Lamentations: Light in Dark Times

Even in destruction hope can be found.

Written by Jeremiah, the Book of Lamentations is a haunting series of funeral dirges mourning the destruction of Jerusalem.  It refers to the destruction that came from the Babylonians beginning in 606 B.C.  It is a touching display of the miserable conditions the people of Judah brought upon themselves by incessant disobedience to God.

One of the amazing characteristics of the book is its arrangement. It contains five poems which correspond to the various chapters. Each poem contains 22 verses, except the third chapter. The third poem (chapter) contains 66 verses. 

These poems are 22 verses long because they are arranged according to the Hebrew alphabet, with three cycles of the alphabet being used in the third poem. Each verse (with a few exceptions and except chapter 5) begins with the corresponding letter of the alphabet so that in one poem the entire alphabet is used. This arrangement is not unique, but it is rare. If we could explain it in our own way, we might say that these are poems showing the terribleness of the destruction from A to Z.

In times of sorrow look to God, the source of comfort. 

Two other unique characteristics of the book are that the poems work in a crescendo/decrescendo fashion and they work as parenthetical statements. In the first two poems there is crescendo with the third poem the climax, and then the last two poems serve as decrescendo. The design is such that the first and fifth poems are closely related, and the second and fourth poems are also closely related. 

The third poem contains its own similar fashion. The first part and the third relate to one another. All of the poems and parts of the centerpiece revolve around the second (and middle) section of the third poem. That middle section is the climax of a beautiful message couched in a sea of sorrow and despair. At the height of the misery of the poems comes a great paradox that shines with brilliance above all the turmoil listed in the surrounding verses. Note how the central part begins, the climax of the entire masterpiece:

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in Him’” (Lamentations 3:22-24).

It might be difficult for some to realize the import of such words. The author notes the distress and misery and rises up above those circumstances. He pulls himself up like climbing a hill of trash and mud in a dump on a sad, rainy day. He pulls himself up above it all and releases a light for all to see: Hope for the distressed and a great proclamation of love for his God. Then, again, he retreats into the misery of the situation, having changed the outcome through realization of the central point: God is still in control. He is faithful. He will help us overcome. 

Even in sorrow we can find God's goodness.

Chapters one and five emphasize the destruction that came upon the city of Jerusalem and the city is personified as a woman crying out in pain and agony over her abuse. In the second and fourth poems the city is crying out but the emphasis is on the anger of the Lord who caused the destruction. The third poem relates to the personal distress Jeremiah felt while watching the destruction come against his own people. The nature of the poems also shows a natural progression of the outward, less personal events to the emotional, personal events, and then back out again. The closer to the middle of the book one travels, the more personal the message becomes. 

These are general observations and impressions the book made on me. I hope that I have encouraged you to read and contemplate the message of this and other books of the Bible. I’d love to hear your thoughts about this or other books of the Bible!

Winning Like A Baby

Have you ever seen anything uglier than a newborn baby?

Tap into the power babies have over us.

Think about it. 

• Most of them are chubby. 

• They have no teeth at all. 

• They can’t open their mouths without some kind of liquid coming out. 

• They are short and mostly bald--even the girls! 

• And they lie around crying all the time.

Yet we love them to death!

I’d say that is pretty awesome power. They have us wrapped around their stubby little fingers. 

What wouldn’t we do for them? 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to win hearts like they do? 

I’m not saying we should act like a baby, just win like one. Consider a few ways we can imitate babies and win hearts around us.

1. Be pure. 

Isn’t that the heart of what Jesus meant when He said, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3)?

We need purity of heart. Who doubts the intentions of babies? No one thinks a baby is secretly plotting to hurt others. We do not fear our words around them. They are harmless.

We’ve met people that we cannot trust. We guard our words and actions lest they have something to use against us. It is not a fun situation. Let us be extraordinary people that can be trusted never to intentionally do harm to others around us.

2. Be facial.

Have you noticed the way a baby’s face lights up when he recognizes someone? His face shines with excitement and we get a thrill knowing the child remembers and loves us. 

There are not many passages in the Bible that mention smiles, but there are plenty of passages that tell us to be pleasant to others. Proverbs 16:24 tells us that “Pleasant words are like honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” So let us be pleasant and loving. Smile. Meet new people. Act like you are interested in others. Show it with your face.

3. Be vulnerable.

Babies are the most vulnerable people in the world. Not only are they incapable of self-defense. They cannot even recognize dangers around them.

Here we need balance. Vulnerability seems weak but is a key to developing relationships. Be open to others. Show love. Accept love. Do not live afraid of being hurt. Certainly you will be hurt at times, but love anyway. 

Consider how Jesus treated Judas, and follow His lead. Consider the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 41:9. “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has turned up his heel against me.” This shows us that Jesus trusted Judas even though He knew Judas would betray Him. On that last evening, Jesus even washed Judas' feet.

Be wise, and be open.

Win Like A Baby

Can you think of other characteristics that help us connect with others? Let's discuss them in the comments section below!

Bringing Life To The Living

Jesus came to a planet of living beings and brought life.

Since His coming, we have seen attacks against Christianity and the Bible. These will continue because people in darkness hate the light. But the light is life. Jesus shows us what life is about. He shows us how to live!

It should be obvious that the Bible does not reveal the complete knowledge of God within its pages. How could any book contain such knowledge? However, He has expressed to us what we need to know.

In 1 Corinthians 2:7-16, Paul wrote about the role of the Holy Spirit in giving us the Word of God. The Spirit revealed the wisdom of God that had previously been hidden. This was the plan of God for the abundant life Jesus promised in John 10:10.

The Bible reveals what was once hidden. God is able to communicate so that we can understand Him. With effort, we can understand the Bible. It was written for us to understand life and to access the promises and the power of God for our salvation.

Of course, there are misinterpretations and alleged contradictions, but these are unnecessary. Thorough learning and continued study can reveal truth. And as for contradictions, they have never been successfully proven. Since the words were first recorded people have attempted to set them aside by various means. There have been hundreds of accusations made against the Bible. All of them have been overturned by study and analysis of the Bible.

Second Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. The word "inspiration" literally means "God-breathed [out]". It is the expression of God Himself. Thus it is profitable for "doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness."

For us, the above means that the Bible is complete. Second Peter 1:3 tells us that we have been given "all things that pertain to life and godliness" through the knowledge Jesus has. This knowledge was passed to us through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles (1 Corinthians 2). We have no need to look anywhere else to find how to live a life pleasing to and blessed by God.

The Bible is the means to our salvation. Jude 3 teaches us the importance of the faith--that it is worth fighting for (figuratively). Paul wrote in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. So what the Bible provides is not just "good advice" to consider. It provides the very information we need to be saved from destruction and punishment from God. It tells us how to find the blessings of God's promises.

There is no replacement for the Bible. It is the expression of God. It is authoritative, complete, and unblemished.

With our noses in the book, our feet on the path, and our eyes watching carefully for dangers, we will be granted the promise of Jesus: "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

Jesus came to a planet of living people and brought life.

Working Toward Acts 2:41

Could you imagine seeing 3,000 souls converted in one day? Think about that for a moment. Would that be nice to see? That is what we see in Acts 2:41 and I believe it is theoretically possible for that to happen again, if we learn some key lessons.

It is obvious that Acts 2:41 precedes Acts 15:21 chronologically.  There is no question of this fact. The book of Acts was written in chronological order. However, the concepts are in reverse order as far as cause and effect. There is a good lesson for us in noticing this fact.

Acts 2:41 is a magnificent verse talking about the growth of the church. The first Gospel sermon on record after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus resulted in 3,000 souls being saved. It is easy to imagine that every Christian would want to see something like that happen again. I’ve heard many people bemoan the fact that we have not repeated such an event in our own time. There seems to be a disconnect from reality in the minds of some people though.

We have the same message that Peter preached. In fact, our circumstances are somewhat better because we have the written word that allows us to know the full counsel of God regarding our salvation (2 Peter 1:3). The word of God was provided so that we would be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If we have the greatest message ever told and the completed Word of God, why do we not see thousands come to the Lord?

We also have conditions that are superior to what the Apostles had in the first century. The Roman roads literally paved the way for the spread of the Gospel, but they pale in comparison to the roads and means of travel that we have today. Yet we cannot seem to imitate the amazing work Paul did in the book of Acts. Why can we not imitate such success?

We have technology that is unprecedented. What would take days, weeks, or months to communicate in the past would now take mere microseconds. We have remarkable technology at our fingertips that allows amazing methods of communication. Why can we not mimic what happened in Acts 2:41?

Common Opinions

Sometimes we seem to think that the answer is found in the preaching. Preaching should cater to the ideas and needs of the listeners more--this is the message we hear in some circles. The easy response to that is to look at the results. There are many who teach what others want to hear, but they still have nowhere near the results found in Acts 2:41.

Related to that, many churches seem to think that if they happen to find the right man who has the right message and is charismatic enough to demand a following, the church will grow that way. There is no question that growth can come because of the personality of a preacher. Unfortunately, this process tends to elevate the preacher beyond his role as servant. And if the preacher leaves, the people leave. This gives a preacher great power in a congregation so that elders are pressed to compromise their positions as leaders and allow the preacher to say and do things they would not normally allow. The end result of this kind of growth is what many call "preacheritis". It is unhealthy for the long-term health of any congregation.

Others tell us that we need to get away from preaching altogether. If only we had enough programs to offer newcomers we would finally find the magic formula for converting large masses of people. This is a misguided belief that ignores the importance of people hearing the Word in order to have faith. The result of such a philosophy is that a church turns into a social program that sees no need for spiritual matters.

Another common answer is that the people saw and heard miracles that day. This one is given as a reason why it cannot happen again. Since we do not have miracles, we cannot replicate what happened that day. There is no doubt that the miracles were valid and proved the message. But do we not have the means of proving our message true? While the miracles undoubtedly helped the situation, what do we make of 1 Corinthians 13:10? This states that what they had was partial and that we have the perfect will of God now. Paul went on in 1 Corinthians 13 comparing that time to the times of youth that would be put away as maturity came. The passage implies that what we have is better now because it is the complete Word of God. But since we humans tend to be more impressed with the show of power, we should grant that at least part of the answer lies in those miracles. We should consider the theoretical possibility that if we had a similar demonstration of the power of God today, we would have an Acts 2:41 day sometime.

Having admitted that miracles theoretically could have played a part, we have to admit that this is not a sufficient explanation by itself. Why do we not have any other Acts 2:41 events recorded in New Testament times? Didn’t they have miracles in other parts of Acts? Why were those miracles insufficient to produce the same numbers? With this last question we see an important point. The miracles cannot account for the amazing response of that day. We cannot imitate the miracles, but that does not mean we cannot imitate the conversions, at least in theory.

A Biblical Answer

The reason we do not see such a response in the rest of Acts is simply because of the circumstances of Acts 2. Acts 15:21 gives us a clue to what happened. “For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.” The very people who heard Moses read week after week, whose culture reiterated the teachings of the Law, these same people came to Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire (Acts 2:5-11). They had a thorough knowledge of the Law of Moses and the circumstances of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The reason there were so many converted in Acts 2:41 was because of what was said to have happened in Acts 15:21. God arranged for it to happen. Could He not do the same thing again?

If we hope to have anything near the success of that day when the church first began, we must be willing to do the preparatory work. It does not matter how slick our presentation skills are or how fluently we teach God’s plan of salvation. We must find ways to introduce people to long term study of the Word just to get them to the point of understanding how to be saved and why they need to be saved. 

If we want to come anywhere near the numbers of conversions found in Acts, we must start with a realization and acceptance of this fact. The days of “easy evangelism” have been over for a long time. We need quickly to catch up to that fact and do the preparatory work necessary to have conversions.

There is no quick and easy way to evangelize. People tend to look at Acts 2:41 and wish for similar things to happen. Every now and then a charismatic man presents his plan for such a thing. We can have a big event in the community and draw in large crowds. Then we can preach the Gospel to them and voilà! We have 3,000 souls added to the church. The problem with that plan is that it does not happen as planned! One does not merely preach a lesson and convert masses of people. There must be preparatory work.

There is no promise that it will ever happen again. But if we hope to have anywhere near the number of conversions found in Acts 2:41, we must find a way to mimic Acts 15:21 according to New Testament standards. We need to ask and answer a question: What will it take for us to have an Acts 2:41 event? And the next logical question is: Do we have the patience and vision to accomplish it?

I vote Yes. Any takers?

The Motivational Power of Spiritual Purpose

A shoe company wanted to open its market in a remote island location. The CEO of the company sent a salesman to the island. After a month he came home a miserable failure. He had not sold a single pair of shoes. The CEO met with the salesman and learned that the reason for the failure was because people in that culture wore no shoes. 

Soon after this the CEO decided to give it another try. He asked another salesman to go. After the first week the salesman sent in a large order for shoes. For four weeks after that the salesman doubled his order each week! The CEO called the salesman and asked how he was doing such a good job in that island since it was so difficult to sell to them there. The man's response was, "Are you kidding? This is a gold mine here! Did you know that no one on the island has any shoes to wear?"

  

This old story illustrates the importance of attitude in sales. It also illustrates the importance of purpose in leadership. The first salesman could not find anyone who wanted to wear shoes. The second salesman sold the shoes. The only way he could possibly have accomplished that feat was to give the people a reason to buy those shoes. Could we not learn a lesson from this about encouraging people to be involved in the Lord's work?

I am not suggesting that we develop a system of physical rewards. I do not suppose to invent some system to bribe people to do what they should be doing anyway. I just want us to stop for a moment and answer the question, "Why?" Even the most active person in the world does not work for nothing. There is always a reason. A leader's job is to help people understand the reasons for doing the work. If they have a reason (purpose) that is compelling, they will do the work. Fortunately for us Christians, we do not have to invent purpose. God supplies that for us. A leader simply reveals purpose.

The church is a spiritual creation. Every activity of the church should have a spiritual meaning and purpose. If an activity cannot be explained as spiritually significant, it is merely something that will distract from the true aim of the church. Without this "higher calling" of spirituality, it will be very difficult to motivate people to do anything.

For example, taking care of the grounds at a church's meeting place can have spiritual purpose. It is physical work, but if you give people purpose they will take their work more seriously. Why not let the grass grow long? Why should we pick up trash from the lot? If the answer is to avoid citations or to make a pleasant building, we have missed the motivating factors. But tie in that work with the building up and growth of the body of Christ and suddenly menial work becomes important! And why not? Whether we like it or not we have church buildings in our culture. And whether it is fair or not, people will judge the church based on how the grounds look. We might as well accept reality and use it to our spiritual advantage! Creating a good impression will help our status in the community and it will help us when we find opportunities to teach people the Gospel.

Even evangelism must be approached spiritually. That seems obvious, but sometimes we do evangelistic things merely because we've always done them in the past. Gospel meetings are a great example. What was once meant to be a beacon in the community and an opportunity to evangelize has become mere habit to some congregations. There is no more spiritual purpose to the meetings. It becomes simply a matter of pride that they hold on to some image of times gone by when they were once a "great church". But do it correctly and a Gospel meeting can breathe life into a church! Make it a spiritual event. Give grand reasons for people to invite their friends and they will do it! There is no motive greater or higher than serving God.

This is a simple way to help the church grow: Revive the purpose that everyone should already see. Satan has a way of blinding us to it. Our own busy lives tend to take us away from what is important. Leaders will remind others that there is great purpose in our lives when we follow God's will. This can be all the motivation people need in order to start to believe that growth is possible. When the people believe the Lord's work has meaning and purpose, give them their noble work and unleash them to do it!

One Simple Rule for Getting Church Members Active

“I know exactly what I am expected to do and exactly how to do it.” If church members cannot state that about themselves, how do we expect the church to grow?

One of the tasks of leadership is division of labor. Sometimes leaders get discouraged and think that no one is interested in doing work, but that is not true. Everyone knows that some people refuse to work, and many leaders resign to this as fate. They assume the people are carnal, worldly, and simply uninterested in spiritual matters. Undoubtedly that may be true for some people, but (for the most part) if a person attends a worship service they are interested in spiritual things. So why is it so difficult to get people involved?

Many factors may be involved in this. You may not be able to overcome many factors, but you can overcome some of them. When you do, you will generate ambitious workers. They may surprise you! The sad thing is, most of the resources for doing the work of the Lord are squandered, lying lifeless in the pews. This is not because of the laziness of the workers but because of the failings of the leaders. Leaders lead. They find ways to get people working and growing. They find the obstacles that are in the way of the followers and they remove those obstacles! Over time we will cover many obstacles. For today, consider the importance of communicating expectations.

One tremendous obstacle to helping people get to work is a lack of communication. If someone is assigned a task, he must know what the task involves. If he is not sure what is expected, he is less likely to do it. We cannot always leave it to the worker to discover his mission in the task, even if it seems obvious to us. They may have completely different ideas about how to do it and why. No one wants to hurt the work of others by failing to accomplish what is needed. So communicate the goals and activities they need to perform so they can succeed.

A lack of communication results in confusion. Some leaders mistake this confusion for apathy. This may come as a surprise, but many people are afraid to look stupid. If you come to me and say, "I need you to work the sound booth for our worship services" and I have no idea how to do it or what is required, I am more likely to say that I can't do it. I may not tell you that I have no clue how to turn the thing on, much less be responsible for recording the services. I can run the risk of looking stupid by saying I don't know how to perform a simple task, or I can just say "No" and avoid the risk. Which do you suppose I will choose? What some consider apathy may actually be confusion about how to complete the task--and perhaps a lack of confidence in their ability.

One major key to getting people to work in the church is for leaders to assign tasks and explain in detail exactly what will be required. A good way to approach the illustration above would be to invite me into the sound room, show me how everything works and how easy it is to record the worship service. After showing me, you should then ask if I would be willing to do exactly those same things next week with the promise that you will write down instructions in case I forget what I learned. Once I see that is it easy and that I can do it, I will be much more willing to help! People love to help others when they know exactly how to help them.

Another important part of that is the timeframe. We need to communicate how long the task will take and how often we will be expected to perform it. We all fear being asked to do something that we can never escape. If a person is needed for a period of time, tell him that in advance. State exactly how long the task will be required. And offer a way out if it gets too difficult. They may never take the "way out" but it is nice to know it is there.

If you ask people to write something. Tell them how long it should be. If you ask them to preach or teach, make sure they are clear about what they will teach and who the audience will be, and what the goal is. The bigger the task, the more information is required--especially for someone who has never done it.

The job of any leader is to make sure everyone has something to do. If we want a congregation to grow the way the Lord desires, that is only possible when all the members become active. Ephesians 4:16 says that in the body of Christ, “every part does its share” and this brings growth. This requires planning, foresight, and wisdom. When we have a plan we must include others in it and be specific about what they need to do to achieve success.

Next time we will look at the role of "purpose" in leading others to action.