LEARNING THE SECRET

There is something innately mysterious about secrets. To know something that is not widely known attracts us. From early childhood we are attuned to the whispered words "I'll tell you a secret."
In Philippians 4:12  a technical term meaning "to initiate into the mysteries"occurs - the only place in the NT where it is used. It was a term used in certain religious cults and Paul borrows it just this once.
The apostle Paul is writing from his own experience in prison, explaining that he has "learned the mystery" or "the secret" of being content in all circumstances. Although Philippians is a well known NT book, and though contentment is mentioned right next to an often quoted verse, the secret of contentment still seems to be "a mystery" to a lot of believers. And in our market driven, consumer oriented, advertising saturated culture, most businesses and governments don't want you to learn and enjoy this secret.
When so many of us live with serious discontent; when our culture seems to cultivate the attitude that enough is "just a little bit more"; how do we as believers develop an attitude of contentment? How do we truly live "satisfied with our lot in life" financially and otherwise?
Paul provides several parts of an answer to this question in the immediate context of testifying about his contentment. First, notice that this comes just after He has given us the great verses on prayer and peace.  If we practice the discipline of taking our needs to God with thanksgiving (which indicates some degree of faith), we are promised an amazing sense of God's peace. This seems to me to be very close to the feeling/attitude of contentment.
Second, this testimony comes just after challenging us to fill our minds with thoughts that are "true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable". Learn to consistently think this way will surely increase our contentment.
Third, still in the immediate context, Paul affirms "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." This verse has been twisted and stretched to apply to almost anything and everything. It has been claimed as an almost "Think it and you will do it." But in the context, it seems Paul is most likely referring to the fact that God has given and will give him (and us) the strength to serve God well through both easy times and difficult times; times when we have a lot and times when we have little.
Fourth, and finally for this short post, Paul provides a wonderful promise to his immediate readers. The Philippian believers had apparently sent a very generous gift to him. Perhaps it was even more than they  could logically afford to give (4:15 - 19). So he assures them: "And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." (20) His supply is unlimited in Christ Jesus. He will provide all our needs (not greeds) and in that we should indeed find contentment.
The road to a life of contentment is quite clear in this and other passages of Scripture. No insurance company, no investment portfolio, no government assurances; nothing can provide the contentment that God offers for us to enjoy every day.

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

I remember a speaker from my teen age years saying, "You are not what you think you are. But what you think, you are!" The first half of this quote reminds me that I never have a fully accurate perception of myself. And I am rarely (never?) as important as I think I am.
However it is the second half of the quote that ran through my mind this morning as I read Philippians. "What you think, you are." We cannot control all of the thoughts that flash across the screen of our active minds. However we can control what stays on the screen for more than a second or two. We choose to hit the pause button - or not; we choose the subject on which we will focus our thinking. And gradually, as we continue to make those thought choices, we shape our character, our outlook, our perceptions. We become what has dominated our thought life - what our mind has been "dwelling on". Spend a little time with a pessimist and then an optimist and you realize that their thought patterns are absolutely different.
We need to heed the wise advice "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable - if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise - dwell on these things." Philippians 4:8
I recall some long ago acquaintance who struggled with addictions talking about negative thoughts as "stinkin' thinkin'". He knew that the "stinkin' mess" of his life had been largely the result of his negative, self defeating, critical and impure thoughts. In contrast, may your mind continually revert to the "sweet smellin' thinkin'" described in Philippians; because "what you think, you are".  

CITIZENSHIP

Yesterday we worshipped for the first time as an international congregation in My Dinh, a district on the west side of Hanoi. Since this was the beginning of the congregation, we asked people to identify by their citizenship - their passport country. The largest groups attending this first service were from China, Korea and North America (we asked Canadians and Americans to stand together). There were at least 13 countries represented, most being from S.E. Asia.
In the afternoon we attended the huge annual bazaar, sponsored by the Hanoi Women's Club. It is held at the United Nations International School. There were several hundred booths and thousands of people there, mostly expats. Many booths sold items made in Vietnam and from countries around the world. A large number of booths provided a vast variety of foods from different countries of the world. Many European countries and some Latin American countries provided booths with delicious food. Nigeria had a large booth with their ambassador in attendance. The Canadian booth offered nanaimo bars and maple syrup among other things and had a man dressed as an RCMP officer. Dozens of  nationalities were sprinkled among the large crowd. While eating sausages from Germany we sat with a German and several people from Botswana. Later we talked with folks from Nigeria, USA, Canada, Germany, etc.
It was invigorating to mingle with citizens from all over the world yesterday. It was even better to worship with Christians from a thirteen different countries. We have a unique connection that can't be determined or identified by a passport. We identify ourselves by our One Great Saviour. So we share a unique belonging: we have an eternal citizenship in an eternal homeland. I just read this morning:
"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies, so that they will be like his glorious body." Philippians 3:20, 21

CALLED SERVANTS

Tomorrow morning we begin a new congregation on the west side of the city. This means that both the original location and the new location need volunteers. We have almost doubled our need for volunteers without increasing the size of our church!
Thankfully a number of our leaders have been recruiting for weeks - welcomers, ushers, technical people, worship teams, KidzQuest leaders, etc. I think we are ready to begin at both sites. In less than 24 hours we will discover how well prepared we really are.
As we have recruited volunteers, I have been reminded again of the church in Ohio that stopped talking about volunteers. They decided they would instead use the biblical term "servants". Every follower of Jesus is a "saint - holy one" because we are forgiven and made holy by the sacrifice of Christ. Every follower of Jesus should also be a servant as we follow the model of our Lord. You remember how Jesus said that He "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28 He calls us to serve others as He served others.
It seems that almost every church is looking for volunteers, but really, what we need are servants. Our
local churches should be full of people who have a strong servant attitude: "how can I help?"; not the attitude of a volunteer "I may choose to help." Each of us with different gifts, at different stages of life, with different schedules and energy levels: but all of us with the same servant heart, following our Lord, the Servant King. (You can find the lovely song/hymn The Servant King on YouTube).

COME EMMANUEL

This has become an occasional blog, rather than a daily blog. Part of the reason is that I am now busier that when we were in Ho Chi Minh. However it is also because sometimes, such as the past couple of days, I just cannot get onto blogger.com - even though I get onto other websites. Anyway here I am today, on November 25th. Jan and I, before breakfast wished our children and grandchildren a Happy Thanksgiving (using skype). They (12 hours behind us) were just concluding their Thursday American Thanksgiving celebration.
My reading this morning was in Philippians 2, the wonderful passage about our Lord's humility, sacrifice and glorification. The first few verses of the chapter remind me of my decades long struggle to harness my "selfish ambition or vain conceit" and "in humility consider others better than myself." What a challenging passage; what an amazing model we are given.
Thinking of the Lord's humility, and preparing for the first Sunday of Advent; and since today marks just one month until Christmas, I turned to a couple of Christmas carols as part of my devotional time. I dialled up YouTube and enjoyed hearing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". We do rejoice that He came to "ransom captive Israel" - and to be a "Light to the Nations".
We also are moved to pray "maranatha", "O Lord come" - again. Our world seems so helplessly out of control - witness the European financial mess; the apparently hopeless US Congress stalemate; the turbulence in Middle East countries; etc. Only one form of government, only one Ruler can ever "put things right." So we are moved to pray again: "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."
So we move into the Season of Advent, filled with joy and hope. We know the Saviour has come, and we know He will come again. Praise God.

PATIENCE AND PRAYER

Many of us have friends, colleagues or family members who have no faith in Christ. We may have talked with them once or many times. We have often prayed for them. We wonder why they don't choose to follow the One who loves them and died for them. We struggle with why the Truth does not seem true to them.
And then we read a passage like Ephesians 4:17 - 19. This passage describes unbelievers as "darkened in their understanding - futility of their minds - hopelessly confused" (pick your own English translation). It is impossible to "think right" about God without His help. Choosing to live apart from Christ is to choose darkness and this affects how our minds perceive truth, righteousness and faith in Christ.
This passage also describes unbelievers as having an "ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts." This is another way of stating the same truth that perspective and perceptions are clouded because of a negative response to the One who calls them to follow Him.
So we should not be surprised that those we care for don't respond to the Good News. After all we also know Jesus' parable of the Sower and four kinds of soil, only one of which was truly fertile. As our Lord indicated on numerous occasions, it is not easy to enter the Kingdom of God.
So we must be patient, keep loving and keep praying. God can shine His light into darkened minds. God can soften hard hearts. Please Oh God, would you graciously do this in the minds and hearts of those we love? 

WORKING AT UNITY

This was a busy and interesting weekend. The very interesting topic for our leadership seminar on Friday and Saturday was cross cultural coaching. Then tonight we had a special prayer meeting with 20 people who are part of the group who will help us start a new congregation on November 27th. The 20 people represented six countries - Canada and the USA, Nigeria, Philippines, Korea, and China.
This morning I preached from Ephesians 4, challenging our International Church to remain unified even as we begin next week to meet in two locations with two congregations. It is most interesting that Paul first challenges believers to live a life worthy of their calling and then challenges them to grow Christian character - humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance with love. Only then comes the challenge: "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." (4:3)
It seems to me that if we are growing those four characteristics (and other qualities found in passages such as Galatians 5:22, 23) we will be the kind of people who promote and develop peace in any congregation. While some congregations have divided over moral or theological issues, far more have divided due to a lack of godly qualities such as humility and love. Of course the divisive ones often hide behind biblical verses or theological issues, but the real cause of division is pride and a lack of love.
There is so much that unites believers: see the nine commonalities Paul lists in 4:4 - 6. Compared to these, our differences should rarely divide us.
God is pleased with believers who truly live a life worthy of their calling, growing the fruit of the Spirit and fostering unity in the body. It is not always easy - "make every effort" writes Paul. But for God's reputation we need to do all we can to strengthen the unity of the Spirit.