The Time is Now

FISHING WITH JESUS - PART 1

The Time is Now
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Mark 1:14-20, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 28:19-20

“Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.”

Mark 1:17

Whose job is it to make disciples? The prophets? The preachers? The Sunday School Teachers?

We are quick to read between the lines in Mark 1 and Matthew 4 as Simon, Andrew, James and John leave their nets and follow Jesus like a group of children who have nothing better to do than join in a playground game of follow-the-leader. We struggle to find ways to excuse ourselves from such unreasonable demands. We have jobs and mortgages and kids and aging parents and pets. We have responsibilities that in our minds, are far more crucial than the lowly fishing business these early disciples walked out on. What exactly does it look like to “Come and follow Jesus,” in our day? The story is so brief it hardly does justice to the level of sacrifice these “ordinary fishermen” truly made. If we’re truly honest, most of us tend to think it was a much easier decision for them than for us.

There are much larger implications, however, when we consider the timing of this call. “After John was arrested…” (Mark 1:14, Matthew 4:12).

John was the prophet of the day. John was the mouthpiece of God. John was the first person in nearly 400 years to hold such a crucial religious position. No one alive at the time had ever heard the voice of God so directly and neither had their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents. “Prepare the way of the Lord,” he declared, and then he is arrested.

In steps Jesus, picking up right where John leaves off, except he is not just another prophet. He is something much more. He is the very presence of God in the flesh. And what’s more, God is not hanging out in the synagogues or even with the prophet’s followers in the wilderness. He is hanging out in the marketplace around the Sea of Galilee. He is eating and drinking and laughing with the tax collectors, the occupying Roman soldiers, the sick and the lame, the women and the children, and yes, even the lowly hard working fishermen.

“I’ll show you how to fish for people,” he says (Mark 1:17).

The nature of following Jesus and “fishing for people” looks different for everyone. Some may leave everything behind and others are needed to proclaim the Good News right where they are. Regardless of what shape our call takes or where Jesus leads, the point is that Jesus is leading “us”. He’s not training people for the office of “prophet” to replace John. He’s not offering a continuing education course or a doctoral program for Pharisees and Sadducee's so they they can update their methods and theology to fit the changing times. He is not saying everyone has to quit their jobs and go into full-time ministry, though that may be true for some.

Jesus calls you and me, ordinary people, to “fish for people,” to take up the mantle of the prophet and proclaim the Word of God not only in the wilderness, but in the marketplace, at our jobs, in our schools, at the restaurant, in the public square, with our friends and neighbors, in our homes and our families, and yes, even in our churches.

The more we try to plan out exactly how we will follow Jesus, the more we will find Jesus changing our plans. We are not Jesus’ GPS to make sure everything he calls us to do just happens to be on our route. If we stop to think about it too much, we will likely be overcome with anticipation and anxiety about the unknown. We might remember that John was just arrested and wonder if the same might happen to us. Our fear may get the better of us. We will surely come up with a million other things we have to do “first.”

Where our culture says, “trust yourself, trust your instincts, your intelligence, your abilities, your wealth, your plans, etc.” Jesus simply says, “Trust me. Step out of the boat. Drop your nets. Let’s go.”

The time is now!

Click here to listen to entire sermon series - “FISHING WITH JESUS”

? Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin ?

HALF TRUTHS - PART 5

? Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin ?
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Matthew 7:1-5, Matthew 9:9-13, Romans 14:4-13, Acts 11:2-18

Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. You’ll receive the same judgment you give. Whatever you deal out will be dealt out to you. Why do you see the splinter that’s in your brother’s or sister’s eye, but don’t notice the log in your own eye?

Matthew 7:1-3

Of all the “half-truths” or statements of “Bumper Sticker Christianity” we have talked about, this one feels the most right.

God hates sin. God loves sinners. So why shouldn’t we do the same?

Unfortunately it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Let’s take the statement apart piece by piece.

1. Hate the Sin.

Yes, of course we must hate sin… all sin. Sin breaks God’s heart and leads to destruction. Sin causes harm to ourselves and to others. There is nothing good about sin. The problem is that we rarely use this statement as a declaration against the sin in our own lives. Paul writes that we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) and countless scriptures warn us about judging others because we cannot see clearly with the log of sin in our own eye (Matthew 7:4-5).

Generally this is a statement we use to justify our judgment of people who “sin differently than we do.” We will not say we “hate the sin” of the gluttonous person who eats four desserts at a church potluck, but we are quick to “hate the sin” of the homosexual teenager who never comes to church anymore because everybody glares at him with holier-than-thou stares, which we see as perfectly justified.

Yes, we should hate sin, but we must always begin with our own. Do we truly hate the sinful attitudes and behaviors and habits in our own lives? Do we hate the times we sleep in when we don’t feel like going to church? Do we hate the countless excuses we use for avoiding Bible study or times of prayer? Do we hate the ways we avoid difficult conversations about God with people who need to hear the Good News of the gospel? Do we hate the lustful thoughts that pop in our minds out of nowhere? Do we hate the anger and resentment that fills our heart toward that person we just can’t forgive because “they hurt us so deeply?”

Until we hate the sin in our own hearts enough to repent and change, we have no business calling out the sin in others who sin in ways that may not be a temptation for us.

2. Love the Sinner

The problem here is that it is not our place to decide who is a “sinner” and who is not. As we’ve already seen, we are all sinners. At best, this statement is simply redundant. Love the sinner = love everyone because everyone is a sinner. Why not simply say it the way Jesus said it… Love your neighbor (the fact that they are a sinner is irrelevant to the way we are called to love them). When we say “sinner”, we usually have a specific person or specific characteristic in mind. If we are all “sinners,” we have no business singling out people who struggle with specific types of sin.

Secondly, Jesus never actually called anyone a “sinner.” He called people to repent of their sins, and the sins that most angered him were the sins of the religious crowd who should have known better. But remember, it was the Pharisees and Sadducee's who condemned him for “eating with tax collectors and sinners.” Jesus simply saw them as people who God loved that happened to be caught up in sin. He offered them forgiveness and a fresh start. He loved them even before they “repented” or cleaned up their act. He loved them even when they walked away and refused to repent. Their sin did not have any impact whatsoever on his love for them.

Likewise, someone else’s sin should not be a factor in how we treat them and how we love them.

There is really only one part of this statement that needs to be said.

LOVE.

Period.

Nothing else matters. We are all sinners and we are all loved by God.

While we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people. It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person. But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-8

Stop worrying about whether you think somebody is a “sinner”. Just love.

? God Helps Those Who Help Themselves ?

HALF TRUTHS - PART 4

? God Helps Those Who Help Themselves ?
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Psalm 18:6, 16-17, Psalm 121:1-2, Philippians 2:12-14, Ephesians 2:4-10

However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace!

Ephesians 2:4-5

“God helps those who help themselves.”

Odds are you have probably said or heard this exhortation at some point in your life. Most Americans believe it is found in the Bible, though no such Scripture exists. In truth, the source is unknown, although it is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin who popularized the phrase in the 1730’s.

At first glance, it seems to express good Biblical truth even if it is not directly quoted from Scripture. Surely God doesn’t want us to just sit back and do nothing. As James writes, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). Likewise, Paul writes to the Philippians to “carry out (or work out) your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12-13)

Anyone working for social justice knows that one of the most important tasks is to help people stand on their own, to break the cycles of poverty, addiction, crime, or whatever else holds them back from being productive members of society who live with a sense of purpose and dignity. We “teach people to fish” rather than simply giving them an endless stream of free handouts.

Honestly, this is all good and true. We should encourage hard work and discipline both in life and in our journey of faith. We do have to “practice what we preach”. We must live out our salvation by fulfilling our baptismal covenant through our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. When we pray, God empowers us and guides us into action. Adam Hamilton writes, “Those who fought for civil writes did not simply pray at church. They prayed and then marched, knowing they were likely to be beaten and arrested and that God would somehow see them through.”

So what’s wrong with saying “God helps those who help themselves,” even if it’s not directly quoted from the Bible?

The trouble comes at two key points… when someone cannot help themselves, or when we cannot help ourselves.

We often see others in need and respond by saying that if they work hard and “help themselves,” God will help them out of whatever pit they find themselves in. In some ways, however, this says far more about our cultural work ethic and rugged individualism than it says about God. After all, if we could truly help ourselves, what need have we for God? Why pray at all if we could simply work harder and help ourselves solve whatever dilemma presses in?

More than that, it often becomes an excuse not to help others. Scripture consistently calls us to care for the poor, the orphan, the stranger, the widow, and the needy. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us that whatever we have done for the least among us, we have done for him, and likewise whatever aid we have refused to others, we have refused for him. Rather than seeing those in need as people who should “pick themselves up by their own bootstraps”, we are called to see in them the face of Christ struggling under the weight of his own cross, and like Simon of Cyrene, perhaps God is calling us to help him carry it for awhile by bearing the burden of others (Matthew 27:32).

Challenging this well worn cliché is not a blanket affirmation of sloth or laziness. Rather it is a recognition that no matter how hard we work, there are times when we simply cannot help ourselves. Despite popular belief, not everyone was born with the same opportunities, abilities or connections. This is why God uses others to answer the cry of the needy, to help them when they don’t have a leg to stand on.

In the end, God helps those who CANNOT help themselves.

God is the God of the hopeless, the God who walks with us even in the valley of the shadow of death. This is grace, amazing grace, that saved even a blind wretch like me who could never save myself from the shackles of sin. When it comes to our salvation, not one of us can help ourselves.

Rather than condemning the helpless, perhaps it would do us well to sing that great hymn again… remembering that we were all lost and helpless, but God rescued us from the pit that we might sing His glorious and “Amazing Grace” all the more.

? God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It ?

HALF TRUTHS - PART 3

? God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It ?
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Matthew 5:17-48, Deuteronomy 23:12-14, 2 Timothy 2:14-15, 2 Timothy 3:15-17, John 1:14-18, John 8:2-11, Leviticus 20:10, 21:9

You have heard that it was said to those who lived long ago, Don’t commit murder, and all who commit murder will be in danger of judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with their brother or sister will be in danger of judgment. If they say to their brother or sister, ‘You idiot,’ they will be in danger of being condemned by the governing council. And if they say, ‘You fool,’ they will be in danger of fiery hell.

Matthew 5:21-22

“You have heard it said… but I say to you…”

Such a statement from almost anyone would quickly raise a red flag today. We hear and use the arguments all the time. “What do you mean, “you say”?” “We’ve always done it this way. Are you telling us we’ve been doing it wrong all this time?” “Who are you to say my parents and great grandparents were wrong?”

I was talking to a group of church people once using a similar sentiment. I have had these kinds of conversations on a wide range of subjects. People have told me I did not preach God’s Word because I didn’t use the King James Version. Another man said I would “burn in hell if I didn’t get my wife to repent because she is a pastor,” which in his mind is clearly against God’s Word. The most extreme I have ever seen involved a church leader who actually believed that God’s commands to Joshua to drive the Canaanites out of the land also applies to white American Christians who are charged with ridding our nation of all minorities and non-believers, especially Muslims. His wife proceeded to send me a series of gruesome and inflammatory internet articles about extremist groups and they warned me that my Muslim friends would rape and mutilate my daughter, who was only 2 years old at the time.

Of course these are extreme distortions of Biblical teaching, but the truth is that Scripture has been used throughout history to oppress women, to endorse slavery, and to justify countless wars, the burning of so-called “witches”, the excommunication of scientists, and many other unjust atrocities throughout human history. This is the kind of violence and extremism that results in an “Us vs. Them” culture where God always just happens to be cheering for our team.

Yet Jesus himself said these words… “You have heard but I say,” not once but several times in His famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus consistently re-frames the people’s understanding or interpretation of the law, not to undermine it, but to get to the heart of God’s intent. Lust is just as bad as adultery and hating someone is the equivalent of murder. “An eye for an eye” becomes, “love your enemies” and the Sabbath should never prevent us from doing good and bringing healing to others.

It’s easy to affirm, at least in words, because Jesus said it. But we must remember that Jesus’ audience did not attribute to him the same divine authority Christians recognize today. When they accused him of breaking the Sabbath or condemned him for defiling himself with sinners, they could just as easily have pointed to any number of scriptures to make their case and declared… “God said it, that settles it.”

If anything, Jesus, Paul, and other New Testament writers demonstrate that it’s not quite that simple. Scripture, just like any other text, can be twisted and distorted to say just about anything. Dr. Joy Moore talks about those preachers who have a verse for everything stating, “If you’ve got a topic, I’ve got a text.” Whether the text actually applies to the topic hardly matters, so long as it came from somewhere in the Bible, or at least “sounds Biblical.” Dr. Ben Witherington III is known for saying “A text without a context is a proof-text for anything you want to say.”

If God truly says something, and if we truly understand the meaning for our context, then yes, it may be fairly black and white. But more often than not, we are not as clear or certain as we would like to think. Let’s take murder for example. The command, “Thou shalt not murder” is one of the most black and white laws in Scripture and in almost every religion and law code throughout history. But even here we argue about gray areas. What about war, euthanasia, self-defense or the death penalty? Do these controversial issues count as “murder” and if so, are they justified? Some would even take it to the extreme that we must not kill animals, but even if someone could prove that was God’s intent, I imagine few of us would become vegetarian.

There’s no one-size fits all interpretation or even a universal method of Biblical interpretation throughout Christian history. We must wrestle with issues of language, context, socio-historic realities, literary styles, authorial intent, original audience and countless other exegetical and interpretive concerns. Rarely will all Christians of all times and all places ever fully agree on what it is that God actually said.

While I believe we must continue to study and wrestle with the meaning of the text in the context of the global Christian community throughout history, we must be careful making absolute statements that we and we alone have the only “right” interpretation on any given issue. Every time we are certain we are right, we will likely find another sincere Christian scholar interpreting the same passage in a very different way.

Understanding what God actually “said” or “meant” is no small task. If we’re honest, most of the time we are not even as clear as we thought we were about what our spouse means. This complex reality should not paralyze us to Biblical interpretation and study, but it should at the very least give us pause and keep us humble in our beliefs and out judgments against the beliefs of other Christians.

Two final words of advice.

1. Remember that the Word became flesh… not text.

   When in doubt, always interpret the text through the lens of Jesus’ life for he is the only person to ever live out the fullness of God’s Word on this earth.

2. Take to heart the wisdom of Mark Twain who writes, “It is not the parts of the Bible I do not understand that worry me, it is the parts I do understand.”

   For as much as Christians argue over the interpretation of obscure and controversial scriptures, we all know far more scripture than we actually put into practice. First and foremost, let us become doers and not merely hearers of those parts of the Word of God that are crystal clear… to love God and love our neighbor (which includes everyone)… to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our Creator.

   This alone may take more than a lifetime to master, and the world will be far better for it.

Special thanks to my wife, Rev. McKenzie Sefa, who preached this challenging topic today in our first of two pulpit swaps during this “Half-Truths” series. You can here her full message at the link below.

? God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle ?

HALF TRUTHS - PART 2

? God Won’t Give You More Than You Can Handle ?
Sunday, July 7, 2019
1 Corinthians 10:12-13, James 1:13-17, Psalm 46:1-3, 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

No temptation has seized you that isn’t common for people. But God is faithful. He won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13

“Don’t worry, God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

Before we dig into what God does and doesn’t give us, let’s first consider the source of this unhelpful cliché. It is an adaptation of the passage above from 1 Corinthians 10:13

The actual statement from 1 Corinthians 10 reads: “God won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities.”

James elaborates on this point when he writes:

No one who is tested should say, “God is tempting me!” This is because God is not tempted by any form of evil, nor does he tempt anyone. Everyone is tempted by their own cravings; they are lured away and enticed by them. Once those cravings conceive, they give birth to sin; and when sin grows up, it gives birth to death.

James 1:13-15

The ability to overcome temptation and the ability to handle any circumstance that comes our way are two entirely different things. God does not tempt us to sin, but he promises that he will give us the strength to resist temptation. The lure of sin does not have power over us if we are walking in the Spirit because we have died to our sinful nature and been raised to walk in the light of Christ. The good news of the gospel, in fact, is not simply the forgiveness of sin so that we can go to heaven, but the power over sin granted to us by the same grace which saved us in the first place.

Clearly the statement, “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” is a misquoted version of this favorite memory verse from 1 Corinthians. But what do we do with the broader idea? It has become so vital to our faith to believe that no matter how bad things get, we will not get overwhelmed because God won’t give us more than we can handle.

This favorite half-truth often follows right behind “Everything happens for a reason” as a second pillar of our “Bumper Sticker Christianity.” In fact, it utterly depends on the idea that everything happens according to God’s plan and that God causes every bad thing to happen. “God won’t give you more than you can handle” implies first and foremost that everything you have to handle, no matter how tragic, must be from God for some greater divine purpose.

If you missed last week’s message, now may be a good time to go back and check out “Everything Happens for a Reason”.

Two key points to keep in mind:

1. Not every circumstance you have to handle is from God.

   It is just as likely that the struggle you face is the result of the natural ebb and flow of life, or perhaps even the result of sinful and destructive choices, whether yours or the harmful choices of others that may have had nothing to do with you at all. Nevertheless, the consequences are very real and painful.

2. Though we may very well be overwhelmed by circumstances beyond our control, God will see us through any circumstance we face.

   This is where we draw hope from the Apostle Paul.

I was given a thorn in my body because of the outstanding revelations I’ve received so that I wouldn’t be conceited. It’s a messenger from Satan sent to torment me so that I wouldn’t be conceited.

I pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me alone. He said to me, “My grace is enough for you, because power is made perfect in weakness.” So I’ll gladly spend my time bragging about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power can rest on me. Therefore, I’m all right with weaknesses, insults, disasters, harassments, and stressful situations for the sake of Christ, because when I’m weak, then I’m strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

“God will help you handle all that you’ve been given” (Adam Hamilton).

As he tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient because my power is made perfect in your weakness.”

Take some time to sit with all of the circumstances in your life that overwhelm you. Imagine them circling around you like a storm as you stand with Peter on the water in the middle of the sea. Look up to Jesus and reach out your hand. Invite him to grant you peace, and even if he doesn’t calm the storm, pray that the Holy Spirit might calm the storm in you.

Listen to the sermon below for more on the half truth: “God won’t give you more than you can handle”. For now, let us us pray together with the Psalmist:

God is our refuge and strength,

a help always near in times of great trouble.

That’s why we won’t be afraid when the world falls apart…

Psalm 46:1-2a (CEB)

? Everything Happens for a Reason ?

HALF TRUTHS - PART 1

? Everything Happens for a Reason ?
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Romans 8:22-28

We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

Long before Twitter limited our communication to 140 or even 280 characters, Christians have attempted to distill the great mysteries of God and the universe into short catchy and memorable clichés and sound-bites. The result is what I like to call “Bumper-sticker Christianity” or “Street Theology.”

Adam Hamilton calls them “Half-truths” because these clichés often contain just enough truth to sound quite Biblical, but when taken to their logical conclusions they can be misleading and sometimes even hurtful or harmful to the faith of others. We will look at five of these so-called “Biblical” statements over the next few weeks beginning with one of the most common: “Everything happens for a reason.” Other variations on this theme include, “It was God’s will or God’s plan,” or “It was just God’s time.”

At best these sentiments sound like the bad advice of Job’s friends who try to explain away his suffering. At worst they make God out to be not only the author of tragedy, but perhaps even of sin.

God is sovereign, but God also created human beings with free will to make choices for both good and evil. To say that everything that happens is God’s will or God’s plan eliminates the possibility of human choice or responsibility. Consider the following examples as we move beyond this limited and un-scriptural explanation for human suffering.

Scenario 1: Natural Disasters

Two Christian families and next door neighbors pray for safety during a tornado warning. One house is demolished leaving the family with nothing while the house next door remains untouched.

Did God answer the prayers of one family and not the other? Did one family have less faith than the other? Did one family deserve this tragedy more than the other? When the family whose home survived says they were “Blessed by God”, does that mean that the other family is not blessed? Where was God’s grace and protection for them?

Natural disasters are called “natural” for a reason. God does not orchestrate such tragedy for some larger purpose beyond our understanding. Storms come. Sickness and disease ravages the human body and death will catch up with every one of us eventually. This is the nature of life in a fallen world. This is why we place our hope in eternity, but it does not mean that every bad thing that happens is part of God’s perfect will or plan. The truth is, some things “just happen.” The question is “how we will respond?”

Scenario 2: Shootings

School shootings have become all too common in our nation. If it is true, however, that everything happens for a reason, then what role does God play in these tragedies?

When an individual dies, we often say, “It was just their time.” Is that true for all of those children? Was it “just their time” all on the same day? Did God lead the gunmen to sin in order to fulfill that purpose? Did God allow these children to be sacrificed so others might “pray to be saved” when the gospel is preached at their funerals?

Clearly such implications are appalling. No matter how much we say that God’s ways are beyond our comprehension, there is no way that God’s goodness could be so radically different than ours to justify such horrors. Our sense of goodness, righteousness, and justice may be shadows of God’s wisdom and it is true that God’s ways are not our ways, but surely our good is not the opposite of God’s good. If we are made in the image of God, we at least have some sense of what is truly good and what is evil.

Evil is the natural result of sinful human choices. Attributing pain, suffering, and even evil to some inexplicable Divine plan implies that God led the perpetrators of such evil to sin and it removes our personal responsibility as we are called to bear faithful witness to the presence of God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. What other sins can we commit and simply respond by saying “The devil made me do it” or “It was God’s will anyway”?

Volumes of similar scenarios could be written to demonstrate the danger in chalking everything up to God’s perfect will or plan but we do not have the time or space here for such exhaustive reflections.

One final thought.

What do we do with the “good things” that do come as the result of horrible circumstances? When the nation came together in love and charity after 9/11 or when family members reconcile their long-held grudges in the face of a loved one dying from cancer, how do we respond? Did God cause these tragedies in order to bring about such good outcomes?

Not necessarily.

Romans 8:28 says that “all things work together for good,” but that does not imply that all things are caused or necessary in order to bring about that good. We cling to inexplicable reasons for every tragedy because we need our suffering to have meaning, but what if we have it backwards? What if the meaning and value of our suffering and tragedy comes not from its cause or reason, but from how we respond?

How is God strengthening us and leading us to grow in love and faith as a result of whatever happened? Do we harden ourselves in anger or do we grow even more urgent in our desire to pour out the love and mercy and grace of God to a hurting loved one and a broken world?

God works with us to bear good, meaningful fruit out of every circumstance, natural or sinful, but just like us, God grieves over the tragedy itself. God weeps with us in our loss and screams with us in our anger against evil and injustice.

The rain falls on the righteous and unrighteous alike. This is the nature of things. Perhaps the real question is not the reason or cause, but what meaning and goodness will grow in the softened and fertile fields of our hurting hearts and souls.

Not everything happens for a reason, but God can make meaning out of everything that happens.

In her book, “Everything happens for a reason and other lies I’ve loved”, Kate Bowler wrestles with the “easy answers” we so often give in the midst of tragedy and suffering. Her raw and honest experience of God’s truth in the midst of her own tragic circumstances calls us to consider how we might leave our easy answers and cliché explanations behind and instead be willing to sit with others in the midst of their grief and pain as a reminder of God’s healing presence through it all.

Check out her story in this video from TED Talks.

You can find her book on Amazon here.

Click here to listen to entire sermon series - “HALF TRUTHS”

Spiritual Awareness

SPIRITUAL - PART 7

Spiritual Awareness
Sunday, June 16, 2019
John 16:12-15

“I have much more to say to you, but you can’t handle it now. However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come.

John 16:12-13

The Spirit may guide us in all truth, but that does not mean we have “all of the truth” about everything.

Sometimes truth may take generations to uncover or discern. How many centuries did astronomers study the skies before they realized the truth that the earth was round and revolved around the sun? Even when Copernicus first released this fundamental scientific truth, the church rallied against him declaring the scriptures such as Psalm 93 which declares that “God has fixed the earth as immovable and firm.” So was Copernicus listening to the Spirit of Truth or was the Church? It took generations to accept, but eventually the Church came to accept that they were wrong. This does not mean that nobody in the church was trying to listen to the voice of the Spirit, or that the Spirit was even directly involved in the natural discovery of scientific realities.

Throughout history, Christians across the globe have disagreed on countless “truth claims”. Early Christians argued over the divine nature of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Were they eternally begotten, co-equal with God, or where they created by God? Was Jesus fully Divine or fully human? Could he be both?

Century after century, groups of Christians separate over any number of “truth claims” ranging from the authority of the Pope to the method and meaning of Baptism. The Methodist Episcopal Church South and other Christians in the 1800’s stood firm on their “truth” that even slavery was an institution ordained and approved by God. Christians fought on both sides of the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, and virtually every other social and political conflict throughout history. Churches still split over almost anything and both sides of every split claim that their side stands on the “Absolute Truth” of Scripture.

Rev. James Howell notes that this “spirit of truth” is perilous, as too many Christians treat “truth” as some sledgehammer to judge or belittle others. St. Ephrem the Syrian (4th century) writes, “Truth and love are wings that cannot be separated, for Truth without Love is unable to fly, so too Love without Truth is unable to soar up; their yoke is one of harmony.” Denominations are lousy about truth; both “sides” blithely presume to have cornered it.

Good Bible believing Christians hold opposing views on countless political, ethical and even moral issues. Some may indeed be misinterpreting scripture. Some may be intentionally twisting scripture to fit their own agenda. But not all. Many people are sincerely trying to align themselves with God’s truth to the best of their ability and yet still come out on different sides of the aisle.

In Acts 15, we read the story of a conflict between Paul and Barnabas which ends in each of them parting ways. Who was right? Which one of them listened to the truth of the Spirit? Scripture doesn’t say, and perhaps it does not matter. In the end, the Spirit guided both of them in successful missionary journeys. Neither one was outcast by the church or by God and yet clearly they could not both have been “right”.

So where is this “Spirit of Truth”?

Why don’t we all hear the same truth when this Spirit speaks?

Perhaps we do. At least on the things that matter most. Holy Spirit reveals to us the nature of God. Holy Spirit teaches us the way of salvation. Holy Spirit convicts us of the truth of sin in our lives and leads us in the way of repentance. Holy Spirit resonates with our spirits to assure us that we are beloved children of the Most High.

Jesus told his disciples there were many things they were not ready to hear. In truth, there are still many things we are not ready to hear. There are many things good Christians have thought were true that are not so black and white. Just like Jesus, Holy Spirit knows the places in our lives where we are ready to see a bit more gray, to hear a more nuanced approach that isn’t always either/or, in/out, right/wrong. But Holy Spirit also knows the places in our lives we need a bit more certainty and assurance and the Spirit teaches us all that is spoken clearly by the Father and the Son. Holy Spirit is the Wisdom of God personified. Wisdom doesn’t simply teach us right and wrong. Wisdom also guides us in how to appropriately apply the truths we have learned.

We may know the truth, for example, that a tomato is a fruit, but wisdom reminds us not to put one in a fruit salad or smoothie.

Likewise, Holy Spirit guides us in all truth, but she also grants us the wisdom not to use that truth as a weapon against our brothers and sisters. She grants us the wisdom to be patient with one another, bearing all things in love rather than quarreling with those who hold to a different truth. She even gives us a discerning ear and heart to learn from one another, perhaps even to be corrected in our own misunderstandings of what we thought was true. She gives us humility to admit when we are wrong and the humility to reign in our arrogance and pride in being right.

First and foremost, Jesus says that Holy Spirit will remind them of everything he taught them. This third person of the Trinity, fully divine as Christ and the Father are Divine, will consistently point believers to the Father. The disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father”. Perhaps our primary question pray should not be, “Spirit show me the truth so I can be right,” but instead simply pray, “Holy Spirit, show us the Father.”

Click here to listen to entire sermon series - “SPIRITUAL”

Spiritual Language

SPIRITUAL - PART 6

Spiritual Language

Sunday, June 9, 2019
Acts 1:1-11, 2:1-21

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.  When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages.  They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them?  How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language?

Acts 2:4-8

I’ve always been highly academic and I love learning just about every subject, but the one thing I cannot seem to learn is how to speak a foreign language. I took several years of French in high school and barely remember a word. I tried learning Spanish later in life and nothing seems to stick. I aced Greek and Hebrew in seminary, but without a lexicon in front of me, I don’t even remember the alphabets. Perhaps it comes down to a lack of practice or opportunities to be immersed in speaking the language regularly, but for whatever reason, languages are just not my gift.

I discovered in South Africa they have 11 official languages and I thoroughly enjoyed preaching a revival service last year with a translator who spoke Ndbele. Even though he was simply translating my words, somehow his sermon sounded a lot better than mine. The children’s Sunday School teacher in the church there mentioned that some of the kids in her class did not speak any of the same languages and could not always understand each other, and yet somehow the Holy Spirit kept drawing them back together as one family.

The coming of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts demonstrates the truth that Paul speaks of in Ephesians when he writes:

You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope.  There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.

Ephesians 4:4-6

In many nations around the world fluency in two or more languages is nearly a necessity. I fully recognize the privilege of having English readily available almost anywhere I go. Even when we are all speaking English, however, we are not always speaking the same language. I’m not just talking about southern vs. northern accents or British vs. Australian vs. American dialects. Language is more than the words we say or even the accents with which we say them. Words have meaning based on cultural context and often take on further nuance based on individual experience. Most arguments involve people talking past each other using the same language and the same words with very different layers of meaning and interpretation.

The same is true in our churches.

Every time a congregation gathers for worship, many different people, from different points in life, with different needs and perspectives come together; each refracting messages through their own lenses. Each person processes communication in ways that are influenced by age, gender, race, personality type, ethnicity, education, and social and economic backgrounds.

Joseph R. Jeter Jr. and Ronald J. Allen, “One Gospel, Many Ears”

It is easy to rail against people who don’t speak “English” in America, but perhaps we would be better off recognizing that we have a much more serious language problem. We all struggle to say what we mean and often to mean what we say. We all talk past each other on a regular basis. We all misinterpret or misunderstand what people are saying to us, even our closest loved ones.

This is why the unifying language of the Holy Spirit is so crucial. Too often the church sounds just like our political rallies and our news media, fighting and arguing and talking past each other as if shouting in a thousand different languages, when in truth, we all desire the same thing. We just have different perspectives and approaches.

What would it look like for your church to look less like the people fleeing from the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) and more like the church at Pentecost, who truly speaks “One Gospel to Many Ears.”

Click here to listen to entire sermon series - “SPIRITUAL”

If you are interested, here is the sermon I preached with the translator in South Africa. It was my first time trying to communicate to an entirely different culture who spoke multiple languages which I did not understand. Truly a blessed experience.

You can also learn more about supporting this church, “The Family of God” and their work in Mpumalanga, South Africa at africanrescueministries.org.

Spiritual Connection

SPIRITUAL - PART 5

Spiritual Connection
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Acts 16:9-15

A vision of a man from Macedonia came to Paul during the night. He stood urging Paul, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”…

…On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the riverbank, where we thought there might be a place for prayer. We sat down and began to talk with the women who had gathered. One of those women was Lydia, a Gentile God-worshipper from the city of Thyatira, a dealer in purple cloth. As she listened, the Lord enabled her to embrace Paul’s message.

Acts 16:9, 13-14

Lydia is one of the few named women we have in the early church, and it is generally believed that she became one of the leaders and hosts of the church at Philippi. We know plenty about this church from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, but here in Acts we find the beginning of her story. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, we meet her at a significant transition in her life of faith and perhaps at the moment of her call to ministry.

To understand the beginnings of this new church movement in Philippi, we have to step back a few verses to see how the Holy Spirit was at work in Paul’s missionary journey.

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the regions of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit kept them from speaking the word in the province of Asia. When they approached the province of Mysia, they tried to enter the province of Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them.  Passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas instead.

Acts 16:6-8

Don’t you just hate it when travel plans get messed up? Clearly Paul’s mission trip was not going as planned. He and his companions tried to proclaim the Good News of Christ in Asia, Mysia, Bithynia, Troas, and no doubt many other places along their route. But in each case it says the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them.

At first glance this seems absurd. Why would the Holy Spirit not allow them to proclaim the Good News?

Personally, I don’t believe God wanted to withhold the message of salvation from these places. It may be that they were either not yet ready to receive the message or that Paul was not the one God wanted to use to bring this message to these particular groups. Instead, God was calling Paul to answer the prayer of this man from Macedonia.

When Paul responds, he finds Lydia, a woman of means who believed in God and already hosted a prayer-gathering in her home.

This is the key to the work of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t expect us to simply drop into a new place or knock on a random door, pray a miraculous prayer with a perfect stranger, and expect them to be saved and change the world.

We have a bad habit of practicing what I call “Air Drop” Christianity. Whether it’s a quick in-and-out mission trip, door-to-door evangelism, or a quick handshake on Sunday morning and then we move on, we have a bad habit of sprinkling ourselves here and there as if our faith is a garnish, rather than at the heart of who we are. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I’m sure: INVEST IN PEOPLE. It’s hard work, but it’s the stuff of life when we have the proper perspective

Christian Piatt, Sojourners (https://sojo.net/articles/ten-antidotes-christian-cliches)

The Holy Spirit works primarily by making connections between people. In this case, the Spirit connected Paul and Lydia through the prayers of another unknown third party from Macedonia. When Paul saw how God was already at work in Lydia’s life and incorporated her ministry into the larger work of the Church, the Church grew and a new faith community was planted.

Who might God be calling you to connect with? We were never meant to do this work of ministry alone.

Click here to listen to entire sermon series - “SPIRITUAL”

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At the last minute this morning, Holy Spirit laid on my heart to share the story of Grace Kids UMC: A Church for Kids. My description did not do it justice so I invite you to check out their website and learn more about how Holy Spirit connected this once tiny church with the kids in their community to be in ministry together.

https://gracekidschurch.com/

Spiritual Discomfort

SPIRITUAL - PART 4

Spiritual Discomfort
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Acts 11:1-18

I heard a voice say, “Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!’” I responded, “Absolutely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.”

Acts 11:7-8

We all want to live good, moral, and righteous lives, yet in truth, Paul reminds us that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Yet somehow in our “righteous minds,” we have created our own hierarchy of sins. If someone calls us out when we disobey God’s law, we quickly respond as though our infraction is relatively insignificant on the larger scale. “I’m only human,” we say. “Nobody is perfect.”

Yet when someone else commits a sin that we could never imagine committing ourselves, that sin becomes so repugnant to us that we are quick to condemn. As Jesus says, we rarely notice the “logs in our own eyes” (Matthew 7:3-5).

“Morality binds and blinds. It binds us into ideological teams that fight each other as though the fate of the world depended on our side winning each battle. It blinds us to the fact that each team is composed of good people who have something important to say.” 

“If you really want to change someone’s mind on a moral or political matter, you’ll need to see things from that person’s angle as well as your own. And if you do truly see it the other person’s way—deeply and intuitively—you might even find your own mind opening in response. Empathy is an antidote to righteousness, although it’s very difficult to empathize across a moral divide.” 

― Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

This description of the endless moral, ethical, ideological and political battles in our culture and our world sounds a lot like Peter’s dilemma when he was called to the home of a Gentile, and not just to his home, but to dine with him at a table full of unclean foods.

“Absolutely not, Lord,” he responds.

Notice the irony and the confusion present in Peter’s response.

On one hand, he is saying “Absolutely not” to something which he considers to be a horrible sin, that is, eating unclean foods that go against the Jewish dietary laws.” This is admirable and proves Peter’s desire to remain pure and righteous.

But in the same response, he says, “Lord”. The very Lord and King he is seeking to honor by not eating with the Gentiles is the same Lord and King he is defying by refusing to do so. How can this be? Would God call us to sin?

Of course not.

But as Jonathan Haidt says, morality binds us together but also blinds us to the stories and experiences of others who do not share our moral values.

Consider these words from the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth.

Everything is permitted, but everything isn’t beneficial. Everything is permitted, but everything doesn’t build others up. No one should look out for their own advantage, but they should look out for each other. Eat everything that is sold in the marketplace, without asking questions about it because of your conscience.  The earth and all that is in it belong to the Lord.  If an unbeliever invites you to eat with them and you want to go, eat whatever is served, without asking questions because of your conscience.  But if someone says to you, “This meat was sacrificed in a temple,” then don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience.  Now when I say “conscience” I don’t mean yours but the other person’s. Why should my freedom be judged by someone else’s conscience?  If I participate with gratitude, why should I be blamed for food I thank God for?  So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you should do it all for God’s glory.  Don’t offend either Jews or Greeks, or God’s church.

1 Corinthians 10:23-32

Everyone has a conscience, and that conscience or moral code is determined in life by a number of factors including upbringing, culture, education, religion, etc. And because everyone’s experience is different, everyone’s conscience is slightly different. For one person a single glass of wine may be as bad a sin as drunk-driving. For another, a fully stocked wine cellar in their home tells a different story. Has either one sinned? Not necessarily.

God wasn’t calling Peter to sin, but God always puts relationships first. Our conscience should never prevent us from “building others up”. Our conscience should never allow us to “put someone else down”. God isn’t interested in our personal moral values. God is interested in how we treat those whom he loves, regardless of how their conscience may or may not differ from our own.

If we view someone else as morally repugnant and keep our distance, we may just be keeping our distance from Christ. Jesus says, “Whatever you do (or do not do) for the least of these, you have done (or not done) it for me” (Matthew 25:45).

Click here to listen to entire sermon series - “SPIRITUAL”