Coffee With The Lord

Sometimes Christians act like little children – “tattle tales” on a playground – they run to their teacher and say… that group or person over there (as they point emphatically with their “spiritual” finger) don’t believe exactly like we do, they don’t play by the same “spiritual” rules, they’re not doing the Lord’s work just like we do it! Someone needs to stop them!! They’ll ruin everything!!”

How do you think the Lord responds when we act like that?

Good question! Do you think He says, “Thank you for that important information! You’re exactly right! I’m going to go over and put a stop to what they’re doing ‘in my Name’ and on my behalf right now!! Or does He respond with a rebuke to the “Tattletale” – just like a parent or teacher sometimes does on the playground?

Well, fortunately we’re not left in doubt… There is a situation just like that in the Bible…

“John spoke up, ‘Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group!’ Jesus wasn’t pleased. ‘Don’t stop him! No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. If he’s not our enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving someone a cup of water in my name is on our side! Count on it – God will notice!’ On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t! You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck!” (from Mark 9:38-42 the Message)

Just gotta say, I don’t want to behave like a spiritual “tattletale” – somehow I don’t think the Lord has changed his attitude about it. I admit, there are some things that really matter – like the truth of “the Gospel”! But simply complaining about the fact that a fellow Christian isn’t in “our group” or differences in “ministry style” or making a big deal about minor differences of in doctrine, won’t win the approval of the Lord.

I had two wonderful pastors as a boy growing up in Western Montana… Pastor Leon Mitchell and Pastor Kenneth Peterson – Wonderful, godly men who served the Lord, their congregations and communities very well (now both with the Lord). Men I could look up to, role models, consistent and caring. Men of “the Word”, the Spirit, prayer, faith, hope and love.

I’m giving them this brief tribute today… but they really don’t need it… the lives of the people they served really provide the tribute – their recommendation. Thought about that this morning as I read this passage during “coffee with the Lord”… 2 Corinthians 3:1–6

“Do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Now the impact of these men has been great on my life … I’ve followed in their footsteps and have served as a pastor for many years. At SAGU (Southwestern Assemblies of God University) and elsewhere I’ve trained pastors. Oh how I love those I’ve served! What an honor to have invested in their lives! IF I NEEDED A RECOMMENDATION, I’D LOOK TO THEM AS MY RECOMMENDATION! CHANGED LIVES! NOTHING LIKE CHANGED LIVES!

My Bible reading this morning included Psalm 60 which seemed appropriate in light of what has transpired in the past weeks and months in our nation and world… I’m almost afraid to read or watch the news. My prayer is that you will let the truth of it challenge your heart as it did mine this morning and see if you don’t find its message appropriate and challenging…

“God! you walked off and left us, kicked our defenses to bits and stalked off angry. Come back. Oh please, come back! You shook earth to the foundations, ripped open huge crevasses. Heal the breaks! Everything’s coming apart at the seams… But then you planted a flag to rally your people, an unfurled flag to look to for courage. Now do something quickly, answer right now, so the ones you love best are saved… You aren’t giving up on us, are you, God? … Give us help for the hard task; human help is worthless. In God we’ll do our very best; He’ll flatten the opposition for good.” (from Psalm 60 The Message)

One thing for sure… I don’t want this nation I love to fit the description of Judah I read this morning in Jeremiah 22.21: “I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me!”

“YOU AREN’T GIVING UP ON US, ARE YOU GOD? GIVE US HELP… HUMAN HELP IS WORTHLESS!”