Jun 20 2010

The Gospel Filled Wallet, What the Bible really says about money – A Review


The Gospel Filled Wallet is like a dish pan of cold water in the face of anyone who claims to love God. At a minimum, this little book is a “gut check” for the believer.

Jeff Weddle takes an honest, thorough, look at what God says about money and people’s natural attachment to it. He begins with this biblical principal, “You can’t love God and money”, you will serve who, or what, you love.

Weddle examines verse after verse in the Bible with simple, frank commentary, and with each page your vision will become more and more clear concerning how you personally think about money and riches.

I especially appreciate the author’s transparency. He readily admits that he struggles with money in the light of God’s truth. (I hate reading books where the author comes across as “holier than thou”)

The Gospel Filled Wallet does not examine everything God says about money and a Christians relationship to it, but it absolutely gets to the heart of the problem by citing many verses from the Bible and by looking at the lives of many biblical characters. This book pulls back the curtain and reveals a professing church that is very far off base when it comes to wealth.

I have been challenged to reexamine my heart and how I use what God has provided. I recommend the work and hope that everyone who reads it will in the end love and serve God more and use their blessings more wisely to God’s glory.

Weddle’s writing style is simple, bite sized, and easy to digest. The book is available at Amazon.com and other outlets and the author has a blog with the same name where he talks more about this subject.

This book is a project of Transforming Publishing and my friend Milton Stanley. Milton blogs at Transforming Sermons and is well known around Christian blogdom. He is an author as well and I look forward to other books to follow as Transfroming Publishing gets its feet on the ground. If Milton Stanly publishes it, I recommend it.

Agape’

Royce Ogle

Jun 12 2010

Praise the LORD!


Psalm 150

Let Everything Praise the LORD
Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!

Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

It is the view of many that we who are Christians should not praise God with everything. Musical instruments in their understanding are excluded. (I assume they would forbid dance as a way to praise the Lord too…)

The Bible says to praise God with musical instruments and even dance. Who decided this form of praising God is no longer valid?

If instruments are so wrong why would the symbolism of harps and trumpets be used in the book of Revelation which is a glimpse into eternity future?

Some even say whole churches will be lost because they have a piano or guitar accompany singing in worship. And, almost unbelievably they argue the point from what the Bible does not say.

I seriously doubt that Psalm 150 only applied to ancient people thousands of years ago. God is worthy of our praise and He alone has the prerogative of deciding what is fitting as His creatures praise him.

Royce

Jun 5 2010

The Secret of Christian Unity


You are probably asking, “What! Another article on unity? Why?” Yes, because I think most of the articles, blog posts, and even books miss the core meaning of Christian unity.

Parts of Ephesians 4 are usually quoted where Paul instructed the Ephesian believers to “maintain” the unity of the Spirit in verse 4 and in verse 13 he spoke of the goal of Christian ministry being to “attain” unity.

I think this definition of the English word is very accurate, and in the context of this brief study.

“Unity is defined as the state of being undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting. It is the smallest whole numeral representation. It has the quality of being united into one. Unity can denote a combining of all the parts, elements and individuals into an effective whole.” (Wikipedia)

I appreciate most this statement, “It is the smallest whole numeral representation”. That would be the word “one” used to describe the many.

So then how you worship, what church you attend, or even your conclusions on a particular Bible doctrine are not causes, or even clues of Christian unity. Many of us have a list of beliefs and practices that others must comply with before we can unify with them. That is not “unity”, that is “uniformity”. Saying the same things and doing the same things doesn’t even come close to making  believers “one”.

A careful and thoughtful reading of Jesus’ prayer for his own in John 17 shines the light on true Christian unity as well as any place in the Bible. Hear his words…

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:20–24)

Here it is! Just as the Father and the Son are “one” those of us who have Christ are “one”. Unity begins and has its source in our individual relationships with Jesus Christ. If you are not one with God, through Christ, you can’t have unity with another Christian. It is this supernatural love relationship that results in “unity”, not the observable expressions of our faith like which church we attend, how we worship, what we approve or disapprove, etc., etc.

Every true Christian is one with God the Father, one with Jesus, and because of that infinite oneness, one with every other person who is in Christ. This is why Jesus would say these astonishing words about God’s love for us.

“…and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:23b)

When I first understood what Jesus had said in his great prayer I could hardly take it in. God loves me like he loves Jesus! God loves you dear believer with the same unpolluted divine love he has for his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Wow! That is the bedrock of Christian unity. “God so loved the world…” It is that God-love that brings us together and binds us and creates the lowest number to describe God and his people, “One!”

Unity is a love gift, it is the ultimate expression of God’s matchless grace. God was in Christ who with one hand holding on to God the Father and with the other hand holding on to wicked, ungodly sinners he brought the two together making them “one”. We have been “reconciled”, “set right” with God by the doing and dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of this happened outside of us without our schemes and abilities.

So you see, you don’t have the latitude to decide who you will have fellowship with, who you will love. Any place on earth where you find a person who is rightly related to Jesus, who is at peace with God, you by family relationship are united to that person.

If  you are in the family of God, rejoice and give thanks for God’s amazing grace. If you are not in the family, come on in. You will be welcome at the table.

Agape’

Royce

May 31 2010

Giving Thanks for President Obama


“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth…” (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

Pray for everyone? Give thanks for everyone? Give thanks for President Obama? It is clear that is what the good book says.

When I read a passage like this, at first glance it seems innocent enough, nothing to worry me here. And then, after the Holy Spirit reminds me of it again and again I am confronted with my sinfulness. I come face to face with reality, not the pretty picture I see when I compare myself with others I know. No, the reality I am forced to admit and deal with is ugly, raw, sin.

If Jesus says “love” and I don’t love, I am wrong. And, isn’t love the foundation for all we do in our lives as believers. (That is, the “good” things we do as believers.)

I find myself agonizing over passages like the one Paul wrote to young Timothy. Who was the ruler when he wrote that passage, Nero? Nero was not the kind of ruler who was loved by his subjects. He was a ruthless, power absorbed, evil monster, who happened to be the top guy in the government. Give thanks for Nero? Pray for Nero? Pray for good things to happen for Nero? That seems to be the case.

I don’t like anything about President Obama. I don’t like his personality, I don’t like the way he governs, I don’t like his deceitfulness and lack of transparency. And I really don’t like his policies and the direction he and the Democrats are taking our country. But, I am to pray for him, I can do that. I am also to give thanks for him, how can I do that? Well, I think there is an answer.

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval” (Romans 13:1-3)

You see, I tend to forget that God is in control. Leaders, those in government authority, are there to serve God’s unsearchable purposes. Read this text carefully and it will change your attitude about your response to government, it did mine. I don’t want to resist God’s will, do you?

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17)

Government, leaders with authority, those who in many ways rule our lives are God’s creation. Rulers (presidents) and the authority they have is God’s specific design. So in light of these passages I can heartedly give thanks for President Obama! He is serving God, carrying out God’s plan. I don’t have to understand what God’s purposes are in detail. My job is to be an obedient subject to the King of kings and Lord of lords and He says government and government leaders are his design and they are under his control. I don’t need to fear them, I need to submit to them, pray for them and give thanks for them.

I must admit, my faith is stretched. I struggle with this but the truth is clear and if I want to please God I must submit to Him and to His authority, even when sometimes it comes in a package I don’t like very much.

By the way, Paul was the human author of both texts quoted above and the government was about as evil and perverse as one could imagine. He recognized that even the godless Roman Empire was no more and no less than a tool in God’s hand. Think about it, God used the Roman Empire to spread the good news far and wide. The Roman rule was mighty and long-lasting but it did end when God’s purposes had been served. God is in control of everything, every day, including government.

Agape’

Royce