Yesterday was Pentecost. At Faith Community Church we celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER:
WORSHIP SCRIPTURE:
Acts 2.17* “‘In the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people.'"
CALL TO WORSHIP:
Let the River Flow
SHARING WELCOME
COMMUNITY SINGING:
Create in Me a Clean Heart, He Reigns, Spirit of the Living God
MORNING PRAYERS
LORD'S PRAYER
OFFERING
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
TEACHING TIME
Brown-Bag Sermon (kids' moment)
Joel 2.28-32*, Acts 2.1-8, 11-16*, Ephesians 5.17*
Be Being-Filled
RESPONSE:
Create in Me a Clean Heart
DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING
*New International Version, 1984
[2 responded to the call to be Spirit-filled, 1 to begin an intimate relationship with Jesus by praying at the altar! Hallelujah!]
Showing posts with label Holiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holiness. Show all posts
Monday, June 13, 2011
Monday, July 26, 2010
Y'all Be Holy
This week Faith Community began a series of explorations of 1 Peter 1.15-16, "15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'"
We discovered "holy" means 1. set apart, 2. morally pure and 3. shining (rarely.) Holy can be recognized by distinctives. Hebrews were marked as God's distinct people by circumcision, Kosher rules and Sabbath keeping. No matter where in time or space they were, they were recognizable. Numbers 6 describes the Nazarite -- a Hebrew set apart from even other Hebrews and recognizable because they would not consume grape products or come in contact with dead bodies. To be holy (set apart) is recognizable.
Holy also means morally pure. Holy desire, holy love all are expressed in purity, undiluted or without other mixed attributes.
But our biggest discovery was that Peter's call was to the church, not the individual. Every "you" in verses 13-23 is plural. In West Virginia we would say, "Y'all be holy..." God calls the body to be holy. This holiness expresses itself in the life and interactions of the group of believers. All the statements and injunctions are for the group, not the individual.
Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God. We are being built TOGETHER into the dwelling place of God [collectively.]
This emphasis differs greatly from the personal piety paradigm preached in my childhood. Everything was about the individual and his/her separation from the world, the flesh and the devil. Individuals were called to be holy. We needed to be distinct in our actions, attitudes, adornments and amusements.
So how does a group express holiness? How does the group reflect the holiness of our God? Such an understanding of communal holiness brings freedom and constraint at the same time. Freedom from the bondage of legalistic, externalism imposed on the individual. Constraint to live out what it might mean to reflect a holy God through set apart community.
The first community called to be holy as God was holy consisted of the children of Abraham. The circumcision marked a man for life as one of the set apart people. Paul says, we need to have a circumcision of our hearts. The second marker was the Kosher law. Lastly was Sabbath-keeping.
In this pericope Peter connects holiness or purification with love (verse 22.) We will unpack that verse in a later post. But we can say now that love is the distinguishing mark of the New Testament community. Jesus himself declared, "By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13.35.) He said we could reflect the nature of our Heavenly Father in that we can "be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect" in a discussion of how God loves everyone, even those who count themselves His enemy. (Matthew 5.48.)
Love can only be developed in community. That is why the hermit holiness movement transformed into the monastic holiness movement. You need people to interact with in order to love. Love means nothing in the vacuum of solitude. God in His original design of humanity reminds us, "it is not good for man to be alone."
So the command to be holy would be meaningless to an individual. Love requires community to be expressed, exercised and expanded.
How sad that today the message of the Gospel, the very nature of our Lord is discredited by the unloving relations of the community of faith. Presbyterians and Wesleyans argue the extent of the atonement. Catholics and Baptists fight over the timing and mode of baptism. Division rather than unifying love marks Christendom. Even in local congregations, hostility, gossip, slander, distrust and brokenness mark the gather of the people of God.
We discovered "holy" means 1. set apart, 2. morally pure and 3. shining (rarely.) Holy can be recognized by distinctives. Hebrews were marked as God's distinct people by circumcision, Kosher rules and Sabbath keeping. No matter where in time or space they were, they were recognizable. Numbers 6 describes the Nazarite -- a Hebrew set apart from even other Hebrews and recognizable because they would not consume grape products or come in contact with dead bodies. To be holy (set apart) is recognizable.
Holy also means morally pure. Holy desire, holy love all are expressed in purity, undiluted or without other mixed attributes.
But our biggest discovery was that Peter's call was to the church, not the individual. Every "you" in verses 13-23 is plural. In West Virginia we would say, "Y'all be holy..." God calls the body to be holy. This holiness expresses itself in the life and interactions of the group of believers. All the statements and injunctions are for the group, not the individual.
Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God. We are being built TOGETHER into the dwelling place of God [collectively.]
This emphasis differs greatly from the personal piety paradigm preached in my childhood. Everything was about the individual and his/her separation from the world, the flesh and the devil. Individuals were called to be holy. We needed to be distinct in our actions, attitudes, adornments and amusements.
So how does a group express holiness? How does the group reflect the holiness of our God? Such an understanding of communal holiness brings freedom and constraint at the same time. Freedom from the bondage of legalistic, externalism imposed on the individual. Constraint to live out what it might mean to reflect a holy God through set apart community.
The first community called to be holy as God was holy consisted of the children of Abraham. The circumcision marked a man for life as one of the set apart people. Paul says, we need to have a circumcision of our hearts. The second marker was the Kosher law. Lastly was Sabbath-keeping.
In this pericope Peter connects holiness or purification with love (verse 22.) We will unpack that verse in a later post. But we can say now that love is the distinguishing mark of the New Testament community. Jesus himself declared, "By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13.35.) He said we could reflect the nature of our Heavenly Father in that we can "be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect" in a discussion of how God loves everyone, even those who count themselves His enemy. (Matthew 5.48.)
Love can only be developed in community. That is why the hermit holiness movement transformed into the monastic holiness movement. You need people to interact with in order to love. Love means nothing in the vacuum of solitude. God in His original design of humanity reminds us, "it is not good for man to be alone."
So the command to be holy would be meaningless to an individual. Love requires community to be expressed, exercised and expanded.
How sad that today the message of the Gospel, the very nature of our Lord is discredited by the unloving relations of the community of faith. Presbyterians and Wesleyans argue the extent of the atonement. Catholics and Baptists fight over the timing and mode of baptism. Division rather than unifying love marks Christendom. Even in local congregations, hostility, gossip, slander, distrust and brokenness mark the gather of the people of God.
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Today is Pentecost, the birthday of THE Church. At Faith Community church, we sought a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our community and our worship. God did not disappoint. Our Teaching Time focused on the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 19.1-7 (NIV)
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.
Luke 3.1-3, 15-17
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar...the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
The 12 men Paul encountered were Christ-followers. But in the initial years of the Way, the story of Jesus was only transmitted by word-of-mouth. These had only a partial narrative. They knew only of John's baptism of repentance. Paul fills in the gaps in their Gospel by expanding John's teaching of Jesus' baptism -- with the Spirit and fire!
Many today are familiar with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This emphasis on repentance and forgiveness positions us for God's grace distributed as He will and when. The turning away from wrong and seeking forgiveness is a vital first step. It is the end of an ineffective life. But there is more.
We can fall into a cycle of forgiveness and failure (not unlike the book of Judges) if we live only with this understanding of baptism. Much like treating the symptoms of an illness, this has affect. But it is not a path to wholeness.
The baptism of Christ-followers produces something even more amazing than forgiveness. (Just typing that statement causes me to pause. Forgiveness is ABSOLUTELY amazing and wonderful. It is not diminished by what I am about to say.) The baptism with the Holy Spirit (and fire) is likened to threshing, winnowing and gathering wheat.
Threshing breaks up the whole wheat plant. It disconnects the wheat kernel from the stems and leaves. Winnowing throws the broken wheat into the air where natural or man-made breeze carries off the chaff (unusable stems and leaves) allowing the kernels to be gathered.
The baptism of believers in Jesus Christ is a baptism that deals with the causes of sin as well as the symptoms. The Holy Spirit removes what is unusable and concentrates what is usable. Victory, not defeat, becomes the norm. Failure is not impossible, but it is isolated. Wholeness comes. It is a beginning of a useful life.
So what baptism did you receive?
Acts 19.1-7 (NIV)
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.
Luke 3.1-3, 15-17
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar...the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
The 12 men Paul encountered were Christ-followers. But in the initial years of the Way, the story of Jesus was only transmitted by word-of-mouth. These had only a partial narrative. They knew only of John's baptism of repentance. Paul fills in the gaps in their Gospel by expanding John's teaching of Jesus' baptism -- with the Spirit and fire!
Many today are familiar with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This emphasis on repentance and forgiveness positions us for God's grace distributed as He will and when. The turning away from wrong and seeking forgiveness is a vital first step. It is the end of an ineffective life. But there is more.
We can fall into a cycle of forgiveness and failure (not unlike the book of Judges) if we live only with this understanding of baptism. Much like treating the symptoms of an illness, this has affect. But it is not a path to wholeness.
The baptism of Christ-followers produces something even more amazing than forgiveness. (Just typing that statement causes me to pause. Forgiveness is ABSOLUTELY amazing and wonderful. It is not diminished by what I am about to say.) The baptism with the Holy Spirit (and fire) is likened to threshing, winnowing and gathering wheat.
Threshing breaks up the whole wheat plant. It disconnects the wheat kernel from the stems and leaves. Winnowing throws the broken wheat into the air where natural or man-made breeze carries off the chaff (unusable stems and leaves) allowing the kernels to be gathered.
The baptism of believers in Jesus Christ is a baptism that deals with the causes of sin as well as the symptoms. The Holy Spirit removes what is unusable and concentrates what is usable. Victory, not defeat, becomes the norm. Failure is not impossible, but it is isolated. Wholeness comes. It is a beginning of a useful life.
So what baptism did you receive?
Monday, August 31, 2009
Who Is Our God?
Today we finished our Summer Series. "Who Is Like Our God?" We celebrated the wonderful truths about His character and the wonderful reality of being renewed in His image -- changed from glory to glory in the image of His Son!
When the LORD finished His proclamation of the name YHWH, Moses responded to the
amazing, dazzling vision of God. First he worshipped. Moses bowed down to the ground. Worship is the reasonable response of those who glimpse the Glory of God. We stand amazed, we sing for joy, we thank and praise. The Glory of God inspires His people to worship Him.
When the LORD finished His proclamation of the name YHWH, Moses trusted God. He said, "If I have found favor...then go with us..." He put his hope in the character of the LORD just revealed to him. God's presence would bring safety and success. Without God's Presence, Moses would not move. His future depended on the LORD. The Glory of God invites His people to trust Him.
When the LORD finished His proclamation of the name YHWH, Moses confessed. "...we are a stiff-necked people, forgive our...sin" Isaiah, when caught up in the wonderful vision of God, high and lifted up, cried out, "Woe is me! I am undone." Seeing God's glory also brings into focus our vainglory -- our shabbiness and our sin. We then must choose to admit what we see in the light of Glory or deny it. Confession simply agrees with our condition in terms of God's glory. The Glory of God challenges His people to confess to Him.
When the LORD finished His proclamation of the name YHWH, Moses surrendered. "Take us as your people..."More than worship, which acknowledges God's glory, and trust, which relies on God's character or even confession, which agrees with our condition-in-light-of-the-glory, surrender opens the way for a life of blessing. When we gife ourselves to God, He begins the transformation. He renews the image of Himself in us! The Glory of God demands His people surrender to Him.
Then something happens that is even more thrilling, mind-blowing and life-changing than even proclaming His name and character. The LORD God invites humanity to enter into a close personal relationship (covenant) with Him. He offers Himself, in all His resplendant Glory, to be our God. He chooses us to be His holy people. He commissions us to reflect His Glory in the Glow of our life and character.
He has not introduced Himself as simple the Master of the Universe. He introduces Himself as our Covenant-Keeping Lord. All His promises will be carefully kept. All His duties will be faithfully performed. He is our God!
On the night before He was betrayed, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and said, "This is my body. Do this in remembrance of me." Later He took the cup and said, "This is the new covenant in my blood. Drink this, as often as you do it, in remembrace of me." This covenant -- this personal relationship with the Glorious God -- was made possible by the substitutional death of God the Son. It was ratified by the powerful resurrection of God the Son. It is available to us today.
This God offers Himself to be our God and invites us to be His people. Have you accepted His offer?
When the LORD finished His proclamation of the name YHWH, Moses responded to the
amazing, dazzling vision of God. First he worshipped. Moses bowed down to the ground. Worship is the reasonable response of those who glimpse the Glory of God. We stand amazed, we sing for joy, we thank and praise. The Glory of God inspires His people to worship Him.
When the LORD finished His proclamation of the name YHWH, Moses trusted God. He said, "If I have found favor...then go with us..." He put his hope in the character of the LORD just revealed to him. God's presence would bring safety and success. Without God's Presence, Moses would not move. His future depended on the LORD. The Glory of God invites His people to trust Him.
When the LORD finished His proclamation of the name YHWH, Moses confessed. "...we are a stiff-necked people, forgive our...sin" Isaiah, when caught up in the wonderful vision of God, high and lifted up, cried out, "Woe is me! I am undone." Seeing God's glory also brings into focus our vainglory -- our shabbiness and our sin. We then must choose to admit what we see in the light of Glory or deny it. Confession simply agrees with our condition in terms of God's glory. The Glory of God challenges His people to confess to Him.
When the LORD finished His proclamation of the name YHWH, Moses surrendered. "Take us as your people..."More than worship, which acknowledges God's glory, and trust, which relies on God's character or even confession, which agrees with our condition-in-light-of-the-glory, surrender opens the way for a life of blessing. When we gife ourselves to God, He begins the transformation. He renews the image of Himself in us! The Glory of God demands His people surrender to Him.
Then something happens that is even more thrilling, mind-blowing and life-changing than even proclaming His name and character. The LORD God invites humanity to enter into a close personal relationship (covenant) with Him. He offers Himself, in all His resplendant Glory, to be our God. He chooses us to be His holy people. He commissions us to reflect His Glory in the Glow of our life and character.
He has not introduced Himself as simple the Master of the Universe. He introduces Himself as our Covenant-Keeping Lord. All His promises will be carefully kept. All His duties will be faithfully performed. He is our God!
On the night before He was betrayed, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and said, "This is my body. Do this in remembrance of me." Later He took the cup and said, "This is the new covenant in my blood. Drink this, as often as you do it, in remembrace of me." This covenant -- this personal relationship with the Glorious God -- was made possible by the substitutional death of God the Son. It was ratified by the powerful resurrection of God the Son. It is available to us today.
This God offers Himself to be our God and invites us to be His people. Have you accepted His offer?
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Who Is LOVE-MAINTAINING Like Our God?
Again Sunday we look at the Glory of YHWH, the LORD. Like Moses we want God to "teach [us] Your ways so [we] may know You and continue to find favor with You." We long to better understand Who the "I AM" is.
This week we see the Glory of the LORD "...maintaining love to thousands..."
MAINTAINING
God guards His love for us. He shields His heart from the disappointment, deminishment and even betrayal of our relationship to Him. He wants always to respond to us in love. His loving heart sends rain on the just and the unjust, sunshine on the righteous and unrighteous. Even when we, like the Golden Calf crowd, reject His love and rebel against His leadership, His guarded love reaches out to us.
The LORD keeps carefully His love for us. He tends to the relationship with tenderness and concern. Like a gardener (John 15) He looks over our relationship and tends it. He weeds out what would sap His love, He fertilizes what is weakened in our relationship. Men generally do not give such carefulness to relationships. Women do. Like His compassion, coming from the Hebrew word for womb, God fusses over our relationship carefully. He wants it to work.
God keeps continually His love for us. God is love and always loves. Even on our worst day, God loves us. From before there was a molecule of matter that makes up our selves, God loved us completely, without condition. And in eternity future, His love will continue. Even for those who choose to be eternally separated from Him!
The LORD preserves His love for us. Like jelly or jam, the love of the LORD is stored up for us. It will not run out or even low. His passion for us does not fluctuate nor is He fickle in His feelings for us. In our moment of greatest need, His love is strong.
TO THOUSANDS
The LORD maintains love to thousands. This can either mean "thousands of persons" or "thousands of generations." Perhaps it implies both.
The Scriptures clearly declare that the LORD loves every person. "God loved the whole world so much that He gave His One and Only Son, so that all those believing on Him would not die but have eternal life" (John 3.16.) Here, when speaking to the chosen leader of the Chosen People, the LORD hints at His universal love of all people. James clearly forbids partiality based on economic circumstances. Jesus declares we are to be "perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect" chiefly in this matter of loving all people, not just the lovable.
Later in this Proclamation of the Name, the LORD will promise to "punish the sin of the father...to the second and third generation." Here YHWH says He maintains His love to thousands of generations in a family. We will look into this issue of family crime and punishment in a few weeks. The amazing thing is not His judgment on 3 generations, it is His love for thousands of generations. Grace that is greater than all our sins! PTL!
The GLOW
We are to glow with the glory of our God. If He is unique in His dealings with humanity, we are to be unique, as well. He is renewing us in the image of our Creator. We glow with His "maintained" love to thousands when we interact with all persons treating them with equal dignity and kindness. We must allow the Holy Spirit to continually guard our hearts from preconceived notions about people based on economics, race, or religion. We all have such notions instilled in us through upbringing and environmental factors. BUT, the people of a God who loves thousands must reflect that love as He enables.
This week we see the Glory of the LORD "...maintaining love to thousands..."
MAINTAINING
God guards His love for us. He shields His heart from the disappointment, deminishment and even betrayal of our relationship to Him. He wants always to respond to us in love. His loving heart sends rain on the just and the unjust, sunshine on the righteous and unrighteous. Even when we, like the Golden Calf crowd, reject His love and rebel against His leadership, His guarded love reaches out to us.
The LORD keeps carefully His love for us. He tends to the relationship with tenderness and concern. Like a gardener (John 15) He looks over our relationship and tends it. He weeds out what would sap His love, He fertilizes what is weakened in our relationship. Men generally do not give such carefulness to relationships. Women do. Like His compassion, coming from the Hebrew word for womb, God fusses over our relationship carefully. He wants it to work.
God keeps continually His love for us. God is love and always loves. Even on our worst day, God loves us. From before there was a molecule of matter that makes up our selves, God loved us completely, without condition. And in eternity future, His love will continue. Even for those who choose to be eternally separated from Him!
The LORD preserves His love for us. Like jelly or jam, the love of the LORD is stored up for us. It will not run out or even low. His passion for us does not fluctuate nor is He fickle in His feelings for us. In our moment of greatest need, His love is strong.
TO THOUSANDS
The LORD maintains love to thousands. This can either mean "thousands of persons" or "thousands of generations." Perhaps it implies both.
The Scriptures clearly declare that the LORD loves every person. "God loved the whole world so much that He gave His One and Only Son, so that all those believing on Him would not die but have eternal life" (John 3.16.) Here, when speaking to the chosen leader of the Chosen People, the LORD hints at His universal love of all people. James clearly forbids partiality based on economic circumstances. Jesus declares we are to be "perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect" chiefly in this matter of loving all people, not just the lovable.
Later in this Proclamation of the Name, the LORD will promise to "punish the sin of the father...to the second and third generation." Here YHWH says He maintains His love to thousands of generations in a family. We will look into this issue of family crime and punishment in a few weeks. The amazing thing is not His judgment on 3 generations, it is His love for thousands of generations. Grace that is greater than all our sins! PTL!
The GLOW
We are to glow with the glory of our God. If He is unique in His dealings with humanity, we are to be unique, as well. He is renewing us in the image of our Creator. We glow with His "maintained" love to thousands when we interact with all persons treating them with equal dignity and kindness. We must allow the Holy Spirit to continually guard our hearts from preconceived notions about people based on economics, race, or religion. We all have such notions instilled in us through upbringing and environmental factors. BUT, the people of a God who loves thousands must reflect that love as He enables.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Who Is LOVE-AND-FAITHFULNESS-ABOUNDING Like Our God?
Let's review our pericope: Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus 34.5-7, NIV)
This week we, along with Moses, hear the LORD declaring the glory of His Name. He is the God abounding in love and faithfulness.
The Glory of the God: Abounding in Love and Faithfulness
To say that God abounds in love says first that God deals with us with loving-kindness. His love moves Him to deal with us carefully and tenderly. We experience His kindness and often take it for granted. We are more amazed by His occasioinal acts of judgment than we are in perpetual acts of loving-kindness. Paul chides the Roman Christ-followers, "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?" (Romans 2.4, NIV.) His kindness is designed to draw us to Him.
The LORD also abounds in faithfulness. He remains true to His commitments. He keeps His promises. He always speaks the truth. Relationships rest on the central issue of trust. Our LORD has proven His trustworthiness over the entire scope of history. Like Hosea of old, God remains faithful to our relationship even when we commit the spiritual equivalent of adultery. 2 Timothy 2.13 declares if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. (NIV) We find security in His faithful commitment to us.
The LORD God is abounding in these qualities. Not just barely enough, His love and faithfulness know no limits. He overflows with love and faithfulness. When Jesus came into the world, John described Him as "full of grace and truth" The psalmist repeats the refrain, "His love endures forever."
The Glow of His People
As the people of this Love-and-Faithfulness-Abounding God, we reflect that glory in a world darkened by infidelity, lies, hate and indifference. Colossians says we are to put away lying. Ephesians says we are to speak the truth in love. Jesus says we are to let our "Yes, be 'yes' and our 'no' be 'no...'" What a challenge this week. LORD, help your people to be overflowing with love and faithfulness, to your Glory and Praise. AMEN
This week we, along with Moses, hear the LORD declaring the glory of His Name. He is the God abounding in love and faithfulness.
The Glory of the God: Abounding in Love and Faithfulness
To say that God abounds in love says first that God deals with us with loving-kindness. His love moves Him to deal with us carefully and tenderly. We experience His kindness and often take it for granted. We are more amazed by His occasioinal acts of judgment than we are in perpetual acts of loving-kindness. Paul chides the Roman Christ-followers, "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?" (Romans 2.4, NIV.) His kindness is designed to draw us to Him.
The LORD also abounds in faithfulness. He remains true to His commitments. He keeps His promises. He always speaks the truth. Relationships rest on the central issue of trust. Our LORD has proven His trustworthiness over the entire scope of history. Like Hosea of old, God remains faithful to our relationship even when we commit the spiritual equivalent of adultery. 2 Timothy 2.13 declares if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. (NIV) We find security in His faithful commitment to us.
The LORD God is abounding in these qualities. Not just barely enough, His love and faithfulness know no limits. He overflows with love and faithfulness. When Jesus came into the world, John described Him as "full of grace and truth" The psalmist repeats the refrain, "His love endures forever."
The Glow of His People
As the people of this Love-and-Faithfulness-Abounding God, we reflect that glory in a world darkened by infidelity, lies, hate and indifference. Colossians says we are to put away lying. Ephesians says we are to speak the truth in love. Jesus says we are to let our "Yes, be 'yes' and our 'no' be 'no...'" What a challenge this week. LORD, help your people to be overflowing with love and faithfulness, to your Glory and Praise. AMEN
Monday, April 20, 2009
Purity and Power
Following last Sunday's Whose Image? teaching I feel lead to continue the holiness theme again. This week we will look at Purity and Power.
When we are called to live pure lives, we often think of stand-offish, finicky prudes who disdain to dirty themselves with the grimey grind of life. White robes and white towers come to mind. The expression "holier-than-thou" does have an origin in the attitudes of the would-be-pure.
However, it has occurred to me that purity is really about power. Electricity travels faster along highly-conductive material than along poorly-conductive material. Perfume smells stronger and lasts longer as the purity level increases. Ivory soap leaves your face cleaner with 99.44% purity. Mixed drinks are more potent the higher its proof or percentage of pure alcohol.
So we will examine the need for purity from the standpoint of its correlation to the spiritual power in the life of a believer. When our lives are diluted with sins of omission, clogged by sins of commission and constricted by false beliefs and negative attitudes, the power of God does not flow as readily into and through us.
I am thinking of using clear plastic tubing and food-colored water to demonstrate these truths. I'll keep you posted on further developments.
When we are called to live pure lives, we often think of stand-offish, finicky prudes who disdain to dirty themselves with the grimey grind of life. White robes and white towers come to mind. The expression "holier-than-thou" does have an origin in the attitudes of the would-be-pure.
However, it has occurred to me that purity is really about power. Electricity travels faster along highly-conductive material than along poorly-conductive material. Perfume smells stronger and lasts longer as the purity level increases. Ivory soap leaves your face cleaner with 99.44% purity. Mixed drinks are more potent the higher its proof or percentage of pure alcohol.
So we will examine the need for purity from the standpoint of its correlation to the spiritual power in the life of a believer. When our lives are diluted with sins of omission, clogged by sins of commission and constricted by false beliefs and negative attitudes, the power of God does not flow as readily into and through us.
I am thinking of using clear plastic tubing and food-colored water to demonstrate these truths. I'll keep you posted on further developments.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tax Day 2009
Yes...
...even Tax Day can be a gateway to spiritual formation. Consider the following...
...even Tax Day can be a gateway to spiritual formation. Consider the following...
PALABRA (The Word)
Matthew 22.15-22
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"
"Caesar's," they replied.
Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
PONDER (The Point)
A Taxing Question
Is it right to pay taxes to a secular government? Can we participate in a society that uses these funds for things contrary to the precepts and principles of Scripture and the teaching of the Church? Where do we draw the lines?
These are all intriguing questions whose answers are very significant to our life of Christ-following. However, they must be addressed in another post. For the impact of this teaching of our Jesus was that "when they heard this, they were amazed." The wow factor is how Jesus, the master teacher, turns this would-be trap into a deeply penitrating look at spiritual formation.
Whose image?
Every governing body that mints coin or prints paper money authorizes that currency with easy to identify symbols. Every currency of the United States, for instance, bears the name "United States of America" and the phrase "THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE."
In Jesus' day the Caesar of the Roman Empire stamped his picture (image) onto the coinage used as legal tender. The printing was in Latin, the official language of the conquerors. So the coin brought to Jesus literally bore the Emperor's image and inscription.
So, Jesus says, give it back to Caesar. Yes we should pay taxes, in part because what we are spending is depending on that government to be judged legal tender or the currency of exchange. It is produced by and endorsed with that government's authority.
But the wow comes from the implication to everyone knowledgable of the Scriptures. This was especially true of Jesus' original listeners -- first century Jews. But it is also true of the Biblically-literate of all times and places.
We are all "stamped" with the imago dei, the image of God who created us originally and individually [Genesis 1.26-28.] A lot of speculation and debate has gone into the idea of the imago dei. Even after the Rebellion in Paradise, we retained a marred and mishapened version of the imago [Genesis 5.3, Genesis 9.6.] At the least we can say from the actual texts using the phrase imago dei, that it includes the human moral capacity [of that tree you must not eat,] human sexuality/procreativity [male and female created He them, be fruitful and multiply...fill the earth] and human stewardship of the rest of creation [subdue it. Rule over...] Essential human-ness bears clear markings of the One who made us--all.
While answering the political question of taxation, Jesus points to a deeper duty every human has. We should give to God what is God's -- our very self marked with His imago dei.
PRACTICE (The Principle)
So on this Tax day 2009, I hope you have filed your paperwork and written that check. Jesus says it is right to share in the cost, as well as the benefits, of a society.
But I really hope and pray that you take a moment and give God His due, too. Not something or some percentage but give your very self. From your DNA to your human spirit, you are marked with His image. All He wants is all you are, surrendered to His power, love and leadership -- for His renown and glory.
Whose image? Whose inscription?
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Foundational Questions
I recently heard a rabbi say that the central question Christianity asks is "Have you saved all the world, yet?" He then suggested the central issue for Judaism is, "Have you sanctified all the world, yet?"
Those words struck home to the heart of this Christian raised in the holiness tradition. I think the second question moves past the Evangelical emphasis on beginning a personal relationship with God toward the traditional holiness emphasis on the restoration of imago dei in the believer. Evangelicalism sees salvation as a past, completed action while traditional Wesleyan/Arminian holiness theology sees salvation as a present, progressing action.
I am asking myself, my local community of faith and my denominational connection, "Have we sanctified all the world, yet?"
Those words struck home to the heart of this Christian raised in the holiness tradition. I think the second question moves past the Evangelical emphasis on beginning a personal relationship with God toward the traditional holiness emphasis on the restoration of imago dei in the believer. Evangelicalism sees salvation as a past, completed action while traditional Wesleyan/Arminian holiness theology sees salvation as a present, progressing action.
I am asking myself, my local community of faith and my denominational connection, "Have we sanctified all the world, yet?"
Monday, March 31, 2008
Holiness?!?!
I was raised in a VERY conservative holiness church, in a VERY, VERY conservative district of conservative holiness churches. We were separatists from other believers as well as the unsaved masses. We defined holiness mostly by externals. Most of these focused on length (e.g. hair: long for girls, short for boys, sleeves: long for everyone.) There was a sense of elitism and hubris that was unattractive to the unsaved, believers of other persuasions and even to me.
However, I found God through this witness. Then God helped me find Christian Liberty that moved me away from much of the legalistic trappings of this witness without abandoning its principles.
A few years ago, a pastor in my same holiness connection authored a book asking the question, What Ever Became of Holiness? It chiefly delt with nuances of the theology of holiness.
I have recently begun a personal study and discipleship journey seeking to answer this question from another angle. Where does holiness, or the idea of being set apart from and set apart for, fit into my life, my local community of faith and my larger denomination connection?
Holiness in scripture is a sign of belonging to God's people. Kosher laws in the Old Testament and abstaining from food offered to idols in the New Testament are examples. Both create noticable patterns that distinguish the believing community from the community at large. There really is no other reason for them.
So how do Christ-followers (individually, locally or collectively) express holiness and still engage others in loving, attractive ways?
More thinking-out-loud will follow.
However, I found God through this witness. Then God helped me find Christian Liberty that moved me away from much of the legalistic trappings of this witness without abandoning its principles.
A few years ago, a pastor in my same holiness connection authored a book asking the question, What Ever Became of Holiness? It chiefly delt with nuances of the theology of holiness.
I have recently begun a personal study and discipleship journey seeking to answer this question from another angle. Where does holiness, or the idea of being set apart from and set apart for, fit into my life, my local community of faith and my larger denomination connection?
Holiness in scripture is a sign of belonging to God's people. Kosher laws in the Old Testament and abstaining from food offered to idols in the New Testament are examples. Both create noticable patterns that distinguish the believing community from the community at large. There really is no other reason for them.
So how do Christ-followers (individually, locally or collectively) express holiness and still engage others in loving, attractive ways?
More thinking-out-loud will follow.
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