MLK Jr. Day Devotion

Today is an important holiday for our country and the world. We stand at a time when many would tell you that Dr. King's dream has been attained, for tomorrow we install our first non-white President. This is a water shed moment but take some time and listen to or read the famous speech. Have we attained Dr. King's dreams? What if we replace the words Negro, slave, and black with Christian, brother, and all? Only one can emancipate, only one can set you free. Dr. King new this better than many. One of the most famous speeches in American and world history is dripping with evangelical sweat, and most Americans miss it. Dr. King's speech has more references to God and the Scriptures than to cultural oppression. Today, this moment in time, August 28, 1963, will be on the mind of many. It could be an evangelistic opportunity for you, me and our brothers across the country. I have a dream today, that black, white, yellow and purple will fall on their collective faces, lift their eyes to the throne of the true Emancipator.

1st Corinthians

Writen by the apostle Paul, while in Ephesus (ca. 55AD), to the church at Cornith. Corinth at the time was one of the major cities of Greece, a center of trade and high culture. Much like the people of Athens, the inhabitants of Corinth placed high value on wisdom and philosophy. Like all large cities, immorality was rampant in Cornith. Sexual depravity was so large a problem that the Greek verb to Corinthianize was coined to describe this immorality. Paul, having heard about this and other immoralities invading the young church wrote this letter to instruct the church, which contained both Jews and Gentiles, in areas of morality, unity and to provide correct teachings on spiritual matters. Matters our own church and the church at large must learn as well.

Chapter 1.
Paul begins his letter identifying himself and the believers in the Corinthian church as saints sanctified through Christ and called to be holy. He also identifies the Corinthians as part of a larger body of believers (1-2). Verses 4-9 reveal that this church as received the Holy Spirit and abundant spiritual gifts (speech, knowledge, etc.), through grace, and lacking no spiritual gift.

Verses 10-17
Unfortunately the church has been lead astray by false teachers. This had lead to division within the body, which Paul quickly addresses. “Was Christ divided?” No not at all! There is only one God. One message. One Savior, Christ Jesus. Paul, the apostles, you and I are simply messengers, not to be followed in our own. If you and I could save the lost, grant eternal life, then the cross loses all its power and meaning. In the things of God be of one mind. Know Christ and His crucifixtion.

Verses 18-31
The wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world are not one in the same. Man’s greatest achievements are but nonsense to man. Yet God’s mere foolishness is so remarkable that the human mind cannot comprehend. Think of the complicated structure of your average tree. Mankind cannot replicate the intricate detail, or engineer similar plumbing and communication systems found. Yet God all this was trivial for God. String theory, Chaos theory, the Grand Unifying theory are all foolishness to God. He made the universe in the way you make a pancake, it the universe appears as complicated to him as a pancake does to you. We ourselves are nothing, even by the standards of our own world. We are laborers, professionals, sons and fathers. We are not the movers and shakers. We are not the Kennedys. In our own strength, the world will not listen to us. Yet God choose us. God choose me to baffle the world. Because of His choosing, You and I can be unified with Christ through death, resurrection and redemption. All of His choosing and for His glory. Thanks be to God.

Application:
It’s not about you and I. It’s all about God and His glory. As you go out today, think about the things the world values. Where does the world store it treasure. What security is there in Wall Street, the price of oil or your own safety driving down the road? Everything could fall today. Would it matter to you or are you stayed on the Almighty?

New Years Resolutions

I have never liked New Years resolutions. They have never made any sense to me. Why should I, on the dawning of the New Year, resolve (which means to settle conclusively, ie. no to be raised again) to do something that I probably should have been doing all along? Most people pick obvious things that only require a little self-discipline. For example, I should choose to lose weight for my new years resolution, so that I can buy a belt that doesn’t say Peterbilt. It’s a no brainer. I should do it. I can do it. I can do it in my own strength. How does that glorify God? If I choose on my own, and perform in my own strength, it only proves my stubbornness. If I fail in my own strength it only proves my ineptitude. There is nothing of God in it. Without God, the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will certainly fail.

Think of the apostles in four Gospels. Losers. All of them. All functioning in their own strength, and doing so while God was physically walking right next to them. Think of some of there actions. Wanting to stop and build three tents on the mountain and await another transfiguration. Begging, or more accurately having their Mother beg, for exalted seats in heaven. Worrying about having enough money or food for their needs. One moment speaking the truth, “You are the Christ” and the next falling into egregious actions and lies, cutting off ears with the sword and denying the Christ. Losers, all of them. You and I are losers too. Look at your own actions…

Thanks be to God for the book of Acts. This book records the moment when the apostles, you and I changed from losers to be more than conquerors. The men and women of that upper room did not resolve to do anything. God resolved to change the course of human history; to make men and women able spread his Good News. Fire fell from heaven; God’s Word went to the streets in each listener’s language. Some mockers came and Peter stood under the power of the Holy Spirit rebuking them with the Scriptures from the prophet Joel. The Holy Spirit had finally returned to earth, to dwell within God’s people. It was a new day. They were new creations.

So here we are, 2000 years from that day of Pentecost. The Fire still burns. I make no New Years resolutions for they’ re meaningless. However, the Holy Spirit within has resolved to change me for God’s purpose. I am eager to see what new things the Spirit will do in me. What gifts the Spirit will bring forth and how these gift will be used to the glory of God the Father. Friend, it’s not about a new year turning, it’s about a new day. Don’t get caught up changing yourself under your own strength. Seek the Father, seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. God will use you to reach the lost. God will use you to change the world.