DEALING WITH DECEPTION AND HYPOCRISY
Matthew 5:33-37; 6:1-6
Sermon by Judy Turner
Jesus instructs his followers about integrity
How do followers of Jesus talk? Some talk fast, some talk slow. Some talk like Minnesotans and others like Arkansans. But they all say what they mean and mean what they say. Their word is as good as gold. In the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs his followers about integrity.
Matthew 5:33-37
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne, or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’, ‘No’; anything beyond that comes from the evil one.
In the times when Jesus lived people were always looking for a loophole, perhaps things haven’t changed so much in over 2000 years. The Old Testament permitted a person to swear by the name of God to make an agreement or promise binding. Some people in Jesus’ day interpreted that OT permission to mean that only oaths that invoked the name of the Lord were binding. You could try to make people think you were really serious about keeping a promise, but you could still weasel out of it if you swore by less sacred things like by heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem. I didn’t know about any of this when I was a child, but I learned early to swear an oath in order to be believed, especially if I was lying. It went like this. I would tell my sister, “If you’ll do the dishes for me tonight, even though it’s my turn, I’ll do the dishes for you all the rest of the week. She’d look at me like doubtfully. I’d say, “Cross my heart and hope to die, before I’d ever tell a lie.” It wasn’t that I meant to lie. But neither did I fully intend to keep that promise.
Jesus is saying that true followers of his, true disciples, do not need to give oaths in order to confirm their trustworthiness, because their faithful lives repeatedly confirm the reliability of their words.
What would it be like to live in a world of trust?
What would it be like to live in a world where you could trust what people tell you? When the mechanic says the problem with your car is your alternative cataclysmic thingy needs to be replaced and that the part will cost $329.00, and you know that is the truth about what is wrong with your car and the part really costs $329.00. What about a world where the people you contracted with to do work on your house told you they would be there Friday morning at 8:00 and you could count on it, just as surely as the sun comes up. At 8:00 Friday morning they would be there ready to do what you needed done. What about a world where somebody said they wanted to be your friend and that’s what they meant? They will be there with you when you are at your best and when you are at your worst and will be there for you no matter what other people think? What about a world where when a man says he loves a woman, he is not out for anything for himself, but is willing to give himself for her good? What about a world where when a woman says she loves a man, it’s not so she can use him to get what she wants, but so she can devote herself to making his life as good in God as possible. What would it be like to live in a world where children don’t learn early in life to lie to protect themselves or to get what they think they want? What about a world where people are what they seem to be, where there is no pretense and no hypocrisy?
Jesus invites us into the Kingdom of God
In the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus invites us into such a world. It’s called the Kingdom of God. In this sermon, Jesus is not just giving moral commands. He is unveiling a whole new way of being human. Jesus pioneered this new way of being human and makes it possible for us, as we follow Him and as His spirit lives within us. The Kingdom of God is a right here, right now reality of God being in charge, of experiencing God’s loving goodness. But we can’t be part of such a world without a complete spiritual overhaul, like a spiritual heart transplant. We have to be willing for God to take out of us the fear that drives us to lie, the pride that makes us want to appear to be something we’re not, the desire to be in control of everyone and everything. We have to let our own control go, so that God can be in charge. When we pray, “Your Kingdom come, we’re saying, “My kingdom go.”To experience the right here right now Kingdom of God, we need a spiritual heart transplant.
A spiritual heart transplant
I’m old enough to remember the first time a heart transplant operation was successfully accomplished. In 1967, a human heart from one person was transplanted into the body of another by a South African surgeon named Dr. Christiaan Barnard. Barnard's surgical team removed the heart of a 25-year-old woman who had died following an auto accident and placed it in the chest of a 55-year-old man dying of heart damage. The patient survived for 18 days. Just the fact that such a thing could be done and someone survived at all astounded the world. Of course so many advances have been made since then. Getting valves, stints, and pacemakers is almost as commonplace as getting the oil changed in your car. But the astounding possibility Jesus offered over 2,000 years ago still leaves us wide-eyed and breathless!
As we entrust our lives to Jesus, we enter the realm of the Kingdom of God. As we follow Him day by day, we live more and more in that realm, and He gives us a spiritual heart transplant. The agent is the Holy Spirit who does a work as radical as tearing down an old delapidated house and building another beautiful house in its place. Sometimes this spiritual heart transplant process is radical. We realize how untruthful or how hypocritical we are, and we repent, saying to God, “I don’t want to be this dishonest phony any more. Change me.” He does, and we become more genuine. In our study book we use on Wednesday nights, The Good and Beautiful Life, Jim Smith tells about being at a dinner party with well educated people. Someone asks him, “Don’t you think that Hawthorne was the most brilliant writer of his generation?” Jim, who has never read a single sentence of Hawthorne finds himself saying, “Well, he was quite good.” “Quite good? The best!” says the literature expert. The genius of The Scarlet Letter is in its irony. I mean, the fact that the accusers are the true sinners and the accused sinner is actually the most righteous character. Do you agree, Jim?” By this time Jim is beginning to sweat, but he says, “”Well, uh…yes, I agree.” And for another 10 minutes he talks about this book he has never read, sweating buckets and looking for a way to escape! When the conversation finally ended, Jim asks himself, “Why did I feel the need to lie?” He sees that he lied because he wanted to fit in, wanted to appear intelligent in this gathering of intelligent people. And he repents and asks God for help in becoming a person of integrity, who has no need to lie. And he gives witness to how God has changed him. Now, in similar circumstances, he can simply say, “No, I have never read that book.” He concludes, “That is the paradox of honesty. In the end, we do not seem foolish, we seem genuine, which is a lot more important to people than trying to impress them.” We may suddenly find we have zero tolerance for what used to be OK for us – the little white lies, the untruthful ways we protected or advanced ourselves. We used to rationalize it by saying the lies really didn’t hurt anyone else. No more! That is evidence of God doing a spiritual heart transplant within us.
Or maybe, the Holy Spirit does the work more gradually. We just wake up one day and look in the mirror and realize we like that person we see better now. We’ve become more truthful. Other people can trust us more, we can trust ourselves more, God can trust us more. It feels really great!
Because I really don’t want to be a hypocrite, do you? I don’t really want to appear to be something I’m not. I particularly can’t stand a religious hypocrite, can you? Jesus has some things to say in the greatest sermon ever preached about religious hypocrites.
Matthew 6:1-6
Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Doing the right things with the right motives
Boy, if we’d lived in Jesus’ day, we would have spotted those religious hypocrites, the ones who had to make a big deal about their prayer time so that everybody would know they were devout. We would have pegged the man who stood on the street corner and prayed loudly so everyone could hear the eloquence with which he addressed the almighty right away. Hypocrite! Our hypocrisy detectors would have gone off. And we would have noticed how the wealthy woman at the collection box for the poor let each coin clink loudly as she dropped it in, so people could see how much she was putting in. We would have noticed her looking out the corner of her eye to see who was watching, and said, “Now there is a hypocrite”.
We just may be hypocrites!
But, does it bother you when people in the congregation don’t seem to notice when you’re knocking yourself out to serve them? Does it hurt when you put a lot of time in to prepare a meeting, teach a class, lead a ministry project, and nobody even says, “Thank you?” Do you find yourself saying, “People have no clue how much I do around here! Maybe I should just leave and then they would see!” The heart, as the Bible describes it, is the center of motivation, desiring, commitment. The heart issue here is why we do what we do. Is it to be noticed by people, appreciated by people, respected by people? Hypocrisy is doing the right things for the wrong reasons. Perhaps the hypocrisy detector within is starting to go off. Jesus tells us one reason in the Sermon on the Mount for people noticing what we do in serving the Lord, and that is to draw attention to God and not ourselves. If people see our good works, it is so they will give glory to God.
The life in which the inside and outside match perfectly
The genuine reason we pray is because we love God. The genuine reason we give is because we love God. The genuine reason we serve is because we love God. But if we’re using these practices so that people will think well of us, we need to repent of our hypocrisy and say, “God, focus my eyes on you and not on other people. I want to be free to do everything I do simply because I love you. And just getting to know you better is reward enough. I want to be your follower, the same inside and out. Change my heart, Lord, change my heart.”
Bible scholar N.T. Wright talks about walking down a street while in the Middle East. He was hungry and bought a chocolate bar. He got back to his hotel room, took off the wrapper, and was really glad he broke off a piece of the chocolate bar and looked before he bit into it. There were little worms inside the chocolate bar! He says, “If religious duties are done with an eye on the audience, they become rotten at the core. Jesus doesn’t say that outward things don’t matter. Giving money to those in need and praying are good. What matters is learning to do them simply to and for God himself. All the Sermon on the Mount is centered on God himself, who easily gets squeezed out of religion, if we’re not careful.”
Jesus invites his followers to a life in which, like a really good chocolate bar, inside and outside match perfectly.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Youth News Feb. 24, 2010
Special guest speaker Andrew Greathouse
More than 30 youth ate spaghetti and ice cream sandwiches
Hanging out before the youth worship service
Scott and the Song Leaders
More song leadersWe had record attendance this past Wednesday evening, partly because Scott Frame had spoken earlier in the day at an F.C.A. meeting at Berryville High School. We have heard excellent reports on that event!
Friday through Monday, Scott and Amanda Frame will be attending a large national convention for youth leaders in Chicago. We expect that they will come home loaded with creative ideas and encouragement.
Friday through Monday, Scott and Amanda Frame will be attending a large national convention for youth leaders in Chicago. We expect that they will come home loaded with creative ideas and encouragement.
Community Garden video
Thanks to Eddie Keever, here is a sample of what our church can do to communicate our story more effectively. Eddie recorded and edited this story about our community garden project as part of a grant application. With the creative energies bursting out all over the place in our church, we have a lot of stories to tell, and now we have a way to do it. If your computer has good speakers, you will love this.
Click this link to watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bmQ43Kf5u8
Click this link to watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bmQ43Kf5u8
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Opportunity to learn more about the Disciples of Christ
"Disciples of Christ, 19th Century Roots - 21st Century Mission"
Saturday, March 13, 9:00 - 3:00, at First Christian Church, Fayetteville
Dr. Amy Artman will lead this workshop on Disciples of Christ history.
See Judy Turner for more information and registration materials
Saturday, March 13, 9:00 - 3:00, at First Christian Church, Fayetteville
Dr. Amy Artman will lead this workshop on Disciples of Christ history.
See Judy Turner for more information and registration materials
New Adult Sunday School Class
"Christian Faith 101"
This new class is for:
Seekers exploring Christian faith
New Christians wanting to know more
Christians who want to revisit the foundations of their faith
Christians who want to be able to help others come to Christ
The class meets in the "Young at Heart Room", next to the Youth Room in the Youth Building at 9:30 on Sunday mornings.
If it sounds like this class might be for you, bring a cup of coffee and join Judy Turner and Amanda Frame for a discussion of Bible passages that help us know more about God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, New Life in Christ.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Jesus and Hot Dogs Sermon
Sermon preached by Scott Frame, Feb. 14, 2010
Text: 1st Corinthians 9:20-23
The title of this message will need some level of explanation due to the fact that hot dogs appear nowhere in the Bible. But it is located in the book of famous misquoted Bible verses right beside “cleanliness is next to Godliness.” (Just kidding.)
We took a survey from our youth group to see what they like or dislike about Wednesday night youth group. Don’t think you got off Scott free cuz we took a survey about Sunday morning too! But any way one of our youth anonymously wrote that what they like about Wednesday night was , “Jesus and hot dogs”. Barbara, Amanda and I just got such a kick out of that we just had to laugh. “Jesus and hotdogs” - that’s great! Some of the other youth mentioned that their favorite is Linda’s and Barbara’s homemade Mac-and cheese. We are so grateful for all those involved with the youth, from those who pray to those providing meals .
We are all so different from one another in what we like from food, to music, worship style, to what we like to do for fun. All of us don’t like hot dogs with relish and mustard, but some do. When I went to Haiti, they knew Americans liked hot dogs, and we had hot dogs for breakfast - kinda strange, but what the heck? Jesus made fish for breakfast.
And when it comes to church and our personal differences and traditions that we adhere to they are just that, personal differences and traditions. Traditions are great. For instance, our worship style here at 1st Christian is traditional. A traditional worship style may not be for everyone, but it’s what this body needs to connect with God. But not everyone is like us. When I was in Haiti I went to a church service on a mountain top. I didn’t understand a word they were saying and the service was unlike anything I’d ever seen. But they were worshiping the same God we do, just in their own way. And that story is played out in churches all over the world from Haiti to Africa to Asia , to Russia. We are all so different but what we all have in common is our need for God!
And we, as Christ’s witnesses representing the gospel, must realize that not everyone is like us and may not understand what we’re talking about until they grow in Christ. What it was that attracted you to Christ? Take a moment to reflect on that. Some of us have a little more reflecting to do than others to get back there. But I mean think about it. Some of us might have come to Christ for the wrong reasons. I remember going to church as a teen looking for chicks. Or some people go because their spouse makes them, or just because they always have gone to church. Or some come to Christ because their lives were a mess, and it needed fixing right now!
That was me! My life was a wreck my finances were nonexistent. I was spiritually bankrupt , alcoholic for 13 years. If there was a God, he needed to fix my problems right now!!! As if he was a fast food restaurant with a instant magical spiritual hot dog fix that would make all my problems go away. Well my motives were far from pure. I might not have come to Jesus under the right motives, but he took what little faith I had and built on it.
I remember as a teen going to church in Stillwater Oklahoma high looking for chicks. The pastor could see that I and my friends weren’t quite right, so he called Tommy and me to come forward to pray for us. Well he prayed and we began to laugh at him, so he got angry and kicked us out.. But you know what? After all these years, I can still remember what he preached about. Isaiah 55:11 tells us that God’s word will not return void. The words we speak, the songs we sing, the acts of loving-kindness we perform, will do their work to bring about God’s will.
Witnessing will take us at times being in places that are uncomfortable to us. It means being around people that make us uncomfortable. But we must cast aside our fears, doubts, and prejudices to save a few. If we had a friend or a loved in a burning building, we would not hesitate to do all we could to save that life. We would call 911 or kick in the door, run into the burning house, and risk our own lives to save them. Let me ask a legitimate question. Do we believe in the gospel message enough to react in the same way by presenting the gift of salvation to others? For their eternal souls?
And when it comes to witnessing for Christ we have to recognize what Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 9:20-23 :
19For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. 20And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 21To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. 22To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
“All things to all men” - that’s everybody . To be in ministry is a privilege and we all are called to that most excellent task. Paul is not asking us to compromise the gospel message, and Paul is not asking us to be hypocritical. But he’s asking us not to be so narrow- minded, that all we can see is our way or no way. My point of view! My style! My tradition! My comfort zone! Sometimes serving Christ is not about what we can get but what we can give. We tend to never make the attempt to understand each other from the mind and the heart. There seems to be a division between the churched and the un-churched, kind of like in the days of Christ: Jews vs. Gentiles, except its Christians vs.non- Christians.
The feud between Jew and gentile has a history like cats and dogs. Gentiles meant any people who were not part of God’s chosen family at birth. The Jews considered them to be pagans or heathens. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the Gentiles are good for nothing other than to fuel the fires of hell. But then we see in Solomon’s prayer of dedication in 1st kings 8:41-43: (I gotta read this it’s so good!!!)
“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name sake (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand and of your outstretched arm) when he comes and prays toward this house. Hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you. In order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your people Israel and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.”
God made it clear that the doors were never closed to foreigners who wished to serve the lord. Israel’s job was to bring justice (Isaiah 45:22-24) and to be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6). Then Jesus came, to fulfill the prophecy, “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light ,and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
I’m glad today that God in Christ broke thru all the boundaries. Acts 9:15 tells us that Paul was sent to preach to the Gentiles, enduring much hardship for doing so, as well as catching a lot of heat from the Jews for bringing the gospel to the outsiders. Paul says in Galatians that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free.
Now I want to touch on this for a bit. I like how Martin Luther king Jr put it . He quoted Matthew 23 :11, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Dr. King then said, “What I like about the scripture is that everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” “Serve” is a verb, an action word. We can take all the spiritual gift surveys under the sun, study the 9 ways, have meetings upon meetings. But if we don’t put faith into action to serve Christ, then what’s it all for? It would be like going to collage for 8 years to get a engineering degree and then never putting in an application in for a job!
God didn’t ask our opinion, or how we feel about reaching all people. He just said to bring Jesus to all people. We need to be fearless with a radical trust in God. So what’s stopping us? Is it going off on first impressions? This type of thinking can cause us to be judgmental and sometimes condemning . This type of thinking will never allow us to be an effective witness for Christ. But maybe that’s not the trouble at all. Just maybe the real trouble is we really never really try! Maybe it’s because we are afraid to fail that we never even get started. Or maybe we tried and failed and don’t want to feel that rejection again. Maybe we don’t want to look like a fool for standing up for Jesus. Maybe because people are so different in so many ways we can’t get passes our way of doing things and are afraid (I might have to change.) It’s been said that the seven last words of a dying church are “we’ve never done it that way before!” Church, if we keep doing what we’ve always done, we will keep getting what we’ve always gotten.
Some of us may have been raised in church from birth. I not only applaud you, but also your parents for being faithful. But you are the exception to the rule. We don’t have to look too far and see that most of the world wasn’t raised in church. I wasn’t! Most of my childhood memories were with my parents were in a bar. At the local Bangaleer (that was the name of the bar) I remember the cigarette smoke being so thick that tears poured from my irritated eyes. My dad would give me a roll of dimes for the pin ball machine to keep me occupied. And when I got tired I just found a empty seat and crashed.
God didn’t want my life to go the direction it did, but he did l turn it in for good . Romans 8-28 says, “All things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose.” He wants you and me to use all that we are to serve and outreach to the lost.
We all remember the great commission. Matthew 28:16-20 . I found I neat paraphrased version. When Jesus ascended to heaven after his mission on earth, the angels asked him. “Did you accomplish your task?” “Yes, all is finished,” the Lord replied. ”We have a couple more questions to ask,” said the angels. “Has the whole world heard of you?” Jesus replied, “No.” The angels next asked, “What is your plan?” Jesus said, “ I have left 12 men and some other followers to carry the message to the whole world.” The angels looked at him and asked what is your Plan B?”
Friends, there is no plan B!!!!!!!!
Jesus wants to reach the whole world through people like you and me! We are the ones to live the message. We are the ones to pass the torch. We are the ones empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses for his glory.
I think it’s important to realize Christ used so many different things to attract people to him. He used not hotdogs, but loaves and fishes with the five thousand. Many followed him just because of the free lunch, but he still fed them and told them about the promise to Shepherd his people again. With the leper he used his hand of compassion, and the hope of healing. He crossed the line of tradition and gender with the Samaritan woman at the well. He offered the gift of second chances to Peter and Andrew when he said, “Follow, me.” He offered protection to a people whose sacrifice wasn’t considered good enough when he chased the money changers out of the temple. He offered salvation to draw the whole world when offered his own body to be the sacrifice on our behalf.
We have a group of servants in this body that goes to the food bank and reaches out to the financially oppressed in our area. What a wonderful work it is! I have known the joy of working the food bank at Wild Flowers Christian Chapel for a couple of years. It was so much more than just providing a basic need for survival. It was the opportunity to show the real love of god through serving. It created open doors to talk about the gospel. And sometimes it was challenging. There were several times I would assist people or families with carrying out their food to their cars, only to discover that they had a better vehicle than I did. Or, they would open up the trunk, and it would be full of cases of beer. My first instinct was to say, “You don’t really look like you need any help! If you have enough money to buy beer and pay for that car, this food could help someone out who really needed it!” Then about that time, the Holy Spirit slapped me up the side of the head and said, “ Scott can you not remember what I called you out of? Can you not see that this man is in the same prison you were in? Do you not remember that?” How quickly we allow our minds to forget where we have been.
But you know I’m glad we serve a God that, as Miss Judy says, doesn’t waste anything, not even our junk. And when it came to beer I was an expert! Instead of condemning this individual to a fiery death, I could reach out with love understanding and compassion. Com –passion with suffering. I knew what he was going through. Chemical dependency is just one of the many prisons we put ourselves in, not so much different than gossip or greed or self righteousness or jealousy. I knew that this guy needed to be set free. He was drinking all his food money, and was broke. He had to get assistance. Sin can have such a hold on people, and we have to remember what bondage Christ brought us out of. Sometimes we look at how far we have come and forget all the time and hard work it took for us to get there.
If our new Mission Vision is going to be successful in winning souls for Christ, we cannot be exclusive. We must reach out to all people and ages and backgrounds and cultures. We must meet them where they are, to understand with real compassion. We must attract spiritually starved people in need of God any way we can without compromising the gospel - before it’s too late. Mission is all about Jesus and hot dogs!
Text: 1st Corinthians 9:20-23
The title of this message will need some level of explanation due to the fact that hot dogs appear nowhere in the Bible. But it is located in the book of famous misquoted Bible verses right beside “cleanliness is next to Godliness.” (Just kidding.)
We took a survey from our youth group to see what they like or dislike about Wednesday night youth group. Don’t think you got off Scott free cuz we took a survey about Sunday morning too! But any way one of our youth anonymously wrote that what they like about Wednesday night was , “Jesus and hot dogs”. Barbara, Amanda and I just got such a kick out of that we just had to laugh. “Jesus and hotdogs” - that’s great! Some of the other youth mentioned that their favorite is Linda’s and Barbara’s homemade Mac-and cheese. We are so grateful for all those involved with the youth, from those who pray to those providing meals .
We are all so different from one another in what we like from food, to music, worship style, to what we like to do for fun. All of us don’t like hot dogs with relish and mustard, but some do. When I went to Haiti, they knew Americans liked hot dogs, and we had hot dogs for breakfast - kinda strange, but what the heck? Jesus made fish for breakfast.
And when it comes to church and our personal differences and traditions that we adhere to they are just that, personal differences and traditions. Traditions are great. For instance, our worship style here at 1st Christian is traditional. A traditional worship style may not be for everyone, but it’s what this body needs to connect with God. But not everyone is like us. When I was in Haiti I went to a church service on a mountain top. I didn’t understand a word they were saying and the service was unlike anything I’d ever seen. But they were worshiping the same God we do, just in their own way. And that story is played out in churches all over the world from Haiti to Africa to Asia , to Russia. We are all so different but what we all have in common is our need for God!
And we, as Christ’s witnesses representing the gospel, must realize that not everyone is like us and may not understand what we’re talking about until they grow in Christ. What it was that attracted you to Christ? Take a moment to reflect on that. Some of us have a little more reflecting to do than others to get back there. But I mean think about it. Some of us might have come to Christ for the wrong reasons. I remember going to church as a teen looking for chicks. Or some people go because their spouse makes them, or just because they always have gone to church. Or some come to Christ because their lives were a mess, and it needed fixing right now!
That was me! My life was a wreck my finances were nonexistent. I was spiritually bankrupt , alcoholic for 13 years. If there was a God, he needed to fix my problems right now!!! As if he was a fast food restaurant with a instant magical spiritual hot dog fix that would make all my problems go away. Well my motives were far from pure. I might not have come to Jesus under the right motives, but he took what little faith I had and built on it.
I remember as a teen going to church in Stillwater Oklahoma high looking for chicks. The pastor could see that I and my friends weren’t quite right, so he called Tommy and me to come forward to pray for us. Well he prayed and we began to laugh at him, so he got angry and kicked us out.. But you know what? After all these years, I can still remember what he preached about. Isaiah 55:11 tells us that God’s word will not return void. The words we speak, the songs we sing, the acts of loving-kindness we perform, will do their work to bring about God’s will.
Witnessing will take us at times being in places that are uncomfortable to us. It means being around people that make us uncomfortable. But we must cast aside our fears, doubts, and prejudices to save a few. If we had a friend or a loved in a burning building, we would not hesitate to do all we could to save that life. We would call 911 or kick in the door, run into the burning house, and risk our own lives to save them. Let me ask a legitimate question. Do we believe in the gospel message enough to react in the same way by presenting the gift of salvation to others? For their eternal souls?
And when it comes to witnessing for Christ we have to recognize what Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 9:20-23 :
19For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. 20And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 21To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. 22To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
“All things to all men” - that’s everybody . To be in ministry is a privilege and we all are called to that most excellent task. Paul is not asking us to compromise the gospel message, and Paul is not asking us to be hypocritical. But he’s asking us not to be so narrow- minded, that all we can see is our way or no way. My point of view! My style! My tradition! My comfort zone! Sometimes serving Christ is not about what we can get but what we can give. We tend to never make the attempt to understand each other from the mind and the heart. There seems to be a division between the churched and the un-churched, kind of like in the days of Christ: Jews vs. Gentiles, except its Christians vs.non- Christians.
The feud between Jew and gentile has a history like cats and dogs. Gentiles meant any people who were not part of God’s chosen family at birth. The Jews considered them to be pagans or heathens. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the Gentiles are good for nothing other than to fuel the fires of hell. But then we see in Solomon’s prayer of dedication in 1st kings 8:41-43: (I gotta read this it’s so good!!!)
“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name sake (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand and of your outstretched arm) when he comes and prays toward this house. Hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you. In order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your people Israel and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.”
God made it clear that the doors were never closed to foreigners who wished to serve the lord. Israel’s job was to bring justice (Isaiah 45:22-24) and to be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6). Then Jesus came, to fulfill the prophecy, “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light ,and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
I’m glad today that God in Christ broke thru all the boundaries. Acts 9:15 tells us that Paul was sent to preach to the Gentiles, enduring much hardship for doing so, as well as catching a lot of heat from the Jews for bringing the gospel to the outsiders. Paul says in Galatians that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free.
Now I want to touch on this for a bit. I like how Martin Luther king Jr put it . He quoted Matthew 23 :11, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Dr. King then said, “What I like about the scripture is that everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” “Serve” is a verb, an action word. We can take all the spiritual gift surveys under the sun, study the 9 ways, have meetings upon meetings. But if we don’t put faith into action to serve Christ, then what’s it all for? It would be like going to collage for 8 years to get a engineering degree and then never putting in an application in for a job!
God didn’t ask our opinion, or how we feel about reaching all people. He just said to bring Jesus to all people. We need to be fearless with a radical trust in God. So what’s stopping us? Is it going off on first impressions? This type of thinking can cause us to be judgmental and sometimes condemning . This type of thinking will never allow us to be an effective witness for Christ. But maybe that’s not the trouble at all. Just maybe the real trouble is we really never really try! Maybe it’s because we are afraid to fail that we never even get started. Or maybe we tried and failed and don’t want to feel that rejection again. Maybe we don’t want to look like a fool for standing up for Jesus. Maybe because people are so different in so many ways we can’t get passes our way of doing things and are afraid (I might have to change.) It’s been said that the seven last words of a dying church are “we’ve never done it that way before!” Church, if we keep doing what we’ve always done, we will keep getting what we’ve always gotten.
Some of us may have been raised in church from birth. I not only applaud you, but also your parents for being faithful. But you are the exception to the rule. We don’t have to look too far and see that most of the world wasn’t raised in church. I wasn’t! Most of my childhood memories were with my parents were in a bar. At the local Bangaleer (that was the name of the bar) I remember the cigarette smoke being so thick that tears poured from my irritated eyes. My dad would give me a roll of dimes for the pin ball machine to keep me occupied. And when I got tired I just found a empty seat and crashed.
God didn’t want my life to go the direction it did, but he did l turn it in for good . Romans 8-28 says, “All things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose.” He wants you and me to use all that we are to serve and outreach to the lost.
We all remember the great commission. Matthew 28:16-20 . I found I neat paraphrased version. When Jesus ascended to heaven after his mission on earth, the angels asked him. “Did you accomplish your task?” “Yes, all is finished,” the Lord replied. ”We have a couple more questions to ask,” said the angels. “Has the whole world heard of you?” Jesus replied, “No.” The angels next asked, “What is your plan?” Jesus said, “ I have left 12 men and some other followers to carry the message to the whole world.” The angels looked at him and asked what is your Plan B?”
Friends, there is no plan B!!!!!!!!
Jesus wants to reach the whole world through people like you and me! We are the ones to live the message. We are the ones to pass the torch. We are the ones empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses for his glory.
I think it’s important to realize Christ used so many different things to attract people to him. He used not hotdogs, but loaves and fishes with the five thousand. Many followed him just because of the free lunch, but he still fed them and told them about the promise to Shepherd his people again. With the leper he used his hand of compassion, and the hope of healing. He crossed the line of tradition and gender with the Samaritan woman at the well. He offered the gift of second chances to Peter and Andrew when he said, “Follow, me.” He offered protection to a people whose sacrifice wasn’t considered good enough when he chased the money changers out of the temple. He offered salvation to draw the whole world when offered his own body to be the sacrifice on our behalf.
We have a group of servants in this body that goes to the food bank and reaches out to the financially oppressed in our area. What a wonderful work it is! I have known the joy of working the food bank at Wild Flowers Christian Chapel for a couple of years. It was so much more than just providing a basic need for survival. It was the opportunity to show the real love of god through serving. It created open doors to talk about the gospel. And sometimes it was challenging. There were several times I would assist people or families with carrying out their food to their cars, only to discover that they had a better vehicle than I did. Or, they would open up the trunk, and it would be full of cases of beer. My first instinct was to say, “You don’t really look like you need any help! If you have enough money to buy beer and pay for that car, this food could help someone out who really needed it!” Then about that time, the Holy Spirit slapped me up the side of the head and said, “ Scott can you not remember what I called you out of? Can you not see that this man is in the same prison you were in? Do you not remember that?” How quickly we allow our minds to forget where we have been.
But you know I’m glad we serve a God that, as Miss Judy says, doesn’t waste anything, not even our junk. And when it came to beer I was an expert! Instead of condemning this individual to a fiery death, I could reach out with love understanding and compassion. Com –passion with suffering. I knew what he was going through. Chemical dependency is just one of the many prisons we put ourselves in, not so much different than gossip or greed or self righteousness or jealousy. I knew that this guy needed to be set free. He was drinking all his food money, and was broke. He had to get assistance. Sin can have such a hold on people, and we have to remember what bondage Christ brought us out of. Sometimes we look at how far we have come and forget all the time and hard work it took for us to get there.
If our new Mission Vision is going to be successful in winning souls for Christ, we cannot be exclusive. We must reach out to all people and ages and backgrounds and cultures. We must meet them where they are, to understand with real compassion. We must attract spiritually starved people in need of God any way we can without compromising the gospel - before it’s too late. Mission is all about Jesus and hot dogs!
Youth News Feb.17, 2010
From Amanda:
Wednesday evening started off with the usual RPS prayer challenge. In the girls corner, wearing a pink hoodie, was Josie, in the boys corner, wearing a gray t-shirt was Zach.... It's close... 1 for the boys, tie, another 1 for the boys. THE BOYS WIN BY A LANDSLIDE!!!!!!!!!!!! Zach prayed over our incredible meal prepared by, none other than our own, Hannah Bar Ber A (Barbara). We saw a few new faces, and some faces we hadn't seen in a while. Squishy (Corey Miller) was back, and so was Austin Carr. YEAH!!!! We've missed you guys!!!!!!!!
We had two awesome praise reports. One was from Roscio (Spelling?) She had attended once before and came again last night. She said that she had test drove many other youth groups and none had been as welcoming as ours. She said that everyone talked to her, and it meant a lot that the youth leaders talked to her. The other groups she had gone to, she felt uncomfortable and unwanted. We also got a similar praise report from Megan, who said she hadn't been to church since she was younger, like third grade. And with the persuasion of Brady, Tater Tot (Taya), and Lesley, she came to ours and loves it. She has been coming for 3 weeks now.
I just want to say "SNAPS" to our awesome kids, with their love and hospitality. Praise God!!!
After dinner, we went into the sanctuary for our youth service. We took up an offering for our sponsored child in Haiti, James. $24.00 was taken up. We announced that Scott will be speaking at the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) next Wed. at the high school during lunch. We also thanked all those who came to Sunday service. There was another announcement, but I can't remember what it is at the moment.....
We spoke to the kids about Ash Wednesday and what it represented. We ended our service early so we could open the sanctuary for the Ash Wednesday service. We had quite a few kids stay and take part. I believe there were 14 youth in total that took part in the Ash Wednesday service.
Wednesday evening started off with the usual RPS prayer challenge. In the girls corner, wearing a pink hoodie, was Josie, in the boys corner, wearing a gray t-shirt was Zach.... It's close... 1 for the boys, tie, another 1 for the boys. THE BOYS WIN BY A LANDSLIDE!!!!!!!!!!!! Zach prayed over our incredible meal prepared by, none other than our own, Hannah Bar Ber A (Barbara). We saw a few new faces, and some faces we hadn't seen in a while. Squishy (Corey Miller) was back, and so was Austin Carr. YEAH!!!! We've missed you guys!!!!!!!!
We had two awesome praise reports. One was from Roscio (Spelling?) She had attended once before and came again last night. She said that she had test drove many other youth groups and none had been as welcoming as ours. She said that everyone talked to her, and it meant a lot that the youth leaders talked to her. The other groups she had gone to, she felt uncomfortable and unwanted. We also got a similar praise report from Megan, who said she hadn't been to church since she was younger, like third grade. And with the persuasion of Brady, Tater Tot (Taya), and Lesley, she came to ours and loves it. She has been coming for 3 weeks now.
I just want to say "SNAPS" to our awesome kids, with their love and hospitality. Praise God!!!
After dinner, we went into the sanctuary for our youth service. We took up an offering for our sponsored child in Haiti, James. $24.00 was taken up. We announced that Scott will be speaking at the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) next Wed. at the high school during lunch. We also thanked all those who came to Sunday service. There was another announcement, but I can't remember what it is at the moment.....
We spoke to the kids about Ash Wednesday and what it represented. We ended our service early so we could open the sanctuary for the Ash Wednesday service. We had quite a few kids stay and take part. I believe there were 14 youth in total that took part in the Ash Wednesday service.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Deliver Us from Evil
An Ash Wednesday Sermon
Preparatory scripture readings: Isaiah 55:1-13; Psalm 51;Psalm 143; James 4:1-10; Matthew 6:7-15; Mark 3:20-35; Psalm 51; Ephesians 1:-3-4; 4:17-32; 5:1-15; 1 Peter 2:9-10
There are ten basic truths we need to review to remind ourselves of why we are here tonight. When I have named those ten truths, this sermon is over, so li sten fast.
Truth Number 1: In the beginning, God created human beings in his own image, with the goal that they would represent his nature and purposes in their dealings with one another and with all creation. The purpose of your life is to be a child of God showing your likeness to your Father God.
Truth Number 2: From the very first human beings, we have exchanged our destiny as children of God living in the image of God for what appear to us to be shortcuts to satisfaction. We have done this out of lack of trust that God’s way will get us to a desirable goal. God’s way seems too slow, too difficult, too costly, and so we trade it in for a cheap substitute, and we become less than we were meant to be. We were created to be great masterpieces, and we settle for being kindergarten finger paintings.
Truth Number 3: No matter how many times we have fallen short, and how badly we have messed things up, God has not given up on us. God chose Israel to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood representing God’s perfect character through their culture. After many centuries of Israel’s failings, God called the church of Jesus Christ to be a holy people and a royal priesthood, representing God’s perfect character and redeeming love across every cultural boundary. There have been many centuries of our falling short of that goal as well. Nevertheless, many lives are still being redeemed and transformed through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that counts for more than all the failings.
Truth Number 4: When we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, the only appropriate response is for us to repent. Repenting does not mean wallowing in guilt and shame. Repenting means turning away from our moral shortcuts and turning back to faith in the goodness and sufficiency of God’s ways. We are here tonight to repent.
Truth Number 5: Sometimes when we have gotten off track, perhaps every time, we have not done so by ourselves. We are still personally responsible for our sinful choices, but we have had help in making those wrong choices. Our families of origin, our families of choice, our friendship circles, our choices of entertainment, our places of education, our places of work, even our religious institutions have in various ways misled us and perhaps even damaged us. We are still responsible for our personal sin, but there are evil influences from which we need to be delivered. It is right and proper for us to come here this evening praying, “Deliver us from evil” or “Deliver us from the Evil One, the Liar, the Deceiver, the Tempter, the Accuser of God’s people.” Jesus modeled that petition for his disciples. We pray it every time we repeat “The Lord’s Prayer.” Breaking free from evil influences is part of repenting.
Truth Number 6: Breaking free from evil influences does not often mean running away from home, quitting school, resigning your job, leaving your church in a huff, divorcing your spouse, no longer speaking to your friends. There are extreme cases where such steps may be necessary. But the perfect marriage, the perfect family, the perfect job, the perfect church does not exist…and if it did, the sin we bring to it would soon spoil it. We cannot go through life fleeing from every imperfect thing. Being delivered from evil most often means ceasing to be the victim of deception and instead becoming a vessel of truth and redeeming love.
Truth Number 7: Changing from a victim of deception to a vessel of truth and redeeming love has two parts. Part 1 is making sure that we are connected to the source of truth and redeeming love, who is God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We connect with the Source though activities such as reading our Bibles, praying, fellowshipping with mature Christians who can help us grow in our understanding—these are the ways that we turn things around. Part 2 is making sure that godly influence is flowing out from us, rather than letting evil influence flow into us. We don’t have to be a victim of evil influences. We can be a positive force in changing the influences around us.
Truth Number 8: The evil from which we need to be delivered is not just doing bad things, but failing to do the good things to which God is calling us. God did not create us just to refrain from doing bad things; God created us to do good things, to be active representatives of his goodness and love reaching out to a broken world. We need to be delivered from whatever is holding us back from being God’s active representatives.
Truth Number 9: One of the key ways evil works is to get us focused on self—self-righteousness, self-satisfaction, self-fulfillment, self-preference, self-protection, and so forth--rather than on the redeeming love and mission for which we have been created. Being delivered from evil means being centered on representing the redeeming heart of God in our interactions with the world. Jesus had to confront the Sadducees of the temple, the Pharisees of the synagogues, the citizens of his hometown, and even his own family about their self-serving, inward orientation. Jesus is still confronting his church on this point, and, when churches are declining and dying, it is often because they have refused to let Jesus deliver them out of self-centeredness into becoming what God created them to be, active agents of his redeeming love. This is a matter for repentance, for being delivered from evil. Maybe all of us need to be delivered from a bit of this problem.
Truth Number 10: Being delivered from evil includes being delivered from some things that sound pretty good. As the Apostle Paul says, “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” Even Jesus’ family was probably sincerely convinced that, in trying to take him away from his ministry, it was only thinking of his well-being. Among the things of which we repent, let us repent of things that sound good, but that cause us to stop short of God’s calling of us for this time and this place. Lord, deliver us from all manners of evil that hold us back from being all that you have created and called us to be.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Wednesday Night Youth Ministry, Feb.10, 2010
Wed. evening started off with the usual rock, paper, scissor challenge with the girls winning.... WOOHOO!!!!!!!! Barbara cooked some chicken, while Scott showed her how to fry tater tots.....
John joined our youth service. We started off with worship, singing, Awesome God, Do Lord, Saved by Grace, and Here I am to Worship. We began lesson nine of Spiritual Warfare. The kids were asked to color masks, that they considered to be evil. We had a vote to see who had the creepiest mask. Part of the lesson was to see how it made them feel, being asked to draw something evil. They said it was uncomfortable. We learned that not everything that is evil looks scary, or evil. That the devil is a deceiver and manipulator. He can take something innocent and turn it into something terrible.
John joined our youth service. We started off with worship, singing, Awesome God, Do Lord, Saved by Grace, and Here I am to Worship. We began lesson nine of Spiritual Warfare. The kids were asked to color masks, that they considered to be evil. We had a vote to see who had the creepiest mask. Part of the lesson was to see how it made them feel, being asked to draw something evil. They said it was uncomfortable. We learned that not everything that is evil looks scary, or evil. That the devil is a deceiver and manipulator. He can take something innocent and turn it into something terrible.
Spiritual Fitness for Congregational Leaders
This article was published in "Net Results", a church growth and evangelism magazine. We share the article with the prayer that it is of help to folks in our congregation.
www.NetResults.org
"Net Results" is North America's most experienced church growth and evangelism magazine.
Written by real church leaders in real churches ... practitioners, not academics for practical, hands-on, relevant ideas you can really use in your church context.
SPIRITUAL FITNESS FOR CONGREGATIONAL LEADERS DURING TRANSITION
Article by Judy Turner
People who set out to run a marathon start training months in advance. They know the race will be challenging, and they need to develop new capacities of body and mind, or they will not make it to the finish line. It is not so obvious to church leaders when we begin an intentional effort to renew the life of our congregation that the process will challenge us to the max. If we are visionaries, we can see the exciting picture of our congregation’s future and devote lots of time and effort to communicating that picture. But often we discover that some congregation members can’t see beyond “the way we’ve always done things.” Visionary leaders can get disillusioned and frustrated with people who lack vision, and give up. “Get things done” leaders can get impatient with all the meetings and conversations (formal and informal) it takes to get people on board with the new vision. We get worn down by resistance. We may decide to find another church where we can accomplish goals. Leaders who are easily hurt or sensitive to criticism can get chewed up in the transition process. Criticism comes from expected, and unexpected, sources. Sometimes the hurt of being misunderstood and unfairly criticized is so deep that church leaders become church dropouts.
We often underestimate the rigors of the “marathon” of leading a congregation through transition. When we are not intentional about spiritual training to increase our capacity to run with Godly strength, wisdom, love, and joy, we can burn out and drop out. But leaders who train by practicing spiritual disciplines can clearly see the exciting vision of the future toward which God has for the congregation and persevere through challenges until the vision becomes reality.
A Spiritual Training Program
The purpose of spiritual disciplines is first and foremost to help us grow in our relationship with God and in Christ-likeness. The disciplines create space in our lives where our love for God grows and God develops in us the qualities apparent in the life of Jesus. There are typical dangers to our spiritual well-being that leaders face as we lead congregations through transitions. The particular disciplines described here can keep us from those pitfalls and help us experience the fullness of life Jesus promised his followers, even as we face challenges.
The Discipline of Creating Margins
People called by God to lead a church through transition will experience additional demands on our schedules. Those schedules may already by full. We need to make sure that time for God, our families, and those activities which give us joy are not crowded out. The practice of creating margins involves prayerfully examining our commitments and saying “no” to things that are not necessary for the well-being of our souls and the welfare of others. Creating margins means saying “yes” to the things that bring greater awareness of how good our lives in Christ really are. Some suggestions for creating margins in your daily schedule: refrain from checking cell phone or computer until after you’ve had some prayer time; plan to get to a meeting 10 minutes early, just to have time to breathe and look around; set a time in the evening to stop working, so you have time with your spouse. Once a week, try setting aside a couple of hours for an activity that you and God enjoy doing together, such as hiking, creating, or reading.
The spiritual danger this practice guards against is becoming loveless and joyless. Leaders who do not practice care of our own souls end up resenting the people we serve. We feel angry toward the people who oppose us and also toward the people who are apathetic. “Here I am sacrificing everything, and they are either making it hard for me, or not doing a darn thing!” Whoa! Did God ask us to make those sacrifices? There are sacrifices leaders must make as we lead congregations through transition, but God does not ask us to sacrifice our spiritual wholeness or our family relationships. Having margins in our lives helps us to make the right sacrifices.
The Discipline of a Daily Appointment with God
The practice involves establishing a time each day to be alone with God. Ask God when and where God wants to meet with you. It could be on the deck in the mornings, a walk in the evening, finding a quiet place during the lunch hour. This daily appointment can become a time in your day you eagerly anticipate. Read a short passage of scripture and reflect on it. Pray by simply sharing what is on your heart and mind with God. Spend some time just being with God and listening for what God might want to communicate to you. When we take the time to be with God, our souls are refreshed and our strength is renewed.
The danger this practice guards against is ego-centeredness. Unless leaders take time to seek the wisdom and leading of God, we may be led by our own ego needs and misguided desires. Regular time with God helps us develop healthy detachment. Although we give our best effort to the process of church renewal, we leave must leave outcomes in God’s hands. God’s idea of congregational “success” may look different from our ideas. Even with the best leadership humans can offer, outcomes are beyond our control. We are dependent on God’s mysterious work and timing. The journey toward congregational renewal involves going through some hard places. The more we pray, the more we can trust that God is in control and working according to God’s plan and purpose, even when it looks like our efforts have failed and things are falling apart. The more time we spend with God, the more secure we become in God’s love for us and the less we need the approval of other people. The more we can approach congregational renewal as God’s project and not ours, the more we can serve with joy, freedom, and effectiveness.
The Discipline of Forgiveness
We practice the discipline of forgiveness by asking God to take from us any desire to retaliate when someone hurts us, and to give us the grace to let go of, and not dwell on, the offense. Then we ask for the grace to be able to pray for the total well-being of that person. We can write out our own general prayer for the grace to forgive, and carry it with us, looking at the prayer and inserting the name(s) of the people we need to forgive as soon as the offense occurs. The spiritual danger the practice guards against is bitterness. The aim of the discipline is that forgiveness becomes our automatic response to offense, and that we waste no mental, emotional, or spiritual energy in resenting people who resist and hurt us. Even talking about change can create fear in some congregation members’ hearts. Some people react to anxiety by criticizing leaders and saying false things about the proposed changes. When leaders are under attack and false rumors are circulating, our human nature wants to hit back. But when we retaliate from an inner state of anger and resentment, we decrease our ability to influence people toward God’s future. We may need to confront people who are saying false things and creating dissention. But we first need to pour out to God our feelings of hurt and anger and receive from God the ability to let go of any desire for retaliation. We let God defend our reputation. Then, from an inner state of peace, in touch with Godly wisdom, we can “speak the truth in love”.
The Discipline of Rest
At first it may not seem like a spiritual discipline to get enough sleep. But when leaders are exhausted, we do not love or lead well; we have little awareness of God’s presence with us or of God’s leading. Jesus said, “Abide in me,” which is an invitation to rest, and to learn from him how to work from rest. The practice is to go to sleep at a consistent time each night and aim to get at least seven hours of sleep 3 times a week. Once a week (probably not on Sunday morning!), give yourself permission to sleep until you can’t sleep any more.
The spiritual danger this practice guards against is weariness. When we are physically tired, everything becomes hard, and we are more vulnerable to whatever temptations we struggle with. We operate under the weight of feeling the success or failure of the church is all up to us, and that burden becomes more than we can bear. We can even dread going to the church or being with church people. When we sleep we are enacting a spiritual truth that sets us free from this burden: it’s not all up to us! When we sleep, we let God be in charge of the universe (and even the church) while we rest. We can wake refreshed, perhaps with a different perspective. Instead of approaching church renewal as our project for which we ask God’s help, we approach it as God’s project for which we ask our assignment for the day. We can “run and not be weary” and actually start looking forward to doing our little part toward fulfilling God’s great purpose.
The Discipline of Getting Out of Your Box
The process of leading a church through transition can be consuming. The spiritual danger is narrowness. Our world narrows to the people and processes we are working with. We start thinking our project is the only thing going on in God’s world. To restore perspective, we need to intentionally get beyond “the four walls” of our church. The practice involves regularly doing something with another congregation, or in mission. These are some suggestions: Many congregations have worship services at other times than your church worship services. Go and worship with other congregations, especially those that serve a different culture than yours, or that have a different worship style. For leaders who carry weekly responsibility for planning and leading worship services, being able to worship without being responsible for the service, restores perspective on how wonderful God is. Get involved with hands-on mission: volunteer to work at a free health clinic, help work on a habitat house, go on a mission trip. Getting away for spiritual retreat is also helpful in combating narrowness. You discover God at work beyond your little world, and your vision becomes more God-sized.
Training to Win the Prize
In I Corinthians 9:25, the Apostle Paul compares leadership in God’s mission to running a race for a prize. Paul says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.” Training is what we can do right now to develop greater capacity for spiritual leadership today and tomorrow. Training moves us into deeper intimacy with God and results in more Godly wisdom, love, patience, courage, and joy flowing in us and through us. Training develops greater capacity for endurance when difficulties arise and conflict hits. What we actually do in our training is not necessarily hard. Practices mentioned in this article can actually be quite enjoyable. The hard part is choosing to give spiritual practices priority in our busy lives. The hard part is choosing to get started in training and continuing on the course day after day.
So what is the reward for choosing to enter a spiritual training program and staying with it? To paraphrase Paul, athletes on the track run for a prize that perishes, but leaders in God’s mission run for an eternal prize. Seeing a congregation making progress toward transformation, growing, and fulfilling its God-given purpose is a joy that lasts forever. Knowing that we have faithfully done our part, that we have grown in our love for God, and that Christ has grown in us, is a satisfaction like no other.
Article by Judy Turner
People who set out to run a marathon start training months in advance. They know the race will be challenging, and they need to develop new capacities of body and mind, or they will not make it to the finish line. It is not so obvious to church leaders when we begin an intentional effort to renew the life of our congregation that the process will challenge us to the max. If we are visionaries, we can see the exciting picture of our congregation’s future and devote lots of time and effort to communicating that picture. But often we discover that some congregation members can’t see beyond “the way we’ve always done things.” Visionary leaders can get disillusioned and frustrated with people who lack vision, and give up. “Get things done” leaders can get impatient with all the meetings and conversations (formal and informal) it takes to get people on board with the new vision. We get worn down by resistance. We may decide to find another church where we can accomplish goals. Leaders who are easily hurt or sensitive to criticism can get chewed up in the transition process. Criticism comes from expected, and unexpected, sources. Sometimes the hurt of being misunderstood and unfairly criticized is so deep that church leaders become church dropouts.
We often underestimate the rigors of the “marathon” of leading a congregation through transition. When we are not intentional about spiritual training to increase our capacity to run with Godly strength, wisdom, love, and joy, we can burn out and drop out. But leaders who train by practicing spiritual disciplines can clearly see the exciting vision of the future toward which God has for the congregation and persevere through challenges until the vision becomes reality.
A Spiritual Training Program
The purpose of spiritual disciplines is first and foremost to help us grow in our relationship with God and in Christ-likeness. The disciplines create space in our lives where our love for God grows and God develops in us the qualities apparent in the life of Jesus. There are typical dangers to our spiritual well-being that leaders face as we lead congregations through transitions. The particular disciplines described here can keep us from those pitfalls and help us experience the fullness of life Jesus promised his followers, even as we face challenges.
The Discipline of Creating Margins
People called by God to lead a church through transition will experience additional demands on our schedules. Those schedules may already by full. We need to make sure that time for God, our families, and those activities which give us joy are not crowded out. The practice of creating margins involves prayerfully examining our commitments and saying “no” to things that are not necessary for the well-being of our souls and the welfare of others. Creating margins means saying “yes” to the things that bring greater awareness of how good our lives in Christ really are. Some suggestions for creating margins in your daily schedule: refrain from checking cell phone or computer until after you’ve had some prayer time; plan to get to a meeting 10 minutes early, just to have time to breathe and look around; set a time in the evening to stop working, so you have time with your spouse. Once a week, try setting aside a couple of hours for an activity that you and God enjoy doing together, such as hiking, creating, or reading.
The spiritual danger this practice guards against is becoming loveless and joyless. Leaders who do not practice care of our own souls end up resenting the people we serve. We feel angry toward the people who oppose us and also toward the people who are apathetic. “Here I am sacrificing everything, and they are either making it hard for me, or not doing a darn thing!” Whoa! Did God ask us to make those sacrifices? There are sacrifices leaders must make as we lead congregations through transition, but God does not ask us to sacrifice our spiritual wholeness or our family relationships. Having margins in our lives helps us to make the right sacrifices.
The Discipline of a Daily Appointment with God
The practice involves establishing a time each day to be alone with God. Ask God when and where God wants to meet with you. It could be on the deck in the mornings, a walk in the evening, finding a quiet place during the lunch hour. This daily appointment can become a time in your day you eagerly anticipate. Read a short passage of scripture and reflect on it. Pray by simply sharing what is on your heart and mind with God. Spend some time just being with God and listening for what God might want to communicate to you. When we take the time to be with God, our souls are refreshed and our strength is renewed.
The danger this practice guards against is ego-centeredness. Unless leaders take time to seek the wisdom and leading of God, we may be led by our own ego needs and misguided desires. Regular time with God helps us develop healthy detachment. Although we give our best effort to the process of church renewal, we leave must leave outcomes in God’s hands. God’s idea of congregational “success” may look different from our ideas. Even with the best leadership humans can offer, outcomes are beyond our control. We are dependent on God’s mysterious work and timing. The journey toward congregational renewal involves going through some hard places. The more we pray, the more we can trust that God is in control and working according to God’s plan and purpose, even when it looks like our efforts have failed and things are falling apart. The more time we spend with God, the more secure we become in God’s love for us and the less we need the approval of other people. The more we can approach congregational renewal as God’s project and not ours, the more we can serve with joy, freedom, and effectiveness.
The Discipline of Forgiveness
We practice the discipline of forgiveness by asking God to take from us any desire to retaliate when someone hurts us, and to give us the grace to let go of, and not dwell on, the offense. Then we ask for the grace to be able to pray for the total well-being of that person. We can write out our own general prayer for the grace to forgive, and carry it with us, looking at the prayer and inserting the name(s) of the people we need to forgive as soon as the offense occurs. The spiritual danger the practice guards against is bitterness. The aim of the discipline is that forgiveness becomes our automatic response to offense, and that we waste no mental, emotional, or spiritual energy in resenting people who resist and hurt us. Even talking about change can create fear in some congregation members’ hearts. Some people react to anxiety by criticizing leaders and saying false things about the proposed changes. When leaders are under attack and false rumors are circulating, our human nature wants to hit back. But when we retaliate from an inner state of anger and resentment, we decrease our ability to influence people toward God’s future. We may need to confront people who are saying false things and creating dissention. But we first need to pour out to God our feelings of hurt and anger and receive from God the ability to let go of any desire for retaliation. We let God defend our reputation. Then, from an inner state of peace, in touch with Godly wisdom, we can “speak the truth in love”.
The Discipline of Rest
At first it may not seem like a spiritual discipline to get enough sleep. But when leaders are exhausted, we do not love or lead well; we have little awareness of God’s presence with us or of God’s leading. Jesus said, “Abide in me,” which is an invitation to rest, and to learn from him how to work from rest. The practice is to go to sleep at a consistent time each night and aim to get at least seven hours of sleep 3 times a week. Once a week (probably not on Sunday morning!), give yourself permission to sleep until you can’t sleep any more.
The spiritual danger this practice guards against is weariness. When we are physically tired, everything becomes hard, and we are more vulnerable to whatever temptations we struggle with. We operate under the weight of feeling the success or failure of the church is all up to us, and that burden becomes more than we can bear. We can even dread going to the church or being with church people. When we sleep we are enacting a spiritual truth that sets us free from this burden: it’s not all up to us! When we sleep, we let God be in charge of the universe (and even the church) while we rest. We can wake refreshed, perhaps with a different perspective. Instead of approaching church renewal as our project for which we ask God’s help, we approach it as God’s project for which we ask our assignment for the day. We can “run and not be weary” and actually start looking forward to doing our little part toward fulfilling God’s great purpose.
The Discipline of Getting Out of Your Box
The process of leading a church through transition can be consuming. The spiritual danger is narrowness. Our world narrows to the people and processes we are working with. We start thinking our project is the only thing going on in God’s world. To restore perspective, we need to intentionally get beyond “the four walls” of our church. The practice involves regularly doing something with another congregation, or in mission. These are some suggestions: Many congregations have worship services at other times than your church worship services. Go and worship with other congregations, especially those that serve a different culture than yours, or that have a different worship style. For leaders who carry weekly responsibility for planning and leading worship services, being able to worship without being responsible for the service, restores perspective on how wonderful God is. Get involved with hands-on mission: volunteer to work at a free health clinic, help work on a habitat house, go on a mission trip. Getting away for spiritual retreat is also helpful in combating narrowness. You discover God at work beyond your little world, and your vision becomes more God-sized.
Training to Win the Prize
In I Corinthians 9:25, the Apostle Paul compares leadership in God’s mission to running a race for a prize. Paul says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.” Training is what we can do right now to develop greater capacity for spiritual leadership today and tomorrow. Training moves us into deeper intimacy with God and results in more Godly wisdom, love, patience, courage, and joy flowing in us and through us. Training develops greater capacity for endurance when difficulties arise and conflict hits. What we actually do in our training is not necessarily hard. Practices mentioned in this article can actually be quite enjoyable. The hard part is choosing to give spiritual practices priority in our busy lives. The hard part is choosing to get started in training and continuing on the course day after day.
So what is the reward for choosing to enter a spiritual training program and staying with it? To paraphrase Paul, athletes on the track run for a prize that perishes, but leaders in God’s mission run for an eternal prize. Seeing a congregation making progress toward transformation, growing, and fulfilling its God-given purpose is a joy that lasts forever. Knowing that we have faithfully done our part, that we have grown in our love for God, and that Christ has grown in us, is a satisfaction like no other.
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Saturday, February 13, 2010
Dealing with Lust
Sermon 4 in the series based on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached: A Spiritual Overhaul by the Master.”
Today’s sermon text is loaded with difficulties that must be cleared up if we are to see the big point. We will treat the difficulties one by one. Let’s start by reading the text.
Matthew 5: 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Problem Passage Number 1: “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Define lust: Lust, as Jesus defines it, is stronger than merely noticing an attraction to another person. It is intentionally entertaining the thought or fantasy of an extramarital relationship to the point that, if it were not for factors that make it frightening or impossible, one would carry out the relationship. Lust need not be focused on sexual intercourse, but may be focused on romance. Looking at pornographic images can be lust. So can reading romance novels or watching soap operas in certain ways. Lust is developing an attitude of the heart, an intention, to use another person to make us feel attractive, powerful, desirable, and so forth. If this attitude becomes habitual, it sets us up for failure in a committed marital relationship. It is adultery in the heart.
Correcting a lie from Satan: I have heard people say seriously, “I have already committed adultery in the heart, and, since one sin is as bad as another, I might as well carry out the actual adultery.” That is nonsense. King David could have merely repented of lusting in his heart for Bathsheba, but, although he eventually repented quite seriously of his physical adultery with her, nothing could undo the great harm that he set off for his family, his kingship, and his country by that act. The rule is, “Stop sin at the earliest stage possible.” Jesus is not saying that a sin in the heart is as destructive as a sin carried out. Rather, he is warning us to deal with the sin when it is still in the heart and before it becomes a dangerous storm.
Problem Passage Number 2: “For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.”
Difficulty: When Jesus is talking about getting rid of body parts that cause us to sin, some people take him literally, and that is a serious problem, but he is speaking figuratively. Jesus knows that body parts do not cause us to sin. He is not advising us to maim our bodies.
Solution: Jesus teaches that all sins are caused by thoughts and desires in the heart. His literal point is that we must get rid of the causes of our sin, the wrong thoughts and attitudes and desires. We must replace wrong thoughts with right thoughts. Right thoughts include focusing on seeking God’s best for all God’s children, and not deceiving ourselves that God’s best for another person includes his or her having a premature or an adulterous sexual or romantic relationship with us. That deception comes straight from Satan. Honestly thinking of others as children of God ends that deception.
Problem Passage Number 3: Everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Difficulty A. When Mark reports Jesus’ teaching about divorce, he gives no exception clause. Mark’s report emphasizes that God did not create marriage to end in divorce and that divorce is never God’s will. When Matthew twice reports Jesus’ teaching about divorce, he gives an exception clause. The Greek word he uses for what would justify instituting divorce proceedings is porneia; it is the root of the English words fornication and pornography. It is generally translated by a term such as sexual immorality. Certain churches get legalistic with this, forcing divorced people who wish to remarry to prove that they had grounds if they wish to remain members in full communion. But legalism is not Jesus’ intent in the Sermon on the Mount.
Solution A. Many scholars say that point is that one should not institute legal divorce proceedings unless the spouse has already irretrievably broken covenant. This could include, as Paul suggests, abandonment. Many believe that it could also include abuse and that the abuse could be of the children as well as of the spouse. We do not know the precise legal boundaries of the term, but it was not Jesus’ purpose to give us a new legalism. It was his point to discourage us from causing a break in a marriage relationship. Most scholars agree that the exception clause does not require divorce every time there are grounds; nothing in the exception clause overrides the command for us to offer forgiveness without limit, to always pray the best even for a wayward and abusive spouse, and to seek any reconciliation that may be made on solid grounds of effective repentance and inner healing. The following are reasons that do not justify divorce: I no longer love my spouse. This marriage is just too difficult. I would be much happier with a different spouse. I am really angry with my spouse. My spouse is really angry with me. All these situations can and should be addressed with prayerful creativity and persistence, not with giving up. Divorce should be reserved for situations in which there is no remedy for a fractured marriage covenant. Divorce is not God’s will for marriage and should not be considered if there is any safe alternative. At its best, it is merely a divine concession to human hardness of heart. God has made that concession because it is sometimes necessary. It is not necessary even a small fraction of the times it is practiced. Jesus’ point is to strongly challenge us not to resort to divorce unless it really is the last resort.
Difficulty B. Jesus said that whoever divorces a woman without proper grounds makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Solution B. Most scholars agree that a divorce based on proper grounds gives permission to marry again. Few divorced women in Jesus’ time could afford not to remarry. Jesus was saying that, if a man divorces his wife without proper grounds, he leaves her little alternative but to marry again even though she should not have been divorced in the first place, and her second marriage should not have been possible. Most scholars also agree that the second man who commits adultery by marrying a divorced woman is marrying an improperly divorced woman. The primary fault for the adultery of the woman and the second man is laid back on the first man who improperly divorced his wife.
Difficulty C. What do we do with the fact that so many Christians have been through improper divorces and remarriages?
Solution C. If there has been proper confession of sin, repentance, and commitment to God’s will, the past is past. Jesus made the woman at the Samaritan well his first evangelist to the Samaritans even though she had been married five times and had been living with a man to whom she was not married. We must assume that, when she came to believe in Jesus, she found the motivation and power to straighten out her life from that point forward. But we can never go back and amend all the costs of past sin. If we have divorced and remarried improperly, we cannot make a first divorce less sinful by going through a second divorce. We can only start from where we are, covered by the grace and righteousness of God, and seek to live out God’s will as fully as possible today and tomorrow.
Main point: What Jesus wants from us is whole-hearted devotion to representing the character and reign of God. God is a covenant-keeper. Those who represent him must be covenant keepers.
Sub-point: When we are face-to-face with God’s righteousness, we all fall short. There is no room for self-righteousness or judgmentalism. Probably none of us scores 100% on the purity test, and our attempts to justify ourselves look pretty feeble and hypocritical to anyone who has much understanding of human nature.
Finding the help we need in overcoming compulsive tendencies toward sexual misbehavior. All sin, including sexual sin, is rooted in a faith problem. When we do not trust that God will carry us by means of his will and his ways to the very best outcome, we try to take moral shortcuts to what appear to us to be immediate satisfactions. The most basic thing we need to believe is that God is good and trustworthy, holy and loving, righteous and powerful, gracious and merciful…that God wants the best for us and can deliver it if we will only trust and obey.
We sang about it at the beginning of our service, in the second verse of “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”: “Hast thou not seen how thy desires e’er have been granted in what he ordaineth?” What that is saying is, “It may take a while to see, but what God wills turns out to be best for our long-term satisfaction.”
If we trust God, we need to listen to his guidance through scripture and the Holy Spirit. We sang about that too. The hymn, “Speak, O Lord” is about our being transformed into the image and glory of God as we receive the guidance he speaks to us. The second verse has these words: “Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of Your purity. Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see Your majestic love and authority.” That should be happening not only in our weekly worship, but in our daily prayer and study—and in small groups aimed at spiritual growth.
In a bit we will be singing, “Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners.” Each verse shows us something about how Jesus helps us break free from sin. The hymn affirms that Jesus makes us whole, that Jesus helps us win the victory over temptation, that Jesus comforts our souls in sorrow, that Jesus pilots us through the storms of life, and that we can find more than All in Jesus. There is nothing like a living relationship with Jesus to keep us from wrong relationships with our fellow human beings.
Studies have shown that people are most vulnerable to temptation when they feel tired, stressed, overworked, lonely, misunderstood, frustrated, and so forth. They begin to focus on carving out a little hidden corner for some sort of forbidden satisfaction that actually ends up pushing them farther into dissatisfaction and shame, the set-up for what might become a destructive, addictive pattern. For example, the vast majority of clergy moral failure fits this pattern.
The best medicine is personal, restful time spent with God. Yes, we need sleep, exercise, recreation, and play, but people who spend lots of time in front of the tube, on the Internet, napping, out on the lake, etc., are still subject to temptation. There is no substitute for spending quality time with God becoming acquainted with his good and perfect plans for our lives and committing ourselves to trust his provision.
Finally, a word for young people who can start fresh: you were created to be a child of God and a servant of God. You were created to represent God’s nature and purposes to the world. Find your primary satisfaction in that calling. Make sure that any marriage covenant you form strengthens you as a child and servant of God. I know that romantic relationships can be very exciting, but let them form naturally and slowly around who you are as a child of God. Be patient and discerning, watchful and cautious. If you are destined for marriage and family, trust that God will provide the right relationship at the right time. Pushing ahead too fast, and fixating too soon on that guy or girl who makes you feel so attractive and important, can lead to a life of pain and disappointment. God has better for you than that if you will trust him.
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