In high school American history class we learned that Thomas Paine wrote the pamphlet Common Sense.  We learned that it was a 47 page document, written in plain language that all could understand, questioning the authority of the British monarchy over the thirteen colonies.  It was the first open request for independence.  It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776.
            Probably because of the understandable language, it was openly read in meeting halls and taverns and, proportionate to the population at that time, has the largest sale and circulation of any book in American history.  It approached the idea of American independence in a way it had never been before, and was indeed, Common Sense.  It is still in print today.  Oh, if we could only get God's people to operate on common sense nowadays.  Just a couple of "for instances:"
          We seldom buy a newspaper any more, though sometimes we might pick up a Sunday paper for the coupons.  The business page one recent week sounded like something you might read in a church bulletin—or at least hear from the pulpit or a Bible class lectern.   Notice:
            “A start [to reduce our stress] is to mitigate the desire to acquire.  Folks with a high net worth are frequently coupon clippers and sale shoppers who resist the urge to splurge…Many times the difference between true wealth and ‘advertised’ wealth is that those with true wealth are smart enough not to succumb to the lure of what it can buy.”  Margaret McDowell, “Lieutenant Dan, George Bailey, and Picasso,” Gainesville Sun, 12-14-14.
            When I turned the page I found this:  “Dress appropriately [for the office party].  Ladies…Lots of skin and lots of leg is inappropriate…Keep it classy.” Eva Del Rio, “Company Holiday Party Do’s and Don’ts for Millennials,” Gainesville Sun, 12/14/14.
            Jesus once told a parable we call “The Unrighteous Steward.”  In it, he took the actions of a devious man and applauded his wisdom.  He ended it with this statement:  For the sons of this world are for their generation, wiser than the sons of the light, Luke 16:8.  Jesus never meant that the man’s actions were approved.  What he meant was he wished his followers had as much common sense as people who don’t even care about spiritual things.
            We still fall for Satan’s traps in our finances, believing that just a little more money will solve all of our problems.  We still listen to him when he says that our dress is our business and no one else’s.  It isn’t just short-sighted to think that accumulating things will make us happy—even experts in that field will tell you it’s not “smart.”  It isn’t just a daring statement of individuality to wear provocative clothing, it’s cheap and “classless.”
            If we used our brains a little more, there would be less arguing about what is right and what is wrong.  We could figure it out with a lot of soul-searching and a little common sense. 
            Why is it that I regularly overspend?  Because I am looking for love and acceptance from the world?  Because I trust a portfolio in the hand instead of a God in the burning bush?  Because I have absolutely no self-control? 
            Why do I insist on wearing clothing that is the opposite of good taste and decorum?  Because I do not care about my brothers’ souls?  Because I do care about the wrong people’s opinions?  Because I am loud and brash and think meekness is a sign of weakness instead of strength?  Or maybe it isn’t any of these bad motives—maybe it’s just a lack of wisdom.  Is there any wonder that the book of Proverbs is included for us, and that so many times it labels people with no wisdom “fools?”
            Not just wealth and dress, but practically everything we struggle with could be overcome by being as wise as at least some of the “children of this world.”  Isn’t it sad that they so often outdo us in good old common sense?
 
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, Eph 5:15-17.
 
Dene Ward

Although I had done my best to clean our home before we left it to the new owner, the favor had not been returned on this end.  We came into dirty floors, filthy baseboards, and dusty shelves in every cabinet and closet.  Add to that the general wear and tear, scuffs and scrapes, of twenty plus years of living in a place.  Dingy was a mild word for it and that was after I had been on my hands and knees scrubbing with every cleaner I could think of in turn.  Painting was an option, though I feared it would have to wait for a year because of all the other expenses.  Enter my beloved children who handed us a gift card specifically for paint as a housewarming present, and we were in business.
            But that meant I had to choose colors.  I am not an interior designer of any stripe.  All our married life we had to live so closely that the idea of buying something to "decorate" our home was foreign to my thinking.  We only bought what we absolutely needed and that after we had repaired and mended and come up with every jury rig we could think of.  And that included painting—we had never painted anything because we had never been able to afford paint.  I felt like someone had thrown me into the deep end of the pool without teaching me how to swim.  But, I sat and looked at paint cards and thought about every HGTV show I had ever seen and how they chose paint colors.  I have to admit though, some of the things I saw were hideous to this untested paint palette of mine.  Still, I was proud of myself when I looked at our new, but small, office space and thought, all by myself, "It's not a room for the public so it doesn't matter whether it looks bigger or roomier.  It has two big windows on the east side so it gets plenty of morning light and there are no trees to shade those windows in the afternoon.  That means I can go with a darker color."  So I did—Lakeshore Blue by Sherwin Williams, if you want to look it up, and we love it.
            But the larger living/dining area was woefully dark due to the lack of windows.  And since it served two functions, it was somewhat cramped.  So it needed a light color.  I finally chose what looked to me like a very, very pale tan; but for some inexplicable reason, at least to uneducated me, it was included in the "whites."  Whatever it is, I like it.  Elegant comes to mind.  But we wondered if one coat would do with such a light color.  Mr. Williams—or is it Mr. Sherwin?--says it is a one coat paint so we trusted him and measured accordingly.  It is indeed one coat paint, but it did not cover the amount it promised so we had to return to the store for more.  I had never even looked at the name, just pointed to the color, but now I needed the name.  Imagine my surprise when I found it:  "Patience."  After going through a difficult move with every glitch imaginable, I laughed out loud.
            And of course, it also got me to thinking.  Don't we all need a good coat of patience every day of our lives?  Whether it's putting up with difficult people or enduring the usual trials of life, endurance—the Biblical meaning of patience—is sometimes more than a little challenging.  Yet we have example after example of people who waited on God far longer than we seem to think we should have to.  Abraham who waited till he was 100 for a child, 25 years after the promise of one.  David who not only waited, but ran for his life for about 11 years after he was anointed by Samuel and promised a kingdom.  And then he waited another 7 years until the whole country united behind him.  Zacharias and Elizabeth prayed for a child for around 50 years, and kept praying for that child long after it was physically impossible for them to have one.  The Jewish people as a nation waited a few millennia for their promised Messiah.  Yet these people never gave up on God.  They had patience.
            And me?  I'm more like the little kids in the backseat screaming, "Are we there yet?" till they drive their parents crazy.  I think that maybe one coat of Patience isn't enough for me yet.  Shame on me that I might need two, or even three coats.  And so I will keep on trying until finally I live up to my billing, "One coat covers it all," because with the help of my Maker, it will.
 
Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience [endurance] the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls (Heb 12:1-3).
 
Dene Ward

Finally, after two plus excruciating months of waiting for the permit process to work, the contractor's crew is working to turn this house into the home we want.  It's not that we are hard to please, but cabinets that I cannot even put a plate into without wiggling it this way and that and that leave two thirds of my kitchen equipment still in boxes and my silverware tray sitting on the counter because none of the three drawers is wide enough for it, and a shower that will not turn off once you manage to pry it on and a toilet tank that takes ten minutes to refill after you flush it do not make for an easy life.
            So the first day of work was, in HGTV parlance, "demo day."  It is hard to believe that it only took one day to tear down a bathroom and a kitchen to bare walls.  That was yesterday, and today they are scraping "popcorn."  In another couple of days, they might actually be able to begin rebuilding.
            That is what we are all supposed to go through when we commit our lives to the Lord.  Too many of us just paint over a bad spot and think that will take care of it.  Jesus said from the beginning of his ministry that he expected a whole do-over.
            And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me (Matt 10:38).  We see that passage and completely miss the point.  We view taking up our cross as some sort of trial we undergo, like an illness or a disability, or maybe an actual person who actively works against us.  But wait!  In that culture, if you saw a person carrying a cross, what did you instantly know?  That he was going to his death, that's what.  Jesus was not telling them to die for him physically, though that might indeed be required down the road, but they must die spiritually in order to be truly converted.  Isn't that what Paul said?  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20).
            And if you still don't get the point, he tells us when we are supposed to die that death.  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin (Rom 6:3-7).  When we were baptized, we were supposed to have crucified the old person we used to be and begun living a brand new life. 
            You can only completely renovate yourself when you have done a demo down to the bare bones.  Only the one "who has died" in baptism "has been set free from sin."  If you left anything hanging around, if you decided you could be a disciple of Christ and still act the way you used to, talk the way you used to, think the way you used to, live the way you used to, your demo day was incomplete and thus, your conversion as well.
            Demo day in this house was uncomfortable.  It was noisy, dirty, dusty, and the utilities were on and off.  We had to empty every single cabinet, drawer, and closet in those two rooms.  Sweeping at the end of the day didn't even clean the floors.  But now the rebuilding begins, as it should have begun for us after our "crucifixion."  It will probably take longer than the demolition, just as it will in my home.  But just like my kitchen and bathroom will be so much better than it was, so will we, if we do the work the right way.
 
Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new (2Cor 5:17).
 
Dene Ward

Shortly after meeting some new people, word came back from mutual friends that their assessment of us was, “They do so well for a handicapped couple.”
            Handicapped?  We had never thought of ourselves that way.  No one else, even people who have known us for years, has ever described us that way.  Now Keith, who has reached the point of “profound deafness” may well be called handicapped, but he has never used that word of himself.  He just keeps on doing what needs to be done because it has to be done.  About the only thing I have taken over for him is the telephone.
            He has never used his handicap as an excuse.  Nothing disgusts him more than many of the felons he must deal with who blame society, their parents, their neighborhoods, their economic class and anything else they can for their lack of education and ambition, and their crimes.  He was raised in back hill poverty, without running water, with only a kitchen woodstove for heat in a climate where the water bucket in that same kitchen often developed a top layer of ice overnight.  He began going deaf in his early 20s and already had one hearing aid at 27.  He finished a college degree while supporting a wife and two children.  He continued to work into his upper 60s, despite his ever increasing disability, and then began several hours a week of volunteer work.  He uses none of his “handicaps” as an excuse.  They are simply obstacles to be overcome.
            Too often we want to claim handicaps in our work for God.  I don’t have time.  I don’t have the money.  I don’t have the talent.  I am too young and inexperienced.  I am too old.  I am not popular.  I am too shy.  The same God who promised he would not tempt you more than you are able to bear, will not give you an opportunity you don’t have the ability to handle.
            He doesn’t lay out the opportunities like a multiple choice test, then let us choose the one we want.  “None of the above” is not on the list either.  He is the one who decides our handicaps and his decision is obvious in the things he places before us to do.  He expects us to choose “all of the above.”
            Handicaps will make you stronger, but not if you use them as excuses.  You must work your way through them.  Then God will decide whether you did as much as you were able to do.  He is the one who really knows.
 
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Cor 12:9,10.
 
Dene Ward

Malachi is not a difficult book to understand.  In fact, it, along with Jonah, may be the two easiest of the prophets to grasp.  The difficulty in Malachi is that you do understand it.  Talk about a hard sermon, I haven't heard anyone of our era preach one like it—not even Keith!
            “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the LORD's table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts. And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts. Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. (Mal 1:6-13)
            If you just skimmed over that passage above, stop right now, go back and read it carefully.
            My sisters and I trod very lightly as we read through this first chapter in our prophets class.  We put off the pain as long as possible, talking about whether Malachi was really a prophet named Malachi or an anonymous writer called "Malachi," which means "my messenger."  We decided Malachi was indeed the prophet Malachi.  After all, every name in Hebrew means some sort of ordinary word.  Just because we choose to give our children names that are a conglomeration of syllables and sounds that we have no clue what means doesn't mean everyone does.
            Then we spent more time discussing when Malachi was written, which, due to the nature of the similar problems in both Malachi and Nehemiah, seemed a no-brainer.  And after that came an explanation of the disputation method of speaking, which several of the prophets employed.  Only Malachi uses it throughout an entire book.
            Finally we could put it off no longer.  "How," the question in our study began, "can we apply this passage to ourselves?"  "How can we," someone asked, "when we live in such different times?"  Ah, but do we?
            Those people had returned from captivity to restore the nation of Israel and its true worship.  They had built the altar first, so they could begin their worship immediately.  Then they built the Temple and finally the walls of the city.  Here they are about 100 years after the return, going about the daily sacrifices and annual feasts, yet still God has not brought about the glorious kingdom he had promised.  Still the Messiah has not come.  They are in a waiting period and, as they wait, their worship has become dull, meaningless routine.  Their heart is no longer in it.  They are bored in their assemblies and snort at the rituals rather than remembering the reason for them.
            Let's see… Aren't we in a waiting period?  Jesus promised his return 2000 years ago, but here we sit, going through the same routines, forgetting why we worship and neither giving it our best effort nor our best sacrifice.
            So how are we like those people sometimes?  Hang onto your hats as we go through those verses above from our perspective!
            1)  Worship has become all about our entertainment and approval rather than obedience and reverence.  We have completely forgotten that we are not the audience—God is—and He expects us to worship to the best of our abilities even if the preacher is boring and we don't like the songs.  It doesn't matter—AT—ALL—what we think about the services, only what God does.
            2) We treat the Lord's Supper like some kind of magic potion.  As long as we "make it in time for that," we are okay.  Never mind that we have missed singing with our hearts to our Creator.  Never mind that we have not taught and admonished each other.  Never mind that we have not been there to provoke one another to love and good works.  That teensy bite and sip (where did that come from?) will keep us safe for another week.  We fail to treat this precious opportunity as a grateful memorial and unifying communion with the Lord and our brethren.
            3) We offer God skimpy or exhausted leftovers, not only in the plate, but in our time and energy for prayer, study, and service.  ("Study?  I read my chapter every night.  What more is there to do?")
            4) We compartmentalize our religion to Sunday at the meetinghouse and forget that we are to offer our "living sacrifice" every day of the week.  When we wake in the morning, it should be with an eye how to best serve God that day—not ourselves.
            5) We fail to teach what is unpopular with the world.  Why, we will just run them off if they know we believe that! (2:7,8)
            How are your toes feeling now?  Malachi hits the nail on the head and never apologizes for it.  Could it be that he knows this truth:  God won't be happy with us either if this is the way we serve him.  We may be waiting a long time yet.  The world may last another millennia or two, but maybe not.  Let's not get as bad those people.  Wouldn't it be awful if God said of us as he did of them, "I wish there were one among you who would close the meetinghouse doors, that you no longer worship me in vain?" (1:10)
​
Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. (Luke 12:43-46)
 
Dene Ward

Recently I had occasion in a ladies' Bible class to use an event from a congregation "long ago and far away" as an example.  As usual, I mentioned no names or places or even exact dates.  Some concepts are difficult to convey without a real-life Illustration.  Unfortunately, I have had to do that more than once during the subject we are now studying and I realized what it might sound like to the class.  I hastened to add, "I know it sounds like we went through the mill in a lot of places,  so let me tell you this too:  we have also had some wonderful experiences that I would not have wanted to miss, and met some of the best people in the world, many of whom we still count as friends."  No place is perfect—and neither are any of their preachers.
            That led me to remember the times we have been asked to leave a congregation under less than ideal circumstances.  I was young, naïve, and far too full of myself, but somehow I did remember this:  The cause of Christ is not about my glory or my feelings or even a wrong done to me and my family.  I must not do anything, regardless the circumstances, to harm the mission of the church in a specific area.  So when neighbors or family who were not Christians asked me why we left, I was very careful in what I said.  Usually, it went something like this:  "We have been here a few years and the church felt it was time for a change."  No one ever questioned me more, and I was relieved.  The gospel was not going to suffer in this area because I felt a need to cry on someone's shoulder.
            Paul is the perfect example of this.  He talked about "false brethren" in his list of trials (2 Cor 11:26).  He mentioned preaching brethren who did their best to cause him trouble while he was in prison (Phil 1:17), but he always kept things "in house."  He didn't go around telling the people he was trying to convert how awful these people he wanted them to be a part of had treated him.  That would defeat the purpose of preaching, don't you think?
            He mentions in 1 Corinthians 7 that he wishes that everyone would remain unmarried.  No, not just in the case of persecution, but even before that in the chapter.  And why?  Because you have others to be concerned about.  Though the distractions in that chapter have to do with caring for a family and persecution that might affect that family, I can apply that in a host of ways, including this one.  If a church mistreats a preacher, it is not just mistreating him, but also his wife and children.  So, he says, make sure you can handle what might come not only your way, but theirs.  Not even innocent children have the right to harm the cause of Christ.
            Paul also mentions suffering at the hands of brothers in 1 Corinthians 6.  It is a "shame" to have outsiders see us squabbling, he said.  Better to choose to suffer wrong, or even be defrauded, than have the spread of the gospel harmed by insisting on my rights in the matter.  In fact, he says that when we put ourselves forward like that we are "defrauding" the church with the consequences it brings. (1 Cor 6:7,8)
            "Discretion is the better part of valor" comes from Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1, (sort of) and is meant to be a joke.  Falstaff is saying that keeping his mouth shut has saved his life, NOT that being quiet is the most important part of bravery.  But I think in our case, it is not a joke at all.  We are being discreet about what has been done to us because we recognize that we are not the center of God's plan to save man.  To put ourselves in that position is nothing short of arrogance, but to be discreet enough that the cause of the gospel will not be hurt takes a special sort of selfless bravery.
            We all have that obligation, not just preacher's families.  We should be spreading the word about the good things the local group has done for us, not talking up the bad.  How do we ever expect our neighbors to want to be a part of a group that we have nothing good to say about?  It is far easier—and a lot more satisfying—to be the drama queen who can raise a ruckus about my mistreatment.
            Paul's example says, "Don't do it.  Be discreet.  Put the gospel before yourself and even before your children.  If you can't, then either don't get married or don't preach."  We would all do well to remember that.
 
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Rom 12:17-19)
 
Dene Ward
 

I have already written a post about women's roles in the church.  If you would like to see it, or refresh yourself, it was posted July 3. 2015.  Go to the archives (could be on the right sidebar or at the bottom, depending on which device you are using) and click on July 2015, then scroll down.  You will have to click on "Previous" at the bottom two separate times before you arrive at "The One Question I Always Get."
            But something else came to me in the past couple of weeks as I mulled this over when the question came up yet again.  Women are the ones who always question the limitations God has placed on them.  I find that odd because God has placed limitations on a whole lot of other people too. 
            Bachelors are not allowed to be either elders or deacons.  Camp awhile in 1 Timothy and Titus and tell me which of the qualifications a bachelor cannot have as well as a married man except being the husband of one wife and ruling his house well.
            A godly couple who have no children are not allowed to serve this way either, no matter how many other of the qualifications they meet. 
            A man who was given the spiritual gift of tongue-speaking was also limited.  This was a man filled with the Holy Spirit, yet if there was no one who could interpret his tongue he is told in 1 Cor 14:28 to sit down and be quiet!
         God has always placed limitations upon people.  Under the Old Covenant, you could not be a priest if you were not from the tribe of Levi, and not only that, but also from the family of Aaron within that tribe.  That left a lot of people out, and some of them took issue with it.  Korah and Dathan and Abiram complained, saying they were just as good as those God had chosen for the priesthood.  Listen to Moses' reaction:
            Moses also told Korah, “Now listen, Levites! Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to Himself, to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them? He has brought you near, and all your fellow Levites who are with you, but you are seeking the priesthood as well. Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should complain about him? ” Num 16:8-11
            May I just paraphrase a little?  Ladies, isn't it enough that God has separated you from the world to bring you near to him as his children, able to be a part of his church at all, and given you the hope of salvation?  Yet you will stand up and conspire against the Lord?  It isn't men you are complaining about, any more than it was Moses back then—it is God.
            Look at the rest of the story:  Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD sent me to do all these things and that it was not of my own will: If these men die naturally as all people would, and suffer the fate of all, then the LORD has not sent me But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the LORD. ”Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah’s people, and all their possessions. They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly. At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled because they thought, “The earth may swallow us too! ”Fire also came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were presenting the incense. Num 16:28-35
            God says the complaining of those men was sin (Num 16:26).  Moses said their complaining indicated an attitude of ingratitude, and one that scorned the very service they had been called to do as Levites.  Do I want to be party to that?
            God does place limits on certain groups of people—not just women.  It is his right as our Creator to do so.  After reviewing this event from the Old Covenant, if I have ever complained before, be sure that I will never do it again.
 
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Heb 12:28-29
 
Dene Ward
 

Have you found yourself doing it lately?  Especially in the past ten years or so?  When people start vilifying the Bible with accusations about irrelevance, hate-mongering, misogyny, and homophobia, have you tried to make excuses for God?  Especially when it comes from people who claim to believe the Bible but come right out and say it's wrong, do you feel the need to apologize for God?
            I think I may have done that.  I think I may have said things that sounded like I was embarrassed by what I believed.  Finally, it hit me like a brick.  If someone were embarrassed to admit they knew me, I would just leave.  Wouldn't you?  So how do you suppose our Father feels? 
Just what are we claiming to be, people?  Disciples of Christ or not?  Servants of God or not?
            If you love me, you will keep my commandments, Jesus said in John 14:15.  Well, do you love him?
              By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. (1John 5:2)  The world will try to tell you just the opposite—that keeping God's commands means you do not love people.  Who do you believe?
            For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (1John 5:3)  Or do you disagree with John?  Are God's commands too embarrassing to profess, too difficult in our culture's anti-morality, and too polarizing for our own comfortable lifestyles?
            Until someone else comes along who will empty himself to become a man, suffer through the undignified life of humanity and die an ignominious death for me, who am I to say I don't agree with God's morality, with commands that affect what I can and cannot do in service to him, and how much I must put up with in other people?  I will do as I am told because no one else loved me that much and no one else created me; no one else has the power to blink us all out of existence with a thought.  Just what in the world are you thinking when you go around apologizing for God and his Word as if it were something embarrassing we have to put up with?  If you hate having to live by God's rules, you may as well quit pretending. 
            This is what God told Jeremiah when he faced a group of arrogant, hard-headed, disobedient, unfaithful people, people who would ridicule and persecute him, and it would serve us well to remember it as we face that same group several thousand years later:
            Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. ​Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.” (Jer 1:6-8)
 
Dene Ward

The cliché is now true—my doctor is my social life.  When you start seeing the same issues of the same magazines in four different offices, you know it's so.  So the other day I actually found a new magazine to look at:  Country Living.  Let me look through this, I thought.  Maybe I am one of the few here who could appreciate it. 
            Boy, was I wrong.  In fact, the title of this magazine was wrong.  This was not country living it depicted.  It was some wealthy people who decided they wanted to get out of town and thought the peace and quiet would be wonderful, but only a few minutes a day of it.  I know them personally.  We have several within a mile of us.  One of their homes (well, it might as well have been one of the ones near us) was showcased in a ten page spread so you could copy their decorating schemes.  Notice these items:
            Plank floors in a 15 x 20 kitchen--(Are they planning to square dance in it?)
            A pedestal sink in the "powder room"--(A powder room?  A mud room out in the country, maybe, but forget powdering your nose if you're going out to the garden in June or July.) 
            Cabinet hardware at $25 each piece--(A $25 cabinet knob?  I mean, really, all you do is pull the thing, and sometimes you still have some of that garden mud on your hands when you do, or maybe a bunch of pie dough.)
            $35 each throw pillows in an all-white room--(An all-white room in the country?  Where there are no sidewalks and you have to walk through the mud to get to the steps?)
            $1400 each wicker chairs on the front porch--(I couldn't relax just walking ten feet away from a $1400 chair, much less sitting in it.  And no one in their right mind would shell peas or shuck corn in it. So what's it good for?)
No, this is not country living.  It is mere pretense.  In fact, our experience has been that these are the folks who pack up and head back into town (a 50-60 mile round trip) 5 or 6 days a week to go shopping, play a round of golf or a set of tennis, have lunch with the girls, or get a manicure.  The only thing they do in the country is sleep.  Try inviting them to help with hog-slaughtering day in return for a share of the meat and watch them melt into a pale puddle of angst.
            But—take a look around you on Sunday morning and you will find that this magazine isn’t the only place for pretenders.  Some people go to church because you are "supposed to."  That's what good, moral people do.  I grew up around a lot of folks like that.  Some choose a place out of convenience, not because they believe what it teaches.  Others go because their parents raised them that way, not out of any real conviction.  Some go for the benefits—people come see you when you're sick, someone will always help out if you have a need, and there is always a preacher handy for weddings and funerals.
            So let's think about it this morning.  Why am I where I am on Sunday mornings?  If I can't come up with an answer beyond the ones above, I just might have a problem.  I might be no more a Christian than those folks I know who are not "country people," no matter where their home happens to be located.  God expects a commitment—one of the heart, one of faith, one of understanding what you believe and why, and being willing to stand up for it. 
God expects Christians who really are.
 
“As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lovely songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. (Ezek 33:30-32)
 
Dene Ward

So many Marys in the Bible.  If you were not aware, Mary in the New Testament is the Aramaic equivalent of Miriam in the Old.  That might explain why we see the name so often, not only in the gospels, but at least once in the epistles, too (Rom 16:6).  Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Cleopas (and mother of James the Less and Joses), and even Jesus' mother herself, were all Galilean women.  (Luke 8 along with a few cross references bear that out.)   Everyone knows Mary of Bethany, who lived a couple miles outside of Jerusalem.  But, though I am sure there were many in the general population, only one Mary who is mentioned in the Bible lived in Jerusalem.  She is John Mark's mother, and a relative of Barnabas, by marriage if not by blood (Col 4:10).
            When [Peter, who had just been released from prison by an angel] realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying (Acts 12:12).
            Unlike many of the women we have been studying, Mary seems to have been well off.  Somehow she is related to Barnabas who we know was wealthy enough to sell some property and donate the proceeds to help feed and house the needy of the newly formed church (Acts 4:36,37).  Mary in turn had a home large enough for many in the church to meet in to pray for Peter after James had been martyred.  The church was no longer 10,000 men strong because it had scattered in Acts 8, but it was undoubtedly still a good sized congregation of God's people.  Her home also seemed to be a short walk from the prison and easy to find, even in the middle of the night.
            The church was not just praying for Peter, I am sure.  If he and James could be swept off the streets at Herod's behest and killed without remorse, any of them could.  They did not even answer the door.  They sent poor little Rhoda to answer a door that seems to have been locked.  After all, wouldn't that seem more normal, for the maid to answer the door?  Perhaps she could even turn away whoever it was without suspicion.  But I am also sure that a group that large could not have assembled without the neighbors knowing something was going on.  What if one of them turned them in?  In fact, that class of people might have been the most likely to have turned them in—Sadducees and priests were the wealthiest class.
            But Mary opens her doors to her brothers and sisters so they will have somewhere relatively private to commune and pray during a terrifying crisis.  Would any of us do that?  Would we have allowed a line of parked cars up and down the street that practically screams, "Here we are!  Come and get us!"  The more I read about these people, the more inadequate I feel.  We need to learn these lessons now, folks.  The world out there is rapidly becoming hostile to Christianity.  We are now the bad guys.  No matter how many good deeds we may do, we will still be turned in, just as some of the people who survived the plague in the second century because of the care of their Christian neighbors turned them in.  But a few did convert.  And that can always be our hope and motivation.
            And that is what the Lord expects of us.  We have had it too easy for too long.  It's time to get tough, to realize what we may soon be up against and to prepare ourselves, and our children!  We will need a Mary, and a Lydia, and a Priscilla, and a Dorcas, and people like those other early Christians who gave it all for the Lord.  Let's hope we are tough enough to do it.
 
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go (Josh 1:9).
 
Dene Ward