At the heart of Christianity is the call to live for the good of other people. Certainly that is at the core of God's actions. What He did in creation was for the good of what He created. What He did in providing salvation was for the good of those who had rebelled against Him. An essential part of God's identity is that He serves.
Since we have been called to be like God, to live in His Image, we also are to serve. As Pastor Tim challenged us on Sunday, one way we are to serve, as the writer of Hebrews says, is in spurring other people on to love and good works. We should behave in a way that leads other people to love others more and to act in better ways than if we weren't there.
So how might we do that? What is one thing you can do today that will lead the people around you to love more and to serve more? It is easy to lead people to judge and dislike each other. What could I do today to increase kindness and reduce judgment?
One simple thing that we can do is to meet together with other Christians with the specific intention of helping them grow. We might do that over lunch or in a small group meeting, like a Bible study. But it takes more than being with people. It takes challenging them, perhaps sharing with them something that we are learning. It certainly involves some risk, but it is also a key part of being like God. You don't have to become an extrovert if you are more introverted. But whatever your natural tendency, you do need to find ways to help someone else live more like God.
So if you aren't in a small group or meeting with someone else regularly with the goal of helping each other toward love and good deeds, why don't you move toward that today? Join one of our small groups, or ask someone else if you could meet with the goal of helping each other grow. And trust God to bless that effort to put into practice His Word.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Seeking the Kingdom of God
Longing for the coming of the Kingdom of God. It sounds like a very abstract concept. And it sometimes seems disconnected from the daily pressures and activities of life. But in contrast to thinking about daily necessities, Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33) What would it mean to seek God’s kingdom?
Some people have described it as longing for people to live according to God’s perfect direction. That is, to long for a situation where people would live wisely, with self control, focusing on the good of others. In effect, it is the desire for things to be like they were in the Garden of Eden. When you see someone whose life is going down a bad path, it is easy to see how they need to have a life more like that, one that follows God’s good design.
As Pastor Tim’s brother David Andersen shared on Sunday, we long for God’s will to be done, for a flood of people to recognize the need to adopt God’s ways rather than their own, for a sense of renewal as we reorient our thinking to that which is true and right.
That’s something we can pursue each day, no matter what else happens. We can pray even now, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Some people have described it as longing for people to live according to God’s perfect direction. That is, to long for a situation where people would live wisely, with self control, focusing on the good of others. In effect, it is the desire for things to be like they were in the Garden of Eden. When you see someone whose life is going down a bad path, it is easy to see how they need to have a life more like that, one that follows God’s good design.
As Pastor Tim’s brother David Andersen shared on Sunday, we long for God’s will to be done, for a flood of people to recognize the need to adopt God’s ways rather than their own, for a sense of renewal as we reorient our thinking to that which is true and right.
That’s something we can pursue each day, no matter what else happens. We can pray even now, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Monday, August 31, 2009
Christians in a non-Christian world: A useless invention?
People have created some pretty useless inventions. An alarm clock that doesn’t make any noise – it just waves a flag – is pretty useless. You have to be awake and looking at it for it to work! A DVD-rewinder is another pretty useless invention. It gives a sense of benefit for those who remember VHS tapes but it really has no value.
Jesus said that salt that isn’t salty is another useless invention. If it isn’t salty, there isn’t any point. And the reason he talked about salt is what the salt represents: a Christian that isn’t noticed by the non-Christian world is, in some sense, useless as well. Christians are meant to stick out as being different. But not just different. They should be distinctively God-like. That’s how people will come to glorify God. They’ll see His character and His values which are so different from the world’s. When Christians live and speak like God, the world will see His glory! (Listen to the message from Sunday.)
So what are good ways to live out the distinctive values of God in a society that doesn’t share those values? Perhaps it is seeking the good of those who have hurt or offended us (aka, our enemies). That certainly would stand out as a different approach to life! And it is just like God to do that. That’s the Gospel. God's plan is that people would see that in us.
Jesus said that salt that isn’t salty is another useless invention. If it isn’t salty, there isn’t any point. And the reason he talked about salt is what the salt represents: a Christian that isn’t noticed by the non-Christian world is, in some sense, useless as well. Christians are meant to stick out as being different. But not just different. They should be distinctively God-like. That’s how people will come to glorify God. They’ll see His character and His values which are so different from the world’s. When Christians live and speak like God, the world will see His glory! (Listen to the message from Sunday.)
So what are good ways to live out the distinctive values of God in a society that doesn’t share those values? Perhaps it is seeking the good of those who have hurt or offended us (aka, our enemies). That certainly would stand out as a different approach to life! And it is just like God to do that. That’s the Gospel. God's plan is that people would see that in us.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Blessing your enemies (and maybe just annoying people…)
Pastor Tim challenged us Sunday with Jesus' bold claim of a different way to live than we are inclined to live. (Matthew 5:43-48 and Luke 6:27-36) "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you." (Luke 6:27) That is challenging! Don't merely stop short of getting revenge. He actually said to do good to them.
As Pastor Tim said, we are tempted to change these words to be more agreeable to us. We want to justify our desire to judge people or to hope for their harm. But Jesus' words are clear. Seek their good!
How can we do this in practical ways? Sometimes I figure that I don't have personal "enemies" so it doesn't really apply to me. But if I'm to pray for (not against) my enemies, and try to bring good to them, shouldn't I do also the same with the people who are just annoying or mildly offensive? Say someone cuts me off or makes an unkind or rude remark. Surely I should love them and do good to them as well.
Who is it in your life right now that is most like an enemy? Maybe it is just an annoying person, or maybe it is something very serious. Whatever it is, what good can you do for that person today?
If you do it, you'll be like God, who is "kind to the ungrateful and the evil." (Luke 6:35) As His children, we should long to be like Him with His power working within us!
As Pastor Tim said, we are tempted to change these words to be more agreeable to us. We want to justify our desire to judge people or to hope for their harm. But Jesus' words are clear. Seek their good!
How can we do this in practical ways? Sometimes I figure that I don't have personal "enemies" so it doesn't really apply to me. But if I'm to pray for (not against) my enemies, and try to bring good to them, shouldn't I do also the same with the people who are just annoying or mildly offensive? Say someone cuts me off or makes an unkind or rude remark. Surely I should love them and do good to them as well.
Who is it in your life right now that is most like an enemy? Maybe it is just an annoying person, or maybe it is something very serious. Whatever it is, what good can you do for that person today?
If you do it, you'll be like God, who is "kind to the ungrateful and the evil." (Luke 6:35) As His children, we should long to be like Him with His power working within us!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
"We cannot keep quiet..."
As Pastor Tim shared on Sunday from Acts 4:18-22, Peter and John said that they had seen and heard something that was so compelling that they were not able to keep quiet. It was going to come out. Even threats of violence against them, and eventually the violence itself, wouldn’t stop them.
What they saw and heard was the man Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified and then resurrected. Jesus had told them that He alone was able to bring people to God. He alone was the Way.
This claim was not made by someone who was crazy or who had any hint of self-promoting or self-serving. He was a servant even to death, never wavering from this message, and never wavering from the perfect ways of God.
Peter and John had seen it all happen, and nothing could stop them from telling what they had seen (Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection) and heard (Jesus’ claim that He was God, and that He alone was the Way to God).
So what have you seen and heard? May the Holy Spirit give us boldness, and stir us so that we also cannot keep quiet but are compelled to share what we also have come to know!
What they saw and heard was the man Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified and then resurrected. Jesus had told them that He alone was able to bring people to God. He alone was the Way.
This claim was not made by someone who was crazy or who had any hint of self-promoting or self-serving. He was a servant even to death, never wavering from this message, and never wavering from the perfect ways of God.
Peter and John had seen it all happen, and nothing could stop them from telling what they had seen (Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection) and heard (Jesus’ claim that He was God, and that He alone was the Way to God).
So what have you seen and heard? May the Holy Spirit give us boldness, and stir us so that we also cannot keep quiet but are compelled to share what we also have come to know!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Bless are you when you are persecuted...
On the surface of it, Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:10-12 is not hard to understand. In some sense, we should be pleased when we are treated poorly because of our connection with Him, because we’re in good company (we’re grouped with the prophets whom God approved of) and we have a great future reward in heaven.
Of course there are plenty of ways that we can get it wrong. For example, as Pastor Tim shared on Sunday, sometimes people treat us poorly because we have behaved poorly. There’s no benefit in that. We should only consider ourselves ‘blessed’ if we are treated poorly because of ‘righteousness.’ And we shouldn’t seek trouble so that we can increase our reward in the future.
But in some deep sense, we should rejoice when we are treated poorly because of our association with Christ. So what does that mean to us in Michigan today? Certainly we aren’t persecuted the way many have been in the past and many still are today.
But consider this very simple situation: what if the next time you go out of your way to follow God’s ways, such as being kind to a person who is not kind to you, and they are all the more unkind … what if you rejoiced in that? Of course the natural reaction is to be upset. But it seems that Jesus’ words at least mean that we shouldn’t be upset when people don’t respond well to our efforts to do what God wants. When we are kind and patient and others are not, we should find satisfaction in our association with God and expect that in the future, God will more than make up for whatever ‘cost’ we experience today in doing what He says.
So instead of being riled up by unkindness in return for our efforts at kindness, let it go and rejoice that God will clearly show that walking in His road, even if it seems costly at first, is always by far the best road to travel!
Of course there are plenty of ways that we can get it wrong. For example, as Pastor Tim shared on Sunday, sometimes people treat us poorly because we have behaved poorly. There’s no benefit in that. We should only consider ourselves ‘blessed’ if we are treated poorly because of ‘righteousness.’ And we shouldn’t seek trouble so that we can increase our reward in the future.
But in some deep sense, we should rejoice when we are treated poorly because of our association with Christ. So what does that mean to us in Michigan today? Certainly we aren’t persecuted the way many have been in the past and many still are today.
But consider this very simple situation: what if the next time you go out of your way to follow God’s ways, such as being kind to a person who is not kind to you, and they are all the more unkind … what if you rejoiced in that? Of course the natural reaction is to be upset. But it seems that Jesus’ words at least mean that we shouldn’t be upset when people don’t respond well to our efforts to do what God wants. When we are kind and patient and others are not, we should find satisfaction in our association with God and expect that in the future, God will more than make up for whatever ‘cost’ we experience today in doing what He says.
So instead of being riled up by unkindness in return for our efforts at kindness, let it go and rejoice that God will clearly show that walking in His road, even if it seems costly at first, is always by far the best road to travel!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Blessed are the Pure in Heart
We are a very practical culture. We like to be productive and to pay attention to things that “make a difference.” Because of that, sometimes we overlook the significance of the quality of our internal lives, of our thoughts and attitudes that often go unspoken and (we rationalize) we don’t do anything about.
Jesus said something very different. In telling His disciples what He valued, He said that those with “pure hearts” are to be considered blessed, because these people will see God.
As Pastor Tim shared last Sunday, this quality of purity of heart includes:
We find in God the Father and in the Son, Jesus Christ, a being with a perfectly pure heart who is also judge. Yet because of the sacrifice of the Son, He will also forgive and cleanse as we confess and entrust ourselves to His Grace.
-- John
Jesus said something very different. In telling His disciples what He valued, He said that those with “pure hearts” are to be considered blessed, because these people will see God.
As Pastor Tim shared last Sunday, this quality of purity of heart includes:
- Sincerity or lack of hypocrisy. When we come to God, we should come without masks, honestly confessing who we really are -- since He obviously knows already!
- Seeking His cleansing. In coming with honesty, we are then able to receive His forgiveness of that which is offensive to Him.
- Seeking His transformation. Through His power, we are to clean up our thought lives, rooting out pride and lust and greed and all that is contrary to God’s perfect nature and ways.
We find in God the Father and in the Son, Jesus Christ, a being with a perfectly pure heart who is also judge. Yet because of the sacrifice of the Son, He will also forgive and cleanse as we confess and entrust ourselves to His Grace.
-- John
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