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| 1 Samuel 7:12 |
Time with Jesus - Monday, 01 July 2013
Hi
all,
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| My Ebenzer |
On
several occasions I’ve asked people how often they go to Church. In a way it is
a silly question because the Church of Jesus Christ is people. No buildings,
synagogues, temples, shrines or sanctuaries. Juan Carlos Ortiz explained this
in a suitable way over 30 years ago. He told the story about an elderly woman
who stormed up to the pastor on the way out of where they were gathered.
She thundered
at him, “Pastor, did you see that little boy chewing gum in church!” The Pastor
looked at her mischievously and replied, “Mam, you’ve got it wrong. It was the “church”
who was chewing the gum!”
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| The Preacher |
Having
said this I must confess we all have a problem in this regard. In the western
world we have referred to the building as the church. Now, that thinking has become our mind-set. Moreover, because of our traditions,
we rather enjoy where we go on Sunday mornings. The church staff is glad we are
there and receive us with great enthusiasm. They don’t have much choice. If
nobody came, the whole thing would collapse. So we end up with something of a
symbiotic relationship. The pastor and his staff need the people. The people
keep on going because they feel comfortable. They enjoy the praise and worship
and listen to pastor with great interest. The entire thing needs to be “seeker sensitive”
or “evangelical”, or both. It has to score at least 7 out of 10 on the entertainment
scale or the people will go elsewhere for their fun filled Sunday morning /
evening religious amusement.
Incidentally,
competition is fierce, particularly in South Africa’s major cities. This is
because running a church based business/ministry is expensive. Salaries, rent /
mortgage repayments, utilities, insurance, telephone, printing and stationery, sound
systems, ablution costs, alarm systems and security take a large chunk out of the
Sunday offerings. So if you don’t have highly capable and gifted preachers,
people will go elsewhere. In addition, the praise and worship music must be
excellent. If not, the people comment that the Holy Spirit was absent. But it
wasn’t the Holy Spirit who was missing. It was the lead vocalist, organist,
guitarist or other musician who was unable to get there.
Am I
being unkind with these remarks? I would be if they weren’t true. Ask the
average person who attended the previous week’s service. They will tell you it
was good. They will say, “You should have been there! I’ll get you the CD.” But
if you ask what God had said, you are likely to get a bewildered look.
It’s
rather sad. We pray and ask God to send a “revival”. I’m not sure our church service
system can be revived. What would we put in its place? We’ve more or less run
out of ideas. How are we going to attract the crowds without all the hype and
attractions? We desperately nees help. Help from on High. We need the presence
of God to sweep over us and bring us back to the simplicity of worship.
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| In Worship |
Please
don’t misunderstand. It is possible to worship God in a crowd. We need to do so
occasionally. But we need to meet together in a place where we can help each
other and love each other meaningfully. You can’t do that in a crowd. It’s a
little bit like intimacy. You can’t be intimate in public. The Message expresses
my comments far more appropriately than I ever will be able to do. Note that
these are the words of Jesus, not mine. 5 "And
when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either.
All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for
stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? 6 "Here's what I want
you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play
before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus
will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. 7 The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are
prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling
techniques for getting what you want from God. 8 Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are
dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need”. Mat 6:5-8 MSG
Today’s
meditation comes from the book of 1st Samuel. We look at the word “Ebenezer”
meaning “stone of help" At this point in the 21st century, we
need a “stone of help”. We need THE stone of help; Jesus Christ. We also need
something to help us shift our attention away from our passion for entertainment
and fix it on our Saviour. A stone would be most useful. It doesn’t talk,
preach, sing or play a musical instrument. In a way, it’s a bit like the cross.
A reminder of all Jesus achieved.
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| Stone Cross |
Perhaps we need a cross made of stone. It would help us focus on Him. A stone
cross; the perfect “Ebenezer” for the 21st century.
Shalom,
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Monday, 01 July 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These devotionals are the intellectual property of
Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute
them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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OUR
EBENEZER
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One
of the tragedies of 21st century Christianity is how few know
their way around the Bible. Thank God there are one or two churches where
this is not true. From previous experience, it seems the Baptist Church
remains loyal to both Old and New Testament. Their devotion to God’s Word is
something Phyllida and I admire. What is so tragic is that in many of our
charismatic congregations, the Bible is little more than a series of “proof
texts” to support our particular doctrinal attitude. Frankly, I would love to
be wrong about this. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to “eat”
these words and confess I was in error.
What
many of our churches have succumbed to is what I call “shot-gun theology” The
man of God stands up to preach. He takes a handful of “proof texts”, many of
which are out of context. He stuffs them down the barrel of his shot-gun and
fires them at point blank range into the crowd of dedicated believers who are
still looking for the Book of Hezekiah!
I
wish this were not true. I would love to be proved wrong. God help to prove
me wrong. Sadly it’s true in more churches than we dare admit. Of course
there is a great advantage in this. The man of God can “dribble on” and
consume an hour of his people’s time. Of course, they love it. Try asking
them a couple of days after the service what God had said to them through the
Sunday morning service. They would have no idea. I know this to be fact
because I’ve been there and done it!
What
we really need in our Sunday services is our “Ebenezer”; a” stone of help”;
something to stimulate our memory about what has happened in the Sunday
Service. Better still we need an “Ebenezer” to remind us what the Lord said
to us through His servant. Let’s be honest with each other here. If you can’t
remember what the preacher said, why did you go? Was it habit, or merely your
Sunday morning thing?
Please
be aware that in raising this with you I’m also raising it with me. I’m not
any better. All I can say is that the Lord is prompting me to change. Change
is never easy and is seldom comfortable. I’m told that the only human being
who likes change is a baby with a soiled nappy! Well, God is talking to me
about change. All I’m doing is passing on what I’m being challenged to do by
the Lord.
We
all need an “Ebenezer”! We need something which will help remind us what took
place last week, the week before and the week before that etc. In the past 30
years I’ve heard about 1500 to 1600 sermons. How many do I remember? 10? 20?
50? I’m ashamed to say that for me it’s about 10. It seems to me we need to
“reinvent” the Sunday service to get feed-back from the person in the pews.
Don’t tell me it would “disturb the “flow of the Spirit”! Garbage! But how do we change?
Jim & Phyllida
Strickland
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12
Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and
Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which
means "the stone of help"), for he said, "Up to this point the LORD has helped us!"
1 Samuel 7:12 NLT
6 The LORD protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and He saved me.
Psalms 116:6 NLT
6 Blessed be the LORD! For he has heard the voice of my
pleas for mercy. 7 The LORD is
my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart
exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
Psalms 28:6-7 ESV
8 It is better to go to the LORD for safety than to trust
in mere men. 9 It is better to
go to the LORD for safety than to trust in human leaders.
Psalms 118:8-9 NIrV
5 Blessed are those who depend on the God of Jacob for
help. Blessed are those who put their hope in the LORD their God.
Psalms 146:5 NIrV
7 He led them straight to safety, to a city where they
could live.
Psalms 107:7 NLT
45 Not a single one of all the good promises the LORD had
given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything He had spoken
came true.
Joshua 21:45 NLT
35 Then Jesus said to them, "When I sent you out without
a wallet, traveling bag, or sandals, you didn't lack anything, did you?"
"Not a thing!" they answered.
Luke 22:35 GW
7 Because You are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow
of Your wings.
Psalms 63:7 NLT
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“Ebenezer”; stone of help; to prompt the memory.
Up to this point the Lord has helped; He smashed the enemy.
The Philistines approached them, planning their downfall.
Samuel sacrificed a lamb and on the Lord did call.
God “thundered” at the Philistines which made them turn and flee
Israel chased after them and won the victory.
So Samuel took a special stone resembling a tooth.
A place when every Israelite, be it a man or youth,
Could easily remember the help the Lord God gave.
An “Ebenezer” was raised up; it’s where they had been saved.
Twice before the Philistines had trounced them on this spot.
But on this third occasion, defeat is what they got.
The Lord performed a miracle, by coming to their aid.
The stone was a reminder; the recollection wouldn’t fade.
God’s Word is full of stories, just like the one above.
To show that He would save them by His all-consuming love.
Childlike faith was needed, when facing deadly odds.
Faith that He would save them and not some pagan god.
The Lord is always listening. He hears our “mercy” pleas.
He knows our situation. He looks at us and sees,
That we have put our trust in Him, not in the hands of men.
We know that what He’s done before, He can do once again.
For Him it’s very easy; to Him it’s just child’s play.
To come and thrash the enemy and blow them all away.
All that He is looking for is where we’ve placed our hope.
If He’s just a means by which we think that we can cope,
We’ll be disappointed. He’s not a lucky charm,
For us to wear around the neck, or wound around the arm.
For that is not commitment. In fact, we’re sure to lose,
If that becomes the attitude and what we’d rather choose.
But when our faith and hope is in the Lord who reigns on high;
He’ll rescue us from danger. If we will just rely,
Upon His many promises, not one will ever fail.
They will never crumble, be out of date or stale.
He is our “Ebenezer”! The rock on which we stand.
Our everlasting helper; the strength of our right hand.
The One Who brings the victory regardless of the odds,
For He is Christ our Saviour, the spotless Son of God.
Jim Strickland
Written 1st July 2012
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