Whose Boy Are You?

I was filling my gas tank when Mr. Willie More Dison stepped out of the store and began staring at me.  I was the new pastor of Old Saline Baptist Church.  I was 29 and was getting to know my way around the small rural community of Saline, Louisiana.  I grew up in a medium sized county seat city in Mississippi.  Cathy grew up in a large capital city in SC.  We were a young couple with our first baby and now adjusting to the pleasant life in rural Louisiana.  We lived 50 miles from our hospital and pediatrician.  There were a few small stores in the town but no stop light.  You could get gas and a few items but any major shopping required a 50 mile round-trip drive.  While we did not grow up in such a small community we were learning to love it and still look back with fondness as some of our happiest times.  However, I need to get back to Willie More trying to figure out who I was.

As the new pastor of Old Saline Baptist Church I learned that a creek divided the Old Saline and Pine Grove church communities.  People who lived on one side of the creek normally attended Pine Grove while people who lived on the other side of the creek usually attended Old Saline.  Mr. Willie More Dison had lived his whole life in the community and was now one of the senior statesmen.  Mr. Willie More was a member of the neighboring Pine Grove Baptist Church and he had not yet had the occasion to meet the new pastor of Old Saline church.  He identified the younger folks by their parents.  He looked at me for a while and couldn’t place me in a family and finally asked, “Whose boy are you?”  I smiled and answered, “I am Jack and Dot Drees’s boy but that won’t answer what you really want to know.” I then told him that I was the new pastor at Old Saline.  He was satisfied and would now know me when we bumped into each other again.

I have often thought about that encounter and the way we are regularly identified with our parents and ancestors, whether we like it or not.  I was very fortunate to be born into a good family.  I always enjoyed returning to my home town and hearing; “Aren’t you Jack and Dot’s son?” usually followed by some pleasant and respectful memory of my parents.  I was indeed lucky to have them as my parents and am still always proud to be identified with their name and memory.  I avoided some of the typical stupid adolescent and teen behavior because I never wanted to disgrace the good family name they worked so hard to build.  Whether we are aware of it or not, people are watching us, even when we do not realize it…and often they know who we are.  So, our behavior is always important.  It not only is a reflection on us but also it is a reflection on those whom we may represent. 

People often identify us with our family or ancestors.  When overseas, I was identified with my American heritage.  That can be good or bad depending on the legacy of our nationality or culture.  However, if one behaves as a true child of God one never has a problem being accepted or embraced wherever one may be or with whomever one may encounter.  The same cannot be said of all religious affiliations.  All of the world’s religious organizations and institutions have some stain or blemish on their history.  All have offended or abused others at some point in history.  However there is a real difference in being a member of a religious organization and being a true child of God. 

The 12^th and 13^th verses of the first chapter of John’s gospel tell us that those who believe in and receive Jesus become children of God.  All humans obviously are ‘born of man’, having a physical birth, but those ‘born of God’, having a Spiritual birth are different.  They/we know and see a different world with a different purpose for existence.  Those who have been ‘born of the Spirit’ have a Spiritual nature, insight and understanding that no religion on earth can teach, give, manufacture or really comprehend.  By the way I am intentionally using a capital S as I am referring to the Holy Spirit rather than a good or benevolent human spirit. THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE!

True children of God receive and reflect the love of God as a natural outpouring of who we are to all we encounter.  Religious people usually try to compel people join their way of religious life or reject them as outsiders.   Often religion can lead to kind and benevolent actions but even those activities can be done in a self-serving or condescending manner.  God and his children love and seek to treat everyone with the same devotion.  

I write this as an encouragement for everyone to make certain of their Spiritual heritage.  One may claim membership or affiliation with a specific church, religious organization or tradition but one’s continued and eternal behavior is the true indicator of one’s Spiritual heritage.  Over many years I have discovered that there is a common element found in all who cause conflict and turmoil in churches, religious organizations and society.  They are like Nicodemus (John 3) and Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9).  They may be well versed in religion; however they have not yet had a life-changing encounter with Jesus.  There is a huge difference in being a member of a church or religion and being ‘born of the Spirit’.  A true child of God has a Spiritual nature that reflects the true image of God to everyone they encounter everywhere they may go and no matter what situation they may encounter.    

We just completed the season of the year when we often the hear the Christmas song; ‘What Child is This?’  It is a beautiful song but the more important question may be, “Whose child are you?”   

Happy New Day

Preachers are often asked a lot of questions.  Over my career of nearly 40 years I was asked some doozies.  Once after church a man who rarely stayed awake during the sermon and was usually proud of being cantankerous came to me and said, “Preacher, I’ve got a question.” I thought, “This is great, he finally listened and something peaked his interest.”  He looked serious and said, “Was the heater working today, I almost froze to death?” 

There are other times when preachers are asked really tough questions. Some try to trick the minister, as the Pharisees did with Jesus, but most are truly seeking answers for life’s difficult struggles.  I have known long-time active church members to struggle with serious issues in their marriage, family, personal life, finances, and old habits that just won’t seem to go away.  I am often reminded of a book from my days as a young Christian; If God loves me, Why Can’t I Get My Locker Open?  No matter what age we may be there seems to be recurring questions that many of us wrestle with; “Why am I, as a Child of God, having all this trouble?”  “Preachers preach about life changing power so why is it that there are so many things in my life are the same and sometimes seemingly worse?”

Biblical Christianity is not about following rules, rituals or attendance at religious events and receiving blessings…no matter what you may hear.  Some struggles we encounter in life are there for our growth & perfection (Hebrews 2:10).  Too often we give up & believe change is impossible.  Human behavior experts tell us that after age 30 we rarely change.  Some habits, addictions and scars are too deep.  However we are not talking about human behavior.  The Gospel is the power to change anything in your life, at any time. Romans 1:16 and II Corinthians 5:17 are just two examples.        

Let’s look at ‘Life Changing Power’ as referred to in II Corinthians 5:17 and break it down word for word and phrase by phrase.  “Therefore” refers to the previous verses (14, 15), the additional consequences of identification with Christ in death & resurrection.  Christianity is not for the casual observer - it requires complete surrender.  However, it is available to “Anyone”, as John 3:16 tells us that ‘whosever believes’ “In Christ” which is a favorite term for Paul.  Paul doesn’t say ‘in church, in a denomination, movement, or experience’; but “in Christ”!  This implies a personal daily involvement and relationship with the risen Lord.  ‘In Christ’ means all things that are Christlike in you: love, joy…the fruit of the Spirit as defined in Galatians 5:22.  If this Fruit is not demonstrated in your life, it may be evidence of the absence of Christ.  One can be in church and be unchanged; this is not so if one is in Christ!

Paul then speaks of a “New Creation”.   There are two Greek words for new: NEOS & KAINOS.  NEOS refers to the most recent production.  For instance, “I broke my red pencil so I got a new green pencil.”  It is new but it is still a pencil like the old one.  However, KAINOS means new as to form or of a different nature from the old.  Here is an example of Kainos; “My old mode of transportation was a bicycle.  My new mode of transportation is a Ferrari.”  This ‘new’ is not comparable with anything from my past. Here is why this Greed stuff is important; Paul uses the word, KAINOS to describe the newness that comes from being ‘in Christ’.  This is what ‘new in Christ’ means…it is incomparable with anything from the past. It is not just trying to be a better person.  It is being a person who is completely changed ‘in Christ.’  

 “Creation” comes from a construction term (the act of establishing or building).  A completely new thing or being is established. A person reborn in Christ is the fulfillment of God’s original purpose in creation.  We were created in His image.  Our life is to be a reflection of Christ. (Matthew 5:14). 

What happens after we become a new creation? Well the “Old Things”’ (Archia in Greek, from which we get our word, ‘Archaic’ meaning outdated, belonging to past times) are passed away.  Old things, refers to unregenerated ways, acts of sinful nature (Galatians 5:19-20).  All ways or actions that do not reflect or glorify Christ are passing away. “Passed Away” is translated from a Greek tense that we do not have in the English language or grammar.  Sorry to get bogged down in a Greek lesson but try to stay with me.  I promise you it is worth it in the end…and there is not going to be a test…at least not from me. 

In the English language we have three tense forms in our sentence structure; past, present and future.  The Greek verb has three VOICES, the active, middle, and passive.  There are four MOODS, the indicative, subjunctive, optative, and imperative. There are seven TENSES, the present, imperfect, future, aorist, perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect.  There are three PERSONS, 1st person, 2nd person, and third person.  Now you know why some guys drop out of seminary rather than study

Greek.  Maybe you should have more respect for those of us who stuck it out with all this stuff. 

Anyway in this passage the Aorist tense is used rather than the Imperfect tense which would normally be used.  The Imperfect tense implies continuous action in past time; ‘I was eating lunch.’  This leaves the action open because, ‘I may continue eating later.’  However the Aorist tense implies finished action; ‘I ate supper.’  ‘I’m done with this and moving on!’  This implies leaving sin as a way of life.  Sinful ways either going or gone.  I don’t need them anymore. “Behold”; here is a note of triumph! Because of the life of triumphant changing power…“All Things Become New”.  This is expressed in the Greek perfect tense which means three things;

1. It refers to action in continuous progress – This is not one time event, God is not finished with you yet! Each day is part of my journey where old ways that are not Christlike are passing away and each day I am becoming a new creation ‘in Christ’,
2. It refers to a process that is coming to a point of culmination – I will become completely like Jesus in Heaven
3. It exists as a completed result – When you are ‘in Christ’, Jesus has already done all He needs to do in you!  You just need to continue in Him by faith each day.   

Now, I don’t know what you got out of all this (if you didn’t quit reading) but here is what it meant to me.  As a perfectionist I would often get down and depressed when I continued to struggle with old habits that did not ‘honor Christ’.  I would question my faith and salvation wondering if I was truly a child of God since I seemed to struggle so much with my ‘old nature’.  However, when I realized that becoming ‘new’ is a continuous process it seemed to whack me in the forehead and I realized that each day is a new day and moves me toward the completed result.  I am no longer frustrated when I fall short of the perfection of Christ, but I realize that I am a work in progress.  I begin and end each day thanking God for the day.  No matter what has happened in the past or will happen in the future, I am moving forward and becoming new!  Happy New Day!