Hot Fudge Sundaes

I read this interesting story about hot fudge sundaes. The combination of hot and cold got my attention. I hope you enjoy this little piece of history: In 1890, a Wisconsin merchant named Smithson came up with a creative way to cope with his Sunday afternoon shortages of ice cream. With no Sunday deliveries, but with crowds of people with a welcome day off wanting ice cream, he thought of a way to stretch his supply. He began cutting back on the amount of ice cream he scooped and added toppings of chocolate sauce or fruit syrups instead. These Sunday creations became all the rage. Soon “Sundays” were being requested every day of the week. Not until some sensitive souls complained about using the name of the Sabbath for a sweet treat did Smithson change the spelling of his delicious invention to “sundae.” Who doesn’t enjoy a good hot fudge sundae . . . on any day of the week?!

It is that hot/cold double identity that makes the hot fudge sundae the perfect post-modern dessert. Post-modern culture is in love with combining opposites. Post-modern culture is about “both/and” reality. However, sometimes that is nothing more than the middle ground. Have you looked around and noticed that the middle ground isn’t near as safe as it use to be? What is happening to the middle class, middle management, or the middle-sized business? Middle use to be considered safe, defensible ground. Now it is a place where you can get hit in both directions and not know which end is up. We should have all listened when we told our children that it is just not safe to play in the middle of the road.

This analogy couldn’t be any more true than when you read the message of the Bible. Jesus never claimed, “I am the middle ground.” And when it comes to being in the middle, our Scripture this Sunday is going to point to how nauseating it is to the Lord that so many people choose to walk the middle of the road when it comes to their commitment to Christ. Sunday will be challenging, however the possibilities are especially exciting.

"He Loves Me"

“He loves me; he loves me not. He loves me; he loves me not.” The picture is of a little girl standing in the background chanting as she plucks petals, one by one, from a daisy and drops them on the ground. At game’s end, the last petal tells all: Whether or not the person desired returns the affection. We may not take seriously that game because of the fickleness of chance, but too often we approach our spiritual life with God in a similar vein.

• I got a raise. He loves me.
• I didn’t get the promotion I wanted; I lost my job altogether. He loves me not.
• Something in the Bible inspired me today. He loves me.
• My child is seriously ill. He loves me not.
• I gave money to someone in need. He loves me.
• I let my anger get the best of me. He loves me not.
• Something for which I prayed actually happened. He loves me.
• I stretched the truth to get myself out of a tight spot. He loves me not.
• A friend called me unexpectedly to encourage me. He loves me.
• My car needs a new transmission. He loves me not.

How stable can a life be when internally we respond with such a haphazard and fickle approach? Obviously it doesn’t work. It is one of the key reasons why our lives are described in the Bible as being tossed about like the waves of the sea.

We began with the first principle last Sunday in an eight-part series on spiritual principles that lead to deeper growth. Our series is entitled “Filling the Holes in Your Soul.” The first principle was “admitting your need for help.” The next principle is believing that God wants to help you . . . that he really loves you.

Faith Reflected in Love

As I preparing for Sunday, I was studying in 1 Corinthians. The Corinthians were an immature lot, but genuinely saved. They were focusing on minor subjects and missing the major issues. Several times in the first letter to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul tries to motivate them by reminding them that they would stand before Christ one day. As I was reading through the letter I came to this most marvelous chapter on love. Agape love. The word for love is the Bible is the foundation of maturity. The Apostle Paul told the Galatians the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. You probably know 1 Corinthians 13 fairly well. It says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast . . .” In verse 3 the Apostle Paul wrote, “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” There is no value to doing these things without love; without the right motives there is no reward. Love is risky. A lover is a risk taker. Loving children is risky, marriage is risky, loving people of other nations is risky, and loving people in church is the most risky of all. The more we love the more likely we are to get hurt. Jesus took the risk of loving and was crucified. But what is not acceptable for us is to bury our “talent” of love in the ground and refuse to take the risk of loving. When I use that word “talent,” I am referring to the parable of talents, when one person was given five talents, another two talents and then another person only had one talent and buried it. Love is the bottom line of a faith lived out. When we stand before Jesus one day, I believe he will be evaluating how we loved. You know what the Bible says, “Love never fails.” Won’t you risk loving? . . .

Teach Our Children

Praying is on my mind. I was delighted to have so many people respond this past Sunday with the commitment to seek God in prayer on a daily basis. May the Lord bless you as you pursue him. One of my strongest prayers is for our investment in the lives of children. Jesus showed a clear sense of love and concern for children, something that was rare in that day. As we follow the steps of Jesus and bless children, God will bless us. There is a calling on a church body for the development of spiritual understanding for children as they learn the truth of God’s Word. We are the dispensers of that truth. Our Children’s Ministry is key to whether God will bless us or not. If we are faithful to our children, God will put us in charge of even more things.

The Scripture is clear when it challenges parents to instruct their children. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says it in a very clear and challenging way.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

May our relationship with Jesus Christ be expressed and impressed on our children as they see our faith as the most integral part of our lives, then the covenant of Jesus will be passed down in a healthy and strong way, and the legacy of our faith will continue well beyond our lifetime.

Just Do It!

When Johnny Jones, living in a middle-class suburb in central California, made a commitment to pray five blessings on five neighbors for five minutes a day for five days a week for five weeks, surprising things began to happen. One neighbor asked him how she could have a personal relationship with Christ. When Johnny shared the Gospel with her, she accepted Christ as her Savior. A drug-dealing neighbor asked Johnny to pray for him and help him turn his life around and get out of the drug business. A Buddhist couple from across the street asked if they could go to church with Johnny’s family. And a Hispanic couple living next door asked him to start a Bible study for their neighborhood. Johnny Jones’ prayers mattered to God. They provided God the opportunity he was looking for to work in the hearts and lives of Johnny’s neighbors.

I read that story in a magazine article on the subject of prayer, of course. If you take a close notice of the story, you will realize that four neighbors are mentioned and yet the story presents five neighbors being prayed for. I think that is realistic also. Nevertheless, prayer matters to God. As I conclude this series on prayer this coming Sunday, I have a sense there is more to learn about prayer. I also believe that what God wants to do for us in prayer is just beginning. There is so much more that he has in mind. I know that things don’t just change around after a six-week series on prayer, but I do hope you will sense how significant this gift is as a real and deep connection with God, inviting us to release our request and to know him better, and to be totally honest with our loving God.

Prayer Changes Me

Here is another thought provoking story – Four associates were playing a round of golf on Sunday morning. None of their scores was good. On top of their embarrassment it began to rain. The men returned to the clubhouse only to learn that the electrical power line had been hit by lightening so the restaurant was closed. As the men prepared to rush for their cars, one of them remarked, “We could have just as well gone to church this morning.” Another of the men disagreed, “Oh, I couldn’t have gone to church, anyway. My wife is sick in bed this morning.”

The title of that story is “Bad Day for Church.” I know pastors are supposed to care about church attendance. At times in church history, church attendance had been associated with being a “good” Christian. There are many different mixed messages about attending, which can feel like obligation, or even legalism. But there are two things that come to my mind when I think of people making church a priority.

1. The Bible commands the followers of Christ to assemble together. In Hebrews 10:25 it says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” The word is assembled, and sometimes translated “worshipping together.” It is something God wants us to do.

2. I have noticed over the years a correlation between God at work in someone’s heart and seeing them at church more often. When God is stirring someone about their spiritual condition, the challenging circumstances of their life or many other kinds of needs, people move towards God through attending church. Your spiritual temperature will often dictate your desire to worship God, be with other believers and study His Word. If those things aren’t very important to you, that usually indicates your spiritual fervor is stagnant or even on the decline.

Like so many people do in blogs, if you have a comment on what I have just said, feel free to send me a note as a reply to this e-mail. I want to fan your desire to be a part of our worship connection here at New Harvest because God commands it and it reflects your desire for the things of God.

Repeating the Same

The definition of insanity has become mainstream. I have read that it is attributed to Albert Einstein. Simply put it says – “Doing something over and over expecting different results.” We have enhanced the wording to say, “repeating the same behaviors and expecting different results.” Of course that is the same definition. It is so much easier to point at others who you know that keep doing the same thing over and over again, and yet on the other hand, just miss how often you and I live up to the definition as well. The phrase that would fit would be “creatures of habit.” There is a sense of comfort in doing what comes natural, even if it is actually harmful to our well-being. One author said that it takes quite a bit of pain for us to finally realize that what we are doing isn’t working. There is evidence of this tendency at work in the disciples as we look at the feeding of the 4,000 this Sunday. Yes, I said 4,000 not 5,000. That is an interesting aspect in and of itself. I think God has given me some helpful insights into this repetitive behavior that is actually very predictable and leads to the same results. Hope you will join me this Sunday as I share a message entitled “Repeating the Same.”