Demas or Tychicus?

Tychicus Journeying to Ephesian Church

Ephesians 6:21-22 (AD 60)
But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you; whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts.

2 Timothy 4:9-12 (AD 67)
Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. And Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.

This is a story of two men:  Tychicus and Demas, both workers with Paul in his ministry.

We first read of Tychicus in Acts 20:4 where they leave Ephesus, go to Greece, and return to Macedona.  This was about 54 AD *.  He ended up being a traveling companion and a minister, a faithful one at that, and a beloved brother to Paul–visiting him while in the Roman Prison, where the Letter to the Ephesians and Colossians were written.

There are other mentions of Tychicus in the Bible (Acts 20:4, Ephesians 6:21, Colossians 4:7, Titus 3:12, 2 Timothy 4:12); the last one 2 Timothy 4:12 is what brought my attention to Demas.

Do you want to be called a beloved brother (sister) or faithful minister?  Or would you rather be described as one who has “loved this present world” more than serving the Lord?

Hymn-Theology: How I’ve Proved Him O’er and O’er

“Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him;

How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er…”

Lou­i­sa M. R. Stead, 1882. “‘Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus”

It never ceases to amaze me how lyrics can make such a lasting impression and even function as time-release capsules; giving you an inoculation when you really need it. One of those phrases is “how I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er” from the hymn “Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus.”

My favorite version of this hymn is by The Martins, but I first heard it in 2001 by Jana Alyra, better known for her children’s music, from her album No Place Like Home.  Lately that refrain has been my soul’s nourishment, encouraging me during difficulties that I need to remember that the Lord is worthy of my trust.  That I can prove (testify) over and over again of His faithfulness.  I brought it into my worship sets for Fridays and it’s been so encouraging to the congregation.

Those lyrics were said to be written as Louisa Stead witnessed her husband drown while attempting to save a little boy *.  Often in the darkest hours and the most difficult trials, we learn that we [actually] can put our trust in Jesus and that He will “come through” for us. 

Hymn-Theology: Prone to Wander, Lord I Feel It

“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above”

Robert Robinson, 1735-1790, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

Many of the well-known and well-written hymns speak of the character and the nature of God.  They serve a grand purpose to reinforce and/or teach good, sound theology; they are songs about God.  Others, like the one that comes to mind for this post, talk about our walk, our heart, our sin, and how God responds to us; they are  songs (prayers) to God.

Ever since I heard this hymn on Fernando Ortega’s HYMNS & MEDITATIONS CD, it has gripped my very soul.  There are so many wonderful lyrics in this hymn, but the last stanza is especially heart-moving and thought-provoking.

“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love”

Sometimes we wander on purpose; like the time we took Josie, 14 at the time, to Walmart.  She thought it would be really funny to wander (ditch me).  She wanted me to look for her.  It was a test.  How much did I love her?  Would I leave my husband in the store to look for her?  How long would I look for her? Once I found her, and after giving her a piece of my mind or two, I explained that there is nothing she can do to make me love her less.  I passed her test, but she didn’t pass mine.  I realized that day, that I had to keep her on a short leash, so to speak, until she would stay close.  The Lord does the same with us.

Other times, like a child in Disneyland, the world offers so much to grab our attention.  Noises, songs, the smell of churros in the air, Mickey and Goofy wanting to pose in a photo with us are all competing to have our audience.  If we don’t stay close to our parents, we could easily be separated until they come to find us. 

Tweets for Thought

Twitter can produce Poor Richard’s Almanac Proverbial-style sayings given Twitter’s 140 character limit.

Today, I felt especially inspired to shape, mold, and carve my “rants” into provocative questions.

Here are some of my tweets from this morning and explanations and scriptures to back them up.  I took the liberty of spell checking and correcting these tweets.

Christianity doesn’t ask us to check our brains at the door. If it sounds strange, look it up for yourself.

Isaiah 1:18a (Amplified Bible)
Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord.

1 John 2:20-21 (Amplified Bible)
But you have been anointed by [you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from] the Holy One, and you all know [the Truth] or you know all things.  I write to you not because you are ignorant and do not perceive and know the Truth, but because you do perceive and know it, and [know positively] that nothing false (no deception, no lie) is of the Truth.

1 John 2:27 (Amplified Bible)
But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides [permanently] in you; [so] then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is true and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in, never depart from) Him [being rooted in Him, knit to Him], just as [His anointing] has taught you [to do].

Jesus is the Message

Created with Wordle

Recently I saw a video interview by Rob Bell (interviewing Shane Hipps on his new book Flickering Pixels) at a Pastor’s convention in 2009 that became very unsettling and quite disturbing to me.

I couldn’t leave the subject matter alone.

The subject matter of the interview was this statement, downplayed by the interviewer as a mere cliche:

The methods may change, but the message doesn’t.

This is quite true.  Why does the message never change?

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The beginning of John is one of the most crucial verses for our theology’s basis.  In the beginning, meaning before time, establishes the “when.”  The answer to “what” was in the beginning is the the Word.

The Greek word for “word” is Logos (Strongs #3056); one of the meanings is “message.”

So, you could translate John 1:1 as:

In the beginning was the Message and the Message was with God and The Message was God.

In John 1:14, we are given further evidence that the message, the word, is Jesus:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Hymn-Theology: Just A Few More Weary Days and Then…

“just a few more weary days and then

I’ll fly away”

Albert E. Brumley © 1932 Wonderful Message

There are many promises in the Bible – most of which are billed, promoted, and packaged as memory verses, promise books, daily bread cards, perpetual calendars, coffee mugs, and the like.  One of the promises spoken to us by Jesus, often omitted from such paraphernalia, is John 16:33:

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

It’s an amazing and awesome thought:  “in the world you will have tribulation.”  That is a promise.

With all of my heath issues and personal issues that result, this song has become a great comfort to me of late (my favorite version is by The Gaithers).

I feel so uplifted as my HOPE turns to Heaven; there are “just a few more weary days” left.  As my perspective shifts from my trouble, this earth, our economy, etc., I am filled with joy helping me to not only accept, but overcome physical, temporal suffering.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

For Thought & Discussion:

• Why Did I Write this?
• Look up James 1:2-3.  What is the exhortation in that verse?  How does it apply?
• Look up 2 Corinthians 4.  How does Paul’s exhortation in this chapter encourage you?  What insight do you get from verse 4 on Paul’s motivation to persevere?
• Wondering about “flying away?”  Look up 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.
• What are your thoughts about this stanza?
• Are there any other verses that back up this lyric theologically?
• Have you used this song lately?  Have you explained it?

I’ll Fly Away
Albert E. Brumley © 1932 Wonderful Message

Here is a live recording from 10/16/09 motel outreach of I’ll Fly Away

Be Holy

Photo by KH Rawlings

But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:15-16

When you think of the word “holy” what comes to mind?

Does an Amish Village flood your mind’s eye with imagery of a machine-free life complete with barn raisings?

Rather, do you picture the traditions of the Catholic Church?  The Saints of old?  The ever-increasing list of martyrs for the faith?  Perhaps some other meaning?

More provocative still, does the word “holy” have a negative connotation to you?

Sure, we, as the church, have, like a pendulum, swung back and forth regarding how much of the culture is adopted.   Yes, in today’s world, it’s reasonable for women to wear pants, people go to movies and dances.  But… do you ever think we’ve gone too far from holiness?

The word holy in the Greek means to be most holy.  I have often heard pastors describe it as being set apart from the world and set apart to God.

This can be a daunting task to explain to children.  So I use an analogy I’ve heard from Jon Courson.  The special dishes in the china cabinet are reserved for a special occassion (usually Thanksgiving and Christmas).  They are not mingled in the cabinet with the Wal-Mart tablewear, they are separate.   They are special.  They’re sometimes locked, displayed in the light for all to see and admire.  That’s holiness.

In the Sermon on the Mount, often refered to as the “Constitution of the Kingdom of God,” Jesus uses a few illustrations that shed light on this subject:

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:13-15

Are we salt that’s lost its saltiness?  Have we hid our light under a basket? Those two results are self-defeating.  No.  We are exhorted to let our light shine.  Why?  So that everyone will take notice and give the honor to God.

Holiness is a tool of evangelism.

What stops you from being holy?  What activities take away your saltiness?  What behaviors dim your light?

Allow God’s supernatural power to work in us to make us holy.

…or it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Phiippians 2:13

Vashti Virus

Palm Desert, CA

But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs; therefore the king was furious, and his anger burned within him.  “What shall we do to Queen Vashti, according to law, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus brought to her by the eunuchs?”   And Memucan answered before the king and the princes: “Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the princes, and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.   For the queen’s behavior will become known to all women, so that they will despise their husbands in their eyes, when they report, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come.’
Esther 1:12-17

I wonder if Vashti lived in 2004 and we were her girlfriends what the dialog might have been amongst them.  I wonder if Queen Vashti and her handmaidens and all of those at the feast she was throwing exclusively for women immediately raved on about how absurd it was for the King to demand her to come and show off for him.  “What does he think I am, anyway, a sex object?” she may have asked her girlfriends.  They might have said he didn’t have the right to ask her to come at all, especially having had too much to drink.  “He’s an alcoholic, you don’t have to do what he says.”  Maybe the Queen was just upset at the gall of him to interrupt her feast.  Maybe some of the ladies thought his request was emotionally abusive.  Today she would have maybe gotten a spot on Oprah, Jerry Springer, or if she wanted help on Dr. Phil, to talk of her emotional plight.

Perhaps I am being too jaded, cynical—maybe the opposite happened.  When I read this first chapter of Esther, however, my mind thinks that perhaps they might have all burned their Persian version of corsets or bras.  Thinking the king is a sexist pig, a typical scenario of what would have happened in the 1960’s in the United States.  Beauty and adornment, what the King wanted to show off because he was proud of his wife, was seen in this nation as an outrageous bondage.  Maybe her friends were shocked at her outrageous behavior and extremely overt rebellion.  Well, in a Persian nation back in that day, they would have been—perhaps even afraid for her life, but not in 2004.

Drive Through God

Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Have you ever found yourself late, pressing hard to get home from a long day at work only to become frustrated about the dinner situation, too tired to cook—or simply just a lack of time? After some intense discussion, perhaps, you may decide as a family to drive though one of the many fast-food restaurants offered to us, so that you can eat in the car, in order to be on time to a soccer game, to a film, or even to a church meeting.“I’d like a number three, go big, with a diet coke,” you may say as you rush in your purse or wallet to get the proper amount of change. Confused, you may have misunderstood the voice from the grumbled speaker–if you even waited before driving your car to the first window. In this day and age we have drive through meals, lattés, photos, doughnuts, ATMs, and even weddings. As I ponder this modern phenomena of drive through living I wonder if we apply this same now-now-now mentality to our religion. Has our religion now been put on the same time table that our fast-paced, over worked, over stressed, over burdened lives have? Do we drive through God’s window and say, “Good morning, Lord. I’d like a blessing please, today, in large proportions.” Do we understand what we are asking or even wait in stillness, to hear the response?

Clichés like “if you’re too busy for God, you’re too busy,” and acronyms like B.U.S.Y. (Being Under Satan’s Yoke) have lost their original impact and meaning in the reality of our daily lives. We may consider for a moment the truth in the statement: that we are too busy for God, yet make little or not attempts to reconcile the two. What’s more, I fear that this same time-constrained mentality has crept into the practical functioning of the modern church. Do believe that it is now necessary to schedule church around busy people’s lives? Or are we, as ministry leaders, too busy with ministry to be effective when we serve? Too often I’ve experienced worship services timed to a clock. Okay, a church may decide: 18 minutes of worship, 2 minutes of announcements, 40 minutes of speaking, and, if we have time, we might schedule in prayer, but we’ll dismiss the congregation at that time anyway. Jesus said that His house shall be called a house of prayer (Matthew 21:13).

Has the body of Christ become too busy for Christ? Jesus said that the hypocrites honor Him with their lips but their hearts are far away (Matthew 15:7-9), and that the Father is seeking those who worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). Is there any meaning to the songs we sing? Are these lyrics our reality? I quote “I Will Wake in the Morning” by Chris Falson, a song I use often in my worship sets, because lately it has personally convicted me. Do I really seek Him? Do I really wait for Him to fill my temple with His glory? Do I lay prostrate at His feet? Do I take the time out of my schedule to worship Him, not just at church, but in my personal, devotional life?

Not One Word

A Cloudy Day in Laguna Beach

Blessed be the Lord, Who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised.

Not one word has failed of all His good promise which He promised through Moses His servant.

1 Kings 8:56 Amplified

We all remember when then presidential candidate George H. W. Bush said in his 1988 RNC speach: “Read my lips, no new taxes.” That’s become such fodder for unrelenting mockery and disappointment.

There was a time when a handshake was your bond.  There was no need for contracts. Think about how our society has changed and broken promises are commonplace.  With 50% of all marriages ending in divorce, that adds up to 50% breaking a promise.  Contracts are broken.  Promises are broken.  Words are broken.

Broken promises result in broken relationships because trust is destroyed.  All other words are now questioned based upon the one time you knew there was a lie.

But the original liar is Satan.  John 8:44 tells us that when He speaks, he speaks out of his own resources or, as another translation puts it, his own language.  If he’s not lying, he’s creating doubt as he did with Eve in Genesis 3.

But God.