The Blessings to Self Thankfulness Brings

“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times” remains one of the consistent sayings from generation to generation in American families. Moms weary from wet towels on bedroom floors and dads befuddled by hand tools left in the sandbox repeat the mantra told to them by their parents. The cycle continues.

Still, not every repeat message occurs because the hearer forgets or is neglectful. Often the importance of the message requires repetition. When God repeats something over and again, wise people listen. At more than 130 times, few topics have more references in the Bible than thankfulness.

• In everything, give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

• Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:20).

• Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6).

• And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful (Colossians 3:15).

• Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever (Psalm 118:1)!

Developing a pattern of thankfulness is not merely a practice in good manners. To be a genuinely thankful person is to be a spiritually maturing person.

Think about it:

Thankfulness produces liberty when you realize your life, both temporal and eternal, does not depend on you. The Christian who sees the hand of God dispensing every good gift, from his salvation to his daily bread, finds great mental relief when he affirms in thankfulness that sustaining life does not rest on his shoulders because his Father in heaven bears the responsibility to care for him.

Similarly, thankfulness delivers security when you realize that your Father in heaven watches over you in constant vigilance. Anxiety can paralyze a woman or make a man unable to act. The Christian who woke this morning thankful to God for the protection through the night finds herself in the position of protection from her Father in heaven in her restless and anxious moments of the day.

In the battle against pride, thankfulness wins the day. How can you express pride in your achievements, your stature, or your wisdom when you first express humility in thankfulness to God for the endowment of your skills, for the unknown acts of providence that delivered to you your position, or for the understanding of a situation because of the insight God gave to you?

In a world fraught with hardships and the daily penchant to complain, thankfulness overcomes grumbling, whining, and protesting. Your spouse will be much lovelier to you when thankfulness to God for her starts your morning thoughts about her. Your parents will be much less of a bother to you when you begin your day with thankfulness to God for them. You will appreciate your job all the more and work through the real challenges you face when your workday begins with thanks to God for what the income from your job provides for you and allows you to do.

While some historians debate the finer points of the story, Matthew Henry’s thankful response serves as an example to us. An English preacher in the late 1600s and early 1700s, Henry traveled by horseback on a preaching circuit through the English countryside. On one occasion four thugs attacked Matthew, robbing him of the little bit of money he possessed. Later, Henry recorded in his journal these thoughts:

Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.

While doing God’s will and serving God’s people, Matthew Henry experienced the reality of living in a sin-filled world. Who would condemn him for complaining? Yet, he finds in the event that left him poorer and the victim of a crime occasion to express thanks to God. You can do that too, can't you? As you do the will of God today as a dad, mom, son, daughter, employer, employee, and a brother or sister in Christ and experience some difficulty great or small, some point of dissatisfaction, some reason to complain, can you find a reason to be thankful to God?

Be thankful today. Your Father in heaven has been, is, and will continue to be good to you.

As always, I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

What Good Is a Dead Shepherd?

A dead shepherd can’t feed his sheep. He can’t lead his sheep, and he cannot protect his sheep. Without a living shepherd, the sheep scatter and are vulnerable. A dead shepherd is of no value to living sheep.

Last weekend, our church and Christians across the globe remembered our Lord’s Death on Good Friday and celebrated our Lord’s resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday. Sunday was a jubilant day filled with Bible reading, hymn singing, and the pronouncement, “He is risen!” And the significance of the resurrection for Christians must continue every day following Easter because a dead shepherd is of no value to living sheep.

But wait a minute, what about what Jesus said? “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” And we thank our Lord for giving his life for us. We cannot fully express the debt we owe to our Lord by giving his life a ransom for many. In his death our Lord demonstrated that he came to serve and not to be served. We are humbled by the bloodied mass on Calvary’s cross that won our redemption. But the cross is not the end, and a dead shepherd is of no value to living sheep.

When our Lord and his disciples gathered for the final meal where he established the New Covenant (Matthew 26:17-29), Jesus told his followers what was going to happen in the next few hours. In chilling words, he told the disciples of their coming betrayal of him. Jesus quoted Zechariah 13:7, “I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” That’s exactly what happened. Without a living shepherd, the sheep have no idea how to survive. They run in fear and expose themselves to every predator.

It is the next words from Jesus that require focus – “But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee” (Matthew 27:32). The disciples will scatter upon his death but will gather to him upon his resurrection.

Do you remember the words of the angel at the empty tomb? Confused followers see the place where the body of Jesus should be. The burial shroud is there, but where are the Lord’s remains? None of this makes any sense. To the hurting, scattered, and defenseless the angel at the tomb says,

“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you” (Mark 16:6-7).

A dead shepherd is good for the moment. When he lays down his life for the sheep, he sacrifices himself to secure the life of the sheep in that instance, but what about the next moment, the next event, and the next circumstance? Who will care for the sheep when those come? That requires a living shepherd.

Our Lord’s resurrection from the dead confirms for Christians his ongoing leadership, protection, and provision. The Christian says, “The Lord is my shepherd!” (Psalm 23:1).

What shelter do you need today? Your living shepherd will cover you. What direction do you need today? Your living shepherd will guide you. What necessity do you lack? Your living shepherd will deliver it to you. Our Lord is not a dead shepherd who acted once but a living shepherd who acts daily for all his sheep.

Take great comfort, Christians, your shepherd lives! Of himself he says, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Revelation 1:18).

Today, tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year will bring difficulty for you. This is the reality of living in a sin-filled and broken world, but you will not face this alone. You belong to the Great Shepherd’s flock. He knows all his sheep. He knows you, and he will act for and toward you.

Our shepherd laid down his life for us, and our shepherd lives again. Just as we rejoiced on Easter Sunday, let’s rejoice each day that our shepherd lives.

As always, I welcome your comments and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

To read past Lunchtime Musings, follow me at medium.com/@mikeverway

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

The Lost Easter of 2020

For most United States churches this Sunday will mark two years since its last Easter celebration. Think about it, there are new believers who have yet to gather with other Christians on Easter Sunday. There are children who were toddlers the last time the church came together on Easter Sunday. Now a little older, these four and five-year-olds will learn from their parents, pastors, and Sunday School teachers initial lessons on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

With them, we will celebrate the most important truth of our Christian faith, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Revelation 1:18).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the pinnacle event and doctrine that sets apart Christianity from all other religions. The resurrection transforms the disciples from scattered and devastated companions to unified and courageous ambassadors. The resurrection is the theme of their preaching in the book of Acts. They fearlessly announce the fact of Jesus’s resurrection and both the manner and the cause of his death (Acts 2:24). There is no hesitation in public gatherings (Acts 17:16–34), private conversations (8:26-40), and legal proceedings (Acts 4:1-22; 6:8-15) to declare the living Jesus.

From its beginning in Acts 2, the church has gathered on the first day of the week, the day of our Lord’s resurrection, to celebrate his victory over sin, death, and the grave. Over the centuries, the Christian church has set aside one Sunday a year for heightened reflection and celebration, the day we know as Easter.

Gather Easter Sunday with the church. I shouldn’t have to say this, but I must encourage the church together on the Lord’s Day. Overcome calendar challenges, reject entertainment options, and deny recreation activities. Choose to worship with others who love the living Jesus like you do.

Prepare your children for the significance of Easter Sunday. Teach your children the significance of Easter Sunday. Help them understand why this Sunday is different than the Sunday before or the Sunday after. When you help with the pretty dresses, clip-on ties, and shiny shoes, talk about Jesus. Tell them the resurrection story and why we make a big deal out of easter. Help them know that candy and eating at grandma’s are not the highlight of the day. The highlight of the day is hearing again the bold proclamation that Jesus died and is alive again.

Seize the evangelistic opportunity of Easter Sunday. I have no studies to back up my theory, but I suspect if you invite an unbelieving friend to an Easter worship service with the church, there is a strong chance they will come. They probably haven’t been to a church gathering in at least one year and maybe many more. The Sunday sermon will center on who Jesus is, what he did on the cross, and the victory he won over sin, death, and the grave. I tell my children all the time, “Don’t say no for people.” Don’t say no for your friend or family member by not extending an invitation to come hear about Jesus.

He lives! By God’s grace Christians will meet this Sunday, Easter Sunday, in worship of the resurrected Jesus.

As always, I welcome your comments and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

To read past Lunchtime Musings, follow me at medium.com/@mikeverway

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

LBGTQ+, the Equality Act, and Our Christian Response

Before the United States congress is the Equality Act. When the bill which supports LGBTQ rights first came to congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi in promotion of the bill said, “this is not about tolerance…tolerance is” an offensive word. The reality is when it comes to LGBTQ lifestyles all must conform, and all must celebrate sexual choices and sexual identities.

There is not much to be done politically about the bill. I will voice my disapproval to Senator Amy Klobuchar (DFL – MN) and to Senator Tina Smith (DFL – MN), but my voice will not count for much. My senators will vote with their fellow democrats in the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass the legislation. When passed by the Senate, President Biden is certain to sign the bill into law. I wrote previously, and I say again without apology, Wednesday, January 20, 2021, the day Mr. Biden became the 46th president of these United States, is a date, I fear, which will live in infamy.

For whatever its intentions and its contents, the Equality Act likely will progress like Title IX before it. Future politicians and lawyers will use the Equality Act to push agendas not considered in the present legislation. This is how laws work in the United States. It is easier to make an old law say something it didn’t than to get a new law passed.

Supporters cannot wait to implement the Equality Act in local schools. Elinor Aspegren writes in USA Today, “The Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, is moving to the Senate after being passed by the House of Representatives – and it could affect what's taught in classrooms.”

Quoting, Sophia Arredondo, director of Education and Youth Programs at the LGBTQ+ education advocacy group GLSEN, Ms. Aspegren writes, “It signals to educators who are not part of our community that they, too, can hopefully implement language, representation and curriculum that is LGBTQ inclusive.”

A recent Gallup poll concluded LGBTQ identification has been increasing over time. Younger generations are far more likely to consider themselves to be something other than heterosexual, including 16% of Gen Z adults, 18 to 23-year-olds born between 1997-2002. The pollsters write, “With younger generations far more likely than older generations to consider themselves LGBT, that growth should continue.”

Does that concern you? I think it should, especially if you have children in any educational institution elementary school to college that does not openly embrace a biblical worldview. What is the biblical worldview on gender identity and sexuality? Against the growing consensus in Western Culture, God’s Word condemns all expressions of sexuality outside of covenanted marriage between one man and one woman, upholds the beauty of two genders, and offers God’s grace to escape God’s coming wrath for those who rebel against God in sexuality and gender.

This is a musing and not a treatise, so here some thoughts as you consider how you will respond to the growing push to embrace LGBTQ ideology in our schools, at your workplace, in your family, and in our community.

Know the Scriptures. God’s revelation is the greatest resource we possess to combat any rebellious worldview. In the approaching days, Christians do well to know the content and meaning of Genesis 1-3; Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6, and Matthew 19. The Scriptures will guard your mind against the lies of Satan and will equip you with tools to support those close to you.

Celebrate what God celebrates and condemn what God condemns. God celebrates masculinity and God celebrates femininity. God celebrates one man and one woman marriage. God celebrates the intimacy and oneness in his design for marriage. Work to make your marriage the beauty that God designed. Protect your marriage from little foxes that would destroy it and give cause for condemnation, “How can you criticize whom I choose to love when your so called ‘God approves’ love is a mess?”

Answer your children’s questions. I was in middle school when I asked him. My dad came home from a long day at work and sat down on the couch, looking for a moment of relaxation. Earlier in the day at my Christian school, I heard a word I didn’t know. Some of the guys were talking about it. I acted like I knew its meaning, but I was clueless. When my dad got home, I assaulted the poor man without any warning, “Dad, what is @L$%*!?” He nearly died. When he collected himself, he gave me a three-word-answer. By his brevity and tone and his immediate departure to another room in the house, I learned that conversations about sex, my body, and girls were off limits. I never again asked him any question on those subjects. In his defense, he didn’t see the uppercut coming, and I am sure his dad never had a similar conversation with him. God has uniquely positioned you to be the parent of your children. Part of your task is to answer their questions about the world in which we live, both its beauty and its ugliness. You do well to answer them and not send them to Instagram or TikTok for answers.

Love sinners to Jesus. Luke 7:36-39 records a social event where a woman of the city whose sexual exploits were known to all interacted with Jesus. A group of Pharisees also attended the dinner. When they saw Jesus and the women interacting, they said, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

The Pharisee’s response tells us all and has become the MO for many Christians. Over and again, we see Jesus move toward the sexually sinful, like the woman in Luke 7 and like the woman at the well in John 4. It is the response of the Pharisee that says, “Keep your distance.”

Instead of keeping distance, love sinners toward Jesus. Would you welcome at your table a person who is biologically male but identifies as female for the purpose of talking to them about Jesus? Would you choose to befriend a coworker whose LGBTQ lifestyle makes you uncomfortable for the purpose of talking to them about Jesus? I suspect the church will need to be prepared in the next decade or two to aid those who received surgical treatments or years of hormonal treatment for the purpose of gender change. Will we help them? Would you repent of any sinful language you use about LGBTQ people? Would you repent of any acceptance of LGBTQ lifestyle because your acceptance does not move sinners toward Jesus? Would you show sympathy and compassion to someone in our church struggling with same sex attraction, with gender identity, or any other sinfully sexual expression? Will you move toward sinners with the hope of the gospel and the love of Jesus?

Here we are. God created us to live in the days in which we live. None of us fought in World War I. None of us experienced the Black Plague. None of us were exiled to Babylon. We live here and now in this time. Like the faithful brothers and sisters before us, we will rely on God’s Word delivered to us by God’s Spirit to live as faithful followers of God’s Son.

May we know God’s grace. >

As always, I welcome your comments and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

To read past Lunchtime Musings, follow me at medium.com/@mikeverway

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

What They Need Is Your Prayers

Earlier today outside a circuit court hearing, a mother wept as the judge handed down the 10-year sentence to her son. The young man told his mom he didn’t want her in the chamber when the deputies escorted him from the courtroom. The Christian sister has a broken heart.

As they advance past middle age, life is not unfolding as they planned. There will be no early retirement traveling to warmer climates, helping to carpool the grandchildren, or sharing in a mid-week Bible study. This Christian brother and sister are weary from the race, yet so much of the race remains.

He keeps it all inside. At 16 he has no true friends. His parents push and push to meet expectations he cannot attain, and his guilty conscience finds escape on his smart phone. The young Christian hears his youth pastor talk about how a kid can be happy in Jesus, but he’s not happy…ever.

In the pulpit he boldly proclaims the gospel of Jesus and preaches the whole counsel of God. Out of the pulpit, he questions his call and wonders if the people might be served better by a different shepherd. As their pastor, he shares in their troubles, pleads with them to choose a different path, and deliberates in meditation how to lead the Lord’s church – a task he knows he cannot fulfill.

You know these people. They are your family and friends or they occupy your row in the church auditorium. They may greet you with a smile or a scowl, and they need you to help them. They don’t need your pity, and they don’t want your pithy saying. What they need is your prayers.

In His Word, God says your prayers on the behalf of others produce divine results, Pray for one another …the urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect (James 5:16 HCSB).

Nowhere in the Bible do we find a more powerful activity of a Christian than the power delivered from God in response to a believer’s intercessory prayer.

Prayer is the singular spiritual discipline that would strengthen our church more than any other. When you ask, “What can I do for my church?” Certainly, you can give in the support of the ministry, and you can serve by exercising your spiritual gifts; however, the most significant contribution you can make to your church is to pray.

John Wesley preached, God does nothing except in response to believing prayer, and Andrew Murray wrote, We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and can bring its power down to earth.

When the church gathers on Sundays or in small groups, we discover in conversations burdens the people carry. These saints need our prayers. As we walk around the building and look around the meeting room, we notice those not present for today’s worship. Any believer absent from the gathering for worship for any reason needs intercessory prayer. Sick children, work, fatigue, sadness of heart, coldness of heart, travels, and everything else should prompt us to think, “I wonder where they are today? I better pray.” It may be that Sunday afternoons could be your most fervent time for intercessory prayer as you remember those you saw and those you did not see.

Intercessory prayer is so much more than the activity of religious people. Intercessory prayer is the spiritual work of those who follow Jesus. Like our Lord in John 17, they pray to the Father for His nurturing in the lives of fellow disciples. Like the early church, powerful churches consist of praying disciples.

Peter’s dramatic release from prison began as constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church (Acts 12:5).

Christian author E.M. Bounds may convey truth about prayer better than any author outside of Scripture, Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.

Pray, Christian, pray. The most powerful instrument we possess travels from your heart to your lips to God’s ears.

As always, I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

To read past Lunchtime Musings, follow me at medium.com/@mikeverway

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision