7-21-2016

Good Morning All!! 

    James 4:4;”Whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God”.

   There is a story about Luciano Pavarotti as a child growing up.  His father introduced him to music and the young lad was so taken by the wondrous task of making music that his father enrolled him in a music academy.  There he learned from some of the most skilled and talented music teachers in the world.

    When he finished the academy, he returned home to his father. He was torn between singing the music which he loved and teaching others to love this music as much as he did.  His father knew that Luciano could not do both and do both as well as he would want to do it.  So his father looked at him and told him, “You can’t sit on two chairs; if you try, you’ll fall on the floor.”

     This is what our verse is talking about.  It is also what Jesus was talking about when he said a man cannot serve two masters.  We cannot be friends of this sinful evil world and also be faithful to God.  The ways of the world lead us away from God not toward. We have to remain faithful to God or we will “fall on the floor”. 

    This leads many Christians into trouble.  We tend to shy away speaking for God’s Word and truth.  We tend to be silent rather than speak.  In doing so, we are being a friend of the world.  When we quietly watch we are accepting and supporting the world.  This can be tough when it is one of our family members who live together without marriage or who profess to be gay or choose to walk away from the Church.  It is very hard for we fear that if we say anything we will only drive them further away.

    It is how we give this message that makes the difference.  We need to speak with love but we need to speak.  It will be tough.  It requires prayer and thoughtful study and maybe some advice from a pastor or a counselor.  When you have the facts and trust God to speak for you through the Spirit, you can speak comfortably and speak often.  Sometimes it only has to be that you miss them.  Yet we need to speak, otherwise we are trying to sit on two chairs.

     Keep talking; keep the conversation open.  Try and avoid any chance to say “I told you so”; just be there to help pick up the pieces.  Always show the compassion of Jesus whenever you speak but we need to speak.  This is part of making disciples of all people.  The painful truth is that seeds planted today may not take root for many years; we might not even see it but the seeds need to be planted.  God encourages us to speak his words of grace to a world that knows only the lies of this world.  We cannot be a silent friend of the world and be a friend of God.  We need to sit on God’s chair and his chair alone.       

Dearest Father, too often we are seduced by the world led to believe that our silence is the right way to go.  Give us the voice to speak your truth to a world that knows only lies.  Move us to do so with the love and compassion of Jesus that we may truly touch the lives of those whom we meet.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret