Rejoicing at the Wrong Time

Peter and John were having a great time in Acts 4 and 5. People were being healed as the Holy Spirit worked through them and in turn many people were turning to faith in Christ. This got the religious leaders of the day up in arms and more than once they were brought before the Sanhedrin to get what was due them. 

Since the Jewish council could not discount the miracles that were taking place they decided that Peter and John should stop preaching in the name of Jesus, healing in the name of Jesus, in short...stop mentioning the name of Jesus. It was making them all look bad.

The apostles' response? Acts 5:29-32 "We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--who you had killed by hanging him on a tree. (Nice dig!) God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."

As you would imagine, the men of the Sanhedrin were a tad upset. Not only had they ordered these men to stop speaking the name of Jesus, the apostles had just preached at them in their own council! They wanted the apostles dead. But the wisdom of a Pharisee named Gamaliel spared the apostles (read about in Acts 5) and they were only flogged and sent on their way, again orderied not to speak in the name of Jesus.

Acts 5:41 "The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name."

Verse 41 got me thinking. Have I ever rejoiced because I have been counted worthy to suffer disgrace for Christ? Have I ever done anything that would bring me disgrace because of my stand for Christ? This is sort of radical, isn't it? 

I am used to rejoicing when God has answered some amazing prayer for me. I am quick to rejoice when the church is full and people come to know Christ. I am thankful when my position as Pastor puts me in places to see God move and minister. I rejoice when I am supposed to...when everything is going right. 

But when someone won't talk to me because I stand for Christ, do I rejoice then? When I am given the silent treatment and awkward glances when I make the case for God, do I rejoice then?

When I am treated differently because of my faith in Christ, do I rejoice then? 

Or do I try to curry favor with those who oppose me?

The apostles rejoiced at the wrong time. They continued to speak the Truth without compromising their stand. They spoke plainly to those who would come against them, rightly saying "We need to listen to God." 

Their rejection, their suffering, their disgrace probably did not feel good yet the apostles rejoiced for the privilege of being counted worthy to suffer for Christ. How often do I have the opportunity to rejoice at the wrong time?

GOD AND TECHNOLOGY

I am sitting in Caribou Coffee this morning enjoying a cup of Joe and taking in the storm clouds that are hovering over the Twin Cities. As I write on my laptop I am simultaneously syncing my tablet because I just upgraded Patty's Spotify to Premium so that she may have her music as she is away to Maine at Bible Camp. To my right is my cell phone, charging for the day ahead.

At a table in front of me is another gentleman who is working on his laptop while he listens to music from his tablet. Ear buds in place, he has created a virtual cubicle to do his work. Just a few moments ago a young man worked his way just behind me in order to plug in his laptop and is now studiously surveying whatever he has pulled across his screen.

Technology. Gotta love it!

Some, though, do not. Some think technology is evil. Some think technology deepens and hastens depravity of mankind. It may...

All I know is that on my cell phone this morning was a message from one of my parishioners praising God that her tests came back in the most positive of ways.  I proceeded to jump on Facebook and message my church group so they could celebrate with her and be affirmed that God is answering prayer.

This morning I will have read some blog posts from some pastor friends of mine, inspiring me with the wisdom God has brought to them. That wisdom is now shared with me and hundreds, (thousands?) of others through the wonder of technology.

While preparing my sermon I can google and biblos my way to illustrations and translations that make the message God has placed on my heart for His people more relevant, more understandable and easier to apply to their hungry hearts.

As I write this, Missionaries all over the world are using cutting edge technology to reach the people God has placed on their heart. Technology allows me to support them financially and to encourage them prayerfully in the most immediate way possible.

I can only surmise that when Christ said we would go to the ends of the earth, modern-day technology must play a part.

For every positive I can give you for the use of technology, many can come up with a counterpoint of negative use of technology. Pornography is more easily accessible. Marriages are broken as lost loves are found and present loves are abandoned for the thrill of re-capturing the affections of our youth. Financial schemes and scams find their way past the most severe level of protection. Hateful, hurtful words and bullying hide behind the safety of the WEB.

Like most things it is not the things we use, it is how we use them. The tried and true principles of the Bible carry over to technology as well. The Golden Rule is just as Golden be it face-to-face or on Facebook. The love and honor I show my wife should be just as consistent on the WEB as it is as I walk with her hand in hand.

Ultimately, God will never rely on technology to reach our world for Christ. Modern-day technology is just a tool, as earth-shaking for our day as the Guttenberg Press was in its day.
It is never the tool but the heart of the one using the tool that determines the good and evil purpose of anything.

Used for the purposes of God, technology has shaped and will shape our generation, until Christ returns. If I may paraphrase Matthew 12:34 "Out of the overflow of the heart the [technology] speaks." Keep our hearts pure before God, keep our motives pure before God and today's technology remains a tool used by God to reach the hearts of the lost.

BLOCK

     I detest, I despise, I am frustrated with writer's block. I can always tell I have hit the very bottom of the barrel during writer's block when I begin to write about the BLOCK.
     I am not all that sure why I get frustrated with the BLOCK. I don't make my living with my pen, so I will eat tomorrow. I have no deadlines to meet, so I will sleep well tonight. There aren't any people whose lives will be changed by the few words I would possibly write, so my conscience is clear. Yet I am in the midst of the longest BLOCK I have ever been in and what comes to mind is: "Will I ever be able to string a sentence together ever again? A sentence that does not pertain to the BLOCK?"
     The most frustrating thing about this BLOCK is that a tremendous inspiration explodes in my brain but by the time I write the first word of whatever that inspiration it explodes again. This time like a pen that has gone through the dryer in my pocket. A mess, in other words.
     I have done all the tricks. Free associated on paper. Read a bunch of my previous writing. (Don't do this during a BLOCK because then even the old stuff looks really bad!) I have gone off to a quiet place. Sat in a familiar place. Kept a notebook at hand to write anything that may be the seed of something worth expanding on paper. Blocked. BLOCKED. BLOCKED!
     The interesting thing is that I do make my living with words. Every Sunday I have the privilege to stand in front of a great bunch of people and preach out of God's Word. No BLOCK, but then, again, I have some help of the spiritual sort.
     I am thankful for this, then: God is never BLOCKED. "I will never leave you nor forsake you." "Draw near to me and I will draw near to you." "If you seek me you shall find me." "Lo, I am with you always. Even unto the end of the age." And even unto the end of the BLOCK.
   

Faith

One of my favorite authors, Christian or Secular, is Philip Yancey. His many books have challenged me, inspired me, and have helped me grow in my walk with Christ. Yancey is a constant companion. What I appreciate about Philip Yancey is his honesty about his journey of faith that at times has been riddled with doubt.

While perusing the bargain shelves of a Christian Bookstore I found a prayer journal by Yancey called "Keeping Company with God". Though I probably would not have picked it up for the original $16 price, the bargain price of $2.97 made it worth the risk. And I am glad I took the risk.

Prayer is supposed to be a constant in our faith. I envy people who easily pray to God as if He is sitting across from them in Panera Bread. As I have matured in my faith I have found prayer to not be a chore or an obligation but a privilege and a discipline I have developed. Faith dictates that God hears me. I believe this and so I pray.

In Yancey's prayer journal he asks this question of the reader "How do you react when your doubts make it difficult to pray?" Following is my response. Not sure if it answers the question but it provoked thought and....faith. I hope it encourages you as well.

Is there a time when I pray that there isn't a bit of doubt? Isn't that, for me, part of my faith: That I continue to pray though I do not see happening what I have prayed for? Does it not take faith to pray even if you think you are not being heard?


As I wonder about the slowness or quickness of the answer  what I think  may be a point of immediacy or urgency may not be with God. Since God sets outside of time, the word NOW does not apply to Him. It just is. 


I have found that any doubt I have has never been centered around the word 'can'. I have no doubt that God "can" do anything and everything. The word for me is "will". Will God do what he most certainly can?


I have friends with terminal cancer, a father with Parkinsons. Will God? I need a financial boost. Will God? Our church needs space and workers and needs them NOW! Will God?


God can. Will He? If not, why not? If so, when?


For some strange reason these thoughts strengthen my faith more than weaken it. God has not ceded being God by the requests of his people, but continues to prove He is God by answering any prayer in the best way and at the best time. God can and God will. When is not up to me, but to Him.


Faith.


Hebrews 11:13 gives insight to my faith walk when speaking of the giants of faith: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.


My prayer is that my faith grows so that I can welcome what I have been promised, what I have prayed for, from a distance. Things may not happen in my life time or  in my place. But God can. And faith within me says "God will."