NORTHSHORE CHURCH OF CHRIST

Here are a few lessons we talked about on Wednesday night—thoughts drawn from Ecclesiastes 7.

STRANGELY BRIGHT

Joe Rigney wrote a little book called Strangely Bright in which he riffs off the song,

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

Rigney’s idea is just opposite—when we understand God’s grace and Jesus’ wonder and beauty, the things of the earth will grow strangely bright. The more we grow in godly wisdom, understand the character of God, see how He works, and trust His judgment, the more this earth means to us. It doesn’t become less real; it becomes more real. The colors are more vivid, the smells more wonderful, the sounds more musical.

10 Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
       For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

THE HOUSE OF MOURNING

Pondering the day of our death is good. What do we have to look forward to after we die? We think about the end of all men…for what are we striving? Are we resting, even in our labor? Are we working from a platform of resting in God’s strength and promises? Or are we so narrowly focused on THIS LIFE that we miss the meaning of life altogether?

3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
    for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
    but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

DON’T BE SO ONLINE

This is getting harder and harder. What did the new President do today to make headlines and shake up the world? Is our country going to conquer the world or will it be overthrown in a few years? What are Taylor Swift and Kanye West doing at the grammy’s that is so important? Look at all the shiny pictures of my neighbors and acquaintances on FaceGram and X-book. We get so lost in all the madness, the churning and burning of a downright foolish world, and we get distracted from the gift of life that God has given us to enjoy right this very day and hour. Here we are. What blessings do we have to count today? What blessing can I be to the people around me today? How can I bless the name of the Lord right now?

5 It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
    than to hear the song of fools.
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,
    so is the laughter of the fools; 
    this also is vanity.

Have you ever…

…called someone an “idiot” (or worse) for cutting in front of you in traffic?

…thought (in your head) that your spouse was ignorant, weak, or insane because they refused to see a matter your way?

…clucked your tongue at a frazzled mom who couldn’t control her kids in the department store?

…grimaced to yourself because a sister showed up to church with holes in her jeans?

Yes? Me, too. And this verse is for us today:

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6.37–38

Jesus spoke symmetrically and poetically to bring us this wonderful truth. Two do nots (judge not and condemn not) followed by two dos (forgive and give) strike quite the contrast.

Make sure you give more than expected. How will you fill the cup with flour? Press it down. Shake it. Let it spill over. Give more than you owe, more than they expect, more than you must.

But wait—Jesus said the extravagant measure will be put in your lap. You will you get that overflowing gift, when you use that measure for others. Likewise, if you skimp with others, don’t be surprised when you get back the same.

Jesus had just finished teaching the crowds to love their enemies (Luke 6.27) by blessing them and doing good to them. He told them to lend them money, expecting nothing in return (Luke 6.35), and to be merciful to them (Luke 6.36).

This is the context in which He taught, “Judge not, and you will not be judged.”

Jesus does not mean it is wrong to apply God’s law and judge a matter to be right or wrong. In John 7.24, Jesus also instructed to “judge with righteous judgement.” Interestingly, He told that to Jews who were condemning their brothers (including Jesus!) in their hearts. We should learn to judge righteously, but that’s not the same kind of judgment He condemns in Luke 6.

Jesus is telling us not to condemn a brother in our hearts. On the one hand, you love your brother when you tell him he is living in sin and needs to repent. On the other hand, you hate your brother when you despise him in your heart. The opposite of judging and condemning is forgiving and giving. And remember, we should give even to our enemies, not expecting anything in return. How then should we give to our brothers?

The underlying golden rule instructs us to ask, “How would I like to be treated?” and then treat my brother that way. Would I want my brother to set himself up as my judge? Would I want him to judge me because of my family situation or the color of my skin or the financial troubles I find myself in?

Don’t we tend to judge people based on these things? Perhaps my neighbor is in bad financial straights because he sinned with his money. More likely I just don’t know his story and I would probably be in his position had I gone through what he has.

Steven Covey tells the story of when he was on the subway one day and a man sat near him who was letting his little children run wild on the car. Steven finally had enough and chastised the man for it. The man, in a sort of daze, apologized and told him their mother had just died and he hadn’t figured out how to handle it yet.

Yes, there are plenty of bad actors out there, and we can judge their actions as evil. But when we are simply irritated at someone, we show a pathetic lack of love. Most people would probably say, “Why don’t you get to know my situation before you judge?” Isn’t that what we would want from others?

How would I like you to think about me? Then I’ll try to think of you that way.

How would I like you to treat me? Then I’ll try to treat you that way.

Love you, my brother.

Jannet and Carrie live next door to one another. Both have husbands and three children, and they both enjoy roughly the same level of income.

Jannet wonders why her life is so hard. She wishes she had more help with washing dishes and clothes. She wonders why her husband doesn’t bring flowers more often and why he gets to be the one who goes to work every day, leaving her to the drudgery of home life. She scrolls through Facebook and looks with envy on the picture-perfect lives of friends and neighbors.

Carrie wonders why she is so blessed. When she does the dishes, she thanks God for the food which dirtied them and the fellowship her family enjoyed while eating together. She washes her kids’ clothes looking forward to full closets and being ready for the week. When her husband leaves the house, she is grateful for a man who takes care of his family. She enjoys giving.

From the outside, Jannet and Carrie are physically blessed in almost identical ways, but their attitudes are almost opposite. One sees her job as drudgery and remains discontent with the things in her life, always wishing for something different, something more. The other loves her life, enjoys her family, and sees her work in the home not as endless toil but as a gift and an honor.

The difference between these two women is not one of circumstance but rather one of perspective. Many people fall on both sides of this attitude spectrum. What makes the difference?

Are happy people happy because of their pleasant circumstances? Miserable people think so. They see everyone else’s life through rose colored glasses while seeing their own life through gray-tinted spectacles. They become like Job’s accuser, saying things like, “He is only jolly because things always go well for him.”

But happy people are disposed to joy often despite their circumstances. They understand that life on this earth (“under the sun” as Solomon wrote) is not and never will be perfect. Evil comes upon the righteous and the wicked alike. Blessings come from the Lord. The secret to a contented life is to thank God for all things and to never quit thanking Him. Endure the bad, and enjoy the good, knowing that God is with you through all of it. This is the way to true joy.

When you find yourself falling to depression, feeling miserable and discontent, ask yourself whether you have thanked God recently for His gifts. It’s probably time to count your many blessings and remind yourself all that God has done for you. We have so many reasons to be thankful!

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5.16–18)

A startling yet lovely picture of fellowship in the Garden of Eden is when we read, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3.8). It’s said matter-of-factly, like this was normal for Adam and Eve to walk with God in the garden He had given them. That is an astounding thought to me. This was God’s plan—to have this kind of fellowship with His creatures.

When Adam and Eve broke the covenant and ate the fruit, they broke fellowship with their Creator, affecting themselves but also all the rest of us, since Adam is the head of the human race. Tragically, no one else got to walk with God in the garden.

However, others did walk with God.

The first mentioned was Enoch: “And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Gen. 5.22-24). Somehow, God disappeared Enoch from the earth; Enoch did not die the way the rest of us do, and it was because of his close relationship with God. He knew God and walked with God in an intimate way that God loved.

The second mentioned was Noah: “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6.9). In the middle of an out-of-control world in which “was corrupt in God’s sight, and was filled with violence” (Gen. 6.11), Noah stood out in his righteousness before the Lord. He’s another who walked intimately with God, and God saved him and his family in a special way, blessing him and the rest of mankind.

God found Abram many years later and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless, that I may make My covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly” (Gen. 17.1). If you want to be in relationship with God, He calls you to walk with Him.

In the wilderness, God gave Israel manna to eat, saying, “that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (Exod. 16.4).

Walking with God, walking before God, walking in God’s law—all of these mean living with Him and for Him. Your walk is your way of life. It is how you go about your daily business.

Dear Christian, do you remember, “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked” (Eph. 2.1–2)? You were once disobedient to your Creator. Your way of life was characterized by disobedience. You used to walk “as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity” (Eph. 4.17–19). That’s not a pretty picture!

But God called you out of that dead walk and recreated you in Jesus Christ. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2.10). Paul urges Christians now “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4.1–3). He calls us to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Eph. 5.1), to “walk as children of light” (Eph. 5.8), and to “look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5.15).

How are you walking? Are you in step with the Creator? Do you have an intimate fellowship with Him through Jesus Christ? This is the manner of life to which you have been called!

Among David’s three chief mighty men stood Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the Israelites fled from the Philistines. But Shammah took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory. (2 Samuel 23.11–12).

When I travel from one big city to another, I’m struck by the sheer numbers of individuals and families. They are everywhere! And each one has a lifetime of stories and struggles, dreads and dreams, loves and losses. It’s mind-boggling for a finite human like me. I cannot comprehend!

God keeps track of all these humans, some of whom perform mighty deeds, some of whom turn darkly evil, some of whom He converts and saves. He knows them all by name.

I find comfort in knowing it’s not my job to keep track of everyone in the world. In fact, even as a shepherd of the church here in Mandeville, LA, it’s not my job to keep track of everyone in my congregation! I try, but it’s impossible. On Sundays I walk my neighborhood and pray for my congregation by name, and it’s always overwhelming to think of every person with his or her troubles and struggles, because we all have them, and God has not equipped me psychologically, emotionally, or physically to bear the burdens of everyone around me.

Praise God, He does!

However, God has equipped me to fight in my own plot of land. I cannot fight in every plot of land, but I can take my stand in the midst of my own plot and defend it. I can fight beside and for the people to my left and right, front and rear. This is all God has called me to do.

On the one hand, God has called me to fight in His army, and to fight hard. On the other hand, he only expects me to fight the enemies immediately around me. If I make this my focus, I will do well.

If I don’t take up the sword in my own home, I lose. If I don’t engage the enemy in my workplace, I lose. If I don’t fight the spiritual forces of darkness in my own town, I lose. Some people, such as emperors, governors, presidents, etc., can affect the world stage in some ways. But most of us are simply given a plot of land to defend.

There is plenty of fighting to do on my plot of land.

And if I fight hard for Him, I could still be numbered among God’s mighty men.