Why do we do the things we do?

It seems that nothing surprises us any more, does it?  The local and national news is now watched more for entertainment than information. "What was done today that might top yesterday?" we say.  Of course, in much self-righteousness we can never see ourselves doing those same things.  Because of this, it is natural for us to ask, "Why do people do such things?"  The answer is simple, and yet alarming to our souls: we do not truly know God and His Son Jesus Christ.

As Jesus addressed His disciples in John's 16th Gospel chapter, He begins by warning them of the things that are certain to come.  In verse 2 He tells them that they will shunned from the synagogues and even killed for the stand they take in Christ.  Amazingly, when Jesus spoke these things, He did so with flippant certainty... as if there is really no other response from sinners to our life in Christ.  This type of Christianity is unheard of in our lives today.

Verse 3 reveals the truth behind the actions of those who would do such evil: "And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me."  This says so much about why we do the things we do.  Our actions are evidence of our knowledge of God and His Son.  Something mysterious happens as we gain knowledge of God and His Son.  All the more reason we should spend quality time in His Word and around His teachings.

It needs to be understood that this truth is not for the unbelieving only.  In fact, our hearts as believing Christians is evidence to our knowledge of God.  Christians are prone to the same acts of evil as we retard our growth in Him.  As our speech gives evidence to the content of our heart, so our actions reveal the level of knowledge that we have of God.

So, the next time you discover the evil actions of others in your world, of both believers and unbelievers, be cognizant  of the source of such evil.  They are lacking knowledge of God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Pastor Mike Carmody

Oops, I did it again, without the help of the Holy Spirit!

The obvious theme of John’s 16th Gospel chapter is the soon coming of the Holy Spirit into the life of the believer.  So much is learned about the Holy Spirit in these few verses.  We learn that the Holy Spirit is a “he” and not an “it.”  We learn that he has roles and a meaningful purpose to exist in the heart of the believer. In other words, he is more than a simple companion or an adequate “filler” of the void that Jesus’ absence would create.  The Holy Spirit is meant for so much in our life that seemingly is not tapped into today.

As we read the words of Christ in this 16th chapter, we can’t help but believe that Jesus saw a great significance in the Holy Spirit’s coming.  Much emphasis is made of his coming into and guiding of our life. Verse 7 says, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”

The word “expedient” is an interesting one, isn’t it?  The word here gives thought to “better for your sakes”. In other words, it’s not simply “important” or “necessary” that the Holy Spirit come, but it is both important and necessary that he come because it is “better for your sakes” that he come into your life.  It’s as if Jesus is telling them that the things that will take place in their life after His ascension into Heaven are so great that they will require the Holy Spirit’s presence to overcome.

But this isn’t what we are seeing in our lives today. Yes, the things that we are facing today do in fact require the Holy Spirit’s presence, but it doesn’t seem that we are relying on his presence today.  In fact, I’m finding great difficulty seeing any difference at all in the life of the Christian and the non-Christian when facing the battles of our day.  Think about it- would the Holy Spirit, if utilized by today’s Christian, lead us into senseless divorce, bankruptcy and hatred for one another?  I think not!

I recently sat for lunch with a man who spilled his life’s guts out to me as he justified his many bad decisions based on the lack of options that were given to him.  I asked him, “How often do you pray to God and research the scriptures before making these decisions?”  He replied, “never”, with his head bowed low.  This man is a Christian leader in our community.  I’m afraid we have underutilized the gift of the Holy Spirit in our life.

Let me close with a final Scripture reading from Romans 8:8-11, “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

Do more today than tap into the Holy Spirit… let him tap into you. Let him guide your ever move and thought of mind.  Let him take up his abode in your life… and may it be evident that something is different in your life.

Pastor Mike Carmody

The Art of Speech Temperance

Of course, Jesus is our all sufficient source for ultimate wisdom and guidance in any and all areas of life. But have you ever considered following His example of speech?  No, I don't mean to suggest that we should speak "King Jimmy" to those who might be willing to listen.  I'm speaking more to the "whens" and "hows" of our saying all that we say.  

Let me explain; take for example Christ's explanation of His LACK of speech to His disciples in John 16:12. He says, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now."  Take in consideration that Jesus knows that His death is eminent, and yet He sees no need to "speed teach" His disciples.  In fact, He tells them that what He would like to teach them, He can not because of their lack of spiritual maturity.

Now, it would make since that He would see the need to expedite their understanding by cramming a 3 1/2 year college degree into a few days... but He doesn't.  He recognizes where they are and teaches them on their level, and nothing more.  He had spent the last 3+ years with these men and He knew them well.  He even knew where they were intellectually.  They were not ready to hear all that He had to say... so He didn't say it.

We, on the other hand, have the tendency to say all that comes to our mind, whether anyone is ready to hear it or not.  We often feel the need to "speed teach" those who might want to learn from us.  We do this based on our false sense of urgency.  We have the "now or never" mentality; when the fact is, whether we have 5 minutes left on this earth or 5 years... each is equivalent to 100% of the rest of our life.  Christ understood this.

He also understood that the Holy Spirit would do more (by length of time) than He would do in His brief time here on earth.  One possible theme of this chapter is the assuredness of the Holy Spirit's indwelling in the life of each true believer.  While the disciples did not understand this, Jesus did, and He was not about to wonder into the Holy Spirit's territory.  If Christ was not willing to do this, who are we to do so?

Where does this patience come in handy?  Raising our children, fostering care for others who are placed in our realm of responsibility, discipling 1 or a group of new converts.  Regardless, speaking to to others on their level will cause them to want to follow you to the next level.Now, with all that said, we must also know that while Jesus was tempered in His ability to "hold back" needed information based on the disciples ability to comprehend, He was also careful to not speak beneath them either.  He challenged their thinking regularly. In response, many chose to no longer follow Him (John 6:66).  In other words, while He was careful to teach on their level, He did not refrain from telling them the truth. He simply told them the truth that they needed to hear, and no more.

Jesus said in Matt 12:34, "...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." If your heart is to truly educate, you must be willing to temper your gift of teaching with quality observation of those to whom you offer your teaching, whether your children or "mega-church" following.  Speaking, simply because you have something to say, will cost you more time in reiteration than if you were to speak once- as the listener is ready to hear; and often as is needed.

Pastor Mike Carmody

Abiding In Christ part 2

In John 15 we read about the “husbandman” who makes this great practice of going about His vineyard both pruning and plucking.  Masterfully He makes His way along the vine in divine inspectory.  Amazingly this Master Gardener has never made a single mistake as He cuts His way along the vine with great precision. He has never pruned a branch that needed plucking nor has He ever plucked a branch that was to be pruned.

What is it that He is doing exactly?  What purpose does He have in this process of pruning and plucking?  John 15 tells us that He is preparing the vine for future growth.  He is making preparations for mass quantities of heavy fruit that will soon cause these newly wounded branches to bow down low to the ground- as if to worship the husbandman as He makes His way through the garden.

In the process of all this holy gardening, some branches rejoice that they have been wounded, knowing that the gardener has sovereign right to His vineyard and will do to His vineyard anything He chooses, as His good pleasure requires.  While other branches reject the care of the husbandman for His vineyard and protest His craft in fruitless disapproval.  However, their protesting comes with a great price.  According to verse 6 “…men gather them, and cast [them] into the fire, and they are burned.” 

The question must be asked, “What’s the difference between pruning and plucking?” In all actuality, the process is very much the same: in justice to the vineyard and in love to the Vine, the Gardener cuts back the foliage of all the branches. In other words, no branch is left uncut.  However, in response to the cutting by the husbandman, some branches bear even more fruit than before having been cut.  However, by the same cutting, some branches respond by bearing no fruit at all.  In short, all the branches will be cut by the Gardener… that’s what gardeners do.  The evidence of His love for the Vine is that He cuts the branches.  And the evidence of the branches love for the Gardener is their bearing of much fruit in the Vine.

Another question must be asked: How will you respond to the Gardener’s love for His Vine?  Will you rejoice or will you reject? Those who rejoice the cutting of themselves by the Gardener will do so by producing much fruit for His Vineyard.  And those who reject will do so by protesting both the vineyard and the Vine.  

Abiding in Christ part 1

We will be taking a hard look this week at John’s 15^th Gospel chapter. Some of the most powerful words ever spoken from the mouth of God in the flesh were spoken in this chapter.  What is understood from His teaching here could mean the difference between heaven and hell.

There are many themes in this chapter:

1)   God’s sovereignty is an awesome theme displayed in verse 1 “…my father is the husbandman.”

2)   “Abiding” in Christ is another great theme.  The word is mentioned no less than 6 times in this chapter alone.

3)   The believer’s producing of fruit is another great theme.  Fruit is in fact the evidence of our value to the vine.

But, perhaps the greatest theme in this chapter is the sum total of all three.  In this we find the theme of “our resemblance to Jesus Christ.”  This should be our greatest theme… that we look like Jesus Christ.  You see, bearing much fruit is the natural response of any branch that is abiding in Christ because they look like Jesus Christ.  And as we see in this chapter, any fruit that is born from any branch is a sovereign work of God (vs 5). 

So, in this we see that our being Christ like is the yielding ourselves to God for the purpose looking like His Son, and the means of doing so is abiding in Him and the evidence of that abiding is the production of fruit. 

May we thank God today that He has prepared for us a vine by which to abide… and the evidence of that abiding is the production of much fruit.  And why do we hope to produce fruit?  Verse 8 says, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”  So, we bear much fruit that God would be glorified by the branches.

I want to spend this week learning what it is to look like Jesus for the glory of God.  My hope is that you will take just a few moments each day to examine this text in preparation of our Sunday morning gathering.

Worry part 2

Fear demands our worry while faith demands our worship. Never do the two coincide.

Why is worry a sin? Because it replaces the hole left behind when faith has vacated the premises of our heart.  The very foundation of the heart of every born again Christian is faith.  Faith is what everything else is built upon: peace, joy, discipleship, spiritual growth, knowledge, patience, strength, hope, etc… Fear is NEVER the bi-product of faith.  Therefore, when worry is present, we know it to be the response of a faithless heart.

In other words, fear is to be considered a barometer of our faith.  We can measure our faith based on the level of fear that exists in our heart.  You might ask, “Isn’t fear natural?”  The answer might be, “Yes, when we are living a life of faithlessness.”

Allow me to put a little pressure on your Christianity by asking you a challenging question: do you believe in God?  In particular, do you believe that Jesus is God? In John 14, Jesus makes a challenging statement. In verse 1 He says, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”  Notice that He begins with a valuable word of comfort, “Let not your heart be troubled”, and then He tells us how that is possible, “ye believe in God, believe also in me.”  Here we see God’s method of removing worry from our life: the belief that Jesus is God.  Friend, something supernatural takes place when the believer of God makes the connection that God and Jesus are one!

Now, David said in Psalm 14:1, “The fool hath said in his heart, [There is] no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, [there is] none that doeth good.”  The point I hope to make is this: David isn’t speaking here merely to the atheist who has no single belief in any god, but rather, those who say they have belief in God but do not place their trust in Him.  He is saying that we are fools for claiming the name of God but allowing worry to fill the void of a faithless heart.  Also, notice that David declares worry to be an abominable work and that this is not good.

It needs to be understood that when we exercise worry and not faith, we aren’t eliminating the worship of a god, but rather, we are eliminating the worship of the true and living God; and in particular, Jesus Christ.  In other words, whatever it is that we are worrying about becomes our god and worry becomes the tool by which we worship that god. 

Think of it this way: when we worry, we are openly placing a value upon the ability of God to perform. In other words, fear becomes more valuable than our faith in God.  In our heart, we are telling God to step aside while we handle this matter with fear instead of faith. May we seek today to place all our trust in the true and living God who considers anything less than complete faith an abomination.  

So why should a Christian never worry?

1. Our Residence in Glory Is Constructed
2. Our Redeemer and God is Coming
3. Our Reservation by Grace is Confirmed
4. Our Reunion is Guaranteed with Christ 

Worry part 1

To worry, about anything, is to give evidence to the condition of your heart.  We must stop using our great care for this world as justification for our lack of faith in an all-sufficient God.

The way John 13 ends and the way chapter 14 begins seems odd to me. To end John 13 at verse 38 is like ending the life of a caterpillar before seeing what it can do with wings. At the end of chapter 13, Jesus was prophesying the great denying by Peter in the hours to come.  Why the translators of the Bible chose to break the chapters at this point is a mystery.  Had there been no separation between the two chapters, we might have a totally different perspective of chapter 14.

As we enter chapter 14, and the caterpillar grows its wings and becomes a butterfly, we see that all is not lost when we find ourselves in our lowest state.  In one breath, Jesus both foretells His soon betrayal by Peter and then tells him that his betrayal will not be the end.  How comforting this is to disciples like myself who find ourselves repenting regularly of our lack of faith in God, only to struggle soon thereafter.  All is not lost!

Verse 1 of chapter 14 reads like this: “Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me.”  How beautiful this one verse is! Again, in one verse Jesus is foretelling possibly the greatest sin known to any Christian, the denying of our Lord; and in the next verse He is telling them that this denying is made possible by the condition of their heart.

We must understand that worry (a troubled heart) is a form of Christ denial.  In other words, worry is a sin because it shows evidence that we have denied the Lord in our heart.  Actually, the sin of worry is to be considered a great sin because, by default, worry is the absence of faith in God and His all-sufficient grace.  This should be alarming to Christians!

It needs to be understood that worry doesn’t remove faith, but rather worry is the evidence of faith already removed.  In other words, worry isn’t the bartering of faith for something else, but rather, worry is present because of the lack of faith.  Without exception, when the heart is absent of faith, worry will soon fill its void.

So do you see how that our worrying is an insult to an all-sufficient Savior?  If not, allow me to make a proposition to you quickly: If someone were to offer you abundant life on earth, with the promise of continual care till death, help in times of persecution, support in times of struggle, a comfort in times of need and a home in heaven when you die… would that be something you might be interested in?  If you are a Christian, that is exactly what you received when you came to know Christ as Savior.  Trust Him completely. Anything less is an insult to the cross of Calvary!

So why should a Christian never worry?

1. Our Residence in Glory Is Constructed
2. Our Redeemer and God is Coming
3. Our Reservation by Grace is Confirmed
4. Our Reunion is Guaranteed with Christ