A psalm for the church: Psalm one hundred and seven//
I have been talking about the church for some time now and I am ready to shift gears for a little while. I see a theme which I feel to share some thoughts and it is from Psalm one hundred and seven….”.He sent His Word and healed them.”
This Psalm as is the case in many of them speaks about the goodness and mercy of God. It is a psalm of thanksgiving; it is a psalm that talks about life and human nature, i.e. sinful human nature. It’s a psalm of deliverance; “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.”
When we get to the point of despair, to whom do we turn?
What do people who do not know the Lord do when trials “fierce assail them” as the old hymn declares? “When storms are gathering o’er?” When the doctor says it looks bad…when the job becomes redundant and there is no future, when your kids get in trouble? There are many brave people who are honest hard working people who have never known what it means to be a Christian and they have trials also and act accordingly to find a solution, an answer. The difference is, a Christian can pray and expect God to answer their cry. Just like these Old Testament folks did here in psalm 107. Let’s take a portion and let it penetrate our thoughts today starting at the first verse:

1.”OH, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever
2. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, 3.And gathered out of the lands, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the south. 4. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in 5.Hungry and thirsty, Their soul fainted in them 6.Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He delivered them out of their distresses.”
This is the church, Old Testament, yes, but in typology, it is the church and those of us who are blood washed can find solace and comfort in these verses knowing truly that He has gathered us from the wilderness that we call the world and like the Psalmist has here depicted we had no city to dwell in. That is why I love the church of the living God…it is a dwelling place…a shelter, a place to be fed. How many times have I found myself wandering aimlessly seeming to have lost my direction, my focus, and I cried out to the LORD in my trouble and He delivered me from my distresses. How many times have I sat under God anointed preaching and He has set me back on the right path and restored me?
Today we face another test, my love and I, and the church will face it with us…oh, I’m not talking about an entire congregation of people, but rather a couple of our dearest friends and my brother and his wife as well as our pastors…they are the church and they stand with us…He leads us forth by the right way.

The Church and pretense//a continuing series: Back when I went to school, when I was in probably grade 12 perhaps, or maybe it was more recent than that, in any case there was a secular song that was very popular called “The Great Pretender” and it went “Oh! Yes, I’m the Great Pretender, pretending that I’m doing well, I play the game but to my real shame, I’m laughing but no one can tell…”and on it goes. Many of our senior readers may remember it. Sort of a silly way to begin a blog, don’t you think? After all this blog is all about God’s holy word and yet there is a point here, a point of truth that we need to explore. and it echoes a point of truth from one of my previous blog entries in which I quoted from Paul’s letter to Timothy….2Tim. 3:5 “having a form of godliness but denying it’s power. And from such people turn away.”
Are there really those folks in the church body who are just pretenders? All of us know that deep down inside there are times when we pretend…for instance we have a hurt that we are hiding or someone has slighted us and we pretend not to care. There could be any number of things that we are hiding pretending that everything in our life is under control when in reality , the opposite is true.
Jesus and Paul were anything but apretenders. Look at what the great apostle Paul said in Philippians ch. 1:12-18, “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.{He was in prison in Rome at this time} so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ.{no pretense here}
Vs14…and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear.{no pretense here either}15. Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife,{now that is pretense for certain} and some also from goodwill, 16. The former from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; 17..but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.”
And then he summed up the whole, “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes and will rejoice.”
No fear, no pretense
It is said of Jesus that “He being in the form of God, did not consider it to be robbery to be equal with God.” In another way of saying it Jesus was, is and always will be God…not a pretender, therefore we can put our trust in Him completely, and remember He is the Head of the church.

Luke 10:2 “He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ “

This is the scripture I have been pondering as of late so will share my thoughts with you. As I have stated before, I am not a theologian so maybe I am thinking incorrectly about this scripture and if I am, hopefully, some of our readers can set me straight.

I grew up on a farm (we jokingly at home called it a non-profit organization!) and as with all of us, we see everything in this world (including the scriptures) through the eyes of our psychological “world” - that world that is unique to each of us based on everything we have put into our minds over the course of our lives.

So let me share one of those million experiences of my life which has become a “small bit” in my psychological world.

About twenty or so years ago, when my dad was still farming even though mom and dad had left the farm to live in the small village four miles away, I decided to take him a lunch in the late afternoon. I knew that during the harvesting of wheat and on a nice sunny day, he would never stop the combine machine for supper. In the meantime, my cousin was visiting with her two small boys - probably aged 3 and 5. I asked them to go with me to the farm to give my dad a little treat to tide him over until late evening when he would come for supper. And they were delighted to go with me.

So we got there, and drove through (carefully with the car) a large field until we had come quite close to the dad's huge combine. Imagine my surprise when we stopped the car and the boys stepped out in the field, that the older one - Andrew - turned to me and asked, “Where’s the farm?” I was as puzzled as he. All I replied was, “You’re in the middle of it - this is it!” And gave it little more thought until an hour or so later.

Then it came to me. All little Andrew knew about a farm was from the little Fisher-Price farm which he carried around by the handle (like a suitcase)!! When he was actually in the middle of a very large, real, farm, he didn’t recognize it. That scene has stuck with me over these many years - it was so cute - however, lately I have been thinking about it in terms of this scripture.

Similar scripture in Matthew 9:38 “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

A few weeks ago I was at an event where a dear Christian lady prayed some of this scripture in the group - as she continued to pray, in my spirit, I overwhelmingly sensed that this sincere person did not have an understanding of the FIELD or who the LABOURERS are. This is where there is a connection between my own psychological “world” - all of my past experiences in this world - and my connection to the scriptures and my experiences with God comes into play.

Even in the middle of the prayer, I suddenly had a clearer view - both of the FIELD and of the LABOURERS. I also sensed that if we could recognize this, much more could be accomplished for the Kingdom. I almost had the sense -- we have prayed already, now we have to DO.

I firmly believe that the FIELD is where we are - where we are in our job, our location, the people we come in contact with - the field is where God has placed us - not a “fuzzy, mystical place away, over there some place”. I know this scripture has often been used in the past in missions services where the speaker/preacher has referred to the field as the mission field, the place far away, maybe even on another continent, where missionaries will go. But I see the field as around us - we just don’t recognize it. Everyone’s field is different because we all “live” in a different “place” - rubbing shoulders with different people.

The only way I see the field as “going out to the field” or “into the field” as the scripture uses the words as meaning outside the church, out, out out. I do believe that most Christians today are often in, in, in, inside the walls of the church - associating only with Christian friends -- a good place to be - but unfortunately, do not go out to the field at all. Meaning, do not show the love of Jesus, everywhere they walk or live. I have to ask myself -- do people I come in contact with every day know that I love Jesus? A big challenge, but it shouldn’t be, right?

And then the LABOURERS - often in a sermon, we think of labourers, as those people who will join the ranks (“be called” as it were) of missionaries who will do the work of the Lord in some far away place. But I see the LABOURERS as all of US - just simply serving, working, whatever He calls us to do. Not “them” - a mystical, specially trained group - but US. We need to recognize ourselves - the labourer Jesus is speaking of is the person we see when we look into the mirror – I ask myself often, will I be recognized as a worker, a labourer? Or will I be just a supervisor of others working?

In our lives, we see lots of people just watching others work. And in the church, we see this too. In work, I’m not referring to moving chairs, or washing dishes. I’m thinking of the work of building the Kingdom of God. Then my next question (in my mind) is why do people just watch and not work? I think there are a few reasons – none of which are that people are lazy or do not want to work. I think that people might just not see what there is to do - might not recognize the work. They (and me sometimes) might not think they are qualified. They might think that the work is already being done - by someone else. Sometimes others interfere with people wanting to work. I’m too young, I’m too old to “work”. Not enough time to “work”. On and on. You probably can see where my thinking is going.

I tend to see everything pretty simply - quite a simple thinker, I am. I see the work as just sharing the love of God with whomever we come into contact with - not with words, but with deeds. Showing the love of Jesus. Also the “work” God has given ME to do cannot possibly be done by someone else because it is me who connects with the people He puts in MY path. I cannot shove my work off to someone else. Also to see that no excuse can be used to let me out of my “work” responsibility.

Others interfering with my work - might be someone making me feel I cannot do it well enough. But that is a trick of the enemy - and unfortunately, it happens too often and it also works - shuts us down in our “work.”

Age won’t stop us from working either - from the smallest child to the oldest Christian alive - every person can show compassion and love for others. Might be as simple as sharing clothes or food which are being thrown away with someone who really needs them. How easy is that? No special training needed, just a love for Jesus. I see the “work” as simple as exhibiting Christ-like character and conduct when we do our daily business - being honest, living righteously. Showing His love might be as simple as being kind to a check-out person who is becoming tired after a long day, or giving a smile or acknowledgement to an new immigrant to our city.

As you can imagine - these thoughts have been going over and over in my mind during the past few weeks. There are usually long time lapses between the times I share in the blog - the reason being, it takes quite a length of time for the Lord to work a lesson through my heart - I tend to ponder on the same scriptures for days at a time before going on to a new one - no sense in sharing something until I “get” it myself. This slow process doesn’t work very well in trying to read through the Bible in a Year - but when the Lord points out a scripture to me, it gets deep into my spirit - I stay there until I get it sorted through. And, sometimes years later, I still think of some of the scriptures I have meditated on.

So, these thoughts are MY thoughts - I am just allowing you to read how I am thinking - I am hoping, that if any of our readers have some thoughts to share that they will not hesitate. Let’s do the “work” of the Kingdom together. I am still in the learning process - a kindergarten learner.

We are all labourers together with God.

A final scripture reference - Matthew 9:37 “Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”

Submitted by Naida

Yes, let the church be the church and the people will indeed rejoice.....but it is up to each individual to do something about it and the first thing we can do is " go to church". Every time you or I stay home from a service...that's a vote, a vote to shut down that particular service. Where we attend church there is still a Sunday evening service, thank God but the numbers are sadly small sometimes. The alarming thing about it is that many others have already and long since shut their Sunday evening services down. Every time we stay home from bible study is a vote to close that study down. Every time we stay away from prayer meeting...the list goes on.
We consider them as options. Look at most Sunday school services and youth services, where are the young people? I am not a young person anymore... perhaps some young people will reply to this blog through the comment section. So let the church be the church....I don't mean playing church either. There is still time to reverse the trend. LET'S BE THE CHURCH!

Just an outward form?? The Church needs God….The church would not be church if it did not have God.
The song says, “let the church be the church, let the people rejoice….be it known that the people are the church….they’ve settled, the question, they’ve made their choice.” Hallelujah!!! And Jesus is the Head! Paul in writing Timothy speaks of a time when even in the church, I believe, there will be a distressful time when some will oppose the truth and deny the real power of God. Read with me from 2 Tim. 3:1-7, I am quoting from the NRSV. “You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them! For among them are those who make their way into households and captivate silly women, overwhelmed by their sins and swayed by all kinds of desires, who are always being instructed and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”
I think the thing that stands out to me is the part where it says “holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power.” That could include almost any church group in North America. A form, a pretense, but no power. I hate a car with no power…my new car has 70 more horsepower than my last one and I love it…the last one was good but this one is better. When I step on the gas I expect it to move. You can’t deny its power. However, if I never started the engine and did not access the power then it wouldn’t be a car, it would only look like a car. It is the same with the church, it needs to access by faith the power that is available to it. We may look good but if we deny the power of God in the church then we will never know the real blessing that the church can be and the blessing that we can offer to those in need. It seems that the time spoken of in these verses has arrived.

THE CHURCH AND HOLINESS: Some people are "holier than thou." We often hear that expression and we judge those who appear to be that way and we try not to be like them. But whatever you or I may feel like in our own hearts, the fact is our God is a holy God and without holiness we will not see Him. Hebrews 12:14 says (quoting from the NRSV) "Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness without which no one will see God."Serious business this holiness...it reminded me of an old Baptist hymn that we used to sing entitled "Take time to be holy"So I went looking in an old Baptist hymnal and there on page 367 were the words "Take time to be holy, Speak oft with the LORD; Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word;
Make friends with God's children, Help those who are weak; Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek. " That's the first stanza. The next verse goes thusly, " Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; Spend much time in secret With Jesus alone: By looking to Jesus Like Him thou shalt be; Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see." There are two more verses but I will spare you. I have to confess that I have not taken the time that I should have taken to spend in secret
with Jesus and consequently I have not appeared to be all that holy and I have repented and sought forgiveness for that and He has forgiven me. But the secret to holy Christian living is to do what that second verse says "Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone." And the next line, "By looking to Jesus like Him thou shalt be" I broke down and wept as I read these words for I realize that I have failed so many times. We cannot be holy in ourselves and of ourselves; it is only by His grace that we can receive our holiness but we need to put it into practice through our daily living. That verse I quoted at the outset from Hebrews 12:14 goes on to say in the next verse, " See to it that no one fails of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness spring up and causes trouble; and through many become defiled." Psalm 91 says, "he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high God shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." That is where I want to be today .....in the secret place. Do you?