Monthly Archives: January 2011

“And I am sure that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

“What do you want to be in 10 years?” That is a standard question I ask college students. The answers can be very interesting. One replied, “I’d like to be at least a junior.” That’s really shooting for the stars. What about you? What will your life be like in 10 years?

Let’s change it slightly. Imagine you are at a funeral, your own funeral. Based on who you are right now what do you think people will be saying about you at your funeral? Do you think many people will show up? More importantly what would you like people to say about you at your funeral? I was at a meeting one time in which a colleague made this observation about another minister, “He’s always so affirming. He always has something good to say about another person. I wish I could be like that.”

I believe a real part of the good news in Christ is you can envision a better future and ask God to help you become more of the son or daughter He wants you to be. One key to this growth is to see all of life as an expression of your spiritual commitments. That’s where most of us stumble.

People regularly aim at making improvements in life: personally, vocationally, financially, etc. These are all fine except when we separate any area from life in the Spirit. I want to underscore here that you cannot separate your spiritual life that way as if it were simply one more component of a well-ordered life. Jesus taught us we may gain the whole world but lose our souls, we will serve God or mammon, and we must seek first His kingdom. So, of first importance make living in the Spirit THE priority. All the other things will be added to you.

Now if your primary goal is life in the Spirit then you have a huge advantage because God is very much on your side. He wants you to grow. In many places in scripture we are assured that we are works in progress, and God is directing the construction. That is Paul’s very hopeful point in the verse for this week’s GraceWaves. God is at work in you this very moment, and He will bring to completion His work. You are under construction!

The truly exciting thing about growing in the Spirit is that God invites your participation. Make the commitment regularly to lay your life before God and ask Him to build into you the kind of qualities that are real and eternal. Pray about the kind of person God wants you to be. Let Him lead you to new commitments and give you insight into things you must leave behind. Start now.

I like a story I recently read about William Barclay, a gifted and prolific writer of Bible commentaries and many other books (I’ve wondered if he ever had an unpublished thought). Not long after his funeral in 1978 one of his relatives was going through his papers and found a document, yellowed with age, labeled “An Act of Commitment.” Barclay had written it on his sixteenth birthday, as a student at Glasgow. He had listed several specific Christian commitments he made to God. The last one read: “To Thee, O Lord, I leave the management of all events and say without reserve, not my will, but Thine be done.” What is most notable about the document is the list of signatures, his own signatures. For every year since his sixteenth, on his birthday, he signed it again.

To grow into the sons and daughters God envisioned you need that same kind of repeated and consistent focus. Every day pledge yourself to God’s workmanship, take up your cross daily, and follow the Lord. This consistent consciousness of walking in the Spirit also has the benefit of infusing even mundane tasks with a potentially eternal significance, and making aging a rather exciting venture. I honestly look forward to what I will be in ten years, knowing how much I have learned and grown in the last ten.

So this week, do not neglect the consistent commitment, and do not mourn your lack of progress. Your status, or percentage of completion, this present day does not surprise God. Simply take His hand again, pray to Him your commitment, and be grateful that, though you are not yet completed, you are under construction.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

January 31, 2011

“Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him.” 1 Peter 5:8

Whenever the GraceWaves topic is God’s love, presence, and caring I will receive many thankful e-mails. More than 25 years in ministry have convinced me that Christians are desperately in need of encouragement, and I am equally convinced that God has given me this part to sing in His chorale.

This week, however, the topic is the devil, and I doubt it will be greeted with warmth and abiding appreciation. People will be interested in the topic, for we are generally more fascinated by evil than by good. But I doubt this edition will be one to adorn refrigerators and be reread for enduring encouragement. So be it.

But encouraging it is, for I am encouraging you to heed a three-fold warning from Peter to be sober, watchful, and resist the devil. Each one is an imperative. Part of our growth in grace necessitates dealing with evil, and in this arena we make three common mistakes.

First the devil is topic about which Christians usually make too much or too little. We certainly make too much of him when we constantly talk about spiritual warfare and tend to assign every moral failure to the specific temptation of Satan or one of his minions. He is not omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent. We make too little of him if we dismiss him as a reality. Peter believed he was real. So did Paul. So did John. So did Jesus.

I am not comfortable assigning their beliefs to an ancient mindset from which we moderns have been delivered. I take their assessment at face value without wandering too far down the road of trying to figure out the devil’s every attribute and action. “Satanology” does not interest me one bit. But I do believe simply dismissing him as real renders us spiritual vulnerable, for we are liable then to take temptation lightly, and then sin itself. Peter wanted us to resist the devil, not a generalized evil force. I believe recognizing the reality of a personal, antagonistic evil strengthens our will to resist. But do not spend much time worrying about him. Simply resist him.

A second mistake we often make with evil is to constantly locate it outside of ourselves. This tendency to evaluate and criticize everyone around us delivers us from the annoying discipline of locating and resisting the evil within us. Surely this habit is part of the focus of Jesus’ warning to “judge not” (Matt. 7:1). I am much more adept at identifying the evil in you than in the mirror.

I have known a good many Christians who appear to be blithely unburdened by self-evaluation and not terribly concerned about residual evil in their lives. We must face this problem squarely. The Bible is full of warnings to flee all forms of evil. While Paul listed nine fruits of the Spirit, prior to that he listed fifteen works of the flesh, even adding “and the like” to indicate the list was not exhaustive. We find these “vice lists” throughout the New Testament for a reason. The vices are too often in us. If this evidence does not sway you then recall the Lord’s Prayer contains a petition for forgiveness of sin and a plea for deliverance from evil. You must not become consumed with dark thoughts of every spiritual failure, but surely a more prevalent spiritual danger is to ignore them altogether.

A final mistake we make is to rationalize or even glamorize evil around and within us. Sex and the City used to be my standard illustration until my daughter said I really needed to update my database. I do so reluctantly and admit to watching just enough of the VMA awards and Lady Gaga to become convinced the Nero might blush at the level of raunchiness many people accept as the norm (need I cite Snooki, or Howard Stern?).

Perhaps especially among the young, though we older ones are certainly not immune, there is the tendency to view these youthful passions as inevitable and therefore somewhat neutral. The danger here is great, for evil never seeks to serve but only to rule. You cannot engage in evil of any form as merely an expression of youthful exuberance or adult indulgence. The stakes are far too high. Evil may appear even as an angel of light, but its designs are nothing less than spiritual ruin or at least ineffectiveness. We risk sacrificing not only our holiness but also our joy.

This danger does bring us back to grace. The warnings throughout the Bible are certainly not due to God’s desire to mute our fun, but due to His passionate desire to fulfill our joy. I don’t know of any spiritually neutral areas of life. We can either move closer or further from God with every attitude and action. So engage regularly in the spiritual disciplines of watchfulness, confession, and commitment to holiness, and know that in doing so God will not only deliver you from evil, but more fully take you into His gracious embrace.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

January 24, 2011

“What Is That to You? Follow Me!” John 21:22

The 21^st chapter of John is best known for the story of Jesus’ thrice offered forgiveness of Peter and His exhortation for him to get back to work (feed my sheep). Often, however, we do not move past it to the important truth in the remaining few verses.

The closing story in John concerns a question Peter asked about “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” who was likely John, the author of the gospel. For unknown reasons, Peter asked Jesus, “what about this man?” I have no idea what Peter had in mind here, and it really doesn’t matter. Jesus’ response stripped away all the extraneous concerns and questions, “If it is My will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow Me!” In other words, “don’t worry about him or anything else. Follow Me!”

Follow Me. We find this phrase more than 80 times in the gospels. It was Jesus’ preferred way to call people to Him, and underscores the continual motion of the disciple. We have to follow, constantly thinking about the way He wants us to live, thinking with His mind, daily walking after Him, living as He lived. How many times had Jesus said to Peter, “follow Me?” Actually, only a few moments earlier (verse 19) Jesus had said to Peter “follow Me!” Yet Peter revealed again his penchant for comparing, evaluating, appraising and asked a useless question about John. So Jesus again said, “follow Me!” He was obviously trying to get Peter’s undivided attention.

And Jesus is trying to get your undivided attention as well. Like Peter, we often trail off to other concerns. The economy, politics, football, family, work, etc. are all fine topics and deserve some attention until they lead us into distraction, anger, and anxiety, which they almost always do. We lose the focus on Christ and begin asking fretful questions about this, that, and the other. Life is much simpler and clearer (though still not always easy) when we seek to follow Jesus. You can refocus your attention on Him this week through two commitments.

First, resolve to learn something new each day about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I am not talking about adding information. You know the facts. You know the Scripture. But how well do you know the practice? That’s where the improvement comes for all of us.

Each day you can learn more deeply how to give a cup of water to the thirsty, to forgive as you have been forgiven, to be last of all and servant of all. Peter was concerned about his position. Jesus was more concerned about his performance. He wanted Peter to tend the sheep, and that is precisely what He wants from you. Following Christ is neither complex nor confusing. Simply become an agent of His grace every day to someone.

Second, be a follower of Christ precisely where you are. There are sheep all around you, in your family, your place of work, the stores where you shop. Those are the sheep Jesus would have you tend today. Get to work! Serve them! And stop finding that flock to be inadequate or unexciting.

A young woman I knew believed God was calling her to foreign missions, but with a husband and children it seemed unlikely that she could relocate to another country. My task, I am sure, was to help her see her family as an entirely worthwhile mission field and the obvious place to which God had called her. I also tried to help her see other sheep in her community as the flock that needed what she uniquely could bring. Eventually she did find an array of ways to serve God precisely where she was. As He often does, God brought the mission to her.

For fear of somehow missing our calling we sometimes sacrifice what is at hand in search of something grand! “Do not dream of distant worlds” when every day God will bring you into contact with people who need encouragement and help right where you are. Sharing a burden, however lightly, is a glorious calling for the individual Christian and even a church.

William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army, was asked to explain the drive and depth of his ministry. He replied, “Jesus Christ has all of me.” That was Peter’s challenge, and ours. Does Jesus Christ have all of you? Peter had Pentecost in his near future. Good for him! But should your calling be somewhat less imposing do not complain. Jesus would say, “What is that to you? Follow Me!” And so we will.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

January 17, 2011

“He restores my soul.” Psalm 23:3

J. I. Packer tells a story of a former student who had fallen on hard times. Actually, Packer recorded the testimony of the former student’s wife who had entitled her testimony “Made Redundant.” Listen to the first part of the story, “I shall never forget Frank’s face as he walked through our front door that evening. . . . It was quite gray and utterly defeated.” He had been terminated, “made redundant” is the way the company termed it.

He immediately began searching for work but was rebuffed everywhere. “He was willing to do any work at all . . . but no one wanted him. It hurt me to see a man usually so full of vigor and ideas just silently helping me with the housework or sitting and staring aimlessly into space.” (Never Beyond Hope, p. 10)

This story came to mind one time as I was reflecting on the most familiar passage in all of Scripture, the 23^rd Psalm. I usually read this psalm at funerals because it gives hope and direction. It serves to assure the ones who live here that the Good Shepherd has led their loved one safely home, and that same Good Shepherd will lead them through the days of adjustment ahead. On this particular occasion, I was standing at the graveside of a dear old saint who died and was laid to rest at a crossroad’s cemetery in a rural north Louisiana community. She had lived a good and faithful life, full of the same kind of chapters we all have written. Some wonderful. Others devastating.

David had the same kind of story, full of victories that would be told for thousands of years, and scandals so nefarious that you question how this could be “a man after God’s own heart.” He had seen the good. He had seen the bad.

Then, in what I believe were his waning years, David looked back on all of life and saw a constant thread holding together the tapestry. It was the thread of grace. So he wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.”

He restores my soul. We have all been wounded. Each one of us limps. You don’t always get the job. You don’t always get the girl. You don’t always get the healing. You don’t always get your way. But you always receive the grace. I heard someone say recently, that grace pools in the wounds of life. Every one of us bears scars that have been wonderfully healed by grace. We all need restoration, and we have a God who promises to restore our souls.

Now let’s finish Frank’s story. After a great deal of prayer and endurance Frank came up with the idea of starting his own business. The plan proved sound and the crisis was surmounted. His wife ended her testimony in this way, “I do not know why Frank lost his job. I do not know why he is doing well now. But I do know that I can trust God. . . . And that he can give, even in the blackest moments, hope.” (ibid)

The most common mistake we make in our relationship with God is embracing the conviction that we know the best, specific form of grace or blessing God should give us. Actually, we are invited to pray for any request and let it be known to God. No problem with that! But we must maintain a certain degree of reverent uncertainty that we do not know exactly what form of blessing God will or should give. We must not demand a certain path for Him to lead us down. We have to trust, even when the path is rather obscure. We simply have to trust. God is worthy of that trust!

David’s life was not a string of unbroken success. It was a real life. This most famous psalm teaches us to trust God, even in the darkness. You must believe with unfailing conviction that God will take care of you and the people you love. And even when the stab of real life tears at your life, you know God gives grace to the brokenhearted. He restores your soul.

What will 2011 hold for you? You can only half guess. But you know who leads you. You know who will restore you! Trust and follow.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

January 10, 2011

“How can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you want to be once more?” Galatians 4:9

Perhaps it was the gumbo. During the holidays Leslie makes a big vat of the best seafood gumbo I have ever tasted. We spare no expense for the shrimp and crab (meat and claws). The real secret, though, is the roux, the mixture of oil and flour Leslie stirs continually like one of Macbeth’s witches over a cauldron (I probably should change that image). At any rate, the result is a delicious meal that I enjoy repeatedly every Christmas season.

On the night in question, however, I might have added a little too much Tony Chaceres, the main ingredient of which is salt. In my dreams later I was parched, thirstier than I had ever been. I searched for a drink only to find a glass of water evaporating before I could put it to my lips. Each time something in my dream kept me from finding the water I desperately wanted. What a dream! I bet it was the gumbo.

That image stayed with me a few days, and as I read the book of Galatians this week’s verse stood out. Here’s the background. Paul was disappointed and angry with the Galatian Christians. They had abandoned the gospel, substituting a form of legalism that focused on works and muted the power of grace. I suppose their reasoning was that it is far easier to have a checklist religion than to rely on the subtle but more powerful force of grace. They turned back to rules and regulations (the elemental spirits), and made those the focus.

Pardon the pun, but Paul was appalled. He had been there. No one obeyed rules more effectively than Paul. As a Pharisee he knew all about the commandments and the ordinances and the commentary on each one. He could follow the law, but realized on the road to Damascus that it never led him home. It never satisfied the thirst. Only the grace of Jesus Christ could do that.

Paul often encountered this tendency of Christians to substitute a shallow legalism for the depths of grace. In Colossians he addressed this tendency. His verdict? “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigor of devotion and self-abasement, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh” (2:23). In 2 Timothy he warned of people who were “holding the form of religion but denying the power of it” (3:5). If Christians are not careful they can end up with a baptized legalism that produces a Christian Pharisee but not the image of Christ.

Do we have such a tendency today? Of course. Somewhere I read about “the good-boy syndrome” (or “good-girl”). This person is a Christian who does all the right things, but for the wrong reason. Trying to impress either other people, God, or themselves they are very adept at keeping the rules. They would be as surprised and scandalized as the Galatian Christians to find out that they have turned back to the “elemental spirits of the universe.” They are the Christian elder brothers (or sisters).

I am not for a moment questioning whether or not such people are Christians. I am sure they are, but they overlook or misunderstand the priority of grace. They know their own hearts well, but not the Father’s heart, and so they remain thirsty, drinking from a cup that will never satisfy. They substitute a cheap imitation for the real thing and do not even realize it. You see, it’s possible to be very good but graceless.

The solution is to drink deeply from the living water of Jesus Christ. Be strong in His grace (2 Tim. 2:1). The resulting behaviors will be very similar. Legalistic Christians and a grace-oriented Christians live in very much the same way. But the latter understand the proper motive. And they are not thirsty.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

January 3, 2011