August 3, 2017

Today is my spiritual birthday.  I accepted Christ on August 3, 1958.  I remember the place and scene so well.  It was a Sunday evening in Tucson, Arizona and my mother and I were on the back porch when I asked her about the 5 day club teaching she was doing.  When I accepted Christ that night, even as a 4 year old, I felt a weight roll off my back.  Much later I identified with Bunyan’s Pilgrim, whose heavy pack was relieved of him when it rolled down to a place under the cross.  It has been almost 59 years of walking with the Lord and I still feel like a child in so many ways.  I was very passionate in my early years, telling people about Jesus and thinking I would become a pastor.  Some of my passion was quieted when I wanted to be a cowboy and an astronaut.  But through the years, I have always known in my heart that I was in Christ.  There were teen years when I wandered from the Lord, but He was always there, like the “Hound of Heaven” calling me back into relationship with Himself.  I also identify with the “Footprints in the Sand” poem and prayer.  He has had to carry me many times in our walk together. 

My mother, June, prayed for me regularly as she did all her children.  Later Miss. Elizabeth Stewart fervently prayed, even during my teen rebellion years, that I would become a minister.  When I was accepted at Talbot Seminary to study for ministry, I called her and told her that her prayers had been effective.  The following day she died and unknown to me, had left some money in her will that covered my seminary tuition.  (Susan and I named our second son, Mat, “Matthew Stewart” in her memory and honor.  Ironically, later he would marry the love of his life; Elizabeth.)  

As I stand on the threshold of another year, I am exceedingly grateful for so many things. I have so much to be thankful for.  When I count my blessings, you my friend are a big part of the tally.  Thanks so much for your friendship.  Mark vonEhrenkrook

Living Stones, I presume?

Pastor Mark’s Blog      3/21/ 17                               Living Stones, I presume?
Recently a man came to our church and he and his wife were instantly enfolded into the fellowship.  From all appearances, it looked like it was going to be a good fit for them and us.  It only took a couple of weeks, however, for the man’s true purpose to come to light.  He was not that interested in a fellowship of believers but he was more than interested in a group of people to help build his business.  When his true heart was revealed he left the church and sent me a disconcerting email which only reinforced, in my mind, his wrong motives.

This man reminded me of Demas in the Bible.  He is mentioned three times and in the beginning, Paul identifies him as a “fellow worker.”  Later, the sad truth comes out and Paul writes in          2 Timothy 4:10, “Demas has left me because he loves the things of this world…”
I was sad to see our friend go.  Christ must have felt something like that with the rich young ruler who went away and rejected His offer of eternal life.  Jesus did not go after this young man and try to placate him or turn him around, He knew what was in the heart of a man, and the kingdom of God did not beat in the heart of the rich young ruler.  

This experience got me to thinking about the kind of person that God uses to build His church.  The apostle Peter uses an analogy in the Bible that identifies such people as “living stones:”   
I Peter 2:4-5  As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men, but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Who is the person that God uses?  Who are the living stones?
 
 In the Old Testament, King David asked a similar question twice, when he wrote:
Psalm 15: 1  O LORD, who may abide in Your tent?  Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
Psalm 24: 3 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?  

In these passages David enumerates the attitudes and actions of the person after God’s own heart.  These verses are not a checklist, but they do provide a wonderful matrix of attitudes and actions that are evident in the lives of the living stones whom God uses:

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood

And has not sworn deceitfully. (Made promises with no intention of keeping them; NET Bible)

He who walks with integrity

and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart.

He does not slander with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,

 Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,
 But who honors those who fear the LORD;
 He swears to his own hurt and does not change;

He does not put out his money at crushing interest,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken. Psalm 15: 2-5

David knew that even he did not measure up to God’s standard and so he prays:

          Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

Questions for personal reflection:

Do any of the areas which David mentions stand out for you? 

Is there one or more items which you struggle with?  

What is God speaking to you through these passages?

Where are you on the “Demas” scale: Loving Christ or Loving the World?

What other questions or thoughts come to mind as you meditate on these scriptures?

May this be our prayer today:

Lord, Create in me a clean heart and clean hands.  Convict me of sin and help me to seek Your forgiveness.  Make me into a living stone which cannot be shaken, one that You can use to Your Glory, in building Your church.