Author: jeffclawson

I'm the campus pastor at Piedmont International University piedmontu.edu, husband to Laura and father to Bethanie. I'm a pastor, preacher, speaker and writer of all things pertaining to Jesus.

It Couldn’t Be Done

.Reading time 2 minutes.

This is a poem by Edgar Guest that was recited today during a service commemorating Dr. Charles Petitt’s 10 year anniversary as president of Piedmont International University. I really liked it and thought you may too:

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
      But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
      Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
      On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
      That couldn’t be done, and he did it!
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
      At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
      And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
      Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
      That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
      There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
      The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
      Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
      That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

Filled with the Spirit – what does it mean?

.Reading time 6 minutes.

Paul gives a directive in Ephesians that Christian’s should be “filled with the Spirit.” However, this may be one of the most misunderstood aspects of the Christian life. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Is it about how you feel or something euphoric?

I really appreciate DK Stuart’s statement about spiritual filling:

“’Being filled with the Spirit’ is a biblical idiom for ‘having from God the ability to do or say exactly what God wants done or said.’”

As we look, biblically, at Spiritual filling one truth we quickly find is that filling is about what God is doing, not about what we’re feeling. Spiritual filling is not about some kind of ecstatic experience.

It may surprise you to find out where the discussion of Spiritual filling begins in the Bible but it’s not in the New Testament. The first “filling” is actually found in the book of Exodus in chapter 31. In this chapter, God has chosen and man named Bezalel to oversee the construction of the tabernacle. In order for Him to fulfill this calling, God “fills Him” with His Spirit. Here’s the text that explains what that “filling” is all about.

“and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship,” (Exodus 31:3, ESV)

There are four results of God’s Spiritual filling that will enable Bezalel to do all that God’s called Him to do (I will explain these as they are listed in the text):

  1. Ability: The NKJV renders this Hebrew word (hokmat) as wisdom. The same word is used verse 6 in regard to the men appointed to help Bezalel and their ability or skill to complete their task. God is giving Bezalel knowledge to do what He’s calling Him to do (will talk about that later) and along with knowledge He’s giving him the ability to apply that knowledge. In other words skill or wisdom.

The same is for you and me. When God fills you Spiritually He is giving you the Spiritual ability to apply the knowledge that He gives. This is the beginning of your filling and your ability to live your calling.

  1. Intelligence: Wouldn’t we all like a good dose of this from time to time? This is talking about aptitude or understanding. As God calls and fills Bezalel, He will progressively continue to give Him the ability to acquire the knowledge for His calling.

This is good news. When God fills us with His Spirit, He gives us the ability to learn. Just as He wants to teach us His ways He gives us the Spirit of understanding to learn them.

You can see this illustrated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2. Paul explains it’s impossible to understand the wisdom of God without having the Spirit from God.

“…So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” (1 Corinthians 2:11–12, ESV)

  1. Knowledge: This may seem redundant but this is talking about the information itself. If you were to flip through the chapters prior to chapter 31 in Exodus you will see that there is great detail in God’s instructions as to how the tabernacle, furniture and everything else involved with Bezalel’s job.

A big part of the filling of the Spirit is God giving you and me the knowledge we need to fulfill our calling. This means our calling is not something we can fulfill by our own knowledge, this knowledge must come from God and He gives it as we need it.

  1. Craftsmanship: By filling Bezalel with His Spirit God gave him the hands to fulfill his calling.

This is a very practical part of God’s filling with the Spirit. God is working supernaturally in us and naturally through us.

When it comes to every Christians calling to live out the Gospel, just remember, the Gospel is the “power of God for salvation” but God also works through men. If you think, “well, I just don’t feel like I’m full of the Spirit,” I understand. But, fullness is not of us, it’s of God who gives His Spirit and fills those He calls.

You can know by truth and by trust that God is equipping you, supernaturally by His Spirit, to work out the entire course of your calling. That’s being biblically, Spiritually filled. 

The Attention getting God

.Reading time 4 minutes.

If God could get your attention what do you think He’d say? Have you ever thought about that? As I read through Amos this morning in my Bible I was faced with some answers to questions like these, along with the reminder that God is constantly trying to get my attention through His Word, through nature which speaks of Him and even some times through circumstances. So, what is He trying to tell me?

Here are a couple truths that I found:

  1. 1.     God actually speaks through the prophets and Apostles that we might know His plans. That right, God wants you to know what He’s up to!

The prophet Amos, as He speaks on behalf of God, records these words; “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”[1] He goes on to say, “The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” In other words, when God speaks His plan, they can’t help but talk about it!

So, how does this affect you and me? That’s a great question. Not only does God have a plan for the nations, which is the context of Amos, but He also has a planned laid out for you and me as individuals. Notice what God said to the prophet Jeremiah as He revealed His purpose for Jeremiah,

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”[2]

God speaks in order to reveal His plans, and yes, those plans involve you!

  1. 2.     God speaks through His prophets, and His own works, to get His people to return to Him.

We all struggle with situations in life and struggle at times to get a handle on why things happen; especially bad things. We know, by the truth of Scripture, that God is not capable of evil, nor does He tempt anyone with evil (see James 1:13). But, God will use difficult circumstances for good as He desperately tries to get the attention of His people.

Several times in chapter four, Amos states that though God has used drought, blight, mildew and pestilence to try and gain the attention of His people, “[they] did not return to me.”

I’m not going to argue that it’s in any way difficult for God to communicate to His people; he did create the entire universe in a word, but He has made effort to communicate. God communicates first through His word, then through his world and even, at times, through circumstances.

So, let me ask you, how is trying to say to you today?

Here’s the good news, when He gets our attention and we begin to seek Him, we will find Him and find some answers. Notice again the words of Jeremiah:

“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”[3]

God’s trying to get your attention today. Seek and listen, and watch the answers of God’s purpose in your life come.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Am 3:7). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

[2] Ibid (Je 29:11).

[3] Ibid (Je 29:12–13).

Generational Pride – How has it affected the church?

.Reading time 8 minutes.

The sin of pride is generational. This, of course, is true on several levels. First, generational sin has effected every generation from the first, Adam. The pride of Adam, which could be encapsulated in the statement, “I want to be like God,” is something that has been passed upon us all. (See Romans 5:12)

Then, there’s the pride that can be passed on through more recent generations; a culture of pride. We see a great example of this in the book of Daniel. Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon before the Medes took over the kingdom during a night of hard partying by the Babylonian royalty. This was predicted by Daniel. As Daniel explains Belshazzar’s dream and the judgment that is coming, he makes it known that Belshazzar has not learned from the past kings, specifically Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel sites the problem of pride and its result in the life of Nebuchadnezzar:

“But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him.” (Daniel 5:20, ESV)

Daniel goes on to reveal that this has passed upon Belshazzar generationally:

“And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,” (Daniel 5:22, ESV)

We could all easily find some examples of this type of generational pride as we see it played out in some of our own families, or the families to whom we minister. We all have stories of people stuck in the generational sins of abuse or addiction and many of us have helped people, sometimes even in our own families, through struggles with these.

As I look at the story of the kings in Daniel, and the truth that there can be generational sins in leadership, I wonder how much this type of generational sin has affected the church.

I’ve noticed in the culture in which I pastor some strong residue from the sins of the church in the not so distant past. It seems that many pulpits, here in the Bible belt, have been filled with the declaration that those of us in the church have it all together, and what the world really needs is to be like us. There is no more dangerous sermon than this.

The result of such preaching of pride are several generations of Christians who are so caught up with the idolatry of exteriors that they can’t fathom that someone can come to Christ who doesn’t first look like them. This has been distilled down to Bible versions, clothing standards, music standards and other externals and opinions which should never cause disruption within a church. The observation of this generational sin of pride is the opposite of the message of humility that comes from preaching the cross.

It’s imperative that the message of the church be a message of humility. That is, we are not proud because of who we are in Christ but incredibly humbled. That way the church is never trying to exalt itself in the eyes of the world, but Jesus alone is exalted.

I think I can safely say there is a healthy trend in churches, especially those who want to see people outside of the faith impacted by the Gospel, to remember the humility that a relationship with Jesus brings. No one walks away from an encounter with Jesus the same. That’s a fact. When we live and serve out of a humility and passion that comes from an encounter with Jesus, instead of the pride of being better than someone else, we can then reach with compassion those who so desperately need to see the love and grace of Christ as we have.

But, are we at risk for other generational sins fueled by pride? I wonder if there are sins of pride committed in the church today that will be past down to future generations? Here’s a couple that may be looming on the horizon:

  1. There seems to be a trend, largely brought on by social media that the name of the game in ministry now is to become famous. (Admittedly, I say this using the platform of social media.) It seems so many now are just trying to build their platform to gain the notice of publishers. I’m guessing that’s the desired outcome. Now, I certainly don’t think it’s a sin to have an impact on a lot of people. It’s a noble thing to try and gain as big an audience as possible to hear and be affected by the Gospel. But, it’s imperative that the churches goal, as well as all of us who are in vocational ministry, is to make Jesus and Jesus alone famous.
  1. Secondly, is a continued drive to define ministries, or people personally, by their possessions. I will say that it’s a good thing that we seem to be trending away from prosperity doctrine but a poverty doctrine can become just as destructive. Either way, people still end up with the pride of possessions, either by defining their spirituality by what they have, or what they don’t have. (Of course, in our nation we are much more predisposed to a search for prosperity.) Either way, if we become defined at all by possession it’s a sure way to become entangled with pride.

The lesson for us as we look at the past, and the future, is that we need to make sure and realize that the sin of pride is extremely destructive. Even as the kingdom was torn from the hands of Belshazzar, pride will cause great destruction within the church; and it has. So, it’s imperative that we learn a lesson from the book of Daniel. God will share His glory with no one. There is no one in all creation who should know that better than those of us who serve in the context of the local church.

May our words be like those recorded of Nebuchadnezzar:

“It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:2–3, ESV)

Mourning to Joy

.Reading time 6 minutes.

I often go to the Scriptures in the hope to receive encouragement and comfort; as I think we should. And, so often I find the exact encouragement and comfort that I’m looking for in verses like Psalm 3:3-4.

“But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah” (Psalm 3:3–4, ESV)

But, there are other times that the Bible will just rub me the wrong way. Sometimes God speaks through His word in order to put me in my place. This very thing He does through James in James 4:8-10.

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:8–10, ESV)

No human being, in their right mind, is going to initially appreciate the command to “be wretched and mourn and weep” and certainly not after being called a “sinner” and “double minded.” This goes so viciously against the grain of our culture and thinking that we’re destined to have a violent knee-jerk reaction to these words if we’re truly dealing with them. But, what is God actually saying; what is He really trying to do?

Even in the above, uplifting verse, from Psalm 3 we can clearly see a plan that God has to “lift our head.” James is attacking us at the very center of our desire to lift our own head. Think about it, this is the very drive of our culture. Everyone needs to be seeking that which fulfills their own happiness; seeking to lift themselves up. The problem; there is a biblical principle that I think will resonate with us all; when we’re trying to lift ourselves, it removes God from His position of passion over us, to be the “lifter of [our] head.”

James’ direction for us to “let [our] laughter be turned to mourning” also will cause us trouble, as it should. Biblically, we were not created to mourn, we were created to worship. So why would we mourn? Should joy, peace and happiness not be a noble pursuit of life? It’s true that “God so loves the world” and that grief and mourning are not a product of love. It must be that God has a plan for our mourning. But what is His plan?

First, anything that we use to try and find joy and uplifting outside of God himself, including trying to find joy in ourselves, is a waste of time and energy and will be reduced to mourning. God is going to make sure to teach us that seeking joy from anything other than Him is, at its root, idolatry. That’s the whole “double-minded” comment.

Secondly, God is doing everything He can, including allowing difficulties and trials to come, to prove to us that He alone can bring the joy and fulfillment in this life we so desperately seek. Though none of us have any desire to seek mourning, God turns this grief into a tool He can use to get our attention back on Him; the One who can lift us up. This may seem crazy but God will allow mourning to come to us to serve His purpose and for our greater good. Notice this example from the Old Testament:

“And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 4:27–29, ESV)

I’m sure you noticed in the above passage that the Lord “scattered” His people. If you’re wondering, “Why in the world would He do that,” hopefully you noticed that His reasons were that they might seek the Lord and find Him.

So, what’s so great about mourning? Well, nothing in and of itself, unless, God will use it to bring me to the place where He can lift me up! If you’re mourning today, look to God and know you’re an inch away from His uplift which brings inexpressible joy!