Create a Caring Community – Showing God’s Love Through Your Church

Salvation never occurs in a vacuum.  When someone is saved, they are saved into a community of faith.  This section of Hebrews 10 gives the impetus for the faith community to continue encouraging one another.

Our fellowship with God has been restored through Jesus’ death, so that we can now have renewed fellowship with one another.  This also draws non-Christians into the community as they witness the love of believers for one another.

Key Study Passage:

Hebrews 10:19-25

1. What did Christ’s death accomplish?  (See vv. 19-20.)
2. How does Christ’s death shape our response to God?  (See vv. 21-22.)
3. Why is regular Christian fellowship so important?  (See vv. 24-25.)
4. What are some ways your church could put this passage into practice?
5. In light of this week’s devotions, think of ways you can draw non-Christians into fellowship with your church.

Spend Time in Prayer:  Ask God to open your eyes to daily opportunities to start relationships with people in your community; ask for wisdom to find places where you can begin to connect them with the community of your church.

Hebrews 10:19-25

A Call to Persevere

19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Prayer for the Week:  Dear Jesus, help me to see the church as you see the church, not as a building, but as a community of people growing in your image.

On this day – September 30

September 30, 1452: the first section of the Gutenberg Bible was finished in Mainz, Germany, by the printer Johannes Gutenberg. It is unclear when Gutenberg conceived of his Bible project, though he was clearly in production by 1452.

He probably produced about 180 copies — 145 that were printed on handmade paper imported from Italy and the remainder on more luxurious and expensive vellum. Only four dozen Gutenberg Bibles remain, and of these only 21 are complete.

 

 

NHCLC: Thousands of Puerto Rican Churches Wrecked by Maria

Just over a week after Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico, reports are beginning to reveal its impact on the island’s Christian community, including more than 1 million Protestants.

Approximately 3,000 churches were damaged or destroyed by the Category 4 hurricane, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) estimated. Wanda Rolón, an NHCLC board member and one of Puerto Rico’s best-known pastors, said that she was “not aware of a single church that escaped damage or harm.”

In addition to flooding, downed trees, and buildings ripped apart by 150 mph winds, the storm cut off electricity and communications networks. The Christian TV station, CDM Internacional, as well as several Christian radio stations went off the air. A Bible distribution ministry lost its inventory when its building was hit.

Of about 90 Southern Baptist churches in Puerto Rico, so far the North American Mission Board (NAMB) has heard from a dozen, all of which suffered limited damage, Baptist Press reported.

As relief efforts make their way out from San Juan, local churches serve as a crucial connection point for spiritual and physical support.

“We don’t have buildings right now to have meetings,” evangelist and doctor Luis Paz told CT in Puerto Rico last Sunday. “We are outside, bringing hope to people, the ones that need the most. We have brothers and sisters who don’t have homes right now, but the church is open to them.”

About half of Puerto Ricans go to church at least once a week, according to the Pew Research Center. (Most of the island’s 3.4 million residents are Catholic, and about a third are Protestant.) But some churches haven’t had power since Hurricane Irma hit earlier in the month. Without power, or due to other damage to their buildings, they’re forced to skip regular services or to worship unplugged outside.

The first Sunday after the storm, many Christians opted for impromptu gatherings in houses. In Arecibo, La Iglesia del Centro suffered minimal damage and held one smaller worship gathering. Pastor Gadiel Ríos encouraged members to open their homes for prayer and worship with their neighbors; some in his congregation of 350 have lost everything.

In better-off areas, metal debris and sinuous branches piled up in the streets, soccer fields, and swimming pools; for those who fared worse, the unwieldy piles sit where their houses once stood.

Paz, a minister and medical doctor, traveled to the capital, San Juan, on Sunday—exactly when he’d usually be worshipping with his 1,200-person congregation, Iglesia AMEC Casa de Alabanza—to pick up generators for clinics and request supplies for churches in the northwest.

When Maria made its way through Puerto Rico last Wednesday, he was up at 3 a.m. to do his daily prayers and Bible reading, pausing every few minutes to check the trajectory of the swirling storm.

“We thank the Lord no matter what,” said Paz, who later ended up singing hymns with his family as they scooped water out of their flooded home. “The Lord is not good when Irma started to go out and not good this time [when Maria hit]. The Lord is good all the time.”

The NHCLC partnered with Convoy of Hope to call upon congregation in the United States to sponsor damaged churches in Puerto Rico as well as in Mexico, after its recent earthquake. The NAMB will also facility church partnerships with Southern Baptist congregations, in addition to sending care packages to pastors, Baptist Press reported.

Rolón’s Pentecostal congregation, Iglesia La Senda Antigua, has been collecting and distributing basic necessities like food, formula, and diapers; the church will resume its worship services this Sunday.

Samaritan’s Purse took 200-plus tons of supplies to the Caribbean in September, including cases of water, gas jugs, sturdy blue tarps, and the generators that ended up at Paz’s clinics.

The evangelical relief organization distributes supplies to all who need aid, but coordinates efforts with partner churches. In Puerto Rico, Samaritan’s Purse has connections with congregations that participate in its iconic Operation Christmas Child shoebox program, as well as pastors like Paz who took part in president Franklin Graham’s crusade there in February.

“We know churches are not relief agencies, but they have a role to play when there is suffering and loss,” said Daniel Zeidan, who coordinates partnerships between Samaritan’s Purse and local churches whose communities need aid. “They will be there after we leave. What the church does now will have an impact that will last a long time.”

How To Help

• Anyone wishing to help can make donations directly through UMCOR’s Domestic Disaster Response Advance #901670 or by contributing through Central Church via this web site with a notation for UMCOR.

 

Create a Caring Community – Creating Entry Points

Key Bible Verse:  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  –Hebrews 10:24, NIV

Dig Deeper:  Hebrews 10:19-25

Church is a process that moves people “from community to community”—from the culture in which we live to authentic, missional small groups.  Today, everything we do at our church is about moving people from community to community.  The process recycles itself in a circular motion as people engage with the outside community and walk with them relationally through the whole process.  As they do, they begin to experience momentum, as well as a sense that they are now part of a movement, not just a church.

Through our many years of ministry, my wife and I discovered that most people find themselves within various connecting points of community.  Some connect around shared needs, some around shared experiences, and others around shared questions.

Focusing on people rather than programs requires intentionality.  Church leaders must provide natural entry points for relational communication.  We accomplished this by identifying three environments in which relationships can take place: the park, the coffee shop, and the living room.  These three environments provide the organic framework for moving people from community to community.

—Mike Tatlock in Faith in Real Life

My Response:  What are some environments in my community that my church can use as entry points for relationships?

Thought to Apply:  Church isn’t where you meet.  Church isn’t a building.  Church is what you do.  Church is who you are.  Church is the human outworking of the person of Jesus Christ.  Let’s not go to Church, let’s be the Church. — Bridget Willard (writer, worship leader)

Adapted from Faith in Real Life (Zondervan, 2010)

Prayer for the Week:  Dear Jesus, help me to see the church as you see the church, not as a building, but as a community of people growing in your image.

Create a Caring Community – Making a Connection

Key Bible Verse:   All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror.   We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory.  This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  – 2 Corinthians 3:18, CEB

Dig Deeper:  Ephesians 4:11-16

I first met a man named Don in the park as he was walking his canine companion.  Don had been a successful real estate broker for most of his life and was now experiencing a time of transition.

Don was searching for God and asking some sincere questions.  After a couple of hours had quickly passed, I made an offer to Don: “If you ever want to grab some coffee and continue our discussion, just let me know.”  I handed him my business card.  We said our farewells and went off in different directions.

Later that week, I received a call from Don.  He’d decided to take me up on my offer.  Within a couple of days, we were continuing our dialogue as we indulged in a couple of tall mochas.  Over time, what started as a random meeting turned into stimulating, routine encounters.

I wanted to go beyond our usual meetings at our favorite neighborhood coffee shop, and so Bernadette, my wife, and I invited Don to dinner.  There is something more personal about inviting someone into your home for a meal.  It speaks of relational connectedness and transparency.  It wasn’t just about getting Don to attend church; it was about seeing our relationship grow and our lives change with each step of the journey.

—Mike Tatlock in Faith in Real Life

My Response:  What are some places I frequent where I can begin to build relationships with guys who are searching for God?

Thought to Apply:  Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light.—Norman B. Rice (former mayor of Seattle)

Adapted from Faith in Real Life (Zondervan, 2010)

Prayer for the Week:  Dear Jesus, help me to see the church as you see the church, not as a building, but as a community of people growing in your image.

A Man Walks Into a Church and Shoots It Up and All We Want to Talk About Is Football

The following is a thought-provoking commentary from the September 26 Patheos Evangelical   by David Rupert

__________________________________________________________________________

Law enforcement gathers around the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ on September 24, 2017 in Antioch, Tennessee. One person was killed and seven were wounded when a gunman opened fire in the church.

It started with one quarterback taking a stand – rather, taking a knee — during the National Anthem.  And this last Sunday more than a 200 National Football League players joined in the protest, egged on by the President.

Now players are losing their endorsements, more than 1/3 of fans are vowing to stop watching the game, and the President is calling for a boycott.

 

 

But I don’t want to talk football right now.

A man walked into a church and started shooting.

On Sunday, a legal,  Sudanese immigrant killed a woman in a Nashville church parking lot and then went into the church firing away, hitting six more people, until he was finally subdued by a hero.

On the same day as millionaire players were deciding whether to kneel or stand, a small church with no other agenda but to pray and worship became the target of one man’s evil.

I only stumbled upon this story by chance. Like you, my news feeds were clogged with protests and responses to the feud between the NFL and players and the president.

There were about 40 people were in the church and if not for the heroic actions of a church usher, there could have been many more deaths. I have been asking people all day about this story. No one heard it. It’s like as a society we are choosing not to talk about an attack on Christian worshipers. We want to talk about people who are kneeling. Or not. And why. Or why not.

There’s no sacred space anymore

The 39 year-old woman who died in the parking lot, Melanie Smith, was a mother of two. Her family said she was “godly and compassionate.” She was probably hurrying to church and was  little late, hoping she would just sneak in without being noticed. She got caught by the gunman who had the same idea.

We used to have two places that were always safe, always sacred – schools and churches.

The Columbine massacre and all the copycats have changed schools forever. And soon churches will be on lockdown.

The lack of attention on this mass shooting is disturbing, but expected. After all, the demographics of these old, southern, evangelical church-goers don’t put them in the traditional victim class.

For the record, I wept for the Charleston Church and the nine people who were murdered during a prayer meeting. If you recall, I publicly stood with the AME church. Dylan Roof is now the convicted racist murderer. And this man should face the same scrutiny.

I wrote Reflections on Charleston: The one question without an answer at the time, and it applies here.  Change a few facts and words around and it’s the same story. The same hanging question mark hangs on Nashville shooter Emanuel Samson as it did Charleston shooter Dylan Roof’s head.

Sure he was white and the worshipers were black. And he’s from the south.  And he probably drove a pickup. “Conclusive proof” some will say.  He could have been an anarchist.  Or an atheist.  Or mentally disturbed. He might have been a conservative or a liberal.Even if you fill in any of those holes with labels, you really won’t be able to answer the question, “Why?”

And some are blaming the gun. “If only we had gun control, this wouldn’t have happened.”  We have laws outlawing drugs, and yet we still have the scourge.  There are laws against child pornography, and yet every day a child is violated.  There are thousands of laws on the books, but they do not stop the law breaker.

Take away the gun but you still will be left with the hanging question, “Why?”

Evil doesn’t always have a root cause.  It just is.  We’ll pour through his social media, his video rentals, the books on his shelf, and his television favorites, looking for clues.  The world is spinning on its own, with chaos and disorder pushing at the boundaries of good and righteous. And we push back, kicking at the darkness till it bleeds daylight.

We stand arm in arm with those who are hurt, losing loved ones and friends. And we stand with those who weren’t directly impacted, but feel targeted because of their race or their religion.

Who’s the hero?

I heard a sportscaster talk about the “heroic stand” of football players yesterday, turning their disdain toward the President – and the flag – and refusing to come out for the national anthem or kneeling during the playing.

The 22-year old church usher, Caleb Engle, was indeed a hero.  Stepping between the shooter and others, subduing him, and then still walking out to his car to get his own weapon to make sure the shooter stayed down.

To put your body between a shooter and a victim, that’s truly heroic.

The people injured aren’t young. Ages 84, 83, 68, 65, 60, and 64.  And also injured was this 22 year old, protecting his elders, protecting the guardians of his faith.

Yesterday, Caleb issued a statement. He asked for prayer for the victims, the shooter’s family, and … the shooter.

He also deferred the “hero” label, passing it on to the first responders.

But I can’t get over the fact that:

A man walked into a church and started shooting.

Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidrupert/man-walks-church-shoots-want-talk-football/#B28JXdaoWw4cCay1.99

 

 

Create a Caring Community – The Big Picture

Key Bible Verse:  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.”  – Matthew 16:24

Dig Deeper:  Matthew 16:24-28

The return on Jesus’ investment was the life-changing story of ordinary characters into the chronicles of extraordinary cross bearers.

If this kind of discipleship were unleashed in our lives and communities, we might begin to look like the connected network of God’s people that Jesus created—a network of energized people beautifully portraying the life of Christ.

Leading a movement means having a clear process of transformational discipleship.  It has to do with integrating this process mindset into everything our churches are doing.

A well-designed discipleship process aligns all resources, ministries, and efforts to work in harmony.  The idea is to step back from all the intricacies of church dynamics and see the whole picture.  We need to ask these questions:

• Do all our ministry components work in sync to accomplish the same goal?
• Are we hectically managing a complex system of ministries that compete rather than complement?
• Are we intentionally meeting people where they are?
• Do we have an organic process in place to move people toward the life of Christ?

—Mike Tatlock in Faith in Real Life

My Response: How can I help my church become more of “a network of energized people beautifully portraying the life of Christ”?

Thought to Apply: Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.—Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German pastor, theologian)

Adapted from Faith in Real Life (Zondervan, 2010)

Prayer for the Week:  Dear Jesus, help me to see the church as you see the church, not as a building, but as a community of people growing in your image.

Create a Caring Community – Forward Motion

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

Key Bible Verse:  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.  – John 10:10, NASB

Dig Deeper: John 4:27-42

Beneath the surface of this conversation is a powerful example of the forward motion that is waiting to be discovered by each of us.  Jesus met the woman where she was geographically, emotionally, and spiritually and led her forward in the process of spiritual development.

The story continues with John’s remarkable observation: “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town” (John 4:28, NIV).  I love the fact that John included the detail of her leaving the water jar.  What an amazing representation of fulfillment and life change.  Immediately after drinking from the fountain of life that Jesus had offered, she returned to her village to invite others to partake of the same life-giving water.  Jesus moved her from social outcast to spiritual includer, modeling precisely what the process of forward motion involves.

This kind of personal journey is just what Jesus had in mind when he talked about making disciples.

Discipleship begins before conversion and carries through to completion in Jesus Christ.  Jesus’ approach to making a disciple included a very natural advancement: first, the preliminary engagement; second, an invitation to enter into community; and third, a holistic experience of the process of life transfer.

—Mike Tatlock in Faith in Real Life

My Response:  What can I learn about discipling from Jesus’ example in John 4?

Thought to Apply:  Few things are more infectious than a godly lifestyle.  The people you rub shoulders with everyday need that kind of challenge.  Not prudish.  Not preachy.  Just crackerjack clean living.  Just honest to goodness, bone-deep, non-hypocritical integrity .—Chuck Swindoll (pastor, writer)

Adapted from Faith in Real Life (Zondervan, 2010)

Prayer for the Week:  Dear Jesus, help me to see the church as you see the church, not as a building, but as a community of people growing in your image.

Create a Caring Community – Complete in Christ

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

Key Bible Verses:  Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” – John 4:13-14

Dig Deeper:  John 4:1-26

The movement initiated by Jesus prevailed over every organized religious system in existence at the time.  While other systems offered people conviction, Jesus offered completeness.

Consider the narrative of the woman at the well (John 4).  Early in their “taboo” conversation, Jesus asked for a drink of water.  This would be like you or me plunking down on a street corner and asking a worn-out prostitute for a piece of gum.

Her response: “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:9, NIV et al.).  (Imagine that prostitute on the street corner saying, “Um you know I have AIDS, right?”)

Jesus didn’t blink.  “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10).

Clearly, the woman had no idea she was talking to the very satisfaction of her spiritual longing.  They continued talking, and within moments Jesus had exposed her habit of seeking significance in the arms of men.  Jesus would be the seventh man to leave an impression on her—seven representing the biblical idea of completion.  [continued tomorrow]

—Mike Tatlock in Faith in Real Life

My Response:  Who do I know that needs Christ to make him complete?  How might I help him move closer to a relationship with Jesus?

Adapted from Faith in Real Life (Zondervan, 2010)

Prayer for the Week:  Dear Jesus, help me to see the church as you see the church, not as a building, but as a community of people growing in your image.

Create a Caring Community – Traveling the Spiritual Highway

Who Said It … Mike Tatlock

Mike Tatlock is the lead pastor at Grace Chapel in Portland, Oregon.  He has been one of the youngest teaching professors at Prairie Bible College and Multnomah Bible College.

Mike is a frequent teacher at workshops, seminars, seminaries, and churches around the world. His pastoral experiences include leading urban, inner-city, and suburban churches.  He is the author of Faith in Real Life.

What He Said … Traveling the Spiritual Highway

Church is not an event; it’s a process.  It’s leading a movement.

Leading a movement is not about how big our buildings are, how large our attendance is, how hip our services are, how many programs we offer, or how sizable our budgets are—although movements may have large followings and plenty of money.

Leading a movement is about motion.  Movements capture the essence of life change within the context of relationships.  A small group of fifteen people, a gathering of two hundred, or a church of ten thousand can all be movements.

Discipleship is a personal journey where each person moves along the spiritual highway at different speeds and from various origin points.  Discipleship recognizes that people need access to the highway from wherever they are—but ultimately with the goal that they are intentionally being led to the ultimate destination of knowing Jesus Christ and conforming to his image (Romans 8:29, NIV). In our churches, we can eliminate anything we are doing that does not lead to [that] destination.

 

This Week‘s Key Study Passage: Hebrews 10:19-

¹⁹ Therefore, my friends,^[a] since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

 

Prayer for the Week

 

Dear Jesus, help me to see the church as you see the church, not as a building, but as a community of people growing in your image.

Stick to Shooting Straight – Judgment Against Deceivers

A characteristic of Jeremiah’s messages was the courtroom setting and vocabulary he adopted.  The Lord’s statement early in the book (Jeremiah 2:9) sets the stage: “I will bring my case against you.”

The Lord uses Jeremiah as his advocate to bring charges and evidence of sin (deception in this passage) against the leaders and people of Judah.  Then God pronounces the sentence and carries it out.

Interact with God’s Word

Jeremiah 9:3-9

1. What does the comparison of the people’s lies with bows tell you about premeditation and intent?
2. Is failure to defend truth as culpable as outright lying?
3. Is dishonesty confined to secular society, or does it infect our churches and families as well (v. 4)?
4. To what forms of deception (v. 5) may we become accustomed in our culture?
5. Why are deceivers often duped by the deception of others?
6. What penalty (v. 7) does God impose on his people for their deceit?
7. How should God’s three rhetorical questions (vv. 7 & 9) about the judgment he decreed be answered?

Spend Time in Prayer

Ask God for strength to reflect his nature as you retrain yourself to forsake any falsehood, exaggeration, or attempt to mislead.

Jeremiah 9:3-9

3 “My people bend their tongues like bows
to shoot out lies.
They refuse to stand up for the truth.
They only go from bad to worse.
They do not know me,”
says the Lord.

4 “Beware of your neighbor!
Don’t even trust your brother!
For brother takes advantage of brother,
and friend slanders friend.
5 They all fool and defraud each other;
no one tells the truth.
With practiced tongues they tell lies;
they wear themselves out with all their sinning.
6 They pile lie upon lie
and utterly refuse to acknowledge me,”
says the Lord.

7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“See, I will melt them down in a crucible
and test them like metal.
What else can I do with my people?
8 For their tongues shoot lies like poisoned arrows.
They speak friendly words to their neighbors
while scheming in their heart to kill them.
9 Should I not punish them for this?” says the Lord.
“Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?”

Stick to Shooting Straight – Honest to God

Key Bible Verse:  Everything I say is right, for I speak the truth and detest every kind of deception. … There is nothing devious or crooked.  – Proverbs 8:6-8

Bonus Reading:  Proverbs 12:17-22

Not long ago, I was supposed to meet a former student for breakfast.  But that week I paid little attention to my calendar and totally forgot the appointment.  About 90 minutes after we were supposed to meet, it dawned on me what I had done, and I called the student.  He was forgiving, assuming that I must have overslept after a long semester.

I had a split second to decide whether I’d allow his assumption to stand.  By saying nothing, I could let him think I’d just overslept.  I could make up another story.  Or, I could come clean and tell him I’d simply forgotten him.

I sensed an inner tug to lie or, more precisely, to allow him to believe an untruthful account of the event.  Some might call it a “little white lie,” which means a lie that we rationalize as insignificant.  But it would have been deceptive, whatever I called it.

Not that I’ve never lied, but in this case, I resisted the inclination to deceive.  I’ve been consciously working on telling the truth.  I’ve become convinced recently that learning to live a fully honest life is one of the most difficult moral challenges I face.  And yet it’s hardly talked about in the churches I know.

—David Gushee in Christianity Today

My Response: Besides not telling lies, being honest means I need to …

Thought to Apply:  You didn’t tell a lie, you just left a big hole in the truth. —Helen Thomas (journalist)

Adapted from Christianity Today (3/06)

Prayer for the Week

May your truth so live in me, Lord, that every form of deceit is wrung out of my life.

Stick to Shooting Straight – The Truth About Deceit

Key Bible Verse:  “All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.”  – John 3:20

Bonus Reading:  Jeremiah 9:3-9

Why do we so often not tell the truth?  Many times it’s because we’re unwilling to face the consequences of the truth.  Most lies are pitiful efforts to protect our pride.  We lie because we fear being shamed or embarrassed.  Our fragile reputations and even more fragile egos must be protected at all costs.  And so, pitifully and too cheaply, we sell out the truth.

Sometimes we lie because we’ve already done wrong.  We’ve slipped into the darkness rather than remaining in the light, and we don’t wish our deeds to be exposed.  So our lies are cover-ups for our sins and often only delay and worsen the day of their exposure.

At times we lie because we believe it’s justified to accomplish our urgent goals.  This happens every day in politics and commerce.  We’ve grown accustomed to it.  But sometimes it happens in Christian activism and church life as well.  We want to win “by any means necessary.”

Or perhaps we deceive by holding back the whole truth.  So when your wife asks, “Did you view pornography this afternoon?” you say, “No, I didn’t.”  Your statement is technically true, but you used pornography the night before, and that, as you well know, is what her question was intended to discover.

—David Gushee in Christianity Today

My Response:  A rationalization for deception that I must renounce is …

Thought to Apply:  Some people live their whole lives just around the corner from the world of truth. —Carl Henry

Adapted from Christianity Today (3/06)

Prayer for the Week

May your truth so live in me, Lord, that every form of deceit is wrung out of my life.

Stick to Shooting Straight – Me, Keep Secrets from Him?

Key Bible Verse:  Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.  – Colossians 3:10

Bonus Reading:  James 5:16, 19-20

Earlier I was at a store to exchange a duplicate wedding gift we’d received.  But instead of one replacement item, I found two: a cake plate and a cookie tray.  Why not pay the extra and get both? I’d thought.  It would disregard the budget, my conscience replied.  But since I balanced the checkbook, Russell would never know.  Anyway, it was only $6.50—well under our $50 limit.

I took home the cookie tray and hid it in the cabinet but proudly displayed the cake plate.  A few weeks later I pulled out the tray and arranged warm snickerdoodle cookies on it.  Russell entered the room and casually asked, “Is that new?”  I looked him in the eye, smiled, and replied, “No, I’ve had it.”

Now, praying about Russell’s lies and being reminded of my own, I knew what I had to do.  I found Russell and confessed my dishonesty.  My openness made him feel comfortable enough to admit the truth about his golf purchase.  When I’d confronted him, he’d been unsure of my reaction, making it seem easier to lie and hope the situation would go unnoticed.  We grew closer that day as we asked for, and received, forgiveness, vowing to no longer hide even insignificant things from each other.

—Stephanie Davenport in A Marriage Partnership

My Response:  To restore trust, I need to repent of deception by …

Thought to Apply:  If we be honest with ourselves, we shall be honest with each other. —George Macdonald

Adapted from Marriage Partnership (Fall/06)

Prayer for the Week

May your truth so live in me, Lord, that every form of deceit is wrung out of my life.

11 Hymns for a City Devastated by Water

In the midst of recurring hurricanes and floods, click on the photo of the flooding in Houston to link to a recent article by Ponder Anew with video of 11 relevant hymns:

 

 

 

Beaver Falls Perception Meeting – October 3, 2017

Stick to Shooting Straight – How Could He Lie to Me?

Key Bible Verse:  Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.  – Colossians 3:9

Bonus Reading:  Zechariah 8:16-17

One Saturday afternoon six months into our marriage, I noticed my husband’s credit card statement lying on the kitchen table.  On it I spied a $55 personal charge to a golf store.  Because of our debt, Russell and I had agreed to maintain a tight budget and to discuss any purchases over $50.  I couldn’t believe he’d kept something from me.

I immediately found him. “What’s this?” I asked him, holding out the statement.  “I thought we agreed to discuss larger purchases.”

“That’s a mistake,” he admitted.  “As soon as I bought the putter I felt guilty.  I’ve already returned it—the credit should show up next month.”

That was that—until his next statement arrived showing no credit for the returned putter.  Though Russell assured me he’d straighten out things, I had a queasy feeling he wasn’t being truthful.  In the garage I spotted the new putter poking out of his golf bag.  What else has he been hiding? I wondered.

In this one instance of betrayal, my perfect husband had vanished.  I was too upset to talk to Russell at first—all I could do was cry.  So I poured out my hurt to God.  “Why would Russell hurt me this way?’ I asked.  God’s answer wasn’t what I expected.  [continued tomorrow]

—Stephanie Davenport in A Marriage Partnership

Thought to Apply:  When you stretch the truth, watch out for the snapback. —Bill Copeland (writer)

My Response:  A time I lied to avoid embarrassment or shame was …

Adapted from Marriage Partnership (Fall/06)

Prayer for the Week

May your truth so live in me, Lord, that every form of deceit is wrung out of my life.

Stick to Shooting Straight – No Matter What?

Key Bible Verse:  The Holy One has given you his Spirit, and … you know the difference between truth and lies. – 1 John 2:20-21

Bonus Reading:  Psalm 24:3-6

As a new Christian, I had a job that paid by the hour but demanded a set amount of work within the allotted time frame.  So everyone was expected to work “off the clock.”  We were being paid by the task, it was explained to me, no matter how short or long it took.  If we finished early we could go home and have someone else clock out for us.  If we didn’t get done in time, we punched out then finished the job.

After I’d worked there about a year, an investigator from corporate headquarters visited, going around asking each of us if we’d ever worked off the clock.

I didn’t know how I should respond.  Fifty others had already answered no.  If I told the truth, I’d get them all in trouble, possibly lose my job, and hurt our store.  Though I considered honesty the best policy, I wasn’t so sure it applied to such a complex situation.

Since I was the last person to be interviewed, I had time to ask my Bible study group what to do.  They showed me verse after verse that called for honesty no matter what.

All my “Yeah, buts … ” evaporated.  I did the right thing, and from then on knew how to deal with any similar situation.

—Larry Osborne in A Contrarian’s Guide to Knowing God

My Response: Have I determined to adhere to honesty “no matter what”?

Adapted from A Contrarian’s Guide to Knowing God (Multnomah, 2007)

Prayer for the Week

May your truth so live in me, Lord, that every form of deceit is wrung out of my life.

Your Tithe Doesn’t Have to Go to Your Church, Most Leaders Say

The following article of interest appeared in the September 15, 2017 issue of Christianity Today Online.

__________________________________________________________________________

 

Your Tithe Doesn’t Have to Go to Your Church, Most Leaders Say

But for many Christians, it may be a moot point.

Image: iStock

It’s not that giving to your local church isn’t important—it is, leaders told the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).

But 76 percent say it’s fine if you want to give part of your tithe to a different ministry.

“Many evangelical leaders do not believe there’s a biblical requirement to give exactly 10 percent to the local church,” NAE president Leith Anderson said. “Giving generously out of what God has done for us is the main message.”

Some leaders referenced the “storehouse” principle found in Malachi 3:10, which says to “bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.” But they were split on what that meant; some said the local church is the storehouse, others that the storehouse isn’t a New Testament teaching.

“I have been taught—without reference to any biblical mandate—that any amount given outside of the local church should be done over and above the tithe,” author and speaker Deborah Pegues, who gives all of her tithe to her local church, told the NAE. “Nevertheless, I believe that everyone should be fully persuaded in his own mind as to the distribution of his tithe.”

Wheaton College president Philip Ryken agrees with that principle. “The church would have a much greater impact on America and in the world if in addition to tithing 10 percent to their local congregations, evangelical Christians gave an equivalent amount—or more—to other ministries,” he told the NAE.

Image: National Association of Evangelicals

But The Expectations Project president Nicole Baker Fulgham said that “God’s work is God’s work.” If people feel compelled to split tithes between churches and charities, “I don’t see any biblical reason why they shouldn’t.”

For most Christians, it may be a moot point.

“Only 10 to 25 percent of the families in the church” tithe, according to the 2013 State of the Plate report (cosponsored by CT’s sister publication Church Law & Tax).

The numbers match a Barna Group finding that 5 percent of adults tithe to a church or charitable organization; among born-again Christians, the rate rose to 12 percent.

Almost all churchgoing tithers—who typically give between 11 percent and 20 percent of their income—make the local church a priority (97%), the State of the Plate report found. Their gifts supply “50 to 80 percent of the funding.”

While giving to church isn’t as popular as it used to be, religion still receives about a third of all donations nationwide (32%), Giving USA found. In 2016, Americans gave nearly $123 billion to religion. That’s up 3 percent from 2015, and twice as much as the next highest category, which was education at 15 percent.

Giving USA’s religion category refers to churches, denominations, missionary societies, and other worship organizations, but not religious charities, according to Giving USA Foundation board member Rick Dunham.

The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability also measures how much the local church pulls in, though it’s limited to looking at the 80 local churches and 28 denominations that make up part of its 1,550 members.

In 2015, those churches received $886 million, while those denominations were given $410 million. Of the 27 categories of Christian nonprofits, those 2 categories were in the top 10 in averaged donations, but came in far behind the two behemoths of relief and development (the leading category, with nearly $2 billion in donations overall) and child sponsorship.

It’s not exactly stealing from God if you split your tithe between churches and parachurch ministries, but neither is it obedient to his Word, said Amie Streater, associate pastor for financial stewardship at New Life Church and author of Your Money God’s Way.

“When we support the local church with our first 10 percent and then use additional income to give elsewhere, we fully reflect the generosity of God’s heart and see the windows of heaven open and pour out blessings on us, as promised in Malachi 3:10,” she told CT.

Financial Seminary founder and author Gary Moore was less certain, pointing out that at the two affluent mainline churches he served with, “we spent more of our general budget on lawn care than true benevolences.” While an Empty Tomb study showed that evangelical congregations gave away more, “even that was due to a growing number of members,” he said.

Dividing up your tithe is “better than tossing an occasional spare $5 bill into the collection plate and thinking we have done our part,” said Douglas LeBlanc, author of Tithing: Test Me in This. But it isn’t what God asks.

“How I donate money expresses power,” LeBlanc said. “If I carve my tithe into slices of my own liking, I tighten my grip on power, and mammon tightens its grip on me. I am better aware of the ever-deepening joy found in God’s generosity when I surrender control of the first 10 percent to the community that welcomes me, a wretched sinner, week after week and challenges me to become something more.”

Stick to Shooting Straight – Truth and Consequences

Who Said It … Larry Osborne

Larry Osborne is an author who says, “I’ve always had a heart for the regular guy, the one who can’t imagine ever becoming a ‘super saint.’  I like starting where people are, not where they should be, and pointing them towards the path of growth.

That’s what Jesus did.  He didn’t blow the common man away with impossible religious standards.  The Pharisees did that.”

Larry is also the innovative lead pastor of North Coast Church in California’s San Diego County.

What He Said … Truth and Consequences

I know a Christian family who lost their home to foreclosure.  They took out a loan to buy a house they couldn’t afford.  Frankly, they got it by lying.  Their broker told them to pad their income statement.  He said, “Everybody does it.” So they did.

Then when the economy faltered and all hell broke loose, a mutual friend stepped forward to tell them not to worry.  Romans 8:28, (“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”) he assured them, meant that they were in God’s hands.  He wouldn’t let them down.  They might lose their house, but he surely must have something better in mind.

It was false comfort.

The Bible makes clear that there are a number of scenarios where the dark trials of our lives have nothing to do with God’s wonderful plans for our lives.  They had lied.  It had caught up with them.

God did indeed have something better in mind.  But it wasn’t a nicer house.  It was honesty—telling the whole truth even when it was inconvenient.

– Adapted from Ten Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe (Multnomah, 2009).

Prayer for the Week

May your truth so live in me, Lord, that every form of deceit is wrung out of my life.

Taking Sin Seriously – Worse Than You Think

Key Bible Verse:  We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God’s anger, just like everyone else.  – Ephesians 2:3

Bonus Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10

During my late teens and early 20s, I considered myself a Christian.  I went to church regularly, while most of my college classmates slept in.  I went to Bible studies, and worked in an outreach ministry to high school students.  I’d prayed the prayer.

Things changed, though, during the summer between my sophomore and junior years.  I met weekly with a group of friends, who discussed the Scriptures and enjoyed one another’s company.  Following one session, one of the guys asked me if we could meet during the week.  I agreed.

As we sat in his apartment a few days later, he gently but firmly said to me, “I don’t think you get it.  You don’t understand the depth of your sin, and I don’t think you understand the grace of God in offering you His gift of salvation.  He didn’t die on a cross just to give your life purpose and meaning.  You were His sworn enemy, and He came to rescue you from the punishment in hell you deserve!”

His words stung my soul.  I left feeling week in the knees.  For the first time, I found myself humbled before an almighty God who’d chosen to spare my life instead of giving me eternal punishment.

—Robert Lepine in The Christian Husband

 

My Response: In what ways have I been God’s enemy?

 

Thought to Apply: No man ever enters heaven until he is first convinced that he deserves hell. —John Everrett (author)

Adapted from The Christian Husband (Servant, 1999)

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  Forgive me, my Savior, for my denial of, or my cavalier attitude toward, my sins that cost You Your life.

 

 

Taking Sin Seriously – Cruel Delights

Key Bible Verses:  I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong … but I can’t help myself.  – Romans 7:16-17

Bonus Reading:  James 1:13-16

On my eighth birthday my parents gave me a BB gun.  This beautiful gun and I formed a deadly partnership.  Cans, bottles, road signs—nothing was safe from us.  Well, almost nothing.

One afternoon I took aim at a bird perched in the willow tree in our backyard.  Just as I was about to squeeze the trigger, my sister, Patsy, ran into the yard waving her arms and yelling.  As the bird fluttered away, her smug smile as good as taunted, “Ha! Ha! I showed you who’s in charge around here.”

Something inside took control. I lowered the barrel and aimed at my sister.  A look of horror replaced her smug confidence, and she took off at a full run.  Sit on this! I thought as I aimed and pulled the trigger.

The BB found its mark.  She grabbed her posterior and darted into the house screaming, “I’ve been shot! I’ve been shot!”  For a moment I wondered what had made me do something so cruel—then I realized how much I enjoyed it.

My dad disciplined me and confiscated my gun.  But while he could take away the tools I used for evil, he wasn’t able to take away that dark side of my personality that enjoyed doing wrong.

—Bill Perkins in When Good Men Are Tempted

 

My Response: When have I enjoyed doing something wrong?

 

Thought to Apply: We are not stray sheep or wandering prodigals even, but rebels taken with weapons in our hands.  —P. T. Forsyth (British pastor and educator)

Adapted from When Good Men Are Tempted (Zondervan, 1997)

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  Forgive me, my Savior, for my denial of, or my cavalier attitude toward, my sins that cost You Your life.

Taking Sin Seriously – The Mask

Key Bible Verse:  For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.  – Romans 3:23

Bonus Reading:  Jeremiah 17:9-10

Richard was the kind of kid your folks warned you about.  He was bad news!  A manipulator and a liar, Richard took the stigma of “bad boy” to a new level.

No one who knew him trusted him for very long.  He worked hard to earn the reputation as the troublemaker at our high school.  He had “sinner” written all over him.  After a string of felony convictions, Richard was found dead one morning—murdered after being released from prison on a drug conviction.

Raymond was the all-American kid any dad would want his daughter to date.  He attended church every Sunday and dazzled everyone with his winsome smile.  He was polite and trustworthy.

And Ray was an actor—both in the drama club at school and in real life.  He played the “good guy” role so well that no one suspected his alcoholism and drug addiction.  It was hard to believe that he was capable of what was eventually uncovered.  But in the end the mask came off.

We’d all like to believe that the window to our hearts is beautiful stained glass.  No one wants to admit that the glass is smeared and caked with sin.  The sooner we admit it, the closer we are to having the window cleaned.

—Skip Heitzig in Jesus Up Close

 

My Response: What mask am I wearing? To whom can I admit it?

 

Thought to Apply: All sin, whatever the degree, is equal in its capacity to separate us from God’s heart of love. —George Macdonald (Scottish author)

Adapted from Jesus Up Close (Tyndale, 2001)

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  Forgive me, my Savior, for my denial of, or my cavalier attitude toward, my sins that cost You Your life.

Taking Sin Seriously – In Denial?

Key Bible Verse:  If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth.  – 1 John 1:8

Bonus Reading:  Romans 1:21-25

Imagine discovering a sore on your arm.  You immediately apply an antiseptic and wait for healing.

But what if the sore is the result of skin cancer?  The surface treatment won’t touch it.  New lesions will appear and the cancer will continue to spread internally.

The Bible teaches that just such a cancer is infecting our souls: sin.  If we suffered from cancer, we’d do whatever was necessary to be healed of its ravages.  So why do we hesitate to seek God’s treatment for the spiritual cancer of sin?

Part of the answer lies in our culture’s discomfort with directly acknowledging this destructive force.  The fields of psychology and sociology, observes social critic Henry Fairlie, contend that “our faults are the result of some kind of mechanical failure, which has only to be diagnosed and understood for us to set it right.”

Psychologist Karl Menninger documented our collective loss of any sense of personal wrongdoing in Whatever Became of Sin?  His book traces how the theological notion of sin became the legal idea of crime and then was relegated to the psychological category of sickness.  Today sin is regarded as little more than a set of emotions fixed in our genes.

—James Emery White in Long Night’s Journey into Day

 

My Response:  What have I viewed as a problem to solve that’s really a sin to confess?

 

Thought to Apply: In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner. —Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German pastor and theologian)

Adapted from Long Night’s Journey into Day (WaterBrook, 2002)

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  Forgive me, my Savior, for my denial of, or my cavalier attitude toward, my sins that cost You Your life.

 

 

Churches helping one bucket at a time

Relief buckets and supplies collected by Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Ala., for help after Hurricane Irma. Photo courtesy of Aldersgate United Methodist Church via Facebook.

People hit by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma need time to “get their arms” around the most pressing needs. But United Methodists can start helping by donating to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, collecting and assembling flood buckets and earnestly praying.

Amy Fuselier, director of UMCOR relief supplies, said the unprecedented number of active storms in the Atlantic and Gulf is making the need for flood buckets urgent.

“I am asking all churches with the ability to quickly produce and send flood buckets to do so,” she said in an email appeal.

Once a team has 1,872 buckets, UMCOR will arrange transport of the buckets to Sager Brown in Baldwin, Louisiana. Sager Brown seems to be the most central location to get buckets to all those in need, she said.

How To Help

• United Methodists wishing to help can make donations directly through UMCOR’s Domestic Disaster Response Advance #901670.
• Churches and individuals also can assemble cleaning buckets. Here is how.

 

Williams said in addition to local United Methodist churches, community organizations have been bringing items to the church to send to storm survivors.

Big or small, every bucket counts. Staff members at the United Methodist Publishing House set up an assembly line Sept. 7 and put together 50 buckets for UMCOR. The buckets shipped out Sept. 11.

Florida is still in the process of figuring out what the needs are.

Pam Garrison, disaster response coordinator for the Florida Conference, asked people to “give us time to get our arms around this and figure out the next steps so that those impacted get the help they need, when they need it.”

Garrison said more than 6 million people in Florida are without power, which makes it challenging to communicate with churches, pastors and laity.

“The only donations requested at this time are donations to UMCOR, where 100 percent of what is given will help not just Florida but our neighboring conferences who have also been hard hit,” she said.

Gilbert is a multimedia reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at 615-742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests. 

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma

 

 

Taking Sin Seriously – Squeaky Clean Traitor

Key Bible Verse:  “Are they ashamed when they do these disgusting things?  No, not at all—they don’t even blush”  – Jeremiah 6:15; 8:12

Bonus Reading:  Jeremiah 6:13-15; 8:4-13

Robert Philip Hanssen, the former FBI counterintelligence agent, caused the worst intelligence breach in U.S. history.

Ironically, this self-confessed traitor considered himself a devout Christian.  Throughout his 25-year FBI career, Hanssen told friends and colleagues that without religion, men were lost.  When FBI agents held going-away parties at strip clubs near the bureau’s headquarters, Hanssen refused to attend, saying it would be a sin.

When he was arrested on charges that he’d been spying for the Russians since 1985, those who knew him were stunned.  His closest friends and colleagues said they could only guess why a man who seemed to possess such strong Christian faith would engage in anti-American espionage.

In the Charlotte Observer, Philip Shenon speculated that he “must have been able to compartmentalize his life, deluding himself into thinking that espionage was simply an exciting intellectual challenge that had nothing to do with leading a good, moral Christian life.”

—James Emery White in Long Night’s Journey into Day

Adapted from Long Night’s Journey into Day (WaterBrook, 2002)

Prayer for the Week:  Forgive me, my Savior, for my denial of, or my cavalier attitude toward, my sins that cost You Your life.

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Taking Sin Seriously – The Best Defense…

Q. Why do I need an early-warning system for sin?

A. Because our sin employs three clever avoidance strategies to avoid detection:

One of those strategies is denial.  Denial says, “Who me? I don’t have a problem.”  How many people have been destroyed by a problem they didn’t have!

A second strategy is rationalization.  This world-class excuse making says, “I know it might look like a problem to some people, but I know all the reasons it isn’t.”

Finally, there’s scapegoating.  It says, “I don’t have a problem.  It’s you that’s the problem.”  Scapegoating is a skunk diverting attention from itself by saying somebody else smells worse.

These attempts to avoid responsibility for our actions must be jettisoned if we desire to please Christ.

How can I strengthen my defenses against temptation?

·         Look at the type of temptation.  Certain temptations have felled us many times in the past.  Satan’s a pragmatist.  He’ll use what’s worked in the past as long as it still works.  So these attacks shouldn’t catch us off guard.

·         Notice the timing of temptations.  Do I know when I’m vulnerable?  How do I react when I’m fatigued?  How do I respond to discouragement?  Have I been undone in the wake of a success?

·         Consider the degree of strength of temptations.  A simple law of biology applies: If we feed something it will grow.  Resolve to deal with your temptations while they are small.  If you indulge and feed them, you may not like what comes back the next time you encounter them.

David Swartz is pastor of Dubuque Baptist Church in Dubuque, Iowa.

Adapted from The Magnificent Obsession (NavPress, 1990)

 

Prayer for the Week:  Forgive me, my Savior, for my denial of, or my cavalier attitude toward, my sins that cost You Your life.

 

 

Taking Sin Seriously – Eye to Eye with Evil

Key Bible Verse:  Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask him, “I’m not the one, am I, Lord?”  – Matthew 26:22

Bonus Reading:  Mark 7:14-23

Adolf Eichmann was one of the worst of the Holocaust masterminds.  When he stood trial, prosecutors called a string of former concentration camp prisoners as witnesses.  One was a small, haggard man named Yehiel Dinur, who’d miraculously escaped death in Auschwitz.

On his day to testify, Dinur entered the courtroom and stared at the man—behind the bulletproof glass—who’d presided over the slaughter of millions.  As the eyes of the two men met—victim and murderous tyrant—the courtroom fell silent at the tense confrontation.

Then suddenly, Yehiel Dinur began to sob, collapsing to the floor.  Was he overcome by hatred, by the horrifying memories, by the evil incarnate in Eichmann’s face?

No. As he later explained in an interview, it was because Eichmann was not the demonic personification of evil he’d expected.  Rather, he was an ordinary man, just like anyone else.

In that one instant, Dinur came to the stunning realization that sin and evil are the human condition. “I was afraid about myself,” Dinur said. “I saw that I’m capable to do this … exactly like he.”

Dinur’s shocking conclusion?  “Eichmann is in all of us.”

—Charles Colson in A Dangerous Grace

 

My Response:  How aware am I of my capacity for evil?

 

Thought to Apply:  The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Russian author)

Adapted from A Dangerous Grace (Word, 1994)

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  Forgive me, my Savior, for my denial of, or my cavalier attitude toward, my sins that cost You Your life.

 

 

Make Your Talents Count – Be Generous with Your Gifts

God has given each one of us a unique combination of gifts and passions to be used for the good of others.  As the parable of the talents discussed in this week’s readings revealed, we have a choice to invest those gifts and reap a rich return or hoard them to ourselves to our own detriment.

In this week’s Key Study Passage, Paul encourages generosity.  After all, our generosity flows from the generous heart of God and will be bountifully rewarded by him.

Key Study Passage:  2 Corinthians 9:6-15

1. Why do you think Paul gives the church the option whether or not to give rather than requiring it?

 

2. Do you think it’s okay to expect a blessing when you give? (See vv. 8-11.)

 

3. List and then reflect on the motivations for generosity from this passage.

 

4. Take a mental inventory of your gifts, talents, and resources.  Are you cheerfully using each to the best of your ability and for the betterment of those around you and the advancement of God’s kingdom?  Are there any areas where growth is needed?

 

5. If question 4 stirred your heart, commit to praying for and planning to make better use of what God has given you.

 

Spend Time in Prayer: Ask God to give you a cheerful, giving heart that looks to the needs of others ahead of your own; ask him to reveal to you the gifts that he’s given you and help you invest your talents well.

 

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say,

“They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. 12 So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.

13 As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. 14 And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. 15 Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  Giver of all good gifts, help me to be aware of the talents with which you have equipped me; give me a vision for ways to use them for your kingdom.

Make Your Talents Count – Can’t Out-Give God

Key Bible Verse:  “I am the LORD All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test.  Bring the entire 10 percent into the storehouse. … Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing.”   – Malachi 3:10, CEV

Dig Deeper:  2 Corinthians 9:6-15

I urge you—plumb the depths of the parable of the talents.  Take a good, hard look at the context of your life—nothing happens by chance.  You are where you are and the way you are for a reason, for God’s reason.

The master says that when you invest the talents he’s given you, when you are faithful to bear fruit from the little he’s given you, he will give you more.  And you will enter into his joy.

People around the world are searching for joy.  Where is it?  How can we find it?

Here’s the answer. Plain and simple.  Straight from God: Invest what I’ve given you.  Take a chance.  Put it to work.  Trust me.  Make it multiply.  Then I’ll give you more.

And you’ll be happier and more content than ever fathomed.  Don’t believe it?  Think of investing your talents the way the Old Testament describes giving your tithe in today’s Key Bible Verse.

We’ve all heard it said, “You can’t out-give God.”  He’s made me a believer.  My joy is worth more than all the money in a zillion banks.

What about you?  Are you ready to take a good, hard look at yourself and determine what talents God has knit together within you?

—Bob Westfall in The Fulfillment Principle

 

My Response:  How is the Holy Spirit prompting me to respond to this reading?

 

Thought to Apply:  God has a way of giving by the cartloads to those who give away by shovelfuls.—Charles Spurgeon (British preacher)

Adapted from The Fulfillment Principle (Leafwood, 2012)

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  Giver of all good gifts, help me to be aware of the talents with which you have equipped me; give me a vision for ways to use them for your kingdom.

Hurricane Irma

 

 

Make Your Talents Count – You’ve Got It Already

Key Bible Verses:  “The master called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them … each according to his ability.”  – Matthew 25:14-15, NIV

Dig Deeper:  Matthew 25:14-30

Let me make an essential point here: God has already given you the talent, ability, skill, money, or passion you need to fulfill his plan, to be entrusted with more, and to walk in pure joy.  That’s one of the key truths of the parable of the talents that many people miss.

Remember?  The master went on a journey.  But before he left, he called his servants in and “entrusted his possessions to them” (Matthew 25:14, NASB et al.).  He passed out five talents to one, two to another, and one to a third, “each according to his own ability,” (v. 15) and then he went on his way.

What I’m trying to show you is that you already have everything you need!  The skill is within you.  The dream is deep inside you.  The plan is in place.  The passion is there.  The ability is woven into your DNA by the Creator himself.

Have you examined your life?  The people within your circles?  The possibilities within your realm?   Will you be faithful in the little things?

Examine your life today.  Don’t make the mistake of saying, “Someday, when I have this, I’ll do that,” or, “When I have more time, I’ll pursue that dream,” or, “When I have more money, I’ll give to this or that organization.”

—Bob Westfall in The Fulfillment Principle

 

My Response: Have I been making these kinds of excuses?  If so, I will repent and make a plan of action.

 

Thought to Apply:  He who waits to do a great deal of good at once, will never do anything.—Samuel Johnson (British writer)

Adapted from The Fulfillment Principle (Leafwood, 2012)

 

Prayer for the Week:  Giver of all good gifts, help me to be aware of the talents with which you have equipped me; give me a vision for ways to use them for your kingdom.

Tithe: Compulsory, Voluntary or Shouldn’t Even Pay?

The following thoughtful article on Tithing appeared in the August 29, 2017 issue of Christian Media Magazine.

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Tithe or tithing is one perennial issue in Christianity that has garnered several controversies among various churches and denominations. But should it be an issue in the first place? Or is it the case of compulsion, volition or that it shouldn’t be paid at all that draws this much polemics about it?

Tithing in the Old Testament

Going down Biblical memory lane, we find the initial shadow of tithe paying in Genesis 4:3-7, where Cain and Abel presented a portion of their toils’ harvests to God. We see also in Genesis 14:1-20, the first instance where tithe was mentioned and observed by Abraham to Melchizedek, king of Salem (who was a foreshadow of Christ – Hebrews 6:19-20, 7:1-28).

The second instance surfaced in Genesis 28:10-22, where Jacob made a vow to give a tenth of all that God gave him. These instances captured were before the law given to Moses and they are so mentioned that we may understand the genesis of tithe or tithing. However, the emergence of the law gave a clearer explanation on who is entitled to tithes and how it should be administered. It is in this regard, I believe, the misconceptions on tithing ensue.

An argument raised by Christians who are on the opposing side of tithe paying is that, according to the law, tithes were meant for the Levites (Priests), and in our current dispensation of grace and not of law, where the supposed place of the Levites (Priests) no longer exists, there should be no need to pay tithes.

But what they fail to realize is that from inception, tithes weren’t for the Levites (Priests) but for God, and though the Old Testament’s priesthood was a presage of what Christ was to accomplish, the advent of the new covenant didn’t nullify the validity of tithe or tithing.

Leviticus 27:30-33 says, “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s: it is holy unto the LORD…” So, we understand that tithe was and is for God and no one else. That is why we see God in Malachi 3:8 requesting from the people of Israel and the Priests is due – “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.”

And where do the Levites (Priests) come in pertaining to tithe? In apportioning inheritances for the tribes of Israel, each twelve tribes received an allotment of lands in the promised land of Canaan except the tribe of Levi. As such, the Lord became their inheritance and saw it fitting to give them (Levites) ten percent of all that the other tribes gave to Him (See Numbers 18:20-21, 29-31).

Moreover, for knowledge sake, it’s pertinent to state that according to the law, God also permitted that tithes be used for the Israelites to celebrate in His presence and to meet the needs of foreigners, orphans and widows (Deuteronomy 14: 22-19; 26:12-13).

In view of this backdrop and according to Deuteronomy 14:23; Malachi 3:10, we may infer that though tithe was for God, it was instituted that we may learn to revere God always and make food available in God’s house to sustain those serving in His vineyard and to promote His work.

Hence, it wouldn’t be out of place to posit that tithe was God’s design to teach us how to show forth gratitude, learn not to be possessed by what we have and to imbibe His nature of giving. God has always been a giver from the beginning of creation and hitherto. So tithing is a privilege of giving back to God, not that He needs our resources or money (Psalm 24:1-2; Deuteronomy 10:14; Job 41:11; Haggai 2:8; Leviticus 27:30) but that we may revere and learn to be like Him.

Tithing in the New Testament

Having established the basis for giving tithes, the book of Hebrews 7 makes us understand that the New Testament’s dispensation of grace doesn’t invalidate the viability of tithing. What happened, instead, was a change in the directives of the law since the Old Testament’s priesthood was transmuted by the coming of Christ (Hebrews 7:11-13). For instance, failure to tithe attracted curses under the law but under grace, it doesn’t.

Another argument raised is that nowhere in the New Testament is a definite instruction given for believers to give tithes, but similarly, nowhere is it stated that they shouldn’t. Yet, we may submit that no instruction was required as it was already a known principle by the Jewish believers and thus, communicated to the Gentile believers in view of the new covenant’s pattern in Christ.

The Lord Jesus acknowledged the place of tithing which was why He didn’t condemn the Scribes and Pharisees for observing it but that in being merely religious and self-righteous, they forsook the weightier matter of the law, “which they ought to have done and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23:23).

Critics may as well contend that the Scribes and Pharisees were under the law and so they were mandated. If that were the case, why didn’t Jesus also condemn giving of offerings to God in Luke 21:1-4 being a command of the law and one of the accusations levied on Israel in Malachi 3:8?

All of these evidences should make it credible enough that there is no basis for defaulting in tithe paying. Though, it is only a starting point for believers’ giving, tithing is an essential virtue that accompanies our faith. And we don’t offer it because it is compulsory but because we love Jesus, who is our reason for sacrificial giving and living.

Tithing Today

To reiterate, tithing didn’t emanate from the law and however, doesn’t justify us before God; we are justified by faith in Christ (Romans 3:28) but then, ‘isn’t faith without work dead?’ (James 2:20-26). More so, “do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31).

Evidently, there is a manifestation of worldliness in the church and the crop of Christians who find faults in tithing are the ignorant ones, supposed born again believers who seek to subject the word of God to human intellect in order to suit their ways of life.

The rationale is that these purported Christians find it difficult to give wholeheartedly and amidst present global economic cash crunch where even monthly wages are insufficient to cater for one’s needs, they would rather bring out excuses not to pay tithe than give to the Lord even from the little they have as did the woman in Mark 12:41-44.

Besides, we do not give tithes to the church but to God through the eternal High Priest of the new covenant in the order of Melchizedek, Jesus Christ. And the church, being the body of Christ, receives them on His behalf for the prevailing of God’s will on earth and the furtherance of the gospel.

We must, nevertheless, take heed so as not to give that which is holy to dogs nor cast our pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6), for there are deceitful workers transforming themselves as servants of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13-15), who rob God by enriching themselves with the tithes due to Him and deprive believers of their blessings.

Even so, this shouldn’t be a reason not to pay tithe, for defaulting amounts to robbing God of gratitude due to Him. Thus, depriving one’s self the privilege of laying full claim on God’s promises associated with tithing. But if truly the love of God abides in us, gratitude and humility would make us entertain no reason to hold back in giving to God. However, giving by compulsion in any way or form is not of God, “for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Above all, tithes and offerings should be given joyfully with pure motives and an attitude of worship to God and service to the body of Christ. And beyond tithing, God wants us to give our very best and all to Him. Not just a part of us, He wants everything and our hearts inclusive (Proverbs 23:26).

Finally, tithe is not a criterion to make heaven; confessing and repenting of one’s sins, believing in Christ and continuing in the faith till the end are. And should you still nurse the doubt whether to pay tithe or not, consider these questions: will a man rob God? Where are you laying your treasures, heaven or earth? And are you rich towards God? (See Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:15-21).

 

References:

Bible verses – New King James Version (NKJV)

https://www.gotquestions.org/tithing-Christian.html

http://www.borntowin.net/articles/why-did-abraham-tithe/

http://www.acts17-11.com/dialogs_tithe_melchizedek.html

http://www.acts17-11.com/dialogs_tithe.html

Michael Olajubu, alias Jacobs Adewale is a product of grace and ambassador of Christ, journalist and poet from Nigeria. He is a certified Digital Marketer and whose ultimate goal is to win Christ and be found in Him. Michael blogs at www.truthmediaonline.blogspot.com and you can connect with him via Facebook.

Make Your Talents Count – Moving Mountains

Key Bible Verse:  Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young.  Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.   – 1 Timothy 4:12

Dig Deeper:  John 14:12-14

Austin has a book out with a title that reiterates the point of  today’s reading Take Your Best Shot: Do Something Bigger Than Yourself.  One of the Bible verses Austin reflects upon as he speaks about Hoops of Hope is today’s Key Bible Verse.

“I’m happy and I’m proud that kids are finally seeing that they can make a difference at a young age, that they don’t have to wait to be an adult,” Austin said.  “At the same time, it’s hard to be proud of what we’ve done when you go to Africa and see how much more there is to do.”

Wow!  The faith of a child—a child who saw a video about orphans in Africa, and refused to let the memory of it die.  A child who felt a burden and realized, with God’s help, he could move mountains.

Maybe you’re a high school teacher who’s been entrusted with a classroom full of students.  How will you steward the hearts and minds of those kids who’ve been placed in your care?

Say you’re a college student.  You’ve been entrusted with an education.  What will you do with that knowledge and experience?  How will you invest it for the good of others?

—Bob Westfall in The Fulfillment Principle

 

My Response: What talents have I been given?  How can I better use them to serve God and bless others?

 

Thought to Apply: The world asks, “What does a man own?”  Christ asks, “How does he use it?” —Andrew Murray (South African writer, teacher, pastor)

Adapted from The Fulfillment Principle (Leafwood, 2012)

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  Giver of all good gifts, help me to be aware of the talents with which you have equipped me; give me a vision for ways to use them for your kingdom.

Make Your Talents Count – Hoops of Hope

Key Bible Verse:  Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress.  – James 1:27

Dig Deeper:  Matthew 25:34-40

There is a young man in Arizona by the name of Austin Gutwein who, at the ripe old age of 10, saw a video about a girl in Africa who lost her parents to HIV/AIDS, and it gripped his heart.  He learned that 5,700 children are orphaned each day because of HIV/AIDS, and that 15 million children have already lost one or both parents to the disease.

“That hit me hard,” recalls Austin, now 16.  “I felt God calling me to go do something about it.”  A friend suggested Austin use his favorite sport, basketball, to make a difference.

He got some friends involved in shooting free-throws to raise money for those children in Africa.  God used the faith of that little kid from Arizona and he birthed Hoops of Hope (hoopsofhope.org), which has since become the world’s largest free-throw marathon.

Some 40,000 children have participated in Hoops of Hope, raising more than $2.5 million and allowing the organization to build a school in Zambia where there was no school for 70 miles.  Not only that, Hoops of Hope has partnered with World Vision to build four dormitories for students of the school, two medical clinics, a computer lab, and more.

—Bob Westfall in The Fulfillment Principle

 

My Response:  What gets me excited?  How can I use that passion to serve others?

 

Thought to Apply:  Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.—Erich Fromm (psychologist)

Adapted from The Fulfillment Principle (Leafwood, 2012)

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  Giver of all good gifts, help me to be aware of the talents with which you have equipped me; give me a vision for ways to use them for your kingdom.

Make Your Talents Count – Man on a Mission

Key Bible Verse:  Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.  – Isaiah 58:7

Dig Deeper:  Isaiah 58:6-12

Sean Lambert is president of Youth With a Mission San Diego/Baja.  While on a mission trip in Tijuana, Sean and his daughter, Andrea, joined a team of 15 people to build a house for a poverty-stricken family.

When the house was complete and the family moved in, Andrea pointed out another poor family living in an abandoned bus adjacent to the new home being built and said, “Daddy, are you going to build them a house?”

Andrea’s words moved Sean to build a second house and Homes of Hope was born.  Starting with this single house in Tijuana, Mexico, Homes of Hope has now built 3,482 homes for poor families in 10 different nations.

One of the “talents” knitted into Sean’s make-up is his compassion for the poor.  He was faithful with the one house God sent him to build and so God put him in charge of many.  Today, Homes of Hope impacts needy families in five key areas: economic, educational, health, social and emotional, and spiritual.

Sean is an excellent example of someone who took small, simple steps in obeying God, entering into all God wanted to do in and through his life in a ministry that is now impacting 10 other nations … and growing!

—Bob Westfall in The Fulfillment Principle

 

My Response:  I will think about people who are less fortunate than I am, and consider ways I can help meet their needs.

Adapted from The Fulfillment Principle (Leafwood, 2012)

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  Giver of all good gifts, help me to be aware of the talents with which you have equipped me; give me a vision for ways to use them for your kingdom.

Make Your Talents Count – Invest Your Talents

Key Study Passage:  2 Corinthians 9:6-15

⁶ The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. ⁹ As it is written,

“He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
    his righteousness^[a] endures forever.”

¹⁰ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.^{[b] 11} You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; ¹² for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. ¹³ Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, ¹⁴ while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!  

 

Who Said It … Bob Westfall

Bob Westfall is president of the Westfall Group, which serves charities and Christian ministries in financial stewardship and communications.  His company has helped charities raise more than $210 million in new income for their valuable work.

He frequently speaks at national conferences and to charity boards, philanthropists, churches, and other groups, and is the author of The Fulfillment Principle.  

He currently lives in Suwanee, Georgia, with his wife, Kim. They are the parents of four children.

 

What he Said … Invest Your Talents

The word “talent” spoken of in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) is a measure of weight and, in this usage, means “money.”  As in many of Christ’s parables, however, the story contains multiple layers of meaning and wisdom.  God gives us something of his to invest—according to our ability.

Although God may have given you five talents and me two and someone else one, he views us each the same.  Just because you have more does not mean God views you as more valuable or important.

Indeed, God sees us all as equal; he values us the same.  And what he truly values most is the way you and I steward the talents he’s entrusted into our lives.

How do we invest those talents?  Are we fruitful?  Do we get good return on the deposit he’s made in our lives?

What talent—be it treasure or ability or passion or skill—has God entrusted to you according to your unique ability?  What passion has he woven into your heart, and only your heart?

Adapted from The Fulfillment Principle (Leafwood, 2012)

 

Prayer for the Week:  Giver of all good gifts, help me to be aware of the talents with which you have equipped me; give me a vision for ways to use them for your kingdom.

 

 

Time & Talent Stewardship Reflection

We should ask God to give us a place to serve and then be ready to respond in full obedience when God answers our prayer.  

“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another” (Galatians 5:13).

Throughout recorded history, people have witnessed the demonstration of God’s power and glory in unmistakable ways. The creation of the world was nothing but God’s imagination at work. The preservation of Noah and his family was God’s doing and God’s alone. The setting of the rainbow in the sky was a visible sign of God’s promise never to destroy the earth by water again. The deliverance of the children of Israel by parting the waters of the Red Sea was God’s doing.

Think about it: We could have been given a world system in which everything was done by God personally. Obviously, that’s not the case. Most of the time, God chooses human instruments to meet needs. And sometimes, God does so without us even being aware of the extent of our involvement.

William Burton and his wife were missionaries in Africa. While there, Mrs. Burton became very ill and often expressed her longing for an orange. But the nearest orange trees were in an orchard which was a 21-day jungle trek distance from their station. One day as Mr. Burton was leaving their humble hut to preach to the natives, Mrs. Burton began to ask God to provide some oranges. When he returned, by his wife’s bedside was a full basket of oranges.

Here’s how that happened: The owner of the orchard and his men had been picking half-ripe oranges, and he was impressed by the Lord to send some over to the Burtons. By the time the African worker made the long journey, the now-ripe oranges were ready to be enjoyed. They were delivered as Mrs. Burton was praying for them and as Mr. Burton was preaching the Gospel.

That evening, those two missionaries rejoiced as they recalled God’s promise from Isaiah 65:24, “Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear.”

Could God somehow have picked up that basket of oranges and delivered them personally to this missionary couple? No doubt, God could have done that. Instead, God used the efforts of a choice Christian servant, a man who happened to own an orchard who was sensitive to doing what God wanted him to do.

In a similar way, an elderly widow, restricted in her activities, was eager to serve Christ. After praying about her desire, she realized that she could bring blessings to others by playing the piano. The next day, she placed this small ad in the Oakland Tribune: “Pianist will play hymns by phone daily for those who are sick and despondent — the service is free.” The notice included her phone number. When people called, she would ask, “What hymn would you like to hear?”

Within a few months, her playing had brought God’s cheer to several hundred people. Many of them freely poured out their hearts to her, and she was able to help and encourage them as she shared her faith in Christ with them.

Why not ask God to show you some way that you might minister in Christ’s name to someone in need?

As you do so, remember the words of Jesus: “ . . . just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matt. 25:40).

 

 

 

Church: It’s Not About Me – The Body of Christ

How does God grow believers toward maturity in Christ?

The answer, Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians, is that he forms us into a body—a group of individuals united in their purpose and love for each other and for the Lord.

If one person stumbles, the rest of the group is there to pick him up and help him walk with God again.  And as we mature together as the loving body of Christ, we, in turn, demonstrate to the world that God’s love is the real deal.

 

Interact with God’s Word:

Ephesians 4:4-6, 11-16

1.      According to verses 4-6, what unites all believers in spite of their many differences? (See also 1 Cor. 8:6.)

 

2.      What is the responsibility of those who have the gifts listed in verse 11? (See v. 12.)

 

3.      According to verse 14, what are the signs that a believer’s faith has not matured?  (See also Gal. 1:6-7; Col. 2:8.)

 

4.      Why are both truth and love (v. 15) important qualities for a healthy church?

 

5.      According to verse 16, how does a community of believers become “healthy and growing and full of love”?

 

Spend Time in Prayer:

Ask God to reveal to you what your own “special work” (v. 16) should be; ask him to enable you to perform it in a way that will contribute to the health and growth of your Christian community.

 

Ephesians 4:4-6, 11-16

4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  As your disciple, Lord, I recognize I can’t live a life of faith and faithful service on my own.  Help me to truly connect with Christian community.

 

 

Time & Talent Stewardship Reflection

God gives us the talents, abilities and gifts necessary for our tasks, and then God grants us the glorious privilege of serving in the kingdom.

“For we are God’s servants, working together” (1 Corinthians 3:9).

In his book, The Pursuit of Holiness, Jerry Bridges writes,

A farmer plows his field, sows the seed, and fertilizes and cultivates — all the while knowing that in the final analysis, he is utterly dependent on forces outside of himself. He knows he cannot cause the seed to germinate, nor can he produce the rain and sunshine for growing and harvesting the crop. For a successful harvest, he is dependent on these things from God.

Yet the farmer knows that unless he diligently pursues his responsibilities to plow, plant, fertilize and cultivate, he cannot expect a harvest at the end of the season. In a sense, he is in a partnership with God, and he will reap its benefits only when he has fulfilled his own responsibilities.

Farming is a joint venture between God and the farmer. The farmer cannot do what God must do, and God will not do what the farmer should do.

What is true of farming is also true of the Christian life. To use Bridges’ terminology, Christianity is a “joint venture” between God and Christians. We cannot do what God must do, and God will not do what we should do.

For example, does God have the power to vacuum the carpets here at Central United Methodist Church?  Absolutely. As the old chorus puts it, “God can do anything but fail.” When we use the adjective “omnipotent” to describe God, we are saying that God is all-powerful. God can do anything. So, yes, God has the power (as well as the ability) to vacuum the carpets in our church.

But will God do so?  Not really.  And the reason is clear: That is one of the jobs God has assigned to us. As part of our “joint venture” with God, cleaning the carpets is on our side of the ledger. God could have done it all, but instead, God allows us to have a part in the work of the kingdom.

S.D. Gordon wrote,

We have nothing to do with how much ability we’ve got, or how little, but with what we do with what we have. The man with great talent is apt to be puffed up, and the man with great talent often belittles those with little. . . .God gives it, much or little. Our part is to be faithful, doing our level best with every bit and scrap. And we will be if Jesus controls.

It’s what 1 Corinthians 3:9 describes so clearly: “ . . . we are God’s servants, working together.”

So whether we are cleaning carpets, caring for children in the nursery, assisting visitors in the parking lot, singing in the choir or preaching sermons, we are working side by side with Almighty God.

God gives us the time, talents and treasure necessary for the tasks, and then God grants us a glorious privilege of serving in the ministry here at Central United Methodist Church.

God’s part?  Done.

Your part?  Only you know the answer to that question.

 

 

Church: It’s Not About Me – The Ultimate Witness

Key Bible Verse:  “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  – John 13:35

Bonus Reading:  John 17:20-24

An unsettling revelation to most Christ-followers, in light of our fierce individualism, is how many of the marks or proofs of a Christian involve other people.  You can’t truly follow Christ apart from community, for so much of what is involved in following him is tied to the “one anothers” of Scripture.

Originally sent as apostolic admonishments to Christians gathered in local churches, they include such directives as “serve one another” (Gal. 5:13), “encourage each other” (1 Thess. 5:11), “accept each other” (Rom. 15:7), and “make allowance for each other’s faults” (Col. 3:13).  These are clear in their command, decisive in spiritual formation, and impossible to fulfill apart from a local community of faith.

Jesus maintained in today’s Bonus Reading that the practice of such community, brought to life in and through the church, would offer the ultimate witness to the world about his own life and ministry. He was convinced that the church, functioning as a community of love and witness, would arrest the attention of the world and give ultimate affirmation to his message of salvation.

If we fail to participate in this community, we undermine how Christ envisioned his message being affirmed in the eyes of the world.

—James Emery White in Serious Times

 

My Response: If involvement in Christian community offers solid proof of my commitment to Christ, how committed am I?

 

Thought to Apply: Church-goers are like coals in a fire.  When they cling together, they keep the flame aglow; when they separate, they die out.—Billy Graham (evangelist)

Adapted from Serious Times (InterVarsity, 2004)

 

 

Prayer for the Week:  As your disciple, Lord, I recognize I can’t live a life of faith and faithful service on my own.  Help me to truly connect with Christian community.