Get Back To Basics!

Think about this for a moment. Eighty-seven year-old Sister Mabel had been a member of the same local church for 60 years. One Sunday she limped up to the preacher who was shaking people out after the morning service. He knew from the look on her face that she had something on her mind and she was going to let him know what it was. "Preacher," she said, "if God were alive today, He would be shocked at the changes in this church." We can be sure Sister Mabel was wrong on one point – God is not dead! In the words of the apostle Paul at 1 Timothy 3:15 the God who disclosed Himself to mankind through His Son Jesus Christ is "the living God." Seven hundred years before Paul lived the prophet Isaiah assured God’s Old Testament people God was alive and well even though they faced difficulty, referring to God as, "The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth" who "Neither faints nor is weary ..." (Isaiah 40:28). People out-side of Christ are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). Women (and men should be included in this, too) who live in and for pleasure and self-indulgence are said to be "dead while [they] live" (1 Timothy 5:6). Churches can be dead, and Jesus Himself made that sobering pronouncement about the church in Sardis in Revelation 3:1, saying to them, "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead." Yep, spiritually speaking there are a lot of dead people and dead members of the church and even dead congregations. Millions have pronounced God dead – but in every age He just keeps on outliving His critics! God is forevermore the living God.

Let us return to 1 Timothy 3:15 where the apostle Paul spells out his reason for writing the letter of 1 Timothy – "but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct your- self in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." The NIV makes clear Timothy was not misbehaving, but Paul wanted him to know "how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household." The church at Ephesus found herself floating in a sea of false and erroneous religious beliefs and practices (see Acts 19 * 1 Timothy 1:3ff). The polluted water of that sea was threatening to seep into the church. Precisely for that reason Paul urged the church to stay focused on her fundamental and primary task – be a "pillar and ground of the truth." Whatever else the church is called to do, her function as a bastion and bulwark for God’s truth remains primary. The truth contained in the gospel is a sacred trust. We must never forget that fundamental task. Coach Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers football team was famous for winning games and championships. They did so because they knew how to tackle, block, and execute. In one game they didn’t do it very well. A frustrated Lombardi stood before the team, held up a football, and announced, "Gentlemen, this is a football." He was calling them back to the basics, reminding them of the urgent nature of fundamentals. No matter what else a church has going for it, the key to enjoying God’s favor is to remain faithful as a pillar and ground of the truth. Are you concerned about that basic task? Well, are you? Just asking. 

          – Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN 

Deacons - Playing For the Lord’s Team!

Herman Edwards is the colorful and witty head coach of the Arizona State University Sun Devils football team (since December, 2017). Edwards played cornerback for ten seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and also served stints as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and also the New York Jets along the way. While coaching for the Chiefs, Edwards was asked for his thoughts on teamwork in an interview. In response, he said, "The players that play on this football team will play for the name on the side of the helmet and not the name on the back of the jersey" (source Houston Chronicle, 1/6/2010). Edwards reminds me of the statement, "There’s no ‘I’ in ‘TEAM.’ " Successful football teams are the ones where all team members work together for the good of the team.

That same principle is vitally important in the church. There is no "I" in "TEAM," and there is no "I" in "CHURCH." Christians must all work together to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The apostle Paul describes a special group of "team players" in the church in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. They are the deacons. Take time to read that list and at least three things become clear. First, these men specialize in serving. Verse 10 directs the church to "let them serve as deacons" once they have been "tested" and "found blameless," and verse 13 declares, "For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus" (is Paul hinting some may wear the name but not really play for the Lord’s team?). Deacons serve. Second, deacons are men of high moral and spiritual character. Included in (but not limited to) the list of their qualifications are that they "must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience ... husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well" (verses 8, 9, 12). Deacons must be men whose lives reflect a deep commitment to Christ-like character and moral integrity. A story tells about a little boy who walked down the beach. As he did, he spied an older gentleman sitting under an umbrella on the sand. The boy walked up to the man and asked, "Are you a Christian?" He said, "Yes." The boy then asked, "Do you read your Bible every day?" Again the man said, "Yes." The boy followed up with, "Do you pray often?" For the third time old gentleman answered, "Yes." With that the boy asked one final question, "Will you hold my quarter while I go swimming?" Deacons are men who can be trusted by God, their wives, their children, and the church! The third thing we learn from the 1 Timothy passage is that God wants the church to respect and encourage men in the church who serve as deacons. Verse 13 says they "obtain a good standing" (the New American Standard Bible says "high standing") and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." Who wouldn’t want to be in high standing with God (and the church)?! Faithful deacons enjoy such a standing. Not by barking out orders or being a deacon in name only, but by being team players and serving well. Faithful deacons love and honor God and serve people. They are vital for the health of the church. God esteems them. Let us do the same.

  – Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

A Higher Love!

A number of years ago my wife Donna and I were in a Jimmy John’s gourmet sandwich shop in Rapid City, South Dakota while on vacation. A poster on the wall beside the table where we were eating our lunch declared this sentence in bold letters: "Offer your seat to senior citizens, pregnant women, and people with guns." Nobody we could see fit either description, so we stayed put and enjoyed our sandwiches. That poster raises an important question. How are we to relate and respond to people in our lives who "rub us the wrong way," or at times act in hateful and hostile ways toward us? Or, perhaps as bad, those who are totally indifferent toward us? Jesus addresses that issue in Matthew 5:43-48 in words that are much easier to read and preach than practice. In verses 43 and 44 of that text the Son of God declared, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." It is clear as crystal this is a much higher kind of love than that practiced by those who don’t know God. I don’t want to offend anyone who claims to follow Christ, but, sadly, this is a higher kind of love than that practiced by some who call themselves Christians. Christ calls His disciples to a higher kind of love – a God-like kind of love that does good to and prays for those who might seek to use and hurt us.

I threw in with Jesus 50 years ago, and I don’t find those words any easier to practice now than I did then. Indifferent and irritating and even hostile people who are out to hurt us or at least don’t care if they hurt us are not all that scarce. And they may not be in Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan. They may be on the other side of town or the office or the living room or even on the other end of the church pew. If they hate us we face a choice – hate them back, or love them. If people curse and hurt us, Jesus makes the choice we face clear – curse them back, or bless them; return their spite, or pray for them. If we love and do them good, they may soften and become more loving and kind, or they may not. But one thing is sure – loving unloving people, as Christ modeled and taught by His life and His death, will make us better people, more Christ-like people, every time it happens.
Francis Bacon said, "A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green." Someone has astutely observed there are four possible responses when someone does you wrong: #1 Curse it. #2 Nurse it. #3 Rehearse it. #4 Reverse it. We can fight fire with fire, but as the old saying goes that only makes the fire twice as hot. At the cross of Christ hate-filled men spit on, cursed, abused, slapped and then crucified the only sinless Man who ever walked on　Planet Earth. Luke 23:34 reminds us Jesus practiced a higher love. From the cross He prayed for those crucifying Him – "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." How can we love and forgive our enemies when we find it hard to love family and friends and folks we share a pew with on Sunday mornings? I don’t know but one way we can do it, and that is with God’s help. Let’s pursue and practice God’s higher love . Only then can we ever hope to overcome the hellish hostility the devil continues to promote and produce in our world. 

 – Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Dirty Troughs and Dirty Pews!

I want to address the issue of how to have a perfect, problem-free church. King Solomon gives us great insight into the issue in Proverbs 14:4 – "Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; But much increase comes by the strength of an ox." I grew up on a farm where we had milk cows, hogs and horses. All animals on a farm share two things in common – they all need a trough of some kind (feed), and they all dirty up the trough, barn, barnyard, and even fields where they graze! You can get rid of the cows and have a clean trough, but there won’t be any increase or profit. Or you can learn to deal with the dirt that comes along with having cows and benefit from the increase they bring. A farmer was asked, "Why did you choose to raise livestock rather than crops?" He said, "Because live- stock don’t need hoein’." They don’t need hoein’, but milk cows need milking. Twice daily. Besides milk, the cows produced lots of other really nasty stuff. The barn had to be cleaned every day, sometimes after every cow! It was not pleasant or fun and NEVER smelled very nice. My brother and I kept telling Dad we had a plan to keep the troughs clean along with other stuff the cows nastied up – sell the stinking cows! But Daddy wouldn’t do it. He was focused on the positive, plus side of the proverb cited above – "much increase comes through the strength of an ox." He was like the pig farmer who was asked, "Doesn’t the smell of pigs ever bother you?’ He answered, "Depends on the price of pork." Daddy focused on the profit the cows and their milk produced, not the dirt we had to constantly deal with.

Daddy knew something a lot of preachers, elders and church members need to learn. The church can be a squeaky, problem-free place where the "trough" stays clean. Just get rid of people – old ones, young ones, and all those in-between ones. Then there’ll be no need for a custodian and no worries about dirty carpet because nobody will be around to walk on it. We won’t need elders who "oversee and shepherd the church of God" because there will be no sheep / souls for them to see over and give account for (Acts 20:28 * Hebrews 13:17). No need to seek conflict resolution or do the hard work of talking to and not about those we have issues with in the church, which is exactly what Jesus said we ought to do in Matthew 18:15; no need to make plans and struggle with leadership problems. If we got rid of every member, elder, deacon, or preacher who at one time or another and in one way or another has added to the dirt and nastiness that caused a stink, we could do away with the pews and pulpit, because there wouldn't be anybody left. Will you listen to me? Jesus Christ knew there was some dirt in the lives of His disciples. He knew who would betray Him and that all His disciples would (temporarily) forsake Him. Knowing all that, He still thought it worthwhile to go to the cross and die for them! He didn’t give up on them because of the presence of some dirt in their lives. He knew through His death, burial, and resurrection, those imperfect men would be transformed into faithful heralds of the gospel. Therefore, let us not focus on dirty troughs or dirty pews (that is imperfections of others in the church). Let us not give up on each other because we sometimes have some dirt to clean up. Let us focus rather on Jesus and the increase that comes when we work together in His kingdom. Now, where’s your focus?

– Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Gentle Savior, Gentle Shepherds, Gentle Sheep!

An internet ad’ showed a T-shirt with this message emblazoned on the front: "Sometimes I wish I was an octopus so I could slap eight people at the same time." We live in a rough and tumble world. There seems to be little if any gentleness. Political leaders at the highest levels of our federal government chew each other up with unkind words and irresponsible speech designed to fan political flames among voters. Bullies do their damage in our schools. Social media is saturated with much that is, rather than gentle and civil, actually very anti-social! Prime-time TV programming is replete with violence, both physical and verbal. Daily headlines remind us that at every level of human society and relationships, our world can be a mean, harsh, brutal, bruising, revengeful, place.

God’s people are called to be different – but sadly, sometimes aren’t. Like the wag who said, "Some people are kind, polite and sweet-spirited, until you try to sit in their pews." Some preachers spout verbal violence while claiming to preach a gospel of peace. Be that as it may, Christians follow One who was "gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). Jesus Christ could be bold and aggressive when the situation called for it. Read Matthew 23 or see Him turning over money-changers’ tables and chasing animals and hypocritical and irreverent humans out of God’s temple with a whip in John 2:14-16! The Lord was meek but never weak. His gentle hands held little children and reached out with a tender touch to heal lepers most people avoided and never dared to touch. Jesus never dismissed sin but was always gentle in dealing with sincere sinners who were open to God – even with a woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:1ff) or a Samaritan woman who had had five husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband when Jesus encountered her (John 4:1ff)! Gentleness was a great need when the Lord walked among people. And gentleness is a dire need today. The Bible calls on God’s people to see to it the church is a gentle place. "Gentleness" is included in "the fruit of the Spirit" along with love, joy, peace and other qualities that build and strengthen human relationships (Galatians 5:22-23). Gentleness is developed in every Christian who truly "walks in" and is "led by" the Spirit (5:16, 18). The apostle Paul declares that a bishop / elder must not be "violent"... but gentle, not quarreler" (1 Timothy 3:3). Elders are to be "gentle-men!" Preachers (and really, all Christians) are directed to "avoid foolish and ignorant disputes" and the strife that springs from them. Instead, "a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, in humility correcting those who are in opposition ..." (2 Timothy 2:23-25a). Gentle with opponents? Who does that? Christians are "to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men" (Titus 2:2). Peter said "a gentle and quiet spirit" is "very precious in the sight of God" (1 Peter 3:4). Many people are harsh, hard, and hostile in the way they speak to and about others. But our gentle Savior continues to call – whether you are a shepherd of God’s people or one of the sheep, God desires that you be gentle as you deal with others inside and outside the church. God help His church be a gentle place in a gruff world.

– Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

"This is a faithful saying: "If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work" (1 Tim.3:1)

Good Shepherds and Good Sheep! 
 
An old adage says, "There are two sides to every story." King Solomon seemed to suggest this idea 3,000 years ago in Proverbs 18:17 – "The first one to plead his cause seems right, Until his neighbor comes and examines him." There can be, and often is, more than one side to the story. Let’s think about elders in the church form two different angles. My observation after nearly fifty years in the church is that these men, overwhelmingly, are sincere and godly men. But it is important to understand none of them is ever perfect or flawless or infallible (romans 3:23). They carry an awesome weight of responsibility on their shoulders. These men are referred to variously in the New Testament as "the elders of the church" (Acts 20:17) and as "overseers" who are charged to "shepherd the church of God" (Acts 20:28a). And while some even inside the church rate or rank neither the church nor the role of elders very highly these days, elders are called to guard and guide and take care of the church – a high and holy calling since she is "the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28b). How could we ever dare underestimate or devalue and show disdain for the church when it cost Jesus the hell-like agony we see at the cross to purchase and provide for her salvation? God forbid. The Holy Spirit of God indeed sets the bar high for those who would serve the church as elders. The apostle Paul lists qualifications for elders at 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and also Titus 1:9. The requirements make for challenging reading. God expects elders to be not just good men but men who are examples for the rest of the church. The apostle Peter says exactly that in 1 Peter 5:3 where he reminds elders to shepherd the church eagerly, not "as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." Men serving as elders must set an example other Christians can follow in both their moral behavior and devotion to the Lord and His work. A man who cannot or will not stand the heat that comes with these awesome responsibilities ought not to be in the kitchen!

Let consider the "other side of the story" as regards the elders of the church. It’s not just elders on whom God lays some heavy demands! Church members have serious responsibilities toward the elders of the church. Are you willing to hear them? "Remember those who rule over you (your leaders [ESV], who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct ... Obey those who have the rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you" (Hebrews 13:7, 17). Shepherds will give account for God’s sheep. But sheep will give account if they turn out to be a billy goat! A good church must have good elders to be all God wants it to be. The other side of the story is that it is equally vital and necessary that a good church have good members who choose to respect the role and work of the elders and relate to them in ways that are healthy for the entire congregation. God bless His shepherds and His sheep. 


               – Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN



 

Making Hay While the Sun Shines!

The words that make up the title of this little piece are from an old English proverb. They speak to us about the nature of time and opportunities that come with it. Most of my "growing up" days were spent on a farm in Giles County, Tennessee. In those days hay bales were "square" or rectangular in shape as compared to today’s "rolled" or round bales. I learned firsthand to appreciate the English proverb mentioned above. When it comes to making hay, you literally have to do it while the sun shines! There is a limited window of opportunity after you cut the grass down to let it dry in the sun and then get it baled and warehoused in the barn and used to feed the livestock through the winter. So the phrase, "Make hay while the sun shines," has come to stand for things in life where the opportunity to do or achieve or accomplish a certain thing has a limited time frame before the opportunity passes.

"Make hay while the sun shines" certainly has an application to spiritual life and the well-being of our souls. For two thousand years the apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:16-17 have urged readers to understand the urgency in making spiritual hay while the sun shines – "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." The English Standard Version renders the passage this way – "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." The next verse follows with this directive: "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is." The Bible is never brash or vulgar, but neither is it ever concerned with political correctness or modern sensitivities or touchiness about being "judgmental" or "intolerant" or to assign labels on people. The English Standard softens up Paul’s language verse 16 of the above-quoted Scripture, calling Christians to not live as "unwise" people but as wise. But the King James and New King James employ a stronger English word, urging readers to be careful to walk / live as "fools." The "fools" Paul is describing in context are those who fail to seek and obey and honor God while they can. In the words of 2 Corinthians 6:2 "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Among other things, that passage of Scripture admonishes us that the opportunity to be saved is a finite one. It is a "day." Jesus Himself was cognizant of the fact that the opporunity to do the works of God and fulfill His will while on earth was a limited one. His words in John 9:4, preceding His miraculous healing of a man born blind from birth, drives home the point – "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work." A passage at Jeremiah 8:20 sums up a sad era in the history of God’s Old Testament people – "The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!" Sadly, God’s people had squandered their opportunity ot be saved. A gospel hymn asks, "Why do you wait dear brother? The harvest is passing away; Your Savior is longing to bless you: There’s danger and death in delay" ("Why Do You Wait?" by Geroge E. Root, verse 4). If you are reading these words, the sun is still shining on you. There is yet time to learn God’s will and live your life for Him. Now is the day of salvation. Make hay while you can. Will you think about it? 

– Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN