John Wesley’s Pound Notes

Posted on September 20, 2024 by russellmckinney

This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. (Titus 3:8, N.K.J.V.)

The great preacher/evangelist John Wesley heard of an associate who was having serious financial problems. Wesley wrote the man a note that quoted Psalm 37:3. The note read:

Dear Sammy,

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”

Yours affectionately,

John Wesley

Wesley then placed the note, along with several English pound notes, in an envelope and mailed it.

A few days later, he received the following reply:

Rev. and Dear Sir:

I have often been struck with the beauty of this passage of Scripture quoted in your letter, but I must confess I never saw such beautiful expository notes as those you enclosed…

An encouraging word. A heartening phone call. A complimentary email. An uplifting text. A nice Facebook comment. A sweet card. A kind letter. A check mailed. A “$100 handshake.” A meal. A visit. An act of service. These are all “good works” that are “good and profitable to men.”

Christian, someone you know right now needs you to live out Titus 3:8. I have no idea who it is, and I have no idea what God wants you to do for them, but if you will simply open your heart to God’s will and seek His mind on how to carry out that will, He will make your job clear. “Sammys” are everywhere, but unfortunately there aren’t enough “John Wesleys” to go around.

Posted in Doing Good, Encouragement, Giving, God's Guidance, God's Will, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, Money, Needs, Service | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

When God “Goes Abraham” on You

Posted on September 18, 2024 by russellmckinney

I hope we can all agree that it’s never a good thing to miss God’s will. The fact is, though, that some trips outside God’s will result in a figurative slap on the wrist, while others result in a figurative flogging. Under the category of flogging, let’s consider a couple of stories from the life of Abraham.

Not long after Abraham arrived in Canaan with his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, a famine struck the land (Genesis 12:10). Since God wanted him to stay in Canaan and trust Him to take care of them, the famine equated to a testing of Abraham’s faith and obedience. But Abraham loaded up his camp and stepped out of God’s will by bolting south to abundant Egypt.

And what happened down in Egypt? There, Abraham lied about the beautiful Sarah being his wife, claiming instead that she was his sister (Genesis 12:11-13), and that lie allowed the Pharaoh to purchase Sarah for his harem (Genesis 12:14-16). However, once she was in Pharaoh’s house, God struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues (Genesis 12:16). It was then that the lie was exposed, which prompted Pharaoh to call for Abraham and throw the whole family out of Egypt (Genesis 12:18-20).

While I understand that Abraham got what he deserved, my point is that lots of people take trips out of God’s will every day, and their rebellion doesn’t result in great plagues or them being kicked out of countries. I mean, seriously, God could have prevented all those consequences in Abraham’s life by simply not allowing Abraham to go to Egypt, not allowing him to get into a situation where he felt compelled to lie about Sarah, or not allowing Sarah to end up in Pharaoh’s house. But God lowered the boom on Abraham by letting the entire situation get about as bad as it could get. Sure, Abraham failed the test about staying in Canaan when times got tough, but God didn’t have to make that particular test count for 50% of the term’s grade.

In a related story that took place a decade later, Abraham and Sarah grew impatient waiting on God to give them a son. That delay prompted Sarah to employ the custom of the day by asking Abraham to sleep with her handmaiden, Hagar (Genesis 16:1-3). The idea was that Abraham could father a child through Hagar, and that child would be considered Sarah’s. Even though such a plan was perfectly legitimate in the ancient world, it was not God’s will. Instead, God wanted Abraham and Sarah to continue waiting upon Him to give them a son. (By the way, Hagar wasn’t with Abraham, Sarah, and Lot when they first arrived in Canaan. Where do you think Abraham acquired her as a servant? You got it: Egypt (Genesis 12:16,20).

So, what happened when Abraham had sexual relations with Hagar? She got pregnant, which caused her and Sarah to despise each other and Sarah to deal harshly with her (Genesis 16:4-6). This, in turn, caused the pregnant Hagar to flee from the camp. With some help from the Lord, she eventually returned (Genesis 16:7-16), but the dysfunctional tone in the camp was set for the years that would follow. Finally, a couple of years after Sarah had given birth to Isaac 14 years later, the whole situation reached a boiling point and Hagar and the now teenage Ishmael had to leave the camp for good (Genesis 21:1-21).

Here again, my point is that God could have prevented all those consequences in Abraham’s life by simply not allowing Hagar to get pregnant. All He had to do was close up her womb (at least temporarily) the way He did so many other women in the Bible: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson’s mother, Hannah, and Elizabeth. For that matter, how many people down through the centuries have had sex that didn’t produce a pregnancy? But the way the story about Abraham and Hagar reads, she got pregnant very quickly, perhaps even as a result of their first sexual encounter.

In conclusion, the moral of this post is simple: That sin that you are toying around with these days (and you know which one it is) might very well result in a flogging for you rather than a slap on the wrist. Believe me, whenever you purposely choose to step outside God’s will and embrace sin, you start playing a dangerous, high-stakes game of Russian Roulette. And don’t count on God to show you mercy and grace by not allowing your sin to mess up your life too much. You just never know when He will decide to “go Abraham” on you and let you experience the full, far-reaching consequences of your bad choice.

Posted in Backsliding, Choices, Disobedience, God's Chastening, God's Judgment, God's Will, Rebellion, Repentance, Sin, Temptation, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Working Out Your Own Salvation

Posted on September 16, 2024 by russellmckinney

A man bought an acreage of hilly land dotted with boulders and covered with weeds and briars. He then began his work on the land. First, he paid a backhoe operator and a dump-truck driver to dig up the boulders and haul them away. Second, he employed a man who owned a tractor with an attached mower to mow down all the weeds and briars. Third, he hired a fellow who owned a bulldozer to level out the land. Fourth, he brought in a well-drilling company to dig a well. Fifth, he contracted a builder to build a fine house on the site.

One day a friend came to visit the now beautiful homesite. As the two men gazed over the place, the friend said, “Praise God for such level land that doesn’t have any boulders, weeds, and briars.” The comment irked the landowner but he let it go. Next, the friend said, “And praise Him for such a fine well to go along with the land.” Again, the comment peeved the landowner but he held his tongue. Finally, the friend added, “And praise Him for such a beautiful house. My, my, God surely is good.” At that point, the landowner could no longer remain silent. He looked squarely at his friend and said, “Well, you can praise God all you want but you should have seen what He had the place looking like when He had it all to Himself!”

Let’s get one thing clear: Works play NO part whatsoever in regards to an individual’s salvation. The words of our text were written by Paul as a part of his letter to the church at Philippi, and in the opening verse of the letter (1:1), he calls his audience “saints.” That’s significant because “saints” is a New Testament word that is synonymous with “Christians.” Clearly, Paul considered those believers in Philippi to already be full-fledged Christians rather than Christian wannabes who needed to earn their salvation by working for it. For that matter, this is the same Paul who says in Ephesians 2:8-9:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (N.K.J.V.)

But now let’s get a second thing clear: Works DO play a part in how the Christian lives the Christian life. This is where our text verse comes front and center. The Christian is told to, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Notice that Paul doesn’t say, “…work for your own salvation…” No, what he says is, “…work out your own salvation…” That’s a different idea altogether.

Okay, so what does the idea mean? For one thing, it means that the Christian has a responsibility to actively pursue personal holiness in his daily affairs and to do everything he can to keep himself from the snares of sin. You see, sin always wants to bring the Christian back under its grip, and it takes work, real work, to resist that pull.

For another thing, it means that an inner salvation should produce outer works of service worthy of that salvation. As has often been said, “Salvation is not of works, but salvation works.” And how does it work? It works in that it produces good works. Good works cannot flow into a salvation experience, but they should flow out of one.

John Phillips compares the gift of salvation to a gold mine and says, “If someone were to give you a gold mine of incalculable worth, you would have a treasure, but the gold would not do you any practical good unless you worked it out of the mine.” Likewise, the Christian, having experienced salvation and thus been empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, has tremendous potential for good in resisting sin and serving the Lord, but that potential doesn’t automatically translate into tangible results. Just as it takes long, hard, extensive work to mine gold from the earth, the same level of work is required to mine the Christian ideal from the Christian.

And so, Christian, the point of this post is that your moment of salvation was merely the beginning of you living the earthly life that God wants you to live. It was God empowering you to live out the Christian ideal. But you being empowered doesn’t mean that you will stay tapped into that power and use it to resist sin and serve God. That takes some WORK on your part. Yes, your life can closely resemble the Christian ideal, but for that to happen you are going to have to grab your pickaxe and shovel and put in the required digging. So, tell me, how are you doing on that? If your gold mine hasn’t been producing much spiritual gold lately, why don’t you head down into the mine today and start putting in the work it takes to bring that gold to the surface?

Posted in Backsliding, Change, Commitment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Faithfulness, God's Work, Ministry, Personal Holiness, Priorities, Salvation, Service, Sin, Temptation, The Holy Spirit | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Incident on a School Bus

Posted on September 13, 2024 by russellmckinney

During some of my college years, I had a part-time job driving a school bus for elementary and middle school students. Since I myself hadn’t been a kid for a while, that job served to remind me just how cruel kids can be to each other. One episode in particular stands out from those days.

It happened during the winter months when my early-morning pickups took place before sunrise. I had a route that encompassed a long, winding road called “Bandana” that featured more ups, down, twists, and turns than a roller coaster. In addition to being the curviest route than any of our buses ran, the route was also the longest one. I had to be at my first stop around 6:30 a.m., and the way the route was designed the kids I picked up first in the morning were also the kids I dropped off last in the evening. I always felt for those children. They had to ride the bus twice as long as most kids.

It was a bitterly cold morning and I had six or seven kids on the bus as I made my way along the route. The heater was doing all it could do to get the bus warm, but the kids still had to keep wearing their coats, gloves, and toboggans to prevent hypothermia. Anyone who has ever been on a cold bus on a winter morning knows the scene I’m describing. Of course, it’s not like I could even see the kids in the darkness of the bus. I just knew they were back there freezing in their seats somewhere.

The sideroad I had to drive down to pick up a certain girl was called “Lundy,” and that girl was my one stop down that road. In other words, she was the only reason why the bus had to put in the extra time to run that sideroad. That in itself was enough to put her in bad standing with the rest of the kids.

I got to the stop that morning and everything was business as usual. Like all the other kids, the girl was wearing enough layers of clothing to pass for a deep-sea diver. All I could see of her was a portion of her face. Through all the layers, she was carrying an armload full of books the way little girls carry their books, using two hands and holding the books close to her chest. I watched as she walked up the steps of the bus and started making her way back through the dark aisle toward her seat. Once she got past me, I lost sight of her, but I sure heard what happened next.

Sometime shortly after she passed me, she tripped and fell. From the sound of it, she fell for days. The sound of her falling was accompanied by the awful sound of all her books hitting the aisle floor. Even though I couldn’t actually see her, I got a clear mental picture of her lying there in a heap, probably bruised and scraped from the fall, clothes dirty from the bus floor, and books and papers scattered all over the place. Bless her heart, it was an awful experience for her. What I didn’t know was that it was about to get worse.

Unfortunately for her, she happened to land in the aisle right next to the seat of boy who couldn’t have cared less about her problems. Rather than bend down and help her, or even ask if she was okay, this little fellow just sat there unfazed. Then he proceeded to utter the two most bone-chilling words I have ever heard one human being say to another. Sarcastically, he asked her one simple question: “Walk much?”

Those words were so cold they took whatever heat the bus heater was churning out and turned it into ice crystals that hung in midair inside that bus. I had never felt so bad for anyone in my life as I did that little girl at that moment. So, I stopped the bus and waited as she picked herself up, gathered her belongings, and made her way to her seat. I’m sure that I also threw out some kind of rebuke to the boy for his lack of basic human kindness, but I can’t really recall what I said. Whatever I said didn’t matter much anyway because those two simple words – “Walk much?” – were so devastating that they rendered all conversation that came in their wake mute.

Most people have heard of the golden rule, which is recorded in Matthew 7:12 as a part of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. In that verse, Jesus says:

Do for others what you would like them to do for you. This is a summary of all that is taught in the Law and the prophets. (NLT)

I’ve read that variations of this rule were around long before the time of Christ and could be found in other religions such as Judaism and Hinduism. But what made Christ’s quote different was the fact that He reversed the spin. You see, the previous variations had all couched the rule in the negative. For example, one prominent Jewish rabbi had taught, “What is hateful to yourself do not to someone else.” In Jesus’ command, though, the rule is couched in the positive as the words “do not” are replaced with “do” and the listener is encouraged to do something good for someone as opposed to merely not doing something bad to them.

Getting back to my bus illustration, in Christ’s way of looking at things it wouldn’t have been enough for that boy to merely resist the urge to say what he said. Even more than resisting the temptation to say it, he should have gotten out of his seat, helped that girl up, and assisted her as she collected her books. That would have been Christ’s golden rule in action. Needless to say, that didn’t happen that morning. But I’m not picking on that boy. I myself, at various times in my life, have said or done things that were about as bad. Truth be told, many of us have.

And so, Christian, as the application to this post, let me encourage you to redouble your efforts at living out our Savior’s golden rule. There are people all around you who have in one way or another metaphorically fallen in the bus aisle and are just lying there in need of your help, and you can either sit there and gloat over them, like one of the Greek gods on Mount Olympus looking down upon a peasant, or you can do unto them as you would have them do unto you. The choice is yours, and it’s one you’ll face multiple times each day. Here’s hoping that you choose to put Christ’s golden rule into action each and every time.

Posted in Character, Children, Doing Good, God's Work, Influence, Mercy, Ministry, Personal, Service, The Sermon On The Mount, The Tongue | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Thunder Balanced With Love

Posted on September 11, 2024 by russellmckinney

From everything we can surmise about Christ’s chosen 12 apostles, John was the youngest. He was the son of Zebedee and the younger brother of James, who was also one of the 12 (Matthew 4:21). By combining certain passages (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25), we deduce that Salome was John’s mother and that she was the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. If this deduction is correct, it means that John and James were first cousins to Jesus and explains why Jesus, on the cross, committed Mary to John’s safekeeping (John 19:25-27).

Evidently, Zebedee was well to do in his fishing business on the Sea of Galilee. Mark 1:20 mentions that he employed servants that helped him on his fishing boat (or boats). Perhaps James and John were partners with their father. Then again, Luke 5:10 says the brothers were partners with Simon (Peter), which presumably means that Peter’s brother, Andrew, was also in on the partnership. Whatever the exact details were, what we know for sure is that James, John, Peter, and Andrew all left the fishing business behind and accepted Christ’s call to follow Him (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11). Before becoming followers of Christ, John and Andrew had been followers of John the Baptist. (It is unanimously believed that John is the unnamed apostle mentioned in John 1:35-42.)

To me, though, the most interesting thing about James and John is that they were both hotheads. As evidence of their fiery natures, Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). Once, while Jesus and the 12 were making their way to Jerusalem, a certain village in the region of Samaria refused to let the group pass through the village. That was a slight the “Sons of Thunder” didn’t take lightly, and so they asked Jesus, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” (Luke 9:51-56) Jesus answered them, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” The group then continued on to another village without harming anyone. You see, it’s interesting that James and John’s first reaction amounted to laying waste to the offending village. They didn’t even ask Jesus to do it Himself. No, they wanted Him to give them the power to do it!

The brothers were also ambitious, even to the point of being greedy. In Matthew 20:20-28 and Mark 10:35-45, we read the story of how they, along with their mother, approached Jesus and asked if He would grant them the incredible honor of sitting next to Him in His kingdom, one at His right hand and the other at His left. If James and John truly were first cousins to Jesus, perhaps that had something to do with the lofty request. But Jesus informed them that He didn’t get to choose who received those choice positions. That threw cold water on the request.

As could have been predicted, however, a problem then arose in that the audacious request ticked off the other apostles. Things actually got so tense that Jesus had to give the entire group a refresher course on the fact that true greatness comes from humble servitude. I’m sure that’s not what James and John had in mind since they surely were no doubt thinking of Christ’s kingdom in terms of a political, military reign that would oust Rome and reestablish Israel to preeminence.

Still, though, despite John’s natural temper and ambition, he somehow ended up being historically known as “the apostle of love.” How did that happen? It’s primarily the result of him writing the epistle of 1 John, which features love as one of its main themes (1 John 2:1-11; 3:10-23; 4:7-21; 5:1-3). As a matter of fact, that epistle contains more about love – loving God, being loved by God, loving others, not loving the world – than any other New Testament book.

Okay, so how did one of the “Sons of Thunder” become “the apostle of love”? Well, there are multiple potential answers to that question. Perhaps John finally just grew into all the training he had received from Jesus during the years he spent with Him. Perhaps becoming indwelt by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost had something to do with it (Acts 2:1-4). Perhaps caring for Mary did as well. Each of these answers makes good sense.

But let me suggest another possible answer. I’m talking about the martyr’s death that John’s older brother, James, died. How could losing his brother in such a horrific way not have had a profound impact upon John?

The story of James’ death is found in Acts 12:1-2. As a means of keeping the burgeoning Christian church in Jerusalem at bay, Herod Agrippa I had James killed, making James the first of the chosen 12 to be martyred. No mention is made of how John reacted to his brother’s execution but surely experiencing something like that would have to knock at least some of the “thunder” out of you.

This is not to say, though, that John lost all the fight that had once characterized him. While the epistle of 1 John does have a great deal to say about love, it also features other themes and is written in language that is so bold, direct, matter of fact, absolute, and dogmatic it is shocking to the “politically correct” reader. Consider the following passages (all from the N.K.J.V.) and as you read them think about how a man with John’s ultra conservative viewpoints and blunt speech would fare in our society today.

  • “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:6)
  • “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).
  • “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10)
  • “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.” (1 John 2:9)
  • “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)
  • “They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” (1 John 2:19)
  • “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-christ who denies the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22)
  • “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” (1 John 2:23)
  • “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.” (1 John 3:6)
  • “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12)

Obviously, even though John did tone down his “thunder” over the years, he never lost it completely. As further evidence of this, his epistle of 2 John is a warning to Christians about the dangers of embracing false doctrine, and his epistle of 3 John specifically warns against a man named Diotrephes who was causing problems in the church at the time. And then, of course, there is The Revelation in which John describes nothing less than the end of the world as we know it.

All told, I think we can look upon John as being a wonderful example of a Christian who matured to the point where he struck the proper balance between thunder and love. He never became so open minded, tolerant, and mush and gush as to accept all manner of sin in the name of love, but he did get out of the habit of looking for unbelieving villages to nuke. Living in this world in which extremist mentalities are becoming more commonplace, you and I would do well to learn from John. His balance of thunder tempered with love should be our goal, and I truly believe the Lord will help us get us there if we will let Him mold and shape us.

Posted in Aging, Anger, Attitude, Balance, Character, Family, God's Love, Greed, Humility, Love, Ministry, Persecution, Preaching, Truth | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Rebuked & The Rebuker

Posted on September 9, 2024 by russellmckinney

It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. (Ecclesiastes 7:5, N.K.J.V.)

…Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. (Proverbs 9:8, N.K.J.V.)

…a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. (Proverbs 13:1, N.K.J.V.)

These three verses show us what the Bible teaches about you responding to a godly, accurate, wise rebuke from another. You should see that rebuke as something good, something that can help you become a better person. You see, the person who rebuked you has done you a favor because he or she could have left you unchallenged in your erroneous ways.

Unfortunately, this is not how most of us respond to such a rebuke. To quote the Ecclesiastes verse, we’d rather “hear the song of fools” than be told, “What you’re doing is wrong.” Rather than love the one who rebukes us — as the Proverbs 9:8 verse instructs — our natural tendency is to hate the person, become the “scoffer” described in Proverbs 13:1, and continue on with our wrong behavior. As Amos 5:10 says:

They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly. (N.K.J.V.)

Over the course of my ministry, there have been times when God has burdened me to play the role of rebuker. Let me specifically mention three of those times. Once, it involved me preaching a certain sermon to a church I was pastoring that was going down the wrong road on a particular issue. On another occasion, it involved me confronting a church member about the fact that she was living out of wedlock with a man. And then there was the time when God had me rebuke our local high school football coaches about some egregious problems in their program.

So, how did each of these episodes turn out? Not very well for me, I have to say. Episode #1: After I preached that sermon, several church members left and many of the ones who stayed mourned over the departed ones so much that I could no longer carry on an effective ministry in that church and had to resign. Episode #2: The member that I rebuked for living out of wedlock quit the church and didn’t come back until I had left the church. Episode #3: The coaches implemented many of the changes I suggested and bettered the program, but they despised me and took out their anger on my oldest son, who had been a two-way starter on varsity as a sophomore but hardly touched the field his senior year.

I offer these illustrations as evidence that I know what I’m talking about when I say that people don’t typically respond well to being rebuked, even if it’s a godly rebuke. Rather than love you for what you’ve said, more often than not, they’ll hate you. The ironic (and sad) part is that they will still hate you even if they eventually make the necessary changes you suggested in your rebuke.

In light of this, Christian, perhaps you are thinking, “Then why would I ever rebuke someone? I don’t want to be hated.” Well, for one thing, if you are serious about being the “salt” and “light” that Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:13-14, you have a God-given responsibility to speak truth into peoples’ lives, and oftentimes that truth will of necessity involve some sort of rebuke. You say you want to be like Jesus? Fine. Do you think it was Him complimenting the Jewish religious leaders and Roman political leaders that got Him nailed to a cross? No, it was Him rebuking them.

And then for another thing, there really is a small percentage of people who will acknowledge your rebuke for the help it is and will appreciate you for caring enough to offer it. Fortunately for me, I’ve had a few of these experiences as well. I haven’t had as many of them as the bad ones, but I’ve had enough to keep me encouraged that a godly rebuke offered in the way God leads you to offer it can sometimes produce ideal results. Again, it’s the exception to the rule, but it does happen.

In keeping with this, let me now close out this post by citing two more passages that deal with rebuking. At first glance, these two passages seem to contradict each other, but it isn’t all that hard to figure out the explanation. The first passage is Proverbs 9:7, which says:

He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. (N.K.J.V.)

And the second passage is Proverbs 24:25, which says:

But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them. (N.K.J.V.)

After reading these two verses, you might be thinking, “Which is it, God? Does the one who rebukes a wicked man harm himself and bring shame to himself? Or, does he have delight and have a good blessing come upon him?” The answer is, both.

As we learned previously from Proverbs 13:1, a scoffer (a wicked person) will not take kindly to being rebuked. Such a person will hate the rebuker and criticize him or her for offering the rebuke. That will bring shame and harm to the rebuker, which is exactly what Proverbs 9:7 predicts. But that isn’t the end of the matter. It isn’t the end of it because even though the wicked person won’t appreciate or bless the rebuker, God will.

You see, it’s God, not the scoffer, who grants the delight and the good blessing upon the rebuker. He does this because He truly appreciates those who have the courage and the wisdom to do the unpleasant job. Sometimes this reward will be poured out on earth, but most of the time it will have to wait until the afterlife. Never doubt, though, that the reward will be granted somehow, somewhere, someday. That, Christian, should be incentive enough for you to play the role of rebuker whenever God burdens you to do it.

Posted in Church, Counsel, Courage, Criticism, God's Work, Honesty, Influence, Ministry, Personal, Preaching, Sports, Truth, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Key Lesson About Life

Posted on September 6, 2024 by russellmckinney

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17 (N.K.J.V.)

The book of James will always have a special place in my heart because it is the first book I ever preached through as a pastor. What I found out, though, is that the book is kind of hard to outline. The problem is that James will clearly talk about one topic for a while and then make a quick jump to another one. And sometimes you don’t know if he is still on his previous topic or if he has moved on to a new one.

As for my text verse for this post, it can easily stand alone as a one-verse sermon. Trust me, any preacher worth his salt can apply the words “…to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” to a myriad of real-life situations. For example, the words can be applied to you: believing in Jesus as your Savior, repenting of your sins, loving your spouse, raising your kids as you should, praying, reading your Bible, getting involved in church work, putting money in church, witnessing, showing love to others, reading Russell Mckinney’s blog….. (Okay, maybe I went a little too far with that last one.) But you get the point.

Please notice, however, that the verse actually begins with a very important word. It’s the word: “Therefore.” And what’s the famous line about that word? “Anytime you see the word ‘Therefore’ you need to figure out what it’s there for.” Okay, so what is the word “Therefore” there for in James 4:17? Answer: It’s there to link the verse up with what James has been talking about previously.

Of course, this raises the question of just how far back James wants his readers to go. If we take things all the way back to chapter 1, we can apply James 4:17 to counting it all joy when we fall into various trials (1:2-4), asking God for wisdom (1:5-8), keeping a proper perspective on life (1:9-11), enduring temptation (1:12-16), and all the topics that follow between there and James 4:17. But then again, it might make sense just to go back only as far as James’ most recent change of topic, and a new topic begins in James 4:13 and runs through James 4:16. The topic in those verses is that of foolish, arrogant self-confidence concerning assumptions made about future events. Those verses, including our James 4:17, read as follows:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. (N.K.J.V.)

So, by reading James 4:17 in its immediate context we learn that the specific good we know to do is to live our lives with the understanding that God, rather than us, is ultimately in control. Seriously, it’s absurd for us to talk about all the things we are going to do tomorrow, next month, or next year when we won’t even live to see tomorrow, next month, or next year unless God wills it. This doesn’t mean that it’s a sin for you to set a lunch date for tomorrow, schedule a doctor’s appointment for three months from now, make a hotel reservation for six months from now, or contribute to a retirement account that you won’t be able to use for several more years. But it does mean that you should do all these things with the understanding that you don’t have the final say about any of your plans coming to fruition. After all, your life is just a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes, and vapors don’t have any strength of their own.

Therefore (see what I did there?), as you make your plans, schedule your appointments, talk your talk, and dream your dreams, you should do it all with the understanding that God might have something completely different in mind for you. Putting it simply, you don’t run the universe; He does. And to believe otherwise is to, as James describes it, “boast in your arrogance.” You see, what we are really talking about here is you understanding just how small you are in comparison to how big God is. That’s a lesson we all need to learn, and according to James our failure to learn it is sin.

Posted in Aging, Attitude, Disappointment, God's Omnipotence, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Human Life, Humility, Pride, Submission, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Have You Dug Your Ditches?

Posted on September 4, 2024 by russellmckinney

And he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’ For thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.’” (2 Kings 3:16-17, N.K.J.V.)

2 Kings chapter 3 gives us an interesting story from the era when the one nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom (called Israel) and the southern kingdom (called Judah). The story features a wonderful spiritual lesson that I want to share with you in this post. However, before you can properly understand that lesson, you need to understand the basics of the story.

As the chapter begins, Jehoram becomes the king of the northern kingdom. He is the son of Ahab and Jezebel, the northern kingdom’s most notorious royal couple. Ahab is now dead (1 Kings 22:29-40), as is Ahaziah, the son who had replaced him on the throne two years earlier (2 Kings 1:1-18). So, the crown now falls to Jehoram, Ahaziah’s brother. Meanwhile, down south in Judah, Jehoshaphat is in the eighteenth year of his reign.

Jehoram, like his father and his brother, is a wicked king who does “evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 3:2). The best that can be said of him is that he isn’t as bad as his father, Ahab, had been. He is certainly an idol worshiper, just like everyone else in the northern kingdom, but at least he puts away a well-known pillar of the false god Baal that Ahab had ordered built during the days of his reign (2 Kings 3:2-3).

As for Judah’s king, Jehoshaphat, he is for the most part a godly king, but he isn’t perfect. Even though he walks with God, that walk is marred by the fact that he allows idol worship to continue in Judah (1 Kings 22:43). In addition to this, he is also known for having made a peaceful alliance with the wicked Ahab during Ahab’s reign (1 Kings 22:44).

Unfortunately for Jehoram, as soon as he ascends to Israel’s throne he is immediately confronted with a political problem that has been brewing ever since Ahab’s death. Ahab had forced the Moabites to pay him an annual tribute of 100,000 lambs and the wool from 100,000 rams, but since his death they haven’t been paying it. Ahaziah, who had replaced Ahab on the throne, should have dealt with the problem, but he hadn’t and had died in the wake of an accident after only a two-year reign (2 Kings 1:1-18). That left Jehoram to deal with the matter.

He starts by rallying his troops and sending word to Jehoshaphat in Judah, asking for his help in the war against Moab (2 Kings 3:1-7). Since Jehoshaphat had been a loyal ally to Jehoram’s father, Ahab (1 Kings 22:1-40), he agrees to also help Jehoram. Was this decision God’s will? That’s doubtful, but, as I said, Jehoshaphat isn’t perfect.

Moab is located southeast of Israel and northeast of Judah, and so the two kings must decide whether to attack it from the north or the south. Quickly the decision is made to attack from the south by way of Edom, which is located just east of Judah and just south of Moab. By doing this, Jehoram and Jehoshaphat figure they can add the army of Edom to their coalition because Judah controls Edom and Edom’s king will do whatever Jehoshaphat tells him to do. And, as expected, the king of Edom obliges and so now we have three kings and their armies aligned together to attack Moab (2 Kings 3:8). On paper, the plan of attack looks pitch perfect.

But like many plans, an unforeseen problem arises. One week into the campaign, as the three armies are slogging their way through the wilderness of Edom to get to Moab, they run out of water (2 Kings 3:9). There is no water for the soldiers and no water for the animals. The situation becomes so desperate that Jehoram loudly complains that God has called the three armies together in order to have them fall to the Moabites (2 Kings 3:10). Jehoshaphat, on the other hand, starts trying to find a prophet of God who can give them wise counsel. When he learns that the prophet Elisha is in the area, the three kings make the trip to see the prophet (2 Kings 3:11-12).

Initially, Elisha balks at the idea of helping the idol-worshiping Jehoram. He even sarcastically tells him to go ask the prophets of his father and mother (2 Kings 3:13). Finally, though, Elisha agrees to help because he wants to help Jehoshaphat (2 Kings 3:14). And what word from the Lord does Elisha give the kings? He tells them that even though they won’t see any rain or hear any wind, they should have their soldiers dig ditches throughout the valley in order to catch the coming water (2 Kings 3:16-17).

Now the three kings have a choice to make. They can scoff at God’s word through Elisha and refuse to have their soldiers dig the ditches or they can accept the word by faith and have the ditches dug. So, what do they do? To their credit, they accept the word and order the digging of the ditches.

In turn, the next morning the three kings and their soldiers watch as water suddenly comes rushing into the valley by way of Edom and all the ditches become full (2 Kings 3:20). It’s possible that God sent this water by means of a direct miracle, but it’s also possible that He sent it by having flash floods hit high up in the mountains of Edom and wash their way down into that valley. Either way, He gets all the credit for providing the water. Later, just to complete the story, He also gives the three kings the victory over the Moabites (2 Kings 3:18-19, 21-25).

Now, as I close this post, I want to ask you a question: Have you dug your ditches in anticipation of God fulfilling that word He has spoken to you? Phrasing the question another way: Have you put shoe leather to that word you received from God? Truth be told, far too many of us have to see some tangible evidence before we will believe anything God says. You see, it’s one thing to hear God say, “I’m going to bless you and your spouse with a baby,” but it’s another thing to go out and buy a crib the next day. The fact is, though, that 2 Corinthians 5:7 says that we Christians are supposed to walk by faith rather than sight, and faith will have you out there digging ditches in the midst of a dry land.

Posted in Belief, Choices, Decisions, Faith, God's Timing, God's Will, God's Work, Needs, Obedience, Prayer Requests, Problems, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Labor Day

Posted on September 2, 2024 by russellmckinney

Labor Day isn’t one of those holidays that Americans classify as “religious.” We associate it more with the end of summer, the start of school, and the beginning of football season. But we do tend to loosely classify Thanksgiving as “religious,” and I would submit that a holiday that celebrates the concept of work is just as scriptural as one that celebrates the giving of thanks.

Of course, you won’t find a mandate for workers’ unions in the Bible. (In case you didn’t know, such unions were the launching pads for the Labor Day holiday.) What you will find, though, is a plethora of passages that sing the praises of work. Here are a few of those passages (all from the N.K.J.V.):

He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. (Proverbs 10:4)

The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labor. (Proverbs 12:24)

The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. (Proverbs 13:4)

Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread. (Proverbs 20:13)

Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds. (Proverbs 27:23)

He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough! (Proverbs 28:19)

Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)

that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you. (1 Thessalonians 4:12)

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10)

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8)

The truth is that it has always been God’s will for men and women to work. Going all the way back to the Garden of Eden, the Bible says that God put Adam in the Garden to tend it (cultivate) and keep (guard) it (Genesis 2:15). As for Eve, God’s command for her was, “Be fruitful and multiply…” (Genesis 1:28). Does anyone want to argue that raising kids doesn’t involve work?

You see, the idea of Adam and Eve working was entrenched into God’s plan for them long before they sinned and fell from innocence. This means that work wasn’t a byproduct of the fall. The byproduct was that the work would now be hard. Since Adam’s job was to tend and keep the garden, God’s post-sin word to him was, “Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground…” (Genesis 3:17-19). And since Eve’s job was that of motherhood, God’s post-sin word to her was, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children…” (Genesis 3:16).

Moving ahead into human history, God eventually began a new nation (Israel) with one man (Abraham). Ultimately, He gave the people of that nation a body of law by which they were to live. We now call that body of law the Old Testament law (the law of Moses, the Mosaic law), The moral center of it was found in the famous ten commandments which served as its introduction (Exodus 20:1-17), and the fourth commandment on that list involved Israel’s keeping of a weekly Sabbath (rest) day. God said, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work…” (Exodus 20:8-10). For the purposes of this post, let me draw your attention to the fact that the fourth commandment called for six days of labor. It’s yet another instance of God telling mankind, “I want people to work.”

For many people, the dream is to make enough money to retire early and never work again. Actually, though, in light of the Bible’s teaching about work, we have to seriously question that life goal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against retirement. It’s just that we shouldn’t become slugs and sloths during our retirement years. Remember that there are all kinds of ways to work and all kinds of different jobs to do. Volunteering at a Christian ministry is work. Keeping the house is work. Tending to the yard is work. Putting out a garden is work. Babysitting grandchildren is work. You get the idea.

In conclusion, let me say that God understands the human body far better than we do, and He knows that it functions best when it is active. That’s why He commands us to work. He doesn’t see work as a necessary evil. Much to the contrary, He sees it as a foundational building block of human existence. And let’s admit that if He sees it that way, you and I should as well.

Posted in Aging, Business, God's Will, Work | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Blessed by God or Blessed by Satan?

Posted on August 30, 2024 by russellmckinney

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:9, N.K.J.V.)

Let’s take a quiz. You see a businessman who is enjoying a high degree of worldly success. He has the beautiful home, the nice car, the big bank account, and all the rest of it. What is your first thought about the source of his success?

Or, you see a woman who rises to the top of her profession. She gets the job title, the large salary, the spacious office, and all the power and influence that goes with the rank. What is your first thought about the source of her success?

Or, you see a coach whose teams win game after game. This fellow is beloved by a fanatical fan base, respected by his peers, and can seemingly do no wrong. What is your first thought about the source of his success?

Or, you see a church that is growing by leaps and bounds. It has the highest attendance in town, huge offerings, and a bulletin full of programs. Again, what is your first thought about the source of that success?

Going way back into history, it has been human nature to equate worldly success with God’s blessing. Likewise, it has equally been human nature to equate a lack of worldly success with God’s cursing. The story of Job is one of the oldest in the Bible. It is generally believed that Job lived sometime during the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). Job was the wealthiest man in all the East. He was also a man who feared God, shunned evil, and was blameless in the eyes of God. But when God allowed Satan to attempt to break Job of his devotion to God, Job lost his children, his wealth, and his health. That’s when Job’s three friends enter the story (Job 2:11). Their names are Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. And what do they immediately assume about Job’s situation? They assume that God has stopped blessing Job and started cursing him because Job has somehow sinned.

Eliphaz says, “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the blast of God they perish. And by the breath of His anger they are consumed” (Job 4:7-9, N.K.J.V.). Translation: “Job, the innocent aren’t the ones who get cut off. Therefore, surely you’ve plowed iniquity and sown trouble. That’s why all this has befallen you. God has blasted you for your sins.”

Bildad says, “Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice?…If you were pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you and prosper your rightful dwelling place…Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, nor will He uphold the evildoers” (Job 8:3,6,20, N.K.J.V.). Translation: “Job, God doesn’t make mistakes in His justice. If you were pure and upright, all this wouldn’t have happened to you. The fact that all this has happened to you is proof positive that you are an evildoer.”

Zophar says, “For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in your eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak and open His lips against you…Know therefore that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves…For He knows deceitful men. He sees wickedness also” (Job 11:4,5,6,11, N.K.J.V.). Translation: “Job, you can proclaim your innocence all you want but you’ll never fool God. He knows how deceitful and wicked you really are. As a matter of fact, you’re lucky that He hasn’t judged you even worse for daring to say that you are innocent.”

And it isn’t just in Old Testament times that we find this wrong mindset on display. In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus talks about two events that had recently rocked the Jews. First, Pontius Pilate had ordered the killing of some Jews from Galilee, evidently while they had been in Jerusalem at the temple bringing their sacrifices. Jesus asks, “Do you suppose these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?” Second, He references a tower in Siloam that had recently fallen and killed eighteen people in the process. He asks of those eighteen, “Do you think they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?” The point of both questions is: Just because something awful has happened to someone, don’t assume it happened as a way of God “getting them” for their wickedness.

You see, such reasoning begins from a wrong premise and ends at a wrong conclusion. One side of that coin is: God only lets bad things happen to bad people. Something bad happened to you. You must be bad.” And the flip side of that same coin is: “God only lets good things happen to good people. Something good happened to you. You must be good.”

These assessments are far too simplistic for not only the God of the Bible but also the reality of life because the categories simply don’t divide that cleanly and evenly. Does God sometimes pour out His blessings upon His devout followers? Yes. Just ask Abraham. Does God sometimes pour out His judgment upon the wicked? You bet. Just ask Sodom and Gomorrah. But does God sometimes allow bad things to happen to good people? Absolutely. Just ask John the Baptist, Stephen, and the apostle James.

Furthermore, does God sometimes allow good things to happen to bad people? Obviously, He does. Just ask any brutal dictator who oppresses his own people, has them put to death by the thousands, and yet still lives to a ripe old age in the lap of luxury. Cuba’s communist dictator, Fidel Castro, who died at the age of 90, leaps to mind as an example. Does anybody want to stand up and say that his wealth, power, and long life were the result of God’s blessing upon his life?

This brings us back full circle to our text passage. When Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, Jesus didn’t say, “Hold on there, those aren’t yours to give.” To the contrary, in other passages Jesus actually calls Satan “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31, John 16:11). Likewise, the apostle Paul backed up that idea by calling Satan “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

And so, if Satan has the world’s “good stuff” at his fingertips and is looking around for someone upon which to bestow them, who do you think he’s going to choose? Will it be the devout Christian who is making a marked difference for God in the world? No. It will be the person whose efforts are pleasing to Satan and who is furthering Satan’s work in the world.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that everybody who is experiencing success the way the world views success is getting it from Satan. That’s another one of those inaccurate blanket statements about good/bad and blessing/cursing that can’t be supported by either life or the Bible. What I’m saying is that a lot of people who are experiencing such success ARE getting it from Satan, and it takes a high degree of spiritual discernment to figure out where blessings are coming from and who is truly living a life pleasing to the Lord.

Posted in Adversity, Business, Church, Discernment, God's Work, Money, Problems, Prosperity, Satan, Sowing and Reaping, Spiritual Warfare, Sports, The Devil, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment