Business at the Place of Worship - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 2:16,

"Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a market!"

Jesus told this to those who sold animals for the temple worship in Jerusalem, as well as the money changers there. It was at the time of Passover and many had arrived from long distances for the observation. As such they needed what would be required for the temple sacrifices. The activity had become such that turned the temple grounds into a market. Jesus took great exception to it. The principle is clear: the worship of God is a sacred activity, not to be contaminated with the pursuit of making money.

I suspect many of us have felt some discomfort toward those who have come into a community of believers and used the worship services, prayer meetings and Bible studies as opportunities to make contacts for business. I have seen this with insurance agents, peddlers of Tupperware and other products, those representing the myriad of pyramid schemes, and so forth.

Additionally, I suspect many have felt put off by some churches that always seem to be fund raising as well. The need for a youth pastor, a desire to re-do the nursery, a new building, or carpet and pews, etc. Not that these things are not needed in a setting with large congregations, I wouldn't argue that point. But, the focus can be at times shifted from the magnificence of the Lord and on to the project that requires funding - hopefully you get my drift here.

In 1 Peter 2:4-5 we read, "As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Certainly there is the time and place for commerce. However, when it is time to come before our God to worship him, that worship needs to kept from the distractions of the market. And, quite possibly, the better place to make an appeal for giving to the needs of the ministry might be best made in a news letter or some other venue.

There is something that needs to be said to church leaders here. Worshipers who come to extol the perfections of God, to praise him for his many wonderful acts, should never be viewed as opportunities for fund raising. They come to worship their God, and I can't help but think that when a pastor or elders in a fellowship intrude into that sacred activity, they place themselves between God and those who have come to extol his greatness. I think there may have to be some accounting for that before the Lord.

And, it should go without saying that anyone who joins a fellowship to broaden a base of clients for business should be removed from that fellowship. The worship of God by his people is a serious business. Just ask the vendors of sacrificial animals and the money changers of Jesus day...

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Physically Slapping God in the Face! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 19:3,

"And they slapped him in the face."

Those who did the slapping were Pilate's soldiers. The One slapped was the Son of God! It took place when the leaders of the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate to have him put to death.

This is provided us in John's gospel - a book that begins with these words, "In the beginning was the Word [Jesus Christ], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind." John 1:1-4. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the creative agent within the Trinity. All things that exist have been created through him.

Mankind literally slapped his Creator in the face! What drove the Jews and the Romans to treat the Son of God this way is what drives us all - it was not just them. It is all of us. We all have a sinful nature that has prompted us to turn our backs on God. We all have a sinful nature that has compelled each of us to live our lives in enmity against him. Here we see just how ugly that sinful nature is.

However, it is that very sinful nature of mankind that God exploited to make it possible for people of faith to cross over from eternal death to eternal life. How easy it was for God to use the self-seeking impulses of lost mankind to effect a sacrifice of himself!

The astonishing thing is that God did this very thing! The Father sent the Son to offer him as a sacrifice of atonement, paying for our sins! All he asks is that we embrace him in faith.

Think of the incomprehensible love the Lord has for us! He gave his life that we might have an eternal life, an abundant life! He gave himself for us... his creatures... that slapped him in the face!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

The Full Measure of the Joy of Jesus Christ is Ours! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 17:13,

"I [Jesus Christ] am coming to you [God the Father] now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they [Jesus' discipes] may have the full measure of my joy within them."

Merriam-Webster defines joy as "a feeling of great happiness". "The emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires :  delight." Other words that bring some meaning to what Jesus asked the Father for on our behalf: elation, exhilaration, exultation, ecstasy, euphoria, rapture, enjoyment, pleasure, cheerfulness, exuberance, jubilance, contentedness and satisfaction.

Jesus wants us to have the "full measure" of his joy within our lives. This is not for all people... it is only for all who have embraced him in faith - true believers. He wants us to experience his joy in our own lives!

Who does not want to experience the joy of Jesus Christ? Who of us do not want to have our existence in this life marked by joy?

Those who reduce the Scriptures into dry academic theological tomes, apart from this joy Jesus speaks of are missing what Jesus Christ offers us. Those who are engaged in maintaining and protecting their positions within a congregation or an elder board or some denominational institution apart from this joy Jesus speaks of are missing what Jesus Christ offers us. Those who are fastidious in their "do-gooderism" (how is that for a word?!) and go sniffing around the rest of us (you know who you are!) apart from this joy Jesus speaks of are missing what Jesus Christ offers us. You get the point...

So, what if I am not experiencing this joy these days? Very simply, I have my eyes off the Lord and off the great "hope" we have in Jesus Christ. Each and every believer should feel greater joy than the lottery winner who is waiting for Monday morning to come to redeem his ticket for hundreds of millions. Our inheritance in the resurrection Jesus has wrought for us is so much more! The Lord has richly blessed us, out of his incomprehensible love with of a wonderful and lavish inheritance that includes a warm welcome into the open arms of the very love the Trinity abides in! We are welcomed into God's river of delights, Psalm 36:8. We are welcomed into eternal pleasures at the right hand of God, Psalm 16:11.

We who make up the body of Jesus Christ here on planet earth have every reason to be the most joyful of all mankind! Look at what is coming our way!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Why Are Christians Compared to Islamic Terrorists? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 15:18-19,

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me [Jesus] first. If you belonged  to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

Listen to this quote taken from a column written by Michael Gryboski, a Christian Post reporter, titled "PCUSA Co-Moderator Claims the Church Is a Killer Like Orlando Shooter but 'Not as Efficient'":

"In a blog written within hours of the Orlando nightclub shooting in which Mateen killed 49 people, the Rev. Denise Anderson — a pastor from National Capital Presbytery who is serving alongside the Rev. Jan Edmiston, a presbytery executive from Chicago as a co-moderator for the PCUSA's annual assembly — argues that 'many in our own ranks aren't too idealistically different from this gunman.'"

Here is an example of what Jesus spoke of. Those of the world (just because someone may hold a title or is a functionary in some "denomination" is no indication whatsoever they are a child of God) despise - hate true believers. It is because Jesus has "chosen" us out of the world, while they have been left behind. Jesus made a decision that all who embrace him in faith will "cross over from death to life", John 5:24. The Lord removes believers from the status of being of the world, lost in darkness and places them into his family to live in the light. See 1 John 2:7-11. Resentment is the key here. If someone chooses to cling to their sin and reject Jesus Christ, they resent the others who have chosen differently.

Here is the motivation so many have in their attempts to find some kind of "moral equivalency" between radical Islamic terrorists and what the world views as "Christian Fundamentalists." Applying the "fundamentalist" moniker to both aids in their effort to find an equivalency that simply does not exist in any form.

In that terrorists are viewed with loathing by so many, there is a temptation for those who truly hate real Christians to lump the two together. Many of us may find this baffling, but when we understand what Jesus taught us in John 15:18-19, it becomes understandable why the attempt is made. It serves their hate very well, given the "low-information" nature of so many in our culture today.

This hate of believers by so many of those "of the world", (those who have not embraced Jesus Christ) has been around a long, long time. "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death." 1 John 3:12-14.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

A Life-Changing Mystery! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 14:20-21,

"On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you... The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."

Here is an amazing mystery and a reality that is so astounding, to conceive of it is life-altering. I am convinced that most believers are weak in their understanding of what Jesus told his disciples before his passion. That mystery is that within the love the Trinity abides in, God has opened the door for us to enter. He has invited us into this communion of love for one another that exists among the members of the Trinity!

Our God exists in what we call the Trinity. One God, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Deuteronomy 6:4. Yet our one God exists in three persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When Jesus told his disciples to propagate themselves through evangelism, he told them to do so in the name of each member of the Trinity, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." Matthew 28:19. Other passages are available, but this serves my point for now.

We learn that among the three persons of the Trinity a boundless, god-sized love exists among them. This is observed by John the Baptist, "The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands." John 3:35.

In addition to our verse above (John 14:20-21), Jesus' own prayer to the Father also points to this love within the Trinity and the access God has provided for us, his invitation us to - into this divine love affair that exists within the Trinity:

"My prayer is not for them [the disciples present with Jesus as he prayed] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message [this would be us!], that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:20-23.

Our ability to conceive of, to apprehend, this love of Jesus Christ, this love within the Trinity, the love God has for us, is life altering, resulting in us being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Listen to Paul's prayer:

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19.

The Lord wants us to know this, as he wants this mystery to impact our lives in a demonstrative way, "I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them." John 17:13.

Have you embraced this breath-taking mystery?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Who Got Used by Who? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 13:1-3,

"It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God..."

Here in John's account is when Jesus began his activities to provide his atonement for mankind. He had come from God and was now ready to return to the Father, as by this time he had completed all he come to do, save his atonement that he would bring about by dying on that miserable cross.

I note that it was "the devil" who prompted Judas to betray Jesus. Unlike the other disciples, Judas was not a man of faith and was found to be a "useful idiot" for Satan. Judas thought he would get some money for himself and Satan thought he was going to bring an end to the Son of God. However, both were used by God to bring about the one act that brought this world to a standstill. God used a man riddled with avarice and a rebellious spiritual being, the devil, to effect his atonement. In Luke 19:10 we read, "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

All mankind is "lost". Each and every human being that has ever lived or ever will live has sinned and stands condemned before the court of God. Our Creator has a precise sense of justice and all sin will be paid for. Each and every sin ever committed will be paid for by the life of every person that has ever lived. Revelation 21:8 describes this payment as one that is made by being thrown into a fiery lake of burning sulfur. However, not all will stand condemned before God on his great judgment day. Those who embrace Jesus Christ in faith have crossed over from death to life, "Very truly I [Jesus] tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24. Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ have had their sins paid for through the death of Jesus Christ on that cross. These are the only ones not cast into that fiery lake of burning sulfur on judgment day.

Judas though he would use Jesus to get himself thirty pieces of silver, Satan thought he would use Judas to destroy the Son of God and both were used by the Son of God to bring redemption to mankind... 

God always wins! He is so far beyond a match for anyone that his purposes can never be thwarted. Not by any man, not by Satan, not by anyone!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Jesus, "the Gate" is not a Religion. He is a Person - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 10:7-10,

"Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Here Jesus Christ proclaims he is "the gate". Those who enter this gate gain life, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

There are no other "gates" by which we may enter into God's family. In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." All others are "thieves and robbers".

Merriam-Webster defines "religion" as "an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods."

You hear it said these days that it is somehow "wrong" to promote Christianity among those who subscribe to another "religion" such as Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism or whatever. After all, who is to say your "religion" is any better than another's?

The problem with this thinking is that Jesus proclaimed he was "the way", "the gate" into God's family. He did not promote himself as a religion. He promoted himself as the Son of God, the Savior of the world. To equate Jesus Christ to any of the world's religions is to miss the point of who he is and what his agenda is.

As we share the gospel message, it is not an act of promoting one religion over another. It is an attempt to introduce others to a person, Jesus Christ - he is the way to God.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com