Manifold

 

“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.”

—1 Peter 1:6 AKJV (emphasis added)

Someone once told me that the word “manifold” in the Bible means “many-colored.” Having never studied Hebrew or Greek, I can only take his word for it. The Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, defines the word manifold as: “marked by diversity or variety… a whole that consist of many diverse elements.”

In some translations of the verse at the beginning of this blog post, “temptations” is rendered as “trials.” Who hasn’t spent time “in heaviness through various trials?”

As you observe your own trials and then look at those of others, you realize that trials never seem exactly the same from person to person. However, the antidotes God gives for our trials also come in a variety of solutions.

In 1 Peter 4:10 we are told to minister to one another with the manifold grace of God. How comforting to know that we can meet manifold trials with God’s manifold grace. If we need financial help, God can meet that need through His grace. If we need wisdom, He can give us that through His grace. If we need strength and peace, He has all manner of such qualities to give us through His grace.

Jesus, in His teaching in the “Sermon on the Mount” (see Matthew 7: 7-11), told His disciples to ask, seek and knock for those things which we need. He went on to say:

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake: If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

How wonderful to understand that our God knows each of us individually, knows our trials, and has the ability to meet each one! He has a variety of solutions for us. In His love, He wants us to see His manifold—even “many colored”—grace that He lavishes on us as His children: manifold grace for manifold trials.

Praise Him for His excellent goodness!

 

 

Stone Soup

 

The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”

—Exodus 4:2

During the years of my public-school teaching, one year I had my third graders put on a musical play based on the legend of Stone Soup. This old story has been told in various cultures and in various renditions.

In our particular play, three soldiers returning from war stumbled into a village they had visited before the war where they had found the villagers happy and generous. But now, these people suffered from poverty and heartless selfishness brought on by war and had no food or lodging to share with these men.

Through a stroke of creative thinking, one of the soldiers asked for a stone with which to make a special soup. The puzzled villagers filled a caldron with water, placed a stone in the caldron, and set the caldron on a fire. Once the “soup” was hot, the soldiers asked them to taste it.

One of the peasants tasted the stone soup and decided it needed an onion. That villager went quickly home and brought back an onion and put it into the soup.

Another peasant tasted the soup and decided it would taste much better if it had a carrot. That peasant went quickly home and brought back a carrot, which he put into the soup.

Still another peasant tasted the soup and declared that the soup needed some herbs. So, that peasant went quickly home and brought back some herbs, which she quickly put into the soup.

One by one, the villagers added various ingredients that they felt the soup needed until their individual efforts all merged and produced a succulent broth that became a meal for everyone present. They ate, sang, and spent the day rejoicing and bringing back to their small town the happiness it had once known. The Stone Soup story teaches the moral that when people each give what they have, all of them can then enjoy a magnificent supply of wonderful things.

In Scripture, we read of several places where God asked people to give what they had, even from the depth of their poverty. As a result, God used what they gave with miraculous results.

1 Kings 17:7-17 provides an account of a widow in Zarephath whom God sent Elijah to visit when he, too, needed food. The widow, obedient to Elijah’s request for bread, had only a handful of flour and a little oil, but she gave it to feed Elijah because she believed he spoke to her about the true God. This Bible account goes on to tell how, after she obeyed, the jar of flour was not used up, nor the jug of oil. She had every bit of flour and oil that she needed to feed herself and her household for many days.

Similarly in the New Testament story of the Marriage at Cana from John 2:1-11, Jesus showed His power to spare the bridegroom great embarrassment by turning six stone jars of water into delicious wine. In this story, we see the point of Jesus’ miracles when, in John 2:11, the Scripture states:

He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

Remember the boy who came to listen to Jesus with the five thousand others? Jesus saw that these people, too, needed food with no supply. This story, recorded in John 6:1-14, shows us again how His miracle of taking the boy’s five small loaves and two small fish, gave witness to His power among the people.

In these three Bible stories, we find the same happy ingredients:

• A known and expressed need.
  
  
• A willing and obedient servant.
  
  
• God wanting to reveal Himself to His people.

The bottom line  for all these, as in the story of Stone Soup, resulted in gladness and rejoicing.

Most of us have experienced a poverty of some kind, whether spiritual, financial, or material. Sometimes, God asks of us the last bit of strength we have so that He can make it into a glowing example of His power and grace. At other times, He may ask of us service for which we do not naturally feel suited. Still other times, He may ask us to give to Him from our nearly exhausted resources in order to accomplish His purposes.

God wants us all to render praise to Him and experience the joy that comes from obediently giving Him all that we have. Oftentimes, such an action on our part allows others to rejoice in God’s goodness to us, and we’re as happy as though we discovered the secret recipe to Stone Soup!

 

 

The Dog House

 

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

—1 Peter 4:8

When I was growing up, on the kitchen wall of our house, we had a carved wooden plague. This plague had the image of a very cute doghouse. To the side, six little wooden doggies hung from hooks. Each doggie had a label with the name of one of our family members. From time to time in order to poke fun at each other, we would place each other in the doghouse. For example, my mom would sometimes get her doggie hung in the doghouse for not making my father’s favorite kind of pie often enough.

I think many families don’t have the kind of loving, fun relationships we enjoyed. Today, society might label such families as dysfunctional. In some, a family member must earn love. In others, members have learned how to manipulate each other to get his or her own way. Some have perfectionist expectations that children, or spouses, can never reach. Still others have a workaholic parent whose time for the family gets stolen by “more important matters.”

We can also look at our society and say that, in many ways, it has become dysfunctional, too. We could say that the traits of greed, selfishness, and power have taken over our love for country and each other.

What about the church? Can a church body carry dysfunctional characteristics, as well?

I think the Apostle Paul nailed some of those dysfunctional characteristics in his writing we call the “Love Chapter,” found in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul has just spent the first twelve chapters speaking of factions, status-seeking behaviors, jealousy, and various disagreements over who might have the greatest gifts. He takes a turn in Chapter 13, when he examines the characteristics that counter all the negative examples he has just given in the previous chapters.

Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones speaks of the hypercritical spirit, or the dysfunctional spirit within the church.¹

Love “hopeth all things,” but this spirit hopes for the worst; it gets a malicious, malign satisfaction in finding faults and blemishes. It is a spirit that is always expecting them, and is almost disappointed if it does not find them; it is always on the look-out for them, and rather delights in them. There is no question about that, the hypercritical spirit is never really happy unless it finds these faults. And, of course, the result of all this is that it tends to fix attention upon matters that are indifferent and to make of them matters of vital importance.

But, the Apostle Paul here admonishes us. We should not live with this kind of spirit in the church. Recently I read these words by Lisa Igram of Biola University:²

For those us in Christ, Jesus’ self-giving, bending-down-in-mercy kind of love has become our new reality. Here, Paul exhorts us to live into this new reality, received when we agreed to Jesus’ Lordship over our lives. In our divisive political and social climate, the unity of Christ’s Body is actualized when I value those who bring a diverse perspective (1 Corinthians 12:12-30), create space for the vulnerable (1 Corinthians 8:12), learn from those I may perceive to be weak (1 Corinthians 1:27, 12:22), and give up my own ease and interests for the well-being of the whole (1 Corinthians 12).

When compared to our culture and to the dysfunctional families that comprise our culture, our church—as a part of the Body of Christ—should live in a radically different way. The Gospel of Christ, lived out in our gathering together, should shout loudly to the world around us, pointing always to our loving and forgiving Lord.

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1 Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971. Vol. 2, p. 167.

2 Igram, Lisa. The Advent Project. La Mirada, CA: Biola University Center for Christianity Culture and the Arts, December 28, 2019.

 

 

Madame Worry

 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.”

—Philippians 4:6 TLB

You’ve met her. You could very well know her as the most domineering person in your life. “Madame Worry” loves to talk. She has an active imagination and creatively tells you about all kinds of terrible eventualities. She has a powerful knack for exaggeration and a natural tendency to take over your life. To recognize her, you only have to hear the words, “Yes, but…” or “What about…?”

Jesus directly alluded to “Madame Worry” in His Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6:25-33, four times Jesus says, “Do not worry.” He uses the conditions of nakedness, hunger, and thirst as His illustration of circumstances. Yet, we could add any number of personal incidents in which a person quite naturally worries.

D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, famous Welsh Evangelical who served for many years as pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, speaks of “Madame Worry” as a separate and distinct person from the things we worry about. God can relieve us of these burdens. But, she continues to hold on to us, to bring up something new, or something we’ve placed on the “back burner” for awhile. He writes that in “Madame Worry” herself lies the worst and most persistent problem. When she has a grip on us, she never lets go.¹

According to our Lord, the vital thing is not to spend every day of your life in adding up a grand total of everything that is ever likely to happen… But the great thing to do is to realize that every day must be lived in and of itself and as a unit. Here is the quota for today… There are certain people who are so concerned about how they are going to be able to live in the future that they have no time to help the causes which are in need at this moment. That is what is wrong. If I allow my concern about the future to cripple me in the present, I am guilty of worry; but if I make reasonable provision, in a legitimate manner, and then live my life fully in the present, all is well.

Jesus taught that He will provide daily bread, just as He provided daily manna for the Israelites in the wilderness. To solve the problem of worry, we must trust Him.

According to Philippians 4:6-7, God intends to garrison our hearts and minds with His peace. This is the deadly antidote to the intrusive words of “Madame Worry.” If we pray and present our requests to God, He will give us that peace.

Perhaps we need to learn to talk back to “Madame Worry” and determine not to remain intimidated by her seemingly reasonable and sometimes compelling arguments. In the war against this satanic force, we have the “Sword of the Spirit” that the Apostle Paul writes about in Ephesians 6:17. That “Sword” is made strong and sharp by God’s written Word.

We must believe that God knows about “Madame Worry.” He knows what an influence she has on all of us. And, He wants us to know that she is no match for His powerful peace, love, strength, and provision.

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1 Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971. Vol. 2, Pp. 148-150, 154.