What is it that causes the church to grow or wither? There are many churches around the world that are dying and withering with only a small handful of members. There are other churches that are booming with no space for everyone. There are many views and books written on church strategy, method and vision. I am beginning to read a few books about these things but don't yet have the experience to start talking about those things.
I have been studying Ephesians lately and have been struck by a few thoughts from what I see in the scriptures that speak to church growth. I have also been given a great impression of what the church is by the sermon that Wes Baker preached at my ordination a little over a week ago. He explained that Ephesians 4 is telling us that the unity spoken of with the church is that we are all connected to the body of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one body that we are all connected to. Pastors are called to be image bearers of Jesus specifically in their speaking of the word just as every believer is called to be an image bearer of Jesus in their living out the gospel in life. Pastors are given to the church as slaves who have been captured out of the enemies hands and given to the church as servants to do what Jesus calls us to. The church belongs to Jesus and we are given the role of being his ambassadors and representatives. The point that stands out the most to me in this is that we are united to Christ so much that it is as if Christ were there instead of us. So when I as a new pastor stand in the pulpit it is no longer me but it is Jesus up there speaking through me. But this unity in the body does not only apply to pastors. In the office of preaching and administering the sacraments, it applies to pastors. But in the role of a Christian by virtue of their baptism, all believers are united in Christ's body and when they go out into the world in their daily lives, they are no longer themselves but it is as if Christ where there living out their lives in them. We see this explained in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." In our union with Christ, we are no longer ourselves but Christ lives in us and gives us a new life. This new life is not ours to do what we want with it, but it is Christ's to do what He wants with is. The point seems to be that the unity of the church is directly tied to our union with Christ. Since each of us are united to Christ and the church is Christ's body, we are all united to each other as the body of Christ.
Jesus seems to indicate this when he said his body is the temple in John 2:18-22. He made a reference to his own death but described his body as being a temple. Ephesians 2 says that we are being joined into His body and that we are being built together into the holy temple, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. It is interesting that this indwelling is not talking about a personal indwelling in each individual, though that also happens, but it is talking about an indwelling in the body of Christ. The indwelling of the Spirit in the temple is an indwelling in the whole church as one body. So Paul tells us that we are actually being built into this same temple that is the body of Jesus. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:5 that we are the living stones built as a spiritual house. So this is not a temple made of brick and mortar. This is a temple made up of living stones which are actually individual believers. Ephesians 4 says when each part is working properly it makes the body grow so that it builds itself in love.
This is striking that our union with Christ carries a charge with it. We are called to live in a manner worthy of our calling. The church is given gifts to enable it to grow but this growth appears to be contingent on the parts working properly. I am not saying that our justification is contingent on the church working properly but that the growth of the church is contingent on the parts working properly. I think it is also accurate to say that our sanctification is contingent on the parts working properly.
Why does it so often look like the church is weak and not growing? Based on these images in scripture, if it is not being watered, fed or the parts are not working together properly it will not grow. We are joined as members of Christ himself. We are called to be joined to him and to call others to him. He calls us to live out obedience, not to save ourselves, but because he saved us. He already redeemed us, sealed us and forgave us. Because he already did this for us he calls us to live in a way that pleases him and points others to himself. He calls us to forgive others because he already forgave us.
Part of the spiritual armor to be able to stand against the attacks of the devil is righteousness. When we live in obedience to God's commands he produces growth in our lives but more importantly in the body of Christ, the church. According to what Paul is saying here in Ephesians, if the church is united to Jesus himself and we are living in a manner worthy of our calling by walking in love and speaking the truth in love, then the church will grow. If we do not live out our calling by walking in love and speaking the truth in love then the church will not grow and will begin to wither. Jesus says in John 15:4, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me." I used to think this passage only applied to each individual in his own personal walk with Jesus. With this new understanding of the unity of the body of Christ, I now realize that this passage also applies to the church. If the church is not abiding in Jesus, it cannot bear fruit. You might ask, "how does righteousness connect to abiding in Christ?" I would say that Christ is our righteousness but not only is he our righteousness in our justification by faith but his righteousness also begins to flow out of us in our sanctification by the power of the Spirit working in us by faith. As we abide in Him and as the Church abides in Him, we are enabled more and more to live out righteousness. God has chosen to use our living and walking in righteousness to give growth to the church.
It appears that if the church ceases to proclaim the mystery of the gospel based on the foundation of the scriptures and if the church ceases to walk in a manner worthy of her calling then God withdraws his presence from dwelling in her midst. Romans 1 tells us that God passes judgment on our rebellion by leaving us to ourselves. When the church ceases to worship the Creator and begins to worship the creature (i.e. comfort, entertainment, humanity) then God leaves her and turns her over to herself. I recognize that there are many complicated reasons why some churches are ailing and that there may be many churches that are bursting at the seams who are not being faithful or worshiping God. I don't claim to understand all situations of church growth. All I am saying here is that the Bible gives us clear teaching that if we forget about Jesus in our religion and are not united to Jesus Christ in faith then we will not see growth. If we are in union with Jesus Christ and are listening to Him and are living in a manner worthy of the gospel by proclaiming it, helping the poor, healing the sick and pursuing peace then we will see true growth. What I am trying to get at is that it is no surprise that many churches are withering and dying who have abandoned their first love and that this should give us all a wake up call to repent of our sins and seek the face of God, revealed to us through Christ in the Scriptures and applied by the Holy Spirit in our hearts. If we do that, I am certain we will see growth. It may not be the growth that many expect but it will be true life-changing growth.
Feb 26, 2013
Feb 13, 2013
Ordination
This Sunday at 6 pm, I will have the humbling privilege of being ordained into the gospel ministry. It will be at Plains Presbyterian Church in Zachary, LA. Rev. Wes Baker will be a guest minister to preach the word for this worship service.
I appreciate several of the elders who will be participating in this service who say they look forward to the worship service. I like that they said it this way, it reminds me that this is not about me. I am excited to get to be a part of what Jesus is doing with His church and that He is including me in His work. This will be a worship service where we come together and worship the Triune God; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit who is accomplishing His plan of uniting heaven and earth through the church. I am privileged to get to be a part of this.
This is not exactly a new thing, it has been clear for some time that God has called me into his service. I hesitated to pursue ordination for a while out of fear and lack of confidence. I have always been painfully aware of my weakness and unworthiness to this call. However, I have also known for as long as I have been a Christian that Christ is my worthiness and that his strength is perfected in my weakness. Even still, somehow I failed to make the connection that Christ supplies the strength and ability to fulfill this calling. Forgetting to look to him for strength and looking to my abilities I focused on the fact that I am not particularly gifted at being outgoing or charismatic. It does make sense that if someone is qualified in a majority of ways but is not able to speak clearly or teach, then he is not gifted to be a preacher. He may be gifted and called by God for other worthy and equal callings in ministry but not as a preacher. I was content to accept this as my calling. I knew I was called to ministry and was compelled to give my life to the advancement of the gospel but just thought it would be in small group settings and discipleship. Over the last couple of years in teaching the word daily, I found myself getting more and more comfortable in teaching. I saw God work through the lives of those I taught. I saw God bless my weak efforts at teaching. I also found that I enjoyed it and that it is my first desire to communicate God's word, even if I am not super eloquent or charismatic. It became clear that God had indeed called me to teach His word.
Another reason I shied away from this call was, quite frankly, sin. One of my seminary professors at RTS, Dr. Elias Medeiros, taught the first class of the course Biblical Theology of Missions by preaching a warning from Psalm 51. He pointed out that David's prayer of confession and prayer for cleansing and restoration was followed by,
I think my slowness to repent and confess sin led to my shyness and hesitance in speaking. God began working in my life through the things that I have been teaching and he began to enable me to be quicker to confess and repent. The funny thing about learning to repent and confess is that it always leads to more freedom. There is a weight of bondage in guilt. When I remain silent and fear confession because of fear of hurting others who might find out how bad I am, I actually suffer the separation and disconnect that I fear. But when I confess and repent of sin, I find the wonderful grace of forgiveness and restoration that brings me to the fellowship that I was afraid I might loose by not confessing. Learning to be quicker to surrender to God and confess and repent has lead to a new sense of freedom and confidence that I only occasionally felt. I am still just as much of a broken sinner as before. But now, God has given me a sense of joy, freedom and confidence in His grace that actually compels me to flee from temptation much more effectively than the sense of shame and fear ever did. I cling to the cross and promise of restoration and keep pressing forward. There are still many times when I am at a loss of words and would rather just sit there and be quiet, but these times are fewer and far between. I am still weak and disgusted by my sin, but by God's grace I run to the cross a little quicker than before and find the grace that he promised. It is sufficient for me. I am even, by his grace, finding it easier to confess to others and ask for forgiveness. Oh what sweet joy to receive forgiveness from my wife and be restored to a closeness that began to fade when we remained silent about our sins against each other. Oh what sweet joy to hear my children learn to say, "please forgive me" and "I forgive you." Oh what sweet joy to hear forgiveness and be restored to God's people.
Now, I am blessed to feel an internal sense of call to the ministry of the Gospel of my Lord Jesus Christ that is confirmed by an external call by the church and friends and family members that tell me I have grown. It is exciting to see what can happen to anyone who will submit to the Word and seek to immerse oneself in it. If you water a plant with water, God will make it grow. If you feed an infant milk, God will make it grow. If you feed a soul with the Word, God will make it grow. There is nothing special in me. I am not holier than anyone else. It is just that God has brought me to my knees before the cross more than before and He is causing me to grow. There is nothing I desire more than to seek to communicate the wonderful joys of His grace in the Gospel. I look forward to seeing what He has in store for our family as we prepare to continue serving Him in Peru.
I appreciate several of the elders who will be participating in this service who say they look forward to the worship service. I like that they said it this way, it reminds me that this is not about me. I am excited to get to be a part of what Jesus is doing with His church and that He is including me in His work. This will be a worship service where we come together and worship the Triune God; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit who is accomplishing His plan of uniting heaven and earth through the church. I am privileged to get to be a part of this.
This is not exactly a new thing, it has been clear for some time that God has called me into his service. I hesitated to pursue ordination for a while out of fear and lack of confidence. I have always been painfully aware of my weakness and unworthiness to this call. However, I have also known for as long as I have been a Christian that Christ is my worthiness and that his strength is perfected in my weakness. Even still, somehow I failed to make the connection that Christ supplies the strength and ability to fulfill this calling. Forgetting to look to him for strength and looking to my abilities I focused on the fact that I am not particularly gifted at being outgoing or charismatic. It does make sense that if someone is qualified in a majority of ways but is not able to speak clearly or teach, then he is not gifted to be a preacher. He may be gifted and called by God for other worthy and equal callings in ministry but not as a preacher. I was content to accept this as my calling. I knew I was called to ministry and was compelled to give my life to the advancement of the gospel but just thought it would be in small group settings and discipleship. Over the last couple of years in teaching the word daily, I found myself getting more and more comfortable in teaching. I saw God work through the lives of those I taught. I saw God bless my weak efforts at teaching. I also found that I enjoyed it and that it is my first desire to communicate God's word, even if I am not super eloquent or charismatic. It became clear that God had indeed called me to teach His word.
Another reason I shied away from this call was, quite frankly, sin. One of my seminary professors at RTS, Dr. Elias Medeiros, taught the first class of the course Biblical Theology of Missions by preaching a warning from Psalm 51. He pointed out that David's prayer of confession and prayer for cleansing and restoration was followed by,
"Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise."He pointed out that David's mouth was shut until he confessed and repented of his sin and was restored to fellowship with God. After confessing and repenting and praying for forgiveness and restoration to God, he is confident that his mouth will be opened and he will be free again to proclaim the wonders of God's grace. Dr. Medeiros warned us to be vigilant in pursuing purity. Satan is always seeking to knock us down and prevent us from speaking freely of the gospel. What better way to keep us quiet than by tempting us into sin. We must be vigilant to fight for purity but also diligent to run to the cross when we fall.
I think my slowness to repent and confess sin led to my shyness and hesitance in speaking. God began working in my life through the things that I have been teaching and he began to enable me to be quicker to confess and repent. The funny thing about learning to repent and confess is that it always leads to more freedom. There is a weight of bondage in guilt. When I remain silent and fear confession because of fear of hurting others who might find out how bad I am, I actually suffer the separation and disconnect that I fear. But when I confess and repent of sin, I find the wonderful grace of forgiveness and restoration that brings me to the fellowship that I was afraid I might loose by not confessing. Learning to be quicker to surrender to God and confess and repent has lead to a new sense of freedom and confidence that I only occasionally felt. I am still just as much of a broken sinner as before. But now, God has given me a sense of joy, freedom and confidence in His grace that actually compels me to flee from temptation much more effectively than the sense of shame and fear ever did. I cling to the cross and promise of restoration and keep pressing forward. There are still many times when I am at a loss of words and would rather just sit there and be quiet, but these times are fewer and far between. I am still weak and disgusted by my sin, but by God's grace I run to the cross a little quicker than before and find the grace that he promised. It is sufficient for me. I am even, by his grace, finding it easier to confess to others and ask for forgiveness. Oh what sweet joy to receive forgiveness from my wife and be restored to a closeness that began to fade when we remained silent about our sins against each other. Oh what sweet joy to hear my children learn to say, "please forgive me" and "I forgive you." Oh what sweet joy to hear forgiveness and be restored to God's people.
Now, I am blessed to feel an internal sense of call to the ministry of the Gospel of my Lord Jesus Christ that is confirmed by an external call by the church and friends and family members that tell me I have grown. It is exciting to see what can happen to anyone who will submit to the Word and seek to immerse oneself in it. If you water a plant with water, God will make it grow. If you feed an infant milk, God will make it grow. If you feed a soul with the Word, God will make it grow. There is nothing special in me. I am not holier than anyone else. It is just that God has brought me to my knees before the cross more than before and He is causing me to grow. There is nothing I desire more than to seek to communicate the wonderful joys of His grace in the Gospel. I look forward to seeing what He has in store for our family as we prepare to continue serving Him in Peru.
Feb 4, 2013
Ephesians 2 The Mission of the Church
How is missions connected to the church? Here is a little bit of what I have been studying in preparation for a missions conference.
In Ephesians 2 Paul reminds us that it was the power of the resurrection that gave us life out of death. We are united to Christ in his resurrection by grace through faith. He emphasizes that it was by grace and that God is the one who saved us not by anything that we have done to earn it but that God did it so that we could do good works. In other words, we were not saved by our works but we were saved by grace to do good works. We were not saved from our sin to sit back and be comfortable but we were saved to be incorporated into the work of the kingdom in building Christ’s body, which is His Church. Jesus Christ was raised up to all authority and given as “head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”(Ephesians 1:22) That is an amazing statement. God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to have authority and power and dominion above everything and gave him as head to the church. I think we often forget what the church is. So many times we look at the church in all of her weakness and think that it is just a dying institution with very little power to make any real change. We just keep trying to do what we can but have no real hope for lasting impact in the world around us. That is not the image that we get from Scripture. The Almighty Powerful God of the universe has exalted his Son Jesus Christ with all power and authority and has given him to the church as head. Then he tells us that the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. We as the church are the body of this powerful and amazing King. The end of chapter 2 tells us that not only are we incorporated into his body in being united together as the church but also we are being built together into a temple as the dwelling place of God. What an amazing God! He glorifies himself and demonstrates his fullness by dwelling in us as a community (not only in us as individuals) by His Spirit. He gave us peace, He made us family and He is building us into His church.
In Ephesians 2 Paul reminds us that it was the power of the resurrection that gave us life out of death. We are united to Christ in his resurrection by grace through faith. He emphasizes that it was by grace and that God is the one who saved us not by anything that we have done to earn it but that God did it so that we could do good works. In other words, we were not saved by our works but we were saved by grace to do good works. We were not saved from our sin to sit back and be comfortable but we were saved to be incorporated into the work of the kingdom in building Christ’s body, which is His Church. Jesus Christ was raised up to all authority and given as “head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”(Ephesians 1:22) That is an amazing statement. God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to have authority and power and dominion above everything and gave him as head to the church. I think we often forget what the church is. So many times we look at the church in all of her weakness and think that it is just a dying institution with very little power to make any real change. We just keep trying to do what we can but have no real hope for lasting impact in the world around us. That is not the image that we get from Scripture. The Almighty Powerful God of the universe has exalted his Son Jesus Christ with all power and authority and has given him to the church as head. Then he tells us that the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. We as the church are the body of this powerful and amazing King. The end of chapter 2 tells us that not only are we incorporated into his body in being united together as the church but also we are being built together into a temple as the dwelling place of God. What an amazing God! He glorifies himself and demonstrates his fullness by dwelling in us as a community (not only in us as individuals) by His Spirit. He gave us peace, He made us family and He is building us into His church.
Jan 15, 2013
Jan 11, 2013
Why did Jesus come?
In the last post I asked a similar question in response to a passage in the Gospel of Luke 4:16-30.
If Jesus came to help the poor and heal the sick, why do we see poverty and sickness?
In this passage, Jesus comes to Nazareth and reads from the prophet Isaiah.
The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus for pointing out that God didn't heal certain people in Israel yet did heal people who were foreigners while his own people suffered. Were they angry because they were racist? perhaps. Were they angry because they wanted a Messiah to glorify mankind instead of a Messiah to glorify God? I think so. I thing this passage clearly speaks to racism and Jesus uses this to proclaim the inclusion of all people from all nations, but I think there is also a deeper issue. Jesus is the anointed one promised by Isaiah. He is the Messiah and He has come to establish His Kingdom. He did come to bring help and healing to all people but more importantly for all people from all nations he came to call to repentance. The book of Isaiah ends with a promise of the new heavens and new earth and people from all nations coming to bow down and worship God but also gives a dreadful pronouncement of judgment on those who rebel.
At the end of this passage there is a very subtle yet amazing pronouncement of judgment. "...and he went away." Jesus left them to themselves. Just as Paul tells us in Romans 1 that God's judgment on the wicked is that he turned them over to themselves. Jesus in Luke 4 left the people of Nazareth to themselves. In all of their rage and hatred they were powerless to do anything to him.
The promise of grace is completely unconditional on any works that we can do to earn it. However, it is not entirely unconditional. There is one condition that Jesus very clearly establishes, faith and repentance. Jesus calls us to repent of our sins and submit to Him as Lord and King. He created us in His image and therefore we belong to Him. Jesus came to establish his ownership of mankind and to call us back to worship him instead of worshiping ourselves. He does not promise redemption nor forgiveness to those who continue to reject Him. This is the kind of statement that will get you killed. This is the kind of statement that will get you martyred. This is the kind of statement that Jesus came to preach and to command us to go out and preach. He came to include people from all races and He came to judge those who reject him. Without the regeneration of the heart that comes from the work of the Holy Spirit, no one will want to hear this.
This is why Paul ends the book of Ephesians with a call to put on the Spiritual armor. This is why Jesus says that we will suffer if we are his disciples. If we faithfully preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the devil will fight against us. The Christian call is a call to comfort and peace, but it is also a call to suffer. Jesus did come to bring healing and help today. The help and healing are signs of his deity and also of his compassion. He has given the task to us, his church, to bring his Kingdom to fruition by proclaiming this message, healing, helping and pursuing peace. The message we are called to proclaim is a message that Jesus Christ is the King and that he wants us to come back to him and worship him. He promises forgiveness of sins purchased by his blood shed on the cross. There is nothing we can do to earn this by our obedience but he does call us to tremble at his word and fear him. In other words, we must repent and worship him.
There are times when he gives temporary healing and help to those who want nothing to do with him. There are times when those who worship him want the healing and help and suffer waiting for it. We don't understand God's timing on everything he does. But one thing we can be sure of is that there can be no true lasting peace, healing or help as long as anyone rejects him as Lord and savior. There may be some who are deluded or short-sighted that think they are good and happy without him but they will not think this for long. The message at the end of Isaiah will ring true. Jesus will return and establish the consummation of his Kingdom. When He returns, everyone will bow down and worship Him. It is very easy to look to Jesus for help and healing and for what he can do for us, but it is a very different thing to look to Jesus to submit to him as King and serve him as Lord. The wonderful joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God has reconciled us back to himself to enable us to worship him as King. We will see complete peace, healing and help in the days of the new heavens and the new earth. We do see foretastes of help and healing today through the work of the Church and often times through the work of common grace in acts of kindness by different people. The only place where we will hear of and see the complete healing and help that is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ is in His Church. As the body of Christ, we are called to be agents of that help, healing and peace while we are also called to be agents of the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of our great king Jesus.
Jesus came to redeem the World and unite heaven and earth in himself.
Jesus came to be King of his church.
Jesus came to make peace, reconciling us to himself by calling us to repentance and becoming the sacrifice to atone for our rebellion against God.
Jesus came to pronounce judgment on those who continue to rebel.
Jesus will come again to consumate the Kingdom bringing the new heavens and the new earth establishing ultimate peace and restoring us completely.
If Jesus came to help the poor and heal the sick, why do we see poverty and sickness?
In this passage, Jesus comes to Nazareth and reads from the prophet Isaiah.
He reads, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."After reading this, he tells the people that this passage is fulfilled in their hearing. They praise him and are very excited by what He is saying. But then he turns things around. They rightly understood him to be saying that He is the anointed one, the Messiah. But Jesus basically tells them that they don't understand who the Messiah is. It appears they were looking for a Messiah to come and give them happiness and freedom without calling them to repentance and submission to their Creator. Jesus in effect tells them that he did not come to set free or heal those who continue to rebel against God. Why didn't God send help to the poor or healing to the sick of Israel in the days of the prophets? They were in open rebellion against Him. He sent the prophets to call them back to repentance but they did not repent and he sent the prophets outside of Israel to bring help and healing. In the midst of this call to repentance, he gives them an amazing promise of redemption and forgiveness. But this promise of redemption that would come through the anointed one is not an empty promise that costs nothing. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's work, The Cost of Discipleship, this promise was not cheap grace. This promise did bring present and physical help and healing. But it was very costly. This promise of help and healing cost Jesus his very life. This promise of help and healing calls us to repentance and submission. If we don't submit to God in faith and repentance of our sin and rebellion, this promise is not for us.
The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus for pointing out that God didn't heal certain people in Israel yet did heal people who were foreigners while his own people suffered. Were they angry because they were racist? perhaps. Were they angry because they wanted a Messiah to glorify mankind instead of a Messiah to glorify God? I think so. I thing this passage clearly speaks to racism and Jesus uses this to proclaim the inclusion of all people from all nations, but I think there is also a deeper issue. Jesus is the anointed one promised by Isaiah. He is the Messiah and He has come to establish His Kingdom. He did come to bring help and healing to all people but more importantly for all people from all nations he came to call to repentance. The book of Isaiah ends with a promise of the new heavens and new earth and people from all nations coming to bow down and worship God but also gives a dreadful pronouncement of judgment on those who rebel.
At the end of this passage there is a very subtle yet amazing pronouncement of judgment. "...and he went away." Jesus left them to themselves. Just as Paul tells us in Romans 1 that God's judgment on the wicked is that he turned them over to themselves. Jesus in Luke 4 left the people of Nazareth to themselves. In all of their rage and hatred they were powerless to do anything to him.
The promise of grace is completely unconditional on any works that we can do to earn it. However, it is not entirely unconditional. There is one condition that Jesus very clearly establishes, faith and repentance. Jesus calls us to repent of our sins and submit to Him as Lord and King. He created us in His image and therefore we belong to Him. Jesus came to establish his ownership of mankind and to call us back to worship him instead of worshiping ourselves. He does not promise redemption nor forgiveness to those who continue to reject Him. This is the kind of statement that will get you killed. This is the kind of statement that will get you martyred. This is the kind of statement that Jesus came to preach and to command us to go out and preach. He came to include people from all races and He came to judge those who reject him. Without the regeneration of the heart that comes from the work of the Holy Spirit, no one will want to hear this.
This is why Paul ends the book of Ephesians with a call to put on the Spiritual armor. This is why Jesus says that we will suffer if we are his disciples. If we faithfully preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the devil will fight against us. The Christian call is a call to comfort and peace, but it is also a call to suffer. Jesus did come to bring healing and help today. The help and healing are signs of his deity and also of his compassion. He has given the task to us, his church, to bring his Kingdom to fruition by proclaiming this message, healing, helping and pursuing peace. The message we are called to proclaim is a message that Jesus Christ is the King and that he wants us to come back to him and worship him. He promises forgiveness of sins purchased by his blood shed on the cross. There is nothing we can do to earn this by our obedience but he does call us to tremble at his word and fear him. In other words, we must repent and worship him.
There are times when he gives temporary healing and help to those who want nothing to do with him. There are times when those who worship him want the healing and help and suffer waiting for it. We don't understand God's timing on everything he does. But one thing we can be sure of is that there can be no true lasting peace, healing or help as long as anyone rejects him as Lord and savior. There may be some who are deluded or short-sighted that think they are good and happy without him but they will not think this for long. The message at the end of Isaiah will ring true. Jesus will return and establish the consummation of his Kingdom. When He returns, everyone will bow down and worship Him. It is very easy to look to Jesus for help and healing and for what he can do for us, but it is a very different thing to look to Jesus to submit to him as King and serve him as Lord. The wonderful joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God has reconciled us back to himself to enable us to worship him as King. We will see complete peace, healing and help in the days of the new heavens and the new earth. We do see foretastes of help and healing today through the work of the Church and often times through the work of common grace in acts of kindness by different people. The only place where we will hear of and see the complete healing and help that is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ is in His Church. As the body of Christ, we are called to be agents of that help, healing and peace while we are also called to be agents of the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of our great king Jesus.
Jesus came to redeem the World and unite heaven and earth in himself.
Jesus came to be King of his church.
Jesus came to make peace, reconciling us to himself by calling us to repentance and becoming the sacrifice to atone for our rebellion against God.
Jesus came to pronounce judgment on those who continue to rebel.
Jesus will come again to consumate the Kingdom bringing the new heavens and the new earth establishing ultimate peace and restoring us completely.
Dec 25, 2012
Feliz Navidad
We wish you Merry Christmas as we celebrate the fulfillment of these words from Isaiah.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
(Luke 4:18–19 ESV)
You might look at this and ask, "If these words are fulfilled in Jesus, then why are there still the poor or the blind or captives or the oppressed?" Or perhaps, "Why is there still so much evil in this world, if Jesus came to bring such good news?" If you are asking that, I think Jesus anticipated your question and had to push the people of Nazareth to realize it. The people that heard him quote this and tell them it was fulfilled in their ears that day gushed with praise at his gracious words...until he got to his point...then they were filled with rage and tried to kill him. But why? What made them so angry? I hope to have an answer soon since I will be preaching on this passage this Sunday night. Pray for me. I'll just say it has a lot to do with the message of the prophecy of Isaiah, especially the last several chapters after this quote. It also makes the meaning of Christmas and why Jesus is so special all so much more powerful.
This is the beginning of a group of sermons I am working on for a missions conference. I think Luke 4 may be the first passage and then possibly Isaiah 66 to show the new heavens and new earth including those who hear His word and tremble at it coming from all nations to worship Him. This wonderfully leads into Paul's explanation of the implications of this fulfillment in Christ and the Church in Ephesians. Perhaps the next two parts will be the plan and purpose of God to unite heaven and earth in Christ (from Ephesians 1-3) and then the centrality of the Church as it flows out from and through family to the world around (from Ephesians 4-6). The biggest problem is that it will be impossible to cover all this in only four sermons. I am looking forward to learning from this. I pray that this will teach, guide and prepare me as much as it will be a help for the congregation that will hear it.
My prayer is that I will listen to God speaking to me as I study these things before I seek to figure out how to speak to others. It is as my seminary profesor, Dr. Elias Medeiros, said that we should not be like pizza makers who are making pizza all day long but starving because we don't eat. I pray that I will be a well nourished baker or perhaps I should say a well furnished carpenter. My point is along the lines of Ephesians 3:19 of Paul's prayer that we would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. As He fills us up, we overflow with grace to spread to the world around us. May we be full and may we not be able to contain it.
Dec 4, 2012
Blessings, Community & Support Raising
Dear praying friends and family,
It is a wonderful blessing to get to experience the joys of
living in community. We have been blessed to come back to my home town,
Zachary, LA for a season while we prepare to return to Peru for
long-term service. We are wonderfully blessed by friends and family who
have bent over backwards to help us and love on us. First Baptist church in Zachary
has blessed us with their mission house for the year. We have been
blessed by a dear friend and family doctor, a local pharmacy, the Plains Presbyterian Church,
friends, and family who have helped us through giving us gifts and
food, to coming over, helping with dishes and watching the kids. We are
very happy to be here in the Zachary community and are indebted to many
in the Greater Baton Rouge area. I pray that we will be able to pay all
of these blessings forward to others who need such loving service.
Our return has been somewhat of a whirlwind. Shortly after
arriving, I had the opportunity of going through ordination trials and
then a week after completing all the exams, our son Ezra was born. The
Lord blessed us amazingly in all of these things; Meg was able to
deliver Ezra naturally after two C-sections, I passed all ordination
exams to free us up to focus on support raising, and to top it off we
were blessed to be able to reschedule our return flight to Peru next
August without having to buy new tickets!
Now after settling down a bit and getting used to three
children, it is time to get busy working on support raising. I have been
spending my time trying to catch up on correspondence, studying for
future ministry development and preparing for sermons for missions
conferences. I still have much studying and letter writing to do but it
is also past time to start finding new churches and contacts with whom to
share about the work in Peru. We hope that God will be leading them to
us to join with us in partnership to help further His Kingdom in Peru.
We need to raise more support to return to Peru next August,
2013. We are about 30% of where we need to be with monthly supporters.
Our goal is to raise $96,000 per year. We are amazed at God's grace and
the love of those who are continuing to support us. We have been
receiving about 30% in monthly and 70% in one-time gifts. This ratio of
financial support gave us more than enough support that carried us
through our first two years and then another eight months. This was a
wonderful blessing but we will need to find more monthly supporters to
be able to stay in Peru long-term. I am also praying for supporters to
help with the Parish Woodshop project and even more a Christian
entrepreneur who would run marketing and sales in the States. In order
to further expand our project, we want to succeed in exporting. However
in order to accomplish this, we need someone in the States who would run
a business promoting the work of the Peruvian craftsmen.
As the year draws to a close, and some of you may be
considering what to do with your extra blessings to avoid paying too
much on taxes. Please consider the work we are doing in Peru. You may
also want to look at Peru Mission's Marketplace and
buy items for Christmas gifts and all the proceeds will go back to Peru
Mission to help us further the gospel work we are doing. I realize
many of you are worried about the future of our economy and are not able
to contribute financially. For that I thank those of you who are giving
and those who will for your faithful sacrifice. I know it is difficult
and I pray the Lord will enable me to faithfully serve Him and bring
fruitful return on all of these contributions by His working through the
Holy Spirit in the lives of those who will hear His Word through our
efforts.
Please also consider committing to pray for us. Money
will only get us to Peru and enable us to take care of material needs
while there. What we need much more than money is prayer. We need prayer
warriors who will plead with our loving Father to open the door for us
and for the Holy Spirit to apply The Word of Jesus Christ in the lives
of those who will be hearing it. Please consider being partners with us
to help us get back to Peru.
Ephesians 6:18-20. "praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Ephesians 6:18-20. "praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Nov 5, 2012
Parish Furniture: New Items! Christmas gifts! Smaller affordable ite...
Parish Furniture: New Items! Christmas gifts! Smaller affordable ite...: See the end product at Peru Mission's Marketplace We now have new Parish items available exclusively through the Peru Mission fundraiser...
Nov 4, 2012
Baby Boy Ezra
Oct 31, 2012
Home Assignment / Furlough / Support Raising / Itineration
I just sent out a newsletter update. You can read it online here. There were two things that I wanted to write more about in the newsletter but decided to refrain and keep the letter short. I will write about them here on this blog. They are two of our goals for returning to Peru.
1. Support Raising. We need to raise support to be able to return to Peru.
I have always been uncomfortable coming out and asking folks for money. It is especially difficult these days when most people are in an economic crisis. The funny thing is that my friends in Peru say they have always been in an economic crisis their whole lives. Some people tell me that you have to be direct and ask. I have read about others, such as Hudson Taylor, who never mentioned their requests out loud to anyone but God. I think there is a balance somewhere in the middle. First, I think the most important thing to remember is that money is only one small part of support raising. Yes, we need money to do missions work. Money is necessary to get us there and to keep us there. But money will only do that. It will not make us more fruitful in our work.
We need prayer to be able to work effectively. Paul says in Colossians 4:2-4, "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison - that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak." Not only do missionaries need this kind of support but all servants for the Kingdom of God need this kind of support, especially your pastors. If we had all the money in the world and were not backed by fervent prayer warriors, I think we would produce very unhealthy fruit if any at all. The Holy Spirit is the one who changes hearts and produces fruit in changing lives. Our goal is glorify God by bringing life-changing renewal to the people we work with. Money will not produce that. The Holy Spirit will produce that in answer to our prayers, both yours and ours.
Another thought about this process is that God is sovereign and He is the one that lays it on peoples hearts to commit themselves to serve in donating money or time. In my short experience I have seen the Lord do amazing things in providing for our financial support. Many of the folks I sent letters to responding graciously. But, I must say that a majority of the financial support that came in to us did not come from our direct pursuit. Actually much of our financial support came as a surprise from folks that we did not even expect. I will continue to trust that God will provide for our needs as we need them. I understand that God often chooses to use our responsibility and that we need to work. I will continue to do the responsible thing and make phone calls and send letters and make visits but I will also continue to seek the face of the Lord and plead with Him to provide through His people. My prayer is that He will bless and provide people with more than they need who will be able to join us in financial support and also pray that He will raise up prayer support from people who walk with Him daily and will lift us daily before the throne.
2. Recruiting. We hope to recruit help for Parish. We want to find a Stateside Entrepreneur who wants to develop a market for the work that our carpenters can do in Peru and sell it. Please join me in prayer for the right person to come along and join our team by helping to get the wonderful products of our carpenters into the hands of buyers around the world. We also want to find people to join our team in helping us develop this project to make it more fruitful and guide us into the right direction to make the work of discipleship in the workplace successful. Please pray with us for this. More about this to come in the future...
1. Support Raising. We need to raise support to be able to return to Peru.
I have always been uncomfortable coming out and asking folks for money. It is especially difficult these days when most people are in an economic crisis. The funny thing is that my friends in Peru say they have always been in an economic crisis their whole lives. Some people tell me that you have to be direct and ask. I have read about others, such as Hudson Taylor, who never mentioned their requests out loud to anyone but God. I think there is a balance somewhere in the middle. First, I think the most important thing to remember is that money is only one small part of support raising. Yes, we need money to do missions work. Money is necessary to get us there and to keep us there. But money will only do that. It will not make us more fruitful in our work.
We need prayer to be able to work effectively. Paul says in Colossians 4:2-4, "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison - that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak." Not only do missionaries need this kind of support but all servants for the Kingdom of God need this kind of support, especially your pastors. If we had all the money in the world and were not backed by fervent prayer warriors, I think we would produce very unhealthy fruit if any at all. The Holy Spirit is the one who changes hearts and produces fruit in changing lives. Our goal is glorify God by bringing life-changing renewal to the people we work with. Money will not produce that. The Holy Spirit will produce that in answer to our prayers, both yours and ours.
Another thought about this process is that God is sovereign and He is the one that lays it on peoples hearts to commit themselves to serve in donating money or time. In my short experience I have seen the Lord do amazing things in providing for our financial support. Many of the folks I sent letters to responding graciously. But, I must say that a majority of the financial support that came in to us did not come from our direct pursuit. Actually much of our financial support came as a surprise from folks that we did not even expect. I will continue to trust that God will provide for our needs as we need them. I understand that God often chooses to use our responsibility and that we need to work. I will continue to do the responsible thing and make phone calls and send letters and make visits but I will also continue to seek the face of the Lord and plead with Him to provide through His people. My prayer is that He will bless and provide people with more than they need who will be able to join us in financial support and also pray that He will raise up prayer support from people who walk with Him daily and will lift us daily before the throne.
2. Recruiting. We hope to recruit help for Parish. We want to find a Stateside Entrepreneur who wants to develop a market for the work that our carpenters can do in Peru and sell it. Please join me in prayer for the right person to come along and join our team by helping to get the wonderful products of our carpenters into the hands of buyers around the world. We also want to find people to join our team in helping us develop this project to make it more fruitful and guide us into the right direction to make the work of discipleship in the workplace successful. Please pray with us for this. More about this to come in the future...
Oct 16, 2012
New Chapters
I can't seem to stay consistent on writing posts here but I will continue nevertheless.
We are about to start several new chapters in our lives. We are at home for "furlough" raising support to return to Peru next August, Lord willing. We are anticipating our third child to be born any day now. I am also going through ordination examinations to return to Peru as an ordained pastor.
We are excited to be back in Louisiana. It has been good catching up with friends and family. We have enjoyed visiting several of our supporting churches in the area and are scheduled to visit several more. We are also extremely blessed to get to live in the First Baptist Church in Zachary's mission house.
We are also getting things ready for another addition to our family. Baby Ezra is due November 3 but with the building up of contractions we are doubtful he will wait that long.
I am taking a break right now from reviewing for presbytery ordination exams. I am going before the candidates committee today. I should be studying more but need this short break to defragment my brain.
We look forward to catching up with more friends and family and also connecting with new churches in the area and wherever we need to go. Our main prayer request is for God's blessing on broadening our support base as well as for the baby and ordination.
We are about to start several new chapters in our lives. We are at home for "furlough" raising support to return to Peru next August, Lord willing. We are anticipating our third child to be born any day now. I am also going through ordination examinations to return to Peru as an ordained pastor.
We are excited to be back in Louisiana. It has been good catching up with friends and family. We have enjoyed visiting several of our supporting churches in the area and are scheduled to visit several more. We are also extremely blessed to get to live in the First Baptist Church in Zachary's mission house.
We are also getting things ready for another addition to our family. Baby Ezra is due November 3 but with the building up of contractions we are doubtful he will wait that long.
I am taking a break right now from reviewing for presbytery ordination exams. I am going before the candidates committee today. I should be studying more but need this short break to defragment my brain.
We look forward to catching up with more friends and family and also connecting with new churches in the area and wherever we need to go. Our main prayer request is for God's blessing on broadening our support base as well as for the baby and ordination.
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