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Bethlehem’s Cradle

May 19, 2011June 16, 2011 by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Holiday

—December of 1996

Bethlehem’s Cradle—The World’s Hope!

One Christmas Eve over a century ago, an American Episcopal minister was riding horseback across the Judean hills in Palestine. He stopped his horse at a hillside clearing near the very place where shepherds “watched their flocks by night” so long ago. Reverently he surveyed his surroundings. Above him flickered the same stars that looked down upon the new-born Christ-child centuries earlier; below him, sleeping in the darkness, were the narrow streets of the village of Bethlehem.

Though the air that night was cold, the heart of the notable preacher was warmed as he worshiped in his outdoor sanctuary. The scene so transfixed itself upon his mind that upon returning to America, Rev. Phillips Brooks captured the panoramic wonder of that evening in the words of a poem which he later gave to his church organist, Lewis Redner, who set the verses to music. You will recognize the familiar carol:

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.

Then Brooks penned this astounding, but time-honored evaluation:

Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light,

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight!

What an incredible expression of optimism! The hopes and fears of all the years find their fulfillment and resolution in the Baby of Bethlehem! Born in obscurity under inauspicious circumstances, this Child would be hailed as the Saviour of the world; the Conqueror of death, hell, and the grave; the Prince of Peace and the King of Kings! What an antidote for a restless and chaotic world!

As this article goes to press, our nation has just reelected a controversial President to another four-year term. While his reelection may raise the prospect of hope in some circles, it incites great fear, even dread, in many among our ranks. Some are counting on a Republican Congress to check the President’s administrative authority. Others are skeptical about the resolve of Congress to do so. Stir into the political casserole a few on-going foreign affairs, crises such as unrest in Israel and continued involvement in the Persian Gulf. Flavor it with reports of increased drug use among teens and the murderous lyrics of gangster rap that pounds in the heads of America’s youth, and it’s enough to give a person emotional indigestion!

But above the noise, confusion and political turmoil of our world, as hope and fear continue to battle within the hearts of men, it is fitting that we conclude this year by quietly reflecting upon the coming of One who fulfills every hope and calms every fear! While we are rightly concerned about political trends, and while we are responsible to do what we can to influence government, we simultaneously recognize that our hope is not ultimately in a political party. Nor is our deepest trust in the latest peace treaty or some new bureaucratic social program. The confidence of the Christian must remain today where it has always been—in the birth, life, death, resurrection and soon return of the Baby of Bethlehem; for therein, and only therein, is every hope fulfilled and every fear resolved!

The Necessity of Preaching

May 19, 2011June 16, 2011 by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Ministry

—January of 1996

The Necessity of Preaching

Preaching is indispensable to Christianity. To set aside preaching would be to close the mouth and sever the legs of the Christian religion. Preaching has been central to the ministry of the Church historically, and especially so to those in the holiness tradition. The holiness movement has produced and profited from some of the greatest expositors and pulpiteers of this century. So why has the standard of preaching in the contemporary holiness church become so deplorable? Why are our finest preacher boys finding their heroes among popular Calvinistic communicators? Why are our parishioners turning to self-help counselors and psychologists rather than to faithful men of God for answers to life’s perplexing problems?

Much of the current uncertainty about preaching is due to a generation of preachers who have lost confidence in the Word of God. Too often the contemporary preacher uses the Bible as a curiosity shop. He peruses through it until some palatable proof text emerges as a snappy sound bite on which to tack his latest self-help lecture. These pulpit vagabonds fail to see that Scripture is the omnipotence of God unleashed through the spoken word, and that it holds the answers to life’s most desperate needs. When preached and responded to, it will radically change lives.

The art of preaching is further brought into scorn by preachers who have caved in to today’s culture. Ours is a culture that demeans the personal disciplines necessary to become an effective preacher. The ability to build bridges from the Word of God to contemporary life takes an unbelievable amount of hard work and study. A man who snubs through study will be doomed to mediocrity and ambiguity. Too many holiness pulpits lack a clear, definite, certain sound that is forged only on the anvil of study. So many church-goers are like the small girl wearied by empty utterances. She appealed, “Mother, pay the man, and let us go home.”

However, study alone isn’t the answer. Scholarship that isn’t steeped in prayer will yield barrenness. The preacher who allows day after day of prayerlessness to prevail in his heart need expect no grapes of Eschol to hang over the wall of his preaching on Sunday morning.

I have a major concern that today’s holiness pulpit suffers from a “lack of history.” Eugene Sterner, in his book Vital Christianity, wisely comments, “Clocks are corrected by astronomy. What good is a clock if it is not set by the stars? Without a sense of eternity [and history] you don’t even know what time it is.” The preacher who fails to understand his roots and properly appreciate his heritage is usually condemned to repeat its mistakes. Some view their heritage as a bothersome bundle of historical baggage burdening them down. They exaggerate the mistakes and eccentricities of yesterday’s pulpiteers in order to nullify the claims of their legacy, much like the adolescent craving freedom from restraint seeks to repudiate his father.

The effective preacher, without making the past a hitching post, does own his heritage, embraces it with gratitude, incorporates it into his identity, and utilizes it to the fullest in communicating eternal truth that rings with clarity.

Preaching is here to stay! Men who join hands with God and preach with certainty will find that through their labors God will advance His kingdom.

Try the Uplook!

May 19, 2011June 16, 2011 by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Theology

—October of 1995

Try the Uplook!

A young boy in the neighborhood lost his father last winter. This spring as father-and-son teams hit the front yards to pitch and hit the baseball, he felt alone. Not to be outdone, however, he took his bat and ball to the old familiar spot in the front yard and started his own game. With a chipper spirit he threw the ball into the air and swung with all his might. The bat cut only air, and a watching neighbor boy yelled, “Strike one!” The lad hastily retrieved the ball threw it into the air and swung again. “Strike two!” echoed from across the way. With a tinge of fear and a ton of resolve, he flipped the ball for the final swing. “Strike, three, you’re out!” screamed the unwanted umpire, along with the cruel words, “You’re a lousy hitter!” The undaunted boy sucked up his chest, marched over to the fence and yelled back, “I’m not a lousy hitter; I’m a great pitcher! I just struck myself out!”

This young man displayed a great attitude and enthusiasm toward life. He obviously had learned well that attitude can make all the difference.

Authentic Christianity has been characterized by an enthusiastic attitude. Paul, awaiting martyrdom in a Roman cell, wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). When Peter was placed in Herod’s prison to await his death, the Scripture tells us that the very night before his planned martyrdom, Peter lay down between two soldiers and slept. No whining or the wringing of hands in misery! He just slept. He looked Herod’s sword in the face with perfect peace and went sound asleep.

When we focus on ourselves what we see can be very discouraging. When we look at the world around us, we can be over-whelmed by its problems. But when we look to Christ we always come away with hope.

The secret of an enthusiastic spirit is in understanding the sovereignty of God. Joseph looked up from the long years of separation from family years of prison and slavery, and saw that though others “meant it for evil, God meant it for good.” Had Joseph just chosen to look at things horizontally he could have walked away a sour, bitter man. But because he chose to look at things vertically, he went through the dark years of his life and came out a man with the right perspective and a good attitude.

A failure to trace the divine purpose of God in our trials will make room for a negative critical spirit toward what has happened to us. Jacob fell prey to such bitterness over the tragedy of Joseph. “All these things be against me,” he wailed when God was simply planning the preservation of his own life and that of his family.

When I was a small boy I would follow the steps of my father as he plowed a long furrow through the field. I was amazed how he was able to make the rows so straight. The secret, he told me, was to find a fixed object at the end of the row and keep an upward look toward that object rather than constantly looking down at where you were walking. This has proven to be good advice for living. The man who buries his gaze in the temporal troubles of time will lose his perspective on life and ultimately lose his way. He will become so problem-conscious that he loses his God consciousness.

We certainly are no match for the situations of life, but God is! For every need we have, there is a corresponding fullness found in Him. God is sufficient!

Can you feel the spirit of optimism when Paul looks up and taps into the divine resources as he speaks to us in Romans 8:31, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” He looked up again and said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

The key to tapping into the sovereignty and sufficiency of God is not through the popular self-help teaching, but through real surrender and submission. We are flooded with articles and books on “four easy steps” to spiritual happiness. The real formula, however, is not “help yourself,” but “yield yourself.” As we yield ourselves to Christ, we open our eyes to the sovereign ways of God and avail ourselves of supernatural strength.

Negativism, unbelief and despair are spiritual viruses that have lethal consequences to the soul. They are contagious and will leave death in their wake. On the other hand, a positive confident attitude, born out of looking unto Jesus, will help dispel the demons of despair and usher in an optimistic, confident trust – a trust that will straighten our shoulders, lift our heads, and make us far more effective Christians.

So remember! If the outlook is bleak, try the uplook!

The Values War

May 19, 2011June 16, 2011 by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Culture, Education

—September of 1995

The Values War

Cal Thomas had just finished giving a lecture at the University of Michigan when a student strongly objected to his thesis that our nation needs to promote values rooted in fixed absolutes. Thomas responded, “If you reject my value system, what do you recommend to replace it?” The young lady couldn’t answer. Thomas pressed further by asking, “What is your major?” “I am a senior, and my major is ethics.” “On what do you base your own ethics?” Thomas posed. “I don’t know, and I’m still trying to work that out.”

Here is a typical American student who has spent sixteen years in public education at the cost of $100,000 only to be left unable to think. She had been given no moral foundation for right or wrong. She had been stripped of a belief in the Bible and even taught an antagonism toward values founded on Scripture. Her moral compass had been completely destroyed. Consequently, she had no way of finding true north in a moral sense.

This young person, like thousands of others, was left to operate in an ethical and moral wasteland as a result of her training in America’s educational institutions. The educational elite of these schools have deliberately eroded traditional education rooted in 2,000 years of Western civilization and undergirded by Judeo-Christian ethics. They have spent the last forty years on a determined campaign to secularize our society through its young people. They have established and politicized curricula centered in multiculturalism and held up by subjective standards void of moral absolutes. A common core of knowledge has been replaced by a smorgasbord of relativism. These graduates are then thrust into America’s marketplace and expected to do what is right. However, the daily news echoes shocks and horror, bombings, fraud, incest, murder, and “wickedness in high places.”

Should we really be shocked by an Oklahoma bombing? Should we shake our head in disbelief when mothers drown their children, and when fraud and deceit are daily occurrences in public life? When incest, adultery and divorce come home to haunt us? What else should we expect when we strip the moral values out of our educational system? C.S. Lewis expressed it this way, “We laugh at honor and then are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” Has the “dumbing down” of America affected even us to the point that we honestly believe we can place our youth under the influence of today’s public educators and have them still committed to the values and traditions that we hold dear?

The most serious war being fought today is the war of values. The church and our nation cannot afford to lose. Our survival as a country as well as Western civilization hangs on the outcome. The end result will determine whether it is a revival of religion we seek or whether we must start over and evangelize a heathen country. I am praying for and promoting revival. I believe God is beckoning to us through His Word for such a revival. I believe God is beckoning to us through His Word for such a revival. However, ears that are morally deaf cannot hear the message of revival but must be evangelized by the Gospel.

The Bible college is now on the front line of this struggle. The role that we play will have an important part in the outcome. Unfortunately, many have capitulated and are serving up the same secularistic menu that has left thousands of others void of moral nourishment. We must embrace with renewed conviction our belief that education based on biblical truth is the only true education, and that this education must assist us in acquiring virtuous habits and ridding ourselves of nonvirtuous ones. We must take from the center stage the question, “How shall I make a living?” and place there the question, “How shall I live?” Our success in graduating a core of students who embrace the moral truths of God’s Word and whose lives possess a discipline and self-restraint will determine the future of our precious church and country. The outcome of today’s values war will determine whether we pray for God to send us revival or pray for God to send us missionaries.

The Grace of Gratitude

May 19, 2011June 16, 2011 by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Theology

—November of 1995

The Grace of Gratitude

According to a medieval legend, two angels were once sent down to earth, one to gather up petitions and the other to collect thanksgivings. The first angel found petitions everywhere. He soon returned to heaven with a huge load of them on his back and a bundle in each hand. The second angel had no such easy time. He had to search diligently to find even a mere handful to take back to heaven.

Admittedly, legends can be farfetched and unrealistic or they can be painfully accurate. This one, however, is much too accurate for comfort. We would all have to admit that the high stakes scramble for more of this world’s goods has robbed the church of her voice of thanksgiving. Our long period of materialistic comfort has made us easy in Zion and unaccustomed to the exercise of humble gratitude.

The Apostle Paul knew the importance of gratitude to the Christian as well as the subtle danger of ingratitude. Listen to the music of gratitude that plays through his epistle to the Colossians:

Chapter one, verse 3: “We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus.”

Chapter one, verse 12: “…giving thanks unto the Father.”

Chapter two, verse 7: “…abounding…with thanksgiving.”

Chapter three, verse 17: “…giving thanks unto God and the Father by Him.”

Chapter four, verse 17: “Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving.”

Paul’s hymnody of thanks seems to center in chapter three, verse 15 when he says, “and be ye thankful.”

Paul’s strong imperative to “wear a garment of gratitude” is anchored to three firm convictions in the Apostle’s life.

Paul saw gratitude as a required grace. Not a luxury but a necessity, not an option but a conviction. Paul placed it among the required rather than the elective classes in the school of Christian experience. I have a debt to be grateful!

I owe it to God to be grateful. He has given me life, eternal life and the opportunity to do something with it.

I owe it to others to be grateful. A sour, complaining spirit spreads gloom. However, a joyful, cheerful spirit brings sunshine and smiles wherever it goes.

I owe it to myself. Your physician will tell you that a mean, bitter, thankless spirit harms our health and robs us of life. But of greater concern is what ingratitude does to us spiritually. Of the thirteen plagues that came upon the children of Israel in their wilderness journey, eleven of those were punishment for murmuring against God. In Romans chapter one, Paul charts the awful journey from godliness to godlessness. He says in verse 21 that part of the root cause for such deviation is a spirit of ingratitude, “neither were they thankful.”

Gratitude is also a ripening grace. A more literal translation of Paul’s words would be, “and become ye thankful.” We must seek the grace of gratitude and cultivate the grace of gratitude until we are “abounding with thanksgiving.” This is not an easy task. None will ever overflow with thanksgiving until they see that gratitude is an inner disposition towards life that must be worked at. Life has its mix of good and bad—of the difficult and the delightful; but it’s up to us as to how we respond to that mix. Some people in examining a bush unhappily see only the thorns; others rejoice in the fragrance of its roses. The lens through which we view life is so important. Jacob saw his days as “few and evil.” He described the loss of Joseph and the famine that reunited them with these words, “all these things be against me.” However, Joseph looked at life through the lens of gratitude and described the same time period with a different set of words completely. Joseph said, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” We see exactly what we discipline ourselves to see in life, and looking through the lens of thanksgiving will ripen us.

It is often said among Christians that our reward is in the world to come. However, gratitude is a rewarding grace. It has its own reward for us right now.

Gratitude exalts God. Very few things honor and glorify God more than the sweet fragrance of a thankful soul. It expels gloom and ushers in sweet peace and blessed hope. More than once the child of God has used thanksgiving to drive back the clouds of sorrow and gloom. Gratitude encourages graciousness. It gives us the politeness of soul and graciousness of spirit that can’t be purchased for any amount of money.

Let’s declare war on whimpering and complaining! Let’s put away from us forever the grumbling and fault-finding that is such a blight on the church today! Reach into the closet of God’s grace and adorn yourself with the garment of gratitude! It will make a difference!