Monday, November 28, 2005

CrossTies Devotional Article For November 27, 2005


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Until He Comes
By Bill Denton

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.  (1 Corinthians 11:23-26, NASB95)

My cousin's daughter Kathy usually stays in children's church on Sunday mornings, but one Sunday she went with her parents to the regular adult service. When Communion was served, she turned to her mother and whispered loudly, "The snack in children's church is much better. And we get a lot more juice."
Elizabeth Charles Gomes, Wyncote, Penn., Today's Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart."

No one would harshly judge the immature words of a child who did not understand the meaning of the Lord’s supper.  But, when adult believers demonstrate an immature understanding it should give us no comfort at all.  The communion meal is a memorial pointing both back to the event that gives it meaning and forward to the event which is its intended goal.

Here’s what I mean.  The broken bread reminds us of the body of Christ.  The cup is the new covenant in the blood of Jesus.  We take these in remembrance of Jesus.  In other words, in the bread and in the fruit of the vine, we remember his body and his blood shed for us.  The meaning of the supper is found in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Paul goes further, however, and says that when we eat the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.  That’s forward thinking, future oriented, pointing toward something that hasn’t happened yet.  It is the goal of the cross Paul has in mind, and that involves our future.  The supper does not only point to the past accomplishment of Jesus on the cross, it points ahead to what he died to accomplish.

Every time we gather around the Lord’s table, we ought to think in both directions.  We think back to get the meaning.  We think forward in order to understand the “so what” of the matter.  Jesus died on the cross, a sacrifice to take away our sins.  “So what?”  He’s coming again, that’s what.  Because he’s coming again, we proclaim again and again what he did.

Why is this so important?  Not just so we don’t forget what Jesus did, but so we will also look forward to what he will yet do for us.  The penalty for sin has been paid at the cross, but Jesus will return to gather to himself all those for whom he paid the price of his death.  Every time you eat the bread and drink the wine, you proclaim what he did and point to what he will yet do.

© Copyright  2005, Dr. Bill DentonAll Rights Reserved.Articles may not be reprinted in any "for profit" publication without further permission by the author. Articles may be freely distributed via e-mail, reprinted in church bulletins or in other non-profit publications without further permission. Please keep this copyright and Web Site information intact with copied articles. Articles are sent originally to subscribers only. You may have received a forwarded or reprinted copy.   http://www.crossties.org
 
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Monday, November 21, 2005

CrossTies Devotional Article for November 20, 2005



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Eternally Grateful
By Bill Denton

“always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Ephesians 5:20, NASB95)

   Lucy asks Charlie Brown to help with her homework. "I'll be eternally grateful," she promises.
   "Fair enough. I've never had anyone be eternally grateful before," replied Charlie. "Just subtract 4 from 10 to get how many apples the farmer had left."
   Lucy says, "That's it! That's it! I have to be eternally grateful for that? I was robbed! I can't be
   eternally grateful for this, it was too easy!"
   With his blank stare, Charlie replies, "Well whatever you think is fair."
   "How about if I just say 'thanks, bro!'" replied Lucy.
   On his way outside, Charlie meets Linus who asks, "Where've you been, Charlie Brown?"
   "Helping Lucy with her homework."
   Linus asks, "Did she appreciate it?"
   Charlie answers, "At greatly reduced prices."
               Charles Schultz, “Peanuts” cartoon strip.

At any given moment, have you ever felt that you might be ‘eternally grateful’ for something?  Five minutes later, did the thought occur that ‘eternal’ gratitude might be a bit much?  I think we may be more like Lucy than we’d like to admit.

Gratitude seems to be difficult for us.  Sometimes it’s because we get to thinking that people owe us whatever they did, or whatever they gave us.  Maybe it’s because we delude ourselves into thinking we deserve whatever we got, if it’s good and positive, that is.  Whenever those thoughts intrude upon our minds, gratitude is left out.  Sometimes, gratitude is embarrassing.  We don’t like to look needy or helpless, and if we’re too grateful, it might make us look bad.  So we think.  The point is simply that expressing gratitude is tough.

Even salvation gets short-changed in the gratitude department.  “Saved?  Oh, yeah, right.  Uh, sure.  Thanks, Lord!”  No, we might not actually say that, but it’s not far from the content of our thoughts.  I’m convinced, however, that when it comes to actually living forever in heaven, and experiencing all the blessings of salvation, gratitude won’t get left out.

After all, the whole point of eternal life and a home in heaven is that sin and condemnation are dealt with and put away.  It means we’ve been redeemed, sanctified and glorified.  There is fellowship with Jesus and the Father.  There is the company of saved who share in the heavenlies with us.  There is the constant praise of God happening.  You won’t be able to forget or ignore God’s love, mercy and grace for they will be ever-present in an obvious way.

Whatever else happens forever in heaven, of this one thing I’m sure:  we’ll be eternally grateful.  This Thanksgiving Day, put salvation at the top of your list of things to be thankful for.


© Copyright  2005, Dr. Bill DentonAll Rights Reserved.Articles may not be reprinted in any "for profit" publication without further permission by the author. Articles may be freely distributed via e-mail, reprinted in church bulletins or in other non-profit publications without further permission. Please keep this copyright and Web Site information intact with copied articles. Articles are sent originally to subscribers only. You may have received a forwarded or reprinted copy.   http://www.crossties.org
 
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Thursday, November 17, 2005

CrossTies Devotional Article for Nov 13, 2005






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A More Difficult Discipleship
By Bill Denton

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  (John 8:31-32, NASB95)

Today there are multitudes of men who are willing to give their minds to the Word of God to study it as an intellectual pursuit, to listen to what Jesus Christ has to say. And they may even submit themselves to the teaching and preaching of the Scriptures from an evangelical pulpit. But these people have made no response to that truth or to the person of Jesus Christ . . . . It is possible to approach the Word simply to have one’s intellect stirred, to do what the Athenians did —to listen to some new thing —without any relationship to the truth or without any impact of that truth on one’s life. Such a person may call himself a disciple, but on the authority of the Word of God, he is not. He is among the curious who sit to be titillated and tantalized without any response to the truth that is presented.
     - Pentecost, J. D. (1996). Design for discipleship : Discovering God's blueprint for the Christian      life. (Page 12).

For years, I’ve tried to get people to see that there is a difference between intellectual Christianity and real discipleship.  I haven’t always been successful.  Of course, one of the most difficult people to deal with has been myself!  It’s easy to make discipleship only a mind game.

I do fear that we have neglected serious discipleship for a milder, less threatening catechism, and I realize I’m saying this largely to folks who don’t think they have a catechism!  I think most of those folks are just unaware of reality.  When a large part of your discipleship is spent learning how to regurgitate a specific list of doctrinal items, and when one’s standing in the “faith community” depends on the ability to provide appropriate answers, then this pretty much fits.

Of course, the other end of the spectrum is a disdain for “intellectualism,” at least that seems to be the substance of some people’s faith.  They don’t seem to want to have to learn anything at all, but you know, it takes a pretty staunch mental effort to offer such a consistent resistance.  Both extremes miss the target of real discipleship.

When it comes to following Jesus, there are some things to learn.  You just can’t get around it.  Jesus’ approach to people focused on teaching.  He wanted to communicate some things that folks could wrap their minds around.  But, Jesus didn’t offer just a mental or intellectual exercise.  What Jesus taught was intended to change a person’s life.  The sad thing is that you can miss either end of things.  In other words, you can miss what Jesus taught or you can miss putting it to work in your life.  Either way you miss it.  Frankly, I think this was much of the problem of the Pharisees.  They knew a lot.  Then again, they had missed knowing a lot, too.  Worse, what they knew, they didn’t put to into their lives to be changed by it.  A disciple of Jesus must be a ‘learner’ and a ‘practitioner.’  Anything less won’t do.  Freedom is in knowing the truth so that the living of life comes within the will of the Father.  A real disciple wants to know, and wants to do.


© Copyright  2005, Dr. Bill DentonAll Rights Reserved.Articles may not be reprinted in any "for profit" publication without further permission by the author. Articles may be freely distributed via e-mail, reprinted in church bulletins or in other non-profit publications without further permission. Please keep this copyright and Web Site information intact with copied articles. Articles are sent originally to subscribers only. You may have received a forwarded or reprinted copy.   http://www.crossties.org
 
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