Archive of Midweek Reflections
What dictates our response: doubt or acceptance?
“Incoming Message” (Message Received Sermon Series)
In our new sermon series “Message Received,” we’re examining how specific people responded to the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. DJ focused on three people, specifically, in the first sermon – Zechariah, Joseph, and Mary. All three were Jewish, so they were all well-acquainted with not only the laws of the Old Testament but also the prophecies… prophecies that gave detailed information about the coming Messiah. Despite the similarities in their Jewish background, there were marked differences in how they responded to their particular situations in relation to the coming King.
DJ explored how doubt was present for both Zechariah (Luke 1) and Joseph (Matthew 1). Why did they doubt? Their circumstances were unlikely, at least as they understood them. Zechariah and Elizabeth were going to have a child in their “very old” age? Joseph’s soon-to-be-wife whom he had never laid with was pregnant?
Mary’s response was different, even though it could be argued she received the most shocking news of them all – that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would conceive and give birth to a son (Luke 1:31, 35). Not just any son, either – “…the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32-33).
How did she respond? “I am the Lord’s servant… May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38).
Mary didn’t just hear the incoming message she received (she didn’t just give a cursory glance at the words typed across her phone screen and then go on her merry way). She listened, she wondered, and she answered.
I’ve not had an angel visit me. I’ve not audibly heard the voice of God. Many times in my early walk with Christ, I would say, “God, can you just tell me what you want me to do?” Have you ever said that to Him?
How patient the Lord is with us. The Lord speaks to us every time we open His Word. Unlike Zechariah, Joseph, and Mary, we have the whole canon of Scripture – Old and New Testaments. We have the Lord’s words from creation to when He will overthrow the devil and make all things new.
What are we doing with that message? Is it just sitting in the inbox in bold, noting it hasn’t been read? Has it been read in doubt? Has it been archived and forgotten? Has it been placed in the “deleted” or “Trash” folder?
Or has it been accepted – read, pondered, and answered in submission to and trust in the Lord?
God Almighty is speaking to you. How will you receive His message?
From where do your acts of generosity flow?
“Jesus Sets the Example” (Encountering Generosity Sermon Series)
Christ-like generosity revolves around relationship.
That word “relationship” has a lot packed into it, including interdependence, commitment, and intimacy. The relationship between the Father and Son supremely exemplifies all three, as multiple Scripture references prove. It was from that relationship that Jesus’ earthly life flowed, including His many acts of generosity.
From where do your acts of generosity flow?
Science seeks to answer that question. In my recent reading of the paper “The Science of Generosity” (published by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley), a multitude of factors were researched regarding generosity, factors related to areas like evolution (the term the article used), biology, psychology, and sociology. Extensive information was shared, including the role of religion.
Of course, there was no mention of Jesus – how I look forward to the day mainstream science realizes Jesus is not a threat to their work but rather the piece to complete the puzzle! But as I read through the details of the article, I had to smile. His name mentioned or not, Jesus is there. Take the following, for example:
- Generosity is instinctual, cultural, and even necessary for survival (pg. 10-11).
- Our brains are “wired for generosity” (pg. 12) – there is a feel-good neural response when we show generosity, and there’s also growing research on how specific hormones are linked to generous behavior (pg. 12-15).
- Empathy, compassion, gratitude, feelings of awe, and the belief that others in need should be helped all have strong relationships with generosity (pg. 29-35).
Who created us? Who “wired” our brains? Who designed us for community, interacting with not only each other but also with Him? Whose life illustrated empathy and compassion? Who poured out gratitude through prayer after prayer? Who set the example of helping and serving others? At whose name will every knee bow and every tongue acknowledge as Lord?
As we reflect on generosity, especially through this holiday season marked by giving, more important than what we do or the service we provide is drawing from the relationship we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is relationship with Him first that results in loving service to others.
Want to be more like Jesus? Then let’s be more with Jesus.
What do you value?
“Leaving a Legacy” (guest speaker Matt Churchill)
“You don’t have a will? Oh, that’s not good! I can give you the name and number of a good lawyer. You need to take care of that right away!”
That was the response I received years ago when a loved one learned Andy and I had not yet prepared a last will and testament.
Don’t worry – we have one now, but it was months in the making. There were lots of decisions to make, lots of details to consider. “If we both pass away, who raises the kids? Who gets the house? How do we divide up a very small amount of farm ground between seven children?” Those were just some of the areas we had to discuss, weigh, and discuss again before we could finalize our will.
I was glad when that task was over, and I admit it’s nice knowing those things are in writing so the kids aren’t left in limbo when we’re gone.
But Matt Churchill’s message on Sunday got me thinking. (Matt is the Director of LaMoine Christian Service Camp, and his message Sunday was about leaving a legacy.)
Why don’t we get as worked up and adamant about knowing Jesus as we do about preparing a will? Why do we tend to be much more concerned about earthly provisions for our loved ones than their eternal state?
Matt asked us on Sunday, “What do you value?” He talked about examining how we spend our time and resources to help answer that question. In looking at America as a whole, I’d say we value security. Just look at how much we spend each year on insurance! I did some quick research this morning to discover on average in our country we pay $2,500/year to insure one vehicle, more than $8,000/year per person to pay for health insurance premiums, and another $2,000/year for home insurance. Just like a will, we want to be prepared for when something happens to our earthly possessions and bodies.
Isn’t it interesting (and sad) how much we seem to value security, yet how little we tend to focus on the one source that brings security for all time?
Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Seven chapters later, we read Jesus saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field” (13:44).
What do our daily lives reflect as our treasure? What does the way we spend our time, energy, money, and resources reveal about our hearts? And here’s another sobering question – how does that impact the people around us?
We have opportunity today and each day God gives us to reveal it’s in Jesus we place our trust; He is our eternal security. What He offers – salvation – is a free gift, but as Matt reminded us, following Him costs us everything.
Real generosity can be messy…
“The Good Samaritan” (Encountering Generosity Sermon Series)
“Real generosity can be messy.”
Jason used Luke 10:25-37 as a case in point. A lawyer stood up to test Jesus, asking Him how to inherit eternal life. Jesus answered with a question – “What is written in the Law? How do you read?” The lawyer quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 – to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. But seeking to justify himself, the lawyer asked another question: “And who is my neighbor?” (vs. 29). Jesus didn’t answer the lawyer directly. Instead, He told a parable – the story we’ve come to know as the parable of the Good Samaritan.
In that parable, the expert in the law and the Levite actively avoided the man along the road who had been beaten and left half-dead. As Jason explained on Sunday, helping that man would have been messy; it would have made them unclean by Jewish law. That was not something these Jewish men were willing to risk. The one who ended up helping the beaten man and showing great generosity was a Samaritan. Samaritans were despised by the Jews, so it probably left a bitter taste in the lawyer’s mouth when he answered Jesus’s question about which of the three men proved to be a neighbor to the man: “The one who showed him mercy” (vs. 37).
Jesus didn’t just tell this parable to teach us the lesson of how real generosity can be messy. He also exemplified it through His interactions with others. Going back just a few chapters in Luke’s gospel, we meet another messy person. She hasn’t been beaten by robbers like the man in the parable, but she must have felt beaten down after bleeding for 12 years and spending all her money on doctors that couldn’t heal her (Luke 8:43). Her bleeding would have made her unclean; her uncleanness would have made her an outcast of society. And look what this unclean, outcast woman dared to do… risk making Jesus unclean as well when she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched the hem of His garment (vs. 44). Immediately, her bleeding stopped (vs. 44).
Knowing power had gone out from Him, Jesus questioned, “Who was it that touched me?” How scared the woman must have been to reveal herself. Verse 47 tells us she came trembling and fell down before Jesus. Maybe she braced herself for His chastisement, for the indignant stares of people all around. Jesus’s words to her, though, were not rebuking: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace” (vs. 48). Jesus not only generously healed this woman; He gave back her sense of worth as well.
The Old Testament Law was put in place to help a sinful, messy people better understand and serve a holy, righteous God. Part of that law included His commands for cleanliness. What the religious people seemed to forget or avoid in their observation of cleansing rituals, though, was the heart of those commands. The outward cleanliness was to be a physical sign of their inner state – hearts devoted to God. To use the law as an excuse or self-justification not to help others in their need… they might have kept their physical cleanly status, but just look at the depths of inner messiness their choice revealed.
The actions we take are far less important than the heart behind them. Showing true generosity might put us in the middle of a big mess, but I’d much rather have a messy task, appearance, and schedule than a polluted heart and mind. How about you?
She humbly gave all she had…
“The Widow’s Mite” (Encountering Generosity Sermon Series)
“No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank
In the first message of the “Encountering Generosity” sermon series, DJ walked us through the opening four verses of Luke 21. In this passage, the widow gave two very small copper coins, what DJ shared as the bare minimum one was allowed to give because that amount was just above worthless. Jesus described that offering as “all she had to live on” (vs. 4) and contrasted how she gave out of her poverty while others gave out of their wealth.
At first glance, this was a woman to be pitied. First of all, she was a woman. While Jewish women were highly regarded and played important roles in ancient Israel, by the first century – the time at which this account took place – women’s place in society had drastically changed. William Varner in the article “Jesus and the Role of Women” explains:
“In the centuries following the close of the Old Testament, however, the rabbis instituted practices that went beyond the biblical norms and resulted in much greater restrictions of women’s privileges. These rabbinical strictures were not inspired by God and often reflect a wrong attitude toward women and their abilities.”
According to Varner, social norms at that time for women included very little to no social contact in public, no public teaching of Jewish law, and no right to bear witness in court. All those rights (and many more) were for her husband and other Jewish men.
Strike two – this woman was a widow. If all rights went to her husband, including the ownership of property and the means for an income, then when her husband died… she was destitute. Hopefully she had a son or other family who would take her in and care for her. But if she didn’t…
The picture was indeed bleak for this woman who was also a widow. She would have lived each and every day at the mercy and generosity of God and others. Nothing was secure for her. All she had in her possession were these two small coins.
Have you ever been in that position – down to your last two dollars? If you have, you know the fear that grips you and the tendency to cling tightly to those dollars, to harbor them in safety and not let them out of your sight. You’re certainly not rushing to just give those $2 away!
This widow did not hold tightly to the coins. She didn’t hold them at all. She gave them to the Lord.
Maybe she knew the danger of holding on too tightly, how the money could become something in which she would place her trust – an idol that would lead her astray. Maybe it took every ounce of determination she had to release the coins from her hands. Maybe she whispered words like these: “Almighty Father, I know this isn’t much. It certainly can’t compare with the riches of others. But I give all I have to You. I love You and I trust that You will care for me.” Lots of maybes we could assume, but of this we can be sure: Jesus said she “put in more than all the others” (vs. 3). How could someone poor put in more, more than any others? Because what she lacked in monetary means she made up for in humble, genuine faith. Giving the Lord her last two coins didn’t increase her poverty; it increased her testimony. After all, we’re still reading about it today, thousands of years later.
Do what it says…
“Applying God’s Word” (Growing in the Word Sermon Series)
After Sunday’s message, I went back to study James 1:19-25. I had in my notes that Jason called me a fool during that sermon… To be fair, Jason explained how foolish it is to have the knowledge of God’s Word yet not do what it says. Guilty. Fool, right here!
This is the passage in which our English translations use the word “forget” in the analogy of the one who looks in the mirror and then walks away. I know in the past when I’ve read that passage, I’ve thought, “Who looks at themselves in the mirror and then walks away and immediately forgets what they look like… especially when they’ve looked intently like the Bible says?”
When Jason explained the Greek word used here, it was a lightbulb moment. It’s not that we aren’t able to remember what we look like upon walking away; it’s that we disregard what we saw. That’s intentional. We make the choice to ignore what was revealed in the study of ourselves in the mirror – walking around with the glob of mustard on our lips and chin. Apply that to our use of God’s Word, like James is explaining, and we indeed are foolish as we study what God says but choose not to follow through.
Let’s back up a few verses and compare that choice to the one found in verse 18:
He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.
“He” is the Father – the one who gives “every good and perfect gift” and “who does not change like shifting shadows” (vs. 17). Look at what He chose: to give us (sinful, dirty fools) birth – new life – through His word. James even goes on to explain why the Father made that choice: that we (sinful, dirty fools) could be a type of firstfruits of all creation.
The Greek word for firstfruits is ἀπαρχή; it means “choice offerings.” According to the Lexham Bible Dictionary, it’s “the first and best part of the harvest of crops or processed produce, animals, and firstborn sons.”
Imagine us – sinful, dirty fools – being the choicest and best parts of the harvest. How is that even possible? Because of the blood of Jesus Christ “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). His blood cleanses us (1 John 1:7), we’re no longer condemned, and we have new life in the Spirit (Romans 8:1-2, 5-6). Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! That’s worth shouting about… and it’s worth us living in the Spirit’s power to choose Him in all we do. To not just read and study His Word, acquiring the knowledge He offers… but to be living, breathing testimonies of that Word through the way we live our lives (with love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – Galatians 5:22-23).
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. – James 1:22-25
May we do what God’s Word says. May we look intently into His Word, not disregarding or neglecting it, but doing it.
We have the results of your recent test and need you to come in to speak with the doctor this morning.
“Let the Word Study You” (Growing in the Word Sermon Series)
“We have the results of your recent test and need you to come in to speak with the doctor this morning.”
I’ve received that specific phone call twice in the last 12 years. Both times I was diagnosed with cancer. As a result, I’m reluctant to go to doctor’s appointments, even routine ones… the routine, seemingly benign appointments are what have uncovered the malignant monsters lying underneath.
Have you been there? Have you feared what the study of your test results, lab reports, and physical examinations will uncover? How your life might be changed or even threatened?
Jason used an illustration Sunday to compare how a doctor studies us physically and how God’s word studies us spiritually. I’ve been thinking about that comparison for my own life and study of the Bible. I can identify times when I didn’t open my Bible because I knew God would show me things about myself that I didn’t want to acknowledge. I can pinpoint times when I did read His word and thought more about how someone else needed to meditate on that passage rather than myself. Splinter – chunk of wood/speck – plank, right? (Matthew 7:1-5)
It can be frightening to think about God’s word studying us. We can fear what may be uncovered through that just like we fear what a doctor might find through his/her study of our bodies. There are significant differences, though, of which we must be aware.
- A doctor only knows the diagnosis upon studying various symptoms and running tests, all of which we must submit to having done. God, on the other hand, knows our specific issues regardless of whether we submit ourselves to His revealing.
- A doctor may not be able to pinpoint what’s ailing us, may only offer things to treat the symptoms rather than cure the cause, and cannot guarantee we won’t become ill again. God, on the other hand, knows sin is our problem, understands how that sin manifests in each of our lives, and offers the cure to us as a gift that seals our healing – the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.
With that in mind, maybe we can approach differently the study of God’s word and His word’s reciprocal study of us. Maybe we can approach God’s written word like the Samaritan woman at the well responded to the living Word – Jesus (John 4:1-42)…
Jesus told the woman her problem. She did not answer with fear. She sought more information, she listened to His claim of being the Messiah, and she went back to her hometown to tell others about Jesus – the same “others” she would have been attempting to avoid by going to draw water from the well at midday. She even, in her haste to tell others, left her water jar at the well! She came for one thing that her physical body needed over and over again to function, and she left with the one thing that her spiritual body needed once for all eternity.
Let’s not be afraid to study God’s word or let it study us. Let’s not fear what that study may reveal. Like the woman at the well, let’s find out what God has to say to us, leave behind our agendas and what we think we need, and go to our places to tell others we have encountered Jesus.
Why do I need to know all this stuff?
“First the Exam… Then the Study” (Growing in the Word Sermon Series)
“Mom, why do I need to know all this stuff? Can you just get to the point? Will you just tell me what I’m supposed to do?”
Those words usually get fired at me in frustration from my daughters, specifically when working on school lessons together. I then try to patiently explain why the information leading up to the main point/application is important. I’m rewarded with eye rolls and groaning.
I can’t blame my girls. So often I’ve had the same type of attitude, including when I read my Bible. I labor over lists of names I can’t pronounce; I’m overwhelmed by measurements and specific building instructions that don’t include labeled pieces and a step-by-step illustration; I muddle through the hundreds of laws that line page after page after page. Eyes cast heavenward, I ask, “God, do I really need to know all this stuff? Can’t I just skip over this part?”
I’m so thankful for the patience of the Lord. I’m grateful He’s led me to keep reading His word year after year, even those sections that come as such a struggle. It’s not that I need to know all those names, the exact dimensions, or each law itself. It’s how the Lord uses that information to reveal Himself to me.
Think about reading for the first time Jesus’s words about worry (Matthew 6:25-34). Jesus gets to the point and tells us what we’re supposed to do:
… do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear (vs. 25).
There it is in black and white – right to the point – don’t worry! But even having the direct command shared in plain language doesn’t solve the issue. We don’t just stop worrying because we read those few words in the Bible. Worry will continue until we know we have someone in whom we can trust.
We find that someone in whom we can trust when we read other passages of the Bible, passages like the following:
- God used a man who had been thrown in a cistern to die, taken as a slave to a foreign land, falsely accused of sexual misconduct, and confined to a prison for two years to save an entire nation during a 7-year famine (Genesis 37-50).
- God provided quail and manna for the Israelites in the desert – raining down bread from heaven that would appear like frost on the desert ground each morning (manna) and covering the camp area in quail every evening (Exodus 16).
- God used ravens to feed the prophet Elijah during a drought, and the Lord also made sure the jar of flour and jug of oil never ran out in the house of the widow where Elijah later stayed (1 Kings 17).
Studying the Bible isn’t easy. Even when we have the right mindset and heart, there will be verses and passages we don’t understand. We’ll wrestle with questions and be impatient for answers. We can’t let those things stop us from studying or keep us from starting. As we are faithful in our pursuit of growing in God’s word, He will be faithful to nourish us along the way. We have 66 books, 1,189 chapters, and 31,102 verses to serve as proof.
Once upon a time…
“Text or Treasure?” (Growing in the Word Sermon Series)
Did you know the Bible and its principles guided the establishment of our nation? That the Bible used to be the foundation of early education? That it was the primer used for colonial education and even of paramount importance in higher ed? That Harvard University rules once stated Jesus Christ as “the only foundation of all knowledge and learning” (Dunham Bible Museum)?
The book that previously was the guide for the governing of our country… that once was opened by teachers and read from daily to the students… that formerly was a study requirement for university students… it’s not been quietly slid to an obscure place in the library shelves. It has been uproariously ripped from most areas of the public sphere and hurled into the dark abyss of hedonism.
Is that description a bit dramatic? Possibly. Is it true? Unfortunately.
Dismal as the times seem, particularly for those who are Scripture engaged, we’re not the first to be living among corruption that stems from direct disobedience of God’s word. Let’s be honest… that’s been occurring since Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It was certainly something with which the apostle Paul was well familiar. We have his letters to various churches throughout Asia Minor and the Roman Empire as proof. In these letters, he addressed issues such as sexual sin, idolatry, false teachings, and division. While his words were direct and often stinging, they came from a heart of love and included Scripture. Galatians 5:13-15 is an example:
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Paul would write the letters led by the Holy Spirit, and the letters would be delivered to the different churches. They would be read aloud, and then his words would be passed from one person to another. Even though the vast majority of people didn’t have Paul’s letters in hand, they recited what they’d heard and shared truth with others in their homes, places of business, and community. The gospel was spread!
In today’s culture, many people do own or at least have access to the Bible, yet infrequently is that found in their hands. Statistics like the ones included in Sunday’s message show that an overwhelming percent of our society is not reading and studying God’s word. But they can still hear/see God’s word throughout the daily interactions they have with those of us who do pour over the Scriptures. Speak the word of God to them. Post His word on your streams. Exemplify His truth through the way you live your life – the love you display, the decisions you make, the actions you take.
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
God, prepare us as the bride of Christ…
“The Bride of Christ” (All Together Now Sermon Series)
“God, prepare us as the bride of Christ.” This was Jason’s prayer as he wrapped up the All Together Now sermon series.
What preparations go into being a bride? For much of our culture, the preparation is extensive. Months, and even years in some cases, are spent preparing to be a bride. There’s the dress, the jewelry, the shoes, the hair, the makeup, the flowers, the attendants’ formalwear, the venue, the cake, the music, the dances… and don’t forget the groom! While a wedding can be a beautiful and exhilarating time, so much effort is poured into that single day/night of celebration that often very little emphasis is placed on the relationship that marriage establishes.
If we’re not on guard, we as Christ-followers can also turn the process of becoming the bride of Christ into a series of checklists, chores, stress, anxiety, and endless to-do lists. I am particularly prone to this. I’m a type A personality. My husband tells people I make lists for my lists, and two of my closest companions are Excel and a laminator. I thrive on details and organizing… to a fault. I become so focused on the ministries, the events, the scheduling, the food, the volunteers, the setting up, the cleanup, etc. that Jesus is no longer out front leading me but instead left in the dust of my hurried off-to-the-next task departure, barely a speck in my rearview mirror. I guess that makes me a runaway bride…
What do we miss in the details and the frantic pace at which so many of us live? Who do we miss?
Often, it’s not just Jesus who is left behind in the dust; it’s also others. The Church, the body of Christ, is the bride of Christ. Not me. Not you. Us – all together now.
The apostle Paul explains this metaphor of a body in 1 Corinthians 12. In that chapter, Paul outlines the variety of gifts God gives to us as individuals. Those gifts are not for individual purposes or benefits, though: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (vs 7). When each of us as an individual uses the specific gift(s) God has given to join other individuals in the use of their gifts, we as many parts form one body – the body of Christ (vs 12-14). Paul goes on to describe how each part – though different – is necessary and valuable… “so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (vs 25-26).
If we want to prepare to be the bride of Christ, then we must now be the body of Christ.
Romans 6:13 says: “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” In the Greek, the original language in which this letter of Paul’s was written, the possessive form of “you” used in this passage is plural: ὑμῶν. The Lord’s instruction through Paul was not to an individual, to a person on his/her own; it was to the church, the body of believers, in Rome. Collectively, all together now, they were to offer themselves to God as a means through which His righteousness was displayed.
Collectively, all together now, we are to offer ourselves to God as a means through which His righteousness is displayed – the body of Christ preparing to be the bride of Christ.
I have a heart condition…
Midweek Reflection on Love in Action (All Together Now Sermon Series)
I have a heart condition. It’s called SPIM (Selfish Prideful Impatient and More). I’ve had this condition for a long time… since birth. It’s a constant battle to keep under control, and that makes it difficult to perform daily practices like kindness, generosity, patience, and compassion.
I start out fairly well first thing in the morning. My SPIM is barely noticeable at that point. But as the day goes on, the condition worsens. It’s very easy to detect. You may receive from me a snarl instead of a smile, a harsh word instead of an encouragement, a cold shoulder instead of a helping hand. By the day’s end, I am crippled by its effects – anger, blame, judgment, discouragement, doubt, fear, exhaustion.
The really sad part about this condition is there’s help to manage it each and every single day, yet I often forfeit the help, preferring to suffer instead. Why do I do that? Don’t I want to get better?
I do want to get better, but my mind plays some nasty tricks on me. You see, the help that’s offered to me is love – perfect love that knows no bounds and is given as a gift that costs me nothing (even though it was so expensive to the Giver). It – love – is the antidote to SPIM (selfishness, pridefulness, impatience, and more), but I know accepting this gift for myself also means giving it away to others. And sometimes… okay, oftentimes… it’s hard to love others. Because my SPIM affects my eyesight as well. It causes me to view others’ differences as threats rather than assets, others’ actions as suspicious rather than pure, others’ words as empty rather than meaningful. And, well, if that’s how I’m viewing others, then how in the world can I love them?!
That answer can only be found in God’s Word.
In Sunday’s message “Love in Action,” D.J. read verses 37-39 of Matthew 22. One of the Pharisees tested Jesus with the question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (verse 36). Jesus replied:
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
Notice the order of these commands. First, we are to love God. Second, we are to love others. Why is that order significant? Because our ability to love others is directly dependent on our love for God. Do we love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind? Are we patient with Him? Are we kind to Him? Are we humble before Him? Do we honor Him above all else including ourselves? Do we trust Him? Do we rejoice in His truth? Do we find our hope and strength in Him? These are descriptions of love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Are they true, then, of how we love God?
Seems if I want to (and I am commanded to) love others, then I must first examine my love for the Lord.
Do you also suffer from SPIM? Shall we join all together now to ask the Lord to examine us, to lead us in confessing our sinful ways and repenting of those ways, and to guide us in loving Him with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds?
Midweek Reflection on “Praying All Together” (All Together Now Sermon Series)
Character is what a man is in the dark. – Dwight L. Moody
Maybe you know that quote in a different form, something like, “The true character of a person is revealed when they face adversity.”
Adversity (hardship, difficulty) is foreign to no one. The circumstances may be different and the degree to which it’s felt may be less for some than for others, but we are all faced with it and must make a choice how we will respond.
Jason walked us through how Peter and John responded to the adversity they faced after healing a lame man at the area of the temple known as the Beautiful Gate (Acts 3). They didn’t just heal him in the name of Jesus. Peter spoke to the crowd gathered in Solomon’s portico, and he didn’t mince words. Peter explained to the crowd that the man’s healing was a result of faith in Jesus – the same Jesus they (the people, the Jews) had delivered over, had denied, had asked to be murdered, had killed (Acts 3:13-16). The same Jesus the prophets had spoken of long ago, the same Jesus of whom Moses foretold and who would fulfill the covenant of blessing the Lord gave to Abraham (vs. 21-26).
Peter and John were arrested and on the next day were questioned by the rulers, elders, and scribes (Acts 4:1-7). The two apostles were warned to not speak or teach in Jesus’s name anymore and were released after further threats (vs. 17-21). We know from verses 23-30 that the response of Peter and John was to lift their voices together in prayer with other believers.
As believers ourselves, that should be our immediate response to adversity as well – praying together with our brothers and sisters that we will be bold, obedient servants of the Lord Most High who proclaim the name of Jesus. How often is that our response? Has that been our response since the sudden departure of the senior minister? Will that be our response moving forward?
Our church is in a time of great adversity. Maybe it seems like a small matter to some. After all, there are believers all over the world who taste the threats of death each day just because they dare speak the name Jesus. Our lives are not being physically threatened, so stop being so dramatic, right?! Maybe in response to the situation our church has been thrust in you’ve had thoughts like: “In the grand scheme of things, this is no big deal. It certainly can’t compare with what others are enduring. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing because this too shall pass.” I fear those are thoughts the enemy celebrates because if he can entice us into believing along those lines, then he doesn’t have to worry about us confessing our hurt and brokenness to one another, leaning on one another for support and encouragement, or joining all together in prayers that acknowledge the Lord’s sovereignty and seek as one the boldness to speak and love as Jesus did.
I praise God that our physical lives are not in danger at the present time and place in which we live, and I pray for our brothers and sisters who are facing that reality. I also realize our spiritual lives are being threatened, and that is no small threat. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us: “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Ephesians 6:12 reveals: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Church, as we wrestle through the adversity we’re currently facing, may we engage in the battle all together, in boldness, with the armor that He’s given us, and in His perfect, all-sufficient power and strength. And in doing so, may it be true of our character that times of darkness revealed the light and love of Christ.
Midweek Reflection: Lean on One Another (All Together Now Sermon Series)
“Lean on one another.” There are numerous “one another” passages in the New Testament, and while there is not one that specifically says “lean on one another,” D.J. explained how the idea behind that phrase is prevalent. Here are just a few examples of “one another” Bible passages.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. – John 13:34-35
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. – Romans 12:16
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. – Ephesians 4:2
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. – Colossians 3:13
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. – Hebrews 3:13
Peter Krol, a writer for Logos’ blog “Word by Word,” shares that the “one another” passages in the New Testament “characterize a community of reflecting the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, the world sees Jesus when we as His body obey God’s Word with how we treat one another. And how we treat one another may never come through so boldly as times of deep hurt and grief.
During those times our tendency is to operate from the pain rather than from the provision of strength, grace, and mercy of the Lord. Our hurt often drives us toward a myriad of responses/behaviors that might include avoidance, isolation, blaming, and/or condemning. Those stem from a focus on self – my hurt, my pain. While we must acknowledge that pain, we cannot operate and live from there. It will eat us up and seek to destroy us. So instead, we must turn to our Provider – Jehovah-Jireh – who supplies all of our needs (Philippians 4:19). And one method He uses to supply is one another.
Jesus sets this example. Being fully God and fully man, He hung on a cross in submission to the Father’s will. Of the people who stood nearby watching His agonizing death, His mother and the disciple John were among them. In John 19:26-27, we learn that Jesus said to his mother Mary, “Woman, here is your son.” To the disciple John, Jesus said, “Here is your mother.” Verse 27 ends with “From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” Here is Jesus going through excruciating pain and torment, and His concern is for another.
Now, none of us is Jesus. We do, though, have Jesus living in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. And we can be confident that since God’s Word instructs us on how to treat one another, He provides what we need to fulfill those commandments. May it be His power we rely on to carry out His Word, and may the world around us see Him.
Midweek Reflection: We Were Made for Each Other (All Together Now Sermon Series)
Identity. It’s something we search for and seek to create from a very young age. We ask questions like “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?”. We go through experiences that teach us about ourselves and also learn about ourselves from other people – family, friends, teachers, coaches, bosses … society. Daily we’re surrounded by messages like “You do you” and “Speak your truth,” seeming on the surface to speak to our desire to be set apart from others, to be special and different.
Ironically, in a culture so set on individualism and the focus to “be your own person,” individuals really aren’t all that different. We start out in the same rocky, shallow soil that ends up producing thistles and thorns (and eventually death if that’s the soil where we remain) – the soil of self.
This desire to be set apart and truly special is indeed found in a person, but it’s not yourself and it’s not myself. It is only found in Jesus Christ. And it’s not something we become on our own; our identity in Him is communal.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. – 1 Peter 2:9
Jason explained that the “you” used in this verse is plural in the Greek language; it’s a collective call rather than an individual one. Together as those who have entrusted our lives to Jesus, this is our identity – a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God’s special possession.
Those descriptions are rich in meaning, and the incredible way the Lord uses to help us understand this identity in Him is the metaphor of the body. A body is made up of many different parts, and each part has its own functions to carry out that are necessary for the body to operate effectively as a whole. The Church – every person who has submitted his/her life to the Lord Jesus – is the body of Christ – one body made up of many different parts and each part necessary to form the whole (Romans 12 & 1 Corinthians 12). We are the body, and Christ is the head (Ephesians 1:22-23). The Holy Spirit dwells in us (Romans 8:9) – the same Spirit in each of us (Ephesians 4:4). The Lord equips each of us with various gifts, and those gifts are to be used to serve “so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13).
As followers of Christ, we don’t have to ask “Who am I?” or ride the merry-go-round of continuously seeking to “find myself” in ideas, achievements, possessions, etc. Our identity is made clear to us through the Holy Scripture, and that’s a breathtaking identity formed when we all function as one – unified – through Jesus.
As we go out into the world this week – whether physically or virtually – I pray we will bear the image of our Savior. We’ll be in different places, around different people, doing different things, but I pray others will still see the same thing… the body of Christ – a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession declaring His praises.
Midweek Reflection on Habakkuk: God is in Control (Minor Who? Part II Sermon Series)
God can handle our questions and even our complaints. Habakkuk serves as a prime example. The Lord listens to our cries of “Why, God?” and “How long, Lord?” just like He listened to Habakkuk’s. Those exclamations of anguish from deep within don’t fall on deaf ears. The Lord answered Habakkuk’s first complaint… and He answered Habakkuk’s second complaint. Through the Bible He answers our complaints as well.
Maybe you’re thinking, “But I’ve read the Bible and I read the Bible and I still don’t have an answer for why this is happening or when this horrible trial will end!”
Fellow pilgrim, may I speak as one who also feels the distress and torment of your heart?
When we don’t have answers… when we are tempted to lock our eyes on all the questions, doubts, and fears… when the map has no markers or roads close to where we’re residing… we go to the Mapmaker. We take our eyes off of what we can’t understand and the answers we can’t seem to find and we fix our gaze on the Lord and what He has made known.
Over and over again God has revealed Himself to us through His Word. Over and over again, we learn that He is good, loving, compassionate, full of grace, merciful…
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him. Psalm 34:8
I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love. Jonah 4:2
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3
As we work through various trials and heartaches, we will ask the questions “Why?” and “How long, Lord?” We will lament, wail, grieve, maybe even wrestle with the Lord for answers. I pray we won’t sit in that torment long, though. I pray we will stand in the power of the Holy Spirit and announce with conviction, “I don’t know why this is happening. I don’t know how long this will last. But I do know this – the Lord is in His holy temple; He is on the throne. He’s still in control, and He’s still good, loving, compassionate, full of grace, and merciful. I will praise the Lord who is my strength. Yes, in Him I will rejoice.”
The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. Habakkuk 2:20
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights. – Habakkuk 3:17-19
Midweek Reflection on Nahum: You Can Trust Christ to be Your Comfort (Minor Who? Part II Sermon Series
Remember Jonah preaching to the city of Nineveh, giving a five-word message from the Lord that in English translates to “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4)? That message was given in approximately 785 B.C. Nineveh’s response to God’s message through Jonah… they believed God, they fasted, put on sackcloth, called urgently on God, and gave up their evil ways and violence (Jonah 3:5-9). In short, they repented, and God’s response was to relent and not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened (Jonah 3:10).
We once again see Nineveh as a main character in the book of Nahum. The prophet Nahum gives a prophecy about Nineveh, too, more than 100 years after Jonah. His prophecy is not a mere five words, though. Of the three chapters in Nahum and 47 verses total, 45 verses detail the wicked ways of Assyria (of which Nineveh was the capital) and God’s impending judgment.
Nahum makes obvious the temporary nature of Nineveh’s repentance. They had returned to rampant wickedness and violence, being referred to as “city of blood,” “full of lies,” and “never without victims” (3:1). Because of their hardened hearts and their failure to once again give up their evil ways, the Lord’s judgment came. The beginning words of the final verse of this book are “Nothing can heal you; your wound is fatal” (3:19). Nineveh fell in 612 BC, and three years later, Assyria was completely conquered.
It’s easy to read books like Nahum and think, “This book written thousands of years ago about an empire that no longer exists has nothing to do with me.” However, we would be wise to heed the message of this long-ago prophet. Why? We live in times and places all too similar to that of Nineveh. Take, for example, Nahum 3:10; that verse speaks of infants being “dashed to pieces.” The Guttmacher Institute reported that there were 1,026,700 abortions in the United States in 2023. I hope you didn’t read over that number quickly. Look at it again: 1,026,700… over a million babies were killed last year right here in our country.
We live in a modern-day Nineveh. How will we respond?
We are thankful to serve a God who is “gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love” (Jonah 4:2), a God who is patient with us, wants no one to perish and desires all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Let us also remember that God is just. He will not allow disobedience and injustice forever. Jesus will return, and Jesus will judge all (Matthew 24:36-44, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 21:25-28, John 5:28-29, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Hebrews 9:27-28). We don’t know the day or the hour of His return (Matthew 24:36), but we know His Word is true.
Therefore, in obeying Jesus’ command “Follow me,” we must recognize the brokenness all around us, have compassion for others, and be workers who walk in faith into the fields that are ripe for harvest (Matthew 9:35-38).
“This is what every follower of Jesus should be engaged in on a regular basis: sharing our faith, leading others to Christ, discipling them, and helping them to get grounded in the church – and then going out and doing it all again.” – Greg Laurie
Midweek Reflection on Micah 1:2-7: God is Compassionate and Forgives the Sins of Those Who Repent (Minor Who? Part II Sermon Series)
Sunday’s message was on the minor prophet Micah. Donnie asked the question, “What does this book have to do with me?” As we look at the world around us and all the heartbreak and strife, the book of Micah reminds us who God is and the hope we have in Him. Donnie encouraged us to dwell on the beautiful promises of the greatness of God, so let’s take time to do just that.
- God created us, knit us together in the womb, and knows us completely (Psalm 139).
- We will find God when we seek Him with all our heart and soul (Deuteronomy 4:29).
- We don’t have to fear or be discouraged because God is with us wherever we go (Joshua 1:9).
- The Lord is good, and His love endures forever (1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 136).
- He’s our rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, salvation, and stronghold (Psalm 18:2).
- The Lord is our shepherd, provider, the refresher of our souls (Psalm 23:1-3).
- God is our refuge, strength, ever-present help, and comfort during times of trouble (Psalm 46:1, 2 Corinthians 1:4).
- God is close to the heartbroken, to those crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18).
- The Lord delights to show mercy, has compassion, and is faithful (Micah 7:18-19).
- Nothing – nothing – can separate us from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39).
- Through Jesus, God’s peace guards our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:7).
- God chooses to remember our sins no more (Hebrews 10:17).
- Those who follow Jesus have the light of life and will never walk in darkness (John 8:12).
- God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
- Even though we are sinners deserving of death, God graciously gives us the gift of eternal life through the blood of Jesus Christ – a gift we cannot earn, for it’s not by works (Romans 3:23, 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9).
- We have a living hope through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, an inheritance that never perishes, spoils, or fades (1 Peter 1:3-4).
This list is not exhaustive. God’s Word contains many more promises of His greatness. Write down those promises as you come across them in Scripture. Meditate on them. Embrace them. Breathe them in. And when the difficult, scary times strike… breathe them out as prayers of remembrance, trust, and thankfulness.
Midweek Reflection on Jonah 4:1-11: God’s Saving Mercy Toward the Nations of the World (Minor Who? Part II Sermon Series)
“Is it right for you to be angry?”
The Lord asked the prophet Jonah this question twice (Jonah 4:4, 9). Has He ever asked you this question? Have you ever considered if it’s right for you to be angry, even if it’s what you deem “righteous” anger?
A month ago… well before hearing this sermon, I read Brant Hansen’s book Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better. I was challenged then to ask myself if it’s right for me to be angry with different people and situations. In the wake of this sermon and the injustices plastered across our media, I continue exploring that question.
Let’s think about some situations that are probably typical for most people – slamming on the brakes because someone pulled out in front of you, being blamed for something you didn’t do, someone else taking/receiving credit for something good you did, seeing others hurt at the hand of bullies and tyrants, learning of or witnessing the un-Christlike behavior of other Christians.
When these things happen, anger is often my response. Through prayer and study, God has moved me to better understand that anger is a dangerous response on multiple levels. Anger raises the blood pressure, creates tension throughout the body, upsets the stomach, makes sleep difficult/restless, and labors breathing. In isolated moments, these symptoms might not seem like a big deal… but anger tends to linger. When the anger lingers, so do the responses. Eventually we could notice frequent headaches, chronic high blood pressure, sore joints and muscles, fatigue, acid buildup in our digestive systems, etc. Those are just some of the physical issues anger can induce, but anger also has deep impact on our mental, spiritual, and relational health. We might replay a situation over and over in our minds, getting angry repeatedly. We pay less attention to our loved ones and time with God as we fixate on the injustice and hurt. We become embittered, and soon, rather than displaying the love of Jesus, we are exhibiting the fruit of the flesh the Bible warns against. Notice it’s not positive change that usually results from our anger. Quite the opposite, anger often propels us to exacerbate the problem.
Jonah is a prime example of this. While we don’t know if Jonah suffered high blood pressure, headaches, sleepless nights, or an upset stomach, the Bible does indicate Jonah’s mental, spiritual, and relational unhealthiness.
As we come across people and situations that evoke the emotion of anger, we would do well to reflect on both the internal and external implications. Internally, “Is it right for me to be angry?” and externally, “Who/what will benefit from my anger?”
Some of you may be thinking, “But wait, even Jesus got angry. Matthew 21 tells us He drove the buyers and sellers from the temple courts and overturned the tables of the moneychangers! That gives me the right to be angry at injustices, too.” I’ve had that same thought, but my thinking was challenged by Hansen’s book. I encourage you to check out what he has to say about that argument and to remember Ephesians 5:31-32: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 13:1-19: Imitate Jesus (Hebrews Sermon Series)
“The posture of your heart will drive the pace of your life.” This quote from Rick Warren came to mind during Jason’s sermon on Sunday. Jason taught about imitating Jesus, using the final chapter of Hebrews as the guide (Chapter 13). He encouraged us to model the One who never changes in our world of constant change.
It’s difficult to model Jesus if our focus isn’t trained on Him. And we can’t focus on Jesus if He’s not the desire of our hearts. Jesus Himself said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
How do we know where our heart lies? One key way is scrutinizing how we spend our time and resources. To what or whom do we devote much time and energy? On what do we spend money? Who or what consumes our thoughts and attention?
This past fall, I studied John Mark Comer’s book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. In that book, Jesus’ way of life was examined – how Jesus lived unhurried rather than rushing, walking rather than running, at peace rather than stressed.
One chapter that was particularly convicting was on Sabbath. Comer shared on pages 145-146:
“We live with chronically unsatisfied desires. Like an itch that no matter how many times you scratch doesn’t go away. No matter how much we see, do, buy, sell, eat, drink, experience, visit, etc., we always want more.
“The question for us as apprentices of Jesus, or really as humans, is simple: What do we do with all this pent-up, unsatisfied desire? This restlessness?
“The Jesus tradition would offer this: human desire is infinite because we were made to live with God forever in His world and nothing less will ever satisfy us, so our only hope is to put desire back in its proper place on God. And to put all our other desires in their proper place below God. Not to detach from all desire (as in Stoicism or Buddhism), but to come to the place where we no longer need ______ to live a happy, restful life.”
Posturing our heart on anything other than Jesus will drive an unhealthy pace for our lives. Even something that seems as innocuous as doing service for the Lord can lead to an unsustainable and dangerous pace if what we’re focusing/posturing on is not, ultimately, Jesus. For example, if we say “yes” to every service request we receive because we want to please others and/or we want to “earn” the gift God has so generously given, eventually we will burn out, be overstressed, neglect other specific tasks to which God has called us, reduce or cut personal time with Him to fit more activities in, etc.
May we each spend time this week honestly reflecting on the posture of our heart and the pace of our lives.
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 12:1-29: Discipled in Jesus (Hebrews Sermon Series)
In today’s world, the word “discipline” gets construed in a variety of ways. Some hear that word and cringe because it produces thoughts of pain inflicted out of anger. If we’ve been raised or in relationship with someone whose “discipline” includes harsh punishment and guilt, hearing that the Lord disciplines may bring about fear and the desire to avoid God.
While our experiences are important to operating in the world and making sense of our surroundings, we must be careful about interpreting the Bible through that personal lens. Placing so much emphasis on ourselves when studying God’s Word puts us at high risk of misinterpretation. As an example, just think about the various ways Philippians 4:13 has been misused.
Going back to the original language and working to understand the context are a few key ways to help avoid misinterpretation. The book of Hebrews was originally written in Greek. The Greek word for discipline is παιδεία. It refers to training, correction, instruction, and nurturing.
For a quick recap on the context, Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were struggling with the temptation to return to their Jewish traditions and routines – traditions and routines that were no longer necessary due to Jesus. As we’ve studied over the past 12 weeks, Jesus is superior to all others – He’s greater than the angels (chapters 1 & 2), He’s greater than Moses (chapter 3), He’s greater than the priests of the Old Testament (chapters 4-9), and He’s greater than the Law and sacrifices of the old covenant (8-10). The author of Hebrews reminds these Christians of Christ’s superiority and then implores them to exercise their new faith through endurance, obedience, and love (chapters 11-13).
Putting together that Greek word for discipline (found in Hebrews 12:5-11) and the context for this book, we can better understand that discipline is an avenue God uses to help us grow and mature.
At this point some of us might say, “But it’s painful! Why would God have us endure pain if He loves us?” The last part of that question gives us the answer. Hebrews 12 makes it clear it is because of God’s love that He disciplines us (verse 6), and that discipline serves as proof we are His children (verse 8). God loves us. He knows what’s best for us. He desires for us to share in His holiness (verse 10). Even though that discipline is painful, verse 11 encourages us with the outcome, the product of discipline – “… a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
That understanding of discipline should spur us into faithful obedience (not because we’re trying to earn God’s love but rather out of gratitude for the fact that God first loved us – 1 John 4:19). Look at the verses that follow and how they’re structured. Verse 12 begins with “Therefore,” and then has the verb “strengthen.” Verse 13 begins with the verb “make,” as does verse 14. The verb “see” begins verses 15 & 16.
When God disciplines us, I pray our response stems from a loving, obedient, and faithful heart that seeks to “strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees… make level paths for our feet… make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy… see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many… see that no one is sexually immoral or is godless” (Hebrews 12:12-16).
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 11:5-40: Obedience to Jesus (Hebrews Sermon Series)
“The rewards of faith are always worth the cost even though obedience to God means sacrifice of self.” This was the closing statement of Donnie’s message Sunday, the culmination of verses 8-19 of Hebrews 11. In this passage we were reminded of the faithfulness of Abraham – faithfulness despite the numerous and difficult challenges he faced.
We, too, are daily challenged. We are presented with frequent choices to make, opportunities to take, and responsibilities to embrace. Do we exercise faithful obedience like Abraham did?
My husband and I have frequently discussed the stories of persecution we learn brothers and sisters of Christ are enduring all over the world, and we ask ourselves, “If that was me in their position, would I boldly declare Christ despite the pain and torture that would result?” Our hope is that we would, and we have prayed during those discussions that if and when that happens, we will remain faithful to the end through the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.
As I think about those conversations, Sunday’s sermon, and recent difficult situations in my own life, this thought circles my mind: “How can you expect to be obedient in the future and whatever it brings if your present obedience is lacking? How can you expect to be faithful in those dire of circumstances when your faithfulness in far less risky conditions is fickle?”
You see, I’m all about being faithful… when things are going well, when I’m rested and energized, when others seem to be happy with me. Throw in pressure, exhaustion, and disapproval from others, though, and faithfulness tends to slide down on the priority list as I go into panic and protection mode. And that always leads to trouble because then it’s all about me, and if it’s all about me, it’s not about God.
In Luke 16, we read of Jesus’ parable of the rich man with a shrewd manager. Using worldly wealth and possessions as an example – something very familiar to His listeners as well as to us, Jesus helps His followers understand that God is our true master and, therefore, we must be trustworthy with the resources, opportunities, and gifts He’s given us. Verse 10 states from Jesus: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
In Matthew 25, Jesus gives the parable of a man going on a journey who entrusts his wealth to three servants. Two of those servants took the money they were given and made more money with it. They were each told, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (vs. 21 & 23). For the servant who hid his master’s money rather than put it to work… well, read the response he received from the master in verses 26-30.
We may not be told to leave our homeland and set out for foreign territory or to sacrifice a child like God commanded Abraham. But each day we are faced with choices and decisions that will make it clear who our master is – God or self, and which description fits us – “good and faithful” or “wicked, lazy servant.”
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 11:1-4: Faithfulness Creates a Legacy for Future Generations (Hebrews Sermon Series)
How will people remember me?
Our Youth Minister, D.J. Goble, prompted this question as he preached on Hebrews 11:1-4. Known as the Hall of Faith chapter, we see example after example of Biblical heroes who trumped fear with faith, who embodied trust in God rather than reliance on fate or self. Our Senior Minister, Donnie Case, will get into those accounts much more this coming Sunday, but D.J. focused on the opening verses of this chapter to define faith and stress that faithfulness creates a legacy for future generations.
Again, this question: How will people remember me? What legacy am I building?
The idea of a legacy is prevalent in our culture. Nearly 60% of the Gen-Z population (born between 1997 and 2012) report the desire to be an influencer (data from Morning Consult). They want their names, faces, personality, etc. to be well-known on social media platforms and influential in driving the myriad choices consumers make.
Imagine if a younger person you know well became an influencer and prompted thousands, millions even of people to practice kindness instead of criticism, to value people over possessions, to love their enemies rather than hate them. Wouldn’t those be wonderful ways to influence the masses?!
Of course they would! Those are legacies we would get behind, right – legacies we would praise and applaud, sharing that person’s videos and messages with family and friends. After all, Jesus taught those same lessons when He was on earth, so we would acclaim those communicating the same values and standards.
Here’s where we must be careful, though, especially in our social media-driven world. We often, in our applause for the ideals and values a person stands for, begin to elevate and praise the person him/herself. We make that person into an idol, holding them to a standard no human other than Jesus (who is also God) could attain. And then we’re devastated when we learn that person we held in such high esteem has been involved in unspeakable acts of immorality.
Each of us will leave a legacy, and we should be concerned about what legacy we’re leaving. As Christ-followers, though, that legacy should not center on ourselves. Ultimately, when people think about and remember us, what they should see and hear is Jesus Christ – not our names, not our personalities, not our achievements, not our wealth or possessions – only Jesus. Casting Crowns has a song by that name, “Only Jesus.” May these lyrics remind us of the legacy we should leave: “Make it count, leave a mark, build a name for yourself. Dream your dreams, chase your heart, above all else make a name the world remembers. But all an empty world can sell is empty dreams. I got lost in the light when it was up to me to make a name the world remembers. But Jesus is the only name to remember. And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy. I don’t care if they remember me. Only Jesus.”
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 10:19-39: Jesus Our Preservation (Hebrews Sermon Series)
κατοικέω. That’s the Greek word for “dwell.” It means “to house permanently” or to reside. Paul uses this word when he writes of Jesus in Colossians 1:19-20: “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.”
The fullness of God resides in Jesus. God’s character, His traits, His divine being are permanently housed in His Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, when Jesus poured out His blood on the cross for our sins, He did what no other sacrifice could do. He redeemed us, dying as a ransom to set us free from sin (Hebrews 9:15).
Dwelling isn’t something only reserved for the relationship between the Father and Son. As Donnie mentioned Sunday, we are invited to dwell in the presence of God every moment of each day… because of what Jesus has done. Hebrews 10:19-22 tells us because of Jesus we can have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place through the curtain, His body… that we can draw near to God with full assurance.
This is made possible through the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples in John 16 that when He went back to the Father, He would send the Holy Spirit – the Advocate – to them. And in Ephesians 3:16-19, Paul writes:
“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
The Holy Spirit dwells in us – He moves in when we submit our lives to Jesus and makes our hearts His permanent residence. He doesn’t leave a few bags/boxes packed, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble. He doesn’t scan the realtor sites in anticipation of a bigger and better home, for an upgrade. The Holy Spirit settles in and begins cleaning house. He does a remodel, stripping away the old layers of filth, scars, and tarnishes to reveal the new creation we now are in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Just like with any remodel, the process is quite messy at times. There’s pain and frustration encountered along the way. We might even consider abandoning the project altogether, especially when we lean on our own inadequate power and skill.
But we need to hang in there, to rely on His power, to dwell in Him. “Do not throw away your confidence,” shares the writer of Hebrews, and then he goes on to tell us why – “… it will be richly rewarded.” Persevere through the transformation so that the will of God is done (Hebrews 10:36), and remember: “We do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved” (Hebrews 10:39).
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 9:15-10:18: Jesus Fulfills the Law (Hebrews Sermon Series)
When have you been given mercy? When have you received grace?
The definition of each that I heard years ago from Dr. David Jeremiah still sticks with me today. Mercy is withholding from us that which we deserve. Grace is gifting us that which we don’t deserve.
God’s mercy and grace are evident all throughout the Old and New Testaments. While the example we discussed Sunday was that of Joseph (whose story is in Genesis 37-50), there are numerous biblical accounts where we see these attributes of God displayed. Another example is the apostle Peter. Peter was impulsive and hot-headed. The first time Jesus predicted His death to the disciples (of whom Peter was one), Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him (Mark 8:33)… Peter rebuked the Lord! During the last supper that Jesus shared with His disciples, Peter exclaimed to Jesus, “I will never disown you” (Matthew 26:35). That same night, Peter did disown Jesus… three times (Luke 22:54-60). He also struck the high priest’s servant when the officials came to arrest Jesus, cutting off the man’s ear (John 18:10).
Peter didn’t deserve to be a follower of Jesus. What he deserved was Jesus disowning him, yet when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, He didn’t ignore Peter. He didn’t rail at Peter. He didn’t tell Peter to take a hike. He gave him mercy.
Grace was present, too, and it was there before Peter even committed these wrongs! Jesus, being God, knew how Peter was going to deny Him. He predicted it at the Last Supper (John 13:38), yet Jesus still used Peter as an integral part of building the early church (Matthew 16:18 and Acts 1-12). The same impulsive and hot-headed Peter who had denied the Lord three times was now a new man, made new through the forgiveness and restoration that can only come through Jesus Christ. Read Acts 1-12 to discover how God used this sinner to establish the early church and serve the Kingdom.
The same mercy and grace that God worked through Joseph, Peter, and numerous others in the Bible is also available to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A new covenant was established with Jesus as mediator, so that those who are called are set free from the old way of life – from their sins – to receive the promised eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15). The old system of sacrifice established through the Law was now obsolete because Jesus poured out His own blood as a sacrifice for sin, doing away with sin once for all (Hebrews 9:25-26).
In Christ, “the old has gone; the new is here” (2 Corinthians 5:17)!
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 8:1-13: Jesus is the Better Priest (Hebrews Sermon Series)
“Our ways back from broken are always flawed.” This was shared by MACC’s Creative Media & Communications Minister, Jason Seggelke, in Sunday’s message “Jesus: We do have such a high priest.”
When I read through the Old Testament, I often find myself saying, “Come on, people! Did you not just hear what the Lord told you?! Have you so soon forgotten the incredible ways the Lord rescued you?!” On the heels of those questions is sharp conviction: “Are you really any different? Haven’t you, too, seen Me work in indescribable ways in your own life and still have chosen to pursue your own desires?”
It’s scary how we can know about a better way and yet still settle for the old paths. That’s why the author of Hebrews was so urgent with warnings. He knew the temptation for the Hebrew Christians was to return to the old ways, the old covenant of the Law… even though the new covenant of Jesus Christ made the first one obsolete (Hebrews 8:13).
How many times have you, especially in moments of weakness and brokenness, returned to something or someone from your past because it’s familiar? because it’s what you know? As Jason asked Sunday, “How’s that working out for you?” Did that brokenness go away? Or did it just get masked with a few distractions that brought fleeting and false relief?
We are all broken, and Jesus is the only way back from broken.
Do you know Jesus? The question isn’t whether you know of Him, but do you know Him? John 10:14 says, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” The Greek word for “know” here is “ginosko” (γινώσκω), and it’s used six times in John 10. This type of knowing goes far beyond recognition… it means a personal, intimate knowledge that comes through experience. With that definition of “know” understood, do you know Jesus?
Our prayer is that if you don’t know Jesus in this way, you will come to know Him intimately as your Lord and Savior. And if you have made Jesus your Lord and Savior, we pray you are daily growing in your relationship with Him and have a hunger and thirst that only He can satisfy.
Jesus is the only way back from broken. Will you choose Him today?
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 6:13-7:28: Jesus’ Eternal Nature (Hebrews Sermon Series)
Think about a leader you have held or do hold in high esteem – someone you frequently look to for words of truth, wisdom, encouragement. Maybe it’s a political figure you follow in the news/media. Maybe it’s a business or finance guru after whom you pattern your money decisions. Maybe it’s a health expert you frequently watch/listen to for guidance on what to eat and how to stay fit. Maybe it’s a “super mom” who seems to be able to raise multiple kids who are polite, helpful, hard-working, and appear to actually like her… and you desire to be her protégé. Maybe it’s a church leader whose passion to proclaim and teach the Word of God is so inspiring.
If you were a Hebrew or an Israelite, the person you would hold in such honor and esteem was often the high priest. In the Desert of Paran after being led out Egypt, Aaron was made the first high priest. Other high priests followed, including Eli (1 Samuel 1-4) and Caiaphas, to name a few. This office of high priest was indeed a high calling. After all, it was only the high priest who could enter the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement to offer sacrifices for his own sin and the sins of the people (Leviticus 16). Did you catch that? The high priest’s offering was not just for the people’s sin; it was for his own as well. A sinner was the one offering sacrifices for sin…
Aaron gave into the Israelites’ demands for building a golden calf to worship while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Law (Exodus 32), incited the Lord’s anger when he criticized Moses (Numbers 12), and joined Moses in disobeying the Lord at Kadesh (Numbers 20). Eli failed to discipline his sons, who also served as priests, when they sinned while making offerings and slept with women serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting (1 Samuel 2). Caiaphas used his position to have Jesus arrested, put on trial, pressure Pilate to crucify Him, try to prevent the Resurrection, and then cover up the evidence of the Resurrection (Matthew 26-28).
These were people in whom the nation of Israel placed their trust. We have all – at one time or another – placed our hope and trust in the personhood and work of another person, too. But people, regardless of how high a status/position they have, all have one thing in common… they’re sinners. That means they’re imperfect, they make mistakes, they have weaknesses… they can’t save you or anyone else from the effects of sin, of death. They can’t even save themselves.
As we search the world around us today, as we seek to find peace and hope in others or ourselves, I pray we’ll realize with vivid clarity that Jesus is the only One who can fulfill the desires of our hearts and restore us to the Holy Father. We know this through passages like Hebrews chapter 7 where we find multiple descriptions of Jesus that testify to His superior priesthood – an indestructible life (vs. 16 & 20); a priest forever (vs. 17); a better hope (vs. 19); the guarantor of a better covenant (vs. 22); lives forever (vs. 24); permanent priesthood (vs. 24); able to save completely (vs. 25); holy, blameless, pure set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens (vs. 26); sacrificed for sin once for all (vs. 27); perfect forever (vs. 28).
All honor and glory be to Jesus, King and Priest forever!
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 5:11-6:12: Jesus-Our Spiritual Growth (Hebrews Sermon Series)
Two out of two million… which equals one of out one million… which equals 0.0001%. That’s the number (and percentage) of people in the Israelite party wandering the Desert of Paran who chose to believe in God’s plan and provision in the Promised Land despite the obstacles that stood in the way (the powerful people – some standing nine feet tall – and the fortified cities). That means 1,999,998 people, or 99.99% of the traveling party, chose not to trust in God. Numbers 14:2 tells us those people grumbled and said, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!” They would rather go back to Egypt, where they were enslaved and treated harshly, than trust God to lead them into the Promised Land and defeat the people living there.
The two were Joshua and Caleb. They were the ones who said to the nearly two million others “… do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them” (Numbers 14:9).
Priscilla Shirer wrote a book almost 15 years ago titled “One in a Million: Journey to Your Promised Land.” Shirer contrasts the 99.99% who wanted to turn their backs on God with the two men whose hope and faith stood strong in the Lord. She reminds us that God’s desire and plan for us are so much greater than the challenges and trials we encounter along the way, and so she encourages readers to be “one-in-a-millions.”
In your current season, are you one of the 1,999,998 or one of the two? Are you wandering aimlessly in the wilderness, grumbling and complaining, or are you going forward – claiming God’s blessings as you grow in your faith?
Our hope is that you’re in the latter group – growing in your faith! However, if you find yourself stagnant or maybe even returning to your previous way of life, we want to remind you that there’s a better way, that it’s never too late to turn back to God, that as long as there’s breath in you there’s still opportunity to draw near to Him.
How?
Do not abandon the teachings of God. Make getting in the Word an everyday priority. Do not follow the path of the 1,999,998 Israelites: “The people saw, but they chose not to believe. Let’s just call it what it is. They chose the oasis of complacency. They chose less than God’s best. They chose to concede defeat. They chose wrong” (“One in a Million: Journey to Your Promised Land”).
Remember, we serve the Lord God and He can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). He desires us to show diligence to the very end – not to be lazy, so we can fully realize our hope and inherit what He has promised (Hebrews 6:11-12).
Unsure about how to start studying God’s Word? Need someone to partner with you for encouragement and accountability? Contact our Discipleship Minister, Christina Farwell, at cfarwell@macc.ws or (309) 837-9318.
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 4:14-5:10: Jesus-Our Great High Priest (Hebrews Sermon Series)
Have you ever tried to picture yourself as an Israelite during the time of Moses and Aaron, or as a Jew during the 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testaments? I have often marveled at their dedication to regularly travel to the tabernacle/temple and offer sacrifices, sacrifices that they couldn’t even offer to God directly themselves but had to make through a priest.
A priest had a high calling indeed. We see that through the instructions God gave in the Law. We must remember, though, that a priest – even the high priest – was still a man, still a sinner, and still unable to be freely in the Lord’s presence, unhindered.
Enter Jesus.
Jesus – the Son of God – came to earth as both God and man, experienced the same weaknesses and temptations we face, yet did not sin. He was obedient to His Father, obedient to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). Romans 5:6 tells us, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” He who knew no sin became sin for us – the unrighteous – so that we could become righteous through Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Three days later, up from the grave He rose (Mark 16:6); He had conquered death! And after appearing to many in His resurrected body, Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand (Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, Acts 1:9, Hebrews 4:14)… and to intercede for us (Romans 8:34).
Jesus fulfilled perfectly what no earthly priest could. As we learned in Hebrews 4:14-5:10, He is a high priest who empathizes with our weaknesses, was tempted in every way yet did not sin, and was designated by the Father as a “priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
We have access to the Father because of Jesus… access regardless of where we’re at, whom we’re with, or what time of day or night it is. And Hebrews 4:16 tells us we can approach His throne of grace with confidence.
The question is… do we do that? Do we approach His throne? Do we have confidence when we do?
R.C. Sproul pointed out, “It is one thing to believe in God; it is quite another to believe God.”
Let’s believe today what God has told us and approach His throne of grace with confidence, remembering it is the great high priest Jesus Christ who intercedes for us!
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 3:1-4:13: Jesus – Greater Than Moses (Hebrews Sermon Series)
Sitting in the front seat of a vehicle, the windshield allows you to view the people, landscape, and places ahead of you. Near the top and center of that windshield, though, is a much smaller piece of glass, one that gives a glimpse of what’s behind you – the rearview mirror. Sitting in that front seat, your head pointed forward, you can see both what lies ahead and what is behind. Not at the same time, though; you must shift your focus between the two.
Sometimes you must look at what’s behind before you can proceed. You must use the rearview mirror to back onto the path behind before you’re able to embark on the path ahead.
Can you imagine, though, if your focus stayed maintained on the rearview mirror? Sure, you could still proceed forward… but what would happen if your focus didn’t shift from the rearview mirror to the windshield? If you just kept looking at what was behind you instead of the path laid before you, you would wreck.
This was a scenario I heard Dr. Tony Evans preach about years ago… one that I often reflect upon due to the way the Lord spoke to me through this illustration.
We can’t keep focusing on what’s behind us – the past – and expect to move forward with any real progress.
The believers being addressed by the author of Hebrews had their eyes fixed on the past – on Moses (the servant God chose to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land) and on the Law (the system God designed to set His people apart from other nations and to worship Him and atone for sins). This focus on the past was leading them to a wreck – the risk of their hearts becoming hardened and missing out on the beautiful blessings God desired for them.
The past is a part of us. It impacts who we’ve become up to this point, but it should not determine who we’re becoming. As followers of Christ, that determination is based on Jesus. What a great example of this Paul gives us in Philippians 3. He details his past – his rearview mirror that showed who he was before encountering Jesus – and the many ways in which he was superior to other Jews (verses 4-6). However, his present and future – his windshield that showed where he was at and where he was going after encountering Christ – considered none of that important. “… I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (verses 8-9).
Paul understood what so many of us struggle to grasp: we must forget what lies behind, strain toward what is ahead, and press on toward the goal to win the prize God has called us to in Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14). We do that by fixing our thoughts on Jesus, “whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest” (Hebrews 3:1).
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 2:1-18: Jesus – Fully Human (Hebrews Sermon Series)
“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Hebrews 2:1).
What causes us as followers of Christ to lose attention, to drift away?
The 2015 “The State of Discipleship” report from Barna Group gives insight to that question. In their report, researchers not only considered the current state of the body of Christ but also implications for the future. Three particular implications were explored by David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group: 1) digital technology that can both complement and detract from walking with Christ, 2) increased levels of distraction as a result of the screen and overbusying our lives, and 3) the hyperfocus on self that makes “me” the center of all things.
The book of Hebrews – written to believers – is a call to perseverance because Jesus is superior to all others. For the believer – the one who has surrendered his/her life to Jesus as Lord, we are justified (declared righteous) through the blood of Christ. That declaration happens at the point of surrender. Sanctification, though, is an ongoing process. It’s the Spirit’s working us toward holiness as we’re led to respond by growing and maturing in Him. That growing and maintaining the faith despite our current circumstances and through God’s grace is perseverance.
How do we persevere even with the pull of digital technology, increased distractions, and the hyperfocus on self?
The answer is simple and straightforward, not complicated at all…
We spend time with God in His Word.
I recently asked a few people, “What have you been studying in your Bible this week?” I received the same answer from each one: “I didn’t study anything in the Bible this week.”
It’s so simple and yet so often disregarded.
We are called to persevere, to – as the apostle Paul directs – “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
No matter how much dust has accumulated on the cover of your Bible, no matter how busy your life may be, no matter how many tasks and distractions are being thrown your way… open your Bible (a physical one or an app on your phone), slowly read the words He has written to nourish you, talk to Him about what’s going on in your life, and listen to His loving guidance found in Scripture.
Midweek Reflection on Hebrews 1:1-14 – Jesus is Superior to Angels (Hebrews Sermon Series)
What have you been taught about angels?
The GotQuestions website shares that angels are mentioned more than 270 times in the Bible and within 34 of the 66 books. Through various passages of Scripture, we learn that these created beings serve different purposes, such as praising and worshiping, protecting, and carrying messages from God. We also learn distinct features of angels who praise and worship the Lord based on the vision given to the prophet Isaiah. They each had six wings – two to cover their faces, two to cover their feet, and two to fly. At the sound of the angels’ voices, the doorposts and thresholds shook and smoke filled the temple (Isaiah 6:2-4). What a magnificent sight to behold! We marvel at these majestic beings who are present in the very throne room of the Lord.
Marveling can be a spectacular endeavor. As humans, we engage in that activity quite easily and rather frequently. We not only marvel at angels… we marvel at beautiful scenes, at people who possess extraordinary talents, at modern inventions and conveniences, at novel ideas, and the list goes on.
How often, though, do we marvel at the One who is superior to the angels, the One who created the universe, the One who is the radiance of God’s glory and His exact representation, the One who sustains all things, the One who provided purification for sins (Hebrews 1:2-4)? How often do we marvel at and worship the people and things around us, including ourselves, and give nary a thought or more than fleeting attention to the One who is superior to all others… the One who took on flesh and – sinless – bore unfathomable suffering for us that we – the sinful – could be restored to the Father and be co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17)?
The angels know God… intimately. They are consumed with carrying out God’s will. And yet, they are not made in the image of God like we are (Genesis 1:26-27). They do not have the mind of Christ like we do – if we’ve surrendered our lives to Him (1 Corinthians 2:16). The apostle Peter, when writing to believers scattered throughout the Roman Empire, reminded the believers that their salvation through Jesus Christ the Messiah was spoken about through the prophets of long ago… hundreds of years before the Messiah would walk on the earth. Peter followed up that reminder with “Even angels long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:12).
“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” asks the author of Hebrews (1:14).
The angels have no need for salvation themselves; they don’t know separation from God. When they look at us, then, they are curious. They marvel. They long to understand this redemptive relationship between God and humans. Salvation is ours through the blood of Jesus Christ. That is indeed worth marveling at, praising God for, and giving our deepest thanksgiving. It is not something to be ignored… and we’ll learn more about that on Sunday when Donnie leads us through Hebrews 2.
Colossians 1:15-23 – How God Sees Us (Renewed Outlook Sermon Series – March 31, 2024)
Have you ever looked through a “Where’s Waldo?” book… scouring the pages trying to find the man in the stocking hat and red and white striped shirt amidst hundreds of other people, objects, colors, and patterns? I remember well the intensity of trying to find Waldo throughout the pages of the book. I would concentrate so hard on looking for red and white stripes and get easily frustrated by all the other stuff that prevented me from finding him. More than once I would loudly proclaim to those around me, “There is no Waldo! He is not in this picture!” My mom would patiently tell me to look again. Sometimes I would look again and again and still no Waldo… until my mom or brother had mercy on me and pointed him out. And there he was… he’d been there the whole time. I just couldn’t see him through all the commotion.
Donnie shared on Sunday that the city of Colossae was facing a similar challenge… after hearing the good news of Jesus Christ and fixing their eyes on Him, they allowed other things (specifically, other ideas & teachings) to cloud their vision and obscure their spiritual view. The apostle Paul knew this body of believers was on a dangerous path and needed to renew their outlook, to return to a proper perspective of Jesus Christ.
Many of us need the same reminders Paul gave the Colossians. We have so many voices pouring into our daily routines, so many obstacles crowding the path in front of us that the truth of Jesus Christ has been dampened, or worse… lost amid the chaos.
This is a sobering thought but one worth reflecting on… if the story of our lives was featured as a two-page colorful layout full of the people, places, and events we’d encountered… would others clearly see Jesus, or would they be asking “Where’s Jesus?” and have a hard time getting even a small glimpse?
“I have become its [His body – the church] servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness – the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:25-27
Colossians 3:1-4 – How God Sees Us (Renewed Outlook Sermon Series – April 7, 2024)
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” – Colossians 3:2
How do we “set our minds on things above,” especially when we’re bombarded by messages that are earthly-focused? During Sunday’s sermon, Donnie used Joshua and Caleb as one example for us to follow. They were two of the 12 spies Moses sent out to explore the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. And they were the only two to trust that the Lord would lead them in conquering the people of the land. Their minds were not set upon the trials and difficulties that may lay ahead; no, they were set on “things above” – the Lord. (Read Numbers 13-14.)
Too often, we’re like the 10 other spies and the rest of the Israelite community – setting our minds on the cost involved instead of the blessing that awaits. We let failures of the past, fixations of the present, and fears of the unknown future reign supreme in our minds, rendering us ineffective as we swirl down into the pit of complacency.
We’d do well to heed Paul’s instructions on this topic of our minds…
“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)
Through these verses we see the discipline and the focus required for a mind that is set on things above. It’s intentional, it’s purposeful, it’s centered on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Join me in praying a prayer written by A.W. Tozer in his book The Pursuit of God: “O God and Father, I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible things. The world has been too much with me. Thou hast been here and I knew it not. I have been blind to thy presence. Open my eyes that I may behold thee in and around me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Colossians 3:5-11 – What Changed? (Renewed Outlook Sermon Series – April 14, 2024)
What ignites and douses simultaneously? What serves as both an accelerant and a diminisher? What builds intensely at the same time it tears down?
Anger.
The Greek word for anger used in Colossians 3:8 is ὀργή, or orgé . That word does not imply the sudden or instant outburst of emotion but rather a settling in, a fixed disposition held toward another. It stews and simmers, and over time, builds to a boiling that infects and destroys. This anger is dangerous, which is why God’s Word gives such serious warnings about it.
His Word and warnings against anger are further emphasized by the way He’s created us. His design specified not only what we would look like and how we’d function – our physical bodies, but also our emotional, mental, and spiritual states. Physiologically, anger produces an increase in our body temperature – specifically in the upper body and arms, rising blood pressure, quickened breathing, and sweating. Those are short-term physical results of anger, but long-term consequences include increased risk of high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack. Emotionally, anger tramples our ability to have compassion and to empathize. Mentally, anger often leads to irrational thinking and confirmation bias. Spiritually, anger wreaks havoc on relationships – our relationship with God and others. James 1:20 tells us that “human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”
Anger is a characteristic of our old way of life, our earthly nature of which we must rid ourselves (Colossians 3:5-9). Again, this type of anger is not righteous… it’s self-righteous. Its focus is on the self – how I’ve been wronged, how I’ve been mistreated, how I’ve missed out. In “The Pursuit of God,” A.W. Tozer defines self as “the opaque veil that hides the Face of God from us.”
Father, may we as Your followers rid ourselves of anger. May we quit putting on our old wardrobe and quit walking in the ways of life we once lived. Instead, Lord, may we “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:10). In the holy and powerful name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Colossians 3:12-14 – How Do I Look? (Renewed Outlook Sermon Series – April 21, 2024)
Have you ever thought about gentleness being associated with great strength? Many of us know gentleness as a fruit of the Spirit; we know it’s an attribute that marks a follower of Christ. We know of gentleness, but too often we fail to clothe ourselves with it. It’s so much easier and “acceptable” to spout off in frustration, to put someone in their place, to defend and protect ourselves. After all, how are we ever going to be heard in this noisy world if we don’t get loud and obnoxious?
Someone makes a harsh comment to us, so we speak back in the same manner, right? Someone raises their voice to us or possibly even their hand, so we raise our voices and lift our hands, too, right? Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth, right?!
Wrong.
Proverbs 15:1tells us, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Answer the person who spoke harshly and with a raised voice in a calm and reasonable manner, and it’s like throwing a bucket of ice water on the flame of a candle. Just takes the wind right out of that person’s sails.
When Jesus was arrested and taken to the high priest, Matthew 26 and Mark 14 tell of many people coming forward to give false statements about Him. The high priest addressed Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” (Mark 14:60). Jesus remained silent, giving no reply. Then, the high priest asked Him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” (v. 61). Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven” (v. 62).
Jesus did not point fingers at those bearing false testimonies; He didn’t yell at or curse them for their wrongdoings. He gave a gentle answer.
Paul wrote in his letter instructions for Titus to pass along to the believers: “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone,” (Titus 3:1-2). He didn’t say, “Be gentle to those who are nice to you or to those whom you like.” We are to be gentle to everyone.
Gentleness is a characteristic of great strength, and since it’s His Spirit that resides within the follower of Christ, we have sufficient strength to clothe ourselves with gentleness each day.
Colossians 3:15-17 – From Character to Conduct (Renewed Outlook Sermon Series – April 28, 2024)
What does peace mean?
I was recently asked that question.
My answer was, “Peace doesn’t mean everything around you is calm and quiet. It means you – in your heart and mind – are calm amidst the chaos.”
There was a gracious person listening to that answer, but it could have easily been someone who smirked and said, “Yeah, okay,” while walking away and whispering under their breath, “Poor misguided and naïve girl… she obviously doesn’t live in reality where we daily are subjected to dissension, hate, murders, disasters, wars. Peace is just something disillusioned fools conjure up to make it through the day.”
I hope I get the opportunity to answer that question again because after more study and prayer, I would answer differently. I would answer, “Peace is not an abstract philosophy, or something only possible through imagination, or a vapor that’s here one moment and gone the next. Peace has a physical body. Peace has a name that brings people to their knees. Peace has a constant presence that even death cannot overcome. Peace is Jesus Christ.”
God has been faithfully teaching me through His Word that peace has no relationship with the things of this world; it is not impacted by circumstances or feelings. Even when God is allowing us to walk through the thick darkness of the valley, peace is ours through Jesus Christ. Now, we often don’t focus on that peace. The doubts creep in, the lies of the enemy bombard us, and the worries and uncertainty wrap strong tentacles all around us in attempts to suffocate. We find ourselves not just in the valley but in a deep, muddy pit, prone to doing what Donnie has advised against over and over again – to sit in that mud pit and make mud pies.
Though I’ve heard mud can do wonders for the skin, a mud pie is not going to nourish our bodies or our souls. We need to get out of the pit and continue through the valley, painful as it might be. We need a new perspective, a renewed outlook. We need Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Jesus makes Himself known to us through His Word, so if we want to know Jesus, to trust in Jesus, to rely on His strength, we immerse ourselves in His Word. By studying and ruminating on His Word, we can avoid the deep pits in the valley because He lights our paths (John 8:12). We can have peace in our hearts because He rules in us (Colossians 3:15). We can be thankful in the trials because the testing of our faith produces perseverance, and perseverance works us toward maturity (James 1:2-4).
Father God, to those who have surrendered their lives to Jesus – according to Your foreknowledge, being sanctified by the Spirit, for obedience to Him and for sprinkling with his blood – may grace and peace be multiplied to us (1 Peter 1:2). In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Genesis 6:9-7:24 – Noah (Crazy People Sermon Series – March 10, 2024)
“Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22). What God commanded him to do – to build a massive boat when it had never even rained before – well, that was crazy! Imagine the response of those around him; you can almost hear their taunts of “Crazy old man!” Noah was not deterred. Because he walked faithfully with God (Genesis 6:9), Noah was obedient. And in a generation where all the people on earth were corrupt (verse 12), doing what the Lord commanded was crazy.
We live in a time similar to Noah’s – corruption runs rampant. Does our obedience as believers mimic Noah’s? Are we so focused on following the Lord that those who don’t know Him would label us crazy?
As we ponder those questions, let’s also reflect on what did eventually happen after Noah completed the ark and his family and the animals entered. Genesis 7:11-12 tell us “… all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.” Verse 23 of that same chapter reads, “Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.”
May we be so obedient to the Lord that others take notice, even if that leads to the label of crazy.
1 Samuel 17:1-58 – David (Crazy People Sermon Series – March 17, 2024)
What definition shapes the way you live your daily life? Is it a parent’s harsh words of criticism from decades ago? Is it a health condition that prevents you from optimal functioning? Is it the devastating betrayal of a family member or friend? Is it loneliness, defeat, anger, maybe even hopelessness?
Too often we allow our circumstances and other people to define us. That’s a terrifying thing because circumstances can change in an instant, and people can be equally as fickle.
On Sunday, we examined 1 Samuel 17, the passage that includes the well-known story of David’s encounter with Goliath. Three times in this chapter insults were hurled at David… two of those coming from people David would have looked up to – an older brother and the king he served. David could have chosen to focus on the weaknesses others were so quick to point out, but instead he focused on the One from whom true identity comes – the Lord Almighty. Boldly, he proclaimed and defended the name of the Lord, and he took down the Philistine with one stone.
This is the part of the story where we often cheer because the supposed underdog has beaten the bully who was sure to win. What we can easily fail to realize – both in David’s case and our own – is that anyone who belongs to the Lord is not an underdog. David’s words in 1 Samuel 17:47 were spoken before he killed Goliath: “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.” Notice he didn’t say, “He will give Goliath into our hands”; he said “all of you.” Again, David was bold. And again, he was bold because he acted in the Lord’s strength, not his own weakness.
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, that same strength lives in you. We are more than conquerors through Him! Nothing separates us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord – not trouble, not hardship, not persecution, not famine, not nakedness, not danger, not sword, not death… not anything else in all creation (Romans 8:31-39)! May we be so bold in our proclamation of the Lord God Almighty that we baffle the world by our “crazy”!
Daniel 3 & 6 – In Babylon (Crazy People Sermon Series – March 24, 2024)
Your homeland has been invaded, your people attacked. The place where you worship the Lord has been ravaged, its contents carried off in the hands of enemies. And you have been taken captive, deported to a foreign land where you’re demanded to worship a golden image set up by an earthly king…
Those were the circumstances of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – three Jewish men standing before the king of Babylon. In a rage, King Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up?” (Daniel 3:14).
How would you answer that? Keep in mind that the consequence of failure to worship the golden image was being thrown into a blazing furnace (Daniel 3:6)… a consequence that had been loudly proclaimed and of which you were acutely aware. What would you do?
It’s easy to say we would do the same thing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did. They obediently, boldly, uncompromisingly stood before Nebuchadnezzar and replied, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18).
We would do that same thing, right?
Or would we?
How often have we compromised our faith in favor of taking the easier, more comfortable, more acceptable path? When have we passed quickly by someone in need because we “don’t have time” or “it isn’t safe”? When have we clamped our mouths shut in silence when we feared others’ responses more than sharing truth? When have we opted for numbing our minds with entertainment instead of nourishing them with the living and active Word of God?
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Lord, may Your Spirit powerfully move us to crazy obedience, crazy boldness, and crazy uncompromising faith.