“So with yourselves since you are eager… strive to excel in
building up the church” (I Corinthians 14:12).

One of the things I enjoy the most about reading the Bible is the wonderful manner in which God brings passages to light that I’ve never noticed before. Such is the case with the verse cited above. It comes from the pen of Paul in the midst of a lengthy section where he instructed the Corinthians regarding the proper functioning of the church.

Now as you know, the church in Corinth was not functioning in a way Paul approved of. Spiritual gifts were abused, people were selfish in sharing meals together, and in general their worship was confusing and disordered. Yet after admonishing and instructing them in these things, Paul left them with a very simple formula for proper church functioning. He wrote, “Strive to excel in building up the church.” You see, it was not their eagerness that was the problem, but rather the way in which they misinterpreted the best way to build up the church.

As I’ve reviewed the things Paul was concerned about, what I noted was that they were selfish toward one another in meeting physical needs, misguided about the proper use of spiritual gifts, intent on making something of themselves, and in general dysfunctional and ineffective in their witness for Christ. Sounds like much of the church scene today, would you agree?

What does it mean to “strive to excel in building up the church”? Well, as I’ve thought about that, several things came to mind. First, our lives should be such that we bring no reproach to the church. That means that when outsiders see how we live, they think well of the church we identify with. Second, it means that no one in the church has any personal agendas. As a body, we must strive to be unified in purpose and desires, doing as Paul said: “putting the needs of others above our own.”

Third, we should be passionate about serving the needs of the church. Fourth, we serve the church well when we worship wholeheartedly. Yes, worship is a form of serving the church because it puts God where he belongs, fully deserving of our worship. And finally, we serve the church when we honor the scriptures, allowing God’s word to penetrate our hearts and change our behavior.

We are blessed as a congregation to see these things in our midst. Yet for God’s glory and our good, I am jealous for more. Paul said, “Strive to excel in building up the church.” The word strive means to “crave.” By God’s grace, let’s join together and crave to honor Christ as we excel in building up his church!

“And the Lord added to their numbers day by day…” (Acts 2:47).

Every time I read the above passage, I am reminded of the power of the word of God, and for this reason. The early church had no understanding of or gimmicks for church growth. They did not have a library of church growth books or materials. They did not have church health or church growth seminars to attend, no church growth experts to consult, no DVD’s on how to grow a church. They had no such things. In light of that, how do we best understand Luke’s words, “And the Lord added to their numbers”? I see two things that account for their growth.

First, note the phrase, “the Lord added.” The right type of church growth is always of God, never of men. O yes, men can design programs, produce music, schedule activities, and in general, make growth happen. The right person, gimmick, location and music will generally result in growth. But is such growth of the Lord? In many instances the answer to that question is no.

Frankly, as a pastor, I am not interested in growing simply for the sake of growing or growing as a result of what men can do. Not interested now nor ever have been. So the first thing to understand as it relates to the growth of the early church is contained in the phrase, “And the Lord added to their numbers.” But there’s more to observe.

Earlier in the chapter we read, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching…” Later in chapter six, as their numbers grew and the work load on the apostles became quite heavy, they said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.” Those two passages contain the second reason for their growth. Simply put, they grew because the word of God has power. As the apostles preached and the people devoted themselves to their teaching, many people came to faith in Christ, Christians grew in their faith, and the church became healthy and a powerful witness to the reality of Jesus Christ.

There is a simple principle in this. Not all growing churches are healthy; yet all healthy churches grow. That’s how God honors the faithful teaching of his word. There has never been a single instance in church history when God has not honored his word by bringing health and growth to his church. Never!

Our goal at Wausau Alliance Church is to bring God’s word to God’s people. Growth and health is his business. Our mandate is to stay committed to the faithful communication of His word. Pray for your pastors and leaders in this regard. Hold us accountable. That way, as God brings health and growth, he gets all the glory. That’s the way it’s supposed to be!

“The Lord of hosts has sworn. As I have planned so shall it be, as I have purposed so shall it stand. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” (Isaiah 14:24, 27).

Who amongst us is not naturally wired to resist the sovereignty of God? It’s in our DNA to want to believe that we are in control over every facet of our lives. Am I right? Why do you think that’s the case?

Well, as I’ve considered that, I’ve come to see something unpleasant about us.  First, it’s hard for us to trust anyone, especially when unpleasant things come our way. We like to think we’re in control, thereby able to solve our problems on our own, using our abilities. And second, at the core, at the very center of our lives, is us. We have a natural bent to worship ourselves, part of which is the assumed idea that we are in control.  Hence, anyone or anything that threatens that becomes an enemy. Yes, for some the thought of God’s sovereign control over everything becomes an enemy to be fought against. How foolish!

This is where the words of Isaiah speak to us. Isaiah’s words shatter any idea that we are in control over the events of our lives. Here is what Isaiah wants us to be very clear about. The purposes, providence and plans of God will stand; not to be turned back by our false assumption that we are the ruling force in our lives. For some that represents a source of deep discouragement. For others it brings deep peace and confidence.

The more I meditate on this, the more I’ve come to see that the sovereignty of God is not a source of discouragement, but rather a fountain of great blessing, peace, and security. It boils down to this. He is in control; he always seeks my best. When unpleasant things come upon us, either suddenly or gradually, there is great peace in repeating that phrase; He is in control; He always seeks my best.

Make this very personal. What situations are you facing right now that stretch your ability to trust God? I speak with people every week who are fighting for faith in the midst of unpleasant and unexpected things. It does not matter what form it takes; we all know what it means to feel powerless in the face of life circumstances. It can cripple us in a moment or discourage us over time.  Does that describe you? If so, I have a word from Isaiah; “As I have planned so shall it be…His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” At such times, the simple reality is that He is in control; He always seeks my best. Can you say that with deepening faith and trust?

“Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress” (Judges 10:14).

The above passage represents something God said to the people of Israel after they had been sold into the hands of the Philistines. The people rebelled against the Lord. He delivered them into captivity for 18 years as judgment against them. As a result of 18 years of harsh treatment, they did what most people do when calamity and distress come. They cried out to the Lord saying, “We have sinned against you because we have forsaken our God.” That’s when God said, “Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen. Let them save you.”

As I’ve meditated on this passage, I’ve come to see that we are not much different than they. The sad truth is that we have many “gods” we cry out to. Further, much of the calamity that enters our lives is as the result of the “gods” we have cried out to. There is a very important point of application in this observation, and it’s this. Any “gods” we cry out to can never satisfy, deliver, or substitute for the one and true God.

As I’ve interacted with people over the years, I’ve come to see that the “gods” that enter our lives come in a variety of forms. For some, it’s money. For others, it’s position and prestige. Still others look to the “gods” of pleasure, leisure, possessions or other dangerously addictive things. Can I tell you quite honestly, I’ve never seen any of these other “gods” bring true and lasting satisfaction into the lives of those who cry out to them? What’s even worse is that the pursuit of these “gods” generally brings calamity and distress; emptiness and despair; pain and confusion; hopelessness and gloom. There’s a reason for that. These other “gods” are not gods at all. They are the passions of the flesh that never bring satisfaction or contentment. They do the opposite; they rob us of it.

Here’s now where this becomes personal for each of us. Are there other “gods” in your life? What have you been pursuing; what have you been crying out to? Are you satisfied by these “gods”? Of course you’re not! They can’t bring satisfaction, only a brief and deluding sense of pleasure.

What’s the solution? There is only one solution to the mistaken pursuit of other “gods”. Later in the same chapter we read, “So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord.” There’s the answer we need. We must put away our “foreign gods” and serve the Lord. Ask God to show you if there are any other “gods” in your life. If so, do what the people of Israel ultimately did. They “put away” their foreign “gods”. Some of us may need to do the same.

“Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit” (Deuteronomy 29:18).

There are a number of interesting points of similarity between plants and sin. Here’s what I mean. Plants can’t survive without roots. Neither can sin.   Plants and weeds don’t grow from the top down. They grow from the root up. Sin works the same way. Some plants are capable of fast growth, taking over a garden or yard. Sin has the potential of taking over as well. Further, the only way I know to permanently kill weeds is to kill them at the root. To do otherwise invites their return. It works the same way with sin.

Take a close look at the above verse spoken by Moses to the entire nation of Israel. He was reminding them of the blessings and curses present in their covenant with God. Moses’ point was clear. Even the smallest root can result in a poisonous and bitter fruit.

Can you see how this principle comes to bear in your life? The smallest inroad of sin has the potential, if not killed at the root, to overtake your life. I’ve seen this at work far too many times not to know the danger inherent in a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.

Let’s make this personal. Is there a root, however small, of sin in your life right now? Is there a hint of dishonesty, pride, lust, lying, anger, selfishness or some other sin buried deep in your heart? Has the root taken hold, thereby increasing the danger of poisonous fruit? Be brutally honest with yourself in this regard. If what I’ve just described is true for you, I have a three-word piece of advice; kill the root. Once the root is killed, the likelihood of the poisonous root returning is greatly lessened.

Now, to be sure, there are some roots that die hard. Old thought patterns, recurring struggles with sin, or harboring difficult thoughts or desires can take time to die, but die they must. I don’t know your situation, but I do know that killing the root takes work.

In that light, here are some helpful suggestions. First, stop secretly watering the root. Plants die without nourishment; so does sin in large measure. Whatever poisonous root you may find in your heart, one helpful suggestion is to starve it to death. The presence of the Holy Spirit will enable you to starve it.

Second, once it’s dead, be careful not to replant it. By God’s grace, never go back to it, never.

Third, make yourself accountable to another person. Roots need other roots to gain strength. That applies to our battle against sin. We need others to fight.

Finally, confess, confess, confess! As soon as a root appears, speak of it to God, asking for his forgiveness and power to deal with it.

I see the bitter fruit of poisonous roots in people’s lives. It doesn’t have to be that way. By God’s grace, you and I can eradicate the poisonous roots and bitter the fruit that typifies sin. Start now!

“For He satisfies the longing soul and the hungry soul He fills with good things.”
(Psalm 107:9)

There is a significant difference between being satisfied with God and being satisfied with the good things he gives. Far too many of us are satisfied only when he gives us good things.  As John Piper said, “The weakness of our hunger for God is not because he is unsavory, but because we keep ourselves stuffed with so many other things.” I am learning that the greatest enemy of our hunger for God is not his enemies, but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. Good things can do great damage. The greatest competitors for our hunger for God are some of his most precious gifts.

All of us know what it means to be hungry.  For the vast majority of Americans, hunger is something that we do not worry about on a daily basis. When we are hungry we eat; simple. Yet, what is the status of our hunger for the Lord? The Psalmist learned a significant truth that many of us would benefit from as well. He learned that the longing and hungry soul is always filled, filled with the only thing that truly satisfies the deepest hunger of our souls, with the Lord.

Yet how do we best determine the degree of our hunger for the Lord? Well, for me it relates to a simple examination of the things that I submit to again and again. I have learned that the things I submit to on a regular basis are an accurate barometer of my hunger for God. What are some of the things we submit to? For some it is leisure activities, television, lack of personal discipline, worry, self-pity, discouragement, or any number of things. If we find ourselves succumbing to these things again and again, it is certain that our hunger for God is far too small.

The strongest and the most mature Christians I have met are the hungriest for God. And the more deeply we walk with Jesus Christ, the hungrier we get for him.  If we do not feel hunger for God, it is because we have snacked on the things of this life in place of filling ourselves full of him.  We nibble on small things at the expense of the one great thing that will fully satisfy our soul – God himself.

I believe with all my heart that God is committed to rewarding our hunger for him. The Psalmist said that “He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills. . .”  Join with me in asking God to fill us with the only thing our souls are truly satisfied with - God, not simply his gifts. There is a difference, and it will make all the difference our lives.

“Take off your sandals from your feet,
for the place where you are standing is holy” (Joshua 5:15).

There are only two instances in all of scripture where someone was commanded to take off their sandals. The first is recorded in Exodus 3:5 when Moses met God at the burning bush. The second is in Joshua 5:15. In this instance, the nation of Israel had just crossed the Jordan River after wandering in the wilderness for forty years. Moses was dead and God had just set Joshua apart to take his place. The people were about to begin the process of conquering the land God promised to Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. As Joshua surveyed the city of Jericho, he met the “Commander of the Lord’s army.” At that point, he was ordered to remove his sandals.

As I’ve considered the Lord’s command to Moses and Joshua to remove their sandals, the thought struck me that there was nothing special about the actual spot where they were standing that made it holy. For Moses it was on top of a mountain; for Joshua it was a random spot outside the city of Jericho. So, what was it about each place that made it holy, thereby requiring the removal of their sandals? Two things strike me in that regard.

First, each man was in the presence of the Lord. That fact alone makes any place holy. God’s presence makes it holy. But second, in each instance both men were on the verge of being used by God in a very unique way; Moses in leading the people out of Egypt, and Joshua in conquering the land.

That thought leads me to this observation. Any time we are about to be used by God in a special way constitutes holy work. As such, it becomes a time and a place to remove our sandals as a show of humility and obedience. Moses and Joshua had been prepared by the Lord for something special. Now it was time for each of them to act in accomplishing a God-sized task. You see, God always equips his leaders and asks them to move out in faith. In that sense, such activity on God’s part is holy. He puts his leaders on holy ground.

Can you see how this may apply to you? Here’s what I mean. Are you sensing that God is preparing you for something? You may not know what it is right now, but the time will come when you will. Further, can you faithfully view the process of preparing you as a holy process, one that will require you to move out with courage when God determines that the time is right? You see, there will come a time when God will make his plans plain. That’s holy ground! At such times, your response must be one of obedience, humility and faith.

Many have experienced such “holy ground”. It is both an exciting and scary place to be. Nonetheless, it’s the pattern whereby God uses his chosen people for his special purposes. Take off your sandals as you watch God at work!

Can I encourage you to read, re-read and read again the words of an anonymous Puritan writer? His prayer speaks to my heart and I trust to yours as well.

A Puritan Prayer 

“O God of grace, Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute, and hast imputed his righteousness to my soul, clothing me with the bridegroom’s robe, decking me with jewels of holiness.

But in my Christian walk I am still in rags; my best prayers are stained with sin; my penitential tears are so much impurity; my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin; my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance; I need my tears to be washed; I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness; I am always standing clothed in filthy garments, and by grace am always receiving change of raiment, for thou dost always justify the ungodly.

I am always going into the far country, and am always returning home as a prodigal, always saying Father, forgive me, and thou art always bringing forth the best robe.

Every morning let me wear it, every evening return to it, go out to the day’s work in it, be married in it, be wound in death in it, stand before the great white throne in it, enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace.”

 (Valley of Vision, p. 136)

“But he knows the way that I take; and when he has tried me,
I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:10).

The above passage caught my attention recently as I was reading “Streams in the Desert.” The author focused on the sovereign manner in which God uses the storms of life to refine us like gold. As I thought about that, it struck me anew that faith truly grows during the storms of life.

Faith is that God-given ability, when properly exercised that brings the unseen into plain view. Faith makes impossible things possible. It grows during the storms of life. It finds good soil and grows most rapidly to maturity during storms. For example, the strongest trees are found not in the thick shelter of the forest, but out in the open where they are buffeted from every direction by the elements. These are the trees that produce wood with the greatest strength.

And so it is in spiritual things. When you see a person of great spiritual strength and maturity, consider that their walk with the Lord most assuredly included storms that produced the strength and maturity we seek after and admire. Such people have learned that the path of faith is one of sorrow and joy, suffering and healing, comfort, tears and smiles, trials and victories, conflicts and triumphs, and also hardships, dangers, persecutions, misunderstanding, troubles and distress. These are the elements, the fertilizer, that make us grow in faith.

There is a deep lesson in this for each of us. You see, our natural response is to run from the storms as if they are bad. That’s not the way it works in God’s economy. Storms are not bad things from God’s perspective. It’s his way of producing gold. As contrary to human nature as it sounds, instead of running from the storm, we must (by faith) come to see that God does his best work when we run right into them. God promises to be there to meet us in the center of the storm.

I know you well enough to understand that there are storms in your life. Although the storms take a variety of forms, they are storms nonetheless. The winds are howling, the foundations are shaking, the windows are rattling, the water is rising, the sky is dark and the lightning is flashing. If that describes your situation, please understand that Job’s words speak to the depth of your heart. He wrote, “He knows the way I take.” That tells me that God is right there in the midst of the storm alongside of you. He’s there to strengthen, encourage, support and buttress your heart. If that describes you, embrace what God is doing for his glory and your good. The soil of your heart will never be the same. 

“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have

mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but

do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not

feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in

their throat. Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:4-8).

One of the things I am learning about people in general (including myself) is that we become what we pursue. The Psalmist understood that quite well, hence the passage cited above. In this passage, the Psalmist lamented the many ways in which the people of his day created and pursued idols, what he called “the work of human hands.” In a devastating fashion, he made it a point to list the foolishness of setting up idols that can never speak, see, hear, smell, feel, or walk. In other words, their idols were worthless, utterly unable to bring deep and lasting pleasure to those who pursue them. And even worse, those who pursue them become unable to do any of the things the Psalmist listed.

Can you see how this leads to a question each of us must consider? The question is this: “What idols have you set up in your life?” And further, can you see how you are becoming like them?

We live in a culture that craves idols of one sort or another. I’m convinced that God has created us to worship something. Yet are any of the idols we create or worship able to bring us true joy or lasting happiness. I think you know the answer to that. And further, can you see how our quest for idols makes us shallow and exhausted as we pursue such worthless things?

In sharp contrast, the pursuit of God’s things, his word, his person, his people, his grace and prayer serve to make us more like him. In other words, becoming what we pursue works both ways, both for good and for bad.

Let me suggest something that might prove helpful as you examine whether you have established idols in your life. Ask yourself this question: “How do I spend my time, and what am I pursuing?” This is a practical as well as a heart exercise. How we spend our time and resources is a good barometer of what we worship. Further, what motivates us at a heart level likewise reveals what we worship.

If your time is spent pursuing worthless things, or if what motivates you is shallow and fleeting, be aware that over time you will become worthless and shallow as well. Those are strong words. Nonetheless, the psalmist made it clear that the pursuit of worthless things renders us worthless as well. By God’s grace, I don’t want to become shallow and worthless. How about you?