I was talking to Jenny last night about, you know, the same things any normal American couple talk about after the kids are in bed (at least as much as I could focus while watching the Bulls game - did you see those two Taj Gibson dunks?  Even Jenny expressed appreciation for the rebound putback although my favorite was when he demostrated to Wade - “you can block my path but I WILL go right through you”).  Anyway, the conversation was on the topic of the general failure of The Church to respond to Jesus’ commands to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Specifically, why a message that an easy life is OK, and should in fact be expected by Christians, can cause so many who could make a real difference to sit on the sidelines.

So, while I’m struggling to express my thoughts in a way that preserves the message of free (but not cheap) grace and still expresses why we must act to help those in need, Jenny summed it up perfectly by drawing from personal experience.  That’s what’s really powerful anyway.

“When you’ve seen what I’ve seen… when you’ve seen a group of little boys washing their clothes (rags) in a mud puddle by the side of a busy road with cars (and people and cattle) passing just inches away… When you’ve seen that, and when you realize they have NOTHING…  And you see them - really experience their presence, existence, and situation just feet away from you…  It is simply human decency to say that we must do more than we are doing to help them.  Add to human decency the fact that our Lord and Savior commanded us to love them and care for them.  Isn’t that enough?  It’s not about grace or works or theology.  It’s about basic human decency and love for Jesus and appreciation of his great gifts to us… If that’s not enough for someone then I don’t really have any other arguments for them.”

Isaiah doesn’t leave any doubt (nor does God).  No doubt that He is pretty ticked off at His chosen people…  Nor any doubt about the reason he’s ticked off.  This is how God introduces the calamities that Isaiah’s message holds for His chosen people form the very outset of Isaiah’s message.  I know… I know… and yes, I agree, that grace changes God’s reaction to our faults.  But God does not change.  So I don’t believe we face the same consequences of His wrath due to the grace we now enjoy, I do believe that this is a valuable insight into what God values and what He does not value in His people.  You see, because of that incredible grace I enjoy… because of the unimaginable sacrifice that made that grace possible… I want to please Him.  I want to be a joy to Him.  I want to know what He wants me to do.  I want to know what we as His people can do to avoid bringing Him grief and pain.  This is a clear roadmap of what falls on each side of that measure.  My prayer and hope is that some day the Church will put more emphasis on what He says He values over what He says is a burden to Him.  Until we do I’ll continue to do my best to be those fingernails on the chalkboard and make everyone uncomfortable.  Sorry about that… we all have a special gift I guess.

Isaiah 1:1-17
The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.  Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”

Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.  Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion?  Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.  From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness— only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil.

Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you,  laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.  Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege.  Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.  Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

“The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the LORD.  “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.  When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?  Stop bringing meaningless offerings!  Your incense is detestable to me.  New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.  Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being.

They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.  When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!  Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.  Learn to do right; seek justice.  Defend the oppressed.  Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

The post is good - really good… but if the picture doesn’t drive the point home I might as well quit wasting my time… but I’m pretty sure that won’t be the case.

http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/2011/03/sometimes-we-find-it-easiest-to-look.html

Pastor Gift opens the video below by introducing a woman he is going to visit in the Nsoko region of Swaziland who is dieing of AIDS and Tuberculosis.  As this woman honestly shares about her suffering and her thoughts in the video, I am filled with compassion for her and her daughter.  It is evident that she is a victim of being unaware of AIDS and how it can be contracted.  Unless the Lord miraculously heals her, she is going to die soon.  In the face of death, she also shares that she has decided to put her hope in God, because without Him there is no hope.  She wants to be in God’s hands.

Along with Pastor Gift, we are participating in a small way in the work and fight to turn the tide of AIDS deaths in Swaziland.  The monthly support for Ludlati Carepoint in part supports the Discipleship trainers who are educating our Ludlati kids about AIDS.  They teach them how it is spread, how to avoid getting AIDS, and they teach them God’s healthy and wonderful plan for sex and marriage.  This is an important part of the whole development plan that is giving our Ludlati Kids life and hope, and lets them know we love them and God loves them.

Fortunate: The Face Of AIDS from Children's HopeChest on Vimeo.

In the context of God’s word and gospel, this woman’s condition is not a question of what she deserves or mere consequences.  If we all got what we deserve, no one would receive anything good.  Christ suffered and died for this woman and you and me.  For followers of Christ, God’s word is clear.  We are all called to share in Christ’s suffering, but also His glory (Rom 8:17).  We are all called to share with the poor and needy (2 Cor 8:13-15).  Are you answering the call?  If you were the needy one, how would you want someone with abundance to share with you?

Pastor Gift is sacrificially giving his time and life everyday to share God’s compassion and love to many Swazi people like the woman in this video.  Those already sending monthly support to Ludlati are giving sacrificially at some level through grace and compassion.  Together, God is using Pastor Gift’s work and our support to reduce and stop the AIDS epidemic in Swaziland.  The question is not whether you are called.  The question…Is He leading you to compassionate action to Ludlati or some other place in His Kingdom work?  Is He calling you to new level of giving?  I encourage you to know God’s heart and compassion for the poor, and obey His leading.  Yes, it may be uncomfortable and sacrificial, but this is where we find His joy.  Whether lead to Ludlati or some other place, don’t let the opportunities He has for you pass you by.

• Send a donation to this woman through Childrens HopeChest (Add NOTE:  For the woman in Face of Aids Video)
• START HERE to support Ludlati Carepoint and Children.

Each of us is only ONE person.  I thank God for each ONE of you who has joined in support of Ludlati Carepoint.  Whether through carepoint sponsorship, donated time, donated clothing, writing the children, visiting the carepoint, or participation in fund raising events, together our relatively small group has made a noticable difference in our 83+ Ludlati Neighbor Kids.  These positive changes have been reaped in less than 10 months.

This young lady’s name is Dumsile.  It is pronounced, Doom-see-lay.  She is a wonderful, sweet and thoughtful person with a heart full of kindness.  12 months prior to our visit we can see she was noticeably thin.  When we met her during our visit in September, and we saw that she is healthier and happier.  She is ONE of 83 children sustained by the monthly support for Ludlati Carepoint.  Dumsile is already matched with a sponsor for letter writing.  But we have about 42 more children still to be matched with ONE monthly carepoint sponsor at $34/mo.  Please help us put faith and compassion into action, and let others know about this opportunity to offer some personal sacrifice that reaps joyful rewards like the ONEs you will see in this video…

Difference of ONE from Children's HopeChest on Vimeo.

Are you the ONE who will send letters of encouragement to others like Dumsile?  ONE can START HERE.

P.S.  Here is the letter Dumsile wrote to thank our team who visited the Ludlati Carepoint Kids in September 2010.

Are you the ONE who will send letters of encouragement to ONE of our unmatched Ludlati kids?  ONE can START HERE.

Thanks to those of you who submitted comments and answers to Monday’s quiz.  If we mash all the responses together we can get the answer to the question:

What was the task assigned to Stephen by the Apostles?

Stephen and six other men known to be wise and full of the Holy Spirit were given the task to take care of the daily distribution of food to the widows living among the Hellenistic Jews.  Yep.  Stephen helped run a food pantry for the poor widows.

Previously, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked.  To address this problem, the Apostles sought out wise and Spirit filled men, and laid hands on them in prayer as the gave them this food distribution task.  The Apostles felt they could not do that task and continue to effectively preach the word of God throughout Jerusalem.  So they were compelled to delegate this task to other men.  I have heard it suggested that the Apostles did not have time to “wait on tables” so they passed this lowly task off to other men, and Stephen accepted this job in great humility.  I would like to offer a different perspective.

I feel the Apostles saw the daily distribution of food to widows as a highly important task and an integral part of spreading the gospel.  Why else would they want to find men who were full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit to handle this task.  If this task was not important or seen as lowly, they may have chosen anyone they could find to slide into that position.  The Apostles concern for the poor in light of spreading the gospel is also shown in Galatians Ch 2.  It describes Paul meeting with the Apostles to make sure he was teaching the gospel correctly.  They accepted Paul as an Apostle, and agreed that they were entrusted with the task to preach the gospel among the Jews as Paul was entrusted to preach the gospel among the gentiles.  The Apostles accepted Paul as an Apostle, but as they sent Paul out with their blessing, notice their only request.  All they asked was that he should continue to remember the poor.

Paul was happy to comply with their request as it states at the end of Galatians 2:10, “[remembering the poor is] the very thing I had been eager to do all along”.  Paul was very wise in the scriptures, and knew God’s heart for the physically poor as well as the spiritually poor.  After his conversion, Paul gave his life completely to spreading and living the gospel of Christ, especially among the poor.  Stephen had the same if not greater amount of wisdom and desire (read Acts Ch 7).  I think Stephen was a humble person, but I think he was actually eager to accept from the Apostles the task to “wait on tables”.  Stephen understood and lived the gospel, and was known to perform great miracles of signs and wonders.  Being wise in the word of God, being full of His Spirit, and having an eager heart of compassion for the poor seem to be common characteristics of the Apostles and followers of Christ we read about in the book of Acts.  For those who seek God’s miracles or to be used in miraculous ways, Stephen reflects a great example of a Spirit filled man doing a practical deed for the poor as part of living the gospel of Christ.

After the Apostles assigned the food distribution task to Stephen and the other men, we are told the resultant outcome in Acts 6:7, “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”  In the seven short verses of Acts 6:1-7 we learn that preaching the word of God, being wise and Spirit filled men, and remembering to feed the poor widows results in rapid spreading of the gospel.  Stephen’s food pantry job was an important part of the deeds performed to spread and live out the gospel.  It looks like being food distributor to the poor widows is not so lowly a task after all.

Philippians 2:12
“12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,”

I am excited to share what I feel is an interesting insight to this verse.  It came from a brother this week during our bible study about discipleship.  We have discussed this verse on KnownToMe in the past, and it is a verse that I always have to pause and ponder.  We have already stated here emphatically according to scripture we know that salvation is freely given - no one can earn it.  So keeping this and the whole of scripture in mind, what does this verse mean?

I feel I have not felt or been in much fear and trembling with regard to my salvation.  In the past I thought “with fear and trembling” meant with an attitude of great respect and knowledge that God is The King and I am merely a humble servant created for His purposes.  That thought has been more like an idea than a feeling or practice, but new insight from this brother brought the meaning to something more tangible.  He stated, “Fear and trembling means discomfort.  How else can we grow?! “  Growth in all facets of life require us to stretch, be disciplined, gain knowledge, study, exersize, reach further, step out of our comfort zone…and perhaps stop striving for our own comfort.  Growth in our salvation requires the same thing. If you read on through verse 18 this is exactly what Paul is talking about.  He is admonishing Christians who have already demonstrated great obedience to continue to grow, and rejoice in discomfort that comes from their faith.  Paul described it as “being poured out like a drink offering”.  Have you every felt completely poured out with nothing left to give?  I know of people living in these moments.  It is certainly an uncomfortable condition.  In verse 17 & 18 Paul first demonstrates by example living in difficulty because of his faith AND that he is glad and rejoices in it with his brothers and sisters.  He also tells them they should do the same.

A reason to rejoice in our discomfort because of our faith is found in Philippians 2:13 “13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”  If we find ourselves feeling “poured out” as a result of our faith and obedience to Him, be encouraged to know that God is working in you to fulfill His purpose!  And verse 16 tells us to hold on to this word of life because your sacrifice and labor is not in vein!  If you are not able to rejoice at this moment, hold on!  God is working in you.  If you are able to rejoice at this moment, revel in the joy of true meaning and purpose in your life He has given you!

If you find your water cup dumped out in faith, be encouraged!  You are living with real meaning, truly growing, and being used by God to fulfill His purpose!  If you are comfortable, perhaps it is a cue to seek in faith an obedient way to dump your water cup.