Oak Hill Baptist Church

You must create the right conditions

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ but then not do the things that I say?” John 8:36 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You have to create the right conditions”

You probably noticed that I’ve used the same Bible verse today that I used yesterday. I did so on purpose because we haven’t fully answered Jesus’ question yet. Why do we proclaim Him to be Lord but then not live in the way He has instructed us to live? And why is this so important?

In her book “Teaching a Stone to Talk”, author Annie Dillard wrote about our personal responsibility to structure our lives in such a way that we create the conditions within which we can grow in Christ and live our best life. She wrote:

“God does not demand that we give up our personal dignity, that we throw ourselves in with random people, that we lose ourselves and turn from all that is not Him … It is life with God that demands these things. Experience has taught (us) that if knowledge of God is the end, then these habits of life are not the means but the condition in which the means operate. You do not have to do these things … unless you want to know God. They work on you not on Him. You (also) do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is necessary.”

Annie’s point is that God does not insist, for His own sake, that we give up our own will for His, or that we align ourselves with other believers in church families, or that we commit our full lives to Him, or any of the other ways in which the Bible instructs us to live. He calls for those things for our sakes not for His. Annie goes on to explain that if you want to know God deeply, experience Him fully, and live your best life, then there are conditions you will need to establish in order for that relationship with God to develop. Just like if you want to view the stars you will need go outside into the dark, so too if you want the life God wants for you, there are conditions you will need to establish in your life so that relationship can develop and flourish.

In John 8:36 Jesus asked those who profess faith in Him why they were not following through by creating the conditions that would allow for the development of the very relationship they were claiming to desire. Doing so is a matter of personal responsibility for all of us. It’s also a matter of choice. Do you remember yesterday’s devotional? We have been set free by Jesus to do this. But the question is “Do you want that life?” If so, then you must create the conditions for it.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

You are free to live your best life

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “You are free to live your best life”

In John 8:36 Jesus was explaining that those who have placed their faith in Him and who follow Him as Lord have been set free. We are set free from being a slave to sin, and we are set free from legalism.

This is important, especially as we continue to consider this issue of our personal responsibility for the things revealed to us by God in the Bible. If we aren’t careful, our understanding and application of these matters can become little more than a New Testament version of Old Testament legalism. We can replace an old system of rules and regulations with a new system of rules and regulations. But Jesus sets us free from that.

Although I’ve used this illustration many times before, it’s still the best I know of to explain the concept of freedom in Christ and therefore I’ll repeat it here. When Professor Dallas Willard’s children were young, he used to send them out to play in the fenced-in backyard. Once they were out there, they could choose for themselves if they wanted to swing on the swing set, play in the sandbox, throw a ball, sit under a tree and read a book, or any number of other activities. As long as they behaved themselves in accordance with the standards of behavior established by their father, and as long as they stayed within the boundaries of the fenced-in backyard, they were free to choose all the rest of it for themselves.

That’s the kind of freedom Jesus has given to us in life. There are Biblical boundaries we have to stay within, and there are acceptable standards of conduct we are to observe, but beyond that, we’re free to choose the details and specific activities for ourselves.

Now with that thought in mind, let’s go back and apply it to our theme of personal responsibility for the things revealed to us by God in the Bible. For instance, we have a personal responsibility for our own spiritual growth. We are to pray, read the Bible, participate in group worship, serve in ministry, etc. But there are different ways to pray – so choose the one that works best for you; there are many translations and formats of the Bible – choose one that you like; there are a lot of churches to choose from in every community – find the one that’s right for you; there are lots of ways to serve in ministry – so try different ones.

You get the idea. As a follower of Christ, that freedom of choice applies to all of life. The personal responsibilities given to us by God are general in nature, they’re guidelines and boundaries we’re to stay within. But beyond that, you get to choose.

Legalism? I think not. This is freedom – freedom to live the best life possible. So, just stay within the boundaries, follow the guidelines, and enjoy!

God bless,
Pastor Jim

You have to want to do it

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’, and don’t do the things I say?” Luke 6:46 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You have to want to do it”

In yesterday’s devotional I noted that God wants us to have a good life that’s rewarding, fulfilling, and meaningful in significant ways. In the Bible He has given us the guidelines for living such a life. This isn’t legalism or a detailed list of dos and don’ts. It’s a description of the kind of life the Holy Spirit forms in us over a lifetime as we submit to Him and allow Him to mold us and shape us into the people God wants us to be. As that life develops, we will see certain patterns of living emerging.

Last month we learned that the most important matter of personal responsibility we have is responsibility for our own spiritual growth. The quality of all the rest of life depends on this and there are things we have to do in order to help facilitate it. We also considered other important issues like being deeply involved in the life of a good church family; intentionally participating in acts of ministry in order to serve and bless others; giving thought to and exercising control over our speech; avoiding needless arguments and protecting the unity of the Christian community; being good stewards of the resources God has entrusted us with; and more.

All of those things describe a life that is being lived well, a life that honors God and blesses others. But we have to want that. If we’re going to accept our personal responsibility to live in the ways God has revealed to us in the Bible, it will have to be because we want to. It will be because we want the life God wants us to have, and we’re willing to do the things He has told us to do and live in the ways He has told us to live.

But this is precisely where so many Christians fail, and that’s exactly what Jesus was referring to in Luke 6:46 (above). We call Him, “Lord, Lord’ but then we don’t do the things He tells us to do and we don’t live in the ways He tells us to live. Why? Is it because we don’t know? Of course not. We know. We’ve read the Bible. We know what it says. We’ve heard the sermons, participated in Bible study groups, read the daily devotional messages. What is it then?

It’s a matter of attitude and motivation. We have to want that life and we have to be willing to live within the Biblical boundaries. This is both easy and hard. It’s easy in that it’s not rocket science – it’s not hard to understand. In the Bible God is pretty clear about His guidelines for living. But it’s hard because it requires a change of heart on our parts.

Therefore, before we go any further considering Biblical boundaries and matters of personal responsibility, we’ll pause to spend a few days prayerfully considering attitude and motivation.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

It’s not supposed to be like that

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s not supposed to be like that”

You may be familiar with the famous quote from the American poet and writer Henry David Thoreau, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” What he was referring to is how it is that many people just endure life. They shuffle through their days with a deep-seated sense of despair and disappointment, wanting life to be better, fantasizing about it getting better, but with little real hope that it will get better.

King Solomon expressed similar feelings in Ecclesiastes 1:2: “Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” And then there’s this dark and dismal observation from Shakespeare’s character Macbeth, “Life is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

For all three of them life seemed difficult, meaningless, and inconsequential. It was brief and full of nothing. But it’s not supposed to be like that. I like the quote from the Christian writer and philosopher William James better, “The great use of life is to spend it on something that outlasts it.”

James was on to something important there. The secret to a full and satisfying life is to live it with purpose and passion, involved in things that truly matter. This is exactly the life Jesus was calling us to in John 8:12 (above). He said that if we follow Him, living the way God has revealed to us in the Bible, we won’t be living in the spiritual darkness described by Thoreau and Solomon and Macbeth. And to make sure we didn’t miss that point, Jesus said it again, just two chapters later, in John 10:10, “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”

This is precisely why God has revealed to us in the Bible so many issues that He has made matters of personal responsibility for us. He has shown us how to live so we can have the best life possible. Those matters of personal responsibility that God has given to us are for our own benefit. It’s in our own best interest to do those things so that our lives won’t be meaningless and wasted. And there are so many more that we have not yet considered this month. Therefore, I’ve decided to extend the theme of personal responsibility into the month of February.

None of us wants to live a life of meaninglessness and quiet desperation, or a life full of sound and fury but ultimately signifying nothing – and God doesn’t want us to live that way either. It’s simply not supposed to be that way. In the Bible God tells us how to live a full, rich life that is meaningful and satisfying.

The Christian rapper Toby Mac sings, “There are no practice runs in life. This is not a test!” And he’s right. This is the real thing. There are no do-overs. So, let’s be sure we get this right and let’s not waste it.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Don’t be a baby

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, because you are still worldly.” 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t be a baby”

In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 the Apostle Paul was expressing his frustration with a group of Christians who had not applied themselves in any serious way to the practice of the faith. They were casual and lazy in their practice of it, and therefore they were weak in their faith. As a result, Paul found that he needed to treat them as babies in Christ, and that is what he called them.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews was dealing with a similar situation with the people he was writing to. In Hebrews 5:12 he wrote, “Although at this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.”

Many professing Christians in our day are exactly like the Christians being addressed in the passages above, they are babies in the faith because they’ve never applied themselves in any serious way to growing in the faith. That being the case, they can’t handle solid spiritual food, they simply aren’t ready for it. Instead, they need to be fed on children’s Bible stories. Trying to get them to accept and internalize serious Biblical truths is like trying to get an infant on formula to swallow steak. They just can’t handle it.

If an infant doesn’t quickly progress from formula to solid food, that child will be seriously stunted in his or her growth. The same is true for Christians. That’s the point those two Biblical writers were making. Babies aren’t supposed to remain as babies.

In the Bible God has made it clear that He has given us the personal responsibility to do the things necessary to help facilitate our own spiritual growth. Daily prayer, Bible reading/study, service in ministry, faithful attendance at group worship services, fellowship with other Christians, are just some of the ways spiritual growth happens. But we have to be intentional about doing those things. We need to plan for it. We must develop habits of daily prayer and Bible study; we have to actually volunteer to participate in ministry activities; faithfully attending the regularly scheduled gatherings of our church needs to be a high priority in our lives. We have to stop making excuses and just do it.

Don’t be casual about the practice of your faith. Don’t just sorta/kinda do it sometimes. Be serious about your spiritual growth. If you aren’t serious about it, you’ll never grow up in Christ. Instead, like those in 1 Corinthians and Hebrews that we read about, you’ll always be a baby in the faith.

Don’t be a baby.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Ear, give, and save

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth …” Deuteronomy 8:17-18 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Earn, give, and save”

In 1789 the great preacher, teacher, and Christian leader, John Wesley, preached a sermon entitled, “The Use of Money”. The three basic points were, “Earn all you can; Save all you can; and Give all you can.” That is consistent with what God teaches throughout Scripture (although I believe Wesley had the order wrong, giving (tithing) should come before saving).

God isn’t against money, He invented it. And God isn’t against us having it, using it, saving it, and enjoying the possessions we can purchase with it. He’s the One who gives us the ability to earn it in the first place. John Wesley’s point in his sermon was that the people of his day were doing a fine job of earning money, saving money, spending money, and enjoying money; but they weren’t doing a very good job of giving their money. That continues to be the problem for many Christians in our day as well.

The Old Testament standard for giving was called “the tithe”. “Tithe” simply means “tenth” and the standard was to bring the first tenth of all you receive and give it back to God as an offering to help pay for the work of His Church on earth. God chooses to fund His work here on earth through the faithful giving of His people. In Malachi 3:10 He even promised a special blessing upon those who faithfully did this, “Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way, says the Lord of Armies. See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.”

In the New Testament the standard is a little different. In 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 Paul wrote, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” We have been freed from the actual requirement of tithing. We now give according to how our heart leads us.

However, many of us still practice tithing as a good starting place. It gives us a goal to shoot for. But that should just be the starting place. In 1 Corinthians 16:2 Paul also taught that each one should give as God has prospered him or her. This is what we were thinking about the other day when I noted that the more you have the more you can give, and therefore the more God expects you to give.

A good approach to giving is that the first 10% goes to God; the second 10% goes to savings; and the other 80% is yours to use as you like. Be assured, you will live better on 90% with God’s blessing than you ever could on 100% without His blessing. And also, can you imagine how well you would be doing financially right now if you still had 10% of every paycheck you have ever earned?

It’s God who gives us the ability to earn, give, and save, and we have a personal responsibility, revealed to us by God in the Bible, to do all three.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Avoid conspicuous consumption, be generous, bless others

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 1 Timothy 6:17-18 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Avoid conspicuous consumption, be generous, bless others”

Over the previous two days we’ve been considering the question, “What does it look like to faithfully practice the stewardship principles taught in the Bible, while living a normal life in middle-class America?” It’s more of a dilemma than we realize. We live in a consumer-oriented culture with a strong bent towards conspicuous consumption. Not just consumption for the sake of meeting our basic needs, and not just consumption that allows for some nice extras, but “conspicuous consumption” – consumption that is compulsive and never satisfied – we’re conditioned for it and pressured into it.

This is where the problem lies. This is what Paul warned about in 1 Timothy 6:9 when he wrote, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” It isn’t money and possessions that are the problem, it’s the “love” of money and possessions. It’s the compulsive pursuit of more and more money, and the conspicuous consumption of goods and services far beyond what is needed, that’s the problem. Getting caught up in this orgy of spending, consuming, and acquiring is exactly what Jesus warned about in Luke 12:15 when He said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

Please note that in his instructions for rich people in 1 Timothy 6:17-18 Paul didn’t say or even imply that there’s anything wrong with being rich. He only warned not to let it go to your head, and he commanded that the rich use some of their affluence to do good deeds. He even said that God has allowed us to have what we have and He gives us permission to enjoy it.

All of us in middle-class America are “rich” by the standards of the rest of the world. Even if we don’t feel rich by the standards of the USA, our standard of living is the highest in the world. We have better housing, more access to food and clean water, better healthcare, more financial security, better and more reliable social safety nets, more recreational options, and an overall better lifestyle than any other group of middle-class people anywhere in the world. And as was noted in yesterday’s devotional, we don’t have to feel guilty about that and we don’t have to apologize for it, we just need to recognize that with the blessings comes responsibility. God has given us a personal responsibility to use some of what we have to help fund His kingdom-building work on earth and to bless others in need.

Tomorrow we will consider one final lesson about our personal responsibility to be good stewards with the financial resources God has entrusted us with. It will be the issue of appropriate levels of giving. How do we determine how much to give and how much is okay to keep and spend on ourselves?

God bless,
Pastor Jim

With the blessings comes responsibility

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.” Luke 12:48 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “With the blessings comes responsibility”

This morning we will continue our thinking from yesterday about the personal responsibility God has given us to be good stewards of the money, possessions, and resources He has entrusted us with. We ended our discussion yesterday with the question, “What does it look like to faithfully practice the stewardship principles taught in the Bible, while living a normal life in middle-class America?”

For most of us reading this we do in fact live in middle-class America and not in a remote village in the Amazon Jungle, or in a poor town in rural Mexico, or on a farm in the mountains of China. Therefore, our standard of living is different and a different level of resources are required in order to live in this society as opposed to some other. God knows that, and He doesn’t expect us to live in middle-class America as if we were living on a small farm in a distant province in China. Christians are to live in a manner that’s consistent with and appropriate to the place God has put us.

But with that said, there are Biblical stewardship principles that do apply. On the one hand, we do not need to feel guilty about or apologize for the blessings God has allowed us to have. On the other hand, we do need to recognize that with the blessings comes responsibility. God hasn’t allowed us to have all that we have just so we can spend it all on ourselves. He has blessed us so we can in-turn be a blessing to others. And the more He has blessed us with, the more He expects us to bless others. Jesus taught that in Luke 12:48, and there are numerous other passages throughout both the Old and New Testaments which teach the same thing. (We’ll look at some of them tomorrow).

Our lesson for today is that the more you have the more God expects you to do with it. The giving that matters most to God is sacrificial giving – giving that we feel. However, the more you have the harder it is to do that. If you have ten million dollars and you give away a million, that’s a very generous thing, but you still have nine million. If you have ten thousand dollars and you give away a thousand, that’s more of a sacrifice for you than was the much larger gift from the millionaire.

The Bible doesn’t teach against wealth. Some of the most prominent figures in the Bible were wealthy, including Abraham, David, Barnabas, and some of the women who followed and supported the ministry of Jesus. But the Bible does caution against the dangerous allure of wealth, and it does teach that the more you have, the more God expects you to do with it.

Is it okay to have a nice vehicle, or to live in a big home, or to spend money on a luxury vacation? Maybe. If you’re being a faithful and generous giver to the kingdom-building work of God first, if you are a sacrificial giver who regularly blesses others in need, and if after doing so you can still afford a few extra nice things for yourself, good for you. I see nothing in Scripture that teaches otherwise.

More about this tomorrow.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Good stewardship is a personal responsibility

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down first and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.” Luke 14:28-30 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Good stewardship is a matter of personal responsibility”

Last week I placed an order for a new truck. (I have a 3-4 month wait while the factory builds it). Considering what I wrote yesterday about material wealth and spiritual poverty, do you think I’m being hypocritical? Why would I need a new truck? Am I being a good steward of the financial resources the Lord has entrusted me with? Should this even be a spiritual concern? This is actually an important issue for all of us because whether you realize it or not, in some manner, you are faced with the same questions.

Let me say first that this was not an impulse purchase. It took a couple of years of thinking, praying, and planning. We did our research, saved our money, took good care of our two existing vehicles so they would be valuable trade-ins, and when we found the right deal, we made our move. Also, Linda and I make it a point to purchase quality vehicles. We take good care of them and then we keep them for a long time. And since that is true, since we do take good care of them and keep them a long time, and since I’m about to turn sixty-eight, this is possibly the last new vehicle I will ever purchase.

So, does that sound like good financial stewardship? Does it sound like we practiced good planning and delayed gratification? I hope it does because that is what we tried to do, and it is the kind of planning and delayed gratification Jesus refers to in Luke 14:28-30.

One of the matters of personal responsibility God has revealed to us in the Bible is the issue of financial stewardship. There are approximately 2,350 verses in the Bible which refer to money and possessions. Almost 15% of what Jesus said in the Gospels was related to stewardship. 16 of His 38 parables were about money and possessions. We are to live modestly; be generous; bless others; financially support the work of the church; and provide for our families.

But since using our money wisely and in ways that honor the Lord is obviously so important to God, it begs the question about how much is okay to spend on ourselves. Is it okay to buy a new truck, or to live in a big home, or to spend money on an Alaskan cruise? Couldn’t that money be better spent feeding starving children in Africa, or supporting missionaries, or printing Bibles, or a hundred other more “spiritual” uses? What does it look like to faithfully practice the stewardship principles taught in the Bible, while living a normal life in middle-class America?

Hold onto that thought. We’ll come back to it tomorrow. In the meantime, spend some time thinking and praying about the resources God has blessed you with, and how you are using them.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Do you best in all things

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” Colossians 3:23 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Do your best in all things”

Today is Monday and for many of us it’s the beginning of a new work week. Colossians 3:23 is a verse that many of us use as inspiration and motivation to work hard and to be the best employee we can be, and that is a good application of that verse.

But Colossians 3:23 doesn’t just describe an attitude we should have with respect to our work. We should apply it to all aspects of life – including relationships, managing finances, taking care of our health, and more. Our attitude should be that we will do our best and be our best in all areas of life. Most importantly, that should include our spiritual life.

Unfortunately, many of us pay more attention to and put more effort into other aspects of life than we do to our spiritual growth. The Bible scholar and author, Os Guinness observed, “The trouble is that as modern people we have too much to live with and too little to live for … In the midst of material plenty, we have spiritual poverty.”

Ouch. Yes. Many of us are living in spiritual poverty. We’re doing pretty well in terms of material things, entertainment, physical fitness, finances. We’re doing well in those areas because we apply ourselves to them and work hard at them. But spiritual maturity? Less so. Many are living a life of spiritual poverty because we just don’t give it the same attention and the same effort as we do the rest of life.

This morning I want to encourage all of us to think deeply and prayerfully about Paul’s instruction in Colossians 3:23 as it applies to our spiritual lives. Then, ask God to show you if you need to do a better job of practicing your faith. We should give our best effort to all areas of life, but especially to being a good disciple of Christ.

God bless,
Pastor Jim