It pains me to look out my front door in the spring and summer.
Most days, I try to avoid it as much as possible.
Not that I have a problem with the neighbors. I don't care about teenagers' cars parked in the street. I'm not concerned about any litter that has found its way into my front yard.
I don't even get upset anymore about people who drive way too fast down our cul-de-sac street.
The reason I hate to look out my front door...every single day in the spring and summer...is because I know what I will see popping up in my garden – WEEDS!
I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate weeds!
No matter how hard I work at trying to get rid of them...no matter how many times I send my son, Jordan, outside with weed-killer in hand...they just keep coming back.
I pull them. They come back.
I spray them. They come back.
I cut them. They come back.
I dig them up. They come back.
Just when I think they are all gone...when I finally feel that I can rest from my weed-whacking...just when I start to feel pretty good about how our garden looks...
...I take a peek out of my front door and there they are, popping up again!
It is a never-ending battle that I just can't seem to win.
In a way, weeds remind me a lot of sin.
Just like weeds, sin keeps popping up in my life no matter how hard I work to get rid of it. I try to pull out sin by the roots, promising myself that I will "never do that again."
But it comes back.
I try to spray out sin by sheer willpower, striving every day to do and say only the "right things."
It comes back.
I cut out sin by praying for help to "be stronger the next time."
It comes back.
I dig out sin by filling my free time with spiritual pursuits.
It comes back.
Like weeds, when I think I have overcome sin...when I finally feel I can rest...when I start to feel good about how well I am doing...
...there it is again, popping up in the garden of my life.
I just can't seem to win this never-ending battle against sin.
And the truth is, I can't win it.
I have a sin nature that is a part of me, no matter how "good" I try to be every day. There is only one way to get rid of these weeds of sin...I have to seek God's forgiveness through my faith in Jesus.
Here is how Paul described it in his letter to the Roman church...
"What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it...I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help!
I realize I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't do it. I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway...something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time...Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions...Those who enter into Christ's being here for us no longer have to live under a continuous black cloud...The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death." (The Message, Romans 7:15-25, 8:1-2 selections)
The good news is that some day, I won't need to worry about the weeds in my garden anymore. When Jesus comes again, He will create a new earth which I believe will be without weeds.
And I will live with Him there, in a place where sin is gone forever too.
Pastor Greg
Monday, April 19, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Channel Surfing
If I position the rabbit ears just right, I can pick up four main stations on the television set in our family room...channels 5, 9, 12, and 19.
But, no matter how long I play around with various combinations of antennae positioning between the two long, straight antennas, the center round antenna, and the calibration dial on the base, in the final analysis, channel 5 is always grainy...channel 9 goes in and out of focus depending on which way the wind blows...and channels 12 and 19 are real troopers, generally giving pretty good reception no matter what.
I must confess that I really do not have a "favorite" among these four local stations. When it comes to television shows, I choose the station based on the program I want to watch, regardless of the channel. For local news and weather, I watch the station which is NOT running a commercial, channel-surfing between all four and, in the process, driving my wife crazy.
Why don't I get cable? That is another story, although you are getting close if you know how to spell the word, "c-h-e-a-p-s-k-a-t-e." This fact has been a never-ending source of embarrassment for my children, ever since they were old enough to realize that their friends were watching shows which they had never heard of.
When the weather turns bad and the snow begins to fall, we turn on the TV early in the morning at our house. We do this so we can see the list of closings running along the bottom of the screen on all four channels. Of course, since we can't really read the letters clearly on channels 5 and 9 due to the grainy or out-of-focus pictures, we are usually glued to either channels 12 or 19.
If the bad weather hits on a Sunday, it is my job as the pastor to contact these four stations whenever we need to cancel a service. The process of getting on those television lists is quite interesting.
Channels 5 and 19 are happy to take the information over the phone. No questions asked. Just call the news desk, give them the information, and in a matter of minutes, "Walnut Hills Baptist Church" shows up every time their lists finally roll around to the "W's."
Channel 9, however, refuses to take closing requests over the phone. If you want your church's name added to their list, you must submit the information via email. Unfortunately, finding the proper email address on their website is like finding the proverbial "needle in a haystack." Still, if you follow the rules, you can get on their list.
Channel 12, on the other hand, is a different story altogether. The only way to get on their list is to have a special ID number...and to know the double-secret probation password. From their standpoint, this is an important process because it is a safeguard against "just anyone" putting our church on the closings list. In their minds, it keeps those cagey choir members from calling the station and cancelling a service just because they don't really feel like singing (or hearing the sermon) that day. No ID number...no password...no listing.
In a way, these television stations are not unlike some religions. The way they handle their closings has a similarity to the way some religions handle their beliefs.
For example, some religions, or religious denominations, require that their members possess some type of secret knowledge known only to them. It is through this secret understanding of scripture...this secret code...this secret key...this secret password or handshake or belief system that makes it possible for them to approach God and get into heaven. Theirs is a channel 12 faith.
On the other hand, some religions or denominations require a strict observance of a specific set of rules and regulations. You must "do" this. You must not "do" that. God is available to you and heaven is possible only if you follow the prescribed path without deviating. Theirs is a channel 9 faith.
The problem is that Jesus did not go to the cross so He could make God available to only a select few people who have a certain secret knowledge. And He did not die on Calvary to give us a new set of rules and regulations to meticulously follow if we want to get to heaven.
Instead, Jesus came to die so that EVERYONE who wants to be on HIS list, can be.
There is no secret...the way to get on God's list, the list of everlasting life, has been proclaimed for centuries. There is no long and grueling set of rules which must be followed or else. There is only one rule: Realize that through Jesus, and what He did on the cross, you can have your sins forgiven and by so doing, enter into God's presence for eternity.
Jesus, by what He did on the cross, opened the way to heaven for us all.
Paul put it this way in his letter to the Ephesians..."In Him (in Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses."
In his book, "Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die," author John Piper describes it like this..."Forgiveness costs us nothing. All our costly obedience is the fruit, not the root, of being forgiven. That's why we call it grace. But it cost Jesus his life. That is why we call it just. Oh, how precious is the news that God does not hold our sins against us! And how beautiful is Christ, whose blood made it right for God to do this!"
That is a channel 5 and channel 19 faith...available to all who call.
May this be the kind of faith you know in your walk with God. If it is, you will be on HIS list when the "roll is called up yonder!"
God's blessings,
Pastor Greg
But, no matter how long I play around with various combinations of antennae positioning between the two long, straight antennas, the center round antenna, and the calibration dial on the base, in the final analysis, channel 5 is always grainy...channel 9 goes in and out of focus depending on which way the wind blows...and channels 12 and 19 are real troopers, generally giving pretty good reception no matter what.
I must confess that I really do not have a "favorite" among these four local stations. When it comes to television shows, I choose the station based on the program I want to watch, regardless of the channel. For local news and weather, I watch the station which is NOT running a commercial, channel-surfing between all four and, in the process, driving my wife crazy.
Why don't I get cable? That is another story, although you are getting close if you know how to spell the word, "c-h-e-a-p-s-k-a-t-e." This fact has been a never-ending source of embarrassment for my children, ever since they were old enough to realize that their friends were watching shows which they had never heard of.
When the weather turns bad and the snow begins to fall, we turn on the TV early in the morning at our house. We do this so we can see the list of closings running along the bottom of the screen on all four channels. Of course, since we can't really read the letters clearly on channels 5 and 9 due to the grainy or out-of-focus pictures, we are usually glued to either channels 12 or 19.
If the bad weather hits on a Sunday, it is my job as the pastor to contact these four stations whenever we need to cancel a service. The process of getting on those television lists is quite interesting.
Channels 5 and 19 are happy to take the information over the phone. No questions asked. Just call the news desk, give them the information, and in a matter of minutes, "Walnut Hills Baptist Church" shows up every time their lists finally roll around to the "W's."
Channel 9, however, refuses to take closing requests over the phone. If you want your church's name added to their list, you must submit the information via email. Unfortunately, finding the proper email address on their website is like finding the proverbial "needle in a haystack." Still, if you follow the rules, you can get on their list.
Channel 12, on the other hand, is a different story altogether. The only way to get on their list is to have a special ID number...and to know the double-secret probation password. From their standpoint, this is an important process because it is a safeguard against "just anyone" putting our church on the closings list. In their minds, it keeps those cagey choir members from calling the station and cancelling a service just because they don't really feel like singing (or hearing the sermon) that day. No ID number...no password...no listing.
In a way, these television stations are not unlike some religions. The way they handle their closings has a similarity to the way some religions handle their beliefs.
For example, some religions, or religious denominations, require that their members possess some type of secret knowledge known only to them. It is through this secret understanding of scripture...this secret code...this secret key...this secret password or handshake or belief system that makes it possible for them to approach God and get into heaven. Theirs is a channel 12 faith.
On the other hand, some religions or denominations require a strict observance of a specific set of rules and regulations. You must "do" this. You must not "do" that. God is available to you and heaven is possible only if you follow the prescribed path without deviating. Theirs is a channel 9 faith.
The problem is that Jesus did not go to the cross so He could make God available to only a select few people who have a certain secret knowledge. And He did not die on Calvary to give us a new set of rules and regulations to meticulously follow if we want to get to heaven.
Instead, Jesus came to die so that EVERYONE who wants to be on HIS list, can be.
There is no secret...the way to get on God's list, the list of everlasting life, has been proclaimed for centuries. There is no long and grueling set of rules which must be followed or else. There is only one rule: Realize that through Jesus, and what He did on the cross, you can have your sins forgiven and by so doing, enter into God's presence for eternity.
Jesus, by what He did on the cross, opened the way to heaven for us all.
Paul put it this way in his letter to the Ephesians..."In Him (in Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses."
In his book, "Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die," author John Piper describes it like this..."Forgiveness costs us nothing. All our costly obedience is the fruit, not the root, of being forgiven. That's why we call it grace. But it cost Jesus his life. That is why we call it just. Oh, how precious is the news that God does not hold our sins against us! And how beautiful is Christ, whose blood made it right for God to do this!"
That is a channel 5 and channel 19 faith...available to all who call.
May this be the kind of faith you know in your walk with God. If it is, you will be on HIS list when the "roll is called up yonder!"
God's blessings,
Pastor Greg
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