Significance of Labor Day

 Next weekend our nation will pause to observe Labor Day.  First proposed in 1882, it became a Federal Holiday in 1894 and has been celebrated on the first Monday of September ever since to honor labor and recognize the significance honest work adds to our lives.  We celebrate it with the scent and sound of sizzling steaks at the lake, rooting for our favorite football and baseball teams. And, of course, America’s favorite pastime, shopping. 

Labor has always been an important aspect of the Christian faith. Jesus grew up in a carpenter’s home and continued in the trade after Joseph’s death. Those who knew him in Nazareth referred to him as “the carpenter,” (Mark 6:3).  The Apostle Paul worked as a laborer mending tents in Corinth. He wrote to the Colossians, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve,” (Colossians 3:23-24). 

Our work can be the most effective means for improving the world and sharing the message of the risen Christ.  A few years ago I met Debra.  She went to Uzbekistan on a short-term mission assignment and decided to stay.  She started a tailoring business, enlisted two women to work for her, mentored them as followers of Christ and helped start a new church.  After two years, she gave the business to her co-workers and returned to the United States.  I asked her what her church thought about what she did. She said no one asked.

When I served as interim pastor in Nuremberg, Germany, I met Kim. She and her husband had moved to Nuremberg a year and a half before.  She said they were “firmly convinced that God was using my husband’s company to bring us over to be “believers on the ground in this country.  We are very involved in our German church, seeking to help them develop a strong gospel and cross-centered emphasis, to support and help in any way we can.”

I was reviewing my sermon notes prior to the church service in Nuremberg when Eddie Wong walked in.  I introduced myself and asked if this was his first time to the church. He said he had attended the Nuremberg church a couple years ago, before going to China.  He came to Germany and worked in a bakery to learn the trade, then moved to China where he worked in a bakery as a means to share the gospel with others.

Debra, Kim  and Eddie are examples of a multitude of believers from all over the world who are discovering that work is far more than a way to make a living.  It is the place where we demonstrate daily the character and presence of Christ and it can be the vehicle that enables us to share our faith anywhere in the world. Perhaps this Labor Day can serve as a reminder that our work can be far more effective in communicating the gospel than many church programs.  How we use our professions to honor God and to serve others can change the world.

The Wedding

 It is an American rite of passage, the ultimate moment when dreams come true.  No expense or effort is spared to make the wedding the perfect moment.  Family and friends travel hundreds of miles just to be there.  Parents go into debt to provide the perfect cake, the sit-down dinner, a gala reception, not to mention the bride’s dress and decorations. 

 We have added our twists to the wedding traditions. While many weddings are still held in cathedrals, churches and chapels, they have moved beyond church walls in search of exotic places to “tie the knot:” on mountain tops, in the ballpark at home plate, on beaches and boats. Wedding music is no longer limited to the bridal march.  We have opted for country western, hip-hop and pop. We have added unity candles and unity sand.  But one element remains unchanged in every wedding ceremony: the high point of the event is the entrance of the bride! Everything leads up to the bride’s entrance adorned in an elaborate dress that enhances her beauty.

 I like weddings held outside.  In one I attended, the flower girl entered the gazebo under a bright blue sky scattering her petals on the bride’s path. She stopped at the entrance, tugged on a rope to ring an overhead bell then shouted with excitement, “She’s coming!  She’s coming!” The crowd giggled and smiled as they always do when children perform, then they turned their heads searching for their first glimpse of the bride.

 It reminded me of Jesus’ love for weddings.  He performed his first miracle at Cana in Galilee, turning water into wine so that the wedding moment would not be spoiled.  It also reminded me of the wedding scene predicted in the Bible.  The Scripture is clear.  One day Jesus will return like a bridegroom prepared to receive his bride.  Jesus said, “I will come again.” (John 14:3).  He urged us to be perseverant and patient, waiting for the bridegroom’s arrival. (Matthew 25:1-13). 

If Jesus is the bridegroom, who is the bride?  According to the Bible, we are. Scripture teaches that everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ and follows him helps form the bride of Christ.  We are the bride of Christ as members of his church. Paul wrote, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)   We are the bride of Christ as citizens of the Holy City built by God in Heaven. (Revelation 21). Like a bride who prepares for her wedding, we need to prepare ourselves for his coming.

I can hear the flower girl’s voice ringing in my ear: “He’s coming!  He’s coming!”   “The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:17).

Back To School

 Children and youth are headed back to school. Summer break is coming to an end. It is time to put away the lazy days of sleeping late, TV, video games, camp and vacations. Children will soon wake before sunrise and wait for the bus. 

 Silent buildings and empty playgrounds roar to life with children’s laughter. The smells of erasers, crayons, markers and freshly painted classrooms, along with the rumble of yellow buses mark an annual rite of passage.  It is the rhythm of our lives, as surely as the first crisp scent of fall and the turning of green leaves to gold.  We wake up to the echo of school bands, coaches’ whistles and the smack of shoulder pads practicing for the big games.  

 It is a time of deep emotion filled with conflicting currents of freedom and fear, opportunity and obstacles.  Preschool children are finally old enough to follow older brothers and sisters off to school with their own backpack of books.  Babies become children, let go by weeping parents.  College freshmen leave home, off on their own, their heads spinning with dreams and doubt, soon to be shocked with the stab of homesickness.  Houses that vibrated with teenage noise surrender to the silence of an empty room.  It is the stuff of life: joy and sorrow, celebration and challenge, learning and growing.

I am a fan of public schools.  I like the fact that, in our imperfect system, every child has a chance to learn. I love movies about public school teachers and the difference they make in students’ lives, like Freedom Writers or Mr. Holland’s Opus. My wife is a retired public-school teacher.  Across the years she taught kindergarten, third grade, and high school.  Her last assignment was a drop out prevention program for pregnant and parenting teens who achieved a 96% graduation rate.   

Even though schools take summer breaks, school is never out.  Children and youth are always learning, and sometimes the most important lessons they learn are the moments when parents and adults are least aware.  They learn honesty, generosity, courtesy and faith by watching us in check-out lines, in traffic and in the home.  They are always watching and always learning, even when we think they are tuned out.

Peter learned the greatest lesson of his life by watching the Master Teacher in His most crucial hour.  He sums up what he learned, “For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in His steps,” (1 Peter 2:19-21).

Order Bill Tinsley's book, The Jesus Encounter FREE eBook on Amazon August 13-15. 

Every Nation Tribe and Tongue

 The Olympics remind us that we are a global community.  The youth from the nations of the earth inspire us as they compete at the highest levels of sportsmanship.

 When I served as pastor of an English-speaking church in Nuremburg, Germany, we were surrounded with history, culture and beauty. The church was composed of people from Germany, Ireland, England, Romania, Ukraine, China, Cameroon, India, Sweden, Austria and others. Most were in their twenties and thirties.

The church reminded me that Jesus Christ was sent for all people of every nation in every age. When God called Abraham, He promised to make him a blessing to all the nations. Isaiah said, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations.” (Isa. 42:1) And again, “The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.” (Isa. 52:10) Those promises are fulfilled in Jesus.

The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost reflects the fact that Jesus came for everyone. Shortly after His resurrection, many people gathered in Jerusalem from many nations, and they all heard the message of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection in their own language. “Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (Acts 2)

When John saw the vision that he recorded in Revelation, he declared, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Clearly, God wants people from every nation to experience His salvation in Jesus Christ. To accomplish this purpose, God is moving people all around the world and exposing them to opportunities to hear the gospel. According to a study by Lousanne World Pulse, Christianity as a whole has been growing faster than the global population with the fastest growth in Asia and Eastern Europe. The majority of Christians live in South America, Africa and Asia.  We are living in one of the most exciting eras of human history, when more people are discovering faith in Christ from all over the world than ever before.

Our daughter went on a mission trip to Andhra Pradesh in India. At the same time I visited Lubbock, Texas. When I checked into the hotel, the clerk who greeted me was from Andhra Pradesh.  I gave him one of my books, The Jesus Encounter, and spoke with him about Jesus.

Whether we are in Dallas, Houston, Lubbock or Nuremberg, Germany, every believer needs to reach out to international visitors around them, to welcome them, to love them, and to share with them the life-changing difference Jesus Christ makes in our lives