Coffee With The Lord

Important dinner guests deserve to be served on the best china!  At “state dinners” the very best is served on the very best table settings available to impress and honor the guests (see the pic)!  My mother had some really nice china and silverware that she reserved for special occasions.  It wasn’t for everyday use – it only came out for very special occasions!

As I read II Timothy 2:20-26 this morning during “coffee with the Lord” this thought entered my mind: Followers of Jesus should serve up authentic Christianity on their very best “china.”

Here’s what the passage says…

“Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be A VESSEL FOR HONORABLE USE, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.  So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.  Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.  And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”

Every person is precious and important in the Lord’s eyes.  As Christians, we have a responsibility to seek to influence them to become followers of Jesus!  To use the analog of the passage, we should seek to “serve up Christianity on our very best china!”  Our lives should be pure and clean and our behavior should be Christlike!  We should be “ready for every good work.”  This passage identifies several things that should set us apart for maximum influence:  Sexual purity, righteousness, faith, love, peace and a pure heart.  We should not be cantankerous or argumentative.  Instead kindness, patience and gentleness should characterize our lives.

Oh, here is the cry of my heart… “Lord, help me serve up Christianity on my very best china!” I want to make a positive impression on others for “following Jesus” with my life, don’t you?

2 Samuel 22:  Fifty-one verses of deep gratitude for God’s care and deliverance! 

Don’t know if you’ve ever had a determined adversary – someone who was insanely dedicated to your destruction – there are some believers in Afghanistan who are facing that today.  And David faced that reality in the Bible.  His name was Saul…  Saul hunted David like an animal.  Chased him like incessantly.  Plotted to kill him.  And that was the return David received for vowing that he would never “touch God’s anointed” and do Saul no harm! 

2 Samuel 22 is a song of incredible relief – of great gratitude – for God’s protection and deliverance from a human adversary like Saul!  It is filled with graphic imagery that begs for your imagination… believe me, it’s worth reading!  Here’s just a taste of its themes…

“And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.  He said, ‘The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior! You save me from violence.  I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies… In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I called.  From His temple He heard my voice and my cry came to His ears… He bowed the heavens and came down… He sent from on high, he took me; He drew me out of many waters.  He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me… He brought me out into a broad place; He rescued me, because he delighted in me! … This God – His way is perfect; the word of God proves true!  He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him! … The Lord lives!  Blessed by my Rock, and exalted be my God, the Rock of my salvation.’” (From 2 Samuel 22 ESV)

According to the Bible, we all have a determined “adversary” – the devil!  He is not imaginary!  His methods are devious, his objective is your eternal destruction, his home is hell… The Bible says, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)  His goal, like a thief, is to “steal, kill and destroy”!  But the “Good Shepherd” – your Deliverer – “lays down His life for you” and his objective is “that you might have life and have it abundantly!” (from John 10:10-11) 

So here’s the deal… Those fifty-one verses of 2 Samuel 22 aren’t just David’s song of deliverance… They can be your as well!!  And to that I say, Praise the Lord!!!

Sooner or later it will happen to us all… God’s word will say something we don’t understand… Or the Lord will require something of us that offends our sensibilities… Or something will happen to us – something God allows – that we will have a terrible time processing!  And the issue will be, how are we going to respond – what are we going to do about it?  Will we continue to trust, follow, and love the Lord, or will we be offended, “abandon ship,” and drift away in disappointment, disillusionment…even anger?

It happened to some who had begun following Jesus in the New Testament – the fact is, some of the “apostles” were even at risk! 

Jesus had said some perplexing things – some things that challenged the sensibilities of His followers – some things they found it difficult to process… Here’s the account of it in the Bible: 

“When many of His disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’ But Jesus, knowing in Himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, ‘Do you take offense at this?  Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life!  But there are some of you who do not believe… This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.’  After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.  So Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’  Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God!’”(John 6:60–69 ESV)

Listen, I am certain that somewhere, sometime, something will happen, something will come my way in my walk with the Lord that I don’t understand, something I find difficult to process, something that even offends me.  What will I do in that situation and circumstance?  Will I allow what happens to become an insurmountable barrier to my trust in the Lord?  Will I in disillusionment draw back, distance myself from the Lord and cease to follow Him in faith and love?  Oh, I pray I won’t!  Instead, may my response echo and mirror that of Peter, “Lord, to whom shall I go!  You are the One who has the words that lead to eternal life!  I have believed, and have come to know [regardless of what life brings – or what God may allow] that you are the Holy One of God!”