The Church exists to…

G. Jeffrey MacDonald writes: “People need the Church to help them rise above their lower natures and come to care deeply about higher things, such as the well-being of a stranger in need, or the redemption of a hardened criminal.”  {Page xiii, Thieves in the Temple}

           Take some time, thumb through any of the gospels, and see how long it takes to find a teaching of Jesus or an encounter Jesus has with someone where he drives home the point of selflessness or servanthood or helping someone in need.  It shouldn’t take you long.  Go ahead, start looking…I’ll wait.

Now, a quick question – what’s the first thing that pops into your head when I ask, “The Church exists to…”  Was your first thought inward directed or outward directed?  Which best describes your attitude:

The Church is here to meet my needs or

I exist to serve others?

How you answer that question will help you understand where you are in your walk with Jesus Christ.  God’s Word tells the story of how He calls His creatures to think beyond themselves.  Now that is counter-cultural.

Spend a few minutes listing ways you can serve others.   Perhaps helping with Awana, or God’s Bread Basket, or Care  Pregnancy Center, or some outreach or ministry you’ve always dreamed of starting:

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Jesus says our will only be rich in meaning, purpose, and satisfaction if we care more about the well-being of our neighbor than we do about our own natural impulses to feel dominant, maximally safe, and ever more comfortable.

 ~Richard

Does Jesus Know You?

If I walk up to the front door of the White House and say I know the President, no one will be impressed and I will not be allowed to visit him.  If I walk up to the front door of the White House and the President says he knows me, I will be welcomed with dignity and respect.  Read Matthew 7:21-23. 

If you spend your life going on about how you know Jesus and even do wonderful things in His name it will do you no good come the day of judgment if you have no relationship with Him.  If, however, you spend your life developing a relationship with Jesus based on God’s Word, regardless of what you do or don’t accomplish in His name, Judgment Day will find you being welcomed into glory like royalty as Jesus Christ Himself stands in your defense.  (Romans 8:34)

It is this relationship with Christ (John 14:6), bolstered by the truth He gives us in His Word (Matthew 6:25-34) that allows us to live each day as an exciting adventure with our last day on earth being the most exciting of all.  Take the time now, today, to deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ so that you may enjoy tomorrow resting in His presence.

February 5, 2012

Let’s talk about feeding the flock.  There are four stages of spiritual growth:

1. Exploring Christ – Believe in God but not sure about Jesus.

2. Growing in Christ – Believe in Jesus and working on what it means to know Him.

3. Close to Christ – Close to Christ and depend on Him daily.

4. Christ-Centered – Jesus is preeminent in your life.

Think about where you are on this continuum.  It is important to speak to people at all stages.  And it’s of equal importance for us all to be helping each other grow in our     relationship with Christ.  How do you encourage others?  Are you a gracious presence in other people’s lives?

John Piper has said:

“What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ.”

What did Jesus do?  Jesus didn’t come to make us better people.  Jesus died on the cross for our forgiveness and He is our exalted Lord.  We tell people to be nice because Jesus was nice…sweet because Jesus was sweet…good because Jesus was good, and so on.  But we could substitute “Mother Theresa” for Jesus and end up with the same message.

Our problem is sin and only Jesus can address it.  Did you know there are preachers who flat out won’t talk about sin because it hurts people’s feelings?  How much and how often should we talk about sin?

How do we shift the focus from our awesomeness to the glories of Christ?

Thought for the week:

Inspiration sells…but only Jesus transforms

In the love of Christ,

Richard

 

Rooting Out Bitterness ~ by Richard

Three questions to consider:
How do you deal with your anger?
What do you do when you disagree with someone?
What are the differences between forgiving and excusing?

Read Ephesians 6:10-18…There are all kinds of hurt in the world. There are personal slights and major manifestations of evil. Some of the hurts we experience barely warrant a second thought, while others may scar and take years to overcome.
How do you deal with the little stuff?
How do you deal with the real suffering?

John Piper observes, “Most of our bitterness and anger towards others is rooted in an inability to be profoundly amazed at Christ’s love for us in our sin.” Think about anger you’ve felt or are feeling. What should you be doing about it?

Read Luke 6:27-31…Think of a situation in which you were the victim of someone else’s actions. How did you respond? How should you have responded? Have you ever loved an enemy? Can you love an enemy?

Close with John 3:16. Think about its implications for your life. How does this passage impact your relationship with others?

Our Unchanging God ~ by Richard

How do you think of God? What characteristics of God’s Person are predominating in your thoughts? Do you elevate one attribute of God above others? For example, love, mercy, and justice are attributes of God’s nature. Is one more important than the other?

While everything around us changes, God does not. “Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not; as thou hast been thou forever wilt be.” That’s from Great is Thy Faithfulness, a wonderful hymn. Ten years ago, YouTube and Facebook did not exist. The computer in your cell phone is 1,000,000 times cheaper and 1,000 times more powerful than a computer in 1965 at MIT that took up an entire building. 25 years from now, that same computer will be the size of a blood cell. The top 10 high-paying jobs in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004.

But God doesn’t change. Malachi 3:6, “For I the Lord do not change.” What does that Biblical truth mean to you? What God says in His Word was as true then as it is now. Some will argue, “But people change. Cultures change. Situations and contexts change.” That’s all true. But God doesn’t change. Remember, there is no such thing as past, present, or future for God. God is not bound by our understanding of time. God is, so what God said then is true now.

Put another way, “God is totally and completely perfect in himself from eternity past to eternity future.” God is as infinite, loving, and holy today as He was yesterday or will be tomorrow.

Is it comforting for you to know that God never changes? How? Think about this…because God will never compromise His standards, it will always be “grace alone” and no other means by which we are saved. Jesus Christ will always be the only way to salvation. Are you plugged in to that truth?

Romans 8:26-39

Romans 8:26-39

Can anything separate us from the love of Jesus Christ? As you think about your answer, there are three things God wants you to know from verse 35:
Christ is loving us now. If you’ve ever lost a loved one, you know that at some level the love between the two of you is still there; it is love kept alive in your memory. But that’s not what Paul means here. Christ is loving you now; He was raised; He is alive. Jesus Christ is actively working for you right now.
This love of Christ is for those who trust Him. Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”. Jesus has love for all (universal) and He has a special, saving, preserving love for His followers.
The omnipotent, effective, protecting love does not spare us from calamities, but it does bring us safe to everlasting joy with God. Notice in verse 35 all the bad stuff Paul lists. None of that means that God doesn’t love us or care for us. But here’s the good news – even if we are killed, we’re not separated from Christ.
So let me ask you again…can anything separate you from the love of God? Don’t ever factor God out of your life. It is Jesus Christ who died and rose and reigns and intercedes for those who trust Him. Because of this gift of mercy and grace, we will have eternal joy with Him in the presence of God. So be of good cheer!  ~Richard

Rejoicing: An Activity, Not An Emotion

Quick, name five things you’re thankful for:
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“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.” (Philippians 3:1-11) Why is rejoicing so important to Paul? Does he want us to put on a smiley face and blithely ignore our troubles? Or does he mean we should rejoice when we have things to rejoice over, otherwise we should be sober and serious? What’s his point?
Paul’s point is in his context. He is persecuted and imprisoned. His life is threatened. And so he rejoices. Rejoicing is an activity we choose to do…it is not an emotion. If we choose to rejoice, it means we are choosing not to do something else.
Take a moment to read Matthew 15:18 and Luke 6:43-45. If we are truly rejoicing and thankful for God’s provision, we cannot complain or be resentful. On an average day, which way are you more heavily weighted: resentful or rejoicing?
By choosing to rejoice, even when things are bad, we will guard ourselves against fear, doubt, double-mindedness, and the discouragement that comes from dealing with life’s difficulties.

Going Deeper – You Are Free To, Do You Want To?

Read Matthew 5:14-16.

What does this say to you?  Is there any reason you can think of not to obey this directive from Jesus Christ?  The language is mild, but the command is unmistakable.  We are to let the light of Christ blaze forth like a towering inferno, not a tiny spark.  Make sure you are faithful to the last part of the command.  All glory is to God.  We don’t live a right life to impress people through any means of ours.  Our lives are to be lived so that others praise God. 

Some of you may be familiar with the illusionist Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller fame).  Penn is also a well-known atheist.  There is an interesting video on Youtube of Penn describing an encounter with a man who gave him a bible.  I learned something of evangelism from this vulgar atheist.  The quote is too long for this format so here’s the paraphrase:

“I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize.  If you know there’s a heaven and a hell and you think I might be going to hell, how much do you have to hate me to not try to save me, just because it might be socially awkward?  If I saw you in the street and saw a truck come barreling toward you, I’m only going to wait so long before I tackle you.” – Penn Jillette

How many people have we tackled for Christ?  How many times have we opened ourselves up to ridicule in order to share the story of Jesus?  How willing are we to offend someone in order to save them from eternal damnation?

Let these thoughts and questions jumble around while you read 2 Corinthians 4:1-7.  Now use your life and voice to respond.

Jonah 10/16

Read all of Jonah. It’s a short, funny, satirical take on how we relate to our culture.

As you go about your week, make note of the people, places, and things you see that add to the blessing of life.

Read Psalm 103…

As you go about your week, make note of the evidence of our sinful nature you see. Pray for the people caught up in those manifestations of sin. Really pray for them to know Christ.

Someone has said we live in “post-Christian America”. Is it possible for us to engage our culture in a gracious, loving way?

Read John 1…

How are you loving what God loves? Instead of being offended by our culture, let’s model the grace and love of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 12:5-6
English Standard Version (ESV)

5 “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
6Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Freedom from Lust

We live in a marginally religious culture. God’s desire is for us to be set apart from our culture. As someone once said, we are in the world but not of the world. To help you stand strong against the temptations of this present age, I encourage you to keep these verses accessible:

Matthew 5:27-28; Romans 13-14; Galatians 5:24; Ephesians 2:3; Ephesians 5:11-12; Colossians 3:5.

Lust makes us think that having some person we don’t presently have would make us happier. Lust objectifies another. It also could be an object, like food.

What is our chief purpose? Our chief purpose is to love God; to serve God; to worship God; and to enjoy God forever.

What does lust do? We all have a God-given, built-in need to attach to God in a meaningful way. Too often, we ignore God and seek to attach to people, or even things. That’s what lust is…the desire to attach to something other than God. In other words, lust is the drive to get from others or things what only God can provide.

Lust is the primary driver to sin. Read James 1:14. Think of those times when you are emotionally or spiritually weak. Where do you go when that happens?

If you struggle with lust, repent and turn to God. Read Mark 11:24. God is faithful. Finish with John 15:7 – that is real freedom.