Blessed be God

Ephesians 1:3-14 is a wonderful passage that should provoke an immensity of praise, depth of hope and a lifetime of contemplation.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. ESV

This passage begins with a statement of praise to God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word "blessed" means worthy of praise. This word is used exclusively of God because he alone is worthy of worship and blessing. Kids can sometimes say the funniest things. I read about a little boy who said to his father: “Let’s play darts. I’ll throw and you say ‘Wonderful!’” (Bits & Pieces, December 9, 1993, p. 24). As often as we might feel the need for praise, we cannot make the mistake of thinking that God needs our praise. The fact that God is worthy of praise does not mean that he needs our praise. God in his great grace and mercy has given us the opportunity to really praise him within a relationship, that we might be blessed. C. S. Lewis puts it this way, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.” The rest of this passage gives us all the reason we will ever need to praise and worship God. And to express our praise to him completes the delight we have in knowing him and experiencing him. There should never be a day in our lives that we do not see God as praiseworthy. Also there should never be a day where we do not seize the blessing of praise. He alone is worthy of all worship and praise. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A Catalyst

A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed in the process. Substances that increase the rate of reaction are called positive catalysts or, simply, catalysts, while substances that decrease the rate of reaction are called negative catalysts or inhibitors. What a great word that should describe how we live for Christ in our world. Our lives should be positive catalysts when mixed with the truth. What people see in our daily lives should increase the rate of the reaction of the truth with their lives and worldviews. Here are three ideas in which your actions can become catalysts with the truth: 1. If you are wrong with someone, then seek to make it right. 2. If you have been selfish or operating out of vainglory, concerned more about yourself than anyone else or anything else, confess that to the Lord today and let him begin and continue a work of repentance. 3. Simply love and serve others in your life. Look for simple ways to demonstrate the love of Christ. Whenever your life becomes a catalyst with the truth in a person’s life something else can happen. It is called autocatalysis. This happens in some reactions when one of the reaction products is a catalyst for a continued reaction. Whenever we help someone know Christ and they trust in him, then they will become someone who helps others know and glorify the Lord. That is what this life is all about. Be a catalyst and watch what happens.

Do Everything - Part Two

Lastly we are told to be looking out for the interests of others and not just your own personal interests. Looking out for – to look attentively and with sincere interest, to really be concerned. Notice that the text does not condemn a concern for you own interests and needs. In fact, we cannot be looking effectively towards another’s interests if our own needs and interests are being neglected. If our needs and interests are being neglected then we will most definitely look to others interest with the desire to see our own interests and needs served rather than theirs. But if our interests and needs are being taken care of in Christ, we can then sincerely demonstrate concern for others and not just ourselves. The emphasis in this statement is on looking out for other people’s interests and needs. In fact some of our own needs will be more fully met in our own hearts when we demonstrate a great concern for others. When F. B. Meyer was pastoring Christ Church in London, Charles Spurgeon was preaching at Metropolitan Tabernacle, and G. Campbell Morgan was at Westminster Chapel. Meyer said, “I find in my own ministry that supposing I pray for my own little flock, ‘God bless me, God fill my pews, God send me a revival,” I miss the blessing; but as I pray for my big brother, Mr. Spurgeon, on the right-hand side of my church, ‘God bless him’; or my other big brother, Campbell Morgan, on the other side of my church, ‘God bless him’; I am sure to get a blessing without praying for it, for the overflow of their cups fills my little bucket” (The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 193). What should be the top five interests and what are the top five needs in people’s lives? Remember, the implication in the text is that you should be diligent about your needs and then sincerely concerned about others. So here are the needs as I see them: To know God. To know God’s Word. To believe in God. To obey God. To love God. It seems to me that all other righteous and necessary things flow from these. Not only do we look out for our interests and needs but we also look out for the interests and needs of others – in other words – the way I see it is that we are to be disciples and disciple-makers.

Do Everything - Part One

If we are to do nothing from selfishness or vainglory, then we are to do everything in the following manner: Regarding one another as more important than yourself with humility of mind. Regarding another as more important than yourself: “If we were a baseball team and we were in the bottom of the ninth inning with the scored tied. There is a runner on first base and you come up to bat. Now if you’re the batter, you’re thinking “ESPN Highlight,” the crowd cheering, game-winning hit…then you look to the coach for the sign. He gives the “bunt” signal. Bunt! You double take and frown, “I don’t want to bunt. I want the fame.” But for the team you need to bunt. Humility finds joy in the bunt. God has called us to believe in the “sacrifice bunt,” to be people who take the sign from God to serve others and then do it.”(Taken from an account of a friend and baseball coach at UTSA, Jason Marshall.) Humility starts with regarding. Regarding or considering – this word used for regarding is a word that means a conscious judgment made on the basis of facts. What are the facts? Again we are back to a correct understanding of self and a correct understanding of God. I am not alive for me and my purposes but for God and His purposes. If I correctly assess the facts (no vainglory), God is God and I am not, then I should be able to regard others as more important than myself with humility of mind. With humility of mind – your regarding is not to be done stoically, simply on the basis of the facts. It is to be done sincerely as a result of humility before a God who loved you enough to send his only Son to die for you. Humility implies sincerity rather than just duty. Humility is very elusive. It is like the present. The present is no longer the present because it is now the past. You can’t really get a grasp on the present, yet we are to live in it, not worrying about the future and not dwelling in the past. That is a lot like humility. If you ever feel like you have a grasp on humility, then you don’t. The minute you start thinking you are a very humble person, you’re not. But we need to live in humility. Humility is so elusive and pride so prevalent that pride is often disguised as humility. Thinking far more of oneself is easily seen as a lack of humility, but to think far too little of God expressed through God ignoring self-abasement is also a lack of humility. True humility is not self-focused and far too much so-called humility is self-focused. True humility is God focused, seeking to please God in the things that please him with the strength he provides. We live in humility by resting in God rather than our own strength or ability, standing in grace rather than in the flesh. Humility means never considering anyone or doing anything as below yourself. Humility is accomplished when we live in total dependence upon God. When you find that your needs are fully met in Him on the basis of grace, then you can give to others in their needs out of the richness of Christ – that I hope is an ideas of what it means to be one who regards, with humility of mind, others to be better than himself.

Do Nothing - Part Two

Do nothing from vainglory. Vainglory is vain thinking about yourself or having a vain opinion about yourself. It is a state of pride that is without basis or justification. All the pride of mankind is vain and empty, without basis in light of who God is. We are all guilty of vainglory. First, we are guilty because we have all willfully sinned in our lives. Our willful sin reeks with vainglory. I am going to do what I want to do no matter what God has said or His holiness demands, as if we had that kind of unanswerable freedom. We don’t. Second, we often fall into the vainglory trap when we are wronged. When someone hurts us, we can often revert to vainglory, having an opinion about ourselves that is baseless in light of God. For example, if someone says something about me or does something that really hurts me, my first reaction is likely to be something like this, “I don’t deserve that, how dare they, that is not Christian living like I do Christian living, why did that have to happen to me,” and so on. But a true valuation of myself reveals that I really deserve judgment and death and God has instead bestowed on me the riches of his kindness in Jesus Christ. I deserve much worse than anything anyone could do to me. Not only that but every unkind or evil thing that could be done to me makes those who did it no guiltier than I am in God’s eyes. I am not better and I am not deserving. Since we all have been guilty of vainglory in the past and we all can be guilty of it in the future, we need to be constantly setting the standard of Jesus Christ into our view so we can have a correct valuation of ourselves in light of God, his holiness and his grace in Christ. When Jesus could have saved himself he didn’t because he was saving us even though we deserved it not. When we seek to do nothing from vainglory because of and through Christ, we will find the means and the manner of acting in humility and love. Do nothing from vainglory.

Do Nothing - Part One

Phil 2:3-4, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” ESV. “Do nothing” – this is a challenge and directive that is binding on all believers at all times in all that we do, especially towards those who are fellow believers. The word for rivalry or selfishness originally referred to a wage earner. It had to do with the work of the day laborer. A worker benefited his employer and the employer paid the worker for it. Over time this same word came to denote the attitude of self-seekers who demean themselves for self-gain. This is the person who only does what benefits himself. It also denotes an unwillingness to see any higher purpose as motive for actions due to the pressing hunger of instant self-gratification (Kittel, Gerhard, and Friedrich, Gerhard, Editors, The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company) 1985.). This kind of selfish ambition can be incredibly factious. When what we do in the body of Christ is driven by our desire for our own comfort or making ourselves feel important or even so that others might praise us then those actions will become divisive in the church. By the way, selfishness does not always look like selfishness. Sometimes selfishness can look like consideration or kindness but its motive is personal gain. The attitudes and motives behind the actions are the true test. When people can’t see your motives, don’t forget that God can. True humility is the attitude that drives actions that are sincerely God-centered and selfless. We must not do anything selfishly. Just to clarify, wanting to be satisfied in life is not evil. I believe it is a God given desire. Seeking to be satisfied through self-service is not only wrong but it will cause you to turn up bankrupt. Seeking to be satisfied through glorifying God in serving others will result in full life. The passage here is just telling us how to be made full in the fullest measure - through doing nothing in a selfish manner, and also doing nothing from vainglory. I will share about vainglory next.

Wise or Foolish?

It all depends on how you see it. You could see a cat improvising and surviving. You could see a cat driking toilet water. Either way this is a picture worth many words. The Ueckert house is never lacking for moments of laughter. Thanks to Maelyn and her new digital camera for catching this shot. I am sure that I will be sharing more of Maelyn's photography work in the future. I hope someone flushed.

Imaginary Friends

When Caden was younger he had an imaginary friend, a twin brother named Tony. We would frequently have Tony sightings around our house and at various times. Caden would be playing outside with Tony and come in and tell us about all the fun they had. We would ask where Tony is and Caden would say that Tony had gone somewhere. Every once and while Caden would say, "There is Tony," and we would all play along. Those were funny days. Lynlee and I miss those moments as we watch our youngest get older by the day. Last Sunday Maelyn was taking pictures and for the first time in the Ueckert history we caught Tony on camera. This is proof - Tony is real. We had a real laugh over this picture and thought we would share this bit of our family fun. Imaginary friends are childhood games that point toward a grown up longing - a longing for the presence of a friend that sticks closer than a brother. I am so grateful that Jesus promised us that he would never leave us or forsake us and that he would always be with us. I thank Jesus for his real presence in our lives as believers.

The Joys of a Father

I remember some great times playing basketball as a kid. I loved playing sports. I loved baseball, basketball, football, soccer - any sport really. There was something really rewarding about playing competitive sports. I learned a lot and had a great deal of fun. The good old days... As much fun as those days were, they were nothing like the joys of being a father watching my kids play the things I played, playing them harder and better. I truly love watching my kids play sports. It is so much fun. Add to that the joy of coaching my kids in sports. We are really having fun in this stage of life. What a joy our children have become. Maelyn with her piano and dance and the boys with sports. It is truly a blessing. Believe it or not, I did take piano for about two months as a kid. Maelyn has far surpassed me there and I am thankful. What a joy to be a dad.

Your Best Life Later - Take Four

“Your Best Life Later” is probably not best seller material. What do we do with the truth that God’s will for us could and for many of us does include suffering? Do we hear many people preaching that God’s will may actually be for you to suffer rather than be healed, relieved or delivered? God’s will may be for you to have little rather than plenty, to live by faith in lacking many things rather than having an abundance, to suffer rather than to be at ease. Why don’t we hear that God has a bigger plan for his people than our best life now? Do we really need our ears tickled? Is that what we want? I hope not. I hope what we want is the truth but I fear otherwise. How is it that according to Barna 84% of adults claim to be Christian …and yet many of these people contend that cohabitation (60%), adultery (42%), sexual relations between homosexuals (30%), abortion (45%), pornography (38%), the use of profanity (36%) and gambling (61%) are “morally acceptable” behaviors. Research further shows that only 4% of adults, and just 9% of born again Christians, have a biblical worldview (Spiritual Progress Hard to Find in 2003, December 22, 2003, http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=155). Truth: When someone suffers in this life according to the will of God, that is their best life now and the way to their best life later. Until Christians order their lives by the word of God, we will be open to the deception of believing that our best life must be now is only "best" when it is free of difficulty and full of plenty. We are not of this world. We have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ for another place and another life. We have a home in heaven, the place of our best life, our eternal life, a life of knowing and worshipping our God for eternity. God’s word makes it clear – our best life is later. I Peter 4:19 - Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. ESV.

Your Best Life Later - Take Three

There is a kind of person who hears the word of God and receives it with joy but when hard times come in their lives because of the gospel, they gravitate toward a life that alleviates their temporary troubles. There is also the kind who hears the word and embraces it but the cares of the world and the lure of possessions draw him into a life of pursuing the immediate gratification the world offers. Finally, there is the person who hears the word and understands. He knows that his best life is not now but later and he believes no matter what and bears fruit in his life both now and for eternity.

Your Best Life Later - Take Two

When you think about storing up treasures, don’t think here and now. When you think about what is most valuable, don’t think earthly thoughts. Everything on this earth will either be destroyed by time, circumstances or others. Nothing here is really worth clinging to as if it lasts forever because it won’t. Jesus clearly instructed all those who follow Him to lay up treasures in heaven. It’s not that everything on earth is bad but that we should spend and use our things in this life for the next life. Jesus doesn’t want us to have our best life now. He wants us to live in such a way now that our best life is later, where true treasures can be experienced for eternity. Live for your best life later. Not only is that kind of life full of eternal joy, it is worth far more than any earthly treasures.

Your Best Life Later

There was once this guy who figured out a way to make a lot of money. He was rich and getting richer. He believed in the phrase – “Your best life now.” So he built some big warehouses to hold the increasing amount of stuff for supplying his best life now. He then pursued relaxing, eating, drinking and being merry - his best life now. Then God said to him, “You fool. This night your soul is required of you. All your stuff for your best life now, whose will they become?” Perhaps that guy should have considered another more biblical phrase – “Your best life later. ”

Resolutions

I read a small article about New Year's resolutions that has a profound title, “How to keep up with those New Year's resolutions, researchers find commitment is the secret of success.” Hard to believe that it actually took researchers to figure out that commitment is the secret to success. It gets even better in the actual article. Listen to this piece of advice, “Take credit for success when you achieve a resolution, but it is a mistake to blame yourself if you fail. Instead, look… [for something else to blame].” Isn’t that our culture today? Take credit for your success but blame someone else for your failure. I guess it is supposed to be all about feeling good. The fact is that failure is what we have done. No matter how many resolutions we may keep, we have failed because we have sinned against the Lord. The good news [or feeling good] is not found in blaming someone or something else. The good news is that through faith in Jesus Christ, God takes our blame and forgives all our failures. I am certainly not against resolutions but we will all find a great deal more hope for this year when we focus on what God has done for us.