March 2005 chaplain's corner
The Chaplain's Corner is a monthly message for chaplains.
Chaplain's Corner 0 March 29, 2005
Rev. Rich Hines
Needed: Godly Chaplains, Bringing Light Into The Darkness
This message is prepared especially for those in the United States who call
upon the name of Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve
as a chaplain in a jail, prison or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue
mission.
All Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV),
copyright 1979,1980,1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc. Used by
permission. All rights reserved. When quoting a text, any
deviation from the NKJV text is within parenthesis signs ( ). These
usually occur as direct translations from the original languages,
or as notes from the original setting, to help apply the text to today's
culture. ALL CAPITAL LETTERS are sometimes used to emphasize a text, or a
comment about the text.
Dear Chaplain, I trust you had a wonderful Lord's Day celebrating His powerful
resurrection from the dead. It means so much. According to Romans 6, because of
Jesus' resurrection, one of the realities now at work in His own followers is a
new power to live as God wants them to live. That said,
I come to my message below.
Jails, prisons and rescue missions need godly chaplains. Said another way, they
need spiritual leaders and shepherds who constantly bring Christ's LIGHT into the
darkness of the lives of men and women under their pastoral care.
So, this month I want you to consider Philippians 2:15,16.
In verse 14, there is a command from God to stop complaining, then verse 15
says:
"that (literally, 'in order that') you may become blameless and harmless,
children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,"
This verse implies what other Bible verses say explicitly, namely that the
world, meaning unsaved human society, is in GREAT DARKNESS.
Jesus said in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall NOT WALK IN DARKNESS, but have the LIGHT of
life."
He also said in John 12:46, "I am come as a light into the world, that
whoever believes in Me should not abide (remain) IN
DARKNESS."
Speaking directly to those that had been saved by the new birth (see 1 Peter
1:5,9,23)
1 Peter 2:9 says:
"you are His special people, that you (you all - plural) may proclaim the
praises of Him who called you OUT OF DARKNESS into His marvelous LIGHT;"
By contrast those who do not truly commit themselves to follow Jesus as their
Lord are IN DARKNESS. That darkness is sponsored by Satan himself, whom Jesus,
in John 12:31,14:30 and 16:11 called, "the ruler
of this world."
With that startling revelation 1 Jn.5:19 tells us, "the whole world lies
under the sway of the evil one (that is, Satan)."
In Acts 26:18 it's no wonder Jesus described both salvation itself and the work
of His minister with these words:
"to open their eyes, in order to TURN THEM FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT, and
from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and
an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me."
This DARKNESS is both intellectual and moral. It's INTELLECTUAL, in that
unsaved people have the wrong information. In fact, unless they are God's sheep
from before the foundation of the earth, they cannot believe the right
information. Add to that the fact that from within themselves unsaved people
are totally unable to find out the truth.
But mostly, in the verses mentioned, darkness refers to the MORAL aspect.
Unsaved worldlings are sinful to the core. They are
as Ephesians 2:12 describes, - without Christ, being - strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without God. In other words, they are
in great SPIRITUAL DARKNESS, being Christ-less, promise-less, hopeless and
Godless.
Here in Philippians 2:15, the manifestation of this darkness is called "a
crooked and perverse generation". That word "CROOKED" means
warped, twisted, perverted. God, through the Apostle is saying the whole of
human society in general, is perverted!
Sounds like He's talking about the American scene in 2005
doesn't it? To even a greater extent than in general society, you see
the crooked and perverse ways of unsaved mankind in jails, prisons and on skid
row. As you know from experience, those places are in great darkness!
The word "PERVERSE" in verse15 means totally distorted because of
moral infection and corruption.
Our country is reaping what it has sown the last 50 years. By and large the
Note Philippians 2:15 again "you may become blameless and harmless,
children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation, among whom you SHINE AS LIGHTS in the world,"
How are those who do love and obey Christ to live in such an evil society? How
can they SHINE in such darkness? Answers to those questions are right in our
text.
FIRST, verse 15 gives the Christian three wonderful words that speak of a
deepening purity of life. By the power which God (the indwelling Holy Spirit)
supplies, he or she can become "blameless" "harmless" and
then "without fault".
"BLAMELESS" means having no glaring error in your present life.
"HARMLESS" is deeper than blameless. Literally it means WITHOUT
MIXTURE, hence genuine. It's like the word "sincere" in Phil. 1:10,
where Paul prayed the believers would be "sincere and without offense till
the day of Christ." There the idea there is that their lives would prove
genuine by holding them up to the brightness of Christ's presence when He comes
back.
In the First Century fake jewels could be determined by holding them up to the
sunlight. When the risen, glorified Christ returns, He will be brighter than
the sun shining in its strength. Then, according to 1 Corinthians 4:5, the
truth about our actions and motives will be revealed.
"WITHOUT FAULT" is deeper still, for it speaks of being WITHOUT
BLEMISH, INTERNALLY. If Christians would simply allow Christ to live His life
through them they would be all of these and SHINE AS LIGHTS in the world. The
world around them would then know what the truth was, even if they didn't come
to it.
At least they'd have a strong witness to the fact that those who say they
believe the Bible are better morally than they are. That's what God wants, and
has equipped you to be, dear believing chaplain.
To the extent that you are blameless, genuine and internally pure - you will
SHIMMER LIKE A STAR against the moral blackness of the morals of the unsaved.
The FIRST RESULT then of living for Christ, is the world will see an example of
what Christ can do in a life.
Ask yourself, "do those who sit in darkness all around me see Christ's
GREAT LIGHT shimmering through me?" Let the Lord make you one of His light
bearers for those in the darkness to see!
I say let Him "make you" shine because right here in the text of
verse 15 is the SECOND ANSWER to the question; "How can I shine as light
in such a darkness?"
Our English translation reads - "among whom you shine as lights in the world."
You need to understand the verb "�to shine" is
a passive verb. That means the subject of the verb "you (plural),"
RECEIVES THE ACTION RATHER THAN INSTIGATES IT. The plural "you" then
refers to the believers, the Christians.
Verse 15 is saying they are made to shine by another. Who would that be? It
would have to be Christ, by His Spirit in the believers. HE IS THE LIGHT OF THE
WORLD, WE (BELIEVERS) ARE HIS LIGHT REFLECTORS!
From that basis the next step is stated briefly at the beginning of verse 16:
"holding fast (lit. holding up) the word of life,"
This refers to proclaiming the word of God, and specifically the gospel truths
of sin and salvation ONLY THROUGH THE SUBSTITUTIONARY DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF
THE HISTORICAL JESUS. The biblical gospel is the "word of life,"
because it can bring eternal life to spiritually dead sinners.
By definition, a chaplain is a spiritual leader, a pastor. By biblical
definition a pastor should be a preacher-teacher of God's word. That said, it's
very interesting that Philippians 2:16 calls all true believers to be involved
in this. This passage was written to the whole local church of true believers,
at
As you are a reflector of Christ's light in the darkness of inmate society,
some inmates will be drawn to the message of Christ, by your LIFESTYLE OF
LIGHT.
SO, the SECOND RESULT of living the exemplary Christian life, shining forth
Christ's light, is new and meaningful opportunities to give the gospel to those
who need it.
A THIRD RESULT is future joy and rejoicing on the part of Christian leaders.
Paul continued in verse 16 -
"so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have NOT RUN in vain or
LABORED in vain".
The writer to the Hebrews echoes the thought in Hebrews 13:17
"Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive (meaning to their
biblical teachings) for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give
account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief,"
In verse 16 the Apostle Paul was saying the greatest joy in ministry he'd ever
experience would be when Christ comes back and confirms the fruitfulness of his
ministry in the lives of others.
Paul often likened Christian life and ministry to RUNNING a race. He also says
here in Philippians 2:16 that it's hard work. I say that because the word
"LABORED" there means: to toil to the point of exhaustion!
Despite your hard work, there will be some cases when it will prove before
Christ to be in vain, that it was all for nothing, to no avail! That doesn't
bring joy, but rather grief. Realize it's a part of real ministry. Welcome to
true Christian ministry and the correctional chaplaincy.
Grief is part of what you're called to bear by being placed into this ministry.
But, to your amazement there will also be REAL FRUIT and you'll see it, in the
future "Day of Christ." That will bring you great joy.
The true success of any pastor/chaplain's work will be known in the Day of
Christ Jesus, at His return and subsequent handing out of rewards at what
Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 call, "the judgment seat of
Christ."
In the meantime, realize it's not how many people you get in the chapel, or how
many programs you start and keep running, but how INDIVIDUAL LIVES WERE REALLY
TRANSFORMED BY THE APPLICATION OF BIBLICAL TRUTH that makes correctional
chaplain ministry successful and eternally fruitful. This is what will produce
REAL JOY for you in the final future.
Let Christ and His word of light, SHINE forth!
Rich Hines - Minister To Chaplains,