For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.   I Corinthians 3:11-13    What are we really about as a church?   We have an overall vision statement, and eight church goals.   The thought comes that we could better accomplish the vision if we narrow our focus, try to do one thing well and let someone else do the other good things.   Yet as the Body of Christ we are called to serve, and the opportunities to glorify God and to serve Him by serving others are everywhere.   What shall we do?

When it seems that all the props I have leaned on are either pulled out or are being pulled out, what is left?   I come back to Jesus Christ—there is no other foundation to be laid except the foundation of Jesus Christ.    We can set goals.   We can create programs.   We can institutionalize and codify great ideas.   We can “market” the church to the community.   For what?    Upon calling a local church to see if we could partner with them on a weekend event, I was asked by the operator to explain my situation, after which she put me in touch with their “Director of Marketing.”   What exactly are we marketing?   Too much of the peripheral things that we aim at as believers have become the foundation, at the expense of the One Foundation, Jesus Christ.   This is not rhetoric, friends.   Jesus Christ has to be the foundation of all things, including but not limited to our cell groups, our ministry events, our prayer meetings, our preaching, our teaching, our evangelism, our goals, our vision.     Surrender  ALL  to Jesus!  

Cardinal Danneels of Brussels once wrote: “When I get home after a long day, I go the chapel and pray.  I say to the Lord, “There it is for today, things are finished.  Now let's be serious, is this diocese (church) mine or yours?”   The Lord says, “What do you think?”  I answer, “I think it's yours.”  “That is true,” the Lord says, “it is mine.”  And so I say, “Listen, Lord, it's your turn to take responsibility for and direct the diocese (church).  I'm going to sleep.”     

Yes, God has called me to be His undershepherd of this local church, the Body of Jesus  Christ.   We have all been called by Jesus Christ to be His sons and daughters.   This is His church.  We are His followers.  May we follow His call as the Chief Shepherd.   We need His direction.  We must keep our foundation in Jesus Christ, Sunday through Saturday, moment by moment. Let us encourage one another in this!      

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.  Ephesians 5:18.  Anyone who has been born again as a repentant believer knows the sensation of being washed clean at the time of conversion, when your heart was transformed and you felt light and free.   I have thought about this change at the new birth; we get a new heart!    The Lord said through the prophet Ezekiel "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”  Ez. 36:26.  That spiritual heart transplant is a New Covenant reality for the repentant believer!   I wonder if we ever have a second or a third heart transplant, since my heart needs continual renewal.  Put it this way, if my heart was a kidney, it would be on regular dialysis.   I don't see multiple heart transplants discussed in the Word of God, but there is a real need for regular heart checkups, heart medication, and even operations that unclog the spiritual arteries of my heart.  

It has been said that Eph. 5:18 could read “be being filled with the Spirit,” as a present continuous act.   How does that actually look?   Let's go back to the heart and its arteries.   The heart has to work harder and loses effectiveness as the arteries get clogged.  The more junk that plugs our arteries, the more the heart has to work and the more susceptible our body is to heart failure.   Spiritually speaking, the more junk plugging our spiritual hearts, the more the Spirit has to work to try to revive us and convict us and draw us to the Father.  Junk-filled arteries allow hearts to be drawn away from the center of God's will. 

To complete the analogy, consider the present state of your spiritual heart.   Are the arteries clogged with false gods, leaving only a pinpoint hole through which the Spirit can flow?    Since we are told to “be being filled with the Spirit,”  we need wide-open heart valves to receive all of the Spirit's power, love, and soundness of mind in this battle we call life.   We clog our spiritual arteries if our hearts have unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, deceit, sexual immorality, slothfulness, time-wasting, wanton noise without opportunity for silent reflection before God, the love of money...the list could go on and on.   

God tells us “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” Isaiah 30:15.   Brothers and sisters, I urge you to take regular times of quietness, open the Word of God before you, and ask the Spirit of God to do a complete checkup on your spiritual heart.   We need a greater anointing of the Spirit of God within our fellowship, and it starts by unclogging our hearts to allow for us to “Be filled with the Spirit”!

The painful reality is that pornography has made terrible inroads into the lives of  some Christian men and boys (and some women).  We can remind ourselves to be diligent to enter into ongoing surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, who gives grace and power to live a life of holiness.   Dear friends, God is holy!      

In C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, the narrator witnesses one of the bright spirits interacting with a ghost with a red lizard on his shoulder. The lizard is whispering in the ghost’s ear. After yelling at it to be quiet, the ghost turns away from the mountain to which he is journeying, back towards the bus to hell. The lizard represents everything that keeps us from God. The spirit the ghost is speaking to has burning hands outstretched, ready to kill the lizard as soon as he verbally permits him to do so. The ghost states why the spirit shouldn’t kill the lizard.  The reasons sound like arguments some people give for not stopping pornography:

1. He doesn’t want to bother the spirit with killing it
2. It isn’t presently bothering him because it went to sleep
3. He’ll be able to get it under control himself through gradual process
4. He doesn’t feel well enough to go through with “the operation”
5. He thinks killing the lizard would kill him
6. He’ll go and get his doctor’s opinion (back in hell), and come back later

The lizard then whispers into his ear that the spirit can indeed kill him, but it would kill the ghost as well. The lizard tells him that it is only natural to have him on his shoulder, and it is not natural to be without. He promises to be good, although he has not been so in the past. The ghost almost believes the lizard, but then finally relents and begs the spirit to kill the lizard. In one swift moment the flaming hands of the spirit kill the lizard and throw it to the ground. After this, something wonderful happens. The ghost is remade into a solid spirit. What used to be the lizard becomes a great horse, which the new spirit rides away on.

This illustration is worth noting.   Men and boys, do not try to placate lust.  Do not reason your way out of sin with “I'll do better next time.”  Clearly, there are serious long-term consequences when we give in to lustful thoughts, when we look at women to lust after them in our hearts, when we allow pornographic images to enter our minds and hearts through our eyes, when we act upon sexually immoral desires.   Give God complete ownership.    Ask Him to give you the grace to cut the sin of lust off at the root.   This is not for surface bandaids.   We're talking an Ephesians 5:3 heart operation: “Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.” Dear Father, help us to be pure men and women, loving You and loving each other! 

Let us “boldly go where no man has gone before” and discover how a Christian should relate with the government.   Now let me get my tongue out of my cheek to assure you that it takes a life-time of walking with Jesus and letting God's Word refine and purify if we wish to learn how to actively honor, pray for, and relate with the government that rules over us.   Consider the following principles.   

Pray.  Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,  who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  I Timothy 2:1-4.   If a follower of Jesus wishes to engage in God's work of redemption in the lives of others, to see the reality of godliness, reverence, salvation, and the knowledge of the truth, then pray for kings (Presidents) and all who are in authority.   One vote means something in a nation of 300 million, but a life dedicated to communion with the Creator of those 300 million?  Ah, what power!   What authority!      

Submit.  Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.  Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.  Romans 13:1-3.  Yes, I have sometimes  wondered why “Courtesy. Professionalism. Respect.” remains the byline of the NYPD, but even when a follower of Jesus does not feel respected by governing authorities, we are called to respect them and be subject to them. 

If the State asks you to disobey God, don't do it.   We ought to obey God rather than men.  Acts 5:29.  We are called to love our enemies.  If the State calls us to kill, we obey God, not men.   We are called to speak the truth in love.  If the state tells us to call evil “good,” or good “evil,” we obey God, not men.  We know that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  If the state tells us not to preach the truth, we obey God before men.   Sure, we are in the world, but we are not of the world.   We can do more to change the world by leading an individual to believe in Jesus Christ and actively follow Jesus, than we can by trying desperately to revise or change or influence the government.   Which ticket is God on?  Republican?  Democrat?   God is the Supreme Ruler over all.   Follow Him! While writing a letter to the President or a Senator or a Congressman can be good, never forget that communion with the Supreme Ruler on their behalf is to be done first of all.

Have you ever thought that you have as much of an opportunity to glorify God at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday during your income-generating opportunity as you do at 11:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning while participating in a worship service?   Let me define my terms.   I use “income-generating endeavor” interchangeably with the easier and probably saner word “job.”   Many of us have a job that generates income, which we then use to cover our expenses.   So a job is often an “income-generating opportunity.”  Sadly, many followers of Jesus try to squeeze in “ministry” or “worship” a few hours a week, and the rest of the week is taken up with “job,” “entertainment”, etc.   Get this.   Your job may  provide some of the best opportunities for glorifying God—don't miss these privileged opportunities! 

Work itself, with God as guide, actually brings Him glory.   Paul tells the Thessalonians, “For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.   We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.  For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."  We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies.  Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.”  2 Thessalonians 2:7-10.    Yes, we have a world of lost people outside our doorway, and the needs for evangelism and discipleship just get greater.    Yes, you could pour yourself into “full-time ministry” and quit your job, and if God calls you to do that, go for it.    But do not forget that working in an income-generating opportunity to the glory of God can be a “full-time ministry,” and God is pleased when we honor the Name, the Truth, and the teachings of Jesus Christ in the marketplace. 

Speaking of marketplace, a book I would like to read is Wayne Grudem's Business for the Glory of God: The Bible's teachings on the Moral Goodness of Business.  Here is an excerpt from his first chapter: “Words like “profit,” “competition,” “money,” and even “business” carry negative moral connotations for many people today.  People who work in the business world sometimes labor under a faint cloud of guilt, thinking that their work may be necessary, but that from a moral perspective it is probably “neutral” at best.   Very few people think of business as morally good in itself.  Many aspects of business activity are morally good in themselves, and in themselves they bring glory to God—though they also have great potential for misuse and wrongdoing.”            

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”  I John 5:21.   We won't focus solely on a negative command that concentrates on a “do not do” aspect of living.  Consider God.  He is Creator, Father, Lord, Redeemer, Holy.   As Paul spoke to the philosophers on Mars Hill to direct their minds and eyes to Jesus Christ, he declared to them that their creation of the idol “To The Unknown God” was actually pointing them to Theos, the One True God.   Similarly, if we want to have a faith that works, we must first look to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.   We must “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.” I Cor. 4:8.   Faith is the gift of the gaze of the soul upon God, which leads us to become “workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”   Eph. 2:10 

Idolatry can be cured with right understanding of God, correct worship of God, and accurate understanding of self from God's perspective.  As we stay in tune with Father God through the ministry of His Word, His Spirit, and His church, we are less inclined to move towards idols.   Yet even with right understanding and worship of God, think of all the temptations towards idolatry.   Even our country's Declaration of Independence includes idolatry, defined as “rights.”  Who are we to say that we have the “right” to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?  Certainly, every human has the desire for those gifts and blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  That desire in itself is not wrong; however, one definition of an idol is anything that has gone from a desire, to an expectation, to a demand.  Whatever we demand has become an idol.  Jesus said “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (money, wealth, riches, property, or possessions).” Matt. 6:24.   Anything that we serve apart from God places us AGAINST God.  Peter tells us that “a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.” I Pet. 2:19.  Or consider the sober weight of Jesus' words “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.”  Luke 11:23.
    
What temptations towards idolatry or strongholds of idol worship do you face?  Is it pride, self-righteousness, sex, possessions, job, friends, entertainment, fear of man, popularity, independence?   Is something pulling your heart away from the Heart of God?   Dear friend, keep yourself from idols.   Read God's Word; bring your heart before God; join in real fellowship with other believers.  

Jesus says “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5.   Very simple; without Jesus we can do nothing.  Since faith is more than a dusty sheaf of creeds or a gilded Bible on the coffee table, we wish to live out a faith that works.   Here we are again to pray: “Lord, teach me to abide in You.  And Dear Father, please abide in me.”  So what does it mean to “Abide”?
  
Do not only derive “abide in Jesus” times in the busyness and activity of life.  Take “abide” seriously.   Create opportunities for spiritual refreshment, quiet seeking of the Lord's will, and supplication and intercession in a quiet place somewhere.   Come regularly before the Lord with His Word spread out in front of you.   Don't count on the “One Minute Bible” to get your “Abide in Me.”   Ask others to pray for you.  Thank God for spiritual blessings, for material blessings, for trials and testings, for all He has done, for who He is, and for all He is going to do! 
  
An analogy came to me recently in a time of prayer, showing how it might look like to grow in a relationship with the Father.   Of course, analogies fall short of reality, but perhaps this will be helpful.  Suppose knowing God Almighty is somewhat like entering relationship rooms, the first room of which I enter upon confession of my sins and trust/belief in the lordship of Jesus Christ the Savior.   Of course, I am called to go further than that, so our Lord invites me into another room, this one more intimate, more personal, more holy—which  hardly seems possible because how can God be more holy, intimate, and personal than I have already experienced?   Yet in that next room I am overwhelmed anew by the majesty of the Creator, and somehow that room is comprised of mirrors that show me my self in ways that I never saw before.   The mirrors show my sin and pride, and I am invited into another room to know God on a more holy, more intimate, more personal level than before.   The joy and reality is almost more than I can bear, but I must enter in, because along with those mirror-aided glimpses of my sin and pride, I can hear the voice of the Father inviting me into closer communion with Him, calling me to read His word, telling me to love His family on earth, as I will love His family in heaven.    The deeper I enter into those relationship rooms with the Lord Jesus, the more I love Him and receive His love, and desire to abide in Him so I can be “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”  Ephesians 2:10. 

Dear Jesus, teach us to abide in you.           

So another year has rolled by, and you and I still breathe.  Amazing.  As I reflect back on the old year and look forward to the new, a few goals come to mind for our fellowship this coming year.  I have not read President Obama's The Audacity of Hope yet, but I do believe that God desires His children to live in hope.  What better way to begin a new year than to anchor your hope on something solid?
     
Hope for something.  For what?  Money?  Another Yankees title?  A new job?  A national championship for OSU football?  A husband?  A child?  A better relationship with your Mom and Dad?  An exercise routine that turns you into a buff muscle-man?  A miracle cure to acne issues?  What exactly do you hope for this year?  We could go on and on with the possibilities, but here is the foundation to the hope of a Christian.   Hope in Christ.   It is okay, and sometimes even good, to hope for some of those previously mentioned subjects, but at the end of the day, the center of all of our hope must be in Christ.  “He who has his hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.  (I John 3:3). 

Bring your hopes, dreams, goals, desires, burdens, worries, and fears to the Lord Jesus.  Make this a year of diligent prayer before the God of all comfort and the Author and Finisher of our faith.  True hope in Christ will not be deferred! 
  
Some thoughts from I Peter 4 encapsulate what I hope for regarding the fellowship of FJMC as I hope in Christ:

1. That we would grow in passionate, regular, fervent prayer. (The end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. vs. 7)
2. That we would love each other.  Really. (Above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." vs. 8) 
3. That we would know and speak the truth of God.  (If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.  vs. 11)
4. That the gifts of the Spirit would be expressed and used!  (As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another.  vs. 10)
5. That we would minister out of the “living water” from God.   (If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies.  vs. 11)

There you have it; “The audacity of hope,” to borrow from President Obama.   I hope in Christ as I hope for these areas of growth in our church.   May the glory of the Lord be revealed in and through you and me this year!    

A neighbor told me that his friend died on Thanksgiving night because he ate too much.  Thinking this was a joke, I asked “How did that happen!?”   My neighbor said “Yeah, he ate so much that when he laid down on his bed he threw up and died.”  His brother standing there confirmed this, and I responded involuntarily “That's terrible!”   “Yeah,” my neighbor said, “But at least he died full.”  

God gives His children a warning about the consequences of sin, through Micah the prophet: “You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty.”  Micah 6:14. This is a perpetual feeling of emptiness.  I do not have to look far to find others and sometimes even myself trying to fill that sense of emptiness, and choosing empty pursuits in an unconscious effort to fill an empty soul.   A believer in Jesus knows that physical food does not make the soul full.  Food is for sustenance, for energizing the body to continue its life functions.  Overeating of food and over-indulgence in the pleasures of food is unhealthy, gluttonous, and  idolatrous.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, and ask Him to be Lord of our appetites.  You were bought with a price; therefore honor God in your body!  I Cor.  6:20

The Bible says, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.”  Proverbs 23:20-21.   Proverbs 23:2 proclaims, “Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.”   Okay, so that last one sounds extreme.   But gluttony is extreme.   Yes, eating too much food is one of those supposedly “legal” addictions so common in America, but followers of Jesus should recognize our need for self-control in this tendency to over-eat.   Obesity kills. 

I just now headed out of my office for something, and found myself reaching for one of my wife's delectable rebel bars.   Why!?!   I had eaten two at the supper table!  So I willed myself to say “No!” to that temptation to eat something fattening and unhealthy on a full stomach, but instinctively opened the refrigerator to look inside.  What was going on?   Without realizing it, I was feeling a need for something even though I was not the least bit “hungry” physically.   This is an area of my life that the Spirit wants me to grow in.   Bring those feelings of emptiness before God, who says “Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” Isaiah 55:2. Receiving spirit food from our Heavenly Father is the best source of energy and health that we could pursue.   Will you take time to listen to Jesus today?     He said “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”  John 4:32.    What is your food?                        

Jesus said “"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.   Matthew 6:5,6

I am saddened to realize that this, the 12th issue of A Faith that Works, is the first issue addressing prayer.  How did I miss it?  This may show that I can relegate prayer to the theoretical, spiritual, and theological aspects of life, and keep it out of the practical level.  One reason for writing A Faith that Works is to help answer this question: “What does it mean to live as a Christian today?”   Well, it seems the way forward begins and continues through prayer.   Jesus did not say “If you pray,” or “When you get the time to pray,” or “At your monthly prayer meetings” do this or that.   He said “When you pray,” operating out of the assumption that His followers will be regular, passionate people of prayer. 

Do not neglect prayer.  The measure of your spiritual heartbeat and God-desiring temperature is directly proportional to the level of priority, importance, and passion you give yourself to prayer.   Please understand me here.  I am not saying that you need to jump into more prayer groups and into more corporate times of prayer to prove that you are a praying person.  Certainly there is a time and place for group prayer gatherings, but Jesus did teach us that we need to regularly find a quiet place to come away to and pray to our Father “who is in the secret place.”   Oh, how bright our lights can shine, and how real can be our direction and discernment to the question “What does it mean to live as a Christian today?” when we bring ourselves, our struggles, our questions, and our praise before God in private prayer.  The writer of Hebrews tells the believer to “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16.   Our times of prayer to the Father are likely the most practical, most God-glorifying, most Real, and most wise ways that we can allow God to direct our steps and make Him known to the world around us.   Seek His face.   Ask and you will receive.   Seek and you will find.  Knock and the door will be opened to you. 

Here is a prayer dare.  Schedule a one-hour date with God this week and take it to pray, perhaps laying your Bible open before God and asking Him to direct you in listening to Him and in praying to Him.