WORD OF GOD, OR WORD OF MAN?

1 Thessalonians 2:13, NIV - And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me, is the fact that God has given us so much freedom of choice. It is just not in His nature to try to control our every thought and action, even though He certainly has the power and authority to do so. God loves a worshipping heart that has chosen of its own freewill to be a worshipping heart. God loves to walk and talk with people who have freely chosen to walk and talk with Him. God is into relationship, and real relationship requires freedom to choose it or reject it.

In Paul’s first Letter to the church in Thessalonica, he made the statement that you see at the top of this page. He was very excited about this particular group of believers because they had accepted the Word of God as the Word of God. I know how he felt. There is nothing more exciting than seeing a person’s whole life be slowly but steadily transformed from the inside out by the work of Christ in their hearts. Mean people become loving people, frightened people become bold people, stingy people become generous people, and it goes on and on.

Earlier I this letter, Paul says this, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-6, NIV). Paul highlights the fact that as soon as his team began to minister in Thessalonica, they saw immediate, tangible, results in the lives of the people. He says that the Gospel came with power, with evidence of the Holy Spirit, and with conviction. Conviction is that inward work of the Spirit and the Word, that tells us that God wants to bring change to our hearts, minds, and actions.

How we choose to approach God’s Word has everything to do with how much power, conviction, life, and transformation we actually experience from it. Many, many people today choose to view God’s Word a simply one opinion among many, one option on the table, something that men have conjured up that can be taken or left. As postmodernism and its relativist worldview continue to grip our culture, more and more people give God’s Word the same level of authority that they give to the words of human beings. We often exalt our own personal opinion about a given subject over what the Scripture clearly says–how arrogant!

If we don’t grant the Word of God the authority it deserves, we will never experience anything like the full measure of its power in our lives. It’s our choice. To what, or to whom, do we grant the ultimate authority to speak into our lives? When you hear the Word of God taught, spoken, prophesied, do you say, “yes Lord,” or “I don’t think so?” When you read your Bible, do you take the time to be quiet and allow the Holy Spirit to speak the Word into your life? Again, the choice is ours every day. Word of God, or word of man–you make the call.

IS GOD "THE GOD OF THE LAST MINUTE?"

How many times have you heard someone say something like, “God always comes through, but usually at the very last minute.” I have even heard it said that, “God is the God of the last minute.” I think that whenever we start to define the nature of God, it is important to ask ourselves a few questions, such as: Where does that idea come from? Is this a Biblical idea, or just another doctrine that has been derived from human experience and personal opinions about God?

There are many common misunderstandings about the nature of God that have become entrenched in the Christian community over the years. These ideas have been repeated and repeated to the point that they have become traditional doctrines that, if believed and acted upon, can make the actual truth, the Word of God, of no effect in our lives.

What we believe about God’s character will color our relationship with Him. It is very important that we get our understanding of what God is really like from His Word. God’s Word is what God has revealed about Himself. Why would we allow our limited understanding, drawn from our natural experiences in life, to dictate our understanding of God, when we have His Word to draw from? God has revealed Himself to us in the Bible, sent His Son as the perfect expression of His nature, and sent His Spirit to live in us and coach us through the experiences of life. We can know what God is like.

So is God the God of the last minute? We will take this subject up tomorrow morning at RMCM. Come to church, bring your Bible, and let’s dig in together.

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?

April. Warm sun, soft fluffy clouds, grass turning green, puppies playing in the yard, flowers popping out, barefoot children dreaming of summer just around the corner, put away the snow shovel, get out the BBQ…. NOT SO MUCH! At least not in Gunnison, Colorado.

One of the things that I have had to get used to here in Central Colorado, is the fact that April is almost always an absolutely hideous month weather-wise. March is actually pretty pleasant for the most part. It warms up, it is pretty sunny, the snow melts out of the valley, and things look good. But come April, it snows a lot, the wind howls, and the skies are gray. You get enough of a taste of Spring in March to really start to crave the warm weather, then wham–April comes in like a lion, and often goes out like, well, a lion!

For the first few years that we lived here this whole thing bothered me a lot. But I discovered a simple solution to April, one that has made it quite tolerable for me. This same solution seems to work when applied to many areas of life that could otherwise bring disappointment or discouragement. I have found that God will give me this same instruction most of the time when I am griping about, I mean praying over, an ongoing problem with either a person or a situation. Want to know what the magic key is? Here it is; when I gripe, most of the time my loving Heavenly Father tells me to “change my expectations.”

But wait, I didn’t go into prayer to have the Lord talk to me about my expectations. I wanted Him to either fix the problem by changing the situation, making it go away, turning a person’s heart a different direction, or showing me what steps to take to fix the problem. But no, almost without fail, He addresses my attitude, and specifically my expectations of the person or thing that I am seeing as a problem. You know what else I have discovered? It works. Most of the time, if I continue to seek Him, He will show me where my expectations have gotten off track.

Often, especially when dealing with people, I find that I have begun to expect something of them that they are simply not able to do at this point in their lives. Most of the time, I didn’t ever consciously decide to expect a person to act a certain way, or take a certain responsibility, expectations just sneak up on me. This is not to say that there are not appropriate standards by which all of us should treat one another, or that we shouldn’t have expectations of each other. But we have to remember that we are all works in progress. Galatians 6:5 in the Amplified Bible says that, “each of us have to bear our own little load of oppressive faults.” That just means that I know that I disappoint plenty of people with my shortcomings, and if I am going to live with and love people, then I will be disappointed from time to time too. Many times, the only reason that I feel disappointment is because my expectations were out of line in the first place.

So the Lord will show me how to change my expectations and in doing so to find peace again with both God and man. Once this is done, life is good, and I can once again enjoy people and things for what they are, and enjoy the process of growth in all things. And as for April, once in a while it surprises me. But on days like last Monday, when the snow is flying sideways outside my window, I know that April snow does make for beautiful July flowers in the mountains. I know that this extended winter is what makes our summers so sweet. April is what April is, and I have learned to appreciate it for its own special little set of blessings.