Priscilla and Aquila: Co-Plodders 9/12/99

Acts 18:1-3

Jesus Christ spoke of the reward awaiting those who “endure” (Matthew 24: 13). Endurance is a trait of a plodder who consistently obeys Christ.

Giving one’s life to Christ introduces that person to a race. It is a life long marathon not a brief sprint. The Christian experience should not consist of fits of starts and stops. It is typified by the African runner who prayed, “Dear God, if you will pick my feet up I will put them down.”

With Christ as our companion we become co- plodders. That is, with Him we don’t quit, cop-out, or compromise. Plodders are people who pursue and produce.

From the world of business comes a peerless example of an entrepreneur who succeeded by plodding ahead against obstacles. John left his lovely home and executive position with a Fortune 500 company and moved from beautiful Hilton Head, South Carolina to pursue his dream in Orlando, Florida. He was nutty enough to think his road to financial independence would be paved with sugar-and-cinnamon coated nuts.

With a single mobile cart and the clever name of “The Nutty Bavarian” he let folks smell and watch as he roasted and glazed almonds and pecans. Competitors and established concessionaires kept him out of the more productive locations and the big companies wouldn’t let him in. Universal Studios wanted $100,000 and for him to supply all products.

John appealed to the vice president of Universal Studios for an interview. He never heard back. Finally, he wrote the VP saying he would call every day until given an appointment. The appointment was granted.

John brought his roaster into the boardroom and started preparing a batch of savory cinnamon-glazed pecans. The aroma wafted through the office suites and attracted uninvited executives.

Everyone was treated to a taste of the hot roasted glazed-nuts. The executives demurred saying they needed more time. John countered that if they would give him a thirty day trial he would personally operate his pushcart every day for twelve hours and give Universal 25% of the sales. All he wanted was a chance to prove himself. Agreed. Thirty days later his single cart had grossed $40,000. After the thirty days John added a second cart and signed a two year deal. At the end of the first year sales reached $1 million.

The Nutty Bavarian now licenses carts in 150 domestic locations and three foreign countries. Annual sales exceed $10 million. John Mautnere was a plodder.

From the battle field and playing field comes a sterling example of a plodder. The war in Vietnam was at its worst. In close quarter fighting the platoon was cut off. Rocky had speed but it was no match for the bullet that tore thorough his left thigh. Before he even felt the pain he was down. A grenade exploded nearby and ripped into both legs, shattering bones in his right foot. He passed out trying to crawl to safety.

When he awoke Rocky lay severely wounded on a stretcher having been miraculously rescued from the battle field. “What did you do before the war, son?” asked the doctor. “I played football for the Pittsburgh Steelers.” The doctor winced and said, “I’m afraid your football playing days are over.”

The war was over and soon he was discharged, an ex-football player with a 40% disability. Rocky was a dreamer and extended himself in a recovery attempt. Futility stared him in the face. Always slow his sprints were even slower now. He tried a comeback with the Steelers but was cut almost immediately. He was five- feet-nine, too small, and too slow. Everyone said it’s time to give it up. His heart said no. Coach Noll advised him to stick with the insurance business.

Mostly out of sympathy for a veteran he was allowed to travel with the Steelers to Green Bay. He thought it would be a good opportunity to visit home in Appleton, Wisconsin and have a talk with his pastor. His compassionate pastor had the capacity of asking the right questions. He said, “I guess it’s time to decide whether you’ve tried long enough, Rocky. How do you feel about it?”

Rocky was silent for the longest then he replied, “I made a promise back in Vietnam. When I was lying there wounded, I prayed that if I survived I’d do the best I could with my life… I promised I’d keep trying.”

His pastor smiled and replied, “I guess you‘re learning something about life now. Rocky a lot of things require two wills —- yours and God’s. We used to talk about how the Lord must have His hand on your shoulder, because of how well you played in high school and at Notre Dame, remember? Well, the hand’s still there, Rocky, but do you feel it? Or are you just trying to make it on your own?”

Rocky returned with renewed determination. Each day that passed and he went injury free he thanked God. He was used sparingly as a blocker. He lived with restraints and setbacks, but he plodded on.

In 1975 Rocky Bleier made the starting lineup as the primary blocker for Franco Harris. That was the year of their first Super Bowl. The Steelers were playing the Vikings in New Orleans.

Rocky tells how he arrived early. He walked to the mouth of the tunnel leading to the field and paused. “Lord,” he said, “I can hardly believe you put me here. The Super Bowl. I couldn’t do it on my own. A lot of the players are out here today because they’re fast or strong or naturally great athletes. I am not any of those things. And now I realize —- that’s the gift You gave me. In your will, my will worked.”

A key play occurred in the fourth quarter as Terry Bradshaw handed off to Bleier the blocking broke down and he fought his way to a first down keeping the winning drive alive.

As he walked back to the huddle a big lineman slapped his hand on his helmet and said, “Attaboy, Rocky. Never give up. If we can’t do it for you, do it on your own.”

Rocky smiled behind his face mask knowing he could never have done it on his own.

Never quit, never give up. Frame that in the words of his pastor, “It takes two wills —- yours and God’s. Find God’s will and find your joy in conforming your will to it.”

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the French Jesuit and paleontologist, has written: “Our duty as men is to proceed as if limits to our ability don’t exist. We are collaborators in creation.”

Cautious friends offer this council. “Don’t overreach yourself. Don’t shoot too high; establish goals well within your capacities to reach.”

Most people fall short of their ultimate goal, but in doing so they reach farther than life would have otherwise have permitted them.

Should you reach beyond your capacity?

You will never know your capacity until you reach.

Plodders always go further and achieve more than those who quit, copout, drop out, compromise, or capitulate.

Now consider a husband and wife duo who were plodders.

Aquila and Priscilla, Aquila the husband, Priscilla the wife.

Aquila meant “eagle.”

Priscilla came from the prominent elegant royal Roman name Prisca meaning “simplicity.”

By the fortuitous grace of God Paul and Aquila and Priscilla were brought together. God is at work even in what we call coincidences. Observe the circuitous circumstances that brought them together. A company of thieves in Judea had robbed Stephanus, a servant of the emperor, and killed the soldiers who were his companions.

Hearing of this back in Rome Emperor Claudius issued an edict ordering all Jews out of Rome. Aquila was a Jew from Pontus living with his wife in Rome. They were forced to leave and in their new home met Paul in Corinth. Wasn’t that odd! No that was God. He is no less at work in our lives.

Paul used the common denominator to identify with them. They, like Paul, were tent makers. Joining them in this labor gave plenty of time to share faith in Christ and disciple them. Being fellow-workers in tent making they became fellow- workers in Christ Jesus.

These plodders set for all worthy examples. They were —-

I. EARTH SHAKERS
They were workers not shirkers. Paul had no more loyal supporters at any time than they. He complimented them with the title, “my fellow-workers in Christ” (Romans 16:3).

They were known for spreading the good news every where they went.

Their love for Christ was known because it was shown. It was not known because they had a warm fuzzy feeling about Jesus, nor because they could repeat all the popular Christian slogans. It was known by their faithful service.

The term “fellow-workers” means co-workers, or workers together. It is this team effort among believers that commends itself to the world.

After a long list of persons to be greeted a caution flag is raised in the text. Not all things are always peaceful and beautiful within churches. The Scripture notes this: “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses…and avoid them” (Romans 16: 17).

Two forces restrict the effectiveness of a church. The hurricane forces of evil from without that assail it and the rumbling volcanic force of division within. Often the hurricane force brings people together in the church for shelter. Such opposition can be a blessing. It is the volcanic disruptions within that cause the most difficulty. To be an earth shaking church the body must be together. I have seen the destructive force of division and the developing faith of cohesiveness. Lost persons are attracted to harmonious churches as musicians are by beautiful music. It arrests attention.

II. THEY WERE RISK TAKERS
A modern translation by Moule renders Romans 16: 3,4: “For my life’s sake submitted their own throat to the knife.”

This likely happened when they were in Ephesus when a violent riot broke out involving Paul (Acts 19: 28-31).

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). Here is an example of this principle. They were defenders of Paul. Today, Christians need the defense of one another in our hostile society. Do you dare speak up for Christ and risk your reputation for His reputation?

If a minister is set for the defense of the faith he is deserving of faithful defense and support. I want to publicly acknowledge I have been the beneficiary of such loving support. There are those who have come to my defense even without my knowledge. Their love for their Lord and devotion to His church has motivated such defense. I have plodded with some of the best.

That is friendship at its best.

III. THEY WERE STANDARD MAKERS
In a time when Christians were persecuted the young emerging church had many challenges. The collective body of Christ had not yet begun to build church buildings as they were soon to do. Therefore, home-churches were the norm. More than one reference is made to “the church that is in their house.” They opened their residence to the Christian community and made it a place of worship.

Our society doesn’t need home-churches. The church has outgrown that stage. It does need homes wherein the family lives for and serves the Lord. I know a number of families who have made their home open for use by the church. Thus, these gracious members are expanding the circumference of influence to include their community.

IV. THEY WERE TRADITION BREAKERS
They encountered the brilliant Alexandrian Apollos, a gifted orator. As a prophet Apollos had a large and devoted following. He had one major liability. He knew only the “baptism of John” (Acts 18:25, 26). He knew nothing of salvation through the cross.

Aquila and Priscilla followed his crowds and listened to his message. He preached no negative error and did not deny essential faith. What he preached was good as far as it went, but he was not yet aware of the grace of God as expressed by Christ on the cross. Quietly and lovingly they invited him to their home and privately with consummate tact shared with him the further revelation of Jesus Christ.

“They expounded unto him the way of God more carefully” (Acts 18: 26).

Apollos receptively responded positively. The result was dramatic. He became one of the most dynamic evangelist of the era. Some in Corinth considered him an equal to Paul and Peter. By breaking with tradition a new and effective herald of the good news emerged.

The last biblical reference to these two is II Timothy 4:19.

This was about the year 66 A.D. Extra biblical tradition says that on July 8, of that year, Aquila and Priscilla were martyred for their faith and faithfulness. If, as history indicates, this was their fate they faced their future with faith. They were ready for their voyage to their heavenly home and the fellowship that awaited with Peter, Paul, Apollos, and a legion of others they had helped introduce to Jesus Christ. They kept plodding until they started trodding the streets of gold.

These tent makers not had a mansion in glory.

The Scripture refers to the human body as a “tabernacle.” The Greek word so translated would today more accurately be translated “pup-tent.” A pup-tent is not intended to be a permanent residence. It is temporary housing.

Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1 – 3).

Death is thus profiled as moving from the pup- tent into the palace.

Grow Up

Often when an adult does or says a childish thing someone will say, “Ahw, will you grow up!” There is a time to grow up and that time is now.

Paul’s life experience was in ways like ours when he wrote, “when I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”   (I Corinthians 13: 11 – 13)

Maturity doesn’t automatically come with age. The more you mature, the more you realize how much you must grow in your quest to become more like Jesus. That is the standard set in the Bible for us. Quit comparing yourself to others, that will merely distract you and distort the likeness of Jesus in you. You will never become like Jesus, our prototype, but you can enjoy becoming more like Him. It is a worthy lifelong quest. Why focus on those from whom you will not get your ultimate reward rather than the one you inevitably will. When you compare yourself to others you become vulnerable to one of two sins, false pride or low self-esteem both of which are defeating. Admit you are not perfect, admit you have not yet become, admit you are going to strive to become more like Jesus. 

Remember, God does not require that we be the best at anything, but He expects us to do our best at everything. Therefore, “…whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. (Colossians 3: 23)

Paul compared life to a race and wrote, “I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phlippians 3:14)

A runner can’t concentrate on the part of the race already run, but on the challenge of that yet to be run, “forgetting those that are behind.” Successes and failures are behind you. Don’t live there. If you do, your failures, which we all have, will definitely influence the race yet to be run. Put them behind you by committing them to Jesus, asking His forgiveness. Once you have done that, don’t look back on them.

Pick the best and burn the rest.

A measuring standard is offered in Galatians 6: 3, 4 “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

“For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” (II Corinthians 10:12)

Don’t assume you have a magic mirror into which you are at liberty to look and ask, “Who is the fairest of them all.”

Bottom line is don’t define yourself by others, but refine yourself by having Jesus as your challenging standard. Then there is one thing in which we must not fail to boast: “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6: 14)

Now go do some boasting; not about you, but about Him.

Don’t Dare to Compare It Can Lead To Despair

After His resurrection Jesus met with His disciples one last time. He explained to Peter how he would eventually die. “This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’”

“Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following him who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’ Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’” (John 28: 18-22) In effect, don’t be concerned about him. Don’t compare yourself to him.

Most of us grew up playing one of three games: “You are.” “I wish.” “I am.”

Older people defined life for us saying you are dumb, you are smart or some other characteristics, so we became as defined .

Then as we grew we started playing another game: “I wish I was as good looking as…, or as popular as…” or other people’s traits.

Most outgrow the first two of these, but many never outgrow the third by comparing themselves to others. It is one of Satan’s most subtle sins and can lead to despair or egotism. 

Leading up to our text, Peter had just lived down his pre-crucifixion denial of Jesus and boldly declared his post resurrection love for Jesus. Then Jesus said,  “Peter you are going to love; lead for me, you will show great courage for me by dying for me.” Immediately after this affirmation Peter sees John and compares himself with John by asking, “But how about him?”

In effect Jesus said to Peter that is none of your business, just follow me, that is, be more like me. That is His message to us today. Don’t despair because of those you esteem better than yourself, and don’t look down on those you think yourself to be better than — just follow me. That is Jesus’ desire for us. We are to aspire to be more like Him in our thoughts and actions. If you look up to Jesus you will never look down on anyone.

Comparing yourself to others leads to jealousy, envy, pride or depression. We ensnare ourselves by comparing ourselves to others. It becomes so habitual we don’t even realize we are doing it. In an age of polarity and diversity there is even a greater tendency to be detracted by comparisons.

Don’t be like the Pharisee in Luke 18 who stood praying, comparing himself to others. He was having a manic panic in an ego orbit. 

Hebrews 12: 1, 2 [NIV] says, “ …let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.” Our race will define us according to God’s will. The race marked out for you, not that of someone else.  If you have ever noticed a competitive race, each runner runs in his own lane and never looks to see how other competitors are doing. They keep their eyes on the goal. We should not look around at others, and compare ourselves, just accept Jesus’ charge to Peter to follow me. It is time to play the third game, “I am.” Who am I in my pursuit of holiness and how am I developing as I seek to be more like Jesus. How obedient am I to His command to “Follow me?”

Is There Something Peculiar About You? 6/13/99

I Peter 2:9 – 10

JESUS CHRIST has called us unto Himself. This high and holy calling is expanded upon in I Peter 2: 9, 10. To understand our role let’s review this inspired description of believers.

God in His Word calls us “His own special people” (I Peter 2: 9b). What a compliment!

The word translated people is “ethnos.” It is used 143 times in the Greek New Testament and four times in this text. As used here it describes a special relationship between God and believers. It implies the idea of belonging.

The early church spoke with pride of itself as “a people for Himself” (Acts 15: 14).

Paul reminds us of a beautiful fact in Romans 9:25 by quoting Hosea 2: 23, “I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.”

In the very next verse Paul quotes from Hosea 1:10: “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said of them, ‘You are not My people.’ There they shall be called the sons of the living God.”

It is a wonderful feeling when you have been overseas and return home to be among people with whom you belong.

Now note the characteristics of “His people.”

I. A CHOSEN GENERATION
“You” in the Greek is emphatic meaning “but as for you.”

“Generation” is a reference to a body with a common life and descent.

Being chosen is with purpose:
1. It is a privilege. It offers a new intimate relationship with the Father. This privilege is born of salvation. Salvation through Christ’s blood is sufficient for all BUT it is efficient only for those who trust Him as personal Savior.

Missionary Watkin Roberts tried without success to help the Hmar people of India understand salvation. One day he heard of the process for making peace between warring tribes. Early in the morning the side desiring peace goes to a mountain top and beats a large war drum three times. If the other side responds before sundown by beating their drum, that means, “Come to the boundary separating us and let’s talk.”

The Chief who wants peace kills an animal and lets its blood flow along the boundary. Then he and his enemy place their hands on the animal and negotiate. When they agree, they embrace.

Calvary is God’s invitation to you by God to come to the boundary separating you and accept His sacrifice for peace.

2. It demands obedience. Privilege brings responsibility. When there is faithful obedience then one can summarily speak of life as did Bill Borden in this one of the final entries in his diary: “No reserve, no retreat, no regret.”

3. It requires service. He desires to use us to achieve His purpose. In verse 16c we are described as “servants of God.”

The noun servant and the verb serve are found about 500 times in the Bible. Such extensive use emphasizes its importance.

Albert Schweitzer, a man with a servant’s temperament, said, “The only ones among us who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.”

II. A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD
In I Peter 2: 5 believers are called “a holy priesthood.” Here we are called a “royal priesthood.”

“Royal” translates the Greek BASILEION, meaning “Kingly.”

In Exodus 19: 5, 6 God stated the requirements for Israel to become a kingdom of priests:

a. Keep God’s covenants,

b. Obey His Word, and

c. Articulate His law.

Within the first covenant, the priesthood belonged to the sons of Aaron from the tribe of Levi.

They had three distinctives:

a. They had direct access to God.

b. They represented the people of Israel to God.

c. They brought offerings to God from the people.

It should be noted that during the era there were other priestly orders also. There were the priests of Baal, of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Canaanites. Being a priest did not mean you could believe anything you wanted to believe. You had to subscribe to the beliefs and practices of the order.

Doctors are allowed to believe anything they want to BUT they can’t teach or practice anything they want to indiscriminately. Physicists are allowed to believe anything they want, even that the world is flat. However, they can’t advocate a space policy based on this belief.

Every discipline has order. Christianity does also. Within Christianity you have various orders based on various beliefs. If you are going to be a Methodist, you should believe in baptism by sprinkling. If you are going to be a Presbyterian, believe in predestination. If you believe in soul sleep, be a Jehovah’s Witness. If you believe in praying through saints, be a Catholic. The point is, if you are going to be part of an order, adhere to their basic beliefs.

Certain of the Levites sought to do things their own way and God further narrowed the order of priests to include only the sons of Aaron. God confirmed this by making Aaron’s rod to bud and those of the Levitical princes remained sterile.

In the time of Ezekiel many of the priests went astray and the Zadokite priest who remained faithful became dominant. God has always had His faithful remnant.

When Israel failed to function as a nation of priests, God instituted the order of Aaron. When the Aaronic order failed, a new order of priests emerged. On the morning of the resurrection the ripping of the veil of the temple from top to bottom symbolized the coming forth of a new order of priests, the old order ended. Every believer is now a priest. We are to:
a. Offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (I Peter 2: 5c).

b. Offer our body (Romans 12: 1).

Christ is in the life changing business. Recently my wife recounted our encounter with Deon Sanders. We sat by him at a Hawks game. She was next to him. Not as a fan but as a human being she tried to make comments she thought might interest him. She summed up the evening by saying he was the most arrogant man I have ever seen.

Last week we heard the new Deon give his testimony at the Billy Graham Crusade in Indianapolis. As he stepped to the mike his first well delivered words were, “I was the most arrogant man who ever lived…”

He went on to describe his emptiness and loneliness. He told of his attempt of suicide by driving off a cliff into a lake. He then related how that in a hotel room in Cincinnati he reflected on Romans 10: 9, 10: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

That night he called on the name of the Lord and was saved. You too can experience such an exchanged and changed life.

Christ can do the same for you.

He is the Peerless Pilot for the sand-bound soul.
He is the Way for the wayward.
He is the Enabler for the unable.
He is the Timeless Truth for the ignoble ignorant.
He is the Life for the listless, lustful, lawless.

Institutions as well as individuals should be committed to Him. The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary has an admirable history. It was established to equip students to be transformers of their culture. The charter granted by the state of Louisiana for the founding of what is now New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in October 1918 states:
“This institution shall center around the study of the Bible as God’s Word…”

The program of instruction is to be Biblical in orientation and relevant in application.

Confessional commitments of the Seminary are centered in Jesus Christ as Savior of believers and Lord of life, through His death and life, and in the Bible as the inspired Word of God.”

That is a worthy confessional for each of us.

c. Offer the sacrifice of praise (Heb. 13: 15), “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

Praise is natural and essential to full enjoyment of an event, thing, or person. Watch an exciting, game-winning play by a super athlete and try to keep quiet. It would be frustrating to see a spectacular mountain or ocean sunset and not compliment it. To hear a good joke and not be able to share it would be exasperating.

A super pious pastor responded to a compliment on one of his sermons by saying, “Don’t thank me, thank the Lord.”

The lady responded, “I thought about that, but it wasn’t quite that good.”

III. A HOLY NATION
The word translated “nation” was LAOS meaning “people,” or “a multitude of people of the same nature.”

We are to be “holy”. HAGIOS is the Greek word which means “different” or “saintly” or “set apart for service” or “belonging to God”.

Charles Wesley said: “What is our calling, our glorious hope, but inward holiness?”

Holiness is a two-edged sword meaning separated from sin and separated to God for His use.

Christians in the young emerging church understood this, as evidenced by this quote from Tertullian: “We engage in these conflicts as men whose very lives are not their own.”

In Galatians 2: 20, Paul described what it means to be holy. It means to have a “no longer I” sign posted on the wall of your heart.

Those who are holy are not people with a halo and an aura of ethereal remoteness. They are easily lovable people with a sparkle in their eyes, a spring in their steps, and a note of joy in their voice. They are not gaunt, reclusive, unapproachable, condemning, solitary persons who sit around in a fetal position eating lettuce leaves and birdseed while contemplating either infinity or their navel.

Howard Hedricks observed: “It is foolish to build a chicken coop on the foundation of a skyscraper.” To fail to live a separated life is to fail to build on the spiritual foundation of Christ and Him crucified.

How little understanding people have who think holiness is dull. When you see the real thing it is irresistible. It is a dramatically and radically changed life.

A Cajun went into New Orleans for the first time and saw his first elevator.” He stood dar in do sto and cas a eye on dat alley gator. A little ol’ lady all bent over wit a cane pass herself inside dat ting. A light flash, de do closed and she disappear. Pretty soon de do open and out step de prettiest femme, girl, woman he ever saw. As he walk away he say, “how you like dat? Me I shoulda brought ma ol’ lady to put in dat alley gator, I gar-on-tee.”

Jesus makes an even greater change in a life.

IV. A PECULIAR PEOPLE
We are God’s people.

The word “peculiar” comes from a word which means “to make around.” It speaks of making something an surrounding it with ownership. Every believer is God’s unique, private, personal property.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonini Scalia made remarkable comments to the Christian Legal Society at the Mississippi School of Law. He said, “Being a Christian means holding values the world will count as foolish.”

Did you notice who said it? A member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Scalia. Did you notice what he said? He didn’t say Christian values are foolish. To the contrary, he thinks they are correct. He said the world will count them as foolish.

Did you notice who said it? A member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Scalia. Did you notice what he said? He didn’t say Christian values are foolish. To the contrary, he thinks they are correct. He said the world will count them as foolish.

Scalia warned that those who believe in the transcendent moral order and power of God that raised Jesus from the dead, must be prepared for derision. Often an item is valuable not because of its own worth but because of who owned it. My wife has a simple pair of agate earrings set in silver. If you could find a pair they would cost only a few dollars. However, they are very valuable to us because they were the personal property of and given to us by former Prime Minister of Israel Golda Mier.

Museums are filled with ordinary things made valuable by ownership and use. Likewise, we are valuable because of Whose we are. We are to be God’s museum pieces to – – –
“Sew forth,” that is “proclaim the praise” of Him.

“Praise” is a reference to His “gracious dealings and glorious attributes.”

We are to advertise the noble acts of God in history and make known His grace in dealing with us personally. We are to announce abroad the fame of the One who has called us to life. Jesus said it slightly differently: we are to confess Him before men. How can we do this?

By bearing the character of aliens from another world; invaders from above.

By being so careless of our own life, and so careful of conscience, so prodigal of our own blood, so confident of the overcoming blood of the Lamb, so unsubdued by the customs of the country in which we sojourn, so mindful of the manners of the country to which we are going.

Random Acts of Kindness

Have you ever had someone do a nice thing for you anonymously?” If so, didn’t it make you feel good? Very likely it made two people feel good, you and the doer.

A friend of mine and I were having breakfast in a small restaurant in Colorado. We were seated at a table for two about a foot from another table for two. As we were being seated, we spoke to the elderly modestly dressed couple at the table next to us.

We had our usual prayer and began eating. I started to speak to them several times, but knowing Midwesterners are a bit reserved, I didn’t, for fear it might be disruptive for them. They checked out a bit before us and left without further exchange. When I went to check out the cashier said, “Your tab has been paid by the couple at the table by you.” We had never seen them before and likely will never see them again, but we will be eternally grateful to them. Not just for the meal, but for their grace and thoughtfulness.

The couple had a spirit of generosity and we were blessed to be the objects of it that morning. It has continued to be a bright spot in my memory inventory. I know that made four people happy, the two of us and the two of them.

Doing an act of kindness is gratifying, but there’s an added layer of satisfaction that comes with doing it anonymously.

In the grocery store recently my wife noticed the lady in front of her had lovely red roses. As the lady checked out she turned and handed them to my wife saying, “I want you to have a happy day.” My wife asked, “Do I know you?” She said, “No, I just want you to have a happy day,” and walked out. In an otherwise trying day, that was an oasis of elation,

That was obviously the nature of the lady. She walked in that store intent on giving some unknown person a lift, and it worked – – – for two people.

A spirit of kindness has been virtually eroded in our culture by an encroaching introverted public atmosphere and selfishness. How long has it been since you shared even a simple warm greeting to an unknown? What public kindness have you shown whether verbally or physically? It doesn’t cost much to be kind and you never know what a burden the object of your grace may be carrying. You might lift their load even for a moment.

The Roman stoic philosopher Seneca said, “The reward for all the virtues lies in the virtues themselves, for they are not practiced with a view to recompense; the wage of a good deed is to have done it.”

Research even suggests that altruism can improve your attitude and make you healthier, happier, and less stressed – otherwise known as the “helper’s high.”

Don’t defer in doing anonymous deeds. You can never tell what the downstream result might be. We all need a little positive reinforcement. Any act of kindness is better than doing nothing. Doing even a little one is better than doing nothing, and can lift a heavy load. Doing it anonymously is even better.

For a person of faith doing it in the name of Jesus makes it even more gratifying.