Missio Dei: #2 The Role of Israel

We’ve been talking this month about the Mission of God (the Missio Dei) and looking at what he has been doing in our world… what he is doing now… and what he wants to do in the future. And we’ve asked this question… because we want to know what He wants US to do as a church… what role WE have to play in this mission? We’ve seen that his intention/ goal is… to reconcile “all things in earth & heaven” back unto Himself. (cf. Col. 2) It is a rescue operation! He wants to RESCUE his fallen creation from the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of Christ! That is what he has been up to since the very beginning and will continue to work towards until all things have actually been brought back unto him.

     As we think about the Mission of God… and as we try to find OUR mission as a church within God’s mission… I want to zero in on the role that Israel has played in that mission. How did God use his chosen, covenant people to further that plan? I realize, we don’t usually begin here. Usually when we’re talking about the mission of the church we only go back so far as Acts and the “birthday” of the church on Pentecost. Or we talk about the acts of worship and Rick Warren’s five purposes of the church. But I believe it the mission of the church today is not only rooted in the mission of God but is also seen in the mission he gave Israel! WE are the chosen, covenant people of God… chosen IN CHRIST to fulfill his mission… to continue that mission!

     Let’s go back to the Biblical story… as we have it in the OT. The situation presented by the end of Gen. 3 is a bleak one! Sin had entered into God’s good creation and wreaked absolute havoc! With sin had come death, disease, decay, the curse of the ground, fracture in human relationships, separation & alienation from God! Mankind is cast out of the Garden of Eden and into a world of sin & death… ruled by the one who deceived them in the first place! And as you read further… things don’t get much better! In fact, they get progressively worse! In ch. 4… brother kills brother… the sons of Adam & Eve turned against one another. In ch. 6 & 7… things had gotten so bad (in fact it says that every inclination of their hearts were evil all the time) that God decided to bring judgment in the form of a massive flood to wipe the slate clean… choosing to save only Noah & his family.

     But the fundamental nature of man hasn’t been changed… and by the time ch. 11 comes along civilization is right back where it was before Noah. At the height of human arrogance and pride… mankind chooses to build a tower that reaches into the heavens. Driven out of an ambition to “make a name for themselves” they set about building the tower of Babel! When God acts to scatter them across the land… we get a sense for just how far mankind has fallen. Instead of glorifying God… they have sought a name for themselves. Instead of spreading out & multiplying… they have come together to see if they could be gods themselves. Instead of tending to God’s good creation as He had intended in the Garden… they had to work the cursed ground it by the sweat of their brow. Even the blessing of childbirth… would come with pain & labor!

     By the end of ch. 11 the reader is left to ask… “What can be done? What could God do?” Then he does something only God could have come up with! God sees an elderly, childless couple in the land of Babel itself and decides to make them the launching pad of his whole mission to rescue all of creation! The call of Abraham in Gen. 12 is the beginning of God’s mission to restore his fallen creation and fix once & for all the sin-problem within the human heart. Who would have thought?

Our mission begins here.

GOD CALLS ABRAM AND PROMISES HIM GREAT BLESSING!
Genesis 12:1-3
1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. 2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." NIV

     In spite of everything that has happened… in spite of the sin, the rebellion and all the chaos that has ensued… God still wants to bless his people! The word “blessing” is used 5 times here… in 3 verses! And indeed he was greatly blessed! As an old man he became the father of Isaac, the child of the promise! And the patriarch of a great nation! His descendants as numerous as the sand on the seashores! His flocks were bountiful and his family prosperous. But look at the WHY…
“I will bless you… & you will be a blessing.” “I will bless those who bless you & all peoples will be blessed through you.”
The purpose of the blessing wasn’t just to make Abraham or the nation of Israel healthy, wealthy & wise… it was to bless others! But the story doesn’t end there…

AS WE READ ON, GOD ACTS AGAIN IN A MIGHTY WAY TO REDEEM/ RESCUE HIS PEOPLE WHEN THEY FALL INTO SLAVERY IN EGYPT.

     Exodus tells of the incredible Rescue Operation… the sending of Moses, an unlikely hero, back to secure the release of his people from the clutches of the powerful Pharaoh! It isn’t accomplished by clever diplomacy or military might… but by the power of God as the mighty Pharaoh pits himself up against the power of God… and loses! The children of Israel are led up out of the land and into a land flowing with milk & honey. And again, so long as they were obedient & faithful they were blessed by God. They received the land of promise just as God had said.

IN THAT PROCESS… GOD DOES SOMETHING UNHEARD OF! HE ENTERS INTO A COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM.

     That was the point of Sinai and the giving of the Law. God says to his people, “I’ll be your God and you be my people.” This is the way I want you to walk… and in turn, I’ll always be there for you. I’ll give you this land and again, I will make you a light unto the world! And the bulk of our Old Testaments is the telling of this story… how as Israel did what God had for them to do… everything went well… but how so very often they forgot or failed… and God used every tool at his disposal to discipline them… to rebuke them… to teach them. He used prophets & priests & kings…

     We understand the mighty things God did… all of the mighty ways he acted in the Old Testament… but to what end? For what purpose? Again… “to bless the nations.” Over & over again in Scripture… we are told that Israel existed for the purpose of “blessing the nations.” God hadn’t called Abraham just so he could save Abraham or even Abraham’s family… but so that he could save the world! In Isaiah 49 (the text that Paul had quoted from at Antioch.) God spoke to Israel directly and says, (vs. 6) “Its too small a thing for you to be my servant and for you to just restore the tribes of Jacob… or rescue those of Israel.” In other words… I’ve got BIGGER plans for you! I want to make you a light for the Gentiles.. so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth! God chose Israel and he blessed them… so that they would be a blessing to the nations. Isn’t that what Jesus meant for the church when he told his disciples to go and make disciples of the nations?

     Israel WAS a blessing to the nations… As long as they modeled God’s character before the nations…! Did you ever wonder why the OT Law seems to be so… difficult? So harsh? Why was God so hard on the people he loved? Its because their mission was to model God’s character before the nations! God called Israel to a higher standard than everybody else—NOT because they were better or because God loved them more—but because their job was to show the world who God was! They wore the name of God… in a sense… and their conduct was a reflection of who HE was! He said in 2 Chronicles 7:14
“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” NIV
Did your Momma & Daddy ever tell you as you headed out the door with your friends… “Remember who you are”? You bear the family name and what you do out in the world comes back as a reflection on the whole family… and particularly your father.

     God didn’t want Israel doing anything out in the world that went against His nature, His character…. b/c they were representing him! Lev 11:45 God tells them, “Be holy because I am holy.” The ethical standards for Israel were high because they were representing God! By the way, that admonition is repeated in 1 Peter 1:16 to the church! “Be holy… because I am holy.” As long as they modeled God’s character before the nations… and so can we!

      Israel WAS a blessing to the nations…As long as they were faithful to God’s covenant before the nations. The promise of blessing was dependent on their obedience to the covenant. They hadn’t done anything deserving of being God’s chosen people per se… BUT in order to receive the blessings that were promised… they had to abide in that covenant relationship! As long as they were obedient, they were blessed… but as often happened, when they were disobedient, there was trouble! That’s because God created this life and he knows how to live this life in a way that brings great blessing! Israel was supposed to live the righteous life and provide an example to the rest of the world.

     It wasn’t the Pavlovian idea of performing certain behaviors and God rewards with certain blessings. That’s how you train dogs, but that’s not what God was doing! Rather, its more the idea of being in a relationship with someone… like in a marriage. As long as you are in that relationship, you receive great blessing from being in it. The relationship itself is the blessing! It’s the same with God! As we walk with him, we enjoy the blessing of fellowship with our Heavenly Father! With that comes so many good things! As long as they obeyed the commands of God… and so are we! Israel was a blessing to the nations as long as they were faithful to the covenant… and so are we!

     Israel WAS a blessing to the nations…As long as they prepared the way for Christ before the nations. Part of their mission was to prepare the way for the Messiah! John the Baptist took that on as his personal mission… but it had been what Israel was supposed to have been doing since Sinai! THAT had been the purpose of the law!
Galatians 3:24
24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ…. NIV

     The people of Israel were supposed to be looking for the Messiah and pointing the people to Him! Of course, we know this is where they didn’t do such a ‘bang up’ job because when the Messiah DID come, so many of them didn’t believe. This is what Paul & Barnabas were pointing out to them in Antioch… how they had failed in this.

Are you still asking… What does this have to do with us?
Galatians 3:29
29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. NIV

     If we are in Christ, church, then we are in Abraham as well… we are Israel today! We are his heirs… heirs of his promise… AND (could I add) heirs of his mission? So, today, WE bless the nations (as Israel) by doing the same thing! WE, too, are called to represent God’s character before the nations! (1 Pet. 1:16 “Be holy because I am holy”) WE, too, are called to abide in his covenant… to be obedient to Christ. (Jn 14:15 “If you love me, you’ll do what I command.”)

     The church is the one organization on earth that exists to bless OTHERS… those outside the church! THAT is our mission! The church does not exist for us… it exists for them! God has blessed us, not just so we can sit back in our comfortable, warm pews & nice buildings singing catchy songs about him… He has blessed us so that we will go out there and bless others! What are we doing, church, to be a blessing to the nations? Our “Give Thanks” bags are great… but they are just the tip of the iceberg of what we could be doing!

What will we do?

Missio Dei: Pursuing the Mission of God

     Over the next few weeks I want to talk about MISSION… the church’s mission, but more importantly, the MISSION OF GOD in our world.  What’s he up to? What is he doing and what does he want to do? 

             I’ve borrowed the term ‘Missio Dei’ to describe this series of lessons because it makes me sound a whole lot smarter than I really am!  Actually, it is a Latin term meaning “the Mission of God” and It comes from a German theologian named Karl Hartenstein who, in 1934, coined it to describe the context and motivation for mission in the church.

“When kept in the context of the Scriptures, Missio Dei correctly emphasizes that God is the initiator of His mission to redeem through the Church a special people for Himself from all of the peoples of the world.  He sent His Son for this purpose and He sends the church into the world with the message of the gospel for the same purpose.”  (Hartenstein)

            The mission of the church… is rooted deeply in the mission of God.  We don’t often think about it that way, but I think it really is the correct way to view it.  That is to say:  The church doesn’t have a mission… God has a mission!  And he has invited the church, those called out from the world to be His, to be a part of that ongoing mission to the world!

            It has been pretty standard operating procedure these days for companies, organizations and even most churches to come up with a “Mission Statement.”  Mission statements help define purpose.  They help organizations focus on what is really important to that org.  It helps them be able to set goals & objectives… and then provides them a way to make decisions that will help them reach those goals.  Its also a way to communicate to others (customers, clients, even employees, etc.) what is really important to that organization.

• Some examples of famous mission statements…

 McDonald's vision is to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience.  Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile.

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

The Walt Disney Company's objective is to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information, using its portfolio of brands to differentiate its content, services and consumer products.  The company's primary financial goals are to maximize earnings and cash flow, and to allocate capital profitability toward growth inititatives that will drive long-term shareholder value.

Interesting, huh?

            Washington Street even took a stab at it a few years back.  Do you remember what our mission statement is?  After much thought, reflection and prayer, our Elders and deacons at that time settled on the phrase “Seeking, Serving & Sharing Christ” to describe what we are about here at Washington Street.  That means that everything we do, every ministry we’re involved with, every decision we make ought to have some function in either Seeking God… Serving Others… or Sharing Christ in our community.  How are we doing at that?

            Ever wonder… what would God’s mission statement be?  How do you think he would define his mission in the world if he had to put it into words?  I realize “mission statements” are a fairly new thing… He probably wasn’t that interested when he was inspiring Scripture in coming up with a catchy slogan or a slick marketing strategy, but… Here in the text we read a moment ago, Colossians, Paul does a pretty good job summarizing the mission of God.  Let’s back up just a bit to get the context… 

           To the church in Colossae, Paul was writing to encourage them… and he makes the statement in vs. 6 “…all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood it!”  Doesn’t that sound good?  Wouldn’t you like to know how this was happening?  So that it might happen again?  Notice Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church.

10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

            Paul’s aim, his wish, his desire, his prayer is for the Colossian Christians to be successful… to continue to grow & bear fruit… to be strengthened and to grow in every way!  And so it is interesting that in doing this… he reminds them of God’s mission.

13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Mission of God is essentially a RESCUE OPERATION!

            God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness… and set us safely in Kingdom of Christ.  I think about those Chilean miners rescued last month on t.v.  After an explosion rocked the mine where they were working, 33 miners were trapped thousands of feet underground for 69 days until rescue workers finally pulled them out (Oct. 13, 2010).  The whole world was glued to their television sets watching it unfold live!  I don’t usually get claustrophobic, but the few times I have… it has been in caves.  The thought of thousands of square feet of nothing but rock overhead and below… darkness… I can’t imagine how these miners must have felt!  But through determination and ingenuity and working together, rescue workers got every single one of them out alive!  The mission of God is like that.  He is all about RESCUING us from out of the darkness!

            We live in a fallen world… a dark world.  As we reflect back on the Biblical narrative… we remember that things started off pretty good!  Genesis 1 & 2 are bright & cheery!  God creates the heavens & the earth… every living thing… and everything is “good.”  In fact he says about humanity that it is “very good.”  And chapter 2 comes along… and Adam gets a wife… which makes him happy… and everything seems even better!  What could go wrong?  But then comes ch. 3… and the serpent… and the lie… the temptation… and the SIN!  And the story is forever changed!  Nothing is ever the same again!  With sin came death, disease, decay, the curse of the ground, the fracture in human relationships, alienation & separation from God.  Mankind is cast out of the Garden of Eden… and into a world of death… characterized and dominated by Sin… and ruled by the Tempter himself!  And this is the world WE still live in today!  Where else but in a fallen world will people celebrate the birth of the Messiah by getting up at 3am, driving to the mall and fighting one another over parking spaces and door-buster deals?!  What sense does that make?  Our world is fallen, there is no doubt.

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 1 John 5:19 NIV

BUT… God chooses to act to rescue us from that darkness!

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8NIV

Jesus is at the Center of that Rescue Operation… from the very beginning!

Col 1:15 He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

            Now, God had begun to put the plan into motion way back with Abraham and the promise made to him… then he used Moses to rescue his people… to forge the ‘children of Abraham’ into a great nation (Israel) that would be a light to the rest of the world and bless the nations… and he gave them the Law to lead them to the Christ.  Then the Bible says… when the “time had fully come… God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”  -Gal 4:3-5 NIV 

            The plan was Christ the Messiah… from the very beginning!  Some have misunderstood God’s intention… thinking that the OT was God’s “Plan A” at rescuing the people and when that didn’t work he put into motion “Plan B”… and sent Jesus.    No, Jesus was there in the very beginning… and notice the goal.

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

But, wait!  The Goal of the Operation isn’t just to rescue US… but to rescue… “all things!”

            God was interested in our souls, to be sure!  But that’s just a part of a larger rescue mission!   God intends to redeem, to restore, to rescue all of creation!  “All things… on earth & in heaven” thru the blood of his Son!  That’s what he’s about!  He doesn’t just want to pull us out of the world… he wants to re-make the world!  Ever notice how the Bible begins AND ends with creation.  In Gen. 1 its creation… “God created the heavens & the earth”… but in Revelation 21 its “New Creation.”  “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…” John writes.

            This tells us that God has an “END” in mind for the entire creation… a goal that he is working towards… and that he is moving all history towards.  He speaks of it again in

Romans 8:19-24
19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? NIV

            THAT is our hope!  Not just in going to heaven when we die… but in the redemption of God’s creation!  In its liberation from its bondage to decay & death!!!  In this final reconciliation of all things back unto God!  Back to Colossians…

Col. 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. NIV

Its interesting to me that this is also how Paul thinks of his own mission… in terms of reconciliation… in terms of what God did.

2 Corinthians 5:16-19
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. NIV

            Paul very much saw his ministry, his mission… in light of God’s mission!  This is what I mean when I say, the church doesn’t have a mission… God has a mission, and the church is called to participate with God in that mission of reconciling the world unto Him!

And God is relentless about this pursuit of His Mission!

            He is determined… he is set on it… nothing in all of creation is going to stop him from making it happen!  I told you last week about losing Michael at host.  Well, while I was looking for him I didn’t stop to talk to anyone.  I felt bad and went back to apologize to a few friends later… folks I dissed and didn’t talk to.  See, I was a man on a mission!  And I was single-minded… determined.  I wasn’t going to stop until I found him!  You see, God is a God on a mission… and he’s not stopping until “all things” are reconciled unto Him!

            If that doesn’t get you fired up… I don’t know what will!  But what do we DO with it?

But what does all of this tell us?  What does it mean?  How does it change what we do or how we think?

Implications for us…

It ought to give us a new respect for God.
God has not quit or gone anywhere!  He is still living and active and working in his creation to bring about his intended goal… the restoration of all things.  Some have the mind that God created and then left the world to wind on its own… but I don’t get that sense from Scripture.  On the contrary, it tells us that there is an END, a goal… a purpose towards which God is moving us, and thus a purpose for us!

It ought to give us a new sense of Purpose.
It tells us that we have a mission… and it is not ours, its God’s!  We are partners (in a sense) with God; Paul calls himself a “coworker” with God.  Like the Blues Brothers… we really are “On a Mission from God!”  There is no loftier purpose than that!  There is nothing better that you can give your life to!

It ought to change the way we think about ourselves as the church.
‘Missions’ is not just one of our many programs… MISSION is who we are, because it is Who God is!  In other words, it is not just another ‘activity’ of the church… it becomes our ‘identity’ as the church.  We are a people on a mission! 

It ought to broaden the scope of how we think about Mission.
I used to think about missions as something we supported ‘missionaries’ to go off to foreign lands and do.  Now I realize that its something we are all called to be involved in wherever we are and wherever we go.  I used to think that mission work was primarily as preaching & teaching; door-knocking & studying.  Those things are certainly included in mission… but the mission of God is even larger.  Wouldn’t it also encompass… ministry to the poor, the sick, the weak, and to the brokenness of our world.

What implications do you see?  How does thinking about our mission in the context of the larger mission of God affect how you think or what you do?  How should it?

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Finding Freedom in Christ... Together.

I plan to wrap-up our reading through Galatians this Sunday with a final message on the “Fellowship of Freedom.” What an amazing study this has been for me! To understand that I have been set free through the blood of Christ… set free from legalism, set free from my past and the sins of my past, and set free from my own sinful nature… what an inspiring message this book has been to me! Many Christians who have found themselves set free from these things of the world still struggle, though. Many flounder about in their new-found freedom trying to live the Christian life on their own, but the Christian life was never meant to be lived alone. It was meant to be lived in community… in a fellowship of other Christians… like-minded believers in Christ who are there to support one another, to love one another and to encourage one another. This world is a cold and harsh place, unfriendly to those who take the call of Christ seriously. It wants to devour us. It wants to crush us. Apart from the power of God, the only hope we have is to lean on one another through this life.

This has been an especially tough year for us at Washington Street. We have experienced much in the way of death, disease and family upheavals. Satan has used every tool at his disposal to come at us and at our families. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. Whenever he sees God’s people on fire for the Lord, he gets concerned and steps up his efforts to undermine what God is doing. That’s why it is more important than ever before for us as a church to stand together against Satan’s fiery darts! Its more important than ever before for us to lean on one another and to share each other’s burdens. That’s exactly the message that Paul concludes his letter to the Galatian churches with… an admonishment to be the “fellowship” of freedom that God has called us to be. I hope you’ll be here Sunday morning to study together this great message.

Spiritual Growth Series: Live the Life!

Check out the new "Live the Life" page on my blog by clicking on the tab above!
I'm looking forward to kicking off this series on Sunday evening and even more so to our slate of great guest speakers who will be here in the weeks to come!

Powerful Testimony

You've got to listen to this amazing testimony by my friend, Terri Smith.  Terri is one of our awesome teachers at RCA and recently shared her story with the girls of our Middle & High School chapel.  I thought it was something we should all hear.  Thanks, Terri, for sharing and giving the credit to God for changing your life.

Live the Life!

1 Tim 4:8
8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. NIV

I finally gave in to the pleas from my six year old, blew up the tires on my old bicycle, dusted off my helmet and mounted up for a bicycle ride around the circle with him. He had been pleading all day and I had run out of excuses. We allow the older two boys to take off by themselves for a short ride around the block, but the overprotective father in me won’t allow me to let Michael take off with them without an adult yet, so I’m in a bind. Either I go against my fatherly instinct and let him ride with them… putting a good deal of trust in the older two not to leave Michael in their dust… OR I go with him. Finally, after what seemed like hours of begging, I gave in and decided that I would have to go. So, he and I biked off around the block together. We only went around the circle in our neighborhood maybe twice… less than half a mile, I’m sure… but I am feeling it today! Apparently, bicycling uses muscles in my legs that I don’t use on a normal basis and they are protesting today! I have been reminded today of a truth that I have intellectually known to be true. When it comes to muscles, if you don’t use them, you lose them! I discovered just how out of shape I am.

Is the same true for our spiritual life? If we don’t exercise our spiritual muscles, do we lose them? Do we ever find ourselves out of shape because we have failed to exercise our spiritual muscles? I sure do! Well, good news… beginning this October as our Share Groups take a break, we will be re-focusing on the spiritual exercises which strengthen us to be more like Jesus. I will be kicking off the series of lessons on Sunday night, October 1st with a message entitled, “Live the Life!” I want to encourage everyone to dig deeply into the Scriptures and into the spiritual disciplines to develop a life that more fully embodies the life Jesus died to give us! Then, we have invited a slate of guest speakers to come and discuss with us more of the spiritual practices which will help train us in this endeavor. I want to encourage everyone to be planning now for these Sunday evenings together in God’s Word.

In the meantime, let me ask you… what do YOU do to train yourself in Godliness? What spiritual exercises have you found helpful through the years? Visit our web site and enter in to the discussion beginning this week… www.washingtonstreetchurch.org and click on my blog to read more and to discuss it with others.

Join us for “Live the Life!” at Washington Street… Sunday evenings at 5pm this Fall
Oct. 10- Tom Russell, Washington Street Church of Christ
Oct. 17- Earl Lavender, Lipscomb University
Oct. 24- Ronnie Missildine, Central Church of Christ, Dalton, GA
Nov 7- Russ Adcox, Maury Hills Church of Christ, Columbia, TN
Nov 21- William Coffey, Mayberry Street Church of Christ
Dec 12-  Chris Jones, Mimosa Church of Christ

Freedom is not free

Every where you look in our country there are monuments to freedom. Those monuments are usually markers indicating the location of great battles or of great struggles. I grew up in Chattanooga, a place littered with such markers. They are reminders to us that freedom is not free. Often freedom has been born out of great struggle. That’s the thought I have as I dive into the text of Galatians again this week for our series “Finding Freedom in Christ.” Read chapter two of Galatians this week and consider the struggle that Paul faced as he preached the message of freedom in Christ to people who had lived in bondage to the Law. It wasn’t easy. He faced criticism. He faced hypocrisy. He faced attacks… not from outsiders, but from friends and from those within the church. Yet he never wavered. He never stopped preaching his message… the message of freedom in Christ that God had laid upon him to preach. What about us? What will we do with the message?

"Don't Shoot the Messenger!"

That’s what I feel like saying every time I preach from Galatians. We are in week three of our study through this great letter of Paul’s and what a challenge it has been! Written two thousand years ago, it is so fresh and relevant today. Galatians exposes our legalistic tendencies… wanting to make laws where Jesus has not… wanting to earn merit where we have no merit to earn… wanting to achieve salvation… where it is only ours to receive. Even all these years later we find ourselves wrestling with the same struggles that the Galatian Christians did. I hope that our time in this great book has been both challenging and rewarding for you. This week we are going to look to 1:11-24 as Paul reminds us a bit of his story. It’s a story of a former legalist who has also been set free by the gospel of grace and a story in which many of us can relate.

Why is Galatians such a challenging book to preach from? Why is this message of freedom looked upon with skepticism and concern? I can’t tell you how many encouraging comments I’ve received these last two weeks from people who tell me that speaking on this subject is “brave” or “gutsy”! Why is that? Why do we seem afraid of this message of freedom? I think it is because we are genuinely concerned that we might swing to the other end of the pendulum and take the gospel of grace for granted. That was certainly going on in places other than Galatia in the first century. The audience that Jude writes to has been dealing with this opposite concern. There were those who had come in to the churches and were teaching a false “grace” in such a way that it led to licentiousness… and a permissive attitude toward sin. That is not at all what Paul was advocating in Galatians and we would do well to remember this. We cannot, in Paul’s own words, “go on sinning that grace may abound.” (cf. Romans 6) No, if we truly understand the grace of God… if we truly understand the incredible COST of that grace (to God, not us) we would truly appreciate it and certainly would never take it for granted! That would be to cheapen it in a way that would be unthinkable! We would never see God as weak or tolerant of our sin and it would break our hearts to know that we had abused the most precious gift we could receive… his forgiving grace that cost him his Son.

So, as we read through this great book again (let me remind you of your homework to read Galatians this week!!!) … let us remember that while God’s grace is offered freely to us… it is offered at a great personal sacrifice and cost to God. And let us live in such a way as to make that sacrifice worth it for God! Just some more thoughts on Galatians… Please join the discussion on my blog at http://jamescblack.wordpress.com this week by commenting for yourself.
Have a blessed week,
-Jim

What is the "Gospel"?

I'm working through Galatians chapter 1 for my sermon on Sunday... and I've hit a wall already.  Paul starts out this letter differently than most.  There's no opening.  No flowery greeting.  No pleasantries to exchange.  Paul is mad and that is evident right out of the chute!  In verse 6 he says that he is surprised (i.e.  astonished, perplexed, aghast) that the Galatian Christians were so quickly abandoning God, deserting the gospel and turning to another gospel, which is really no gospel at all.  I get the fact that he is mad.  I get the fact that these Christians weren't living up to his expectations for them.  I even get the fact that they had turned to a legalistic substitute for spirituality instead of sticking with the new-found freedom that they had been given in Christ.  But my question is, if they are guilty of "deserting the gospel"... what does Paul mean?

They aren't "backsliding" as was mentioned in a comment to my previous post.  It wasn't as if they had started to drop off in church attendance.  In fact, my guess is that they were there every time the doors were open!  There's no hint of the sexual immorality that was permitted in the church in Corinth... or in the division or the idolatry that pervaded THAT church.  No, there's no hint of those things in Galatia.  So, what were they doing that constituted a "desertion of the gospel" and to deserve such a harsh rebuke by Paul?  In other words, what does it mean to "desert the gospel"? 

To answer that question... we must first ask, "What is the gospel?"  And that's what I want to ask you.  Thoughts?

Some Preliminary thoughts on reading through Galatians...

On Sunday I began a new series of lessons entitled “Finding Freedom in Christ” from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. What a challenging series this promises to be!  As I am reading it afresh, I continue to be challenged by its message. God has set us free in Christ. He has rescued usfrom bondage to “this present evil age” and calls us to live as free citizens, not as slaves to our
past. I hope everyone will read the Galatian letter again this week and come to worship on Sunday prepared to really dig in to that wonderful message! I mentioned last week that the reading of this book is liable to shake things up for us. It is liable to challenge our beliefs, our traditions and the way in which we practice our faith. I am wondering, where will it challenge you?

The Galatian Christians were being tempted to return to the law, the rituals and practices, the customs and traditions that characterized Old Testament Judaism. Paul writes to remind them that Christ has set them free from all of that. His coming has fulfilled that law, and that they are set free from those things. While there might be much good in “tradition”, it is not to be imposed as “gospel truth” on new converts, Gentiles who are coming to Christ. While I don’t suppose there are many of us today being tempted to go back to the Old Testament system of things, I wonder if we still aren’t tempted to bind “customs” and “traditions” of men on folks in this day
and age? Are there traditions and customs which we practice (and which may be great and good) but aren’t “gospel truth”? Do we do this unintentionally or implicitly in the way we speak or in the way we do church today?  This is where the letter of Galatians is so relevant to today!  It reminds us that Christ is sufficient for our salvation! We need nothing else.
“If the Son has set us free, then we are free indeed!” (Jn 8:36) There is nothing else!

I hope you’ll join us on this exciting journey through Galatians together!

Join the Journey... Read thru the New Testament

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, but when was the last time you sat down to read it straight through? Have you ever read the Bible from cover to cover? What about just the New Testament? This year, the RCA community is endeavoring to read through the entire New Testament from Matthew to Revelation together... won't you join us?

Go to our new blog, http://thentchallenge.blogspot.com and you'll find resources to help us do this together, keeping ourselves accountable and making the journey through Scripture come alive, as we seek not only to read God's Word, but to live it every day. We want to encourage each other and your thoughts may help somebody else understand something a little bit better. We invite you to post your thoughts and comments as we read together. Go to the link "Reading Plan" to download a copy of our schedule. We'll be reading about 3-4 chapters a day... Monday - Friday with breaks during the weekends and week-long holidays (Fall Break & Thanksgiving Break)... you can use those to catch up if you get behind!

We also invite you to subscribe to the blog so that you'll recieve e-mail notifications as new articles are posted. As we go, book introductions will be posted, providing some background information on each of the 27 books of our New Testament. Also, you'll find study guide questions which our Middle & High School students will be discussing in their Bible classes at Riverside. These will also include "journaling thoughts" questions which are intended to help our students apply God's truths to their real world situations.

In addition to our Middle & High School students, we are inviting the entire faculty, staff, Board of Directors and RCA families to join us in this challenge. Won't you read along with us?

Uncle Bob

If you'll indulge me once again... on my mind tonight is my Uncle Bob.  He passed away on Friday and I'm traveling back to Chattanooga in the morning to conduct his graveside service.  I've been thinking about what words might be comforting to our family.  He and my aunt, BeBe, have always been very close to me.  I was always over at their house growing up (they had a pool!)  They spoiled me as if I was their own... no, actually they spoiled me as if I was a grandkid!  I definitely had it better than Bobby & Kim, my cousins.  When their own grandkids came along... they doted on and spoiled them, too!  My uncle Bob was a larger than life kind of fellow... a big teddy bear that was constantly having fun with people... finding out what got on their nerves and then using that information to constantly get on their nerves!  He loved that and he loved life!  As I think about what I'll say tomorrow... I also want to speak a word for the Lord.  The last couple of years have been rough on Bob, as he battled cancer with increasing difficulty.  I want my words to be encouraging and light-hearted as we remember Bob as a fun-loving sort, but I also feel the need to speak to the unfairness of it all.  Cancer... heartache... sickness and death are all a part of where we are in our fallen creation.  But the Scriptures give us hope that this life is not all that there is!  Here's what I'm working on:

 We are not really here for Uncle Bob this morning…   Oh, all of us have loved him and he’s been a big part of all of our lives… as a husband, a father, a Poppa, a brother, a son-in-law, and as a friend and an uncle… but its not really Bob we’ve come to see this morning.  We’re here because we’re family… and our family is hurting.  Uncle Bob’s sudden passing last Friday has left a hole in our family… and our hearts are low because he is SO going to be missed.   I hope that this time will be a time you look back on as one that brought some comfort and a measure of healing.

And I say that we’re not really here for Bob this morning because he is going to be just fine… he has gone home to be with the Lord… to receive his reward… something he looked forward to for SO long… and especially after the battle he has fought these last few years- and particularly the last couple of months… what a comfort that is!

At the end of his life Paul wrote these words…  7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Tim 4:7-8 NIV

 Couldn’t Bob have said that?  Uncle Bob has gone on to receive his reward… and we sure wouldn’t begrudge him that… even though selfishly we would have loved to have kept him around here for much longer.  I know that with confidence this morning, NOT because Bob was a perfect man (none of us are) - a good man, yes, BUT because Jesus was… Bob put his trust in the Lord… the blood of Jesus assured him a place in Heaven.

Robert Hiram Smith…

•           Born Feb. 10, 1939 departed this life on Friday, July 2, 2010

•           He was the son of the late James Bart Smith and Martha Jo Smith Park, whom I knew as Granny.

•           He is survived by his wife of 51 ½ yrs… Bettye Crowe Smith.  By his children Bobby & Kim… and by his grandchildren, Travis & Kylie whom he talked about ALL the time and doted over as a proud Poppa!  Also by his Father-in-Law… Boyd Crowe.

•           Bob served his country in the US Navy and worked for TVA, but his real love was for his family and for his church, whom he served as an Elder for over 20 years.

•           He loved singing… and loved to lead the congregation in worship as a way of serving the Lord.  I know he also sang in Barbershop quartets and I have this strange memory of him on stage at the Memorial Auditorium in a wig & a dress but I have NO idea what that was about!

•           Unexplainably, he was also a die-hard UT Fan… a source of all kinds of family bonding experiences, right Bobby?  Tragically, I believe he is responsible for Travis’ first words being “Touchdown TN!”

•           But, in his living room you can tell what Bob loved the most… because all over his walls are pictures of his kids & grandkids (& the TN Titans cheerleaders)

•           And also, his heartfelt desire is found by the door on the porch… a reference to Joshua 24… “Choose you this day who you will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

I bet we could go around the room, each of us sharing our favorite “Bob” memories and we would be here all day!

Whether it be the “mis-adventures” of his many hunting trips… that Dad could tell us… those stories alone would fill an afternoon!   Or all the pilgrimages to Neyland Stadium often bringing along Kim & Travis… and occasionally Bobby when UT played Notre Dame.  But no matter who won, my Uncle Bob and cousin Bobby always handled it with the utmost maturity and respect.  Memories of catching Bob in the drive-thru at Wendy’s… knowing BeBe would have a fit if she had known he was sneaking a frosty!   BeBe told me of the time she came home to find the kids with a new puppy, MAX… she got a dozen roses that afternoon.

I’ll remember my Uncle Bob as the uncle who always wore out the batteries on the new arcade games I’d get at Christmas… the uncle who loved the latest gadgets & gizmos and computers… the uncle who introduced me to James Bond movies when I was probably too young to watch them… and the uncle who plotted revenge against my mom by bringing me and Debbie a pair of baby ducks one Easter!  Donald & Daisy.   Bob loved that!

 Its those memories of a man who loved life… that I hope we’ll all always carry with us.

 I don’t know if my Uncle Bob knew who Bon Jovi was, but surely he’d agree with the sentiment in one of his songs… “Everybody’s broken in this life.”  I look around in our world and I see so much brokenness!  Your neighbor who came over on Friday to give you a hug, BeBe is herself battling cancer.  We’ve got a good friend whose Mother has been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer.  On Saturday night we heard of a 16 yr old girl killed in a car accident not far from our house... it seems that everywhere we look we see brokenness!  Relationships get broken, lives get broken and bodies get broken… because we live in a fallen world.

 I don’t know why things happen the way they do… why people get sick… why there’s such a thing as cancer… it seems horribly unfair… but it’s a part of the broken world we live in.  The Bible tells us it’s a fallen world… characterized by sin, by sickness, by death & decay.   I have found that the only way to make sense of this crazy world in which we live is to believe that there is a God who is ultimately in control of it all… a God who is working in our world to bring about what he would have it to be.

I think that’s the message of Romans 8… as it tells us of a day…

21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

 God never promises us that our lives will be free of heartache and pain… but he does promise us that WHATEVER happens… he can work it out for good to accomplish His good purposes.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. NIV

To me its also comforting to look at the wonderful picture of that day given to us in Revelation…

Revelation 21:1-5

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." NIV

What a wonderful picture!  No more death… or mourning or crying or pain!  No more doctors or needles or pills… no more diets or rehab therapy!    Those things will be things of the past!  God will make everything new!

 And that includes my Uncle Bob!  He will be made new… in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye…

“Where o death is your victory?  Where o death is your sting?  … Thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 Until then we wait… in eager expectation… but we wait… and we remember…

Red Cross Blood Drive @ Washington St... June 23rd

An Important Encouragement…
Wouldn’t it be great if we knew when an emergency would happen? That way we could have plenty of time to get ready, call our family, and friends and wait for things to return to normal. Unfortunately, emergencies just don’t happen like that.
Like most days, I left home at 5:30 am on Tuesday, November 3, to go to work. That day I never made it to work. I spent the next 21 days on the trauma floor at Vanderbilt Hospital where they use a lot of blood. If people had not donated blood, my life could have been at risk.
With the healing hand of God, my family and friends, many prayers and the American Red Cross, I am alive today!
I’m asking each of you to please consider donating blood when the American Red Cross comes to Washington Street. One simple act can make a huge difference and save a life.
Thank you,
Eric Yatsko

To register, go to www.redcrossblood.org and enter code: Fayettevilletn19 or call the church office

Run for Ella... to benefit my friend, Jules Mayes.

Run for Ella 2010 Benefiting Jules Mayes - June 12th

Registration is now open:

http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1860372

The cost to run/walk the 5K is $25 and the 1 mile fun run/walk is $10. The 5K Trail Run will start at 8:00 am followed by The Fun Walk at 9:30 am.

Registration Closing Date
Thursday, June 10, 2010 @ 11:59 PM

The Run for Ella has been established as an annual fundraiser. Both routes are on dirt trails. The 5k will have moderate hill climbs whereas the 1-mile will be flat terrain. Both events will be timed but we encourage both runners and walkers alike. Awards/ribbons will be given to the top three finishers in each age division as well the to the overall top female, male, oldest and youngest competitor. The age groups will be broken down by decades.

Run for Ella began in 2009 as a benefit for Ella Brown. Ella was injured in a tragic accident when she was pinned between two vehicles. She received serious trauma to her chest, lungs, several broken bones, and brain trauma. She was med flighted from the scene to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital where she spent 16 days and then spent time at Atlanta’s Children’s Rehabilitation Unit. It has been a little over a year and Ella has progressed further than many expected. She still has many battles ahead but this little girl has touched so many lives with her determination.

This year’s Run for Ella will benefit Jules Mayes. She is an active 4th grader that was in an automobile accident in April 2010. She suffered a broken femur, pelvis, and several ribs. Her lungs were bruised and she suffered a severe concussion that caused short-term memory loss. Jules will need a second surgery and extensive rehab to recover from her accident. The “Run for Ella” is a fundraiser created by friends and family to help cover unexpected financial burdens that go along with such a devastating accident. 100% of the profits will go directly to Jules.

Why I love Riverside Christian Academy

People choose schools for different reasons... some for the opportunities to play sports... some for the opportunity to excel in academics.  But there are other reasons, too!  The following essay by one of my senior girls at RCA illustrates why I love Riverside Christian Academy and why I'm so proud not only to send my kids there, but also to teach Bible there.  This was written as a part of a senior paper, the final project required for graduation from RCA.  It is supposed to be a "Philosophy of life" kind of paper.  Here's what she wrote:

May 12, 2001

    “How God has changed me through RCA”

 I thank God that He directed my path to Riverside Christian Academy! I believe that I have truly been changed   by it and that it has truly altered my future.  First I will discuss my SHAPE. 

Spiritual gifts. My first would (from the studies) be compassion. I feel deeply sorry for people even if I don’t know them. My mother says I have "sucker" written across my forehead when it comes to homeless people. Steven has had to forbid me for picking up sad looking hitch hikers.  I used to have wet dog/cat food in my trunk so I could give poor starving animal’s food.

   My second would be Mercy; I can easily look over the faults in people and see the good in them. This tends to get me in a bad position when I really care for some one who is really self-destructive. When I come home upset about something some one has done to me and tells mom it seems like I always get over it before she does.

 Heart. Well I am sure that everyone in the school by now knows that I love art. That is one thing I think I am just naturally good at. One thing most people probably don’t know is that I love animals too! I thought through most of my childhood I was going to be a vet. I probably still would be if it hadn’t been for Mrs. Jones’ biology classes to be honest.  Now I think I will be an art teacher.

 Abilities. Art and I and socially gifted. My mom says I have evil gifts to get my way because I pull the dumb blonde’ act a little to well but I think she is just a sucker. Just Kidding

 Personality. I am a giving person. I make my mom mad some times because some times I will just give away every thing I have in my pockets if some one needs it. She was really mad when I gave my whole paycheck to one of the girls at McDonald’s because she was about to lose her house and her husband go to jail. Everyone laughs at me because I will throw all my change on the ground at Wal-Mart. There is a really old Poor man that looks for change out there every morning.

 Experiences. Well I have quite I few to go by really. The first would be the divorce of my Parents when I was 6. This really affected my mother and this is when we really stopped going to church I think. I guess I kind of had to sort of grow up at a young age. My dad was in an out at the age of 7/8 and he married Kim. I remember this is when I really started to act out. When I was 12, I was accepted in to Barbazon and I think that’s when my opinion of girls really went down the toilet. I really started to get that nasty little attitude like you see off mean girls. When I got in to Riverside I could see a huge difference in my life. I cleaned up my mouth and I started to get a little better with the grades. A year into Riverside my father’s drug addiction was at an all time high and I had to tell him I wasn’t going to talk to him any more until he cleaned it up. That was a hard time in my life. He still hasn’t cleaned it up though. When I got baptized, I really turned it around.

  Riverside has had such a profound difference on my life I don’t like to think what I would have been if I hadn’t gone. Every friend I used to have at my old house that I still talk to has fallen in to drugs and sex. That scares me. I have done so many things through RCA. Spiritual Emphasis Day is some thing the impresses me every year. Mrs. K got me in to going to church. She is the reason my whole family goes now.  We went to pack peaches. When the chorus went to go sing at the nursing homes, that really helped.  Just hearing chapel ever morning is good for us. If I didn’t go to Riverside I don’t know if I would have a Christian boy friend or a Christian relationship. Now I go to his church.  The Mission trip we went on last summer will be with me for the rest of my life. There's a difference here and the there, but their faith is so strong!  The pastor is coming up here for the summer and I am really excited!  The area we stayed at was kind of "dodgy". It was a bad part of town. We went door knocking and we spread the word of God. It was real rewarding and at times scary. I also help run Vacation Bible School every summer and that are always of fun. I get to paint all the murals and posters for the booths and activities!

 Through all these experiences I have learned so much about God.  First would be that he is way to big for us to ever comprehend! I love looking at the stars and thinking that God is billions beyond that. He created the heavens and the earth just because he love us. If that doesn’t stir you then you need to check your self.  I love knowing that nothing is an accident and that everything in life is there for some reason.  When I get stuck in traffic or my car breaks down it helps me to have that kind of mind set “ this must have happened for a reason”. It makes me look at trails not with hate or despair but a challenge to show Gods grace!

 The love and grace of God has given me a purpose in life, no longer do I wander aimlessly but I strive for a goal, work for the cause. The thought that the creator of the universe would care anything about me blows my mine, and that he gave his one and only son to take my place is beyond me. It feels me with a sort of fear ans awe I guess is the right word. That God would love me that much when I can’t think of a single person I would be willing my son to die for.  Without Riverside's influence in my life I don’t know if I every would have found these things that give me such peace now.

 I feel that I was kinda picked from my old life and put in this one and I am so happy for the chance. I can’t wait to see what God has for me and to take up his challenges.

The Call of Discipleship

I'm having trouble living up to my sermon from last Sunday. I challenged our church to choose something in his or her life that they would "drop", give up for the sake of Christ. I'm having trouble because I've got so many things that I ought to give up, its difficult choosing. But, I'm convinced that Jesus calls us to be willing to give up everything in order to follow him. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.
When he called his first disciples, his invitation to them was simple, "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men." And they did! They dropped their nets right there and followed him. I'm not sure we realize the significance of that statement. They "dropped their nets"... wow! Those nets had to have been so important to each of those men! Those nets were their livelihood... fishing was how they earned a living, fed their family and paid the bills. But they walked away from that when they dropped those nets in order to follow. And us guys know how important our jobs can be to us. They can become our identity... and even our source of self-worth or finding meaning in our lives. They gave up their identity as "fishermen" when they dropped those nets. And they also left their family... at least their father... as they left and he stayed behind holding on to his nets. Imagine... being willing to drop everything for the sake of being a disciple, i.e. a follower, of Jesus! The problem is that most of us can't imagine it, but isn't that what Jesus still calls us to?
Doesn't he still want our relationship with him to be THE most important thing in our lives? Doesn't he still want us to be willing to leave it all behind in order to follow him? If I'm not willing, doesn't that reveal a heart of pride, arrogance or self-determination over a heart of submition and obedience to Christ? Doesn't that reflect a heart unwilling to TOTALLY give myself over to him, a lack of trust or a reluctance to make any substantive change in my life?
What did you choose to drop this week for Jesus? Its not that Jesus commands all of us to quit our jobs, leave our homes, give up our caffeine or our sweets... but he wants us to be willing to. Are we? Am I?
BTW- I chose to give up coffee and soft drinks all week. I made it a half-day without coffee. (got a ways to go!) So far I've stayed away from any soft-drinks... Yeah!! (but it IS only Tuesday.) I hope you are faring better than I.
Next week... the Marks of a Disciple. What does a disciple look like? How can one tell a disciple from everybody else around him? Any thoughts?

May 10... Grandmother's Day

[caption id="attachment_523" align="alignleft" width="229" caption="Katherine Crawley Black"][/caption]

I know yesterday, May 9th, was actually Mothers' Day, but I can't help but think of today as "Grandmother's Day." Today, my Grandmother would have turned 90! She was born on May 10, 1920... ninety short years ago today. She left us over eleven years ago, now, in March of 1999, but we haven't forgotten her. Her ear to ear smile, her warm embrace and her soft lap are still just as sharp in my mind as if I had crawled up on her couch for her to read me a story yesterday.

I can't believe she has been gone for so long, but then again, I can't believe these last eleven years have flown by so fast. I've got four kids of my own now. I wish she would've gotten the chance to meet them... I know she would love them, too. Her life was always just about the children, at least as long as I knew her. My grandfather died in the 50's when my dad was just five. She raised him and my uncle, Charlie, all by herself... a working, single-mom at a time when that was rare, and exceedingly hard. She did it, though, and raised two men that she was proud so proud of. Then it was all about us grandkids. My uncle Charlie and his wife, Jan, had April and John who grew up just down the road from me and my sister. Grandmother's house was (literally) just over the hill and through the woods, so we were together often. We always spent holidays all together... Christmas Eve, Easter Sunday and Thanksgiving. Grandmother never sat down to eat until we were all just about done, since she was always so busy serving the rest of us. Wow... its funny how some memories are still so powerful, even after all these years. Boy, do I miss her.

I miss her love most of all. She was full of abundant, unwavering, unending and unfaltering love for us kids... the sort of love that God must have for us. It hit me as I was preparing my Mothers' Day sermon last week that a mother's love is the closest thing we ever really experience in this life to the kind of love God has for us. Agape is the Bible word for it. Unending, unwavering, unconditional are some others.

I also realized why William Young, when he was searching for an image to represent God in his book, THE SHACK, that he chose a mother. When I first read God being depicted as a woman, it struck me as more than a bit odd... but then I hit upon Isaiah 66:12-13, "I will extend peace to her (God's people) like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.." And I realized that while the dominant image of God in Scripture is as 'Father'... he is also 'Mother.' At least that's another image of the way he cares for us.

I owe my Grandmother Black so much... not the least of which is a greater understanding of the way God loves me, because I saw it in the way she did. Thanks, Grandmother. 

Happy Birthday!

John Daniel Black

Well, he's finally here!  Announcing the arrival of our new bundle of joy (to go with the other three increasingly larger bundles)... John Daniel Black.  He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz (almost 6) and was 21 inches long.  And yes, we are going to assign him to a life of total chaos by calling him by his middle name, Daniel.  We just liked the ring of John Daniel as opposed to Daniel John for some reason.  We can't explain it. 

He is named for his Pa Pa Forrest whose name was also John, but was called Johnny for most of his life.  We sure miss him and know that he is smiling down on his 18th grandchild from Heaven.  Daniel is a name we just liked... a strong, Biblical name and we figured that since he has arrived into our house of three big brothers, he's going to have to stand up for himself from time to time.  From what I can read of Daniel from the Bible, that seems to just fit, don't you think?

Anyway, Mom and baby are just fine (and Dad, too, thanks for asking).  We're settling into a routine and getting used to having a new baby on board.  Its coming back to me.  Thanks for all the prayers and well-wishes... and the food, too!  I had thought I would lose some of my baby weight, but it looks like that's a losing battle at this point.

Jehovah-Jirah… God, our Provider!

Today (Tuesday) is the 14th of Nisan on the Jewish calendar. Doesn’t mean anything to you? Think back to the time of Moses… and the long, drawn out series of events that led up to Pharaoh’s release of the Hebrew people from bondage in Egypt. It was on the 14th of Nisan when God had instructed them about the Passover meal and about the blood over the doorpost that would signal their faithfulness to His will. Imagine the excitement, fear, and anticipation the Israelites must have felt that night so many centuries ago as they were preparing to leave slavery in Egypt. What strange circumstances they were witnessing (as described in Exodus 12)! Smearing blood above and on the sides of door frames? Packing light for a middle-of-the-night journey? Gifts of gold and silver from their Egyptian masters who had treated them with such contempt and hatred for so long?

One of the names used in the Bible to refer to the LORD is "Jehovah-Jireh" which roughly translates "my Provider." What a fitting reference for the escape from bondage! He provided everything they needed before, during, and after their journey. That night, when the cries and wailing increased exponentially all over the land of Egypt as mothers and fathers began discovering the fulfillment of God's promised plague to kill the firstborn, the Israelites needed one last little detail to help them on their journey. Just a little something that only God could provide: some extra light for their journey until daylight comes. How did God provide for this need? With a full moon!

On Tuesday night - on this year's 14 Nisan - go outside after dark and observe the full moon that God provides. If the sky is clear of clouds, you can just imagine how much that extra amount of light must have helped Moses and the Israelites "get out of town" in an efficient and orderly manner (before Pharaoh changed his mind and took his army to pursue them)! That same Provider also takes care of us today.
What an amazing story of redemption, huh? What a Provider!
(Thanks to Mark Clark for these thoughts!)

Resurrection Sunday!
We have a great opportunity before us this Sunday to celebrate and praise Jehovah-Jireh… God, our Provider! For it was on a cold, Roman cross many years following those days in Egypt when God would completely fulfill the promise of Passover and provide the perfect Lamb… once and for all time… to shed his own blood… the blood that would cleanse His people from their sins. But the story doesn’t end there! If it did, it would be a moving story… but there would be no victory. There would just be death. On the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion, his body went missing. The tomb was found empty. His followers were dumbfounded. They soon came to realize that his body wasn’t stolen… he had risen… just as he had said that he would! We’ll celebrate that resurrection this Sunday as we do every Lord’s day… and we’ll remember the provision God made for sin. In Christ, there is victory because of what God provided! In Christ, there is life! Invite a friend to come and celebrate with us this Sunday!
--Jim

Dear Friend

This is from MaxLucado.com and I couldn't help but share it...

Dear Friend

by Max Lucado

Dear Friend,

I’m writing to say thanks. I wish I could thank you personally, but I don’t know where you are. I wish I could call you, but I don’t know your name. If I knew your appearance, I’d look for you, but your face is fuzzy in my memory. But I’ll never forget what you did.

There you were, leaning against your pickup in the West Texas oil field. An engineer of some sort. A supervisor on the job. Your khakis and clean shirt set you apart from us roustabouts. In the oil field pecking order, we were at the bottom. You were the boss. We were the workers. You read the blueprints. We dug the ditches. You inspected the pipe. We laid it. You ate with the bosses in the shed. We ate with each other in the shade.

Except that day.

I remember wondering why you did it.

We weren’t much to look at. What wasn’t sweaty was oily. Faces burnt from the sun; skin black from the grease. Didn’t bother me, though. I was there only for the summer. A high-school boy earning good money laying pipe.

We weren’t much to listen to, either. Our language was sandpaper coarse. After lunch, we’d light the cigarettes and begin the jokes. Someone always had a deck of cards with lacy-clad girls on the back. For thirty minutes in the heat of the day, the oil patch became Las Vegas—replete with foul language, dirty stories, blackjack, and barstools that doubled as lunch pails.

In the middle of such a game, you approached us. I thought you had a job for us that couldn’t wait another few minutes. Like the others, I groaned when I saw you coming.

You were nervous. You shifted your weight from one leg to the other as you began to speak.

“Uh, fellows,” you started.

We turned and looked up at you.

“I, uh, I just wanted, uh, to invite … ”

You were way out of your comfort zone. I had no idea what you might be about to say, but I knew that it had nothing to do with work.

“I just wanted to tell you that, uh, our church is having a service tonight and, uh … ”

“What?” I couldn’t believe it. “He’s talking church? Out here? With us?”

“I wanted to invite any of you to come along.”

Silence. Screaming silence.

Several guys stared at the dirt. A few shot glances at the others. Snickers rose just inches from the surface.

“Well, that’s it. Uh, if any of you want to go … uh, let me know.”

After you turned and left, we turned and laughed. We called you “reverend,” “preacher,” and “the pope.” We poked fun at each other, daring one another to go. You became the butt of the day’s jokes.

I’m sure you knew that. I’m sure you went back to your truck knowing the only good you’d done was to make a good fool out of yourself. If that’s what you thought, then you were wrong.

That’s the reason for this letter.

Some five years later, a college sophomore was struggling with a decision. He had drifted from the faith given to him by his parents. He wanted to come back. He wanted to come home. But the price was high. His friends might laugh. His habits would have to change. His reputation would have to be overcome.

Could he do it? Did he have the courage?

That’s when I thought of you. As I sat in my dorm room late one night, looking for the guts to do what I knew was right, I thought of you.

I thought of how your love for God had been greater than your love for your reputation.

I thought of how your obedience had been greater than your common sense.

I remembered how you had cared more about making disciples than about making a good first impression. And when I thought of you, your memory became my motivation.

So I came home.

I’ve told your story dozens of times to thousands of people. Each time the reaction is the same: The audience becomes a sea of smiles, and heads bob in understanding. Some smile because they think of the “clean-shirted engineers” in their lives. They remember the neighbor who brought the cake, the aunt who wrote the letter, the teacher who listened …

Others smile because they have done what you did. And they, too, wonder if their “lunchtime loyalty” was worth the effort.

You wondered that. What you did that day wasn’t much. And I’m sure you walked away that day thinking that your efforts had been wasted.

They weren’t.

So I’m writing to say thanks. Thanks for the example. Thanks for the courage. Thanks for giving your lunch to God. He did something with it; it became the Bread of Life for me.

Gratefully,


Max

P.S. If by some remarkable coincidence you read this and remember that day, please give me a call. I owe you lunch.

From In the Eye of the Storm
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1997) Max Lucado

New Sermon Series Begins Sunday…. “God”

Christian author A. W. Tozer once wrote, “…the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.” In other words, who we think God to be says a lot about who we are. I would go even further and suggest that a lot of the problems we have as fallen creatures stem from an improper or low view of God. We sin because we hold God in the improper regard. We are dysfunctional because God isn’t holy enough in our minds.

I wonder if we think of God with the right respect or the right amount of awe? Francis Chan has challenged me on this. I've recently discovered his books, "Crazy Love" and "Forgotten God" and I've become a Chan fan! He suggests that much of our frustration with church and with living the Christian life in general comes from not understanding who God is.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be taking some time to explore God together… who he is… his character and his attributes. And we’ll ask the most important question, “If God is all of this, then how should I respond to him? What difference does it make in my life?” Join us as we ponder together our awesome, eternal and loving God!

The Christian Chronicle: Ministries collecting funds for Haiti relief

The Christian Chronicle: Ministries collecting funds for Haiti relief

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Healing Hands in Haiti

The pictures and the stories which are coming to us from Haiti are just heartbreaking.  If you're like me, you've watched the news in horror at the devastation that this past week's earthquake has wreaked on that small, poverty-stricken country.  Many wonder "Where is God in all of this" or "How could God let this happen to such a poor people?" 

I, too, ask those questions and sure don't have all the answers.  But I've also noticed another thing.... God's people mobilizing to help.  All over the news you hear stories of people who are there to help, who are pulling people from the rubble, who are offering water, food and assistance in whatever way they can... and they are Christians!  While governments and militaries scramble to get supplies on the ground, while beauracrats meet and write legislation to send money... Christians are already on the ground doing God's thing... helping.

I was struck by an ABC news report earlier this week that highlighted the efforts of many missionaries who were there to help.  And they were there BEFORE the earthquake even hit.  ABC said that the charities which are already there working and ministering to the people are the best hope.  It will take weeks for the UN and the governments from around the world to organize sufficiently to actually be able to deliver and distribute much-needed supplies.  But so many Christian organizations and churches are already there and set up to help.  Is that what God is doing in Haiti?  Are people from around the world witnessing God's people at work?  Is God getting the glory for that?  (he gets the blame for so much else, doesn't he?)

Healing Hands is one such organization which is already on the ground and working hard to help.  Recently featured on a Fox News report from Nashville... it is an excellent organization if you would like to be a part of helping Haiti.  They are supported by churches of Christ all over the country and are first-rate in their ability to deliver aid and assistance in times such as this.  You can read about them here.  www.hhi.org and donate online if you would like.

Also, check out the Fox News report...  http://www.fox17.com/newsroom/top_stories/mywx_vid_2526.shtml

--Jim

Cover to Cover... don't close the book just yet!

What a great year we have had in God’s Word through our Cover to Cover campaign! It was just twelve short months ago that we challenged each other to read through the Bible together from beginning to end throughout the year. I can’t believe that the year is over! If you were like me, you were catching up and finishing up the last few chapters of Revelation on New Years Eve (maybe even up with Dick Clark) in order to be able to say that you finished in a year. Congratulations! As I said on Sunday, though, if you got behind and haven’t quite finished yet… don’t be discouraged. Keep reading. Keep studying. The reward is in the reading… not in finishing first.

I’m interested in hearing from each of you about your experience, especially if you had never read through the whole Bible from start to finish before. What did you get the most benefit from in your reading? What were your toughest challenges? How were you blessed? I can tell you several things. I was especially intrigued by the prophets. I have to say that I had never spent much time in the prophets and found them to be full of insights and challenging things that I needed to hear. I made many mental notes to myself to return to those neglected parts of Scripture… so many lessons for us today! When I got to the much more familiar territory of the New Testament, I decided to read it in a different translation. I selected the New Living Translation and found it to be a wonderful way to hear God’s Word afresh. I found myself constantly going back and forth with other versions and it helped me make so much more sense out of what I was reading… and I got a lot more out of it. I’m going to pick another translation and do it again sometime.

What a wonderful sense of accomplishment in finishing… but let me urge you… don’t close the book! God continues to speak and continues to instruct through his Word. That’s the wonderful thing about the Bible… it seems that no matter how many times I have read something, I always find something new. There were points this year when I thought, “When did God stick THAT in there? That wasn’t there the last time, was it?” Well, of course it was… it was only that I hadn’t seen it before. So, don’t put the book down! Don’t close it up! Keep reading… keep seeking God. He will continue to reward you with fresh new insights. Many have asked me what we are going to do next. What will be the next challenge before us? I hope to share a bit about a new challenge as we move into a new year in this Sunday’s message… so be sure to be with us on Sunday. And don’t forget to let me know how your reading blessed you… comment below.
God bless,
Jim