Concerning Quarterbacks and Monks

I’ve been meditating on your first question to me; “.........but what do you think are the most important tools a believer needs when living a successful life for the Lord???”  I began focusing on the term “successful life for the Lord” and what exactly does that mean?

The definition of success comes in many forms.  Athletes may have one definition of success, and a stay at home mom may have another.  A musician may see success as a number one hit, and a doctor may see success as a surgery that went well.  It really depends upon your perspective.  Perspectives on success are as numerous as the stars.

Let’s take a moment and narrow the spectrum.  There is a difference between accomplishment and success.  Accomplishment means that you have engaged in a task or action with a goal in mind and have subsequently obtained the desired results. People all over the world have goals and they accomplish things everyday, but can it be said that they are all successful?

It could be said that success is when you have a pattern of accomplishments over time that when put together, add up to a major obtainment in life known as Success.  For instance, the quarterback on a pro football team began winning games in middle school, high school and college.  This pattern continues after he is recruited to a pro team and he is able to demand a very high price in his contract.

So then, “a successful life for the Lord”….. based on what I just described would indicate the need for a pattern of accomplishments….this is interesting territory!  I will explain from two different angles:

First: To accomplish something for the Lord presupposes a goal in mind and success would indicate multiple goals.  This is what James said about accomplishing things for the Lord:

James 2:14-18 (NIV)

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
      Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

Some people (Catholics…etc) have taken scriptures like this and decided that “doing” things like feeding people and clothing people showed their faith…they accomplished things for the Lord over their whole lives….is this a successful life for the Lord?  The same people, while doing much good forgot about other scriptures like:

Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

 ⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

About nine miles off the coast of Ireland is an island called Skellig Michael.  On this island is a very, very old Christian monastery that was only able to hold about 10 to 12 monks at a time.  So, what do monks do all day on a very remote island?  They pray, read and recite scripture and think…that’s about it!  Is this a successful life for the Lord?

The Apostle Paul said:

Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)

 ¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

He describes our Christian life as a race….one foot in front of the other….one step at a time….He says that the path is marked out…in other words as you put one foot in front of the other your goal is to stay on the path.  The “path” for everyone can be found in the scriptures…the path for you …personally can be found in your heart.

If the Lord speaks to your heart and tells you to go to a remote island and pray for the rest of your life…follow that path…be successful in what He has called you to do.  If He speaks to your heart and tells you to be a banker or a concrete worker….then follow that path….If He tells you to go to the grocery store and witness to the person decorating cakes….then do that!

Now here is the second part:  People all over the world have experienced the Lord speaking to their heart, telling them to do this or that…follow this path or that path….and they didn’t and now they live a life full of guilt because they know they missed it.  Or maybe they didn’t follow the path laid out in the scriptures and got caught up in a sinful life even though they were Christians…and now they feel like there is no hope…they know for sure that they have not lived a successful life for the Lord.

The problem is…they really don’t understand what a successful life in the Lord is all about.  A successful life in the Lord is knowing God’s love is no different from one moment to the next…no matter what you did in the last moment.  It is knowing God’s forgiveness for every single second of your life…from the time of your first breath…to your last.  It is knowing that Jesus is the one with a pattern of accomplishments in His life..He met every goal that God laid out….He had success……and His success is yours.  It is our heritage to live in the benefits of His success.  In other words…..you may have been in a wheel chair for your whole life but you get to have the pro football quarterbacks paycheck!

God..............Is.

I am sorry it keeps taking me so long to respond.  I have been working long shifts leaving me only enough time to sleep and give a kiss to mom.  As I understood it these were your questions:

 .........but what do you think are the most important tools a believer needs when living a successful life for the Lord???

What do you think are the most vital things for the believer to do?
What are the most necessary things for a believer to know?

You know, there are some preachers that can take these three questions and preach all year on them…including Wednesday night services!  But I have never been one of those guys…I think after awhile folks just get bored.  Soooo, I will give you the super condensed, extra light, sugar free, only 2 carbs version without any caffeine!....and it should only take about 600 pages or so…..LOL

Actually, I will just take one question at a time and deal with it and then deal with another and probably go back and forth a little.

But before I begin….. I want to quote from an article that Grandma Hartman sent me a link to:

George Santayana, the Spanish philosopher once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!” Solomon, the wisest man in the world, once said:

 ⁹ What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NIV)

Sadly, those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat the failures of the past.

Church history is one of those topics that the “hyper-spiritual” deem to have little value. Putting down the study of church history ranks right up there in the “ignorant Christian” poll with those who boldly declare, “I don’t want to study theology or doctrine; I just want to read the Bible!” … This lack of knowledge is the doorway for error to cycle through the Church repeatedly and be welcomed by unsuspecting generations as “new revelation.”

…Error, like all trends, tends to circulate every few years. When error emerges those who don’t know history, specifically church history, think they have a revelation. They see it as a “scrumptious morsel,” unaware of the damage it has wreaked in the past. In the race to have the next new revelation some preachers rush to their pulpits, or in the case of traveling preachers, they rush to your pulpit and create havoc in the hearts of believers.  Pastor Jim Richards (link to article)

This is the reason that in my responses to you I often tend to refer to church history and theology.

The most important tools….Hmmm

To begin with…two words….”God is”.  Many people have faith issues throughout their life.  They wonder all kinds of things.  Did I really know enough to make a decision to be a Christian when I was a kid?  Is God really real?  Is the stuff I have learned about God the right stuff?...Should I really believe like this?

When I was in 4^th grade ( I think it was 4^th…real close to there) I had a faith crisis.  My class in school had gone through a unit on Greek Mythology…only I didn’t stop when the unit was over.  I began checking out books from the library and reading them instead of watching TV or doing homework.  To me, the whole Greek mythology just made more sense.  They had an answer for everything.  I really was in actual real faith trouble…I remember how I felt and my faith in God was beginning to disappear.

Grandpa Hartman rescued me.  I don’t remember the specifics of the conversation or how it came about…there is a faint recollection of me sitting in the living room reading a mythology book and Grandpa Hartman began asking me questions.  I remember that he was very gentle with the whole conversation and didn’t try to “blow me out of the water”.  I remember suddenly “coming around” and realizing that all this mythology stuff was really stupid.

A “faith crisis” means you are human.  It is the way that you emerge from it that may determine your ultimate destination…we can talk about salvation theology another time.

Very early church history records that on the Day of Pentecost while the 12 apostles were still under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit they created a statement that concisely explained what they believed in.  Each apostle was responsible for one of the twelve points.  They called it the “symbol” and it was to be memorized and never written down.  Over time it was eventually written down and called the Apostles Creed.

The Catholic Church at various times decided that they wanted a “statement of belief” that was more specific about certain areas of doctrine.  This was necessary because even in those early times there was always a guy preaching some new revelation he had.  So, over time, different statements of belief were issued also called “creeds”.  Each creed stated some of the same things and focused on slightly different very important areas of the faith.

When I was in third grade and Grandpa Hartman was still attending bible school…He had a class that had asked him to write down his own personal statement of belief.  I remember this paper in particular because I remembered some of the statements in it when in 1980 I was trying to write my own personal statement of belief.  While it may seem weird that a third grader actually read college level papers..it’s the truth.  It is also true that I understood very little of what I read because Grandpa used words like “plenary” which you won’t find on a third grade spelling test.  As an adult doing my own study I found what Grandpa Hartman used as a root for his statement of belief.  It is the Athanasian Creed…[pronounced  ath-uh-ney-zhuhn]  I am including it in this part of my response because it states who and what God is….but even with this…only you…yourself…can believe that God…..is:

…We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory Equal, the Majesty Co-Eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father Uncreate, the Son Uncreate, and the Holy Ghost Uncreate. The Father Incomprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible. The Father Eternal, the Son Eternal, and the Holy Ghost Eternal and yet they are not Three Eternals but One Eternal. As also there are not Three Uncreated, nor Three Incomprehensibles, but One Uncreated, and One Uncomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not Three Almighties but One Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not Three Lords but One Lord. For, like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say, there be Three Gods or Three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father, and of the Son neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is One Father, not Three Fathers; one Son, not Three Sons; One Holy Ghost, not Three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore or after Other, None is greater or less than Another, but the whole Three Persons are Co-eternal together, and Co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting Salvation, that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.

God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of His mother, born into the world. Perfect God and Perfect Man, of a reasonable Soul and human Flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood. Who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but One Christ. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into Flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by Unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one Man, so God and Man is one Christ. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into Hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into Heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their own works…