Devotions for Men on the Go

Greetings All,

     Today I found a book I had laid on my desk weeks ago. It was "Devotions for Men on the Go," by Stephen Arterburn.  I opened it and it randomly fell open to this devotion. It struck me as worthy of sharing. I hope it moves and challenges you as well. Enjoy.

"Even if my life is to be poured out like a drink offering 

to complete the sacrifice of your faithful service 

(that is, if I am to die for you), I will rejoice, 

and I want to share my joy with all of you." 

(Philippians 2:17)

A Matter of Honor

     "About an hour into United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco on September 11, 2001, terrorists commandeered the cockpit, herded the passengers to the back of the plane, and turned it back toward a target in Washington, D.C.  Among those passengers were four remarkable men who didn't much like being herded around. 

     One was 31 year old publicist Mark Bingham, who had helped the University of California win the 1991 and 1993 national collegiate rugby championships. He was six foot five, rowdy and fearless.  One was 38 year-old medical research company executive Tom Burnett, who told his wife over the phone, "I know we are going to die. Some of us are going to do something about it."  One was 31 year old businessman Jeremy Glick. He called his wife, Lyz, at her parents home in Windham, New York, to say good-bye to her and their twelve-week-old daughter, Emmy.  The other was 32 year-old sales account manager Todd Beamer, who had played third base and shortstop over three seasons for Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

     These four brave men apparently came up with a plan to storm the cock-pit and attempt to wrest control of the aircraft from the terrorists.  Flight 93 never made it to Washington. Instead, it crashed into a field eighty miles southeast of Pittsburgh. All passengers and crew perished.  Nobody on the ground was killed. 

     What will you do when it is your turn to be poured out for the sake of others?

     Dear God, may I value honor more than survival." 

     Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).  I wonder if it might not be just as hard (if not harder) to lay down your life for strangers you would never meet -- like these men who's heroic act saved the lives of countless many in whatever the target was to be in Washington, D.C.  All  on board did die, but if the terrorists were allowed to continue on unchallenged, it would have been all on board plus many more in D.C.

     Self-sacrifice is never easy. It goes against our survival instinct, and with few exceptions goes against the sway of our self-focused society.  Whether it be offering one's life up to death for others, or dying to self daily, by, "considering others better than yourself" (Phil. 2:3) it does not come easy.  Yet, it is an expression of imitating Christ in His condescension, sacrificial love, and self-emptying humility (Phil. 2:5-11).

     We admire such things in Jesus, but sometimes forget that, "our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant and being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death -even death on a cross" (Phil 2:5-8).  Such humble and sacrificial love is part of following His command to, "love one another as He has loved us." 

     So, maybe I could put Mr. Arterburn's last prayer this way: "Dear God, may we value the opportunity to imitate Christ in His humility more than self-interest, self-protection and survival." 

Only as we lean on Him, Pastor Jeff

Holiness By Grace - Delighting In The Joy That Is Our Strength

Greetings All!

     This week's "thought" comes from a book well worth the time it takes to read: "Holiness By Grace - Delighting In The Joy That Is Our Strength" by Bryan Chapell.  It has to do with God's grace and favor toward us, and the common misconceptions we often have about what it is that causes that grace to come our way.  There are very few who do not desire God's grace.  Few who do not yearn for His favor.  Yet, as Chapell points out, in our attempts to attain it, we often drive it further from us.  We often go astray in the ways we seek to become recipients of it.  I found his instruction in this regard helpful.  I pray that you might also.  Enjoy.

     "Despite the teaching of Scripture, I am at times no less troubled than Christ's disciples were with God's determination to resist human efforts to purchase his love.  I want to believe that God must be good to the organizations I serve, to the family I love, and the career in which I seek to advance, because I have tried to be good. Such reasoning abandons me, however, when I honestly compare my righteousness to Christ's standards... When I face the reality of the inadequacy of my works to merit God's favor, then I recognize that I must depend on his goodness and not my own. At times this dependence (on his goodness) is scary because it lifts control from me, but there is no other choice when I recognize the true character of my good works. For according to Scripture, even my best works are only "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:5). There is too much human imperfection and mixed motives in my best deeds to have them obligate God to do as I wish...

     That does not mean, however, that God never desires or blesses our goodness.  Walking in God's ways is itself a blessing (Ps. 1, Matt. 5:3-10). For example, being faithful to one's spouse brings integrity to a marriage that is a blessing.  Speaking honestly can enhance one's reputation and help secure faltering relationships... Still, no degree of human goodness will lock God into a pah of blessing according to our choosing, as though we have become his master through our merit.  God promises to bless obedience by using it for his purposes, but the blessings that result should be seen less as credit for our goodness, and more as evidence of his faithfulness to his purposes... Divine blessing flows from God's mercy rather than from our merit. Thus, we cannot guarantee that his care will flow according to our plans simply because we conform in some degree to biblical standards. Our works do not obligate God to care for us in the way WE think is best... God blesses according to the wisdom of his eternal mercy rather than in proportion to our works of earned merit...

     [In Luke 17:11-19 ten lepers cry out to Jesus in desperation, "Jesus, master, have mercy on us!"]... What does Jesus do when these desperate people plead with him for mercy? He shows them mercy.  Jesus shows pity to those who have nothing to claim but desperation.  He is moved by their desperate cry for help.  What is the message to us?  Our God is not moved by the deeds we trophy, but by the desperation we acknowledge as our own....

     God's heart is moved, not when we protest our innocence by pointing to our inadequate good deeds, nor when we promise that we will do better in the future. Though there is no reason for God to love us, yet he does.  This is the nature of grace that we must treasure to know the joy that God wants for our lives. Until we recognize that there is no reason God will be moved to love us other than the spiritual need we acknowledge, we have no good news to tell others or ourselves. How could it be good news that God waits to love us until we reach an unattainable standard of righteousness, or that he counts our "filthy rags" as meritorious?  Biblical faith is most evident not when we demand that God honor our flawed deeds, but when we trust that he will mercifully respond when we humbly and helplessly cry out, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

     Those who cry out in desperation have more hope of moving God's heart than any who would trophy their own righteousness before him.  Those who face the hopelessness of their spiritual condition apart from God's mercy are nearer to experiencing his grace than those who pride themselves on their goodness. Not beyond God's mercy is the homosexual dying of AIDS, who says in a broken spirit, "People may condemn me for a life they do not approve, but to tell you the truth, I would have loved anyone that loved me back."  In fact, such a man may be nearer to expressing what melts the heart of heaven, than I am on the days that my preaching, my position (as a seminary president), and my righteousness, swell my pride to make me think I am deserving of God's blessing.

     To experience God's blessing I must readily and repeatedly confess my own hopeless condition. What makes me willing to do this is the knowledge that it is my desperation that inclines God's heart toward my own.  The awareness that he does not turn away from my desperation will actually draw me to confession and deep repentance. The assumption that God only loves the righteous will tempt me to hide from him (and myself) the flaws under the public veneer of my character and my fears of deeper failures... 

     Our Lord's response to the leper's cry for mercy should compel us to confess our sin to him no matter its degree or persistence. We need not have corrected the wrong in our lives to ask him to forgive us We should not attempt to try and compensate for our sin before we ask him to love us. Remember that Jesus cleansed all the lepers when they cried out for his mercy, even though in his divine nature he could have known that only one would return to thank him.  Neither past failing nor future weakness will dissuade our Savior from showing us mercy when we honestly acknowledge our desperate need for his grace."

     One only needs to glance at the any of the four Gospels to see the truth of what Chapell says.  God inclines his ear and opens his heart to the desperate, but resists the proud. He embraces the sinful man who won't even look up to heaven but in shame cries out, "Lord be merciful to me a sinner," yet refuses to listen to the Pharisee who looks down on that heart-broken man and brags inwardly that he is so much better and thanks God he is not like him.  Pride and self-righteousness (that is, thinking we can make ourselves acceptable to God by our personal deeds and efforts) pushes the divine hand of grace away, it does not (as many curiously think) bring God's favor and blessings near.  We must always remember: "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble."   It is the acknowledgment and confession of our sin, deep need, and personal inadequacy that draws close the grace and mercy of God, and the vain illusion that we have all our moral and spiritual ducks in a row that drives it away.

     If you would like to pray for grace, here is a simple prayer I often use: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal God, be merciful to me a sinner." 

For His name's sake,  Pastor Jeff 

Praying with The Puritans

Greetings All,

     This past weekend I attended a conference in Pittsburgh, PA, for the CCO (Coalition For Christian Outreach) where there just happened to be a bookseller.  My curiosity got the best of me, and I walked over to see what books were on the shelves.  I practiced great restraint (for me) and ended up walking out with only four new books to add to my library!  One, which was entitled: "Kneeling With Giants - Learning To Pray With History's Best Teachers," by Gary Neal Hansen, caught my attention.

     I've only gotten through two of it's chapters so far, but I found one section both interesting and helpful.  It's called, "Praying with The Puritans" and encourages us to use their common form of praying by meditation and writing.  Enjoy.

Praying With The Puritans

     "Back in student days, after a bad breakup, my journal saved my sanity. I bought a little black book to hold my dark, grieving thoughts, and in it I poured out lamentation, confusion and anger. I wrote, and wrote, and wrote, until I didn't need to anymore.  A couple years later, I looked back and found that pretty much every page was the same. You could say writing was a kind of therapy, but for me it was prayer. God was listening. Healing came.

     I often pray best with a pen.... Writing in my journal draws me quickly and surely into God's company. God is there, listening, and I find myself understood and accepted. That changes me. It may seem an odd and indirect form of prayer -- I do not start each journal entry with "Dear God" -- but if prayer is conversation, the act of writing allows me to take my part of the dialogue seriously.  It slows me down, and hidden things come to light.  Burdens are lifted. Insights and possibilities emerge....

     To all who resist writing as a way of prayer, I plead for an imaginative openness. A great many people find that writing sparks spiritual growth.... The first time I tried to write in a journal, I found myself so anxious I destroyed every page. I was not afraid that someone would see it. The struggle was with myself. Here were my feelings, the insides of me, spread out on a page. I felt almost naked. Later, and to my own surprise, I tried again. Soon writing in my journal was the way to come honestly to God and find grace. All I can say is that it is worth it to keep coming back to the experiment of prayerful writing...  If this is a new way to pray, it can be a challenge. The good news is that many Christians have prayed this way throughout history.  And there is no better example than the Puritans.

     Now, before you start rolling your eyes, let me say that these sixteenth and seventeenth-century Calvinists from England and then America have gotten a bad rap. We assume the joke is true that a Puritan is defined as someone terribly afraid that someone, somewhere, is having fun.  In literature class we read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) or The Crucible by Arthur Miller (1915-2005) [neither one of which ever met or had any interaction with a Puritan] and forever after when we hear "Puritan" we picture poor Hester Prynne being judged and shamed, or the horror of the Salem witch trials.  However, if you read what the Puritans wrote about the Christian life, the picture changes. They brought single-minded passion to their pursuit of God. They lived with a focused, prayerful longing to be made new in Christ. They may have been more conscious of sin than most Christians are today, but they were also more aware of God's blessings and grace. These were inner experiences, but I can describe them confidently because when they prayed about them they often did so with pen in hand. Written approaches to prayer were so important to the Puritans that they wrote manuals to teach each other how to do it. 

     The Puritans, as Calvinists, had a very heavy doctrine of providence, believing that God was actively involved in virtually everything in their lives and the world. Today the idea has fallen on hard times. Many assume God is not actively involved, or they look at things that happen in the world and wonder what God could possibly have been thinking. Providence filled John Beadle (an English Puritan who lived from 1595-1667 and wrote "Diary of a Thankful Christian") with a sense of wonder. He claimed that if we only looked, we would see God's name, wisdom, power and faithfulness in every blade of grass and every drop of rain. Nurturing awareness of providence can bring us to awe as well. Believing, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning put it, "earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush alive with God" makes it more likely that we will notice God at work, take off our shoes, and kneel.

     Beadle lists a number of topics to write about in our journals. Some are more clearly powerful than others, but they all help us move forward in seeing God at work, and giving thanks, knowing God better and loving God more. 

            1.) "Let every man keep a strict account of his effectual calling." "Effectual calling" is the Puritan term for the way God got through and made you a Christian... 

       2.) "Take special notice of all divine assistance.. either in the performance of the duties that are required of us, or in bearing those evils that are inflicted upon us." 
       3.) "Remember, and for that end put into your journal all deliverance's from dangers, either to you or yours."
       4.) "All the instruments, all the people and means that God has in providence at any time used for your good, must not be forgotten." 
       5.) "And finally, mark what returns, what answers God gives to your prayers, and write them down... as most remarkable pledges of His love." 

     When I first became a believer (38 yeas ago) I did this very thing more often (having no idea the Puritans had done it before me). I even have those journals in my possession still, and the answers to many prayers recorded there. But in our fast paced society that habit fell by the wayside. Thankfully, this chapter convinced me I need to pick up my pen and journal again.  You may want to give it a try as well. After all, how could one not benefit from prayerfully writing about God's grace and involvement in their lives, or recording for future days a written record to remind them of His power, providence, intervention, rescue, provision, and daily expressions of kindness?  I dare say it could do everyone nothing but good! 

In His Service, Pastor Jeff

Joyful Blessings Journal

Greetings All!

    
     I came back from my trip to India only to move into a new office down the hall.  As a result over a hundred boxes of books needed to be transported and re-shelved in the new office!  And in that process I came across things that I had not seen for many years! One in particular was a journal I picked up somewhere along the line because of the quotes on each page. That's what I will share today - twenty various quotes from the "Joyful Blessings Journal" that were gathered or selected by Marla Tipton.  I trust that some of them might offer helpful insights and encourage your heart.  Enjoy



"It is pleasing to God whenever you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart."

Martin Luther

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Mark Twain

"Worrying is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere."

Unknown

"You pay God a compliment every time you ask great things of Him." 

Teresa of Avila 

"The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves."

Victor Hugo

"Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every budding leaf in springtime."

Martin Luther

"Our life if full of brokenness -- broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful, except by returning again and again to God's faithful presence in our lives."

Henri Nouwen

"God often comforts us, not by changing the circumstances of our lives, but by changing our attitude toward them."

S. H. B. Masterman

"If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear.  His eye is upon us, His arm is over us, His ear open to our prayer. His grace is sufficient and His promise unchangeable."

John Newton

"A true friend (shares) freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably." 

William Penn

"Every now and then it is delightful to have the kind of laugh that makes your stomach jiggle... that sends tears down your face and causes your eyes to squint so it's impossible to see!"

Unknown

"When I think upon my God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap from my pen."

Composer Joseph Haydn

"I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar; but I cherish the friend who for me does not even consult his calendar."

Robert Brault

"The thought of You stirs us so deeply that we cannot be content unless we praise You, because You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You."

St. Augustine

"Consider the postage stamp; its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing until it gets there." 

Josh Billings

"Gratefulness is the key to a happy life which we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy, because we will always want to have something else or something more."

Brother David Steindl-Rast

"God cannot give us happiness apart from Himself, because it is not there, There is no such thing."

C. S. Lewis

"How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource!  We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go.  And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven."

George MacDonald

"Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."

Jerry Bridges

"Happy is the one who has learned to hold the things of this world with a loose grip. Of all classes and descriptions of people on this earth, they are the happiest of whom it may be said that the things most hoped for by them are the things not seen."

Mennonite Writings

With Prayers for the Abundance of God's Grace to You, Pastor Jeff

Holy Sonnet XIV - John Donne (1572-1631)

Greetings All!

Today's "thought" comes from a rather thick book (I'm estimating it has over 1000 pages since it's almost 3 inches thick and the only recent book I have where the pages are not numbered)!  It's called "A Poem a Day -- 365 Devotional Readings Based on Classic Christian Verse" by Philip Comfort and Daniel Partner.  Though I'm no poet, I have found it quite intriguing.

     Today's selection includes a poem by John Donne (1572-1631) followed by a meditation on who he was and why he wrote it. The poem (which is autobiographical) deals with Donne's yearning yet rebellious heart which he knew well enough to know that God must either possess him completely, or he could never be chaste or satisfied -- something which may sound odd to some.
     Even if you're not a poet either, I encourage you to read on.  Consider not just the poem, but the devotional thought that follows -- a thought which reveals the heart of a man who could not settle for complacency or meager handouts in his relationship with God. Enjoy.

Holy Sonnet XIV

"Batter my heart, three-personed God; for you as yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; that I may rise and stand.

  Overthrow me, and bend your force to break, blow, burn and make me new.

  I, like a usurped town, to another due, labor to admit you, but O, to no end.

Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, but is captived, and proves weak or untrue. 

 Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain, but am betrothed unto your enemy.

Divorce me!  Untie or break that knot again.

 Take me to you and imprison me, for I, except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

 Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me."

     John Donne was one of the greatest English poets and preachers of the 1600's. His deep intellect and fiery emotions are evident in both his poetry and sermons. A descendant of Saint Thomas More, Donne was raised a Roman Catholic, but in the 1590's became a member of the Church of England. In 1597 he became secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton and fell in love with Egerton's niece, Ann More. They eloped in 1601. Ann's father disapproved of the marriage and caused Egerton to dismiss Donne from his job.  Thereafter, Donne accepted the king's invitation to become an Anglican priest.

     These experiences of poverty and failure caused Donne to rely on God and cherish His love. This poem expresses the poet's desire for God -- the entire Triune God -- to take over his being. Donne compares himself to a captive town that can never be free unless God captures the capturer (the enemy) and sets Donne free. And with pungent, dramatic irony, Donne declares that he can never be "chaste" -- or a spiritual virgin -- unless God ravishes him. Wooing had not worked.  Donne needed God to take violent action and batter down his heart and take it over completely.

     Sometimes we need to ask God to take over our heart and mind in a radical way. In doing so, He will not enslave us or seize us without right, but rather, He will free us. Until God completely occupies us, we will be occupied with everything but God.

     As the prophet says: "I will make you my wife forever, says the Lord. I will show you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as Lord." (Hosea 2:19-20)."

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     I would have loved to sit under the preaching of a man so passionate to know and experience the love, presence, and grace of God. It reminds me of another person who also spoke of God in such terms. It brings to mind another person, Annie Dillard, who was also discontent with the common and somewhat apathetic views of God held in the church. For after surveying the contemporary church scene in the 1980's she wrote in her book, "Teaching a Stone to Talk":

     "On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of the conditions.  Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of Power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are like children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake some day and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return."

     Isaiah would have preferred her understanding of God to that which is sometimes put forth in the church.  For very much like her, Isaiah conceived that if God were to, "rend the heavens and come down," then the mountains would tremble before Him, the waters would boil as when a fire is lit beneath them, and the nations would quake in fear before His presence (Isaiah 64:1-5). 

     What a difference it would make to us as individuals, and Christ's Church as a whole, if we captured even the smallest glimpse of God's true greatness and grandeur and majesty.  Even the smallest glimpse of the God we worship would make us, like Donne, passionate to know and be possessed completely by Him.

In His Service, Pastor Jeff

Five Reasons Church Members Attend Church Less Frequently

Greetings All!

     This weeks "thought" has to do with a problem that is becoming increasingly worse and very alarming to those who love and cherish the Church of Jesus Christ, as well as it's God-given mission to the world.  It's the lack of commitment among believers to gather together for worship, sharing, instruction, encouragement, accountability and joint-effort in carrying out the commission Christ gave to His Body to bring the gospel to those across the street and across the sea.
     There is a very good reason the author of Hebrews 10:25 says, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing..."  That is, let us not give up meeting together as the gathered church, or the congregation of the faithful, for worship and celebration.  (Yes, it was even a problem back then!)  And the reason he called them to gather was not a legalistic effort to gain more of God's favor by doing so, but because of what such gathering does for us, and the others in the body, in terms of our spiritual health and the strengthening of the Church.  In the immediate context verse 23 suggests it helps us, "hold unswervingly to the hope we profess."   Verse 24 suggests it's one of the ways we can, "spur one another on toward love and good deeds."   And the rest of verse 25 suggests that our gatherings do the opposite of what being absent does -- it enables us to, "encourage one another, and all the more as we see the Day approaching."

     My presence (and yours) on a Sunday morning, encourages others. It gives us an opportunity to carry out our God-ordained ministry of serving, encouraging, and bearing the burdens of others.  If I view my gathering with others as I should (as a time to minister encouragement to others through my words, heart-felt worship, prayers, listening ears, and actions) I have the blessed honor and privilege of being able to love others with brotherly affection, help to the struggling, listen to the lonely, assist the elderly, encourage the young, and share in people's growth as believers.  So let me share the whole verse:  "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, BUT LET US ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER, and all the more as we see the Day approaching."

     That leads us to today's entry from the blog of researcher, Thom S. Rainer, entitled, "Five Reasons Church Members Attend Church Less Frequently." (His small but very good book, "I Am A Church Member," only 77 pages long, is also a great read for further discussion on the reality and effects of this phenomena.)  Enjoy.

FIVE REASONS CHURCH MEMBERS ATTEND CHURCH LESS FREQUENTLY

     "About 20 years ago, a church member was considered "active" in the church if he or she attended three times a week. Today, a church member is considered active in the church if he or she attends three times a month. Something is wrong with this picture. For 2,000 years, the local church, as messy as it is, has been God’s place for believers to gather, worship, minister, and be accountable to one another.

     Yet every time I write something about church membership and attendance, I inevitably hear cries of “legalism” or “the church is not a building” or “the church is a messed up institution.”  But the local church -- the messy local church -- is what God has used as His primary instrument to make disciples. But commitment is waning among many church members.

Why?

     1.) We are minimizing the importance of the local church. When we do, we are less likely to attend. A few drops of rain may keep many folks from attending church, but it won’t stop them from sitting three hours in the downpour watching their favorite football team (and often pay a hefty price to do so).

     2.) We worship the idols of activities. Many members will replace a day in their church with a day at kid’s soccer or softball games or sleeping off the hangover of the previous day’s activities.

     3.) We take a lot of vacations from church. I am not anti-vacation. But 20 years or so ago, we would make certain we attended a church where we were taking a vacation. Today, many members take a vacation from church.

     4.) We do not have high expectations of our members. Any purposeful organization expects and gets much of it members, whether it’s a sports team or a civic organization. It is ironic that most churches do not come close to being a high expectation church.

     5.) We make infrequent attendees leaders in our churches. When we do, we are making a clear statement that even the leaders of the church do not have to be committed to the place they supposedly lead.

     I heard a leader of an organization tell the members he did not want them if they were not fully committed. They could not be AWOL if they wanted to be a part of the group. He expected full commitment [Sounds a bit like Jesus - Luke 14:25-33]. He is a high school football coach. And all the team members follow that high expectation of commitment. If we truly expect to make a difference in our communities, and our families, members of local churches need to have at least the same level of commitment as members of sports teams.  After all, the mission of each local church is far more important.  At least it should be..."

     One of my favorite hymns since becoming a believer is one written in 1800 by Timothy Dwight, "I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord."   You don't hear it much any more, and many would even struggle to sing it if they were required to be totally truthful and honest before doing so.  Yet, although the church is messy, and it's members are (as the Word assures us) sinners in the process of being sanctified, and thus there are and always will be problems (as in any human gathering of diverse souls), it is still the Bride Christ loves. The ones He chose to join to Himself in holy union. The objects of His sacrificial joy and affection, and His chosen means to continue carrying out His work on earth (feeble as we often are at that task).

     That's why this hymn resonates with me. Because when I am loving His church, I am loving those He loves, has redeemed, has laid down His life, and is preparing for an eternity in His presence (Eph. 5:25-27). See if you could sing these words:

"I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord. The House of Thine abode. 

The Church our blest Redeemer saved, with His own precious blood.

I love Thy Church, O God!  Her walls before Thee stand, 

Dear as the apple of Thine eye, and graven on Thy hand.

For her my tears shall fall; For her my prayers ascend; 

To her my cares and toils be giv'n, Till toils and cares shall end.

Beyond my highest joy, I prize her heav'nly ways, 

Her sweet communion, solemn vows, and hymns of love and praise."

     Oh for more members of the Bride who felt the same way about the Bride!  It would be "self-love" of the best kind!  Not because the Church is perfect (it never will be, at least in this age), but because in doing so we are loving those Christ chose as His Bride. We are doing as He commanded when He said to His disciples: "Love one another as I have love you."

Just more food for thought...

In His Service, Pastor Jeff