Month: October 2014 (Page 2 of 2)

The Prisoner’s Birthday Letter

October 7, 2014 / Allan Babcock

I love celebrating special days with my children and grandchildren. How has Pastor Saeed endured missing the last three of his daughter’s birthdays while imprisoned in Iran for his faith?

Below is a letter he wrote to her on September 12th— made available to us by Samaritan’s Purse.

* * *

My Dearest Rebekka Grace,

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY!

You are growing so fast and becoming more beautiful every day. I praise God for His faithfulness to me every day as I watch from a distance through the prison walls and see pictures and hear stories of how you are growing both spiritually and physically.

Oh how I long to see you.

I know that you question why you have prayed so many times for my return and yet I am not home yet. Now there is a big WHY. In your mind you are asking: WHY Jesus isn’t answering your prayers and the prayers of all of the people around the world praying for my release and for me to be home with you and our family.

The answer to the WHY is WHO. WHO is control? LORD JESUS CHRIST is in control.

I desire for you to learn important lessons during these trying times. Lessons that you carry now and for the rest of your life. The answer to the WHY is WHO. The confusion of “WHY has all of this happened?” and “WHY your prayers are not answered yet” is resolved with understanding WHO is in control…LORD JESUS CHRIST, our GOD!

God is in control of the whole world and everything that is happening in it is for His good purpose, for His glory, and will be worked out for our good (Romans 8:28). Jesus allows me to be kept here for His glory. He is doing something inside each of us and also outside in the world. People die and suffer for their Christian faith all over the world and some may wonder why? But you should know the answer of WHY is WHO. It is for Jesus. He is worth the price. And He has a plan to be glorified through our lives.

I want you to read the book of Habakkuk. He had the same question as you. But see that the Lord answered him in Habakkuk 2:3, “the vision comes and doesn’t delay on time, wait for it.” Mommy and I always had big desires to serve Jesus and had great vision to be used for His Kingdom and for His Glory. So today we pay a cost because God, who created us, called us to that.

And so I want you to know that the answer to all of your prayers is that God is in control, and He knows better than us what He is doing in our lives and all around the world.

Therefore declare as Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-‐Nego did in Daniel 3: 17-‐18!

17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

And learn and declare as Habakkuk did that even if we do not get the result that we are looking for, God is still good and we WILL praise His Holy Name.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.

Then my dear beloved daughter Rebekka Grace, I pray God will bring me back home soon. But if not, we will still sing together as Habakkuk did HALLELUJAH, either separated by prison walls or together at home.

So, let Daddy hear you sing a loud Hallelujah that I can hear all the way here in the prison!

I am so proud of you my sweet courageous daughter. Glory to God forever, Amen.

Kisses and Blessings,

Daddy

Here’s what I thought after reading that.

Saeed Abedini is more than a Christian jailed for his faith in far-away Iran. He’s a father like me with a daughter he loves as I love mine and he is my brother in Christ.
I live in Disney World compared to where most Christians live, so my faith is soft and my heart selfish.
Could I write such a faith-filled letter? I’m (guiltily) glad I don’t have to find out by experience.
I’m a “sojourner and exile” here (1 Peter 2:11). I’m a minority member of this world; I can expect it to treat me as it treated Christ. I have no right to expect more.
The answer to my “Why?” question is “Who”!
I should pray every day for Pastor Saeed and his family until the victory is won and Daddy is home.
I should pray every day for myself that I might have courageous faith like his that makes much of the Lord Jesus Christ in a world that thinks so little of him.

Raw Honesty

October 4, 2014 / Allan Babcock

Reading my devotions for the day, I’m often moved to respond in writing. Today Psalm 88 did it. It’s not a “Gee whiz, everything is wonderful!” prayer. Quite the opposite. “Heman the Ezrahite”, the identified composer, was darkly despondent. I’ll quote only a portion of his 18 verses. Read slowly. Keep in mind Heman is praying this to God . . .

O LORD, God of my salvation;
I cry out day and night before you.

Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!

For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol (the place of the dead) . . .

You have put me in the depths of the pit,
in the regions dark and deep.

Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves . . .

I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
my eye grows dim through sorrow . . .

But I, O LORD, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.

O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
Why do you hide your face from me? . . .

I suffer your terrors; I am helpless . . .

They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.

You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.

That’s the way the prayer ends. No climaxing chorus of victory. Not a note of hope. Just lonely darkness. Where’s this guy’s faith? Why doesn’t he remember the Lord’s glorious works of old? Why doesn’t he quote some good promise of the Lord for tomorrow? Because this is how he honestly feels.

Hasn’t there been a time or two (or more) when we’ve felt like this? A soul full of troubles? Tired of living? Trapped in a deep, dark pit with no escape? Drowning? Cast off from God? Terrorized and helpless? Alone and assaulted? As if God is angry and hiding?

Apparently it’s acceptable to tell God things like this. To be brutally honest about how we’re feeling. If this prayer is any indication, God won’t strike us dead or condemn us for questioning him and, yes, even painfully complaining to him.

Nobody wants to stay like this. We’d rather pray Asaph’s prayer in Psalm 79. He begins reciting how the nations have devastated Jerusalem, how they’ve “poured out [the] blood [of the Lord’s people] like water.” He asks, “How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever?” (79:5). He prays for God’s help (79:9), then makes this confident affirmation at the end: “But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise” (79:13). He’s full of faith that the Lord will defeat his enemies. Heman, however, is in no mood to consider coming victory. The Lord has “assaulted” him (88:16). He’s ready to die (88:15).

There are actually Christians who claim if we speak this way we create the condition. Don’t say God has put you in a dark pit or else he will! That’s heretical nonsense. Of course, we can drive ourselves into deeper despondency if Psalm 79 is always our model prayer. It’s good for us when we feel unloved to pray, “I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever” (Psalm 89:1a).

But there are times (ask Heman) when we’re so despondent that honesty requires a kind of “raw-ness” to our prayers. No need to pretend. No need to sing “faith is the victory” when we feel like “why do you hide your face from me?” The Lord understands. He prefers raw honesty to hypocritical religiosity.

So “pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:8).
” . . . weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b). And we will sing . . .

You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy;

that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever (Psalm 30:11,12).

(Note: If you’re reading this on Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday. Gather with God’s worshiping people and get lifted up!)

Homosexual Credit

October 2, 2014 / Allan Babcock

I’m stunned after reading “Stand to Reason” at the following link. Read it and see how it hits you. http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2014/10/gordon-college-will-lose-accreditation-over-behavioral-standards.html

Gordon College is among the top Christian colleges in America and the only nondenominational Christian college in New England. Here’s what I understand about their accreditation: they will lose it if they don’t change their sexual behavior standards within 18 months to allow homosexual practice among students.

“Accreditation is the recognition that an institution maintains standards requisite for its graduates to gain admission to other reputable institutions of higher learning or to achieve credentials for professional practice. The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality.”

But Gordon College is threatened with losing that because the college’s traditional inclusion of homosexual practice as a forbidden activity “runs afoul of the [New England Association of Schools and Colleges’] standards for accreditation”—despite the fact that the college prohibits all sexual practice outside of marriage. Understand they’re not banning homosexuals, just homosexual practice as well as sexual practice between opposite-sex students unless they’re married.

“Stand to Reason” believes the college will lose any appeal, because the college lost earlier this year in a somewhat similar situation. The college argued then for the “right of faith-based institutions to set and adhere to standards which derive from our shared framework of faith.” As our blog-writer explains, “That controversy ended with the termination of their city contract to maintain Salem’s historical Old Town Hall and their student teachers being removed from public schools.”

Is Gordon College discriminating against homosexuals? “Stand to Reason” makes a convincing argument that they are not. “Setting standards for sexual behavior is not the same as discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation—it’s not discrimination against single people because of their heterosexual orientation, and it’s not discrimination against gay people because of their homosexual orientation.” The college is permitted to set sexual behavior standards for those attracted to the opposite sex. Why not for those attracted to the same sex? Especially when their standards derive from their framework of faith–in other words, who they are religiously as an educational institution.

I guess I shouldn’t be stunned. Anyone these days is branded “homophobic” (fearful of homosexuals) if they don’t affirm everything homosexual people stand for. States all over the country seem eager to jump on the same-sex-marriage bandwagon. So why should I be stunned when a college accrediting association requires a college to affirm homosexual practice?

The argument for seems to rest on “this is the way I was born. It’s my nature. I’m naturally attracted to people of my own sex.” Even some professed Christians surrender to that argument. But of all people, Christians should understand that “natural” is fallen. We were all, argues the apostle Paul, “dead in the trespasses and sins in which [we] once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience–among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:1-3).

Most opposite-sex-attracted men, born with a natural desire for sexual relationships with women, have to fight temptation to remain sexually pure until marriage–and have to fight that temptation even after marriage. Imagine a guy who “sleeps around” defending his behavior before God: “This is how you made me!” “Nature” is no defense, because human nature is corrupt.

The root problem here is that society has become anti-God, anti-Christ and anti-Scripture. The only “God” allowed is the God who watches over us, does “nice” things to us, and stands on alert to help us when we cry out to him in trouble. The holy God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ has no place among us–certainly not one who interferes with our sex life.

Opposite-sex and same-sex humans both need what Paul wrote of the Ephesians: We need God, who is rich in mercy and loves us greatly even when we were dead in our sins, to make us alive together with Christ and raise us up with him and seat us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6). This is an act of God’s grace that comes to us through our faith in Christ when we admit our “deadness” apart from him (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Unless we bow to the authority and holiness of God and the gift of transforming grace he offers us in Jesus Christ, our downward moral slide will continue, and those who do bow and believe will find themselves running “afoul” of whatever the evil-one-ruled world wants.

Hear Singing?

October 1, 2014 / Allan Babcock

Last Sunday I heard our congregation sing!

Let me explain. I’m a member of our worship team. (That’s me up top trying to remember how to play the guitar!) I suppose it’s primarily because I’m surrounded by other team members playing and monitors playing back that I rarely hear the people singing. Last Sunday when we reached verse 3 of “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” the instruments dropped out and we did “voices only.” Of course I heard everyone then. But when the instruments returned for the last verse I still heard the congregation singing. It was great. It was great because I was hearing our whole church family engaged in worship, not just the worship team.

This morning I read a blog by Jamie Brown entitled, “Worship at a Crossroads: Congregationalism versus Performancism”. http://worthilymagnify.com/2014/09/30/worship-at-a-crossroads-congregationalism-versus-performancism/ In it, Brown says that the “worship wars” (between organs and guitars, choirs and praise bands, etc.) are over. “They were mainly about style,” he explains. Now, he argues, the conversation is about substance. It’s about “two models of worship leading.” One he calls “congregationalism”. This views the congregation’s engagement as integral to the success of the worship service. The other model he calls “performancism.” This views the congregation’s engagement as incidental to the worship service’s success. In this model the people just “experience” or “feel” the “performance.” “Engagement” he defines as “the congregation’s active participation, in unity and with comprehension, throughout the majority of the service.” It’s important to note that this has nothing to do with traditional or contemporary music (that is, with style). Either, he insists, can be successful in the congregation’s engagement.

There’s no question where Brown stands. The worship leader’s work is to lead the congregation to engage in worship. He concludes with a prayer “that a fresh commitment to congregational worship will sweep across the church worldwide, overturning performcism, and drawing the Bride of Christ into increasing unity in the years to come.”

Our worship team isn’t caught up in performcism. We really see the congregation’s engagement as integral to “worship success.” But that can be tricky. The volume of the worship team can’t be too loud (or that’s all people will hear) or too soft (or some will be afraid to sing at all). The lyrics must harmonize with Scripture. (Not only do we want to praise God with truth; we want to be learning truth as we sing.) The melody must be “singable”, otherwise people will be so focused on singing the right notes they’ll be paying no attention to the words. The worship team must convey a demeanor of worship. In other words, the worship team must be worshiping. As our pastor says, “The worship team isn’t composed of worship leaders but lead worshipers.” Only then can we lead the people into engaged worship.

We don’t want to be slick performers. Nor do we want to be bumbling detractors. We want to be lead worshipers helping to guide the whole congregation after us into engaged worship. In the paragraph above I noted several “musts” for doing that. Here’s one more: we (worship team and congregation) must remember that when we gather, we are not just coming together, but also coming before our Lord and entering into his holy presence. David wrote of this in two psalms . . .

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire (or, meditate) in his temple (Psalm 27:4).

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips . . . (Psalm 63:1-5).

In both Psalms David seeks wholeheartedly after the Lord. Like a man in a waterless wasteland, his soul thirsts after the Lord. He wants to praise the Lord with his lips, to lift up his hands in the Lord’s name, to bless the Lord all his days. As he does, he knows his very soul will be satisfied.

This is engaged worship of our Lord in whose presence there is joy. I long for more of it, don’t you? This Sunday I hope we all will hear one another sing to the Lord like that. If so, we will both sense his presence and go back out into the world full.