You Know Who – Andrew Wilkes
We all have that one person that we struggle with. To someone else, WE are that one person…
All of us have that one person in our life that is so difficult to put up with. Their attitude, personality, or actions stir up energy-sapping frustration, soul bitterness, rotten jealousy, and other ungodly feelings and thoughts. When that person’s actions or words cause me to feel these damaging things, I must open my heart to God and ask Him why I am acting this way and feeling these things. I must lay myself down on the altar for surgery on MY heart.
This is when the Holy Spirit is allowed to work deeply in me. Instead of a “righteous” attitude, I see my own rotting corruption and sinfulness. This moves me from arrogant frustration to lowly humility before my King; I’m the one with issues. This is grace’s territory. God’s grace will not allow me to remain proud but makes me personally broken. And brokenness before God is a much sweeter land to live in than the deadly pits of bitterness.
This posture change doesn’t mean they’re right. It doesn’t mean they haven’t sinned. It just moves ME to a place where I am right with God and can live by the life of Jesus. It doesn’t matter if the person ever knew I was struggling to begin with; God knew my heart. Now I can be shown by the Holy Spirit how to think and act correctly according to His thoughts and actions. Now I can be empowered by grace to live a holy life.
We all have that one person that we struggle with. To someone else, WE are that one person…what a sobering thought!
This is why grace is so important. The law never cut this deep.
Titus 2:11–13 (ESV): For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Terrible Counselors – Three Thoughts from Job’s Bad Buddies
Andrew Wilkes
“We all need somebody to lean on…” – Lean on Me (Bill Withers)
Our world recognizes the need for someone to speak to, someone to open our hearts to when we are overwhelmed, someone to lean on. A foolish person will share every detail of their thought life with the world (social media anyone?), but it’s also quite unwise (not to mention lonely) to have no one at all to open up to or receive counsel from. The wisest of people, Solomon himself, said that “a friend loves at all times” (Proverbs 17:17) and that “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). The happy thing is, that if we participate in the Body of Christ long enough and are willing, God will give us friends. What a marvelous and beautiful thing!
So, when God gives us friends, what should we do when they open their hearts to us about sins, struggles, mistakes, or even circumstances over which they have no control or understand how they got there? The book of Job provides us direction as we have the extraordinary opportunity to be flies on the wall as a man’s life is utterly laid bare. Job’s friends, family, and community completely turn their backs on him. Satan mercilessly attacks him and his family, God permits tragedy, and then speaks directly to a trembling Job with eternal realities and mighty signs. It has all the makings of a dramatic feature film and is a handbook of sorts on how NOT to give advice. In fact, I think if we would do the opposite of what Job’s counsellors did, we would be sought out for our kind, listening ear. Job teaches us many lessons, like years on earth don’t always equal wisdom and it might be a relatively younger individual who God speaks through in His divine wisdom. I hope that the three gleanings below will help you at is has me to know how to be a hospital to those whose broken hearts need mending and how not to harm the patients that God sends our way.
- Don’t talk
“They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.”(Job 2:11-13)
The wisest thing that Job’s friends did in the beginning was to say nothing at all. They were there for Job. They grieved with him and met him where he was at; what a great start! I have made the mistake more than once of preaching to someone who simply wanted to be heard. They needed space and I crowded them with too much talking. If I had simply listened, we both would have been less frustrated with our conversation. Give a person room to speak and for God to do his work, even if it means all you do is listen and pray for the person. The Holy Spirit may bring healing, wisdom, or comfort by this alone. He is after all, the Counsellor we need.
- Don’t jump to conclusions. It’s possible that neither you, nor the person being counseled fully understand what is going on.
But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face. (Job 1:11)
Job had no clue why his life was enduring such hell. There was no clear sin against God. In fact, Job had served Him so faithfully that he would make sacrifices to God for his children (just in case they cursed their God). If this was Job’s practice, why was life so hard? Satan set his sights on Job with the aim of one thing alone, to get Job to curse God. Everything hinged on this one point; even Job’s wife tempted him to “curse God and die.” Satan hated Job’s love for God and thought that if he were allowed to bring every devilish temptation, loss, and pain into Job’s life, he could get Job to sin in the very place he was most consecrated to his Creator. How wrong the enemy was!
Instead of seeking God’s counsel for the pain and loss in Job’s life, his friends instead did everything in their power to guess which sin he had committed (theft, ungodliness, etc.). If we follow in their footsteps and assume that every issue in someone’s life is due to personal sin, we run the risk of condemning our brothers and sisters in Christ who are desperately seeking help. Let’s be humble, patient, and realize that it’s okay to not know the “why.” Perhaps this is where we can refer to point number 1 above. If sin is clearly involved, then let’s lead them in grace to repent to God and hear their Savior’s voice for the way forward (1 John 1:9). Otherwise, let’s confirm our love to them and bring their needs before God.
- Don’t crucify a hurting person for saying something rash
Then Job answered and said:
2 “Oh that my vexation were weighed,
and all my calamity laid in the balances!
3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
therefore my words have been rash. (Job 6:1-3)
When emotionally distraught or mentally worn thin, we can say things we would never utter when well rested and spiritually strong. Let’s not be the spiritual police over every comment they make. This tends to bog the conversation down on a point, rather than dealing with the overall issue at hand. We have all met someone who corrected our grammar while telling a story to friends (one of the most annoying things in the world!). Don’t do the spiritual equivalent while listening to the aches of someone’s soul. If David can pour out raw emotions and lament in the Psalms and God saw fit to write it down, let this person pour out their heart to you without restraint.
One day, the shoe will be on the other foot, and we will hope to God that our listener is mature enough to overlook a few rash sentences and be led by God to help you. Yes, assist your friend to see from scripture God’s comfort and outstretched hand to them. Speak truth into any lies of the enemy that they speak to you. Give them grace and help. Give them truth and love. Give them whatever God shows you to give them. Just make sure that by the end of the conversation they get to Jesus.
So much more could be said and brought out from Job, but for now, reflect on these things and ask yourself, “have I done this before? Has someone else done this to me?” It’s better to be honest now so that we can be better prepared for later. Someone will one day come to us and ask for help or for prayer. I pray that these few, simple lessons will give us a bit of guidance on how to assist a brother or sister get to their King. After all, it is His throne of grace that we really need. We’re just there to point our friends to Him.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
Seeking Knowledge, Finding Jesus – Andrew Wilkes
Do we forget Jesus as we study Jesus? There are times when the allure of knowledge can lead us to sideline the King of Kings. As we discover the untapped realms of understanding that await us, we can get quite carried away. Learning how we received the Word of God, how to better study it and all of the implications of Bible history, culture, etc. delight (some of) us to no end. New theological terms, church history and a greater ability to understand how to defend our faith truly are exciting! Learning who a gospel was originally written to unlocks a lot of meaning and why Jesus did some of the things he did in his Jewish culture is intriguing as well. It can all build together to give greater depth to our personal lives and even ministry.
However important these things may be, they can never replace the simple joy, delight, and depths of an ever-increasing intimacy with Christ. How did Jesus feel when he was rejected by his family repeatedly during his ministry on earth? How did it feel to be told to leave a town where he had just cast out a demon? He didn’t fight, he turned around and got back into a boat and went to the other side of the lake. He was non-stop ministering, loving, healing, teaching, preaching and serving. Do we miss these things? Do we forget that Jesus was God and man? Do we forget the emotion he held as he lived his life on earth? Do we forget Jesus as we study Jesus? Does he become merely a historical figure whose words are more interesting to us than the person himself? Oh God forbid! May we never set aside Christ for facts.
In our quest for knowledge (a Biblical command), may we not boil down the faith to a few theological classes that, once passed, make us feel as if we really know God now and can really serve him now. Many times, the “ignorant” know Christ more than the learned. B.H. Clendennen used to say, “we do not put a premium on ignorance.” He meant that we don’t glorify the fact that we don’t know a Christian creed, church history or what eschatology means, as if that makes us holy and spiritual. It could just mean that we’re lazy! We also don’t glorify these things as the end goal either. This just means that we’re proud! Neither ignorance nor learning in themselves are virtues that lead us closer to Christ.
Regarding learning, Proverbs 18:15 says:
An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
Jesus himself rebuked the religious leaders of his day for withholding the knowledge of God from the people declaring:
Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:52)
Paul said in Philippians 3:8-10 what the end of this pursuit of knowledge was for him; a person:
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death
Paul never threw away his learning. In fact, it was turned from head knowledge to life as he learned what it spoke about the living Christ. Rightly understood, his learning led to deeper intimacy as he was taught by the Spirit of God the person of Jesus. Paul did not simply seek knowledge, he sought Jesus. So, you and I dear believer must not become entangled with over-learning and famish our souls. We must learn less if we cannot keep our eyes on Jesus. Let us make biographies take a back seat to the beauty of Christ’s biographies (the Gospels). Let us place theology where it belongs, an extremely useful tool to keep us from error and help us think deeply about God. But let us never confuse the acquiring of knowledge as equal to the acquiring of Christ. This is only done by revelation and experience. Knowledge of God tells me what is true about Jesus and what can be. Personal revelation and experience are those things transformed into personal reality.
You may be seeking knowledge of Christ, and I applaud you if it is being led by and yielded to God. But in your seeking knowledge, seek the knowledge of a person, the man Christ Jesus. Let him be your goal and you will never lack for anything. Your spiritual table will be full, and you will not only be well fed yourself, but you will be able to nourish both the lost and the saved with the Savior.
God bless you!
God’s Comma – Andrew Wilkes
This is hard. I’ll never make it. I am a failure as a Christian. There is no hope for my marriage. My life hurts so badly, and I don’t see a way out.
All of us as followers of Jesus have made these statements and really meant them. It was not simply a momentary lapse of faith into self-loathing, but a real, deep sense of desperation. Your actions, your thoughts, something you did yourself or something that someone did to you caused you to completely lose hope. It was their fault, it was my fault, it was somebody’s fault. Then you looked up from the hole in which you were trapped like Joseph, perhaps saying, this is the end of my life. You were taken out of the pit, like Joseph and sold into a “slavery” of depression with crushed hopes and dreams. Certainly, the promise of God cannot be valid any longer. You put a period on your circumstance, who wouldn’t? You placed finality on a difficult season and prepared for the long road ahead, leading nowhere on this earth, but one day, injured, bruised, you would enter eternal glory and hopefully, heaven will be better than this pain here and now.
God has a way of placing a comma where we place a period. This is seen in the life of Jacob, who was a deceiver, a cheat, a liar and fled home to get away from a brother who wanted to kill him. Jacob’s weak character and lies put him in physical danger, BUT God met him in a cave and spoke clear promises into his life and then worked for 20 years to break him. Jacob even wrestled with an angel and became a prince with God. Joseph, the son of Jacob, was his father’s favorite. He was a bit immature and was thrown into a pit as a result of the jealously of his brothers. He was wrongly accused of rape, tossed into prison and forgotten by the one man who could get him out, BUT God gave Pharaoh a dream and Joseph was catapulted into God’s plan for his life. Joseph would go on to have a wife, children, and be used to preserve the life of a nation and the very family that rejected him. God would use this entire scenario to break his family and bring them in line with His purposes that would eventually lead to the birth of the Messiah. Jesus Himself was rejected by His own people, was cruelly mocked and beaten, and was nailed to a tree. Jesus was killed and buried in a tomb, BUT God raised Him from the dead and Christ now sits victoriously at the right hand of the Father! One day very soon, every knee in all creation will bow down to Him in worship! He won the victory!
What makes these situations different than yours? Read that question again. Could it be that your lack of faith in God has placed a period where there should only be a comma? Could it be that you are not trusting God’s word to His people in Romans 8 and Hebrews 11?
Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Read through Hebrews 11. Though there is not always an actual comma in the sentence about each saint, there is a comma represented in the history of their lives. Just like the lives of Jacob, Joseph and Jesus, you too can trust in God’s comma. But will you? Or will you be depressed? Will you be downcast and never step out in faith again, because of your failure, mistakes or wrongdoing at the hands of others?
Rise up saint of God, there are those who have faced what you have faced, and they now stand in glory today calling out to us, “Don’t stop, don’t quit! Believe God is true!” There is a comma, God’s comma! There is more to the story, if you will just believe Him! Open your heart and mouth to God, ask Him to help you to believe for the comma, for the rest of the story. We aren’t told what the rest of the pages of our lives hold, but we know that it will be for God’s glory. Though we don’t understand it all now, there is coming a day when a period will be placed on the end of our lives by God Himself. Until that day, I hope in God and I wait for him to write the rest of the story; the story that comes after God’s comma.
The God of Hope – Andrew Wilkes
As followers of Christ, we hope in God, because He is unwaveringly faithful. Viruses don’t change God’s faithfulness. Who the president is doesn’t change God’s faithfulness. Not even our own loneliness or pain can possibly change God’s faithfulness. Why is that? Because God is. That’s what God said when Moses asked the almighty God what His name was. He said “I AM.” God is outside of time and dwells with Himself, a triune God. It’s God’s unchangeable nature, what we call the “immutability of God,” that we rest and find hope in. God is and He shall never change. This immutability of God is important when it comes to hope in our lives in the midst of difficult circumstances. Why is that? Because our God has called Himself “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13).
In the Bible, a name is often representative of the character of a person and this is certainly true of God. Jesus was named Jesus (Jehovah saves), because He would save His people from their sins. When we read that our God calls Himself “the God of hope,” it’s because that is who He is; this is His character. So, I tell you believer in Christ, hope in God, because he is. He is the God of all hope and He never changes. I do not know what tomorrow will bring, but whatever trial or hardship may come, my unchanging God of hope will be there too! He has promised to never leave me nor forsake me.
I want you to praise God with me by saying something out loud. “God is the God of hope.” It may feel foolish, but sometimes it helps us to memorize a scripture or process truth to say it out loud. Try it. Now say it once more. One last time. Now say, “my God is the God of Hope.” Can you feel the hope and encouragement beginning to rise in you as you agree with God? In saying this out loud, you do not make God the God of hope, you simply recognize who God has already declared Himself to be. I pray that Romans 15:13 will become a mighty declaration that will lead you to a time of intimate worship. Boldly proclaim in the face of your circumstances that no matter what occurs, no matter how bad things get, who is your God? The God of hope!
Now it’s one thing to declare a portion of scripture, even though it is true. It becomes something deeper when we allow God the Holy Spirit to imbed it into our hearts and to transform this truth into a living reality that we actively experience. I have included our verse from Romans 15 as well as a brief section from Romans chapter 8 that I pray will edify you as you meditate on the Word of God. Pray over it, allow God to speak to you out of it. Memorize it, declare it back to God as worship.
Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
My brothers and sisters, I am praying for you. I know this time has been hard. I know you have been separated from loved ones, confined even more than normal and are probably watching too much news to be healthy for any person’s spiritual life. This world is falling apart and perhaps you feel helpless and hopeless as the days pass by. Meditate on Christ, get into prayer, get into fellowship with other believers as much as you can. Be filled with the Spirit, singing and making melody in your hearts (Ephesians 5:18-20). More than anything, get into the very presence of this God of hope and let the Holy Spirit “fill you with all joy and peace in believing…” (Romans 15:13).
And once you are filled with this supernatural hope, this heavenly joy and this peace in believing on Christ, bring these things to those around you. Bring the Gospel to those who do not have it. Bring His goodness to a brother or sister whose head is hanging low. Hallelujah!
Any Given Sunday
“On any given Sunday you’re either gonna win or lose…”
That’s what the football coach told his players in a classic American movie. What the actor said is true. On any given Sunday, when two teams step on to the field to battle it out, either one can win. There is a spiritual warfare taking place in this earth and on any given Sunday one side will take the victory in the hearts of God’s people.
Any given Sunday in churches across the earth, pastors step into pulpits. These men have studied, prayed, fasted and cried for their congregations. They have been careful to examine a passage properly in order to give its true meaning. These faithful shepherds have given themselves to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, “bring out this point to the people, they need it!” The minister comes ready, filled with the Spirit of God.
Any given Sunday, the congregation fills the pews. Work is hard, the married couple has just gotten into an argument, the kids slept in, the people were up late playing video games and watching movies. The word goes forth, the people sit and try to listen. Some check their phones, read the news or create their weekly to do list. All the while, the minister puts forth all the spiritual effort he has to transmit the mysteries and beauty of the word of God.
Any given Sunday, what we really need to hear from God is being given to us by the minister. Do we have ears to hear? Any given Sunday, the truth that can and will set us free is there for the taking, if we would open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and allow him to plant it deep within, bearing fruit. Any given Sunday the seed of the word goes forth, falling on different kinds of soil.
Any given Sunday, faithful sheep listen attentively to the pastor, gleaning truth. That same Sunday, life happens, as it is always seems to. We genuinely are barraged with the cares of this life, the real duties, the busy schedules…even on a Sunday. That evening, we can’t even remember what the pastor taught on. Don’t feel condemned! When a professor of Bible study at a solid seminary asked his students (future pastors, Bible teachers and local church leaders) if they remembered what their own pastors had preached the previous Sunday, only half raised their hands. When the professor pressed further and asked, “how many of you have actually studied and done something with what the pastor preached,” two individuals raised their hands. The tenured professor was shocked! “Wow! This is really good! Normally, only one person raises their hand.” Frightening isn’t it? If future Christian leaders do so little with the word of God on any given Sunday, what does that mean about the average Christian in the pew?
How true is that scenario of our own lives? How would we fair if our pastor were to ask two hours after church had ended how many remembered his message from that morning? I don’t want you to feel alone, so I’ll be honest with you. I myself am quite embarrassed to say that on many Sundays, I have not remembered the title of my pastor’s message or many of the points that were made. I have often forgotten on Monday what was preached on Sunday.
Any given Sunday, a good pastor would be just fine if you forgot the title of his sermon. He would be perfectly okay with you forgetting 95% of his message. This is what he cares about, did you hear God speak? What were the one or two main things that God himself impressed on your heart? Did he convict you? Did he encourage you? What did God say?! Imagine the thrill of being a shepherd and knowing that someone wrote down one point from what you studied and gave from your heart. Imagine still the enthrallment that a person would actually pray over that point and say to God, “work this in my life!” Ponder the tears in your eyes that would form, as a person says they have been transformed by God, and that message you thought no one “got” was gotten by someone and that someone was delivered and strengthened!
“On any given Sunday you’re either gonna win or lose…” which will you do?
Andrew Wilkes