Category: discipleship

Real Failure Comes From a Lack of Wisdom (Ecclesiastes 10)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, discipleshipLeave a comment

Chapter 10 is much like Solomon’s speech to the graduating class.  Its a reminder that God is sovereign, people should be humble, and that apart from God’s wisdom you will make a mess of your life.

I know a man who lived well and for a majority of his life he trusted God.  Yet near the end he became a fool and made some bad decisions.  We are all only one bad decision away from ruining it all.  It’s not how you start the race its how it ends that matters. (Ecclesiastes 10:1)

Sometimes we meet resistance in life just because we are foolish.  There is story I once heard of a young man who wanted to be a lumberjack.  He was younger and more athletic than the other lumberjacks in his crew.  He showed up to the forest the first day and made the claim that he could chop down more trees than anyone else on the crew by the end of the week.  So they went to work and sure enough the young and athletic lumberjack was leading the way and cutting down trees almost twice as fast as the rest of the crew.  Eager to make his mark on the lumberjack world he worked through his lunches and while the other guys took a break. Somewhere around mid-week things began to slow and the young and athletic lumberjack was cutting fewer and fewer trees.  Finally by the end of the week he had cut the least amount of trees and the foreman had to let him go.  On his way out of the camp he went up to one of the older men who had been cutting down trees for years.  He said, “I don’t get it.  I am stronger and faster than anyone out here.  I never took breaks.  I worked through lunch.  How did you cut down more trees than me?”  The older lumber jack simply replied, “I took time to sharpen my axe.”  Sometimes it’s not about how hard you swing or how fast you are.  Sometimes as the old business proverb goes, “Work smarter, not harder.” (Ecclesiastes 10:10)

Application:   Where do you need wisdom in your life? There are decisions that you need to make in your life right now.  Some of them are somewhat small and inconsequential (like what will you eat for lunch).  Others of them really  matter.  Like what kind of husband, father, son,  or leader will you be.

Things are not always as they apear (Ecclesiastes 9)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, discipleshipLeave a comment

Solomon takes a look around and he notes that from man’s perspective things are rough. Death really changes everything. Good people die and bad people die. It seems from first glance that it doesn’t pay off to be righteous or seek good because all of mankind is met with a similar fate.

But we are reminded that we are only looking at this from a human perspective. We didn’t create the world. We don’t control it. God does. And he isn’t a respector of persons. God truly does what he pleases. (Psalm 115:3) His ways are unfathomable to us.

Application: live each day as a gift from God. Know that we are all ultimately accountable to God. You won’t have the ability to change the way you lived after you die, but you can change while you are still alive.

Do the right thing, even when no one else cares (Ecclesiastes 8)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, discipleshipLeave a comment

Solomon offers us some great perspective in the first few verses of chapter 8. Sometimes people want to blame God for all the evil and injustice in the world. Yet, if we are observant we will notice that mankind is the one responsible for much of the injustice in the world.

But we shouldn’t be deceived. God will not let evil go unchecked forever (maybe it’s a good thing that we die). Ultimately there will be justice. God will bring Justice.

Wisdom isn’t knowing why God commands a certain thing, it’s obeying God’s commands even if you don’t know the “why” or “how.” You cannot know all of Gods ways, but you can know what he requires of you.

Application: trust God. He always does the right thing and while He may lead you down an unpopular path or at least beyond your comfort zone, it’s better to follow Him than to be popular or comefortable. Though we cannot know all of Gods ways we can trust God to lead us rightly.

Everybody hurts sometimes (Ecclesiastes 7)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, discipleshipLeave a comment

Sometimes a little pain is good for us. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think we should pursue pain, just that maybe pain gets a bad rap sometimes. When I touch a hot stove, it’s the pain that tells me not to keep touching the stove or I’ll burn my hand off. When I work out or run after a long time of keeping my muscles dormant, it’s the pain that tells me they are growing (no pain, no gain). The emotional risk of trying something new reminds me that I’m not growing if I’m not out of my comfort zone.

In Ecclesiastes 7:1-15 Solomon is answering the question posed in Ecclesiastes 6:12, “what is good.” Suprisingly pain makes the list.

So you may be having a rough day. Maybe even a rough week. Don’t be quick to say,”woe is me.” be patient and wait for the end (Ecclesiastes 7:8-9). You may find out that the pain was worth it. Don’t judge a situation just because it’s difficult or it’s full of adversity. See what happens. A fool worries about the “what if’s” in life. A wise man deals with the “What is.” sometimes it takes a little while to know what you are dealing with.

Sometimes the good times fool us. We think we have it made. I’ve found that it is the hard times that shape us and really make us who we are.

Again. We don’t need to seek hard things. If your suffering because of a toothe ache… Go to the dentist. You have the power to change that. Of your suffering because of your sinfulness, repent and make amends. If you have no power to change the suffering in your life, then embrace it and know that God can cause something good can come out of it.

The second part of this chapter reminds us that we can’t know everything. We need to be humble and trust God.

Living Godly in an Ungodly Wolrd (Titus 3)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, discipleship1 Comment

My pastor posts a daily devotional thoughts most every day on the passages of scripture he is reading.  I follow along by reading the same passage in the morning and some time later catching up with his thoughts.  Today is the third and final day in Titus. I don’t know what aspects of the passage he is going to flesh out.  Hopefully this will be complimentary to his blog post.

Living Godly in an Ungodly World

In a perfect world just knowing sound doctrine would be good enough to effect the way we live, but the truth of the matter is that we live in an ungodly world.  It is difficult to put into practice the things that we know are right.  We can find ourselves justifying wrong behavior.  We justify cheating on our taxes because we disagree how the money will be spent.  We talking bad about our boss because we find ourselves on his bad side.  We justify not disciplining our kids because we have had a long day at work.

So then, how do we live Godly in an ungodly world?

We submit to the authorities that God has placed us under (Titus 3:1) – We are good citizens.  We didn’t used to be (Titus 3:3).  We don’t take offense at having leadership placed over us.  We look for ways to serve those who lead us, sometimes even while we disagree.

When teaching on leadership one time I wanted to illustrate how leaders have to make decisions based on the best interest of the people they lead.  Sometimes the majority vote is wrong.  To make the point I let the kids decide where to eat.  They said, “Chick-fil-a.” I said it wouldn’t work.  They said, “KFC.”  I said it wasn’t a good choice for the group.  I kid you not they said, “Churches Chicken.”  I finally said, “you need to make a decision that’s good for the group.”  They asked, “What’s wrong with Chicken?” The answer was that one of them was allergic to chicken.

Sometimes we may think that those we are called to submit to just hate chicken, but I bet if we give them the benefit of the doubt we will find out that more often than not they are making wise decisions for the group.  When we place the interest of others ahead of our own we are ready to hear that.  Its while we are self absorbed that we most often rail against  the Authorities in our lives.

We do good works (Titus 3:1, 8) – We shouldn’t be godly in our speach only, but in our actions as well.  When God has blessed us we need to give of our time, effort, and money to help others along the way.  Sometimes that is helping our brothers in Christ along the way.  Sometimes that is going out of our way to help people meet Jesus.

We Avoid foolish controversies and toxic people (Titus 3:9) – Some people never get it.  We are to lovingly reach out once or twice, but not give audience to those who are seeking a division.  This may sound strange or out of character, but the truth is some people  thrive of having people listen to what they are saying and so they invent controversy.  The best way to deal with someone who is creating controversy for controversy sake is to reason with them once or twice and then deal with them like the little boy that cried wolf.

There isn’t profit in continually giving someone an audience who is bent on folly.  You are only feeding the folly.  The godly thing to do is cut them off so they will learn of their sin and quickly repent.  The last thing you want to do is be seen in the middle of a church scandal while trying to invite your lost friends to meet Jesus.

Application: Living Godly in an ungodly world… What are you doing to submit to the authority in your life? How are you blessing the leadership in your life? What kinds of good works are you involved in or can you be involved in today?  Who can you bless?  Who do you need to avoid?  What situations do you need to remove yourself from?

Which of the 3 is hardest for you?

What are your thoughts on Titus 3?

If you liked this post, you may like these as well:

When Church People Do Bad Things

When Church hurts

7 Steps of a Unified Group

God Cannot Lie, but People Can (Titus 1)

Sound Doctrine Produces Godly Living (Titus 2)

Why Pentecost

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, discipleship, Missions2 Comments

We just passed the day of Pentecost on the calendar.  In the Evangelical circles in which I run the day is largely ignored.  It doesn’t carry the fanfare that Easter or Christmas receive.  It doesn’t even get the acclaim of holidays like Mothers Day or Fathers Day.  Generally speaking most Christian’s don’t even know the day has come and passed.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not advocating a new holiday, but I desperately don’t want to forget the message of Pentecost.  Pentecost is about waiting on God to move.  It’s about fulfilling the great commission.  It’s about taking the gospel to the nations.  It’s about how the story goes on long after the ascension of Christ.  I challenge you to look deeper into the day of Pentecost. (By the way you can catch some helpful background on Pentecost here by reading a brief outline I wrote in 2007).

How Should a Christian Live (Review)

On By pastorjonathanIn books, Devotional, discipleshipLeave a comment

The Word of Promise Next Generation New Testament Devotional: How Should a Christian Live? (The Word of Promise: Next Generation Devotional & Journal) is an awesome resource.  I was blown away at the thought that went into developing this book.  I’m a student pastor and always looking to review teen oriented Bibles, Bible studies, devotionals etc.  To be honest most of the stuff that comes across my desk is lame.

Here is what I really liked…

(1) The scripture in MP3 format that goes along with this devotional. I love the idea of having audio files of the Bible on my students ipods and in their ears.  By the way this is one of not those boring audio Bibles where some dude with a British accent reads to you (my apologies if you are British).  The readers are mostly teenagers and read with passion ensuring that each file has a chance of being listened to.  I’m a 30ish year old dude and I still didn’t mind having a teenager passionately read the scriptures to me on my ipod.

(2.) The message of salvation is front and center in the book.

(3.) It has games like cross word puzzles and jumbles to help get the message across. Though I’m not a big fan these kind of games personally, I do see the value in how it engages the mind and kind of makes it fun.

(4.) Teens are encouraged to listen to four or five chapters of scripture at a time.

The only draw back I saw was that each section may be a little long for a daily devotional.  This resources is probably better suited for a weekly Bible study (there are only 12 sessions).

I would recommend it to middle school and  high school freshman & sophomores who are willing to make a serious effort to get into God’s Word.  The retail price is $15.99 (Paperback), and is available at places like Amazon.com for $11.51.  I gave it four stars.

Disclaimer: As a blogger I received a complimentary review copy from the Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program  (http://booksneez.com/ ).  There was no requirement to give it a positive review, just for the reviewer to call it like they see it.

Other teen related Reviews:

For Teen Parents:

50 Reasons: To Provide the Basis for Our Justification

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, discipleshipLeave a comment

The other day I mentioned that I would be reading Piper’s book “50 Reasons why Jesus Came to Die” between Easter and Pentecost. You can get the scoop here.

To Provide the Basis for Our Justification

Piper addresses a key aspect of what Jesus did for us through his death, burial and resurrection.  Many times we talk about how Christ took our sins and provided forgiveness, but seldom do we talk about being Justified (declared just) before God.  Being Justified and declared Righteous (tomorrow’s chapter) are essential in our salvation.

Saw this on YouTube this week.  Another good song that I don’t have on my Ipod, but sing all the time.  I was particularly engaged during the first part where it shows the scene involving the woman at the well.

50 Reasons: For the Forgiveness of Our Sins

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, discipleship1 Comment

The other day I mentioned that I would be reading Piper’s book “50 Reasons why Jesus Came to Die” between Easter and Pentecost. You can get the scoop here.

For the Forgiveness of Our Sins

I was blessed to read today’s chapter and was reminded of the cost of free.  Sometimes things are free to us because they are cheap.  Sometimes they are free because somebody wants something from you.  And in the case of forgiveness and salvation free because we could never afford it.  We could never merit God’s grace.  We could never earn salvation.  We could never purchase for ourselves what Christ purchased for us at Calvary.

50 Reasons: To Become a Ransom for Many

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, discipleship1 Comment

The other day I mentioned that I would be reading Piper’s book “50 Reasons why Jesus Came to Die” between Easter and Pentecost. You can get the scoop here.

To Become a Ransom for Many

I am excited that Piper highlights that the ransom here was paid to God and of course cites several verses in explanation.  There is an errant idea going through many Christian circles that the ransom was paid to Satan.  I think we often give Satan more credit than he deserves.  The idea that the ransom was due Satan originated with a theologian by the name of Origin (185 – 254 A.D.). (Wow! One of my undergrad professors would be proud.  He used to say that, “Origin was the origin of all heresy” and it stuck).

Anyway I’m glad that Jesus paid it all. Piper drives home an excellent point.  The ransom is for “many” (Mark 10:45) and not all are saved, but the offer is for everyone (I timothy 2:5-6).  Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell the people at your work place, “Jesus paid it all!”  If they don’t know, they need to hear: if they already know, they need to hear it again. I’ve been blessed to share with 5 people (apart from church related stuff) this week about why Jesus came to die!