Written on October 7, 2009 by Matt
This is our Sunday Re: Think, an opportunity for us to continue to think on the events of last Sunday.
It has been said in many times and many ways, “Merry Christmas!”, while that is in fact true, and probably what you thought was coming, what I was really thinking was, “Everything rises and falls with leadership.” Rather cliche I know, and a thought definitely not original to me, but makes the point rather well. This is no more clear than in the book of 1 Samuel, where we encounter 3 different types of leaders; Samuel, Saul, and David.
Over the next couple weeks we will take a look at each of these men individually, and what characterized their leadership. Up front, it must be said that I am heavily indebted to Mark Dever and his helpful one volume opus on the Old Testament Promises Made: The Message of the Old Testament for guiding my thinking related to these three individuals.
On Sunday we first considered Samuel, the last judge prior to the successive monarchies that take us nearly to the pages of the New Testament. While much can be said about Samuel, we highlighted that Samuel’s life and leadership can largely be characterized by being a Disciple. Plainly, Samuel’s life was marked by being one who, Heard, Obeyed and Spoke the Word of God. As such, Samuel modeled for us what life as a Disciple looks like.
Often we struggle with hearing the Word of God because so many other voices occupy the space that only God’s voice should occupy. Materialism, Anxiousness, Career, Activity, even our Family can begin to crowd out the voice of God if left unchecked. The remedy for our oversaturation is to make an effort to declutter. We declutter by saturating our lives with the Word of God, through Prayer, Bible Reading, Worship and Service and surrounding ourselves with other believers. These disciplines create an environment in which we can more easily hear and respond to God’s voice.
What are the things that easily clutter your life and make it difficult to hear God’s voice?
How can you begin to declutter?
Posted in Re: Think | Comment Now!
Written on September 28, 2009 by Matt
This is our Sunday Re: Think, an opportunity for us to continue to think on the events of last Sunday.Continuing our journey through the Old Testament, we stopped over in the book of Judges yesterday. While there are several truths to be gleaned from Judges, including but not limited to; what happens when there is a leadership void, the need for right thinking about God, and creative ways to use a tent stake, we zeroed in on what happens when we say NO to God.
If there is anything we learn from Judges, one thing that is clear is that when we live a lifestyle of saying NO to God, disastrous consequences result. First and foremost, when we say NO to God, we end up doing what is right in our own eyes. One overarching theme in Judges is best summarized by the last verse in the book, “In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” Our desire is always to wrestle control from God and do things are own way, and when this occurs we end up doing things horrifically wrong! Instead of obeying God, conquering their enemies and destroying the idols in the land, the people of Israel inner married and took the false gods of the people for their own.
When we say NO to God and do what is right in our own eyes, we incur God’s righteous judgment. Often we need to be reminded that God is not playing around when it comes to sin. He doesn’t find it cute, treat it as no big deal or realize, or look the other way. Rather, He justly punishes for sin.
If God did not punish, He wouldn’t be Holy, Righteous or Just, not to mention Mighty to Save! Far from being unloving, this is the most loving thing God can do, for in His Righteousness and Justice, God sent Christ to bear our sin and the sin of the world as the one and only perfect Sacrifice, so that we may have new life in a relationship with Him!
Part of the beauty of Judges is that even though we say NO to God, He still saves, and save to the fullest. While all of the deliverers God raises up in Judges are able to save momentarily and provide peace, inevitably their ministry is flawed, temporary and passing. Conversely, in Christ we have a Judge who saves perfectly, eternally, and forever!
In what ways do we often say NO to God? How can we begin to say YES more?
Posted in Beliefs, Re: Think | Comment Now!
Written on September 21, 2009 by Matt
This is our Sunday Re: Think, an opportunity for us to continue to think on the events of last Sunday.
Throughout the course of 2009 one of our main goals in spending an entire year in the Old Testament is to see evidences of the Gospel lived out in those we encounter. There is possibly no clearer place than in the story of Rahab in Joshua.
It is in the story of Rahab we see the beauty of the Gospel on full display. We witness in captivating form the mercy and grace of God extended to one who is far away.
What makes the story of Rahab so compelling for us to consider, is not only how she came into relationship with the Creator God of Israel, but also what happened in her life as a result.
In Rahab we see evidence of the truth that we preach a simple Gospel with profound consequences. All that was required of Rahab is that she believed according to what she had heard, and place faith in that in which she believed. In Joshua 2, we read of Rahab’s admission she had heard how the LORD moved in various ways on behalf of Israel, and she feared for her life and those of her family. Her repentance consisted of a spurning of an old way of life and a willingness to lay everything on the line for the sake of Israel and their God. Her faith was accompanied by obedience in action.
The story of Rahab also shows us how beautiful the Gospel is in scope. The Gospel is for everyone. Rahab had baggage, we all have baggage, yet we see God was mighty to save, regardless of her present state. When God saves sinners He gets the Glory. As it was with Rahab, so it is with us. We enter into relationship with God by His Grace, through Faith in His saving work.
God doesn’t care about our birthright, resume, the opinion of others, how many friends we have on facebook, or whether or not we consider ourselves a “good” person. Rather He conisders the state of our heart and what we do with His Son, Jesus Christ.
Finally, we see the beauty of the Gospel in the end of Rahab’s story. Far from being an outcast, or second class citizen in Israel, Rahab is part of the line that produces Jesus. The writer of Hebrews lifts her up as an example of faith , and James speaks of how her work in hiding the spies was evidence of her faith as well.
How is the beauty of the Gospel displayed in your life?
Posted in Re: Think | Comment Now!
Written on April 15, 2009 by Matt
This is our Sunday Re: Think, an opportunity for us to continue to think on the events of last Sunday.
Celebrating Easter, we began a new three week series entitled “Who do you Say I am?: Uncovering the Real Jesus.” Over the course of the next couple weeks we will learn a bit more about who Jesus is, what He came to accomplish, and what that means for us. Last Sunday, we began our look with Jesus: Conqueror of Sin and Death. Drawing primarily from Mark 15-16, we saw Jesus not only Paid for our Sin, but also is our hope in this life and the next.
Words often fall short in describing the terribly gruesome event that was the crucifixion. From the scouring with the cat-o-ninetales, to being made to carry the crossbeam of His Cross, to the crucifixion event itself, we can’t imagine, save Mel Gibson’s attempt with The Passion, to understand the horrific physical magnitude of the event. Yet, the question remains as to why Jesus had to suffer in this way, and what it had to do with us?
This all goes back to the character and nature of God. While God is all loving, all powerful, ever merciful and kind, He is also all Holy, pure, righteous and just. In short order, God’s Holiness demands that sin be paid for. Going back to our first parents, Adam and Eve, when we sin we spit in the face of a Righteous and Holy God. This Sin separates us from Him and requires payment. Unfortunately, since we are sinful, fallen, devoid of any good thing and are by nature children under wrath, nothing we could do, or ever hope to do, would be enough to pay the penalty for our sin. Even if we were to be sent to Hell for eternity it would not be enough to pay for sin, because our sacrifice would be impure.
What was needed was one who could suffer on our behalf, yet be a perfect sacrifice. This is where Jesus is the hero of the story. Being the God man, the One who knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), He was able to do what we could not do. So in one divine, cataclysmic moment, the God of the Universe, turned His back on Jesus and poured all of His wrath for our sin on His broken body, that we might be brought back into right relationship with Him. Again, words cannot describe the enormity of this. Jesus stood in our place, becoming our substitutionary sacrifice, He took our sin away, becoming our expiation, and His blood also cleanses us from all unrighteousness, covering not only our own sin, but also the guilt of sins inflicted on us by others. Incredible
Additionally, not only did Jesus pay for our sin, by defeating death by being resurrected, He gave us hope, not only in the next life, but in this as well. The resurrection is what guarantees hope beyond hope, allows this world to make sense, and gives our lives in the here and now, value, meaning and purpose. Regardless of if we are penniless, jobless, addicted and despised, because of what Christ accomplished, by not only paying the penatly for our sin, but by defeating death on our behalf, we have obtained the greater victory!
Join us this coming Sunday as we look at Jesus our Righteous King.
Posted in Beliefs, Re: Think | Comment Now!
Written on March 31, 2009 by Matt
Yesterday we began our look at Abraham, his Road to Redemption and Lessons learned along the way. Our focus yesterday was on the first lesson learned, namely that the Road to Redemption is a journey. Today we continue our conversation, considering how this Road to Redemption is the place where we learn obedience and exercise faith.
In much the same way that parts of our physical being cannot grow unless exercised, our faith cannot grow unless it is exercised as well. Unfortunately many people spend their entire lives of faith as spiritual invalids, content with couch potato Christianity awaiting the “some glad morning” when God will take their posterior to glory.
The truth of the matter is, God did not send His Son to be the all sufficient sacrifice for our sins, for us to sit on our couch and eat spiritual bon-bons all day.
Rather, He sent His Son to stand in our place so that we would be reconciled to a Holy God and be involved with Him and His work in bringing a lost and dying world back to Himself. James reminds us that faith without works is a dead and non-existent faith. Our faith has not only to talk, but to walk and have meat and substance to it. It is no wonder people don’t find the message of the cross compelling or life changing, because we aren’t. We don’t paint a very attractive picture of what it means to follow Jesus, because most often we are doing nothing.
Part of the reason why the faith of Abraham has become the ultimate example is because he held firm in this most extreme of tests and counted it as an act of worship while doing so. I wonder if we would do the same.
Posted in Re: Think | Comment Now!
Written on March 30, 2009 by Matt
After a very very long layoff, this is our Sunday Re: Think, an opportunity for us to continue to think on the events of last Sunday. I know the blogging around here has been erratic, but like any other discipline it takes time, and in many ways a schedule to get it accomplished. Hopefully we can begin being more regular around here.
The past several weeks we have been digging into the lives of the Patriarchs, paying specific attention to the life of Abraham. The life of Abraham is one we need pay special attention to, since it is his story that dominates the remainder of Genesis, arguably the most foundational book in all of Scripture. The life of Abraham thus far has been one filled with incredible faithfulness and dynamic failure, as God continues to shape this man into the patriarch He desires him to be.
This passed Sunday we concentrated on Genesis 22 and commented on what we saw as Abraham’s Road to Redemption and Lessons learned along the way. Specifically, we pointed to three lessons we learn on the Road to Redemption: 1) The Road to Redemption is a journey, 2) The Road to Redemption is where we learn obedience and excercise faith, 3) The Road to Redemption is the only place we meet Jesus.
Part of the journeying aspect of the Road to Redemption is that it takes time. In the microwave society we live in, it is not our nature to want to take time doing much of anything, let alone “growing in faith.” Yet, we forget God has made us for eternity, and the entirety of this life is preparation for eternity with Him. Since all of this life is preparation for the next, we should reject the false bag of goods that tells us if things are rough, there is some kind of defect in us or God. Life is tough, and glory comes later.
When we look at the whole of Scripture, there is not a whole lot of evidence that suggests those who were faithful to God in this life had much to speak of materially this side of eternity. More often disciples were those who we find getting, beaten up, spit on, thrown out of town, disowned by families, shipwrecked, in jail and like their leader, nailed to a tree. So, when we equate “success” in the Christian life with anything that money or smooth talk can obtain, we have traded the truth of God for a lie.
Later we will look at the other two lessons learned on the Road to Redemption, but for today a few questions:
1) What lessons have you learned on this Road to Redemption?
2) How has God used events in your life to shape you?
Thoughts?
Posted in Re: Think | Comment Now!
Written on January 28, 2009 by Matt
Today we will continue the conversation we began Monday about Sabbath. While we started by contemplating the practical aspects of Sabbath, today we turn attention to the Spiritual.
God intended for Sabbath to be a day of perpetual Spiritual Spring, one of multiplication and fruitfulness. When God “blessed” the Sabbath day, this means he made it spiritually fruitful. On Sabbath, the people of Israel were called to celebrate and remember Creation and Salvation. They were to remember not that earth was their mother, but that God was their Very Good Father who had created them in His image according to His likeness to both relate to and reflect Him. They were to celebrate Sabbath as a day of Salvation, remembering that not only had God saved them from the curse and punishment of sin, but that He had delivered them out of bondage in Egypt and brought them into the promised land.
Sabbath is about rest, family connection, community, Joy and Salvation!
The problem for many of us today is we have treated the Sabbath as another day to fill with activity and program, when in reality we need to cease striving, rest and remember our Good God, enjoying His Creation and Celebrating His Salvation.
How do you keep your Sabbath from being filled with perpetual activity?
Posted in Beliefs, Re: Think | Comment Now!
Written on January 26, 2009 by Matt
This is our Sunday Re: Think, an opportunity for us to continue to think on the events of last Sunday.
Well people, after a long layoff from the blog world we return. Seminary is done and hopefully posting can return to some semblance of normality, whatever that resembled before.
Yesterday we wrapped up our month long look at the Creation Story by camping out on Sabbath. We saw that Sabbath rest is an oft overlooked element of life for us, and God’s desire for us in Sabbath is a return to a healthy life rhythm of work and rest. Looking at Genesis 2:1-3, we saw Sabbath rest as something that is Practical, Spiritual, and Eternal.
Many of the reasons we fail to practice Sabbath rest are ridiculous at best. We fail to Sabbath because we think if we do, things wont get done, or we wont have enough to get by. For most Americans, the failure to rest is driven by consumerism and greed more than the need to pay bills. We asked the question of what matters more to our families; having a couple extra bucks at the end of the month, or us spending time together.
Life is more than work and Sabbath is about rest, enjoyment and pleasure from labor. This is why God rested, not because He was tired, or His cosmic muscles ached, but because it was Good. He enjoyed the fruit of His labor.
The practicality of Sabbath is not limited to doing nothing, although it can be. Sabbath isn’t restrained to taking x number of steps or total lack of physical activity. As Jesus reminds us in Mark 2, “Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” . The focus should be weaving a healthy rhythm of work and rest into the fabric of our lives. It is not essential that our Sabbath happen necessarily on Sunday, as Paul reminds us in Colossians 2:16-17, but rather that we in fact do Sabbath. We need to take time to reconnect, breath.
Later in the week, we will look at the other two elements of Sabbath rest, the spiritual and the eternal, but until then, a few questions to ponder:
Are you taking time to breath?
When’s the last time you rested, or ceased from labor?
Why is it difficult to Sabbath?
Posted in Re: Think | Comment Now!
Written on December 16, 2008 by Matt
Today we will continue the conversation we began yesterday looking at the stories behind those Paul mentions at the end of his letter to the Colossians. Yesterday we considered Tychicus and Onesimus and today we turn attention to Mark and Barnabas.
The Mark referred to in this letter is the same “John Mark” that defected from Paul and Barnabas during their first missionary journey. He was source of a quite heated conflict between Paul and Barnabas that lead to their going seperate ways in Acts 15. Yet, under the careful guidance of Barnabas, Mark redeemed his reputation so that he and the apostle are again on friendly terms. Mark is with Paul in his imprisonment and mentioned again in Philemon as Paul’s fellow worker. In 2 Timothy 4:11 in a clear display of reconciliation he is commended as a faithful worker In addition to this, he is credited popularly with the writing of the Gospel of Mark as well.
John Mark stands as an incredible example of one who wouldn’t let failure be the end of his story. Look at the Power of God in his life, in not only reconciling him with Paul, but also in restoring him to ministry.
To often the Christian Army is known for being one that shoots its wounded when instead it should be remembered as one who lifts up those who are downtrodden and restores them to meaningful life and ministry. This is exactly what happend with John Mark.
Barnabas is the type of man everyone would want as a best friend. He is the always faithful servant; rock solid and spiritually steady. We first read of him in Acts 4 when he sells a field he owns and brings the money to the feet of the apostles. His name means “Son of Encouragement” and this title is lived out in his building up and restoration of John Mark and reconciliation garnered between he and Paul.
Posted in Re: Think | Comment Now!
Written on December 15, 2008 by Matt
This is our Sunday Re: Think, an opportunity for us to continue to think on the events of last Sunday. Yesterday we wrapped up our four month examination of the book of Colossians. It has been both an encouraging and convicting journey looking at Paul’s words to a church not very old. Paul wrote to remind them of who Jesus is and who they are as a result. He concluded in Colossians 4:7-18 with final greetings that, though easy to gloss over, hold a cavalcade of truth for our edification.
As we walked through Paul’s final words we took an individual look, though brief, at each person Paul mentioned and drew, not only encouragement, but also conviction as we asked whether or not we would be as those named. Since there are many to be named, over the course of this week we will look at a few at a time, so check back throughout the week for more information.
Today we will look quickly at the first two named, Tychicus and Onesimus. We first encounter Tychicus in Acts 20 as one, along with several others, who accompanied Paul to Jerusalem. Tychicus was the bearer of the letter to the Colossians and Ephesians, as well as the letter to the church in Laodicea. Peter O’Brien tells us in his commentary that it is possible he was Paul’s special envoy, or right hand man, to the churches of Provincial Asia which had been established during Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. We also read of him again in 2 Timothy 4:12 towards the end of Paul’s ministry. Paul calls Tychicus a loved brother, faithful servant, and fellow slave. “Loved Brother” is Paul’s favorite way of referring to members of the communities to whom he was writing, and it is expressive of the very real relationship that exists between Christians and members of God’s family. Paul also says Tychicus is his “fellow slave in the Lord”. This could mean that he is sitting next to him in jail as he writes.
Onesimus is also called a faithful and loved brother. In addition Paul reminds them he is “one of them”. If you remember, this is the same Onesimus who prompted the writing of the letter to Philemon. He was once a worthless slave who had abandoned his master Philemon, yet heard the Gospel from Paul and believed while in Ephesus. In fact, it is quite probable Onesimus is headed back to his master Philemon at Colossae with a letter commending his return. Onesimus was one who, as a slave, had absolutely no rights and privileges under Roman Law, he would have been of no account to most, yet he is Paul’s spiritual son, entrusted to deliver a message of commendation and reconciliation.
What incredible power the Gospel exhibits, those who were once enemies could be reconciled. Those who were but slaves, could be counted as free men in Christ. Moreover, us who were once Spiritual slaves of sin and death could be set free in Christ.
Tomorrow we will continue our look at these Paul mentions, turning attention to Mark, and Barnabas.
Posted in Re: Think | Comment Now!
