Dale Cresap's blog

Have you ever compared your co-workers on your job with your fellow believers in church? How do they compare? You would expect the co-workers to have an advantage because they went through a selection process to be hired and must meet performance goals to remain employed. The church is open to whosoever will come, and has no such requirements. Do the results look like what you would expect? Yet there is a divine mystery in the makeup of my church. For I do more than assemble a workforce. I am fitting members into a body, and not just any body. It is my own body. Keep this in mind when you look around at church.

What is a church? You may refer to a building as a church but you know that it is really comprised of people. Yet not just any group of people is a church. Those who gather together to watch the same thing are spectators. Those who gather together to work together are a team, and every church should be a team, but not every team is a church. It is not enough to be in agreement on doctrine and practice for you can have this and still be effectively isolated from each other. I have called my church a body, with me as the head. The members of a body are so involved with each other that they share a common life. This is what makes a church. 

Do you think of a white flag as a flag of surrender? It would be more accurately described as a flag of truce. It is universally recognized as a declaration of a suspension of hostilities to discuss terms of peace. It would be a violation to act in a threatening manner under such a flag. Can you see the advantages of conducting yourself in this manner at all times? You don’t have to carry a white flag, but you can refuse to be hostile or threatening even to those you disagree with. You can be open to civil discussion and eager to find ways to be reconciled to your brother. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are my children. 

Have you ever been rejected for your faith by those closest to you, or had them reject the work I am doing in you? The same thing happened to me, and I said that a prophet is not without honor, except among his own people. If this happened to me then how much more should you expect the same thing, even though this is the most painful rejection of all? Does it occur to you that this can work both ways? Are you willing to accept my work in those close to you? Are you willing to receive ministry from your children and brothers and sisters even though you saw them growing up? Can you acknowledge the work I have done in them? 

Do you understand that joy is an imperative for believers? Some will attempt to excuse themselves by saying that their joy is a deep internal thing. Is it possible to be joyful without smiling? If you are the only person who thinks you are joyful then perhaps you are only fooling yourself. You are called to let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify me. The expression on your face is the first manifestation of my presence in you that others will encounter. Let it be a continuous testimony to my goodness and the extent of my redemptive work in you. 

Do you like people who make you laugh? Do you think of them as doing ministry for you? Some humor is crude and vulgar but there is an innocent form that is beneficial for you and you instinctively seek out funny people because you value this. A merry heart does good like a medicine and this has been verified by medical science. It is unhealthy for you to be grim and humorless and take yourself too seriously. In this sense those who bring harmless humor are ministering to you. It is unkind to make fun at the expense of others. Are you willing to make fun at your own expense to minister to others? 

Do you follow my commandments? Blessed are those who do and teach them. Do you do this out of joy or with a sense of bitterness or resentment? Do you think it is enough just to obey, regardless of the attitude of your heart? It was the Pharisees who made a practice of bitter obedience. It doesn’t have to be this way. The Psalmist loved my law, knowing it was a lamp to his feet and a light to his path. Those who know me from afar think obedience to me is an oppressive burden. The better you know me the more you will realize that my commandments are ideal for you. 

Are fathers interested in the activities of their children? This is normal and you expect it. Are the children interested in the activities of their fathers? Perhaps when they are young, but do you observe a decline in this as they approach adolescence? Consider a parallel to my Kingdom. I am always interested in your activities. Are you always interested in mine? Those who feared me spoke often to one another and thought upon my name. I took note of this and declared they would be my own possession in the day I made up my jewels, and I would spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Not all sons are interested in serving, but the greatest possible favor is reserved for those who do.

Do you know that there are true and false pleasures? My word refers to the pleasure of sin for a season. Sinners think that sin gives true pleasure because they don’t know the difference between the true and false. The pleasure of sin does not endure, but that is not the only problem with it. Even from the first moment true pleasure has an innocent and peaceful quality that the pleasure of sin does not. If you have experienced both you know that there is no special discernment required to tell the two apart. I want you to see the difference between them and choose the pleasures that are right for today. They are right for eternity, as the pleasures at my right hand forevermore.

Are you familiar with the idea of a ‘peace offering’? My word describes many ancient sacrifices for many occasions, but a peace offering is a familiar idea even for unbelievers. If there has been conflict between you and another person you can seek to resolve it by doing something kind for them. Is this a new covenant Biblical principle? Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you, so shall you be the children of your Father in heaven. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the children of God. You can give costly peace offerings when they are called for knowing that they are really sacrifices to me.