess.  What if each evening I allowed God to search me and I was willing to relinquish sin in my life, both big and small?  Perhaps then I could avoid the Saul-like catastrophe of a living a life and dying a death my way rather than God’s.

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